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The partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided the island of Ireland into two separate polities. It took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The smaller of the two, Northern Ireland, was duly created with a devolved administration and forms part of the United Kingdom today, but the larger one, intended as a home rule jurisdiction to be known as Southern Ireland, failed to gain acceptance. The territory instead became independent and is now a sovereign state also named Ireland and additionally described as the Republic of Ireland. The Act of 1920 was intended to create two self- governing territories within Ireland, with both remaining within the United Kingdom. It also contained provisions for co-operation between the two territories and for the eventual reunification of Ireland. However, in 1922, following the War of Independence (19191921) and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the southern and western part became the Irish Free State, while Northern Ireland exercised its option to remain in the United Kingdom. Since partition, a key aspiration of Irish nationalists has been to bring about a reunited Ireland, with the whole island forming one independent state. This goal conflicts with that of the unionists in Northern Ireland, who want the region to remain part of the United Kingdom. The Irish and British governments agreed, under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, that the status of Northern Ireland will not change without the consent of a majority of its population. In its white paper on Brexit, the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Belfast Agreement. With regard to Northern Ireland's status, it said that the UK Government's "clearly-stated preference is to retain Northern Ireland's current constitutional position: as part of the UK, but with strong links to Ireland". The idea of excluding some or all of the Ulster counties from the provisions of the Home Rule Bills had been mooted at the time of the First and Second Home Rule Bills, with Joseph Chamberlain calling for Ulster to have its own government in 1892. The unionist MP Horace Plunkett, who would later support home rule, opposed it in the 1890s because of the danger of partition. Exclusion was first considered by the British cabinet in 1912, in the context of Ulster unionist opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill, which was then in preparation. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) imported 25,000 rifles and three million rounds of ammunition from the German Empire in the Larne gun-running of April 1914, and there were fears that passing the Third Home Rule Bill could start a full-scale civil war in Ulster. The Curragh incident on 20 March 1914 had already led the Government to believe that the British Army could not be relied upon to carry out its orders in Ireland. The issue of partition was the main focus of discussion at the Buckingham Palace Conference held between 21 and 24 July 1914, although at the time it was believed that all nine counties of Ulster would be separated. The Home Rule Crisis was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. Westminster passed the Home Rule Bill on 18 September 1914 and it immediately received Royal Assent, but its implementation was simultaneously postponed by a Suspensory Act until the war ended. At the time it was widely believed that the conflict would only last for a few months. Following the Easter Rising of April 1916, Westminster called the Irish Convention in an attempt to find a solution to its Irish Question; it sat in Dublin from July 1917 until March 1918, ending with a report, supported by nationalist and southern unionist members, calling for the establishment of an all-Ireland parliament consisting of two houses with special provisions for northern unionists. The report was, however, rejected by the Ulster unionist members, and Sinn Féin had not taken part in the proceedings, meaning the Convention was a failure. Support for Irish republicanism had risen during 1917, with Sinn Féin winning four by-elections that year. The Conscription Crisis of 1918 further reinforced the ascendancy of the republicans. Beginning on 21 January 1919 with the Soloheadbeg ambush, through the Irish War of Independence, Irish republicans attempted to bring about the secession of Ireland from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Meanwhile, Irish unionists – most of whom lived in the northeast of the island – were just as determined to maintain the Union. The British Government, committed to implementing Home Rule, set up a cabinet committee under the chairmanship of southern unionist Walter Long. The Long Committee recommended the establishment of two devolved administrations, dividing the island into two territories: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. This was implemented as the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Act entered into force as a on 3 May 1921 and provided that Northern Ireland would consist of the six northeastern counties, while the remainder of the island would form Southern Ireland. It was intended that each jurisdiction would be granted home rule but remain within the United Kingdom. The government of Southern Ireland never functioned: the War of Independence continued until the two sides agreed a truce in July 1921, ending with the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. A year later, on 6 December 1922, the Irish Free State became independent of the United Kingdom in accordance with the Treaty, which was given legislative effect in the United Kingdom by the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922. The new state had the status of a dominion of the British Empire. Under the treaty, the Government of Ireland Act continued to apply in Northern Ireland for one month after the coming into being of the Free State, and Northern Ireland would continue to remain outside the Free State if the Parliament of Northern Ireland stated its desire to do so in an address to King George V within that month. The wording of the treaty allowed the impression to be given that the Irish Free State temporarily included the whole island of Ireland, but legally the terms of the treaty applied only to the 26 counties, and the government of the Free State never had any powers—even in principle—in Northern Ireland. On 7 December 1922 the houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland approved an address to George V, requesting that its territory not be included in the Irish Free State. This was presented to the king the following day on 8 December 1922, and then entered into effect, in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922. Following independence, the southern state gradually severed all remaining constitutional links with the United Kingdom and the British monarchy. The Free State was renamed "Ireland" in its new constitution of 1937, which claimed jurisdiction over the entire island. In 1949 the state was declared to be a republic, under the Republic of Ireland Act. The Government of Ireland Act 1920, which came into effect on 3 May 1921, provided for separate self-governing parliaments for Northern Ireland (the six northeastern counties) and Southern Ireland (the rest of the island), thus partitioning Ireland. While the parliament and governmental institutions for Northern Ireland were soon established, the election in the 26 counties returned an overwhelming majority of members giving their allegiance to Dáil Éireann and supporting the republican effort in the Irish War of Independence, thus rendering "Southern Ireland" dead in the water. The Irish War of Independence led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty was given legal effect in the United Kingdom through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922, and in Ireland by ratification by Dáil Éireann. Under the former Act, at 1pm on 6 December 1922, King George V (at a meeting of his Privy Council at Buckingham Palace) signed a proclamation establishing the new Irish Free State. The treaty, and the laws which implemented it, allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the Irish Free State. Under Article 12 of the Treaty, Northern Ireland could exercise its opt-out by presenting an address to the King, requesting not to be part of the Irish Free State. Once the treaty was ratified, the Houses of Parliament of Northern Ireland had one month (dubbed the Ulster month) to exercise this opt-out during which time the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act continued to apply in Northern Ireland. The treaty "went through the motions of including Northern Ireland within the Irish Free State while offering it the provision to opt out". It was certain that Northern Ireland would exercise its opt out. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, speaking in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in October 1922, said that "when the 6th of December is passed the month begins in which we will have to make the choice either to vote out or remain within the Free State." He said it was important that that choice be made as soon as possible after 6 December 1922 "in order that it may not go forth to the world that we had the slightest hesitation." On the following day, 7 December 1922, the Parliament of Northern Ireland resolved to make the following address to the King so as to opt out of the Irish Free State: Discussion in the Parliament of the address was short. Craig left for London with the memorial embodying the address on the night boat that evening, 7 December 1922. King George V received it the following day, The Times reporting: If the Houses of Parliament of Northern Ireland had not made such a declaration, under Article 14 of the Treaty, Northern Ireland, its Parliament and government would have continued in being but the Oireachtas would have had jurisdiction to legislate for Northern Ireland in matters not delegated to Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act. This never came to pass. On 13 December 1922, Craig addressed the Parliament of Northern Ireland, informing them that the King had responded to the Parliament's address as follows: After the 1885 UK general election the nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party held the balance of power in the House of Commons, and entered into an alliance with the Liberals. Its leader, Charles Stewart Parnell convinced William Gladstone to introduce the First Irish Home Rule Bill in 1886. An Irish Unionist Party was immediately founded; this organised demonstrations in Belfast against the Bill, fearing that separation from Great Britain would bring industrial decline and religious persecution of Protestants by a Roman Catholic-dominated Irish government. English Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill proclaimed: "the Orange card is the one to play", which was later expressed in the popular slogan, Home Rule means Rome Rule. In many rural parts of Ireland, a "Land War" (1879–1890) was under way, supported by many nationalists, that had led to sporadic violence. The Representation of the People Act 1884 had enlarged the popular franchise, and many property- owners, particularly unionists, were concerned that their interests would be reduced by a new Irish political class. Although the bill was defeated Gladstone remained undaunted, and introduced a Second Irish Home Rule Bill in 1892 that passed the Commons. Accompanied by similar mass unionist protests, Joseph Chamberlain called for a (separate) provincial government for Ulster even before the bill was rejected by the House of Lords. The seriousness of the situation was highlighted when Irish unionists throughout the island assembled at conventions in Dublin and Belfast to oppose both the Bill and the proposed partition. When, in 1910, the Irish Party again held the balance of power in the Commons, H. H. Asquith introduced a Third Home Rule Bill in 1912. The unionists adopted the positions they had demonstrated in 1886 and 1893. With the veto of the Lords removed by the Parliament Act 1911, and the clear prospect of Home Rule passing into law, Ulster loyalists established the Ulster Volunteers in 1912 (in 1913 re-organised into an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) ), to oppose enactment of the Bill (and what they called its "Coercion of Ulster"), and threatened to establish a Provisional Ulster Government. While the Home Rule Bill was still being debated, on 20 March 1914 many British Army officers threatened to resign in what became known as the "Curragh Incident" (also known, incorrectly, as "The Curragh Mutiny"), rather than be mobilised to enforce the Act on Ulster. This meant that the British government could legislate for Home Rule but could not be sure of making it a reality on the ground. This led on to an amending Bill that would exclude Ulster for an indefinite period, and the new fear of a civil war (between unionists, and nationalists, who had set up the Irish Volunteers in response to the UVF's formation) in Ireland led to the Buckingham Palace Conference in July. The Home Rule Act reached the statute book with Royal Assent in September 1914 (although the amending Bill was abandoned) but, because of the First World War, its commencement was suspended for one year or for the duration of what was expected to be a short war. It intended to grant self-government to the entire island of Ireland as a single jurisdiction under Dublin administration, but the final version as enacted in 1914 included an amendment clause for six Ulster counties to remain under London administration for a proposed trial period of six years, yet to be finally agreed. This was belatedly conceded by John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, as a compromise in order to pacify Ulster unionists and avoid civil war. In 1917–18, the Irish Convention attempted to resolve what sort of Home Rule would follow the First World War. Unionist and nationalist politicians met in a common forum for the last time before partition. The Ulster unionists preferred to remain within the United Kingdom; the nationalist Home Rule parties and the Southern Unionists argued against partition. The growing Sinn Féin party refused to attend. Soon after the end of the war, Sinn Féin won the overwhelming majority of the Irish parliamentary seats in the UK general election of 1918, and in January 1919 the Sinn Féin members declared unilaterally an independent (all- island) Irish Republic. Unionists, however, won a majority of seats in four of the nine counties of Ulster and affirmed their continuing loyalty to the United Kingdom. Following the Paris Peace Conference, in September 1919 David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, tasked the Long Committee with implementing Britain's commitment to introduce Home Rule, which was based on the policy of Walter Long, and some findings of the Irish Convention. The result was to be two home-rule Irish jurisdictions, and in November 1920 the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was enacted. As a result of this, in April 1921 the island was partitioned into Southern and Northern Ireland. On 5 May 1921, the Ulster Unionist leader Sir James Craig met with the President of Sinn Féin, Éamon de Valera, in secret near Dublin. Each restated his position and nothing new was agreed. On 10 May De Valera told the Dáil that the meeting "... was of no significance". In June that year, shortly before the truce that ended the Anglo-Irish War, David Lloyd George invited the Republic's President de Valera to talks in London on an equal footing with the new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Craig, which de Valera attended. De Valera's policy in the ensuing negotiations was that the future of Ulster was an Irish-British matter to be resolved between two sovereign states, and that Craig should not attend. After the truce came into effect on 11 July, Lloyd George made it clear to de Valera, 'that the achievement of a republic through negotiation was impossible'. On 20 July, Lloyd George further declared to de Valera that: In reply, de Valera wrote The treaty as ratified in December 1921 and January 1922 allowed for a re-drawing of the mutual border by a Boundary Commission. Northern Ireland was deemed to be a part of the Irish Free State, whenever it became established, but its parliament would be allowed to vote to secede within a month, the so-called "Ulster month". Sir James Craig, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland objected to aspects of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In a letter to Austen Chamberlain dated 14 December 1921, he stated: Michael Collins had negotiated the treaty and had it approved by the cabinet, the Dáil (on 7 January 1922 by 64–57), and by the people in national elections. Regardless of this, it was unacceptable to Éamon de Valera, who led the Irish Civil War to stop it. Collins was primarily responsible for drafting the constitution of the new Irish Free State, based on a commitment to democracy and rule by the majority. De Valera's minority refused to be bound by the result. Collins now became the dominant figure in Irish politics, leaving de Valera on the outside. The main dispute centred on the proposed status as a dominion (as represented by the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity) for Southern Ireland, rather than as an independent all-Ireland republic, but continuing partition was a significant matter for Ulstermen like Sean MacEntee, who spoke strongly against partition or re-partition of any kind. The pro-treaty side argued that the proposed Boundary Commission would satisfy the greatest number on each side of the eventual border, and felt that the Council of Ireland (as envisaged by the 1920 Home Rule Act) would lead to unity by consent over a longer period. De Valera had drafted his own preferred text of the treaty in December 1921, known as "Document No. 2". An "Addendum North East Ulster" indicates his acceptance of the 1920 partition for the time being, and of the rest of Treaty text as signed in regard to Northern Ireland: As described above, under the treaty it was provided that Northern Ireland would have a month – the "Ulster Month" – during which its Houses of Parliament could opt out of the Irish Free State. The Treaty was ambiguous on whether the month should run from the date the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified (in March 1922 via the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act) or the date that the Constitution of the Irish Free State was approved and the Free State established (6 December 1922). This question was the subject of some debate. When the Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill was being debated on 21 March 1922, amendments were proposed which would have provided that the Ulster Month would run from the passing of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act and not the Act that would establish the Irish Free State. Essentially, those who put down the amendments wished to bring forward the month during which Northern Ireland could exercise its right to opt out of the Irish Free State. They justified this view on the basis that if Northern Ireland could exercise its option to opt out at an earlier date, this would help to settle any state of anxiety or trouble on the new Irish border. Speaking in the House of Lords, the Marquess of Salisbury argued: The British Government took the view that the Ulster Month should run from the date the Irish Free State was established and not beforehand, Viscount Peel for the Government remarking: Viscount Peel continued by saying the government desired that there should be no ambiguity and would to add a proviso to the Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill providing that the Ulster Month should run from the passing of the Act establishing the Irish Free State. He further explained that the members of the Parliament of Southern Ireland had agreed to put that interpretation upon it. He noted that he had received from Arthur Griffith the following letter dated 20 March 1922: Lord Birkenhead remarked in the Lords debate: On 7 December 1922, the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the House of Commons of Northern Ireland heard an address by Sir James Craig to King George V requesting: "...that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland". No division or vote was requested on the address, which was described as the Constitution Act and was then approved by the Senate of Northern Ireland. While the Irish Free State was established at the end of 1922, the Boundary Commission contemplated by the Treaty was not to meet until 1924. Things did not remain static during that gap. In April 1923, just four months after independence, the Irish Free State established customs barriers on the border. This was a significant step in consolidating the border: The Anglo-Irish Treaty contained a provision that would establish a boundary commission, which could adjust the border as drawn up in 1920. Most leaders in the Free State, both pro- and anti-treaty, assumed that the commission would award largely nationalist areas such as County Fermanagh, County Tyrone, South Londonderry, South Armagh and South Down, and the City of Derry to the Free State, and that the remnant of Northern Ireland would not be economically viable and would eventually opt for union with the rest of the island as well. In the event, the commission's decision was made for it by the inter- governmental agreement of 3 December 1925 that was published later that day by Stanley Baldwin. As a result, the Commission's report was not published; the detailed article explains the factors involved. The Dáil voted to approve the agreement, by a supplementary act, on 10 December 1925 by a vote of 71 to 20. The division of territorial waters as between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State was to be a lingering matter of controversy for a number of years. Section 1(2) of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 defined the respective territories of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland as follows: At the time of that act, both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland were to remain parts of the United Kingdom. Perhaps because of this, the Act did not explicitly address the position of territorial waters, although section 11(4) provided that neither Southern Ireland nor Northern Ireland would have any competence to make laws in respect of "lighthouses, buoys, or beacons (except so far as they can consistently with any general Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom be constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority)". When the territory that was Southern Ireland became a separate self-governing dominion outside the United Kingdom known as the Irish Free State, the status of the territorial waters naturally took on a significance it had not had before. The Northern Ireland Unionists were conscious of this matter from an early stage. They were keen to put it beyond doubt that the territorial waters around Northern Ireland would not belong to the Irish Free State. In this regard, Sir James Craig, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland put the following question in the British House of Commons on 27 November 1922 (the month before the establishment of the Irish Free State): In response the Attorney General, Sir Douglas Hogg said that "I have considered the question, and I have given an opinion that that is so [i.e. the territorial waters do go with the counties]". A particular dispute arose between the Government of the Irish Free State of the one part and the Northern Ireland and UK Governments of the other part over territorial waters in Lough Foyle. Lough Foyle lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the then Irish Free State. A court case in the Free State in 1923 relating to fishing rights in Lough Foyle held that the Free State's territorial waters ran right up to the shore of County Londonderry. In 1925, the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, Hugh Kennedy, advised the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, W. T. Cosgrave, as follows: In 1927, illegal fishing on Lough Foyle had become so grave that Northern Ireland Prime Minister, James Craig entered into correspondence with his Free State counterpart, W. T. Cosgrave. Craig indicated to Cosgrave that he proposed to introduce a Bill giving the Royal Ulster Constabulary powers to stop and search vessels on Lough Foyle. Cosgrave asserted all of Lough Foyle was Free State territory and that as such a Bill of that nature would be rejected by the Free State and its introduction would create "a very serious situation". Cosgrave then raised the matter with the British government. In 1936, the Minister for External Affairs was asked in Dáil Éireann if he intended to take any steps to safeguard and maintain the rights to fishing in certain parts of Lough Foyle, claimed by and hitherto enjoyed by Free State nationals. The Vice-President (for the Minister for External Affairs), responding, noted that there had been correspondence between the two Governments in recent years. He summarised the position as currently being that: The Minister was criticised by Opposition politicians for his government's overall indecision on whether the Irish Free State should remain part of the British Commonwealth, a spokesman claiming this was why the Government had such difficulty with the British Government's first pre- condition. With the fall of France in 1940, the British Admiralty ordered convoys to be re-routed through the north-western approaches which would take them around the north coast and through the North Channel to the Irish Sea. However, escorting those convoys raised a problem: it became imperative to establish an escort base as far west in the United Kingdom as possible. There was one obvious location: Lough Foyle. However, it remained unclear where the border was between the UK and Ireland in Lough Foyle. On 31 August 1940, Sir John Maffey, the UK's representative to the Irish government, wrote to the Dominions Office in London that: In September 1940 Maffey approached the Irish External Affairs Secretary, Joseph Walshe, to inform him ‘of the intended increase of light naval craft’ in Lough Foyle. The Royal Navy increased its use of Lough Foyle in the early months of 1941. The Royal Navy remained concerned that there might be a challenge to its use of the Foyle on the grounds that ships navigating the river to Lisahally and Londonderry might be infringing Irish neutrality. If the border followed the median line of Lough Foyle then the channel might be in Irish waters as it "lies near to the Eire shore". In mid-November 1941, legal opinions of solicitors to The Honourable The Irish Society were presented to the Royal Navy. The Hon. The Irish Society's view was that the whole of Lough Foyle was part of County Londonderry and accordingly the border could not be that of the median line of Lough Foyle. The Royal Navy continued to use its new base on the Foyle until 1970. At a British Cabinet meeting on 22 November 1948 it was decided that a working party be established to "[consider] what consequential action may have to be taken by the United Kingdom Government as a result of Éire's ceasing to be a member of the Commonwealth". The Working Party was chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, Norman Brook. Its report dated 1 January 1949 was presented by Prime Minister Clement Attlee to the Cabinet on 7 January 1949. The following is para 23 of the Working Party's report (which speaks for itself): The division of the territorial waters continued to be a matter disputed between the two Governments. On 29 February 1972, during a Dáil debate about internment in Northern Ireland, deputy Richie Ryan questioned the legitimacy of anchoring the Maidstone prison ship in Belfast Lough to accommodate internees. A good summary of the Irish position on the territorial waters issue was given by then Taoiseach, Mr. Jack Lynch: Other incidents have occurred from time to time in the disputed waters, and they have been discussed in Dáil Éireann occasionally. The territorial dispute between Ireland and the United Kingdom concerning Lough Foyle (and similarly Carlingford Lough) is still not settled. As recently as 2005, when asked to list those areas of EU member states where border definition is in dispute, a British Government minister responding for the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs stated: In 2009, the territorial dispute concerning Lough Foyle was raised in a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly's Committee for Enterprise Trade and Investment. The committee was meeting to discuss Project Kelvin, a project involving the construction of a fiber optic telecommunications cable between North America and Northern Ireland. Mr Derek Bullock, an executive from Hibernia Atlantic Limited, the cable-laying company leading the project's implementation had to explain to the committee why the cable landing station was going to be located at Coleraine rather than Derry City as initially indicated. He explained that one of the reasons it had been decided not to locate the cable landing station in Lough Foyle was because: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office underlined its view on 2 June 2009 that all of Lough Foyle is in the United Kingdom, a spokesperson stating: A corresponding statement was made by Conor Lenihan, then an Irish Government Minister: The two governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to the promotion of offshore renewable energy development in the seas adjacent to the Lough Foyle (and Carlingford Lough) in 2011. This was signed without prejudice to outstanding issues concerning sovereignty. Following partition some social and sporting bodies divided but others did not. Today in Ireland many sports, such as boxing, Gaelic football, hurling, cricket and rugby union, are organised on an all-island basis, with a single team representing Ireland in international competitions. Other sports, such as association football (soccer), have separate organising bodies in Northern Ireland (Irish Football Association) and the Republic of Ireland (Football Association of Ireland). At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either the Republic of Ireland team (which competes as "Ireland") or United Kingdom team (which competes as "Great Britain"). Selection usually depends on whether his or her sport is organised on an all- Ireland, a Northern Ireland, or a UK basis. Sports organised on an all-Ireland basis are affiliated to the Republic of Ireland's Olympic association, whereas those organised on a Northern Ireland or UK basis are generally affiliated to the UK's Olympic association. Rail transport in Ireland was seriously affected by partition. The railway network on either side of the border relied on cross-border routes, and eventually a large section of the Irish railway route network was shut down. Today only the cross-border route from Dublin to Belfast remains, and counties Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone have no rail services. De Valera came to power in Dublin in 1932, and drafted a new Constitution of Ireland which in 1937 was adopted by plebiscite in the Irish Free State. Its articles 2 and 3 defined the 'national territory' as: "the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas". The state was named 'Ireland' (in English) and 'Éire' (in Irish); a United Kingdom Act of 1938 described the state as "Eire". To unionists in Northern Ireland, the 1937 constitution made the ending of partition even less desirable than before. Most were Protestants, but article 44 recognised the 'special position' of the Roman Catholic Church. Further, the preamble referred to: "...our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial, Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation,"; this was an independence that unionists had opposed, and seemed to imply in an insulting fashion that Jesus had sustained only the Irish independence movement, and never the unionist cause. All spoke English, but article 8 stipulated that the new 'national language' and 'first official language' was to be Irish, with English as the 'second official language'. The irrendentist texts in Articles 2 and 3 were deleted by the Nineteenth Amendment in 1998, as part of the Belfast Agreement. Nationalists also established a number of anti-partition groups campaigning against the border, starting with de Valera's National League of the North (1928) which was renamed the Irish Union Association and then the Anti- Partition League in 1938. These were followed by the Northern Council for Unity, the Irish Anti-Partition League, the All Ireland Anti-Partition League and finally National Unity (Ireland) in 1964. None achieved an electoral majority and they were prone to divisions. In the United States the 1947 Irish Race Convention arranged for a vote in the US Congress whereby Marshall Aid for Britain would be conditional on the end of partition. The vote was lost by 206 votes to 139, with 83 abstaining. During the Second World War, after the Fall of France, Britain made a qualified offer of Irish unity in June 1940, without reference to those living in Northern Ireland. On their rejection, neither the London or Dublin governments publicised the matter. Ireland would have joined the allies against Germany by allowing British ships to use its ports, arresting Germans and Italians, setting up a joint defence council and allowing overflights. In return, arms would have been provided to Ireland and British forces would cooperate on a German invasion. London would have declared that it accepted 'the principle of a United Ireland' in the form of an undertaking 'that the Union is to become at an early date an accomplished fact from which there shall be no turning back.' Clause ii of the offer promised a joint body to work out the practical and constitutional details, 'the purpose of the work being to establish at as early a date as possible the whole machinery of government of the Union'. The proposals were first published in 1970 in a biography of de Valera. In May 1949 the Taoiseach John A. Costello introduced a motion in the Dáil strongly against the terms of the UK's Ireland Act 1949 that confirmed partition for as long as a majority of the electorate in Northern Ireland wanted it, styled in Dublin as the "Unionist Veto". This was a change from his position supporting the Boundary Commission back in 1925, when he was a legal adviser to the Irish government. A possible cause was that his coalition government was supported by the strongly republican Clann na Poblachta. From this point on all the political parties in the Republic were formally in favour of ending partition regardless of the opinion of the electorate in Northern Ireland. The new republic could not, and in any event did not wish to, remain in the Commonwealth; and it chose not to join NATO when that was founded in 1949. These decisions broadened the effects of partition, but were in line with the evolving policy of Irish neutrality. The Taoiseach Seán Lemass visited Northern Ireland in secrecy in 1966, leading to a return visit to Dublin by Terence O'Neill; it had taken four decades to achieve such a simple meeting. The impact was further reduced when both countries joined the European Communities in 1973. After the onset of the Troubles (1969–98), a 1973 referendum showed that a majority of the electorate in Northern Ireland did want to continue the link to Britain as expected, but the referendum was boycotted by Nationalist voters. Following the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1969, the Sunningdale Agreement was signed by the Irish and British governments in 1973. This collapsed in May 1974 due to the Ulster Workers' Council strike, and the new British Prime Minister Harold Wilson considered a rapid withdrawal of the British Army and administration from Northern Ireland in 1974–75 as a serious policy option. The relevant cabinet notes remained secret until 2005. The effect of such a withdrawal was considered by Garret FitzGerald, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs in Dublin, and recalled in his 2006 essay. The Irish cabinet concluded that such a withdrawal would lead to widescale civil war and a greater loss of life, which the Irish Army of 12,500 men could do little to prevent. The Good Friday Agreement in 1998, was ratified by two referendums in both parts of Ireland, including an acceptance by the Republic that its claim to Northern Ireland would only be achieved by peaceful means. This was an important part of the Northern Ireland peace process that had been under way since 1993. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was repealed in the UK by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as a result of the Agreement, and in Ireland by the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. Common Travel Area, History of Ireland (1801–1923), Crown of Ireland Act 1542, History of Northern Ireland, History of the Republic of Ireland, Irish Civil War, Partitionism, Repartition of Ireland, Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border Denis Gwynn, The History of Partition (1912–1925). Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1950., Michael Laffan, The Partition of Ireland 1911–25. Dublin: Dublin Historical Association, 1983., Thomas G. Fraser, Partition in Ireland, India and Palestine: theory and practice.London: Macmillan, 1984., Clare O'Halloran, Partition and the limits of Irish nationalism: an ideology under stress. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1987., Austen Morgan, Labour and partition: the Belfast working class, 1905–1923. London: Pluto, 1991., Eamon Phoenix, Northern Nationalism: Nationalist politics, partition and the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1994., Thomas Hennessey, Dividing Ireland: World War 1 and partition. London: Routledge, 1998., John Coakley, Ethnic conflict and the two-state solution: the Irish experience of partition. Dublin: Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin, 2004., Benedict Kiely, Counties of Contention: a study of the origins and implications of the partition of Ireland. Cork: Mercier Press, 2004., Brendan O'Leary, Analysing partition: definition, classification and explanation. Dublin: Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin, 2006, Brendan O'Leary, Debating Partition: Justifications and Critiques. Dublin: Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin, 2006., Robert Lynch, Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2006., Robert Lynch, The Partition of Ireland: 1918–1925. Cambridge University Press, 2019., Margaret O'Callaghan, Genealogies of partition: history, history-writing and the troubles in Ireland. London: Frank Cass; 2006., Lillian Laila Vasi, Post-partition limbo states: failed state formation and conflicts in Northern Ireland and Jammu-and-Kashmir. Koln: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009., Stephen Kelly, Fianna Fáil, Partition and Northern Ireland, 1926 – 1971. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2013 The Partition of Ireland (Workers Solidarity Movement – An anarchist organisation which supports the IRA), James Connolly: Labour and the Proposed Partition of Ireland (Marxists Internet Archive), The Socialist Environmental Alliance: The SWP and Partition of Ireland (The Blanket), Sean O Mearthaile, Partition — what it means for Irish workers (The ETEXT Archives), Northern Ireland Timeline: Partition: Civil war 1922–1923 (BBC History)., Home rule for Ireland, Scotland and Wales (LSE Library)., Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland (Sinn Féin), History of the Republic of Ireland (History World) United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the majority of Ireland, while Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. Achieving a united Ireland is a central tenet of Irish nationalism, particularly of both mainstream and dissident Irish republican political and paramilitary organisations. Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom, and therefore oppose Irish unification. Ireland has been partitioned since May 1921, when the implementation of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the state of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which led to the independence of the Irish Free State, recognised partition, but this was opposed by anti-Treaty republicans. When the anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party came to power in the 1930s, it adopted a new constitution which claimed sovereignty over the entire island. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had a united Ireland as its goal during the conflict with British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from the 1960s to the 1990s known as The Troubles. The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, which ended the conflict, acknowledged the legitimacy of the desire for a united Ireland, while declaring that it could only be achieved with the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. In 2016, Sinn Féin called for a referendum on a united Ireland in the wake of the decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU). Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that in the event of reunification, Northern Ireland should be allowed to rejoin the EU, as East Germany joined it after the fall of the Berlin Wall (although the EU did not exist prior to German reunification). In demographic terms, the six counties of Northern Ireland taken as a whole contain a plurality of Ulster Protestants who almost all favour continued union with Great Britain, although individually four of the six counties have Irish Catholic majorities and majorities voting for Irish nationalist parties. The religious denominations of the citizens of Northern Ireland are only a generalised guide to likely political preferences, as there are both Protestant nationalists and Catholic unionists. Surveys identify a significant number of Catholics who favour the continuation of the union without identifying themselves as Unionists or British. The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union has increased the perceived likelihood of a united Ireland, in order to avoid the requirement for a possible hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Article 3.1 of the Constitution of Ireland "recognises that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island". This provision was introduced in 1999 after implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, as part of replacing the old Articles 2 and 3, which had laid a direct claim to the whole island as the national territory. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, provides that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland vote to form part of a united Ireland. It specifies that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland "shall exercise the power [to hold a referendum] if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland". Such referenda may not take place within seven years of each other. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 supersedes previous similar legislative provisions. The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 also provided that Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom unless a majority voted otherwise in a referendum, while under the Ireland Act 1949 the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland was needed for a united Ireland. In 1985, the Anglo-Irish Agreement affirmed that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. The Kingdom of Ireland as a whole had become part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union 1800. From the 1870s, support for some form of an elected parliament in Dublin grew. In 1870, Isaac Butt, who was a Protestant, formed the Home Government Association, which became the Home Rule League. Charles Stewart Parnell, also a Protestant, became leader in 1880, and the organisation became the Irish National League in 1882. Despite the religion of its early leaders, its support was strongly associated with Irish Catholics. In 1886, Parnell formed a parliamentary alliance with Liberal Party Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and secured the introduction of the First Home Rule Bill. This was opposed by the Conservative Party and led to a split in the Liberal Party. Opposition in Ireland was concentrated in the heavily Protestant counties in Ulster. The difference in religious background was a legacy of the Ulster Plantation in the early seventeenth century. In 1893, the Second Home Rule Bill passed in the House of Commons, but was defeated in the House of Lords, where the Conservatives dominated. A Third Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1912, and in September 1912, just under half a million men and women signed the Ulster Covenant to swear they would resist its application in Ulster. The Ulster Volunteer Force were formed in 1913 as a militia to resist Home Rule. The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (previously known as the Third Home Rule Bill) provided for a unitary devolved Irish Parliament, a culmination of several decades of work from the Irish Parliamentary Party. It was signed into law in September 1914 in the midst of the Home Rule Crisis and at the outbreak of the First World War. On the same day, the Suspensory Act 1914 suspended its actual operation. In 1916, a group of revolutionaries led by the Irish Republican Brotherhood launched the Easter Rising, during which they issued a Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The rebellion was not successful and sixteen of the leaders were executed. The small separatist party Sinn Féin became associated with the Rising in its aftermath as several of those involved in it were party members. The Irish Convention held between 1917 and 1918 sought to reach agreement on manner in which home rule would be implemented after the war. All Irish parties were invited, but Sinn Féin boycotted the proceedings. By the end of the First World War, a number of moderate unionists came to support Home Rule, believing that it was the only way to keep a united Ireland in the United Kingdom. The Irish Dominion League opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions, while arguing that the whole of Ireland should be granted dominion status with the British Empire. At the 1918 election Sinn Féin won 73 of the 105 seats; however, there was a strong regional divide, with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) winning 23 of the 38 seats in Ulster. Sinn Féin had run on a manifesto of abstaining from the United Kingdom House of Commons, and from 1919 met in Dublin as Dáil Éireann. At its first meeting, the Dáil adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic, a claim which it made in respect of the entire island. Supporters of this Declaration fought in the Irish War of Independence. During this period, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 repealed the previous 1914 Act, and provided for two separate devolved parliaments in Ireland. It defined Northern Ireland as "the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry" and Southern Ireland "so much of Ireland as is not comprised within the said parliamentary counties and boroughs". Section 3 of this Act provided that the parliaments may be united by identical acts of parliament: Sinn Féin did not recognise this act, treating elections to the respective parliaments as a single election to the Second Dáil. While the Parliament of Northern Ireland sat from 1921 to 1972, the Parliament of Southern Ireland was suspended after its first meeting was boycotted by the Sinn Féin members, who comprised 124 of its 128 MPs. A truce in the War of Independence was called in July 1921, followed by negotiations in London between the government of the United Kingdom and plenipotentiaries of Dáil Éireann. On 6 December 1921, they signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was approved by the Dáil in January 1922, leading to the establishment of the Irish Free State the following year, a dominion within the British Empire, from the territory which had been defined as Southern Ireland. Article 11 of the Treaty allowed the Northern Ireland Parliament to opt into the Irish Free State, an option which was not exercised: In Irish republican legitimist theory, the Treaty was illegitimate and could not be approved. According to this theory, the Second Dáil did not dissolve and members of the Republican Government remained as the legitimate government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919. Adherents to this theory rejected the legitimacy of both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The report of Boundary Commission in 1925 established under the Treaty did not lead to any alteration in the border. Within Northern Ireland, the Nationalist Party was an organisational successor to the Home Rule Movement, and advocated the end of partition. It had a continuous presence in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1921 to 1972, but was in permanent opposition to the UUP government. A new Constitution of Ireland was proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1937 and approved by the voters of the Irish Free State (thereafter simply Ireland). Articles 2 and 3 of this Constitution claimed the whole island of Ireland as the national territory, while claiming legal jurisdiction only over the previous territory of the Irish Free State. Article 15.2 allowed for the "creation or recognition of subordinate legislatures and for the powers and functions of these legislatures", which would have allowed for the continuation of the Parliament of Northern Ireland within a unitary Irish state. In 1946, Winston Churchill told the Irish High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, "I said a few words in Parliament the other day about your country because I still hope for a United Ireland. You must get those fellows in the north in, though; you can't do it by force. There is not, and never was, any bitterness in my heart towards your country." He later said, "You know I have had many invitations to visit Ulster but I have refused them all. I don't want to go there at all, I would much rather go to southern Ireland. Maybe I'll buy another horse with an entry in the Irish Derby." Under the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland declared itself a republic and left the British Commonwealth. In response, the United Kingdom passed the Ireland Act 1949. Section 1(2) of this act affirmed the provision in the Treaty that the position of Ireland remained a matter for the Parliament of Northern Ireland: Between 1956 and 1962, the IRA engaged in a border campaign against British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary outposts with the aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland. This coincided with brief electoral success of Sinn Féin, which won four seats at the 1957 Irish general election. This was its first electoral success since 1927, and it did not win seats in the Republic of Ireland again until 1997. The border campaign was entirely unsuccessful in its aims. The Northern Ireland civil rights movement emerged in 1967 to campaign for civil rights for Catholics in Northern Ireland. Tensions between republican and loyalist groups in the north erupted into outright violence in the late 1960s. The British government deployed troops in the area under Operation Banner. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a thirty-year campaign against British security forces with the aim of winning a united Ireland. In 1970, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was established to campaign for civil rights and a united Ireland by peaceful, constitutional means. The party rose to be the dominant party representing the nationalist community until the early twenty-first century. In 1972, the parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended, and under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, it was formally abolished. Section 1 of the 1973 Act stated, A border poll was held in Northern Ireland in 1973. The SDLP and Sinn Féin called for a boycott of the poll, and 98.9% of votes cast supported remaining part of the United Kingdom. In 1983, the Irish government led by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald established the New Ireland Forum as a consultation on a new Ireland. Though all parties in Ireland were invited, the only ones to attend were Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and the SDLP. Its report considered three options: a unitary state, i.e., a united Ireland; a federal/confederal state; and joint sovereignty. These options were rejected by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1985, the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement; the British government accepted an advisory role for the Irish government in the future of Northern Ireland. Article 1 of the Agreement stated that the future constitutional position of Northern Ireland would be a matter for the people of Northern Ireland: In the Downing Street Declaration, Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Prime Minister John Major issued a joint statement, in which Major, "reiterated on behalf of the British Government, that they have no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland". The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a culmination of the peace process. The agreement acknowledged nationalism and unionism as "equally legitimate, political aspirations". In the Northern Ireland Assembly, all members would designate as Unionist, Nationalist, or Other, and certain measures would require cross-community support. The agreement was signed by the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland, it was supported by all parties who were in the Northern Ireland Forum with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Unionist Party, and it was supported by all parties in the Oireachtas. It was also opposed by dissident republicans, including Republican Sinn Féin and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. It was approved in referendums in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. Included in the Agreement were provisions which became part of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on the form of a future referendum on a united Ireland. On the establishment of the institutions in 1999, Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland were amended to read: In a referendum in June 2016 the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The majority of those voting in Northern Ireland, however, voted for the UK to remain. Of the parties in the Assembly, only the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and the People Before Profit Alliance (PBP) had campaigned for a Leave vote. Irish politicians began the discussion regarding possible changes to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. There are several key issues related to the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, including the establishment of a new external border of the European Union, or the withdrawal of access, to Northern Ireland, of the regional development assistance scheme (and new funding thereof) from the European Union. Sinn Féin cited these concerns as the basis for new discussion on a united Ireland. These calls were rejected by the British government and Unionist politicians, with Theresa Villiers arguing that there was no evidence that opinion in Northern Ireland had shifted towards being in favour of a united Ireland. In the 2017 Assembly election, the DUP lost ten seats and came just one seat ahead of Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin used this opportunity to call for a Northern Ireland referendum on a united Ireland. The Brexit Secretary, David Davis, confirmed to Mark Durkan, the SDLP MP for Foyle, that in the event of Northern Ireland becoming part of a united Ireland, "Northern Ireland would be in a position of becoming part of an existing EU member state, rather than seeking to join the EU as a new independent state." Enda Kenny pointed to the provisions that allowed East Germany to join the West and the EEC during the reunification of Germany as a precedent. In April 2017 the European Council acknowledged that, in the event of Irish unification, "the entire territory of such a united Ireland would [...] be part of the European Union." The SDLP manifesto for the 2017 UK general election called for a referendum on a united Ireland after the UK withdraws from the EU. However the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire has said the conditions for a vote are "not remotely satisfied". Within the Northern Ireland Assembly, MLAs designate as Unionist, Nationalist or Other. The DUP (28 seats), the UUP (10 seats) the TUV (1 seat) and the Independent MLA Claire Sugden are designated as Unionist; Sinn Féin (which won 27 seats in the 2017 Assembly election) and the SDLP (12 seats) are designated as Nationalist; the Alliance Party (8 seats), the Green Party (2 seats) and the PBP (1 seat) are designated as Other. There are a number of minor nationalist parties, including the Irish Republican Socialist Party, which supports a united socialist Irish state and is affiliated with the Irish National Liberation Army. Another such party, Republican Sinn Féin, linked to the Continuity IRA, maintain the Irish republican legitimist theory that neither state in Ireland is legitimate. Its Éire Nua (in English, New Ireland) policy advocates a unified federal state with regional governments for the four provinces and the national capital in Athlone. None of these parties has significant electoral support. Within the Oireachtas, there has traditionally been broad support for a united Ireland, with differences over the twentieth century on how it would be achieved. This includes Sinn Féin, which has had seats in the Dáil since 1997. The initial party constitution of Fianna Fáil in 1926 under Éamon de Valera included as the first of its aims, "To secure the Unity and Independence of Ireland as a Republic". In 1937, de Valera proposed the Constitution of Ireland which laid claim to the whole island of Ireland. In the 1980s, led by Charles Haughey, the party opposed the consideration of options other than a unitary state in the New Ireland Forum Report and opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement; this stance led in part to the Des O'Malley and Mary Harney leaving Fianna Fáil and establishing the Progressive Democrats, a party that lasted from 1985 to 2008. Fianna Fáil leaders Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern led Irish governments in favour of the Downing Street Declaration and the Good Friday Agreement respectively. When formed in 1933, Fine Gael initially used the subtitle United Ireland. Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald convened the New Ireland Forum in 1983 and negotiated the Anglo-Irish Agreement. In the aftermath of the vote on Brexit, Enda Kenny sought assurances on the position of Northern Ireland in the case of a united Ireland. The Irish Labour Party has adopted a similar approach to Fine Gael in government to a united Ireland. In a survey of TDs conducted by TheJournal.ie on support for a border poll and a united Ireland conducted in December 2016, only TDs from the Anti-Austerity Alliance (now Solidarity) stated they were opposed to a united Ireland at the present moment. Of the British parties, the Conservative Party is explicitly unionist; it has formally been called the Conservative and Unionist Party since a merger with the Liberal Unionist Party in 1912. The UUP was affiliated with the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations until 1985. The Northern Ireland Conservatives are a minor unionist party in Northern Ireland. Historically, there has been support for a united Ireland within the left of the British Labour Party, and in the 1980s it became official policy to support a united Ireland by consent. The policy of "unity by consent" continued into the 1990s, eventually being replaced by a policy of neutrality in line with the Downing Street Declaration. The current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supports a united Ireland, although he has said that it is "up for the Irish people to decide" whether to remain part of the UK. They do not organise electorally in Northern Ireland, respecting the SDLP as their sister party within the Party of European Socialists. Similarly, the Liberal Democrats co-operate with the Alliance Party and share their support of the Good Friday Agreement while expressing reservations about what they perceive as ‘institutionalised sectarianism’ in the agreement. Former Alliance leader Lord Alderdice is a member of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. The Good Friday Agreement states that "the Secretary of State" should call a referendum "‘if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland." Historically, opinion polls of the Northern Ireland population consistently showed majorities opposed to a United Ireland and in support of Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. For example, in a November 2015 survey RTÉ and the BBC, 30% of the population expressed support for a United Ireland in their lifetime with 43% opposed and 27% undecided. However, when asked about the status of Northern Ireland in the short-to-medium term, support for unity was lower at around 13% of the population. The 2013 annual Northern Ireland Life and Times survey conducted by the Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University found that a united Ireland was the favoured long term option of 15% of the population while remaining part of the United Kingdom was the favoured long term option of 66% of the population. When the same survey was carried out in 2015, support was 22%. In 1973, the population of Northern Ireland was granted a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or join with the Republic of Ireland to form a united Ireland. The result was 98.9% in favour of union with the rest of the UK, but the poll was overwhelmingly boycotted by nationalists, and the turnout was therefore 58.7%. The pro-UK vote did however represent 57.5% of the entire electorate, notwithstanding the boycott. Provisions for future referendums were included in the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Many Unionist Protestants in Northern Ireland argue they have a distinct identity that would be overwhelmed in a united Ireland. They cite the decline of the small Protestant population of the Republic of Ireland since independence from the United Kingdom, the economic cost of unification, their place in a key international player within the UK and their mainly non- Irish ancestry. Unionist people in Northern Ireland primarily find their cultural and ethnic identity from the Scottish and English planters, whose descendants can be found in the three counties of Ulster which are governed by the Republic of Ireland. Such individuals celebrate their Scots heritage each year like their counterparts in the other six counties. While Catholics in general consider themselves to be Irish, Protestants generally see themselves as British, as shown by several studies and surveys performed between 1971 and 2006. Many Protestants do not consider themselves as primarily Irish, as many Irish nationalists do, but rather within the context of an Ulster or British identity. A 1999 survey showed that a little over half of Protestants felt "Not at all Irish", while the rest "felt Irish" in varying degrees. A 2011 survey by Northern Ireland Life and Times found that 52% of Northern Irish Catholic respondents favoured union with Great Britain over a united Ireland. This is despite the fact that most Catholics who vote do so for political parties that are Nationalist. According to a 2015 opinion poll, 70% expressed a long-term preference of the maintenance of Northern Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom (either directly ruled or with devolved government), while 14% express a preference for membership of a united Ireland. This discrepancy can be explained by the overwhelming preference among Protestants to remain a part of the UK (93%), while Catholic preferences are spread across a number of solutions to the constitutional question including remaining a part of the UK (47%), a united Ireland (32%), Northern Ireland becoming an independent state (4%), and those who "don't know" (16%). Since the 2016 Brexit vote, support for reunification has increased, with 22% of respondents favourable towards reunification, up from 17% in 2013. 43% of Catholics would now back reunification, up from 35% in 2013. According to this survey, support for a referendum stands at 53% of Catholics, while 72% of Protestant respondents were opposed to the idea. A poll in May 2017 found that 51% were in favour of holding a referendum on a united Ireland within the next five years. In October 2017 a poll found that 61.94 percent were in favour of having a referendum on a united Ireland within the next ten years. The same poll found that 55 percent of those asked would vote to remain within the United Kingdom if a referendum was held tomorrow while 33.7 percent said they would vote yes and 9.8 percent were undecided. The poll also asked how those asked would vote in the event of a "hard Brexit" that was bad for Northern Ireland and a "soft Brexit" that was good for Northern Ireland but the undecided were excluded. In the event of the latter 62.84 percent would vote to remain in the UK while 37.14 would vote for a United Ireland. In the case of the former 53.57 percent said they would vote to remain in the United Kingdom while 46.43 would vote to leave it and have a United Ireland. In December 2017, an opinion poll carried out by LucidTalk on more than 2,000 people saw 47.9% of respondents willing to vote for a united Ireland if a border poll was held in the event of a hard Brexit, against 45.4 for maintaining the status quo. 6% of respondents were undecided, and less than 1% of respondents stated that they would not vote. A Lord Ashcroft poll, with 1,542 people questioned online from 30 August to 2 September 2019, found 46% of the respondents willing to vote for leaving the Union and joining the Republic of Ireland, and 45% would vote to stay in the U.K. The other respondents would not vote or didn't know. An opinion poll of 1,089 people conducted by LucidTalk in 2014 around the time of the Scottish referendum posed several questions. On the question of whether or not there should be a border poll, 47% said "yes", 37% "no" and 16% "don't know". On the question, "If a referendum on Irish Unity was called under the Good Friday Agreement would you vote: Yes for unity as soon as possible, Yes for unity in 20 years, or No for Northern Ireland to remain as it is", the results were as follows. In 2016 an Ipsos MORI poll asked "If there was a referendum on the border tomorrow would you:" and the answers for different regions of Northern Ireland were as follows, The same poll recorded answers from people in different age groups as follows, Answers from people of different religious backgrounds were as follows, A similar LucidTalk poll conducted in May 2017 found that 51% of people would be in favour of a border poll within the next five years while 39% would not and 10% did not know. Respondents were not asked how they would vote in such a poll. A LucidTalk opinion poll of 1,334 Northern Irish residents conducted in Oct–Nov 2018 found majority support (60%) for Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom if the UK were to remain an EU member state, an even split (48% each) if the UK were to leave the EU on the terms negotiated between the British Government and the EU, and majority support (55%) for Northern Ireland unifying with the Irish republic if the UK left the EU under a no-deal scenario. There are some very small pressure groups in the Republic of Ireland, such as the Reform Group and lodges of the Orange Order, that are sympathetic to Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future, but their impact on the broader political opinion is negligible. A minority of politically conservative Catholic writers from the Republic of Ireland, such as Mary Kenny and Desmond Fennell have expressed misgivings about a united Ireland, fearing the incorporation of a large number of Protestants would threaten what they see as the Catholic nature of the Republic. A Red C/Sunday Times poll in 2010 found that 57% are in favour of a united Ireland, 22% say they are opposed, while 21% are undecided. In October 2015 an opinion poll commissioned by RTÉ and the BBC and carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes asked those in the Republic of Ireland the question "There are a number of possible options for the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. In the short to medium term, do you think Northern Ireland should…" with the following responses, The same poll also asked "Thinking of the long-term policy for Northern Ireland, would you like to see a united Ireland in your lifetime?" with the following responses, The poll then asked a further question concerning the influence of the tax consequences of a united Ireland on support for it, In December 2016 RTE's Claire Byrne Live/ Amárach Research panel asked 'Is it time for a united Ireland?' Forty-six percent of those asked said yes while 32% said no and 22% said that they didn't know. Support was highest among those aged 25–34 with 54% saying yes. In May 2019 an RTE/REDC exit poll at the 2019 elections found that 65% of respondents are in favour of a united Ireland, whereas 15% were against it. In 2019 a poll by Ipsos Mori and King's College London asked people in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) 'If there were to be a referendum in Northern Ireland on its future, would you personally prefer Northern Ireland to choose to Stay in the UK or Leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland?'. The responses revealed that 36% wanted Northern Ireland to stay in the UK, 19% wanted it to join the republic, whilst 36% did not mind either way and 9% did not know. It further revealed that support for Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom was highest among those who intended to vote Conservative, at 49%, compared to 35% for Labour voters and 31% for Liberal Democrat voters. Politics of Northern Ireland, Demography of Northern Ireland, Protestant Irish nationalists, The Troubles, Partition of Ireland Geoffrey Bell, Troublesome Business : the Labour Party and the Irish Question. Pluto Press, London 1982., Ronan Fanning, Independent Ireland. Helicon, Dublin, 1983., Bob Rowthorn and Naomi Wayne, Northern Ireland : The Political Economy of Conflict. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1988., Daltún Ó Ceallaigh, Labour, Nationalism and Irish Freedom. Léirmheas, Dublin, 1991., Vincent J. Delacy Ryan, Ireland Restored : the New Self-determination. Freedom House, New York, 1991., David McKittrick, Through the Minefield. Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1999., Patrick J. Roche and Brian Barton, The Northern Ireland Question : Nationalism, Unionism and Partition Ashgate, Aldershot, 1999., Catherine O'Donnell, Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968–2005. Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 2007., Richard Humphreys, Countdown to Unity : Debating Irish Reunification. Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 2008., Kevin Meagher, A United Ireland: Why Unification Is Inevitable and How It Will Come About, Biteback Publishing, 2016. The first evidence of human presence in Ireland may date to about 12,500 years ago. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quaternary around 9700 BC, heralds the beginning of Prehistoric Ireland, which includes the archaeological periods known as the Mesolithic, the Neolithic from about 4000 BC, the Copper and Bronze Age from about 2300 BC and Iron Age beginning about 600 BC. Ireland's prehistory ends with the emergence of "protohistoric" Gaelic Ireland in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. By the late 4th century AD Christianity had begun to gradually subsume or replace the earlier Celtic polytheism. By the end of the 6th century it had introduced writing along with a predominantly monastic Celtic Christian church, profoundly altering Irish society. Viking raids and settlement from the late 8th century AD resulted in extensive cultural interchange, as well as innovation in military and transport technology. Many of Ireland's towns were founded at this time as Viking trading posts and coinage made its first appearance. Viking penetration was limited and concentrated along coasts and rivers, and ceased to be a major threat to Gaelic culture after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Norman invasion in 1169 resulted again in a partial conquest of the island and marked the beginning of more than 800 years of English political and military involvement in Ireland. Initially successful, Norman gains were rolled back over succeeding centuries as a Gaelic resurgence reestablished Gaelic cultural preeminence over most of the country, apart from the walled towns and the area around Dublin known as The Pale. Reduced to the control of small pockets, the English Crown did not make another attempt to conquer the island until after the end of the Wars of the Roses (1488). This released resources and manpower for overseas expansion, beginning in the early 16th century. However, the nature of Ireland's decentralised political organisation into small territories (known as túatha), martial traditions, difficult terrain and climate and lack of urban infrastructure, meant that attempts to assert Crown authority were slow and expensive. Attempts to impose the new Protestant faith were also successfully resisted by both the Gaelic and Norman-Irish. The new policy fomented the rebellion of the Hiberno-Norman Earl of Kildare Silken Thomas in 1534, keen to defend his traditional autonomy and Catholicism, and marked the beginning of the prolonged Tudor conquest of Ireland lasting from 1534 to 1603. Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland in 1541 to facilitate the project. Ireland became a potential battleground in the wars between Catholic Counter-Reformation and Protestant Reformation Europe. England's attempts to either conquer or assimilate both the Hiberno-Norman lordships and the Gaelic territories into the Kingdom of Ireland provided the impetus for ongoing warfare, notable examples being the 1st Desmond Rebellion, the 2nd Desmond Rebellion and the Nine Years War. This period was marked by the Crown policies of, at first, surrender and regrant, and later, plantation, involving the arrival of thousands of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, and the displacement of both the Hiberno-Normans (or Old English as they were known by then) and the native Catholic landholders. Gaelic Ireland was finally defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1601 which marked the collapse of the Gaelic system and the beginning of Ireland's history as part of the British Empire. During the 17th century, this division between a Protestant landholding minority and a dispossessed Catholic majority was intensified and conflict between them was to become a recurrent theme in Irish history. Domination of Ireland by the Protestant Ascendancy was reinforced after two periods of religious war, the Irish Confederate Wars in 1641-52 and the Williamite war in 1689-91. Political power thereafter rested almost exclusively in the hands of a minority Protestant Ascendancy, while Catholics and members of dissenting Protestant denominations suffered severe political and economic privations under the Penal Laws. On 1 January 1801, in the wake of the republican United Irishmen Rebellion, the Irish Parliament was abolished and Ireland became part of a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formed by the Acts of Union 1800. Catholics were not granted full rights until Catholic Emancipation in 1829, achieved by Daniel O’Connell. The catastrophe of the Great Famine struck Ireland in 1845 resulting in over a million deaths from starvation and disease and in a million refugees fleeing the country, mainly to America. Irish attempts to break away continued with Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party which strove from the 1880s to attain Home Rule through the parliamentary constitutional movement, eventually winning the Home Rule Act 1914, although this Act was suspended at the outbreak of World War I. In 1916 the Easter Rising succeeded in turning public opinion against the British establishment after the execution of the leaders by British authorities. It also eclipsed the home rule movement. In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State but under the Anglo-Irish Treaty the six northeastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained within the United Kingdom, creating the partition of Ireland. The treaty was opposed by many; their opposition led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War, in which Irish Free State, or "pro-treaty", forces proved victorious. The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by the division of society along sectarian faultlines and conflict between (mainly Catholic) Irish nationalists and (mainly Protestant) unionists. These divisions erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s, after civil rights marches were met with opposition by authorities. The violence escalated after the deployment of the British Army to maintain authority led to clashes with nationalist communities. The violence continued for 28 years until an uneasy, but largely successful peace was finally achieved with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. What is known of pre-Christian Ireland comes from references in Roman writings, Irish poetry and myth, and archaeology. While some possible Paleolithic tools have been found, none of the finds are convincing of Paleolithic settlement in Ireland. However a bear bone found in Alice and Gwendoline Cave, County Clare, in 1903 may push back dates for the earliest human settlement of Ireland to 10,500 BC. The bone shows clear signs of cut marks with stone tools, and has been radiocarbon dated to 12,500 years ago. It is possible that humans crossed a landbridge during the warm period, referred to as the Bølling-Allerød warming, that lasted between 14,700 and 12,700 years ago towards the end of the last ice age, and allowed the reinhabitation of northern Europe. A sudden return to freezing conditions known as the Younger Dryas cold phase, which lasted from 10,900 BC to 9700 BC, may have depopulated Ireland. During the Younger Dryas, sea levels continued to rise and no ice- free land bridge between Great Britain and Ireland ever returned. The earliest confirmed inhabitants of Ireland were Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, who arrived some time around 7900 BC. While some authors take the view that a land bridge connecting Ireland to Great Britain still existed at that time, more recent studies indicate that Ireland was separated from Britain by c. 14,000 BC, when the climate was still cold and local ice caps persisted in parts of the country. The people remained hunter-gatherers until about 4000 BCE. It is argued this is when the first signs of agriculture started to show, leading to the establishment of a Neolithic culture, characterised by the appearance of pottery, polished stone tools, rectangular wooden houses, megalithic tombs, and domesticated sheep and cattle. Some of these tombs, as at Knowth and Dowth, are huge stone monuments and many of them, such as the Passage Tombs of Newgrange, are astronomically aligned. Four main types of Irish Megalithic Tombs have been identified: dolmens, court cairns, passage tombs and wedge- shaped gallery graves. In Leinster and Munster, individual adult males were buried in small stone structures, called cists, under earthen mounds and were accompanied by distinctive decorated pottery. This culture apparently prospered, and the island became more densely populated. Near the end of the Neolithic new types of monuments developed, such as circular embanked enclosures and timber, stone and post and pit circles. The Céide Fields is an archaeological site on the north County Mayo coast in the west of Ireland, about 7 kilometres northwest of Ballycastle, and the site is the most extensive Neolithic site in Ireland and contains the oldest known field systems in the world. Using various dating methods, it was discovered that the creation and development of the Céide Fields goes back some five and a half thousand years (~3500 BCE). The Bronze Age, which came to Ireland around 2000 BCE, saw the production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments, weapons and tools. There was a movement away from the construction of communal megalithic tombs to the burial of the dead in small stone cists or simple pits, which could be situated in cemeteries or in circular earth or stone built burial mounds known respectively as barrows and cairns. As the period progressed, inhumation burial gave way to cremation and by the Middle Bronze Age, remains were often placed beneath large burial urns. The Iron Age in Ireland began about 600 BC. The period between the start of the Iron Age and the historic period (431 CE) saw the gradual infiltration of small groups of Celtic-speaking people into Ireland, with items of the continental Celtic La Tene style being found in at least the northern part of the island by about 300 BCE. The result of a gradual blending of Celtic and indigenous cultures would result in the emergence of Gaelic culture by the fifth century. It is also during the fifth century that the main over-kingdoms of In Tuisceart, Airgialla, Ulaid, Mide, Laigin, Mumhain, Cóiced Ol nEchmacht began to emerge (see Kingdoms of ancient Ireland). Within these kingdoms a rich culture flourished. The society of these kingdoms was dominated by an upper class consisting of aristocratic warriors and learned people, which possibly included Druids. Linguists realised from the 17th century onwards that the language spoken by these people, the Goidelic languages, was a branch of the Celtic languages. This is usually explained as a result of invasions by Celts from the continent. However, other research has postulated that the culture developed gradually and continuously, and that the introduction of Celtic language and elements of Celtic culture may have been a result of cultural exchange with Celtic groups in southwest continental Europe from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The hypothesis that the native Late Bronze Age inhabitants gradually absorbed Celtic influences has since been supported by some recent genetic research. The Romans referred to Ireland as Scotia 500 CE, and later Hibernia. Ptolemy, in 100 CE, recorded Ireland's geography and tribes. Ireland was never a part of the Roman Empire, but Roman influence was often projected well beyond its borders. Tacitus writes that an exiled Irish prince was with Agricola in Roman Britain and would return to seize power in Ireland. Juvenal tells us that Roman "arms had been taken beyond the shores of Ireland". In recent years, some experts have hypothesized that Roman-sponsored Gaelic forces (or perhaps even Roman regulars) mounted some kind of invasion around 100 CE, but the exact relationship between Rome and the dynasties and peoples of Hibernia remains unclear. Irish confederations (the Scoti) attacked and some settled in Britain during the Great Conspiracy of 367. In particular, the Dál Riata settled in western Scotland and the Western Isles. The middle centuries of the first millennium CE marked great changes in Ireland. Politically, what appears to have been a prehistoric emphasis on tribal affiliation had been replaced by the 8th century by patrilineal dynasties ruling the island's kingdoms. Many formerly powerful kingdoms and peoples disappeared. Irish pirates struck all over the coast of western Britain in the same way that the Vikings would later attack Ireland. Some of these founded entirely new kingdoms in Pictland and, to a lesser degree, in parts of Cornwall, Wales, and Cumbria. The Attacotti of south Leinster may even have served in the Roman military in the mid-to-late 300s. Perhaps it was some of the latter returning home as rich mercenaries, merchants, or slaves stolen from Britain or Gaul, that first brought the Christian faith to Ireland. Some early sources claim that there were missionaries active in southern Ireland long before St. Patrick. Whatever the route, and there were probably many, this new faith was to have the most profound effect on the Irish. Tradition maintains that in A.D. 432, St. Patrick arrived on the island and, in the years that followed, worked to convert the Irish to Christianity. St Patrick's Confession, in Latin, written by him is the earliest Irish historical document. It gives some information about the Saint. On the other hand, according to Prosper of Aquitaine, a contemporary chronicler, Palladius was sent to Ireland by the Pope in 431 as "first Bishop to the Irish believing in Christ", which demonstrates that there were already Christians living in Ireland. Palladius seems to have worked purely as Bishop to Irish Christians in the Leinster and Meath kingdoms, while Patrick – who may have arrived as late as 461 – worked first and foremost as a missionary to the pagan Irish, in the more remote kingdoms in Ulster and Connacht. Patrick is traditionally credited with preserving and codifying Irish laws and changing only those that conflicted with Christian practices. He is credited with introducing the Roman alphabet, which enabled Irish monks to preserve parts of the extensive oral literature. The historicity of these claims remains the subject of debate and there is no direct evidence linking Patrick with any of these accomplishments. The myth of Patrick, as scholars refer to it, was developed in the centuries after his death. Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished shortly thereafter. Missionaries from Ireland to England and Continental Europe spread news of the flowering of learning, and scholars from other nations came to Irish monasteries. The excellence and isolation of these monasteries helped preserve Latin learning during the Early Middle Ages. The period of Insular art, mainly in the fields of illuminated manuscripts, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, the Ardagh Chalice, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. Insular style was to be a crucial ingredient in the formation of the Romanesque and Gothic styles throughout Western Europe. Sites dating to this period include clochans, ringforts and promontory forts. Francis John Byrne describes the effect of the epidemics which occurred during this era: The plagues of the 660s and the 680s had a traumatic effect on Irish society. The golden age of the saints was over, together with the generation of kings who could fire a saga-writer's imagination. The literary tradition looks back to the reign of the sons of Aed Slaine (Diarmait and Blathmac, who died in 665) as to the end of an era. Antiquaries, brehons, genealogists and hagiographers, felt the need to collect ancient traditions before they were totally forgotten. Many were in fact swallowed by oblivion; when we examine the writing of Tirechan we encounter obscure references to tribes which are quite unknown to the later genealogical tradition. The laws describe a ... society that was obsolescent, and the meaning and use of the word moccu dies out with archaic Old Irish at the beginning of the new century. The first English involvement in Ireland took place in this period. Tullylease, Rath Melsigi and Maigh Eo na Saxain were founded by 670 for English students who wished to study or live in Ireland. In summer 684, an English expeditionary force sent by Northumbrian King Ecgfrith raided Brega. The first recorded Viking raid in Irish history occurred in 795 AD when Vikings from Norway looted the island. Early Viking raids were generally fast- paced and small in scale. These early raids interrupted the golden age of Christian Irish culture and marked the beginning of two centuries of intermittent warfare, with waves of Viking raiders plundering monasteries and towns throughout Ireland. Most of those early raiders came from western Norway. The Vikings were expert sailors, who travelled in longships, and by the early 840s, had begun to establish settlements along the Irish coasts and to spend the winter months there. The longships were technologically advanced, allowing them to travel faster through the narrow rivers. Vikings founded settlements in several places; most famously in Dublin. Most of the settlements were near the water, allowing the Vikings to trade using their longships. Written accounts from this time (early to mid 840s) show that the Vikings were moving further inland to attack (often using rivers) and then retreating to their coastal headquarters. In 852, the Vikings landed in Dublin Bay and established a fortress. Dublin became the centre for trade of many goods, especially slaves. Bringing back new ideas and motivations, they began settling more permanently. In the tenth century an earthen bank was constructed around the city with a second larger bank built outside that in the eleventh century. On the interior of the town, an extensive series of defences have been excavated at Fishamble Street, Dublin. The site featured nine waterfronts, including two possible flood banks and two positive defensive embankments during the Viking Age. The early embankments were non- defensive, being only one metre high, and it is uncertain how much of the site they encircled. After several generations a group of mixed Irish and Norse ethnic background arose, the Gall-Gaels, '(Gall being the Old Irish word for foreign). The second wave of Vikings made stations at winter-bases called longphorts to serve as control centres to exert a more localized force on the island through raiding. The third wave in 917 established towns as not only control centres, but also as centres of trade to enter into Irish economy and greater Western Europe. Returning to Dublin, they set up a market town. Over the next century a great period of economic growth would spread across the pastoral country. The Vikings introduced the concept of international trade to the Irish, as well as popularizing a silver based economy with local trade and the first minting of coins in 997. In 902 Máel Finnia mac Flannacain of Brega and Cerball mac Muirecáin of Leinster joined forces against Dublin, and "The heathens were driven from Ireland, i.e. from the fortress of Áth Cliath [Dublin]". They were allowed by the Saxons to settle in Wirral, England, but would however later return to retake Dublin. The Vikings never achieved total domination of Ireland, often fighting for and against various Irish kings. The Battle of Clontarf in 1014 began the decline of Viking power in Ireland but the towns which Vikings had founded continued to flourish, and trade became an important part of the Irish economy. By the 12th century, Ireland was divided politically into a shifting hierarchy of petty kingdoms and over-kingdoms. Power was exercised by the heads of a few regional dynasties vying against each other for supremacy over the whole island. One of these men, King Diarmait Mac Murchada of Leinster was forcibly exiled by the new High King, Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of the Western kingdom of Connacht. Fleeing to Aquitaine, Diarmait obtained permission from Henry II to recruit Norman knights to regain his kingdom. The first Norman knight landed in Ireland in 1167, followed by the main forces of Normans, Welsh and Flemings. Several counties were restored to the control of Diarmait, who named his son-in-law, the Norman Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, heir to his kingdom. This troubled King Henry, who feared the establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland. Accordingly, he resolved to establish his authority. In 1177 Prince John Lackland was made Lord of Ireland by his father Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford. With the authority of the papal bull Laudabiliter from Adrian IV, Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterford in 1171, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. Henry awarded his Irish territories to his younger son John with the title Dominus Hiberniae ("Lord of Ireland"). When John unexpectedly succeeded his brother as King John of England, the "Lordship of Ireland" fell directly under the English Crown. The Normans initially controlled the entire east coast, from Waterford to eastern Ulster, and penetrated a considerable distance inland as well. The counties were ruled by many smaller kings. The first Lord of Ireland was King John, who visited Ireland in 1185 and 1210 and helped consolidate the Norman- controlled areas, while ensuring that the many Irish kings swore fealty to him. Throughout the thirteenth century the policy of the English Kings was to weaken the power of the Norman Lords in Ireland. For example, King John encouraged Hugh de Lacy to destabilise and then overthrow the Lord of Ulster, before naming him as the first Earl of Ulster. The Hiberno-Norman community suffered from a series of invasions that ceased the spread of their settlement and power. Politics and events in Gaelic Ireland served to draw the settlers deeper into the orbit of the Irish. By 1261 the weakening of the Normans had become manifest when Fineen MacCarthy defeated a Norman army at the Battle of Callann. The war continued between the different lords and earls for about 100 years, causing much destruction, especially around Dublin. In this chaotic situation, local Irish lords won back large amounts of land that their families had lost since the conquest and held them after the war was over. The Black Death arrived in Ireland in 1348. Because most of the English and Norman inhabitants of Ireland lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed rural settlements. After it had passed, Gaelic Irish language and customs came to dominate the country again. The English- controlled territory shrank to a fortified area around Dublin (the Pale), whose rulers had little real authority outside (beyond the Pale). By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared. England's attentions were diverted by the Wars of the Roses. The Lordship of Ireland lay in the hands of the powerful Fitzgerald Earl of Kildare, who dominated the country by means of military force and alliances with Irish lords and clans. Around the country, local Gaelic and Gaelicised lords expanded their powers at the expense of the English government in Dublin but the power of the Dublin government was seriously curtailed by the introduction of Poynings' Law in 1494. According to this act the Irish Parliament was essentially put under the control of the Westminster Parliament. From 1536, Henry VIII of England decided to reconquer Ireland and bring it under crown control. The Fitzgerald dynasty of Kildare, who had become the effective rulers of Ireland in the 15th century, had become unreliable allies of the Tudor monarchs. They had invited Burgundian troops into Dublin to crown the Yorkist pretender, Lambert Simnel as King of England in 1487. Again in 1536, Silken Thomas Fitzgerald went into open rebellion against the crown. Having put down this rebellion, Henry resolved to bring Ireland under English government control so the island would not become a base for future rebellions or foreign invasions of England. In 1541, he upgraded Ireland from a lordship to a full Kingdom. Henry was proclaimed King of Ireland at a meeting of the Irish Parliament that year. This was the first meeting of the Irish Parliament to be attended by the Gaelic Irish chieftains as well as the Hiberno-Norman aristocracy. With the institutions of government in place, the next step was to extend the control of the English Kingdom of Ireland over all of its claimed territory. This took nearly a century, with various English administrations either negotiating or fighting with the independent Irish and Old English lords. The Spanish Armada in Ireland suffered heavy losses during an extraordinary season of storms in the autumn of 1588. Among the survivors was Captain Francisco de Cuellar, who gave a remarkable account of his experiences on the run in Ireland. The re-conquest was completed during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, after several brutal conflicts. (See the Desmond Rebellions, 1569–73 and 1579–83, and the Nine Years War, 1594–1603, for details.) After this point, the English authorities in Dublin established real control over Ireland for the first time, bringing a centralised government to the entire island, and successfully disarmed the native lordships. In 1614 the Catholic majority in the Irish Parliament was overthrown through the creation of numerous new boroughs which were dominated by the new settlers. However, the English were not successful in converting the Catholic Irish to the Protestant religion and the brutal methods used by crown authority (including resorting to martial law) to bring the country under English control, heightened resentment of English rule. From the mid-16th to the early 17th century, crown governments had carried out a policy of land confiscation and colonisation known as Plantations. Scottish and English Protestant colonists were sent to the provinces of Munster, Ulster and the counties of Laois and Offaly. These Protestant settlers replaced the Irish Catholic landowners who were removed from their lands. These settlers formed the ruling class of future British appointed administrations in Ireland. Several Penal Laws, aimed at Catholics, Baptists and Presbyterians, were introduced to encourage conversion to the established (Anglican) Church of Ireland. The 17th century was perhaps the bloodiest in Ireland's history. Two periods of war (1641–53 and 1689–91) caused huge loss of life. The ultimate dispossession of most of the Irish Catholic landowning class was engineered, and recusants were subordinated under the Penal Laws. During the 17th century, Ireland was convulsed by eleven years of warfare, beginning with the Rebellion of 1641, when Irish Catholics rebelled against the domination of English and Protestant settlers. The Catholic gentry briefly ruled the country as Confederate Ireland (1642–1649) against the background of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms until Oliver Cromwell reconquered Ireland in 1649–1653 on behalf of the English Commonwealth. Cromwell's conquest was the most brutal phase of the war. By its close, around half of Ireland's pre-war population was killed or exiled as slaves, where many died due to harsh conditions. As retribution for the rebellion of 1641, the better-quality remaining lands owned by Irish Catholics were confiscated and given to British settlers. Several hundred remaining native landowners were transplanted to Connacht. Ireland became the main battleground after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Catholic James II left London and the English Parliament replaced him with William of Orange. The wealthier Irish Catholics backed James to try to reverse the Penal Laws and land confiscations, whereas Protestants supported William and Mary in this "Glorious Revolution" to preserve their property in the country. James and William fought for the Kingdom of Ireland in the Williamite War, most famously at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, where James's outnumbered forces were defeated. From the 15th to the 18th century, Irish, English, Scots and Welsh prisoners were transported for forced labour in the Caribbean to work off their term of punishment. Even larger numbers came voluntarily as indentured servants. In the 18th century they were sent to the American colonies, and in the early 19th century to Australia. The Irish were dehumanised by the English, described as "savages," so making their displacement appear all the more justified. In 1654 the British parliament gave Oliver Cromwell a free hand to banish Irish "undesirables". Cromwell rounded up Catholics throughout the Irish countryside and placed them on ships bound for the Caribbean, mainly the island of Barbados. By 1655, 12,000 political prisoners had been forcibly shipped to Barbados and into indentured servitude. The majority of the people of Ireland were Catholic peasants; they were very poor and largely inert politically during the eighteenth century, as many of their leaders converted to Protestantism to avoid severe economic and political penalties. Nevertheless, there was a growing Catholic cultural awakening underway. There were two Protestant groups. The Presbyterians in Ulster in the North lived in much better economic conditions, but had virtually no political power. Power was held by a small group of Anglo-Irish families, who were loyal to the Anglican Church of Ireland. They owned the great bulk of the farmland, where the work was done by the Catholic peasants. Many of these families lived in England and were absentee landlords, whose loyalty was basically to England. The Anglo-Irish who lived in Ireland became increasingly identified as Irish nationalists, and were resentful of the English control of their island. Their spokesmen, such as Jonathan Swift and Edmund Burke, sought more local control. Jacobite resistance in Ireland was finally ended after the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691. The Penal Laws that had been relaxed somewhat after the Restoration were reinforced more thoroughly after this war, as the infant Anglo-Irish Ascendency wanted to ensure that the Irish Roman Catholics would not be in a position to repeat their rebellions. Power was held by the 5% who were Protestants belonging to the Church of Ireland. They controlled all major sectors of the Irish economy, the bulk of the farmland, the legal system, local government and held strong majorities in both houses of the Irish Parliament. They strongly distrusted the Presbyterians in Ulster, and were convinced that the Catholics should have minimal rights. They did not have full political control because the government in London had superior authority and treated Ireland like a backward colony. When the American colonies revolted in the 1770s, the Ascendency wrested multiple concessions to strengthen its power. They did not seek independence because they knew they were heavily outnumbered and ultimately depended upon the British Army to guarantee their security. Subsequent Irish antagonism toward England was aggravated by the economic situation of Ireland in the 18th century. Some absentee landlords managed their estates inefficiently, and food tended to be produced for export rather than for domestic consumption. Two very cold winters near the end of the Little Ice Age led directly to a famine between 1740 and 1741, which killed about 400,000 people and caused over 150,000 Irish to leave the island. In addition, Irish exports were reduced by the Navigation Acts from the 1660s, which placed tariffs on Irish products entering England, but exempted English goods from tariffs on entering Ireland. Despite this most of the 18th century was relatively peaceful in comparison with the preceding two centuries, and the population doubled to over four million. By the 18th century, the Anglo- Irish ruling class had come to see Ireland, not England, as their native country. A Parliamentary faction led by Henry Grattan agitated for a more favourable trading relationship with Great Britain and for greater legislative independence for the Irish Parliament. However, reform in Ireland stalled over the more radical proposals toward enfranchising Irish Catholics. This was partially enabled in 1793, but Catholics could not yet become members of the Irish Parliament, or become government officials. Some were attracted to the more militant example of the French Revolution of 1789. Presbyterians and Dissenters too faced persecution on a lesser scale, and in 1791 a group of dissident Protestant individuals, all of whom but two were Presbyterians, held the first meeting of what would become the Society of the United Irishmen. Originally they sought to reform the Irish Parliament which was controlled by those belonging to the state church; seek Catholic Emancipation; and help remove religion from politics. When their ideals seemed unattainable they became more determined to use force to overthrow British rule and found a non- sectarian republic. Their activity culminated in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which was bloodily suppressed. Ireland was a separate kingdom ruled by King George III of Britain; he set policy for Ireland through his appointment of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or viceroy. In practice, the viceroys lived in England and the affairs in the island were largely controlled by an elite group of Irish Protestants known as "undertakers." The system changed in 1767, with the appointment of an English politician who became a very strong Viceroy. George Townshend served 1767-72 and was in residence in The Castle in Dublin. Townsend had the strong support of both the King and the British cabinet in London, and all major decisions were basically made in London. The Ascendancy complained, and obtained a series of new laws in the 1780s that made the Irish Parliament effective and independent of the British Parliament, although still under the supervision of the king and his Privy Council. Largely in response to the 1798 rebellion, Irish self-government was ended altogether by the provisions of the Acts of Union 1800 (which abolished the Irish Parliament of that era). In 1800, following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Irish and the British parliaments enacted the Acts of Union. The merger created a new political entity called United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. Part of the agreement forming the basis of union was that the Test Act would be repealed to remove any remaining discrimination against Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists and other dissenter religions in the newly United Kingdom. However, King George III, invoking the provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701 controversially and adamantly blocked attempts by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. Pitt resigned in protest, but his successor Henry Addington and his new cabinet failed to legislate to repeal or change the Test Act. This was followed by the first Irish Reform Act 1832, which allowed Catholic members of parliament but raised the property qualification to £10 effectively removing the poorer Irish freeholders from the franchise. In 1823 an enterprising Catholic lawyer, Daniel O'Connell, known in Ireland as 'The Liberator' began an ultimately successful Irish campaign to achieve emancipation, and to be seated in the Parliament. This culminated in O'Connell's successful election in the Clare by-election, which revived the parliamentary efforts at reform. The Catholic Relief Act 1829 was eventually approved by the UK parliament under the leadership of the Dublin-born Prime Minister, the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. This indefatigable Anglo-Irish statesman, a former Chief Secretary for Ireland, and hero of the Napoleonic Wars, successfully guided the legislation through both houses of Parliament. By threatening to resign, he persuaded King George IV to sign the bill into law in 1829. The continuing obligation of Roman Catholics to fund the established Church of Ireland, however, led to the sporadic skirmishes of the Tithe War of 1831–38. The Church was disestablished by the Gladstone government in 1867. The continuing enactment of parliamentary reform during the ensuing administrations further extended the initially limited franchise. Daniel O'Connell M.P. later led the Repeal Association in an unsuccessful campaign to undo the Act of Union 1800. The Great Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór) was the second of Ireland's "Great Famines". It struck the country during 1845–49, with potato blight, exacerbated by the political factors of the time leading to mass starvation and emigration. The impact of emigration in Ireland was severe; the population dropped from over 8 million before the Famine to 4.4 million in 1911. Gaelic or Irish, once the island's spoken language, declined in use sharply in the nineteenth century as a result of the Famine and the creation of the National School education system, as well as hostility to the language from leading Irish politicians of the time; it was largely replaced by English. Outside mainstream nationalism, a series of violent rebellions by Irish republicans took place in 1803, under Robert Emmet; in 1848 a rebellion by the Young Irelanders, most prominent among them, Thomas Francis Meagher; and in 1867, another insurrection by the Irish Republican Brotherhood. All failed, but physical force nationalism remained an undercurrent in the nineteenth century. A central issue throughout the 19th and early 20th century was land ownership. A small group of about 10,000 English families owned practically all the farmland; Most were permanent residents of England, and seldom presented the land. They rented it out to Irish tenant farmers. Falling behind in rent payments meant eviction, and very bad feelings – often violence. The late 19th century witnessed major land reform, spearheaded by the Land League under Michael Davitt demanding what became known as the 3 Fs; Fair rent, free sale, fixity of tenure. Parliament passed laws in 1870, 1881, 1903 and 1909 that enabled most tenant farmers to purchase their lands, and lowered the rents of the others. From 1870 and as a result of the Land War agitations and subsequent Plan of Campaign of the 1880s, various British governments introduced a series of Irish Land Acts. William O'Brien played a leading role in the 1902 Land Conference to pave the way for the most advanced social legislation in Ireland since the Union, the Wyndham Land Purchase Act of 1903. This Act set the conditions for the break- up of large estates and gradually devolved to rural landholders, and tenants' ownership of the lands. It effectively ended the era of the absentee landlord, finally resolving the Irish Land Question. In the 1870s the issue of Irish self-government again became a major focus of debate under Charles Stewart Parnell, founder of the Irish Parliamentary Party. Prime Minister Gladstone made two unsuccessful attempts to pass Home Rule in 1886 and 1893. Parnell's leadership ended when he was implicated in a divorce scandal that gained international publicity in 1890. He had been secretly living for years with Katherine O'Shea, the long-separated wife of a fellow Irish MP. Disaster came quickly: Gladstone and the Liberal Party refused to cooperate with him; his party split; the Irish Catholic bishops led the successful effort to crush his minority faction at by-elections. Parnell fought for control to the end, but his body was collapsing and he died in 1891 at age 45. After the introduction of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 which broke the power of the landlord-dominated "Grand Juries", passing for the first time democratic control of local affairs into the hands of the people through elected Local County Councils, the debate over full Home Rule led to tensions between Irish nationalists and Irish unionists (those who favoured maintenance of the Union). Most of the island was predominantly nationalist, Catholic and agrarian. The northeast, however, was predominantly unionist, Protestant and industrialised. Unionists feared a loss of political power and economic wealth in a predominantly rural, nationalist, Catholic home-rule state. Nationalists believed they would remain economically and politically second-class citizens without self-government. Out of this division, two opposing sectarian movements evolved, the Protestant Orange Order and the Catholic Ancient Order of Hibernians. Home Rule became certain when in 1910 the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) under John Redmond held the balance of power in Commons and the third Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1912. Unionist resistance was immediate with the formation of the Ulster Volunteers. In turn the Irish Volunteers were established to oppose them and enforce the introduction of self-government. In September 1914, just as the First World War broke out, the UK Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1914 to establish self-government for Ireland, but it was suspended for the duration of the war. To ensure implementation of Home Rule after the war, nationalist leaders and the IPP under Redmond supported with Ireland's participation in the British and Allied war effort under the Triple Entente against the expansion of Central Powers. The core of the Irish Volunteers were against this decision, but the majority left to form the National Volunteers who enlisted in Irish regiments of the New British Army, the 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions, their Northern counterparts in the 36th (Ulster) Division. Before the war ended, Britain made two concerted efforts to implement Home Rule, one in May 1916 and again with the Irish Convention during 1917–1918, but the Irish sides (Nationalist, Unionist) were unable to agree to terms for the temporary or permanent exclusion of Ulster from its provisions. The period 1916–1921 was marked by political violence and upheaval, ending in the partition of Ireland and independence for 26 of its 32 counties. A failed militant attempt was made to gain separate independence for Ireland with the 1916 Easter Rising, an insurrection in Dublin. Though support for the insurgents was small, the violence used in its suppression led to a swing in support of the rebels. In addition, the unprecedented threat of Irishmen being conscripted to the British Army in 1918 (for service on the Western Front as a result of the German Spring Offensive) accelerated this change. In the December 1918 elections Sinn Féin, the party of the rebels, won three-quarters of all seats in Ireland, twenty-seven MPs of which assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919 to form a 32-county Irish Republic Parliament, the first Dáil Éireann unilaterally declaring sovereignty over the entire island. Unwilling to negotiate any understanding with Britain short of complete independence, the Irish Republican Army, the army of the newly declared Irish Republic, waged a guerilla war (the Irish War of Independence) from 1919 to 1921. In the course of the fighting and amid much acrimony, the Fourth Government of Ireland Act 1920 implemented Home Rule while separating the island into what the British government's Act termed "Northern Ireland" and "Southern Ireland". In July 1921 the Irish and British governments agreed to a truce that halted the war. In December 1921 representatives of both governments signed an Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Irish delegation was led by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. This abolished the Irish Republic and created the Irish Free State, a self- governing Dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations in the manner of Canada and Australia. Under the Treaty, Northern Ireland could opt out of the Free State and stay within the United Kingdom: it promptly did so. In 1922 both parliaments ratified the Treaty, formalising independence for the 26-county Irish Free State (which renamed itself Ireland in 1937, and declared itself a republic in 1949); while the 6-county Northern Ireland, gaining Home Rule for itself, remained part of the United Kingdom. For most of the next 75 years, each territory was strongly aligned to either Catholic or Protestant ideologies, although this was more marked in the six counties of Northern Ireland. The treaty to sever the Union divided the republican movement into anti-Treaty (who wanted to fight on until an Irish Republic was achieved) and pro-Treaty supporters (who accepted the Free State as a first step towards full independence and unity). Between 1922 and 1923 both sides fought the bloody Irish Civil War. The new Irish Free State government defeated the anti-Treaty remnant of the Irish Republican Army, imposing multiple executions. This division among nationalists still colours Irish politics today, specifically between the two leading Irish political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The new Irish Free State (1922–37) existed against the backdrop of the growth of dictatorships in mainland Europe and a major world economic downturn in 1929. In contrast with many contemporary European states it remained a democracy. Testament to this came when the losing faction in the Irish civil war, Éamon de Valera's Fianna Fáil, was able to take power peacefully by winning the 1932 general election. Nevertheless, until the mid-1930s, considerable parts of Irish society saw the Free State through the prism of the civil war, as a repressive, British-imposed state. It was only the peaceful change of government in 1932 that signalled the final acceptance of the Free State on their part. In contrast to many other states in the period, the Free State remained financially solvent as a result of low government expenditure, despite the Economic War with Britain. However, unemployment and emigration were high. The population declined to a low of 2.7 million recorded in the 1961 census. The Roman Catholic Church had a powerful influence over the Irish state for much of its history. The clergy's influence meant that the Irish state had very conservative social policies, forbidding, for example, divorce, contraception, abortion, pornography as well as encouraging the censoring and banning of many books and films. In addition the Church largely controlled the State's hospitals, schools and remained the largest provider of many other social services. With the partition of Ireland in 1922, 92.6% of the Free State's population were Catholic while 7.4% were Protestant. By the 1960s the Protestant population had fallen by half. Although emigration was high among all the population, due to a lack of economic opportunity, the rate of Protestant emigration was disproportionate in this period. Many Protestants left the country in the early 1920s, either because they felt unwelcome in a predominantly Catholic and nationalist state, because they were afraid due to the burning of Protestant homes (particularly of the old landed class) by republicans during the civil war, because they regarded themselves as British and did not wish to live in an independent Irish state, or because of the economic disruption caused by the recent violence. The Catholic Church had also issued a decree, known as Ne Temere, whereby the children of marriages between Catholics and Protestants had to be brought up as Catholics. From 1945, the emigration rate of Protestants fell and they became less likely to emigrate than Catholics. In 1937 a new Constitution re-established the state as Ireland (or Éire in Irish). The state remained neutral throughout World War II (see Irish neutrality), which saved it from much of the horrors of the war, although tens of thousands volunteered to serve in the British forces. Ireland was also impacted by food rationing, and coal shortages; peat production became a priority during this time. Though nominally neutral, recent studies have suggested a far greater level of involvement by the South with the Allies than was realised, with D Day's date set on the basis of secret weather information on Atlantic storms supplied by Ireland. For more detail on 1939–45, see main article The Emergency. In 1949, Ireland left the British Commonwealth and was formally declared a republic. In the 1960s, Ireland underwent a major economic change under reforming Taoiseach (prime minister) Seán Lemass and Secretary of the Department of Finance T.K. Whitaker, who produced a series of economic plans. Free second-level education was introduced by Donogh O'Malley as Minister for Education in 1968. From the early 1960s, Ireland sought admission to the European Economic Community but, because 90% of exports were to the United Kingdom market, it did not do so until the UK did, in 1973. Global economic problems in the 1970s, augmented by a set of misjudged economic policies followed by governments, including that of Taoiseach Jack Lynch, caused the Irish economy to stagnate. The Troubles in Northern Ireland discouraged foreign investment. Devaluation was enabled when the Irish Pound, or Punt, was established as a separate currency in 1979, breaking the link with the UK's sterling. However, economic reforms in the late 1980s, helped by investment from the European Community, led to the emergence of one of the world's highest economic growth rates, with mass immigration (particularly of people from Asia and Eastern Europe) as a feature of the late 1990s. This period came to be known as the Celtic Tiger and was focused on as a model for economic development in the former Eastern Bloc states, which entered the European Union in the early 2000s (decade). Property values had risen by a factor of between four and ten between 1993 and 2006, in part fuelling the boom. Irish society adopted relatively liberal social policies during this period. Divorce was legalised, homosexuality decriminalised, and abortion in limited cases was allowed by the Irish Supreme Court in the X Case legal judgement. Major scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, both sexual and financial, coincided with a widespread decline in religious practice, with weekly attendance at Roman Catholic Mass dropping by half in twenty years. A series of tribunals set up from the 1990s have investigated alleged malpractices by politicians, the Catholic clergy, judges, hospitals and the Gardaí (police). Ireland's new found prosperity ended abruptly in 2008 when the banking system collapsed due to the Irish property bubble bursting. Some 25-26% of GDP was needed to bail out failing Irish banks and force banking sector consolidation. This was the largest banking bailout for any country in history, in comparison only 7–8% of GDP was needed to bail out failing Finnish banks in its banking crisis in the 1990s. This resulted in a major financial and political crisis as Ireland entered a recession. Emigration rose to 1989 levels as the unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in 2007 to reach 14.6% as of February 2012. However, since 2014, Ireland has seen strong economic growth, dubbed as the "Celtic Phoenix". The 1920 Government of Ireland Bill created the state of Northern Ireland, which consisted of the six northeastern counties of Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Antrim, Down and Armagh. From 1921 to 1972, Northern Ireland was governed by a Unionist government, based at Stormont in east Belfast. Unionist leader and first Prime Minister, James Craig, declared that it would be "a Protestant State for a Protestant People". Craig's goal was to form and preserve Protestant authority in the new state which was above all an effort to secure a unionist majority. In 1926 the majority of the population in the province were Presbyterian and Anglican therefore solidifying Craig's Protestant political power. The Ulster Unionist Party thereafter formed every government until 1972. Discrimination against the minority nationalist community in jobs and housing, and their total exclusion from political power due to the majoritarian electoral system, led to the emergence of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the late 1960s, inspired by Martin Luther King's civil rights movement in the United States of America. The military forces of the Northern Protestants and Northern Catholics (IRA) turned to brutal acts of violence to establish power. As time went on it became clear that these two rival states would bring about a civil war. After the Second World War, keeping the cohesion within Stormont seemed impossible; increased economic pressures, solidified Catholic unity, and British involvement ultimately led to Stormont's collapse. As the civil rights movement of the United States gained worldwide acknowledgement, Catholics rallied together to achieve a similar socio-political recognition. This resulted in the formation of various organisations such as the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) in 1967 and the Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) in 1964. Non-violent protest became an increasingly important factor in mobilising Catholic sympathies and opinion and thus more effective in generating support than actively violent groups such as the IRA. However, these non-violent protests posed a problem to Northern Ireland's prime minister Terrance O'Neil (1963) because it hampered his efforts to persuade Catholics in Northern Ireland that they too, like their Protestant counterparts, belong within the United Kingdom. Despite O'Neil's reforming efforts there was growing discontent amongst both Catholics and Unionists. In October 1968 a peaceful civil rights march in Derry turned violent as police brutally beat protesters. The outbreak was televised by international media, and as a result the march was highly publicised which further confirmed the socio-political turmoil in Ireland. A violent counter-reaction from conservative unionists led to civil disorder, notably the Battle of the Bogside and the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969. To restore order, British troops were deployed to the streets of Northern Ireland at that time. The violent outbreaks in the late 1960s encouraged and helped strengthen military groups such as the IRA, who served as the protectors of the working class Catholics who were vulnerable to police and civilian brutality. During the late sixties and early seventies recruitment into the IRA organisation dramatically increased as street and civilian violence worsened. The interjection from the British troops proved to be insufficient to quell the violence and thus solidified the IRA's growing military importance. On 30 January 1972 the worst tensions came to a head with the events of Bloody Sunday. Paratroops opened fire on civil rights protesters in Derry, killing 13 unarmed civilians. Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday, and other violent acts in the early 1970s came to be known as the Troubles. The Stormont parliament was prorogued in 1972 and abolished in 1973. Paramilitary private armies such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, resulted from a split within the IRA, the Official IRA and Irish National Liberation Army fought against the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Moreover, the British army and the (largely Protestant) Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) also took part in the chaos that resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 men, women and children, civilians and military. Most of the violence took place in Northern Ireland, but some also spread to England and across the Irish border. For the next 27½ years, with the exception of five months in 1974, Northern Ireland was under "direct rule" with a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the British Cabinet responsible for the departments of the Northern Ireland government. Direct Rule was designed to be a temporary solution until Northern Ireland was capable of governing itself again. Principal acts were passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the same way as for much of the rest of the UK, but many smaller measures were dealt with by Order in Council with minimal parliamentary scrutiny. Attempts were made to establish a power- sharing executive, representing both the nationalist and unionist communities, by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act of 1973 and the Sunningdale Agreement in December 1973. Both acts however did little to create cohesion between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Constitution Act of 1973 formalised the UK government's affirmation of reunification of Ireland by consent only; therefore ultimately delegating the authoritative power of the border question from Stormont to the people of Northern Ireland (and the Republic of Ireland). Conversely, the Sunningdale Agreement included a "provision of a Council of Ireland which held the right to execute executive and harmonizing functions". Most significantly, the Sunningdale Agreement brought together political leaders from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK to deliberate for the first time since 1925. The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and Jim Prior's 1982 assembly were also temporarily implemented; however all failed to either reach consensus or operate in the longer term. During the 1970s British policy concentrated on defeating the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) by military means including the policy of Ulsterisation (requiring the RUC and British Army reserve Ulster Defence Regiment to be at the forefront of combating the IRA). Although IRA violence decreased it was obvious that no military victory was on hand in either the short or medium terms. Even Catholics who generally rejected the IRA were unwilling to offer support to a state that seemed to remain mired in sectarian discrimination, and the Unionists were not interested in Catholic participation in running the state in any case. In the 1980s the IRA attempted to secure a decisive military victory based on massive arms shipments from Libya. When this failed, senior republican figures began to look to broaden the struggle from purely military means. In time this began a move towards military cessation. In 1985 the Irish and British governments signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement signalling a formal partnership in seeking a political solution. The Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) recognised the Irish government's right to be consulted and heard as well as guaranteed equality of treatment and recognition of the Irish and British identities of the two communities. The agreement also stated that the two governments must implement a cross-border co-operation. Socially and economically Northern Ireland suffered the worst levels of unemployment in the UK and although high levels of public spending ensured a slow modernisation of public services and moves towards equality, progress was slow in the 1970s and 1980s. Only in the 1990s, when progress toward peace became tangible, did the economic situation brighten. By then the demographics of Northern Ireland had undergone significant change, and more than 40% of the population was Catholic. More recently, the Belfast Agreement ("Good Friday Agreement") of 10 April 1998 brought – on 2 December 1999 – a degree of power sharing to Northern Ireland, giving both unionists and nationalists control of limited areas of government. However, both the power-sharing Executive and the elected Assembly were suspended between January and May 2000, and from October 2002 until April 2007, following breakdowns in trust between the political parties involving outstanding issues, including "decommissioning" of paramilitary weapons, policing reform and the removal of British army bases. In new elections in 2003, the moderate Ulster Unionist and (nationalist) Social Democrat and Labour parties lost their dominant positions to the more hard-line Democratic Unionist and (nationalist) Sinn Féin parties. On 28 July 2005, the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and on 25 September 2005 international weapons inspectors supervised the full disarmament of the PIRA. Eventually, devolution was restored in April 2007. Ireland's economy became more diverse and sophisticated than ever before by integrating itself into the global economy. In 1973, Ireland acceded to the European Economic Community [EEC], precursor to the European Community [EC] and European Union [EU], at the same time as the UK. By the beginning of the 1990s Ireland had transformed itself into a modern industrial economy and generated substantial national income that benefited the entire nation. Although dependence on agriculture still remained high, Ireland's industrial economy produced sophisticated goods that rivalled international competition. Ireland's international economic boom of the 1990s led to its being called a Celtic Tiger. The Catholic Church, which once exercised great power, found its influence on socio-political issues in Ireland much reduced. Irish bishops were no longer able to advise and influence the public on how to exercise their political rights. Modern Ireland's detachment of the Church from ordinary life can be explained by the increasing disinterest in Church doctrine by younger generations and the questionable morality of the Church's representatives. A highly publicised case was that of Eamonn Casey, the Bishop of Galway, who resigned abruptly in 1992 after it was revealed that he had had an affair with an American woman and had fathered a child. Further controversies and scandals arose concerning paedophile and child-abusing priests. As a result, many in the Irish public began to question the credibility and effectiveness of the Catholic Church. In 2011 Ireland closed its embassy at the Vatican, an apparent result of this growing trend. The national flag of Ireland is a tricolour of green, white and orange. This flag, which bears the colours green for Irish Catholics, orange for Irish Protestants, and white for the desired peace between them, dates to the mid-19th century. The tricolour was first unfurled in public by Young Irelander Thomas Francis Meagher who, using the symbolism of the flag, explained his vision as follows: "The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the "Orange" and the "Green," and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood". Fellow nationalist John Mitchel said of it: "I hope to see that flag one day waving as our national banner." After its use in the 1916 Rising it became widely accepted by nationalists as the national flag, and was used officially by the Irish Republic (1919–21) and the Irish Free State (1922–37). In 1937 when the Constitution of Ireland was introduced, the tricolour was formally confirmed as the national flag: "The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange." While the tricolour today is the official flag of Ireland, it is not an official flag in Northern Ireland although it is sometimes used unofficially. The only official flag representing Northern Ireland is the Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland however its use is controversial. The Ulster Banner is sometimes used unofficially as a de facto regional flag for Northern Ireland. Since Partition, there has been no universally-accepted flag to represent the entire island. As a provisional solution for certain sports fixtures, the Flag of the Four Provinces enjoys a certain amount of general acceptance and popularity. Historically a number of flags have been used, including: Saint Patrick's Flag (St Patrick's Saltire, St Patrick's Cross) which represented Ireland on the Union Flag after the Act of Union;, a green flag with a harp (used by most nationalists in the 19th century and which is also the flag of Leinster);, a blue flag with a harp used from the 18th century onwards by many nationalists (now the standard of the President of Ireland);, the Irish tricolour. St Patrick's Saltire was formerly used to represent the island of Ireland by the all-island Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), before adoption of the four- provinces flag. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) uses the tricolour to represent the whole island. Ireland has a very large historiography, contributed by scholars in Ireland, North America, and Britain. There has been both a standard interpretation and, since the late 1930s, a good deal of revisionism. One of the most important themes has always been Irish nationalism—what Alfred Markey, calls: Nationalism has led to numerous monographs and debates. A great deal of attention has focused on the Irish revolutionary period, 1912-23. Starting in 2012 a series of conferences on "Reflecting on a decade of War and Revolution in Ireland 1912-1923: Historians and Public History" brought together hundreds of academics, teachers, and the general public. Ireland in some ways was the first acquisition of the British Empire. Marshall says historians continue to debate whether Ireland should be considered part of the British Empire. Recent work by historians pays special attention to continuing Imperial aspects of Irish history, Atlantic Ocean history, and the role of migration in forming the Irish diaspora across the Empire and North America. As historiography evolves, new approaches have been applied to the Irish situation. Studies of women, and gender relationships more generally, had been rare before 1990; they now are commonplace with over 3000 books and articles. Postcolonialism is an approach in several academic disciplines that seeks to analyze, explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism. The emphasis is usually on the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers for the economic exploitation of the native people and their land. 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Art Cosgrove. 1987., Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, vol III of Civilization and Capitalism (1979, in English 1985),, Plumb, J.H., England in the 18th Century, 1973: "The Irish Empire" Brendan Bradshaw, 'Nationalism and Historical Scholarship in Modern Ireland' in Irish Historical Studies, XXVI, Nov. 1989, S. J. Connolly (editor) The Oxford Companion to Irish History (Oxford University Press, 2000), Tim Pat Coogan De Valera (Hutchinson, 1993), John Crowley et al. eds. , Atlas of the Irish Revolution (2017). excerpt, Norman Davies The Isles: A History (Macmillan, 1999), Patrick J. Duffy, The Nature of the Medieval Frontier in Ireland, in Studia Hibernica 23 & 23, 1982–83, pp. 21–38; Gaelic Ireland c.1250-c.1650:Land, Lordship & Settlement, 2001, Nancy Edwards, The archaeology of early medieval Ireland (London, Batsford 1990), Ruth Dudley Edwards, Patrick Pearse and the Triumph of Failure,1974, Marianne Eliot, Wolfe Tone, 1989, R. F. Foster Modern Ireland, 1600–1972 (1988), B.J. Graham, Anglo-Norman settlement in County Meath, RIA Proc. 1975; Medieval Irish Settlement, Historical Geography Research Series, No. 3, Norwich, 1980, J. J. Lee The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848–1918 (Gill and Macmillan), J.F. Lydon, The problem of the frontier in medieval Ireland, in Topic 13, 1967; The Lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages, 1972, F. S. L. Lyons Ireland Since the Famine1976, F. S. L. Lyons, Culture and Anarchy in Ireland,, Nicholas Mansergh, Ireland in the Age of Reform and Revolution 1940, Dorothy McCardle The Irish Republic, R. B. McDowell, Ireland in the age of imperialism and revolution, 1760–1801 (1979), T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin "The Course of Irish History" Fourth Edition (Lanham, Maryland: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 2001), Seán Farrell Moran, Patrick Pearse and the Politics of Redemption, 1994, Austen Morgan, James Connolly: A Political Biography, 1988, James H. Murphy Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland During the Reign of Queen Victoria (Cork University Press, 2001), the 1921 Treaty debates online, John A. Murphy Ireland in the Twentieth Century (Gill and Macmillan), Kenneth Nicholls, Gaelic and gaelicised Ireland, 1972, Frank Pakenham, (Lord Longford) Peace by Ordeal, Alan J. Ward The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government & Modern Ireland 1782–1992 (Irish Academic Press, 1994), Robert Kee The Green Flag Volumes 1–3 (The Most Distressful Country, The Bold Fenian Men, Ourselves Alone), Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton In Search of Ancient Ireland: the origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English (Ivan R Dee, 2002), Carmel McCaffrey In Search of Ireland's Heroes: the Story of the Irish from the English Invasion to the Present Day (Ivan R Dee, 2006), Paolo Gheda, I cristiani d'Irlanda e la guerra civile (1968–1998), prefazione di Luca Riccardi, Guerini e Associati, Milano 2006, 294 pp.,, Hugh F. Kearney Ireland: Contested Ideas of Nationalism and History (NYU Press, 2007), Nicholas Canny "The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland"(London, 1976), Alex vittum, Brown, T. 2004, Ireland: a social and cultural history, 1922-2001, Rev. edn, Harper Perennial, London. Bourke, Richard. "Historiography" in Bourke and Ian McBride, eds. The Princeton History of Modern Ireland (Princeton University Press, 2016), ch 11., Boyce, D. George and Alan O'Day, eds, The Making of Modern Irish History: Revisionism and the Revisionist Controversy, 1996, Brady, Ciaran, Interpreting Irish History:The Debate On Irish Revisionism, 1994, Elton, G.R. Modern Historians on British History 1485-1945: A Critical Bibliography 1945-1969 (1969), annotated guide to 1000 history books on every major topic, plus book reviews and major scholarly articles. online pp 206–16, Frawley, Oona. Memory Ireland: History and Modernity (2011), Gibney, John. The Shadow of a Year: The 1641 Rebellion in Irish History and Memory (2013), King, Jason. "The Genealogy of Famine Diary in Ireland and Quebec: Ireland's Famine Migration in Historical Fiction, Historiography, and Memory." Éire-Ireland 47#1 (2012): 45-69. online, Louis, Wm Roger and Robin Winks, eds. 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Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Golden, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Entertainment. Directed by Rob Marshall, the film was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures; the latter was given studio credit only. It stars Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo and Samantha Futerman. Production took place in southern and northern California and in several locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine. The film tells the story of a young Japanese girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold by her impoverished family to a geisha house called an okiya. Chiyo is eventually transformed into a geisha and renamed "Sayuri", and becomes one of the most celebrated geisha of her time. But with this success, Sayuri also learns the secrets and sacrifices of the geisha lifestyle. The film was released to mixed reviews from western critics and was moderately successful at the box office. It was also nominated for and won numerous awards, including nominations for six Academy Awards, and eventually won three: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. The acting, visuals, sets, costumes, and John Williams' musical score were praised, but the film was criticized for casting Chinese actresses as Japanese women and for its style over substance approach. The Japanese release of the film was titled Sayuri, the titular character's geisha name. Chiyo Sakamoto, a young girl from a poverty-stricken fishing village, is sold along with her older sister Satsu into a life of servitude by her aging father. Chiyo is taken in by Kayoko Nitta, the Mother (proprietress) of a geisha house in Gion, one of the most prominent geisha districts in Kyoto, whereas Satsu is sold to a prostitution brothel. At the okiya, Chiyo meets another young girl named Pumpkin, the cranky Granny, the gentler Auntie, and the okiya's only working geisha, Hatsumomo, who is famous for her breathtaking beauty. Chiyo soon discovers Hatsumomo is secretly a cruel and jealous woman that views Chiyo as a potential rival due to her striking bluish-gray eyes, along with being a change in Mother's future financial dependence. Hatsumomo then goes out of her way to deliberately make Chiyo's new life miserable by having her take the blame for everything and intentionally withholding information of her sister's whereabouts in the pleasure district. However, Auntie is aware of this and warns Chiyo against trusting and angering Hatsumomo, given her history with the ill-mannered geisha. Chiyo tracks down Satsu and makes plans to run away together. However, upon returning to the okiya she discovers Hatsumomo having sex with her boyfriend, Koichi, which is against the rules of the geisha lifestyle. When they are caught, Hatsumomo attempts to twist the situation by accusing Chiyo of stealing. Chiyo denies this and informs Mother of what she saw in the shed. As a result, Mother forbids Hatsumomo from seeing Koichi again and everyone is barred from leaving the okiya at night except to attend work engagements, and this further increases Hatsumomo's anger towards Chiyo. On the night of their planned escape, Chiyo attempts to sneak out but falls off the rooftop and is seriously injured. As punishment for dishonoring the okiya, Mother tells Chiyo that she won't invest any more money in her geisha training. She also informs Chiyo that both her parents are dead. Chiyo misses her chance to flee and never sees Satsu again. She is also demoted from geisha training to working as a slave to pay off her increasing debts to Mother. One day, while crying on a riverbank, Chiyo is noticed by Chairman Ken Iwamura and his geisha companions. He buys her a shaved ice dessert and gives her his handkerchief with some money in it. Inspired by his act of kindness, Chiyo resolves to become a geisha so that she may one day become a part of the Chairman's life. Several years later, Pumpkin has begun her training as a maiko under Hatsumomo's tutelage and Chiyo is envious of it as she remains a maid under Mother. She is unexpectedly taken under the wing of Mameha, one of Gion's most successful geisha and long time rival of Hatsumomo's. Although initially reluctant, Mother is persuaded by Mameha to allow Chiyo to train as a geisha. Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes a maiko and takes the name of Sayuri. She grows in popularity, and Hatsumomo grows so desperate that she tries to ruin Sayuri's reputation. Predicting this, Mameha takes her to a sumo wrestling match where Sayuri is reintroduced to the Chairman, who seems unaware of her previous identity as Chiyo, as well as his business associate Nobu Toshikazu (whom Hatsumomo finds repulsive), who takes a liking to her. Meanwhile, Mameha orchestrates a bidding war for Sayuri's mizuage between two men: Nobu and Dr. Crab, which will make her a full geisha. Upon learning what Mameha has planned, Hatsumomo spreads cruel rumors that Sayuri has already lost her virginity. However, Sayuri is named the lead dancer for a popular performance, which angers Hatsumomo as she was hoping for Pumpkin to be named the lead. At the performance, she attracts the attention of many men, including the Baron (Mameha's danna), with her performance. When Dr. Crab congratulates Sayuri, she secretly convinces him to listen to a different opinion before taking the word of someone who lies. The Baron invites Sayuri to his estate for a sakura- viewing party, which Mameha is reluctant to let Sayuri attend but lets her go anyway. When the Baron presents a kimono to Sayuri in private at the party, he undresses her against her will in order to "take a look", but does not go any further. Sayuri's mizuage is won with a record-breaking bid of fifteen thousand yen. Mother, seeing Sayuri as a financial asset, names her as her adopted daughter and heiress to the okiya. This crushes Pumpkin, who was hoping that she would get adopted so she could have security in her old age, and the friendship between the girls is shattered. Hatsumumo is then told by Mother that she must give up her spacious room to Sayuri, which further outrages Hatsumomo, who tries to remind her of her previous financial contribution, but Mother replies that she never had a danna and that she acts more like a prostitute. Mameha later tells Sayuri that the bid had ended up a contest between Dr. Crab and the Baron, Nobu having refused to partake in the bidding because it was against his principles. Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of her romantic feelings for the Baron, despite his bid being even higher. When returning home from the mizuage ceremony, Sayuri finds a drunken Hatsumomo in her room, where she has found the Chairman's handkerchief. A fight ensues, during which a gas lantern is knocked over and ignites a fire, and the okiya is partially destroyed by the flames. Hatsumomo is then kicked out of the okiya by Mother, her belongings given to Sayuri, and she is banished from Gion with her fate left unknown. Sayuri's successful career is cut short by the outbreak of World War II. Sayuri and Mameha are separated, with Sayuri going to the hills to work for a kimono maker, an old friend of Nobu's, and Mameha going to a physician, the Chairman's old friend. After the war, Sayuri is reunited with Nobu, who needs her help with impressing an American Colonel named Derricks who has the power to approve funding for the Chairman's firm. Sayuri reunites with Mameha, who now makes a living renting humble rooms and has sold her kimonos and geisha ornaments to survive. Although she is reluctant to return to the geisha lifestyle because she has come to terms with her new existence, she agrees to help impress Derricks as she kept one kimono. Sayuri is reacquainted with Pumpkin, who is now a flirty escort. Sayuri goes on a trip with Nobu, the Chairman, Mameha, Pumpkin, and the Americans to the Amami Islands. At Amami, the Colonel propositions Sayuri, under the impression that geisha are expensive prostitutes, but she rejects him. Nobu witnesses the incident and confronts Sayuri. He finally confesses his feelings, telling her that he wants to become her danna. Knowing that entering into a relationship with Nobu will destroy any chance of her being with the Chairman, Sayuri is distraught and devises a plan. Mameha catches on to it and warns her against it because of the kindness Nobu has shown her. She wants Sayuri to accept him as her danna and not end up like she (Mameha) did. She refuses and enlists Pumpkin's help to have Nobu catch her seemingly being intimate with the Colonel. However, because of her secret resentment of Sayuri, Pumpkin brings the Chairman instead, having full knowledge of Sayuri's feelings towards him. When Sayuri confronts her, Pumpkin coldly tells her that it was retribution for stealing her chances of being adopted by Mother. She hoped that by having the Chairman see her with Derricks, he would be disgusted by Sayuri's behavior and disown her. A few days later, after returning to Gion, Sayuri receives a call to go to the teahouse. Sayuri expects to see Nobu, but instead the Chairman comes and finally reveals to her that he has known all along that she was the girl at the riverbank. He tells her that he had told Nobu about the affair after confronting Pumpkin for her behavior, effectively destroying Nobu's affections for Sayuri and his desire to be her danna. He also reveals that he was responsible for sending Mameha to her so that she could fulfill her dreams of becoming a geisha. Sayuri finally reveals her love to the Chairman, and the film ends with their loving embrace and kiss, and a stroll through the garden. Ziyi Zhang as Chiyo Sakamoto / Sayuri Nitta, Suzuka Ohgo as Young Chiyo Sakamoto, Shizuko Hoshi as Elderly Sayuri Nitta (voice-over narrator), Gong Li as Hatsumomo, Samantha Futerman as Satsu Sakamoto, Mako as Mr. Sakamoto, Elizabeth Sung as Mrs. Sakamoto, Kaori Momoi as Kayoko "Mother" Nitta, Kotoko Kawamura as Grandmother Nitta, Ken Watanabe as Chairman Ken Iwamura, Kōji Yakusho as Nobu, Michelle Yeoh as Mameha, Youki Kudoh as Pumpkin, Zoe Weizenbaum as Young Pumpkin, Tsai Chin as Auntie, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Baron, Cathy Shim as The Baron's Guest, Kenneth Tsang as General, Eugenia Yuan as Korin, Karl Yune as Koichi, Ted Levine as Col. Derricks, Paul Adelstein as Lt. Hutchins Shortly after the book's release in 1997, the filming rights were purchased for $1 million by Red Wagon's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher, backed by Columbia Pictures. The following year, Steven Spielberg planned to make Memoirs of a Geisha as the follow-up to Saving Private Ryan, bringing along his company DreamWorks. In the meantime, Spielberg's DreamWorks partner David Geffen had tried to persuade him not to take on the project, feeling it was "not good enough for him". Prior to Spielberg's involvement, the film was planned to be shot in Japan and with the Japanese language. By 2002, with Spielberg having postponed production for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can, he stepped down from directorial duties to only produce. Wick and Fisher approached Rob Marshall, who was interested in doing a non- musical after Annie and Chicago. This brought a third company into Memoirs of a Geisha, as Marshall was still signed to release his next film through Chicago distributors Miramax. The three leading non-Japanese actresses, including Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh, were put through "geisha boot camp" before production commenced, during which they were trained in traditional geisha practices of musicianship, dance, and tea ceremony. Production of the film took place from September 29, 2004 to January 31, 2005. It was decided by the producers that contemporary Japan looked much too modern to film a story which took place between the 1920s and 1940s and it would be more cost-effective to create sets for the film on soundstages and locations in the United States, primarily in California. The majority of the film was shot on a large set built on a ranch in Thousand Oaks, California which was a detailed recreation of an early twentieth-century geisha district in Kyoto, Japan. Most interior scenes were filmed in Culver City, California at the Sony Pictures Studios lot. Other locations in California included San Francisco, Moss Beach, Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, Sacramento, Yamashiro's Restaurant in Hollywood, the Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, and Downtown Los Angeles at the Belasco Theater on Hill Street. Towards the end of production, some scenes were shot in Kyoto, Japan, including the Fushimi Inari Taisha the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. In post-production, one of the tasks of the sound editors was to improve upon the English pronunciation of the international cast. This sometimes involved piecing together different clips of dialogue from other segments of the film to form new syllables from the film's actors, some of whom spoke partially phonetic English when they performed their roles on-set. The achievement of the sound editors earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Sound Editing. In the Western hemisphere, the film received mixed reviews. In China and Japan, responses were sometimes very negative due to various controversies that arose from the film's casting and its relationship to history. Memoirs of a Geisha received mixed reviews from western critics. Illinois' Daily Herald said that the "[s]trong acting, meticulously created sets, beautiful visuals, and a compelling story of a celebrity who can't have the one thing she really wants make Geisha memorable". The Washington Times called the film "a sumptuously faithful and evocative adaption" while adding that "[c]ontrasting dialects may remain a minor nuisance for some spectators, but the movie can presumably count on the pictorial curiosity of readers who enjoyed Mr. Golden's sense of immersion, both harrowing and [a]esthetic, in the culture of a geisha upbringing in the years that culminated in World War II". The film scored a 35% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus stated "Less nuanced than its source material, Memoirs of a Geisha may be a lavish production, but it still carries the simplistic air of a soap opera." On Metacritic, the film was given a 54/100 meaning "mixed or average review." In the United States, the film managed $57 million during its box office run. The film peaked at 1,654 screens, facing off against King Kong, , and Fun with Dick and Jane. During its first week in limited release, the film screening in only eight theaters tallied up an $85,313 per theater average which made it second in highest per theater averages behind Brokeback Mountain for 2005. International gross reached $158 million. The New Statesman criticized Memoirs of a Geishas plot, saying that after Hatsumomo leaves, "the plot loses what little momentum it had and breaks down into one pretty visual after another" and says that the film version "abandons the original's scholarly mien to reveal the soap opera bubbling below". The Journal praised Ziyi Zhang, saying that she "exudes a heartbreaking innocence and vulnerablity" but said "too much of the character's yearning and despair is concealed behind the mask of white powder and rouge". London's The Evening Standard compared Memoirs of a Geisha to Cinderella and praised Gong Li, saying that "Li may be playing the loser of the piece but she saves this film" and Gong "endows Hatsumomo with genuine mystery". Eighteen days later, The Evening Standard put Memoirs of a Geisha on its Top Ten Films list. Glasgow's Daily Record praised the film, saying the "geisha world is drawn with such intimate detail that it seems timeless until the war, and with it the modern world comes crashing in". Controversy arose during casting of the film when some of the most prominent roles, including those of the geisha Sayuri, Hatsumomo and Mameha, did not go to Japanese actresses. Ziyi Zhang (Sayuri) and Gong Li (Hatsumomo) are both Chinese at that time (Gong Li is a naturalised Singaporean from 2008 onwards), whereas Michelle Yeoh (Mameha) is an ethnic Chinese from Malaysia. All three were already prominent actors in Chinese cinema. The film-makers defended the decision, however, and attributed "acting ability and star power" as their main priorities in casting the roles, and director Rob Marshall noted examples such as the Mexican actor Anthony Quinn being cast as a Greek man in Zorba the Greek. Opinion in the Asian community was mixed. To some Chinese, the casting was offensive because they mistook geisha for prostitutes, and because it revived memories of wartime Japanese atrocities. The Chinese government canceled the film's release there because of such connections, and a website denounced star Ziyi Zhang as an "embarrassment to China." This was exacerbated by the word , a Japanese name for geisha used in the Kantō region, which includes Tokyo. The second character () could sometimes mean "prostitute" in Japanese language, though it actually had a variety of meanings, and there was a clear distinction between geisha and prostitutes which were called . The character 妓 only means "prostitute" in Chinese, and the correct translation into Chinese of the word "geisha" is 艺伎 (traditional Chinese: 藝伎), which does not use it. In Japan, the reception was mixed. Some Japanese have expressed offense that the three main characters, Japanese geisha, were all played by Chinese actors. Others in Japan were unhappy with how the traditional role of the geisha portrayed, saying it was inaccurate and westernised. The expert who advised on Japanese geisha on the film, said that it wasn't made specifically for a Japanese audience, and that anyone who knew about Japanese culture and saw it would be "appalled". The film had only average box office success in Japan, despite being a high budget film about Japanese culture. Other Asians defended the casting, including the film's main Japanese star Ken Watanabe, who said that "talent is more important than nationality." In defense of the film, Zhang spoke: Film critic Roger Ebert pointed out that the film was made by a Japanese-owned company, and that Gong Li and Ziyi Zhang outgross any Japanese actress even in the Japanese box office. The film received some hostile responses in Mainland China, including its banning by the People's Republic of China. Relations between Japan and Mainland China were particularly tense due to two main factors: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a number of visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors all Japan's war dead, including some who were convicted war criminals, which was denounced by China's foreign ministry as honoring them; and China helped to ensure Japan did not receive a seat on the UN Security Council. Writer Hong Ying argued that "Art should be above national politics". Nevertheless, the release of Memoirs of a Geisha into this politically charged situation added to cultural conflict within and between China and Japan. The film was originally scheduled to be shown in cinemas in the People's Republic of China on February 9, 2006. The Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television decided to ban the film on February 1, 2006, considering the film as "too sensitive". In doing so, it overturned a November decision to approve the film for screening. The film is set in Japan during World War II, when the Second Sino-Japanese War was taking place. During this time, Japan captured and forced thousands of Korean and Chinese women to serve as "comfort women" for their military personnel. Controversy arose in China because of the traditional geishas' relation to prostitution, and thus the connection with, and reminder of, comfort women being used in Japan at that time. Newspaper sources, such as the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post and the Shanghai Youth Daily, quoted the fears that the film might be banned by censors; there were concerns that the casting of Chinese actresses as geishas could rouse anti-Japan sentiment and stir up feelings over Japanese wartime actions in China, especially the use of Chinese women as sex slaves. A different controversy rose with the mentioning of a Japanese soldier that had fought in Manchuria, China, as the geisha introducing the soldier refers to him as a "war hero". Several other pro-modern-Japan scenes were delivered during the movie, thus receiving multiple reviews that read: "If the movie was meant to be released worldwide, there should have been caution not to affect the audience's view on modern history through pro-Japan ideology." Academy Awards Won: Best Art Direction (John Myhre and Gretchen Rau), Won: Best Cinematography (Dion Beebe), Won: Best Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Nominated: Best Original Score (John Williams), Nominated: Best Sound Editing (Wylie Stateman), Nominated: Best Sound Mixing (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett) Golden Globe Won: Best Original Score (John Williams), Nominated: Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (Ziyi Zhang) National Board of Review Won: Best Supporting Actress (Gong Li) Satellite Awards Won: Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted (Robin Swicord), Nominated: Outstanding Motion Picture, Drama, Nominated: Outstanding Director (Rob Marshall), Nominated: Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama (Ziyi Zhang), Nominated: Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama (Gong Li), Nominated: Outstanding Art Direction & Production Design (John Myhre), Nominated: Outstanding Cinematography (Dion Beebe), Nominated: Outstanding Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Nominated: Outstanding Original Score (John Williams) BAFTA Awards Won: The Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music (John Williams), Won: Cinematography (Dion Beebe), Won: Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Nominated: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ziyi Zhang), Nominated: Production design, Nominated: Make Up and Hair Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominated: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Ziyi Zhang) NAACP Image Awards Nominated: Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Ziyi Zhang) The Memoirs of a Geisha official soundtrack featured Yo-Yo Ma performing the cello solos, as well as Itzhak Perlman performing the violin solos. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams, who won his fourth Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. 1. "Sayuri's Theme" – 1:31 2. "The Journey to the Hanamachi" – 4:06 3. "Going to School" – 2:42 4. "Brush on Silk" – 2:31 5. "Chiyo's Prayer" – 3:36 6. "Becoming a Geisha" – 4:32 7. "Finding Satsu" – 3:44 8. "The Chairman's Waltz" – 2:39 9. "The Rooftops of the Hanamachi" – 3:49 10. "The Garden Meeting" – 2:44 11. "Dr. Crab's Prize" – 2:18 12. "Destiny's Path" – 3:20 13. "A New Name... A New Life" – 3:33 14. "The Fire Scene and the Coming of War" – 6:48 15. "As the Water..." – 2:01 16. "Confluence" – 3:42 17. "A Dream Discarded" – 2:00 18. "Sayuri's Theme and End Credits" – 5:06 When the older geisha (in charge of the maiko's training) considered the young maiko ready to come of age, the topknot of her hair was symbolically cut. A maiko undergoing mizuage was often sponsored by a patron who then had the right of taking the maiko's virginity. Mizuage has been long connected with the loss of virginity of a maiko, but this practice was made illegal along with other acts of prostitution in 1959. Afterward, a party would be held for the maiko. According to anthropologist Liza Dalby, mizuage was an important initiation to womanhood and the geisha world. Mizuage gave way to the next stage of training, the senior maiko. Once the mizuage patron's function (of deflowering the young maiko) was served, he was to have no further relations with the girl. The money acquired for a maiko’s mizuage was a great sum and it was used to promote her debut as a geisha. Mineko Iwasaki, a geisha that Arthur Golden met while writing Memoirs of a Geisha, described her experience of mizuage in her autobiography as being an initiation party, symbolized on the geisha-to-be by a change in hairstyle rather than the loss of virginity. Iwasaki describes it as a celebration of the passage of girl (maiko) to woman (geisha), and associated it with the Erikae (turning the collar) ceremony when a maiko graduates to dressing as a geisha. Today, given the age of the apprentice maiko, she already has a say whether she would like to undergo a mizuage or not. In addition, becoming a geisha no longer required an apprentice to be deflowered, which used to be compulsory for changing one's collar as it is synonymous with growing up. After having finished the mizuage, the Kyoto's maiko changed their hairstyle from a girl's bun to a mature entertainer's hairstyle. Over time various hair styles such as the girl's bun and the sakko have signified the transition of a maiko to a geisha. In present day, the ritual of mizuage and the changing of hair occurs without sex. Additionally the transitioning of a maiko to a geisha is no longer associated with deflowering. Arthur Golden's novel Memoirs of a Geisha portrays the mizuage as a financial arrangement in which a girl's virginity is sold to a "mizuage patron", generally someone who particularly enjoys sex with virgin girls, or merely enjoys the charms of some individual maiko. In Autobiography of a Geisha, Sayo Masuda describes her experiences of mizuage as sexual exploitation. Writing in 1956, she explained that she was sold multiple times by her okiya to men for mizuage, in the pretence that she had not yet undergone it, to make them a larger profit. The transaction was explicitly a sexual arrangement. However, as a writer Masuda argued against the outlawing of prostitution in Japan, explaining it could be a valuable way for women to make an independent living and would merely be driven underground. Remaking a memoir - A new autobiography, former geisha Mineko Iwasaki, Mizuage at wikidictionary Shizuko Hoshi is a Japanese-American actress, theatre director, dancer and choreographer, living in Southern California. Born in Japan, she is a graduate of Tokyo Women's College and University of Southern California. She was married to actor Mako, the founding Artistic Director of East West Players in Los Angeles and worked closely with the Asian-American theatre company from 1965 to 1989. While at East West Players, she received many awards for performance, directing and choreography, including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Featured Performance in Wakako Yamauchi's And the Soul Shall Dance, as well as Drama-Logue Awards for Best Director for Hokusai Sketchbooks, Asa ga Kimashita, A Chorus Line and Mishima. Her film credits include Memoirs of a Geisha, Come See the Paradise and M. Butterfly. She appeared in the indie film, Charlotte Sometimes and narrated the Academy Award-winning Live Action Short Film, Visas and Virtue. She has also appeared on television, in such shows as Chicago Hope and M*A*S*H*. In 1995, Hoshi co-directed the English language premiere of the Japanese comedy The Fall Guy off-Broadway in New York City. Appeared in Philip Kan Gotanda's 1991 play "The Wash" at Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California Hoshi was married to actor Mako until his death in 2006, together they have two daughters (who are both actresses) and two grandchildren.

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Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd, the developers of the Ubuntu operating system, using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month (or even year) to that planned, the version number will change accordingly. Canonical schedules Ubuntu releases to occur approximately one month after GNOME releases, which in turn come about one month after releases of X.Org, resulting in each Ubuntu release including a newer version of GNOME and X. Every fourth release, occurring in the second quarter of even-numbered years, has been designated as a long-term support (LTS) release. The desktop version of LTS releases for 10.04 and earlier were supported for three years, with server version support for five years. LTS releases 12.04 and newer are freely supported for five years. Through the ESM paid option, support can be extended even longer, up to a total of ten years for 18.04. The support period for non- LTS releases is 9 months. Prior to 13.04, it was 18 months. Ubuntu releases are also given code names, using an adjective and an animal with the same first letter — an alliteration, e.g., "Dapper Drake". With the exception of the first two releases, code names are in alphabetical order, allowing a quick determination of which release is newer. As of Ubuntu 17.10, however, the initial letter "rolled over" and returned to "A". Names are occasionally chosen so that animal appearance or habits reflects some new feature, e.g., "Koala's favourite leaf is Eucalyptus"; see below. Ubuntu releases are often referred to using only the adjective portion of the code name, e.g., "Feisty". Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog), released on 20 October 2004, was Canonical's first release of Ubuntu, building upon Debian, with plans for a new release every six months and eighteen months of support thereafter. Ubuntu 4.10's support ended on 30 April 2006. Ubuntu 4.10 was offered as a free download and, through Canonical's ShipIt service, was also mailed to users free of charge in CD format. Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog), released on 8 April 2005, was Canonical's second release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 5.04's support ended on 31 October 2006. Ubuntu 5.04 added many new features including an Update Manager, upgrade notifier, readahead and grepmap, suspend, hibernate and standby support, dynamic frequency scaling for processors, Ubuntu hardware database, Kickstart installation, and APT authentication. Ubuntu 5.04 was the first version that allowed installation from USB devices. Beginning with Ubuntu 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding. Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), released on 12 October 2005, was Canonical's third release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 5.10's support ended on 13 April 2007. Ubuntu 5.10 added several new features including a graphical bootloader (Usplash), an Add/Remove Applications tool, a menu editor (Alacarte), an easy language selector, logical volume management support, full Hewlett-Packard printer support, OEM installer support, a new Ubuntu logo in the top-left, and Launchpad integration for bug reporting and software development. Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake), released on 1 June 2006, was Canonical's fourth release, and the first long-term support (LTS) release. Ubuntu 6.06 was released behind schedule, having been intended as 6.04. It is sometimes jokingly described as their first "Late To Ship" (LTS) release. Development was not complete in April 2006 and Mark Shuttleworth approved slipping the release date to June, making it 6.06 instead. Ubuntu 6.06's support ended on 14 July 2009 for desktops and ended in June 2011 for servers. Ubuntu 6.06 included several new features, including having the Live CD and Install CD merged onto one disc, a graphical installer on Live CD (Ubiquity), Usplash on shutdown as well as startup, a network manager for easy switching of multiple wired and wireless connections, Humanlooks theme implemented using Tango guidelines, based on Clearlooks and featuring orange colors instead of brown, and GDebi graphical installer for package files. Ubuntu 6.06 did not include a means to install from a USB device, but did for the first time allow installation directly onto removable USB devices. Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), released on 26 October 2006, was Canonical's fifth release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 6.10's support ended on 25 April 2008. Ubuntu 6.10 added several new features including a heavily modified Human theme, Upstart init daemon, automated crash reports (Apport), Tomboy note taking application, and F-Spot photo manager. EasyUbuntu, a third party program designed to make Ubuntu easier to use, was included in Ubuntu 6.10 as a meta-package. Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), released on 19 April 2007, was Canonical's sixth release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 7.04's support ended on 19 October 2008. Ubuntu 7.04 included several new features, among them a migration assistant to help former Microsoft Windows users transition to Ubuntu, support for Kernel-based Virtual Machine, assisted codec and restricted drivers installation including Adobe Flash, Java, MP3 support, easier installation of Nvidia and ATI drivers, Compiz desktop effects, support for Wi-Fi Protected Access, the addition of Sudoku and chess, a disk usage analyzer (baobab), GNOME Control Center, and zeroconf support for many devices. Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), released on 18 October 2007, was Canonical's seventh release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 7.10's support ended on 18 April 2009. Ubuntu 7.10 included several new features, among them AppArmor security framework, fast desktop search, a Firefox plug-in manager (Ubufox), a graphical configuration tool for X.Org, full NTFS support (read/write) via NTFS-3G, and a revamped printing system with PDF printing by default. Compiz Fusion was enabled as default in Ubuntu 7.10 and Fast user switching was added. Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), released on 24 April 2008, was Canonical's eighth release of Ubuntu and the second long-term support release. Ubuntu 8.04's support ended on 12 May 2011 for desktops and ended on 9 May 2013 for servers as well. Ubuntu 8.04 included several new features, among them Tracker desktop search integration, Brasero disk burner, Transmission BitTorrent client, Vinagre VNC client, system sound through PulseAudio, and Active Directory authentication and login using Likewise Open. In addition Ubuntu 8.04 included updates for better Tango compliance, various Compiz usability improvements, automatic grabbing and releasing of the mouse cursor when running on a VMware virtual machine, and an easier method to remove Ubuntu. Ubuntu 8.04 was the first version of Ubuntu to include the Wubi installer on the Live CD that allows Ubuntu to be installed as a single file on a Windows hard drive without the need to repartition the disk. The first version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix was also introduced. Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), released on 30 October 2008, was Canonical's ninth release of Ubuntu. Support ended on 30 April 2010. Ubuntu 8.10 introduced several new features including improvements to mobile computing and desktop scalability, increased flexibility for Internet connectivity, an Ubuntu Live USB creator and a guest account, which allowed others to use a computer allowing very limited user rights (e.g. accessing the Internet, using software and checking e-mail). The guest account had its own home folder and nothing done on it was stored permanently on the computer's hard disk. Intrepid Ibex also included an encrypted private directory for users, the inclusion of Dynamic Kernel Module Support, a tool that allows kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released, and support for creating USB flash drive images. Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), released on 23 April 2009, was Canonical's tenth release of Ubuntu. Support ended on 23 October 2010. New features included faster boot time, integration of web services and applications into the desktop interface. Because of that, they named it after the mythical jackalope. It was the first release named after a mythical animal, the second being Utopic Unicorn. It had a new usplash screen, a new login screen and also support for both Wacom (hotplugging) and netbooks. It also included a new notification system, Notify OSD, and themes. It marked the first time that all of Ubuntu's core development moved to the GNU Bazaar distributed version control system. Ubuntu 9.04 was the first version to support the ARM architecture with native support for ARMv5EL and ARMv6EL-VFP. Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), released on 29 October 2009, was Canonical's 11th release of Ubuntu. It was supported until April 2011. In an announcement to the community on 20 February 2009, Mark Shuttleworth explained that 9.10 would focus on improvements in cloud computing on the server using Eucalyptus, saying "... a Koala's favourite leaf is Eucalyptus", as well as further improvements in boot speed and development of the Netbook Remix. The initial announcement of version 9.10 indicated that this release might include a new theme, but the project was delayed to version 10.04, and only minor revisions were made to the default theme. Other graphical improvements included a new set of boot up and shutdown splash screens, a new login screen that transitions seamlessly into the desktop and greatly improved performance on Intel graphics chip-sets. In June 2009, Canonical created the One Hundred Paper Cuts project, focusing developers to fix minor usability issues. A "paper cut" was defined as, "a trivially fixable usability bug that the average user would encounter on his/her first day of using a brand new installation of the latest version of Ubuntu Desktop Edition." The desktop installation of Ubuntu 9.10 replaced Pidgin with Empathy Instant Messenger as its default instant messaging client. The default filesystem is ext4, and the Ubuntu One client, which interfaces with Canonical's new online storage system, is installed by default. It introduced Grub 2 beta as default bootloader. It also debuted a new application called the Ubuntu Software Center that unifies package management. Canonical stated their intention for this application to replace Add/Remove Programs (gnome-app-install) in 9.10 and possibly Synaptic, Software Sources, Gdebi and Update Manager in Ubuntu 10.04. Karmic Koala also includes a slideshow during the installation process (through ubiquity-slideshow) that highlights applications and features in Ubuntu. Shuttleworth first announced Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) on 19 September 2009 at the Atlanta Linux Fest; Canonical released it on 29 April 2010. It was Canonical's 12th release of Ubuntu and the third Long Term Support (LTS) release. The new release included, among other things, improved support for Nvidia proprietary graphics drivers, while switching to the open source Nvidia graphics driver, Nouveau, by default. Plymouth was also introduced, allowing boot animations. It also included a video editor for the first time, Pitivi. GIMP was removed from the Lucid installation CD due to its professional-grade complexity and its file size. F-Spot provided normal user-level graphics- editing capabilities and GIMP remained available for download in the repositories. The distribution emphasized the increasing importance of Web services and of social networking services with integrated interfaces for posting to sites like Facebook and Twitter, complementing the IM and email integration already in Ubuntu. On 4 March 2010 it was announced that Lucid Lynx would feature a new theme, including new logos, taking Ubuntu's new visual style into account: The new theme met with mixed critical responses. Ars Technicas Ryan Paul said: "The new themes and updated color palette are nice improvement for Ubuntu ... After testing the new theme for several hours, I feel like it's a step forward, but it still falls a bit short of my expectations." Paul also noted that the most controversial aspect of the new design amongst users was the placement of the window-control buttons on the left instead of on the right side of the windows. TechSource's Jun Auza expressed concern that the new theme was too close to that used by Apple's Mac OS X: "I think Ubuntu is having an identity crisis right now and should seriously consider changing several things in terms of look and feel to avoid being branded as a Mac OS X rip-off, or worse, get sued by Apple." Auza also summarized Ubuntu user feedback: "I believe the fans are divided right now. Some have learned to love the brown color scheme since it uniquely represents Ubuntu, while others wanted change." The first point release, 10.04.1, was made available on 17 August 2010, and the second update, 10.04.2, was released on 17 February 2011. The third update, 10.04.3, was released on 21 July 2011, and the fourth and final update, 10.04.4, was released on 16 February 2012. Canonical provided support for the desktop version of Ubuntu 10.04 until 9 May 2013 and for the server version until 30 April 2015. The naming of Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) was announced by Mark Shuttleworth on 2 April 2010, along with the release's goals of improving the netbook experience and a server focus on hybrid cloud computing. Ubuntu 10.10 was released on 10 October 2010 (10.10.10) at around 10:10 UTC. This is a departure from the traditional schedule of releasing at the end of October to get "the perfect 10", and a playful reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, since, in binary, 101010 is equal to the number 42, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything" within the series. It was Canonical's 13th release of Ubuntu. New features included the new Unity interface for the Netbook Edition, a new default photo manager, Shotwell, replacing F-Spot, the ability to purchase applications in the Software Center, and an official Ubuntu font used by default. Support for Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10 was officially ended on 10 April 2012. The naming of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) was announced on 17 August 2010 by Mark Shuttleworth. Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal was released on 28 April 2011. It is Canonical's 14th release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 11.04 used the Unity user interface instead of GNOME Shell as default. The move to Unity was controversial as some GNOME developers feared it would fracture the community and marginalize GNOME Shell. The GNOME desktop environment is still available in Ubuntu 11.04 under the title Ubuntu Classic as a fallback to Unity. Ubuntu 11.04 employed Banshee as the default music player, replacing Rhythmbox. Other new applications included Mozilla Firefox 4 and LibreOffice, which replaced OpenOffice.org. The OpenStack cloud computing platform was added in this release. Starting with Ubuntu 11.04, the Ubuntu Netbook Edition was merged into the desktop edition. In reviewing Ubuntu 11.04 upon its stable release, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica said "There is a lot to like in Ubuntu 11.04, but also a lot of room for improvement." Jesse Smith of DistroWatch said "I'm of the opinion there are good features in this release, but 11.04 definitely suffered from being rushed out the door while it was still beta quality. Ubuntu aims to be novice-friendly, but this release is buggy and I think they missed the mark this time around. I'm limiting my recommendation of 11.04 to people who want to play with an early release of Unity." Support for Ubuntu 11.04 officially ended on 28 October 2012. The naming of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) was announced on 7 March 2011 by Mark Shuttleworth. He explained that Oneiric means "dreamy". Ubuntu 11.10 was released on schedule on 13 October 2011 and is Canonical's 15th release of Ubuntu. In April 2011, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 11.10 would not include the classic GNOME desktop as a fall back to Unity, unlike Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Instead, 11.10 included a 2D version of Unity as a fallback for computers that lacked the hardware resources for the Compiz-based 3D version. However, the classic GNOME desktop remained available in Ubuntu 11.10 through a package in the Ubuntu repositories. Shuttleworth also confirmed that Unity in Ubuntu 11.10 would run as a shell for GNOME 3 on top of GNOME 3 libraries, unlike in Ubuntu 11.04 where it ran as a shell for GNOME 2. Moreover, users were able to install the entire GNOME 3 stack along with GNOME Shell directly from the Ubuntu repositories; to be presented with a "GNOME 3 desktop" choice at login. During the development cycle there were many changes to Unity, including the placement of the Ubuntu button on the Launcher instead of on the Panel, the autohiding of the window controls (and the global menu) of maximized windows, the introduction of more transparency into the Dash (and the Panel when the Dash was opened) and the introduction of window controls for the Dash. In May 2011, it was announced that PiTiVi would be no longer part of the Ubuntu ISO, starting with Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. The reasons given for removing it included poor user reception, lack of fit with the default user-case for Ubuntu, lack of polish and the application's lack of development maturity. PiTiVi will not be replaced on the ISO with another video editor. Other changes include removing Computer Janitor, as it caused broken systems for users, and the removal of the Synaptic package manager, which can optionally be installed via the Ubuntu Software Center. Déjà Dup has been added as Ubuntu's backup program. Mozilla Thunderbird has replaced the GNOME Evolution email client. All removed applications will remain available to users for installation from the Ubuntu Software Center and repositories. Support for Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot was officially ended on 9 May 2013. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) is Canonical's sixteenth release of Ubuntu and its fourth Long Term Support (LTS) release, made available on schedule on 26 April 2012. It is named after the pangolin anteater. Previous LTS releases have been supported for three years for the desktop version and five years for the server version; this release was supported for five years for both versions, with support ending on 28 April 2017. Canonical continues to offer extended security maintenance to Advantage customers for an additional two years. Changes in this release include a much faster startup time for the Ubuntu Software Center and refinements to Unity. This release also switched the default media player from Banshee back to Rhythmbox and dropped the Tomboy note-taking application and the supporting Mono framework as well. Also, the window dodge feature has been removed from the Unity launcher starting with Ubuntu 12.04. Ubuntu 12.04 incorporated a new head-up display (HUD) feature that allows hot key searching for application menu items from the keyboard, without needing the mouse. Shuttleworth said that the HUD "will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications" but for Ubuntu 12.04 at least the menus will remain. Ubuntu 12.04 is the first Ubuntu release shipped with IPv6 privacy extensions turned on by default. Ubuntu 11.10 already supported IPv6 on the desktop and in the installer (stateless address autoconfiguration SLAAC, stateless DHCPv6 and stateful DHCPv6). Like previous LTS releases, 12.04 included point releases that bundled updates to shorten downloads for users installing the release later in its life-cycle. The point releases and dates were: 12.04.1 (23 August 2012), 12.04.2 (14 February 2013), 12.04.3 (scheduled for release on 22 August 2013, but actually released on 23 August 2013), 12.04.4 (6 February 2014) and 12.04.5 (7 August 2014). Jesse Smith of DistroWatch said that many people, like he, had questioned Ubuntu's direction, including Unity, but with Ubuntu 12.04 he felt that the puzzle pieces, which individually may have been underwhelming, had come together to form a whole, clear picture. He said "Unity, though a step away from the traditional desktop, has several features which make it attractive, such as reducing mouse travel. The HUD means that newcomers can find application functionality with a quick search and more advanced users can use the HUD to quickly run menu commands from the keyboard." He wrote that Unity had grown to maturity, while indicating that he was bothered by its lack of flexibility. He did notice issues, however, especially that the HUD did not work in LibreOffice and performance in a virtual machine was unsatisfactory. He concluded that Ubuntu's overall experience was "head and shoulders above anything else in the Linux ecosystem." Jim Lynch wrote "Ubuntu 12.04 is definitely worth an upgrade if you're running an earlier version. Unity is finally coming into its own in this release, plus there are other enhancements that make upgrading worthwhile. Ubuntu is getting better and better with each release. I was one of the Unity skeptics initially, but I've come to accept it as part of Ubuntu." Jack Wallen of TechRepublic, who had strongly criticized early versions of Unity, said "Since Ubuntu 12.04 was released, and I migrated over from Linux Mint, I'm working much more efficiently. This isn't really so much a surprise to me, but to many of the detractors who assume Unity a very unproductive desktop ... well, I can officially say they are wrong. [...] I realize that many people out there have spurned Unity (I was one of them for a long time), but the more I use it, the more I realize that Canonical really did their homework on how to help end users more efficiently interact with their computers. Change is hard — period. For many, the idea of change is such a painful notion they wind up missing out on some incredible advancements. Unity is one such advancement." On 23 April 2012 Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 12.10 would be named Quantal Quetzal. As this will be the first of a series of three releases before the next LTS release, Shuttleworth indicated that it will include a refreshed look, with work to be done on typography and iconography. The release takes its name from the quetzal, a species of Central American birds. Ubuntu 12.10 was released on schedule on 18 October 2012 and is Canonical's seventeenth release of the operating system. Ryan Paul, writing for Ars Technica, said in April 2012 when the name was announced "A Quetzal is a colorful bird that is common to Central America. The most well-known variety, the resplendent quetzal, is known for its beauty. The name is a good fit for Ubuntu, which aims to soar in the cloud, offer visual appeal without compromising function, and avoid smacking into closed windows." The Ubuntu Developer Summit held in May 2012 set the priorities for this release. They are forecast to include an improved boot up sequence and log-in screen, dropping Unity 2D in favor of lower hardware requirements for Unity 3D, wrap around dialogs and toolbars for the head-up display and a "vanilla" version of Gnome-Shell as an option. The release would likely include GNOME 3.6, Python 3 and the 3.5 Linux kernel. It would ship with Python 3 in the image, but with Python 2 available in the repositories, via the "Python" package. The kernel will have the PAE switched on by default. In July 2012, development versions of Ubuntu 12.10 received a new combined user, session and system menu. This release also included Ubuntu Web Apps, a means of running Web applications directly from the desktop, without having to open a browser. It would use Nautilus 3.4 as its file manager, in place of the 3.5 and newer versions, to retain features deleted from later versions. In September 2012, Canonical's Kate Stewart announced that the Ubuntu 12.10 image would not fit on a compact disc, saying "There is no longer a traditional CD sized image, DVD or alternate image, but rather a single 800MB Ubuntu image that can be used from USB or DVD." However, a third-party project has created a version of Ubuntu 12.10 that fits on a CD. It uses LZMA2 compression instead of the DEFLATE compression used on the official Ubuntu DVD image. Also in late September 2012, it was announced that the version of Unity to be shipped with Ubuntu 12.10 would by default include searches of Amazon.com for searched terms. This move caused immediate controversy among Ubuntu users, particularly with regard to privacy issues, and caused Mark Shuttleworth to issue a statement indicating that this feature is not adware and labelled many of the objections "FUD" (Fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Shuttleworth stated "What we have in 12.10 isn't the full experience, so those who leap to judgement are at maximum risk of having to eat their words later. Chill out. If the first cut doesn't work for you, remove it, or just search the specific scope you want (there are hotkeys for all the local scopes)." Regardless, users filed a Launchpad bug report on the feature requesting that it be made a separate lens and not included with general desktop searches for files, directories and applications. The degree of community push-back on the issue resulted in plans by the developers to make the dash and where it searches user-configurable via a GUI-setting dialogue. Despite concerns that the setting dialogue would not make the final version of Ubuntu 12.10, it was completed and is present in the final version of 12.10. In the week prior to the stable release of Ubuntu 12.10 data-privacy advocate Luís de Sousa indicated that the inclusion of the shopping lens, installed without explicit permission of the user, violates European Directive 95/46/EC on data privacy. That directive requires that the "data subject has unambiguously given his consent" in situations where personal identifying information is sent. In reviewing Ubuntu 12.10 at the end of October 2012 for DistroWatch, Jesse Smith raised concerns about the Amazon shopping lens, saying, "it has raised a number of privacy concerns in the community and, looking over Ubuntu's legal notice about privacy does not provide any reassurance. The notice informs us Canonical reserves the right to share our keystrokes, search terms and IP address with a number of third parties, including Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and the BBC. This feature is enabled by default, but can be turned off through the distribution's settings panel." He also found that the dash provided very slow performance and that the release was "practically unusable in the VirtualBox environment". He summed up his experiences, "After a day and a half of using Ubuntu 12.10 it was an internal struggle not to wipe my hard drive and just find another distribution to review. During the first twenty-four hours Ubuntu spied on me, provided performance which was distinctly sub par, the interface regularly popped up errors (sometimes so frequently the first pop-up wouldn't have faded out of view before the next one appeared), the update notification didn't work and it wasn't possible to turn off accessibility features through the graphical interface. Adding insult to injury, the Unity dash kept locking up or losing focus while I was trying to use it and the operating system crashed more times than not while trying to shutdown or logout. Switching away from Unity to GNOME Fallback helped the performance issues I had experienced with the Dash, but it didn't remove the annoying pop-up errors and performance (while usable) still wasn't as good as I would expect. And what really makes me scratch my head is Ubuntu 12.04 worked really well on this same hardware." In early November, the Electronic Frontier Foundation made a statement on the shopping lens issue, "Technically, when you search for something in Dash, your computer makes a secure HTTPS connection to productsearch.ubuntu.com, sending along your search query and your IP address. If it returns Amazon products to display, your computer then insecurely loads the product images from Amazon's server over HTTP. This means that a passive eavesdropper, such as someone sharing a wireless network with you, will be able to get a good idea of what you're searching for on your own computer based on Amazon product images. It's a major privacy problem if you can't find things on your own computer without broadcasting what you're looking for to the world." Writing about Ubuntu 12.10 in a December 2012 review, Jim Lynch addressed the Amazon controversy: He concluded by saying, "Overall, Ubuntu 12.10 is a decent upgrade for current Ubuntu users. However, the inclusion of the Amazon icon on the launcher, and the discontinuation of Unity 2D might irritate some people." Support for Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal officially ended on 16 May 2014. On 17 October 2012, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 13.04 would be named Raring Ringtail and said about this release "[In the next six months] we want to have the phone, tablet and TV all lined up. So I think it's time to look at the core of Ubuntu and review it through a mobile lens: let's measure our core platform by mobile metrics, things like battery life, number of running processes, memory footprint, and polish the rough edges that we find when we do that." The Wubi installer was dropped as of 13.04, due to its incompatibility with Windows 8 and general lack of support and development. Previously, on 29 October 2012 at the Ubuntu Developer Summit registration, there had been a discussion of redesigning Wubi for Ubuntu 13.04. Ubuntu 13.04 was released on schedule on 25 April 2013. In reviewing Ubuntu 13.04 Jim Lynch from Desktop Linux Reviews said, "I found Ubuntu 13.04 to be a slightly disappointing upgrade. While there are definitely some enhancements in this release, there's also nothing very special about it ... Alas, there's nothing in Ubuntu 13.04 that makes me want to consider it for use as my daily distro. Don't misunderstand me, there's nothing overtly wrong with Ubuntu 13.04 either. It installed and performed very well for me. Unity 7 also has some helpful and attractive updates that Ubuntu users will enjoy, and there are other things in this release that help improve the overall Ubuntu experience ... I suspect it is simply because Ubuntu has settled into a comfortable middle age, it works and it works very well for what it does." Support for Ubuntu 13.04 officially ended on 27 January 2014. Ubuntu 13.10 is named Saucy Salamander. It was released on schedule on 17 October 2013. Consideration was given to changing the default browser from Mozilla Firefox to Chromium, but problems with timely updates to Ubuntu's Chromium package caused developers to retain Firefox for this release. Ubuntu 13.10 was intended to be the first Ubuntu release to replace the aging X Window System (X11) with the Mir display server, with X11 programs to have operated through the XMir compatibility layer. However, after the development of XMir ran into "outstanding technical difficulties" for multiple monitors, Canonical decided to postpone the default use of Mir in Ubuntu. Mir will still be released as the default display server for Ubuntu Touch 13.10. Ryan Paul of Ars Technica wrote that although 13.10 brings useful enhancements, it is "a relatively thin update". He also said "the new Dash concept is intriguing, but its usefulness is a bit limited"; and even though he thinks that universal Web search is potentially useful, he's somewhat uncomfortable with how Canonical joins it with local system searches. In a review of Ubuntu 13.10 Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu criticized the new Smart Scopes feature, saying, "it's less of a help and more of a hindrance. With so many web services offering results for a search term — however innocuous it might be — the Dash ends up resembling a wall painted in unintelligible, irrelevant mess." Sneddon noted that internet search engines turn in more useful and better organized results and recommended selectively disabling individual scopes to reduce the noise factor. Jim Lynch of Linux Desktop Reviews described the release as "boring" and noted, "alas, Ubuntu 13.10 follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 13.04. The big new desktop feature is Smart Scopes ... Beyond that there's not a whole lot that is interesting or exciting to talk about. It turns out that Saucy Salamander is one truly dull amphibian. Canonical really should rename this release to 'Snoozing Salamander' instead." Lynch described the Smart Scopes, "this is a very useful function, and it can save you a lot of time when looking for information. I understand that some people will regard this as a privacy violation, no problem. There's an easy way to disable Smart Scopes." Maria Korolov writing for Network World in December 2013 said of the release, "there is a benefit to be had in being able to search for files you own on both local drives and in cloud services such as Google Drive and Flickr. That's the idea behind Unity Smart Scopes ... The result is a cluttered mess. The first thing many users will probably do after installing Ubuntu 13.10 is to get rid of most of these results ... mixing generic Web results in with your own files is just confusing." In its year-end Readers Choice Awards, Linux Journal readers voted Ubuntu as Best Linux Distribution and Best Desktop Distribution for 2013. Support for Ubuntu 13.10 ended on 17 July 2014. Mark Shuttleworth announced on 31 October 2011 that by Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu would support smartphones, tablets, TVs and smart screens. On 18 October 2013, it was announced that Ubuntu 14.04 would be dubbed "Trusty Tahr". This version was released on 17 April 2014, and is the 20th release of Ubuntu. Shuttleworth indicated that the focus in this development cycle would be a release characterized by "performance, refinement, maintainability, technical debt" and encouraged the developers to make "conservative choices". Technical debt refers to catching up and refining supporting work for earlier changes. The development cycle for this release focused on the tablet interface, specifically for the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets. There were few changes to the desktop, as 14.04 used the existing mature Unity 7 interface. Ubuntu 14.04 included the ability to turn off the global menu system and used locally integrated menus instead for individual applications. Other features were the retention of Xorg and not Mir or XMir, a Unity 8 developers' preview, new mobile applications, a redesigned USB Startup Disk Creator tool, a new forked version of the GNOME Control Center, called the Unity Control Center and default SSD TRIM support. GNOME 3.10 is installed by default. Point releases included 14.04.1 on 24 July 2014, 14.04.2 on 19 February 2015, 14.04.3 on 6 August 2015, 14.04.4 on 18 February 2016, 14.04.5 on 4 August 2016 and 14.04.6 on 7 March 2019. The release initially included Linux kernel 3.13, but this was updated to 4.2 with the point release of 14.04.4 on 18 February 2016. Point release 14.04.5, which provided the latest Linux kernel and graphics stacks from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, was intended to be the final point release for 14.04 LTS, but 14.04.6 was released on 7 March 2019 as a security-targeted update. Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu noted that recent Ubuntu releases have received lower and lower amounts of mainstream press coverage and termed it an "established product that has, by and large, remained a niche interest". In reviewing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS in April 2014, Jim Lynch concluded: "Ubuntu 14.04 seems to be all about refining the Ubuntu desktop. While there are not a lot of amazing new features in this release, there are quite a few very useful and needed tweaks that add up to a much better desktop experience. Canonical's designers seem to be listening to Ubuntu users again, and they seem willing to make the changes necessary to give the users what they want. That may be the single most important thing about Ubuntu 14.04. It could be an indication of a sea change in Canonical's attitude toward Ubuntu users." Jack Wallin writing for TechRepublic termed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, "as polished a distribution as you'll find. It's cleaner, performs better, and is all around improved. Some users may say that this is the most boring release Canonical has unleashed in years, but I believe it to be one of the finest." Terry Relph-Knight of ZDNet said, "although there are no amazing 'must-have' new features in Ubuntu 14.04, it is worth upgrading just to get the latest LTS release with a more recent kernel and default applications." Scott Gilbertson of Ars Technica stated, "Ubuntu is one of the most polished desktops around, certainly the most polished in the Linux world, but in many ways that polish is increasingly skin deep at the expense of some larger usability issues, which continue to go unaddressed release after release." Normal LTS support is set to continue until 25 April 2019, after which extended security maintenance will be available to Ubuntu Advantage customers and as a separate commercial purchase, as was the case previously with 12.04. On 23 April 2014 Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 14.10 would carry the name Utopic Unicorn. Version 14.10 was released on 23 October, having only minor updates to the kernel, Unity Desktop, and included packages such as LibreOffice and Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. The kernel was updated to 3.16 for hardware support (e.g. graphics) and has for security, full kernel address space layout randomization applied to the kernel and its modules, plus the closure of a number of information leaks in /proc. This version is the 21st release. Ubuntu 14.10 was officially characterized as a release that addressed "bug fixes and incremental quality improvements" and so it incorporated very few new features. Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu wrote in reviewing this release, "Ubuntu 14.10, codenamed "Utopic Unicorn", is saddled with a modest changelog, composed largely of bug fixes, stability improvements and key software updates. All worthy, but falls a little way short of the "fresh ideas and new art" that should "raise the roof" — quotes from Mark Shuttleworth's "U" name announcement ... For the release taking place in the week of Ubuntu's 10th anniversary, this may all read like a bit of an anticlimax. No headline user features, no visual changes (bar a few new icons for the sidebar of Nautilus) — there's not even a new default wallpaper to look at...But on the flip side it's perhaps the most fitting release; the one that shows just how far Ubuntu has come in the past few years. Mature, dependable and sure in its own (Ambiance-themed) skin, buggy feature churn has given way to a sustained era of assured stability ... Ubuntu 14.10 is a rock- solid, hearty and dependable release. Perhaps more here than ever before. There's no getting away from the fact that it's an uninspiring update on paper, and is far from being anything approaching essential." Michael Larabel of Phoronix wrote, "At the end of the day simple end-users won't see much of a difference over Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which is a bit sad given that this is the tenth anniversary release of Ubuntu Linux. For everyday Linux desktop users the many upgraded packages are great but there isn't too much more to celebrate about today on the desktop front." Scott Gilbertson, writing for The Register, explained, "I've been covering Ubuntu for seven of the release's 10 years and 14.10 is the first time I've had to dig deep into the release notes just to find something new to test ... If you needed further proof that Canonical is currently solely focused on bringing its Unity 8 interface to mobile devices, 14.10 is the best evidence yet ... Almost nothing Canonical develops has changed in this release — there isn't even a new desktop wallpaper. There are some updates to be sure, but they don't hail from Canonical ... The lack of updates isn't unexpected, in fact that's been the plan all along ... Desktop Ubuntu is currently in a kind of suspended animation, waiting on Unity 8 and Mir to be ready for its coming metamorphosis. The short story is that it makes no sense for Canonical to keep refining Unity 7 when it will soon be retired." On 20 October 2014 Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 15.04 would be named Vivid Vervet. It was released on 23 April 2015. This was the 22nd Ubuntu release. Ubuntu 15.04 used systemd instead of Upstart by default. This release also featured locally integrated menus by default, replacing the previous default global menus. Silviu Stahie, writing for Softpedia, said about this release while it was in beta, "Ubuntu 15.04 is not an exciting release, but that it's only a surface impression. The truth is that it's an important upgrade, because some very important changes have been made, including the adoption of systemd. Users will notice that not too many visual changes have been implemented in Ubuntu 15.04, but that was to be expected. The team is transitioning to a new Unity version that is still not ready for general use, so it's easy to understand why Ubuntu 15.04 is not all that different from Ubuntu 14.10." This release included modest improvements in Intel Haswell graphics performance and bigger improvements for AMD Radeon graphics cards using the open-source Radeon R600 and RadeonSI Gallium3D drivers. In reviewing this release, Joey Sneddon, of OMG Ubuntu, said "Ubuntu 15.04 is yet another solid entry in the distribution's long release history. A dependable desktop operating system suited for end users but with plenty of convenient extras to woo developers with. Though the Unity 7 desktop is largely mothballed as work progresses on the new converged experience with Unity 8, the modest refinements received here buff the experience. Unity in Ubuntu 15.04 shines brighter, a glowing example of a desktop that 'just works' for users.". Jesse Smith of DistroWatch wrote, "One of the changes I was interested in exploring was Ubuntu's switch from the Upstart init software to systemd. In this regard I was pleasantly surprised. I find most distributions, when they initially make the switch to systemd, introduce bugs or, at the very least, break backward compatibility. Sometimes service managers stop working properly and network device names usually change. Even if everything works as it should, the administrator needs to adjust to systemd's approach to logging and adopt a different method of managing services. Ubuntu has taken an approach I like with regards to adopting systemd." He concluded, "on the surface, Ubuntu 15.04 does not bring many changes. There are a few cosmetic adjustments, but nothing major that desktop users are likely to notice. Most of the interesting work appears to be going on behind the scenes ... Ubuntu 15.04 feels very stable and easy to configure. This is an operating system that is virtually effortless to set up and run and I feel the Unity 7 desktop does a nice job of providing lots of features while staying out of the way ... All in all, I like what Canonical has done with Ubuntu 15.04. This feels like a small, incremental evolution for Ubuntu and Unity. The init switch, which has disrupted the users of several other distributions, goes largely unnoticed in Ubuntu and I think that is worthy of praise." Shuttleworth announced on 4 May 2015 that Ubuntu 15.10 would be called Wily Werewolf. He initially expressed hope that the release would include the Mir display server, but it was released on 22 October 2015 without Mir. It was the 23rd release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 15.10 eliminated the disappearing window edge scrollbars in favour of the upstream GNOME scrollbars, a move designed to save developer time in creating patches and updates. In reviewing the release, Chris Jones wrote, "Ubuntu 15.10 as an operating system for Review is pretty lackluster. There's nothing new as such and there's nothing we can really say that is going to change your opinion from its predecessor, 15.04. Therefore, we recommend you to upgrade either out of habit and according to your regular upgrade schedule rather than out of a specific necessity for a specific feature of this release. Because there is really nothing that could possibly differentiate it from the older, yet still very stable 15.04 release. But if you're going to stick with 15.04 for a little longer, we do recommend that you look at upgrading the kernel to the latest 4.2 branch. It is worth it. If you really want a reason to upgrade? Linux kernel 4.2 would be our sole reason for taking Ubuntu 15.10 into consideration." Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu noted, "For a release named after a terrifying mythological creature Ubuntu 15.10 is surprisingly tame. There are no dramatic transformations, no bone popping or shirt ripping and certainly no hair sprouting under the milky eye of full moon. In fact, a new wallpaper and change in scrollbar appearance is about as shapeshift-y as this werewolf gets." Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols of ZDNet praised the release for its integration of cloud services, such as the new Ubuntu OpenStack cloud deployment and management tool, OpenStack Autopilot as well as its server tools. Ubuntu's machine container hypervisor, LXD, included by default in 15.10, was singled out. Vaughan-Nichols concluded, "with these advances, chances are you're more likely to use Ubuntu, hidden behind the scenes, on clouds and servers." A Hectic Geek review noted problems with X.Org Server crashes and concluded "If you use Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and if it's working out for you, then there really is no need to switch to a non-LTS release, especially to the 15.10." A review on Dedoimedo identified problems with Samba, Bluetooth, desktop searching, battery life and the smartphone interface and found the release inconsistent, saying, "unpredictability is horrible. Give me a good experience, or give me a bad experience, but please try not to seesaw between them erratically. Continuous, steady change in behavior, any which way." The review concluded, "it underperforms compared to some of its siblings and ancestors. Not the best, definitely not worth a perma upgrade, but you might find it more palatable to your hardware and use cases. Overall, though Wily isn't the best of distros. It sure gave me the willies. 7/10." Shuttleworth announced on 21 October 2015 that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS would be called Xenial Xerus. It was released on 21 April 2016. The default desktop environment continues to be Unity 7, with an option for Unity 8. In May 2015, Shuttleworth indicated that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS would include Unity 8 and Mir, but that users have a choice of that or Unity 7 and X.org. He said, "Unity 8 will be an option for 16.04 and we'll let the community decide the default for 16.04." The release adds support for Ceph and ZFS filesystems, the LXD hypervisor (using seccomp) for OpenStack, and Snap packages will be supported. It will use systemd instead of Upstart as its init system. This release will replace the Ubuntu Software Center with GNOME Software and eliminate Empathy and Brasero from the ISO file. Reviewer Jack Wallen said, "The truth of the matter is, the Ubuntu Software Center has been a horrible tool for a very long time. Making this move will greatly improve the Ubuntu experience for every user." This release has online Dash search results disabled by default in Unity 7. "None of your search terms will leave your computer", stated Ubuntu desktop manager Will Cooke. Reviewer Jack Wallen said about this, "I've never considered the inclusion of online search results to be spyware. In fact, I have always considered the online results to be an efficient means of searching for products through Amazon (etc.). That being said, with the release of 16.04, this feature is disabled." Ubuntu 16.04 LTS does not support the AMD Catalyst (fglrx) driver for AMD/ATI graphics cards and instead recommends the radeon and AMDGPU alternatives. These may not provide optimal graphics performance, however. AMDGPU-PRO is available for Ubuntu 16.04 The first point release, 16.04.1, was released on 21 July 2016. Release of Ubuntu 16.04.2 was delayed a number of times, but it was eventually released on 17 February 2017. Ubuntu 16.04.3 was released on 3 August 2017. Ubuntu 16.04.4 was delayed from 15 February 2018 and released on 1 March 2018, providing the latest Linux kernel, 4.13, from Ubuntu 17.10. Ubuntu 16.04.5 was released on 2 August 2018, and Ubuntu 16.04.6 was released on 28 February 2019. Mark Shuttleworth announced on 21 April 2016 that Ubuntu 16.10 would be called Yakkety Yak. It was released on 13 October 2016. This release features a maintenance version of Unity 7, but offers Unity 8 packages included in the ISO, so that users can test them. Other improvements include a new version of Ubuntu Software that supports faster loading, better support for installing command-line-only non-GUI applications, support for installing fonts and multimedia codecs and introduction of paid applications. It is based on Linux kernel version 4.8. This version of Ubuntu introduced only minor incremental changes. These included LibreOffice 5.2, GTK3 version by default, the Update Manager shows changelog entries for Personal Package Archives (PPAs), as well as repository software, GNOME applications updated to version 3.20, with some using version 3.22. Also, systemd now handles user sessions as well as the previously implemented system sessions. Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu said, "Ubuntu 16.10 is not a big update over Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, released back in April. If you were hoping it'd be a compelling or must-have upgrade you'll be sadly disappointed." He did find some improvements, "The Ubuntu Software app is also significantly faster in use. This solves a real pet peeve of mine on the incumbent LTS desktop. Thankfully, Yakkety makes it quicker to find, browser, search and install applications," but concluded, "Ubuntu 16.10 is not a must-have upgrade—not for most people." Marius Nestor of Softpedia noted, "Ubuntu 16.10 is not an exciting release for fans of the open source operating system. Probably the most important feature of Yakkety Yak is Linux kernel 4.8, which brings support for the latest hardware, but other than that, you'll get some updated components that are mostly based on the old GNOME 3.20 Stack." Writing in Makeuseof, Bertel King, Jr. said, "If you're feeling underwhelmed, you probably remember the Ubuntu of yesteryear. Back in the days of 8.10, 9.04, and 10.04 each release brought forth a new theme or ambitious feature. Unity first appeared in 10.10 as a netbook interface before replacing the regular desktop in 11.04. By comparison, modern Ubuntu updates feel relatively stagnant. You would be forgiven for not being able to distinguish between 12.04 and 16.10." On 17 October 2016, Mark Shuttleworth announced that the codename of Ubuntu 17.04, released on 13 April 2017, would be Zesty Zapus. This release dropped support for the 32-bit PowerPC architecture, following the same move by the upstream Debian project. Other changes include the default DNS resolver now being systemd-resolved, Linux kernel 4.10, and support for printers, which allow printing without printer-specific drivers. Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu said of this release, "this is no normal release of Ubuntu. It's potentially the last version of the distribution that will come with the Unity 7 desktop by default. That's not a certainty, of course, but we know that Ubuntu will switch to GNOME for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS next year. It's reasonable to expect developers to want to kick a few tyres on that switch ahead of time, in the next interim release. A bittersweet release then, Ubuntu 17.04 sees the distro reach the end of the alphabet in codenames, and the end of an era in everything else. Sadly there's not an awful lot to say. Unity is, by and large, the same as it is in the 16.04 LTS ... Ubuntu 17.04 is an iterative update with modest appeal. While there is little compelling reason for anyone running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to upgrade (especially for those who opt receive the newer hardware enablement stack) it's not an irrelevant release. Ubuntu 16.10 users will want to upgrade to Ubuntu 17.04 for the general around improvements, access to newer apps, and because the truncated support period of these short term releases necessitates it." Maruis Nestor of Softpedia called it, "a powerful release, both inside and outside" and noted, "the default desktop environment remains Unity 7, so your beloved Ubuntu desktop environment is not going anyway at the moment. It will also be available in the upcoming Ubuntu 17.10 release, whose development will start next month. After that, starting with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, the GNOME desktop will be used by default." The name of this release, Artful Aardvark, was announced via Launchpad on 21 April 2017, instead of on Shuttleworth's blog as has been the case in the past. It was released on 19 October 2017. This was the first release of Ubuntu to use the GNOME Shell interface, and replaced X11 with the Wayland display server. In May 2017, Ken VanDine, a Canonical Software Engineer on the Ubuntu desktop team tasked with the switch to GNOME, confirmed that the intention is to ship the most current version of GNOME, with very few changes from a stock installation. This release also dropped support for 32-bit desktop images but a 32-bit system can still be installed from the minimal ISO. Writer J.A. Watson of ZDNet said, "I have not been much of an Ubuntu fan for a long time now, but this release includes a lot of significant changes, many of which might address some of my most serious objections about Ubuntu. So I think I should take a closer look at it than I normally do." He noted on printer configuration, "I got a notice that our wireless printer had been successfully configured. I hadn't even thought about trying to set up a printer yet, so that was a very nice surprise — and a good thing to point out to those who are still going around spouting 5+ years out of date information about how difficult it is to use printers with Linux." Reviewer Scott Gilbertson of Ars Technica wrote, "Ubuntu 17.10 is a huge departure for Ubuntu, but one that sees the distro seemingly getting its footing back. The transition to GNOME, while not without its pitfalls for some users, is surprisingly smooth. Unity did have some features you won't find in GNOME, but Canonical has done a good job of making things familiar, if not identical. More important than individual features in 17.10, this release sees Ubuntu starting over to some degree. The long development process of Unity 8 was threatening to turn it into Godot, but now Ubuntu is free of Unity 8. Its users no longer have to wait for anything." The first point release, 17.10.1, was released on 12 January 2018. It fixed a problem that prevented the firmware of some Lenovo computers from booting. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver is a long term support version that was released on 26 April 2018, Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS was released three months later on 26 July 2018., Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS was released six months after Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS, on 15 February 2019. Plans to include a new theme, created by the Ubuntu community, were announced on 5 February 2018. However, as the development of the theme was unfinished and buggy as of 13 March 2018, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS did not include a new theme, and instead retained the Ambiance theme from 2010 as its default theme. The new theme was available as a Snap package. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS introduced new features, such as colour emoticons, a new To- Do application preinstalled in the default installation, and added the option of a "Minimal Install" to the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installer, which only installs a web browser and system tools. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS's default display server was returned to Xorg for more stability and reliability, however, Wayland is still included as part of the default install. This release employed Linux kernel version 4.15, which incorporated a CPU controller for the cgroup v2 interface, AMD secure memory encryption support and improved SATA Link Power Management For the first time some applications were delivered by default as snaps In reviewing Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Michael Larabel of Phoronix wrote, "Ubuntu 18.04 is mostly an incremental upgrade over Ubuntu 17.10 with updated packages, the switch back to X.Org session by default rather than Wayland, continued presence of Snaps, and a variety of minor user-interface updates. It's really not a big deal going from 17.10 to 18.04 besides the LTS extended support nature, but it is quite a change if upgrading from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. For that upgrade you now have the GCC 7 compiler, Unity 7 to GNOME Shell by default, and a wealth of other package updates." In reviewing the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server version, Michael Larabel of Phoronix indicated that the newly developed text-based installer is an improvement over previous installers. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS has normal LTS support for five years, until April 2023 and has paid ESM support available from Canonical for an additional five years, until April 2028. On 8 May 2018, Mark Shuttleworth announced that the codename of Ubuntu 18.10, which was released on 18 October 2018, would be Cosmic Cuttlefish. The Ubuntu 18.10 installation includes a new theme, named Yaru and the new icon theme, Suru. Installation speeds are faster due to a lossless compression algorithm known as Zstandard. Startup speeds of pre-installed Snap applications were also improved. In a review of 18.10 Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu wrote, "Ubuntu 18.10 'Cosmic Cuttlefish' is a modest update compared to 18.04. The vast majority of notable improvements are tucked away out of sight, 'under the hood' ... Upstream GNOME Shell developers spent the past six months trying to lower GNOME Shell's memory usage and improve the overall performance of the shell, its animations, display manager, and parts of the GNOME extension framework (specifically Gjs), as we touched on in our recap of the new features in GNOME 3.30. Invisible and abstract though these changes are, they're appreciable. So much so that, if I had to describe this release in just one word it'd be 'peppy'. That's testament to the power of collaboration; with upstream devs and Canonical's engineering team working together." Michael Larabel of Phoronix wrote, "Overall, Ubuntu 18.10 "Cosmic Cuttlefish" is quite a modest six-month upgrade for being the first past the Ubuntu 18.04 cycle. Exciting me the most, of course, is simply the package upgrades with riding Linux 4.18 + Mesa 18.2 for a much better Linux gaming experience and having moved on now to GCC8 ... What didn't get achieved for the Ubuntu 18.10 cycle is the long-awaited data viewer to the Ubuntu software/hardware survey introduced in 18.04 LTS ... As of writing there's still no public means of being able to view the statistics on these opt-in Ubuntu survey installations. Additionally, the plans for better Android phone integration with the Ubuntu 18.10 desktop by means of bundling GS Connect also didn't happen as planned for the Ubuntu 18.10 cycle." Ubuntu 19.04, codenamed Disco Dingo, was released on 18 April 2019. It incorporates the Linux kernel version 5.0, which adds support for AMD FreeSync technology for liquid-crystal displays, Raspberry Pi touchscreens, Adiantum encryption, Btrfs swap files as well as many USB 3.2 and Type-C improvements and several new hardware. Ubuntu 19.04 uses GNOME Shell Desktop 3.32, which includes a new icon set, increased performance, smoother animations, night- light intensity control and advanced application permissions. The updated Nautilus 3.32 file manager now supports favoriting files. A new header bar, as well as 'find' and 'read only' modes have been added to the default terminal emulator. Version 19 of the open-source graphics drivers Mesa is also natively available in this version of Ubuntu. Furthermore, the Grub menu now allows a 'safe graphics' mode, in case of issues with graphics cards or graphics drivers. This option will boot Ubuntu with "NOMODESET" turned on and will allow the installation any proprietary drivers needed by the system. Geoclue integration and fractional scaling in the GNOME Shell for HiDPI displays (currently available only in Wayland sessions and experimentally in Xorg sessions) are also included. Improvements for running Ubuntu on a VMWare virtual machine include integration of open-vm-tools within Ubuntu, allowing for bi-directional clipboard and file sharing. Ubuntu Server 19.04 updated QEMU to version 3.1, allowing for creation of a virtual 3D GPU inside QEMU virtual machines. libvirt was updated to version 5.0 and Samba was updated to version 4.10.x. Samba and its dependencies were updated to Python 3, with the exception of tdb, which still builds a Python 2 package, namely python-tdb. Ubuntu Server 19.04 includes the latest OpenStack release, Stein, and has vSwitch version 2.11. Ubuntu 19.10, codenamed "Eoan Ermine", was released on 17 October 2019. Based on the Linux kernel 5.3 which, among others, introduces compatibility for third-generation Ryzen CPU motherboards and associated Intel Wireless devices as well as AMD's 7nm Navi GPUs, this release improves on loading speeds and adds several new features. Experimental support for the ZFS filesystem is now available from the installer and can be chosen besides the ext4 filesytem. NVIDIA-specific improvements were made. Proprietary NVIDIA graphics drivers are embedded within the Ubuntu ISO image and therefore are available for direct installation from the installer without the need to be downloaded, in place of the open-source Nouveau drivers. Support for the Raspberry Pi 4 platform was added. The installation media now uses LZ4 compression which, compared to the previously used compression algorithm, gzip, offers faster installation times. This was decided following benchmarking of a variety of compression algorithms conducted by the Ubuntu kernel team. Kernel load and decompression times were tested and LZ4 was found to offer decompression as much as seven times faster. Ubuntu 19.10 uses GNOME 3.34 which, among others, adds the ability to group application icons into folders, introduces a background settings panel and a separate Night Light tab as well as improves upon performance and smoothness. A new Yaru light theme was introduced with this release as well. In a November 2019 Ars Technica review by Scott Gilbertson, he concluded, "Ubuntu 19.10 is unusual for an October Ubuntu release in that I would call it a must-have upgrade. While it retains some of the experimental elements Ubuntu's fall releases have always been known for, the speed boosts to GNOME alone make this release well worth your time ... Ubuntu 19.10 is quite possibly the best release of Ubuntu Canonical has ever delivered. It's well worth upgrading if you're already an Ubuntu user, and it's well worth trying even if you're not." Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, codenamed Focal Fossa, will be the next Long Term Support release and is expected on 23 April 2020. After each version of Ubuntu has reached its end-of-life time, its repositories are removed from the main Ubuntu servers and consequently the mirrors. Older versions of Ubuntu repositories and releases can be found on the old Ubuntu releases website. List of Linux distributions releases.ubuntu.com — Ubuntu Releases site Ubuntu () is a Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity." It is often translated as "I am because we are," or "humanity towards others," but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity." In Southern Africa, it has come to be used as a contested term for a kind of humanist philosophy, ethic, or ideology, also known as Ubuntuism propagated in the Africanisation (transition to majority rule) process of these countries during the 1980s and 1990s. Since the transition to democracy in South Africa with the Nelson Mandela presidency in 1994, the term has become more widely known outside of Southern Africa, notably popularised to English-language readers through the ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu. Tutu was the chairman of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and many have argued that ubuntu was a formative influence on the TRC. The term ubuntu appears in South African sources from as early as the mid-19th century. Reported translations covered the semantic field of "human nature, humanness, humanity; virtue, goodness, kindness." Grammatically, the word combines the root -ntʊ̀ "person, human being" with the class 14 ubu- prefix forming abstract nouns, so that the term is exactly parallel in formation to the abstract noun humanity. The concept was popularised in terms of a "philosophy" or "world view" (as opposed to a quality attributed to an individual) beginning in the 1950s, notably in the writings of Jordan Kush Ngubane published in the African Drum magazine. From the 1970s, the ubuntu began to be described as a specific kind of "African humanism." Based on the context of Africanisation propagated by the political thinkers in the 1960s period of decolonisation, ubuntu was used as a term for a specifically African (or Southern African) kind of humanism found in the context of the transition to majority rule in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The first publication dedicated to ubuntu as a philosophical concept appeared in 1980, Hunhuism or Ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy (hunhu being the Shona equivalent of Nguni ubuntu) by Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange. Hunhuism or Ubuntuism is presented as political ideology for the new Zimbabwe, as Southern Rhodesia was granted independence from the United Kingdom. From Zimbabwe, the concept was taken over in South Africa in the 1990s as a guiding ideal for the transition from apartheid to majority rule. The term appears in the Epilogue of the Interim Constitution of South Africa (1993), "there is a need for understanding but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not for retaliation, a need for ubuntu but not for victimisation." There are many different (and not always compatible) definitions of what ubuntu is (for a survey of how ubuntu is defined among South Africans see Gade 2012: "What is Ubuntu? Different Interpretations among South Africans of African Descent"). Ubuntu asserts that society, not a transcendent being, gives human beings their humanity. An example is a Zulu-speaking person who when commanding to speak in Zulu would say “khuluma isintu,” which means "speak the language of people." When someone behaves according to custom, a Sotho-speaking person would say “ke motho,” which means "he/she is a human." The exclusionary and abhorrent aspect of this would be exemplified by a tale told (often, in private quarters) in Nguni “kushone abantu ababili ne Shangaan,” in Sepedi “go tlhokofetje batho ba babedi le leShangane,” in English (two people died and one Shangaan). In each of these examples, humanity comes from conforming to or being part of the tribe. According to Michael Onyebuchi Eze, the core of ubuntu can best be summarised as follows: 'A person is a person through other people' strikes an affirmation of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and difference. It is a demand for a creative intersubjective formation in which the ‘other’ becomes a mirror (but only a mirror) for my subjectivity. This idealism suggests to us that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me. Humanity is a quality we owe to each other. We create each other and need to sustain this otherness creation. And if we belong to each other, we participate in our creations: we are because you are, and since you are, definitely I am. The ‘I am’ is not a rigid subject, but a dynamic self- constitution dependent on this otherness creation of relation and distance. An "extroverted communities" aspect is the most visible part of this ideology. There is sincere warmth with which people treat both strangers and members of the community. This overt display of warmth is not merely aesthetic but enables formation of spontaneous communities. The resultant collaborative work within these spontaneous communities transcends the aesthetic and gives functional significance to the value of warmth. How else are you to ask for sugar from your neighbour? Warmth is not the sine qua non of community formation but guards against instrumentalist relationships. Unfortunately, sincere warmth may leave one vulnerable to those with ulterior motives. "Ubuntu" as political philosophy encourages community equality, propagating the distribution of wealth. This socialisation is a vestige of agrarian peoples as a hedge against the crop failures of individuals. Socialisation presupposes a community population with which individuals empathise and concomitantly, have a vested interest in its collective prosperity. Urbanisation and the aggregation of people into an abstract and bureaucratic state undermines this empathy. African Intellectual historians like Michael Onyebuchi Eze have argued however that this ideal of "collective responsibility" must not be understood as absolute in which the community's good is prior to the individual's good. On this view, ubuntu it is argued, is a communitarian philosophy that is widely differentiated from the Western notion of communitarian socialism. In fact, ubuntu induces an ideal of shared human subjectivity that promotes a community's good through an unconditional recognition and appreciation of individual uniqueness and difference. Audrey Tang has suggested that Ubuntu "implies that everyone has different skills and strengths; people are not isolated, and through mutual support they can help each other to complete themselves." "Redemption" relates to how people deal with errant, deviant, and dissident members of the community. The belief is that man is born formless like a lump of clay. It is up to the community, as a whole, to use the fire of experience and the wheel of social control to mould him into a pot that may contribute to society. Any imperfections should be borne by the community and the community should always seek to redeem man. An example of this is the statement by the African National Congress (in South Africa) that it does not throw out its own but rather redeems. Other scholars such as Mboti (2015) argue that the normative definition of Ubuntu, notwithstanding its intuitive appeal, is still open to doubt. The definition of Ubuntu, contends Mboti, has remained consistently and purposely fuzzy, inadequate and inconsistent. Mboti rejects the interpretation that Africans are “naturally” interdependent and harmony-seeking, and that humanity is given to a person by and through other persons. He sees a philosophical trap in attempts to elevate harmony to a moral duty – a sort of categorical imperative – that Africans must simply uphold. Mboti cautions against relying on intuitions in attempts to say what Ubuntu is or is not. He concludes that the phrase umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu references a messier, undisciplined relationship between persons, stating that "First, there is value in regarding a broken relationship as being authentically human as much as a harmonious relationship. Second, a broken relationship can be as ethically desirable as a harmonious one. For instance, freedom follows from a break from oppression. Finally, harmonious relations can be as oppressive and false as disharmonious ones. For instance, the cowboy and his horse are in a harmonious relationship." In the Shona language, the majority spoken language in Zimbabwe, ubuntu is unhu. The concept of ubuntu is viewed the same in Zimbabwe as in other African cultures, and the Zulu saying is also common in Shona: munhu munhu nekuda kwevanhu. Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange (1980) highlights the three maxims of Hunhuism or Ubuntuism that shape this philosophy: The first maxim asserts that 'To be human is to affirm one's humanity by recognizing the humanity of others and, on that basis, establish respectful human relations with them.' And 'the second maxim means that if and when one is faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the preservation of the life of another human being, then one should opt for the preservation of life'. The third 'maxim' as a 'principle deeply embedded in traditional African political philosophy' says 'that the king owed his status, including all the powers associated with it, to the will of the people under him'. While sharing is incorporated within "unhu", it is only one of the multiplicity of virtues within "unhu". In the "unhu" domain, visitors do not need to burden themselves with carrying provisions – all they need is to dress properly and be on the road. All visitors are provided for and protected in every home they pass through without payment being expected. In fact, every individual should try his or her best to make visitors comfortable – and this applies to everyone who is aware of the presence of a visitor within a locality. Other manifestations of ubuntu are that it is taboo to call elderly people by their given names; instead they are called by their surnames. This is formed through mirroring the individualism of others, and then combining it with a representative role, in which the individual effectively stands for the people among whom he comes from at all times. The individual identity is replaced with the larger societal identity within the individual. Thus, families are portrayed or reflected in the individual and this phenomenon is extended to villages, districts, provinces and regions being portrayed in the individual. This places encouragement on the individual to behave in the highest standards, and to portray the highest possible virtues that society strives for. "Unhu" embodies all the invaluable virtues that society strives for towards maintaining harmony and the spirit of sharing among its members. A key concept associated with "unhu" is how we as a society behave and interact in our various social roles, e.g., daughters-in-law traditionally kneel down when greeting their parents-in-law and serve them food as a sign of respect; to maintain the highest standards of behaviour that will be extended or reflected to her family and all the women raised in that family. The daughter-in-law does this as part of the ambassadorial function that she plays and assumes at all times. However, this does not apply only to daughters-in-law but to all women in general, even among friends and equals such as brother and sister. Under "unhu" children are never orphans since the roles of mother and father are by definition not vested in a single individual with respect to a single child. Furthermore, a man or a woman with "unhu" will never allow any child around them to be an orphan. The concept of "unhu" also constitutes the kernel of African Traditional Jurisprudence as well as leadership and governance. In the concept of unhu, a crime committed by one individual on another extends far beyond the two individuals, and has far-reaching implications to the people from among whom the perpetrator of the crime comes. Unhu jurisprudence tends to support remedies and punishments that tend to bring people together. For instance, a crime of murder would lead to the creation of a bond of marriage between the victim's family and the accused's family; in addition to the perpetrator being punished both inside and outside his social circles. The role of "tertiary perpetrator" to the murder crime is extended to the family and society where the individual perpetrator hails from. However, the punishment of the tertiary perpetrator is a huge fine and a social stigma, which they must shake off after many years of demonstrating unhu or ubuntu. A leader who has unhu is selfless, consults widely, and listens to subjects. Such a person does not adopt a lifestyle that is different from the subjects, but lives among them and shares property. A leader who has "unhu" does not lead, but allows the people to lead themselves and cannot impose his will on his people, which is incompatible with "unhu". Ubuntu: "I am what I am because of who we all are." (From a definition offered by Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee.) Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered a definition in a 1999 book: Tutu further explained Ubuntu in 2008:. Nelson Mandela explained Ubuntu as follows: Tim Jackson refers to Ubuntu as a philosophy that supports the changes he says are necessary to create a future that is economically and environmentally sustainable. Judge Colin Lamont expanded on the definition during his ruling on the hate speech trial of Julius Malema:. At Nelson Mandela's memorial, United States President Barack Obama spoke about Ubuntu, saying, In Malawi, the same philosophy is called "uMunthu". According to the Catholic Diocese of Zomba bishop Rt. Rev. Fr. Thomas Msusa, “The African worldview is about living as one family, belonging to God”. Msusa noted that in Africa “We say ‘I am because we are’, or in Chichewa kali kokha nkanyama, tili awiri ntiwanthu (when you are on your own you are as good as an animal of the wild; when there are two of you, you form a community).” The philosophy of uMunthu has been passed on through proverbs such as Mwana wa mnzako ngwako yemwe, ukachenjera manja udya naye (your neighbor's child is your own, his/her success is your success too). Some notable Malawian uMunthu philosophers and intellectuals who have written about this worldview are Augustine Musopole, Gerard Chigona, Chiwoza Bandawe, Richard Tambulasi, Harvey Kwiyani and Happy Kayuni. This includes Malawian philosopher and theologist Harvey Sindima’s treatment of uMunthu as an important African philosophy is highlighted in his 1995 book ‘Africa’s Agenda: The legacy of liberalism and colonialism in the crisis of African values’. In film, the English translation of the proverb lent its hand to forming the title of Madonna's documentary, I Am Because We Are about Malawian orphans. In June 2009, in her swearing-in remarks as US Department of State Special Representative for Global Partnerships, Global Partnership Initiative, Office of the Secretary of State (served 18 June 2009 – 10 October 2010), Elizabeth Frawley Bagley discussed ubuntu in the context of American foreign policy, stating: "In understanding the responsibilities that come with our interconnectedness, we realize that we must rely on each other to lift our World from where it is now to where we want it to be in our lifetime, while casting aside our worn out preconceptions, and our outdated modes of statecraft." She then introduced the notion of "Ubuntu Diplomacy" with the following words: Ubuntu was a major theme in John Boorman's 2004 film In My Country. Former US president Bill Clinton used the term at the 2006 Labour Party conference in the UK to explain why society is important. The Boston Celtics, the 2008 NBA champions, have chanted "ubuntu" when breaking a huddle since the start of the 2007–2008 season. At the 2002 UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), there was an Ubuntu Village exposition centre. Ubuntu was the theme of the 76th General Convention of the American Episcopal Church. The logo includes the text "I in You and You in Me". In October 2004 Mark Shuttleworth, a South African entrepreneur and owner of UK based company Canonical Ltd., founded the Ubuntu Foundation that is the company behind the creation of a computer operating system based on Debian Linux. He named the Linux distribution Ubuntu. In film, the English translation of the proverb lent its hand to forming the title of pop singer Madonna's documentary, I Am Because We Are about Malawian orphans. A character in the 2008 animated comedy The Goode Family is named Ubuntu. Ubuntu was the title and theme of an EP released by British band Clockwork Radio in 2012. Ubuntu was the title of an EP released by American rapper Sage Francis in 2012. African Traditional Religion, Bantu peoples, Nguni languages, Africanization, Decolonisation, Ethic of reciprocity Golden Rule, Harambee (Kenyan/Swahili concept), Humanity (virtue), Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, Pan-Africanism, Ubuntu theology Mboti, N. (2014). "May the Real Ubuntu Please Stand Up?" Journal of Media Ethics 30(2), pp.125-147., Battle, Michael (2007). Reconciliation: The ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu. Pilgrim Press., Eze, Michael Onyebuchi (2017). "I am Because You Are: Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Xenophobia", Philosophical Papers, 46:1, 85-109, Eze, Michael Onyebuchi (2010). Intellectual history in contemporary South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan. ., Eze, Michael Onyebuchi (2008). "What is African Comunitarianism? Against consensus as a regulative Ideal", South African Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 27:4, pp. 386–399, Forster, Dion (2006). Self validating consciousness in strong artificial intelligence: An African theological contribution. Pretoria: Doctoral Dissertation, University of South Africa / UNISA, an extensive and detailed discussion of ubuntu in chapters 5–6., Forster, Dion (2006). Identity in relationship: The ethics of ubuntu as an answer to the impasse of individual consciousness (Paper presented at the South African science and religion Forum – Published in the book The impact of knowledge systems on human development in Africa. du Toit, CW (ed.), Pretoria, Research institute for Religion and Theology (University of South Africa) 2007:245–289).Pretoria: UNISA. Dion Forster, Gade, C. B. N. (2017). A Discourse on African Philosophy: A New Perspective on Ubuntu and Transitional Justice in South Africa. New York: Lexington Books., Gade, C. B. N. (2011). "The historical development of the written discourses on ubuntu", South African Journal of Philosophy, 30(3), 303–329 ., Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M. (2014). Ubuntu in South Africa: A sociolinguistic perspective to a pan-African concept. In Molefi Kete Asante, Yoshitaka Miike, & Jing Yin (eds), The global intercultural communication reader (2nd ed., pp. 226–236). New York, NY: Routledge., Louw, Dirk J. 1998. "Ubuntu: An African Assessment of the Religious Other". Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy., Metz, Thaddeus 2007, "Toward an African Moral Theory" (Symposium) S. Afr. J. Philos. 2007, 26(4), Ramose, Mogobe B. (2003). "The philosophy of ubuntu and ubuntu as a philosophy". In P. H. Coetzee & A. P. J. Roux (eds), The African philosophy reader (2nd ed., pp. 230–238). New York/London: Routledge., Samkange, S., & T. M. Samkange (1980). Hunhuism or ubuntuism: A Zimbabwe Indigenous Political Philosophy. Salisbury [Harare]: Graham Publishing, . 106pp. Paperback, Swanson, D. M. (2007). "Ubuntu: An African contribution to (re)search for/with a 'humble togetherness'", Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, 2(2), University of Alberta, Special Edition on African Worldviews. [Online] Available: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/JCIE/issue/view/56, Swanson, D. M. (2009, August). "Where have all the fishes gone?: Living ubuntu as an ethics of research and pedagogical engagement". In D. Caracciolo & A. Mungai (eds), In the spirit of ubuntu: Stories of teaching and research (pp. 3–21). [In book series: Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education, Series Ed. Shirley Steinberg.] Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publications. [See https://web.archive.org/web/20110716042012/https://www.sensepublishers.com/files/9789087908430PR.pdf], Swanson, D. M. (2012). Ubuntu, African epistemology and development: contributions, tensions, contradictions and possibilities. In H. K Wright and A. A. Abdi (eds), The Dialectics of African education and Western discourses: appropriation, ambivalence and alternatives (pp. 27–52). New York: Peter Lang., Swanson, D. M. (2015). Frames of Ubuntu: (Re)framing an ethical education. In H. Smits and R. Naqvi (eds), Framing Peace: Thinking about and Enacting Curriculum as "Radical Hope" (pp. 49–63). New York: Peter Lang. Ubuntu Party, Ubuntu Planet, Magolego, Melo. 2013. "Ubuntu in Western Society", M&G; Thought Leader Blog, Sonal Panse, Ubuntu – African Philosophy (buzzle.com), Sean Coughlan, "All you need is ubuntu", BBC News Magazine, Thursday, 28 September 2006., A. Onomen Asikele, Ubuntu Republics of Africa (2011) Ubuntu is an OpenType-based font family, designed to be a modern, humanist- style typeface by London-based type foundry Dalton Maag, with funding by Canonical Ltd. The font was under development for nearly nine months, with only a limited initial release through a beta program, until September 2010. It was then that it became the new default font of the Ubuntu operating system in Ubuntu 10.10. Its designers include Vincent Connare, creator of the Comic Sans and Trebuchet MS fonts. The Ubuntu font family is licensed under the Ubuntu Font Licence. The font was first introduced in October 2010 with the release of Ubuntu 10.10 in four versions Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic in English. With the release of Ubuntu 11.04 in April 2011, additional fonts and expanded language coverage were introduced. The final development is intended to include a total of thirteen fonts consisting of: Ubuntu in Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic, Ubuntu Monospace in Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic, Ubuntu Light in Regular, Italic, Ubuntu Medium in Regular, Italic, Ubuntu Condensed in Regular only The monospace version, used in terminals, was initially planned to ship with Ubuntu 11.04. However, it was delayed and instead shipped with Ubuntu 11.10 as the default system monospace font. The font is fully Unicode compliant and contains Latin A and B extended character sets, Greek polytonic, and Cyrillic extended. In addition, it has become the first native operating system font to include the Indian rupee sign. The font has been designed primarily for use on screen displays, and its spacing and kerning is optimised for body copy sizes. The Ubuntu Font Family is the default font for the current and development releases of the Ubuntu operating system and is used for the Ubuntu project branding. The Ubuntu Font Family has been included in the Google Fonts directory, making it easily available for web typography, and as of April 26, 2011 it is included for use in Google Docs. Ubuntu Monospace was prominently used in the 2014 video game Transistor. Ubuntu bold-italic is also used in the bitcoin logotype, alongside the bitcoin symbol. The Ubuntu Font Licence is an "interim" license designed for the Ubuntu Font Family, which has used the license since version 0.68. The license is based on the SIL Open Font License. The Ubuntu Font Licence allows the fonts to be "used, studied, modified and redistributed freely" given that the license terms are met. The license is copyleft and all derivative works must be distributed under the same license. Documents that use the fonts are not required to be licensed under the Ubuntu Font Licence. Fedora and Debian have reviewed this license and converged on interpreting it as non-free due to incomplete or ambiguous use and modification permissions. Ubuntu-Title, Open-source Unicode typefaces, GPL font exception, SIL Open Font License Ubuntu Font Family main page, Ubuntu Font Family on the Ubuntu Wiki

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This article contains an in-depth explanation of the history of the Dallas Cowboys, a professional American football team that competes in the National Football League (NFL). The Dallas Cowboys were the NFL's first modern-era expansion team. The NFL was late in awarding Dallas; after Lamar Hunt was rebuffed in his efforts to acquire an NFL franchise for Dallas, he became part of a group of owners that formed the American Football League with Hunt's AFL franchise in Dallas known as the Texans (later to become the Kansas City Chiefs). In an effort not to cede the South to the AFL, the NFL awarded Dallas a franchise, but not until after the 1960 college draft had been held. As a result, the NFL's first ever expansion team played its inaugural season without the benefit of a college draft. Originally, the formation of an NFL expansion team in Texas was met with strong opposition by Washington Redskins owner, George Preston Marshall. This was no surprise, because despite being located in the nation's capital, Marshall's Redskins had enjoyed a monopoly as the only NFL team to represent the American South for several decades. This came as little surprise to would- be team owners, Clint Murchison Jr. and Bedford Wynne, so to ensure the birth of their expansion team, the men bought the rights to the Redskins fight song, "Hail to the Redskins" and threatened to refuse to allow Washington to play the song at games. Needing the song, which had become a staple for his "professional football team of Dixie", Marshall changed his mind, and the city of Dallas was granted an NFL franchise on January 28, 1960. This early confrontation between the two franchises helped to trigger what became one of the more heated National Football League rivalries, which continues to this day. The team was first known as the Dallas Steers, then the Dallas Rangers. On March 19, 1960, the organization announced that the team name was the Cowboys to avoid confusion with the American Association Dallas Rangers baseball team. The founding investors of the Dallas Cowboys were Clint Murchison, Jr. (45%), John D. Murchison (45%), along with minority shareholders, Toddie Lee and Bedford Wynne (Director and Secretary) (5%) and William R. Hawn (5%). The new owners subsequently hired Tex Schramm as general manager, Gil Brandt as player personnel director, and Tom Landry as head coach. The Cowboys began play in 1960, and played their home games a few miles east of Downtown Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. For their first three seasons, they shared this stadium with the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs franchise), who began play in the American Football League that same year. The 1960 Cowboys finished their inaugural campaign 0-11-1 with a roster largely made up of sub-par players (many well past their prime). The following year, the Cowboys made their first college draft selection, taking TCU Horned Frogs defensive tackle Bob Lilly with the 13th pick in the draft (although the Cowboys finished with the league's worst record in 1960, the first overall selection in the 1961 draft was given to the expansion team Minnesota Vikings). The 1961 season also saw the Cowboys pick up their first victory in franchise history, a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game of the season. The Cowboys had played the Steelers in their first ever regular season game only the year before. The Cowboys finished their second campaign with an overall 4-9-1 record. In 1962, Dallas improved slightly, going 5-8-1. After the season, the Cowboys became the sole professional football franchise in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as the AFL's Dallas Texans, despite winning the 1962 AFL championship by a score of 20–17 in double overtime, moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs eventually joined the NFL as part of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. In 1963, Dallas fell back to 4–10. In 1964, they posted another 5-8-1 campaign. During this period, the Cowboys had the misfortune of being associated as the city where President Kennedy was assassinated. The Cowboys' success later in the decade largely contributed to restoring civic pride in Dallas after the assassination. During the early and mid-1960s, the Cowboys gradually built a contender. Quarterback Don Meredith was acquired in 1960, running back Don Perkins, linebacker Chuck Howley and Lilly were acquired in 1961, linebacker Lee Roy Jordan in 1963, cornerback Mel Renfro in 1964, and wide receiver Bob Hayes and running back Dan Reeves in 1965. In 1965, the Cowboys went 7–7, achieving a .500 record for the first time. In 1966, the Cowboys posted their first winning season, finishing atop the Eastern Conference with a 10-3-1 record. Dallas sent eight players to the Pro Bowl, including Howley, Meredith, Perkins, and future Pro Football Hall of Fame members Hayes, Lilly, and Renfro. In their first-ever postseason appearance, the Cowboys faced the Green Bay Packers in the 1966 NFL Championship Game, with a trip to the first ever Super Bowl on the line. Green Bay defeated Dallas in a 34-27 thriller by stopping the Cowboys on a goal line stand with 28 seconds remaining and went on to win Super Bowl I 35-10 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite this disappointment, 1966 marked the start of an NFL-record-setting eight consecutive postseason appearances for the Cowboys. (Dallas later broke its own record with nine consecutive trips to the playoffs between 1975 and 1983, a record that was tied by the Indianapolis Colts when they reached the playoffs every year from 2002 to 2010, and broken by the 2009-2018 New England Patriots.) It was also the beginning of a still NFL record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons that extended through 1985. That same year, the Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). This is only partly true; Dallas had in fact decided to host games on Thanksgiving by their own decision because there was nothing else to do or watch on that day. With exception of 1975 and 1977, the Cowboys have hosted a game every Thanksgiving day since. In 1967, the Cowboys finished with a 9-5 record and had their first playoff victory, a 52-14 rout of the Cleveland Browns. They went on to face the Packers in the 1967 NFL Championship game, a rematch of the 1966 NFL championship game, with the winner advancing to Super Bowl II. The game, which happened on December 31, 1967, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, turned out to be the coldest NFL game in history (about -13° F with a -40° wind chill). The Cowboys lost 21-17 on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Packers quarterback Bart Starr with 16 seconds remaining. The game later became known as the "Ice Bowl." Green Bay went on to win the Super Bowl again, this time against the Oakland Raiders. Dallas remained one of the NFL's top teams for the remainder of the 1960s, easily winning their division in 1968 (with a 12-2 record) and in 1969 (with an 11-2-1 mark). Each season, however, ended with a disappointing, decisive loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns in turn lost in the NFL championship game to the Baltimore Colts and Minnesota Vikings in the 1968 and 1969 seasons respectively. The 1968 Colts and 1969 Vikings subsequently lost Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV to the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively. Repeated failures to achieve their ultimate goal earned the Cowboys the nickname "Next Year's Champions" and a reputation for not being able to "win the big one." Peter Gent, a wide receiver with Dallas from 1964 to 1968, later wrote a book called North Dallas Forty based on his observations and experiences with the team. The book was later made into a movie of the same name in 1979. The book and movie depicted many of the team's players as carousing, drug-abusing partiers callously used by the team and then tossed aside when they became too injured to continue playing productively. In 1969, ground was broken on a new stadium for the Cowboys to replace the Cotton Bowl. Texas Stadium in Irving, a Dallas suburb, was completed during the 1971 season. At the end of the decade, the historians Robert A. Calvert, Donald E. Chipman, and Randolph Campbell wrote The Dallas Cowboys and the NFL, an inside study of the organization and financing of the team. A reviewer describes the Cowboys as a vital cog of "an industry that occupies an important segment of American time and attention . . . a sophisticated industry that has worked out complex statistics to select the best thrower of a forward pass. . . . [and] has reformed television habits . . . " In the 1970s, the NFL underwent many changes as it absorbed the AFL and became a unified league, but the Cowboys also underwent many changes. Meredith and Perkins retired in 1969 and new players were joining the organization, like Cliff Harris, and Pro Football Hall of Famers Rayfield Wright, Mike Ditka, Herb Adderley and Roger Staubach. Led by quarterback Craig Morton, the Cowboys had a 10–4 season in 1970. A 38-0 shutout by the Cardinals was the low point of the year, but the team recovered to make it to the playoffs. They defeated Detroit 5–0 in the lowest-scoring playoff game in NFL history and then defeated San Francisco 17–10 in the first-ever NFC Championship Game to qualify for their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, a mistake-filled Super Bowl V, where they lost 16–13 to the Baltimore Colts courtesy of a field goal by Colts' kicker Jim O'Brien with five seconds remaining in the contest. Despite the loss, linebacker Chuck Howley was named the Super Bowl MVP, the first and only time in Super Bowl history that the game's MVP did not come from the winning team. The Cowboys moved from the Cotton Bowl to Texas Stadium in week six of the 1971 season. Although the first game in their new home was a 44–21 victory over New England, Dallas stumbled out of the gate by going 4–3 in the first half of the season, including losses to the mediocre New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears. Landry named Staubach as the permanent starting quarterback to start the second half of the season, and Dallas was off and running. The Cowboys won their last seven regular season games (finishing 11-3) before dispatching of the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs to return to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl VI, behind an MVP performance from Staubach and a then Super Bowl record 252 yards rushing, the Cowboys crushed the upstart Miami Dolphins, 24-3, to finally bury the "Next Year's Champions" stigma. The Cowboys rushed for 252 yards, while holding the Dolphins, who went 17-0 in 1972, to 185 total yards. The 1972 season was another winning one for the Cowboys, but their 10–4 record was only good for them to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. In the divisional playoffs they faced the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers had a 28–13 lead and seemed to have avenged their playoff losses to Dallas in the two previous seasons. But after Landry benched Morton, Staubach threw two touchdown passes with less than two minutes remaining—including the game- winner to Ron Sellers—for a miraculous 30-28 Dallas win, the first of several dramatic comebacks led by Staubach during the 1970s. However, they were defeated by their archrival Washington Redskins 26–3 in the NFC Championship Game. The Cowboys were now beginning to grow in popularity not just in Dallas, but nationwide. Their televised appearances on Thanksgiving Day games beginning in 1966 helped bring the Cowboys to a nationwide audience. Under Coach Landry, the so-called "Doomsday Defense" became a powerful and dominating force in the NFL and their offense was also exciting to watch. Dallas had also established itself as the most innovative franchise off the field. It was the first to use computers in scouting, the first to have a modern cheerleading squad performing sophisticated choreographed routines, and the first to broadcast games in Spanish. General manager Schramm became the most powerful GM in the NFL; it was he who pushed the league to adopt changes such as relocating the goal posts to the back of the end zone and (after the 1974 season) the use of instant replay. While Pittsburgh won more Super Bowls in the 1970s, Dallas emerged as the "glamour" team of the decade. The 1979 film North Dallas Forty, based on a book written by former Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent, presented a veiled portrayal of the team's on-and-off field culture during this time. In 1973, Dallas finished 10–4 and won the NFC East. In the playoffs, they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 27–16 before losing in the NFC Championship Game to the Minnesota Vikings, 27-10. The Cowboys faltered slightly in 1974, finishing 8–6 and missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Bob Lilly retired following the season, capping his 14-year Hall of Fame career. After missing the playoffs in 1974, the team drafted well the following year, adding defensive lineman Randy White (a future Hall of Fame member) and linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. The fresh influx of talent helped the Cowboys back to the playoffs in 1975 as a wild card, where they beat the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to advance to Super Bowl X, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-17. In 1976, the team went 11–3, winning the NFC East. However, they were quickly eliminated from the playoffs with a 14–12 loss to the Rams. The Cowboys began the 1977 season 8-0 before losing in consecutive weeks to the St. Louis Cardinals in a Monday night home game and the Steelers in Pittsburgh. After the losses, however, the Cowboys won their final four regular season games. Dallas had both the #1 defense and #1 offense in the NFL. In the postseason, the Cowboys routed the Chicago Bears 37-7 and Minnesota Vikings 23-6 before defeating the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans. As a testament to Doomsday's dominance in the hard-hitting game, defensive linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin were named co-Super Bowl MVPs, the first and only time multiple players have received the award. After a slow start in 1978, Dallas won its final six regular season games to finish the season at 12–4. After an unexpectedly close divisional playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys traveled to Los Angeles and shut out the Rams in the NFC Championship Game 28–0 to return to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XIII, Dallas faced the Steelers at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Steelers outlasted the Cowboys 35–31, despite a furious comeback that saw Dallas score two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter; the game was not decided until the final 22 seconds, when a Dallas onside kick failed. Bob Ryan, an NFL films editor, dubbed the Cowboys "America's Team" following this season, a nickname that has earned derision from non-Cowboys fans but has stuck through both good times and bad. Dallas finished the 1979 season 11-5. The team slumped in November, but rallied to win its next two games. This set the stage for the regular season finale against Washington, with the winner capturing the NFC East title and the loser missing the playoffs. In the game, Texas Stadium fans were treated to one of Staubach's greatest comebacks – which also was his last. The Cowboys trailed 17–0, but then scored three touchdowns to take the lead. Led by running back John Riggins, the Redskins came back to build a 34–21 lead, but the Cowboys scored 2 touchdowns in the final five minutes – including a Staubach touchdown pass to Tony Hill with less than a minute remaining – for an amazing 35–34 victory. The season ended with a whimper, however, as two weeks later, the underdog Rams traveled to Dallas and upset the Cowboys 21–19 in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Cowboys had a chance to win in the final two minutes after the Rams scored their final touchdown, but the Rams' defense stopped Staubach from making a miracle comeback like the kinds that he had become famous for. The Rams went on to win the NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 and reach Super Bowl XIV, which they lost to the defending champion, Pittsburgh, by a score of 31-19. This game marked the end of an era, as repeated concussions compelled Staubach to announce his retirement a few months later in an emotional press conference at Texas Stadium. All told, from 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, more than any other NFL franchise during that span. Danny White became the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 1980. Without Staubach, not much was expected of the Cowboys, but they surprised everyone with a 12–4 regular season. Philadelphia also finished 12–4, but got the division title on a close tiebreaker. The Cowboys won the wildcard game at home against the Rams, then White engineered a late comeback to win the divisional playoff game in Atlanta. Dallas faced the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, but suffered a highly embarrassing 20–7 loss to their division rival in Veterans Stadium. Dallas started the 1981 season 4-0, and captured the NFC East crown with another 12–4 record. Dallas dismantled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional playoff 38–0. They then traveled to San Francisco to face the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. It was one of the most famous finishes in NFL history. Dallas led 27–21 with just under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter and appeared to be headed to their sixth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. However, San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana led a long 49er drive that was capped by a Joe Montana touchdown pass to Dwight Clark with 51 seconds remaining. Dallas was not finished just yet, needing only a field goal to win. A White completion to Drew Pearson moved the ball into 49er territory and almost went for a touchdown. Two plays later, though, White fumbled after being hit, and San Francisco recovered to seal their 28–27 victory. San Francisco went on to win Super Bowl XVI. Clark's leaping grab in the end zone came to be famous as "The Catch", and represented a changing of the guard in the NFC from the dominant Cowboys teams of the 1970s to the dominant 49ers teams of the 1980s. Dallas finished the strike-shortened 1982 season with a record of 6–3. The Cowboys held a one-game lead over the Redskins with two games to play in the regular season, but fell at home to Philadelphia, then lost a Monday night match in Minnesota (a game best known for Tony Dorsett's NFL record 99-yard touchdown run). Dallas played two home games in the unusual postseason "Super Bowl Tournament", defeating Tampa Bay and Green Bay. In the NFC Championship Game, Washington defeated Dallas 31–17 at RFK Stadium. This finished a remarkable run that saw the Cowboys play in 10 of 13 conference championship games. The Cowboys opened the 1983 season in impressive fashion, erasing a 23–3 deficit at Washington to defeat the Super Bowl champion Redskins 31-30, then winning their next six games. When Dallas and Washington squared off again in Week 15 at Texas Stadium, both teams had 12–2 records. However, the Redskins beat the Cowboys handily in that game, and Dallas subsequently lost its next two games to end its season (a rout by the 49ers in the regular season finale and an upset home loss to the Rams in the wild card playoff game). Change and controversy marked the Cowboys' 1984 season (its 25th, which Schramm commemorated as the "Silver Season"). Despite leading Dallas to the playoffs in each of his four seasons as starting quarterback, Danny White began to draw criticism for "not being able to win the big game", and several players privately expressed their preference for backup quarterback Gary Hogeboom. Landry decided to start Hogeboom, and while Dallas started the season 4–1, Hogeboom's inconsistency eventually led to White regaining the starting job. It was not enough, though. The Cowboys suffered an embarrassing Week 12 loss to the winless Bills in Buffalo, and needing a win in their final two games to secure a playoff spot, lost both. Dallas finished the 1984 season 9–7, and missed the postseason for the first time in a decade. An important off-field change also took place in 1984. Clint Murchison, in dire financial straits because of a collapse in oil prices, sold the Cowboys to Dallas oilman H.R. "Bum" Bright in May. Bright's ownership coincided with a decline in the Cowboys' fortunes. The 1985 season saw a somewhat uneven string of wins and losses, the worst being in Week 11 when they were annihilated 44–0 by the unstoppable Chicago Bears, the team's first shutout since 1970. With a 10–6 record, the Cowboys won the division, but were blanked by the Rams 20–0 in the playoffs. This was the franchise's final winning season and postseason appearance with Tom Landry as coach. The 1986 campaign started optimistically, with highly regarded offensive coordinator Paul Hackett and Heisman Trophy-winning Herschel Walker having joined the team. The Cowboys ran their record to 6–2, but White's wrist was broken in a mid-season loss to the Giants, and the team only managed to win one of its final seven games. Dallas finished with a 7–9 record, ending the franchise's streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons that had dated back to its first-ever winning season in 1966. To this date, no other NFL team has successfully matched this feat. Dallas started the 1987 season 1-1 before NFL players went on strike and management responded by hiring replacement players. Schramm, having anticipated the strike, assembled one of the better replacement teams, which was soon bolstered by several starters who crossed the picket line (including Dorsett, Danny White, and Randy White). However, the "Counterfeit Cowboys" suffered an embarrassing home loss to a Redskins team composed entirely of replacement players, and once the strike ended, Dallas' regular squad lost six of its next eight games to finish 7–8. The Cowboys went into a free-fall in 1988. After starting the season 2–2, a last-second loss in New Orleans started a 10-game Cowboy losing streak. Among the few bright spots in the season were the team's first-round draft pick, wide receiver Michael Irvin (whom Schramm had predicted would spur the team's "return from the dead"), and a Week 15 victory against the Redskins in Washington, Tom Landry's last. Bright sold the Cowboys to Arkansas businessman Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989. The next day, Jones' first act as owner was to fire Landry. The abrupt termination of the only coach that the Cowboys had ever known attracted considerable criticism. He admitted to becoming more forgetful with play calling and clock management as he passed his 60th birthday, and to being a bit unwilling to adapt his offense for the NFL of the 1980s, although he was not totally to blame for the Cowboys' problems, which included years of poor drafts. Schramm, Brandt, and other longtime personnel were soon gone as well. Jones replaced Landry with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson. With the worst record of 1988, Dallas gained the #1 draft pick for 1989, UCLA QB Troy Aikman (Tom Landry had expressed interest in Aikman just before being fired). After Dallas opened the 1989 season 0–5, Johnson traded away Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. (A total of 18 players or draft choices were involved in what was the largest trade in NFL history at the time.) The Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst record since the team's inception. Rookie quarterback Steve Walsh, starting in place of an injured Aikman, led the team to its lone victory in a midseason Sunday night game in Washington. The two games with Philadelphia in 1989 (which became known as the Bounty Bowls) were marked by particularly strong hostility between the staff and fans of both teams. Eagles coach Buddy Ryan insulted Jimmy Johnson, saying that he did nothing in his tenure at the University of Miami except run the score up on bad teams and also made fun of his weight. Ryan reputedly wanted his players to injure Cowboys kicker Roger Ruzek, who had been cut from the Eagles early in the season, and in the season-ender in Philadelphia, the Cowboys were pelted with snowballs. Dallas's 1-15 season of 1989 gave them the league's worst record for the second consecutive year. However, they did not get the #1 draft pick again, as they had forfeited their first round pick the previous year when they took Steve Walsh in the Supplemental Draft. Johnson quickly returned the Cowboys to the NFL's elite with a series of skillful drafts. Having picked Aikman, fullback Daryl Johnston and center Mark Stepnoski in 1989, Johnson added running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, defensive tackle Russell Maryland and offensive tackle Erik Williams in 1991, and safety Darren Woodson in 1992. The young talent joined holdovers from the Landry era such as wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard Nate Newton, linebacker Ken Norton, Jr., and offensive lineman Mark Tuinei, and veteran pickups such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley. In 1990, the Cowboys finished 7-9, with Smith being named NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year and Johnson earning Coach of the Year honors. In 1991, Dallas finished with an 11-5 record, making the playoffs for the first time since 1985. The Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears 17-13 in the wild card round. In the divisional round, they faced the Lions, who had beaten them earlier in the season. Detroit went in for a repeat performance, dismembering the Cowboys 38–6 for their first, and to date only, postseason victory since 1957. The 1991 Cowboys also became the first team to feature the league leaders in rushing yards (Smith) and receiving yards (Irvin). The 1991 season also marked Dallas's return to Monday Night Football after an absence of two years. In 1992, the Cowboys finished with a 13-3 record (second best in the league), boasted the league's #1 defense, reached their peak in popularity (many road fans were cheering for the Cowboys), and finally avenged their 1981 NFC Championship Game loss to San Francisco by defeating the 49ers in the conference title game, 30-20, in a muddy Candlestick Park. The Cowboys went on to crush the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, 52-17, forcing a Super Bowl record 9 turnovers. QB Troy Aikman was named MVP after completing 73.3% of his passes for 273 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions for a passer rating of 140.7, and even out rushed Bills running back Thurman Thomas 28 yards to 19 yards. Emmitt Smith rushed for 108 yards, and became the first NFL rushing champion to win a Super Bowl in the same season. Coach Johnson became the first coach to claim a National Championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. The following season, the Cowboys finished with a 12-4 record in the regular season. They again defeated the 49ers in the NFC Championship, this time by a score of 38–21 at Texas Stadium, and again defeated the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl, this time by a score of 30-13\. The Cowboys sent an NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl: Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Thomas Everett, Daryl Johnston, Russell Maryland, Nate Newton, Ken Norton Jr, Jay Novacek, Mark Stepnoski and Erik Williams. Emmitt Smith won his third rushing title despite missing the first two games of the season, which the Cowboys went 0–2 in, over a contract dispute, and was named both NFL and Super Bowl MVP. Smith is one of only six players to win both the NFL MVP award and Super Bowl MVP award in the same season, and is the only one of those six players who was not a quarterback. Only weeks after Super Bowl XXVIII, however, friction between Johnson and Jones culminated in Johnson stunning the football world by announcing his resignation. The next day Jones hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to replace Johnson. Norton and guard Kevin Gogan departed via free agency, but Dallas drafted offensive lineman Larry Allen, who became a mainstay on the line for the next decade. In 1994, the Cowboys played before the largest crowd to ever attend an NFL game when 112,376 in Mexico City turned out for a preseason match against the Houston Oilers. The Cowboys cruised to another NFC East title in 1994. They finished the regular season 12-4, with their four losses coming by a combined 20 points. The team suffered key injuries, however, when Erik Williams was lost for the year after a mid- season auto accident and Emmitt Smith was hobbled for the final month with a pulled hamstring. Dallas advanced to the NFC Championship Game, where they faced San Francisco for the third consecutive year. Dallas fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter, and despite a valiant comeback, the 49ers held on to win 38-28, thus denying the Cowboys their chance of winning a record three consecutive Super Bowls. In 1995, Jones made a huge free agent splash by signing All-Pro corner Deion Sanders away from San Francisco. Dallas posted another two catch touchdown regular season record and NFC East crown. Emmitt Smith won his Third rushing title and scored a then NFL record 25 rushing touchdowns. After crushing the Eagles 30-11 in the divisional playoffs, the Cowboys earned their 8th NFC Championship title by defeating the Green Bay Packers 38-27 at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys then topped the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX 27-17, avenging two four-point losses to Pittsburgh in Super Bowls X and XIII. Coach Switzer followed Johnson to become the second coach to claim a National Championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. Only one other coach, Pete Carroll, has since accomplished this feat. The Cowboys have not been back to the NFC Conference Championship game since. Injuries and off-field incidents deviled the 1996 Cowboys. Novacek, possibly Aikman's most trusted target, suffered an off-season back injury that ended his career. Irvin was convicted of narcotics possession and suspended for the first five games of the season. In December defensive tackle Leon Lett was given a one-year suspension for failing a narcotics test. Late in the season Irvin and Williams drew national attention when they were accused of assaulting a Dallas woman, although the allegations were later recanted. Haley and Emmitt Smith were also plagued by injuries during the season. Yet Dallas still managed to earn its fifth consecutive NFC East title with a 10-6 record. The Cowboys thumped the Vikings 40-15 in the first round of the playoffs, then traveled to Carolina, where they lost to the upstart Panthers 26-17 after Irvin and Sanders left the game with injuries. Preseason pundits again put the Cowboys at the top of the NFC in 1997. However, Dallas finished the season with a disappointing 6-10 record as continued discipline and off-field problems became major distractions. Switzer was arrested during the preseason after a handgun was found in his luggage at an airport metal detector. The team collapsed down the stretch, losing its final 5 games. Switzer resigned as head coach in January 1998 and was replaced by former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. After missing the playoffs in 1997, Gailey led the team to a 10-6 record in 1998 as Dallas became the first NFC East team to sweep the division. The Cowboys suffered a humiliating first-round playoff exit, however, when the Arizona Cardinals defeated them at Texas Stadium 20–7 for their first postseason victory in half a century. Jones raised hopes in the off-season, though, signing fleet-footed wide receiver Raghib "Rocket" Ismail. The Cowboys started the 1999 campaign in impressive fashion, erasing a 21-point deficit in Washington on opening day for a 41-35 overtime victory. In their fourth game of the season, however, Dallas lost Irvin to a neck injury that ended his career. Darryl Johnston also suffered a career-ending injury early in the season, and Aikman, Allen, Sanders and cornerback Kevin Smith missed time as well. Dallas sputtered to an 8-8 finish in 1999. They gained a wild-card berth in their final regular season game, but lost in Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, 27-10. Key players were now grumbling about Gailey, and Jones fired him in January 2000. Defensive coordinator Dave Campo was promoted to head coach, but he could only post three consecutive 5-11 seasons. Instability plagued the quarterback position after several concussions; the first suffered on opening day against the Eagles (known as the Pickle Juice Game because Eagle players drank pickle juice at halftime Source), finally ended Aikman's career late in the 2000 season; five different quarterbacks started between 2001 and 2002. The lowest point of the Campo era was an embarrassing and humiliating loss on opening night of the 2002 season to the brand-new Houston Texans. One of the only highlights of this era occurred on October 27, 2002, when running back Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's all-time career yardage rushing record during a 17-14 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Many fans and media blamed Jerry Jones for the team's ills, noting that he refused to hire a strong coach, preferring to hire coaches who did not want to be involved with personnel duties so that Jones himself could manage them. However, Jones proved them wrong in 2003 by luring Bill Parcells out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season, posting a 10-6 record and a playoff berth by leading the NFL in sacks, turnovers and having the best overall defense in the NFL. However, they lost to the eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers in the Wild Card round, 29-10. However, the 2004 season was one of turmoil. Injuries and persistent penalty problems plagued the Cowboys, who were shaken early in training camp when starting quarterback Quincy Carter was suddenly released, allegedly for drug use. 40-year-old veteran Vinny Testaverde, recently brought in by former coach Parcells to be the back-up, became the starter. They had only a 3-5 record at midseason, but injured rookie running back Julius Jones returned in late November, and in consecutive games logged two of the best single-game performances in franchise history. Dallas went 1-3 down the stretch, though, finishing the season 6-10\. In November 2004, a vote was passed by the City of Arlington in Tarrant County to build a new stadium adjacent to the existing Ameriquest Field in Arlington. The team began playing at the new site in 2009 after thirty-eight years playing in the city of Irving, and forty-nine years in Dallas County. The Cowboys improved their defense before the 2005 season, adding DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Kevin Burnett, and Chris Canty through the draft. Parcells hoped to jumpstart the team's transition from the traditional 4–3 defense, which had been the Cowboys' base defense for the past 20 years, to his preferred 3–4 defense, which he believes favors the talents of the current lineup (speed and athleticism over power). Jerry Jones also added a number of veterans, including nose tackle Jason Ferguson and cornerback Anthony Henry via free agency. On offense, the Cowboys tried to upgrade their passing game by signing free agent quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe had a solid year and gave the Cowboys stability at the QB position, which had been lacking since Troy Aikman's retirement 5 years earlier. The Cowboys endured an up-and-down 2005 season. Entering Thanksgiving the Cowboys had a 7–3 record, Dallas finished the season 2–4 and missed the playoffs. An injury to kicker Billy Cundiff led to inconsistency at that position, and costly misses contributed to close losses against Seattle and Denver. Shortly before the regular season finale, the Cowboys learned that they had been eliminated from the playoff chase, and turned in a listless performances against the St Louis Rams on Sunday Night Football to finish the season 9–7, 3rd place in the NFC East. The Cowboys entered the season with high hopes but got off to a mediocre 3-2 start before an important Monday Night Football game against division rivals, the New York Giants. The Cowboys suffered a tough 36-22 loss despite "a changing of guard" at the QB position from Drew Bledsoe to Tony Romo. With the next three games on the road, speculation grew that the Giants could run away with the division for a second straight year. Romo won his first game as a starter the following week against the Carolina Panthers with an outstanding 4th quarter comeback to win (35-14). The Cowboys' chance to challenge the Giants seemingly fizzled when they lost to the Washington Redskins at FedExField on a last second field goal (the "Hand of God" game) However, the Giants entered a slump, and Tony Romo impressed the media as a quarterback, revitalizing the Cowboys with a 27-10 win over the Cardinals, a well-earned (21-14) victory over the previously unbeaten Colts, and a thorough routing of Tampa Bay (38-10) on Thanksgiving Day. During that home game, Romo solidified his position as QB and quieted any remaining skeptics by completing 22-of-29 passes for 306 yards and five touchdowns (tying a franchise record). Furthermore, the Cowboys took a two-game lead of the NFC East by beating the Giants in a Week 13 rematch. The success of the new quarterback surprised much of the nation and helped Romo receive much air-time on sports shows. The Cowboys then self-destructed in the last four games of the season, losing to the Saints in a battle for second-best record in the league, to the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that would have earned them the division championship if they had won, and to the 2-13 Detroit Lions in a game where Tony Romo's four fumbles cast significant doubt on his ability to successfully lead his team in the playoffs. The Cowboys played a wild card matchup at Seattle to start the playoffs. Leading 20–13 with 6:42 left in the game with the ball at their own 1-yard line, Romo threw a short pass to Terry Glenn where he fumbled it and it went out of bounds in the endzone resulting in a safety. The Seahawks got the ball back and Matt Hasselbeck threw a touchdown to Jerramy Stevens to take a 21–20 lead after missing the two-point conversion. With 1:19 left in the game, the Cowboys had a chance win the game on a 19-yard field goal, but the hold was fumbled by Romo, who continued to serve as field goal holder even after ascending to the starting quarterback's role (the backup quarterback is traditionally the holder on field goals). He picked up the loose ball and tried to run it to the 1-yard line for a first down, but was tackled at the 2. As the game came to a close, the Cowboys managed to get the ball back with two seconds left, but Romo's hail mary pass attempt to the endzone fell incomplete. On January 22, at the conclusion of the Cowboys' season, head coach Bill Parcells retired. On February 8, after a replacement search that included Mike Singletary, Jason Garrett, Jim Caldwell, Ron Rivera and Norv Turner, San Diego defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was hired as the new head coach. Jerry Jones eventually hired Garrett as offensive coordinator (even before hiring Phillips). Phillips has since hired his son Wes Phillips, and former linebacker Dat Nguyen to his new list of assistant coaches. During the 2007 offseason, the Cowboys signed offensive lineman Leonard Davis and quarterback Brad Johnson to back up Tony Romo and have also resigned center Andre Gurode and kicker Martin Gramatica. They have also released two players; quarterback Drew Bledsoe and tight end Ryan Hannam. Tony Romo also received a $67.5 million contract for six years with the Dallas Cowboys on October 30, 2007, making Romo the third highest paid quarterback in the NFL, after Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cowboys tied a franchise record in 2007 with by winning 13 regular season games, a feat that had been accomplished 15 years earlier by their 1992 Super Bowl winning squad. Terrell Owens had arguably the most productive year in his career and franchise history. He tied the franchise record for most scoring receptions in a single game (four). When Owens caught a touchdown pass in Week 16 against the Panthers, he set the franchise record for most touchdown receptions in a single season (15). Tony Romo set team records in Touchdowns (36) and Passing Yards (4,211) in one season. After receiving the top NFC playoff seed, and getting a first-round bye, they lost to the Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs to end one of the most exciting seasons of the decade. In week 5 against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, the Cowboys turned the ball over six times, including five interceptions thrown by Romo. Despite having a -5 turnover margin, the Cowboys managed to defeat the Bills. Trailing 24–22 in the final moments of the game, Dallas sent rookie kicker Nick Folk out to attempt a potential 53-yard game winner. His first kick sailed through the uprights, but didn't count because Buffalo called a timeout immediately before the snap. Folk had to attempt the kick a second time, and hammered it through the goalposts again to finish a dramatic victory. The season produced some of the team's most memorable games of the decade as well. In Week 9, tight end Jason Witten, who already had a reputation as a tough and intense player, caught a 25-yard pass from Romo. Immediately after the catch, two Eagles delivered a hit that knocked Witten's helmet off. Unfazed by the contact, Witten ran another 30 yards without a helmet. When he was finally dragged down at the Eagles' 6, he walked to the sideline with a bloody nose. Thanks to their dramatic victory over the Bills in Week 5, Dallas started with a 5–0 record. They were the last team in the NFC to remain undefeated up to that point heading into their next game against the 5-0 New England Patriots. The Patriots won 48–27, handing the Cowboys their first loss of the season, and remained undefeated until they lost that season's Super Bowl. Besides the loss to the Patriots in Week 6, their only other losses came in Weeks 15 and 17 against their division rivals Philadelphia and Washington. When wide receiver Terrell Owens went down with an ankle injury against the Panthers in Week 16, and missed Week 17 against the Redskins, the offense became stagnant. Another highlight of that season was a Week 13 match with Green Bay, which Dallas won 37–27, that was reminiscent of the 1990s Cowboys-Packers duels. Like the Cowboys, the Packers finished the regular season 13–3, but Dallas got the #1 seed due to a better conference record and head to head win. This gave them both a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. However, they lost their first playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, a team that they had defeated in their two regular- season matchups. Dallas was the first number one seed in the NFC to lose in the divisional round since 1990. Meanwhile, the Giants went on to topple Green Bay in the NFC Championship and upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. A record thirteen members of the Cowboys were named to the Pro Bowl, while five were named All-Pro by the Associated Press. The Cowboys began the 2008 season by defeating the Cleveland Browns 28-10, Coming off their commanding road win over the Browns, the Cowboys played their Week 2 home opener under the MNF spotlight. In the last MNF game at Texas Stadium, Dallas dueled with their NFC East foe, the Philadelphia Eagles. In the first quarter, the Cowboys trailed early as Eagles kicker David Akers got a 34-yard field goal. Dallas answered in their first possession with QB Tony Romo completing a 72-yard TD pass to WR Terrell Owens In a game that had 9 lead changes, it also set different point records, including most first half points in MNF history (54) and most combined points in the rivalry's history (78). Dallas held on to win 41–37. After starting 4–1 the Cowboys flew to the University of Phoenix Stadium for a Week 6 Sunday Night Football showdown with the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals returned the opening kick return for a touchdown but Dallas tied the game 7–7 at halftime. With only 3:17 left in the 4th quarter Tony Romo completed a 70-yard pass to Marion Barber III and the kicker Nick Folk hit a 52-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime. In overtime the Cowboys punter Mat McBriar had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown also in overtime QB Tony Romo broke his right pinkie finger. In the week following the game Tony Romo was listed as questionable, and then missed three games. In addition, Matt McBriar and Sam Hurd were placed in injured reserve, and Felix Jones was listed as out for 2–3 weeks with a hamstring injury. Furthermore, Adam (Pacman) Jones was suspended by the NFL for a minimum of 4 weeks after an altercation with his bodyguard. Lastly The Cowboys traded for WR Roy Williams with the Detroit Lions, in exchange for their first, third, and sixth-round picks. After the bye week, they won another four game, Dallas finished the season 1–3, losing its final game in Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens 33–24 followed by a disastrous 44–6 loss to Philadelphia. With a 9–7 record, the team finished third in the division and failed to qualify for the playoffs. After the season ended, highly controversial and productive receiver Terrell Owens was released after receiving a $34 million extension the previous June that was supposed to allow him to retire a Cowboy. Jones said he released Owens because of production and "In this particular case, we have an outstanding player in Roy Williams, and it was a significant factor in the decision I made to release Terrell." In three seasons with the Cowboys, Owens had 235 receptions for 3,587 yards and 38 touchdowns, but his numbers declined last season, when he had 69 receptions for 1,052 yards and 10 touchdowns. The 2009 season marked the 50th season of play for the Cowboys. In May of that year, the new Cowboys Stadium was completed in Arlington, Texas. It was widely criticized for its appearance, cost (over $1 billion) and high energy use. The first game played in the team's new home was a preseason match with the Tennessee Titans on August 21, and the first regular season one was a three- point loss to the Giants on September 20. By Week 9, the Cowboys stood at 6–2 after defeating their archrival Eagles in Philadelphia. Then followed a loss to the Packers, and victories over Washington and Oakland, the latter being on Thanksgiving. The team then fell to the Giants a second time, and lost at home to the Chargers. By this point, the Cowboys' playoff chances were doubtful, and the old talk of the "December curse" reappeared. The next game was a surprise upset of the 13-0 New Orleans Saints, followed by a shutout of Washington. Combined with Giants defeats, the Cowboys now found themselves guaranteed a wild card spot at the minimum. On January 3, they hosted the Eagles, who had won their last five games. Philadelphia's offense completely folded, and the team suffered a 24–0 shutout, making this the first time in franchise history that Dallas blanked two consecutive opponents. This gave them the division title and the #3 NFC seed, but also gave their opponent a wild card, which meant that they had to play in Dallas again the following week. The rematch saw the Eagles score 17 points, but their defense, which had been considered one of the NFL's best a few weeks earlier, again performed poorly and the Cowboys put up 34 points, to beat them for the third time in one season. Having won their first playoff game since 1996, the Cowboys traveled to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to face Brett Favre and the Vikings. Their season quickly ended after Minnesota scored four touchdowns and limited them to a single field goal. Linebacker Keith Brooking criticized the last touchdown pass of the game, arguing that it served no purpose other than to run up the score in a game the Vikings already had won. The Cowboys opened 2010 in Washington against a revitalized Redskins team that now featured Donovan McNabb (traded from the Eagles in April) and former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. Although neither team performed well, Dallas lost unexpectedly when on the last play of the game Tony Romo threw a pass into the end zone that was nullified by a holding penalty. The Redskins thus won 13–7. In Week 2, Dallas fell to the Bears 27–20 in their second straight home opener loss. This was also the team's first 0–2 start since 2001. Desperate to win, they headed to Houston for the third "Battle of Texas" with the Texans (the first and second were in 2002 and 2006) and beat them 27–13. After coming back from their bye week, the Cowboys suffered another home embarrassment, this time against Tennessee. Dallas's fortunes continued to slide in Week 6 as they lost to Minnesota 24–21. Things steadily got worse the next week as Tony Romo was knocked out with a fractured collarbone while playing the Giants on MNF. Filling in for him was 38-year-old QB Jon Kitna, who hadn't started in two years. Although rusty, he managed two touchdown passes and the Cowboys scored 35 points. But their division rival edged them out 41–35 to win in Cowboys Stadium for the second straight year. By Week 8, the Cowboys found themselves at 1–6 after losing at home to Jacksonville after four Jon Kitna interceptions. After a disastrous 45–7 loss in Green Bay, Wade Phillips was fired (thus breaking Jerry Jones's policy of not changing head coaches during the season) and replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. Now largely eliminated from playoff contention, the Cowboys headed to the Meadowlands for a rematch with New York. This time things were different as Jon Kitna passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns. An all-around better performance by the team allowed them to win 33–20. After beating Detroit at home, the Cowboys lost a close Thanksgiving game to New Orleans. They next defeated the Colts in Indianapolis 38–35 on an OT field goal to retain faint playoff hopes. However, a home loss to Philadelphia mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention. Week 15 saw them beat the hapless Redskins 33–30. The Cowboys then lost a meaningless game in Arizona and followed that with a meaningless win over the Eagles to end their season at 6–10. After going 5–3 as interim head coach during the last eight games of the previous season, Jason Garrett took the head coaching position full-time. With Tony Romo back in action, the Cowboys took on the New York Jets for a Sunday Night game commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. An early lead soon led to a 24–24 tie, but Romo threw an interception in the 4th quarter that allowed New York to get into the red zone and score a field goal, resulting in the Cowboys losing 27-24. The next week, the Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 27–24 in overtime after Romo made a valiant overtime comeback effort despite playing through a painful rib injury. Despite this and a punctured lung, Romo started in Week 3 as the Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. They won 18–16 in a bizarre game with six field goals from rookie kicker Dan Bailey. Dallas's offense struggled the entire night with Romo handicapped by pain, multiple dropped passes, and several botched snaps from rookie center Kevin Kowalski. They went 1–3 in the month of October including an embarrassing Week 7 34-7 loss by the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. They turned things around by going undefeated in November. That run included a Week 10 44-7 blowout over the Buffalo Bills. Week 11 was a 27-24 overtime victory over the Redskins. They entered December with a 7–4 record vying for first place of their division with the New York Giants, whom the Cowboys were yet to play. After losing 19-13 in overtime against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, they headed to a Sunday Night primetime home game against the Giants. Despite leading 34–22 with less than 6 minutes to play, the Cowboys lost 37–34 after a game-tying field goal by Dan Bailey was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul. They rebounded by the next week by defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31–15. Week 16 brought a second loss to the Eagles. Despite entering Week 17 with an 8–7 record, the Cowboys were in a position to win the division. However, so was their final regular season opponent the Giants. However, the Cowboys lost 31–14 to finish the season 8–8 and miss the playoffs for the second straight season while the Giants went on to win Super Bowl XLVI. The Cowboys started the 2012 season on a high note by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 24–17. They were unable to capitalize on their momentum as they dropped 3 out of their next 4 games. One of those losses was a tight 31–29 game to the eventual Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens. They entered their annual Thanksgiving Day game with a 5–5 record. Their opponent was the upstart division rival Washington Redskins whom were being led by rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. The Redskins got off to a quick start leading 28–3 at halftime. The Cowboys fought back in the second half but it wasn't enough which led to a 38–31 loss. The Cowboys won their next 3 games before losing in Week 16 to the New Orleans Saints in overtime. Going into Week 17 they were once again one win away from winning their division but so were their opponents that week the Redskins. The game was tight throughout. With less than 3 minutes to go, the Cowboys were down 21–18 but had the ball and were starting to drive down the field. Their playoff hopes were destroyed after Tony Romo threw a game ending interception. They lost 28–18, ending their season with an 8–8 record and missing the playoffs for the third straight year. The Cowboys opened the 2013 season by defeating their division rival New York Giants 36–31. This win was punctuated after Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw an interception to Brandon Carr whom returned it for a touchdown. This was the first time the Cowboys had defeated the Giants at home since 2008. Just like the previous year, the Cowboys lost 3 of their next 4 games. The third loss of that run was a shootout to the eventual AFC Champion Denver Broncos 51–48. Numbers wise Tony Romo had an excellent day throwing for over 500 yards with 5 touchdowns. However, late in the 4th quarter with the game tied at 48 he threw an interception to Danny Trevathan which set up the Broncos winning field goal. They rebounded in Week 6 by decisively defeating the division rival Washington Redskins 31–16. Week 7 brought another division game, this time against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys were firing on all cylinders that day winning 17–3. However, the next week they lost to the Detroit Lions in a tight 31–30 loss to end the month of October. They went 3–1 in the month of November which included another win over the Giants. Their sole loss that month was a Week 10 49-17 blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints. They began December with 2 crucial losses to the Chicago Bears 45-28 and the Green Bay Packers 37-36. The Week 15 loss to the Packers was especially bitter since they had a 26–3 halftime lead. Talk of the annual "December Curse" was in full affect. They came into their Week 16 division matchup against the Redskins with a 7–7 record but still in the hunt with the Eagles for the NFC East crown. In the game they started the 4th quarter down 23–14. They battled back to win 24–23. The win was highlighted by a 4th and goal touchdown pass from Romo to DeMarco Murray from the 12 yard line with 1:15 left. However, Romo received a serious back injury during the 4th quarter. While he was able to finish the game, the injury prematurely ended his season. For the third consecutive year the Cowboys entered Week 17 one win away from the division title along with their opponents the Eagles. The Cowboys came into the game with a 5–0 division record. With Romo out backup quarterback Kyle Orton started. With less than 2 minutes left and being down 24–22, Orton threw a game-ending interception, losing the game, finishing 8-8 and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. After starting 2014 with an embarrassing 28–17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys went on a roll, winning their next 6 games. It was their longest winning streak since 2007. The highlight of this streak was defeating the defending Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks 30–23. The Seahawks' loss in that game was only their second home loss in the past three seasons. The streak was ended by their division rival Washington Redskins in overtime 20–17. However, Romo once again injured his back. He was out the next game against the Arizona Cardinals where backup Brandon Weeden started, and the Cardinals won 28–17. Romo returned in Week 10 as the Cowboys played in London for the first time ever against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL International Series in which they won 31–17. The Cowboys entered their annual Thanksgiving Day game with an 8–3 record, identical with their opponents the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles got off to a fast start and the Cowboys were never able to catch up, thus the Eagles won 33–10. They rebounded the next week over the Chicago Bears 41–28 to clinch their first winning season since 2009. Week 15 was a rematch against the Eagles. This time the Cowboys got off to a hot start going up 21–0. However, the Eagles then scored 24 unanswered points. The Cowboys came back with a 78-yard drive capped with a DeMarco Murray touchdown run. The next Eagles drive ended with Mark Sanchez getting intercepted by Cowboys safety J.J. Wilcox. The Cowboys took full advantage of that, with Dez Bryant scoring his third touchdown of the evening, the most in one game in his career. The Eagles had two more turnovers, including another Sanchez interception to end the game. The Cowboys won 38–27 to take over first place. Week 16 started with the Eagles losing to the Redskins 27-24, meaning the Cowboys could clinch their division if they were able to beat the Indianapolis Colts. They responded by routing the Colts 42–7 to win the NFC East and make the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Their final regular- season game was on the road against the Redskins, where the Cowboys won 44–17 to finish the season at 12–4, the #3 seed, and undefeated in away games. They also finished December 4–0 which was huge after they had struggled in the month of December during recent years. In the Wild Card round of the 2014–15 NFL playoffs the Cowboys hosted the sixth-seeded Detroit Lions. The Lions got off to a hot start going up 14–0 in the first quarter. The Cowboys initially struggled on both sides of the ball. However, in towards the end of the 2nd quarter Romo connected to Terrance Williams for a 76 yard touchdown pass. The Lions hit a field goal before halftime to go up 17–7. The Cowboys came out swinging to start the second half by picking off Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first play of the 3rd quarter. Dan Bailey missed a field goal during their ensuing drive. The Lions then kicked another field goal to make the score 20–7. A DeMarco Murray touchdown run later in that quarter closed the gap to 20–14. A 51-yard field goal almost 3 minutes into the 4th quarter put the Cowboys down by 3. The Lions got the ball back and started driving down the field. A 17 yard pass on 3rd down from Stafford to Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew was initially flagged as defensive pass interference against Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens. The flag was then picked up by the officiating crew and the penalty was nullified. Dallas got the ball back on their 41 yard line and had a successful 59 yard drive which was capped off by a 8 yard touchdown pass from Romo to Williams to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game 24–20. The Lions got the ball back with less than 2:30 to play. Stafford fumbled the ball at the 2-minute mark and was picked up by Cowboys defensive tackle DeMarcus Lawrence who then fumbled the ball which gave the Lions the ball back. Lawrence redeemed himself by sacking Stafford on a 4th and 3 play which lead to Stafford fumbling the ball again which Lawrence recovered to end the game, winning 24–20. This was the first time in franchise playoff history that the Cowboys had been down by more than 10 points at halftime to come back and win the game. For the divisional round they faced the Green Bay Packers in their first postseason matchup in Green Bay since the Ice Bowl. There was a lot of hype in the week leading up to the game, as during the regular season, the Packers had gone 8–0 at home while the Cowboys had gone 8–0 on the road. At halftime the Cowboys had a 14–10 lead and went up 21–13 in the 3rd quarter. However, the Packers came back to take a 26–21 lead in the 4th quarter. With less than 5 minutes in the game on a 4th and 3 play Romo threw a 30 yard pass to Bryant to put them at the 1 yard line. However, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy challenged the catch and the ruling was overturned. The explanation given was that Bryant didn't maintain control of the ball as he came down with it. The ball was turned over on downs and the Packers ran the clock out to win the game 26-21, thus ending the Cowboys season. Two days after the game, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett signed a 5-year, $30 million contract along with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who signed a 3-year contract. Marinelli was largely credited for greatly improving the Cowboys defense, which was the worst-ranked defense the previous season under Monte Kiffin. After their successful 2014 season, the Cowboys began the 2015 season with high expectations. During Week 1, Tony Romo managed to lead the team to an astonishing comeback against the New York Giants for a 27-26 win, despite the loss of Dez Bryant. The next week against the Philadelphia Eagles, Romo was taken out with a collarbone injury, but the Cowboys won 20-10 to give them a 2-0 start. Romo missed the next seven games, and the Cowboys lost all of those games to drop to 2-7. Romo finally returned in Week 11 to lead the Cowboys to a 24-14 victory against the Miami Dolphins, but in the Cowboys' next game on Thanksgiving Day, Romo injured his collarbone again and was ruled out for the rest of the season, and the team was slaughtered by the then-undefeated Carolina Panthers 33-14, dropping their record to 3-8. In the next game on Monday Night Football, the Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins 19-16, which proved to be their last win of the season and their only win without Romo as starter. In Week 14, the Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers 28-7. In Week 15, the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention with a 19-16 loss to the New York Jets in a Saturday night edition of Thursday Night Football. After that, the Cowboys lost to the Buffalo Bills 16-6 and then lost against the Redskins 34-23 to finish the regular season with a record of 4-12 and a last place finish in the NFC East. The Cowboys went 3-1 with Romo as the starting quarterback, but they were 1-11 in all of their other games. The Cowboys drafted running back Ezekiel Elliott from Ohio State in the first round and quarterback Dak Prescott from Mississippi State in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. During a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks, Tony Romo suffered a back injury, allowing Prescott to become starter for the 2016 season. With Prescott's stellar play, along with Elliott's running game, the Cowboys finished with a 13-3 record, earning them home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But the Cowboys' promising season ended in heartbreak as they lost 34-31 to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. After the season, Romo retired after 14 seasons with the Cowboys and Prescott was named Offensive Rookie of the year. 2017 was a tulmultous season for the Cowboys. In August the NFL announced that star running back Ezekiel Elliott would be suspended the first 6 games of the season for violating the league's personal conduct policy stemming from accusations of domestic abuse from an ex-girlfriend in 2016. Elliott maintained his innocence and was never criminally charged. The suspension was on and off again through the first two months of the season due to him attempting to appeal this decision. The Cowboys started the season by defeating the New York Giants 19-3. During Week 2 they were routed by the Denver Broncos 42-17. They bounced back in Week 3 winning on the road against the Arizona Cardinals 28-17. They returned home for a 2-game homestand and lost both games, first to the Los Angeles Rams 35-30 then to the Green Bay Packers 35-31. After a Week 6 bye they returned to form by blowing out the San Francisco 49ers 40-10. Week 8 was a division game against the Washington Redskins, in which the Cowboys won 33-19. In Week 9 the Cowboys faced the Kansas City Chiefs, and became the first team that season to intercept Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith en route to a 28-17 win. It was the Cowboys 3rd straight win which brought them to 5-3. It was after this game that Elliott's suspension came into effect. The Cowboys would lose their next 3 games in embarrassing fashion to the Atlanta Falcons 27-7, division leading Philadelphia Eagles 37-9, and on Thanksgiving Day to the Los Angeles Chargers 28-6. On Week 13 they hosted the Redskins in which the Cowboys showed their season was far from over by defeating the Redskins 38-14. Former Redskins Running back Alfred Morris rushed for 127 yards with one touchdown against his former team. Dez Bryant caught a touchdown which made him the Cowboys all-time leader in receiving touchdowns. Week 14 was another division game against the Giants, in which the Cowboys won 30-10. Week 15 was a primetime game on NBC Sunday Night Football against the Oakland Raiders. The Cowboys had a late 20-17 lead when a defensive pass interference against them put the Raiders in the red zone with less than a minute left. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr tried rushing in a potential game winning TD but Cowboys safety Jeff Heath caused Carr to fumble the ball before the ball crossed the endzone to force a touchback and seal a 20-17 Cowboys victory. Elliott returned from suspension on Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks. Despite this the Seahawks prevailed 21-12 to eliminate the Cowboys from playoff contention. Their season ended on a 6-0 win against the Eagles to finish with a 9-7 second place record. The Eagles would go on to win Super Bowl LII. Before the 2018 season began the Cowboys parted ways with 3 of their key offensive players. Wide receiver Dez Bryant was released in April 2018. His performance had steadily declined since the 2015 season. During the 2017 season he started having sideline outbursts. Longtime tight end Jason Witten retired in May after 15 seasons. Lastly the franchise's most successful kicker Dan Bailey was cut on September 1 after losing the job to former CFL kicker Brett Maher. Other additions prior to the start of the season was former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns who signed for 2 years and wide receiver Tavon Austin whom the Cowboys received from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a 2019 6th round draft pick. The season started out with a disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers 16-8. The following week they bounced back to beat the New York Giants 20-13. Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks was a mess offensively as Dak Prescott threw two costly interceptions. Ezekiel Elliott also had a 4th quarter fumble that ended any chance of a comeback. The Seahawks prevailed with a 24-13 victory. In Week 4 to beat the Detroit Lions 26-24 thanks to a game-winning field goal by Maher as time expired. October was not a good month for the Cowboys as they went 1-2. In Week 5, they lost to the Houston Texans 19-16 in overtime. In Week 6, they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 40-7. In Week 7, the Cowboys lost to the Washington Redskins 20-17 after Maher missed a game-tying field goal. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones traded their number one 2019 draft pick to the Oakland Raiders for their star wide receiver Amari Cooper. They had a Week 8 bye and then hosted the Tennessee Titans the week after. The Cowboys had won their first 3 games at home that season and when the Titans had 2 1st quarter turnovers along with Cooper's first touchdown as a Cowboy they seemed poised to make it 4 in a row. However, they were shutout in the second half of the game and lost 28-14. This brought them to 3-5. The trade for Cooper did pay off as the Cowboys returned to the playoffs after winning seven of their final eight games, earning the NFC East title with a 10–6 record. The Cowboys defeated the Seahawks 24-22 in the Wild Card round, notching their fourth playoff win since 1995, but lost to the eventual NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams 30-22 in the Divisional round. After a contract holdout by Elliot resulted in the running back signing a 6-year, $90 million extension, Dallas jumped to a 3–0 start to begin the season. However, the team finished with an 8–8 record at the end after suffering a number of losses throughout the season and ultimately missed the playoffs, despite Dak Prescott passing for a career high 4,902 yards and 30 touchdowns. Following the season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decided not to renew Jason Garrett's contract, bringing an end to his tenure as head coach. The Dallas Cowboys team/franchise has been "first" in the record books for a whole host of accomplishments, a few of which include: The first NFL team to win three Super Bowls in four years, with Super Bowl wins in the 1992, 1993, and 1995 seasons. Only one other team, the New England Patriots, have won three Super Bowls in a four-year time span, doing so in the 2001, 2003, and 2004 seasons., The first and only team to hold the opposing team to no touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Dallas beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI. The only other team to do this is the New England Patriots, who did so in their 13-3 win against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII., The first NFL team to play in five, six, seven and eight Super Bowls. They have a 5-3 record in the Super Bowl, with all three losses by a margin of four points or less. Three other teams, all from the American Football Conference (AFC) have since accomplished this feat: the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl XLV, the New England Patriots, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl XLIX, and the Denver Broncos, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl 50., The first and only NFL team to lose a Super Bowl and still have a player selected as the Super Bowl MVP. (Linebacker Chuck Howley, who intercepted two passes and forced a fumble in Super Bowl V, became the first defensive player to win the award.), The first NFL team to win the Super Bowl after losing it the previous year. After losing Super Bowl V following the 1970 season, they won Super Bowl VI following the 1971 season. The only other two teams to do this are the Miami Dolphins, who followed up their Super Bowl VI loss to the Cowboys by going undefeated and untied the next season, capped off by a 14–7 win against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, and the New England Patriots, who followed up their 41-33 loss in Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2017 season by winning Super Bowl LIII 13-3 against the Los Angeles Rams the next season., The first NFL team to lose the Super Bowl after winning it the previous year. After defeating the Denver Broncos 27–10 in Super Bowl XII following the 1977 season, they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers 35–31 in Super Bowl XIII following the 1978 season. This has only happened four times since: The Washington Redskins lost Super Bowl XVIII 38-9 to the Raiders a year after winning Super Bowl XVII 27-17 against the Miami Dolphins, the Green Bay Packers lost Super Bowl XXXII 31-24 to the Denver Broncos a year after winning Super Bowl XXXI 35-21 against the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks lost Super Bowl XLIX 28-24 to the New England Patriots a year after winning Super Bowl XLVIII in a crushing 43–8 blowout against the Denver Broncos, and the New England Patriots lost Super Bowl LII 41-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles a year after winning Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons., The first team in NFC East history to sweep all of its division opponents (home and away), going 8–0 in 1998 against the Giants, Eagles, Cardinals and Redskins., The first and only NFL team to post 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985)., The first NFL team to send at least 13 players to the Pro Bowl (2007 season)., The first and only NFL team to play 58 postseason games., The first NFL team to win 33 postseason games., The first wild card NFL team to go to the Super Bowl, 1975, after winning the NFC Championship., The first touchdown was scored by Darryl Hannah, Jr. National Football League, Sports E-Cyclopdia.com This article is a list of known as the Dallas Cowboys American football franchise of the National Football League (NFL). The list documents the season-by-season records of the Cowboys' franchise from to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches. The Cowboys franchise was founded in 1960 as an expansion team. The team has earned 33 postseason appearances, most in the NFL, the longest consecutive streak of winning seasons with 20, the second-most appearances in the NFC Championship Game (14, behind the San Francisco 49ers' 15) and the second-most Super Bowl appearances (8 with the Denver Broncos and Steelers). The Cowboys have played for 10 NFL Championships and have won 5, all five being Super Bowls. The Cowboys won Super Bowls VI, XII, XXVII, XXVIII and XXX. They also played in and lost Super Bowls V, X, and XIII. The franchise has experienced two major periods of continued success in their history. The first period of success came from – when the Cowboys played in the postseason 18 times. During this period, they played in two NFL Championships and five Super Bowls, winning two of them, winning a total of 20 playoff games. The second period of success was between – when the Cowboys captured five straight NFC East Division titles and won three Super Bowls going 12–3 in the postseason. Outside of these two periods of success, the Cowboys have experienced short periods of failure in their history. The three most notable periods of failure was from their 1960 inaugural season to , during which the Cowboys did not have a single postseason appearance. They did not win a single game during their first season, compiling an 0–11–1 record that is still the worst in franchise history. Also, they did not have a single winning record in this period. Between and the Cowboys had losing records in each season as veteran coach Landry retired and the team was radically overhauled, with the low point being the NFL's second 15-loss season (after the 1980 Saints) in . After losing a Divisional playoff Game in 1996, the Cowboys between and lost five consecutive playoff games, one after a franchise-record 13–3 season in 2007, during which most predicted the Cowboys would break this streak. This streak finally came to an end when the Cowboys beat their bitter rival, the Philadelphia Eagles 34–14 after an 11–5 season in 2009. Nonetheless, through the 2018 NFL season, the Cowboys holds the league's all-time best winning percentage (.574) and has made more playoff appearances than any other NFL team (33). Also, of the 31 other franchises it has faced, Dallas leads the head to head series in 24 matchups, trail in 4 (Cleveland, Baltimore, Denver and Green Bay) and is tied in 3 others (Oakland, Miami and Los Angeles Rams). The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and plays its home games at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which opened for the 2009 season. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season. The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in . The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002. The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances in history, just behind the New England Patriots record eleven Super Bowl appearances. This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC. The Cowboys have won five of those Super Bowl appearances, tying them with their NFC rivals, the San Francisco 49ers; both are second to Pittsburgh's and New England's record six Super Bowl championships. The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (1966–85), in which they missed the playoffs only twice (1974 and 1984). In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world, according to Forbes. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U.S. sports team. In 2018 they also became the first NFL franchise to be valued at $5 billion and making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year. Prior to the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, there had not been an NFL team south of Washington, D.C. since the Dallas Texans folded in 1952. Oilman Clint Murchison Jr. had been trying to get an NFL expansion team in Dallas (as was Lamar Hunt – who ended up with an AFL franchise), but George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, had a monopoly in the South. Murchison had tried to purchase the Washington Redskins from Marshall in 1958. An agreement was struck, but as the deal was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. This infuriated Murchison and he called off the deal. Marshall then opposed any franchise for Murchison in Dallas. Since NFL expansion needed unanimous approval from team owners at that time, Marshall's position would prevent Murchison from joining the league. Marshall had a falling out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music to the Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins" and Marshall's wife had penned the lyrics. Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchison's plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchison's attorney to sell him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959. Murchison purchased "Hail to the Redskins" for $2,500. Before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games. After a few Marshall expletives, Murchison gave the rights to "Hail to the Redskins" to Marshall for his vote, the lone one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time, and a rivalry was born. From 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, more than any other NFL franchise during that span. In addition, they appeared in 5 and won two Super Bowls, at the end of the 1971 and 1977 regular seasons. Danny White became the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 1980 after quarterback Roger Staubach retired. Despite going 12–4 in 1980, the Cowboys came into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. In the opening round of the 1980–81 NFL playoffs they avenged their elimination from the prior year's playoffs by defeating the Rams. In the Divisional Round they squeaked by the Atlanta Falcons 30–27. For the NFC Championship they were pitted against division rival Philadelphia, the team that won the division during the regular season. The Eagles captured their first conference championship and Super Bowl berth by winning 20–7. 1981 brought another division championship for the Cowboys. They entered the 1981-82 NFL playoffs as the number 2 seed. Their first game of the postseason saw them blow out Tampa Bay in a 38–0 shutout. For the Conference Title game they were pitted against the San Francisco 49ers, the number 1 seed. Despite having a late 4th quarter 27–21 lead, they would lose to the 49ers 28–27. 49ers quarterback Joe Montana led his team on an 89-yard game-winning touchdown drive, connecting with Dwight Clark in a play known as The Catch. The 1982 season was shortened after a player strike. With a 6–3 record Dallas made it to the playoffs for the 8th consecutive season. As the number 2 seed for the 1982–83 NFL playoffs they eliminated the Buccaneers 30–17 in the Wild Card round and dispatched the Packers 37–26 in the Divisional round to advance to their 3rd consecutive Conference championship game. 3rd time was not the charm for the Cowboys as they fell 31–17 to their division rival and eventual Super Bowl XVII champions, the Washington Redskins. For the 1983 season the Cowboys went 12–4 and made it once again to the playoffs but were defeated at home in the Wild Card by the Rams 24–17. Prior to the 1984 season, H.R. "Bum" Bright purchased the Dallas Cowboys from Clint Murchison, Jr. Dallas posted a 9–7 record that season but missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. After going 10–6 in 1985 and winning a division title, the Cowboys were shut out 20-0 by the Rams in the Divisional round at home. Hard times came for the organization as they went 7–9 in 1986, 7–8 in 1987, and 3–13 in 1988. During this time period Bright became disenchanted with the team. During the savings and loan crisis, the team and Mr. Bright's savings and loan were taken over by the FSLIC. During an embarrassing home loss to Atlanta in 1987, Bright told the media that he was "horrified" at coach Tom Landry's play calling. The FSLIC forced Mr. Bright to sell the Cowboys to Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989. Jones immediately fired Tom Landry, the only head coach in franchise history, replacing him with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson, who was also Jerry Jones' teammate at the University of Arkansas as a fellow defensive lineman and Michael Irvin was under his tutelage in college. With the first pick in the draft, the Cowboys selected UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. Later that same year, they would trade veteran running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst in almost 30 years, "The Trade" later allowed Dallas to draft a number of impact players to rebuild the team. Johnson quickly returned the Cowboys to the NFL's elite. Skillful drafts added fullback Daryl Johnston and center Mark Stepnoski in 1989, running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, defensive tackle Russell Maryland and offensive tackle Erik Williams in 1991, and safety Darren Woodson in 1992. The young talent joined holdovers from the Landry era such as wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard Nate Newton, linebacker Ken Norton Jr., and offensive lineman Mark Tuinei, defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat, and veteran pickups such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley. Things started to look up for the franchise in 1990. On Week 1 Dallas won their first home game since September 1988 when they defeated the San Diego Chargers 17–14. They went 2–7 in their next 9 games but won 4 of their last 6 games to finish the season with a 4th place 7–9 record. Coming into 1991 the Cowboys replaced offensive coordinator Dave Shula with Norv Turner; the Cowboys raced to a 6–5 start, then defeated the previously-unbeaten Redskins despite injury to Troy Aikman. Backup Steve Beuerlein took over and the Cowboys finished 11–5. In the Wild Card round they defeated the Bears 17–13 for the Cowboys first playoff win since 1982. In the Divisional round their season ended in a 38–6 playoff rout by the Lions. In 1992 Dallas set a team record for regular season wins with a 13–3 mark. They started off the season by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion Redskins 23–10. Going into the playoffs as the number 2 seed they had a first round bye before facing division rival the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys won that game 34–10 to advance to the NFC Conference Championship game for the first time in 10 years. They were pitted against the San Francisco 49ers, the number 1 seed. On January 17, 1993 the Cowboys went to Candlestick Park and defeated the 49ers 30–20 to clinch their first Super Bowl berth since 1978. Dallas defeated the Buffalo Bills 52–17 in Super Bowl XXVII, during which they forced a record nine turnovers. Johnson became the first coach to claim a national championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. Despite starting the 1993 season 0–2, they again defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, 30–13 (becoming the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl after starting 0–2). Dallas finished the regular season 12–4 as the number 1 seed of the NFC. They defeated the Green Bay Packers 27–17 in the divisional round. In the NFC Conference Championship, Dallas beat the 49ers in Dallas, 38–21. Dallas sent a then-NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl in 1993: Aikman, safety Thomas Everett, Irvin, Johnston, Maryland, Newton, Norton, Novacek, Smith, Stepnoski, and Williams. Only weeks after Super Bowl XXVIII, however, friction between Johnson and Jones culminated in Johnson stunning the football world by announcing his resignation. Jones then hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to replace Johnson. The Cowboys finished 12–4 in 1994. They once again clinched a first round bye and defeated Green Bay 35–9 in the Divisional Round. They missed the Super Bowl, however, after losing to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 38–28. Prior to the start of 1995 season Jerry Jones lured All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders away from San Francisco. Dallas started the season 4–0 including shutting out their division rival New York Giants 35–0 at Giants Stadium to open their season. Emmitt Smith set an NFL record with 25 rushing touchdowns that season. They ended the season 12–4 and went into the playoffs as the number 1 seed. In the Divisional round they dispatched their division rival Eagles 30–11 to advance to their 4th consecutive NFC Conference Championship Game, in which they defeated Green Bay, 38–27. In Super Bowl XXX the Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–17 at Sun Devil Stadium for their fifth Super Bowl championship. Switzer joined Johnson as the only coaches to win a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. The glory days of the Cowboys were again beginning to dim as free agency, age, and injuries began taking their toll. Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2–3. They finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, won the NFC East title, and entered the playoffs as the number 3 seed in the NFC. They defeated Minnesota 40–15 in the Wild Card round but were eliminated in the Divisional round of the playoffs 26–17 by the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys went 6–10 in 1997 (including losing their last 6 games of the season), with discipline and off-field problems becoming major distractions. As a result, Switzer resigned as head coach in January 1998 and former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was hired to take his place. Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10–6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, but the Cowboys were defeated in the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20–7. In 1999 Dallas went 8–8 (during which Irvin suffered a career- ending spinal injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles) ending in another playoff loss (this time to the Minnesota Vikings 27–10). Gailey was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl. Defensive coordinator Dave Campo was promoted to head coach for the 2000 season. Prior to the season starting cornerback Deion Sanders was released after 5 seasons with the team. He later signed with division rival Washington. In Week 1, they were blown out 41–14 by Philadelphia. That game was very costly when veteran quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a serious concussion which ultimately ended his career. Longtime NFL QB Randall Cunningham filled in for Aikman for the rest of the season at QB. The Cowboys finished the season in 4th place with a 5–11 record. The only highlights of 2000 were Emmitt Smith having his 10th consecutive 1,000 yard rushing season and a season sweep over the Redskins. 2001 was another hard year in Dallas. Prior to the season starting Aikman was released from the team and he retired due to the concussions he had received. Jerry Jones signed Tony Banks as a QB. Banks had been a starter for half of the season the previous year for the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens before being benched. Jones also drafted QB Quincy Carter in the second round of that year's draft, and Banks was released during the preseason. Ryan Leaf, Anthony Wright, and Clint Stoerner all competed for the quarterback position that season. Dallas again finished at 5–11, last place in the NFC East, but they swept the Redskins for the 4th consecutive season. Prior to the 2002 season Dallas drafted safety Roy Williams with the 8th overall pick. The season started out low as the Cowboys lost to the expansion Houston Texans 19–10 on Week 1. By far the highlight of 2002 was on October 28, when during a home game against the Seattle Seahawks, Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing record previously held by Walter Payton. Their Thanksgiving Day win over the Redskins was their 10th consecutive win against Washington. However, that was their final win of 2002: Dallas lost their next 4 games to finish with another last place 5–11 record. The losing streak was punctuated with a Week 17 20–14 loss against Washington. That game was Smith's last game as a Cowboys player: he was released during the offseason. Campo was immediately fired as head coach at the conclusion of the season. Jones then lured Bill Parcells out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season getting off to a hot 7–2 record, but went 3–4 for the rest of the season. They were able to win the division with the 10–6 record but lost in the Wild Card round to eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers, 29–10. In 2004 Dallas was unable to replicate their 2003 success, and ended 6–10. Quincy Carter was released during the preseason and was replaced at QB by Vinny Testaverde. Dallas got off to a hot 7–3 start for the 2005 season but ended up in 3rd place with a 9–7 record. Prior to the beginning of that season, they signed veteran Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback. 2006 was an interesting year for the Cowboys. Prior to the season they signed free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens who was talented yet controversial. The Cowboys started the season 3–2. During a week 7 matchup against the Giants, Bledsoe, who had been struggling since the start of the season, was pulled from the game and was replaced by backup Tony Romo. Romo was unable to salvage that game and Dallas lost 38–22. However, Romo was named the starter for the team and went 5–1 in his first 6 games. Dallas ended the season with a 9–7 2nd-place finish. They were able to clinch the number 5 playoff seed. They traveled to play Seattle where the Seahawks won 21–20. After the season Parcells retired and was replaced by Wade Phillips. Dallas started the 2007 season with a bang, winning their first five games. They won 12 of their first 13 games, with their only loss during that span being to New England, who went undefeated that season. Despite dropping two of their last three regular season games, the Cowboys clinched their first number 1 NFC seed in 12 years, which also granted them a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost in the divisional round 21–17 to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. In the tumultuous 2008 season, the Cowboys started off strong, going 3–0 for the second straight year, en route to a 4–1 start. However, things soon went downhill from there, after quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken pinkie in an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. With Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger playing as backups, Dallas went 1–2 during a three-game stretch. Romo's return showed promise, as Dallas went 3–0. However, injuries mounted during the season, with the team losing several starters for the year, such as Kyle Kosier, Felix Jones, safety Roy Williams, punter Mat McBriar, and several other starters playing with injuries. Entering December, the 8–4 Cowboys underperformed, finishing 1–3. They failed to make the playoffs after losing at Philadelphia in the final regular season game which saw the Eagles reach the playoffs instead. On May 2, 2009, the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility collapsed during a wind storm. The collapse left twelve Cowboys players and coaches injured. The most serious injuries were special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who suffered fractured cervical vertebrae and had surgery to stabilize fractured vertebrae in his neck, and Rich Behm, the team's 33-year-old scouting assistant, who was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed. The 2009 season started positively with a road win against Tampa Bay, but fortunes quickly changed as Dallas fell to a 2–2 start. In week five, with starting wide receiver Roy Williams sidelined by injury, receiver Miles Austin got his first start of the season and had a record setting day (250 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns) to help lead Dallas to an overtime win over Kansas City. Following their bye week, they went on a three- game winning streak including wins over Atlanta and NFC East division rival Philadelphia. Despite entering December with a record of 8–3, they lost their slim grip on 1st place in the division with losses to the New York Giants and San Diego. Talks of past December collapses resurfaced, and another collapse in 2009 seemed validated. However, the team surged in the final three weeks of the season with a 24–17 victory at the Superdome, ending New Orleans' previously unbeaten season in week 15. For the first time in franchise history, they posted back-to-back shutouts when they beat division rivals Washington (17–0) and Philadelphia (24–0) to end the season. In the process, the Cowboys clinched their second NFC East title in three years as well as the third seed in the NFC Playoffs. Six days later, in the wild-card round of the playoffs, Dallas played the Eagles in a rematch of week 17. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles for the first Cowboys' post-season win since the 1996 season, ending a streak of six consecutive NFL post-season losses. Dallas ended their playoff run after a hard divisional playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings. After beginning the 2010 season at 1–7, Phillips was fired as head coach and was replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett as the interim head coach. The Cowboys finished the season 6–10. With the 9th pick of the 1st round of the 2011 draft, the Cowboys selected USC tackle Tyron Smith. To start the 2011 season the Cowboys played the Jets on a Sunday night primetime game in New York, on September 11. The Cowboys held the lead through most of the game, until a fumble, blocked punt, and interception led to the Jets coming back to win the game. In week 2 the Cowboys traveled to San Francisco to play the 49ers. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, while the Cowboys trailed 10–7, Tony Romo suffered a rib injury and was replaced by Jon Kitna. Kitna threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions until Romo returned in the 3rd quarter as Dallas trailed 17–7. Romo then threw 3 touchdown passes to Miles Austin as the Cowboys rallied to send the game into overtime. On their opening possession after a 49ers punt, Romo found wide receiver Jesse Holley on a 78-yard pass, which set up the game-winning field goal by rookie kicker Dan Bailey. The Cowboys ended the season 8–8. They were in a position to win the NFC East but lost to the Giants in a Week 17 primetime Sunday Night game on NBC which allowed the Giants to win the division. The Giants would go on to win Super Bowl XLVI. The Cowboys started off the 2012 season on a high note by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 24–17 on the opening night of the season. They would hover around the .500 mark for the majority of the season. They lost a close Week 6 game to eventual Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens 31–29 at M&T; Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Going into Week 17 they found themselves once again one win away from winning the division. Standing in their way were the Washington Redskins, who had beaten them on Thanksgiving at AT&T; Stadium and whom were one win away from their first division title since 1999. Led by Robert Griffin III the Redskins defeated the Cowboys at home 28-18. Dallas once again finished the season 8–8. In the 2013 season the Cowboys started off by defeating the New York Giants for the second straight year; this time 36–31. It was the first time since AT&T; Stadium had opened back in 2009 that the Cowboys were able to defeat the Giants at home. The win was punctuated by Brandon Carr intercepting an Eli Manning pass for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter. For the third straight year Dallas once again found themselves stuck in the .500 area. In Week 5, they lost a shootout to the eventual AFC Champion Denver Broncos 51–48. They battled it out with the Philadelphia Eagles for control of the division throughout the season. In December however they lost 2 crucial back to back games to Chicago and Green Bay. They were very successful in division games having a 5–0 division record heading into another Week 17 showdown for the NFC East crown against the Eagles. That included beating Washington 24–23 on Week 16 thanks to late game heroics of Tony Romo. However Romo received a severe back injury in that game which prematurely ended his season. The Cowboys called upon backup quarterback Kyle Orton to lead them into battle on the final week of the season. Orton was unsuccessful who threw a game ending interception to the Eagles which allowed the Eagles to win 24–22. Dallas ended the year at 8–8 for the third year in a row. The only difference of this 8–8 ending compared to the others was that Dallas ended the season in second place compared to the 2 previous 3rd-place finishes. To start off the 2014 season Dallas began by losing to San Francisco 28–17. After that they went on a 6-game winning streak. The highlight of this streak was defeating the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field 30–23. In Week 8, the Redskins won in overtime 20–17, and Romo injured his back again. He missed next week, a home loss to the Arizona Cardinals 28–17 with backup QB Brandon Weeden. Romo returned in Week 9 to lead a 31–17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England as part of the NFL International Series. Dallas played their traditional Thanksgiving home game against division rival Philadelphia. Both teams were vying for first place in the division with identical 8–3 records. The Eagles got off to a fast start and the Cowboys were unable to catch up, losing 33–10. They would rebound the next week when they defeated Chicago 41–28. Week 15 was a rematch against 1st place Philadelphia. This time it was the Cowboys who got off to a fast start going up 21–0. Then the Eagles put up 24 points but Dallas came back to win 38–27 to go into first place for the first time in the season and improve to 10–4. Going into their Week 16 matchup at home against Indianapolis, Dallas was in a position to clinch their first division title since 2009 by defeating the Colts 42-7 and the Eagles losing that week to the Redskins. They became the 2014 NFC East Champions, eliminating the Eagles from the playoffs. Dallas ended the regular season with a 12–4 record and an 8–0 away record when they won on the road against Washington 44–17. On January 4, 2015, the Cowboys, as the number 3 seed, hosted the number 6 seed Detroit Lions in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. In the game, the Lions got off to a hot start, going up 14–0 in the first quarter. Dallas initially struggled on both sides of the ball. However, towards the end of the second quarter Romo threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams. Matt Prater of the Lions would kick a field goal before halftime to go up 17–7. Dallas came out swinging to start the second half by picking off Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first play of the third quarter. However, the Cowboys failed to capitalize on the turnover, as Dan Bailey missed a field goal during Dallas's ensuing drive. Detroit then kicked another field goal to make the score 20–7. A DeMarco Murray touchdown later in that quarter closed the gap to 20–14. A 51-yard Bailey field goal almost 3 minutes into the fourth quarter trimmed the Cowboys' deficit to 3. The Lions got the ball back and started driving down the field. On 3rd down-and-1 of that Lions drive, Stafford threw a 17-yard pass intended for Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew, but the ball hit Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens in the back a fraction of a second before he ran into Pettigrew. The play was initially flagged as defensive pass interference against Hitchens. However, the penalty was then nullified by the officiating crew. The Cowboys got the ball back on their 41-yard line and had a successful 59-yard drive which was capped off by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Romo to Williams to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game at 24–20. The Lions got the ball back with less than 2:30 to play in regulation. Stafford fumbled the ball at the 2 minute mark. The fumble was recovered by Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who then fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Lions. Lawrence would redeem himself by sacking Stafford on a 4th down-and-3 play. The sack led to Stafford fumbling the ball again, which Lawrence recovered to seal the game for the Cowboys, who won 24–20. This was the first time in franchise playoff history that Dallas had been down by 10 or more points at halftime and rallied to win the game. The following week, the Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin to play the Packers in the divisional round. Despite having a 14–7 halftime lead, the Cowboys fell to the Packers 26–21, thus ending their season. The season ended on an overturned call of a completed catch by Dez Bryant. The catch was challenged by the Packers, and the referees overturned the call because of the "Calvin Johnson rule." During the 2015 offseason the Cowboys allowed running back DeMarco Murray to become a free agent. Murray signed with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. On July 15 wide receiver Dez Bryant signed a 5-year, $70 million contract. At home against the New York Giants, Dallas won 27–26. Dez Bryant left the game early with a fractured bone in his foot. On the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, Romo suffered a broken left collarbone, the same one he injured in 2010, and Brandon Weeden replaced him. Dallas won 20–10 to begin the season 2–0, but then went on a seven-game losing streak. They finished the season 4–12 and last in their division. After a preseason injury to Tony Romo, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott was slated as the starting quarterback, as Romo was expected to be out 6–8 weeks. In game 1 against the New York Giants, Dallas lost 20–19. After this loss, Dallas would go on an eleven-game winning streak. After much speculation leading to a potential quarterback controversy, Romo made an announcement that Prescott had earned the right to take over as the Cowboys starting quarterback. In game 10, Romo suited up for the first time in the season and was the backup quarterback. Dallas defeated the Baltimore Ravens to win their 9th straight game, breaking a franchise record of 8 straight games set in 1977. It also marked rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott breaking Tony Dorsett's single season rushing record for a Cowboys rookie. Prescott also tied an NFL rookie record held by Russell Wilson and Dan Marino by throwing multiple touchdowns in 5 straight games. Dallas finished 13–3, tying their best 16-game regular season record. While Dallas defeated Green Bay at Lambeau Field in week 6, the Packers would win at AT&T; Stadium in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on a last-second field goal, ending the Cowboys’ season. Dak Prescott was named NFL Rookie of the Year in the NFL honors on February 4, 2017, and Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing yards. Both Prescott and Elliott made the 2017 Pro Bowl. This is the first time the Cowboys sent two rookies to the Pro Bowl. 2017 was the first season since 2002 without quarterback Tony Romo, who retired on April 4 after 14 seasons with the Cowboys. The season also featured second-year running back Ezekiel Elliott being suspended for 6 games after violating the league's conduct policy. The suspension was to begin at the start of the year but was pushed back to November. The Cowboys finished the year at 9-7 without making the playoffs. Following the season, Dez Bryant was released after eight seasons in Dallas and tight end Jason Witten, who holds several franchise receiving records, retired after 15 seasons, ending an era. The Dallas Cowboys' 2017 season was the subject of the third season of Amazon's sports documentary series All or Nothing. The series is produced by NFL Films. In 1966, six years after their founding, the Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). This is only partly true; Dallas had in fact decided to host games on Thanksgiving by their own decision because there was nothing else to do or watch on that day. In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the then-St. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team (Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976). Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, they were nowhere near as popular nationwide as the Cowboys, who were regular Super Bowl contenders during this era. This, combined with St. Louis's consistently weak attendance, a series of ugly Cardinals losses in the three- game stretch, and opposition from the Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a local high school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978; it was then, after Rozelle asked Dallas to resume hosting Thanksgiving games, that the Cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day forever. The Dallas Cowboys' blue star logo, which represents Texas as "The Lone Star State," is one of the most well-known team logos in professional sports. The blue star originally was a solid shape until a white line and blue border was added in 1964. The logo has remained the same since. Today, the blue star has been extended to not only the Dallas Cowboys, but owner Jerry Jones' AFL team, the Dallas Desperados that have a similar logo based on that of the Cowboys. The blue star also is used on other entries like an imaging facility and storage facility. The Dallas Cowboys' white home jersey has royal blue (PMS 287 C) solid socks, numbers, lettering, and two stripes on the sleeves outlined in black. The home pants are a common metallic silver-green color (PMS 8280 C) that helps bring out the blue in the uniform. The navy (PMS 289 C) road jerseys (nicknamed the "Stars and Stripes" jersey) have white lettering and numbers with navy pinstripes. A white/gray/white stripe are on each sleeve as well as the collared V-neck, and a Cowboys star logo is placed upon the stripes. A "Cowboys" chest crest is directly under the NFL shield. The away pants are a pearlish metallic-silver color (PMS 8180 C) and like the home pants, enhance the navy in the uniforms. The team uses a serifed font for the lettered player surnames on the jersey nameplates. The team's helmets are also a unique silver with a tint of blue known as "Metallic Silver Blue" (PMS 8240 C) and have a blue/white/blue vertical stripe placed upon the center of the crown. The Cowboys also include a unique, if subtle, feature on the back of the helmet: a blue strip of Dymo tape with the player's name embossed, placed on the white portion of the stripe at the back of the helmet. When the Dallas Cowboys franchise debuted in 1960, the team's uniform included a white helmet adorned with a simple blue star and a blue-white-blue stripe down the center crown. The team donned blue jerseys with white sleeves and a small blue star on each shoulder for home games and the negative opposite for away games. Their socks also had two horizontal white stripes overlapping the blue. In 1964 the Cowboys opted for a simpler look (adopting essentially the team's current uniform) by changing their jersey/socks to one solid color with three horizontal stripes on the sleeves; the white jersey featured royal blue stripes with a narrow black border, the royal blue jersey white stripes with the same black outline. The star-shouldered jerseys were eliminated; "TV" numbers appeared just above the jersey stripes. The new helmet was silverblue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe down the center (the middle white stripe was thicker). The blue "lone star" logo was retained, but with a white border setting it off from the silver/blue. The new pants were silver/blue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe. In 1964 the NFL allowed teams to wear white jerseys at home; several teams did so, and the Cowboys have worn white at home ever since, except on certain "throwback" days. In 1966, the team modified the jerseys, which now featured only two sleeve stripes, slightly wider; the socks followed the same pattern. In 1967 the "lone star" helmet decal added a blue outline to the white-bordered star, giving the logo a bigger, bolder look. The logo and this version of the uniform has seen little change to the present day. The only notable changes in the last 40 years were: from 1970–1973 when the "TV" numbers were moved from the shoulders to the sleeves above the stripes, from 1982–1988 the pants featured a white uniform number in an elliptical blue circle worn near the hip., the removal of the indented serifs on the front and back jersey numbers in the early 1980s (seen currently on the throwback jersey), In 1980 the blue jersey was rendered in a slightly darker shade than the 1964–79 version; from 1981–1994 the dark jerseys sported numbers that were gray with white borders and a blue pinstripe. The stripes on the sleeves and socks also used the same gray with white border scheme (sans navy pinstripe)., Player names on jersey backs, which appeared in 1970, were originally in block-letter style; from 1982 onward the names were slightly smaller and in footed, "serif" style., the 1996 addition of the word "Cowboys" in the center of the neckline which lasted until 1998 on the white jersey but currently remains on the blue jersey. During the 1976 season, the blue-white-blue stripe on the crown of the helmets were temporarily changed to red-white-blue to commemorate the United States' bicentennial anniversary. In 1994, the NFL celebrated their 75th Anniversary, and the Dallas Cowboys celebrated their back-to-back Super Bowl titles by unveiling a white "Double-Star" jersey on Thanksgiving Day. This jersey was used for special occasions and was worn throughout the 1994–1995 playoffs. During the same season, the Cowboys also wore their 1960–63 road jersey with a silver helmet for one game as part of a league-wide "throwback" policy. During the 1995 season, the team wore the navy "Double-Star" jersey for games at Washington and Philadelphia and permanently switched to solid color socks (royal blue for the white uniform, and navy blue for the dark uniform). The navy "Double-Star" jersey was not seen again until the NFL's Classic Throwback Weekend on Thanksgiving Day 2001–2003. In 2004, the Cowboys resurrected their original 1960–1963 uniform on Thanksgiving Day. This uniform became the team's alternate or "third jersey" and was usually worn at least once a year, primarily Thanksgiving Day. Two exceptions were when the Cowboys wore their normal white uniforms on Thanksgiving in 2007 and 2008. While the team didn't wear the throwback uniform exactly on Thanksgiving Day in those two years, Dallas wore them on a date around Thanksgiving for those two years. In 2007 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 29, 2007 against the Green Bay Packers. In 2008 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 23, 2008 against the San Francisco 49ers. The team went back to wearing this uniform at home on Thanksgiving Day in 2009 while their opponent was the Oakland Raiders who wore their AFL Legacy Weekend throwbacks. Dallas wore this alternate uniform on October 11, 2009 as part of one of the NFL's AFL Legacy Weekends when they traveled to Kansas City to play the Chiefs who were sporting their AFL Dallas Texans' uniforms. This created a rare game in which neither team wore a white jersey and the first time the Cowboys wore the alternative uniform as a visiting team. The 1960–1963 uniform may also be used on other special occasion. Other instances include the 2005 Monday Night game against the Washington Redskins when the team inducted Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irving into the Cowboys Ring of Honor, and the 2006 Christmas Day game against the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2013, the NFL issued a new helmet rule stating that players will no longer be allowed to use alternate helmets due to the league's enhanced concussion awareness. This caused the Cowboys' white 1960s throwback helmets to become non-compliant. The team instead decided to wear their normal blue jerseys at home for Thanksgiving, which has since become an annual tradition. In 2017, the team initially announced that they will wear blue jerseys at home on a more regular basis, only to rescind soon after. In 2015, the Cowboys released their Color Rush uniform, featuring a variation of the 1990s "Double Star" alternates with white pants and socks. The uniform was first used in a Thanksgiving game against the Carolina Panthers and in subsequent Thursday Night Football games since 2016. The Cowboys also unveiled a navy uniform-white pants combination which was first used on December 10, 2017 against the Giants. In 1964, Tex Schramm started the tradition of the Cowboys wearing their white jersey at home, contrary to an unofficial rule that teams should wear colored jerseys at home. Schramm did this because he wanted fans to see a variety of opponents' colors at home games. Since then, a number of other teams have worn their white uniforms at home, including the Miami Dolphins. According to Mike McCord, the Cowboys' equipment director, one of the reasons why the Cowboys started wearing white at home was because of the intense heat during Cowboys' home games at Texas Stadium. Throughout the years, the Cowboys' blue jersey has been popularly viewed to be "jinxed" because the team often seemed to lose when they wore them. This purported curse drew attention after the team lost Super Bowl V with the blue jerseys. However, the roots of the curse likely date back earlier to the 1968 divisional playoffs, when the blue-shirted Cowboys were upset by the Cleveland Browns in what turned out to be Don Meredith's final game with the Cowboys. Dallas's lone victory in a conference championship or Super Bowl wearing the blue jerseys was in the 1978 NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, league rules were changed to allow the Super Bowl home team to pick their choice of jersey. Most of the time, Dallas will wear their blue jerseys when they visit Washington, Philadelphia (sometimes), Miami, or one of the handful of other teams that traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season due to the hot climates in their respective cities or other means. Occasionally opposing teams will wear their white jerseys at home to try to invoke the curse, such as when the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game, as well as their November 4, 2007 meeting. Various other teams followed suit in the 1980s. Although Dallas has made several tweaks to their blue jerseys over the years, Schramm said he did not believe in the curse. Since the league began allowing teams to use an alternate jersey, the Cowboys' alternates have been primarily blue versions of past jerseys and the Cowboys have generally had success when wearing these blue alternates. With the implementation of the 2013 NFL helmet rule for alternate jerseys, the team decided instead to wear their regular blue jerseys for their Thanksgiving game, something they have not done at home since Schramm started the white-jersey-at-home tradition. With the Cowboys traditionally hosting Thanksgiving Day games, separate practice uniforms have been used for these games in recent years. Through the 2000 season, the Cowboys continued the usual practice of wearing white at home. In 2001, the Cowboys wore blue at home for the first time in years with was an older design of the blue jersey. Dallas would lose the game, but again wore the older blue jersey at home on Thanksgiving the next year and won. With the 2002 victory, it seems an exception to the theory of the blue jersey jinx is invoked on Thanksgiving. Thus, the Cowboys continued wearing blue at home on Thanksgiving from 2003–2006, however it was always an older-styled alternate blue jersey. In 2007 and 2008, the Cowboys returned to wearing white at home for their Thanksgiving game. From 2009 to 2017, the Cowboys returned to wearing blue at home on Thanksgiving only. (From 2009–2012, the team again decided to go with an older-styled blue uniform as they had in previous years on Thanksgiving, and since 2013 have worn the newer-styled blue jersey.) The Cowboys wore white jerseys on Thanksgiving in 2018. In the 2015 season, the Cowboys wore their Color Rush variation of the 1990s "Double Star" jerseys for a Thanksgiving game against the Carolina Panthers. The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as the Fair Park Bowl, it is located in Fair Park, site of the State Fair of Texas. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named. (Beginning with the January 2010 game, the Cotton Bowl Classic has been played at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington.) The Dallas Cowboys called the Cotton Bowl home for 11 years, from the team's formation in 1960 until 1971, when the Cowboys moved to Texas Stadium. It is the only Cowboys stadium within the Dallas city limits. The Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the 1966 NFL Championship at the Cotton Bowl. For the majority of the franchise's history the Cowboys played their home games at Texas Stadium. Just outside the city of Dallas, the stadium was located in Irving. The stadium opened on October 24, 1971, at a cost of $35 million and with a seating capacity of 65,675. The stadium was famous for its hole-in-the-roof dome. The roof's worn paint had become so unsightly in the early 2000s that it was repainted in the summer of 2006 by the City of Irving. It was the first time the famed roof was repainted since Texas Stadium opened. The roof was structurally independent from the stadium it covered. The Cowboys lost their final game at Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens, 33–24, on December 20, 2008. After Cowboys Stadium was opened in 2009, the Cowboys turned over the facility to the City of Irving. In 2009, it was replaced as home of the Cowboys by Cowboys Stadium, which officially opened on May 27, 2009 in Arlington. Texas Stadium was demolished by implosion on April 11, 2010. AT&T; Stadium, previously named Cowboys Stadium, is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington. After failed negotiations to build a new stadium on the site of the Cotton Bowl, Jerry Jones, along with the city of Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, funded the stadium at a cost of $1.3 billion. The stadium is located in Tarrant County, the first time the Cowboys will call a stadium home outside of Dallas County. It was completed on May 29, 2009 and seats 80,000, but is expandable to seat up to 100,000. AT&T; Stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world. A highlight of AT&T; Stadium is its gigantic, center-hung high-definition television screen, the largest in the world. The , scoreboard surpasses the screen that opened in 2009 at the renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City as the world's largest. At the debut pre-season game of Cowboys Stadium, a punt by Tennessee Titans kicker, A. J. Trapasso, hit the 2,100 in. screen above the field. The punt deflected and was ruled in-play until Titans coach Jeff Fisher informed the officials that the punt struck the scoreboard. (Many believe Trapasso was trying to hit the suspended scoreboard, based on replays and the angle of the kick.) The scoreboard is, however, within the regulation of the NFL guidelines — hanging approximately five feet above the minimum height. No punts hit the scoreboard during the entire 2009 regular season during an actual game. Also, on August 22, 2009, the day after AJ Trapasso hit the screen, many fans touring the facility noted that half of the field was removed with large cranes re- positioning the screen. According to some fans, a tour guide explained that Jerry Jones invited a few professional soccer players to drop kick soccer balls to try to hit the screen. Once he observed them hitting it consistently he had the screen moved up another 10 feet. The first regular season home game of the 2009 season was against the New York Giants. A league record-setting 105,121 fans showed up to fill Cowboys Stadium for the game before which the traditional "blue star" at the 50-yard line was unveiled for the first time; however, the Cowboys lost in the final seconds, 33–31. The Cowboys got their first regular season home win on September 28, 2009. They beat the Carolina Panthers 21–7 with 90,588 in attendance. The game was televised on ESPN's Monday Night Football and marked a record 42nd win for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. On July 25, 2013, the Cowboys announced that AT&T; would be taking over the rights to the name of the stadium. Dallas Cowboys training camp locations: 1960: Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, 1961: St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1962: Northern Michigan College, Marquette, Michigan, 1963–1989: California Lutheran College, Thousand Oaks, California, 1990–1997: St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, 1998–2002: Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, 2001, 2004–2006, 2008, 2012–2015: River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California, 2002–2003, 2007, 2009: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, 2010–2011: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas and River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California, 2016–present: The Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas The NFC East, composed of the Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins and New York Giants, is one of the least-changed divisions of the original six formed in the wake of the NFL-AFL merger (its only major changes being the relocation of the Cardinals franchise from St. Louis to Arizona and its subsequent move to the NFC West in the league's 2002 realignment). Three of the four teams have been division rivals since the Cowboys' entry into the NFL. As such, the Cowboys have some of the longest and fiercest rivalries in the sport. The Redskins and Dallas Cowboys enjoy what has been called by Sports Illustrated the top NFL rivalry of all time and "one of the greatest in sports." Some sources trace the enmity to before the Cowboys were even formed, due to a longstanding disagreement between Redskins owner George Preston Marshall and Cowboys founder Clint Murchison, Jr. over the creation of a new football team in the South, due to Marshall's TV monopoly in that region. The two teams' storied on-field rivalry goes back to 1960 when the two clubs first played each other, resulting in a 26–14 Washington victory. Since that time, the two teams have met in 116 regular season contests and two NFC Championships. Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 70–42–2, and the Redskins lead the all-time playoff series 2–0. The Cowboys currently have a 14–7 advantage over the Redskins at FedEx Field. Some notable moments in the rivalry include Washington's victory over Dallas in the 1982 NFC Championship and the latter's 1989 win over the Redskins for their only victory that season. The last Cowboys game with Tom Landry as coach was a win over Washington on December 11, 1988. In the 2010s, the Redskins have struggled to consistently compete for the Division title, but still play the Cowboys particularly tough, posting an impressive upset victory against Dallas in 2014, despite being outclassed by the Cowboys in the overall standings. The competition with Philadelphia has been particularly intense since the late 1970s, when the long-moribund Eagles returned to contention. In January 1981, the two teams faced off in the NFC Championship, with Philadelphia winning 20–7. A series of other factors heightened tensions during the 1980s and 1990s, including several provocative actions by Philadelphia fans and Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan. Among these were the 1989 "Bounty Bowls", in which Ryan allegedly placed a bounty on Dallas kicker Luis Zendejas and Veterans Stadium fans pelted the Cowboys with snowballs and other debris. A 1999 game at Philadelphia saw Eagles fans cheering as Michael Irvin lay motionless and possibly paralyzed on the field. In 2008 the rivalry became more intense when in the last game of the year in which both teams could clinch a playoff spot with a victory, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Cowboys 44–6. The following season, the Cowboys avenged that defeat by beating the Eagles three times: twice during the regular season to claim the title as NFC East champions and once more in a wild-card playoff game by a combined score of 78–30, including a 24–0 shutout in week 17. That three-game sweep was Dallas' first over any opponent and the longest winning streak against the Eagles since 1992–1995 when Dallas won seven straight matches against Philadelphia. During the 2013 season Dallas won the first meeting 17–3 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. They would meet again in Week 17 at AT&T; Stadium with the winner clinching the 2013 NFC East title. The Cowboys came into the game at a disadvantage with starting quarterback Tony Romo out with a season ending back injury which put backup Kyle Orton as the starter. It was a tight game with the Eagles up 24–22 with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation. Orton got the ball and started driving down the field when he was intercepted by the Eagles defense, which ended the game and the Cowboys season. In 2014, the Cowboys and Eagles both won against each other on the road, with Philadelphia posting a dominant 33–10 win on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, and Dallas returning the favor two weeks later by defeating the Eagles 38–27 in Philadelphia. The second game between these rivals clenched a playoff spot for Dallas and led to formerly first place Philadelphia missing out on the post- season. Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 63–50. The first game ever played between the Giants and Cowboys was a 31–31 tie on December 4, 1960. Dallas logged its first win in the series on October 29, 1961 and New York's first was on November 11, 1962. Among the more notable moments in the rivalry was the Giants' defeat of Dallas in the 2007 playoffs en route to their victory in Super Bowl XLII and winning the first regular season game played at Cowboys Stadium in 2009. Dallas currently leads the all- time series 65–46–2. The two teams met in the first regular season game the Cowboys ever played in 1960 (a 35–28 loss to the Steelers), the first-ever regular season victory for the expansion Cowboys in 1961, and would later meet in three Super Bowls, all of them closely contested events. The Steelers-Cowboys is to date the Super Bowl matchup with the most contests. The Steelers won Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII; both games were decided in the final seconds, first on a last- second throw by Roger Staubach, then as a fourth-quarter rally by Dallas fell short on an onside kick. The Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX in January 1996. It is said that the rivalry was fueled in the 1970s due to the stark contrast of the teams: the Cowboys, being more of a "flashy" team with Roger Staubach's aerial attack and the "flex" Doomsday Defense; while the Steelers were more of a "blue-collar" team with a strong running game and the 1970s-esque Steel Curtain defense, a contrast that still exists today. In addition, both teams have national fan bases rivaled by few NFL teams, and both come from areas with a strong following for football at all levels. Dallas leads the all-time series 16–13 including the playoffs. The bitter rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers has been going on since the 1970s. The NFL Top 10 ranked this rivalry to be the tenth best in the history of the NFL. San Francisco has played Dallas in seven postseason games. The Cowboys defeated the 49ers in the 1970 and 1971 NFC Championship games, and again in the 1972 Divisional Playoff Game. The 1981 NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, which saw the 49ers' Joe Montana complete a game-winning pass to Dwight Clark in the final minute (now known as The Catch) is one of the most famous games in NFL history. The rivalry became even more intense during the 1992–1994 seasons. San Francisco and Dallas faced each other in the NFC Championship Game three separate times. Dallas won the first two match-ups, and San Francisco won the third. In each of these pivotal match-ups, the game's victor went on to win the Super Bowl. Both the Cowboys and the 49ers are tied for third all-time in Super Bowl victories to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, with five each. The 49ers- Cowboys rivalry is also part of the larger cultural rivalry between California and Texas. The Cowboys lead the all-time series with a record of 18-17-1. The Cowboys–Packers rivalry is a rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. It is one of the best known intra-conference rivalries in the NFL. The two teams do not play every year; instead, they play once every three years due to the NFL's rotating division schedules, or if the two teams finish in the same place in their respective divisions, they would play the ensuing post-season. The rivalry has also resulted in notable playoff games. The all time regular seasons series record is 15–13 in favor of the Packers, and the postseason series is tied 4–4. Unlike many NFL teams, the Cowboys do not retire jersey numbers of past standouts as a matter of policy. Instead, the team has a "Ring of Honor", which is on permanent display encircling the field. Originally at Texas Stadium, the ring is now on display at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington. The first inductee was Bob Lilly in 1975 and by 2005, the ring contained 17 names, all former Dallas players except for one head coach and one general manager/president. Although the team does not officially retire jersey numbers, some are kept "unofficially inactive". As of 2020, these following numbers have been kept out of circulation: Troy Aikman's No. 8, Tony Romo's No. 9, Roger Staubach's No. 12, Bob Hayes' and Emmitt Smith's No. 22, Bob Lilly's No. 74, and No. 88, worn by Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin, and Dez Bryant. The Ring of Honor has been a source of controversy over the years. Tex Schramm was believed to be a "one-man committee" in choosing inductees and many former Cowboys players and fans felt that Schramm deliberately excluded linebacker Lee Roy Jordan because of a bitter contract dispute the two had during Jordan's playing days. When Jerry Jones bought the team he inherited Schramm's Ring of Honor "power" and immediately inducted Jordan. Jones also has sparked controversy regarding his decisions in handling the "Ring of Honor". For four years he was unsuccessful in convincing Tom Landry to accept induction. Meanwhile, he refused to induct Tex Schramm (even after Schramm's induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame). In 1993, thanks in part to the efforts of Roger Staubach as an intermediary, Landry accepted induction and had a ceremony on the day of that year's Cowboys-Giants game (Landry had played and coached for the Giants). In 2003, Jones finally chose to induct Tex Schramm. Schramm and Jones held a joint press conference at Texas Stadium announcing the induction. Unfortunately, Schramm did not live to see his ceremonial induction at the Cowboys-Eagles game that fall. Some of the more recent inductees were Troy Aikman, all-time NFL leading rusher Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, known as "The Triplets". The Cowboys waited until Smith had retired as a player before inducting Aikman and Irvin, so all three could be inducted together, which occurred during halftime at a Monday Night Football home game against the arch-rival Washington Redskins on September 19, 2005. The 5 most recent inductees are defensive end Charles Haley, offensive lineman Larry Allen, and wide receiver Drew Pearson, who were inducted into the Ring of Honor during halftime of the Cowboys' game vs. the Seattle Seahawks on November 6, 2011, safety Darren Woodson, who was inducted on November 1, 2015, and executive Gil Brandt, who was inducted on November 29, 2018. , the Cowboys' flagship radio station is KRLD-FM. Brad Sham is the team's longtime play-by-play voice. Working alongside him is former Cowboy quarterback Babe Laufenberg, who returned in 2007 after a one-year absence to replace former safety Charlie Waters. The Cowboys, who retain rights to all announcers, chose not to renew Laufenberg's contract in 2006 and brought in Waters. However, Laufenberg did work as the analyst on the "Blue Star Network", which televises Cowboys preseason games not shown on national networks. The anchor station is KTVT, the CBS owned and operated station in Dallas. Previous stations which aired Cowboys games included KVIL-FM, KRLD, and KLUV-FM. Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter on the radio broadcasts. During his tenure as Cowboys coach, Tom Landry co-hosted his own coach's show with late veteran sportscaster Frank Glieber and later with Brad Sham. Landry's show was famous for his analysis of raw game footage and for him and his co-host making their NFL "predictions" at the end of each show. Glieber is one of the original voices of the Cowboys Radio Network, along with Bill Mercer, famous for calling the Ice Bowl of 1967 and both Super Bowl V and VI. Mercer is perhaps best known as the ringside commentator of WCCW in the 1980s. Upon Mercer's departure, Verne Lundquist joined the network, and became their play-by-play announcer by 1977, serving eight years in that capacity before handing those chores permanently over to Brad Sham, who joined the network in 1977 as the color analyst and occasional fill-in for Lundquist. Longtime WFAA- TV sports anchor Dale Hansen was the Cowboys color analyst with Brad Sham as the play-by-play announcer from 1985–1996. Dave Garrett served as the Cowboys' play-by-play announcer from 1995–97, when Brad Sham left the team and joined the Texas Rangers' radio network team as well as broadcast Sunday Night Football on Westwood One. Seeking to expand its radio broadcasting scope nationally, the Cowboys began a five-year partnership with Compass Media Networks on February 2, 2011. The result was the America's Team Radio Network, a supplement to the franchise's regional one. Beginning with the 2011 season, Kevin Burkhardt and Danny White handled the broadcasts, with Jerry Recco as the studio host. The Dallas Cowboys fight song, "Cowboys Stampede March" by Tom Merriman Big Band was the official fight song of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys used at Texas Stadium 1961 until about the early-mid '90s. "This little platter came from the personal collection of Tex Schramm, and it seems to be from the dawn of the Dallas Cowboys when he was casting about for a song to associate with the team. Eventually, the song "Cowboy Stampede March" would become THE song associated with the team thru their broadcasts in the '60s thru the '80s." George Gimarc The Cowboys now play We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa for starting defensive line, because of the saying "How Bout Dem Cowboys." For every touchdown scored by the Cowboys at a home game the song "Cowboys and Cut Cigars" by The Burning of Rome is played after a train horn. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, List of Dallas Cowboys seasons, List of Dallas Cowboys players, America's Team, Doomsday Defense NFL 2002 Record & Fact Book NFL.com – Dallas Cowboys

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"Young Dumb & Broke" is a song by American singer Khalid. It was released as a single on June 13, 2017, by Right Hand Music Group and RCA Records as the second single from his debut studio album American Teen. The song peaked at number one in the Philippines and New Zealand and it has reached the top ten in Australia. As of October 2017, the single has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The Guardian's Graeme Virtue says that "More decrepit listeners might detect echoes of The Cure's 'Close to Me' amid 'Young Dumb & Broke's palliative organ spiral, but that just adds to the bittersweet vibe of taken-for-granted golden years turning to ash." The song's accompanying music video premiered on August 1, 2017 on Khalid's Vevo account on YouTube. , the music video has over 600 million views. The music video features cameo appearances from VanJess, Demetrius Harmon, Nathan Zed, Zolee Griggs, Salem Mitchell, Widney Bazile, Quiñ, Will Peltz, Buddy, Normani, Kel Mitchell, Wayne Brady, Rachael Leigh Cook and Dennis Haskins. there is also a virtual reality 360° video available to download from the PlayStation store that is compatible with the PSVR. American rock band Imagine Dragons performed their song "Thunder" at the 2017 American Music Awards in a mash-up with "Young Dumb & Broke", with Khalid joining them for the performance. A little over a month later, on December 20, a studio version of the mash-up was released. "Young Dumb & Broke" peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. The song topped the charts in New Zealand and the Philippines and reached top 10 in Australia and Belgium. It also peaked at number one for 11 weeks on the Billboard R&B; Songs chart. List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand), List of Philippine Hot 100 number-one singles of 2017 "Silence" is a song by American music producer and DJ Marshmello, featuring guest vocals from American singer-songwriter Khalid. Written and produced by Marshmello, with additional writing from Khalid, it was released by RCA Records on August 11, 2017. On August 1, 2017, Marshmello made a surprise performance at a Khalid concert, hinting at an upcoming collaboration. On August 7, 2017, Marshmello first teased the single release with a photo of him and Khalid, captioning the single's title and release date. David Rishty of Billboard described the song as "a rumbling dance ballad that has the ingredients to take both acts to new heights in their flourishing careers". He opined that Khalid delivered "crooning, soulful vocals", while Marshmello's production is "vibrant" and "asserts simplicity, yet purpose". Erik of EDM Sauce called the song "an incredibly powerful track", and described Khalid's vocals as "booming and impressive". He wrote that "after the intense build up and lyrical perfection from Khalid we wanted an equally as impressive drop", but "we did not find it". Alex Ross of Vice called the song "a good Marshmello song", and wrote that Marshmello "cheated by getting Khalid to do the vocals". He thinks that it "sounds a bit like" Major Lazer's collaboration with Justin Bieber and MØ, "Cold Water". Rolling Stone wrote that the song has "shifting, snapping synths". Rap-Up felt that the song "blends soulful R&B; with atmospheric electronic sounds". Broadway World described Khalid's vocals as "strong emotive", and thinks that Marshmello "adopted a slower tempo than his usual upbeat productions to give the release a silky smooth feel, before launching into his instantly recognisable chord- based drop". Credits adapted from Tidal. Marshmello – production, Chris Galland – mix engineering, Manny Marroquin – mix engineering, Denis Kosiak – engineering, Jeff Jackson – assistant engineering, Robin Florent – assistant engineering ! scope="row"| Portugal (AFP) List of number-one dance singles of 2017 (U.S.) Khalid Donnel Robinson (born February 11, 1998) is an American singer and songwriter. He is signed to Right Hand Music Group and RCA Records. His debut single, "Location", was released in July 2016 and peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and was later certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His debut studio album, American Teen, was released on March 3, 2017. Since then he has achieved several top 10 hits, a top-ten charting EP, a number one album and six Grammy nominations. Khalid Robinson was born on February 11, 1998, in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He spent time in various locations due to his mother, Linda Wolfe, and father's military careers, including Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Fort Drum in Watertown, New York where he attended Carthage Senior High School, and six years in Heidelberg, Germany. Wolfe worked as a supply technician and became a member of the Army chorus. In high school, Khalid studied singing and musical theater. During his junior year of high school, the family moved to El Paso, Texas and attended Americas High School. Khalid began writing and creating music in high school; he posted his early works to SoundCloud. In July 2016, he reached number two on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart. His single "Location" began charting, which led to his being featured in many publications, including Billboard, Yahoo, Buzzfeed, and Rolling Stone. With production from Syk Sense, Tunji Ige, and Smash David, "Location" finished the year 2016 at number 20 on the US Mainstream R&B;/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and reached the Top 10 on the US Hot R&B; Songs chart on January 21, 2017. The music video for "Location" premiered on The Fader's website. The album's second single "Young, Dumb & Broke" became a sleeper hit, becoming a hit at rhythmic formats and crossing over to pop radio into early 2018. In January 2017, Alina Baraz's single "Electric", featuring Khalid, was released. His collaboration with Brasstracks, called "Whirlwind", was part of the Yours Truly & Adidas Originals Songs from Scratch series, and received over 700,000 SoundCloud plays. Khalid contributed uncredited vocals to Kendrick Lamar's song "The Heart Part 4", released on March 24, 2017. On April 28, 2017, Logic released the single "1-800-273-8255", which featured Khalid and Alessia Cara; the single peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Khalid's highest charting single. Khalid sold out every venue on his 21-city January–February 2017 Location Tour, including the 1,500-capacity Tricky Falls in El Paso. Following the completion of the tour, his debut studio album American Teen was released on March 3, 2017. The album received critical acclaim and Grammy Award nominations for Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best R&B; Song (for "Location"), at the 2018 ceremony. On October 24, 2017, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 1,000,000 in combined pure sales and album-equivalent units. In 2017, Khalid won a VMA Award for Best New Artist. Khalid made his television debut performing "Location" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon March 15, 2017, backed by The Roots. His song "Angels" was featured on the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy in the episode entitled "Don't Stop Me Now", which aired April 27, 2017. September 2018, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo Friday presented Khalid with the key to the City of El Paso. Khalid's next single was a collaboration with American DJ Marshmello titled “Silence", which was released on August 11, 2017 via RCA Records. The song appeared on the Top 200 in over 28 countries. It topped the Dance charts in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and charted in the Top 10 of more than fifteen countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway. It also appeared on the year-end charts of Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Additionally, it was certified multi- platinum in many countries. Among them were platinum by BPI (United Kingdom) and BM (Germany), double platinum by BEA (Belgium), RMNZ (New Zealand) and RIAA (United States), triple platinum by MC(Canada), a quadruple platinum by SRIA(Sweden) and a quintuple platinum by ARIA(Australia). Khalid's song "The Ways" with rapper Swae Lee was featured in the Marvel film Black Panther. As of February 23, 2018, the song peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, he collaborated with Lorde, SZA, and Post Malone on Lorde's "Homemade Dynamite" remix. He released a duet with singer Normani, called "Love Lies", recorded for the Love, Simon film soundtrack, which reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018. "Love Lies" was each artist's first number one on the US Pop Songs chart, and finished in the top 20 of the 2018 Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart. In May 2018, he wrote "Youth" in collaboration with Canadian artist Shawn Mendes. The song was featured on Mendes' self titled album and contains references to the social and political climate at that time. Mendes and Khalid performed "Youth" at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards on May 20, 2018, as a tribute to the victims of gun violence. The performance featured the show choir from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He collaborated with Billie Eilish on the song "Lovely", which was sampled multiple times in the debut album of rapper Juice WRLD. In July 2018, he was featured alongside Halsey on Benny Blanco's debut single "Eastside". The song charted in the Billboard Hot 100's top ten and reached number one on the US Pop Songs chart, after a record 30-week climb. He also released a song called "Better" on September 14, the first day of two hometown shows. The song topped the Rhythmic Songs airplay ranking and charted in the top five at pop radio. In October 2018, Khalid released an EP, Suncity, on October 19, 2018 through RCA Records. The EP debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200. The album also spawned the song "Saturday Nights", later remixed to feature country artist Kane Brown. In February 2019, Khalid released the single "Talk", and he made his debut on Saturday Night Live on March 9, 2019, performing "Talk" and "Better". His second studio album Free Spirit was released on April 5, 2019, along with an accompanying short film. It debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 202,000 album-equivalent units (including 85,000 pure album sales) in its first week, becoming Khalid's first US number-one album. On April 20, 2019, Khalid made history by becoming the first and only artist to occupy the entire top 5 of the Billboard R&B; Songs chart. On April 25, 2019, Billboard magazine reported that since March 2018, Khalid had landed a 59-week straight streak of hits (and counting) on the Hot 100 since his Normani-collab "Love Lies" debuted on the chart. He charted 12 tracks (both solo hits and features) on the Hot 100 throughout the last year. In order to promote the album, Khalid embarked on his fourth concert tour titled the "Free Spirit World Tour" which will visit North America, Europe and Oceania on May 18, 2019, which is set to conclude on December 5, 2019. Following the release of Free Spirit, Khalid was reported to have become the biggest global artist on Spotify, hitting 50.4 million monthly listeners on the streaming platform, and subsequently surpassing Ariana Grande. Khalid's music is primarily R&B;, but has also been labeled as pop, hip hop and pop-soul. He sings in both the baritone and tenor ranges, effectively rendering him a baritenor. Khalid possesses a two octave vocal range, ranging from the low G2 to the middle B♭4. Khalid cites his mother as his leading musical inspiration and has cited Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Father John Misty, Frank Ocean, Grizzly Bear, Chance the Rapper, Lorde, India.Arie, and James Blake as other influences. American Teen (2017), Free Spirit (2019) Headlining The Location Tour (2017), American Teen Tour (2017–2018), Roxy Tour (2018), Free Spirit World Tour (2019) Supporting Lorde – Melodrama World Tour (2017)

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Davos Seaworth is a fictional character from the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American writer George R. R. Martin and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. He is a prominent point of view character in the novels. Davos first appears in 1998's A Clash of Kings, serving as Stannis Baratheon's most trusted counselor. He additionally appears in A Storm of Swords (2000) and A Dance with Dragons (2011). Davos is a former smuggler who broke through enemy lines to bring food and supplies to Stannis and his forces while the latter held the castle Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion, earning him the nickname the Onion Knight. For the crime of smuggling, Stannis cut off the fingers of his left hand, but for saving him and his men, raised him up as a knight and lord. Davos is fiercely loyal to his king, but fears the growing influence of the red priestess Melisandre. He forms a close fatherly relationship with Stannis' daughter Shireen. Davos is portrayed by Irish actor Liam Cunningham in the HBO television adaptation. Davos is a man of low birth, born in Flea Bottom of King's Landing to the life of a poor commoner. In his youth, he became one of the most infamous smugglers of the Seven Kingdoms, often piloting his black-sailed ship into harbors in the dead of night, and navigated treacherous shallows. He married a woman named Marya, with whom he had seven sons: Dale, Allard, Matthos, Maric, Devan, Stannis, and Steffon. At the time of Robert Baratheon's rebellion, Davos evaded the blockade of Shipbreaker Bay and smuggled a shipment of onions and salted fish into Storm's End to Stannis Baratheon and his men, who were starving under siege by Mace Tyrell and the Redwynes. The food allowed Stannis's men to hold on until Eddard Stark arrived to break the siege. As a reward for this service, Stannis knighted Davos, giving him choice lands on Cape Wrath and allowing him to choose Seaworth as the name of his new house. However, also as a punishment for his years of criminal activity as a smuggler, Stannis personally "shortened" Davos's left hand, cutting off the first joint from each finger. Despite this, Davos found Stannis's ruling fair and just, and kept the bones of his severed fingertips in a pouch around his neck as a lucky charm. Davos is loyal to Stannis, due to the life and opportunities that Stannis' knighting him presented to Davos and his family. However, he sometimes disagrees with Stannis's methods. Davos is a devout believer in the Faith of the Seven, which puts him at odds with the red priestess Melisandre and the Queen's Men, who worship R'hllor. Davos tries to always be honest to Stannis, speaking his mind instead of saying what Stannis wants to hear. Due to Joffrey Baratheon's illegitimacy, Stannis names himself heir to his brother King Robert Baratheon. Davos supports him, though he dislikes Stannis converting to R'hllor under the red priestess Melisandre. Davos is sent to deliver letters declaring Queen Cersei's children were born of incest, so they cannot claim the Iron Throne. However Stannis receives little assistance. Davos sails with Stannis to besiege Storm's End. Stannis's younger brother Renly has also declared himself king and tries to defeat and kill Stannis, but is killed by a "shadow" birthed by Melisandre. The castellan of Storm's End, Ser Cortnay Penrose, refuses to surrender Storm's End. Davos advises attacking King's Landing before taking Storm's End, but Stannis fears that the stormlords will not follow him if he appears defeated. Davos brings Melisandre, about whom he already has misgivings, to the caverns underneath Storm's End, where she births a "shadow" that kills Penrose and allows Stannis to claim Edric Storm, his illegitimate nephew via Robert. Davos is given command of a ship at the Battle of the Blackwater, though he disagrees with their commander, Stannis's brother-in-law Ser Imry Florent. Tyrion Lannister uses wildfire to destroy much of the Baratheon fleet and a chain to trap it. Davos's four oldest sons are killed by the wildfire. Davos is washed ashore on the Spears of the Merling King, losing his "luck", but is recovered by Stannis's men. Blaming Melisandre for the loss (due to the strategic import of Tyrion's wildfire and Melisandre's religious associations with fire), Davos plots to murder the priestess. However, her magic warns her and he is imprisoned by Stannis' uncle-in-law Ser Axell Florent, who also threatens to kill Davos if he does not help Axell become Stannis's Hand of the King. With Davos is imprisoned Stannis' Hand and uncle-in-law Lord Alester Florent, who was imprisoned for trying to make terms with the Lannisters behind Stannis' back. Stannis releases Davos to hear his counsel on attacking Claw Isle. Davos claims that it would be unjust to attack Claw Isle despite Lord Celtigar bending the knee to Joffrey, as its people are innocent and only following their Lord. Pleased by his honesty, Stannis names Davos Hand of the King. Davos then watches a ritual where Stannis uses blood leeched from Edric to curse the three rival kings. After two of these kings, Balon Greyjoy and Robb Stark, die, Stannis and Melisandre consider sacrificing Edric to raise a dragon sleeping under Dragonstone, despite Davos's counsel. On hearing of Joffrey's death, Davos sends Edric Storm east to the Free Cities. Learning to read, Davos comes across a plea for help from the Wall, and convinces Stannis to sail north and aid the Night's Watch against an invasion of wildlings fleeing the Others. After the victory, Davos is sent to White Harbor to persuade Wyman Manderly, one of the most powerful Northern lords, to support Stannis's cause. Davos arrives at White Harbor and discovers that Manderly is hosting three members of House Frey, who betrayed the Starks at the Red Wedding and killed Robb Stark and many other northmen, including one of Wyman's sons Ser Wylis Manderly. Nonetheless, Davos claims the North should support Stannis as he will give them vengeance, but Manderly imprisons Davos. He sends word to King's Landing that he has executed him, but in reality the man executed was another criminal vaguely resembling Davos. Davos is imprisoned in the Wolf's Den, but released and taken to Manderly, who explains that he could not publicly defy the Lannisters while his only surviving son was a captive of the Freys, but he has been returned. Manderly implies he will murder the three Freys and reveals that many of the other northern lords wish to overthrow House Bolton, who has assumed control of the North following their betrayal of House Stark, but dare not openly defy the Boltons unless a Stark heir can be found. He reveals that he has been harboring Wex Pyke, the former squire to Theon Greyjoy who was witness to Ramsay Bolton's sack of Winterfell and followed Rickon Stark after the sack. Manderly tells Davos that if he retrieves Rickon from the cannibal island of Skagos, the northmen will support Stannis's campaign. In the HBO series, Davos has the fingers taken from his right hand (as actor Liam Cunningham is left-handed). He references having multiple sons, but only one is seen or included in the story (Matthos). When Renly refuses to surrender to Stannis, Davos is ordered to sail with Melisandre beneath Storm's End. When they reach shore, Davos is horrified when Melisandre gives birth to a shadowy demon, who kills Renly. The stormlords bend the knee to Stannis, who plans to launch a naval attack on King's Landing and gives Davos command of the fleet. As the Baratheon fleet arrives in Blackwater Bay, a ship filled with wildfire is detonated in the middle of the fleet; Davos's ship is one of the closest, and he is thrown into the sea when his ship is destroyed. Davos is revealed to have survived by swimming to a rock, and is rescued by his friend, the pirate Salladhor Saan, who reveals that Matthos died during the Battle of the Blackwater. Grief-stricken by the death of his son, Davos blames Melisandre for Stannis's defeat and unsuccessfully tries to assassinate her before being thrown into the dungeons. During his captivity, Stannis's daughter Shireen discovers that Davos is illiterate and teaches him to read. Stannis eventually releases Davos, naming him as his hand. Soon after, Stannis and Melisandre plot to sacrifice Robert's bastard, Gendry, until Davos frees him and helps him escape Dragonstone. An enraged Stannis resolves to execute Davos, until Davos presents a letter from Castle Black warning of the White Walkers' return. Melisandre corroborates this and counsels Stannis that he will need Davos when the Long Night comes, thus prompting Stannis to pardon Davos. After Joffrey Baratheon's death, Stannis reprimands Davos for not being able to secure more men. Davos arranges a meeting with Tycho Nestoris, a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos, and persuades him to give their financial backing to Stannis instead. Davos uses the money to hire ships and sellswords and the Baratheon army travels to the Wall, defeating the wildling army besieging it. Davos accompanies the Baratheon forces on their march to Winterfell. During their march, Ramsay Bolton and his men infiltrate the camp and destroy their supplies. Davos is sent back to the Wall to ask for more supplies, unaware that Stannis plans to sacrifice Shireen to assure his victory. Lord Commander Jon Snow, though sympathetic, is unable to offer help. Soon after, Melisandre arrives at Castle Black, having fled in the aftermath of Shireen's sacrifice. Davos realises that Stannis has been defeated and Shireen is dead, though Melisandre does not reveal her role. Davos is the first to discover Jon Snow's body after his assassination, and barricades his body in a storeroom with the help of Jon's loyalists. After the wildlings imprison the mutineers who killed Jon, Davos persuades Melisandre to attempt a resurrection of Jon, which is ultimately successful. Jon's death releases him from his Night's Watch vows and he decides to gather allies to march with him on Winterfell. Davos accompanies him, and is able to convince the young Lady Lyanna Mormont to offer House Mormont's support, though few other houses do the same. During the army's march to Winterfell, Davos finds the remnants of a sacrificial pyre and the burnt remains of the wooden stag he had carved for Shireen as a gift, and realises that she had been sacrificed by Melisandre. Davos initially keeps this revelation to himself, instead participating in the Stark loyalists' victory over the Bolton forces. After the battle has been won and Winterfell retaken, Davos confronts Melisandre. When Melisandre confesses to killing Shireen, Jon exiles her from the North, and Davos threatens to execute her personally if she ever returns. Davos is later among the Northern and Vale lords who crown Jon as the King in the North. Jon receives an invitation from Daenerys Targaryen to come to Dragonstone to bend the knee. Though apprehensive, Jon decides to go to obtain access to Dragonstone's dragonglass mines, taking Davos with him. There, Davos supports Jon's claim that the White Walkers have returned, whilst almost accidentally revealing Jon's resurrection in the process. Daenerys is unconvinced, but permits them to mine the dragonglass as a gesture of goodwill. Daenerys's advisor Tyrion Lannister suggests that Jon go beyond the Wall to capture a wight, to present to Queen Cersei Lannister as evidence of the White Walkers. Davos smuggles Tyrion into King's Landing to arrange a meeting between Cersei, Daenerys and Jon after their return, while Davos seeks out Gendry, who is hiding as a blacksmith in King's Landing. Despite being encouraged to conceal his identity, Gendry reveals his parentage to Jon, and is allowed to join Jon in the journey beyond the Wall. Davos travels with Jon and his party to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, staying at the castle while the others seek out a wight. Gendry returns in the evening, telling Davos that Jon and his allies are surrounded by the White Walkers and ordering a raven be sent to Dragonstone to request Daenerys's assistance. Daenerys arrives with her dragons to rescue Jon's allies, while Jon flees to Eastwatch on horseback. Davos joins Jon, Daenerys, and Sandor Clegane as they journey to King's Landing. There, they meet Queen Cersei, who is shocked by the wight captured by Jon. Cersei pledges her forces in the fight against the White Walkers, and Davos sails back to Winterfell with Jon, Daenerys, and their army. After arriving at Winterfell, Davos, Tyrion, and Lord Varys discuss the implications of Jon and Daenerys' budding romantic relationship. As the White Walkers approach Winterfell, Davos spends time with Tyrion, Podrick Payne, Brienne of Tarth, Ser Jaime Lannister, and Tormund Giantsbane. Shortly thereafter, the Walkers' army arrives, and Melisandre returns to aid the Northern forces with her fire magic. Before Davos can threaten to execute her, Melisandre tells him she will be dead before dawn. Davos survives the Battle of Winterfell, during which he helps command the Northern army. As dawn breaks, Davos watches as Melisandre removes her enchanted necklace and fades to bones in the snow. In the aftermath, Davos celebrates with the survivors and joins Jon when he marches the bulk of the remaining allied army to face Cersei. In the final episode of the series Davos accompanies Jon into the devastated city of King's Landing, intervening in a futile attempt to prevent the execution of Lannister prisoners by Grey Worm and the Unsullied. He is last seen as a member of King Bran's Small Council, tasked with the rebuilding of fleets and forts. Liam Cunningham (born 2 June 1961) is an Irish stage and screen actor. He is known for playing Davos Seaworth in the HBO epic-fantasy series Game of Thrones. Cunningham has been nominated for the London Film Critics' Circle Award, the British Independent Film Award, has won two Irish Film & Television Awards, and shared a BAFTA with Michael Fassbender, for their crime-drama short film Pitch Black Heist. His film roles include A Little Princess (1995), Jude (1996), Dog Soldiers (2002), The Crooked Man (2003), The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), Hunger (2008), The Escapist (2008), Good Vibrations (2013), Let Us Prey (2014) and The Childhood of a Leader (2015). Cunningham was born in East Wall, which is an inner city area of the Northside of Dublin. He grew up in Kilmore West with his three sisters and a brother. Cunningham left secondary school at 15 and pursued a career as an electrician. In the 1980s, Cunningham moved to Zimbabwe for three years where he maintained electrical equipment at a safari park and trained Zimbabwean electricians. After returning to Ireland he worked briefly on the 400 line out of Moneypoint. Cunningham became dissatisfied with his work as an electrician, concluding that the job isn’t what it used to be and decided to pursue his interest in acting. He attended acting classes and began to work in local theatre, including Royal Shakespeare Company. He appeared in a production of Studs at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London. Cunningham's debut film role came in Into the West (1992), where he played a police officer. His on-screen acting continued with roles in War of the Buttons (1994), and A Little Princess (1995), before making his role as Phillotson in Jude (1996). He continued with character roles in Falling for a Dancer (TV, 1998), RKO 281 (1999), Shooting the Past (TV, 1999), When the Sky Falls (2000) and Stranded (2002). Cunningham came to international prominence with his role as Captain Ryan in the critically acclaimed, independent horror film, Dog Soldiers (2002). Cunningham starred in well-received films such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival; Hunger; The Escapist (both 2008); The Guard ; and Black Butterflies (both 2011). He also had roles in many high budget British and American films including The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005), (2008), Harry Brown (2009), Clash of the Titans , Centurion (both 2010). On television, he appeared as President Richard Tate in the BBC programme Outcasts. Cunningham was producer Philip Segal’s first choice to portray the Eighth Doctor in the TV movie of Doctor Who (1996), but was vetoed by Fox executives. In 2012, Cunningham joined the main cast for the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones portraying former smuggler Davos Seaworth, and in 2013 he starred in The Numbers Station alongside John Cusack. He was also cast in season 5 of the BBC series Merlin as a sorcerer. He featured in the music video for "High Hopes" by Irish alternative rock band Kodaline from their EP The High Hopes. In April 2013, he appeared in the seventh series of the BBC One series Doctor Who in the episode "Cold War", where he played Captain Zhukov, the commander of a Russian submarine in 1983 facing one of the Ice Warriors. He guest starred in the second season of the VH1 television series Stay Closer, with Sandra Bullock and Jessica Chastain. In 2015, he played the father in Brady Corbet's directorial debut film, The Childhood of a Leader. Cunningham currently resides in Dublin with his wife Colette, with whom he has three children, daughter Ellen and sons Liam Jr. and Sean. In 2015, Cunningham was one of over 100 artists who signed a letter to The Guardian announcing support for a cultural boycott of Israel. "The North Remembers" is the second season premiere episode of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones. First aired on April 1, 2012, it was written by the show creators and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by returning director Alan Taylor. With a war on the horizon, the Seven Kingdoms are witnessing an ever-growing clash of kings. The boy king Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) sits on the Iron Throne guided by cruelty and deceit, while his honorable counterpart Robb Stark (Richard Madden) of the North heads south to avenge his father's death. Meanwhile, the late king Robert Baratheon's estranged brother Stannis (Stephen Dillane) emerges as yet another claimant to the throne. A frantic search for King Robert's bastard sons ensues, while the Queen sets to find the missing Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in order to retrieve her lover and brother Jaime, now a captive to the Starks. The title refers to Robb Stark vowing revenge against the Lannisters for his father's murder. "The North Remembers" received universal acclaim from critics, who noted Tyrion Lannister's development as a key player as a highlight of the episode. In the United States, the episode achieved a viewership of 3.86 million in its initial broadcast. The episode introduced a number of new cast members, including Stephen Dillane's Stannis Baratheon, Carice van Houten's Melisandre and Liam Cunningham as "the onion knight" Davos Seaworth. It also featured a number of new locations, both fictional and real, most notably the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, which served as the capital city of King's Landing. It received a great amount of critical praise, with critics welcoming the new set of characters, which they saw as a great addition. The episode went on to win an American Society of Cinematographers for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in One-Hour Episodic Television Series. From the island of Dragonstone, the late King Robert's brother Stannis Baratheon declares himself rightful heir to the Iron Throne. He sends a message across the Seven Kingdoms that Robert's supposed heirs are the products of incest between Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime. Despite Ser Davos Seaworth’s advice, Stannis refuses to ally with Robb Stark or Renly Baratheon. Stannis is under the influence of the Red Priestess Melisandre, and Maester Cressen sacrifices himself for Stannis’ sake with poison, but Melisandre drinks the entire cup unaffected. King of the North Robb Stark informs his prisoner Jaime Lannister of Stannis' letter, surmising that Robb's brother Bran was crippled and his father Ned killed for discovering the secret. Robb sends Alton Lannister to King's Landing with terms for peace, including the return of Robb's sisters Sansa and Arya and Ned's remains, and acknowledgement of Northern independence. Robb sends Theon to ask his father, Lord Balon Greyjoy, for the naval force of the Iron Islands, and asks his mother Catelyn to negotiate an alliance with Renly's court. Catelyn tells Robb his father would be proud, but warns him not to trust Balon. After a prophetic dream, Bran Stark visits the Godswood with Osha. Noticing a red comet, Bran declares it an omen of victory in the war, but Osha insists it means dragons have returned. The ranging party reaches Craster's Keep north of the Wall. Craster claims that the wildlings’ leader Mance Rayder is amassing an army to move south. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont offers leadership advice to Jon Snow. With the remnants of Khal Drogo's khalasar, Daenerys Targaryen makes a difficult journey across the Red Waste, and sends her remaining riders in three separate directions. During combats to celebrate King Joffrey Baratheon, the captive Sansa Stark saves Ser Dontos Hollard by convincing Joffrey to make him a fool. Tyrion Lannister, sent as Hand of the King in his father's stead, mocks his sister Cersei for letting Arya Stark escape, having planned to trade the Stark girls for Jaime. Cersei dismisses Stannis’ letter to Joffrey as gossip. The City Watch murders King Robert's bastards, discovering too late that one, Gendry, has already left the city traveling to the Wall. Unbeknownst to the Lannisters, Arya is also with that caravan. The episode was written by producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based on the original work of George R. R. Martin. As the second season covers mostly A Clash of Kings, the second book of the series, the first episode adapts the material from the first chapters of the book including the Prologue, Sansa I, Tyrion I, Bran I, Catelyn I, Davos I, the first half of Daenerys I and Jon III (chapters 1, 3–5, 7, 10, 12, and 23). Two chapters from the beginning of the book had already been included in season 1's finale, while Jon Snow's story is being pushed forward. This episode introduces several prominent characters, most notably Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), and Melisandre (Carice van Houten). The three of them represent the head of an entirely new storyline that intertwines with other plotlines as the season progresses. Other recurring characters introduced in this episode are drunken knight Ser Dontos Hollard (Tony Way), the Starks' captive Alton Lannister (Karl Davies), Melisandre's opponent Maester Cressen (Oliver Ford Davies), Davos's son Matthos Seaworth (Kerr Logan), Night's Watch member Dolorous Edd (Ben Crompton), Wildling Craster (Robert Pugh), and his daughter and wife Gilly (Hannah Murray). The episode also marks the upgrade of several returning characters to the main cast. John Bradley-West returns as Jon Snow's friend Sam Tarly, James Cosmo as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch Jeor Mormont, Jerome Flynn as Tyrion's cunning servant Bronn, with Sibel Kekilli as Tyrion's concubine Shae, and lastly Conleth Hill as the gossiping eunuch Varys. Peter Dinklage takes the place of Sean Bean as the first credit during the intro sequence. Since Bean's character was killed at the end of last season, Dinklage jokingly wished that he could stay being the lead credit for some time. The production continued using the Paint Hall studios as the filming headquarters and the Northern Irish landscapes for many of the exterior shots. The burning of the Seven was filmed at the beach of Downhill Strand, where local press echoed the stir that the filming caused to the small community of Castlerock. Craster's keep beyond the Wall was built in a forest in Clandeboye Estate. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss stated in their audio commentary track that while most scenes set north of the Wall were filmed in Iceland, the Craster's Keep scenes were filmed in Northern Ireland, as the lack of significant tree growth in Iceland prevented them filming forest scenes there. The closing sequence, of a caravan heading north along the Kingsroad, bringing Arya to Winterfell and Robert Baratheon's illegitimate son Gendry and the other passengers onward to Castle Black, was shot at the "Dark Hedges", an avenue of gnarly beech trees near Armoy, County Antrim. For the exteriors of the capital city of King's Landing, that had been doubled for Malta for the entire season 1, now the production flew to the Croatian city of Dubrovnik. Known as The Pearl of the Adriatic, the city proved to be a good representation of King's Landing since it shared many characteristics with the fictional capital: it had a well-preserved medieval look, with high walls and the sea at its side. According to David Benioff, executive producer of the show, "The minute we started walking around the city walls we knew that was it. You read the descriptions in the book and you come to Dubrovnik and that's what the actual city is. It has the sparkling sea, sun and beautiful architecture." The first scene of the episode, depicting the celebration of King Joffrey's name day, was filmed on Dubrovnik's Fort Lovrijenac (also called St. Lawrence Fortress). The later debate about the nature of power between Cersei and Littlefinger also takes place in its porch, and in the final montage with the killing of the bastards the Old City of Dubrovnik and its famed walls can be clearly seen. The scenery in Daenerys's desert scenes was filled in with CGI; however, the production filmed desert scenes in Morocco in Season Three. The viewership of the episode on its premiere airing in the US rose to a new series' top of 3.858 million viewers, with a rating of 2.0 in the relevant 18-49 demographic on HBO. Taking into account the additional airings of the night the number of viewers totaled 6.3 million. In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 0.928 million viewers on Sky Atlantic, being the channel's highest-rated broadcast that week. The episode received universal critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 27 reviews of the episode and judged 100% of them to be positive, with an average score of 8.6 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'The North Remembers' underscores Joffrey's capacity for cruelty and Tyrion's development as a key player in a compelling sophomore season opener." Matt Fowler of IGN rated the episode 9 out of 10. The A.V. Club gave it B+. Alan Sepinwall, who reviewed the episode for HitFix, called it "a great beginning. Funny in spots, scary in others, never blinking away from the cruelty of this world and this war." Andy Greenwald of Grantland praised the episode for its new additions of Dillane and Van Houten, its setup of later episodes, and its themes. "It's also evident that the second year of Thrones, if not the remainder of the series, is about a race to fill what may well be an impossible vacuum. [...] Everything feels thrillingly unsettled, as if the rules are constantly changing and the biggest prize may actually be a booby trap." Luke Broadwater, writing for The Baltimore Sun, enjoyed Tyrion's increased role, referring to him as the new lead of the series after the death of Eddard Stark (Sean Bean). He thought that the episode "excelled in underscoring Joffrey's cruelty...and Tyrion's humor and growth as a character." However, his commentary was not all positive; the reviewer criticized the scene in which Littlefinger threatens Cersei and thought that Maester Cressen should have been kept alive longer. In her recap of the episode, Jenifer D Braun of The Star-Ledger wrote that the episode contained the sex and violence that the show had had in its first season and stated, "Man, I missed this show, didn't you?" Sarah Hughes of The Guardian was very complimentary towards the episode as a season premiere, remarking that "The season opener deftly covers a huge amount of scene-setting while introducing a host of new characters." In addition, she praised the episode's adaptation of the source novels for including a large number of important scenes and storylines with minimal filler: "this was a leanly written episode, which tackled a huge amount of exposition and scene-setting but never wasted a word." Nina Shen Rastogi, writing for Vulture, thought that the episode served as both a redefinition of the plot and a reintroduction of the first seasons's themes of violence and succession. She wrote, "from the very first scene of last night's season premiere, GoT strove to reassure us that some things would never change." Simon Abrams of Slant Magazine lauded "The North Remembers" as a "thematically focused" episode on the subject of good leadership. He enjoyed how each of the rulers were developed in the premiere and hoped that the rest of the season "can keep up with its premiere's big ideas." This episode won an American Society of Cinematographers for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in One-Hour Episodic Television Series. "The North Remembers" at HBO.com

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Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she appeared in stage productions and television series, before signing with Jive Records in 1997. Spears's first two studio albums, ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), were global successes and made her the best-selling teenage artist of all-time. Referred to as the "Princess of Pop", Spears is regarded as a pop icon and is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Spears adopted more mature and provocative themes for her next two studio albums, Britney (2001) and In the Zone (2003), and made her feature film debut in a starring role in Crossroads (2002). Following a series of heavily publicized personal struggles and erratic public behavior, Spears's career was interrupted, before the release of her fifth studio album Blackout (2007), which is often critically referred to as her best work. Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations led Spears to be placed on a still ongoing conservatorship. She returned to the top of record charts with her sixth and seventh studio albums, Circus (2008) and Femme Fatale (2011), respectively. In 2012, Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid female musician of the year, with earnings of $58 million, having last topped the list in 2002. During the promotion of her eighth and ninth studio albums, Britney Jean (2013) and Glory (2016), Spears embarked on a four-year concert residency, , at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, which became one of the highest-grossing residencies of all-time. In 2019, Spears announced an indefinite career hiatus and was later admitted involuntarily into a mental health facility by her conservator, leading to a court-led investigation into malpractice conducted by Spears's team. Spears has scored six number one albums on the Billboard 200, making her the third best performing female artist on the chart. Five of Spears's singles have reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100: "...Baby One More Time", "Womanizer", "3", "Hold It Against Me", and "S&M;". Other singles, "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "Toxic", topped the charts in most countries. With "3" in 2009 and "Hold It Against Me" in 2011, she became the second artist after Mariah Carey in the Hot 100's history to debut at number one with two or more songs. Spears has earned numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award; seven Guinness World Records; six MTV Video Music Awards, including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award; seven Billboard Music Awards, including the Millennium Award; the inaugural Radio Disney Icon Award; and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Billboard ranked her as the eighth-biggest artist of the 2000s decade. One of the world's best-selling music artists, Spears has sold 150 million records worldwide, including over 70 million records in the United States. In the United States, Spears is the fourth best-selling female album artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era as well as the best-selling female album artist of the 2000s. In 2004, Spears launched a perfume brand with Elizabeth Arden, Inc.; sales exceeded US$1.5 billion . Spears has topped the list of most searched celebrities seven times in 12 years, a record since the inception of the internet. Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi, the second child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears. Her maternal grandmother, Lillian Portell, was English (born in London), and one of Spears's maternal great-great-grandfathers was Maltese. Her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn Spears. She was born in the Bible Belt, where socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a particularly strong religious influence; Spears was baptized as a Southern Baptist and sang in a church choir as a child. As an adult, she has studied Kabbalist teachings. At age three, she started attending dance lessons in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, and was selected to perform as a solo artist at the annual recital. Spears made her local stage debut at age five, singing "What Child Is This?" at her kindergarten graduation. During her childhood, she also had gymnastics and voice lessons, and won many state-level competitions and children's talent shows. She said about her ambition as a child, "I was in my own world, [...] I found out what I'm supposed to do at an early age". At age eight, Spears and her mother Lynne traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to audition for the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. Casting director Matt Casella rejected her as too young, but introduced her to Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent. Carson was impressed with Spears's singing and suggested enrolling her at the Professional Performing Arts School; shortly after, Lynne and her daughters moved to a sublet apartment in New York. Spears was hired for her first professional role as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the Off-Broadway musical Ruthless!. She also appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. In December 1992, she was cast in The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. After the show was canceled in 1996, she returned to Mississippi and enrolled at McComb's Parklane Academy. Although she made friends with most of her classmates, she compared the school to "the opening scene in Clueless with all the cliques. [...] I was so bored. I was the point guard on the basketball team. I had my boyfriend, and I went to homecoming and Christmas formal. But I wanted more." In June 1997, Spears was in talks with manager Lou Pearlman to join the female pop group Innosense. Lynne asked family friend and entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph for his opinion and submitted a tape of Spears singing over a Whitney Houston karaoke song along with some pictures. Rudolph decided that he wanted to pitch her to record labels, for which she needed a professional demo made. He sent Spears an unused song of Toni Braxton; she rehearsed for a week and recorded her vocals in a studio with a sound engineer. Spears traveled to New York with the demo and met with executives from four labels, returning to Kentwood the same day. Three of the labels rejected her, saying that audiences wanted pop bands such as the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls, and "there wasn't going to be another Madonna, another Debbie Gibson, or another Tiffany." Two weeks later, executives from Jive Records returned calls to Rudolph. Senior vice president of A&R; Jeff Fenster said about Spears's audition that "it's very rare to hear someone that age who can deliver emotional content and commercial appeal...For any artist, the motivation—the 'eye of the tiger'—is extremely important. And Britney had that." Spears sang Houston's "I Have Nothing" (1992) for the executives, and was subsequently signed to the label. They appointed her to work with producer Eric Foster White for a month, who reportedly shaped her voice from "lower and less poppy" delivery to "distinctively, unmistakably Britney." After hearing the recorded material, president Clive Calder ordered a full album. Spears had originally envisioned "Sheryl Crow music, but younger; more adult contemporary." She felt secure with her label's appointment of producers, since "It made more sense to go pop, because I can dance to it—it's more me." She flew to Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where half of the album was recorded from March to April 1998, with producers Max Martin, Denniz Pop and Rami Yacoub, among others. After Spears returned to the United States, she embarked on a shopping mall promotional tour to promote her upcoming debut album. Her show was a four-song set and she was accompanied by two back-up dancers. Her first concert tour followed, as an opening act for NSYNC. Her debut studio album, ...Baby One More Time, was released on January 12, 1999. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America after a month. Worldwide, the album topped the charts in fifteen countries and sold over 10 million copies in a year. It became the biggest-selling album ever by a teenage artist. The title track was released as the lead single from the album. Originally, Jive Records wanted its music video to be animated; however, Spears rejected it, and suggested the final concept of a Catholic schoolgirl. The single sold 500,000 copies on its first day, and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for two consecutive weeks. It has sold more than 10 million copies, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. "...Baby One More Time" later received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The title track also topped the singles chart for two weeks in the United Kingdom, and became the fastest-selling single ever by a female artist, shipping over 460,000 copies. It would later become the 25th-most successful song of all time in British chart history. Spears is the youngest female artist to have a million seller in the UK. "(You Drive Me) Crazy" was released as the third single from the album. It became a top-ten hit worldwide and further propelled the success of the ...Baby One More Time album. The album has sold 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It is the best-selling debut album by any artist. On June 28, 1999, Spears began her first headlining ...Baby One More Time Tour in North America, which was positively received by critics. It also generated some controversy due to her racy outfits. An extension of the tour, titled Crazy 2k, followed in March 2000. Spears premiered songs from her upcoming second album during the show. Oops!... I Did It Again, her second studio album, was released in May 2000. It debuted at number one in the US, selling 1.3 million copies, breaking the Nielsen SoundScan record for the highest debut sales by any solo artist. The album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide to date, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said that "the great thing about Oops! – under the cheese surface, Britney's demand for satisfaction is complex, fierce and downright scary, making her a true child of rock & roll tradition." The album's lead single, "Oops!... I Did It Again", peaked at the top of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and many other European nations. The album as well as the title track received Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, respectively. The same year, Spears embarked on the Oops!... I Did It Again Tour, which grossed $40.5 million; she also released her first book, Britney Spears' Heart to Heart, co-written with her mother. On September 7, 2000, Spears performed at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Halfway through the performance, she ripped off her black suit to reveal a sequined flesh- colored bodysuit, followed by heavy dance routine. It is noted by critics as the moment that Spears showed signs of becoming a more provocative performer. Amidst media speculation, Spears confirmed she was dating NSYNC member Justin Timberlake. Spears and Timberlake would both graduate high school via distance learning from the University of Nebraska High School. She also bought a home in Destin, Florida. In February 2001, Spears signed a $7–8 million promotional deal with Pepsi, and released another book co-written with her mother, titled A Mother's Gift. Her self-titled third studio album, Britney, was released in November 2001. While on tour, she felt inspired by hip hop artists such as Jay-Z and The Neptunes and wanted to create a record with a funkier sound. The album debuted at number one in the Billboard 200 and reached top five positions in Australia, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe and sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called Britney "the record where she strives to deepen her persona, making it more adult while still recognizably Britney. [...] It does sound like the work of a star who has now found and refined her voice, resulting in her best record yet." The album was honored with two Grammy nominations—Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Overprotected"— and was listed in 2008 as one of Entertainment Weeklys "100 Best Albums from the Past 25 Years". The album's first single, "I'm a Slave 4 U", became a top-ten hit worldwide. Spears's performance of the single at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards featured a caged tiger and a large albino python draped over her shoulders. It was harshly received by animal rights organization PETA, who claimed the animals were mistreated and scrapped plans for an anti-fur billboard that was to feature Spears. Jocelyn Vena of MTV summarized Spears's performance at the ceremony, saying, "draping herself in a white python and slithering around a steamy garden setting – surrounded by dancers in zebra and tiger outfits – Spears created one of the most striking visuals in the 27-year history of the show." To support the album, Spears embarked on the Dream Within a Dream Tour. The show was critically praised for its technical innovations, the pièce de résistance being a water screen that pumped two tons of water into the stage. The tour grossed $43.7 million, becoming the second highest-grossing tour of 2002 by a female artist, behind Cher's . Her career success was highlighted by Forbes in 2002, as Spears was ranked the world's most powerful celebrity. Spears also landed her first starring role in Crossroads, released in February 2002. Although the film was largely panned, critics praised Spears's acting and the film was a box office success. Crossroads, which had a $12 million budget, went on to gross over $61.1 million worldwide. In June 2002, Spears opened her first restaurant, Nyla, in New York City, but terminated her relationship in November, citing mismanagement and "management's failure to keep her fully apprised". In July 2002, Spears announced she would take a six- month break from her career; however, she went back into the studio in November to record her new album. Spears's relationship with Justin Timberlake ended after three years. In December 2002, Timberlake released the song "Cry Me a River" as the second single from his solo debut album. The music video featured a Spears look-alike and fueled the rumors that she had been unfaithful to him. As a response, Spears wrote the ballad "Everytime" with her backing vocalist and friend Annet Artani. The same year, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst said that he was in a relationship with Spears. However, Spears denied Durst's claims. In a 2009 interview, he explained that "I just guess at the time it was taboo for a guy like me to be associated with a gal like her." In August 2003, Spears opened the MTV Video Music Awards with Christina Aguilera, performing "Like a Virgin". Halfway through they were joined by Madonna, with whom they both kissed. The incident was highly publicized. In 2008, MTV listed the performance as the number-one opening moment in the history of MTV Video Music Awards, while Blender magazine cited it as one of the twenty-five sexiest music moments on television history. Spears released her fourth studio album, In the Zone, in November 2003. She assumed more creative control by writing and co-producing most of the material. Vibe called it "A supremely confident dance record that also illustrates Spears's development as a songwriter." NPR listed the album as one of "The 50 Most Important Recording of the Decade", adding that "the decade's history of impeccably crafted pop is written on her body of work." In the Zone sold over 609,000 copies in the United States during its first week of availability in the United States, debuting at the top of the charts, making Spears the first female artist in the SoundScan era to have her first four studio albums to debut at number one. It also debuted at the top of the charts in France and the top ten in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. In the Zone sold over 10 million copies worldwide. The album produced four singles: "Me Against the Music", a collaboration with Madonna; "Toxic"—which won Spears her first Grammy for Best Dance Recording; "Everytime", and "Outrageous". In January 2004, Spears married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The marriage was annulled 55 hours later, following a petition to the court that stated that Spears "lacked understanding of her actions". In March 2004, she embarked on The Onyx Hotel Tour in support of In the Zone. In June 2004, Spears fell and injured her left knee during the music video shoot for "Outrageous". Spears underwent arthroscopic surgery. She was forced to remain six weeks with a thigh brace, followed by eight to twelve weeks of rehabilitation, which caused The Onyx Hotel Tour to be canceled. During 2004, Spears became involved in the Kabbalah Centre through her friendship with Madonna. In July 2004, Spears became engaged to American dancer Kevin Federline, whom she had met three months before. The romance received intense attention from the media, since Federline had recently broken up with actress Shar Jackson, who was still pregnant with their second child at the time. The stages of their relationship were chronicled in Spears's first reality show . They held a wedding ceremony on September 18, 2004, but were not legally married until three weeks later on October 6 due to a delay finalizing the couple's prenuptial agreement. Shortly after, she released her first perfume with Elizabeth Arden, Curious, which broke the company's first-week gross for a perfume. In October 2004, Spears took a career break to start a family. , her first greatest hits compilation album, was released in November 2004. Spears's cover version of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative" was released as the lead single from the album, reaching the top of the charts in Finland, Ireland, Italy and Norway. The second single, "Do Somethin'", was a top ten hit in Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries of mainland Europe. In August 2005, Spears released "Someday (I Will Understand)", which was dedicated to her first child, a son, who was born the following month. In November 2005, she released her first remix compilation, , which consists of eleven remixes. It has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. In February 2006, pictures surfaced of Spears driving with her son, Sean, on her lap instead of in a car seat. Child advocates were horrified by the photos of her holding the wheel with one hand and Sean with the other. Spears claimed that the situation happened because of a frightening encounter with paparazzi, and that it was a mistake on her part. The following month, she guest-starred on the Will & Grace episode "Buy, Buy Baby" as closeted lesbian Amber Louise. She announced she no longer studied Kabbalah in June 2006, explaining, "my baby is my religion." Two months later, Spears posed nude for the cover of Harper's Bazaar. The picture was heavily compared to Demi Moore's August 1991 Vanity Fair cover. In September 2006, she gave birth to her second child, a son. In November 2006, Spears filed for divorce from Federline, citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce was finalized in July 2007, when the couple reached a global settlement and agreed to share joint custody of their children. Spears's aunt Sandra Bridges Covington, with whom she had been very close, died of ovarian cancer in January 2007. In February, Spears stayed in a drug rehabilitation facility in Antigua for less than a day. The following night, she shaved her head with electric clippers at a hair salon in Tarzana, Los Angeles. She admitted herself to other treatment facilities during the following weeks. In May 2007, she produced a series of promotional concerts at House of Blues venues, titled The M+M's Tour. In October 2007, Spears lost physical custody of her children to Federline. The reasons of the court ruling were not revealed to the public. Spears was also sued by Louis Vuitton over her 2005 music video "Do Somethin'" for upholstering her Hummer interior in counterfeit Louis Vuitton cherry blossom fabric, which resulted in the video being banned on European TV stations. In October 2007, Spears released her fifth studio album, Blackout. The album debuted at the top of charts in Canada and Ireland, number two in the U.S. Billboard 200, France, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom and the top ten in Australia, Korea, New Zealand and many European nations. In the United States, Spears became the only female artist to have her first five studio albums debut at the two top slots of the chart. The album received positive reviews from critics and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Blackout won Album of the Year at MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 and was listed as the fifth Best Pop Album of the Decade by The Times. Spears performed the lead single "Gimme More" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance was panned by many critics. Despite the backlash, the single rocketed to worldwide success, peaking at number one in Canada and the top ten in almost every country it charted. The second single "Piece of Me" reached the top of the charts in Ireland and reached the top five in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The third single "Break the Ice" was released the following year and had moderate success due to Spears not being able to promote it properly. In December 2007, Spears began a relationship with paparazzo Adnan Ghalib. In January 2008, Spears refused to relinquish custody of her sons to Federline's representatives. She was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after police that had arrived at her house noted she appeared to be under the influence of an unidentified substance. The following day, Spears's visitation rights were suspended at an emergency court hearing, and Federline was given sole physical and legal custody of the children. She was committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and put on 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. The court placed her under temporary, and later, permanent conservatorship of her father James Spears and attorney Andrew Wallet, giving them complete control of her assets. She was released five days later. The following month, Spears guest-starred on the How I Met Your Mother episode "Ten Sessions" as receptionist Abby. She received positive reviews for her performance, as well as bringing the series its highest ratings ever. In July 2008, Spears regained some visitation rights after coming to an agreement with Federline and his counsel. In September 2008, Spears opened the MTV Video Music Awards with a pre-taped comedy sketch with Jonah Hill and an introduction speech. She won Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year for "Piece of Me". A 60-minute introspective documentary, , was produced to chronicle Spears's return to the recording industry. Directed by Phil Griffin, For the Record was shot in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and New York City during the third quarter of 2008. The documentary was broadcast on MTV to 5.6 million viewers for the two airings on the premiere night. It was the highest rating in its Sunday night timeslot and in the network's history. In December 2008, Spears's sixth studio album Circus was released. It received positive reviews from critics and debuted at number one in Canada, Czech Republic and the United States, and inside the top ten in many European nations. In the United States, Spears became the youngest female artist to have five albums debut at number one, earning a place in Guinness World Records. She also became the only act in the Soundscan era to have four albums debut with 500,000 or more copies sold. The album was one of the fastest- selling albums of the year, and has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Womanizer", became Spears's first number one in the Billboard Hot 100 since "...Baby One More Time". The single also topped the charts in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden. It was also nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording. In January 2009, Spears and her father James obtained a restraining order against her former manager Sam Lutfi, ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib and attorney Jon Eardley – all of whom, court documents claim, had been conspiring to gain control of Spears's affairs. The restraining order forbids Lutfi and Ghalib from contacting Spears or coming within 250 yards of her, her property or family members. Spears embarked on The Circus Starring Britney Spears in March 2009. With a gross of U.S. $131.8 million, it became the fifth highest-grossing tour of the year. In November 2009, Spears released her second greatest hits album, The Singles Collection. The album's lead and only single, "3" became her third number one single in the U.S. In May 2010, Spears's representatives confirmed she was dating her agent Jason Trawick, and that they had decided to end their professional relationship to focus on their personal relationship. Spears designed a limited edition clothing line for Candie's, which was released in stores in July 2010. In September 2010, she made a cameo appearance on a Spears-themed tribute episode of American TV show Glee, titled "Britney/Brittany". The episode drew Glee's highest ratings ever. In March 2011, Spears released her seventh studio album Femme Fatale. The album peaked at number one in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and peaked inside the top ten on nearly every other chart. Its peak in the United States ties Britney with Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson for the third-most number ones among women. It has sold 1 million copies in the United States, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "Hold It Against Me" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Spears's fourth number-one single on the chart and making her the second artist in history to have two consecutive singles debut at number one, after Mariah Carey. The second single "Till the World Ends" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in May, while the third single "I Wanna Go" reached number seven in August. Femme Fatale became Spears's first album in which three of its songs reached the top ten of the chart. The fourth and final single "Criminal" was released in September 2011. The music video caused controversy when British politicians criticized Spears for using replica guns while filming the video in an area of London that had been badly affected by the 2011 England riots. Spears's management briefly responded, stating, "The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened." In April 2011, Spears appeared in a remix of Rihanna's song "S&M;". It reached number one in the US later in the month, giving Spears her fifth number one on the chart. On Billboards 2011 Year-End list, Spears was ranked number fourteen on the Artists of the Year, thirty-two on Billboard 200 artists and ten on Billboard Hot 100 artists. Spears co-wrote "Whiplash", a song from American pop rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene' third album When the Sun Goes Down. In June 2011, Spears embarked on the Femme Fatale Tour. The first ten dates of the tour grossed $6.2 million, landing the fifty-fifth spot on Pollstar's Top 100 North American Tours list for the half-way point of the year. The tour ended on December 10, 2011 in Puerto Rico after 79 performances. A DVD of the tour was released in November 2011. In August 2011, Spears received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. The next month, she released her second remix album, . In December, Spears became engaged to her long-time boyfriend Jason Trawick, who had formerly been her agent. Trawick became a co-conservator of Spears, alongside her father, in April 2012. In January 2013, Spears and Trawick ended their engagement. Trawick was also removed as Spears's co-conservator, restoring her father as the sole conservator. In May 2012, Spears was hired to replace Nicole Scherzinger as a judge for the second season of the U.S. version of The X Factor, joining Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid and fellow new judge Demi Lovato, who replaced Paula Abdul. With a reported salary of $15 million, she became the highest-paid judge on a singing competition series in television history. However, Katy Perry broke her record in 2018 after Perry was signed for a $25-million salary to serve as a judge on ABC's revival of American Idol. She mentored the Teens category; her final act, Carly Rose Sonenclar, was named the runner-up of the season. Spears did not return for the show's third season and her spot was filled by Kelly Rowland. Spears was featured on will.i.am's "Scream & Shout", which was released as a single from his fourth studio album, #willpower (2013). The song later became Spears's sixth number one single on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at No. 3 on US Billboard Hot 100. Scream & Shout was among the best selling songs of 2012 and 2013 with denoting sales of over 8.1 million worldwide, the accompanying music video was the third-most viewed video in 2013 on VEVO despite the video being released in 2012. In December, Forbes magazine named her music's top-earning woman of 2012, with estimated earnings of $58 million. Spears began work on her eighth studio album, Britney Jean, in December 2012, and enlisted will.i.am as its executive producer in May 2013. During the production of Britney Jean, Spears recorded the song "Ooh La La" for the soundtrack of The Smurfs 2, which was released in June 2013. On September 17, 2013, she appeared on Good Morning America to announce her two-year concert residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, titled . It began on December 27, 2013, and included a total of 100 shows throughout 2014 and 2015. During the same appearance, Spears announced that Britney Jean would be released on December 3, 2013, in the United States. It was released through RCA Records due to the disbandment of Jive Records in 2011, which had formed the joint RCA/Jive Label Group (initially known as BMG Label Group) between 2007 and 2011. Britney Jean became Spears's final project under her original recording contract with Jive, which had guaranteed the release of eight studio albums. The record received a low amount of promotion and had little commercial impact, reportedly due to time conflicts involving preparations for Britney: Piece of Me. Upon its release, the record debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 107,000 copies, becoming her lowest-peaking and lowest-selling album in the United States. Britney Jean debuted at number 34 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 12,959 copies in its first week. In doing so, it became Spears's lowest-charting and lowest-selling album in the country. "Work Bitch" was released as the lead single from Britney Jean on September 16, 2013, one day earlier than expected after being leaked online. It debuted and peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 marking Spears's 31st song on the chart and the fifth highest debut of her career on the chart, and her seventh in the top 20. It also marked Spears's 19th top 20 hit and overall her 23rd top 40 hit. The song marked Spears's highest sales debut since her 2011 number one hit "Hold It Against Me". "Work Bitch" also had commercial success in the UK debuting and peaking at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also charted well in several other countries, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain and South Korea. The second single "Perfume" premiered on November 3, 2013, two days earlier than originally announced. It debuted and peaked at number 76 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In October 2013, she was featured as a guest vocalist on Miley Cyrus's track "SMS (Bangerz)", taken from her fourth studio album Bangerz (2013). On January 8, 2014, Spears won Favorite Pop Artist at the 40th People's Choice Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. In August 2014, Spears confirmed she had renewed her contract with RCA and that she was writing and recording new music for her next album. Spears announced through her Twitter account in August 2014 that she would be releasing an intimate apparel line called "The Intimate Britney Spears". It was available to be purchased beginning on September 9, 2014 in the United States and Canada through Spears's Intimate Collection website. It was later available on September 25 for purchase in Europe. The company now ships to over 200 countries including Australia and New Zealand. On September 25, 2014, Spears confirmed on Good Morning Britain that she had extended her contract with The AXIS and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, to continue Britney: Piece of Me for two additional years. In March 2015, it was confirmed by People magazine that Spears would release a new single, "Pretty Girls", with Iggy Azalea, on May 4, 2015. The song debuted and peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted moderately in international territories. Spears and Azalea performed the track live at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards from The AXIS, the home of Spears's residency, to positive critical response. Entertainment Weekly praised the performance, noting "Spears gave one of her most energetic televised performances in years." On June 16, 2015, Giorgio Moroder released his album, Deja Vu, that featured Spears on "Tom's Diner". The song was released as the fourth single from the album on October 9. In an interview, Moroder praised Spears's vocals and said that she did a "good job" with the song and also stated that Spears "sounds so good that you would hardly recognize her." At the 2015 Teen Choice Awards, Spears received the Candie's Style Icon Award, her ninth Teen Choice Award. In November, Spears guest starred as a fictionalized version of herself on The CW series, Jane the Virgin. On the show, she danced to "Toxic" with Gina Rodriguez's character. In 2016, Spears confirmed via social media that she had begun recording her ninth studio album. On March 1, 2016, V magazine announced that Spears would appear on the cover of its 100th issue, dated March 8, 2016, in addition to revealing three different covers shot by photographer Mario Testino for the milestone publication. Editor-in-chief of the magazine, Stephen Gan, revealed that Spears was selected for the "V100" issue because of her status as an icon in the industry. On the decision, Gan stated, "who in our world did not grow up listening to her music?" In May 2016, Spears launched a casual role-play gaming application titled Britney Spears: American Dream. The app, created by Glu Mobile, was made available through both iOS and Google Play. On May 22, 2016, Spears performed a medley of her past singles at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards. In addition to opening the show, Spears was honored with the Billboard Millennium Award. On July 14, 2016, Spears released the lead single, "Make Me...", from her ninth studio album, featuring guest vocals from American rapper G-Eazy. The album, Glory, was formally released on August 26, 2016. On August 16, 2016, MTV and Spears announced that she would perform at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance marked Spears's first time returning to the VMA stage after her widely controversial performance of "Gimme More" at the 2007 show nine years earlier. Along with "Make Me...", Spears and G-Eazy also performed the latter's hit song "Me, Myself & I". Spears appeared on the cover of Marie Claire UK for the October 2016 issue. In the publication, Spears revealed that she had suffered from crippling anxiety in the past, and that motherhood played a major role in helping her overcome it. "My boys don't care if everything isn't perfect. They don't judge me," Spears said in the issue. In November 2016, during an interview with Las Vegas Blog, Spears confirmed she had already begun work on her next album, stating: "I'm not sure what I want the next album to sound like. [...] I just know that I'm excited to get into the studio again and actually have already been back recording." In January 2017, Spears received four wins out of four nominations at the 43rd People's Choice Awards, including Favorite Pop Artist, Female Artist, Social Media celebrity as well as Comedic Collaboration for a skit with Ellen DeGeneres for The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In March 2017, Spears announced that her residency concert would be performed abroad as a world tour, , with dates in select Asian cities. In April 2017, the Israeli Labor Party announced that it would reschedule its July primary election to avoid conflict with Spears's sold-out Tel Aviv concert, citing traffic and security concerns. Spears's manager Larry Rudolph also announced the residency would not be extended following her contract expiration with Caesars Entertainment at the end of 2017. On April 29, 2017, Spears became the first recipient of the Icon Award at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards. On November 4, 2017, Spears attended the grand opening of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation Britney Spears Campus in Las Vegas. Later that month, Forbes announced that Spears was the 8th highest earning female musician, earning $34 million in 2017. On December 31, 2017, Spears performed the final show of Britney: Piece of Me. The final performance reportedly brought in $1.172 million, setting a new box office record for a single show in Las Vegas, and breaking the record previously held by Jennifer Lopez. The last show was broadcast live with performances of "Toxic" and "Work Bitch" airing on ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to a record audience of 25.6 million. In January 2018, Spears released her 24th perfume with Elizabeth Arden, Sunset Fantasy, and announced the Piece of Me Tour which took place in July 2018 in North American and Europe. Tickets were sold out within minutes for major cities, and additional dates were added to meet the demand. Pitbull was the supporting act for the European leg. The tour ranked at 86 and 30 on Pollstar's 2018 Year-End Top 100 Tours chart both in North America and worldwide, respectively. In total, the tour grossed $54.3 million with 260,531 tickets sold and was the sixth highest-grossing female tour of 2018, and was the United Kingdom's second best-selling female tour of 2018. On March 20, 2018, Spears was announced as part of a campaign for French luxury fashion house Kenzo. The company said it aimed to shake up the 'jungle' world of fashion with Spears's 'La Collection Memento No. 2' campaign. On April 12, 2018, Spears was honored with the 2018 GLAAD Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for her role in "accelerating acceptance for the LGBTQ community". On April 27, 2018, Epic Rights announced a new partnership with Spears to debut her own fashion line in 2019, which would include clothing, fitness apparel, accessories, and electronics. In July 2018, Spears released her first unisex fragrance, Prerogative. On October 21, 2018, Spears performed at the Formula One Grand Prix in Austin, which ultimately served as the final performance of her Piece of Me Tour. On October 18, 2018, Spears announced her second Las Vegas residency show, , which was set to launch at Park MGM's Park Theatre on February 13, 2019. Spears was slated to make $507,000 per show, which would have made her the highest paid act on the Las Vegas Strip. However, on January 4, 2019, she announced that the residency was cancelled after her father had a near-fatal colon rupture. Her team also announced that Spears would go on an indefinite work hiatus, putting all activities and commitments on hold, so that she can spend time with her family. In March 2019, Spears's co- conservator Andrew Wallet resigned, and said "Substantial detriment, irreparable harm and immediate danger will result to the conservatee and her estate if the relief requested herein in not granted on an ex parte basis." The same month, Spears reportedly entered a psychiatric facility to focus on self-care amidst stress from her father's illness. The podcast Britney's Gram alleged, according to information from an anonymous paralegal source, that Spears had been held against her will in the facility since January 2019. They claimed the hospitalization and Domination cancellation were ordered by Spears's father after she decided to not take her medication and violated rules in her conservatorship, specifically driving. Britney's Gram and several news outlets questioned the length of the conservatorship, as it was supposed to end after The Circus Tour in 2009. Following the podcast, there was social media backlash to the alleged abuse of power and violation of human rights Spears has endured under a conservatorship by her father and the mismanagement of Lou Taylor, who was responsible for initiating the conservatorship. TMZ later posted several conflicting stories, detailing in a video that although Spears had not been formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she is receiving medication for it, and justified this, which was later deleted. On April 22, 2019, fans held a protest outside the West Hollywood City Hall, drawing attention towards the prolonged conservatorship, suggesting she was being detained against her will. Spears posted a video Instagram account on April 24, assuring fans all is well and also addressed leaked emails about Lou Taylor, claiming they were written by her ex-manager Sam Lutfi." Spears left the facility the following day. It was reported on April 24, 2019, that Spears would have a new conservatorship hearing for May 10, 2019. Spears attended the hearing with her mother. Following the hearing, an investigation was ordered into Spears's conservatorship. According to alleged reports by TMZ, she stated in court that she was forcibly put into the mental health facility. On September 3, 2019, it was reported that Spears' father and conservator allegedly abused her thirteen year old son, Sean Preston. Law enforcement spoke to The Blast to report the incident, stating Kevin Federline filed a police report on August 25. It was later reported that Jamie Spears was reportedly so enraged during an argument with his 13-year-old grandson that he broke down a door to get to the young boy, and the incident has sparked a child abuse investigation. Britney then sent her sons back to their father's home, despite it still being her custodial visit time. Spears' two sons have since been granted a three year restraining order against their grandfather. Spears has cited Madonna, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston as being major influences in her career, her "three favorite artists" as a child, whom she would "sing along to [...] day and night in [her] living room"; Houston's "I Have Nothing" was the song she auditioned to that landed her record deal with Jive Records. Throughout her career, Spears has drawn frequent comparisons to Madonna and Jackson in particular, in terms of vocals, choreography and stage presence. According to Spears: "I know when I was younger, I looked up to people... like, you know, Janet Jackson and Madonna. And they were major inspirations for me. But I also had my own identity and I knew who I was." In the 2002 book Madonnastyle by Carol Clerk, she is quoted saying: "I have been a huge fan of Madonna since I was a little girl. She's the person that I've really looked up to. I would really, really like to be a legend like Madonna." After meeting Spears face to face, Janet Jackson stated: "she said to me, 'I'm such a big fan; I really admire you.' That's so flattering. Everyone gets inspiration from some place. And it's awesome to see someone else coming up who's dancing and singing, and seeing how all these kids relate to her. A lot of people put it down, but what she does is a positive thing." Madonna said of Spears in the documentary : "I admire her talent as an artist [...] There are aspects about her that I recognize in myself when I first started out in my career". She has also named Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Otis Redding, Shania Twain, Brandy, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Natalie Imbruglia, Cher, and Prince as sources of inspiration. Spears also felt inspired by artists from younger generations, such as Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande. Spears is described as a pop singer and generally explores the genre in the form of Following her debut, she was credited with influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote: "Spears carries on the classic archetype of the rock & roll teen queen, the dungaree doll, the angel baby who just has to make a scene." In a review for ...Baby One More Time, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to her music as a "blend of infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth balladry." Oops!...I Did It Again saw Spears working with several contemporary R&B; producers, which led to "a combination of bubblegum, urban soul, and raga." Her third studio album, Britney derived from the teen pop niche "[r]hythmically and melodically", but was described as "sharper, tougher than what came before", incorporating genres such as R&B;, disco and funk. Spears has explored and heavily incorporated the genres of electropop and dance music in her records, as well as influences of urban and hip hop which are most present in In the Zone and Blackout. Femme Fatale and Britney Jean were also heavily influenced by electronic music genres. The music found on ...Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again generally explores themes such as love and relationships from a teenager's point of view. After the enormous success of her first two studio albums, Spears's team and producers wanted to maintain the formula that took her to the top of the charts. Spears, however, was no longer satisfied with the sound and themes covered on her records. She cowrote five songs and choose each track's producer on Britney, her third studio album, which lyrics address the subjects of reaching adulthood, sexuality and self-discovery. Sex, dancing, freedom and love continued to be Spears's music main subjects on her subsequent albums. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, also address issues such as media scrutiny and fame, most notably in "Piece of Me". Spears is a soprano. Prior to her breakthrough success, she is described as having sung "much deeper than her highly recognizable trademark voice of today", with Eric Foster White, who worked with Spears for her debut album ...Baby One More Time, being cited as "[shaping] her voice over the course of a month" upon being signed to Jive Records "to where it is today—distinctively, unmistakably Britney". Rami Yacoub who co-produced Spears's debut album with lyricist Max Martin, commented, "I know from Denniz Pop and Max's previous productions, when we do songs, there's kind of a nasal thing. With N' Sync and the Backstreet Boys, we had to push for that mid-nasal voice. When Britney did that, she got this kind of raspy, sexy voice." Guy Blackman of The Age wrote that "[t]he thing about Spears, though, is that her biggest songs, no matter how committee-created or impossibly polished, have always been convincing because of her delivery, her commitment and her presence. [...] Spears expresses perfectly the conflicting urges of adolescence, the tension between chastity and sexual experience, between hedonism and responsibility, between confidence and vulnerability." Producer William Orbit, who collaborated with Spears on her album Britney Jean, stated regarding her vocals: "[Britney] didn't get so big just because [she] put on great shows; [she] got to be that way because [her voice is] unique: you hear two words and you know who is singing". Spears has also been criticized for her reliance on auto-tune and her vocals being "over-processed" on records. Erlewine criticized Spears's poor singing abilities in a review for Blackout, saying, "Never the greatest vocalist, her thin squawk could be dismissed early in her career as an adolescent learning the ropes, but nearly a decade later her singing hasn't gotten any better, even if the studio tools to masquerade her weaknesses have." Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe remarked that "Spears sounds robotic, nearly inhuman, on her records, so processed is her voice by digital pitch-shifters and synthesizers." The Michigan Daily's Kayla Upadhyaya provided a different point of view, saying, "Auto-tuned and over-processed vocals define Britney's voice as an artist, and in her music, auto-tune isn't so much a gimmick as it is an instrument used to highlight, contort and make a statement." Spears is known for her stage performances, particularly the elaborate dance routines which incorporate "belly-dancing and tempered erotic moves" that are credited for influencing "dance-heavy acts" such as Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls. Rolling Stone magazine readers voted Spears as the second Favorite Dancing Musician. Spears is described as being much more shy than what her stage persona suggests. She claimed that performing is "a boost to [her] confidence. It's like an alter-ego type thing. Something clicks and I go and turn into this different person. I think it's kind of a gift to be able to do that." Her 2000, 2001, and 2003 MTV Video Music Awards performances received praise, while her 2007 presentation was widely panned by critics, as she "teetered through her dance steps and mouthed only occasional words". Billboard called her 2016 "comeback" performance at the show "An effective, but not entirely glorious, bid to regain pop superstardom". After her knee injuries and personal struggles, Spears's "showmanship" and dance abilities came under criticism. Serge F. Kovaleski of The New York Times watched her in 2016 and said: "Once a fluid, natural dancer, Ms. Spears can appear stiff, even robotic, today, relying on flailing arms and flashy sets." Las Vegas Sun's Robin Leach seemed more impressed over Spears's efforts on the concert by saying that she delivered a "flawless performance" on the residency's opening night. It has been widely reported that Spears lip-syncs during live performances, which often draws criticism from music critics and concert goers. Some, however, claimed that, although she "got plenty of digital support", she "doesn't merely lip-sync" during her live shows. In 2016, Sabrina Weiss of Refinery29 referred to her lip-syncing as a "well-known fact that's not even taboo anymore." Noting on the prevalence of lip-syncing, Los Angeles Daily News opined: "In the context of a Britney Spears concert, does it really matter? [...] you [just] go for the somewhat-ridiculous spectacle of it all". Spears spoke on the topic saying "[...] Because I'm dancing so much, I do have a little bit of playback, but there's a mixture of my voice and the playback." She added: "It really pisses me off because I'm busting my ass out there and singing at the same time and nobody ever gives me credit for it, you know?" Spears rose to fame as a bubblegum pop singer in the late 1990s and was labelled as a teen idol. Rolling Stone magazine described Spears in her early years of fame as "the latest model of a classic product: the unneurotic pop star who performs her duties with vaudevillian pluck and spokesmodel charm." The April 1999 cover of Rolling Stone featured Spears lying on her bed, wearing an open top revealing her bra, and shorts. The American Family Association (AFA) referred to the shoot as "a disturbing mix of childhood innocence and adult sexuality" and called on "God-loving Americans to boycott stores selling Britney's albums." Spears responded to the outcry commenting, "What's the big deal? I have strong morals. [...] I'd do it again. I thought the pictures were fine. And I was tired of being compared to Debbie Gibson and all of this bubblegum pop all the time." Shortly before, Spears had announced publicly she would remain a virgin until marriage. Billboard opined that, by the time she released her second album Oops!... I Did it Again, "There was a shift occurring in both the music and her public image: She was sharper, sexier and singing about more grown-up fare, setting the stage for 2001’s Britney". Britney's lead single "I'm a Slave 4 U" and its video were also credited for distancing her from her "wholesome bubblegum star" image of the past. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented, "If 2001's Britney was a transitional album, capturing Spears at the point when she wasn't a girl and not yet a woman, its 2003 follow-up, In the Zone, is where she has finally completed that journey and turned into Britney, the Adult Woman." Erlewine compared Spears to her peer Christina Aguilera, explaining that both equated "maturity with transparent sexuality and the pounding sounds of nightclubs". Spears's erratic behavior and personal struggles during 2006—2008 were highly publicised and affected both her career and public image. Erlewine reflected on that time of her career by saying that "each new disaster [was] stripping away any residual sexiness in her public image". Spears later received favorable media attention. Time's Cady Lang observed that she looked healthier during her appearance at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, while Business Insider wrote an article about how Spears "lost control of her life [...] and then made an incredible career comeback". In September 2002, she was ranked eight on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists list, and, in December 2012, Complex ranked her 12 on its 100 Hottest Female Singers of All Time list. Spears commented on her sex symbol image by saying, "[...] When I'm on stage, that's my time to do my thing and go there and be that — and it's fun. It's exhilarating just to be something that you're not. And people tend to believe it." In 2003, People cited her as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People. Spears is also recognized as a gay icon. She was honored with the 2018 GLAAD Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for her role in "accelerating acceptance for the LGBTQ community". Billboard's Patrick Crowley reflected on her winning the award, "While it's no secret that LGBTQ fans saw their struggle reflected in Spears' particularly rough mid-career slump, followed by her phoenix-like rise back to the top of the charts—it's really her outstanding advocacy for the community that earned her this award." Manuel Betancourt of Vice magazine wrote about the "queer adoration", especially of gay men, on Spears, and said that "Where other gay icons exude self-possession, Spears's fragile resilience has made her an even more fascinating role model, closer to Judy Garland than to Lady Gaga [...] she's a glittering mirror ball, a fractured reflection of those men on the dance floor back onto themselves." Since her early years of stardom, Spears become a tabloid fixture and a paparazzi target, which affected her personal life as well. Steve Huey of AllMusic claimed that "among female singers of [Spears's] era [...] her celebrity star power was rivaled only by Jennifer Lopez." 'Britney Spears' was Yahoo!'s most popular search term between 2005 and 2008, and has been in a total of seven different years. Spears was named as Most Searched Person in the Guinness World Records book edition 2007 and 2009. She was later named as the most searched person of the decade 2000–2009. E!'s Melanie Bromley described her 2007 highly publicised breakdown as "one of the biggest public meltdowns in pop culture history." She reflected on that time of her life in a 2017 interview, saying "I think I had to give myself more breaks through my career and take responsibility for my mental health. [...] I wrote back then, that I was lost and didn't know what to do with myself. I was trying to please everyone around me because that’s who I am deep inside. There are moments where I look back and think: 'What the hell was I thinking?'" As a public figure, Spears "has never been very publicly political". In October 2001, she registered as a Republican in Louisiana, according to public records. In a September 2003 interview on CNN, she spoke about the then-U.S. President George W. Bush and the Iraq War, by saying that "we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes [...] and be faithful in what happens". In 2016, she posted photos of a meeting with Hillary Clinton on her social media. Spears was described by Rolling Stone magazine as "One of the most controversial and successful female vocalists of the 2000s", which also pointed out that she, alongside other acts, "spearheaded the rise of post- millennial teen pop." Barbara Ellen of The Observer wrote in 2000: "Spears is famously one of the 'oldest' teenagers pop has ever produced, almost middle aged in terms of focus and determination. Many 19-year-olds haven't even started working by that age, whereas Britney, a former Mouseketeer, was that most unusual and volatile of American phenomena — a child with a full-time career. [...] Whereas other children develop at their own pace, Britney was developing at a pace set by the ferociously competitive American entertainment industry." Billboard's Robert Kelly observed that Spears's "sexy and coy" vocals on her debut single "...Baby One More Time" "kicked off a new era of pop vocal stylings that would influence countless artists to come." Spears has been recognised with a number of honorific nicknames, most notably the "Princess of Pop." Billboard claimed that she "has earned her title as one of pop's reigning queens. Since her early days as a Mouseketeer, [Spears] has pushed the boundaries of 21st century sounds, paving the way for a generation of artists to shamelessly embrace glossy pop and redefine how one can accrue consistent success in the music industry." In 2012, she was ranked as the fourth VH1's 50 Greatest Women of the Video Era show list. VH1 also cited her among its choices on the 100 Greatest Women in Music in 2012 and the 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons in 2003. NME critics ranked her single "Toxic" at number 92 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, writing that the song "reinvented popular dance music." In 2011, Adam Markovitz of Entertainment Weekly commented on Spears's voice and music: "We don't ask a whole lot from Britney Spears as an entertainer [...] we'll still send her straight up the charts simply because she's Britney. [...] She's an American institution, as deeply sacred and messed up as pro wrestling or the filibuster. [...] Spears is no technical singer, that's for sure. But backed by Martin and Dr. Luke's wall of pound, her vocals melt into a mix of babytalk coo and coital panting that is, in its own overprocessed way, just as iconic and propulsive as Michael Jackson's yips or Eminem's snarls." In 2018, Rolling Stone included Spears on its Millennial 100 list and said that, following the release of her music career in the late 1990s, she "quickly became the princess of pop, helping to usher in a new era for the genre that had gone dormant in the decade that followed New Kids on the Block. [...] Spears would lead an army of pop stars... built on slick Max Martin productions, plenty of sexual innuendo and dance-heavy performances. [She became] one of the most successful artists of all time — and a cautionary tale for a generation, whether they paid attention or not." Spears's work has influenced artists including Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Meghan Trainor, Demi Lovato, Kelly Key, Kristinia DeBarge, Little Boots, Charli XCX, Marina Diamandis, Tegan and Sara, Pixie Lott, Grimes, Selena Gomez, Hailee Steinfeld, Tinashe, Victoria Justice, Cassie, Leah Wellbaum of Slothrust, The Saturdays, Normani, Miley Cyrus, Cheryl, Lana Del Rey, Ava Max, and Billie Eilish. During the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga said that Spears "taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn't be the same without her." Gaga has also cited Spears as an influence, calling her "the most provocative performer of my time." Before Spears joined The X Factor, Simon Cowell explained that he is "fascinated by [Britney]. The fact that she's one of the most talked about – not just pop stars – but people in the world today, means that you've got this star power. [...] She's still hot, she's still having hit records and she's still controversial, there's a reason for that." Marina Diamandis named Spears as the main influence behind her album Electra Heart. Lana Del Rey has said that the music video for "Toxic" inspires her. Spears has had a direct influence on singer Porcelain Black's work after growing up around her music as a child. Black describes her music as a "love child between" Marilyn Manson and Spears. Spears's much- publicized personal struggles and her career comeback after this period has inspired some artists. Gwyneth Paltrow's character in 2010 drama film Country Strong was inspired by the singer's treatment by the media. According to film director Shana Fest, "that's where this movie came from. I mean, I was seeing what was happening in the media to Britney Spears. I think it's tragic how we treat people who give us so much, and we love to see them knocked down to build them back up again, to knock them down again." Nicki Minaj has cited Spears's comeback after her much-publicized personal issues as an inspiration. Spears's hounding by paparazzi and personal struggles also contributed to inspiring Barry Manilow's album 15 Minutes. Manilow said: "She couldn't have a life without them pulling up next to her car and following her and driving her crazy to the point where, that was around the time she shaved off her hair. [...] We all looked at it in horror [...] So it seemed like a thing to be writing an album about." Bebo Norman wrote a song about Spears, called "Britney", which was inspired by "culture's make-or-break treatment of celebrities." Spears has earned numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award; seven Guinness World Records; six MTV Video Music Awards, including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award; seven Billboard Music Awards, including the Millennium Award; the inaugural Radio Disney Icon Award; the GLAAD Media Award's Vanguard Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is listed by the Guinness World Records as having the "Best-selling album by a teenage solo artist" for her debut album ...Baby One More Time which sold over thirteen million copies in the United States. Melissa Ruggieri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported: "She's also marked for being the best-selling teenage artist. Before she turned 20 in 2001, Spears sold more than 37 million albums worldwide". , according to Billboard, she has sold 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time; and more than 70 million records in United States, including 36.9 million digital singles and 33.6 million digital albums. Spears is also recognized as the best-selling female albums artist of the 2000s in the United States, as well as the fifth overall. In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Spears the 8th Artist of the 2000s decade in the United States. She is one of the few artists in history to have had a number one single and a number one studio album in the US during each of the three decades of her career. With "3" in 2009 and "Hold It Against Me" in 2011, she became the second artist after Mariah Carey in the Hot 100's history to debut at number one with two or more songs. In 2016, Spears ranked at number twenty on Billboards Greatest Of All Time Top Dance Club Artists list. In 2000, the singer released a limited edition of sunglasses titled Shades of Britney. In 2001, Spears signed a deal with shoe company Skechers, and a $7–8 million promotional deal with Pepsi, their biggest entertainment deal at the time. Aside from numerous commercials with the latter during that year, she also appeared in a 2004 Pepsi television commercial in the theme of "Gladiators" with singers Beyoncé, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. On June 19, 2002, she released her first multi-platform video game, Britney's Dance Beat, which received positive reviews. In March 2009, Spears was announced as the new face of clothing brand Candie's. Dari Marder, chief marketing officer for the brand, explained why they choose the singer, saying, "everybody loves a comeback and nobody's doing it better than Britney. She's just poised for even greater success." In 2010, Spears designed a limited edition line for the brand, which was released in stores in July 2010. In 2011, she teamed up with Sony, Make Up For Ever and PlentyofFish to release her music video for "Hold It Against Me", earning her $500,000 for the product placement. Spears also teamed up with Hasbro in 2012 to release an exclusive version of Twister Dance, which includes a remix of "Till the World Ends". The singer was also featured on a commercial, which was directed by Ray Kay, to promote the game. Spears was also featured on the commercial of "Twister Rave" and the game included a Twister remix of "Circus". In March 2018, it was revealed that Spears would be the face of KENZO, a contemporary French luxury clothing house. Spears's range of commercial deals and products also includes beauty care products and perfumes. She released her first perfume with Elizabeth Arden, Curious in 2004, which broke the company's first-week gross for a perfume. By 2009, she had released seven more perfumes including Fantasy. In 2010, Spears released her eighth fragrance, Radiance. In March 2011, company Brand Sense filed a lawsuit against Spears and Elizabeth Arden seeking $10 million in damages, claiming that the singer and her father, Jamie, stopped paying their thirty-five percent commission that was agreed as part of the contract terms. In July 2011, a Los Angeles judge denied the request by the company lawyers, claiming the fact that Spears is still under conservatorship. Brand Sense, however, stated that they would appeal the decision. In 2011, Radiance was re-issued as a new perfume titled Cosmic Radiance. Worldwide, Spears sold over one million bottles in the first five years, with gross receipts of $1.5 billion. In 2016, Spears contacted Glu Mobile to create her own role-playing game, Britney Spears: American Dream. The app officially launched in May 2016 and is compatible with IOS and Android. On June 17, 2016, Spears announced the release of her twentieth fragrance, Private Show. , Spears has released 24 fragrances through Elizabeth Arden. The singer founded The Britney Spears Foundation, a charitable entity set up to help children in need. The philosophy behind the Foundation was that music and entertainment has a healing quality that can benefit children. The Foundation also supported the annual Britney Spears Camp for the Performing Arts, where campers had the opportunity to explore and develop their talents. In April 2002, through the efforts of Spears and The Britney Spears Foundation, a grant of $1 million was made to the Twin Towers Fund to support the children of uniformed service heroes affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, including New York City Fire Department and its Emergency Medical Services Command, the New York City Police Department, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York State Office of court Administration and other government offices. However, it was reported in 2008 that the Foundation had a deficit of $200,000. After the singer went through conservatorship, her father and lawyer Andrew Wallet zeroed out the effort, leading to its closure in 2011. On October 30, 2001, Spears, alongside Bono and other popular recording artists under the name "Artists Against AIDS Worldwide", released a single titled "What's Going On", with the intention to benefit AIDS programs in Africa and other impoverished regions. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, Spears donated $350,000 to Music Rising. Later in 2011, the singer raised $200,000 during An Evening of Southern Style at a private residence in Beverly Hills to benefit the St. Bernard Project, with the help of several celebrities, including Hilary Duff, Selena Gomez, Kelly Osbourne, Kellan Lutz and Kim Kardashian. Spears has also helped several charities during her career, including Madonna's Kabbalah-based Spirituality for Kids, cancer charity Gilda's Club Worldwide, Promises Foundation, and United Way, with the latter two focused on giving families from various disadvantaged situations new hope and stable foundations for the future. On October 24, 2015, Spears donated $120,000 to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. In addition, $1 of each ticket sale for her Las Vegas residency, Britney: Piece of Me, was donated to the nonprofit organization. Spears also fundraised for the charity through social media, in addition to selling limited edition merchandise, with all proceeds going to the NCCF. On October 27, 2016, Spears partnered with Zappos and XCYCLE to host the Britney Spears Piece of Me Charity Ride in Boca Park, Las Vegas to raise additional money toward her goal of $1 million for the NCCF, with $450,000 having already been raised from Spears's ticket sales and merchandise. Participants were entered for a chance to win a spin class with Spears herself. The event ultimately went on to raise $553,130. The fundraising ultimately led to the development of the NCCF Britney Spears Campus in Las Vegas, which saw its grand opening on November 4, 2017. Spears also regularly participates in Spirit Day to combat bullying of LGBTQ youth and bullying. ...Baby One More Time (1999), Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), Britney (2001), In the Zone (2003), Blackout (2007), Circus (2008), Femme Fatale (2011), Britney Jean (2013), Glory (2016) Longshot (2001), Crossroads (2002), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Corporate Animals (2019) ...Baby One More Time Tour (1999–2000), Crazy 2k Tour (2000), Oops!... I Did It Again Tour (2000–2001), Dream Within a Dream Tour (2001–2002), The Onyx Hotel Tour (2004), The M+M's Tour (2007), The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), Femme Fatale Tour (2011), (2017), Piece of Me Tour (2018) (2013–2017), (TBD; Placed on hold due to hiatus) Honorific nicknames in popular music, List of best-selling music artists, List of best-selling music artists in the United States, Artists with the most number-one European singles, List of artists who reached number one in the United States, List of best-selling singles worldwide, List of highest-grossing concert tours Dennis, Steve (2009). Britney: Inside the Dream. Harper Collins. ., Peters, Beth (1999). True Brit: The Story of Singing Sensation Britney Spears. Ballantine Books. ., Scott, Kieran (2001). I was a Mouseketeer!. Disney Press. ., Smith, Sean (2006). Britney: The Unauthorized Biography of Britney Spears. Pan Macmillan. ., Spears, Britney (2000). Britney Spears' Heart to Heart. Three Rivers Press. ., Stevens, Amanda (2001). Britney Spears: The Illustrated Story. Billboard Books. . Circus is the sixth studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on November 28, 2008 through Jive Records. Looking to transition from her "darker and more urban" fifth studio album Blackout (2007), Spears wanted to make her next project "a little bit lighter". She recorded the album during the summer of 2008, after her much-publicized personal struggles saw her placement under a temporary conservatorship earlier that year. As executive producers, Larry Rudolph and Teresa LaBarbera Whites enlisted collaborators including Spears' longtime colleague Max Martin and Nate "Danja" Hills. Upon its release, Circus received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its production but were ambivalent towards its lyrical content. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over 505,000 copies, making it her fifth album to reach the top of the chart. Four singles were released from the album, three of which became international hits. Its lead single "Womanizer" peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and registered as the largest jump to the top of the chart at the time after debuting at number ninety-six. It became Spears's best-selling song in the country since "...Baby One More Time", and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards (2010). The second and third singles "Circus" and "If U Seek Amy" peaked at numbers three and nineteen in the country, respectively. Consequentially, Circus became Spears's second album after her debut effort ...Baby One More Time (1999) to have two top-ten singles and three top-twenty singles, also being her first to have two top-five singles in the United States along with five charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100. To promote the album, Spears embarked on a concert tour titled The Circus Starring Britney Spears, which commenced in March 2009. During the summer of 2008, it was confirmed that Spears was in the process of recording her sixth studio album. With the album's announcement came the additional confirmation of the involvement of producers Sean Garrett, Guy Sigsworth, Danja and Bloodshy & Avant. During its development, Garrett and vocal producer Jim Beanz complimented Spears's work ethic after her much- publicized personal struggles the previous year. Spears chose to write much of the material for the album and worked to develop a more pop-influenced record with collaborators she had worked with earlier in her career. She stated that Circus marked the longest time she had spent recording an album, adding, "I think it is more urban [...] I'm writing every day, right here at the piano in this living room" and also described the album as her best work to date. Producer Claude Kelly discussed the album's initial lack of concept saying, "When I went in with [Dr. Luke] we knew we were going to maybe write something for [Britney], but there was no concept, it was just knowing her style and knowing what she does. Max Martin, who produced Spears' debut single "...Baby One More Time", produced "If U Seek Amy" for the album. The Outsyders, an Atlanta-based production team, produced the album's first single, while Fernando Garibay worked on two bonus songs for Spears. Danja reported that he worked on the tracks at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and Spears recorded them at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank; the Canadian trio Let's Go to War co-wrote and produced the track "Mmm Papi". Lil Jon, Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, and Taio Cruz announced they were working with Spears, though their songs weren't included on the official track listing. Bonus track and the fourth single from the album "Radar" was, since it was included on Spears's previous studio album Blackout (2007), recorded on November 8, 2006, the day after Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, at Sony Music Studios in New York City. Spears commented of the album's title: "I like the fact that you're always on the edge of your seat when you're at a circus. You're never bored [...] You're just really engulfed in what's going on around you. And you want to know what's going to happen next." Circus has been described as a sequel to Spears's fifth studio album Blackout. She described the album as "lighter" than Blackout, which was more urban sounding. Its "fiery" and "confrontational" lyrics have been also compared to those of its predecessor. The album has been compared to the works of Janet Jackson, Eurythmics, New Order and the songwriting of Prince, Leiber & Stoller and Phil Spector. Circus incorporates themes that were acknowledged in Spears's earlier work. "Circus" and "Kill the Lights" discuss fame, which was previously seen in "Piece of Me", while "Womanizer" and "Shattered Glass" talk about a womanizing man. Circus opens with its lead single "Womanizer". It features synth sirens with a repetitive chorus, and lyrically discusses a cheating man; it was described by Spears as a girl anthem. "Circus" addresses her feelings as an entertainer and performing, highlighted in the lines "All eyes on me in the centre of the ring just like a circus / When I crack that whip everybody gonna trip just like a circus". Its electronic dance elements were compared by PopJustice to those of Spears's earlier single "Break the Ice". The ballad "Out from Under" incorporates acoustic guitar backings. "Kill the Lights" is a dance-pop song that talks about Spears's conflict with paparazzi. Critics noted similarities to Spears's own "Piece of Me". "Shattered Glass" utilizes dark electronic beats and details a non-repairable relationship. "If U Seek Amy" integrates "glam-rave" elements with traditional pop styles; it gained controversy for its double entendre, where the title sounds phonetically like "F-U-C-K me". The electropop track "Unusual You" deals with a woman finding unexpected love. It has been compared to musical themes from the 1980s and 1990s, and has been noted as a "pulsating ballad", with the song also drawing comparisons to the "shimmering waterfall mood first popularized by Janet Jackson". "Blur", which features Spears singing in a lower register, sees the inclusion of urban influences, and lyrically recalls the morning after a party with lyrics "Can't remember what I did last night/I gotta get my head right, where the hell am I? Who are you? What'd we do last night?"; it drew similarities to Spears' song "Early Mornin" from In the Zone. "Mmm Papi" draws elements from a 1960s go-go rock guitar and Latin-pop dance hall themes. Despite its "fun" nature, it was criticized for appearing to "revisit the Lolita persona of "…Baby One More Time". It has been suggested that its lyrics deal with either Spears's father Jamie or paparazzo Adnan Ghalib. "Mannequin" is a dance-pop song with a trip hop influence; while being noted for its "risky" and "futuristic" nature, it has also been suggested that Spears's vocals sounded "lifeless". "Lace and Leather" gained comparisons to "Control era Janet Jackson", Prince, and Vanity 6's works from the 1980s and featured a then-unknown Kesha as a backing vocalist. "My Baby", described as having a "faux-Janet Jackson vocal", was written by Spears about her two sons Sean Preston and Jayden James Federline. Circus was initially scheduled to be released worldwide on December 2, 2008, Spears's twenty-seventh birthday. However, after unauthorized online leaks, imeem began streaming the album from their website on November 25. The album shared a release date with the similarly titled album The Circus by British group Take That. Both standard and deluxe editions of the album were released in Europe on November 28, 2008 and in the United States on December 2, 2008. To promote the album, Jive Records set up a hotline where fans could leave a message for Spears, some of which received a return phone call from her. Some songs were previewed through the website of the New York radio station WKTU and Amazon.com. MTV aired a ninety-minute long documentary on November 30, 2008, documenting her return to her career. In May 2009, Jive's official website held a Britney Spears Global Fan-Fiction Contest, which required a fan to submit a two-hundred-word story based on one of the songs from Circus. The public were allowed to vote for their favorite short story which would be produced into an animated music video. The winning story was based on the song "Kill the Lights"; the video premiered on July 27, 2009. Spears's live comeback began on November 6, 2008 with a cameo appearance at the Dodger Stadium show of Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09). Midway through the performance of "Human Nature", Spears joined Madonna on stage. The week prior to the album's release, Spears performed in several countries as a part of the Circus Promo Tour. On November 27, 2008, Spears performed "Womanizer" live at the 2008 Bambi Awards in Offenburg, Germany, where she received an award for Best International Pop Star. In addition, she performed the song on Star Academy in France the following day and on The X Factor in the United Kingdom on November 29. Her performance on The X Factor was watched by an average of 11,880,000 citizens in the United Kingdom. Spears premiered her second single "Circus" on the Big Apple Circus at the Good Morning America in New York City, and also performed "Womanizer" on December 2, 2008 which coincided with her twenty-seventh birthday and the release of Circus. On December 16, 2008, she performed on NTV Japan's-3000 Best Artist of 2008. While performing on Good Morning America on December 2, 2008, Spears announced her fifth worldwide concert tour, titled The Circus Starring Britney Spears. She first revealed the first leg of twenty-five dates in the United States and two in the United Kingdom. Her longtime manager Larry Rudolph stated that the tour would "blow people's minds and promises to show Britney's fans something they will never forget", later adding, "she goes full-speed the whole show — about an hour and a half. It's pretty intense. This is a full-blown, full-out Britney Spears show, It is everything everybody expects from her — and more!" Spears also expressed excitement in including songs from Blackout into the setlist, as she didn't tour to promote it. The tour began on March 3, 2009 in New Orleans' New Orleans Arena and finished on November 29, 2009 in Adelaide's Adelaide Entertainment Centre. There were four legs of the tour, visiting North America twice, and others being Europe and Australia. The stage was composed of three rings and set in-the-round to resemble an actual circus. Fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten created the costumes. A giant cylinder screen was set above the stage to showcase videos and backdrops. Effects were provided by Solotech. The setlist was composed generally from her albums In the Zone, Blackout and Circus. In June 2009, Britney announced she would tour Australia for the first time; she was also rumored to tour South America, though her manager Adam Leber denied this despite their efforts to do so. Controversy arose during the Australian leg of the tour after several fans walked out of the performances due to Spears's alleged lip-synching; such claims were later denied by Spears's management and promoters. The tour was ranked as the fourth highest-grossing tour of the year in North America, becoming the highest-grossing tour of the year by a solo artist. In February 2010, Pollstar released their Top 50 Worldwide Concert Tours of 2009; The Circus Starring Britney Spears was ranked as the fifth highest-grossing tour worldwide of the year, with a gross of $131.8 million. In May 2010, Hollyscoop ranked the tour at the fifth position in their 15 Most Profitable Female Tours Ever list. "Womanizer" was released on September 26, 2008 as the album's lead single. The song was met with positive response from critics, who complimented its hook and empowering lyrics and deemed it as a return of form and a "comeback" single for Spears. Womanizer debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-six before jumping to number one the next week. The song broke the record for the largest leap to any position. The record was later broken by Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You". The song is considered one of Spears's biggest songs and has been covered by several other artists. "Womanizer" has sold over 3,500,000 digital downloads in the United States. The music video premiered on October 18, 2008 as a spiritual sequel to "Toxic" (2004). It portrays Spears as a woman who disguises herself in different costumes and follows her boyfriend through his daily activities to expose him in the end. "Circus" was released on December 4, 2008 as the album's second single, a day earlier than planned due to unauthorized leaks. It debuted and peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Circus" has sold over 3,200,000 digital downloads in the United States. The accompanying music video portrays Spears as a ringleader of a circus accompanied by different performers, and features scenes of Spears in different circus settings. The video received positive reviews from critics, but was criticized for featuring "cruelly trained animals", however claims were dismissed. It won a Best Video award on Fuse TV. "If U Seek Amy" was released on March 10, 2009 as the album's third single. Due to the song's double entendre in the chorus, the Parents Television Council (PTC) threatened to file indecency complaints with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against any station that played the song between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. A clean edit of the song, titled "If U See Amy", was later provided by Jive Records. The song peaked at number nineteen on the US Billboard Hot 100. The music video was released on March 12, 2009, and depicts Spears poking fun at American culture. "Radar" was originally included on Blackout and to be released as its fourth and final single. However, its release was cancelled when Spears began work on Circus, and was instead released as a promotional single in 2008. "Radar" was included as a bonus track on Circus and was released as the album's fourth single on June 23, 2009. The music video portrays Spears as an aristocrat at a polo mansion involved in a love triangle with two men who are polo players. "Radar" originally entered the US Digital Songs at number fifty-two due to digital downloads from Blackout and after being confirmed as a single entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety and then peaked at number eighty-eight the following week. Upon its release, Circus received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of hundred to reviews from mainstream critics, Circus received an average score of sixty- four, based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine provided a favorable review, describing it as a "friendly remake of the hedonistic Blackout", but preferred its predecessor for being more "sleek or addictive" than Circus. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club appreciated that Spears appeared to "put some real effort into her Circus performances", rather than seeming "flat-sounding" as she felt Blackout had. Writing for Digital Spy, Nick Levine opined that Spears "sounds more confident" than she had on Blackout. While Chris Willman from Entertainment Weekly appreciated the overall production of Circus, he was critical of Spears' recently established pattern of "putting out albums with titles that promise more self-revelation than she's ultimately able to provide." Robert Christgau gave Circus a two-star honorable mention, stating that it was "still fun more often than not". Jon Pareles of The New York Times expressed his enjoyment of the "crisp" material that incorporated "catchy melodic interludes". Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone opined that the "clubby, adventurous pop" included on the album could have been a satisfactory successor to her fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). Writing for USA Today, Steve Jones applauded Spears for being "resilient" and "[knowing] who she is as a singer" and not "[wasting] time searching for artistic direction or overthinking her appeal." The Village Voice considered it "no better or worse than Janet Jackson's dominatrix-lite Discipline." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian gave a more mixed review, suggesting that Spears "frequently sounds disconnected, even a bit bored" throughout the record, whereas Blackout was a "relentless, risky album made by a woman whose obituary was apparently being prepared by Associated Press." A writer for The Independent gave a negative review, opining that Spears' vocal delivery sounded emotionless in mid-tempo and ballad-paced tracks. Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson shared a similar sentiment, suggesting that the album's "self-actualization" gave off a "hollow" feel through the majority of the record. Ann Powers from Los Angeles Times felt that Circus served as a "bang-up job" of stating that "Spears is still a young woman trying to manage an impossible situation." Writing for NME, Hamish MacBain was disappointed that "Spears is quite simply rubbish at being sexy", adding that Circus is the "umpteenth attempt to turn the perceived chaos of Britney's transition to adulthood – she's 27 next week! – into sleazy, raunchy, dirrty adult-pop product." Circus debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of over 505,000 copies. It was the second biggest debut week sales by a female artist of 2008, only behind Taylor Swift's Fearless. The album spent nine weeks in the top ten, making it Spears's longest-running top-ten album since Oops!... I Did It Again, which spent twenty-three weeks in the top ten in 2000. Circus was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 29, 2009. According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of March 2015, the album has sold 1.7 million copies in the United States. With over 51,000 units sold, the album opened at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, her best first-week sales in the country since Oops!... I Did It Again, which sold 95,000 copies in May 2000. In less than a month, Circus became the ninth best-selling album of 2008, with 143,000 copies, and one of the top ten selling digital albums of the year with over 10,100 downloads. In March 2009, Circus was certified triple platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting 240,000 shipped copies to retailers. In Mexico, the album debuted atop the international chart and at number three on Top 100 Mexico, selling over 46,000 copies and being certified gold by the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON) in its first week. In Oceania, the album was a top-ten success, peaking at number three in Australia and number six in New Zealand, and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) after three weeks for shipments of 70,000 units. It has since gone on to be certified double platinum for shipments of 140,000 units. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart, spending thirty-one weeks on the chart. The album was certified Platinum in the United Kingdom. In France, the album sold 18,319 copies in its first two days of release, debuting at number five on the French Albums Chart. In Japan, the album peaked at number five on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Despite not being released as singles, several songs from "Circus" appeared on Billboards component charts after the album's release. "Shattered Glass", peaked at number seventy on the US Billboard Hot 100, higher than the album's fourth single "Radar". It peaked at number twenty-nine on the US Hot Digital Songs, while peaking at number thirty-six on Canadian Hot Digital Songs. The song also entered the Pop 100 chart, peaking at number fifty-seven. "Unusual You", "Lace and Leather" and "Mmm Papi" peaked at numbers eighty, eighty-four and ninety-four on the US Pop 100, respectively. "Out from Under" debuted at number forty on Swedish Singles Chart on the week of August 14, 2009, reaching number thirty-two following week. It stayed on the chart for five weeks. Notes Track 3, "Out from Under" is a cover of the 2007 Joanna Pacitti song recorded for ., signifies a vocal producer, signifies a co-producer Credits adapted from AllMusic. Jim Beanz – engineer, vocal producer, David Boyd – engineer, Luke Boyd – background vocals, K. Briscoe – producer, Jim Carauna – engineer, Tom Coyne – mastering, Brendan Dekora – assistant, engineer, Cathy Dennis – background vocals, Patti Dubroff – make-up, Laura Duncan – wardrobe, Eric Eylands – assistant, assistant engineer, Niklas Flyckt – mixing, Serban Ghenea – mixing, Angela Golightly – production coordination, Aniela Gottwald – assistant, assistant engineer, Dr. Luke – drums, guitar, keyboards, programming, Tatiana Gottwald – assistant engineer, Dabling Harward – engineer, Leah Haywood – background vocals, Jeri Heiden – art direction, John Heiden – design, Andrew Hey – engineer, Wade Martin – producer, recording, Henrik Jonback – bass, engineer, guitar, Chris Kasych – assistant, assistant engineer, Claude Kelly – vocal producer, background vocals, Rob Knox – producer, Kasia Livingston – background vocals, Myah Marie – background vocals, Max Martin – producer, programming, background vocals, Tony Maserati – mixing, Harvey Mason, Jr. – mixing, producer, Chris McMillan – hair stylist, Nicole Morier – vocal producer, background vocals, Jackie Murphy – art direction, Candice Nelson – background vocals, Jared Newcomb – assistant, mixing assistant, Debi Nova – background vocals, Andy Page – drum programming, engineer, guitar, mixing, piano, strings, synthesizer, synthesizer bass, Tim Roberts – Pro Tools, Larry Rudolph – executive producer, manager, Guy Sigsworth – drum programming, keyboards, producer, strings, Britney Spears – vocals, background vocals, concept, songwriter, Nick Steinhardt – design, Ron Taylor – Pro-Tools, Valente Torrez – assistant, Kate Turning – photography, Windy Wagner – background vocals, Seth Waldmann – engineer, Eric Weaver – assistant, assistant engineer, engineer, Theresa LaBarbera Whites – A&R;, executive producer, David Wright "Touch" – production coordination, Emily Wright – engineer, vocal editing, Andrew Wyatt – engineer, Lady Gaga – background vocals, songwriter Official website Britney Jean is the eighth studio album recorded by American singer Britney Spears, serving as the singer's second eponymous record after Britney (2001); though the album's name refers to both her first and middle names. The album was made available for music download on December 3, 2013 by RCA Records. It marks Spears' first major activity since the dissolution of her long-time record label, Jive Records, in 2011. The singer began recording material for Britney Jean in May 2013, eventually continuing into October of that year. On numerous occasions, Spears has described the album as the most personal record from her catalog. Having assumed an integral position in its production, she co-wrote each track and collaborated with songwriters and producers including Sia and will.i.am to achieve her desired sound. Furthermore, the record features guest vocals from Spears' sister Jamie Lynn, T.I., and will.i.am. Upon its release, Britney Jean received mixed reviews from music critics, who felt the album was impersonal despite its marketing, and were ambivalent towards its dated production. The album drew controversy over the authenticity of some vocals. The record debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 107,000 copies. In doing so, it became Spears' lowest- peaking and lowest-selling record in the United States. The same happened in the United Kingdom, where it debuted at number 34; worldwide, Britney Jean reached the top 20 and top 30 in most countries. The album was eventually certified gold in United States for combined sales, streams and track- equivalent units of 500,000 units. "Work Bitch" was released as the lead single from Britney Jean on September 17, 2013. The track debuted and peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was a moderate success worldwide, later becoming one of her classic songs. "Perfume" was released as the second and final single from the album on November 4, 2013, and peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100. No further promotion was done for the record, a situation which was reported in the media. However, Spears appeared on Good Morning America on September 17 to announce a two-year (eventually extended to four years) residency show at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, titled , which began in December 2013. In 2012, while serving as a judge on the second season of the American version of The X Factor, Britney Spears was spotted in the recording studio with producer Rodney Jerkins. Songwriter Elijah Blake commented that Spears was "definitely trying to push the envelope" by "playing with new textures and stomping on new grounds and genres." Their collaborations, however, were denied by Spears's representative, though he confirmed that producer Hit-Boy worked with Spears to create a "global sound" fusing elements of hip-hop and pop. Producer Scoop DeVille had also worked with Spears for the album's early stages. Additionally, Spears had also recorded an unused song with rapper Wiz Khalifa for the album. In an interview with Shape Magazine, Spears described the album's initial concept as having a hip-hop feel, saying "the record is definitely going to be more hip-hop than pop this time around." In May 2013, Naughty Boy and William Orbit were announced to be working on the record; the former expressed his satisfaction with his collaborations with Spears, adding that he had wanted always wanted to "do something a bit different." He commented that he is "a big fan of pop music and that culture", and wanted to "keep that going [...] in [his] own kind of style." Later that month, will.i.am was confirmed as the executive producer of the project. He described that his recording process differed from his past experience with the Black Eyed Peas, elaborating that "[he and Spears] had these juicy sessions, where [they had] been bonding, building the trust and comfort." The album's associate executive producer was Anthony Preston for will.i.am music. In July 2013, Spears acknowledged through Twitter that she "wrote such a special song" with Sia, which was later revealed to be Spears' favorite track, the ballad "Perfume". The following month, she reportedly traveled to Lake District in the United Kingdom to continue work with Naughty Boy and Orbit. Naughty Boy later stated he wasn't able to work on the material for the album with Orbit because he "wasn't able to come to L.A. at the time [as he] was promoting 'La La La' around the world." On numerous occasions, Spears has considered Britney Jean to be the most personal record from her catalog. She stated that her experiences in recent years, including her break-up with ex-fiancé Jason Trawick, encouraged her to "dig deeper and write songs that [she thinks] everyone can relate to." Spears added that the production of the record was an "amazing experience" and that her colleagues "helped [her] bring [her ideas] to life." Spears told Rudolph, "I want Will to be a central figure in the album; I don't want to have hundreds of songs sent over." Britney Jean has been described as a concept album about "the loneliness of pop life". The opening track "Alien" deems celebrity an isolating experience that Britney describes in terms of feeling like an extraterrestrial over synth bleaps, which according to some critics, "it echoes William Orbit work with Madonna on Ray of Light". The second track "Work Bitch" is an EDM song, where Spears sings about what it takes to be rich, famous and beautiful, repeatedly encouraging listeners to "get to work, bitch." The third track "Perfume" is a 1980s-influenced power ballad, which Spears described as "incredibly special to me because it hits close to home, and I think the story is relatable to everyone. Everyone's been through an insecure moment in a relationship that's left them vulnerable and I think this song captures that." The fourth track "It Should Be Easy", which features will.i.am, insists that love "shouldn't be complicated", with Spears imagining a bright-normal-future with a man who's stolen her heart, with "robotized" voice and EDM beats. The song was heavily criticized for the excessive use of Autotune, credited by will.i.am. The album's fifth track "Tik Tik Boom" finds Spears begging a lover to make her "tik, tik, tik, tik, boom" over trap beats. It was described as a "club banger" and "the closest the album comes to bringing Blackout 2.0 to life", featuring a "sex-drenched" appearance from rapper T.I. "Body Ache" follows with its lyrical theme about dancing hard in a club, over shrieking sirens and EDM beats, whilst "Til It's Gone" gives value to the stability of a good relationship, albeit after it dissolves, with its electronic and EDM sounds. With the eighth track "Passenger", which noodles around with some EDM impulses before imploding into "brooding" pop-rock, Spears emotes about finding happiness after being willing to cede control. "Chillin' With You" features Spears' young sister Jamie Lynn into a song about grasping at happiness over lush trap, EDM and country pop sound. The album's closing track on the standard edition, "Don't Cry", opens with a spaghetti Western-esque whistle, and it finds Britney refusing to give in to post-relationship grief. Some critics labelled it "her best vocal performance on the album." In May 2013, record producer Danja, who collaborated with Spears during its production, commented that he "[doesn't] know when the next [Blackout] is going to be, but [he believes] there's going to be another one." On August 20, 2013, Spears re-launched her website with a countdown ending on September 17, originally speculated to be the release date of her then-unannounced lead single. On September 17, Spears announced on Good Morning America that her album would be released on December 3, 2013, in the United States, the day after her 32nd birthday. On October 15, during an appearance on Capital London, she announced that the record would be titled Britney Jean, a nickname used affectionately by her family and friends. On October 24, together with an open letter to her fans, Spears unveiled the album artwork. The black-and- white image depicts a close-up image of Spears with the term "Britney Jean" colored in blue lettering inside a pink heart near the bottom of the cover. A report from ABC News Radio likened the usage of Spears' middle name in the album's title to being inspired by Janet Jackson's eighth studio album Damita Jo, saying "taking a page from Janet Jackson's 2004 album, Damita Jo, Britney Spears has combined her first and middle names—Britney Jean—to come up with the title". A writer for The Huffington Post later suggested that the neon- style typography was inspired by the cover of Miley Cyrus' fourth studio album Bangerz (2013), which itself depicts a blonde Cyrus wearing a short black coat with the title "Bangerz" stylized in fluorescent neon lighting in front of palm trees. While the typography was compared to that of Bangerz by a writer from The Huffington Post, Britney Jean marks the third album artwork from RCA Records to use a neon-style typography design, Bangerz from Miley Cyrus being one and the other being Mechanical Bull from Kings of Leon. Byron Flitsch of MTV News shared a similar sentiment, and added that the artwork was reminiscent of Spears' fourth and seventh records In the Zone (2003) and Femme Fatale (2011). On November 4, the album was made available for pre-order through the iTunes Store. That day, a colorized version of the cover was unveiled as the primary visual for the standard version, with the original cover becoming the primary visual for the deluxe version. Spears revealed the track listing for Britney Jean on November 12, which she implied was earlier than she planned after hackers "[tried] to ruin [her] surprises." On November 20, the album leaked online, prompting the singer to address the leaks by saying: "To those of you listening to the leaks... I hope you love... I made this album specifically for my diehard fans so I'm just hoping every song touches you because each one is a piece of me". Five days later, Britney Jean was made available for streaming in full through the iTunes Store and iTunes Radio. The record is additionally marked with the Parental Advisory label, affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to identify explicit content. Unlike her previous records, excluding her fifth studio album Blackout (2007), Spears did not heavily promote Britney Jean, and no promotional performances in support of the album took place. However, she appeared on Good Morning America to announce her two-year residency show at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, titled , on September 17. Spears then traveled to the United Kingdom to promote the lead single and the album on . She also appeared for interviews on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Entertainment Tonight, and Surprise Surprise. Britney Jean was additionally promoted through the documentary I Am Britney Jean, which premiered through E! on December 22; it covered the production and lead-up to its release and the launch of Britney: Piece of Me. The original airing of the special in the United States was viewed by 0.706 million viewers, garnering above-average Sunday ratings for the network, while it was viewed by 0.63 million viewers in the United Kingdom. Britney: Piece of Me began on December 27, with tickets having been first made available on September 20. "Work Bitch" was released as the lead single from Britney Jean on September 15, 2013, one day earlier than expected after a low-quality version was leaked by "one bad apple". A writer for MuuMuse described the track as a "massive return to form" and an "exciting way to kick off a brand new era". It debuted and peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 174,000 first-week downloads, and charted moderately on national singles charts internationally. An accompanying music video for the track was premiered on October 1, where Spears is depicted as a dominatrix-like character. It received general acclaim from critics, with particular praise directed towards her dancing. However, Spears herself commented that she felt forced into maintaining her provocative image, elaborating that she "cut out half the video because I am a mother and because, you know, I have children, and it's just hard to play sexy mom while you’re being a pop star as well". "Perfume" was released as the second and final single from Britney Jean on November 3, 2013. It received generally favorable reviews from music critics, and was compared to Spears' earlier song "Everytime", taken from her fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). The track debuted and peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the documentary I Am Britney Jean, Spears mentions "Alien" becoming a single from the album at some point, but this never came to fruition. Official remixes for "It Should Be Easy" were commissioned and serviced to clubs in January 2014, however, a spokesperson for Spears confirmed that it would not see a release as a third single and that the remixes were "commissioned purely to be used in nightclubs". Official remixes for "Tik Tik Boom" were also commissioned and serviced in February 2014. Despite not being released as a single, "Alien" charted at number eight on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, and 147 on the French Singles Chart, organized by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. "It Should Be Easy" charted at number 121 in France, number 88 in Canada and number 71 in Switzerland due to digital downloads. "Tik Tik Boom" charted at number 16 on South Korea's International Gaon Digital Chart. Britney Jean received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 50, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 21 reviews. Jason Lipshutz from Billboard provided a favorable review, describing the project as a "transitional record [as] her first album released in her thirties", and felt it was reminiscent of Spears' third studio album Britney (2001). Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly shared a similar sentiment, stating that he "treasures" Spears for "[remaining] as enigmatic as the Disney-groomed, emotionally insulated teen who greeted us in the late '90s", and adding that will.i.am's production "happily indulges the fantasies of endorphin-seeking EDM festival goers". Writing for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield described Britney Jean as a "concept album about the loneliness of pop life – with a high-profile broken engagement behind her, Brit gets personal and drops her most bummed-out music ever". Some critics felt the album was impersonal despite its marketing. The Chicago Tribune compared the album's contents to its title, noting: "the hype about her most 'personal' album yet begins with the album title [...] which promotes a sense of intimacy that the songs never quite deliver." The Atlantic described the album as "her most disappointing release yet", calling it "dull" and criticized the album's content matter, noting that "glimpses into Britney Jean Spears, the artist, are, frankly, neither interesting nor informative." Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph stated that Britney Jean "continues the striptease of Britney's career", and felt that its production prevented the record from coming across as a genuinely personal effort. Billboard noted that the album did "not fully shed light on its author's current mindset," and The New York Times described the album as being "about as personal as an airline preboarding announcement." The production on the album was also pointed out by critics. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine provided a mixed review, criticizing the album's "dated production and vocals that hark back to the days when Brit was selling 10 million [records]". Barry Walters from Spin criticized will.i.am's production on the album, claiming that the songs he produced "replace[d] melody with repetition and familiarity," but praised Spears's vocal delivery on "Don't Cry." Prior to its release in the United States, Britney Jean was initially predicted to sell 150–200,000 copies, with Hits Daily Double crediting the underwhelming numbers to "her very light promo schedule, with little or no TV around the release". However, the day following its release, potential sales figures were lowered to 115–120,000 units. The album debuted at number four with 107,000 units. It is Spears' lowest sales and chart debut for a studio set. Previously, her 1999 debut album, ...Baby One More Time, tallied her smallest start with 124,000. In its second week on the chart, the album fell from number four to number 22 on the Billboard 200, making it Spears' first album to only spend one week in the top ten. As of July 2016, Britney Jean has sold 272,000 copies in the United States. In Europe, Britney Jean debuted at number 34 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 12,959 copies in its first week. In doing so, it became Spears' lowest-charting album in the country; by comparison, her previous lowest-charting record In the Zone (2003) peaked at number 13. It dropped to number 87 the next week. Internationally, Britney Jean reached the top 20 and 30 in most countries. However, the album debuted at number one in China. Prior to the release of the album, allegations were made by critics and fans that the vocals on the track "Passenger", which leaked online ahead of the release, were not entirely Spears's. Claims were made that Myah Marie, a backing vocalist present on Spears's albums Circus and Femme Fatale sang lead vocals on a large portion of this song as well as other songs on the album. Marie denied these allegations, saying that "[...] I most certainly cannot take credit for her tremendous talent as a singer." Spears's team claimed that the song leak was a demo version. Chelsea Handler later accused Spears of not singing the lead vocals on "Perfume", insisting "It's obviously a new person singing. It's not her." Reps for Spears responded, "Myah Marie didn’t do any background vocals on the song and doesn’t have credit. [The] only backing vocals on Perfume are from Sia. Britney absolutely sings on Perfume." Following the release of the album in December 2013, Marie was not included in the credits for "Passenger" or "Perfume", though she was credited as a backing vocalist on a number of other songs from the album. Claims were made the following year, with the online leak of vocal stems from "Alien", that Marie's lead vocals were featured in this song as well. Notes Track 12 on the deluxe edition, "Hold on Tight", was misprinted as "Hold on Tite" on the back cover of early CD pressings, but this was corrected on the Japanese edition., Track 2, "Work Bitch" and its corresponding remixes as tracks 15 and 16 on the Japanese and Chinese editions of the albums are renamed as "Work Work" on the edited version of the album, respectively., signifies a vocal producer, signifies a co-producer, signifies an additional producer, signifies a remixer Credits adapted from AllMusic. Daniel Andrés Aguilar – assistant, assistant vocal engineer, Chico Bennett – producer, Joe Bozzi – mastering, Christopher Braide – producer, vocal producer, Mark Cargill – concert master, AJ Clark – assistant, assistant vocal engineer, Daddy's Groove – mixing, Jacob Dennis – assistant vocal engineer, Ana Díaz – vocals, Michelangelo Di Battista – photography, Diplo – producer, Dylan Dresdow – vocal mixing, Karen Elaine – viola, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith – cello, Sia – background vocals, Freshm3n III – producer, Lucine Fyelon – violin, Serban Ghenea – mixing, Onree Gill – string arrangements, Rachel Grace – violin, David Guetta – engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming, Neel Hammond – viola, Rani Hancock – A&R;, John Hanes – mixing engineer, Keith Harris – producer, Joakim Harestad Haukaas – guitar, Zach Heiligman – additional production, Billy Hickey – assistant vocal engineer, Ghazi Hourani – assistant, Todd Hurtt – assistant vocal engineer, Hygrade – musician, producer, programming, Frances Iacuzzi – photography, Sebastian Ingrosso – engineer, musician, producer, programming, Chris Kahn – assistant vocal engineer, William Kebler "Keebz" – additional production, Padraic "Padlock" Kerin – engineer, project coordinator, vocal editing, Adam Leber – A&R;, Damien Leroy – instrumentation, producer, programming, Andre Lindal – guitar, instrumentation, programming, vocal editing, Joshua Lopez – Acoustic guitar, Ginny Luke – violin, LWAM – additional production, Myah Marie – background vocals, Alan O'Connell – engineer, William Orbit – musician, producer, programming, Otto Knows – engineer, musician, producer, programming, Joe Peluso – mixing, string engineer, Anthony Preston – associate executive producer, instrumentation, producer, programming, vocal producer, background vocals, Julian Prindle – project coordinator, vocal editing, vocal engineer, Pierre-Luc Rioux – guitar, Nicky Romero – instrumentation, mixing, producer, programming, Larry Rudolph – A&R;, Bradford H. Smith – assistant, assistant vocal engineer, Britney Spears – background vocals, lead vocals, composer, Jamie Lynn Spears – background vocals, guest vocals, Alan Tilston – engineer, JoAnn Tominaga – music contractor, Giorgio Tuinfort – engineer, instrumentation, piano, producer, programming, Michael Valerio – bass, Richard Vission – producer, Marcus Van Wattum – instrumentation, mixing, producer, programming, sound design, Ralph Wegner – sound design, will.i.am – engineer, executive producer, instrumentation, producer, programming, vocal producer, guest vocals, Adrienne Woods – cello !scope="row"| South Korea

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Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor and philanthropist best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Walker began his career as a child actor during the 1970s and 1980s, but first gained recognition in the early 1990s after appearing in the television soap opera The Young and the Restless. He soon transitioned into film, and received praise in 1999 for his performances in the teen films She's All That and Varsity Blues, which helped kickstart his career. Walker then gained international fame after starring in The Fast and the Furious. He subsequently gained commercial success in a number of other action and thriller films, enjoying critical praise for his performances in Joy Ride (2001), Into the Blue (2005), and Running Scared (2006). Walker also enjoyed critical and commercial success in other genres, such as the survival drama Eight Below (2006) and the war film Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Later in his career, Walker featured as a presenter for the marine biology series Expedition Great White and became known for his philanthropic efforts, founding the disaster-relief charity Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW) in 2010. Walker died on November 30, 2013 at the age of 40 as a passenger in a single- car crash alongside friend and driver Roger Rodas. Walker's father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements. At the time of his death, Walker did not complete filming Furious 7 (2015), which was completed after rewrites and stand-ins, including his brothers Cody and Caleb, filling in for Walker. The song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was commissioned for the film's soundtrack as a tribute to Walker. Walker was born in Glendale, California, the son of Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul William Walker III, a sewer contractor and boxer who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion. Paul's paternal grandfather had a boxing career as "'Irish' Billy Walker". Paul's ancestry was mostly English, with some German, Swiss, and Irish. One of his grandfathers raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s. The oldest of five siblings, Walker was raised primarily in the Sunland community of Los Angeles and attended high school in the San Fernando Valley, graduating from Sun Valley's Village Christian School in 1991. He was raised in a Mormon household. After high school, Walker attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology. Walker began his small screen career as a toddler when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at age two and began working on television shows in 1985 with roles in shows such as Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss?, The Young and the Restless, and Touched by an Angel. That year he starred in a commercial for Showbiz Pizza. Walker's film career began in 1986, with the horror/comedy film Monster in the Closet. In 1987, he appeared in The Retaliator (aka Programmed to Kill), a low budget cyborg action film, with Robert Ginty. He and his sister Ashlie were contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!, in which they finished in second place. In 1993, he played Brandon Collins on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He and his co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a soap opera at the Youth in Film Awards. In 1998, Walker made his feature film debut in the comedy Meet the Deedles, which finally gained him fame. This subsequently led to supporting roles in the movies Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000). In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role arrived when he starred opposite actor Vin Diesel in the successful action film The Fast and the Furious, the first film in the franchise. The film established Walker as a notable film star and leading man and led to his reprise of the role in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. He continued his career with leading roles in films such as Joy Ride (2001), Timeline (2003), and Into the Blue (2005). He had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Walker then starred in the crime thriller Running Scared and Walt Disney Pictures' Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical-acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its first weekend. During the filming of Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer stated that "[Walker] is that guy on some level" when comparing Walker with his character in the movie, Joey Gazelle. Kramer continued on to say that he "loved working with [Walker] because as a director he's completely supportive of my vision of what the film is. And even better, he's completely game for it." Walker starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008. He subsequently returned to The Fast and the Furious franchise, reprising his role in Fast & Furious, which was released on April 3, 2009. Walker then appeared in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in September 2008 and was released in August 2010. The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men announced in January 2011 that Walker was going to be the new face of the brand as of July 2011. He reprised his role in the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five (2011), and again in Fast & Furious 6 (2013). For this film, he won the 2014 MTV Movie Award as best on-screen duo, with Vin Diesel. He was part of an ensemble cast in Wayne Kramer's Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013), which was Walker's last film released before his death. Shortly after his death, the Hurricane Katrina based film Hours, which he had completed earlier in 2013, was released on December 13, 2013. He had also completed the action film Brick Mansions, a remake of the French film District 13, which was released in April 2014. At the time of his death, Walker had been filming Furious 7, which was slated for release in July 2014. The film was completed by using his brothers Caleb and Cody as his body doubles/stand-ins and CGI, and was released in April 2015. Walker was also set to play Agent 47 in the video game adaptation , but died before production began. Walker lived in Santa Barbara with his dogs. He and Rebecca Soteros, a one- time girlfriend, had a daughter named Meadow Rain Walker, who lived with her mother in Hawaii for 13 years and then moved to California to live with Walker in 2011. Her godfather is Vin Diesel. At the time of his death, Walker was dating Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell. Walker was raised in a Mormon household, but later became a non-denominational Christian. He held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu and was awarded his black belt by Miller posthumously. Walker had an interest in marine biology, and joined the board of directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006. He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White (later retitled Shark Men), which premiered in June 2010. He spent 11 days as part of the crew, catching and tagging seven great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, along with Captain Brett McBride and Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks. This allowed Dr. Domeier to study migratory patterns, especially those associated with mating and birthing, over a five-year period. In March 2010, Walker went to Constitución, Chile to offer his help and support to the people injured in the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 27. He flew with his humanitarian aid team, Reach Out Worldwide, to Haiti to lend a helping hand to the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims. A car enthusiast, he competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced on the AE Performance Team driving a BMW E92 M3. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo Brakes, Öhlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani, and Reach Out Worldwide. Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death. Walker also had a large car collection of about 30 cars, a portion of which he co-owned along with Roger Rodas. The collection included (but is not limited to): A large number of Saleen Mustangs, including a Saleen SSC (foxbody), SA10 (foxbody), 2x S281-E (SN95), S351 Speedster (SN95), and 6 others Audi S4 (B5), BMW M1, BMW 2002tii Touring Alpina, 2x BMW E30 M3, 3x BMW E36 M3 Lightweight, Chevrolet Corvette (C1), Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, Ferrari 400i, Ferrari F355 Spider Fiorano edition, Ferrari Testarossa, Ford Bronco II, Ford GT (1st gen with a Whipple supercharger producing a claimed 800 hp), Boss 302 Mustang (1st gen), Ford Mustang Cobra R Ford Mustang Eleanor recreation, 2012 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, Lincoln Continental (4th gen) convertible, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz 560 SL, 2009 Nissan 370Z (movie car driven by Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) in Fast Five), Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R Spec V (not street legal in the U.S.), Nissan Silvia (S15) (not street legal in the U.S.), 3x Porsche 911 997 GT3 RS (two orange on black, one green on black), 2x Porsche 930 Turbo (both in Guards Red), Rolls-Royce Ghost, Saleen S7, 1965 Shelby Ford Mustang GT350SR continuation car., Toyota Supra Mk4 (targa roof, single turbocharger conversion), Volvo P1800 Roger Rodas became Walker's financial adviser in 2007 and helped to establish Reach Out Worldwide. Rodas, a pro-am racer was the CEO of Always Evolving, a Valencia high-end vehicle performance shop owned by Walker. Walker was also close friends with his 2 Fast 2 Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson. Vin Diesel considered Walker to be like a brother, both on and off screen, and affectionately called him "Pablo". Walker's mother referred to her son as Diesel's "other half". In January 2020, twenty-one vehicles owned by the late actor Paul Walker was sold for a combined $2.33 million during spirited bidding at an annual car auction in Arizona. On November 30, 2013, at around 3:30 p.m. PST, Walker, 40, and Roger Rodas, 38, left an event for Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide for victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), with Rodas driving his Porsche Carrera GT. In a speed zone on Hercules Street near Kelly Johnson Parkway in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, the car crashed into a concrete lamp post and two trees and burst into flames. Rodas died of multiple trauma while Walker died from the combined effects of trauma and burns. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition. The curve where Walker and Rodas were killed is a popular spot for drifting cars. No alcohol or other drugs were found in either man's system, and neither mechanical failure nor road conditions appeared to play a role. Police found no evidence of drag racing. The investigation concluded that the car's speedbetween and and age of the tires were the primary reasons for the crash. With Furious 7 in the middle of filming at the time of Walker's death, Universal announced an indeterminate hiatus on the production, citing a desire to speak with his family before determining what to do with the film. Numerous friends and movie stars posted tributes to Walker on social media. His body was cremated and his ashes were buried in a non-denominational ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. His life was later chronicled in the documentary I Am Paul Walker, which was released on August 11, 2018. In December 2014, Walker's father, Paul III, filed a wrongful death claim against Rodas' estate seeking the return of or "a proportionate share" of revenue generated by a group of automobiles that were jointly owned by both Walker and Rodas. In September 2015, Walker's daughter Meadow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche for the death of her father, claiming that the Porsche Carrera GT had numerous design defects including a history of instability, and that its seat belt placement can cause harm upon impact. However, Porsche denied any wrongdoing and blamed Walker himself, stating: "The perils, risk, and danger were open and obvious and known to him, and he chose to conduct himself in a manner so as to expose himself to such perils, dangers, and risks, thus assuming all the risks involved in using the vehicle." In April 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez ruled in favor of Porsche in a separate lawsuit filed by Roger Rodas' widow Kristine. The ruling had no bearing on two other cases against Porsche which have been filed by Walker's father, who is also the executor of the actor's estate, and his daughter. Walker's father and daughter both reached an agreement with Porsche. Furious 7 (also known as Furious Seven) is a 2015 American action film directed by James Wan and written by Chris Morgan. A sequel to 2013's Fast & Furious 6, it is the seventh installment in the Fast & Furious franchise and stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham. Furious 7 follows Dominic Toretto (Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Walker) and the rest of their team, who have returned to the United States to live normal lives after securing amnesty for their past crimes in Fast & Furious 6, until Deckard Shaw (Statham), a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his comatose younger brother, puts the team in danger once again. With the previous three installments set between 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and (2006), Furious 7 is the first installment in the franchise to take place after Tokyo Drift. The film also marks the final film appearance of Walker, who died in a single-vehicle crash on November 30, 2013 before the film was completed. Following Walker's death, filming was delayed for script rewrites and his brothers, Caleb and Cody, were used as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes. These script rewrites completed the story arcs for both Walker and Brewster's characters, which were subsequently retired. Plans for a seventh installment were first announced in February 2012 when Johnson stated that production on the film would begin after the completion of Fast & Furious 6. In April 2013, Wan, predominantly known for horror films, was announced to direct the film in place of Justin Lin, who left the franchise after directing the previous four installments. Casting began in the same month with the returns of Diesel and Walker and an initial release date was set. Principal photography began in Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2013, resumed in April 2014 and ended in July 2014, with other filming locations including Los Angeles, Colorado, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo. Furious 7 premiered in Los Angeles on April 1, 2015 and was theatrically released in the United States on April 3, 2015, playing in 3D, IMAX 3D and 4DX internationally. Upon release, the film became a critical and blockbuster success, with praise being aimed at the film's action sequences and its emotional tribute to Walker. The film grossed $397.6 million worldwide during its opening weekend, which is the tenth highest-grossing opening of all time. The film has grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the franchise after just twelve days, the third highest-grossing film of 2015 and the ninth highest- grossing film of all time. A sequel, The Fate of the Furious, was released on April 14, 2017. After defeating Owen Shaw and his crew and securing amnesty for their past crimes, Dominic "Dom" Toretto, Brian O'Conner and the rest of their team have returned to the United States to live normal lives again. Brian begins to accustom himself to life as a father, while Dom tries to help Letty Ortiz regain her memory. Meanwhile, Owen's older brother, Deckard Shaw, breaks into the secure hospital that the comatose Owen is being held in and swears vengeance against Dom and his team, before breaking into Luke Hobbs' Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) office to extract profiles of Dom's crew. After revealing his identity, Shaw engages Hobbs in a fight, and escapes when he detonates a bomb that severely injures Hobbs. Dom later learns from his sister Mia that she is pregnant again and convinces her to tell Brian. However, a letter bomb sent from Tokyo, explodes and destroys the Toretto house just seconds after Han, a member of Dom's team, is killed by Shaw in Tokyo. Dom visits Hobbs in a hospital, where he learns that Shaw is a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his brother. Dom travels to Tokyo to claim Han's body, and acquires personal items found at Han's crash site from Han's friend, Sean Boswell. During Han's funeral in Los Angeles, Dom notices a car observing them, and after a chase, confronts its driver, who is revealed to be Shaw. Shaw flees when a covert ops team arrives and opens fire, led by Mr. Nobody. Nobody says that he will assist Dom in stopping Shaw if he helps him obtain God's Eye, a computer program that uses digital devices to track down a person, and save its creator, a hacker named Ramsey, from a mercenary named Mose Jakande. Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman Pearce, and Tej Parker then airdrop their cars over the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan, ambush Jakande's convoy, and rescue Ramsey. The team then heads to Abu Dhabi, where a billionaire has acquired the flash drive containing God's Eye, and manages to steal it from the owner. With God's Eye near telecommunications repeaters, the team tracks down Shaw, who is waiting at a remote factory. Dom, Brian, Nobody and his team attempt to capture Shaw, but are ambushed by Jakande and his men, and are forced to flee while Jakande obtains God's Eye. At his own request, the injured Nobody is left behind to be evacuated by helicopter while Brian and Dom continue without him. To reduce their disadvantage, the crew returns to Los Angeles to fight Shaw, Jakande and his men. Meanwhile, Brian promises Mia that once they deal with Shaw, he will retire and fully dedicate himself to their family. While Jakande pursues Brian and the rest of the team with a stealth helicopter and an aerial drone, Ramsey attempts to hack into God's Eye. Hobbs, seeing the team in trouble, leaves the hospital and destroys the drone with an ambulance. Brian engages Jakande's henchman Kiet and throws him down an elevator shaft before hijacking a signal repeater tower, allowing Ramsey to regain control of God's Eye and shut it down. Dom and Shaw engage in a one-on-one brawl on top of a public parking garage, before Jakande intervenes and attacks them both. Shaw is defeated when part of the parking garage collapses beneath him. Dom then launches his vehicle at Jakande's helicopter, tossing Shaw's bag of grenades onto its skids, though his car crash-lands. Hobbs then shoots the bag of grenades from ground level, destroying the helicopter and killing Jakande. Dom is pulled from the wreckage of his car, believed to be dead. As Letty cradles Dom's body in her arms, she reveals that she has regained her memories, and that she remembers their wedding. Dom regains consciousness soon after, remarking, "It's about time". Shaw is taken into custody by Hobbs and locked away in a secret, high-security prison. At a beach, Brian and Mia play with their son while Dom, Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey observe, acknowledging that Brian is better off retired with his family. As Dom silently leaves, Ramsey asks if he intends to say goodbye. Dom says, "It's never goodbye." He drives away, but Brian catches up with him at a crossroad. As Dom remembers the times that he had with Brian, they bid each other farewell and drive off in separate directions. The screen goes white and emits a tribute "For Paul". Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, a former criminal and professional street racer who has retired and settled down with his wife, Letty., Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, a former FBI agent turned criminal and professional street racer who has retired and settled down with his partner, Mia, and their son, Jack. This was Walker's last role in a film before his death on November 30, 2013., Caleb and Cody Walker, Paul's younger brothers, were used among others as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes following their brother's death., Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs, a DSS agent who allied with Dom and his team after their outings in Rio de Janeiro and Europe. Johnson initially said that if Universal Pictures pursued the accelerated development of a seventh film beginning in the summer, he would be unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts with filming on Hercules. However, as production for Furious 7 would commence in September, Johnson confirmed his return for, as Hercules would complete production in time to enable him to film a significant part., Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz, Dom's wife and a professional street racer, who was revealed to have suffered from amnesia after being presumed dead in Fast & Furious., Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, a former criminal and childhood friend of Brian from Barstow, and a member of Dom's team., Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker, a mechanic from Miami and a member of Dom's team., Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto, Dom's younger sister and a former member of his team who has settled down with her partner, Brian, and their son, Jack., Djimon Hounsou as Mose Jakande, a Nigerian born mercenary and terrorist who leads a private military company that allies with Shaw and uses the God's Eye to track its creator and use her to track down his enemies., Tony Jaa as Kiet, a member of Jakande's team who possesses great agility, athleticism and fighting prowess. Thai martial arts actor Jaa was confirmed to have joined the cast in August 2013, making his Hollywood debut., Ronda Rousey as Kara, the Head of Security for an Abu Dhabi billionaire. Rousey's involvement was confirmed in August 2013. Having committed to The Expendables 3 at the same time (along with Russell, who later pulled out, and Statham), Rousey was forced to shoot both films back-to-back in order to allow herself 45 days to focus on training for her UFC championship rematch against Miesha Tate. Her participation in the film was similar to that of Gina Carano making the transition from mixed martial arts fighting to acting, following Carano's involvement in Fast & Furious 6., Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, a British computer hacktivist and the creator of the God's Eye, who allies with Dom and his team after being saved from Jakande and helps them to regain control of her program. Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody, the leader of a covert ops team who agrees to help Dom stop Shaw if he can help him prevent Jakande from obtaining a computer program called the God's Eye. Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his comatose younger brother after his hospitalization at the hands of Dom and his team in Spain., Sung Kang as Han, a member in Dominic's crew, appearing in archive footage., Gal Gadot as Gisele, a member in Dominic's crew, appearing in archive footage., Lucas Black as Sean Boswell, an American street racer who lives in Tokyo whom Dom meets when he travels to Tokyo to claim the body of Han, a mutual friend of theirs killed by Shaw. In September, it was confirmed that Black had signed on to reprise his role as Boswell for Furious 7 and two more installments., Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves, a DSS agent and former Rio police officer who moved to the United States to become Hobbs' new partner at the DSS., Noel Gugliemi as Hector, a street race organizer, reprising his role from the first film., John Brotherton as Sheppard, Mr. Nobody's right-hand man., Ali Fazal plays Safar, a friend of Ramsey to whom she sent the God's Eye for safekeeping. Fazal described his role as a cameo., Luke Evans briefly reprises his role from the previous film as Owen Shaw, the comatose younger brother of the film's primary antagonist., Australian rapper Iggy Azalea makes a cameo appearance as a Race Wars fan and a female racer; she contributed to the soundtrack. American singer-rapper T-Pain appears as himself as he DJs a party in Abu Dhabi. Klement Tinaj cameos as a Race Wars Racer., Bow Wow and Nathalie Kelley appear in archive footage from as Twinkie and Neela, respectively., Tego Calderón and Don Omar appear as Tego Leo and Rico Santos, respectively, in archive footage from Fast Five., John Cenatiempo, who previously played Korpi from 2 Fast 2 Furious, plays one of Mose Jakande's henchmen. On October 21, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that Universal Studios was considering filming two sequels—Fast Six and Fast Seven—back-to-back with a single storyline running through both films. Both would be written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin, who had been the franchise's writer and director, respectively, since (2006). On December 20, 2011, following the release of Fast Five, Vin Diesel stated that Fast Six would be split into two parts, with writing for the two films occurring simultaneously. On the decision, Diesel said: We have to pay off this story, we have to service all of these character relationships, and when we started mapping all that out it just went beyond 110 pages ... The studio said, 'You can't fit all that story in one damn movie!' However, in an interview on February 15, 2012, Dwayne Johnson stated that the two intended sequels would no longer be filmed simultaneously because of weather issues in filming locations, and that production on Fast Seven would only begin after the completion of Fast Six. In April 2013, during post-production of the retitled Fast & Furious 6, Lin announced that he would not return to direct a seventh film, as the studio wanted to produce the film on an accelerated schedule for release in summer 2014. This would have required Lin to begin pre-production on the sequel while performing post-production on Fast & Furious 6, which he considered would affect the quality of the final product. Despite the usual two-year gap between the previous installments, Universal chose to pursue a sequel quicker due to having fewer reliable franchises than its competitor studios. However, subsequent interviews with Lin have suggested that the sixth film was always intended to be the final installment under his direction. In April 2013, Australian director James Wan, predominantly known for horror films, was announced as the sequel's director, with Neal H. Moritz and Michael Fottrell returning to produce and Morgan returning to write the script, his fifth in the franchise. On April 16, 2013, Diesel announced that the sequel would be released on July 11, 2014. In May 2013, Diesel said that the sequel would feature Los Angeles, Tokyo, and the Middle East as locations. Principal photography began in early September 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, with a casting call issued. Abu Dhabi was also a filming location; the production crew chose it over Dubai, as they would benefit from the Emirate's 30% rebate scheme. Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado was closed in September to film some driving sequences. On September 16, the production filmed with Paul Walker and the Kimsey twins, playing his son, Jack, in front of an Atlanta elementary school. Han's funeral scene was filmed at Oakland Cemetery, with extras needed for the scene being "hot, hip and trendy cool types of all ethnicities between the ages of 18 and 45". On the evening of September 19, Lucas Black joined the production for his sole scene with Diesel, in an Atlanta parking garage. Separate scenes with Walker also shot in the same location on the same night, including one half of a phone conversation between his character and Jordana Brewster's. The day after, Diesel posted a picture from the night shoot with Black on his Facebook page. On October 24, over a month into the film's production, Johnson tweeted he had started shooting for the film after wrapping up on Hercules. Five days later, Diesel posted the first photo of Johnson on the set, in the hospital scene. On November 30, 2013, while on a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, Walker, who portrayed Brian O'Conner, died in a single-vehicle accident. The next day, Universal announced that production would continue after a delay that would allow the filmmakers to rework the film. On December 4, 2013, Universal put production on hold indefinitely. Wan later confirmed that the film had not been cancelled. On December 22, 2013, Diesel announced on his Facebook page that the film would be released on April 10, 2015. On February 27, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter reported that filming would resume on April 1, and that the cast and crew had headed to Atlanta to prepare for about eight more weeks of shooting. Principal photography ended on July 10, 2014. The "air drop" sequence was conceived by stunt coordinator, Spiro Razatos, who also supervised on the franchise's two previous installments; Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. Razatos told Business Insider that he wanted to rely more on real stunts rather than CGI because he wanted the whole sequence to "feel real" and fulfill audience's expectations. The stunt took months of prep- solving problems. Cameras needed to be mounted onto cars in a way that they would not be destroyed when the cars landed, and the crew had to figure out a safe way to get the cars out of the plane. They performed a dry run with a single car falling out of a plane and did this six times. Cars were dropped from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules high above the Arizona desert, but close up shots that show the cars landing on a mountain road were filmed in Colorado. There were two airplanes, flying at a height of 12,000 feet, each dropping two cars apiece. BRS parachutes enabled with GPS were secured to each of the cars before dropping off the C-130 plane. At about 5,000 feet, the parachutes deployed. Over 10 cameras were used for the sequence. In addition to cameras on the ground, there were cameras remotely operated inside the plane and another three mounted outside each car. Additional cameras were on a helicopter, where Razatos was stationed watching monitors. Three skydivers used in the shoot wore helmet cameras to help shoot the sequence from multiple angles. Sky divers would either jump out before cars or after them. While all the cars landed on their drop zones, 70% landed perfectly and 30% didn't. For the close-up scenes which show the actors inside their cars, a giant gimbal with a 360-degree range of movement were attached to each of the cars and was filmed against a green screen to reproduce their tumble through the sky. The last part of the scene, which shows the cars hitting the road was shot separately. To get that right, the team set up a pulley system that had cars six to ten feet above the ground. When they were dropped from the cranes, the stuntmen who were sitting in the driver's seats raced their engines at about 35 to 40 miles per hour and slid to the ground at full speed. Those cranes were then later removed from the film with computers. Razatos admits that the air drop sequence was "all real" and that it would be "hard to top". The scene featuring Brian jumping off a bus off a cliff was performed by a stuntman and was all done without any computer graphics. The shooting for this particular sequence along with the scene in which Dom and his team are pursuing to rescue Ramsey almost didn't happen due to the absence of tax break in Colorado. The studio originally wanted to shoot the sequence in Georgia which provides tax breaks for film productions, and then they'd add woods in the background later in post production to which Razatos denied saying, "the audience is going to know [it's CGI] and aren't going to feel good about it." Shooting finally took place in Colorado. A total of 340 cars were used in the film, and more than 230 cars were destroyed in the making of the film, including several black Mercedes-Benzes, a Ford Crown Victoria, and a Mitsubishi Montero. The film featured the on-screen destruction of a Lykan HyperSport by W Motors, valued at $3.4 million, though the actual car destroyed was a less expensive model made for the film rather than one of the seven actual production HyperSports. The mountain-highway chase scene on Colorado's Monarch Pass proved to be the most damaging sequence with over 40 vehicles being destroyed. Only 10 percent of the action sequences in the film were computer-generated, and even then, much of the CGI was employed simply to erase the wires and other contraptions that were used to film real cars and drivers or to add a background. It took more than 3,500 man-days to complete the various stunts of the film. In January 2014, Time reported that Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, would be retired instead of killed, and that new scenes would be developed in order to allow the franchise to continue without him. To recreate Walker's likeness, the filmmakers hired Peter Jackson's Weta Digital visual effects house (which had previously produced the imagery of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings franchise and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes franchise). Initially, what Weta could do was severely constrained by the quality of the reference materials available for Walker's physical appearance. In April 2014, it was reported that Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody had been hired as stand-ins. Their cooperation, along with their strong resemblance to their late brother, enabled the filmmakers to accurately model his face without creating it digitally from scratch. The final film showed Walker's face superimposed over the bodies of his brothers or actor John Brotherton in 350 visual effects shots. 260 used a computer-generated face, while 90 repurposed actual footage of Walker's face borrowed from outtakes or older footage. The musical score was composed by Brian Tyler, who scored the third, fourth, and fifth installments of the series. "There's an emotional component to Fast & Furious 7 that is unique", said Tyler about his experience scoring. "I think people are really going to be amazed by it." A soundtrack album to the film was released by Atlantic Records on March 17, 2015. Songs featured in the film include: "Go Hard or Go Home" (Wiz Khalifa & Iggy Azalea), "Ride Out" (Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG & Rich Homie Quan), "See You Again" (Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth), "My Angel" (Prince Royce), "Hamdulillah" (Narcy feat. Shadia Mansour), "Get Low" (Dillon Francis and DJ Snake), "Ay Vamos" (J Balvin feat. Nicky Jam and French Montana), "Tempest" (Deftones), "Meneo" (Fito Blanko), "Payback" (Juicy J, Kevin Gates, Future and Sage the Gemini) Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again", which plays over the film's emotional ending, received both popular and critical acclaim. It was shortlisted for the Song of the Year for the BBC Music Awards and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. "See You Again" was the best selling-song of 2015 worldwide, with combined sales and track-equivalent streams of 20.9 million units according to IFPI. The film, which began principal photography in September 2013, was originally designed as a July 11, 2014 release. It was put on hold following the fatal car crash that claimed Paul Walker's life on November 30, 2013. The production resumed in April 2014. In October 2014, Universal revealed that the film was officially titled Furious 7, and that the debut trailer would be released during an interactive fan event over social media. In the days leading up to the event, seven-second, behind-the-scenes videos were released, titled "7 Seconds of 7". On February 1, 2015, a new trailer featuring all-new footage debuted during Super Bowl XLIX. The film was next scheduled for release on April 10, 2015, but it was announced that the film's release date had been brought forward a week to April 3, 2015 (the same release date from the 2009 film Fast & Furious). The official announcement in change of date was made in July 2014. Furious 7 premiered at the SXSW Film Festival at 12:07 a.m. at Austin's Paramount Theatre on March 16, 2015. On March 27, 2015, a free standalone expansion for the video game Forza Horizon 2, titled Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, was released to help promote the film. For its global premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on April 1, 2015, IMAX Corporation installed a new laser projection which was the first such installation in the U.S. and the second worldwide, following , which opened at Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto in December 2014. According to infringement tracking site Excipio, the film was downloaded illegally 2.59 million times in four days (April 2–6) through various torrent sites with India being the top country for the illegal downloading with 578,000 downloads followed by Pakistan (321,000), China (289,000), the U.S. (251,000) and the UK (101,000). A survey revealed that most Indians tended to resort to copyright violation due to lack of availability, pricing concerns, soaring internet costs and censorship, but the main reason being that most of the films are released months after their US dates. It was illegally downloaded 44,794,877 times in 2015, making it the most pirated film released that year and the second most pirated film overall, behind Interstellar which saw over 46.7 million illegal downloads the same year. Furious 7 was released on 7 September 2015 in the UK and was released via DVD and Blu-ray on September 15, 2015 in other countries. The Blu-ray edition features an all new extended edition, deleted scenes, stunts, behind-the- scenes, and the music video for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again". The Blu-ray and DVD version include behind-the-scene footage of the "Race Wars" scene including rapper Iggy Azalea and making of the cars featured in the film. In the U.S. and Canada, it sold roughly 2.5 million units on Blu- ray and DVD in its first week of release, making it the highest-selling home entertainment live-action film of 2015. This record was later surpassed by Jurassic World the following month, which in turn was surpassed by by the end of the year. Furious 7 made $353 million in the United States and Canada and $1.163 billion in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1.516 billion, against its $190 million production budget. Worldwide, it is the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, the third highest-grossing film of 2015, the highest-grossing film in The Fast and the Furious franchise and the second highest-grossing Universal Pictures film. It was also the fastest film to reach the $1 billion mark at the time, doing so in 17 days; It is also the 20th film to gross over $1 billion. It also became the first film to pass 1 million in 4DX admissions worldwide. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $354million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the fifth most profitable release of 2015. Worldwide, Furious 7 was released across 810 IMAX theaters, which was the largest worldwide rollout in IMAX's history, Its worldwide opening of $397.6 million was the fifth-highest opening of all time. The film had an IMAX opening weekend total of $20.8 million. Furious 7 also became the first of six films distributed by Universal Pictures (alongside Jurassic World, Minions, The Fate of the Furious, Despicable Me 3 and ) to earn more than $1 billion in its original run. Predictions for the opening weekend of Furious 7 in the United States and Canada were continuously revised upwards, starting from $115 million to $150 million. It opened on Friday, April 3, 2015, across 4,004 theaters, including 365 IMAX theaters, which made it the widest opening for a Fast and Furious film and Universal's widest opening release ever (until first surpassed by Jurassic World and Minions). and earned $67.4 million, marking the tenth- biggest opening day. The film's Friday gross included a $15.8 million late- night run (which began at 7 p.m.), from 3,069 theaters, marking Universal's highest late-night run, of which $2.2 million came from IMAX showings, marking the third largest IMAX preview gross ever. Based on pure Friday gross (with the omission of revenues from Thursday shows), it earned $51.5 million, marking the fifth-biggest of all time. Through Sunday, April 5, it had an opening weekend total of $147.1 million, breaking the record for the biggest April opening (the record was later broken in 2018 by with $257.7 million), the biggest opening in the Fast & Furious franchise, the biggest Easter opening (the record was broken a year later by s opening gross of $166 million), the fourth-biggest opening of 2015, the third biggest pre-summer opening ever, and the thirteenth-biggest opening of all time. It earned an IMAX opening weekend total of $13.3 million, marking the second-biggest of all time for a 2D movie. Premium large format comprised 8% ($11.5 million) of the total opening gross from 400 PLF screens, which is the biggest 2D PLF opening. It was Universal's fastest film to reach the $200 million mark at the time, doing so in eight days. In its second weekend, the film expanded to 4,022 theaters, thereby breaking its own record of being the widest Universal Pictures release ever, and earned an estimated $59.6 million, declining by 60%, which is the third best second weekend holdover for a pre-summer film release. It became the highest-grossing film in the Fast & Furious franchise, doing so only in ten days (the previous record which was held by Fast & Furious 6 took fifteen weeks to reach its entire lifetime gross of $238.67 million). It also set the record for the biggest second-weekend April gross. It topped the box office for four consecutive weekends, becoming the first film to top the box office for four consecutive weekends since The Hunger Games in March 2012 and one of only 29 films since 1985 to have had four straight box office wins during their theatrical runs, although this highly depends on many factors, including the release time and the competition around. It ended its theatrical run on July 24, 2015, playing in theaters for a total of 112 days and became the thirty-first highest-grossing film of all time, the fifth highest-grossing film of 2015, the highest-grossing film in The Fast and the Furious franchise, the second highest-grossing Universal film of 2015 (behind Jurassic World and Minions), and the fifth highest-grossing film distributed by Universal. Outside the US and Canada, the film became the third highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing Universal distributed film, and the highest-grossing 2015 film. On April 26, 2015, it became the third film in cinematic history to earn over $1 billion overseas. It opened on Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in 12 countries, earning $16.9 million (including previews from 22 countries). It opened in 33 more countries on Thursday, April 2, for a total of 45 countries, earning $43 million from 8,407 screens, marking Universal Pictures overseas' highest-grossing Thursday ever, and for a two-day total of $60 million. It added 20 more countries on Friday, April 3, earning $59.2 million from 9,935 screens in 63 countries, for a three-day total of $120.6 million. The film set all-time opening-day records in 15 countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Thailand, and opening day records for Universal Pictures in 40 countries including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Mexico. Through Sunday, April 5, it earned a 4-day opening weekend total of $250.4 million from 10,683 screens in 64 countries, which is the fourth-highest international opening ever, in all which it reached first place at the box office It earned an IMAX opening weekend total of $7.5 million from 175 IMAX screens, breaking the record for the biggest April IMAX gross, previously held by The Winter Soldier ($6.43 million). It set opening weekend records in 29 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East, Romania, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam. In its second weekend, it held the top spot and fell gradually by 20.4% to $198.7 million (including China's opening day gross) from 18,374 screens in 66 territories as a result of minor competition, and remaining at number one in all 63 territories where it was released the previous week. It added three new countries in its second weekend; China, Russia and Poland. Earning $167.9 million in its third weekend, it topped the box office outside of North America for three consecutive weekends, until surpassed by in its fourth weekend. The film was a massive box office hit in China. It opened there on April 12 and set an all-time midnight run record with $8.05 million and an opening day record with $68.8 million. Its opening day included a record breaking $5 million from IMAX run (also breaking Transformers 4s former record of $3.4 million). Through its opening week (April 12–19), it earned $245.9 million. For the weekend alone, it took in $88.7 million from 5,454 screens (Friday to Sunday) and $182.4 million (Monday to Sunday) at the Chinese box office. It grossed billion in five days—the fastest time in which that has been achieved—and soon became the highest- grossing foreign film ever in China. In 15 days, its gross in China surpassed those in Canada and the United States and became the first film in China to make more than 2 billion renminbi. Its success has been credited to China Film Group Corporation, the state-owned film distributor, which had invested considerably in the film, reportedly taking a 10% stake. The largest openings outside North America and China occurred in Mexico ($21.5 million), the UK, Ireland and Malta ($18.7 million), Germany ($15.9 million), Russia and the CIS ($15.9 million), Brazil ($11.4 million), France ($11.4 million), Australia ($11.3 million), Taiwan ($10.3 million), Argentina ($9.3 million), Korea ($8.9 million), India ($8.7 million), Italy ($8.2 million), Malaysia ($7.3 million), Spain ($6.3 million), Venezuela ($6 million), Thailand ($6 million), Colombia ($5.2 million) and Pakistan ($2.4 million). In the UAE, where parts of the film was shot, it opened with $4.8 million. Out of the 68 countries it was released in, the only country not to open at number one was Japan (locally released with the title, Wild Speed: Skymission) where it earned $6.2 million in its opening weekend, behind ($7.6 million). and ($7.4 million). It became the highest-grossing film of all time in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, the UAE, Uruguay, Trinidad and Vietnam and Universal Pictures' highest-grossing film of all time in 29 countries including Argentina, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Turkey, UAE and Vietnam. In Latin America, it became the second highest-grossing film ($200 million), the first time Universal has reached the milestone and the second film in history to earn more than $200 million after The Avengers. In total earnings, the largest countries outside the U.S. and Canada are China ($391.2 million), the UK, Ireland and Malta ($60 million), Mexico ($50.9 million), Brazil, ($46.5 million) and Germany ($40.3 million). It grossed a total of $39 million in IMAX ticket sales in China, the biggest ever in the market. Furious 7 received positive reviews, with critics praising the film's action set pieces, performances, and its poignant tribute to Walker. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 81% rating based on 265 reviews, and an average rating of 6.69/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Serving up a fresh round of over-the-top thrills while adding unexpected dramatic heft, Furious 7 keeps the franchise moving in more ways than one." On Metacritic the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Furious 7 an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. The film received highly positive reviews upon release at a secret screening at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival on March 16, 2015. Ramin Setoodeh of Variety noted that fans started lining up outside four hours before the film was scheduled to start. The film closed with a tribute to Walker, which left many in the theater "holding back tears". Critic Dave Palmer gave the film 7/10, saying, "Furious 7 is the type of movie Michael Bay has spent his entire career trying to make: filled with shots of scantily clad women, fast cars, and clever one liners". A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film two and a half stars out of five and said, "Furious 7 extends its predecessors' inclusive, stereotype-resistant ethic. Compared to almost any other large-scale, big-studio enterprise, the Furious brand practices a slick, no-big-deal multiculturalism, and nods to both feminism and domestic traditionalism." John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film however, describing it as "stupidly diverting", saying the running time was "overinflated"; he compared watching the film to a morbid game, in addition to criticizing the screenplay. Regarding a possible sequel, Vin Diesel said: I was trying to keep it close to the vest throughout the release. Paul Walker used to say that [an eighth film] was guaranteed. And in some ways, when your brother guarantees something, you sometimes feel like you have to make sure it comes to pass ... so if fate has it, then you'll get this when you hear about it. [Furious 7] was for Paul, [the eighth film] is from Paul. Diesel further hinted at an eighth film on Jimmy Kimmel Live! when he stated that Kurt Russell's character would span multiple films. He also stated that the film would take place in New York City. Chris Morgan wrote his sixth script in the franchise, while Neal H. Moritz returned to produce. Moritz later stated, "[The story] is going to have to be something enticing for all of us ... it has to be as good as or better [than Furious 7]". At the 2015 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Diesel announced the film for an April 14, 2017 release date. On August 16, 2015, at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards (where Furious 7 received the award for Choice Movie – Action and Walker received the award for Choice Movie Actor – Action), Diesel gave the film the initial title Fast 8. In September 2015, Diesel stated that the script had almost been completed, and expressed interest in Rob Cohen, who directed the first film, to direct the eighth installment. On October 14, 2015, Diesel announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray would direct the film. In July 2015, Moritz said that Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, would not appear in the film, following the use of CGI in the previous film after Walker's death in 2013, with Moritz stating that his character had "moved on". It had previously been reported that Paul's younger brother, Cody Walker, would either join the cast in a new role, or replace his older brother in the role of O'Conner; however, it was later announced that the character will not return to the franchise. Moritz also said that the film would shift the focus of the franchise from a series of heist films to a spy caper, following a similar change in focus from street racing in Fast Five (2011). In December 2016, the film was retitled The Fate of the Furious. List of films featuring drones, List of films featuring surveillance Documents Dominic "Dom" Toretto is a fictional character and one of the three main protagonists of The Fast and the Furious franchise. He is portrayed by Vin Diesel and first appeared on film, alongside fellow protagonist Brian O'Conner, in The Fast and the Furious (2001). Dominic was created by screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson, who was inspired by an article on street racing that was published in the May 1998 issue of Vibe magazine, while Diesel was heavily sought after to play the character. As the patriarch of a group of street racers, Dominic acts as an influential voice, being forced into the role as primary caregiver following his father's untimely passing. As the leader, he initially worked as an auto mechanic, but eventually progressed to orchestrating carjackings, a multi-million dollar heist, and illicit jobs for government agencies. Dominic embodies many attributes associated with his position: he is gruff, strong, and preaches morality and loyalty. In many cases, he is also seen to be affectionate and religious, but also possesses a volatile temper, especially when his family is in danger. He is married to Letty Ortiz, with whom he is raising a son. He is also implied to be the group's strongest racer, a title that is challenged persistently by Brian. Dominic is one of the most popular characters in modern cinema and is widely considered among the primary reasons for the longevity of the film series. The role propelled Diesel to become a bankable Hollywood star. He won the 2002 and 2014 MTV Movie Awards for Best On-Screen Team with Paul Walker for his performances. Diesel has served as executive producer for the franchise's later installments. The Fast and the Furious film series was inspired by an article on street racing, "Racer X", that appeared in the May 1998 issue of Vibe magazine. Having witnessed his father's death in a stock car race, Dominic is left with the responsibility of watching his younger sister, Mia Toretto, and leading the racers dependent on him. Vin Diesel was reportedly paid $2.5 million to star as Dominic Toretto in The Fast and the Furious and $15 million to star in and produce Fast Five. Dominic Toretto is a fearless street racer, auto mechanic, and ex-convict. The character is the older brother of Mia Toretto and love interest of Letty Ortiz. Throughout the series, Dominic's crew has perpetrated many high-speed semi hijackings, stealing millions of dollars in merchandise. He has spent most of his life running from the law. In The Fast and the Furious, Dominic runs his own automotive garage while Mia takes care of the family's grocery store in Echo Park. He also runs his own street race team, which consists of Letty, Vince, Leon, and Jesse. Dominic has a feud with Vietnamese-American rival Johnny Tran due to a business deal that went sour and Tran catching Dominic sleeping with his sister. Unknown to the public, he and his team drive black Honda Civic coupes and stage daring semi hijackings on the freeways, taking home millions of dollars in electronic appliances. He forms a friendship with rookie racer Brian Earl Spilner, who saves him from arrest when the LAPD raid a street race gathering. During the Race Wars, Johnny Tran blames Dominic for a raid by SWAT forces. The SWAT team came into his house, causing disrespect to his family. Dominic then attacks him and is promptly led away by Vince who then tells him to "chill out". During a hijacking job gone wrong, Dominic discovers Brian's true identity as undercover LAPD officer named Brian O'Conner. Following a drag race that ends with Dominic's 1970 Dodge Charger getting totalled, Brian hands him the keys to his Toyota Supra, as law enforcement have found out that Torretto has stolen millions in electronics with his crew. Dominic ends up escaping and fleeing to Mexico. Brian then is wanted for aiding in the escape of a wanted felon. Brian flees the state himself. In 2 Fast 2 Furious, Dominic appears in an archived footage when Brian tells Roman Pearce about him. In Los Bandoleros, Dominic recruits Han, Rico Santos, and Tego Leo to help him complete a job that is seen in the beginning of Fast & Furious. In Fast & Furious, Dominic, Letty, and their gang lead a successful hijacking of a gasoline tanker in the Dominican Republic, but he shortly abandons them to keep the authorities away from them. Dominic returns to L.A. upon hearing of the death of Letty at the hands of Fenix Calderon. He and Brian once again team up to take down Mexican drug dealer Arturo Braga, who had ordered Letty's execution following a drug run. He later finds out Brian was the last person who had contact with Letty; this enrages him as he attacks Brian before the latter could explain to him that Letty came to him for help in clearing his name so Dominic could return to Los Angeles. After successfully extraditing Braga back to the U.S., Dominic turns himself in to the authorities and is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of early parole. However, the bus carrying Dominic is ambushed by Brian, Mia, Rico and Tego; once Dominic is sprung out of the bus wreckage, the group flees out of the U.S. as fugitives. In Fast Five, Dominic reunites with Brian, Mia and Vince in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They get involved in a dangerous crossfire with drug lord Hernan Reyes, who has them framed for the murder of three DEA agents during a drug run on a train. As a means to get even on Reyes, Dominic and Brian form a team with Roman Pearce, Tej Parker, Han, Gisele Yashar, Rico and Tego to stage a bank heist and steal Reyes' stash of US$100 million in cash. Elite bounty hunter and DSS federal agent Luke Hobbs is sent to Brazil to hunt down and capture Dominic and his gang, but when he is ambushed by Reyes' men, he forms an unlikely alliance with Dominic and helps the gang execute their heist. After killing Reyes, Hobbs allows Dominic and his gang to leave Brazil with their stash by giving them a 24-hour window. Hobbs' partner Elena Neves also leaves the force and becomes Dominic's new love interest. In Fast & Furious 6, Dominic once again encounters Hobbs, who offers him a job to help him hunt down mercenary Owen Shaw and his crime syndicate, revealing that Letty is alive meaning Fenix must have failed to kill her and is working for Shaw. Dominic and Brian reassemble their gang (minus Rico and Tego, both of whom are in Monaco) in London for this mission in exchange for a full pardon on all parties and Letty's safe return. During the chase, Dominic is shot by Letty, and later on discovers that she is suffering from amnesia as a result of the explosion that nearly killed her in Fast & Furious. He saves her from falling to her death while the gang stops Shaw aboard a military tank on a bridge in Spain. Shaw, however, reveals his backup plan of kidnapping Mia and using her as leverage for his release and the handing of the top-secret microchip that was removed from the tank. Despite the death of Gisele, Dominic and his gang defeat Shaw and kill his men while saving Mia and the microchip in a daring chase at a NATO military airfield. Hobbs grants their pardons, and Dominic and his gang move back to his home in L.A. Seeing Dominic and Letty back together for good, Elena bids him farewell and returns to working with Hobbs. In a post credit scene, Owen Shaw's elder brother, Deckard Shaw, kills Han in Tokyo and calls Dom with a threatening message. In The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Dominic makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film by challenging Sean Boswell in a drift race with his gun metal silver 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, which he won from his late friend Han. In Furious 7, it was revealed that Owen Shaw is still alive, and his older brother Deckard Shaw went rogue and hunts Dominic's team, which resulted in Han's death (this explains why he died in Tokyo Drift, bridging the story here) and his house being blown up. Determined to exact revenge on Shaw, Dominic decided to take him down alone, but was stopped by a Covert Ops leader and Hobbs' friend Mr. Nobody. Mr. Nobody offers Dominic a way to hunt Shaw by obtaining a software named "God's Eye" and save its creator named Ramsey from Mose Jakande and his men. Agreeing to the deal, Dominic, Brian, Letty, Tej and Roman led a daring rescue to Ramsey at the mountains of Azerbaijan and succeeds in doing so. Afterwards they figured out that the device was lend to a friend of Ramsey who lives in Abu Dhabi named Zafar. After a successful retrieval of the God's Eye (that also involved Dominic and Brian made a vehicle jump on three buildings), they found Shaw's hideout but also got into a surprise ambush that killed Nobody's men and him being injured. Afterwards, Dominic decided to take down the alliance of Shaw and Jakande on their home turf. This also led to Dominic and Shaw have an intense fight at the rooftop of a parking garage while Brian led the others to lure Jakande while Ramsey initiating a hack to shut down God's Eye for good. They succeeded in doing so but also paid with a huge destruction in the city and the death of Jakande when Dominic let his car crash on Jakande's chopper and hooking a bag of grenades on its skids before crashing his vehicle, thought that he died in the process. This prompts Letty's memories of her and Dominic restored (and also reveals that they were indeed married to each other somewhere in between the story of Los Bandoleros and Fast & Furious) and Dominic recovers from being unconscious. After this, Brian decides to retire from the crew in order to spend time with his family. Dominic leaves without saying goodbye, prompting Brian to catch up to him at an intersection and have one last drive before parting ways. This also was done to give Brian's role a clean retirement and a send-off after the actor who portrays him, Paul Walker, died in a single vehicle accident back in 2013. In The Fate of the Furious, Dom has betrayed his family and friends at the behest of a mysterious, seductive woman known as Cipher. After betraying his team to steal an EMP device they were assigned to recover, it is revealed that Cipher — the true mastermind behind both the attempted creation of the Nightshade device in Fast & Furious 6 and also the near-theft of the God's Eye hacking device in Furious 7 — has captured Elena and Dom's previously-unknown son, using them as blackmail tools to ensure Dom's cooperation. Despite Cipher's dismissal of Dom's views on family and her access to multiple surveillance systems, Dom manages to use his contacts to pass on a message to Magdalene Shaw, the mother of Deckard and Owen Shaw, allowing her to retrieve her sons and send them aboard Cipher's plane via a tracking device slipped into Dom's necklace. Once the Shaws retrieve his son — as Elena having been killed earlier for Cipher to make a point to Dom — Dom rejoins his team and destroys a Russian nuclear submarine Cipher was attempting to steal. Although Cipher escapes, Dom vows to protect his new son, naming the boy Brian after his brother-in-law and best friend. Dominic has been described as "a gruff but affectionate father to his loyal pack of renegades, providing them with barbecue, protection, and a rough moral code to live by." Vin Diesel has described Dominic as "a character who is strong, who is a caretaker." In contrast to Brian's estranged relationship with his father, Dominic is shown to "put family first" and be very protective of Mia. He is also implied to be religious, insisting that all members in a dinner table say grace and that the first person to take a bite must bless the meal. In The Fast and the Furious, Dominic's volatile temper stems from a painful incident during his teenage years, when his father, a stock car racer, was killed in a race after a driver named Kenny Linder accidentally sent him to the wall at 120 mph. Distraught by his father's death, Dominic assaulted Linder a week later with a torque wrench and left him hospitalized with severe head injuries. Dominic served time in juvenile hall and was banned from racing for the attack. He nearly replicates the action while fighting Hobbs in Fast Five, only to (purposely) miss Hobbs' head by an inch when Mia begs him to stop. In Fast Five, Dominic recalls the influence his father had on him. His father would help Mia with her homework everyday and sending her to bed, he would stay up late reading the next chapter, to make sure he could help her the next day. On Sundays, the family would attend church and host a barbecue for the neighborhood; those who did not attend church would not be allowed at the barbecue. However, Dominic is also obsessed with racing. In the first film, he says: "I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free." In The Fate of the Furious, Cipher repeats a similar phrase to Dominic to question his loyalty to his family. Dominic's main love interest is Letty Ortiz who he grew up with. During Fast & Furious 6, she comes back with amnesia. Dominic was with Elena Neves during that time. However, they rekindled their relationship and it is revealed that they got married a few years ago, and also explaining the iconic necklace. In four of the films, Dom drives his deceased father's black 1970 Dodge Charger. In the first film, Dom tells Brian that he and his father built the 900 horsepower car, but that he had never driven it, because it "scares the shit out of [him]." Dom uses it to help Brian by attacking one of Tran's henchmen. He later races Brian's Supra with it; however, he totals it when he collides with a train. In Fast & Furious he sees that Letty has rebuilt it for him, as she was hoping that he would return to the United States. Later in the film, Dom takes it to Mexico and shields Brian's car with it, but destroys it by running into a stack of propane canisters in the tunnels. In the final scene of the film, Brian is shown to have rebuilt it, and Dom recognizes the sound of the engine while riding in a prison bus. In Fast Five, it is shown that Brian brakes in front of the bus, causing the bus to collide with it and flip. Dom uses it throughout the film to win cars to test for their vault heist. Meanwhile, Hobbs uses it to track the location of Dom's gang by having his men check camera feeds for a 1970 Charger. When Hobbs comes to arrest Dom, he crashes his Gurkha F5 into his Charger, cutting it in half, which triggers a fight between the pair. In Furious 7, near the end of the movie he goes to his home which was recently blown up by Deckard Shaw, and in the garage is his Charger covered up. He uncovers it revealing the slightly different new look. He takes the Charger to the top of a rooftop where he faces Shaw in a game of chicken. When the building is later collapsing due to missiles, Torretto ramps it off the building destroying it yet again. The car goes through some changes. In the first film, it is chrome trimmed, while in the fourth film it is black trimmed, with an extra grill cover. In the fifth film it is matte black, with black wheels and the supercharger removed. In the seventh film, Torretto's Charger has the supercharger again. The car still has black trim but is no longer matte black but metallic black. Also a different set of rims. The car has been in a series of promotions: Car Town offered the versions from both the first and fifth films, while Mafia Wars offered the first." In Fast & Furious 6, Dom gives his nephew Jack a diecast replica of his black Charger, hoping to keep him away from Brian's habits of favoring imports. Later in the film, Dom drives a maroon Dodge Charger Daytona, which is acquired by Tej Parker at a car auction in London. While it is not the same car as his signature black Charger, it is a direct nod to The Charger. At the very end of Furious 7 Toretto is seen with the Project Maximus Ultra 1968 Dodge Charger. In The Fate of the Furious, Toretto drives an armoured version of his usual Charger in the film's final confrontation.

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"Make Your Own Kind of Music" is a pop song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, first recorded in 1968 by the New York City-based trio the Will-O-Bees (Janet Blossom, Steven Porter, and Robert Merchanthouse), who regularly performed Mann/Weil compositions. After Cass Elliot had a hit in the summer of 1969 with Mann/Weil's "It's Getting Better", she recorded "Make Your Own Kind of Music" as the follow-up single, and her album Bubblegum, Lemonade, and... Something for Mama was re-released as "Make Your Own Kind Of Music/It's Getting Better," the title cut having been added to the original track listing. However, Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music" single only reached No. 36. The similar chart impact of the follow-up single, another Mann/Weil composition entitled "New World Coming," which reached No. 42, signaled Elliot's challenges in maintaining a profile as a current hitmaker, as the 1960s turned into the 1970s. The Cass Elliot track is in the key of E major. The song was used prominently in the television show Lost, first appearing in the episode "Man of Science, Man of Faith," and rated as one of Spin magazine's "Best Musical Moments From TV's Latest Golden Age". It was also used as the theme for Swedish documentary show I en annan del av Köping. The song was also used to great effect in the episode of the television show The Middle entitled The Graduate, used as a score to a flashback montage of Sue during her high school graduation ceremony. Additionally, the song was also used multiple times in the TV show, Dexter, including an episode under the same title as the song. A remixed version of the Cass Elliot track was featured in the 1997 Dance compilation Dance Across The Universe (Part 1), which was released by Universal Records, along with a separate club-only promo which featured four different mixes (one of them dubbed "The Mama Cass Mix"). In March 2018, Paloma Faith released a cover of the song, which was also featured in a TV commercial for Škoda, promoting the Karoq crossover vehicle. It made it to No. 28 on the UK Singles Chart. It was later confirmed in April 2018 that the song would be included on the digital track listing of her fourth studio album The Architect as one of the album's singles. It was included in the tracklist of the album on sites like Spotify and Apple Music on 20 April 2018. In 1972, Barbra Streisand released "Make Your Own Kind of Music" as a single in a medley with "Sing", which became an Easy Listening hit (No. 28) but only reached No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100. Streisand also recorded parts of the song as a medley with The World is a Concerto for Barbra Streisand...And Other Musical Instruments. Other versions were recorded by Bobby Sherman and Paloma Faith. A happy hardcore cover of the track was released in 1997 by DJ Daydream. Discography for the song, (Mama Cass), Remix by DJ Mathieu Bouthier and Muttonheads The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (b. 1946). They produced a distinct soft musical style, combining Karen's contralto vocals with Richard's arranging and composition skills. During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded ten albums, along with numerous singles and several television specials. The siblings were born in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Downey, California, in 1963. Richard took piano lessons as a child, progressing to California State University, Long Beach, while Karen learned the drums. They first performed together as a duo in 1965 and formed the jazz- oriented Richard Carpenter Trio followed by the middle-of-the-road group Spectrum. Signing as Carpenters to A&M; Records in 1969, they achieved major success the following year with the hit singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun". Subsequently, the duo's brand of melodic pop produced a record-breaking run of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, and they became leading sellers in the soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary music genres. The Carpenters had three number-one singles and five number-two singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen number-one hits on the Adult Contemporary chart, in addition to twelve top-10 singles. They have sold more than 90 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The duo toured continually during the 1970s, which put them under increased strain; Richard took a year off in 1979 after he had become addicted to Quaaludes, while Karen suffered from anorexia nervosa. Their career together ended in 1983 when Karen died from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Extensive news coverage surrounding these circumstances increased public awareness of eating disorders. Though the Carpenters were criticized for their clean-cut and wholesome conservative image in the 1970s, their music has since been re- evaluated, attracting critical acclaim and continued commercial success. The Carpenter siblings were both born at Grace–New Haven Hospital (now called Yale–New Haven Hospital) in New Haven, Connecticut, to Harold Bertram (November 8, 1908 – October 15, 1988) and Agnes Reuwer (née Tatum, March 5, 1915 – November 10, 1996). Harold was born in Wuzhou, China, moving to Britain in 1917, and the US in 1921, while Agnes was born and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. They married on April 9, 1935; their first child, Richard Lynn, was born on October 15, 1946, while Karen Anne followed on March 2, 1950. Richard was a quiet child who spent most of his time at home listening to Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Red Nichols and Spike Jones, and playing the piano. Karen was friendly and outgoing; she liked to play sports, including softball with the neighborhood kids, but still spent a lot of time listening to music. She enjoyed dancing and began ballet and tap classes aged four. Karen and Richard were close, and shared a common interest in music. In particular, they became fans of Les Paul and Mary Ford, whose music featured multiple overdubbed voices and instruments. Richard began piano lessons aged eight, but quickly grew frustrated with the formal direction of the lessons and quit after a year. He had begun to teach himself how to play by ear by 11, and resumed studying with a different teacher. He took a greater interest in playing this time, and would frequently practice at home. By age 14, he was interested in performing professionally, and started lessons at Yale School of Music. In June 1963, the Carpenter family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey hoping that it would mean better musical opportunities for Richard. He was asked to be the organist for weddings and services at the local Methodist church; instead of playing traditional hymns, he would sometimes rearrange contemporary Beatles songs in a "church" style. In late 1964, Richard enrolled at California State College at Long Beach where he met future songwriting partner John Bettis, Wesley Jacobs, a friend who played the bass and tuba for the Richard Carpenter Trio, and choral director Frank Pooler, with whom Richard would collaborate to create the Christmas standard "Merry Christmas Darling" in 1966. That same year, Karen enrolled at Downey High School, where she found she had a knack for playing the drums. She had initially tried playing the glockenspiel, but had been inspired by her friend Frankie Chavez, who had been drumming since he was three. She became enthusiastic about the drums, and began to learn complex pieces, such as Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". Chavez persuaded her parents to buy a Ludwig drum kit in late 1964, and she began lessons with local jazz players, including how to read concert music. She quickly replaced the entry-level kit with a large Ludwig set that was a similar set-up to Brubeck's drummer, Joe Morello. Richard and Karen gave their first public performance together in 1965, as part of the pit band for a local production of "Guys and Dolls. By 1965, Karen had been practicing the drums for a year, and Richard was refining his piano techniques under Pooler's tuition. Late that year, Richard teamed up with Jacobs, who played tuba and stand-up bass. With Karen drumming, the three formed the jazz-oriented Richard Carpenter Trio. Richard led the band and wrote all the arrangements, and they began to rehearse daily. He bought a tape recorder, and began to make recordings of the group. Originally, neither Karen nor Richard sang; Richard's friend Dan Friberg occasionally filled in on trumpet, along with guest vocalist Margaret Shanor. Karen subsequently became more confident in singing, and began to take lessons with Frank Pooler. He taught her a mixture of classical and pop singing, but realised she most enjoyed performing Richard's new material. Pooler later said, "Karen was a born pop singer". In early 1966, Karen tagged along at a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, and joined future Carpenters collaborator and lyricist John Bettis at a demo session where Richard was to accompany Friberg. Asked to sing, she performed for Osborn, who was immediately impressed with her vocal abilities. He signed Karen to his label, Magic Lamp Records, and Richard to his publishing arm, Lightup Music. The label put out a single featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours". As well as Karen's vocals, the track was backed by the Richard Carpenter Trio. The single was not a commercial success, due to a lack of promotion and the label folded the next year. In mid-1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio entered the Hollywood Bowl annual Battle of the Bands competition. They played an instrumental version of "The Girl from Ipanema" and their own piece, "Iced Tea". They won the competition on June 24 and were signed by RCA Records. They recorded songs such as the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night". A committee reviewed their recordings and chose not to produce them, so the trio were released from RCA. Karen graduated from high school in early 1967, and was awarded the John Philip Sousa Band award. She subsequently joined Richard at Long Beach State as a music major. Osborn let Karen and Richard continue to use his studio to record demo tapes. As they had unlimited studio time, Richard decided to experiment with overdubbing his and Karen's voices in order to create a large choral sound. In 1967, Jacobs left to study classical music and join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Richard Carpenter Trio disbanded. Richard and Bettis then were hired as musicians at a refreshment shop at Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A.. They were expected to play turn of the 20th century songs in keeping with the shop's theme. The shop's patrons had other ideas; many requested the musicians to play current popular music. When the pair tried pleasing their customers and honoring the requests, they were fired by a Disneyland supervisor, Victor Guder, for being "too radical". Bettis and Richard were unhappy about their dismissal and wrote the song "Mr. Guder" about their former superior. Richard and Karen then teamed up with student musicians from Long Beach State to form the band Spectrum. The group included Bettis on guitar, who began writing lyrics to Richard's songs, guitarist Gary Sims, bassist Dan Woodhams, and vocalist Leslie "Toots" Johnston. The group sent demos to various record labels around Los Angeles, with little success. Part of the problem was the group's middle- of-the-road sound, which was different to the psychedelic rock popular in clubs. Richard's friend Ed Sulzer managed to book time at United Audio Recording Studio in Santa Ana, and the group recorded several original songs including "Candy" (which would later become "One Love" on the Carpenter's self-titled 1971 album). Richard bought a Wurlitzer electric piano as an additional instrument to complement his acoustic piano onstage. Spectrum performed regularly at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles, including opening for Steppenwolf early in that group's career. By 1968, Spectrum had disbanded, finding it difficult to get gigs as their music was not considered "danceable" by rock and roll standards. Having enjoyed their multi-layer sound experiments at Osborn's studio, Richard and Karen decided to formally become a duo, calling themselves Carpenters. Later in the year, the duo received an offer to be on the television program Your All American College Show. Their performance on the program, playing a cover of "Dancing in the Street", was their first television appearance, with new bassist Bill Sissoyev. The program had a weekly winner with all weekly winners competing in semi-finals and finals at the end of 12 weeks. The finals featuring "The Dick Carpenter Trio" aired on August 31, 1968. Karen also auditioned as a vocalist in Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, but was unsuccessful. By this time, Sulzer had become the group's manager, while the duo continued to record demos with Osborn, one of which was sent to A&M; Records via a friend of Sulzer's. At the same time, the duo were asked to audition for a Ford Motor Company advertising campaign, which included $50,000 each and a brand new Ford automobile. The group accepted the offer, but quickly withdrew it after receiving a formal offer from A&M.; Label owner Herb Alpert was intrigued by Karen's voice, later saying "It touched me ... I felt like it was time". On meeting the duo, Alpert said "Let's hope we can have some hits!" Richard and Karen Carpenter signed to A&M; Records on April 22, 1969. Since Karen was 19 and underage, her parents had to co-sign. The duo had decided to sign as "Carpenters", without the definite article, which was influenced by names such as Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane, which they considered "hip". When the Carpenters signed to A&M; Records, they were given free rein in the studio to create an album in their own style. The label recommended that Jack Daugherty should produce it, though those present have since suggested that Richard was the de facto producer. Most of the album's material had already been written for and performed with Spectrum; "Your Wonderful Parade" and "All I Can Do" both came from demos recorded with Osborn. Richard rearranged the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" in a melancholic ballad style. Osborn played bass on the album, and would continue to do so throughout the Carpenters' career. Karen also played bass on "All of My Life" and "Eve", after being taught the relevant parts by Osborn. The album, entitled Offering, was released on October 9, 1969, to a positive critical reception; one review in Billboard said "With radio programming support, Carpenters should have a big hit on their hands." "Ticket to Ride" was released as a single on November 5, and became a minor hit for the Carpenters, peaking at No. 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart. The album only sold 18,000 copies on its initial run, at a loss for A&M;, but after the Carpenters' subsequent breakthrough the album was repackaged and reissued internationally under the name Ticket to Ride and sold 250,000 copies. Despite the poor showing of Offering, A&M; retained the Carpenters and decided they should record a hit single instead. In December 1969, they met Burt Bacharach, who was impressed by their work and invited the duo to open for him at a charity concert, which should include them performing a medley of Bacharach / Hal David songs. Herb Alpert asked Richard to re-work a Bacharach/David song "(They Long to Be) Close to You", which had first been recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain, and Dionne Warwick the following year. Richard Carpenter decided the song would work as a standalone piece, and wrote an arrangement from scratch without being influenced by any earlier recordings. The duo struggled on an early recording attempt, and for the second session, Alpert suggested that seasoned session player Hal Blaine play drums instead of Karen. Larry Knechtel was tried out as a session pianist, but was replaced by Richard for the final take. The Carpenters' version was released as a single in March 1970. It entered the charts at No. 56, the highest debut of the week ending June 20. It reached No. 1 on July 25 and stayed there for the next four weeks. Their next hit was a song Richard had seen in a television commercial for Crocker National Bank, "We've Only Just Begun", written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. Three months after "Close to You" reached No. 1, the Carpenters' version of "We've Only Just Begun" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first of their eventual five No. 2 hits (it was unable to get past "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5 and "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family during its four-week stay). The song became the first hit single for Williams and Nichols, who think the Carpenters' version is definitive. "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun" became RIAA certified gold singles and were featured on the best-selling album Close to You, which placed No. 175 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003. The album also included "Mr. Guder", the song inspired by Disneyland supervisor Victor Guder, who had dismissed the young songwriters for playing popular music when they worked at the park. The Carpenters began touring, attempting to recruit Jacobs and former Spectrum members. Jacobs decided to continue with the Detroit Symphony, but Woodhams and Sims agreed to be part of the live band, which was completed with Doug Strawn and Bob Messenger. They rehearsed daily on the A&M; soundstage in order to present a concert show that could compare with their records. As a result of their chart success, the group made several television appearances in 1970, including The Ed Sullivan Show. The Carpenters also chose Sherwin Bash as their new manager around this time. On Thanksgiving Day, 1970, the Carpenter family moved into a new $300,000 ($ as of ) home near the San Gabriel River. The duo rounded out the year with the holiday release of "Merry Christmas, Darling", which they had been playing for several years. The single scored high on the holiday charts and would repeatedly return to the holiday charts in subsequent years. In 1978, Karen re-cut the vocal for their Christmas TV special, feeling she could give a more mature treatment to it; this remake also became a hit. The Carpenters had a string of hit singles and albums through the early 1970s. Their 1971 song "For All We Know" was recorded the previous year by members of the pop group Bread for a wedding scene in the movie Lovers and Other Strangers. Richard saw the song's potential for the Carpenters and recorded it in the autumn of 1970. The track became the duo's third gold single, and later won an Oscar for "Best Original Song". On March 16, 1971, the duo received Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. The duo's fourth gold single, "Rainy Days and Mondays", became Williams' and Nichols' second major single with the Carpenters. The demo was written by Williams about his mother, which led to the line, "Talking to myself and feeling old". Richard rearranged the song to include a saxophone solo, played by Bob Messenger. The single peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept from the top slot by Carole King's "It's Too Late". "Superstar", written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, became the duo's next hit. The song had originally appeared on Joe Cocker's 1970 album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, sung by Rita Coolidge. Karen was familiar with the album, but Richard first heard the song when it was covered by Bette Midler on The Tonight Show, and realised its potential as a Carpenters hit. The duo changed the line "I can hardly wait to sleep with you again" to "... to be with you again", as they knew the former would not be played on Top 40 radio. The single sold a million copies, attaining gold status, and became the Carpenters' third No. 2 single on the Billboard Hot 100 (this time held off the top spot by Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe"). On May 14, 1971, the Carpenters performed a sell-out show at Carnegie Hall, and they released their third album, Carpenters the same day. It became one of their best sellers, earning RIAA certification for platinum four times, and rising to No. 2 on Billboards pop album chart for two weeks (behind Carole King's Tapestry) with over a million pre-sales orders. The album won a Grammy Award, as well as receiving three nominations. The A&M; graphics department hired Craig Braun and Associates to design the cover. "I recognized it to be a great logo as soon as I saw it", says Richard. The logo was used on every Carpenters album thereafter; Richard said it was done "to keep things consistent". The logo did not appear on the front cover of Passage but a small version appeared on the back cover. Shortly after the third album, the duo recorded a short television series, Make Your Own Kind of Music, which drew mixed reviews. By mid-1971, the Carpenters were being criticized that their live shows had no focal point, as Karen was seated behind the drums. Richard and Bash tried to persuade her to sing out-front. Karen resisted at first, but was eventually persuaded to front the popular numbers and ballads, and drum for more up-tempo numbers. Consequently, Jim Anthony was hired as a touring drummer. Over time, Karen became more relaxed as a frontwoman and centerpiece of the band. Later that year, Richard was watching a Bing Crosby movie, Rhythm on the River, in which Crosby played a country singer whose career was in decline and whose most famous song was "Goodbye to Love". The song was never performed in the film, so Richard imagined what it might sound like and wrote down some initial lyrics. These were finished off by Bettis, and became "Goodbye to Love". For the arrangement, Richard suggested adding a fuzz guitar solo. He resisted suggestions to get an experienced session player in, and instead asked Tony Peluso, whose band Instant Joy had supported the Carpenters on an earlier tour. Peluso was a typical rock guitarist and did not read music, so Richard wrote out a chord chart for him to follow. Having been instructed to play the first five bars of the melody and then improvise, he recorded the solo in two takes. Bettis later described "Goodbye to Love" as his favorite single he has worked on in his career. The single reached No. 7 in the Billboard Hot 100, and Peluso accepted an offer to tour with the Carpenters full-time. Some did not appreciate the combination of a soft ballad and loud electric guitar, and sent hate mail to the Carpenters, but conversely they picked up new fans who appreciated the bridge between rock and pop. On April 25, 1972, the Carpenters visited the White House to meet presidential assistants James Cavanagh, Ken Cole and Ronald Zeigler. They returned on August 1 to meet President Richard Nixon and posed for photographs with him at the Oval Office. "Goodbye to Love" was featured on the Carpenters' fourth album, A Song for You released on June 13, 1972. The title track, a cover of a song on Leon Russell's debut album, was considered as a single, but rejected owing to its length. The album also included a Carole King song, "It's Going To Take Some Time" and another Nichols / Williams original, "I Won't Last A Day Without You". Another Carpenter / Bettis composition, "Top of the World", was originally intended as just an album cut, but after Lynn Anderson scored a hit with the song in early 1973, the Carpenters opted to record their own single version. It was released in September and became the Carpenters' second Billboard No. 1 hit, in December. The Carpenters met the President again on April 30, 1973, when they performed a special concert at the White House, though the event was overshadowed by the resignation of the White House Chief of Staff, Bob Haldeman, and assistant John Ehrlichman over the Watergate scandal, which would ultimately also lead to Nixon's resignation. Their next album, Now & Then, was named by the duo's mother, Agnes. It contained Sesame Street's signature song "Sing", featuring the Jimmy Joice Children's Choir, which was released as a single, reaching No. 3 on the Hot 100. The album also included a Leon Russell composition, "This Masquerade", and the ambitious "Yesterday Once More", a side-long tribute to oldies radio which incorporated renditions of eight hit songs from previous decades into a faux oldies radio program. The single version of the latter became their biggest hit in the United Kingdom, holding the No. 2 spot for two weeks, and became the Carpenters' biggest worldwide hit. In 1974, the Carpenters achieved a significant international hit with an up-tempo remake of Hank Williams's "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)". While the song was not released as a single in the US, it reached the top 30 in Japan, No. 12 in the United Kingdom (as part of a double A-side with "Mr. Guder"), and No. 3 in the Netherlands. At Christmas that year, the duo released a jazz-influenced rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and appeared on Perry Como's Christmas show. The Carpenters did not record a new album in 1974. They had been touring extensively and were exhausted; Richard later said, "there was simply no time to make one. Nor was I in the mood." Tensions had erupted in the family unit; Richard had started dating the group's hairdresser but neither Agnes nor Karen took kindly to her and she ultimately ended the relationship and quit the band's services. Agnes had always praised Richard's musical talents, which Karen resented. The duo ultimately moved out of their parents' house; at first the siblings shared a home. In May, the Carpenters undertook their first tour of Japan, playing to 85,000 fans. They later likened the scenes when they first touched down at Tokyo Airport to Beatlemania. During this period, the pair released just one single, "I Won't Last a Day Without You" from A Song for You. The Carpenters finally decided to release their original two years after its original album release and some months after Maureen McGovern's 1973 cover. In March 1974, the single version became the fifth and final selection from the album to chart in the Top 20, reaching No. 11 on the Hot 100 in May. In place of a new album, their first greatest hits package was released, featuring remixes of their singles, and newly recorded leads and bridges that allowed each side of the album to play through with no breaks. Richard later regretted this decision. This compilation was entitled , and topped the charts in the US for one week, on January 5, 1974. It also topped the UK chart for 17 weeks (non-consecutive) and became one of the best-selling albums of the decade, ultimately selling more than seven million copies in the US alone. In 1975, the Carpenters had a hit with a remake of the Marvelettes' chart- topping 1961 single, "Please Mr. Postman". The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 in January and became the duo's third and final No. 1 pop single. It also earned Karen and Richard their record-setting twelfth million-selling gold single in the US. The follow-up, a Carpenter / Bettis composition "Only Yesterday", was the duo's last Hot 100 top 10 hit, reaching No. 4\. The sound on the track was intended to emulate Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound production technique. Both singles appeared on their 1975 LP Horizon, which also included covers of the Eagles' "Desperado" and Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire", which became a moderate hit later that year. Horizon was certified gold after two weeks, but missed the top ten in the US, peaking at No. 13\. The album still had a positive critical reception. The Carpenters toured with Sedaka during 1975, but critics found the latter's performances to be more professional and entertaining. Richard became particularly cross at how Sedaka was getting more attention, and ultimately fired him from the tour. Karen struggled to cope with the demands of live shows, and a planned tour of the UK and Japan was cancelled. The duo begun to produce music videos to promote their records; in early 1975, they filmed a performance of "Please Mr. Postman" at Disneyland and "Only Yesterday" at the Huntington Gardens. Their next album, A Kind of Hush, was released on June 11, 1976, and was certified gold. However, it was the first Carpenters' album not to become platinum-certified since Ticket to Ride seven years earlier. The duo had several hits that year, but by this time the public had become over-familiar with them, and sales fell. Their biggest single that year was a cover of Herman's Hermits' "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)", which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. "I Need to Be in Love" (Karen's favorite song by the Carpenters) charted at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it followed "There's a Kind of Hush" to the top spot on the Adult Contemporary charts and became the duo's 14th No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit, more than any other act in the history of the chart. The Carpenters' Very First Television Special aired on December 8, 1976 and included guests John Denver and Victor Borge. It was the duo's first headlining television variety show in the US. A follow-up special, The Carpenters at Christmas, aired on December 9, 1977, featuring Kristy McNichol. The 1977 album, Passage, marked an attempt to venture into other musical genres. It featured an unlikely mix of jazz fusion ("B'wana She No Home"), calypso ("Man Smart, Woman Smarter"), and orchestrated balladry ("I Just Fall in Love Again", "Two Sides"), and included the hits, "All You Get from Love Is a Love Song" and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft". "Calling Occupants" was supported with the TV special Space Encounters, which aired May 17, 1978, with guest stars Suzanne Somers and John Davidson. Although the single release of "Calling Occupants" became a significant Top 10 hit in the UK and reached No. 1 in Ireland, it only peaked at number 32 on the Hot 100, and for the first time a Carpenters album did not reach the gold threshold of 500,000 copies shipped in the US. In early 1978, they had a surprise Top 10 country hit with the up-tempo, fiddle-sweetened "Sweet, Sweet Smile", written by country-pop singer Juice Newton and her long- time musical partner Otha Young. In place of a new album for 1978, a second compilation, , was released in the UK where it reached No. 2 in the charts. In the US, their first Christmas album, Christmas Portrait, became a seasonal favorite, and was certified platinum. Richard later said that the album should have been released as Karen's first solo album. It was shortly followed by the television special The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait. During the sessions, several non- Christmas songs were recorded such as "Where Do I Go from Here", which was not released until after Karen's death. By 1978, Richard had become addicted to Quaaludes, which he had been taking on prescription in increasing doses since the 1971 tours. On September 4, during an engagement at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he decided to quit touring, and the concerts there were curtailed. On December 3, the Carpenters were scheduled to play at the Pacific Terrace Theatre, Long Beach Convention Center, which turned out to be the last live concert that Karen and Richard played together. Richard refused to fly to the UK for an appearance on ITV's Bruce Forsyth's Big Night, realizing he had a serious problem, so Karen performed without him and denied rumors that the duo were to split. Richard began treatment for his addiction at a facility in Topeka, Kansas, for six weeks in January 1979. He decided to take the rest of the year off to relax and rehabilitate. Richard was now sure that Karen was battling with anorexia nervosa, but she denied it, saying she simply had colitis. Karen did not want to take a break from singing nor seek professional medical help for her own condition, so she decided to pursue a solo album project with producer Phil Ramone in New York. The choice of Ramone and more adult-oriented and disco / dance-tempo material represented an effort to retool her image. Heatwave keyboardist and songwriter (and future Michael Jackson collaborator) Rod Temperton was asked by Ramone to help with songwriting and arranging, and Billy Joel's backup band were used for the album. She decided not to record Temperton's "Off the Wall" and "Rock with You", which later became hits for Jackson. The album was finished by early 1980, but drew a negative reception from A&M.; Her mother Agnes did not like Karen working without Richard, while Richard felt that Karen was not well enough to have worked on the album. The total cost of recording was $500,000 of which $400,000 came from the Carpenters' own funds. The album was not released and although the press announced it was canceled at Karen's request, its rejection devastated her; she felt she had just wasted months of work. It was finally issued in 1996, 13 years after Karen's death. Following the cancellation of her solo album and her marriage to Tom Burris on August 31, 1980, Karen decided to record a new album with Richard, who had now recovered from his addiction and was ready to continue their career. The Carpenters produced their final television special in 1980, called , with guest stars Ella Fitzgerald and John Davidson. Karen's outfit for the show was designed by Bill Belew, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for best costume design. He had also designed her wedding dress. Around the time of filming Music, Music, Music, Karen appeared to have returned to a healthier weight; in Spring 1980 she went on a retreat with Olivia Newton-John and old friends to the Golden Door health spa in San Diego. On June 16, 1981, the Carpenters released what would become their final LP as a duo, Made in America. The album sold around 200,000 copies and spawned the hit, "Touch Me When We're Dancing", which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100. It also became their fifteenth and final number one Adult Contemporary hit. The album also produced three other singles, including "(Want You) Back in My Life Again", "Those Good Old Dreams", and a remake of the Motown hit "Beechwood 4-5789". The singles fared well on the adult contemporary charts. "Beechwood 4-5789", the last single by the Carpenters to be released in Karen's lifetime, on her 32nd birthday. The album concluded with "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)", referring to Karen's marriage. Promotion for the album included a whistle-stop tour of America, Brazil and Europe, including an appearance on America's Top Ten. At all of these events, the band mimed to the studio recordings. After moving to New York City in January 1982, Karen sought therapy for her eating disorder with psychotherapist Steven Levenkron. In April, she briefly returned to Los Angeles for recording, including a Carpenter / Bettis tune "You're Enough" and a Roger Nichols / Dean Pitchford song, "Now". Richard noticed that while Karen's interpretation of the songs was as strong as ever, he felt the timbre was weak owing to her poor health. He was unimpressed with Levenkron's treatment of Karen, considering it worthless. In September 1982, Karen called Levenkron to say her heart was "beating funny" and she felt dizzy and confused. Admitting herself into hospital later that month, she was hooked up to an intravenous drip; she ended up gaining in eight weeks. On November 8, she left the hospital and despite pleas from family and friends, she announced that she was returning home to California and that she was cured. Karen maintained this weight of thereafter, for the rest of her life. Her last public appearance was on January 11, 1983, for a photo session celebrating 25 years of the Grammy Awards. On February 1, 1983, Karen and Richard met for dinner and discussed future plans for the Carpenters, including a return to touring. On February 3, Karen visited her parents, and discussed finalizing her divorce from Burris. The following morning, her mother found her lying unresponsive on the floor of a walk-in closet, and she was rushed to the hospital. After Richard and his parents spent 20 minutes in a waiting room, a doctor entered and told them Karen had died. The autopsy stated that her death was caused by "emetine cardiotoxicity due to or as a consequence of anorexia nervosa." Under the anatomical summary, the first item was heart failure, followed by anorexia. The third finding was cachexia, which is extremely low weight and weakness and general body decline associated with chronic disease. Emetine cardiotoxicity implied that Karen abused ipecac syrup, although there was no evidence to suggest that she did as her brother and family never found ipecac vials in her apartment, even after her death. Karen's funeral was at the Downey United Methodist Church on February 8, 1983. More than a thousand mourners attended, among them her friends Dorothy Hamill, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, Dionne Warwick and Herb Alpert. On October 12, 1983, the Carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Richard, Harold and Agnes Carpenter attended the inauguration, as did many fans. Karen's death brought media attention to anorexia nervosa and related conditions such as bulimia nervosa, which were little known about at the time. Following Karen's death, Richard has continued to produce recordings of the duo's music, including several albums of previously unreleased material and numerous compilations. The posthumous Voice of the Heart was released in late 1983 and included some tracks left off Made in America and earlier albums. It peaked at No. 46 and was certified gold. Two singles were released, "Make Believe It's Your First Time", a second version of a song Karen had recorded for her solo album, and "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore". For the second Christmas season following Karen's death, Richard constructed a new Carpenters' Christmas album entitled An Old-Fashioned Christmas, using outtakes from Christmas Portrait and recording new material around it. Richard released his first solo album, Time, in 1987, sharing vocals between himself, Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield. The track "When Time Was All We Had" was a tribute to Karen. The same year, Todd Haynes released the short film , which featured Barbie dolls playing the main cast. Richard objected to music being used in the film without his consent, and served an injunction in 1990 that prevented it from being shown. On January 1, 1989, the television special The Karen Carpenter Story premiered on CBS, topping the ratings for that week. It included the previously unreleased "You're the One" and "Where Do I Go from Here" in its soundtrack, which were released on the album Lovelines later that year. Richard married his (adopted) first cousin, Mary Rudolph, on May 19, 1984. Together, they have four daughters and one son, and live in Thousand Oaks, California, where the couple are supporters of the arts. In 2004, Richard and his wife pledged a $3 million gift to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Foundation in memory of Karen. Richard has actively supported the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at his alma mater, Long Beach State. He continues to make concert appearances, including fundraising efforts for the Carpenter Center. In 2007 and 2009, the current owners of the former Carpenter family home on Newville Avenue, Downey, obtained city permits to tear down the existing buildings to make room for newer and larger structures, despite protests from fans. In February 2008, the campaign was covered in the Los Angeles Times. At that time an adjacent house that had once served as the band's headquarters and recording studio had already been demolished and the main house was on the verge of being demolished. The original house was featured on the cover of Now & Then and was where Karen had died. In the words of one fan, "this was our version of Graceland." On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed The Carpenters (both as a duo and separately) among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. Richard told the Times he had been informed about the destruction of the master tapes by a Universal Music Enterprises employee while he was working on a reissue for the label, and only after he had made multiple, persistent inquiries into their whereabouts. Richard Carpenter was the creative force behind the Carpenters' sound. An accomplished keyboard player, composer and arranger, music critic Daniel Levitin called him "one of the most gifted arrangers to emerge in popular music." The duo's smooth harmonies were not in step with contemporary music, which was dominated by heavy rock. Instead, the Carpenters strove for a rich and melodic sound, along the same vein as the Beach Boys and the Mamas & the Papas, but with greater fullness and orchestration including frequent use of small string and horn sections and introspective lyrics centred around relationships. Richard also admired the musicianship and arranging skills of Frank Zappa, and the two briefly met backstage at the Billboard Forum in 1975. He has credited Judd Conlon as a key influence on his vocal arranging. Many of Richard's arrangements were classically influenced, featuring strings and occasional brass and woodwind, such as the Tijuana Brass-style couplets in the chorus of "Superstar", which did not appear in the original. He later said "if you don't have the right arrangement for that song, the singer's going nowhere and neither is the song". As well as arranging all of the parts for musicians, he would also write notation for the drums, showing where individual components of a kit were supposed to be played. He also scored bass lines that he knew Joe Osborn would enjoy playing and fit his style. Most Carpenters albums credit Ron Gorow, who sometimes took some of Richard's arrangements worked out on piano, and wrote the actual sheet music notation onto paper. Richard frequently played the Wurlitzer electric piano, which he purchased during his Spectrum days. He also played the grand piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer and the harpsichord. In the studio, he dubbed the Wurlitzer over acoustic piano parts to thicken the sound. From the mid-1970s, he also used Fender Rhodes pianos, and kept up to date with music technology. While touring, he alternated between grand piano, Rhodes and Wurlitzer on stage, for different songs. Karen did not possess a powerful singing voice, but close miking brought out many nuances in her performances. Richard arranged their music to take advantage of this, though Karen had a three-octave vocal range. Richard's work with Karen was influenced by the music of Les Paul, whose overdubbing of the voice of wife and musical partner Mary Ford allowed her to be used as both the lead and harmony vocals. By multi-tracking, Richard was able to use Karen and himself for the harmonies to back Karen's lead. The overdubbed background harmonies were distinctive to the Carpenters, but it was the soulful, engaging sound of Karen's lead voice that made them so recognizable. Record executive Mike Curb said it was Karen's voice that took the Carpenters above straight pop music into pop rock. She was known as a "one take wonder" and could deliver a strong performance on the first attempt. Karen was an accomplished drummer, which was her original musical role, but she soon began to sing for the group too. Before 1974, Karen played the drums for a number of their songs, although some had Hal Blaine playing. Blaine later reported that while Karen was a capable drummer he was brought in for studio work partly because Karen was accustomed to playing loudly for live audiences and thus was unfamiliar with the more subtle playing required in recording facilities of the era. She considered herself a "drummer who sang". However, while Karen's vocals soon became the centerpiece of the group's performances, at tall, performing behind her drum kit made it difficult for audiences to see her and it was soon apparent to Richard and their manager that the audience wanted to see more of Karen. Although unwilling, she eventually agreed to sing the ballads standing up front, returning to her drums for the lesser known songs. As the group's popularity increased, demand for Karen's vocals at the expense of her drumming overshadowed her abilities and gradually, she played the drums less; for A Kind of Hush, she played no drums at the sessions at all, although she continued to sporadically drum in concert. From early 1976 onward, the tours would include a drum medley for Karen to play, and a piano solo number was included for Richard. Karen made a final return to studio drumming for the track "When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)" on Made in America, albeit in tandem with Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin, and she also provided percussion in tandem with Paulinho da Costa on "Those Good Old Dreams". Karen used Ludwig Drums, Zildjian cymbals, a Rogers foot pedal and hi-hat stand, 11A drumsticks and Remo drumheads. Although the Carpenters' greatest success was with record sales, most of their professional career was spent on the road. Albums took between four and five months to produce; the remainder of time would be spent at live concerts and television appearances. Touring engagements would sometimes consist of six one-night concerts back-to-back, which left the duo exhausted, along with television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Carol Burnett Show, The Mike Douglas Show and The Johnny Cash Show, as well as their own television specials. The Carpenters played numerous concerts from 1971 to 1975: From the mid-1970s onwards, the Carpenters changed their stage show to allow Karen to have more presence and to interact with the audience, particularly between instrumental breaks. However, extensive touring and lengthy recording sessions had begun to take their toll on the duo and contributed to their professional and personal difficulties during the latter half of the decade. Karen dieted obsessively and developed anorexia nervosa, which first manifested itself in 1975 when the duo was forced to cancel concert tours in the Philippines, UK and Japan. Richard has said that he regrets the six- and seven-day work schedules of that period, adding that had he known then what he knows now, he would not have agreed to it, and was persuaded to do so by the belief that the Carpenters would not be financially stable without the touring. Richard's Quaalude addiction began to affect his performance in the late 1970s and led to the end of the duo's live concert appearances in 1978. Despite numerous concert appearances, the Carpenters have never released a live album in the US. Two such albums, Live in Japan (1974) and Live at the Palladium (1976) have been released in Japan and reissued on CD there. Richard has said he is not particularly interested in live albums. The Carpenters' popularity confounded critics. With their output focused on ballads and mid-tempo pop, the duo's music was often dismissed as being bland and saccharine. The recording industry, however, bestowed awards on the duo, who won three Grammy Awards during their career (Best New Artist, and Best Pop Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus, for "(They Long to Be) Close to You" in 1970; and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for Carpenters in 1971). In 1974, the Carpenters were voted Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo, or Group at the first annual American Music Awards. From the start of their career, the Carpenters were coached by their management over handling interviews, and told to avoid saying anything controversial that would spoil their "clean cut" image. A&M; described the duo as "Real nice American kids – in 1971". While the Carpenters were not a rock band, they were reviewed by the rock press; in 1971, Rolling Stones Lester Bangs described them as having "the most disconcerting collective stage presence of any band I have seen". He also said that promotional photographs made them resemble "the cheery innocence of some years-past dream of California youth", and they appeared to the public to be more conservative than they actually were. The White House appearances only served to reinforce this image. Though the Carpenters had mass popular appeal and were recognized as being musically talented, people felt embarrassed and stigmatised about liking their records. In later interviews, Richard stressed repeatedly how much he disliked the A&M; executives for making their image "squeaky-clean", and the critics for criticizing them for their image rather than their music. After "Goodbye to Love" had been released, attitudes towards the duo changed slightly. Ken Barnes, writing in Phonograph said "It's certainly less than revolutionary to admit you like the Carpenters these days – in 'rock' circles, if you recall, it formerly bordered on heresy. Everybody must be won over by now." Since then, the group's "saccharine" image has softened and musicians have cited the Carpenters as a key influence. In 1995, Rolling Stones Sue Cummings wrote that the 1990s acceptance of the duo's work was "a renewed ironic appreciation", adding that listeners "had loved the veneer, then hated it, then found it even more compelling, on a second look, for the complexity in the places where the darkness cracked through". Karen Carpenter has been called one of the greatest female vocalists of all time by Rolling Stone and National Public Radio. Paul McCartney has said she was "the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive", while Herb Alpert said she was "the type of singer who would sit in your lap and sing in your ear". Shortly after Karen's death, a film archivist discovered some rare footage of an early Carpenters' television appearance. The archivist contacted Richard Carpenter and the two began viewing more footage which he had found. When the British division of A&M; Records learned of the discoveries, they suggested the footage be turned into a video for home viewing. The finished piece, entitled "Yesterday Once More" is 55 minutes long and combines vintage and recent film clips. A&M; Video and Richard intended "to create a video that played like an album"; all music was remixed from the masters and each selection was put into correct synchronization. The video was released in early 1985. Pop singer Michael Jackson was a fan of the duo, being one of his favourite bands. He cited the group as an early influence growing up. A critical re-evaluation of the Carpenters occurred during the 1990s and 2000s with the making of several documentaries such as (US), The Sayonara (Japan), and (UK). Despite contentions that their sound was "too soft" to fall under the definition of rock and roll, major campaigns and petitions exist toward inducting the Carpenters into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Both "We've Only Just Begun" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You" have been honored with Grammy Hall of Fame awards for recordings of lasting quality or historical significance. The Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 90 million units making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Japanese singer Akiko Kobayashi has been influenced by Karen Carpenter, and she asked Richard to produce her 1988 album, City of Angels. In 1990, the alternative rock band Sonic Youth recorded "Tunic (Song for Karen)" in recognition of her musical talents. A tribute album, If I Were a Carpenter, by contemporary artists such as Sonic Youth, Bettie Serveert, Shonen Knife, Grant Lee Buffalo, Matthew Sweet, and The Cranberries, was released in 1994 and provided an alternative rock interpretation of Carpenters hits. Richard Carpenter played keyboards for the Matthew Sweet cut "Let Me Be the One". Guitarist Pat Metheny covered "Rainy Days and Mondays" for his album of cover versions of popular songs called What's It All About, as a tribute to the band. Modern entertainers such as the Bangles and Concrete Blonde have listed Karen Carpenter as an influence on their careers. Brazilian pop duo Sandy & Junior was deemed the "Brazilian Carpenters" by the press and recorded a cover version of "We've Only Just Begun" for their album Internacional (2002). The Carpenters released ten albums during their active career, of which five contained two or more top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (Close to You, Carpenters, A Song for You, Now & Then, and Horizon). Ten singles were certified gold by the RIAA, and twenty-two peaked in the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Offering/Ticket to Ride (1969), Close to You (1970), Carpenters (1971), A Song for You (1972), Now & Then (1973), Horizon (1975), A Kind of Hush (1976), Passage (1977), Christmas Portrait (1978), Made in America (1981) Posthumous releases Voice of the Heart (1983), An Old-Fashioned Christmas (1984), Lovelines (1989), As Time Goes By (2004), Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2018) Notes Citations Sources Official website, Official Universal Music site, "Carpenters", The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center exhibit website, The Carpenters at IMDB, Carpenters discography, biography, song versions, appearances, Society Music Theory – a musicologist's discourse on the song "Superstar", Chris Walter – Pictures of the Carpenters in an official archive, Carpenters Complete Recording Resource – discography and remix version resource Beyond Reality is a Canadian-American science fiction television series which originally aired between October 4, 1991 and March 20, 1993. The series is about two university parapsychologists (Shari Belafonte and Carl Marotte) who investigate reports of paranormal phenomena that occur in ordinary people's lives. Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 on January 23, 2007. This release has been discontinued and is now out of print.

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The Tigris and Euphrates, with their tributaries, form a major river system in Western Asia. From sources originating in eastern Turkey, they flow by/through Syria through Iraq into the Persian Gulf. The system is part of the Palearctic Tigris–Euphrates ecoregion, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan. From their sources and upper courses in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, the rivers descend through valleys and gorges to the uplands of Syria and northern Iraq and then to the alluvial plain of central Iraq. The rivers flow in a south-easterly direction through the central plain and combine at Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab and discharge into the Persian Gulf. The region has historical importance as part of the Fertile Crescent region, in which civilization is believed to have first emerged. The ecoregion is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The rivers have several small tributaries which feed into the system from shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes, all surrounded by desert. The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf. Historically, the area is known as Mesopotamia. As part of the larger Fertile Crescent, it saw the earliest emergence of literate urban civilization in the Uruk period, for which reason it is often described as a "Cradle of Civilization". In the 1980s, this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran–Iraq War raged within its boundaries. The wetlands of Iraq, which were inhabited by the Marsh Arabs, were almost completely dried out, and have only recently shown signs of recovery. The Tigris–Euphrates Basin is shared by Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. Many Tigris tributaries originate in Iran and a Tigris–Euphrates confluence forms part of the Kuwait–Iraq border. Since the 1960s and in the 1970s, when Turkey began the GAP project in earnest, water disputes have regularly occurred in addition to the associated dam's effects on the environment. In addition, Syrian and Iranian dam construction has also contributed to political tension within the basin, particularly during drought. The general climate of the region is subtropical, hot and arid. At the northern end of the Persian Gulf is the vast floodplain of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers, featuring huge permanent lakes, marshes, and forest. The aquatic vegetation includes reeds, rushes, and papyrus, which support numerous species. Areas around the Tigris and the Euphrates are very fertile. Marshy land is home to water birds, some stopping here while migrating, and some spending the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Other animals found in these marshes are water buffalo, two endemic rodent species, antelopes and gazelles and small animals such as the jerboa and several other mammals. Iraq suffers from desertification and soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water and plant life are sparse. Saddam Hussein's government water-control projects drained the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. Shi'a Muslims were displaced under the Ba'athist regime. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable water. The marshlands were an extensive natural wetlands ecosystem which developed over thousands of years in the Tigris–Euphrates basin and once covered 15–20,000 square kilometers. According to the United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between 84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 1970s. In 1994, 60 percent of the wetlands were destroyed by Hussein's regime – drained to permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh Arabs. Canals, dykes and dams were built routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland. Some marshlands were burned and pipes buried underground helped to carry away water for quicker drying. The drying of the marshes led to the disappearance of the salt- tolerant vegetation; the plankton rich waters that fertilized surrounding soils; 52 native fish species; the wild boar, red fox, buffalo and water birds of the marsh habitat. The issue of water rights became a point of contention for Iraq, Turkey and Syria beginning in the 1960s when Turkey implemented a public-works project (the GAP project) aimed at harvesting the water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers through the construction of 22 dams, for irrigation and hydroelectric energy purposes. Although the water dispute between Turkey and Syria was more problematic, the GAP project was also perceived as a threat by Iraq. The tension between Turkey and Iraq about the issue was increased by the effect of Syria and Turkey's participation in the UN embargo against Iraq following the Gulf War. However, the issue had never become as significant as the water dispute between Turkey and Syria. The 2008 drought in Iraq sparked new negotiations between Iraq and Turkey over trans-boundary river flows. Although the drought affected Turkey, Syria and Iran as well, Iraq complained regularly about reduced water flows. Iraq particularly complained about the Euphrates River because of the large amount of dams on the river. Turkey agreed to increase the flow several times, beyond its means in order to supply Iraq with extra water. Iraq has seen significant declines in water storage and crop yields because of the drought. To make matters worse, Iraq's water infrastructure has suffered from years of conflict and neglect. In 2008, Turkey, Iraq and Syria agreed to restart the Joint Trilateral Committee on water for the three nations for better water resources management. Turkey, Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on September 3, 2009, in order to strengthen communication within the Tigris–Euphrates Basin and to develop joint water-flow-monitoring stations. On September 19, 2009, Turkey formally agreed to increase the flow of the Euphrates River to 450 to 500 m³/s, but only until October 20, 2009. In exchange, Iraq agreed to trade petroleum with Turkey and help curb Kurdish militant activity in their border region. One of Turkey's last large GAP dams on the Tigris – the Ilisu Dam – is strongly opposed by Iraq and is the source of political strife. The Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq were historically the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. Their drainage began in the 1950s, to reclaim land for agriculture and oil exploration. Saddam Hussein extended this work in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as part of ecological warfare against the Marsh Arabs, a rebellious group of people in Baathist Iraq. However, with the breaching of the dikes by local communities after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ending of a four-year drought that same year, the process has been reversed and the marshes have experienced a substantial rate of recovery. The permanent wetlands now cover more than 50% of pre-1970s levels, with a remarkable regrowth of the Hammar and Hawizeh Marshes and some recovery of the Central Marshes. Conservation status: critical/endangered, Protected area, Endemic species: Basra reed warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis), Iraq babbler (Turdoides altirostris), Threatened species: Basra reed warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis) - endangered, Possibly extinct species: Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat (Nesokia bunnii) Dawn of the World, film, 2008., Zaman, The Man From The Reeds, film, 2003 Soil salinity, Mesopotamian Marshes, Shatt al-Arab Persian Gulf image, BBC: Iraq marshes' recovery 'in doubt' Tigris and Euphrates () is a tabletop eurogame designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Glück. Before its publication, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a "gamer's game" designed by Knizia. Tigris and Euphrates won first prize in the 1998 Deutscher Spielepreis. A card game version was released in 2005. The game is set as a clash between neighboring dynasties at the dawn of civilization and is named after the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, in the region now called the Middle East. The rivers together formed natural borders for an area which harboured several grand ancient civilizations, including Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The Greeks called this area Mesopotamia, which literally means "between the rivers". The game can be played by two, three, or four people. Play offers both tactical and strategic objectives. As with many games, short-term objectives gain prominence when more players participate, as players have fewer chances to follow up on previous moves. Luck plays a role, as players draw tiles from a bag, but it is seldom decisive. Players may selectively discard and redraw their tiles at the cost of one "action point", of which each player has two per turn. The game does not use dice. The board is a map of the two rivers, marked with a square grid. There are four types of tiles with corresponding leaders: temples and priests (red), farms and farmers (blue), markets and merchants (green), and settlements and kings (black). The game starts with ten isolated temple tiles already placed on the board. Players play tiles and leaders onto the board, creating and expanding regions and kingdoms. Monuments may be built on the board when four tiles of the same color are played into a square pattern. Two leaders of the same type cannot coexist in the same kingdom. Internal conflicts are caused by players adding a second leader of a type to a kingdom. External conflicts are caused by players playing tiles to merge two existing kingdoms. During the game, players collect points in each of the four colors as a result of playing tiles, resolving conflicts and controlling monuments. After the final round each player sorts his or her points by color, including any "treasures" which they have acquired, which count as any color the player wishes. In order to limit specialization the player with the most points in their weakest category wins. For example: Alice has 6 black, 8 red, 12 green, and 12 blue points; thus has a score of 6., Bob has 9 black, 10 red, 7 green, and 15 blue points; thus has a score of 7., Charlie has 14 black, 14 red, 5 green, and 20 blue points; thus has a score of 5. Players must balance their scoring and avoid overspecializing. Knizia later used this mechanism as the basis for Ingenious. Thomas Lehmann comments: "If you are looking for a tactically rich, intense strategy game with lots of conflict (unusual in a German game), try Tigris & Euphrates and see why so many players consider this game Reiner Knizia's masterpiece." A river valley civilization or river culture is an agricultural nation or civilization situated beside and drawing sustenance from a river. A "civilization" means a society with large permanent settlements featuring urban development, social satisfaction, specialization of labor, centralized organization, and written or other formal means of communication. A river gives the inhabitants a reliable source of water for drinking and agriculture. Additional benefits include fishing, fertile soil due to annual flooding, and ease of transportation. The first great civilizations, such as those in Mesopotamia and Egypt, all grew up in river valleys. Civilization first began in 3500 BC, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East; the name given to that civilization, Mesopotamia, means "land between the rivers". The Nile valley in Egypt had been home to agricultural settlements as early as 5500 BC, but the growth of Egypt as civilization began around 3100 BC. A third civilization grew up along the Indus River around 2600 BC, in parts of what is now India and Pakistan. The fourth great river civilization emerged around 1700 BC along the Yellow River in China. Civilizations tended to grow up in river valleys for a number of reasons. The most obvious is access to a usually reliable source of water for agriculture and other needs. Plentiful water and the enrichment of the soil due to annual floods made it possible to grow excess crops beyond what was needed to sustain an agricultural village. This allowed for some members of the community to engage in non-agricultural activities such as the construction of buildings and cities (the root of the word "civilization"), metalworking, trade, and social organization. Boats on the river provided an easy and efficient way to transport people and goods, allowing for the development of trade and facilitating central control of outlying areas. Mesopotamia was the earliest river valley civilization, starting to form around 3500 BC. The civilization was created after regular trading started relationships between multiple cities and states around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Mesopotamian cities became self-run civil governments. One of the cities within this civilization, Ur, was the first literate society in history. Eventually, they all joined together to irrigate the two rivers in order to make their dry land fertile for agricultural growth. The increase in successful farming in this civilization allowed population growth throughout the cities and states within Mesopotamia. Egypt also created irrigation systems from its local river, the Nile River, more complex than previous systems. The Egyptians would rotate legumes with cereal which would stop salt buildup from the freshwater and enhance the fertility of their fields. The Nile River also allowed easier travel, eventually resulting in the creation of two kingdoms in the north and south areas of the river until both were unified into one society by 3000 BC. Much of the history of the Indus valley civilization is unknown. Discovered in the 1920s, Harappan society remains a mystery because the Harappan system of writing has not yet been deciphered. It was larger than either Egypt or Mesopotamia. Historians have found no evidence of violence or a ruling class; there are no distinctive burial sites and there is not a lot of evidence to suggest a formal military. However, historians believe that the lack of knowledge about the ruling class and the military is mainly due to the inability to read Harappan writing. The Yellow River (Huang Ho) area became settled. Many tribes settled along the river, ninth longest in the world, which was distinguished by its heavy load of yellow silt and its periodic devastating floods. A major impetus for the tribes to unite into a single kingdom by around 1500 BCE was the desire to find a solution to the frequent deadly floods. The Yellow River is often called "The Cradle of Chinese Civilization". Hydraulic empire, Irrigation Clayton, Peter A. & Dent, John (1973). The Ancient River Civilizations: Western Man & the Modern World. Elsevier.

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The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the Capsicum chinense plant. Developed by South Carolina breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. In 2013, Guinness World Records declared it the hottest chili pepper in the world, surpassing the previous record holder, the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T". Other varieties may be spicier, such as Dragon's Breath or Pepper X but are not officially confirmed with a Scoville scale higher than the Carolina Reaper. The sensory heat or pungency detected when consuming a Carolina Reaper derives from the density of capsaicinoids, particularly capsaicin, which relates directly to intensity of chili pepper heat and Scoville scale. Bred in a Rock Hill, South Carolina greenhouse by "Smokin" Ed Currie, proprietor of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, the Carolina Reaper was certified as the world's hottest chili pepper by the Guinness World Records on August 11, 2017. The official Guinness World Record heat level was 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in 2017, according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina. The figure is an average for the tested batch; the hottest individual pepper was measured at 2.2 million SHU. The crossbreed is between a "really nastily hot" La Soufriere pepper from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan, and is named 'Reaper' due to the shape of its tail. It has been described as having a fruity taste, with the initial bite being sweet and then immediately turning to "molten lava". In May 2017, Mike Smith of St Asaph, working with Nottingham Trent University, claimed to have surpassed the Carolina Reaper with his Dragon's Breath pepper, reported to be 2.4 million SHUs, and applied to Guinness World Records for confirmation. In 2017, the creator of the Carolina Reaper claimed to have bred a stronger pepper known as Pepper X having 3.18 million SHUs. In April 2018, a case report of "thunderclap headaches" in a 34-year-old man - who was hospitalized a few days after consuming one Carolina Reaper pepper of unspecified size in a contest - included a presumptive diagnosis of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS). With no reason to believe pepper compounds had a role in the mechanism of RCVS, other clinical interpretations, such as a stress response from eating such a hot pepper, may explain the headaches. For growing, the pepper has been described as "a good all-rounder to try at home" by UK ethnobotanist James Wong, who said that they require temperatures of at least and suggested growing in pots to restrict growth and produce fruit sooner. When fully ripe, two peppers occupy the palm of the hand. Race to grow the hottest pepper Ed Currie, Breeding the Carolina Reaper, YouTube, 17 July 2017 Pepper X is a cultivar of Capsicum chili pepper bred by Ed Currie, creator of the Carolina Reaper. Pepper X resulted from several cross breedings that produced an exceptionally high content of capsaicin in the locules of the pepper. The exceptional pungency of the chili was developed over 10 years of cultivation. Currie stated that it is "two times as hot as the Carolina Reaper", which would make it the hottest pepper in the world with a Scoville scale of 3.18 million units, but this remains unconfirmed by Guinness World Records as of 2020. Pepper X is the pepper ingredient of 'The Last Dab'. It was announced to replace Blair's Mega Death Sauce as the hottest sauce in the lineup for Season 4 of Hot Ones. Pepper X was first shown on the First We Feast channel on September 19, 2017, in the video titled Everything You Need to Know About The Last Dab, the Hottest Sauce on Hot Ones. Race to grow the hottest pepper The Naga Viper pepper is a hot chili pepper. In 2011, it was recorded as the "World's Hottest Chili" by the Guinness World Records with a rating of 1,382,118 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), but was surpassed in SHU by several other peppers, such as Pepper X in 2017. The Naga Viper was created in England by chilli farmer Gerald Fowler of The Chilli Pepper Company in Cark, Cumbria. It is claimed to be an unstable three- way hybrid produced from the Naga Morich, the Bhut jolokia and the Trinidad scorpion, some of the world's hottest peppers. Race to grow the hottest pepper

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Mission Santa Clara de Asís is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order in the present-day city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, which was the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, the foundress of the order of the Poor Clares. It is the namesake of both the city and county of Santa Clara, as well as of Santa Clara University, which was built around the mission. This was the first California mission to be named in honor of a woman and the only mission now located on the grounds of a university campus. Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned, and today it functions as the university chapel for Santa Clara University. The outpost was originally established as La Misión Santa Clara de Thamien (or Mission Santa Clara de Thamien, a reference to the Tamyen people) at the Indian village of So-co-is-u-ka (meaning "Laurelwood", located on the Guadalupe River) on January 12, 1777. There the Franciscan brothers erected a cross and shelter for worship to bring Christianity to the Ohlone and Costanoan peoples. Floods, fires, and earthquakes damaged many of the early structures and forced relocation to higher ground. The second site is known as Mission Santa Clara de Asís. A subsequent site of the mission dating from 1784 to 1819 is located several hundred yards west of the De La Cruz overpass of the Caltrain track; moreover, several Native American burial sites have been discovered near this subsequent site. The current site, home to the first college in Alta California, dates back to 1828. Initially, there was tension between the people of the mission and those in the nearby Pueblo de San Josè over disputed ownership rights of land and water. The tension was relieved when a road, the Alameda, was built by two hundred Indians to link the communities together. On Sundays, people from San Jose would come to the mission for services, until the building of St. Joseph's Church in 1803. In that year, the mission of Santa Clara reported an Indian population of 1,271. In the same tabular report, its resident priest estimated that 10,000 cattle, 9,500 sheep, 730 horses, 35 mules, and 55 swine were on mission lands, while about 3,000 fanegas of grain (some each of wheat, barley or corn) had been harvested. After the Mexican secularization act of 1833 most of the mission's land and livestock was sold off by Mexico. The mission land was subdivided, and the land sold to whoever could afford it which often meant it was sold to government officials and with half of the mission land going to Native Americans. Most of the buildings continued to be used as a parish church, unlike the other missions in California. By 1836, the mission Native Americans were "freed," by the Mexican government. The local land near the mission had been drastically changed in the 60 years of mission operation under the Spanish and many of the native plants needed for Native American survival were gone, requiring a change from the former lifestyle for many Native Americans. Many Native Americans fled to the Central Valley of California, others stayed locally and worked for the new ranchos. There were a few small and short-lived Native American villages established around the Bay Area by 1839; many of these villages could not support themselves, so they began raiding the nearby ranchos. In 1850, California became a state. With that change, priests of the Jesuit order took over the Mission Santa Clara de Asís in 1851 from the Franciscans. Father John Nobili, S.J., was put in charge of the mission. He began a college on the mission site in 1851, which grew into Santa Clara University; it is the only mission to become part of a university, and it is also the oldest university in California. Throughout the history of the mission, the bells have rung faithfully every evening, a promise made to King Charles III of Spain when he sent the original bells to the mission in 1777. He asked that the bells be rung each evening at 8:30 in memory of those who had died, although the actual bells have since been replaced by a recording. The bell tower has three bells; one was donated by King Carlos IV but subsequently destroyed in a fire. King Alphonso XIII donated a replacement bell, which is on display in the de Saisset Museum (in the mission). In 1861, a new wooden façade with two bell towers was attached over the old adobe front of the building. The interior was widened in 1885 to increase the seating capacity by removing the original adobe nave walls. A fire in 1925 destroyed the structure, including the surrounding wall. The church's parochial functions were transferred to the Saint Clare Parish west of the campus. A rebuilt and restored Mission Santa Clara was consecrated in 1929, when it assumed its primary modern function as chapel and centerpiece of the university campus. It is open to visitors daily; the mission museum is located in the university's De Saisset Museum. The original mission cemetery, still in use, is located on nearby Lincoln Street. Spanish missions in California, USNS Mission Santa Clara (AO-132) – a Buenaventura-class fleet oiler built during World War II Giglio, Gary, C., et al. Environmental Impact Report for the General Plan Amendment, Rezoning and Development of a Portion of FMC Corporation's Coleman Avenue Facility, Earth Metrics Inc., September 1988, published by the City of Santa Clara, California., Stanly, Tim (2012). Indian Warrior Yozcolo Set Roots in Los Gatos, Los Gatos, CA Patch. Early photographs, sketches of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, via Calisphere, California Digital Library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Santa_Clara_de_As%C3%ADs Santa Clara () is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 116,468 as of the 2010 United States Census, making it the ninth-most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern coast of San Francisco Bay immediately west of San Jose and southeast of San Francisco, the city was founded in 1777 with the establishment of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth of 21 California missions. The city was later incorporated in 1852. The mission, the city, and the county are all named for Saint Clare of Assisi. Santa Clara is located in the center of Silicon Valley and is home to the headquarters of several high-tech companies such as Intel. It is also home to Santa Clara University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of California, which was built around Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Levi's Stadium, the home of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers, is located in the city. Santa Clara is bordered by San Jose on all sides, except for Sunnyvale to the west, and Cupertino to the west. The first European to visit the valley was José Francisco Ortega in 1769. He found the area inhabited by Native Americans, whom the Spanish called the Costanos, "coast people", later known as the Ohlone. The Spanish began to colonize California with 21 missions and the Mission Santa Clara de Asis was founded in 1777. In 1846, the American flag was raised over Monterey and symbolized the transfer of the sovereignty of the California Republic over to the United States. In 1851, Santa Clara College was established on the grounds of the original Mission. In 1852, Santa Clara was incorporated as a town; it became state-chartered by 1862. For the next century the economy centered on agriculture since orchards and vegetables were thriving in the fertile soil. By the beginning of the 20th century, the population had reached 5,000 and stayed about the same for many years. In 1905, the first public high-altitude flights by humans were made over Santa Clara in gliders designed by John J. Montgomery. The semiconductor industry, which sprouted around 1960, changed the city and surrounding Valley of Heart's Delight; little of its agricultural past remains. Santa Clara's first medical hospital was built in 1963. This structure, on Kiely Boulevard, was replaced in 2007 with the new Kaiser Permanente medical center located on Lawrence Expressway at Homestead Road. Santa Clara was also home to a major mental health facility, Agnews State Hospital. According to the National Park Service, more than 100 persons were killed at this site in the 1906 earthquake. The site is the former home to Sun Microsystems and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Downtown Santa Clara: the 1963 City Council voted to knock down the 8 block grid of downtown area next to Santa Clara University bordered by Lafayette, Benton, Monroe, and Homestead (previously named Liberty in 1963) to receive federal funding from Urban Renewal in USA. In 2018 there is a parking lot and Franklin Mall on Washington St (2 blocks) with the one state historical building is, Santa Clara Post Office, apartment building, county courthouse, and strip mall. Santa Clara is drained by three seasonal creeks, all of which empty into the southern portion of San Francisco Bay; these creeks are San Tomas Aquino Creek, Saratoga Creek, and Calabazas Creek. There are some significant biological resources within the city including habitat for the burrowing owl, a species of special concern in California due to reduction in habitat from urban development during the latter 20th century. This owl uses burrows created by ground squirrels and prefers generally level grasslands and even disturbed areas. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers an area of , all of it land. Despite being located only 45 miles from San Francisco, Santa Clara's climate is rather distinct—particularly during the summer, when it is generally warm and sunny, as opposed to the foggy and cool conditions one normally finds in San Francisco. The average daily temperatures in July range from to . Winters are mild, with the mean daily temperatures in January ranging from to . Most of the annual rainfall comes in the winter months; the summer months are generally rainless. The 2010 United States Census reported that Santa Clara had a population of 116,468. The population density was 6,327.3 people per square mile (2,443.0/km²). The ethnic makeup of Santa Clara was 52,359 (45.0%) White, 3,154 (2.7%) African American, 579 (0.5%) Native American, 43,889 (37.7%) Asian (13.6% Indian, 6.9% Chinese, 6.2% Filipino, 3.9% Vietnamese, 3.0% Korean, 1.5% Japanese), 651 (0.6%) Pacific Islander, 9,624 (8.3%) from other races, and 6,212 (5.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22,589 persons (19.4%); 14.6% of Santa Clara's population was of Mexican ancestry. The Census reported that 113,272 people (97.3% of the population) lived in households, 2,860 (2.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 336 (0.3%) were institutionalized. There were 43,021 households, out of which 14,477 (33.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21,817 (50.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 4,081 (9.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,038 (4.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,146 (5.0%) unmarried opposite- sex partnerships, and 312 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 10,906 households (25.4%) were made up of individuals and 2,945 (6.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63. There were 27,936 families (64.9% of all households); the average family size was 3.18. The age distribution of the population was as follows: 24,774 people (21.3%) were under the age of 18, 12,511 people (10.7%) aged 18 to 24, 41,876 people (36.0%) aged 25 to 44, 25,628 people (22.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,679 people (10.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.9 males. There were 45,147 housing units at an average density of 2,452.7 per square mile (947.0/km²), of which 19,747 (45.9%) were owner-occupied, and 23,274 (54.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. 53,694 people (46.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 59,578 people (51.2%) lived in rental housing units. As of the census of 2000, there are 102,361 people, 38,526 households, and 24,117 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,149.1/km² (5,566.2/mi²). There are 39,630 housing units at an average density of 832.0/km² (2,155.0/mi²). The ethnic makeup of the city is 55.59% White, 2.29% African American, 0.53% Native American, 29.27% Asian, 0.43% Pacific Islander, 6.94% from other races, and 4.95% from two or more races. 15.99% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 38,526 households out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.14. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 19.9% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 39.1% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.9 males. According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $75,687, and the median income for a family was $98,977. Males had a median income of $58,641 versus $43,131 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,755. About 4.5% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over. Santa Clara owns and operates an electric utility called Silicon Valley Power. In 2005 Silicon Valley Power brought online the Donald Von Raesfeld (DVR) Power Plant. The new combined cycle gas turbine plant produces 147 megawatts of electricity for the city and its residents. As a result, the going rate for electricity in Santa Clara is considerably cheaper than that offered by Northern California's dominant utility, Pacific Gas and Electric. Advanced Micro Devices, Affymetrix, Agilent Technologies, Applied Materials, Arista Networks, Aruba, Atheros, Chegg, Coherent, Extreme Networks, FileMaker, Hortonworks, Intel, Intevac, Marvell, McAfee, Move inc, National Semiconductor, Nvidia, OmniVision, Ooyala, Palo Alto Networks, PMC-Sierra, Rovi, Silicon Valley Bank, Synaptics and Trident Microsystems are among the companies headquartered in Santa Clara. Namco Bandai Games's United States office is in Santa Clara. According to the City's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: California Governor United States Senators United States Representative State Senator California State Assembly Representative Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors City Manager City Council Santa Clara has two major train stations: the Santa Clara – Great America Station and the Santa Clara Station. The former is served by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor train and Altamont Corridor Express (ACE), while the latter is served by Caltrain as well as Amtrak's Capitol Corridor and ACE. There is also a light rail system operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Santa Clara is located adjacent to Mineta San Jose International Airport. Some other nearby major airports include San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport. Most public city buses are operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Santa Clara Unified School District is the public school district that serves Santa Clara and small portions of Sunnyvale and North San Jose. The city is home to nineteen K–8, elementary, and high schools. Many of the schools are named for former farmers, ranchers, and other notable Santa Clara residents such as Bowers and Bracher elementary schools, Buchser Middle School, Wilcox High School, and Santa Clara High School. A small part of the city however is served by Cupertino High School and its feeder schools in the nearby town of its namesake. Private elementary schools and high schools in Santa Clara include: Granada Islamic School (Islamic school, grades K-11), Live Oak Academy (grades K-12), Saint Clare School (Catholic school, grades K-8), Saint Justin School (Catholic school, grades K-8), Saint Lawrence Elementary and Middle School (Catholic school, grades K-8), Santa Clara Christian School (Christian school, grades K-8), Sierra Elementary and High School (grades K-8), Stratford School (grades K-5) Jesuit college Santa Clara University, junior college Mission College, and Golden State Baptist College are among the city's higher education facilities. The city is also home to the Santa Clara City Library. The Santa Clara Broncos are the Division I NCAA athletic programs of Santa Clara University. Santa Clara sponsors 19 different teams, most of which compete in the West Coast Conference. The red and white of the Santa Clara Broncos is featured on the flag of the city, as is the Mission which lies at the heart of the campus. Santa Clara has long benefited from support from the local community, and the Broncos have achieved a bevy of intercollegiate success, notably in Men's Basketball, Baseball, and both Men's and Women's soccer. Santa Clara's Leavey Center, Buck Shaw Stadium, and Stephen Schott Stadium are all noted as some of the finest facilities of their size on the West Coast. Santa Clara University and its athletic programs play heavily into the culture and history of Santa Clara. Beginning in the 2014 National Football League season, the San Francisco 49ers play their home games at Levi's Stadium, which opened on July 17, 2014. The stadium hosted WWE's WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015 and Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. The 49ers were founded by Tony Morabito, a Santa Clara University alumnus who chose the red and white of his alma mater for the football team. As a result, the return of the 49ers to Santa Clara is something of a homecoming. The San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer no longer play their home games at Buck Shaw Stadium, located at Santa Clara University. At one point the entire team and management moved to Houston and formed the Houston Dynamo. Recently the Earthquakes have fielded a new team, with new management in the Silicon Valley. Both teams have been highly successful. The George F. Haines International Swim Center is home and host to numerous local, regional, and international competitive swimming matches as well as the Santa Clara Aquamaids synchronized swimming team. The Santa Clara Vanguard, a competitive marching music organization, has been headquartered in Santa Clara since its inception. The organization runs and operates a winter guard, an indoor percussion ensemble, and two drum and bugle corps, all of which compete across the country every year. All four ensembles have been very successful competitively, especially the two drum corps, one of which has won 6 Open Class titles and the other 7 World Class titles. The latter is the only drum corps that has made finals every year since the beginning of Drum Corps International. Santa Clara is also home to California's Great America, an amusement park currently operated by Cedar Fair, L.P.. Nearby is the Santa Clara Convention Center, one of Silicon Valley's largest event and meeting venues. Santa Clara also offers several museums such as the Intel Museum, Triton Museum of Art, and the Harris – Lass historical house. Near the above-mentioned Mission College is the Our Lady of Peace Shrine notable for its thirty-two-foot tall statue which is viewable from Highway 101 in a manner similar to the statue of Junípero Serra in Hillsborough, California. The Mission City Center for Performing Arts is the city's venue for theatrical productions and entertainment. The San Francisco 49ers NFL football team has its headquarters and practice facilities in Santa Clara. On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, the 49ers announced their intention to move the team to Santa Clara in time for the fall 2014 season, after negotiations failed with the city of San Francisco to build a new stadium. In 2011, Santa Clara voters approved a plan to build a 68,500-seat stadium for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. The groundbreaking for the stadium, located 45 miles southeast of San Francisco, occurred on April 19, 2012. The stadium is located between the Great America park (to the south) and the Convention Center. The official ribbon cutting took place on Thursday, July 17, 2014. The first professional sporting event hosted at the stadium was a Major League Soccer (MLS) match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Seattle Sounders on August 2, 2014. The first professional football event hosted at the stadium was a pre-season game between the 49ers and the Denver Broncos, played on August 17, 2014. The stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, between Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers – the Broncos won the game 24–10. The stadium has also hosted the 2017 PAC-12 Championship game between USC and Stanford. , Santa Clara has three sister cities: Coimbra, Portugal, Izumo, Shimane, Japan, Limerick, Ireland, since 2014 Agnew's Village, California, List of cities and towns in California, List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara Unified School District Santa Clara Convention and Visitors Bureau website, Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce website Santa Clara County, California, is one of California's original counties, with prior habitation dating from prehistory to the Alta California period. The first documented inhabitants included the Ohlone, residing on Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek, although Santa Clara Valley undoubtedly had known earlier Indian inhabitants and migrations, now lost to history and prehistory. Archaeological discoveries place Ohlone settlements in the region as early as 8000 BC. Sometime around 4000 years ago, according to anthropologists, the ancestral Ohlone, along with the culturally interrelated people of the greater Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region, developed a system of social ranking and institutional religions. Within the greater San Francisco Bay region, people of social prominence were interred in what has become known as the "shellmounds". The European presence in the region began with the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, The arrival of the Spanish started when Russian exploration into California alarmed the Spanish viceroy in Mexico City. The Russians had settled Alaska and were exploring the West Coast for trading posts within striking distance of the rich Spanish mines. They were a presence at Fort Ross in Northern California from 1812–1841. José de Gálvez, the visitor-general of New Spain, wanted to increase New Spain's territory for the Spanish crown. He sent the Spanish forward into Alta California (present day California). Encountering the native Ohlone people, the Spanish gave them the name of Costeños, or People of the Coast. José Francisco Ortega gave Santa Clara the name "Llano de los Robles" ("Plain of the Oaks") in 1769 as he scouted the region on the behalf of Captain Gaspar de Portolà. Father Junípero Serra also came into present-day California, establishing a chain of Franciscan missions. It was in 1777 that Father Serra gave Santa Clara Valley its lasting name when he consecrated the Mission Santa Clara de Asís, which is named for Saint Clare of Assisi, Italy. The name "Clare" or "Clara" means "clear" or "bright." The 8th of the 21 established missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís claimed land from San Francisquito Creek in present-day Palo Alto to Llagas Creek at Gilroy. San Jose was California's first town. On November 29, 1777, on orders from the Spanish viceroy of Mexico, nine soldiers, five pobladores (settlers) with their families, and one cowboy were detailed to found the Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, named in honor of St. Joseph. The already existing Spanish Catholic missions were not pleased with this, but could do nothing to stop it. By 1825, Mission Santa Clara offered rest for the travelers from Monterey and San Francisco. Although Mexico broke with the Spanish crown in 1821, it was not until May 10, 1825, that San Jose acknowledged Mexican rule. The Mexican government soon began selling off church lands in a process known as "secularization." Although originally intended to return church lands to the native population, this practice soon entailed a selling of church lands to the highest bidders. By 1839 only 300 Indians remained at the Mission Santa Clara. The time of the Californios, the rural land owning gentlemen, was short lived in California, however. American immigrants began arriving in California, followed by the Mexican–American War. On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. Captain Thomas Fallon, leading 19 men, entered San Jose on July 14, 1846, and raised the United States flag over the town hall. San Jose consisted of a small town of Spanish Californians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Chileans, and Indians. After the completion of the Mexican–American War, in 1848, California, along with most of the western states, was added to the United States, first as a territory, but later as a state on September 9, 1850. In addition to the change of government, the California Gold Rush altered Santa Clara's political landscape. Suddenly swarms of immigrants arrived in California, looking to strike quick fortunes. The Gold Rush changed San Jose, which became a supply city for the numerous miners arriving in California. Many residents, alarmed by the arrival of so many Americans into the valley, fled to Mission Santa Clara. The Catholic bishop of California took an interest in the location, and by 1851 the Jesuits had set up the first college in the new state: Santa Clara University, on the rebuilt site of the old mission. San Jose became the first capital of the state of California and the first California State Legislature convened there on December 15, 1849. Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed at the time of statehood. Other towns began to spring up in Santa Clara County after the gold rush. In 1852 Santa Clara became a town with duly elected trustees. The city of Mountain View is reported to have received its name when Jacob Shumway, a storekeeper, looked across the valley eastward and poetically named the place where he was standing "Mountain View." In September 1855 a small town, originally named McCarthysville, but later named Saratoga, came into existence west of San Jose at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Saratoga became famous for its wine and spa, while Cupertino, which possessed a post office by 1882 and named after the original Spanish name for Stevens Creek, Arroyo de San Josè Cupertino, was famous for horse breeding. Los Gatos was formed from land originally owned by the British vice-consul to Mexican California, James Alexander Forbes. When Forbes went bankrupt, many pioneer lumbermen came down to the banks of Los Gatos creek and established the nucleus of the town. Gilroy, in the southern part of the county, was named after Scottish settler John Gilroy, who wed Maria Clara, granddaughter of the man who claimed San Francisco for Spain in 1769. In 1849 Martin Murphy, Jr. controlled six of Santa Clara's largest ranchos. After Murphy's death real estate developer W. E. Crossman purchased of orchard land, which eventually became Sunnyvale in 1901. Palo Alto's original townsite was laid out in 1888 from land owned by Rafael Soto. It was here in the 1890s that California Senator Leland Stanford established the Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto. The railroads soon followed the establishment of Palo Alto and the university. Paul Shoup, a Southern Pacific executive, spotted a good site for a township and organized the Altos Land Company. By 1908, the railroad began service and Los Altos filled up with buyers. Santa Clara County was linked to the world by the railroads and agricultural success in the Santa Clara Valley was fostered by access to distant markets that the railroad made possible. This, combined with the discovery that artesian well water underlay the whole valley, created the conditions for the sudden wealth to be found in the agricultural business. Santa Clara County was soon producing carrots, almonds, tomatoes, prunes, apricots, plums, walnuts, cherries, and pears for the world market. With the establishment of seed farms in the last half of the 1870s, a new aspect of the agricultural business began. The Ferry-Morse Seed Company, founded by Charles Copeland Morse, became the world's largest flower and vegetable seed producer. Santa Clara Valley was also experimenting with other sources of income. Oil wells once dotted the valley, and from 1866 until the discovery of other sources in 1880, the county produced nearly all of California's oil. Lumber also played a part in the county's economy; the town of Santa Clara saw the Pacific Manufacturing Company producing such items as Cyclone windmills and coffins. This company eventually became the largest manufacturer of wood products on the West Coast. Several wineries, such as the Picchetti Brothers Winery and the Paul Masson Mountain Winery were operating, and the area southwest of Cupertino was a winemaking region for years. Santa Clara County, with its farms, orchards and ranches remained largely rural and agricultural until after World War II. By 1939 San Jose, with a population of 57,651, was the largest canning and dried- fruit packing center in the world, with 18 canneries, 13 dried-fruit packing houses, and 12 fresh-fruit and vegetable shipping firms. San Jose also served as a distribution point for the prune and apricot industry. Already, however, new technologies were developing—San Jose was one of the first California cities to create industries for making all the mechanical equipment for specialized farming. With the establishment of Stanford University, the changes were beginning which would create Silicon Valley. Palo Alto became, in the early twentieth century, a testing ground for radio equipment, and later the locale for development of continuous-wave transmission powered by arc converters, largely the work of Cyril Frank Elwell. Elwell employed a radio research team that included Lee De Forest, who had invented a three-element vacuum tube in New York. In 1912 this team discovered that the tube could be rigged as an amplifier, which was a major breakthrough for long distance telephone and radio use. Later radar, television and computer systems would benefit from this discovery. By 1912 San Jose was receiving the first regularly scheduled radio broadcasts. Palo Alto was a technical beacon. It was here that the Federal Telegraph Company, created by Elwell, created ocean-spanning networks, which supplied US Naval communications during World War I. Already in the 1930s the US military saw the strategic advantages of Santa Clara Valley. Admiral William A. Moffett, appointed by President Warren G. Harding on July 25, 1924, as the first Chief of the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics, believed a naval aviation presence on the West Coast necessary for the nation's security. In the 1920s Moffett was fascinated with the lighter than air technology of the dirigibles. Northern California politicians, realizing the opportunities to be created, seized the initiative from San Diego, California, and money was found to purchase the of what would become Moffett Federal Airfield. Two Naval Air Stations were commissioned in the early 1930s to port the two US dirigibles. Hangar #1, built in 1932 and designed to house the USS Macon, remains one of the two largest structures in the United States without internal support. The military presence in the Bay Area in Northern California increased during World War II. On August 9, 1945, the same day the press recorded the second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, the San Jose Mercury Herald ran a front-page article under the headline Building Code Aims Listed which stated: "At least 60 percent of the county's wartime influx of people is expected to remain after hostilities cease, giving the county an estimated 210,000 population." The growth of post World War II suburban development in the valley caused the disappearance of the orchards. Sunnyvale, which in 1939 was described as "a quiet ranchers' trade center," with a population of 3,094, grew to a suburb with a population of over 107,229 by 1990, with a population rise of 10% in one decade (1980–1990). Santa Clara County was, by 2000, home to 1,682,585 and still growing. Santa Clara (1939 population 6,303), Mountain View (1939 population 3,308) and other Santa Clara County cities also grew to many times their 1939 population size. However, vestiges of the old orchards remained, throughout the county, and as late as 1970 San Jose was still classified as partly rural by the United States Census, although the city had a population of 443,950. By 1990 San Jose's population reached 782,248 people, according to the census, and was the 11th most populated city in the nation, surpassing San Francisco in population. Santa Clara County's growing suburbs can be tied to nationwide trends. The advent of the automobile and larger freeways and highways helped in the creation of suburbs. By the 1920s a cultural reaction against Victorian architecture and the creation of the affordable bungalow also helped this trend, as the middle class could afford homes outside the cities. Already in the 1920s, suburban areas were growing at a faster rate than central cities and after World War II, the suburban population exploded nationwide. During the 1940s, core cities grew by an average of 14 percent while the suburbs grew by 36 percent. Returning World War II veterans, getting married and settling down produced a baby boom unprecedented in American history. Already by 1960 more metropolitan residents lived in the suburbs than in the central city, and by 1990 the majority of all Americans lived in suburban areas. With the shift from an agricultural county to a large suburban one, Santa Clara County was following national trends. Its next move, with the creation of Silicon Valley, would lead national trends in creating the computer revolution, which would sweep the nation and the world. There are numerous reasons why Silicon Valley came into being. The early collaboration between Stanford professors and nearby industry aided the process. The increasing military presence, which began just before World War II, also contributed to this hi-tech corridor. Certainly America's defense spending during the Cold War Era, when research and development strove to keep abreast of the Soviet Union, helped. In response to Stanford University's financial problems around the mid-century, Professor Fred Terman of Stanford University's Department of Electrical Engineering leased parts of the university to high tech companies for 99 years, a move that is generally considered the start of the computer revolution in Santa Clara County. In 1953, William Shockley left Bell Labs in a disagreement over the handling of the invention of the transistor. After returning to California Institute of Technology for a short while, in 1956 Shockley moved to Mountain View, California, and created Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Unlike many other researchers who used germanium as the semiconductor material, Shockley believed that silicon was the better material for making transistors. Shockley intended to replace the current transistor with a new three-element design (today known as the Shockley diode), but the design was considerably more difficult to build than the "simple" transistor. In 1957, Shockley decided to end research on the silicon transistor. As a result, the "traitorous eight" engineers left the company to form Fairchild Semiconductor. Two of the original employees of Fairchild Semiconductor, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, would go on to found Intel. In 1971, Intel created the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004. The next step in the Silicon Valley revolution occurred in March 1975, when the Homebrew Computer Club in Menlo Park was created by students with an interest in technology and a desire to experiment with building home computers. Steve Wozniak, a founding member, built a home computer from a cheap microprocessor, and showed it to his fellow club members, who included his friend Steve Jobs. Together, in Steve Job's garage in Cupertino, Wozniak and Jobs formed Apple Computer. By 1976 Apple's first personal computer, the Apple I, was being sold. Even after the collapse of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s, "about 4,000 IT-related companies located along Highway 101 from San Francisco to San Jose generate approximately $200 billion in IT-related revenue annually" reported Gregory R. Gromov, in The Roads and Crossroads of Internet History. Other technical advances also occurred in the field of biotechnology, a new industry, springing from discoveries of gene splicing and gene cloning at the Bay Area universities. The local four-year colleges and two-year community colleges met the demands for supplying high technology companies with engineers. San Jose State University leads the field in supplying these industries with more engineering graduates than all other colleges combined. Overall, Santa Clara County's scientific/commercial renaissance has, with justification, been compared to the earlier European Renaissance. The creation of lasers, nuclear magnetic resonance, random access computer storage, disk drives, integrated circuits, personal computers, open-heart surgery, inkjet printers, gene-splicing and other advances in such a short span of time has placed Santa Clara County firmly in history as a unique location whose creative energies have changed the world.

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The Indian 500-rupee banknote (500) is a denomination of the Indian rupee. The current ₹500 banknote, in circulation since 10 November 2016, is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series. The previous banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series, in circulation between October 1997 and November 2016, were demonetised on November 8, 2016. The Indian 500-rupee banknote (₹500) is a denomination of the Indian rupee. The current ₹500 banknote, in circulation since 10 November 2016, is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series. The previous banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series, in circulation between October 1997 and November 2016, were demonetised on 8 November 2016. On 8 November 2016, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetization of the ₹500 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series as a measure to fight corruption in India and address the issue of counterfeit banknotes. On 10 November 2016, the previous banknote was replaced by a new 500 banknote of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series of banknotes. The 500 banknote of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series is 66mm x 150mm Stone Grey coloured, with the obverse side featuring a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi as well as the Ashoka Pillar Emblem, with a signature of the governor of Reserve Bank of India. It has the Braille feature to assist the visually challenged in identifying the currency. The reverse side features a motif of the Indian heritage site of Red Fort, and the logo and a tag line of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. See through register with denominational numeral 500, Latent image with denominational numeral 500, Micro letters ‘RBI’ and ‘500’ on the left side of the banknote, Windowed security thread with inscriptions ‘भारत’, RBI and 500 on banknotes with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted, Denominational numeral with Rupee Symbol, 500 in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right, Ashoka Pillar emblem on the right Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (500) watermarks, Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on the top left side and bottom right side., For visually impaired Intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, five bleed lines and identity mark, Circle with 500 in raised print on the right The 500 banknote of the Mahatma Gandhi Series is 167 × 73 mm Orange-yellow coloured, with the obverse side featuring a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi with a signature of the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. It has the Braille feature to assist the visually challenged in identifying the currency. The reverse side features the Salt March. As of 2011, the new sign has been incorporated into banknote of 500. In January 2014 RBI announced that it would be withdrawing from circulation all banknotes printed prior to 2005 by 31 March 2014. The deadline was later extended to 1 January 2015. Further deadline was extended until 30 June 2016. The security features of the 500 banknote includes: A windowed security thread that reads 'भारत' (Bharat in the Devanagari script) and 'RBI' alternately., Latent image of the value of the banknote on the vertical band next to the right hand side of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait., Watermark of Mahatma Gandhi that is a mirror image of the main portrait., The number panel of the banknote is printed in embedded fluorescent fibers and optically variable ink., Since 2005 additional security features like machine-readable security thread, electrotype watermark, and year of print appears on the bank note. Starting from midnight 8 November 2016 all ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series ceased to be a form of legal tender after a televised address to India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As like the other Indian rupee banknotes, the 500 banknote has its amount written in 17 languages. On the obverse, the denomination is written in English and Hindi. On the reverse is a language panel which displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22 official languages of India. The languages are displayed in alphabetical order. Languages included on the panel are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Mahatma Gandhi New Series, Indian 200-rupee note,, Indian 2000-rupee note https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/the-history-of-the-indian- currency-notes-and-its-evolution-1472803179-1 The Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of Indian rupee. The series is so called because the obverse of the banknotes prominently display the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its introduction in 1996, this series replaced all Lion Capital Series banknotes issued before 1996. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the series in 1996 with 10 and 500 rupee banknotes. As of 10 November 2016, the RBI issues banknotes in this series in denominations from 5 to 100. Printing of five-notes, which had stopped earlier, restarted in 2009. On 8 November 2016, the 500 and 1000 banknote denominations of this series were demonetised and the new Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes were revealed in denominations of 500 and 2000, intended to replace this series. The following features are included in the notes. Security thread: The notes contain an embedded security thread that can be seen as a vertical straight line when held against a light source. The notes contains the words 'Bharat' in Devanagari and RBI. The ₹1000 denomination contains the number 1000 as well. Older notes, however, are not readable., Latent image: When held against the light at an angle of 45 degrees, an inscription of the value of the denomination is seen on the right side of Mahatma Gandhi's image., Microlettering: Micro-letters are used to print RBI on ₹10 notes, and the value of the denomination on other notes., Intaglio print: 1. An intaglio (raised) shape is present on all denominations other than the ₹10 note to help the visually impaired. 1. 20-Vertical rectangle 2. 50-Square 3. 100-Triangle 4. 500-Circle 5. 1,000-Diamond 2. The image of Mahatma Gandhi, Reserve Bank of India seal, clause of guarantee, Ashoka Pillar emblem and signature of the governor of the Reserve Bank of India are all intaglio prints. Fluorescence: The number panels are printed with fluorescent ink., Optical fibre: The notes have optical fibres that glow when exposed to ultra-violet light., Optically variable ink: Denominations of ₹500 and ₹1000 are printed with ink that changes color with the angle of placement to light., See-through registration device – A floral design (later issues now have the corresponding denomination) printed on the front and the back of the note coincides and perfectly overlap each other when viewed against a light source., EURion constellation – A pattern of symbols found on the banknote helps software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image so that it can prevent its reproduction with devices such as color photocopiers., Angular lines: A series of lines placed on both the left and right side of the 100, 500 and 1,000 notes. They are only featured on the 2015 series notes, and are utilised to help those with visual impairments in identifying the notes., Novel numbering: A set of six digit serial numbers that increase in size from left to right. Issued for the 2015 and 2016 series 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 notes. Each banknote has its amount written in 17 languages. On the obverse, the denomination is written in English and Hindi. On the reverse is a language panel which displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22 official languages of India. The languages are displayed in alphabetical order. Languages included on the panel are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Mahatma Gandhi New Series, List of artistic depictions of Mahatma Gandhi The Indian rupee (sign: ₹; currency code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular: paisa), though as of 2019, coins of denomination of 1 rupee is the lowest value in use. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in currency management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. In 2010, a new rupee sign () was officially adopted. It was designed by D. Udaya Kumar. It was derived from the combination of the Devanagari consonant "र" (ra) and the Latin capital letter "R" without its vertical bar (similar to the R rotunda). The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) are said to make an allusion to the tricolour Indian flag, and also depict an equality sign that symbolises the nation's desire to reduce economic disparity. The first series of coins with the new rupee sign started in circulation on 8 July 2011. Before this, India used "₨" and "Re" as the symbols for multiple rupees and one rupee, respectively. On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 banknotes with effect from midnight of the same day, making these notes invalid. A newly redesigned series of 500 banknote, in addition to a new denomination of 2,000 banknote is in circulation since 10 November 2016. The 1,000 note has been suspended. On 25 August 2017, a new denomination of ₹200 banknote was added to the Indian currency structure to fill the gap of notes due to high demand for this note after demonetisation. In July 2018, the Reserve Bank of India released the ₹100 banknote. The immediate precursor of the rupee is the rūpiya—the silver coin weighing 178 grains minted in northern India by first Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule between 1540 and 1545 and adopted and standardized later by the Mughal Empire. The weight remained unchanged well beyond the end of the Mughals till the 20th century. Though Pāṇini mentions , it is unclear whether he was referring to coinage. Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta Maurya (), mentions silver coins as . Other types of coins, including gold coins (), copper coins (), and lead coins (), are also mentioned. The history of the Indian rupee traces back to Ancient India in circa 6th century BCE, ancient India was one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world, along with the Chinese wen and Lydian staters. Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta Maurya (c. 340–290 BCE), mentions silver coins as rūpyarūpa, other types including gold coins (suvarṇarūpa), copper coins (tamrarūpa) and lead coins (sīsarūpa) are mentioned. means 'form' or 'shape'; for example, in the word : 'wrought silver' and 'form'. In the intermediate times there was no fixed monetary system as reported by the Da Tang Xi Yu Ji. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, Sultan Sher Shah Suri issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains (or 11.53 grams), which was also termed the rupiya. During Babar's time, the brass to silver exchange ratio was roughly 50:2. The silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include; the Bank of Hindustan (1770–1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773–75, established by Warren Hastings), and the Bengal Bank (1784–91). Historically, the rupee was a silver coin. This had severe consequences in the nineteenth century when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard (that is, paper linked to gold). The discovery of large quantities of silver in the United States and several European colonies caused the panic of 1873 which resulted in a decline in the value of silver relative to gold, devaluing India's standard currency. This event was known as "the fall of the rupee." In Britain the Long Depression resulted in bankruptcies, escalating unemployment, a halt in public works, and a major trade slump that lasted until 1897. India was unaffected by the imperial order-in-council of 1825, which attempted to introduce British sterling coinage to the British colonies. British India, at that time, was controlled by the British East India Company. The silver rupee coin continued as the currency of India through the British Raj and beyond. In 1835, British India adopted a mono-metallic silver standard based on the rupee coin; this decision was influenced by a letter written by Lord Liverpool in 1805 extolling the virtues of mono-metallism. Following the First war of Independence in 1857, the British government took direct control of British India. Since 1851, gold sovereigns were produced en masse at the Royal Mint in Sydney, New South Wales. In an 1864 attempt to make the British gold sovereign the "imperial coin", the treasuries in Bombay and Calcutta were instructed to receive (but not to issue) gold sovereigns; therefore, these gold sovereigns never left the vaults. As the British government gave up hope of replacing the rupee in India with the pound sterling, it realised for the same reason it could not replace the silver dollar in the Straits Settlements with the Indian rupee (as the British East India Company had desired). Since the silver crisis of 1873, several nations switched over to a gold exchange standard (wherein silver or banknotes circulate locally but with a fixed gold value for export purposes), including India in the 1890s. Around 1875, Britain started paying India for exported goods in India Council Bills (instead of silver). The Indian Currency Committee or Fowler Committee was a government committee appointed by the British-run Government of India on 29 April 1898 to examine the currency situation in India. They collected a wide range of testimony, examined as many as forty-nine witnesses, and only reported their conclusions in July, 1899, after more than a year's deliberation. The committee concurred in the opinion of the Indian government that the mints should remain closed to the unrestricted coinage of silver, and that a gold standard should be adopted without delay...they recommended (1) that the British sovereign be given full legal tender power in India, and (2) that the Indian mints be thrown open to its unrestricted coinage (for gold coins only). These recommendations were acceptable to both governments, and were shortly afterwards translated into laws. The act making gold a legal tender was promulgated on September 15, 1899 ; and preparations were soon thereafter undertaken for the coinage of gold sovereigns in the mint at Bombay. This law was just to defraud Indian people, as gold sovereign coins were never minted in India. In 1913 John Maynard Keynes writes in his book Indian Currency and Finance that during financial year 19001901, gold coins (sovereigns) worth of £6,750,000 were given to Indian people in the hope that it will circulate as currency. But against the expectation of Government, even half of that were not returned to Government, and this experiment failed spectacularly, so Government abandoned this practice (but did not abandon the narrative of gold standard). As a punishment to this loss of gold, all gold held by Government of India was shipped to Bank of England in 1901. At the onset of the First World War, the cost of gold was very low and therefore the pound sterling had high value. But during the First World War, the value of the pound fell alarmingly due to rising war expenses. At the conclusion of the war, the value of the pound was only a fraction of what it used to be prior to the commencement of the war. It remained low until 1925, when the then Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, restored it to pre-War levels. As a result, the price of gold fell rapidly. While the rest of Europe purchased large quantities of gold from the United Kingdom, there was little increase in her gold reserves. This dealt a blow to an already deteriorating British economy. The United Kingdom began to look to its possessions as India to compensate for the gold that was sold. During 1931 to 1941, England purchased large amount of gold from India and its many other colonies just by increasing price of gold, as England was able to pay in printable paper currency. Similarly, on 19 June 1934, Roosevelt made Silver purchase act, (which increased price of silver) and purchased about 44,000 tons of silver by paying paper certificates (silver certificate). In 1939, Dickson H. Leavens wrote in his book 'Silver Money': "In recent years the increased price of gold, measured in depreciated paper currencies, has attracted to the market (of London) large quantities (of gold) formerly hoarded or held in the form of ornaments in India and China". The Indian rupee replaced the Danish Indian rupee in 1845, the French Indian rupee in 1954 and the Portuguese Indian escudo in 1961. Following the independence of British India in 1947 and the accession of the princely states to the new Union, the Indian rupee replaced all the currencies of the previously autonomous states (although the Hyderabadi rupee was not demonetised until 1959). Some of the states had issued rupees equal to those issued by the British (such as the Travancore rupee). Other currencies (including the Hyderabadi rupee and the Kutch kori) had different values. The values of the subdivisions of the rupee during British rule (and in the first decade of independence) were: As the Straits Settlements were originally an outpost of the British East India Company, In 1837, the Indian rupee was made the sole official currency in the Straits Settlements, as it was administered as part of British India. This attempt was resisted by the locals. However, Spanish dollars continued to circulate and 1845 saw the introduction of coinage for the Straits Settlements using a system of 100 cents = 1 dollar, with the dollar equal to the Spanish dollar or Mexican peso. In 1867, administration of the Straits Settlements was separated from India and the Straits dollar was made the standard currency, and attempts to reintroduce the rupee were finally abandoned. After the Partition of India, the Pakistani rupee came into existence, initially using Indian coins and Indian currency notes simply overstamped with "Pakistan". Previously the Indian rupee was an official currency of other countries, including Aden, Oman, Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the Trucial States, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, the Seychelles and Mauritius. The Indian government introduced the Gulf rupee – also known as the Persian Gulf rupee (XPGR) – as a replacement for the Indian rupee for circulation outside the country with the Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act of 1 May 1959. The creation of a separate currency was an attempt to reduce the strain on India's foreign reserves from gold smuggling. After India devalued the rupee on 6 June 1966, those countries still using it – Oman, Qatar, and the Trucial States (which became the United Arab Emirates in 1971) – replaced the Gulf rupee with their own currencies. Kuwait and Bahrain had already done so in 1961 with Kuwaiti dinar and in 1965 with Bahraini dinar, respectively. The Bhutanese ngultrum is pegged at par with the Indian rupee; both currencies are accepted in Bhutan. The Nepalese rupee is pegged at 0.625; the Indian rupee is accepted in Bhutan and Nepal, except 500 and 1000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series and the 200, 500 and 2,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series, which are not legal tender in Bhutan and Nepal and are banned by their respective governments, though accepted by many retailers. On 29 January 2014, Zimbabwe added the Indian rupee as a legal tender to be used. The three Presidencies established by the British East India Company (Bengal, Bombay and Madras) each issued their own coinages until 1835. All three issued rupees and fractions thereof down to - and -rupee in silver. Madras also issued two-rupee coins. Copper denominations were more varied. Bengal issued one-pie, -, one- and two-paise coins. Bombay issued 1-pie, -, -, 1-, 1-, 2- and 4-paise coins. In Madras there were copper coins for two and four pies and one, two and four paisa, with the first two denominated as and one dub (or and ) rupee. Madras also issued the Madras fanam until 1815. All three Presidencies issued gold mohurs and fractions of mohurs including , , in Bengal, (a gold rupee) and (pancia) in Bombay and , and in Madras. In 1835, a single coinage for the EIC was introduced. It consisted of copper , and anna, silver , and 1 rupee and gold 1 and 2 mohurs. In 1841, silver 2 annas were added, followed by copper pice in 1853. The coinage of the EIC continued to be issued until 1862, even after the Company had been taken over by the Crown. In 1862, coins were introduced (known as "regal issues") which bore the portrait of Queen Victoria and the designation "India". Their denominations were anna, pice, and anna (all in copper), 2 annas, , and one rupee (silver), and five and ten rupees and one mohur (gold). The gold denominations ceased production in 1891, and no -anna coins were issued after 1877. In 1906, bronze replaced copper for the lowest three denominations; in 1907, a cupro-nickel one-anna coin was introduced. In 1918–1919 cupro-nickel two-, four- and eight- annas were introduced, although the four- and eight-annas coins were only issued until 1921 and did not replace their silver equivalents. In 1918, the Bombay mint also struck gold sovereigns and 15-rupee coins identical in size to the sovereigns as an emergency measure during the First World War. In the early 1940s, several changes were implemented. The anna and pice ceased production, the anna was changed to a bronze, holed coin, cupro-nickel and nickel-brass -anna coins were introduced, nickel-brass was used to produce some one- and two-annas coins, and the silver composition was reduced from 91.7 to 50 percent. The last of the regal issues were cupro-nickel -, - and one-rupee pieces minted in 1946 and 1947, bearing the image of George VI, King and Emperor on the obverse and an Indian Lion on the reverse. India's first coins after independence were issued in 1950 in denominations of 1 pice, , one and two annas, , and one-rupee. The sizes and composition were the same as the final regal issues, except for the one-pice (which was bronze, but not holed). The first decimal-coin issues in India consisted of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 naye paise, and 1 rupee. The 1 naya paisa was bronze; the 2, 5, and 10 naye paise were cupro-nickel, and the 25 naye paise (nicknamed chawanni; 25 naye paise equals 4 annas), 50 naye paise (also called athanni; 50 naye paise equalled 8 old annas) and 1-rupee coins were nickel. In 1964, the words naya/naye were removed from all coins. Between 1957 and 1967, aluminium one-, two-, three-, five- and ten-paise coins were introduced. In 1968 nickel-brass 20-paise coins were introduced, and replaced by aluminium coins in 1982. Between 1972 and 1975, cupro-nickel replaced nickel in the 25- and 50-paise and the 1-rupee coins; in 1982, cupro-nickel two-rupee coins were introduced. In 1988 stainless steel 10-, 25- and 50-paise coins were introduced, followed by 1- and 5-rupee coins in 1992. Five-rupee coins, made from brass, are being minted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Between 2005 and 2008 new, lighter fifty-paise, one-, two-, and five-rupee coins were introduced, made from ferritic stainless steel. The move was prompted by the melting-down of older coins, whose face value was less than their scrap value. The demonetisation of the 25-paise coin and all paise coins below it took place, and a new series of coins (50 paise – nicknamed athanni – one, two, five, and ten rupees with the new rupee sign) were put into circulation in 2011. Coins commonly in circulation are one, two, five, and ten rupees. Although it is still legal tender, the 50-paise (athanni) coin is rarely seen in circulation. The coins are minted at the four locations of the India Government Mint. The 1, 2, and 5 coins have been minted since independence. The Government of India is set to introduce a new 20 coin with a dodecagonal shape, and like the 10 coin, also bi-metallic, along with new designs for the new versions of the 1, 2, 5 and 10 coins, which was announced on 6 March 2019. The Government of India has the only right to mint the coins and one rupee note. The responsibility for coinage comes under the Coinage Act, 1906 which is amended from time to time. The designing and minting of coins in various denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India. Coins are minted at the five India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore (Kolkata), Saifabad (Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP). The coins are issued for circulation only through the Reserve Bank in terms of the RBI Act. After independence, the Government of India mint, minted numismatics coins imprinted with Indian statesmen, historical and religious figures. In the years 2010 and 2011 for the first time ever 75, 150 and 1000 coins were minted in India to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of the Reserve Bank of India, the 150th birth anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore and 1000 years of the Brihadeeswarar Temple, respectively. In 2012 a 60 coin was also issued to commemorate 60 years of the Government of India Mint, Kolkata. 100 coin was also released commemorating the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India. Commemorative coins of 125 were released on 4 September 2015 and 6 December 2015 to honour the 125th anniversary of the births of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and B. R. Ambedkar, respectively. In 1861, the Government of India introduced its first paper money: 10 note in 1864, 5 note in 1872, 10,000 note in 1899, 100 note in 1900, 50 note in 1905, 500 note in 1907 and 1,000 note in 1909. In 1917, 1 and 2 notes were introduced. The Reserve Bank of India began banknote production in 1938, issuing 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, 1,000 ad 10,000 notes while the government continued issuing 1 note but demonetized the 500 and 2 notes. After independence, new designs were introduced to replace the portrait of George VI. The government continued issuing the Re1 note, while the Reserve Bank issued other denominations (including the 5,000 and 10,000 notes introduced in 1949). All pre-independence banknotes were officially demonetised with effect from 28 April 1957. During the 1970s, 20 and 50 notes were introduced; denominations higher than 100 were demonetised in 1978. In 1987, the 500 note was introduced, followed by the 1,000 note in 2000 while 1 and 2 notes were discontinued in 1995. The design of banknotes is approved by the central government, on the recommendation of the central board of the Reserve Bank of India. Currency notes are printed at the Currency Note Press in Nashik, the Bank Note Press in Dewas, the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (P) Ltd at Salboni and Mysore and at the Watermark Paper Manufacturing Mill in Hoshangabad. The Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India as legal tender. The series is so named because the obverse of each note features a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its introduction in 1996, this series has replaced all issued banknotes of the Lion capital series. The RBI introduced the series in 1996 with 10 and 500 banknotes. At present, the RBI issues banknotes in denominations from 5 to 2,000. The printing of 5 notes (which had stopped earlier) resumed in 2009. As of January 2012, the new " sign has been incorporated into banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000. In January 2014 RBI announced that it would be withdrawing from circulation all currency notes printed prior to 2005 by 31 March 2014. The deadline was later extended to 1 January 2015. The dead line was further extended to 30 June 2016. On 8 November 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the issuance of new 500 and 2,000 banknotes in new series. The new 2,000 banknote has a magenta base colour, with a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi as well as the Ashoka Pillar Emblem on the front. The denomination also has a motif of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on the back, depicting the country's first venture into interplanetary space. The new 500 banknote has a stone grey base colour with an image of the Red Fort along with the Indian flag printed on the back. Both the banknotes also have the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan logo printed on the back. The banknote denominations of 200, 100 and 50 have also been introduced in the new Mahatma Gandhi New Series intended to replace all banknotes of the previous Mahatma Gandhi Series. On 13 June 2017, RBI introduced new 50 notes, but the old ones continue being legal tender. The design is similar to the current notes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, except they will come with an inset 'A'. As of 26 April 2019, current circulating banknotes are in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 from the Mahatma Gandhi Series and in denominations of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, 100, 200, 500 and 2,000 from the Mahatma Gandhi New Series. The new Indian banknote series feature a couple of brilliant micro printed texts on various locations. The first one lies on the inner surface of the left temple of Gandhi's spectacles that reads "भारत" which means India. The next one (which are printed only on 10 and 50 denominations) is placed on the outer surface of the right temple of Gandhi's spectacles near his ear and reads "RBI" and the face value in numerals "10" or "50". The last one is written on both sides of Gandhi's collar and reads "भारत" and "INDIA" respectively. Officially, the Indian rupee has a market-determined exchange rate. However, the RBI trades actively in the USD/INR currency market to impact effective exchange rates. Thus, the currency regime in place for the Indian rupee with respect to the US dollar is a de facto controlled exchange rate. This is sometimes called a "managed float". Other rates (such as the EUR/INR and INR/JPY) have the volatility typical of floating exchange rates, and often create persistent arbitrage opportunities against the RBI. Unlike China, successive administrations (through RBI, the central bank) have not followed a policy of pegging the INR to a specific foreign currency at a particular exchange rate. RBI intervention in currency markets is solely to ensure low volatility in exchange rates, and not to influence the rate (or direction) of the Indian rupee in relation to other currencies. Also affecting convertibility is a series of customs regulations restricting the import and export of rupees. Legally, only up to 25000 can be imported or exported in cash at a time, and the possession of 200 and higher notes in Nepal is prohibited. The conversion of currencies for and from rupees is also regulated. RBI also exercises a system of capital controls in addition to (through active trading) in currency markets. On the current account, there are no currency-conversion restrictions hindering buying or selling foreign exchange (although trade barriers exist). On the capital account, foreign institutional investors have convertibility to bring money into and out of the country and buy securities (subject to quantitative restrictions). Local firms are able to take capital out of the country in order to expand globally. However, local households are restricted in their ability to diversify globally. Because of the expansion of the current and capital accounts, India is increasingly moving towards full de facto convertibility. There is some confusion regarding the interchange of the currency with gold, but the system that India follows is that money cannot be exchanged for gold under any circumstances due to gold's lack of liquidity; therefore, money cannot be changed into gold by the RBI. India follows the same principle as Great Britain and the US. Reserve Bank of India clarifies its position regarding the promissory clause printed on each banknote: "As per Section 26 of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Bank is liable to pay the value of banknote. This is payable on demand by RBI, being the issuer. The Bank's obligation to pay the value of banknote does not arise out of a contract but out of statutory provisions. The promissory clause printed on the banknotes i.e., "I promise to pay the bearer an amount of X" is a statement which means that the banknote is a legal tender for X amount. The obligation on the part of the Bank is to exchange a banknote for coins of an equivalent amount." 1991 – India began to lift restrictions on its currency. A number of reforms removed restrictions on current account transactions (including trade, interest payments and remittances and some capital asset-based transactions). Liberalised Exchange Rate Management System (LERMS) (a dual-exchange-rate system) introduced partial convertibility of the rupee in March 1992., 1997 – A panel (set up to explore capital account convertibility) recommended that India move towards full convertibility by 2000, but the timetable was abandoned in the wake of the 1997–1998 East Asian financial crisis., 2006 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the Finance Minister and the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a road map for moving towards capital account convertibility., 2016 – the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all and banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. The government claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy and crack down on the use of illicit "black money" and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism. For almost a century following the Great Recoinage of 1816, and adoption of the Gold Standard, until the outbreak of World War I, the silver backed Indian rupee lost value against a basket of Gold pegged currencies, and was periodically devalued to reflect the then current gold to silver reserve ratios, see above. In 1850 the official conversion rate between a pound sterling and the rupee was £0 / 2s / 0d (or £1:₹10), while between 1899–1914 the conversion rate was set at £0 / 1s / 4d (or £1:₹15), for comparison during this period the US dollar was pegged at £1:$4.79. Between the wars the rate improved to 1s 6d (or £1:₹13.33), and remained pegged at this rate for the duration of the Breton Woods agreement, to its devaluation and pegging to the US dollar, at $1:7.50, in 1966. The £ was devalued against the $ in 1949, impacting currencies that maintained a peg to sterling, such as the . The gold silver ratio expanded during 1870–1910. Unlike India, Britain was on gold standard. To meet the Home Charges (i.e., expenditure in England) the colonial government had to remit a larger number of rupees and this necessitated increased taxation, unrest and nationalism. Coins of British India, Modern Indian coins, Great Depression in India, Zero rupee note A gallery of all Indian currency issues, The banknotes of India

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Smoking in Ireland is banned fully in the general workplace, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport. However, it is permitted in designated hotel rooms and there is no ban in residential care, prisons and in outdoor areas. Public opinion is in favour of the bans on smoking imposed in Ireland. Currently, the Irish law prohibits smoking fully in the general workplace, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport. Smoking rooms are permitted in hotels. As of July 2009, it is prohibited to advertise cigarettes and sell 10-packs of cigarettes in retail outlets. Additionally, as of February 2013, any tobacco product placed on the market must have graphic warnings. There is legislation being made to introduce plain tobacco packaging and make Ireland the second country to do so, after Australia. Smoking in workplaces in Ireland was banned on 29 March 2004, making Ireland the first country in the world to institute an outright ban on smoking in workplaces. From that date onwards, under the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts, it has been illegal to smoke in all enclosed workplaces. The ban is strictly enforced and includes bars, restaurants, clubs, offices, public buildings, company cars, trucks, taxis and vans. A private residence is considered a workplace when tradespeople, such as plumbers or electricians, are working there. €3,000 is the maximum fine on the spot, while a prison sentence can also be given at a later time for violators. The law exempts dwellings, prisons, nursing homes, psychiatric wards, hotel rooms, charitable accommodation and college dorm rooms. Certain buildings such as some hospitals forbid smoking anywhere in the grounds. Before the 2004 law, smoking was already outlawed in public buildings, hospitals, schools, restaurant kitchens, cinemas, public pharmacies, public hairdressing premises, public banking halls, and on public transport aircraft and buses and some trains (Intercity trains provided smokers' carriages). Premises must display a sign to inform patrons of the ban (in Irish or English), and the contact person for any complaints. A workplace can be given a fine of €3,000 for each person that is found smoking (this means €15,000 for 5 people in violation). Smoking rooms are not allowed. Any shelter can not have more than 50 percent coverage of walls. There is also a Compliance Line set up by the Office of Tobacco Control, that people can call to report people smoking in a workplace or retail outlets selling tobacco to under-18s. On 18 July 2008, Irish Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle proposed in a committee in the European Parliament, that she would like to see an EU-wide ban on cigarettes and cigars by 2025. On 1 July 2009, Ireland banned in-store tobacco advertising and displays of tobacco products at retail outlets and new controls on tobacco vending machines (limiting them to being token-operated in registered bars and clubs only) were also introduced. At the same time a ban on the sale of packets of 10 cigarettes was introduced. Tobacco advertising had already been banned from radio, television and on billboards beforehand. The changes now mean that tobacco products must now be stored out of sight in closed containers behind the counter (accessible by retail staff only) and customers can be shown a card showing all available brands in a pictorial list if they wish to purchase cigarettes. Signs must also be shown informing customers that tobacco is sold at the premises. Ireland was the first country in the EU and third in the world (after Canada and Iceland) to introduce such measures, which are punishable with a fine of €3,000 and/or a six-month prison sentence. However, specialist tobacco shops (of which there are fewer than six) are exempt from the new rules; all retailers selling tobacco must register with the Health Service Executive and the new laws will be enforced by environmental health officers. As of 1 February 2013, any tobacco product placed on the market must have graphic warnings. The Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly's proposal to introduce plain tobacco packaging was approved by the Cabinet and expected legislation will be in place by early 2014. As of September 2017 all cigarettes must remove all logos and feature plain packaging. The public, according to a Flash Eurobarometer poll conducted by the Gallup Organisation in 2008 for the European Commission, is in favour of a full ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, offices and other indoor workplaces. According to the above poll there is a majority of people who support the ban on smoking introduced in 2004. Since 2009, Irish anti-smoking campaigners and scientists had been urging the government to introduce such a ban. In July 2011 the Minister for Health said that he was considering a ban where children are present in the car. On January 1st 2016, regulations make it an offence for a person to smoke in a private vehicle when there is more than one person present and there is a person under the age of 18 present. The offence would fall on the person smoking regardless of their age. The senator and oncologist John Crown put a bill before parliament in 2012 to ban smoking in a car with children. This bill was passed into law in December 2014 with an expectation that enforcement by Gardaí would commence in 2015. Smoking bans in private vehicles are enacted to protect passengers from secondhand smoke and to increase road traffic safety, e.g. by preventing the driver from being distracted by the act of smoking. Smoking bans in private vehicles are less common than bans extended to public transport or vehicles used during work, like trucks or police cars. The acts of looking for, reaching for, and then lighting cigarettes can considerably distract the driver. A burning cigarette or marijuana joint that has fallen into the driver's lap might lead to panic-like reactions. Cigarette stubs thrown out of a window pose a serious fire threat. Some serious traffic accidents in Germany are known to have been caused by a lit cigarette. Some German tribunals have commented on the imprudence of smoking while driving. Smoking may be compared to using a cell phone while driving, which is also banned in some jurisdictions. More recently, the dangers of secondhand smoke have seen more attention, and smoking in a car (whether in motion or not) is banned in some jurisdictions as a measure against passive smoking. Secondhand smoke (SHS) is also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). It’s a mixture of 2 forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco. Mainstream smoke, the smoke exhaled by a smoker. Sidestream smoke, smoke from the lighted end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, or tobacco burning in a hookah. This type of smoke has higher concentrations of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) and is more toxic than mainstream smoke. It also has smaller particles than mainstream smoke. These smaller particles make their way into the lungs and the body’s cells more easily. When non-smokers are exposed to SHS it’s called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Non-smokers who breathe in SHS take in nicotine and toxic chemicals the same way smokers do. The more SHS you breathe, the higher the levels of these harmful chemicals in your body. Some laws stipulate that such a ban applies only when a passenger is under a certain age. A research study showed that after smoking one cigarette in a car, the time required for respirable particles' concentration to return to its initial value, depending on car movement cases, windows positions and ventilation settings, varies between 10 and 60 minutes. Cigarettes or cigarette litter thrown out of the window of cars moving through a vegetated area (particularly during the hot season) is one of the causes of wildfires or bushfires. A southern France firefighters' department statistic attributes 16% of local bushfires to cigarette litter thrown out of moving vehicles (and 13.8% to cigarette litter from pedestrians). In the Australian Capital Territory, a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 16 has existed since May 2012. An on the spot fine of AUD $250 will be applicable, or court fines up to AUD $5,500. In New South Wales a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 16 has existed since July 2009. There is an on the spot fine of AUD $250 for drivers or passengers, with a maximum fine of AUD $1,100 if unsuccessfully disputed/appealed. In Queensland a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 16 has existed since January 2010. There is an on the spot fine of AUD $200. In South Australia a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 16 has existed since May 2007. Fines range from AUD $75 to $200. In Tasmania a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 18 has existed since 1 January 2008. There is a AUD $110 on the spot fine. In Victoria a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 18 has existed since 1 January 2010. In Western Australia a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 17 has existed since 22 September 2010. In the Northern Territory a smoking ban in cars with minors under the age of 16 has existed since December 2014, the last jurisdiction in Australia to do so. Since 13 April 2009, smoking in cars with accompanying children is banned in Bahrain. Smoking with anyone under the age of 16 present in a vehicle is currently banned in the Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon Territory. Smoking is banned in vehicles with persons under the age of 19 present in Nova Scotia. On Cyprus smoking in vehicles with minors under the age of 16 is prohibited. It is forbidden to smoke in private vehicles in the presence of children under the age of 12 since 2015. On Mauritius smoking is prohibited in any car carrying passengers, since 2008. A law prohibiting smoking in private vehicles with minors under the age of 12 has been voted. On 6 January 2010, a federal law (superseding the smoking bans which already existed in most of the emirates) was signed. Among other provisions, it introduces a Smoking ban in private vehicles in the presence of children under the age of 12. On 1 October 2015, smoking in vehicles with passengers under 18 was banned in England and Wales, except in convertibles. It is also illegal for drivers under the age of 18 to allow other passengers to smoke in their car, regardless of their age – however drivers under the age of 18 will be permitted to smoke in their car as long as no passengers are present. It is a criminal offence for any driver to fail to stop a passenger illegally smoking in the car while a passenger under the age of 18 is present. Bans are not yet in force in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Smoking is not allowed in work vehicles that more than one person uses. Smoking in company cars is allowed, provided that there is only one user of the car and the employer allows. In Jersey smoking has been banned in all vehicles carrying passengers under the age of 18. Drivers under the age of 18 (the legal driving age in Jersey is 17) are also forbidden to smoke whilst in their own vehicles, even if they are the only passengers. The law came into force on 1 September 2015, after debate in the States Assembly and is the first place in the British Isles to enact a ban of this sort. Smoking in cars with children under 18 was banned in the state of California in 2007, and is banned in certain counties and cities of Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, and Alabama. A smoking ban in cars with children is being tested in the states of Arkansas (child's age <14), Louisiana (<13), Maine (<16), Oregon (<18), Puerto Rico (<13), Utah (<15), Vermont (<8), and Virginia (<8). Finland intends to ban smoking in cars while children are present. Furthermore, smoking in places where children are present is to be banned generally. Greece plans to ban smoking in cars. Irish anti-smoking campaigners and scientists are urging the government to introduce such a ban. In July 2011 the Minister for Health revealed that he was considering a ban where children are present in the car. The senator and oncologist John Crown has put bill before parliament to ban smoking in a car with children. In Israel the introduction of a smoking ban in cars is being discussed in the Knesset. Similar plans exist in the Netherlands. A ban is expected to come in effect by late 2020. Taiwan plans to ban smoking while driving a car, riding a bike or walking on a sidewalk. The rationale is the concern about traffic security and air pollution. Tobacco Free awareness action - How many people smoke in cars Tobacco smoking in the United Kingdom is prevalent among a sizeable, but continuously reducing minority of the population. Smoking is legally permitted, with certain conditions upon location arising from the bans enacted separately in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has been argued that smoking puts considerable strain upon the NHS due to the health problems which can be directly linked with smoking. Successive UK Governments have endeavoured to reduce the prevalence of smoking. As part of this commitment, the NHS currently offers free help to smokers who want to quit. In 1962, over 80% of British men and 40% of British women smoked. And as recently as 1974, 45% of the British population smoked. This was down to 30% by the early-1990s, 21% by 2010, and 19.3% by 2013; the lowest level recorded for eighty years. An annual No Smoking Day has occurred in March since 1984. In 2015, it was reported smoking rates in England had fallen to just 16.9%; a record low. In 2019, one in five Scottish people identified as smokers- equivalent to 850,000 adults. With 28% of men and 25% of women in Scotland smoking regularly as of 2018- which is higher than the rest of the UK as a whole. It is estimated that in some parts of Scotland, that smoking rates may be as high as 47% in the most deprived communities. The UK Parliament constituency of Glasgow East, which is one of the most deprived seats in the entire United Kingdom- an estimated 40% of adults in the constituency smoke. In comparison, the highest smoking prevalence in England is in Kingston upon Hull at 26.1%. The UK smoking rate had fallen to 14.4% in 2018. 25 - 34 year olds still have the highest smoking rate, with approximately 1 in 5 people within this age range smoking equating to around 1.4 million smokers in the UK. It has been estimated by Cancer Research UK that smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death, with around 107,000 people dying in 2007 from smoking-related diseases including cancers in the UK. Around 86% of lung cancer deaths in the UK are caused by tobacco smoking and overall tobacco smoking is estimated to be responsible for more than a quarter of cancer deaths in the UK, around 43,000 deaths in 2007. The British Medical Journal states that due to the drive to help smokers quit smoking, Britain has the world's largest reduction in the number of deaths from lung cancer. Previously in 1950, the UK had one of the highest rates in the world. The annual number of deaths from lung cancer in 2000 was half of what it was in 1965. Reducing the prevalence of smoking to 5% could avoid nearly 100,000 new cases of smoking-related disease including 35,900 cancers over twenty years and save £67,000,000 a year in health and social care costs according to research commissioned by Cancer Research UK. Until 1 October 2007, the minimum age to purchase and consume tobacco products in public was 16 years of age. From 1 October 2007, the Children and Young Persons (Sale of Tobacco etc.) Order 2007 became effective, raising the minimum purchase age to 18 years of age. There is no stated age under which it is illegal to consume tobacco, although an officer has the right to confiscate tobacco if the individual concerned is in a public place and under sixteen years of age. Until 30 September 2007, the minimum age to purchase and consume tobacco products in public was 16 years of age. From 30 September 2007 the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 became effective, raising the minimum purchase, consumption and possession age to 18 years of age. Until 31 August 2008, the minimum age to purchase and consume tobacco products in public was 16 years of age. From 1 September 2008 the Children and Young Persons (Sale of Tobacco etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 became effective, raising the minimum purchase, consumption and possession age to 18 years of age. Smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces has been illegal since 26 March 2006 in Scotland, 2 April 2007 in Wales, 30 April 2007 in Northern Ireland and 1 July 2007 in England. On 6 April 2012, the display of tobacco products was banned in retailers larger than 280 square metres in England. The ban affected small retailers three years later on 6 April 2015. In March 2011, the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government committed itself to holding a public consultation on the introduction of plain tobacco packaging. Influenced by the introduction of plain packaging in Australia, the House of Commons voted 367–113 in March 2015 to pass the Children and Families Act 2014 which would give the government the power to require plain packaging for tobacco products. This came into force on 20 May 2016, but tobacco companies were given one year to sell off remaining stock; in which afterwards, all tobacco products sold in the UK must follow plain packaging laws. On 1 October 2015, a law was passed which banned smoking in vehicles with anyone under eighteen years of age present. The law does not apply to e-cigarettes, if the driver is seventeen years of age and alone in the vehicle or in a convertible with the roof completely down. The European Union announced back in May 2016 on their intention to ban menthol cigarettes across the EU, including the United Kingdom as of May 2020 through a four year phase-out period. Cigarettes such as Menthol, Click-on, Dual and Capsule, alongside Slim cigarettes, will be included in the ban, as well as flavoured rolling tobacco. Despite the name, 'e-cigarette,' these devices contain no tobacco and produce no smoke. They are used as an alternative to smoking, or as devices where it increasingly looks like they are helping young people avoid smoking. Two hospitals run by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust opened vape shops in 2019 in conjunction with a ban on smoking. Public Health England advises hospitals to let patients vape indoors - and even in bed. On 2 April 2014, the Welsh Government published a public health white paper in which it proposed a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public spaces. The Bill was subsequently defeated. The annual Smokefree GB survey, published in May 2017, concluded that 52% of the 2.9 million British e-cigarette users are now ex- smokers. 26% of respondents thought e-cigarettes were as harmful as real cigarettes. In March 2017, it was reported by The Telegraph that the UK's e-cigarette boom is in decline, with the number of people using e-cigarettes in Britain decreasing for the first time since their launch. There are now 3.5 million vapers in England and most of these are either ex-smokers or people who are trying to quit using an e-cigarette. Vaping electronic cigarettes has become the most popular form of nicotine replacement therapy. Smoking ban in England, Health in the United Kingdom

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The Host (; lit. "Monster") is a 2006 South Korean monster film directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Go Ah-sung. The film concerns a monster kidnapping a man's daughter, and his attempts to rescue her. According to the director, his inspiration came from a local article about a deformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River. Following the success of the director's work Memories of Murder, The Host was highly anticipated. It was released on a record number of screens in its home country on July 27, 2006. By the end of its run on November 8, 13 million tickets had been sold, making it (at the time) the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time. The film was released on a limited basis in the United States on March 9, 2007, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD formats on July 24, 2007. It won several awards including Best Film at the Asian Film Awards and at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. In 2000, an American military pathologist (Scott Wilson) orders his Korean assistant (Brian Lee) to dump 200 bottles of formaldehyde down a drain leading into the Han River. Over the next several years, there are sightings of a strange amphibious creature in the waterway, and the fish in the river die off. A suicidal man, just before jumping into the river, sees something dark moving in the water. In 2006, a slow-witted young man named Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a small snack-bar in a park near the River with his father, Hee- bong (Byun Hee-bong). Other family members are Gang-du's daughter, Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung); his sister Nam-joo (Bae Doona), a national medalist archer; and his brother, Nam-il (Park Hae-il), an alcoholic college graduate and former political activist. While Gang-du is delivering food to some customers, a huge creature (voiced by Oh Dal-su) emerges from the Han River and begins attacking people. Gang-du tries to grab his daughter from the crowd and run. As he realizes he has grabbed the wrong girl, he sees the creature snatching Hyun- seo and diving back into the river. After a mass funeral for the victims, government representatives and the American military arrive and quarantine people who had contact with the creature, including Gang-du and his family. It is announced that the creature is not only a danger, but also the host of a deadly, unknown virus. Gang-du is in a hospital when he receives a phone call from Hyun-seo. She explains that she is trapped somewhere in the sewers with the creature, but her phone stops working shortly after. Gang-du tries to explain this to others, but his claims go ignored by all except his family. The four of them escape the hospital. Hee-bong buys a truck, weapons, and a map of the sewers to look for Hyun-seo. They encounter the creature but discover their gun only angers it, and Hee-bong is killed buying time for his children to escape. Gang-du is captured by the Army. Nam-il and Nam-joo escape but are separated from each other. Two homeless boys, Se-jin (Lee Jae-eung) and Se-joo (Lee Dong-ho), are searching for food when they are attacked and swallowed by the creature. It returns to its sleeping area in the sewer, a large hole, and regurgitates them. Only Se-Joo is alive. Hyun-seo helps Se-Joo hide in a spot the creature cannot reach. Nam-il meets an old friend (Yim Pil- sung) to trace the location of Hyun-seo's call. He learns that the government has placed a bounty on his family. The friend tries to capture Nam-il, but he manages to escape after obtaining Hyun-seo's general location. He texts the location to Nam-joo and Gang-du. He meets a homeless man (Yoon Je-moon) who knows about the quarantine but decided to stay in the city. The man decides to help him. Gang-du overhears an American scientist (Paul Lazar) discussing the fact that there is no virus; it is all made up to distract people from the creature's origin. The scientists decide to lobotomize Gang-du to silence him. He escapes by taking one of the nurses (Go Soo-hee) hostage. Back in the sewers, while the creature is sleeping, Hyun-seo makes a rope from old clothes and uses it to get out of the hole. She realizes that the creature only feigns sleep to lure her out of her hiding spot. Hyun-seo and Se-joo are swallowed by the creature. The government announces the plan to release a chemical called Agent Yellow into the river and the surrounding area, hoping it will kill the creature. Gang-du finds the creature's sleeping place. He sees Hyun-seo's arm hanging out of its mouth and gives chase, meeting Nam-joo on the way. The creature makes its way to the location where Agent Yellow is released and a large crowd has formed in protest. As the creature attacks the crowd, Agent Yellow is released, which appears to stun the creature. Gang-du pulls Hyun-seo out of its mouth and sees her still clutching Se-joo; Hyun-seo is revealed to have died protecting him. Gang-du, enraged at his daughter's death, attacks the creature as it wakes up, aided by Nam-il and the homeless man. While Nam- il throws Molotov cocktails at the creature, the homeless man pours gasoline onto it. Nam-il accidentally drops his last bottle. Nam-joo picks up the flaming cloth from the bottle with one of her arrows and fires it at the creature, setting it on fire. Before the creature can escape into the water, Gang-du impales it with a metal pole, finally killing it. As Nam-il and Nam- joo hold Hyun-seo, mourning her death, Gang-du revives Se-joo and takes him to safety. In the final scene, Gang-du has adopted Se-joo. The two live in his food stand, and he still watches over the river. They have a meal together, ignoring a news broadcast about the aftermath of the incident, on Se-joo's encouraging that they concentrate on eating. Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du, a clumsy misfit vendor in his father's shop, who often falls asleep. He is often berated by his family members, and his laziness was caused by lack of protein as a child., Byun Hee-bong as Park Hee-bong, the father of Gang-du, Nam-il, Nam-joo, and grandfather of Hyun-Seo. He runs the shop near the Han River with Gang-du., Park Hae-il as Park Nam-il, an unemployed university graduate and former political activist., Bae Doo-na as Park Nam-joo, a national medalist archer, who attempts to use her skills on the monster., Go Ah-sung as Park Hyun-seo, the pre-teen daughter of Gang-du who is embarrassed by her family, especially her father. According to her grandfather, her birth was an "accident," and her mother ran away afterwards. She is kidnapped by the Gwoemul, prompting the family to search for her., Oh Dal-su as the voice of the Gwoemul, a giant creature mutated by chemicals dumped into the Han River. The Gwoemul attacks any humans that come into its path., Lee Jae-eung as Se-jin, the older homeless brother who attempts to steal food from the Park snack shop., Lee Dong-ho as Se-joo, the younger homeless brother who follows Se-joo and later befriends Hyun-seo., Yoon Je-moon as The homeless man, who helps Nam-il create weapons to battle the monster., Yim Pil-sung as Nam-il's senior, "Fat Guevara,", Kim Roi-ha as Yellow 1 (in the funeral), Park No-sik as the inquiry officer, Go Soo-hee as the hostage nurse, David Joseph Anselmo as Donald White, a U.S. sergeant residing in South Korea with his girlfriend, who helps Gang-du fight the monster when it first emerges from the Han River., Scott Wilson as a U.S. Military doctor, who orders his Korean assistant to dump chemicals into the Han River, creating the Gwoemul., Paul Lazar as an American doctor, who speaks with Gang-du about finding his daughter, and reveals a truth., Brian Lee as a young Korean doctor, assistant to a U.S. Military doctor, who is ordered to dump chemicals into the Han River, and is later seen translating for Gang-du. The film was the third feature-length film directed by Bong Joon-ho. Following the positive reaction to the director's debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite, coupled with the critical acclaim and box-office success of his previous work, Memories of Murder, the film was given a generous production budget of around (just over ), huge by local industry standards. Some of the filming took place in the real sewers near the Han River, rather than on a set. The stars and crew were inoculated against tetanus by the medical officer. During filming, the crew had to deal with the effects of changes in weather and ambient temperature. This including the sewage water freezing in cold temperatures, so that it had to be broken up and melted; and during hot and windy periods, the water evaporated and the silt turned to dust, which blew around in the breeze and into the faces of the crew. The director had to work around the budget-imposed restrictions, especially when it came to special effects. The creature was designed by Chin Wei-chen, the modeling was done by New Zealand-based Weta Workshop and the animatronics were by John Cox's creature Workshop. The CGI for the film was done by The Orphanage, which also did some of the visual effects in The Day After Tomorrow. The monster was designed with some specific parameters in mind. According to the director himself the inspiration came from a local article about a deformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River. Therefore, the director's wishes were for it to look like an actual mutated fish-like creature, rather than have a more fantastical design. In the opening scenes of the film, two fishermen presumably encounter the creature whilst it is still small enough to fit in one of their cups; suggestive of its humble, more realistic origins. The monster also exhibits frontal limbs similar to amphibians' legs. This element of its design seems to have been more a choice of functionality on the designers' part as the monster needed to be able to run and perform certain acrobatic movements during the film. For a genre film monster, the creature's size is rather small, only about the size of a truck. Also unlike in many other monster-themed films, the creature is fully visible from early on in the film, sometimes for large stretches of time and even in broad daylight, which earned the film some critical praise. The film was in part inspired by an incident in 2000, in which a Korean mortician working for the U.S. military in Seoul reported that he was ordered to dump a large amount of formaldehyde down the drain. In addition to its environmental concerns, this caused some antagonism toward the United States. The American military stationed in South Korea is portrayed as uncaring about the effects their activities have on the locals. The chemical agent used by the American military to combat the monster in the end, named "Agent Yellow" in a thinly-veiled reference to Agent Orange, was also used to satirical effect. The director, Bong Joon-ho, commented on the issue: "It's a stretch to simplify The Host as an anti-American film, but there is certainly a metaphor and political commentary about the U.S." Because of its themes, which can be seen as critical of the United States, the film was lauded by North Korean authorities, a rarity for a South Korean blockbuster film. The film features a satirical portrayal of the South Korean government as bureaucratic, inept, and essentially uncaring. Korean youth protesters are featured satirically in the film, in a mixed way, partially heroic and partially self-righteous and oblivious. According to Bong Joon-ho, the Park Nam-il character is a deliberate anachronism, a reference to South Korea's troubled political history, which involved violent protest. "When you look in terms of this character, it's sort of like the feeling of time going backwards. [...] You could say that he is the image of the college protester back ten years ago; it doesn't exist in the present day." The Host premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2006 and was released nationally in South Korea on July 27, 2006. Having been heavily hyped and featuring one of the most popular leading actors in the country, Song Kang-ho, the film was released on a record number of screens and made the South Korean record books with its box office performance during its opening weekend. The 2.63 million admissions and box office revenue easily beat the previous records set by Typhoon. The film reached six million viewers on August 6, 2006. In early September the film became South Korea's all time box office leader, selling more than 12.3 million tickets in just over a month in a country of 48.5 million. By the end of its run on November 8, the viewing figures came in at 13,019,740. The film was released theatrically in Australia on August 17, 2006. During the first half of September 2006, it premiered in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. It received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2006. This was its first official release outside of film festivals, and outside Asia and Australia. Its American release was March 9, 2007. It was also released in France, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and Spain, amongst other countries. The Host received screenings on several film festivals. In addition to its opening in Cannes, among the most prominent were the Toronto, Tokyo and New York film festivals. The film swept Korea's Blue Dragon Awards : The Host received five awards, Go Ah-sung took Best New Actress and Byun Hee-bong was awarded as Best Supporting Actor. The French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma ranked the film as 3rd place in its list of best films of the year 2006 and 4th for the 2000-2009 decade. The Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo selected it as one of the top 10 best foreign films of the year 2006. (Flags of Our Fathers won the best foreign film of the year 2006.) With a limited American release starting March 11, 2007, The Host received critical acclaim. It holds a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 151 reviews with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "As populace pleasing as it is intellectually satisfying, The Host combines scares, laughs, and satire into a riveting, monster movie." In addition, it was ranked one of the top films of 2007 on Metacritic with a score of 85 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote "The Host is a loopy, feverishly imaginative genre hybrid about the demons that haunt us from without and within." The filmmaker Quentin Tarantino included it in his list of top 20 films released since 1992 (the year he became a director). The film was also listed at #81 on Empire's list of The 100 Best Films of World Cinema. The region-2 UK release of the film was released on March 5, 2007, while the region-1 US DVD was released on July 24, 2007, in both single-disc and a two- disc collector's edition in DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats. Twitch Film announced on November 3, 2009 that a video game was planned, to be released as a multi-platform first-person shooter. As of October 2018, it's not yet released, and very likely cancelled. In June 2007, it was announced that a 3D film - alternately referred to as a sequel or prequel in news reports - was in progress, with a different director. The budget for The Host 2 was announced at close to , and would be based on a script by webcomic artist Kang Full. A FX demo reel debuted at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2010 and the projected release date of summer 2012 was announced. However, as of 2018, there have been no further updates on the project and its current status is unknown. In November 2008, it was announced that Universal Studios would be remaking The Host with Gore Verbinski producing, Mark Poirier writing the script, and first-time director Fredrik Bond directing the film. The film was set for a 2011 release. However, the production has remained in so-called "development hell". The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007. 2nd - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly (tied with Manufactured Landscapes), 2nd - V.A. Musetto, New York Post, 4th - Dana Stevens, Slate, 5th - Marc Mohan, The Oregonian, 5th - Mike Russell, The Oregonian, 7th - Desson Thomson, The Washington Post, 9th - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe 2006 Asia Pacific Film Festival Best Supporting Actor - Byun Hee-bong, Best Editing - Kim Sun-min, Best Sound - Choi Tae-young 2006 Chunsa Film Art Awards Best Lighting - Lee Kang-san, Technical Award - Jang Hwi-cheol 2006 Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Film, Best Supporting Actor - Byun Hee-bong, Best New Actress - Go Ah-sung, Best Lighting - Lee Kang-san, Jung Young-min, Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film, Technical Award - The Orphanage, EON (CG), Nomination - Best Director - Bong Joon-ho, Nomination - Best Actor - Song Kang-ho, Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Bae Doona, Nomination - Best Screenplay - Bong Joon-ho, Nomination - Best Cinematography - Kim Hyung-koo 2006 Korean Film Awards Best Film, Best Director - Bong Joon-ho, Best Cinematography - Kim Hyung-koo, Best Visual Effects - The Orphanage, EON, Best Sound - Choi Tae-young, Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Go Ah-sung, Nomination - Best Art Direction - Ryu Seong-hee, Nomination - Best Music - Lee Byung-woo 2006 Director's Cut Awards Best Performers Award - Ensemble cast (Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona, Go Ah-sung) 2007 Asian Film Awards Best Film, Best Actor - Song Kang-ho, Best Cinematography - Kim Hyung-koo, Best Visual Effects - The Orphanage, EON, Nomination - Best Editing - Kim Sun-min 2007 Hong Kong Film Awards Nomination - Best Asian Film 2007 Baeksang Arts Awards Best Film, Nomination - Best Actor - Byun Hee-bong, Nomination - Best New Actress - Go Ah-sung 2007 Saturn Awards Nomination - Best International Film, Nomination - Best Performance by a Younger Actor - Go Ah-sung 2007 Grand Bell Awards Best Director - Bong Joon-ho, Best Editing - Kim Sun-min, Nomination - Best Film, Nomination - Best Actor - Song Kang-ho, Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Byun Hee-bong, Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Go Ah-sung, Nomination - Best Cinematography - Kim Hyung-koo, Nomination - Best Visual Effects - The Orphanage, EON, Nomination - Best Sound - Lee Seung-chul, Choi Tae-young 2007 Busan Film Critics Awards Jury Prize 2008 Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics Nomination - Grand Prix \- master's degree thesis The Host: Creepie Korean Creatures at Animation World Network, The Language Barrier and the Beast at The Culturatti, Podcast: Bong Joon-Ho Discusses The Host with The Korea Society The Hostages is an 1896 oil on canvas painting created by French painter and sculptor Jean-Paul Laurens, the last in a series of historical works by him. He does not give a specific historical setting, although he evokes the Princes in the Tower and Richard III of England. It is now collected in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. "The Host" is the 23rd episode of the of the American science fiction television series and the 97th episode overall. It was originally released on May 11, 1991, in broadcast syndication. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) falls in love with Odan (Franc Luz), a Trill mediator. But after he is mortally injured, she discovers that "Odan" is actually a symbiotic creature that lives inside a humanoid host body. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) volunteers to act as a temporary host, complicating the relationship between Crusher and Odan. The mediation proves successful, but after Odan is transferred to a new, female Trill host (Nicole Orth-Pallavicini), Crusher chooses not to continue the relationship. At the time of filming, McFadden was seven months pregnant, resulting in filming techniques used to conceal her abdomen. A two part makeup appliance was designed for the Trill host, as well as the symbiont itself which was based on a caterpillar and an octopus. The Trill would subsequently return in , although the makeup was redesigned. "The Host" received a Nielsen rating of 11.3 percent during the first week of release in syndication. The ending of the episode has received a mixed reception, with Zack Handlen for The A.V. Club saying that the reaction by Crusher made "perfect sense", while others suggested that the statement regarding Crusher's views on homosexuality should have been confined as a character trait rather than a general statement on the opinions of the species. It was the first episode to be directed by Marvin V. Rush, the director of photography, and was written by Michel Horvat. Odan (Franc Luz), a mediator, boards the Enterprise to negotiate a peace treaty between two hostile races. Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is charmed by the man, and the two share a love affair during the trip. Odan refuses to use the transporter and requests that a shuttle and pilot be provided for him; Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) honors this request. During the mission, the shuttle is attacked by a dissident faction and Odan is mortally injured. While trying to save the alien in sickbay, Dr. Crusher comes to learn that Odan is a Trill, a species which symbiotically lives within its host's body. It is further revealed by Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) that the transporter would have harmed the symbiotic lifeform. Following the death of Odan's host body, Commander Riker volunteers to allow Odan use him as a host to conduct the necessary negotiations until a new host arrives. Odan's presence becomes dominating over Riker, and Dr. Crusher finds herself initially confused when Odan continues to try to engage with her to continue their relationship. Dr. Crusher is puzzled and full of emotion as she later confides to Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and wonders about the true depth of her feelings for Odan. With some effort, Odan in Riker's body manages to convince the delegates from the warring planets to work with him. However, Riker's body begins to deteriorate due to the incompatibility of different biologies. The ship transporting the new host has encountered engine malfunctions. Dr. Crusher does everything she can to extend Riker's and Odan's chances while the Enterprise races to meet the Trill ship, and has a deeply emotional moment with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). The Enterprise successfully rendezvous in time to bring aboard the new host, a female (Nicole Orth-Pallavicini), much to Dr. Crusher's surprise. She helps with the other Trill to transplant Odan into the new host, and both Riker and Odan fully recover. When Odan attempts to continue their relationship, Dr. Crusher is uncomfortable, knowing both that the Trill appear to have no preferences on gender orientation, and that Odan will continue to live on in any number of hosts' bodies. Odan admits he still loves Dr. Crusher, but understands her confusion and discomfort, and promises to never forget her or their short time together. And Dr. Crusher replies that she loves Odan too; in Odan's new, female host body, Odan then kisses the inner wrist of her hand. "The Host" was written by Michael Horvat and directed by Marvin V. Rush. Rush had been the director of photography for the series since the start of the and was the first of three members of the series' staff to direct an episode. The filming of Gates McFadden's scenes was complicated by the fact that she was seven months pregnant at the time, requiring different camera angles than would normally be used. Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander Riker, explained later that "they would not address the fact that the actress was pregnant", requiring the cast and crew to hide McFadden's stomach from the camera with furniture or by using camera angles which only showed her from her breasts upwards. Rush was not told which episode he was going to direct beforehand, other than that it was going to be a ship-based episode. He later directed two episodes of and two of . Story editor Brannon Braga was pleased with the episode, calling it "one of the most outstanding stories we've ever done" as it was originally suggested as a "squirmy worm" story, which was "unique" as it went on to become "the most touching love story". Ronald D. Moore stated that it had become a Star Trek story by focusing the episode on the relationship rather than on the negotiations. Rush suggested that some viewers were disappointed with the ending, due to Crusher not accepting her lover in his new female body. He said that it was a valid point of view, and that McFadden's lines in the final scene made it clear that it put forward a hope that homosexuality may be better accepted in the future. The subject matter was revisited in the episode "Rejoined", which featured one of the earliest televised lesbian kisses. The character of Odan would return in non-canon Star Trek publications, including in the short story "First Steps" within The Lives of Dax anthology. It also made two appearances in licensed comics, first in DC Comics Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual issue four and then in Divided we Fall, a crossover between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine published under the WildStorm imprint. The makeup for the Trill host featured a separate nose and forehead pieces, as the intention was to retain the general look of a human. Air bladders were placed inside a fake abdomen to create the shot in which the symbiont appeared to move under the host's skin. A second fake abdomen was created for the surgery scene in which the symbiont is moved into Riker, which worked by having a crew member lie under the surgery table, pulling the symbiont into the opening using a concealed string. The design of the symbiont was based on a caterpillar with an octopus for a head, which featured a further air bladder in order to give the appearance that it was pulsating and painted in fluorescent paint to glow when a black light was shone on it during that scene. The Trill later recurred in Deep Space Nine, with multiple hosts of the Dax symbiont appearing on screen. The same makeup was initially used as in their originally appearance in The Next Generation, however after two days of filming with Terry Farrell in the prosthetics, she was sent back to the makeup department to change it. The shuttle set was the same one which had been used previously, with parts created for different episodes since work began in the episode "". In "The Host", it was named Hawking for the theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. He would later guest star in the first part of the episode "" at his request. "The Host" aired in broadcast syndication during the week commencing May 12, 1991. It received Nielsen ratings of 11.3, reflecting the percentage of all households watching the episode during its timeslot. This placed it as the highest viewed syndicated show of the week, despite the ratings being near the average for the season. James van Hise, in his book The Unauthorized Trek: The Complete Next Generation, called the introduction of the Trill an "element crucial" to Deep Space Nine, but was critical of the decision to have Crusher not be interested in Odan once he had transferred to his new female host. This "apparent homophobia" was said to have resulted in the episode being "widely criticized" by David Greven in his book Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek. Keith DeCandido, in his article for Tor.com, said it was difficult to give a fair review of the episode due to the Trill being explored in greater depth in Deep Space Nine, and the subsequent alterations made for that series compared to "The Host". He said more generally of the episode that the romance felt rushed, and he would have liked to see the exploration of Riker's feelings about his body being used to have sex with a friend. A further criticism was levelled at the ending, as Crusher stated that it was humans who have a problem with homosexuality rather than limiting it to be her own problem. He gave it a rating of four out of ten. Nick Keppler, writing for Nerve.com, listed "The Host" as one of the "gayest" episodes of the franchise and described the twist at the end of the episode with the gender of Odan's new host as "sapphic". He criticised the reaction of Crusher at the end of the episode, saying that she would "get into bed with shifty aliens with weird ridged foreheads but for some reason draws the line at space ladies". Zack Handlen gave the episode a rating of B+ in his review for The A.V. Club, saying that the idea at the core of the episode was better than the execution. But he said that the ending made "perfect sense" as he said that love wasn't solely spiritual but that "we fall in love with features, with shapes, with bodies, as well as with minds." He added that Odan's reaction was also right, as "everyone has a line, and if you love them, you won't ask them to cross it." The first home media release of "The Host" was on VHS cassette, appearing on July 23, 1996 in the United States and Canada. The episode was later included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season four DVD box set, released in the United States on September 3, 2002. The fourth season was subsequently released on blu-ray in the UK on July 29, 2013, and July 30 in the United States.

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"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first number-one hit in both the United States and Canada by topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and the RPM national singles chart for one week, with a further three weeks at number two. "With or Without You" features sustained guitar parts played by guitarist the Edge with a prototype of the Infinite Guitar, along with vocals by lead singer Bono and a bassline by bassist Adam Clayton. The song originated from a demo recorded in late 1985 that the group continued to work on throughout The Joshua Tree sessions. Ostensibly a troubled love song, the track's lyrics were inspired by Bono's conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man. Critics praised the song upon its release. It is frequently performed on the band's tours, and it has appeared on many of their compilation albums and concert films. "With or Without You" is U2's second most frequently covered song. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 132 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In late 1985, U2 convened at a house that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. bought to review material the group had written during The Unforgettable Fire Tour. During this time, a rough demo of "With or Without You" was written, with lead vocalist Bono composing the song's chord sequence. The band continued to work on the song at STS Studios, creating many permutations of the track, but not making any progress. Guitarist the Edge considered the song at that point to be "awful". The track consisted of a Yamaha drum machine beat and a bass part played by bassist Adam Clayton using an Ibanez bass guitar with a short scale. According to Clayton, these early versions of the song sounded too sentimental and "very traditional because the chords just went round and round and round". The sessions for The Joshua Tree started in earnest in 1986, and U2 were recording at the Georgian mansion Danesmoate House in Dublin. The group attempted to take the song in a different direction, although Bono was reluctant. Under the direction of co-producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, the Edge pursued more ambient guitar playing, Clayton turned up the volume on his bass, and Mullen experimented with an electronically enhanced drum kit. Despite the work they continued to put into the track, the group considered abandoning the song, as they could not find an arrangement they liked. Bono and his friend Gavin Friday continued to work on the song after Lanois and Eno declined to do so. Bono credits Friday with rescuing the song and rearranging it, believing it could be a hit. Eno added a keyboard arpeggio, similar to the one from "Bad". The song's fate was still in doubt when the Edge was sent a prototype of the Infinite Guitar by Canadian musician Michael Brook, with whom he had collaborated for the Captive soundtrack. The instrument allowed sustained notes to be played, producing "a similar effect to the E-Bow", but with the ability to provide all the "mid-points between no sustain and infinite sustain" that the E-Bow cannot provide. The prototype included elaborate assembly instructions and as the Edge recollects, "one wrongly placed wire and you could get a nasty belt of electricity. This piece of gear would have failed even the most basic of safety regulations." On subsequent tours, his guitar technician occasionally received electric shocks from the instrument when preparing it for performances. Listening to the backing track to "With or Without You" in the control room, Bono and Friday heard the sustained effect that the Edge was creating with the Infinite Guitar in the other room. The combination of the two playing simultaneously caught their attention. According to Lanois, "I said, 'That sounded pretty cool,' so we listened back and I said, 'Jesus, it's better than I thought.'" The Edge immediately recorded an Infinite Guitar part in two takes. The band considers the song's recording to be one of the album sessions' breakthrough moments, as it was recorded amidst concerns that they had run out of ideas. Eno sequenced the song's electronic drum beat on the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser. Rather than connect it to the recording equipment via a DI unit and maintain the instrument's pristine sound, the producers plugged it into a Mesa Boogie guitar amplifier and then miked it to give the sound more personality. As a result, Lanois said it sounded "more like people playing in a room". The sequenced beat was chosen to give the song a feeling of discipline, so that when Mullen's acoustic drums enter the song, "they mean something", in Lanois' words. Producer Steve Lillywhite was hired by U2 in December 1986 to help mix some songs for The Joshua Tree; "With or Without You" was one of them. While Lillywhite and engineer Mark Wallis were mixing it, Eno entered the room and told them that he wanted to change the introduction. Wallis said: "And it was kind of awe-inspiring because he said, 'Right, send this guitar through those ten effects over there and send that guitar through those ten effects over there and then feed them back to each other.' So what started as a traditional bit of rhythm guitar, bass, and drums suddenly became something quite otherworldly and spiritual, and the sound of the music you were hearing started to give you a feeling of where the song was going to go prior to the lyric. I thought that was really visionary." Ultimately, "With or Without You" was the most debated song of those on which Lillywhite worked, as Eno and Lanois each had ideas different from his. Lillywhite, who wanted a more mainstream approach to his mix, favoured "a little more crash, bang" sound to Mullen's drums that enter later in the song, while Eno preferred that the drums remain "more mysterious and more supportive". Bono wrote the lyrics during his first night visiting Côte d’Azur in 1986, while struggling to reconcile his responsibilities as both a married man and a musician. His wanderlust in belonging to a musical act was often at odds with his domestic life. While writing the lyrics, he realized that neither facet of his life defined him, but rather the tension between the two did. He explained that the final lyric is about torment and how repressing desires only makes them stronger. "With or Without You" is written in a 4/4 time signature and is played at a tempo of 110 beats per minute. Although certain stanzas of lyrics are repeated, the song does not follow a traditional verse-chorus form. Lanois says of it, "It has tension and builds like one of those great Roy Orbison songs, where every section is unique and never repeats. I like that kind of sophistication [...]." The song begins with a minimal drum beat of eighth notes played by Mullen, while a backing track—Eno's synthesiser—plays a "rippling" triplet arpeggio of the chord D major. A high sustained guitar part (played by The Edge's Infinite Guitar) enters, played "dry" in the left channel before reverberating on the right. At 0:09, Clayton's bass guitar begins to play eighth notes in time with the kick drum, and the song's four- bar sequence of the chord progression D–A–Bm–G, begins. This chord progression is never explicitly played but is "implied" by the root notes played by Clayton and the guitar parts of The Edge. Bono's vocals enter at 0:28 in a low register, a stark contrast from Bono's typical singing style to that point in the group's career. He stays below the middle C for the first two and a half stanzas, centering his melody on the mediant F. At the end of each of the first two stanzas, his vocals drop an octave, from A to A. Author Susan Fast called Bono's vocals on "With or Without You" the first occasion on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way". At 0:58, an additional sustained guitar part joins the mix. The drums increase in intensity at 1:45, before The Edge begins playing the song's signature guitar riff at 1:53. The riff, a perfect fifth opening to a sixth, features a prominent use of delay. When the riff is played, it is answered by Bono singing "And you give yourself away", a line on which backing vocals appear at 2:06 and 2:32. A stanza begins in which Bono sings the song's title in a high, passionate voice as the drums get heavier. At 3:03, the song bursts out in emotion as Bono begins open-throated "Oh-oh-oh-ohh" vocals, which are double- tracked, and the rhythm increases to play sixteenth notes on the guitar, cymbals, and tambourine. After another stanza of Bono repeating the song's title, the music dies down at 3:38 to a similar state as it was at the beginning of the song. Ten seconds later, Bono sings in a falsetto while a bass synthesiser doubles the bass guitar. After the vocals complete, The Edge begins a simple guitar figure. He explained that its understated nature was meant to resist the temptation to play an intricate guitar solo as an ending. The second time the figure is played, the signature guitar riff from earlier re-appears and the song regains some of its intensity. The song concludes with a fade-out. The lyrics ostensibly describe a troubled relationship between two lovers, although the lyrics have been interpreted in religious contexts. The Washington Post interpreted the song as both an acerbic love song and a tune lamenting the moral contradictions one faces with their religious faith. Toby Creswell echoed these sentiments, saying it "can be read as a song about either marital romance or spiritual need". Bono explained that the lyrics had romantic intentions, saying, "there's nothing more revolutionary than two people loving each other. One, 'cause it's so uncommon these days, and two, 'cause it's so difficult to do." In 1987, Bono explained that "And you give yourself away" lyric refers to how he sometimes feels exposed being in U2, and that his openness, both to the public and music press, can do damage to the group. Author Niall Stokes interpreted the line as encompassing the theme of "surrendering the ego" to one's love and spiritual faith. According to Bono, the song was heavily influenced by Scott Walker's album Climate of Hunter. The band's manager Paul McGuinness was resistant to U2 releasing "With or Without You" as a single, as he thought it was too sonically unusual for release. Gavin Friday, having helped the band complete the track, disagreed and thought it would be a "certain No. 1". The song was selected as the lead single from The Joshua Tree. United States radio stations were allowed to play the song at 11:30 a.m. on 4 March 1987, with strong warnings by Island Records against playing it earlier. The single was released on 16 March 1987, two weeks after the album was released. It was the group's first single to be widely issued on compact disc. Clayton referred to the song's nature as a challenge to radio, saying, "You don't expect it there [on radio]. In church perhaps." "With or Without You" debuted at number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and on 16 May 1987, it topped the chart to become U2's first number-one single in the US, proving Friday's prediction true. The song spent three weeks atop the chart, and 18 weeks in total on the Hot 100. The song also topped Billboards Album Rock Tracks chart, Canada's RPM Top 100, and the Irish Singles Chart. According to Billboard, the song was the group's breakthrough with American audiences. The single peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, spending 11 weeks in the top 75 of the chart. The single also peaked at number two on the Dutch MegaCharts Top 40. In 2009, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 43 on the week ending 31 May, based on download sales due to Shaun Smith's performance of the song in the semi- final of Britain's Got Talent. Two videos were shot in Dublin in February 1987 and were co-directed by Meiert Avis and Matt Mahurin. The first includes abstracts shots of dancer (and Edge's future wife) Morleigh Steinberg edited in between shots of the band playing the song. A second alternative version can be found in the Super Deluxe version of the album. "With or Without You" was first played live at the second show on the Joshua Tree Tour on 4 April 1987, and was a regular for the rest of that tour. It was played at most shows on 1989's Lovetown Tour. During these tours, two extensions to the song not present on the studio version were played: an extra verse with lyrics that typically read "We'll shine like stars in the summer night/We'll shine like stars in the winter light/One heart, one hope, one love" or modifications thereof, which appears on the Rattle and Hum movie; and a snippet of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (along with the "shine like stars" lyrics) which can be heard in the live album and concert film Live from Paris. Since the PopMart Tour, it has been more common for Bono to repeat the "Ohh" at the climax of the song, with the "shine like stars" verse sung rarely. "With or Without You" was played at most Zoo TV Tour concerts and every concert on the PopMart Tour. It was dropped from the set list during the third leg of the Elevation Tour. It was initially a rare inclusion during the Vertigo Tour - over the two months of the tour's first leg, it was only played four times. It became a regular concert inclusion during stadium concerts on the second leg in Europe and remained in the set list for the third leg. It has been played on every night of the U2 360° Tour, occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda. The song regularly closed out the main set on the Innocence + Experience Tour, again occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda. Live performances of the song also appear in the group's concert films , , , , , U2 3D, and U2 360° at the Rose Bowl. Rolling Stone called it an "inventively arranged tune... that builds from a soothing beginning to a resounding climax". Bill Graham of Hot Press praised the song, suggesting it may be Bono's "most controlled vocal, building from an almost conversational first verse over a bare rhythm section to a soul-baring confession". Graham suggested the lyric "And you give yourself away" was essential to U2's message. The Sunday Independent suggested that the song was proof the band could be commercially accessible, yet not resort to rock clichés. NME called it "some kind of love song" and found musical and lyrical symmetry between the song and the group's 1981 album October. Mike DeGagne of AllMusic praised the song for Eno's and Lanois' "gleaming" production work, Bono's vocals and "poetic deftness", and for The Edge's "astute but assertive" guitar playing. DeGagne described Bono's singing as "unleashing all his vocal power, moving from a soft, subtle intro and middle to an explosive burst of unyielding energy toward the end". He made religious comparisons to the musical arrangement, saying the "discerning air sounds almost church-like as it slowly unravels". Readers of Rolling Stone voted "With or Without You" the "Best Single" in a 1987 end-of-year poll, while it finished in 15th place on the "Best Singles" list from The Village Voices 1987 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. "With or Without You" has become one of U2's best-known songs, and it often appears in music critics' rankings of the best songs of all-time. In 2000, the song appeared at number eight on Rolling Stones list of "100 Greatest Pop Songs", compiled by Rolling Stone and MTV music critics to rank songs released since The Beatles' breakthrough. In 2005, Blender ranked the song at number 268 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The following year, readers of Q voted "With or Without You" the 17th-greatest song in history. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed "With or Without You" as the 40th best single of the 1980s. Music television network VH1 ranked the song number 13 on the "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" countdown in its series The Greatest. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 132 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song appeared as one of seven U2 songs in Toby Creswell's 2006 music reference book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets. Creswell said the song struck a perfect balance between the "vigour and spit and attitude" of the group's teenage years and their new-found appreciation for the "power of understatement". U2 have included the song on two of their compilation albums, The Best of 1980–1990 and U218 Singles. U2 Bono – vocals, The Edge – guitar, Adam Clayton – bass guitar, Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums Additional personnel Brian Eno – drum programming, synth programming, engineer: recording and mixdown ! scope="row"|Brazil (ABPD) List of cover versions of U2 songs - With or Without You Footnotes Bibliography "With or Without You" lyrics and performances at U2.com "Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Written by lead guitarist George Harrison, it was Harrison's second composition in the Indian classical style, after "Love You To", and was inspired by his stay in India in late 1966 with his mentor and sitar teacher, Ravi Shankar. Recorded in London without the other Beatles, the song features Indian instrumentation such as sitar, dilruba and tabla, and was performed by Harrison and members of the Asian Music Circle. The recording marked a significant departure from the Beatles' previous work; musically, it evokes the Indian devotional tradition, while the overtly spiritual quality of the lyrics reflects Harrison's absorption in Hindu philosophy and the teachings of the Vedas. The song was Harrison's only composition on Sgt. Pepper, although his endorsement of Indian culture was further reflected in the inclusion of yogis such as Paramahansa Yogananda among the crowd depicted on the album cover. With the worldwide success of the album, "Within You Without You" presented Indian classical music to a new audience in the West and contributed to the genre's peak in international popularity. It also influenced the philosophical direction of many of Harrison's peers during an era of utopian idealism marked by the Summer of Love. The song has traditionally received a varied response from music critics, some of whom find it lacklustre and pretentious, while others admire its musical authenticity and consider the message to be the most meaningful on Sgt. Pepper. Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described the track as being "at once beautiful and severe, a magnetic sermon about materialism and communal responsibility in the middle of a record devoted to gentle Technicolor anarchy". For the Beatles' 2006 remix album Love, the song was mixed with the John Lennon-written "Tomorrow Never Knows", creating what some reviewers consider to be that project's most successful mashup. Sonic Youth, Rainer Ptacek, Oasis, Patti Smith, Cheap Trick and the Flaming Lips are among the artists who have covered "Within You Without You". George Harrison began writing "Within You Without You" in early 1967 while at the house of musician and artist Klaus Voormann, in the north London suburb of Hampstead. Harrison's immediate inspiration for the song came from a conversation they had shared over dinner, regarding the metaphysical space that prevents individuals from recognising the natural forces uniting the world. Following this discussion, Harrison worked out the song's melody on a harmonium and came up with the opening line: "We were talking about the space between us all". The song was Harrison's second composition to be explicitly influenced by Indian classical music, after "Love You To", which featured Indian instruments such as sitar, tabla and tambura. Since recording the latter track for the Beatles' Revolver album in April 1966, Harrison had continued to look outside of his role as the band's lead guitarist, further immersing himself in studying the sitar, partly under the tutelage of master sitarist Ravi Shankar. Harrison said that the tune for "Within You Without You" came about through his regularly performing musical exercises known as sargam, which use the same scales as those found in Indian ragas. "Within You Without You" is the first of many songs in which Harrison espouses Hindu spiritual concepts in his lyrics. Having incorporated elements of Eastern philosophy in "Love You To", Harrison became fascinated by ancient Hindu teachings after he and his wife, Pattie Boyd, visited Shankar in India over September–October 1966. Intent on mastering the sitar, Harrison first joined other students of Shankar's in Bombay, until local fans and the press learned of his arrival. Harrison, Boyd, Shankar and the latter's partner, Kamala Chakravarty, then relocated to a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. There, Harrison received personal tuition from Shankar while absorbing religious texts such as Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi and Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga. This period coincided with his introduction to meditation and, during their visit to Vrindavan, he witnessed communal chanting for the first time. Harrison and Boyd returned to England on 22 October, and continued to adhere to a Hindu-aligned lifestyle of yoga, meditation and vegetarianism at their home in Esher. The education Harrison received in India, particularly regarding the illusory nature of the material world, resonated following his experiences with the hallucinogenic drug LSD (commonly known as "acid") and informed his lyrics to "Within You Without You". Having considered leaving the Beatles after the completion of their third US tour, on 29 August 1966, he instead gained a philosophical perspective on the effects of the band's international fame. He later attributed "Within You Without You" to his having "fallen under the spell of the country" after experiencing the "pure essence of India" through Shankar's guidance. The song follows the pitches of Khamaj thaat, the Indian equivalent of Mixolydian mode. Written and performed in the tonic key of C (but subsequently sped up to C on the official recording), it features what musicologist Dominic Pedler terms an "exotic" melody over a constant C-G "root-fifth" drone, which is neither obviously major nor minor in scale. Based on a musical piece that Shankar had written for All India Radio, the structure of the composition adheres to the Hindustani musical tradition and demonstrates Harrison's advances in the Indian classical genre since "Love You To". Following a brief alap, which serves to introduce the song's main musical themes, "Within You Without You" comprises three distinct sections: two verses and a chorus; an extended instrumental passage; and a final verse and chorus. The alap consists of tambura drone, over which the main melody is outlined on dilruba, a bow- played string instrument that Boyd began learning in India. Throughout the vocal section of the song – the gat, in traditional Indian composition – the rhythm is a 16-beat tintal in madhya laya (medium tempo). The vocal line is supported throughout by dilruba, in the manner of a sarangi echoing the melody in a khyal piece. The first three words of each verse ("We were talking") have a tritone interval (E to B), which, in Pedler's view, enhances the spiritual dissonance that Harrison expresses in his lyrics. Over the instrumental passage, the tabla rhythm switches to a 10-beat jhaptal cycle. A musical dialogue ensues in time, first between the dilruba and sitar, then between a Western string section and sitar. The interplay between these lead instruments adheres to the call-and-response tradition of Indian classical music, known as jawab-sawal. The passage resolves in melodic unison as the instruments together state a rhythmic cadence, or tihai, to close the middle segment. After this, the drone is again prominent as the rhythm returns to 16-beat tintal for the final verse and chorus. On the finished recording, the tonal and spiritual tension is relieved by the inclusion of muted canned laughter. In his book Indian Music and the West, Gerry Farrell writes of "Within You Without You": "The overall effect is of several disparate strands of Indian music being woven together to create a new form. It is a quintessential fusion of pop and Indian music." Peter Lavezzoli, author of The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, describes the song as "a survey of Indian classical and semiclassical styles" in which "the diverse elements ... are skillfully woven together into an interesting hybrid. If anything, the closest comparison that might be made is to the Hindu devotional song form known as bhajan." According to Religion News Service writer Steve Rabey, "Within You Without You" "contrast[s] Western individualism with Eastern monism". The lyrics convey basic tenets of Vedanta philosophy, particularly in Harrison's reference to the concept of maya (the illusory nature of existence), in the lines "And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion / Never glimpse the truth". Author Joshua Greene paraphrases the song-wide message as: "A wall of illusion separates us from each other ... which only turns our love for one another cold. Peace will come when we learn to see past the illusion of differences and come to know that we are one ..." The solution espoused by Harrison is for individuals to see beyond the self and each seek change within, further to Vivekananda's contention in Raja Yoga that "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest that divinity ..." According to ethnomusicologist David Reck, aside from the reference to maya, the lyrics convey Indian philosophical concepts such as advait (the one essential reality), satya (perception of truth) and, in the line "With our love we could save the world", universal love. At times in the song, Harrison distances himself from those who live in ignorance of these apparent truths – saying, "If they only knew" and asking the listener, "Are you one of them?" In the final verse, he quotes from the gospels of St Matthew and St Mark, lamenting those who "gain the world and lose their soul". Author Ian MacDonald defends the "accusatory finger" behind such statements, saying that, within the ideology of the emerging 1960s counterculture, "this is a token of what was then felt to be a revolution in progress: an inner revolution against materialism". The transcendental theme of Harrison's lyrics aligned with the philosophy behind the 1967 Summer of Love – namely, the search for universality and an ego-less existence. Author Ian Inglis considers the line "With our love we could save the world" to be a "cogent reflection" of the Summer of Love ethos, anticipating the utopian message of Harrison's composition "It's All Too Much" and the John Lennon-written "All You Need Is Love". Inglis adds, with reference to the chorus: "The lyrics are given greater depth by the double meaning of without – 'in the absence of' and 'outside' – each of which is perfectly applicable to the song's sentiments." Harrison recorded "Within You Without You" for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album based around Paul McCartney's vision of a fictitious band that would serve as the Beatles' alter egos, after their decision to quit touring. Harrison had little interest in McCartney's concept; he later admitted that, following his return from India, "my heart was still out there", and working with the Beatles again "felt like going backwards". Harrison presented the song after it was decided to exclude his composition "Only a Northern Song", which the Beatles recorded in February 1967. In contrast to his prominence as a songwriter on Revolver, "Within You Without You" was Harrison's sole composition on Sgt. Pepper. The recording features musical contributions from only Harrison, Beatles aide Neil Aspinall, and a group of London-based Indian musicians. As with his Indian accompanists on "Love You To", Harrison sourced these contributors through the Asian Music Circle in north London. Harrison missed a Beatles recording session to attend one of Shankar's London concerts, an absence that served as part of his preparation for recording "Within You Without You". MacDonald describes the song as "Stylistically ... the most distant departure from the staple Beatles sound in their discography". The basic track was recorded on 15 March 1967 at EMI's Abbey Road studio 2 in London. The participants sat on a carpet in the studio, which was decorated with Indian tapestries on the walls, with the lights turned low and incense burning. Harrison and Aspinall each played a tambura, while the Indian musicians contributed on tabla, dilruba, tambura and swarmandal. A type of zither, the swarmandal provided the glissando flourishes that introduce the tabla during the alap and signal the return to 16-beat tintal before the final verse. Musicologist Michael Hannan comments that, relative to standard Indian practice, the use of three tamburas produces "a denser-than-usual, pulsating jivari" (or "buzzing sound"), highlighting the naturally rich harmonics of the instrument. The session was also attended by Lennon, artist Peter Blake, and John Barham, an English classical pianist and student of Shankar who shared Harrison's desire to promote Indian music to Western audiences. In Barham's recollection, Harrison "had the entire structure of the song mapped out in his head" and sang the melody that he wanted the dilruba player to follow. The twin hand-drums of the tabla were close-miked by recording engineer Geoff Emerick, in order to capture what he later described as "the texture and the lovely low resonances" of the instrument. The first of two overdubbing sessions for "Within You Without You" took place at Abbey Road on 22 March. Two more dilruba parts were added that day, after which a reduction mix was carried out, to allow for further overdubs onto the four-track recording. Producer George Martin then arranged the string orchestration, for eight violins and three cellos, based on Harrison's instructions. The pair worked hard together on the arrangement, ensuring that Martin's score imitated the slides and bends of the dilrubas. The orchestral parts, performed by members of the London Symphony Orchestra, were added on 3 April. During the same session, Harrison recorded his vocal and a sitar part, the solo of which, in the description of music critic David Fricke, "sings and swings with the clarity and phrasing of his best rockabilly-fired guitar work". Harrison also overdubbed occasional interjections on acoustic guitar. On 4 April, while preparing the final mixes of the song, in stereo and mono, Harrison added crowd laughter taken from a sound effects tape in the Abbey Road library. Martin and Emerick were both opposed to this addition but deferred to Harrison, who later said that the laughter provided "some light relief", adding: "You were supposed to hear the audience anyway, as they listen to Sergeant Pepper's Show." The completed recording was enhanced in the mixes through the liberal application of automatic double tracking. Before Harrison recorded his vocals the previous day, the track had been edited and then sped up so that its length was reduced from 6:25 to 5:05. In the process, the song's key was raised a semitone, to C. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released on 26 May 1967, with "Within You Without You" sequenced as the opening track on side two of the LP. Greene notes that for many listeners at the time, the song provided their "first meaningful contact with meditative sound". In his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner likened "Within You Without You" to Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha – an influential novel among the counterculture during the Summer of Love – in terms of the song's evocation of Hesse's "idealization of individuality" and "vision of a mysterious East". Eager to separate the song's message from the LSD experience at a time when the drug had grown in popularity and influence, Harrison told an interviewer: "It's nothing to do with pills ... It's just in your own head, the realisation." Although Harrison later spoke dismissively of the Sgt. Pepper project and its legacy, he conceded that he had enjoyed working on the record's iconic cover. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required). For this, he asked Blake to include pictures of four Indian yogis – Yogananda, Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya and Sri Yukteswar – among the crowd surrounding the Beatles; as a further Indian detail, a four-armed idol of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi was placed in the garlands of flowers at the bottom of the image. Among the song's lyrics, printed on the back cover, the positioning of the words "Without You" beside McCartney's head served as a clue in the Paul Is Dead rumour, which grew in the United States partly as a result of the Beatles' failure to perform live after 1966. In 1971 the song was issued as the title track of an EP release in Mexico. Part of a series of Beatles releases sequenced by Lennon, the EP also included the Harrison-written tracks "Love You To", "The Inner Light" and "I Want to Tell You". In 1978 "Within You Without You" appeared as the B-side to the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends" medley, on singles released in West Germany and some other European countries. An instrumental version of the track, at the original speed and in the key of C, appeared on the Beatles' 1996 outtakes compilation Anthology 2. Recalling the song's release in his book The Beatles Diary, Barry Miles writes: "Some thought it a masterpiece, some a prime example of mock- philosophical babble. Either way, it was pure Harrison." David Griffiths of Record Mirror praised the album's musical and lyrical scope, which included "life-enhancing philosophy", and added: "George Harrison's 'Within You Without You' is a beautifully successful and adventurous statement in song of a Yoga truth." The Times of Indias music critic similarly admired the Beatles for "explor[ing] farther reaches in the musical firmament" and described Harrison's composition as a "memorable" track. In one of the few unfavourable reviews for Sgt. Pepper, Richard Goldstein, writing in The New York Times, said the song was "remarkable" musically and a highlight of the album, yet he considered the lyrics "dismal" and full of "the very clichés the Beatles helped bury". Allen Evans of the NME found the "deep, rich rhythm" of the tabla "most appealing", although he bemoaned that it was difficult to decipher the lyrics "because they merge with the sitar music so closely". According to the Beatles' official biographer, Hunter Davies, writing in 1968, some contemporary reviewers speculated that the burst of laughter at the end of "Within You Without You" was inserted by Harrison's bandmates to mock the song. Davies corrected this misconception, saying: "It was completely George's idea." In a review published five months after the release of Sgt. Pepper, Hit Parader considered that the album had not endured as well as the Beatles' previous works, and opined: "Harrison has produced a soothing, sinuous, exotic sound for 'Within You Without You'. But even though his repetitious recitation of elementary Far Eastern philosophy is probably intended to reflect the infinity of the universe, it soon becomes a bit monotonous. The laughter at the end seems to be deflating the pretentiousness of the lyrics." The song has continued to invite widely diverse opinions. Among the most unfavourable assessments, author and critic Tim Riley, writing in 1988, dismissed "Within You Without You" as "directionless", adding that it was difficult to conceive how "lines such as 'Life flows on within you and without you' were taken seriously". He also said that the song was "the most dated piece on the record ... [and] could easily have been left off with little to no effect" on the album. In a 2009 review, Alex Young of Consequence of Sound grouped it with the "major clunkers" on Sgt. Pepper. Conversely, Ian Inglis considers the song to be "absolutely central to the form and content" of its parent album, and Ian MacDonald views it as the "conscience" of Sgt. Pepper and "the necessary sermon that comes with the community singing". Musicologist Russell Reising writes that Harrison's song provides the exception on Sgt. Pepper, where the Beatles otherwise "retreated lyrically into predominantly banal, occasionally schmaltzy, and often trivial vignettes". Author and critic Kenneth Womack terms it "quite arguably, the album's ethical soul". Writing for Rough Guides, Chris Ingham admires the track as "beautifully put together"; he describes it as both "some of the most exotic music released under The Beatles' name" and a "philosophical meditation on life and love beyond self ... [that], once surrendered to, is a central part of the Pepper experience". In his book on the history of ambient music, Mark Prendergast includes "Within You Without You" among the album's "three outstanding cuts" and deems it to be "the most timeless piece of dronal psychedelia ever recorded". AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger admires the melody, but he considers the track overlong and notes the potential for offence in this, "the first Beatles song where [Harrison's] Indian religious beliefs affected the lyrics with full force". Musicologist Allan Moore says that Harrison's "command of the quasi-Indian medium is of a very high order" and, with regard to the song's message, he writes: "In its explicit, prescient call to the me- generation, perhaps 'Within You Without You' is a key track [on the album] ... expressing the deepest commitment to the counter-culture." PopMatters' Ross Langager has attributed a similar significance to the track: Sgt. Pepper is about Britain, and the Summer of Love was always about America. The only song on the album that approaches the ideology and rhetoric of the hippie counterculture was George Harrison's sole contribution, the lush sitar-washed "Within You Without You", and it follows that Harrison was the only Beatle to have visited Haight-Ashbury at the peak of the scene. Even then, Eastern philosophy informed the lyric more deeply than did acid culture, and it's still a dense and stunning composition no matter its ideology. Writing for Rolling Stone in 2002, David Fricke included "Within You Without You" on his list of the "25 Essential Harrison Performances". He described it as, variously, the Beatles' "purest excursion ... into raga", and "at once beautiful and severe, a magnetic sermon about materialism and communal responsibility in the middle of a record devoted to gentle Technicolor anarchy". In his review of the 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper for the same publication, Mikal Gilmore said that only "Within You Without You" and Lennon's "A Day in the Life" transcend the album's legacy as "a gestalt: a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts". In 2018, "Within You Without You" was ranked at number 50 on a list of the best Beatles songs, as compiled by the music staff of Time Out London. Harrison's interest in Indian culture was swiftly adopted by his peers as well as their audience. Author Simon Leng writes that "Within You Without You, and Harrison's leadership of the Beatles into Vedic philosophy, sparked the entire fashion for Indian music and a million backpackers' pilgrimages to Kashmir ..." Juan Mascaró, a professor in Sanskrit studies at Cambridge University, wrote to Harrison after the song's release, saying: "it is a moving song, and may it move the souls of millions. And there is more to come, as you are only beginning on the great journey." According to New Yorker journalist Mark Hertsgaard, the lyrics to "Within You Without You" "contained the album's most overt expression of the Beatles' shared belief in spiritual awareness and social change". Harrison's espousal of Eastern philosophy dominated the group's extracurricular activities by mid 1967, and his influence within the band continued to increase. This led to the Beatles' endorsement of Transcendental Meditation and their highly publicised attendance at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's spiritual retreat in Rishikesh, India, early the following year. Among other contemporary rock musicians, Stephen Stills was so taken with the song that he had its lyrics carved on a stone monument in his yard. Lennon also admired the track, saying of Harrison: "His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent, he brought that sound together." David Crosby, who introduced Harrison to Shankar's music in 1965, described Harrison's fusion of ideas as "utterly brilliant", adding: "He did it beautifully and tastefully ... He did it at absolutely the highest level that he could, and I was extremely proud of him for that." Writing in the "100 Rock Icons" issue of Classic Rock, in 2006, singer Paul Rodgers cited the track to support Harrison's standing as what the magazine called "the Beatles' musical medicine man". Rodgers said: "He introduced me and a generation of people worldwide to the wisdom of the East. His thought-provoking 'Within You Without You' – with sitars, tablas and deep lyrics – was something completely different, even in a world full of unique music." Music critic Ken Hunt describes the song as an "early landmark" in Harrison's championing of Shankar, and Indian classical music generally, which gained "real global attention" for the first time through the Beatle's commitment. Peter Lavezzoli also highlights the effect of Sgt. Pepper and its "spiritual centerpiece ['Within You Without You']" on Shankar's popularity, during a year that served as "the annus mirabilis" for Indian music and "a watershed moment in the West when the search for higher consciousness and an alternative world view had reached critical mass". In his Harrison obituary for Salon.com, in December 2001, Ira Robbins considered "Within You Without You" to be "the song that most clearly articulated his devotion, both artistic and philosophical, to India", with a lyric that "pairs worldview and personality in lines that now seem prophetic". Writing in 2013, ethnomusicologist Jeffrey Cupchik said that Harrison's Indian-influenced songs, particularly "Within You Without You", "marked the inception of a new 'hybridic' East–West style of music composition – a style that is immensely widespread today". Musicologist Walter Everett lists Spirit's "Mechanical World" and the Incredible String Band's "Maya", both released in 1968, and much of the Moody Blues' 1969 album To Our Children's Children's Children as works that were directly influenced by the song. Dead Can Dance's 1996 album Spiritchaser includes the track "Indus", the melody of which was found to be very similar to that of "Within You Without You". The duo's singer, Lisa Gerrard, told The Boston Globe that they had obtained Harrison's blessing but "the [record company] pushed it", with the result that they were forced to give the former Beatle a partial songwriting credit. In their 1978 television film satirising the Beatles' history, All You Need Is Cash, the Rutles parodied "Within You Without You" on the track "Nevertheless", performed by Rikki Fataar in the role of Stig O' Hara. Harrison himself included musical quotations from "Within You Without You" in his 1987 song "When We Was Fab" and in the instrumental "Marwa Blues", released in 2002 on his final studio album, Brainwashed. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) staged an event titled "George Harrison 'Within You Without You': The Story of The Beatles and Indian Music" at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. While carrying out research for this project, academics from the University of Liverpool and the University of Sheffield discovered the identity of the Indian musicians on the 1967 recording. The two surviving players, Buddhadev Kansara and Natwar Soni, were among the performers at the RLPO event. "Within You Without You" was included on the 2006 remix album Love, which was created for the Cirque du Soleil stage show of the same name. Harrison's vocal appears over the rhythm section from "Tomorrow Never Knows", after the track opens with Lennon's lyric from the latter song. Reviewing the album for PopMatters, Zeth Lundy writes: "The 'Within You Without You'/'Tomorrow Never Knows' mash-up, perhaps the most thrilling and effective track on the entire disc, fuses two especially transcendental songs into one: ... a union of two ambiguous, open-ended declarations of spiritual pursuit." Paul Moody of Uncut similarly considers it to be the "best of all" the mashups on Love, with the two tracks' "cosmic drones ... fitted together like a glove". In their chapter on the Beatles' psychedelic period in The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles, authors Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc describe "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" as "the most musically and visually stunning segment" of the Cirque du Soleil show. Remixed and remastered by George Martin and his son Giles, "Within You Without You"/"Tomorrow Never Knows" was the first track prepared for Love. Speaking to Mojo magazine in December 2006, Giles Martin said that he had first created a demo combining the two songs, which he then nervously presented to McCartney and Ringo Starr for their approval. In Martin's recollection, "they loved it", which allowed the project to proceed. A video clip of the completed track was made to promote the album and was included on the 2015 DVD 1+. The Love remix is one of the songs in . Big Jim Sullivan, a British session guitarist who became proficient on the sitar, included "Within You Without You" on his album of Indian music-style recordings, titled Sitar Beat and first released in 1967. In the same year, the Soulful Strings recorded the song for their album Groovin' with the Soulful Strings, a version that also appeared on the B-side of their most successful single, "Burning Spear". In 1988, Sonic Youth recorded "Within You Without You" for the NMEs multi-artist tribute Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father. Fricke highlights this recording as an example of how, regardless of its Indian origins, the composition can be interpreted on electric guitar effectively and "with transportive force". In 2007, the staff of the New York pop culture website Vulture placed Sonic Youth's version at number 2 in their list titled "Our Ten Favorite Beatles Covers of All Time". Big Daddy covered the song on their 1992 Sgt. Pepper tribute album, a release that Moore recognises as "the most audacious" of the many interpretations of the Beatles' 1967 LP. Moore says that "Within You Without You" serves as the album's "cleverest pastiche", performed in a free jazz style reminiscent of Ornette Coleman or Don Cherry. Other acts who have covered the song for Sgt. Pepper tributes include Oasis, on a BBC Radio 2 project celebrating the album's 40th anniversary (2007); Easy Star All-Stars (featuring Matisyahu), on Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009); Cheap Trick, on their Sgt. Pepper Live DVD (2009); and the Flaming Lips, with featured guests Birdflower and Morgan Delt, on With a Little Help from My Fwends (2014). A recording by Big Head Todd and the Monsters appeared on the 2003 Harrison tribute . Guitarist Rainer Ptacek opened his 1994 album Nocturnes with what AllMusic critic Bob Gottlieb describes as a "stunning instrumental" reading of the song, recorded live in a chapel in Tucson, Arizona. Writing for the same website, Brian Downing considers a 1997 version by Ptacek, released on his posthumous album Live at the Performance Center, to be "perhaps one of the best unheralded Beatles covers of all time". Patti Smith included it on her 2007 covers album Twelve, a version that, according to BBC music critic Chris Jones, "sounds like [the song] could have been written for her". Other artists who have recorded "Within You Without You" include Peter Knight and his Orchestra, Firefall, Glenn Mercer of the Feelies, Angels of Venice and Thievery Corporation. According to Ian MacDonald and details released by the University of Liverpool in June 2017: George Harrison – lead vocals, tambura, sitar, acoustic guitar, Anna Joshi – dilruba, Amrit Gajjar – dilruba, Natwar Soni – tabla, Buddhadev Kansara – tambura, Neil Aspinall – tambura, Uncredited – swarmandal, Erich Gruenberg, Alan Loveday, Julien Gaillard, Paul Scherman, Ralph Elman, David Wolfsthal, Jack Rothstein, Jack Greene – violins, Reginald Kilbey, Allen Ford, Peter Halling – cellos Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website "Without You" is a song by French DJ David Guetta, featuring vocals from American singer Usher. It was released as the third single from Guetta's fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat on 29 September 2011. The single peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Guetta's third top ten single, following "Club Can't Handle Me" and "Sexy Bitch", as well as his highest peaking in the US to date. As of November 2013, the song has sold 2,684,000 copies in the US. The song features the vocals of R&B; singer Usher, who told Billboard magazine that the project was, "maybe the biggest song I've made in my life." Guetta said, "We were in bargaining sessions for a while. Usher was saying, 'I need this record for my album.' I said, 'I'm sorry, I cannot give it to you.' After a while he called me back and gave in." Guetta told MTV News why he chose Usher to guest on this song. "It's just totally emotional," he said. "Some of the record is a proper ballad, and then it goes to that crazy dance beat. It's perfect for him, because he's famous for his ballads. And he's also now famous for those big club records that he comes with. He's an amazing dancer, so I felt like he was the artist that I needed." Usher told MTV News that this ode to not giving up on love in the face of adversity resonated with him personally. "I think the world wanted a record like that. That [song] really spoke to the journey that I've actually been on in the last three years... Traveling all around the world, music sounds different. There's many different genres, and when you see R&B; and pop and house, as well as electronic, come together, that's the reality of what music is." "Without You" was written by Taio Cruz, Usher Raymond, Rico Love, David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort and Frédéric Riesterer, and produced by Guetta, Tuinfort and Riesterer. Lyrically, the song laments a heavy subject: life without someone who means the world to you. Amy Sciarretto of Pop Crush wrote that the chorus "invite lots of dancing, but this isn't much of clubby rager. Structurally, the song reminds us of Madonna's 'Ray of Light'; that's not to suggest that 'Without You' sounds like 'Ray of Light', but it shares the same formula and airy energy. Lyrics also heavily influenced by U2’s With or Without You." "Without You" is set in common time maintaining a tempo of 128 beats per minute. The song is in the key of D-major, and features elements of pop, dance, and R&B.; Usher vocals range from E to A. In a favorable review, Amy Sciarretto of Pop Crush wrote that the song is "a light, hands-in-the-air and somewhat ethereal song" and that "the heft of the words juxtaposed against the feathery music works and allows the song to remain and well, not a downer despite its unhappy musings." Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone stated that on the track "Usher gets lonely over Coldplay-style guitar." Village Voices Carol Cooper wrote a negative review, saying that "Usher, while pushing himself vocally, sounds like a Glee Project." The music video was filmed towards the end of July 2011 on a beach located in Portugal. The full music video for "Without You" was released on 14 October 2011. The video shows cuts of different parties in Thailand, the United States, Brazil and South Africa, among other places. Continental drift starts to take place and all the parties on the different continents amalgamate to form one big party. It also has scenes with Usher in front of a Rio de Janeiro beach background. "Without You" was also used in promos in Chilean TV program Mañaneros in 2012–2013, Teen Mom in MTV Latin America in 2012. The song was used in several episodes of Chilean reality show Mundos Opuestos, it was also featured on Chilean TV commercials for mobile phone company Entel called "Nuevos planes Multimedia Full". The song was also covered by Lea Michele in Glee's episode "Yes/No" and by Olly Murs for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in November 2011. The Mend covered the song for their performance in the 2012 Britain's Got Talent final. In 2013, Sasha Allen covered the song on The Voice. In 2015, Jordan Smith did a covered through the song with Usher as together on The Voice (U.S. season 9). The song is also featured in the trailer for the animated film Sing, as well as the background music for the 2018 Audi RS 4 Avant. Angelica Hale performed it during the semifinals of the America's Got Talent season 12. Recording Additional production, mixed and mastered at Test Pressing Studio, Naples, Italy, Vocals mixed at The Mix Room at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, California Personnel Usher Raymond IV – songwriter (courtesy of LaFace Records), vocals, Taio Cruz – songwriter (courtesy of Island Records), vocals, Rico Love – songwriter, David Guetta – producer, vocals, songwriter, Giorgio Tuinfort – producer, songwriter, Frédéric Riesterer – producer, songwriter, Black Raw – additional producer, mixing, mastering, Mark "Exit" Goodchild – vocal mixing, Kevin Hissink – guitar !scope="col" colspan="3"| Streaming

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The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Constructed from 1887 to 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticised by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is tall, about the same height as an 81- building, and the tallest structure in Paris. Its base is square, measuring on each side. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York City was finished in 1930. It was the first structure to reach a height of 300 metres. Due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by . Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second tallest free-standing structure in France after the Millau Viaduct. The tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top level's upper platform is above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union. Tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the climb from the first level to the second. Although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually accessible only by lift. The design of the Eiffel Tower is attributed to Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, two senior engineers working for the Compagnie des Établissements Eiffel. It was envisioned after discussion about a suitable centrepiece for the proposed 1889 Exposition Universelle, a world's fair to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853. In May 1884, working at home, Koechlin made a sketch of their idea, described by him as "a great pylon, consisting of four lattice girders standing apart at the base and coming together at the top, joined together by metal trusses at regular intervals". Eiffel initially showed little enthusiasm, but he did approve further study, and the two engineers then asked Stephen Sauvestre, the head of company's architectural department, to contribute to the design. Sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. The new version gained Eiffel's support: he bought the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nougier, and Sauvestre had taken out, and the design was exhibited at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884 under the company name. On 30 March 1885, Eiffel presented his plans to the ; after discussing the technical problems and emphasising the practical uses of the tower, he finished his talk by saying the tower would symbolise Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. A budget for the exposition was passed and, on 1 May, Lockroy announced an alteration to the terms of the open competition being held for a centrepiece to the exposition, which effectively made the selection of Eiffel's design a foregone conclusion, as entries had to include a study for a four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars. (A 300-meter tower was then considered a herculean engineering effort). On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffel's scheme and its rivals, which, a month later, decided that all the proposals except Eiffel's were either impractical or lacking in details. After some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. This was signed by Eiffel acting in his own capacity rather than as the representative of his company, and granted him 1.5 million francs toward the construction costs: less than a quarter of the estimated 6.5 million francs. Eiffel was to receive all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition and for the next 20 years. He later established a separate company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. Prior to the Eiffel Tower's construction, no structure had ever been constructed to a height of at least 300 metres, and many people believed it impossible. These objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. It came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: a "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the arts, such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, Adolphe Alphand, and it was published by Le Temps on 14 February 1887: Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?" These criticisms were also dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, sardonically saying, "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and he explained that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before, and construction on the tower was already under way. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel was similarly unworried, pointing out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?" Some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built; others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible. By 1918, it had become a symbol of Paris and of France after Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a nationalist poem in the shape of the tower (a calligram) to express his feelings about the war against Germany. Today, it is widely considered to be a remarkable piece of structural art, and is often featured in films and literature. Work on the foundations started on 28 January 1887. Those for the east and south legs were straightforward, with each leg resting on four concrete slabs, one for each of the principal girders of each leg. The west and north legs, being closer to the river Seine, were more complicated: each slab needed two piles installed by using compressed-air caissons long and in diameter driven to a depth of to support the concrete slabs, which were thick. Each of these slabs supported a block of limestone with an inclined top to bear a supporting shoe for the ironwork. Each shoe was anchored to the stonework by a pair of bolts in diameter and long. The foundations were completed on 30 June, and the erection of the ironwork began. The visible work on-site was complemented by the enormous amount of exacting preparatory work that took place behind the scenes: the drawing office produced 1,700 general drawings and 3,629 detailed drawings of the 18,038 different parts needed. The task of drawing the components was complicated by the complex angles involved in the design and the degree of precision required: the position of rivet holes was specified to within and angles worked out to one second of arc. The finished components, some already riveted together into sub-assemblies, arrived on horse-drawn carts from a factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret and were first bolted together, with the bolts being replaced with rivets as construction progressed. No drilling or shaping was done on site: if any part did not fit, it was sent back to the factory for alteration. In all, 18,038 pieces were joined together using 2.5 million rivets. At first, the legs were constructed as cantilevers, but about halfway to the first level construction was paused in order to create a substantial timber scaffold. This renewed concerns about the structural integrity of the tower, and sensational headlines such as "Eiffel Suicide!" and "Gustave Eiffel Has Gone Mad: He Has Been Confined in an Asylum" appeared in the tabloid press. At this stage, a small "creeper" crane designed to move up the tower was installed in each leg. They made use of the guides for the lifts which were to be fitted in the four legs. The critical stage of joining the legs at the first level was completed by the end of March 1888. Although the metalwork had been prepared with the utmost attention to detail, provision had been made to carry out small adjustments in order to precisely align the legs; hydraulic jacks were fitted to the shoes at the base of each leg, capable of exerting a force of 800 tonnes, and the legs were intentionally constructed at a slightly steeper angle than necessary, being supported by sandboxes on the scaffold. Although construction involved 300 on-site employees, only one person died, due to Eiffel's safety precautions and the use of movable gangways, guardrails and screens. Equipping the tower with adequate and safe passenger lifts was a major concern of the government commission overseeing the Exposition. Although some visitors could be expected to climb to the first level, or even the second, lifts clearly had to be the main means of ascent. Constructing lifts to reach the first level was relatively straightforward: the legs were wide enough at the bottom and so nearly straight that they could contain a straight track, and a contract was given to the French company Roux, Combaluzier & Lepape for two lifts to be fitted in the east and west legs. Roux, Combaluzier & Lepape used a pair of endless chains with rigid, articulated links to which the car was attached. Lead weights on some links of the upper or return sections of the chains counterbalanced most of the car's weight. The car was pushed up from below, not pulled up from above: to prevent the chain buckling, it was enclosed in a conduit. At the bottom of the run, the chains passed around diameter sprockets. Smaller sprockets at the top guided the chains. Installing lifts to the second level was more of a challenge because a straight track was impossible. No French company wanted to undertake the work. The European branch of Otis Brothers & Company submitted a proposal but this was rejected: the fair's charter ruled out the use of any foreign material in the construction of the tower. The deadline for bids was extended but still no French companies put themselves forward, and eventually the contract was given to Otis in July 1887. Otis were confident they would eventually be given the contract and had already started creating designs. The car was divided into two superimposed compartments, each holding 25 passengers, with the lift operator occupying an exterior platform on the first level. Motive power was provided by an inclined hydraulic ram long and in diameter in the tower leg with a stroke of : this moved a carriage carrying six sheaves. Five fixed sheaves were mounted higher up the leg, producing an arrangement similar to a block and tackle but acting in reverse, multiplying the stroke of the piston rather than the force generated. The hydraulic pressure in the driving cylinder was produced by a large open reservoir on the second level. After being exhausted from the cylinder, the water was pumped back up to the reservoir by two pumps in the machinery room at the base of the south leg. This reservoir also provided power to the lifts to the first level. The original lifts for the journey between the second and third levels were supplied by Léon Edoux. A pair of hydraulic rams were mounted on the second level, reaching nearly halfway up to the third level. One lift car was mounted on top of these rams: cables ran from the top of this car up to sheaves on the third level and back down to a second car. Each car only travelled half the distance between the second and third levels and passengers were required to change lifts halfway by means of a short gangway. The 10-ton cars each held 65 passengers. The main structural work was completed at the end of March 1889 and, on 31 March, Eiffel celebrated by leading a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press, to the top of the tower. Because the lifts were not yet in operation, the ascent was made by foot, and took over an hour, with Eiffel stopping frequently to explain various features. Most of the party chose to stop at the lower levels, but a few, including the structural engineer, Émile Nouguier, the head of construction, Jean Compagnon, the President of the City Council, and reporters from Le Figaro and Le Monde Illustré, completed the ascent. At 2:35 pm, Eiffel hoisted a large Tricolour to the accompaniment of a 25-gun salute fired at the first level. There was still work to be done, particularly on the lifts and facilities, and the tower was not opened to the public until nine days after the opening of the exposition on 6 May; even then, the lifts had not been completed. The tower was an instant success with the public, and nearly 30,000 visitors made the 1,710-step climb to the top before the lifts entered service on 26 May. Tickets cost 2 francs for the first level, 3 for the second, and 5 for the top, with half-price admission on Sundays, and by the end of the exhibition there had been 1,896,987 visitors. After dark, the tower was lit by hundreds of gas lamps, and a beacon sent out three beams of red, white and blue light. Two searchlights mounted on a circular rail were used to illuminate various buildings of the exposition. The daily opening and closing of the exposition were announced by a cannon at the top. On the second level, the French newspaper Le Figaro had an office and a printing press, where a special souvenir edition, Le Figaro de la Tour, was made. There was also a pâtisserie. At the top, there was a post office where visitors could send letters and postcards as a memento of their visit. Graffitists were also catered for: sheets of paper were mounted on the walls each day for visitors to record their impressions of the tower. Gustave Eiffel described some of the responses as vraiment curieuse ("truly curious"). Famous visitors to the tower included the Prince of Wales, Sarah Bernhardt, "Buffalo Bill" Cody (his Wild West show was an attraction at the exposition) and Thomas Edison. Eiffel invited Edison to his private apartment at the top of the tower, where Edison presented him with one of his phonographs, a new invention and one of the many highlights of the exposition. Edison signed the guestbook with this message: Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. It was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it should be easy to dismantle) but as the tower proved to be valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit. Eiffel made use of his apartment at the top of the tower to carry out meteorological observations, and also used the tower to perform experiments on the action of air resistance on falling bodies. For the 1900 Exposition Universelle, the lifts in the east and west legs were replaced by lifts running as far as the second level constructed by the French firm Fives-Lille. These had a compensating mechanism to keep the floor level as the angle of ascent changed at the first level, and were driven by a similar hydraulic mechanism to the Otis lifts, although this was situated at the base of the tower. Hydraulic pressure was provided by pressurised accumulators located near this mechanism. At the same time the lift in the north pillar was removed and replaced by a staircase to the first level. The layout of both first and second levels was modified, with the space available for visitors on the second level. The original lift in the south pillar was removed 13 years later. On 19 October 1901, Alberto Santos-Dumont, flying his No.6 airship, won a 100,000-franc prize offered by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe for the first person to make a flight from St. Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in less than half an hour. Many innovations took place at the Eiffel Tower in the early 20th century. In 1910, Father Theodor Wulf measured radiant energy at the top and bottom of the tower. He found more at the top than expected, incidentally discovering what are known today as cosmic rays. Just two years later, on 4 February 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping from the first level of the tower (a height of 57 metres) to demonstrate his parachute design. In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, a radio transmitter located in the tower jammed German radio communications, seriously hindering their advance on Paris and contributing to the Allied victory at the First Battle of the Marne. From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time. In April 1935, the tower was used to make experimental low-resolution television transmissions, using a shortwave transmitter of 200 watts power. On 17 November, an improved 180-line transmitter was installed. On two separate but related occasions in 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the tower for scrap metal. A year later, in February 1926, pilot Leon Collet was killed trying to fly under the tower. His aircraft became entangled in an aerial belonging to a wireless station. A bust of Gustave Eiffel by Antoine Bourdelle was unveiled at the base of the north leg on 2 May 1929. In 1930, the tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed. In 1938, the decorative arcade around the first level was removed. Upon the German occupation of Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut by the French. The tower was closed to the public during the occupation and the lifts were not repaired until 1946. In 1940, German soldiers had to climb the tower to hoist a swastika-centered Reichskriegsflagge, but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later, and was replaced by a smaller one. When visiting Paris, Hitler chose to stay on the ground. When the Allies were nearing Paris in August 1944, Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. Von Choltitz disobeyed the order. On 25 June, before the Germans had been driven out of Paris, the German flag was replaced with a Tricolour by two men from the French Naval Museum, who narrowly beat three men led by Lucien Sarniguet, who had lowered the Tricolour on 13 June 1940 when Paris fell to the Germans. A fire started in the television transmitter on 3 January 1956, damaging the top of the tower. Repairs took a year, and in 1957, the present radio aerial was added to the top. In 1964, the Eiffel Tower was officially declared to be a historical monument by the Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux. A year later, an additional lift system was installed in the north pillar. According to interviews, in 1967, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau negotiated a secret agreement with Charles de Gaulle for the tower to be dismantled and temporarily relocated to Montreal to serve as a landmark and tourist attraction during Expo 67. The plan was allegedly vetoed by the company operating the tower out of fear that the French government could refuse permission for the tower to be restored in its original location. In 1982, the original lifts between the second and third levels were replaced after 97 years in service. These had been closed to the public between November and March because the water in the hydraulic drive tended to freeze. The new cars operate in pairs, with one counterbalancing the other, and perform the journey in one stage, reducing the journey time from eight minutes to less than two minutes. At the same time, two new emergency staircases were installed, replacing the original spiral staircases. In 1983, the south pillar was fitted with an electrically driven Otis lift to serve the Jules Verne restaurant. The Fives-Lille lifts in the east and west legs, fitted in 1899, were extensively refurbished in 1986. The cars were replaced, and a computer system was installed to completely automate the lifts. The motive power was moved from the water hydraulic system to a new electrically driven oil-filled hydraulic system, and the original water hydraulics were retained solely as a counterbalance system. A service lift was added to the south pillar for moving small loads and maintenance personnel three years later. Robert Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza under the tower on 31 March 1984. In 1987, A.J. Hackett made one of his first bungee jumps from the top of the Eiffel Tower, using a special cord he had helped develop. Hackett was arrested by the police. On 27 October 1991, Thierry Devaux, along with mountain guide Hervé Calvayrac, performed a series of acrobatic figures while bungee jumping from the second floor of the tower. Facing the Champ de Mars, Devaux used an electric winch between figures to go back up to the second floor. When firemen arrived, he stopped after the sixth jump. For its "Countdown to the Year 2000" celebration on 31 December 1999, flashing lights and high-powered searchlights were installed on the tower. Fireworks were set off all over it. An exhibition above a cafeteria on the first floor commemorates this event. The searchlights on top of the tower made it a beacon in Paris's night sky, and 20,000 flashing bulbs gave the tower a sparkly appearance for five minutes every hour on the hour. The lights sparkled blue for several nights to herald the new millennium on 31 December 2000. The sparkly lighting continued for 18 months until July 2001. The sparkling lights were turned on again on 21 June 2003, and the display was planned to last for 10 years before they needed replacing. The tower received its th guest on 28 November 2002. The tower has operated at its maximum capacity of about 7 million visitors since 2003. In 2004, the Eiffel Tower began hosting a seasonal ice rink on the first level. A glass floor was installed on the first level during the 2014 refurbishment. The puddled iron (wrought iron) of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons, and the addition of lifts, shops and antennae have brought the total weight to approximately 10,100 tons. As a demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7,300 tons of metal in the structure were melted down, it would fill the square base, on each side, to a depth of only assuming the density of the metal to be 7.8 tons per cubic metre. Additionally, a cubic box surrounding the tower (324 m x 125 m x 125 m) would contain tons of air, weighing almost as much as the iron itself. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to due to thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. When it was built, many were shocked by the tower's daring form. Eiffel was accused of trying to create something artistic with no regard to the principles of engineering. However, Eiffel and his team – experienced bridge builders – understood the importance of wind forces, and knew that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world, they had to be sure it could withstand them. In an interview with the newspaper Le Temps published on 14 February 1887, Eiffel said: He used graphical methods to determine the strength of the tower and empirical evidence to account for the effects of wind, rather than a mathematical formula. Close examination of the tower reveals a basically exponential shape. All parts of the tower were over- designed to ensure maximum resistance to wind forces. The top half was even assumed to have no gaps in the latticework. In the years since it was completed, engineers have put forward various mathematical hypotheses in an attempt to explain the success of the design. The most recent, devised in 2004 after letters sent by Eiffel to the French Society of Civil Engineers in 1885 were translated into English, is described as a non-linear integral equation based on counteracting the wind pressure on any point of the tower with the tension between the construction elements at that point. The Eiffel Tower sways by up to 9 centimetres (3.5 in) in the wind. When originally built, the first level contained three restaurants — one French, one Russian and one Flemish — and an "Anglo-American Bar". After the exposition closed, the Flemish restaurant was converted to a 250-seat theatre. A promenade wide ran around the outside of the first level. At the top, there were laboratories for various experiments, and a small apartment reserved for Gustave Eiffel to entertain guests, which is now open to the public, complete with period decorations and lifelike mannequins of Eiffel and some of his notable guests. In May 2016, an apartment was created on the first level to accommodate four competition winners during the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament in Paris in June. The apartment has a kitchen, two bedrooms, a lounge, and views of Paris landmarks including the Seine, the Sacre Coeur, and the Arc de Triomphe. The arrangement of the lifts has been changed several times during the tower's history. Given the elasticity of the cables and the time taken to align the cars with the landings, each lift, in normal service, takes an average of 8 minutes and 50 seconds to do the round trip, spending an average of 1 minute and 15 seconds at each level. The average journey time between levels is 1 minute. The original hydraulic mechanism is on public display in a small museum at the base of the east and west legs. Because the mechanism requires frequent lubrication and maintenance, public access is often restricted. The rope mechanism of the north tower can be seen as visitors exit the lift. Gustave Eiffel engraved on the tower the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians in recognition of their contributions to the building of the tower. Eiffel chose this "invocation of science" because of his concern over the artists' protest. At the beginning of the 20th century, the engravings were painted over, but they were restored in 1986–87 by the , a company operating the tower. The tower is painted in three shades: lighter at the top, getting progressively darker towards the bottom to complement the Parisian sky. It was originally reddish brown; this changed in 1968 to a bronze colour known as "Eiffel Tower Brown". The only non-structural elements are the four decorative grill-work arches, added in Sauvestre's sketches, which served to make the tower look more substantial and to make a more impressive entrance to the exposition. A pop-culture movie cliché is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to seven storeys, only a small number of tall buildings have a clear view of the tower. Maintenance of the tower includes applying 60 tons of paint every seven years to prevent it from rusting. The tower has been completely repainted at least 19 times since it was built. Lead paint was still being used as recently as 2001 when the practice was stopped out of concern for the environment. The nearest Paris Métro station is Bir-Hakeim and the nearest RER station is Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel. The tower itself is located at the intersection of the quai Branly and the Pont d'Iéna. More than 250 million people have visited the tower since it was completed in 1889. In 2015, there were 6.91 million visitors. The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world. An average of 25,000 people ascend the tower every day which can result in long queues. The tower has two restaurants: on the first level, and , a gourmet restaurant with its own lift on the second level. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. It was run by the multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse from 2007 to 2017. Starting May 2019, it will be managed by three star chef Frédéric Anton. It owes its name to the famous science-fiction writer Jules Verne. Additionally, there is a champagne bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower. From 1937 until 1981, there was a restaurant near the top of the tower. It was removed due to structural considerations; engineers had determined it was too heavy and was causing the tower to sag. This restaurant was sold to an American restaurateur and transported to New York and then New Orleans. It was rebuilt on the edge of New Orleans' Garden District as a restaurant and later event hall. As one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower has been the inspiration for the creation of many replicas and similar towers. An early example is Blackpool Tower in England. The mayor of Blackpool, Sir John Bickerstaffe, was so impressed on seeing the Eiffel Tower at the 1889 exposition that he commissioned a similar tower to be built in his town. It opened in 1894 and is 158.1 metres (518 ft) tall. Tokyo Tower in Japan, built as a communications tower in 1958, was also inspired by the Eiffel Tower. There are various scale models of the tower in the United States, including a half-scale version at the Paris Las Vegas, Nevada, one in Paris, Texas built in 1993, and two 1:3 scale models at Kings Island, Ohio, and Kings Dominion, Virginia, amusement parks opened in 1972 and 1975 respectively. Two 1:3 scale models can be found in China, one in Durango, Mexico that was donated by the local French community, and several across Europe. In 2011, the TV show Pricing the Priceless on the National Geographic Channel speculated that a full-size replica of the tower would cost approximately US$480 million to build. This would be more than ten times the cost of the original (nearly 8 million in 1890 Francs; ~US$40 million in 2018 dollars). The tower has been used for making radio transmissions since the beginning of the 20th century. Until the 1950s, sets of aerial wires ran from the cupola to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. These were connected to longwave transmitters in small bunkers. In 1909, a permanent underground radio centre was built near the south pillar, which still exists today. On 20 November 1913, the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an aerial, exchanged wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory, which used an aerial in Arlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, D.C. Today, radio and digital television signals are transmitted from the Eiffel Tower. A television antenna was first installed on the tower in 1957, increasing its height by 18.7 m (61.4 ft). Work carried out in 2000 added a further 5.3 m (17.4 ft), giving the current height of 324 m (1,063 ft). Analogue television signals from the Eiffel Tower ceased on 8 March 2011. The tower and its image have been in the public domain since 1993, 70 years after Eiffel's death. In June 1990 a French court ruled that a special lighting display on the tower in 1989 to mark the tower's 100th anniversary was an "original visual creation" protected by copyright. The Court of Cassation, France's judicial court of last resort, upheld the ruling in March 1992. The (SETE) now considers any illumination of the tower to be a separate work of art that falls under copyright. As a result, the SNTE alleges that it is illegal to publish contemporary photographs of the lit tower at night without permission in France and some other countries for commercial use. The imposition of copyright has been controversial. The Director of Documentation for what was then called the (SNTE), Stéphane Dieu, commented in 2005: "It is really just a way to manage commercial use of the image, so that it isn't used in ways [of which] we don't approve". SNTE made over €1 million from copyright fees in 2002. However, it could also be used to restrict the publication of tourist photographs of the tower at night, as well as hindering non-profit and semi-commercial publication of images of the illuminated tower. French doctrine and jurisprudence allows pictures incorporating a copyrighted work as long as their presence is incidental or accessory to the subject being represented, a reasoning akin to the de minimis rule. Therefore, SETE may be unable to claim copyright on photographs of Paris which happen to include the lit tower. The Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure when completed in 1889, a distinction it retained until 1929 when the Chrysler Building in New York City was topped out. The tower has lost its standing both as the world's tallest structure and the world's tallest lattice tower but retains its status as the tallest freestanding (non-guyed) structure in France. Eiffel Tower in popular culture, List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region, List of tallest buildings and structures in the world, List of tallest freestanding structures in the world, List of tallest towers in the world, Eiffel Tower, 1909–1928 painting series by Robert Delaunay The two Eiffel Towers one at Kings Dominion and one at Kings Island; are replicas of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. They opened at Kings Island in 1972 and Kings Dominion in 1975, each when the park originally opened. Both of the replicas at Kings Dominion and Kings Island are one-third replicas of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They were both constructed by then-owner Taft Broadcasting. Each tower stands tall with the observation floor high. The Eiffel Tower at Kings Dominion was built by Bristol Steel. It was modeled and built at Kings Island three years prior to construction. It is the centerpiece of the park, located in the International Street section of the park, just beyond the fountains at the main entrance. It is currently the tallest attraction at Kings Dominion if measured by the top of the structure. It is the 4th tallest if measured by the observation platform with , Intimidator 305 and WindSeeker being taller. It is constructed of 450 tons of steel. Elevators in the replica were installed by Haushahn Elevator of Austria with subsequent modernizations and upgrades in recent years. The Eiffel Tower at Kings Island was built by Southern Ohio Fabricators, and designed by Intamin Inc. It is the centerpiece of the park, located in the International Street section of the park, just beyond the fountains at the main entrance. It is currently the largest attraction at Kings Island if measured by the top of the structure. If measured by the observation platform, it is one foot shy of Drop Tower for being the tallest. 15,000 bolts hold together the structure with 410 steps leading to the top. Unlike Kings Dominion, Kings Island features Fast Lane which enables visitors to get to the front of the line without waiting. It is also a 1/3 scale of the real Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The Eiffel Tower at Kings Dominion, The Eiffel Tower at Kings Island The Eiffel Tower series of Robert Delaunay (1885 – 1941) is a cycle of paintings and drawings of the Eiffel Tower. Its main sequence was created between 1909 and 1912, with additional works added up to 1928. The series is considered the most prominent art depicting the iconic Paris tower as well as the most prominent work of Delaunay. The series was painted in an emerging Orphist style, an art movement co-founded by Robert and Sonia Delaunay and František Kupka that added bright colors and increased abstraction to Cubism. The Eiffel Tower series sits chronologically and stylistically between the artist's Saint-Séverin series and Windows series. Delaunay's Eiffel Tower series is evoked in architectural paintings of other iconic buildings by his contemporary, the New York artist John Marin, in his Woolworth Building, No. 31 of 1912, and later by the Ontario artist Greg Curnoe's CN Tower series of the 1970s and 1980s. The 1913 artist's book La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France, a collaborative work between Sonia Delaunay and the poet Blaise Cendrars, forms an epic narrative of a Trans-Siberian Railway journey that concludes in Paris at a Simultanist Eiffel Tower. They had announced a plan to sell 150 copies of the book, which would equal in height the Tower itself. The Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein's appreciation of Delaunay's work informed his Soviet montage theory, as he imagined developing cinematically "a dynamic fusion of a series, moving past the spectator, of those hundred views of the Eiffel Tower" rather than a "summation within a single canvas". Cendrars's 1924 essay on Robert Delaunay describes his feminization of the Tower, and Sonia Delaunay described the Eiffel Tower as her husband's "Eve future"

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"Abide with Me, 'Tis Eventide" is a 19th-century American Christian hymn written by Martin Lowrie Hofford (lyrics) and Harrison Millard in 1870 (music). The lyrics and music to the hymn were heavily influenced by the American Civil War. The hymn appears as number 46 in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal and number 165 of the hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has also been published in the 1978 Hymns of Praise edited by Reuel Lemmons; the 1971 Songs of the Church and the 1990 Songs of the Church 21st Century Edition both edited by Alton H. Howard; both the 1978 and 1983 Church Gospel Songs and Hymns edited by V. E. Howard; the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited by John P. Wiegand; the 2007 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat and the 2009 Favorite Songs of the Church edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr. History of Hymns Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide - Episode 21 (documentary video) "Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte. It is most often sung to the tune Eventide by William Henry Monk. The author of the hymn, Henry Francis Lyte, was an Anglican minister. He was a curate in County Wexford from 1815 to 1818. According to a plaque erected in his memory in Taghmon Church, he preached frequently in Killurin Church, about nine miles from there. During that time the rector of Killurin Parish, the Reverend Abraham Swanne, was a lasting influence on Lyte's life and ministry. Later he was vicar of All Saints' Church in Brixham, Devon, England. For most of his life Lyte suffered from poor health, and he would regularly travel abroad for relief, as was customary at that time. There is some controversy as to the exact dating of the text to Abide with Me. An article in The Spectator, 3 Oct. 1925, says that Lyte composed the hymn in 1820 while visiting a dying friend. It was related that Lyte was staying with the Hore family in County Wexford and had visited an old friend, William Augustus Le Hunte, who was dying. As Lyte sat with the dying man, William kept repeating the phrase "Abide With Me…". After leaving William's bedside Lyte wrote the hymn and gave a copy of it to Le Hunte's family. The belief is that when Lyte felt his own end approaching twenty-seven years later at the age of 54, as he developed tuberculosis, he recalled the lines he had written so many years before in County Wexford. The Biblical link for the hymn is Luke 24:29 in which the disciples asked Jesus to abide with them "for it is toward evening and the day is spent". Using his friend's more personal phrasing "Abide with Me", Lyte composed the hymn. His daughter, Anna Maria Maxwell Hogg, recounts the story of how "Abide with Me" came out of that context: Just weeks later, on 20 November 1847 in Nice, then in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Lyte died. The hymn was sung for the very first time at Lyte's funeral. Special thanksgiving services to mark Lyte's bicentenary were held in Taghmon and Killurin churches. While he wrote a tune for the hymn, the most usual tune for the hymn is Eventide by William Henry Monk. The hymn is a prayer for God to remain present with the speaker throughout life, through trials, and through death. The opening line alludes to , "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent", and the penultimate verse draws on text from , "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?": Many hymnals omit certain verses. For example, the compilers of one of the editions of Hymns Ancient and Modern, of which William Henry Monk, the composer of the tune "Eventide", was the original editor, omitted the verse beginning "Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;" for being too personal. The hymn tune most often used with this hymn is "Eventide" composed by William Henry Monk in 1861. Alternative tunes include: "Abide with Me", Henry Lyte, 1847, "Morecambe", Frederick C. Atkinson, 1870, "Penitentia", Edward Dearle, 1874, unnamed, Samuel Liddle (1867-1951), published by Boosey & Co. in 1896; this is the version favoured by Dame Clara Butt., "Woodlands", Walter Greatorex, 1916 The principal theme of the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 is often noted for their similarity to Monk's Eventide. Ralph Vaughan Williams composed an orchestral prelude ("Two Hymn-Tune Preludes", "1. Eventide") on the tune for the Hereford Festival of 1936. The hymn was also set to music around 1890 by the American composer Charles Ives, and was published in his collection Thirteen Songs in 1958, four years after his death. The hymn is popular across many Christian denominations and was said to have been a favourite of King George V and Mahatma Gandhi. It is also often sung or played at Christian funerals. The hymn is sung at the annual Anzac Day services in Australia and New Zealand, and in some Remembrance Day services in Canada and the United Kingdom. It is also used at Indian Republic Day celebrations. Since the 1927 FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Cardiff City, the first and last verses of the hymn are traditionally sung at the FA Cup Final about 15 minutes before the kick-off of the match. It has also been sung prior to the kick-off at every Rugby League Challenge Cup Final since 1929. The hymn, in full or in part, is often used in a range of films and television programmes. References in literature include George Orwell's Burmese Days. The Victorian Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, according to Francis Turner Palgrave, on reading 'Abide with me', "was deeply impressed by its solemn beauty; remarking that it wanted very little to take rank among the really perfect poems of our language". Hymn in the author's handwriting, Hymn Stories: Abide With Me, Story Abide with Me, Brief biography, Abide with me: fast falls the eventide at Hymnary.org Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh composer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical family, and his first successes were as a songwriter. His first big hit was "Keep the Home Fires Burning" (1914), which was enormously popular during the First World War. His 1917 show, Theodore & Co, was a wartime hit. After the war, Novello contributed numbers to several successful musical comedies and was eventually commissioned to write the scores of complete shows. He wrote his musicals in the style of operetta and often composed his music to the libretti of Christopher Hassall. In the 1920s, he turned to acting, first in British films and then on stage, with considerable success in both. He starred in two silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and Downhill (both 1927). On stage, he played the title character in the first London production of Liliom (1926). Novello briefly went to Hollywood, but he soon returned to Britain, where he had more successes, especially on stage, appearing in his own lavish West End productions of musicals. The best known of these were Glamorous Night (1935) and The Dancing Years (1939). From the 1930s, he often performed with Zena Dare, writing parts for her in his works. He continued to write for film, but he had his biggest late successes with stage musicals: Perchance to Dream (1945), King's Rhapsody (1949) and Gay's the Word (1951). The Ivor Novello Awards were named after him in 1955. Novello was born in Cardiff, Wales, to David Davies (c. 1852–1931), a rent collector for the city council, and his wife, Clara Novello Davies, an internationally known singing teacher and choral conductor. As a boy, Novello was a successful singer in the Welsh Eisteddfod. His mother set up as voice teacher in London, where he met leading performers, including members of George Edwardes's Gaiety Theatre company, classical musicians such as Landon Ronald, and singers such as Adelina Patti. Another of his mother's associates was Clara Butt, who taught him to sing "Abide with Me" when he was a boy of six. Novello was educated privately in Cardiff and then in Gloucester, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Herbert Brewer, the cathedral organist. From there he won a scholarship to Magdalen College School in Oxford, where he was a solo treble in the college choir. He later said that this prolonged youthful exposure to early sacred choral music had turned his tastes, in reaction, to lush romantic music. Although Brewer had told him he would not have a career in music, Novello from his early youth showed a facility for writing songs, and when he was only 15, one of his songs was published. After leaving school, he gave piano lessons in Cardiff, and then moved to London in 1913 with his mother. They took a flat above the Strand Theatre, which became his London home for the rest of his life. In London he found a mentor in Sir Edward Marsh, a well-known patron of the arts. Marsh encouraged him to compose and introduced him to people who could help his career. He adopted part of his mother's maiden name, "Novello" as his professional surname, although he did not change it legally until 1927. In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Novello wrote "Keep the Home Fires Burning", a song that expressed the feelings of innumerable families sundered by World War I. Novello composed the music for the song to a lyric by the American Lena Guilbert Ford, and it became a huge popular success, bringing Novello money and fame at the age of 21. In other respects, the war had less impact on Novello than on many young men of his age. He avoided enlistment until June 1916, when he reported to a Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) training depot as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant. After twice crashing an aeroplane, and with the influence of Marsh, he was moved to the Air Ministry office in central London performing clerical duties for the duration of the war. Novello continued to write songs while serving in the RNAS. He had his first stage success with Theodore & Co in 1916, a production by George Grossmith, Jr. and Edward Laurillard with a score composed by Novello and the young Jerome Kern. In the same year, Novello contributed to André Charlot's revue See-Saw. In 1917 he wrote for another Grossmith and Laurillard production, the operetta Arlette, for which he contributed additional numbers to an existing French score by Jane Vieu and Guy le Feuvre. In the same year, Marsh introduced him to the actor Bobbie Andrews, who became Novello's life partner. Andrews introduced Novello to the young Noël Coward. Coward, six years Novello's junior, was deeply envious of Novello's effortless glamour. He wrote, "I just felt suddenly conscious of the long way I had to go before I could break into the magic atmosphere in which he moved and breathed with such nonchalance". In 1918 and after the war, Novello continued to write successfully for musical comedy and revue. The former included Who's Hooper? (1919), an adaptation of a Pinero play, with a book by Fred Thompson, lyrics by Clifford Grey, and music by Howard Talbot and Novello, and The Golden Moth by Thompson and P. G. Wodehouse (1921), for which Novello provided the entire score. For Charlot, he contributed numbers to the revues Tabs (1918), A to Z (1921) and Puppets (1924). For the second of these, his songs included one of his few well-known comedy numbers, "And her mother came too", with lyrics by Dion Titheradge, written for Jack Buchanan. At the same time as his successes as a composer, Novello was making a career as an actor. With "a classic profile that gained him matinee idol status amongst the film-going public", he was sought out, on the strength of a publicity photograph, by the Swiss film director Louis Mercanton. Mercanton offered him a silent-film role as the romantic lead in The Call of the Blood (1920). In the same year, he made another film for Mercanton, Miarka. Novello made his first English film, Carnival, the following year. Novello made his stage debut in 1921 in Deburau by Sacha Guitry, and, among other stage engagements in the next years, he played Bingley in a charity adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. At about this time, Novello had an affair with the writer Siegfried Sassoon; it was short lived, but in the words of Sassoon's biographer John Stuart Roberts, Novello "was a consummate flirt who collected lovers as he gathered lilacs". In 1923, Novello made his American movie debut in D. W. Griffith's The White Rose. The same year, he starred in "The Man Without Desire", among other British films. He next co-wrote, produced and starred in the successful 1924 play The Rat. The play was made into a film in 1925, which was so successful that two sequels followed in 1926 and 1928. His dramatic roles in the West End included the title character in the first London production of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom (1926). Other films in which Novello starred included Alfred Hitchcock's , where he played the sinister title character, and Downhill (both in 1927). The British film company Gainsborough Pictures offered Novello a lucrative contract, which enabled him to buy a country house in Littlewick Green, near Maidenhead. He renamed the property Redroofs, and he entertained there famously and with little regard for convention. Cecil Beaton, noting the frequent homosexual excesses, coined the phrase, "the Ivor/Noel naughty set". Coward had by now caught Novello up professionally, despite a joint disaster when Novello starred in Coward's play Sirocco in 1927, which was a débâcle, and closed within a month of opening. In 1928 Novello starred in the silent adaptation of Coward's much more successful The Vortex, and made his last silent film, A South Sea Bubble. During the late 1920s, Novello was the most popular male star in British films. Novello returned to composing for the lyric stage in 1929, writing eight numbers for the revue The House that Jack Built. In the same year, he presented his own play Symphony in Two Flats, which he took to New York the following year. It was followed by a successful Broadway production of his The Truth Game, which brought him to the attention of Hollywood studios. He accepted a contract to write for and appear in MGM films. He found little to do in Hollywood, however, beyond writing the dialogue for Tarzan the Ape Man. Returning to London, he starred in the sound remake of The Lodger (1932). After beginning the 1930s with a series of non-musical plays, I Lived With You (1932), Fresh Fields, Proscenium, Sunshine Sisters, Flies in the Sun (all 1933) and Murder in Mayfair (1934), Novello returned to composition in 1935 with Glamorous Night, which was the first of a series of enormously popular musicals. The Times considered that it was for these that Novello would be popularly remembered. Paul Webb, in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, writes that Novello's show saved the fortunes of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane: Another model was Coward's 1929 musical Bitter Sweet, which Novello called "a lovely, lovely thing ... sheer joy from beginning to end". That, too, was an old-fashioned musical, "so full of regret ... for a vanished kindly silly darling age". For all his four 1930s musicals, Novello wrote the book and music, Christopher Hassall wrote the lyrics, and the orchestrations were by Charles Prentice. Glamorous Night starred Novello and Mary Ellis, with a cast including Zena Dare, Olive Gilbert and Elizabeth Welch, and ran from 2 May 1935 to 18 July 1936, at Drury Lane and then the London Coliseum. Careless Rapture ran from 11 September 1936 for 296 performances, with Novello, Dorothy Dickson and Zena Dare in the leading roles. Crest of the Wave starred Novello, Dickson and Gilbert, and ran from 1 September 1937 for 203 performances. The last of Novello's prewar musicals was The Dancing Years, which starred Novello, Ellis and Gilbert, opened at Drury Lane, closed on the outbreak of the Second World War, and reopened at the Adelphi Theatre, running for a combined total of 696 performances, closing on 8 July 1944. This show was the closest Novello came to fulfilling his mother's early ambitions for him to write operas; he played an Austrian composer-conductor at the Wiener Hofoper. Novello presented only two new shows during the Second World War. Arc de Triomphe (1943), a musical vehicle for Mary Ellis, was only a modest success, but Perchance to Dream (1945) was immensely successful, running for 1,022 performances. In between the two shows, Novello had been in serious legal trouble and served four weeks in prison for misuse of petrol coupons, a serious offence under rationing laws in wartime Britain. An admiring fan had stolen the coupons from her employer, but the court found that Novello was also culpable. The prison term, though short, came as a severe shock to Novello, both mentally and physically, and had serious lasting effects. Not everybody was supportive; Coward's sympathy was limited: "He's been fighting like a steer to keep going as before the war and hasn't done a thing for the general effort", but when Novello returned to The Dancing Years after his release, he received "a rapturous ovation" on his first entrance. Novello's last full-scale production in this style, King's Rhapsody (1949), was, in Webb's words, "a selfconsciously romantic counter-blast to the modern musical: crown princes, ballrooms, royal yachts, beautiful princesses and a full-scale coronation". After the rigours of war, this escapist entertainment had strong box-office appeal, and ran for 841 performances. The show starred Novello and the cast included Phyllis Dare, Zena Dare, Olive Gilbert and Bobbie Andrews. It was still running, at the Palace Theatre, when Novello's last show opened. This was Gay's the Word (1951). Novello had written no role for himself; the show starred the comedy actress Cicely Courtneidge and was a departure from his established pattern, balancing the contrasting styles of European operetta and post-war American musicals. The Times commented that the show "cheerfully parodied the very Ruritanian romances to which he owed his most triumphant successes". Novello died suddenly from a coronary thrombosis at the age of 58, a few hours after completing a performance in the run of King's Rhapsody. He was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium, and his ashes are buried beneath a lilac bush and marked with a plaque that reads "Ivor Novello 6th March 1951 'Till you are home once more'." He left an estate worth £160,000 (£ when adjusted for inflation). Only a few weeks before Novello's death, Coward had written of him: "Theatre – good, bad and indifferent – is the love of his life. For him, other human endeavours are mere shadows. ... The reward of his work lies in the indisputable fact that whenever and wherever he appears the vast majority of the British public flock to see him." Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians writes of Novello that he was "until the advent of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the 20th-century's most consistently successful composer of British musicals". The Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, established in 1955 in Novello's memory, are awarded each year by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) to British songwriters and composers as well as to an outstanding international music writer. A scholarship in memory of Novello was established at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and in 1952 a bronze bust of him by Clemence Dane was unveiled at Drury Lane. In St. Paul's, Covent Garden, known as the actors' church, a panel was installed to commemorate Novello, and in 1972, to mark the 21st anniversary of his death, a memorial stone was unveiled in St. Paul's Cathedral. In 1993, the centenary of Novello's birth was marked by several celebratory shows around the UK, including one at the Players Theatre in London. In 2005, the Strand Theatre, above which Novello lived for many years, was renamed the Novello Theatre, with a plaque in his honour set at the entrance. On 27 June 2009, a statue of Novello was unveiled outside the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Plaques detailing some of his best-known songs are fitted to the pedestal, along with a dedication to Novello. Novello's memory is promoted by The Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau, which holds annual events around Britain, including an annual pilgrimage to Redroofs each June. Redroofs was sold after Novello's death and is now a theatre training school. Novello was portrayed in Robert Altman's 2001 film Gosford Park by Jeremy Northam, and several of his songs were used for the film's soundtrack, including "Waltz of My Heart", "And Her Mother Came Too", "I Can Give You the Starlight", "What a Duke Should Be", "Why Isn't It You?" and "The Land of Might-Have-Been". Among Novello's well-known songs are "Keep the Home Fires Burning", "Fold Your Wings", "Shine Through My Dreams", "Rose of England", "I Can Give You the Starlight", "And Her Mother Came Too", "My Dearest Dear", "The Land of Might- Have-Been", "When I Curtsied to the King", "We'll Gather Lilacs", "Someday My Heart Will Awake", "Yesterday", "Waltz of My Heart", "Why Isn't It You", "My Life Belongs to You", "Fly Home Little Heart", "Take Your Girl" and "Primrose". In Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Webb writes that although Novello's oeuvre is generally thought of as "romantic" and "Ruritanian", his music "was far more varied than his current reputation suggests". Webb contends that such romantic hits as "Someday My Heart Will Awake" were balanced by "rousing operetta choruses ... and jazz age numbers" while Rose of England' is a stately patriotic piece that stands comparison with Elgar or Walton". Day, Barry (ed). The Letters of Noël Coward. London: Methuen. (2007). ., Gaye, Freda. Who's Who in the Theatre, fourteenth edition, 1967. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons., Hoare, Philip. Noël Coward, A Biography. London: Sinclair-Stevenson (1995). ., MacQueen-Pope, W. J. Ivor: The Story of an Achievement. London: Hutchinson (1954), Roberts, John Stuart. Siegfried Sassoon, London: Metro Publishing (2005). Harding, James. Ivor Novello, London: W. H. Allen (1987), Slattery-Christy, David. In Search of Ruritania: The Life and Times of Ivor Novello, Authorhouse, 2006, Norton, Richard C., "Coward & Novello", Essay for the Operetta Research Center Amsterdam. Photographs and literature, The Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau, Ivor Novello biography from BBC Wales, Ivor Novello on home video at Brenton Film, Ivor Novello biography on BBC South East Wales, Ivor Novello as actor in Theatre Archive University of Bristol, Ivor Novello as composer, Theatre Archive University of Bristol, Ivor Novello as author in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol

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Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is a 2008 Canadian television miniseries, the fourth and final film in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables series. It was released in 2008 on CTV. Before the broadcast, CTV had recently acquired the rights to the entire Anne catalogue including the 1985 miniseries. The film stars Barbara Hershey as the middle-aged Anne Shirley and 14-year-old Hannah Endicott-Douglas as a young Anne, with Shirley MacLaine playing matriarch Amelia Thomas. Kevin Sullivan wrote a completely new screenplay for the three-hour movie based on Montgomery's characters (serving as a prequel to his early 3 miniseries movies broadcast originally on CBC) and not directly from her books. The story follows Anne's life before she arrives at Green Gables. Anne, now a middle-aged woman, is troubled by recent events in her life. Her husband, Gilbert, has been killed overseas as a medical doctor during World War II (This did not happen in the books). Her two daughters are preoccupied with their own young families and her adopted son Dominic has yet to return from the war. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, Anne retreats into her memories to relive her troubled early years prior to arriving as an orphan at Green Gables and being adopted by the Cuthberts. The impact of this difficult period has a far-reaching effect on this older woman, once she discovers the truth about her real parents. She begins a delicate search for her birth father. It is a journey through a past fraught with danger, uncertainty, heartache and joy. In the parade of humanity Anne encounters, she also faces the root of her desire to find true "kindred spirits" and an imagination to use her talents as a writer to inspire others. The telefilm premiered on Sunday December 14, 2008 on CTV; it was broadcast in high definition. In the United States, it has aired on various PBS stations since November 2010. The film has a running time of 138 minutes. It was released on DVD on May 5, 2009 by Sullivan Entertainment. The company also published a soundtrack, first available for download on January 8, 2009 and then on CD on June 16, 2009. Prior to the film's debut, Key Porter Books published a novelization of the film by Kevin Sullivan in October 2008. All of the movie's actual location photography was shot in various places around the Toronto, Ontario area, using existing houses, streetscapes and natural environments. Period mansions were used as the backdrop for the Thomas residences, and an historic Quaker Boys School converted into the Bolingbroke Poorhouse for the film. When they could not film on location, the production crew and special effects team employed the technology of the green screen and CGI to digitally create the background, or specific details that location filming could not produce. Of the major cast members from the original trilogy of films, only Patricia Hamilton reprised her original character. Barbara Hershey replaced Megan Follows as Anne (Follows appears in archive footage in a flashback). Colleen Dewhurst, who had appeared in the first two miniseries and Road to Avonlea before her death in 1991, is featured in archive footage as well. For the role of young Anne, Sullivan held a cross-Canada open casting call in July 2007, including submissions from YouTube, before Hannah Endicott- Douglas landed the part. In its debut on CTV, the film was watched by 1,042,000 viewers, a number that was seen as low compared to Sullivan's earlier Anne productions. The film was not well received by critics or fans. The Globe and Mail's Kate Taylor said the film, "never justifies its presumption in inventing a new creation story for a Canadian literary icon." Bill Brioux felt that "maybe Anne just doesn't age all that well. Maybe she is supposed to stay in freckles and pigtails, locked in that perfect P.E.I. prism Montgomery authored and Sullivan so artfully adapted when they both were in their 20s." 1. Anne of Green Gables - 1985 2. \- 1987 3. \- 2000 4. \- 2008 Before Green Gables, a prequel novel published in 2008. Official page on Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables series, L.M. Montgomery Online This scholarly site includes a blog, a bibliography of reference materials, and a complete filmography of all adaptations of Montgomery texts. See, in particular, the page for Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. Anne of Green Gables is a 1985 Canadian drama television film based on the novel of the same name by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and is the first in a series of four films. The film starred Megan Follows and was produced and directed by Kevin Sullivan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was released theatrically in Iran, Israel, Europe, and Japan. The film aired on CBC Television as a two-part mini-series on December 1 and December 2, 1985. Both parts of the film were among the highest-rated programs of any genre ever to air on a Canadian television network. On February 17, 1986, the film aired on PBS in the United States on the series WonderWorks. A 12-year-old orphan, Anne Shirley, is living in servitude with the cruel Hammond family in Nova Scotia. However, when Mr. Hammond dies, Anne is sent to an orphanage where she eventually receives the wonderful news that she has been adopted by a couple on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I). Upon arriving in P.E.I, Anne is met at the train station by an elderly Matthew Cuthbert who is surprised to find a girl there instead of a boy. Matthew and his sister Marilla had requested a boy to help them with the farm chores. He decides that he couldn't very well just leave the girl at the train station. Matthew takes Anne to meet Marilla, and on the buggy ride home, becomes completely smitten with the red-haired orphan girl. When Anne Shirley arrives at the Cuthberts' farm, called "Green Gables", she is a precocious, romantic child desperate to be loved and highly sensitive about her red hair and homely looks. In her own unique headstrong manner, Anne manages to insult the town gossip, Rachel Lynde, in a dispute over her looks; smash her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head when he calls her "Carrots" on her first day of school; and accidentally dyes her hair green in an effort to turn her red hair black and salvage her wounded pride. Marilla Cuthbert is shocked and beside herself to know how she will ever cope with this sensitive, headstrong child so desperate to fit in. But shy, gentle Matthew is always there to defend Anne and hold her up on a pedestal. It seems like Anne is destined to cultivate disaster. She becomes "bosom" friends with Diana Barry from across the pond and succeeds in getting Diana drunk by accidentally serving currant wine instead of raspberry cordial at a tea party. Diana's mother and Rachel Lynde turn on Marilla for making wine in the first place. Anne moves from one mishap to the next as her wild imagination and far-fetched antics combine to constantly land her in trouble. Anne finds her element in the academic world, ultimately competing neck and neck with Gilbert Blythe who becomes her arch opponent. Anne and Gilbert go on to win the highest academic accolades, constantly vying for honors at every level. Eventually their fierce rivalry turns to a secret affection, which blossoms into love. Marilla tries to prevent Anne from seeing Gilbert because Anne is still quite young and Marilla wants Anne to continue her education. In the end, however, when Matthew dies and forces Marilla into considering selling Green Gables, Gilbert gives Anne his teaching post in nearby Avonlea so she can stay at Green Gables and continue to support Marilla. Fall 1896 – Mr. Hammond dies, Anne is sent to an asylum., Spring 1897 – Anne, now 13, is sent to Prince Edward Island to live with the Cuthberts., Spring 1900 – Anne wins the Avery Scholarship., Summer 1900 – Matthew Cuthbert dies., Summer 1900 – Anne, now 16, takes a teaching post in Avonlea. Megan Follows – Anne Shirley, Colleen Dewhurst – Marilla Cuthbert, Richard Farnsworth – Matthew Cuthbert, Patricia Hamilton – Rachel Lynde, Marilyn Lightstone – Miss Stacy, Schuyler Grant – Diana Barry, Jonathan Crombie – Gilbert Blythe, Charmion King – Aunt Josephine Barry, Jackie Burroughs – Amelia Evans, Rosemary Radcliffe – Mrs. Barry, Joachim Hansen – John Sadler, Christiane Kruger – Mrs. Allan, Cedric Smith – Rev. Allan, Paul Brown – Mr. Phillips, Miranda de Pencier – Josie Pye, Trish Nettleton – Jane Andrews, Jennifer Inch – Ruby Gillis, Jayne Eastwood – Mrs. Hammond, Dawn Greenhalgh – Mrs. Cadbury, Jack Mather – Station Master, Samantha Langevin – Mrs. Blewett, Vivian Reis – Mrs. Spencer Mag Ruffman – Alice Lawson, Sean McCann – Dr. O'Reilly, Roxolana Roslak – Madame Selitsky, Robert Haley – Professor, Robert Collins – Mr. Barry, Morgan Chapman – Minne May Barry, David Roberts – Tom, Nancy Beatty – Essie, David Hughes – Thomas Lynde, Wendy Lyon – Prissy Andrews, Zack Ward – Moody Spurgeon MacPherson, Anna Ferguson – Punch Woman, Rex Southgate – Section Head, Julianna Saxton – Pink Woman, Molly Thom – Lace Woman, Jennifer Irwin – Student, Sandra Scott – Mrs. Harrington, Peter Sturgess – Porter, Ray Ireland – Mr. Hammond, Martha Maloney – Fairview Nurse, Stuart Hamilton – Mme. Selitsky's Accompanist Kevin Sullivan adapted the novel into his own screenplay, collaborating with industry veteran Joe Wiesenfeld. Sullivan developed a co-production between the CBC and PBS in order to film Anne of Green Gables. Sullivan amalgamated many of Montgomery's episodes into the film's plot. While the film diverged from Montgomery's original, he relied on strong characterizations and visuals in order to render the story for a contemporary audience. The script also borrows ideas from the 1934 film version. Primary locations for filming the movie included Prince Edward Island; Stouffville, Ontario; Jacksons Point, Ontario; and Westfield Heritage Village near the Flamborough village of Rockton. Filming was done over a consecutive ten-week shoot. Sullivan used several locations as Green Gables farm and combined them to appear as one property. The original film and sequels (including Road to Avonlea and the animated Anne films and series covering over 130 hours of production) have been seen in almost every country around the world. The films have now been translated and seen in more places than even the original novels. During filming of the original movies an open casting call was held throughout Canada in order to find a young actress to play Anne Shirley. Katharine Hepburn recommended that her great niece, Schuyler Grant, play the role of Anne Shirley. Director Kevin Sullivan liked Grant's performance and wanted to give her the role. However, broadcast executives were resistant to cast an American as a Canadian icon. Schuyler Grant ended up playing Anne's best friend, Diana, and Anne Shirley was ultimately played by Megan Follows. In her first audition, Megan Follows came highly recommended. But, she was quickly dismissed by Kevin Sullivan. For her second audition, after a turbulent morning leading up to her audition, a frantic Megan made a much better impression and was given the role. In 1987, (also called Anne of Avonlea) was released. The sequel is a conglomeration of Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars. The third movie, , was aired on March 5, 2000 in Canada and on July 23, 2000 in the United States. Due to the spin-off television series Road to Avonlea creating a different timeline from the books, The Continuing Story passed over Anne's House of Dreams – the corresponding Anne novel – in favor of a plot not featured in Montgomery's series. In 2008, the fourth in the series, was completed. Both a sequel and a prequel, the film starred Barbara Hershey, Shirley MacLaine, and Rachel Blanchard and introduced Hannah Endicott-Douglas as the new Anne Shirley. The first two Anne films generated the spin-off television series Road to Avonlea which aired from 1989 to 1996 and starred Sarah Polley. The series drew inspiration from several of Montgomery's books, including The Story Girl and Chronicles of Avonlea. Anne Shirley did not appear, but other Anne characters played supporting roles, including Gilbert, Marilla, Rachel Lynde, and Miss Stacy. Jackie Burroughs, Cedric Smith, and Mag Ruffman returned as main cast members, but in different roles than the original films. In 2000 – 2001, Sullivan Animation produced consisting of 26 half-hour episodes. The series was developed for PBS and each episode contained an educational and/or moral component. In 2002, Sullivan Animation also produced the feature-length animated film Anne: Journey to Green Gables which is an imaginative, whimsical prequel to Sullivan's live action Anne of Green Gables film. A year after the mini-series originally aired, Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster created and starred in a parody entitled Sam of Green Gables, in which a curmudgeonly old man named Sam is sent to Green Gables instead of Anne. The film swept the 1986 Gemini Awards, winning the following: Best Dramatic Miniseries, Best Actress in a Single Dramatic Program or Miniseries: Megan Follows, Best Supporting Actor: Richard Farnsworth, Best Supporting Actress: Colleen Dewhurst, Best Writing (TV Adaptation): Kevin Sullivan and Joe Wiesenfeld, Best Music Composition: Hagood Hardy, Best Costume Design: Martha Mann, Best Photography: René Ohashi, Best Production Design/Art Direction: Carol Spier, Most Popular Program The film was also nominated for Best Direction in a Dramatic Program or Mini- Series and "Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series. The series also won an Emmy Award in 1986, for Outstanding Children's Program. Other Awards Peabody Award – to Kevin Sullivan for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting in the United States, 1986, Prix Jeunesse: Best Drama, 1988 (Germany), TV Guide Award: Most Popular Program, 1986, Grand Award – International Film and Television, New York, Emily Award – American Film and Video Festival, 1986, Macleans Medal of Merit – Maclean's Magazine, 1986, Chris Award – Columbus International Film Festival, 1986, Silver Hugo Award – Chicago International Film Festival, 1986, International TV Movie Festival: Nomination for Movie of the Year, 1986, American TV Critics Award: Best Drama, 1986, Grant Award: Best TV Program, Houston International Film Festival, 1987, Golden Gate Award – San Francisco Film Festival, 1986, CRTA Award: Outstanding Personal Achievement in TV, 1986, Ohio State Award – Performing Arts and Humanities Award, 1987, First Prize – Odyssey Institute Media Award, 1987, The Ruby Slipper: Best Television Special, 1987, Parents Choice Award – Parents Choice for TV Programmings, 1987, Excellence in Programming – Award from Association of Catholic Communications in Canada, 1987, Golden Apple Award – Best of National Educational Film and Video Festival, 1987 The Anne of Green Gables series was released on DVD in a collector's edition set on February 5, 2008 in the U.S., April 29, 2008 in Canada and Japan and on September 22, 2010 in Hungary. The set is the most comprehensive edition of all three movies ever released. In addition to the series, it also includes several DVD extras such as feature length commentary from director Kevin Sullivan and Stefan Scaini, 2 New Documentaries: L.M. Montgomery's Island and Kevin Sullivan's Classic featuring new cast and crew interviews, missing scenes, lost footage and a condensed, 10-minute version of the missing "Road to Avonlea" episode "Marilla Cuthbert's Death". In 2016, Sullivan Entertainment announced it would launch their own streaming service called Gazebo TV that would feature the Anne of Green Gables series among other titles produced by the company. The service launched in early 2017. In 1908, Lucy Maude Montgomery signed a contract with the L.C. Page & Company publishing house in Boston that permitted them to publish all of her books for 5 years on the same terms: the main terms were a 10% royalty and world rights to all of the author's books; part it also included the right to publish all of her future works. The relationship with Pageant actually spanned nearly ten years and resulted in the publication of nine novels and collections of short stories. However, when Montgomery contracted with a Canadian publisher (McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart), L.C. Page claimed that they had the exclusive rights to her new books and threatened to sue her. Montgomery instead took L.C. Page to court to recover withheld royalties. The lawsuit resulted in a settlement in 1919 whereby L.C. Page bought out all of Montgomery's rights to all of her novels published by them. The settlement excluded any reversionary rights that might become due for the benefit of either her or her heirs if such rights were to become enacted. The settlement paid Montgomery a flat sum of $18,000; at the time an amount she would have expected to see earned from her works during her lifetime. Sullivan purchased dramatic rights from Montgomery's heirs in 1984, believing that they owned reversionary rights that had come into place as a result of changes to the copyright act subsequent to Montgomery's death. After Sullivan's films were successful around the world and brought legions of tourists to Prince Edward Island, the Montgomery heirs established an Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority with the Province of Prince Edward Island to control trademarks to preserve Montgomery's works, through the mechanism of official trademarks. The heirs and the AGGLA became successful at asserting control over the booming Anne-themed tourist industry that the province enjoyed, because of the lack of clarity about the different protections afforded by copyright, trademark and official marks in Canada. AGGLA and the heirs tried to assert control over trademarks Sullivan had established to their various Anne movies (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Green Gables—the Continuing Story) and Road to Avonlea properties both in Canada, the US and Japan. A Japanese court then determined that the heirs were not entitled to the reversionary rights that they claimed they had sold to Sullivan and that the AGGLA was set up for pursuing private interests and not for serving public interests such as maintaining or managing the value, fame or reputation of the literary work, the author or even the main character of Anne. The Court determined that the AGGLA was the heirs' private profit-seeking enterprise as far as its activities were concerned. Sullivan and the heirs came into further conflict during the 1990s. Sullivan was sued by the heirs. Their contractual agreement with Sullivan said that he would pay them a flat $425,000 (CAD) fee for the right to adapt the first book (and another $100,000 to do the second movie, Anne of Avonlea), plus 10% of the profits of Anne 1 and 5% of the profits of Anne 2. The contract also gave them the right to examine Sullivan Entertainment's financial records. However, when Sullivan claimed that neither of the movies had earned a net profit and (the heirs assert) refused to allow them to audit his books, they served a claim against him. Sullivan argued that the heirs and the AGGLA had enjoined the films by usurping the Sullivan trademarks and drastically reduced the profitability of the ventures. The heirs staged a press conference in 1998 at exactly the time when Sullivan was about to close a public offering to take his company public, to force Sullivan to pay them further receipts. The offering however was pulled by the underwriters and Sullivan counter-sued for libel, insisting that the heirs should pay damages of $55 million to all parties involved. A Superior Court of Ontario judge dismissed his suit on January 19, 2004. The Montgomery heirs subsequently dropped their claim for Sullivan to pay them any royalties. However, a settlement between Sullivan, the Montgomery heirs and the AGGLA was reached in 2006 to deal with all of their outstanding disagreements. Although Kevin Sullivan's works were initially based upon the works of Montgomery, Sullivan developed most of his successful Anne-related film properties (Anne of Avonlea, Anne -the Continuing Story, Anne – A New Beginning and Road to Avonlea) based on original material, not directly adapted from Montgomery's books. Many questions have been raised in court as to the author's heirs' rights in her copyright. The heirs have tried to extend the copyright in Montgomery's unpublished works until 2017 but lost that opportunity in 2004 when the Canadian Parliament rejected the provision they had pursued so ardently for the unpublished works of dead authors. In a Japanese court decision which addressed the heirs' challenge to the validity of Sullivan's ownership of Japanese trademark's in the movie property, the Japanese High Court commented on the heirs' entitlement to reversionary copyright which formed the basis of the rights that the family claimed to have sold to Sullivan. The Court stated that the heirs' reversionary copyright was non- existent and that there was no need for Sullivan or any other entity to account to the heirs for the use of the trademark in Japan. The Court stated: "It is not clear from a legal point of view why permission from the heirs of the author or its related entity the Anne of Green Gables Licensing (AGGLA) authority was necessary." The Japanese Court also extensively scrutinized whether the copyright in the book Anne of Green Gables had ever devolved to the heirs and called for extensive filing of evidence on this point. Sullivan filed an original 1919 agreement between Montgomery and L.C. Page & Co. which specifically excluded the heirs' reversionary claims. Montgomery sold all of her publishing and copyright to her series of novels, in perpetuity, to her original American publisher in 1919, to the exclusion of her heirs. The Court further questioned whether the heirs' licensing authority was engaged in activities of sufficient public interest as to qualify as a controlling body of Montgomery's works. The Court stated: "...the possibility cannot be denied that the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority is the heirs' private profit-seeking enterprise as far as the activities with which the heirs of the subject case are involved are concerned. It is not proved from the evidence submitted in the subject case that the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority is involved in activities of public interest that are sufficient for the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority to be qualified as the owner of the registration of the subject mark as a controlling body of the subject literary work." After recent speculation as to who owned the copyrights and trademarks concerning Anne of Green Gables today, there are principally two entities that control rights relating to Anne of Green Gables. The Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority (AGGLA – which includes Lucy Maude Montgomery's heirs and the Province of Prince Edward Island) and Sullivan Entertainment (the producers of the well-known films and TV series based on Montgomery's novels). The Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority controls certain exclusive trademarks relating to Anne of Green Gables commercial merchandise and service related to Montgomery's literary works and any copyright in the Montgomery books which have not reverted to the public domain. Sullivan Entertainment Inc, under agreement with the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority, retains all of the dramatic copyright and motion picture copyright in over 125 hours of their original movies, mini-series and television series based on both the Anne and Avonlea series of novels and certain trade-marks relating to Sullivan sourced Anne of Green Gables merchandise and services. Sullivan's use of the Anne of Green Gables trademarks extends from motion picture products and books, DVDs, CDs etc. to all commercial merchandise related to Sullivan's films and television series based on their visual images, costume and production designs, settings, themes and original characters. Sullivan Entertainment also solely controls the commercial trademarks to Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Road to Avonlea. The L.M. Montgomery Literary Society This site includes information about Montgomery's actual works (not reinterpreted), her life, and new research in the newsletter, The Shining Scroll., The Official Anne of Green Gables Movie Website – The official website of Sullivan series of Anne of Green Gables movies, Watch Anne of Green Gables online – The official Streaming Platform for Anne of Green Gables movies, Sullivan Entertainment Website – The Official website of Sullivan Entertainment. Includes a wealth of information on the Anne movies and it's spinoffs, Road to Avonlea Website – The official website for Road to Avonlea, the spinoff to the Green Gables series of movies, L.M. Montgomery Online This scholarly site includes a blog, a bibliography of reference materials, and a complete filmography of all adaptations of Montgomery texts. See, in particular, the page for Anne of Green Gables., The Anne Shirley Homepage – A great resource for all Anne fans with galleries, fan art, timelines, recipes and calendars., An L.M. Montgomery Resource Page – excellent resource on L.M. Montgomery and her legacy in film and television, Anne of Green Gables Centenary – This site includes information about the centenary anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables., https://www.facebook.com/AnnaDeLasTejasVerdes Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC since 1963. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called "the Doctor", an extraterrestrial being, to all appearances human, from the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Accompanied by a number of companions, the Doctor combats a variety of foes while working to save civilisations and help people in need. The show is a significant part of British popular culture, and elsewhere it has gained a cult following. It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot, in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who. The programme was relaunched in 2005, and since then has been produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Doctor Who has also spawned numerous spin-offs, including comic books, films, novels, audio dramas, and the television series Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), K-9 (2009–2010), and Class (2016), and has been the subject of many parodies and references in popular culture. Thirteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the show with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which a Time Lord "transforms" into a new body when the current one is too badly harmed to heal normally. Each actor's portrayal is unique, but all represent stages in the life of the same character, and together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling feature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. The Doctor is currently portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, who took on the role after Peter Capaldi's exit in the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time". Doctor Who follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who goes by the name "the Doctor". The Doctor fled Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension in Space"), a time machine that travels by materialising into and dematerialising out of the time vortex. The TARDIS has a vast interior but appears smaller on the outside, and is equipped with a "chameleon circuit" intended to make the machine take on the appearance of local objects as a disguise; due to a malfunction, the Doctor's TARDIS remains fixed as a blue British police box. Across time and space, the Doctor's many incarnations often find events that pique their curiosity and try to prevent evil forces from harming innocent people or changing history, using only ingenuity and minimal resources, such as the versatile sonic screwdriver. The Doctor rarely travels alone and often brings one or more companions to share these adventures. These companions are usually humans, owing to the Doctor's fascination with planet Earth, which also leads to frequent collaborations with the international military task force UNIT when the Earth is threatened. The Doctor is centuries old and, as a Time Lord, has the ability to regenerate in case of mortal damage to the body, taking on a new appearance and personality. The Doctor has gained numerous reoccurring enemies during their travels, including the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master, another renegade Time Lord. Doctor Who first appeared on BBC TV at 17:16:20 GMT on Saturday, 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy the previous day. It was to be a regular weekly programme, each episode 25 minutes of transmission length. Discussions and plans for the programme had been in progress for a year. The head of drama Sydney Newman was mainly responsible for developing the programme, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the head of the script department (later head of serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series. The programme was originally intended to appeal to a family audience as an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history. On 31 July 1963, Whitaker commissioned Terry Nation to write a story under the title The Mutants. As originally written, the Daleks and Thals were the victims of an alien neutron bomb attack but Nation later dropped the aliens and made the Daleks the aggressors. When the script was presented to Newman and Wilson it was immediately rejected as the programme was not permitted to contain any "bug- eyed monsters". According to producer Verity Lambert; "We didn't have a lot of choice — we only had the Dalek serial to go ... We had a bit of a crisis of confidence because Donald [Wilson] was so adamant that we shouldn't make it. Had we had anything else ready we would have made that." Nation's script became the second Doctor Who serial – The Daleks (also known as The Mutants). The serial introduced the eponymous aliens that would become the series' most popular monsters, and was responsible for the BBC's first merchandising boom. The BBC drama department's serials division produced the programme for 26 seasons, broadcast on BBC 1. Falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of the show and a less-prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, controller of BBC 1. Although it was effectively cancelled with the decision not to commission a planned 27th season, which would have been broadcast in 1990, the BBC repeatedly affirmed, over several years, that the series would return. While in-house production had ceased, the BBC hoped to find an independent production company to relaunch the show. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, had approached the BBC about such a venture as early as July 1989, while the 26th season was still in production. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a Doctor Who television film, broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996 as an international co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC and BBC Worldwide. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series. Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television programme Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003. In September of that year, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series after several years of attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series were writer Russell T Davies and BBC Cymru Wales head of drama Julie Gardner. Doctor Who finally returned with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005. There have since been ten further series in 2006–2008, 2010–2015 and 2017–2018, and Christmas Day specials every year since 2005. No full series was broadcast in 2009, although four additional specials starring David Tennant were made. Davies left the show in 2010 after the end of series 4 and the David Tennant specials were completed. Steven Moffat, a writer under Davies was announced as Davies' successor along with Matt Smith as the new doctor. In January 2016, Moffat announced that he would step down after the 2017 finale, to be replaced by Chris Chibnall in 2018. The tenth series debuted in April 2017, with a Christmas special preceding it in 2016. The 2005 version of Doctor Who is a direct plot continuation of the original 1963–1989 series and the 1996 telefilm. This is similar to the 1988 continuation of , but differs from most other series relaunches which have either been reboots (for example, Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman) or set in the same universe as the original but in a different time period and with different characters (for example, and spin-offs). The programme has been sold to many other countries worldwide (see Viewership). It has been claimed that the transmission of the first episode was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day; in fact it went out after a delay of eighty seconds. The BBC believed that many viewers had missed this introduction to a new series due to the coverage of the assassination, as well as a series of power blackouts across the country, and they broadcast it again on 30 November 1963, just before episode two. The programme soon became a national institution in the United Kingdom, with a large following among the general viewing audience. Many renowned actors asked for or were offered guest- starring roles in various stories. With popularity came controversy over the show's suitability for children. Morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC in the 1970s over what she saw as the show's frightening and gory content. John Nathan-Turner produced the series during the 1980s and was heard to say that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments, as the show's ratings would increase soon after she had made them. The phrase "Hiding behind (or 'watching from behind') the sofa" entered British pop culture, signifying in humour the stereotypical early-series behaviour of children who wanted to avoid seeing frightening parts of a television programme while remaining in the room to watch the remainder of it. The phrase retains this association with Doctor Who, to the point that in 1991 the Museum of the Moving Image in London named their exhibition celebrating the programme "Behind the Sofa". The electronic theme music too was perceived as eerie, novel, and frightening, at the time. A 2012 article placed this childhood juxtaposition of fear and thrill "at the center of many people's relationship with the show", and a 2011 online vote at Digital Spy deemed the series the "scariest TV show of all time". During Jon Pertwee's second series as the Doctor, in the serial Terror of the Autons (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims, and blank-featured policemen marked the apex of the show's ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade include a disembodied brain falling to the floor in The Brain of Morbius and the Doctor apparently being drowned by a villain in The Deadly Assassin (both 1976). A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that, by their own definition of violence ("any act[s] which may cause physical and/or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental") Doctor Who was the most violent of the drama programmes the corporation produced at the time. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience regarded the show as "very unsuitable" for family viewing. Responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that, "to compare the violence of Dr Who, sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood, is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously." The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the show in the public's consciousness; BBC scriptwriter Anthony Coburn, who lived in the resort of Herne Bay, Kent, was one of the people who conceived the idea of a police box as a time machine. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trade mark to use the TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who. In 1998, the Metropolitan Police Authority filed an objection to the trade mark claim; but in 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC. The programme's broad appeal attracts audiences of children and families as well as science fiction fans. The 21st century revival of the programme has become the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule, and has "defined the channel". Since its return, Doctor Who has consistently received high ratings, both in number of viewers and as measured by the Appreciation Index. In 2007, Caitlin Moran, television reviewer for The Times, wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British". Director Steven Spielberg has commented that "the world would be a poorer place without Doctor Who". On 4 August 2013, a live programme titled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor was broadcast on BBC One, during which the actor who was going to play the Twelfth Doctor was revealed. The live show was watched by an average of 6.27 million in the UK, and was also simulcast in the United States, Canada and Australia. Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons on BBC One, from 23 November 1963 until 6 December 1989. During the original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "serial") — usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years. Some notable exceptions were: The Daleks' Master Plan, which aired twelve episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser, "Mission to the Unknown", featuring none of the regular cast); almost an entire season of seven-episode serials (season 7); the ten-episode serial The War Games; and The Trial of a Time Lord, which ran for fourteen episodes (albeit divided into three production codes and four narrative segments) during season 23. Occasionally serials were loosely connected by a story-line, such as season 8 focusing on the Doctor battling a rogue Time Lord called the Master, season 16's quest for the Key to Time, season 18's journey through E-Space and the theme of entropy, and season 20's Black Guardian trilogy. The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule. It initially alternated stories set in the past, which taught younger audience members about history, and with those in the future or outer space, focusing on science. This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom was a science teacher and another a history teacher. However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme, and the history-orientated episodes, which were not popular with the production team, were dropped after The Highlanders (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: Black Orchid (1982), set in 1920s England. The early stories were serialised in nature, with the narrative of one story flowing into the next, and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes. Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, and the individual parts were simply assigned episode numbers. Of the programme's many writers, Robert Holmes was the most prolific, while Douglas Adams became the most well known outside Doctor Who itself, due to the popularity of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy works. The serial format changed for the 2005 revival, with a series usually consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts, on overseas commercial channels), and an extended 60-minute episode broadcast on Christmas Day. This system was shortened to twelve episodes and one Christmas special following the revival's eighth series, and ten episodes from the eleventh series. Each series includes both standalone and multiple episodic stories, linked with a loose story arc that is resolved in the series finale. As in the early "classic" era, each episode, whether standalone or part of a larger story, has its own title. Occasionally, regular-series episodes will exceed the 45-minute run time; notably, the episodes "Journey's End" from 2008 and "The Eleventh Hour" from 2010 exceeded an hour in length. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show, a special 3D episode, "The Day of the Doctor", was broadcast in 2013. In March 2013, it was announced that Tennant and Piper would be returning, and that the episode would have a limited cinematic release worldwide. In April 2015, Steven Moffat confirmed that Doctor Who would run for at least another five years, extending the show until 2020. In June 2017, it was announced that due to the terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15. Between about 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's various video tape and film libraries were either destroyed, wiped, or suffered from poor storage which led to severe deterioration from broadcast quality. This included many old episodes of Doctor Who, mostly stories featuring the first two Doctors: William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. In all, 97 of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are not held in the BBC's archives (most notably seasons 3, 4, 5, from which 79 episodes are missing). In 1972, almost all episodes then made were known to exist at the BBC, while by 1978 the practice of wiping tapes and destroying "spare" film copies had been brought to a stop. No 1960s episodes exist on their original videotapes (all surviving prints being film transfers), though some were transferred to film for editing before transmission, and exist in their broadcast form. Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries who bought prints for broadcast, or by private individuals who acquired them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed from the television screen onto 8 mm cine film and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all of the lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show. Short clips from every story with the exception of Marco Polo (1964), "Mission to the Unknown" (1965) and The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966) also exist. In addition to these, there are off-screen photographs made by photographer John Cura, who was hired by various production personnel to document many of their programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including Doctor Who. These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. These amateur reconstructions have been tolerated by the BBC, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low-quality copies. One of the most sought-after lost episodes is part four of the last William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet (1966), which ends with the First Doctor transforming into the Second. The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor-quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, as it was shown on the children's magazine show Blue Peter. With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now under way to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material. "Official" reconstructions have also been released by the BBC on VHS, on MP3 CD-ROM, and as special features on DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio Cosgrove Hall, reconstructed the missing episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion (1968), using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006. The missing episodes of The Reign of Terror were animated by animation company Theta-Sigma, in collaboration with Big Finish, and became available for purchase in May 2013 through Amazon.com. Subsequent animations made in 2013 include The Tenth Planet, The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Moonbase (1967). In April 2006, Blue Peter launched a challenge to find missing Doctor Who episodes with the promise of a full-scale Dalek model as a reward. In December 2011, it was announced that part 3 of Galaxy 4 (1965) and part 2 of The Underwater Menace (1967) had been returned to the BBC by a fan who had purchased them in the mid-1980s without realising that the BBC did not hold copies of them. On 10 October 2013, the BBC announced that films of eleven episodes, including nine missing episodes, had been found in a Nigerian television relay station in Jos. Six of the eleven films discovered were the six-part serial The Enemy of the World (1968), from which all but the third episode had been missing. The remaining films were from another six-part serial, The Web of Fear (1968), and included the previously missing episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6. Episode 3 of The Web of Fear is still missing. The Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. In the programme's early days, the character was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable time machine, the "TARDIS" (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), which notably appears much larger on the inside than on the outside (a quality referred to as "dimensional transcendentality"). The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into a more compassionate figure and was eventually revealed to be a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, which the Doctor fled by stealing the TARDIS. Producers introduced the concept of regeneration to permit the recasting of the main character. This was prompted by the poor health of the original star, William Hartnell. The term "regeneration" was not conceived until the Doctor's third on-screen regeneration; Hartnell's Doctor merely described undergoing a "renewal", and the Second Doctor underwent a "change of appearance". The device has allowed for the recasting of the actor various times in the show's history, as well as the depiction of alternative Doctors either from the Doctor's relative past or future. The serials The Deadly Assassin (1976) and Mawdryn Undead (1983) established that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times, for a total of 13 incarnations. This line became stuck in the public consciousness despite not often being repeated, and was recognised by producers of the show as a plot obstacle for when the show finally had to regenerate the Doctor a thirteenth time. The episode "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) depicted the Doctor acquiring a new cycle of regenerations, starting from the Twelfth Doctor, due to the Eleventh Doctor being the product of the Doctor's twelfth regeneration from his original set. Although the idea of casting a woman as the Doctor had been suggested by the show's writers several times, including by Newman in 1986 and Davies in 2008, until 2017, all official depictions were played by men. Jodie Whittaker took over the role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of the 2017 Christmas special, and is the first woman to be cast as the character. Whittaker had previously starred in television series such as Return to Cranford, Broadchurch alongside David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) and the dystopian anthology Black Mirror. The show introduced the Time Lords' ability to change gender on regeneration in earlier episodes, first in dialogue, then with Michelle Gomez's version of The Master. In addition to those actors who have headlined the series, others have portrayed versions of the Doctor in guest roles. Notably, in 2013, John Hurt guest-starred as a hitherto unknown incarnation of the Doctor known as the War Doctor in the run-up to the show's 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor". He is shown in mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor" retroactively inserted into the show's fictional chronology between McGann and Eccleston's Doctors, although his introduction was written so as not to disturb the established numerical naming of the Doctors. Another example is from the 1986 serial The Trial of a Time Lord, where Michael Jayston portrayed the Valeyard, who is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between the twelfth and final incarnation. On rare occasions, other actors have stood in for the lead. In The Five Doctors, Richard Hurndall played the First Doctor due to William Hartnell's death in 1975; 34 years later David Bradley similarly replaced Hartnell in Twice Upon a Time. In Time and the Rani, Sylvester McCoy briefly played the Sixth Doctor during the regeneration sequence, carrying on as the Seventh. For more information, see the list of actors who have played the Doctor. In other media, the Doctor has been played by various other actors, including Peter Cushing in two films. The casting of a new Doctor has often inspired debate and speculation. Common topics of focus include the Doctor's gender (prior to the casting of Whittaker, all official incarnations were male), race (all Doctors to date have been white) and age (the youngest actor to be cast is Smith at 26, and the oldest are Capaldi and Hartnell, both 55). There have been instances of actors returning at later dates to reprise the role of their specific Doctor. In 1973's The Three Doctors, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton returned alongside Jon Pertwee. For 1983's The Five Doctors, Troughton and Pertwee returned to star with Peter Davison, and Tom Baker appeared in previously unseen footage from the uncompleted Shada serial. For this episode, Richard Hurndall replaced William Hartnell. Patrick Troughton again returned in 1985's The Two Doctors with Colin Baker. In 2007, Peter Davison returned in the Children in Need short "Time Crash" alongside David Tennant, and in 2013's 50th anniversary special episode, "The Day of the Doctor", David Tennant's Tenth Doctor appeared alongside Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and John Hurt as the War Doctor, as well as brief footage from all of the previous actors. In 2017, the First Doctor (this time portrayed by David Bradley) returned alongside Peter Capaldi in "The Doctor Falls" and "Twice Upon a Time" (both 2017). In "The Name of the Doctor" (2013), the Eleventh Doctor meets a previously unseen incarnation of himself, subsequently revealed to be the War Doctor. Additionally, multiple incarnations of the Doctor have met in various audio dramas and novels based on the television show. Throughout the programme's long history, there have been revelations about the Doctor that have raised additional questions. In The Brain of Morbius (1976), it was hinted that the First Doctor might not have been the first incarnation (although the other faces depicted might have been incarnations of the Time Lord Morbius). In subsequent stories the First Doctor was depicted as the earliest incarnation of the Doctor. In Mawdryn Undead (1983), the Fifth Doctor explicitly confirmed that he was then currently in his fifth incarnation. Later that same year, during 1983's 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors, the First Doctor enquires as to the Fifth Doctor's regeneration; when the Fifth Doctor confirms "Fourth", the First Doctor excitedly replies "Goodness me. So there are five of me now." In 2010, the Eleventh Doctor similarly calls himself "the Eleventh" in "The Lodger". In the 2013 episode "The Time of the Doctor," the Eleventh Doctor clarified he was the product of the twelfth regeneration, due to a previous incarnation which he chose not to count and one other aborted regeneration. The name Eleventh is still used for this incarnation; the same episode depicts the prophesied "Fall of the Eleventh" which had been trailed throughout the series. During the Seventh Doctor's era, it was hinted that the Doctor was more than just an ordinary Time Lord. In the 1996 television film, the Eighth Doctor describes himself as being "half human". The BBC's FAQ for the programme notes that "purists tend to disregard this", instead focusing on his Gallifreyan heritage. The programme's first serial, An Unearthly Child, shows that the Doctor has a granddaughter, Susan Foreman. In the 1967 serial, Tomb of the Cybermen, when Victoria Waterfield doubts the Doctor can remember his family because of, "being so ancient", the Doctor says that he can when he really wants to—"The rest of the time they sleep in my mind". The 2005 series reveals that the Ninth Doctor thought he was the last surviving Time Lord, and that his home planet had been destroyed; in "The Empty Child" (2005), Dr. Constantine states that, "Before the war even began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither." The Doctor remarks in response, "Yeah, I know the feeling." In "Smith and Jones" (2007), when asked if he had a brother, he replied, "No, not any more." In both "Fear Her" (2006) and "The Doctor's Daughter" (2008), he states that he had, in the past, been a father. In "The Wedding of River Song" (2011), it is implied that the Doctor's true name is a secret that must never be revealed; this is explored further in "The Name of the Doctor" (2013), when River Song speaking his name allows the Great Intelligence to enter his tomb, and in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) where speaking his true name becomes the signal by which the Time Lords would know they can safely return to the universe. The companion figure – generally a human – has been a constant feature in Doctor Who since the programme's inception in 1963. One of the roles of the companion is to be a reminder for the Doctor's "moral duty". The Doctor's first companions seen on screen were his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and her teachers Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell). These characters were intended to act as audience surrogates, through which the audience would discover information about the Doctor who was to act as a mysterious father figure. The only story from the original series in which the Doctor travels alone is The Deadly Assassin (1976). Notable companions from the earlier series included Romana (Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward), a Time Lady; Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen); and Jo Grant (Katy Manning). Dramatically, these characters provide a figure with whom the audience can identify, and serve to further the story by requesting exposition from the Doctor and manufacturing peril for the Doctor to resolve. The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home or find new causes — or loves — on worlds they have visited. Some have died during the course of the series. Companions are usually human, or humanoid aliens. Since the 2005 revival, the Doctor generally travels with a primary female companion, who occupies a larger narrative role. Steven Moffat described the companion as the main character of the show, as the story begins anew with each companion and she undergoes more change than the Doctor. The primary companions of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) with Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) recurring as secondary companion figures. The Eleventh Doctor became the first to travel with a married couple, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), whilst out-of-sync meetings with River Song (Alex Kingston) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) provided ongoing story arcs. The tenth series introduced Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts, the Doctor's newest traveling companion. Bill Potts is the Doctor's first openly gay companion. Pearl Mackie said that the increased representation for LGBTQ people is important on a mainstream show. Some companions have gone on to re-appear, either in the main series or in spin-offs. Sarah Jane Smith became the central character in The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–11) following a return to Doctor Who in 2006. Guest stars in the series included former companions Jo Grant, K9, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). The character of Jack Harkness also served to launch a spin-off, Torchwood, (2006–2011) in which Martha Jones also appeared. When Sydney Newman commissioned the series, he specifically did not want to perpetuate the cliché of the "bug-eyed monster" of science fiction. However, monsters were popular with audiences and so became a staple of Doctor Who almost from the beginning. With the show's 2005 revival, executive producer Russell T Davies stated his intention to reintroduce classic icons of Doctor Who. The Autons with the Nestene Consciousness and Daleks returned in series 1, Cybermen in series 2, the Macra and the Master in series 3, the Sontarans and Davros in series 4, and the Time Lords including Rassilon in the 2009–10 Specials. Davies' successor, Steven Moffat, has continued the trend by reviving the Silurians in series 5, Cybermats in series 6, the Great Intelligence and the Ice Warriors in Series 7, and Zygons in the 50th Anniversary Special. Since its 2005 return, the series has also introduced new recurring aliens: Slitheen (Raxacoricofallapatorians), Ood, Judoon, Weeping Angels and the Silence. Besides infrequent appearances by enemies such as the Ice Warriors, Ogrons, the Rani, and Black Guardian, three adversaries have become particularly iconic: the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master. The Dalek race, which first appeared in the show's second serial in 1963, are Doctor Whos oldest villains. The Daleks are Kaleds from the planet Skaro, mutated by the scientist Davros and housed in mechanical armour shells for mobility. The actual creatures resemble octopuses with large, pronounced brains. Their armour shells have a single eye-stalk, a sink-plunger-like device that serves the purpose of a hand, and a directed-energy weapon. Their main weakness is their eyestalk; attacks upon them using various weapons can blind a Dalek, making it go mad. Their chief role in the series plot, as they frequently remark in their instantly recognisable metallic voices, is to "exterminate" all non-Dalek beings. They even attack the Time Lords in the Time War, as shown during the 50th Anniversary of the show. They continue to be a recurring 'monster' within the Doctor Who franchise, their most recent appearance being the 2019 episodes "Resolution". Davros has also been a recurring figure since his debut in Genesis of the Daleks, although played by several different actors. The Daleks were created by writer Terry Nation (who intended them to be an allegory of the Nazis) and BBC designer Raymond Cusick. The Daleks' début in the programme's second serial, The Daleks (1963–64), made both the Daleks and Doctor Who very popular. A Dalek appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture in 1999, photographed by Lord Snowdon. In "Victory of the Daleks" a new set of Daleks were introduced that come in a range of colours; the colour denoting its role within the species. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies. This led to the race becoming coldly logical and calculating cyborgs, with emotions usually only shown when naked aggression was called for. With the demise of Mondas, they acquired Telos as their new home planet. They continue to be a recurring 'monster' within the Doctor Who franchise. The 2006 series introduced a totally new variation of Cybermen. These Cybus Cybermen were created in a parallel universe by the mad inventor John Lumic; he was attempting to preserve the humans by transplanting their brains into powerful metal bodies, sending them orders using a mobile phone network and inhibiting their emotions with an electronic chip. The Master is the Doctor's archenemy, a renegade Time Lord who desires to rule the universe. Conceived as "Professor Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes", the character first appeared in 1971. As with the Doctor, the role has been portrayed by several actors, since the Master is a Time Lord as well and able to regenerate; the first of these actors was Roger Delgado, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. The Master was briefly played by Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers until Anthony Ainley took over and continued to play the character until Doctor Who's hiatus in 1989. The Master returned in the 1996 television movie of Doctor Who, and was played by American actor Eric Roberts. Following the series revival in 2005, Derek Jacobi provided the character's re-introduction in the 2007 episode "Utopia". During that story, the role was then assumed by John Simm who returned to the role multiple times through the Tenth Doctor's tenure. As of the 2014 episode "Dark Water", it was revealed that the Master had become a female incarnation or "Time Lady", going by the name of "Missy" (short for Mistress, the feminine equivalent of "Master"). This incarnation is played by Michelle Gomez. John Simm returned in his role as the Master in the tenth series. The Doctor Who theme music was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television, and after more than a half century remains one of the most easily recognised. The original theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, with assistance from Dick Mills and was released as a single on Decca F 11837 in 1964. The various parts were built up using musique concrète techniques, by creating tape loops of an individually struck piano string and individual test oscillators and filters. The Derbyshire arrangement served, with minor edits, as the theme tune up to the end of season 17 (1979–80). It is regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music, recorded well before the availability of commercial synthesisers or multitrack mixers. Each note was individually created by cutting, splicing, speeding up and slowing down segments of analogue tape containing recordings of a single plucked string, white noise, and the simple harmonic waveforms of test-tone oscillators, intended for calibrating equipment and rooms, not creating music. New techniques were invented to allow mixing of the music, as this was before the era of multitrack tape machines. On hearing the finished result, Grainer asked, "Jeez, Delia, did I write that?" Although Grainer was willing to give Derbyshire the co-composer credit, it was against BBC policy at the time. A different arrangement was recorded by Peter Howell for season 18 (1980), which was in turn replaced by Dominic Glynn's arrangement for the season-long serial The Trial of a Time Lord in season 23 (1986). Keff McCulloch provided the new arrangement for the Seventh Doctor's era which lasted from season 24 (1987) until the series' suspension in 1989. American composer John Debney created a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's original theme for Doctor Who in 1996. For the return of the series in 2005, Murray Gold provided a new arrangement which featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added; in the 2005 Christmas episode "The Christmas Invasion". A new arrangement of the theme, once again by Gold, was introduced in the 2007 Christmas special episode, "Voyage of the Damned"; Gold returned as composer for the 2010 series. He was responsible for a new version of the theme which was reported to have had a hostile reception from some viewers. In 2011, the theme tune charted at number 228 of radio station Classic FM's Hall of Fame, a survey of classical music tastes. A revised version of Gold's 2010 arrangement had its debut over the opening titles of the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen", and a further revision of the arrangement was made for the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" in November 2013. Versions of the "Doctor Who Theme" have also been released as pop music over the years. In the early 1970s, Jon Pertwee, who had played the Third Doctor, recorded a version of the Doctor Who theme with spoken lyrics, titled, "Who Is the Doctor". In 1978 a disco version of the theme was released in the UK, Denmark and Australia by the group Mankind, which reached number 24 in the UK charts. In 1988 the band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF) released the single "Doctorin' the Tardis" under the name The Timelords, which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in Australia; this version incorporated several other songs, including "Rock and Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter (who recorded vocals for some of the CD-single remix versions of "Doctorin' the Tardis"). Others who have covered or reinterpreted the theme include Orbital, Pink Floyd, the Australian string ensemble Fourplay, New Zealand punk band Blam Blam Blam, The Pogues, Thin Lizzy, Dub Syndicate, and the comedians Bill Bailey and Mitch Benn. Both the theme and obsessive fans were satirised on The Chaser's War on Everything. The theme tune has also appeared on many compilation CDs, and has made its way into mobile-phone ringtones. Fans have also produced and distributed their own remixes of the theme. In January 2011 the Mankind version was released as a digital download on the album Gallifrey And Beyond. On 26 June 2018, producer Chris Chibnall announced that the musical score for series 11 would be provided by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumnus Segun Akinola. Most of the innovative incidental music for Doctor Who has been specially commissioned from freelance composers, although in the early years some episodes also used stock music, as well as occasional excerpts from original recordings or cover versions of songs by popular music acts such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Since its 2005 return, the series has featured occasional use of excerpts of pop music from the 1970s to the 2000s. The incidental music for the first Doctor Who adventure, An Unearthly Child, was written by Norman Kay. Many of the stories of the William Hartnell period were scored by electronic music pioneer Tristram Cary, whose Doctor Who credits include The Daleks, Marco Polo, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Gunfighters and The Mutants. Other composers in this early period included Richard Rodney Bennett, Carey Blyton and Geoffrey Burgon. The most frequent musical contributor during the first 15 years was Dudley Simpson, who is also well known for his theme and incidental music for Blake's 7, and for his haunting theme music and score for the original 1970s version of The Tomorrow People. Simpson's first Doctor Who score was Planet of Giants (1964) and he went on to write music for many adventures of the 1960s and 1970s, including most of the stories of the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker periods, ending with The Horns of Nimon (1979). He also made a cameo appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (as a Music hall conductor). In 1980 starting with the serial The Leisure Hive the task of creating incidental music was assigned to the Radiophonic Workshop. Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell contributed many scores in this period and other contributors included Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke and Jonathan Gibbs. The Radiophonic Workshop was dropped after 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord series, and Keff McCulloch took over as the series' main composer until the end of its run, with Dominic Glynn and Mark Ayres also contributing scores. From the 2005 revival to the 2017 Christmas episode "Twice Upon a Time", all incidental music for the series was composed by Murray Gold and Ben Foster, and has been performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from the 2005 Christmas episode "The Christmas Invasion" onwards. A concert featuring the orchestra performing music from the first two series took place on 19 November 2006 to raise money for Children in Need. David Tennant hosted the event, introducing the different sections of the concert. Murray Gold and Russell T Davies answered questions during the interval and Daleks and Cybermen appeared whilst music from their stories was played. The concert aired on BBCi on Christmas Day 2006. A Doctor Who Prom was celebrated on 27 July 2008 in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual BBC Proms. The BBC Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Choir performed Murray Gold's compositions for the series, conducted by Ben Foster, as well as a selection of classics based on the theme of space and time. The event was presented by Freema Agyeman and guest- presented by various other stars of the show with numerous monsters participating in the proceedings. It also featured the specially filmed mini- episode "Music of the Spheres", written by Russell T Davies and starring David Tennant. On 26 June 2018, producer Chris Chibnall announced that the musical score for the eleventh series would be provided by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumnus Segun Akinola. Six soundtrack releases have been released since 2005. The featured tracks from the first two series, the and featured music from the third and fourth series respectively. The was released on 4 October 2010 as a two disc special edition and contained music from the 2008–2010 specials (The Next Doctor to "End of Time Part 2"). The was released on 8 November 2010. In February 2011, a soundtrack was released for the 2010 Christmas special: "A Christmas Carol", and in December 2011 the was released, both by Silva Screen Records. In 2013, a 50th-anniversary boxed set of audio CDs was released featuring music and sound effects from Doctor Who's 50-year history. The celebration continued in 2016 with the release of Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection Four LP Box Set by New York City-based Spacelab9. The company pressed 1,000 copies of the set on "Metallic Silver" vinyl, dubbed the "Cyberman Edition". Premiering the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the first episode of Doctor Who was repeated with the second episode the following week. Doctor Who has always appeared initially on the BBC's mainstream BBC One channel, where it is regarded as a family show, drawing audiences of many millions of viewers; episodes were also repeated on BBC Three, before its transition to an online-only channel . The programme's popularity has waxed and waned over the decades, with three notable periods of high ratings. The first of these was the "Dalekmania" period (circa 1964–1965), when the popularity of the Daleks regularly brought Doctor Who ratings of between 9 and 14 million, even for stories which did not feature them. The second was the mid to late 1970s, when Tom Baker occasionally drew audiences of over 12 million. An audience survey during the 1970s revealed that at the time 60% of the viewership were adults. During the ITV network strike of 1979, viewership peaked at 16 million. Figures remained respectable into the 1980s, but fell noticeably after the programme's 23rd series was postponed in 1985 and the show was off the air for 18 months. At the time of Season 19's broadcast in 1982 the show was being watched by a global audience of 98 million, 88 million in 38 foreign countries, and an average of ten million in the United Kingdom. Its late 1980s performance of three to five million viewers was seen as poor at the time and was, according to the BBC Board of Control, a leading cause of the programme's 1989 suspension. Some fans considered this disingenuous, since the programme was scheduled against the soap opera Coronation Street, the most popular show at the time. During Tennant's run (the third notable period of high ratings), the show had consistently high viewership; with the Christmas specials regularly attracting over 10 million. The BBC One broadcast of "Rose", the first episode of the 2005 revival, drew an average audience of 10.81 million, third highest for BBC One that week and seventh across all channels. The current revival also garners the highest audience Appreciation Index of any drama on television. Doctor Who has been broadcast internationally outside of the United Kingdom since 1964, a year after the show first aired. , the modern series has been or is currently broadcast weekly in more than 50 countries. Doctor Who is one of the five top-grossing titles for BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm. BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith has said that Doctor Who is one of a small number of "Superbrands" which Worldwide will promote heavily. Only four episodes have ever had their premiere showings on channels other than BBC One. The 1983 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors had its début on 23 November (the actual date of the anniversary) on a number of PBS stations two days prior to its BBC One broadcast. The 1988 story Silver Nemesis was broadcast with all three episodes airing back to back on TVNZ in New Zealand in November, after the first episode had been shown in the UK but before the final two instalments had aired there. Finally, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Canada, 15 days before the BBC One showing, and two days before it aired on Fox in the United States. New Zealand was the first country outside the United Kingdom to screen Doctor Who, beginning in September 1964, and continued to screen the series for many years, including the new series from 2005. In 2018, the series is aired on Fridays on TVNZ 2, and on TVNZ On Demand on the same episode as the UK. In Australia, the show has had a strong fan base since its inception, having been exclusively first run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) since January 1965. (See Doctor Who in Australia) The ABC has periodically repeated episodes; of note were the weekly screenings of all available classic episodes starting in 2003, for the show's 40th anniversary, and the weekdaily screenings of all available revived episodes in 2013 for the show's 50th anniversary. The ABC broadcasts the modern series first run on ABC1 and ABC ME, with repeats on ABC2. The ABC also provided partial funding for the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983. The series also has a fan base in the United States, where it was shown in syndication from the 1970s to the 1990s, particularly on PBS stations. TVOntario picked up the show in 1976 beginning with The Three Doctors and aired each series (several years late) through to series 24 in 1991. From 1979 to 1981, TVO airings were bookended by science-fiction writer Judith Merril who introduced the episode and then, after the episode concluded, tried to place it in an educational context in keeping with TVO's status as an educational channel. Its airing of The Talons of Weng-Chiang was cancelled as a result of accusations that the story was racist; the story was later broadcast in the 1990s on cable station YTV. CBC began showing the series again in 2005. The series moved to the Canadian cable channel Space in 2009. For the Canadian broadcast, Christopher Eccleston recorded special video introductions for each episode (including a trivia question as part of a viewer contest) and excerpts from the Doctor Who Confidential documentary were played over the closing credits; for the broadcast of "The Christmas Invasion" on 26 December 2005, Billie Piper recorded a special video introduction. CBC began airing series two on 9 October 2006 at 20:00 E/P (20:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador), shortly after that day's CFL double header on Thanksgiving in most of the country. Series three began broadcasting on CBC on 18 June 2007 followed by the second Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride" at midnight, and the Sci Fi Channel began on 6 July 2007 starting with the second Christmas special at 8:00 pm E/P followed by the first episode. Series four aired in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel (now known as Syfy), beginning in April 2008. It aired on CBC beginning 19 September 2008, although the CBC did not air the Voyage of the Damned special. The Canadian cable network Space (now known as CTV Sci-Fi Channel) broadcast "The Next Doctor" (in March 2009) and all subsequent series and specials. A wide selection of serials are available from BBC Video on DVD, on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States. Every fully extant serial has been released on VHS, and BBC Worldwide continues to regularly release serials on DVD. The 2005 series is also available in its entirety on UMD for the PlayStation Portable. Eight original series serials have been released on Laserdisc and many have also been released on Betamax tape and Video 2000. One episode of Doctor Who (The Infinite Quest) was released on VCD. Only the series from 2005 onwards are also available on Blu- ray, except for the 1970 story Spearhead from Space, released in July 2013 and the 1996 TV film Doctor Who released in September 2016. Many early releases have been re-released as special editions, with more bonus features. There are two Dr. Who feature films: Dr. Who and the Daleks, released in 1965 and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. in 1966. Both are retellings of existing television stories (specifically, the first two Dalek serials, The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth respectively) with a larger budget and alterations to the series concept. In these films, Peter Cushing plays a human scientist named "Dr. Who", who travels with his granddaughter, niece and other companions in a time machine he has invented. The Cushing version of the character reappears in both comic strips and a short story, the latter attempting to reconcile the film continuity with that of the series. In addition, several planned films were proposed, including a sequel, The Chase, loosely based on the original series story, for the Cushing Doctor, plus many attempted television movie and big screen productions to revive the original Doctor Who, after the original series was cancelled. Paul McGann starred in the only television film as the eighth incarnation of the Doctor. After the film, he continued the role in audio books and was confirmed as the eighth incarnation through flashback footage and a mini episode in the 2005 revival, effectively linking the two series and the television movie. In 2011, David Yates announced that he had started work with the BBC on a Doctor Who film, a project that would take three or more years to complete. Yates indicated that the film would take a different approach to Doctor Who, although then Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat stated later that any such film would not be a reboot of the series and a film should be made by the BBC team and star the current TV Doctor. Doctor Who has appeared on stage numerous times. In the early 1970s, Trevor Martin played the role in Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday. In the late 1980s, Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker both played the Doctor at different times during the run of a play titled Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure. For two performances, while Pertwee was ill, David Banks (better known for playing Cybermen) played the Doctor. Other original plays have been staged as amateur productions, with other actors playing the Doctor, while Terry Nation wrote The Curse of the Daleks, a stage play mounted in the late 1960s, but without the Doctor. A pilot episode ("A Girl's Best Friend") for a potential spinoff series, K-9 and Company, was aired in 1981 with Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as companion Sarah Jane Smith and John Leeson as the voice of K9, but was not picked up as a regular series. Concept art for an animated Doctor Who series was produced by animation company Nelvana in the 1980s, but the series was not produced. Following the success of the 2005 series produced by Russell T Davies, the BBC commissioned Davies to produce a 13-part spin-off series titled Torchwood (an anagram of "Doctor Who"), set in modern-day Cardiff and investigating alien activities and crime. The series debuted on BBC Three on 22 October 2006. John Barrowman reprised his role of Jack Harkness from the 2005 series of Doctor Who. Two other actresses who appeared in Doctor Who also star in the series; Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, who also played the similarly named servant girl Gwyneth in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Unquiet Dead", and Naoko Mori who reprised her role as Toshiko Sato first seen in "Aliens of London". A second series of Torchwood aired in 2008; for three episodes, the cast was joined by Freema Agyeman reprising her Doctor Who role of Martha Jones. A third series was broadcast from 6 to 10 July 2009, and consisted of a single five-part story called Children of Earth which was set largely in London. A fourth series, jointly produced by BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and the American entertainment company Starz debuted in 2011. The series was predominantly set in the United States, though Wales remained part of the show's setting. The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen who reprised her role as investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, was developed by CBBC; a special aired on New Year's Day 2007 and a full series began on 24 September 2007. A second series followed in 2008, notable for (as noted above) featuring the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. A third in 2009 featured a crossover appearance from the main show by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. In 2010, a further such appearance featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor alongside former companion actress Katy Manning reprising her role as Jo Grant. A final, three- story fifth series was transmitted in autumn 2011 – uncompleted due to the death of Elisabeth Sladen in early 2011. An animated serial, The Infinite Quest, aired alongside the 2007 series of Doctor Who as part of the children's television series Totally Doctor Who. The serial featured the voices of series regulars David Tennant and Freema Agyeman but is not considered part of the 2007 series. A second animated serial, Dreamland, aired in six parts on the BBC Red Button service, and the official Doctor Who website in 2009. Class, featuring students of Coal Hill School, was first aired on-line on BBC Three from 22 October 2016, as a series of eight 45 minute episodes, written by Patrick Ness. Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor appears in the show's first episode. The series was picked up by BBC America on 8 January 2016 and by BBC One a day later. On 7 September 2017, BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh confirmed that the series had officially been cancelled. Numerous other spin- off series have been created not by the BBC but by the respective owners of the characters and concepts. Such spin-offs include the novel and audio drama series Faction Paradox, Iris Wildthyme and Bernice Summerfield; as well as the made-for-video series P.R.O.B.E.; the Australian-produced television series K-9, which aired a 26-episode first season on Disney XD; and the audio spin- off Counter-Measures. When the revived series of Doctor Who was brought back, an aftershow series was created by the BBC, titled Doctor Who Confidential. There have been three aftershow series created, with the latest one titled , which began airing from the tenth series. Each series follows behind-the-scenes footage on the making of Doctor Who through clips and interviews with the cast, production crew and other people, including those who have participated in the television series in some manner. Each episode deals with a different topic, and in most cases refers to the Doctor Who episode that preceded it. In 1983, coinciding with the series' 20th anniversary, The Five Doctors was shown as part of the annual BBC Children in Need Appeal, however it was not a charity-based production, simply scheduled within the line-up of Friday 25 November 1983. This was the programme's very first co-production with Australian broadcaster ABC. Featuring three of the first five Doctors, a new actor to replace the deceased William Hartnell, and unused footage to represent Tom Baker. This was a full-length, 90-minute film, the longest single episode of Doctor Who produced to date (the television movie ran slightly longer on broadcast where it included commercial breaks). In 1993, for the franchise's 30th anniversary, another charity special, titled Dimensions in Time was produced for Children in Need, featuring all of the surviving actors who played the Doctor and a number of previous companions. It also featured a crossover with the soap opera EastEnders, the action taking place in the latter's Albert Square location and around Greenwich. The special was one of several special 3D programmes the BBC produced at the time, using a 3D system that made use of the Pulfrich effect requiring glasses with one darkened lens; the picture would look normal to those viewers who watched without the glasses. In 1999, another special, , was made for Comic Relief and later released on VHS. An affectionate parody of the television series, it was split into four segments, mimicking the traditional serial format, complete with cliffhangers, and running down the same corridor several times when being chased (the version released on video was split into only two episodes). In the story, the Doctor (Rowan Atkinson) encounters both the Master (Jonathan Pryce) and the Daleks. During the special the Doctor is forced to regenerate several times, with his subsequent incarnations played by, in order, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley. The script was written by Steven Moffat, later to be head writer and executive producer to the revived series. Since the return of Doctor Who in 2005, the franchise has produced two original "mini-episodes" to support Children in Need. The first, aired in November 2005, was an which introduced David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. It was followed in November 2007 by "Time Crash", a 7-minute scene which featured the Tenth Doctor meeting the Fifth Doctor Peter Davison. A set of two mini-episodes, titled "Space" and "Time" respectively, were produced to support Comic Relief. They were aired during the Comic Relief 2011 event. During 2011 Children in Need, an exclusively filmed segment showed the Doctor addressing the viewer, attempting to persuade them to purchase items of his clothing, which were going up for auction for Children in Need. The 2012 edition of CiN featured the mini-episode The Great Detective. Doctor Who has been satirised and spoofed on many occasions by comedians including Spike Milligan (a Dalek invades his bathroom — Milligan, naked, hurls a soap sponge at it) and Lenny Henry. Jon Culshaw frequently impersonates the Fourth Doctor in the BBC Dead Ringers series. Doctor Who fandom has also been lampooned on programs such as Saturday Night Live, The Chaser's War on Everything, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Family Guy, American Dad!, Futurama, South Park, Community as Inspector Spacetime, The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory. As part of the 50th anniversary programmes, former Fifth Doctor Peter Davison directed, wrote and co-starred in the parody The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, which also starred two other former Doctors, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, and cameo appearances from cast and crew involved in the programme, including showrunner Steven Moffat and Doctors Paul McGann, David Tennant and Matt Smith. The Doctor in his fourth incarnation has been represented on several episodes of The Simpsons and Matt Groening's other animated series Futurama. There have also been many references to Doctor Who in popular culture and other science fiction, including ("") and Leverage. In the Channel 4 series Queer as Folk (created by later Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies), the character of Vince was portrayed as an avid Doctor Who fan, with references appearing many times throughout in the form of clips from the programme. In a similar manner, the character of Oliver on Coupling (created and written by current show runner Steven Moffat) is portrayed as a Doctor Who collector and enthusiast. References to Doctor Who have also appeared in the young adult fantasy novels Brisingr and High Wizardry, the video game Rock Band, the Adult Swim comedy show Robot Chicken, the Family Guy episodes "Blue Harvest" and "420", and the game RuneScape. It has also be referenced in Destroy All Humans! 2, by civilians in the game's variation of England, and multiple times throughout the Ace Attorney series. Doctor Who has been a reference in several political cartoons, from a 1964 cartoon in the Daily Mail depicting Charles de Gaulle as a Dalek to a 2008 edition of This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow in which the Tenth Doctor informs an incredulous character from 2003 that the Democratic Party will nominate an African-American as its presidential candidate. The word "TARDIS" is an entry in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the iOS dictionary. There have been various exhibitions of Doctor Who in the United Kingdom, including the now closed exhibitions at: Land's End (Cornwall), Blackpool, Llangollen, Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow, Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry, Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, Melbourne, Australia (only international DW concert to be performed), Kensington Olympia Two, London, Longleat, which ran for 30 years., Cardiff (the city where the series is filmed). The exhibition closed down on the 9th of September 2017 Since its beginnings, Doctor Who has generated hundreds of products related to the show, from toys and games to collectible picture cards and postage stamps. These include board games, card games, gamebooks, computer games, roleplaying games, action figures and a pinball game. Many games have been released that feature the Daleks, including Dalek computer games. The earliest Doctor Who-related audio release was a 21-minute narrated abridgement of the First Doctor television story The Chase released in 1966. Ten years later, the first original Doctor Who audio was released on LP record; Doctor Who and the Pescatons featuring the Fourth Doctor. The first commercially available audiobook was an abridged reading of the Fourth Doctor story State of Decay in 1981. In 1988, during a hiatus in the television show, Slipback, the first radio drama, was transmitted. Since 1999, Big Finish Productions has released several different series of Doctor Who audios on CD. The earliest of these featured the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, with Paul McGann's Eight Doctor joining the line in 2001. Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor began appearing for Big Finish in 2012. Along with the main range, adventures of the First, Second and Third Doctors have been produced in both limited cast and full cast formats, as well as audiobooks. The 2013 series , produced as part of the series' 50th Anniversary celebrations, marked the first time Big Finish created stories (in this case audiobooks) featuring the Doctors from the revived show. Along with this, in May 2016 the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, appeared alongside Catherine Tate in a collection of three audio adventures. In addition to these main lines, both the BBC and Big Finish have produced original audio dramas and audiobooks based on spin-off material, such as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures series. Doctor Who books have been published from the mid-sixties through to the present day. From 1965 to 1991 the books published were primarily novelised adaptations of broadcast episodes; beginning in 1991 an extensive line of original fiction was launched, the Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Missing Adventures. Since the relaunch of the programme in 2005, a new range of novels have been published by BBC Books. Numerous non-fiction books about the series, including guidebooks and critical studies, have also been published, and a dedicated Doctor Who Magazine with newsstand circulation has been published regularly since 1979. This is published by Panini, as is the Doctor Who Adventures magazine for younger fans. See also: List of Doctor Who novelisations, List of Doctor Who anthologies (2009–present), Eighth Doctor Adventures, Past Doctor Adventures, New Series Adventures Numerous Doctor Who video games have been created from the mid-80s through to the present day. One of the recent ones is a match-3 game released in November 2013 for iOS, Android, Amazon App Store and Facebook called . It has been constantly updated since its release and features all of the Doctors as playable characters as well as over 100 companions. Another video game instalment is LEGO Dimensions – in which Doctor Who is one of the many "Level Packs" in the game. At the moment, the pack contains the Twelfth Doctor (who can reincarnate into the others), K9, the TARDIS and a Victorian London adventure level area. The game and pack released in November 2015. Another recent game is called Doctor Who Infinity, which was released on Steam on 7 August 2018. It was nominated for "Best Start-up" at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards 2018. Since the creation of the Doctor Who character by BBC Television in the early 1960s, a myriad of stories have been published about Doctor Who, in different media: apart from the actual television episodes that continue to be produced by the BBC, there have also been novels, comics, short stories, audio books, radio plays, interactive video games, game books, webcasts, DVD extras, and stage performances. The BBC takes no position on the canonicity of any of such stories, and producers of the show have expressed distaste for the idea of canonicity. The show has received recognition as one of Britain's finest television programmes, winning the 2006 British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series and five consecutive (2005–2010) awards at the National Television Awards during Russell T Davies' tenure as executive producer. In 2011, Matt Smith became the first Doctor to be nominated for a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor and in 2016, Michelle Gomez became the first female to receive a BAFTA nomination for the series, getting a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work as Missy. In 2013, the Peabody Awards honoured Doctor Who with an Institutional Peabody "for evolving with technology and the times like nothing else in the known television universe." The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world, the "most successful" science fiction series of all time—based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, and iTunes traffic— and for the largest ever simulcast of a TV drama with its 50th anniversary special. During its original run, it was recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low- budget special effects, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop). In 1975, Season 11 of the series won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best Writing in a Children's Serial. In 1996, BBC television held the "Auntie Awards" as the culmination of their "TV60" series, celebrating 60 years of BBC television broadcasting, where Doctor Who was voted as the "Best Popular Drama" the corporation had ever produced, ahead of such ratings heavyweights as EastEnders and Casualty. In 2000, Doctor Who was ranked third in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, produced by the British Film Institute and voted on by industry professionals. In 2005, the series came first in a survey by SFX magazine of "The Greatest UK Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Series Ever". Also, in the 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows (a Channel 4 countdown in 2001), the 1963–1989 run was placed at number eight. The revived series has received recognition from critics and the public, across various awards ceremonies. It won five BAFTA TV Awards, including Best Drama Series, the highest-profile and most prestigious British television award for which the series has ever been nominated. It was very popular at the BAFTA Cymru Awards, with 25 wins overall including Best Drama Series (twice), Best Screenplay/Screenwriter (thrice) and Best Actor. It was also nominated for 7 Saturn Awards, winning the only Best International Series in the ceremony's history. In 2009, Doctor Who was voted the 3rd greatest show of the 2000s by Channel 4, behind Top Gear and The Apprentice. The episode "Vincent and the Doctor" was shortlisted for a Mind Award at the 2010 Mind Mental Health Media Awards for its "touching" portrayal of Vincent van Gogh. It has won the Short Form of the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the oldest science fiction/fantasy award for films and series, six times since 2006. The winning episodes were "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" (2006), "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2007), "Blink" (2008), "The Waters of Mars" (2010), "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" (2011), and "The Doctor's Wife" (2012). The 2016 Christmas special "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" is also a finalists for the 2017 Hugo Awards. Doctor Who star Matt Smith won Best Actor in the 2012 National Television awards alongside Karen Gillan who won Best Actress. Doctor Who has been nominated for over 200 awards and has won over a hundred of them. In 2004 and 2007, Doctor Who was ranked #18 and #22 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it as the #6 sci-fi show. As a British series, the majority of its nominations and awards have been for national competitions such as the BAFTAs, but it has occasionally received nominations in mainstream American awards, most notably a nomination for "Favorite Sci-Fi Show" in the 2008 People's Choice Awards and the series has been nominated multiple times in the Spike Scream Awards, with Smith winning Best Science Fiction Actor in 2011. The Canadian Constellation Awards have also recognised the series. Bradshaw, Simon, Anthony Keen and Graham Sleight (eds.) (2011) The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T Davies Era of the New Doctor Who. Open access, Chapman, James. 2013. Inside the TARDIS: The Worlds of Doctor Who, revised edition. IB Tauris., Charles, Alec. "War without End?: Utopia, the Family, and the Post-9/11 World in Russell T. Davies's" Doctor Who"." Science Fiction Studies (2008): 450-465., Fisher, R. Michael, and Barbara Bickel. "The Mystery of Dr. Who? On A Road Less Traveled in Art Education." Journal of Social Theory in Art Education 26.1 (2006): 28-57., Fiske, John. "Popularity and ideology: A structuralist reading of Dr. Who." Interpreting television: Current research perspectives (1984): 165-198., McCormack, Una (2011) He’s Not the Messiah: Undermining Political and Religious Authority in New Doctor Who. In Bradshaw, S., Anthony Keen and Graham Sleight (eds), The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who. The Science Fiction Foundation., Orthia, Lindy A. "Antirationalist critique or fifth column of scientism? Challenges from Doctor Who to the mad scientist trope." Public understanding of science 20.4 (2011): 525-542., Perryman, Neil. Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media: A Case Study in Transmedia Storytelling. Convergence 14.1 (2008): 21-39., Charles, Alec. 2011. "The crack of doom: The uncanny echoes of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who." Science Fiction Film and Television; Vol 4, Issue 1, Spring 2011. Liverpool University Press. This analysis is framed specifically by the Freudian notion of the uncanny, and suggests that Moffat's work on Doctor Who confronts unconscious perceptions, repressed fears and death itself through storytelling techniques which attempt to connect directly with the audience by deconstructing the distance between material reality and the series's fantasy space. Time travel in fiction, Doctor Who in Australia, List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989), List of Doctor Who episodes (2005–present), List of Doctor Who Christmas specials, List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens, Doctor Who in popular culture Matt Hills. Triumph of a Time Lord: Regenerating "Doctor Who" in the Twenty-First Century (I.B. Tauris, 2010) 261 pages. Discusses the revival of the BBC's Doctor Who in 2005 after it had been off the air as a regular series for more than 15 years; topics include the role of "fandom" in the sci-fi programme's return, and notions of "cult" and "mainstream" in television., Tabloid Bintang Indonesia, Doctor Who Pengganti Chalkzone, Majalah GADIS, Kenalan Bareng Doctor Who, Ketemu Bareng 1st–11th Doctor Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Official BBC Worldwide Site, BBC: The Changing Face of Doctor Who – many press cuttings and articles from 1963 onwards, BBC America Doctor Who website, SPACE Channel Doctor Who website Doctor Who Series 4, Doctor Who Series 1, 2 & 3, Doctor Who Classic Season 1 – 1996 Movie The Doctor Who Reference Guide – synopses of every television episode, novel, audio drama, comic strip and spin-off video based on the series, Doctor Who Online, Gallifrey Base, BroaDWcast – Doctor Who transmissions around the World, Doctor Who TV

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The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round on 23 April, a run-off was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! and Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), which Macron won by a decisive margin on 7 May. The presidential election was followed by legislative elections to elect members of the National Assembly on 11 and 18 June. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he would not seek reelection in light of low approval ratings, making him the first incumbent president of the Fifth Republic not to seek re-election. François Fillon of The Republicans (LR), after winning the party's first open primary, and Marine Le Pen of the National Front led first-round opinion polls in November 2016 and mid-January 2017. Polls tightened considerably by late January, and after the publication of revelations that Fillon employed family members in possibly fictitious jobs in a series of politico-financial affairs that came to be colloquially known as "Penelopegate", Macron overtook Fillon to place consistently second in first-round polling. At the same time, Benoît Hamon won the Socialist primary, entering fourth place in the polls. After strong debate performances, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of la France Insoumise rose significantly in polls in late March, overtaking Hamon to place just below Fillon. The first round was held under a state of emergency that was declared following the November 2015 Paris attacks. Following the result of the first round, Macron and Le Pen continued to the 7 May runoff. It was the first time since 2002 that a National Front candidate continued to the second round and the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic that the runoff did not include a nominee of the traditional left or right parties; their combined share of the vote from eligible voters, at approximately 26%, was also a historic low. Estimations of the result of the second round on 7 May indicated that Macron had been elected by a decisive margin, and Le Pen immediately conceded defeat. After the Interior Ministry published preliminary results, the official result of the second round was proclaimed by the Constitutional Council on 10 May. Overall, 43.6% of the registered electorate voted for Macron; in 2002, by contrast, two-thirds of eligible voters voted against then-FN candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. When Macron took office on 14 May, he became the youngest president in French history and the youngest French head of state since Napoleon. He named Édouard Philippe as Prime Minister the next day. The initial government was assembled on 17 May, and legislative elections on 11 and 18 June gave Macron a substantial majority. The President of the French Republic is elected to a five-year term in a two- round election under Article 7 of the Constitution: if no candidate secures an absolute majority of votes in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes. In 2017, the first and second rounds were held 23 April and 7 May. Each presidential candidate must meet a specific set of requirements in order to run. They must be a French citizen of at least 18 years old. It is also necessary for candidates to be on an electoral roll, proving their eligibility to vote. To be listed on the first-round ballot, candidates must secure 500 signatures (often referred to as parrainages) from national or local elected officials from at least 30 different departments or overseas collectivities, with no more than a tenth of these signatories from any single department. The official signature collection period followed the publication of the Journal officiel on 25 February to 17 March. The collection period had initially been scheduled to begin on 23 February, but a visit by Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to China on that date forced a delay. French prefectures mailed sponsorship forms to the 42,000 elected officials eligible to give their signature to a candidate, which must then be delivered to the Constitutional Council for validation. Unlike in previous years, a list of validated signatures was posted on Tuesday and Thursday of every week on the Council's website; in the past, signatories were published only after the official candidate list had been verified after the end of the collection period. The end of the signature collection period also marked the deadline for the declaration of personal assets required of prospective candidates. The final list of candidates was declared on 21 March.The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) ensured that all candidates receive equal time in broadcast media "under comparable programming conditions" from 19 March onward. The CSA warned on 8 March that the amount of speaking time broadcasters had given Fillon and his supporters was "unusually high", even given the unusual circumstances surrounding his candidacy. After the official start of the campaign on 10 April, the CSA strictly enforced equal time in broadcast media. Campaigning for the first round of the election ended at midnight on 21 April, two days before the vote. The Constitutional Council verified the results of the first round between the 24–26 April and officially certified the vote tallies on 26 April, with the same procedure being used for the second round. The new President of the French Republic was set to be proclaimed on 11 May and undergo their investiture ceremony on 14 May at the latest. On 18 March 2017, the Constitutional Council published the names of the 11 candidates who received 500 valid sponsorships, with the order of the list determined by drawing lots. A candidate must secure 500 signatures from elected officials in order to appear on the first-round ballot, with the signature collection period ending on 17 March. The table below lists sponsorships received by the Constitutional Council by candidate. Colour legend The 2017 presidential election was the first in the history of the Fifth Republic in which a sitting president did not seek a second term. On 1 December 2016, incumbent president François Hollande, acknowledging his low approval ratings, announced he would not seek a second term. His then-Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared on 5 December 2016 that he would run in the Socialist primary on 22 January 2017, but he was defeated by Benoît Hamon in its second round on 29 January. François Bayrou, the three-time centrist presidential candidate and leader of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) – who came fourth in 2002, third in 2007, and fifth in 2012 – initially supported the candidacy of Alain Juppé in the primary of the right against his long-time adversary Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he vowed to run against if he won the primary. However, Fillon's victory in the primary – which saw the elimination of Sarkozy in the first round and the defeat of Juppé in the runoff – led Bayrou to reconsider lodging a bid for the presidency, despite his 2014 election promise during his successful mayoral campaign in Pau that he would not seek the presidency if he won. After an extended period of suspense, he finally announced on 22 February that he would not run for a fourth time, instead proposing a conditional alliance with Emmanuel Macron, who accepted his offer. On 9 July 2016, Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) announced that it would hold a primary election before the 2017 presidential election. Those wishing to be nominated required the support of 36 of its "federal councilors" out of 240; nominations were open to individuals in civic society as well. The vote was open to both party members as well as sympathizers who could register to vote in the primary. The announcement came just days after prominent environmentalist Nicolas Hulot's surprise declaration that he would not offer himself as a presidential candidate on 5 July. EELV were the first party to hold a presidential primary for the 2017 election, with two rounds held on 19 October and 7 November 2016. It was contested by deputy, former Minister of Territorial Equality and Housing, and ex-party leader Cécile Duflot, as well as three MEPs – Karima Delli, Yannick Jadot, and Michèle Rivasi. Duflot was considered the early favorite, though she initially opposed holding a primary, aware of the risk that she might lose it; and highlighted her experience in government. Her main proposal was to incorporate the fight against climate change into the Constitution. Jadot was perceived as her main challenger; elected as an MEP in 2009, he worked with Greenpeace France from 2002 to 2008, specializing in transatlantic trade and climate issues. With Thomas Piketty and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, he sought a "primary of all the left", which failed to materialize. He rejected the "candidacy awaited by the political-media world" – that of Duflot, among others – and represented an anti-Duflot force from the party's right wing. Rivasi only barely managed to qualify for the primary, earlier lacking the necessary sponsorships. Like Jadot, she represented the radical wing of the party – albeit on its left flank – and served as deputy for Drôme from 1997 to 2002 and led Greenpeace France from 2003 to 2004. Delli, the daughter of Algerian immigrants, first became involved in politics as part of collective movements, and sought to become an MEP in 2009 after a stint as parliamentary assistant to Marie-Christine Blandin. Also of the party's left-wing, she declared that she would defend a "popular ecology". Jadot and Rivasi advanced to the runoff after scoring 35.61% and 30.16%, respectively, in the first round; the other two candidates were eliminated, with Duflot garnering 24.41% and Delli 9.82%. Jadot won the second round of the primary on 7 November, obtaining 54.25% of the vote against Rivasi's 40.75%, becoming the nominee of the EELV in the presidential election. Jadot, who claimed 496 sponsorships just before the opening of the collection period, withdrew his candidacy on 23 February and endorsed Hamon, the pair having agreed on a common platform. An online vote among EELV primary voters from 24 and 26 February was required to confirm the agreement; an earlier vote to open talks with Hamon and Mélenchon was approved by 89.7% of those electors. The Hamon–Jadot alliance was consummated on 26 February; among those who cast a vote, 79.53% voted to support it, with 15.39% opposed and 5.08% submitting blank ballots, and an overall voter turnout of 55.25% (9,433 votes). This marks the first election since 1969 without a green candidate. After his loss as the nominee of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the 2012 presidential election, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to return to being a "Frenchman among the French". However, he announced on 19 September 2014 that he would seek the presidency of the party, a position he secured in an online vote on 29 November online vote with the backing of 64.50% of party members, against his main opponent Bruno Le Maire's 29.18%. He succeeded the triumvirate of Alain Juppé, François Fillon, and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, which assumed the party's leadership after the resignation of Jean-François Copé. Sarkozy was initially reluctant to accept the idea of holding a right-wing primary for the 2017 presidential election, but on 25 September 2014 he declared his support for a primary of the right after a warning from Juppé, who on 20 August made public his intention to run for the nomination. The rules of the primary were confirmed in April 2015, scheduling the first round of an open primary for 20 November 2016, with a runoff on 27 November if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. Those wishing to vote were required to pay €2 per ballot and sign a charter indicating their adherence to "Republican values of the right and centre". In order to appear on the ballot, prospective candidates needed to present sponsorships from 250 elected officials, including at least 20 parliamentarians from at least 30 departments, with no more than a tenth from the same department, in addition to the signatures of at least 2,500 party members across at least 15 departments, with no more than a tenth from the same department. The charter permitted other parties wishing to participate to set their own sponsorship requirements. The High Authority ultimately determined that seven candidates qualified to compete in the open primary of the right and centre: Fillon, Juppé, Le Maire, Copé, Sarkozy, and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet of the Republicans, the party's name after May 2015, as well as Jean-Frédéric Poisson of the Christian Democratic Party (PCD), who was not required to present signatures as the leader of another party. The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP) were also allowed to participate, but not to present a candidate. The primary was initially fought primarily between Juppé and Sarkozy, the top two candidates in primary polls. Sarkozy's program emphasized the themes of Islam, immigration, security, and defense. He proposed to end family reunifications and reform the right to birthright citizenship, halt the flow of economic migrants, and increase residence requirements to secure French nationality. He reaffirmed his interest in the "assimilation" of immigrants, and intended to ban other menus for school canteens (i.e., options for Muslim students) as well as Muslim headscarves at universities. Sarkozy also suggested that radical imams be expelled and suspected terrorists be detained by authorities and tried by a special anti-terrorist court, in addition a reduction in the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16. He proposed to postpone the increase the retirement age to 64 until 2024, permit exemptions to the 35-hour workweek, cut 300,000 civil service jobs by increasing working hours to 37 per week, and abolish the wealth tax (ISF). Like Le Maire, he did not rule out the possibility of a referendum on the European Union (EU). He also sought a European treaty "refounding", the creation of a European monetary fund, to commit 2% to defense spending by 2025, and to reduce public spending by €100 billion and taxes by €40 billion while reducing the budget deficit to under 3% of GDP. In contrast to Sarkozy, Juppé spoke of a "happy identity" and emphasized the importance of integration as opposed to assimilation. He supported drawing up a common list of "safe countries" to differentiate refugees from economic migrants, setting a "quota" on immigrants as necessary, and to stop providing foreign aid to countries refusing to comply with their obligation to accept deported citizens. He questioned Sarkozy's proposals on Schengen and instead merely acknowledged that it was not functioning correctly, but concurred with him in exempting the acquisition of French nationality by foreigners at the age of 18 if previously convicted. Juppé also demanded transparency on the funding of places of worship, civic training for imams, and, unlike Sarkozy, favored allowing women to wear the Muslim headscarf at universities. On economic issues, he proposed to end the 35-hour workweek, abolish the wealth tax, reduce corporate taxation, and set the retirement age at 65. He also pledged to slash in half the number of parliamentarians, renegotiate Schengen, and increase defense spending in absolute terms by at least €7 billion by 2022. After several strong debate performances by Fillon, however, a second-round Juppé–Sarkozy duel no longer appeared inevitable. Fillon's rise was propelled by his proposals for a rigorous economic program. Seeking €100 billion in cuts, he proposed eliminating 500,000 civil service jobs by 2022 and a return to the 39-hour workweek for civil servants. Like the other primary candidates, he planned to eliminate the wealth tax; in addition, Fillon suggested abolishing the 35-hour workweek – capping it at the 48-hour maximum allowed within the EU – and the implementation of other liberal economic measures. He also adopted a staunchly conservative social program, opposing adoption by same-sex couples and arguing France had no religious problem apart from Islam itself. Like Sarkozy, he sought to expand the capacity of French prisons, but unlike his former superior, he opposed banning religious symbols in public places. He also professed a more pro-Russian stance than other candidates, urging cooperation in Syria against the Islamic State and supporting the "pragmatism" of Vladimir Putin's intervention in the Syrian civil war. The first round of the primary on 20 November saw the unexpected elimination of Sarkozy, with Fillon coming in first with 44.1%, Juppé at 28.6%, and Sarkozy at 20.7% of the vote, and all other candidates far behind. A second round between Fillon and Juppé was confirmed, and Sarkozy announced that he would vote for his former Prime Minister soon after the results became clear. Fillon scored a landslide victory in the 27 November runoff with 66.5% of the vote to Juppé's 33.5% and became the Republicans' nominee; voter turnout – at 4.4 million – was even higher than in the first round. At the 2012 Toulouse Congress, the Socialist Party (PS) modified its statutes to guarantee the selection of a candidate of the left through open primaries, with the National Council of the Socialist Party announcing the timetable and organization of the primaries at least one year beforehand. On 11 January, Libération published an editorial in favor of a "primary of the left and ecologists", and on 9 April the National Council of the Socialist Party unanimously approved the idea of holding such a primary in early December. On 18 June, the National Council finally confirmed that it would organize a primary to select a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. Applications could be submitted from 1 to 15 December, with two rounds of voting planned for 22 and 29 January 2017. Prospective PS candidates were required to sign the primary's charter of ethics requiring candidates to rally behind its winner and to secure the support of 5% of one of the following groups: members of the National Council; Socialist parliamentarians, regional and departmental Socialist councilors in at least 4 regions and 10 departments; or Socialist mayors representing more than 10,000 people in at least 4 regions and 10 departments. The conditions for becoming a candidate of other member parties of the BAP – the PRG, UDE, PE, and Democratic Front (FD) – were determined by the respective parties' leadership. The EELV declared on 20 June that it would not participate in the primary, and the French Communist Party (PCF) did likewise the following day. After declaring his candidacy for the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! also declined to participate, as did Jean-Luc Mélenchon under the banner of la France Insoumise, saying that he did not want to run in a primary with François Hollande since he would not be able to support Hollande if he won. He later reaffirmed this by saying that with the exclusion of the EELV and PRG the primary was not truly "of the left" but a "primary of the Socialist Party". On 1 December, Hollande declared that he would not seek a second term, becoming the first President of the Fifth Republic to renounce a reelection bid. His announcement reflected his high personal unpopularity and resentment among Socialist colleagues regarding remarks he made about cabinet members and other associates in the book Un président ne devrait pas dire ça... (A president should not say that...) by Gérard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, journalists at Le Monde. On 17 December, the High Authority declared that seven candidates qualified to appear on the ballot: four from the Socialist Party – former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Arnaud Montebourg, Benoît Hamon, and Vincent Peillon – and François de Rugy of the PE, Sylvia Pinel of the PRG, and Jean-Luc Bennahmias of the PD. Early opinion polling placed Valls and Montebourg first and second, respectively, with Hamon a close third. Shortly after declaring his candidacy on 5 December, Valls proposed to abolish article 49.3 of the French constitution, a procedure that allows bypassing legislative approval, in a "democratic renaissance"; as Prime Minister, he invoked it on six occasions, using it to pass the Macron and El Khomri laws. He also proposed a 2.5% increase in public spending while keeping the budget deficit under 3%, guaranteeing a "decent income" of €800, reducing the gender pay gap by half, pausing the enlargement of the European Union, appending a charter of secularism to the Constitution, consolidating the nuclear industry, and mandating six months of civic service. He was twice physically attacked during the primary campaign: on 22 December, he was flour- bombed by a protester in Strasbourg saying "we do not forget [the 49.3]!", and on 17 January, he was slapped by a young Breton regionalist in Lamballe, who was subsequently charged. Former Minister of the Economy Arnaud Montebourg, a Socialist rebel known for promoting "made in France", presented a firmly left- wing project shortly after declaring his candidacy in August 2016. He promised to offer French enterprises preference in bidding, reverse the 2011 tax increases on the French middle class, and repeal most of the El Khomri labor law while preserving certain "interesting" social protections such as the "right to disconnect" and "personal activity account". Critical of European austerity, he declared that he would defy the requirement to maintain a budget deficit under 3% of GDP and intended to strengthen intelligence services, require six months of civic service, and achieve gender equality. He also proposed €30 billion in spending to stimulate economic growth, lower the general social contribution (CSG) to increase individuals' purchasing power by €800 a year, create 5,000 new posts in hospitals, call a referendum on a new republic, promulgate a law on the separation of banking activities (as Hollande did), impose a European carbon tax, and establish a national anti- terrorism prosecutor. The signature proposal of Benoît Hamon was the implementation a universal basic income for all French citizens, rolled out in stages beginning in 2018, partially funded by a tax levied on property combining the existing property tax (taxe foncière) and the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), in addition to a tax on robots to fund social protections in general. Like fellow Socialist dissidents, Hamon criticized the El Khomri labor law and promised to repeal it if elected, and suggested that it be replaced with legislation acknowledging the need for greater social protections, including the right to disconnect and recognizing burnout as an occupational disease. He also proposed to reduce the 35-hour workweek to 32 hours, saying that it was time to put an end to the "myth" of economic growth. Another of his flagship proposals was to legalize cannabis, using funds for "prevention" rather than "repression". In the first round of the primary on 22 January, Hamon and Valls received 36.03% and 31.48%, respectively, and advanced to the runoff on 29 January. Montebourg, who secured only 17.52% of votes, declared that he would cast his second-round vote for Hamon soon after the result became apparent. Among the remaining candidates, Peillon secured 6.81% of the vote, de Rugy 3.83%, Pinel 2.00%, and Bennahmias 1.02%. Overall turnout stood at 1.66 million. The legitimacy of the first-round results published by the organizers of the primary was questioned by observers in the French press, who noted that an overnight update added 352,013 votes without significantly changing each candidate's percentage, with vote totals for each candidate increasing by 28%. , president of the organizing committee of the primary, claimed that the anomaly was nothing more than a "bug" induced by pressure to update the level of participation in the first round, effectively acknowledging that the results of the primary were manipulated. Only on 23 January did the High Authority of the primary publish "validated" results. In the second round of the primary on 29 January, Hamon defeated Valls by a comfortable margin, 58.69% to 41.31%; turnout, at 2.05 million, was considerably higher than in the first round. As the winner of the primary, Hamon became the Socialist nominee for president. On 22 February, François de Rugy announced his support for Emmanuel Macron, breaking the commitment requested of former candidates to back the winner of the primary. While acknowledging that Hamon was the legitimate PS nominee, de Rugy said he preferred "coherence to obedience". On 13 March, Le Parisien reported that Valls, rather than backing Hamon, would urge voters to support Macron in the first round of the presidential election; Valls denied the report at the time, but on 29 March declared that he would vote for Macron but would not rally behind his candidacy. On 8 April the High Authority of the PS reminded party members to abide by the "principle of loyalty". On 15 March, the PRG announced its support for Hamon, securing concessions on issues pertaining to European governance, and confirmed an agreement with the Socialist Party for the legislative elections; this followed a period of hesitation after the primary in which the party contemplated Macron's candidacy, which secured several of its parliamentarians' support. On 25 January 2017, the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné alleged that François Fillon employed his wife Penelope as his parliamentary assistant from 1998 and 2002 and for six months in 2012, with no evidence that she completed any substantial work. She collected a monthly salary of €3,900 to €4,600. After her husband's appointment as Minister of Social Affairs in 2002 and during his later tenure as Minister of National Education, she went on to serve until 2007 as a parliamentary aide to Marc Joulaud, Fillon's substitute, earning an increased salary upwards of €7,900 and with still no evidence of substantial work. The article claimed that she received a total of over €500,000 as a parliamentary aide, as well as €100,000 as a literary adviser to the Revue des deux Mondes. Its owner, billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, is a close friend of François Fillon. While deputies in the National Assembly can employ family members, those are still required to complete legitimate work, evidence of which the paper was unable to find. Based on that information and on the same day, the PNF (parquet national financier, or national financial prosecutor's office) initiated a preliminary investigation into possible embezzlement and misuse of public funds. On 26 January, François Fillon appeared on TF1 to respond to these allegations, stating that his wife had "edited my speeches" and "stood in for me at events when I couldn’t be there", also claiming that the reason that she was never seen working in the Palais Bourbon was because "she was never on the front line". In the interview, he disclosed that he also paid two of his children while a Senator for the Sarthe between 2005 and 2007, claiming that he employed them in their capacity as lawyers. He also pledged to resign if he would be personally placed under investigation. However, on 27 January, it was revealed that both Marie and Charles Fillon were only law students when their father employed them during his stint in the Senate, contrary to his statements the previous day. Interrogated by investigators the same day, former editor-in-chief of the Revue des deux Mondes Michel Crépu claimed that only "two or maybe three" bylines in the review were attributed to her, also saying that he had seen "no trace" of any work by her that would "resemble [that of] a literary adviser". On 1 February, a week after its initial report, Le Canard enchaîné published revelations that the total sum received by Penelope Fillon in fictitious jobs apparently totaled more than €930,000; with the addition of the period from 1988 to 1990, her income as a parliamentary assistant now totaled €831,440. In addition, the satirical weekly also revealed that the payments to two of Fillon's children reached nearly €84,000, with €57,084 net for Marie Fillon and €26,651 for Charles Fillon. Video excerpts of a May 2007 Sunday Telegraph interview with Penelope Fillon surfaced on 2 February, in which she claimed that she had "never been his assistant", referring to her husband; The footage aired on Envoyé spécial on France 2 that evening. The PNF expanded investigation into the fictitious employment affair to include Fillon's two eldest children the same day to verify the veracity of their work, after Le Canard enchaîné reported that neither Marie nor Charles Fillon were lawyers at the time their father served in the Senate. In a video on 3 February, François Fillon insisted that he would maintain his candidacy and called on his supporters to "hold the line", seeking to assuage worries from within his own camp about the maintenance of his candidacy. On 6 February, Fillon held a press conference at which he "apologized to the French people" and acknowledged that he had committed an "error" in employing family members as parliamentary assistants, but appended that he "never broke the law". He also argued that his wife's "salary was perfectly justified", adding that everything reported by the press on the issue was "legal and transparent". He said he would not reimburse the payments received by his wife or children, and, saying that he had "nothing to hide", divulged his property holdings. In addition to promising that his lawyers would question the competency of the PNF to carry out the investigation, he lambasted a "media lynching" of his campaign. His remarks followed Juppé's declaration that "NO means NO" earlier in the day in response to rumors that he might replace Fillon as the party's candidate should he decide to drop his bid. Le Canard enchaîné continued its run of stories on Fillon in its issue of 8 February, revealing that Penelope Fillon collected severance payments totaling €45,000, with €16,000 in August 2002 for the period 1998–2002 and €29,000 in 2013 for seventeen months of employment for which she earned €65,839. The satirical weekly also asserted that she received a double salary during the summer of 2002, as she was hired by Joulaud's office on 13 July, more than a month before her contract as a parliamentary assistant with her husband expired, on 21 August. Although aides are eligible to collect severance payments, the law does not permit such a high level for parliamentary assistants. An article in the same issue reported that Marie Fillon was simultaneously employed as a parliamentary assistant while training to become a lawyer, taking the first post in October 2005 and entering the in January 2006. Fillon responded to the claims in a press release by saying that Le Canard enchaîné conflated the amount his wife collected in November 2013 with reported earnings in August 2007 after the conclusion of her work with Joulaud, and denounced the paper's allegations as "lies". On 16 February, Fillon seemingly withdrew his earlier promise that he would terminate his candidacy if placed under formal investigation, saying "even if I am put under investigation, nothing will stop me" in private. In an interview with Le Figaro published on 17 February, he insisted on continuing his campaign, declaring "I am the candidate and I will continue until victory" and that the closer to the election it was, the "more scandalous it would be to deprive the right and centre of a candidate". On 24 February the PNF finally opened a judicial investigation into the "embezzlement of public funds, [...] influence-peddling and failure to comply with transparency obligations of the HATVP" against François Fillon, his wife, two of his children, and Marc Joulaud (who were left unnamed, presumably, to allow for expanding the investigation to other suspects, if necessary). The OCLCIFF, which failed to unearth any tangible proof of work by Fillon's wife as a parliamentary assistant to her husband from 1988 to 1990, 1998 to 2000, and 2012 to 2013 or to Marc Joulaud from 2002 to 2007, and was unconvinced by the two reviews in the Revue des deux Mondes attributed to Penelope Fillon, tasked three investigative judges to continue pursuing the affair. These three judges were identified on 27 February as Serge Tournaire, Stéphanie Tacheau, and Aude Buresi. On 1 March, Fillon was informed that he was summoned to appear before the judges and likely to be placed under formal investigation – generally a precursor to an eventual indictment – on 15 March. In the subsequent hours and days, hundreds of campaign members, allies, and supporters rescinded their support for Fillon, including the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), a centre-right party whose president Jean-Christophe Lagarde backed Juppé in the primary, suspended its participation in the campaign. fifteen campaign staffers, and hundreds of others; a total of 306 elected officials and members of the Fillon campaign withdrew their support for the candidate by 5 March. Many of those rescinding their support speculated about the potential return of Juppé to replace Fillon as the party's candidate, with Fenech urging elected officials file sponsorships for the ex-primary candidate. Meanwhile, associates of Juppé indicated that he was apparently warming to the idea of stepping in to run if needed, "ready but loyal". Despite this chain of defections, François Fillon remained defiant, holding a rally at the Trocadéro on that afternoon intended as show of force. He then appeared on 20 heures on France 2 that evening, during which he refused to give up his candidacy, saying that "there is no alternative" and adding that "no one today can stop me from being a candidate", insisting that "it is not the party that will decide" the fate of his candidacy. He said that the rally at the Trocadéro cemented his legitimacy, and that though he would have stepped down two months ago if indicted then, it was now too close to the presidential election and it would be unfair to voters of the right if he quit now. With a "political committee" planned for the following day, he proposed to assemble a modified campaign team, naming François Baroin, Éric Ciotti, and Luc Chatel, in an attempt to rally support around his candidacy. Immediately after Fillon's appearance, Juppé announced on Twitter that he give a statement to the press in Bordeaux at 10:30 CET the day after. Juppé officially announced his abstention from the race on 6 March, saying that "for me, it is too late", and added that Fillon was at a "dead end" with his allegations of political assassination. The same day, the party's "political committee" rallied behind Fillon, unanimously reaffirming its support for his candidacy. The same day, Le Canard enchaîné revealed that Fillon had failed to declare to the HATVP a €50,000 loan from Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, president of the Revue des deux Mondes. The UDI renewed its support for Fillon that evening, albeit only conditionally. On 13 March, Le Parisien revealed that investigators discovered suspicious wire transfers made by Marie and Charles Fillon to their father while employed by him, with Marie returning €33,000 of the €46,000 she was paid. Charles Fillon, in his hearing, referred to similar transfers to his parents' joint account, worth about 30% of his salary. On the morning of 14 March, Fillon was placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds, embezzlement, and failure to comply with HATVP disclosure requirements. On 16 March the investigation into Fillon was extended to "aggravated fraud, forgery, and falsification of records". In particular, the probe sought to determine whether documents seized during a search of the National Assembly in March were forged in order to corroborate the veracity of Penelope Fillon's work as a parliamentary assistant. The investigation was also expanded into possible influence-peddling related to Fillon's consulting firm 2F Conseil, which was previously hired by billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, owner of the Revue des deux Mondes, which employed Penelope Fillon. In 2013 de Lacharrière also provided a €50,000 loan to François Fillon, who failed to declare it as legally required. On L'Émission politique on 23 March, Fillon said that Bienvenue Place Beauvau, a book co-authored by Didier Hassoux of Le Canard enchaîné, suggested President Hollande ran a shadow cabinet to spread rumours about his opponents, a claim Hassoux subsequently denied. On 24 March, Marc Joulaud, Fillon's former substitute, was formally placed under investigation for embezzlement of public funds. Penelope Fillon was placed under formal investigation for complicity in and concealment of embezzlement and misuse of public funds, as well as aggravated fraud, on 28 March. On 10 April, Mediapart revealed that Penelope Fillon had in fact been paid by the National Assembly starting in 1982, not 1986, as earlier claimed by François Fillon. The edition of Le Canard enchaîné set for publication on 12 April revealed that François Fillon secured his then-fiancée a job three times the minimum wage in a Parisian ministry as early as 1980 while he was serving as deputy chief of staff to Minister of Defence Joël Le Theule; her contract ended in 1981, after 15 months, after the Socialists swept into power. After securing his party's nomination in its presidential primary on 29 January 2017, Socialist Party (PS) dissident Benoît Hamon proposed forming a "governmental majority" with Jean-Luc Mélenchon of la France Insoumise (FI) and Yannick Jadot of Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV), seeking to "reconcile the left and the environmentalists". Though Mélenchon had earlier demonstrated hostility to the possibility of an alliance, he expressed "satisfaction" with Hamon's sentiments shortly after the primary. On 23 February, Jadot cemented an agreement to withdraw his candidacy in favor of Hamon, but on 26 February Hamon acknowledged that talks to secure an alliance with Mélenchon had failed, the pair only agreeing to a code of mutual respect. The talks failed in part because of the candidates' differing positions on matters related to the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB), EU treaties, European defense, and the obligation to maintain a budget deficit below 3% of GDP, among other divergences. During a trip to Algeria on 15 February, Emmanuel Macron, candidate of En Marche!, remarked in an interview with local press that the French presence in the country had been a "crime against humanity" and "truly barbaric", drawing the ire of numerous right-wing French politicians. François Fillon of the Republicans denounced Macron's remarks as a "hatred of our history, this constant repentance is unworthy of a candidate for the presidency of the Republic". Seeking to put aside the controversy in a meeting in Toulon on 18 February, he attempted to qualify his remarks, saying that he was "sorry" for having "hurt" and "offended" many as a result, but nevertheless continued to insist on acknowledging that France had a responsibility for its colonial past, not just in Algeria. His remarks were followed by a temporary resurgence for Fillon in polls of voting intentions. The various investigations of the fictitious employment of 29 parliamentary assistants to 23 National Front (FN) MEPs, implicating the entourage of Marine Le Pen, continued through 2017. These fictitious jobs would constitute €7.5 million in losses for European taxpayers from the period 2010 to 2016. The European Anti-fraud Office () pursued the case, establishing that one of Le Pen's parliamentary assistants, Catherine Griset, never secured a lease in Brussels during the five years she was employed and only rarely appeared in the European Parliament, while another, Thierry Légier, worked as a bodyguard at the same time. Though the European Parliament demanded that Le Pen return €298,392 by 31 January 2018, representing the salary "unduly paid" to Griset, she refused to do so, and the European Parliament began to reduce her salary to reclaim the money. On 20 February, investigators raided the FN's headquarters in Nanterre for a second time in connection to the case; though Le Pen was summoned to appear before judges on 22 February in the Griset case, she refused to do so until after the June legislative elections, invoking the parliamentary immunity granted to her as a MEP. On 3 March, summoned to appear before judges to potentially be charged for breach of confidence, Le Pen was absent, again affirming that she would not respond to the case before the end of the campaign. On 6 March, Charles Hourcade, who served as parliamentary assistant to FN MEP Marie-Christine Boutonnet, faced charges of "concealment of breach of confidence" in a separate case; like Le Pen, who described the investigations into the FN's fictitious employment of parliamentary assistants as a "political operation", Boutonnet declined to appear before judges. On 20 April, three days before the first round, three police officers were shot and one killed in an attack on the Champs-Élysées, interrupting the 15 minutes pour convaincre (15 minutes to convince) on France 2, a program featuring successive interviews with the 11 candidates; in the following interviews, the remaining candidates paid tribute to the victims of the attack. In the wake of the attack, Le Pen and Fillon, suspended campaign activities the following day – the final day of campaigning – while Macron canceled two trips and Mélenchon insisted on maintaining his schedule to demonstrate that he would not allow violence to interrupt the democratic process; Hamon made similar remarks, proceeding with one campaign event the following day. A report published on 25 April by the Japan-based security firm Trend Micro alleged that a group of hackers was targeting the Macron campaign. The group, known as "Pawn Storm" (better known as APT28 or "Fancy Bear"), is believed to be linked to the Russian state, and was responsible for previous attacks, including on TV5Monde in April and the Bundestag in May 2015. In particular, the group attempted a phishing operation, registering four domains strongly resembling those actually used by En Marche!, of which three were domiciled in Ukraine and one in France. The official campaign began on 10 April and ended at midnight on 21 April. During this period, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel was to ensure equal speaking time for candidates in audiovisual media. On French public broadcasters, ten slots were allotted to the eleven candidates from 10 to 18 and 20 April, with nine slots on 19 April and eleven slots – one for each candidate – on 21 April, the final day of active campaigning. Voting in the first round took place on Saturday 22 April from 08:00 to 19:00 (local time) in the French overseas departments and territories situated east of the International Date Line and west of metropolitan France (i.e. French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Pierre and Miquelon), as well as at French diplomatic missions in the Americas. As of 17:00 (local time), the official turnout figures announced were lower in the overseas departments and territories (except for Saint Barthélemy) than in the 2012 election. Although overseas voting took place one day before that in metropolitan France, the election results and final turnout figures were announced at the same time, starting at 20:00 (Paris time) on 23 April, once voting ended in metropolitan France. Voting in metropolitan France (as well as the French overseas departments and territories of Mayotte, New Caledonia, Réunion and Wallis and Futuna, and French diplomatic missions outside the Americas) took place on 23 April from 08:00 to 19:00 or 20:00 (local time). The official election results were declared by the Constitutional Council on 26 April, with Macron and Le Pen advancing to the second round. A debate between François Fillon, Benoît Hamon, Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon took place on 20 March, hosted by TF1 and moderated by journalists Anne-Claire Coudray and Gilles Bouleau. It is the first time that a debate prior to the first round was held. The choice of date means that TF1 will not be required to provide candidates with equal speaking time, as Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) regulations do not go into force until 9 April, the start of the official campaign. Nicolas Dupont- Aignan, who was not invited, denounced the debate as a "rape of democracy", and the CSA urged TF1 to guarantee fair speaking time for other candidates. Dupont-Aignan filed an appeal that was rejected in part because he had already received airtime proportionate to his support. On 18 March, appearing on TF1, he quit mid-interview, furious at his exclusion from the network's debate. The first debate began with an introductory question – "What kind of president do you want to be?" – followed by segments on three themes lasting about 50 minutes each: what type of society France should have, what type of economic model France should adopt, and the place of France in the world. The five candidates were given two minutes to answer each question, but opponents had the opportunity to interject 90 seconds in. The debate was three and a half hours long, and was watched by 9.8 million (47% of the audience share) on TF1, peaking at 11.5 million. BFM TV and CNews hosted the second debate on 4 April at 20:40 CEST, moderated by Ruth Elkrief and Laurence Ferrari, inviting all candidates who qualified to appear on the first-round ballot. The start time, earlier than that of the TF1 debate, was chosen to avoid continuing well past midnight. Three themes were addressed: employment, the French social model, and the protection of the French. The final part of the debate concerned the exercise of power and moralization of public officials. Each of the 11 candidates invited had a minute and a half to answer each question, and other candidates were permitted to challenge their answers. This was the first ever debate including all first-round candidates; A total of 6.3 million people representing an audience share of 32% viewed the debate; BFM TV alone claimed 5.5 million viewers, equivalent to 28% audience share – an all-time record for the channel. France 2 intended to host a debate with all candidates on 20 April, but on 28 March Mélenchon stated he was unhappy with its timing, planning not to attend, and would prefer that it be held before 17 April. Macron also expressed reservations about the proposed third debate, stating that he wanted only one debate with all 11 candidates before the first round, and preferably not just three days before the first round of voting. On 29 March, the CSA indicated that it was "concerned" that the date of the debate was too close to the first round, and recommended that candidates and broadcasters work to find an agreement as quickly as possible. France Télévisions decided to maintain the date of 20 April due to the lack of a consensus on an alternative the following day, but abandoned plans for a third debate on 5 April, instead proposing that individual candidates be interviewed by Léa Salamé and David Pujadas during that timeslot. The plan was finally confirmed on 18 April, with France 2 offering successive 15-minute interviews to the 11 candidates with the two hosts. After being eliminated in the first round, both François Fillon and Benoît Hamon called to vote for Emmanuel Macron, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to pronounce in favor of either candidate, preferring to first consult activists from his movement. Jean Lassalle and Nathalie Arthaud opted to cast a blank vote, Philippe Poutou and François Asselineau gave no voting instructions, and Jacques Cheminade only stated that he would personally refuse to vote for Le Pen and denounced the forces of "financial occupation". Nicolas Dupont-Aignan endorsed Le Pen during the evening of 28 April, and was subsequently revealed as her choice for Prime Minister the following day. On 2 May, the result of Mélenchon's consultation was published, with 36.12% voting for a blank vote, 34.83% supporting a vote for Macron, and 29.05% opting to abstain; Mélenchon, for his part, issued no voting instructions, only urging his supporters not to make the "terrible error" of voting for Le Pen. Jean-Marie Le Pen supported his daughter. On the evening of the first round, Macron and members of his entourage celebrated the result at La Rotonde, a brasserie in the 6th arrondissement of Paris; the move was criticized as premature and complacent, viewed as reminiscent of Nicolas Sarkozy's widely criticized post-election celebration at Fouquet's in 2007. On 24 April, Le Pen vacated her position as leader of the National Front on 24 April to focus on her presidential candidacy but remained a member of the party. On 26 April, while Macron met with union representatives in his hometown of Amiens employed at the local Whirlpool factory, slated to close in 2018, Le Pen arrived at the site of the factory outdoors around noon in a visit to speak with workers, catching Macron by surprise. When Macron subsequently arrived at the factory site in mid- afternoon, he was whistled and heckled by a hostile crowd, with some shouting "Marine présidente", before he subsequently spoke with the workers for half an hour. The official campaign ended at midnight on 5 May. Just minutes before the election silence went into effect, emails and documents from the Macron campaign were leaked on a file-sharing website. The campaign team subsequently issued a statement claiming that they had been compromised, and alleged that the leak contained both real as well and some fabricated documents. Numerama, an online publication focusing on digital life, described the leaked material as "utterly mundane", consisting of "the contents of a hard drive and several emails of co-workers and En Marche political officials." Leaked documents included "memos, bills, loans for amounts that are hardly over-the-top, recommendations and other reservations, amidst, of course, exchanges that are strictly personal and private — personal notes on the rain and sunshine, a confirmation email for the publishing of a book, reservation of a table for friends, etc.", in addition to some documents unrelated to Macron. Voting in the second round took place on Saturday 6 May from 08:00 to 19:00 (local time) in the French overseas departments and territories situated east of the International Date Line and west of metropolitan France (i.e. French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Pierre and Miquelon), as well as at French diplomatic missions in the Americas. Voting in metropolitan France (as well as the French overseas departments and territories of Mayotte, New Caledonia, Réunion and Wallis and Futuna, and French diplomatic missions outside the Americas) took place on Sunday 7 May from 08:00 to 19:00 or 20:00 (local time). The results of the second round were officially proclaimed on 10 May. Though TF1 initially had plans to hold its own debate between the first and second round, it instead jointly hosted one with France 2. BFM TV also originally intended to host a debate between the two rounds, and it sought to join France 2 and TF1 in co-hosting a single debate but was rebuffed; while all channels were welcome to broadcast the debate, CEO of France Télévisions Delphine Ernotte said, it would not accept such an arrangement with BFM TV, which would mean three journalists moderating the debate. Unlike Jacques Chirac, who refused to debate Jean-Marie Le Pen after the latter's surprise advancement to the second round in the 2002 presidential election, Macron agreed to debate Marine Le Pen on 3 May. The debate, planned to start at 21:00 CEST and last 2 hours and 20 minutes, was originally to be moderated by Gilles Bouleau and David Pujadas; however, after the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) raised concerns that the moderators would both be men for the first time since 1995, the final pair of Christophe Jakubyszyn of TF1 and Nathalie Saint-Cricq of France 2 was chosen. A total of 16.5 million people (60% of the audience share) watched the debate. The debate was considered to have significantly damaged the image of Le Pen and the FN before the second round of the election, with Le Pen criticized for being overly aggressive, arrogant, and amateur in the topics at hand, and was also attributed as a cause of the poor performance of the FN in the subsequent legislative elections. First round Second round On 8 May, Macron joined President Hollande on the Champs-Elysées to commemorate the surrender of Germany on the same day in 1945. The official transfer of power took place on 14 May, after which Macron nominated his prime minister and government. The legislative elections to elect the 15th National Assembly were held a month after the presidential election, with two rounds on 11 and 18 June 2017, in which En Marche! presented its candidates under the label of La République En Marche!; a list of the movement's candidates for the legislative elections was published on 11 May. Following the second round of the presidential election on 7 May, Macron announced he would be stepping down as president of En Marche!, Le Pen announced that she would undertake a "profound transformation" of the National Front, and Mélenchon urged his supporters to mobilize in the legislative elections. The campaign accounts of the 11 candidates were submitted by 7 July 2017 and published in August 2017, and were validated and reimbursement announced by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP) on 13 February 2018. Elgie, Robert. "The election of Emmanuel Macron and the new French party system: a return to the éternel marais?." Modern & Contemporary France 26.1 (2018): 15–29., Gil, Cameron Michael. "Spatial analysis of La République En Marche and French Parties, 2002–2017." French Politics (2018): 1–27., Gougou, Florent, and Simon Persico. "A new party system in the making? The 2017 French presidential election." French Politics 15.3 (2017): 303–321. Constitutional Council, Ministry of the Interior, List of all sponsorships by elected officials, Data and graphics for sponsorships, Results of the first round of the presidential election by constituency The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine, despite losing the popular vote. Trump took office as the 45th president, and Pence as the 48th vice president, on January 20, 2017. Trump emerged as his party's front-runner amidst a wide field of Republican primary candidates, while Clinton defeated Senator Bernie Sanders and became the first female presidential nominee of a major American party. Trump's populist, nationalist campaign, which promised to "Make America Great Again" and opposed political correctness, illegal immigration, and many free- trade agreements, garnered extensive free media coverage. Clinton emphasized her extensive political experience, denounced Trump and many of his supporters as bigots, and advocated the expansion of President Obama's policies; racial, LGBT, and women's rights; and "inclusive capitalism". The tone of the general election campaign was widely characterized as divisive and negative. Trump faced controversy over his views on race and immigration, incidents of violence against protestors at his rallies, and numerous sexual misconduct allegations including a controversial tape, while Clinton's campaign was undermined by declining approval ratings due to concerns about her ethics and trustworthiness, and an FBI investigation of her improper use of a private email server, which received more media coverage than any other topic during the campaign. Clinton led in nearly every pre-election nationwide poll and in most swing state polls, leading some commentators to compare Trump's victory to that of Harry S. Truman in 1948 as one of the greatest political upsets in modern U.S. history. While Clinton received 2.87 million more votes than Trump did (the largest margin ever for a losing presidential candidate), Trump received the majority in the Electoral College and won upset victories in the pivotal Rust Belt region. Trump won six states that Democrat Barack Obama had won in 2012: Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Ultimately, Trump received 304 electoral votes and Clinton 227, as two faithless electors defected from Trump and five defected from Clinton. Trump is the fifth person in U.S. history to become president while losing the nationwide popular vote. He is the first president with neither prior public service nor military experience, and the oldest person to be inaugurated for a first presidential term. The United States government's intelligence agencies concluded on January 6, 2017, that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 elections in order to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency". A Special Counsel investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign began in May 2017 and ended in March 2019. The investigation concluded that Russian interference to favor Trump's candidacy occurred "in sweeping and systematic fashion", but "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government". Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that the President and Vice President of the United States must be natural-born citizens of the United States, at least 35 years old, and residents of the United States for a period of at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in November is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president. President Barack Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. Senator from Illinois, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment; in accordance with Section1 of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expired at noon eastern standard time on January 20, 2017. The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn elected their party's presidential nominee. Speculation about the 2016 campaign began almost immediately following the 2012 campaign, with New York magazine declaring that the race had begun in an article published on November 8, two days after the 2012 election. On the same day, Politico released an article predicting that the 2016 general election would be between Clinton and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, while a New York Times article named New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey as potential candidates. With seventeen major candidates entering the race, starting with Ted Cruz on March 23, 2015, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history. Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham, and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz, after which Huckabee, Paul, and Santorum withdrew due to poor performances at the ballot box. Following a sizable victory for Trump in the New Hampshire primary, Christie, Fiorina, and Gilmore abandoned the race. Bush followed suit after scoring fourth place to Trump, Rubio, and Cruz in South Carolina. On March 1, 2016, the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, Rubio won his first contest in Minnesota, Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, and his home of Texas, and Trump won the other seven states that voted. Failing to gain traction, Carson suspended his campaign a few days later. On March 15, 2016, the second "Super Tuesday", Kasich won his only contest in his home state of Ohio, and Trump won five primaries including Florida. Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state. Between March 16 and May 3, 2016, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz, and Kasich. Cruz won the most delegates in four Western contests and in Wisconsin, keeping a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on the first ballot with 1,237 delegates. Trump then augmented his lead by scoring landslide victories in New York and five Northeastern states in April, followed by a decisive victory in Indiana on May 3, 2016, securing all 57 of the state's delegates. Without any further chances of forcing a contested convention, both Cruz and Kasich suspended their campaigns. Trump remained the only active candidate and was declared the presumptive Republican nominee by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on the evening of May 3, 2016. A 2018 study found that media coverage of Trump led to increased public support for him during the primaries. The study showed that Trump received nearly $2 billion in free media, more than double any other candidate. Political scientist John Sides argued that Trump's polling surge was "almost certainly" due to frequent media coverage of his campaign. Sides concluded "Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him since he announced his candidacy on June 16". Prior to clinching the Republican nomination, Trump received little support from establishment Republicans. Major candidates were determined by the various media based on common consensus. The following were invited to sanctioned televised debates based on their poll ratings. Trump received 14,010,177 total votes in the primary. Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich each won at least one primary, with Trump receiving the highest number of votes and Ted Cruz receiving the second highest. Trump turned his attention towards selecting a running mate after he became the presumptive nominee on May 4, 2016. In mid-June, Eli Stokols and Burgess Everett of Politico reported that the Trump campaign was considering New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich from Georgia, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. A June 30 report from The Washington Post also included Senators Bob Corker from Tennessee, Richard Burr from North Carolina, Tom Cotton from Arkansas, Joni Ernst from Iowa, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence as individuals still being considered for the ticket. Trump also said he was considering two military generals for the position, including retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. In July 2016, it was reported that Trump had narrowed his list of possible running mates down to three: Christie, Gingrich, and Pence. On July 14, 2016, several major media outlets reported that Trump had selected Pence as his running mate. Trump confirmed these reports in a message on Twitter on July 15, 2016, and formally made the announcement the following day in New York. On July 19, the second night of the 2016 Republican National Convention, Pence won the Republican vice presidential nomination by acclamation. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who also served in the U.S. Senate and was the First Lady of the United States, became the first Democrat in the field to formally launch a major candidacy for the presidency with an announcement on April 12, 2015, via a video message. While nationwide opinion polls in 2015 indicated that Clinton was the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, she faced strong challenges from Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who became the second major candidate when he formally announced on April 30, 2015, that he was running for the Democratic nomination. September 2015 polling numbers indicated a narrowing gap between Clinton and Sanders. On May 30, 2015, former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley was the third major candidate to enter the Democratic primary race, followed by former independent governor and Republican senator of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee on June 3, 2015, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb on July 2, 2015, and former Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig on September 6, 2015. On October 20, 2015, Webb announced his withdrawal from the primaries, and explored a potential Independent run. The next day Vice- President Joe Biden decided not to run, ending months of speculation, stating, "While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent." On October 23, Chafee withdrew, stating that he hoped for "an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the United States and humanity". On November 2, after failing to qualify for the second DNC-sanctioned debate after adoption of a rule change negated polls which before might have necessitated his inclusion in the debate, Lessig withdrew as well, narrowing the field to Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders. On February 1, 2016, in an extremely close contest, Clinton won the Iowa caucuses by a margin of 0.2 points over Sanders. After winning no delegates in Iowa, O'Malley withdrew from the presidential race that day. On February 9, Sanders bounced back to win the New Hampshire primary with 60% of the vote. In the remaining two February contests, Clinton won the Nevada caucuses with 53% of the vote and scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary with 73% of the vote. On March 1, 11 states participated in the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries. Clinton won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia and 504 pledged delegates, while Sanders won Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and his home state of Vermont and 340 delegates. The following weekend, Sanders won victories in Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine with 15- to 30-point margins, while Clinton won the Louisiana primary with 71% of the vote. On March 8, despite never having a lead in the Michigan primary, Sanders won by a small margin of 1.5 points and outperforming polls by over 19 points, while Clinton won 83% of the vote in Mississippi. On March 15, the second "Super Tuesday", Clinton won in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. Between March 22 and April 9, Sanders won six caucuses in Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and Wyoming, as well as the Wisconsin primary, while Clinton won the Arizona primary. On April 19, Clinton won the New York primary with 58% of the vote. On April 26, in the third "Super Tuesday" dubbed the "Acela primary", she won contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, while Sanders won in Rhode Island. Over the course of May, Sanders accomplished another surprise win in the Indiana primary and also won in West Virginia and Oregon, while Clinton won the Guam caucus and Kentucky primary (and also non-binding primaries in Nebraska and Washington). On June 4 and 5, Clinton won two victories in the Virgin Islands caucus and Puerto Rico primary. On June 6, 2016, the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including pledged delegates and superdelegates, to secure the nomination, becoming the first woman to ever clinch the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party. On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning primaries in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while Sanders won only Montana and North Dakota. Clinton also won the final primary in the District of Columbia on June 14. At the conclusion of the primary process, Clinton had won 2,204 pledged delegates (54% of the total) awarded by the primary elections and caucuses, while Sanders had won 1,847 (46%). Out of the 714 unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who were set to vote in the convention in July, Clinton received endorsements from 560 (78%), while Sanders received 47 (7%). Although Sanders had not formally dropped out of the race, he announced on June 16, 2016, that his main goal in the coming months would be to work with Clinton to defeat Trump in the general election. On July 8, appointees from the Clinton campaign, the Sanders campaign, and the Democratic National Committee negotiated a draft of the party's platform. On July 12, Sanders formally endorsed Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire in which he appeared with her. The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks and cable news channels or were listed in publicly published national polls. Lessig was invited to one forum, but withdrew when rules were changed which prevented him from participating in officially sanctioned debates. Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primary. In April 2016, the Clinton campaign began to compile a list of 15 to 20 individuals to vet for the position of running mate, even though Sanders continued to challenge Clinton in the Democratic primaries. In mid-June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton's shortlist included Representative Xavier Becerra from California, Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey, Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro from Texas, Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti from California, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, Labor Secretary Tom Perez from Maryland, Representative Tim Ryan from Ohio, and Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts. Subsequent reports stated that Clinton was also considering Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, retired Admiral James Stavridis, and Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. In discussing her potential vice presidential choice, Clinton said the most important attribute she looked for was the ability and experience to immediately step into the role of president. On July 22, Clinton announced that she had chosen Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia as her running mate. The delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which took place July 25–28, formally nominated the Democratic ticket. Third party and independent candidates who have obtained more than 100,000 votes nationally or on Ballot in at least 15 states are listed separately. Gary Johnson, 29th Governor of New Mexico. Vice-presidential nominee: Bill Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts Ballot access to all 538 electoral votes Nominees Jill Stein, physician from Lexington, Massachusetts. Vice-presidential nominee: Ajamu Baraka, activist from Washington, DC Ballot access to 480 electoral votes (522 with write-in): As write-in:, Ballot access lawsuit pending:, No ballot access: Nominees Darrell Castle, attorney from Memphis, Tennessee. Vice-presidential nominee: Scott Bradley, businessman from Utah Ballot access to 207 electoral votes (451 with write-in): As write-in:, No ballot access: Nominees Evan McMullin, chief policy director for the House Republican Conference. Vice-presidential nominee: Mindy Finn, president of Empowered Women. Ballot access to 84 electoral votes (451 with write-in): As write-in:, No ballot access: In some states, Evan McMullin's running mate was listed as Nathan Johnson on the ballot rather than Mindy Finn, although Nathan Johnson was intended to only be a placeholder until an actual running mate was chosen. Hillary Clinton focused her candidacy on several themes, including raising middle class incomes, expanding women's rights, instituting campaign finance reform, and improving the Affordable Care Act. In March 2016, she laid out a detailed economic plan basing her economic philosophy on inclusive capitalism, which proposed a "clawback" that rescinds tax relief and other benefits for companies that move jobs overseas; with provision of incentives for companies that share profits with employees, communities and the environment, rather than focusing on short-term profits to increase stock value and rewarding shareholders; as well as increasing collective bargaining rights; and placing an "exit tax" on companies that move their headquarters out of the U.S. in order to pay a lower tax rate overseas. Clinton promoted equal pay for equal work to address current alleged shortfalls in how much women are paid to do the same jobs men do, promoted explicitly focus on family issues and support of universal preschool, expressed support for the right to same-sex marriage, and proposed allowing undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship stating that it "s at its heart a family issue". Donald Trump's campaign drew heavily on his personal image, enhanced by his previous media exposure. The primary slogan of the Trump campaign, extensively used on campaign merchandise, was Make America Great Again. The red baseball cap with the slogan emblazoned on the front became a symbol of the campaign and has been frequently donned by Trump and his supporters. Trump's right-wing populist positions—reported by The New Yorker to be nativist, protectionist, and semi- isolationist—differ in many ways from traditional conservatism. He opposed many free trade deals and military interventionist policies that conservatives generally support, and opposed cuts in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Moreover, he has insisted that Washington is "broken" and can be fixed only by an outsider. Support for Trump was high among working and middle-class white male voters with annual incomes of less than $50,000 and no college degree. This group, particularly those with less than a high-school education, suffered a decline in their income in recent years. According to The Washington Post, support for Trump is higher in areas with a higher mortality rate for middle-aged white people. A sample of interviews with more than 11,000 Republican-leaning respondents from August to December 2015 found that Trump at that time found his strongest support among Republicans in West Virginia, followed by New York, and then followed by six Southern states. Clinton had an uneasy—and, at times, adversarial—relationship with the press throughout her life in public service. Weeks before her official entry as a presidential candidate, Clinton attended a political press corps event, pledging to start fresh on what she described as a "complicated" relationship with political reporters. Clinton was initially criticized by the press for avoiding taking their questions, after which she provided more interviews. In contrast, Trump benefited from free media more than any other candidate. From the beginning of his campaign through February 2016, Trump received almost $2 billion in free media attention, twice the amount that Clinton received. According to data from the Tyndall Report, which tracks nightly news content, through February 2016, Trump alone accounted for more than a quarter of all 2016 election coverage on the evening newscasts of NBC, CBS and ABC, more than all the Democratic campaigns combined. Observers noted Trump's ability to garner constant mainstream media coverage "almost at will". However, Trump frequently criticized the media for writing what he alleged to be false stories about him and he has called upon his supporters to be "the silent majority". Trump also said the media "put false meaning into the words I say", and says he does not mind being criticized by the media as long as they are honest about it. Both Clinton and Trump were seen unfavorably by the general public, and their controversial nature set the tone of the campaign. Clinton's practice during her time as Secretary of State of using a private email address and server, in lieu of State Department servers, gained widespread public attention back in March 2015. Concerns were raised about security and preservation of emails, and the possibility that laws may have been violated. After allegations were raised that some of the emails in question fell into this so-called "born classified" category, an FBI probe was initiated regarding how classified information was handled on the Clinton server. The FBI probe was concluded on July 5, 2016, with a recommendation of no charges, a recommendation that was followed by the Justice Department. Also, on September 9, 2016, Clinton said: "You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it." Donald Trump criticized her remark as insulting his supporters. The following day Clinton expressed regret for saying "half", while insisting that Trump had deplorably amplified "hateful views and voices". Previously on August 25, 2016, Clinton gave a speech criticizing Trump's campaign for using "racist lies" and allowing the alt-right to gain prominence. On September 11, 2016, Clinton left a 9/11 memorial event early due to illness. Video footage of Clinton's departure showed Clinton becoming unsteady on her feet and being helped into a van. Later that evening, Clinton reassured reporters that she was "feeling great". After initially stating that Clinton had become overheated at the event, her campaign later added that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier. The media criticized the Clinton campaign for a lack of transparency regarding Clinton's illness. Clinton cancelled a planned trip to California due to her illness. The episode drew renewed public attention to questions about Clinton's health. On the other side, on October 7, 2016, video and accompanying audio were released by The Washington Post in which Trump referred obscenely to women in a 2005 conversation with Billy Bush while they were preparing to film an episode of Access Hollywood. In the recording, Trump described his attempts to initiate a sexual relationship with a married woman and added that women would allow male celebrities to grope their genitalia (Trump used the phrase "grab 'em by the pussy"). The audio was met with a reaction of disbelief and disgust from the media. Following the revelation, Trump's campaign issued an apology, stating that the video was of a private conversation from "many years ago". The incident was condemned by numerous prominent Republicans like Reince Priebus, Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Jeb Bush and the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. By October 8, several dozen Republicans had called for Trump to withdraw from the campaign and let Pence head the ticket. Trump insisted he would never drop out. Trump apologized for the remarks. The ongoing controversy of the election made third parties attract voters' attention. On March 3, 2016, Libertarian Gary Johnson addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC, touting himself as the third-party option for anti-Trump Republicans. In early May, some commentators opined that Johnson was moderate enough to pull votes away from both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump who were very disliked and polarizing. Both conservative and liberal media noted that Johnson could get votes from "Never Trump" Republicans and disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters. Johnson also began to get time on national television, being invited on ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and many other networks. In September and October 2016, Johnson suffered a "string of damaging stumbles when he has fielded questions about foreign affairs". On September 8, Johnson, when he appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, was asked by panelist Mike Barnicle, "What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo?" (referring to a war-torn city in Syria). Johnson responded, "And what is Aleppo?" His response prompted widespread attention, much of it negative. Later that day, Johnson said that he had "blanked" and that he did "understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict—I talk about them every day." On the other hand, Green Party candidate Jill Stein said the Democratic and Republican parties are "two corporate parties" that have converged into one. Concerned by the rise of the far right internationally and the tendency towards neoliberalism within the Democratic Party, she has said, "The answer to neofascism is stopping neoliberalism. Putting another Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of this right-wing extremism." In response to Johnson's growing poll numbers, the Clinton campaign and Democratic allies increased their criticism of Johnson in September 2016, warning that "a vote for a third party is a vote for Donald Trump" and deploying Senator Bernie Sanders (Clinton's former primary rival, who supported her in the general election) to win over voters who might be considering voting for Johnson or for Stein. On October 28, eleven days before the election, FBI Director James Comey informed Congress that the FBI was analyzing additional Clinton emails obtained during its investigation of an unrelated case. On November 6, he notified Congress that the new emails did not change the FBI's earlier conclusion. Candidates in bold were on ballots representing 270 electoral votes, without needing write-in states., All other candidates were on the ballots of fewer than 25 states, but had write-in access greater than 270. Democratic Party July 25–28, 2016: Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Republican Party July 18–21, 2016: Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio. Libertarian Party May 26–30, 2016: Libertarian National Convention was held in Orlando, Florida. Green Party August 4–7, 2016: Green National Convention was held in Houston, Texas. Constitution Party April 13–16, 2016: Constitution Party National Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported to Federal Election Commission (FEC) and released in September 2016. Outside groups are independent expenditure-only committees—also called PACs and SuperPACs. The sources of the numbers are the FEC and Center for Responsive Politics. Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline. , ten candidates with ballot access have filed financial reports with the FEC. The 2016 presidential election was the first in 50 years without all the protections of the original Voting Rights Act. Fourteen states had new voting restrictions in place, including swing states such as Virginia and Wisconsin. Clinton was endorsed by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Daily News editorial boards. Trump, who has frequently criticized the mainstream media, was not endorsed by the vast majority of newspapers, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Florida Times-Union, and the tabloid National Enquirer his highest profile supporters. Several papers which endorsed Clinton, such as the Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Columbus Dispatch and The Arizona Republic, endorsed their first Democratic candidate for many decades. USA Today, which had not endorsed any candidate since it was founded in 1982, broke tradition by giving an anti-endorsement against Trump, declaring him "unfit for the presidency". The Atlantic, which has been in circulation since 1857, gave Clinton its third-ever endorsement (after Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson). Other traditionally Republican papers, including the New Hampshire Union Leader, which had endorsed the Republican nominee in every election for the last 100 years, The Detroit News, which had not endorsed a non-Republican in its 143 years, and the Chicago Tribune, endorsed Gary Johnson. On December 9, 2016, the Central Intelligence Agency issued an assessment to lawmakers in the US Senate, stating that a Russian entity hacked the DNC and John Podesta's emails to assist Donald Trump. The Federal Bureau of Investigation agreed. President Barack Obama ordered a "full review" into such possible intervention. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper in early January 2017 testified before a Senate committee that Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign went beyond hacking, and included disinformation and the dissemination of fake news, often promoted on social media. President-elect Trump originally called the report fabricated, and Wikileaks denied any involvement by Russian authorities. Days later, Trump said he could be convinced of the Russian hacking "if there is a unified presentation of evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies". Several U.S. senators—including Republicans John McCain, Richard Burr, and Lindsey Graham—demanded a congressional investigation. The Senate Intelligence Committee announced the scope of their on December 13, 2016, on a bipartisan basis; work began on January 24, 2017. A formal Special Counsel investigation headed by former FBI director Robert Mueller was initiated in May 2017 to uncover the detailed interference operations by Russia, and to determine whether any people associated with the Trump campaign were complicit in the Russian efforts. Mueller concluded his investigation on March 22, 2019, by submitting his report to Attorney General William Barr. On March 24, 2019, Barr submitted a letter describing Mueller's conclusions, and on April 18, 2019, a redacted version of the Mueller Report was released to the public. It concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election did occur "in sweeping and systematic fashion" and "violated U.S. criminal law." The first method detailed in the final report was the usage of the Internet Research Agency, waging "a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton". The Internet Research Agency also sought to "provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States". The second method of Russian interference saw the Russian intelligence service, the GRU, hacking into email accounts owned by volunteers and employees of the Clinton presidential campaign, including that of campaign chairman John Podesta, and also hacking into "the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)". As a result, the GRU obtained hundreds of thousands of hacked documents, and the GRU proceeded by arranging releases of damaging hacked material via the WikiLeaks organization and also GRU's personas "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0." To establish whether a crime was committed by members of the Trump campaign with regard to Russian interference, the special counsel's investigators "applied the framework of conspiracy law", and not the concept of "collusion", because collusion "is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law." They also investigated if members of the Trump campaign "coordinated" with Russia, using the definition of "coordination" as having "an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump campaign and the Russian government on election interference". Investigators further elaborated that merely having "two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests" was not enough to establish coordination. The Mueller Report writes that the investigation "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign", found that Russia "perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency" and that the 2016 Trump presidential campaign "expected it would benefit electorally" from Russian hacking efforts. Ultimately, "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities". However, investigators had an incomplete picture of what had really occurred during the 2016 campaign, due to some associates of Trump campaign providing either false, incomplete or declined testimony, as well as having deleted, unsaved or encrypted communications. As such, the Mueller Report "cannot rule out the possibility" that information then unavailable to investigators would have presented different findings. The Justice Department accused George Nader of providing $3.5 million in illicit campaign donations to Hillary Clinton before the elections and to Donald Trump after he won the elections. According to the New York Times, this was an attempt by the government of United Arab Emirates to influence the election. In December 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that prosecutors in Ukraine had meddled in the 2016 election by releasing damaging information on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Basket of deplorables: A controversial phrase coined by Hillary Clinton to describe half of those who support Trump., Because you'd be in jail: Off the cuff quip by Donald Trump during the second presidential debate, in rebuttal to Clinton stating it was "awfully good someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country"., Big-league: A word used by Donald Trump most notably during the first presidential debate, misheard by many as bigly, when he said, "I'm going to cut taxes big-league, and you're going to raise taxes big-league.", Birdie Sanders: During a campaign stop in Portland, Oregon, a house finch landed on Sanders's lectern while he was addressing a large crowd of supporters. The event became popular with the Sanders community and Sanders even began to publicize the bird as "Birdie Sanders"., Build the wall: A chant used at many Trump campaign rallies, and Donald Trump's corresponding promise of the Mexican Border Wall., Drain the swamp: A phrase Donald Trump invoked late in the campaign to describe what needs to be done to fix problems in the federal government. Trump acknowledged that the phrase was suggested to him, and he was initially skeptical about using it., Feel the Bern: A phrase chanted by supporters of the Bernie Sanders campaign which was officially adopted by his campaign., Grab 'em by the pussy: A remark made by Trump during a 2005 behind-the-scenes interview with presenter Billy Bush on NBCUniversal's Access Hollywood, which was released during the campaign. The remark was part of a conversation in which Trump boasted that "when you're a star, they let you do it.", I like people who weren't captured: Donald Trump's criticism of Senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war of the North Vietnamese., I'm with her: Clinton's unofficial campaign slogan ("Stronger Together" was the official slogan)., Lock her up: A chant first used at the Republican convention to claim that Hillary Clinton is guilty of a crime. The chant was later used at many Trump campaign rallies., Make America great again: Donald Trump's campaign slogan., Mexico will pay for it: Trump's campaign promise that if elected he will build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico, with Mexico financing the project., Nicknames used by Trump to deride his opponents: These include "Crooked Hillary", "Little Marco", "Low-energy Jeb", and "Lyin' Ted"., Russia, if you're listening: Used by Donald Trump to invite Russia to "find the 30,000 emails that are missing" (from Hillary Clinton) during a July 2016 news conference., Such a nasty woman: Donald Trump's response to Hillary Clinton after her saying that her proposed rise in Social Security Contributions would also include Trump's Social Security contributions, "assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it". Later reappropriated by supporters of Clinton and women's rights., They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people: Donald Trump's controversial description of those crossing the Mexico–United States border during his June 2015 announcing the launch of his campaign., What is Aleppo?: Uttered by Gary Johnson during an interview when questioned about the status of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War., What, like with a cloth or something?: Said by Hillary Clinton in response to being asked whether she "wiped" her emails during an August 2015 press conference., What the hell do you have to lose?: Said by Donald Trump to inner-city African Americans at rallies starting on August 19, 2016., When they go low, we go high: Said by then-first lady Michelle Obama during her Democratic convention speech. This was later inverted by Eric Holder., Why aren't I 50 points ahead?: Question asked by Hillary Clinton during a video address to the Laborers' International Union of North America on September 21, 2016, which was then turned into an opposition ad by the Trump campaign., The lesser evil paves the way for the greater evil.: Jill Stein slogan. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a non-profit organization, hosted debates between qualifying presidential and vice-presidential candidates. According to the commission's website, to be eligible to opt to participate in the anticipated debates, "in addition to being Constitutionally eligible, candidates must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College, and have a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly-reported results at the time of the determination." The three locations (Hofstra University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas) chosen to host the presidential debates, and the one location (Longwood University) selected to host the vice presidential debate, were announced on September 23, 2015. The site of the first debate was originally designated as Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio; however, due to rising costs and security concerns, the debate was moved to Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. On August 19, Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager confirmed that Trump would participate in a series of three debates. Trump had complained two of the scheduled debates, one on September 26 and the other October 9, would have to compete for viewers with National Football League games, referencing the similar complaints made regarding the dates with low expected ratings during the Democratic Party presidential debates. There were also debates between independent candidates. The news media and election experts were surprised twice: first, at Trump's winning the GOP nomination; second, at his winning the electoral college. English political scientist Lloyd Gruber said, "One of the major casualties of the 2016 election season has been the reputation of political science, a discipline whose practitioners had largely dismissed Donald Trump's chances of gaining the Republican nomination." The final polls showed a lead by Clinton—and in the end, she did receive more votes. Trump himself expected, based on polling, to lose the election, and rented a small hotel ballroom to make a brief concession speech; "I said if we're going to lose I don't want a big ballroom", he later remarked. The Republican candidate performed surprisingly well in all battleground states, especially Florida, Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina. Even Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, states that had been predicted to vote Democratic, were won by Trump. Cindy Adams, present at Trump Tower, reported that "Trumptown knew they'd won by 5:30. Math, calculations, candidate dislike causing voter abstention begat the numbers." Trump said that he was surprised by how "that map was getting red as hell. That map was bleeding red... I always used to believe in [polls]. I don't believe them anymore." According to the authors of , by late Tuesday night the White House had concluded that Trump would win the election. Obama's political director David Simas called Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook to persuade Clinton to concede the election, with no success. Obama then called Clinton directly, citing the importance of continuity of government, to ask her to publicly acknowledge that Trump had won. Believing that Clinton was still unwilling to concede, the president then called her campaign chair John Podesta, but the call to Clinton had likely already persuaded her. On Wednesday morning at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), it was reported that Trump had secured Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, giving him a majority of the 538 electors in the Electoral College, enough to make him the president-elect of the United States. Clinton called Trump early that morning to concede defeat, and at 2:50 a.m. Trump gave his victory speech. Clinton was unable to make a public concession that night, as she had no concession speech written. Later that day, Clinton asked her supporters to accept the result and hoped that Trump would be "a successful president for all Americans". In his speech, Trump appealed for unity, saying "it is time for us to come together as one united people", and praised Clinton as someone who was owed "a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country". Six states plus a portion of Maine that Obama won in 2012 switched to Trump (Electoral College votes in parentheses): Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10), Iowa (6), and Maine's second congressional district (1). Initially, Trump won exactly 100 more Electoral College votes than Mitt Romney had in 2012, with two lost to faithless electors in the final tally. Thirty-nine states swung more Republican compared to the previous presidential election, while eleven states and the District of Columbia swung more Democratic. Based on United States Census Bureau estimates of the voting age population (VAP), turnout of voters casting a vote for president was nearly 1% higher than 2012. Examining overall turnout in the 2016 election, University of Florida Prof. Michael McDonald estimated that 138.8 million Americans cast a ballot. 65.9 million of those ballots were counted for Clinton and just under 63 million for Trump, representing 20.3% (Clinton) and 19.4% (Trump) of a census estimate of U.S. population that day of 324 million. Considering a VAP of 250.6 million people and voting eligible population (VEP) of 230.6 million people, this is a turnout rate of 55.4% VAP and 60.2% VEP. Based on this estimate, voter turnout was up compared to 2012 (54.1% VAP) but down compared to 2008 (57.4% VAP). A FEC report of the election recorded an official total of 136.7 million votes cast for President—more than any prior election. Data scientist Hamdan Azhar noted the paradoxes of the 2016 outcome, saying that "chief among them [was] the discrepancy between the popular vote, which Hillary Clinton won by 2.8 million votes, and the electoral college, where Trump won 304-227". He said Trump outperformed Mitt Romney's 2012 results, while Clinton only just matched Barack Obama's 2012 totals. Hamdan also said Trump was "the highest vote earner of any Republican candidate ever," exceeding George W. Bush's 62.04 million votes in 2004, though neither reached Clinton's 65.9 million, nor Obama's 69.5 million votes in 2008, the overall record. He concluded, with help from The Cook Political Report, that the election hinged not on Clinton's large 2.8 million overall vote margin over Trump, but rather on about 78,000 votes from only three counties in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan (by the same logic, Obama won in 2012 due to three counties in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). A 2017 study done by Economists and Economic Historians Carl Benedikt Frey, Chinchih Chen and Thor Berger examines the link between the adoption of automation and the results of the 2016 election. The study points out that since the 1980s, the advancement of technology has often led to a significant fraction of the workforce being worse off. Low skilled workers effected by technology driven job displacement had to replace their middle-income jobs with lower-income service jobs, or were pushed out of the workforce altogether, while the advancement of technology increased the demand for high- income jobs among skilled workers. Frey and his co-authors note a positive trend between automation driven income inequality and the movement toward political polarization in the United States. The study found a strong correlation between areas affected by technological automation and the increase of support for Donald Trump among low-skilled workers in the affected voting districts, concluding that:While the Computer Revolution has not rendered the workforce redundant, a large share of Americans have lost the race to technology, which is reflected in the reallocation of millions of workers from middle-income jobs to low-income occupations or non-employment as their jobs have been automated away... the victims of the Computer Revolution have a higher propensity to opt for radical political change: electoral districts with a higher share of jobs exposed to automation were significantly more likely to support Trump. The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election can thus be described as a riot against machines by democratic means. Notes: The table below displays the official vote tallies by each state's Electoral College voting method. The source for the results of all states is the official Federal Election Commission report. The column labeled "Margin" shows Trump's margin of victory over Clinton (the margin is negative for every state that Clinton won). A total of 29 third party and independent presidential candidates appeared on the ballot in at least one state. Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson and physician Jill Stein repeated their 2012 roles as the nominees for the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, respectively. With ballot access to the entire national electorate, Johnson received nearly 4.5 million votes (3.27%), the highest nationwide vote share for a third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996, while Stein received almost 1.45 million votes (1.06%), the most for a Green nominee since Ralph Nader in 2000. Independent candidate Evan McMullin, who appeared on the ballot in 11 states, received over 732,000 votes (0.53%). He won 21.4% of the vote in his home state of Utah, the highest share of the vote for a third-party candidate in any state since 1992. Despite dropping out of the election following his defeat in the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders received 5.7% of the vote in his home state of Vermont, the highest write-in draft campaign percentage for a presidential candidate in American history. Johnson and McMullin were the first third-party candidates since Nader to receive at least 5% of the vote in one or more states, with Johnson crossing the mark in 11 states and McMullin crossing it in two. Aside from Florida and North Carolina, the states which secured Trump's victory are situated in the Great Lakes/Rust Belt region. Wisconsin went Republican for the first time since 1984, while Pennsylvania and Michigan went Republican for the first time since 1988. Trump also won Maine's 2nd congressional district, which had also not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. Stein petitioned for a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Clinton campaign pledged to participate in the Green Party recount efforts, while Trump backers challenged them in court. Meanwhile, American Delta Party/Reform Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente petitioned for and was granted a partial recount in Nevada. Electoral methods WTA—Statewide winner-takes-all, CD—Congressional district Two states (Maine and Nebraska) allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates. The winner within each congressional district gets one electoral vote for the district. The winner of the statewide vote gets two additional electoral votes. Results are from The New York Times. Most media outlets announced the beginning of the presidential race about twenty months prior to Election Day. Soon after the first contestants declared their candidacy, Larry Sabato listed Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada, and Ohio as the seven states most likely to be contested in the general election. After Donald Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination, many pundits felt that the major campaign locations might be different from what had originally been expected. Rust Belt states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Michigan were thought to be in play with Trump as the nominee, while states with large minority populations, such as Colorado and Virginia, were expected to shift towards Clinton. By the conventions period and the debates, however, it did not seem as though the Rust Belt states could deliver a victory to Trump, as many of them were considered to be part of the "blue wall" of Democratic-leaning states. Trump's courting of the Polish-American vote, a sizable number of whom were Reagan Democrats, has been cited as the cause for the loss of the Rust Belt by the Democratic nominee. According to Politico and the 538 online blog, his path to victory went through states such as Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, and possibly Colorado. Early polling indicated a closer-than-usual race in former Democratic strongholds such as Washington, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine (for the two statewide electoral votes), and New Mexico. Meanwhile, research indicators from inside of a host of Republican- leaning states such as Arizona, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Alaska, Utah, Texas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, and South Dakota reported weaker support for Trump than expected, although the nominee's position solidified in a few other areas. Some reviews took this information as evidence of an expanded 'swing-state map'. A consensus among political pundits developed throughout the primary election season regarding swing states. From the results of presidential elections from 2004 through to 2012, the Democratic and Republican parties would generally start with a safe electoral vote count of about 150 to 200. However, the margins required to constitute a swing state are vague, and can vary between groups of analysts. It was thought that left-leaning states in the Rust Belt could become more conservative, as Trump had strong appeal among many blue-collar workers. They represent a large portion of the American populace and were a major factor in Trump's eventual nomination. Trump's primary campaign was propelled by victories in Democratic states, and his supporters often did not identify as Republican. In addition, local factors may come into play. For example, Utah was the reddest state in 2012, although the Republican share was boosted significantly by the candidacy of Mormon candidate Mitt Romney. Despite its partisan orientation, some reports suggested a victory there by independent candidate Evan McMullin, particularly if there was a nationwide blowout. Media reports indicated that both candidates planned to concentrate on Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. Among the Republican-leaning states, potential Democratic targets included Nebraska's second congressional district, Georgia, and Arizona. Trump's relatively poor polling in some traditionally Republican states, such as Utah, raised the possibility that they could vote for Clinton, despite easy wins there by recent Republican nominees. However, many analysts asserted that these states were not yet viable Democratic destinations. Several sites and individuals publish electoral predictions. These generally rate the race by the likelihood for each party to win a state. The "tossup" label is usually used to indicate that neither party has an advantage, "lean" to indicate a party has a slight edge, "likely" to indicate a party has a clear but not overwhelming advantage, and "safe" to indicate a party has an advantage that cannot be overcome. As the parameters of the race established themselves, analysts converged on a narrower list of contested states, which were relatively similar to those of recent elections. On November 7, the Cook Political Report categorized Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as states with close races. Additionally, a district from each of Maine and Nebraska were considered to be coin flips. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight listed twenty-two states as potentially competitive about a month before the election—Maine's two at-large electoral votes, New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Arizona, Georgia, Alaska, South Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Missouri, and Utah—as well as Maine's second and Nebraska's second congressional districts. Nate Silver, the publication's editor-in- chief, subsequently removed Texas, South Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana from the list after the race tightened significantly. These conclusions were supported by models such as the Princeton Elections Consortium, the New York Times Upshot, and punditry evaluations from Sabato's Crystal Ball and the Cook Political Report. After the conventions of the national parties, Clinton and Trump carried out a total of 72 visits to Florida, 59 to Pennsylvania, 52 to North Carolina, 43 to Ohio, 25 to Virginia, 24 to Michigan, 23 to Iowa, 22 to New Hampshire, 19 to Colorado, 16 to Nevada, 15 to Wisconsin, and 10 to Arizona. Hillary Clinton won states like New Mexico by less than 10 percentage points. Among the states where the candidates finished at a margin of within seven percent, Clinton won Virginia (13 electoral votes), Colorado (9), Maine (2), Minnesota (10), and New Hampshire (4). On the other hand, Trump won Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20), Wisconsin (10), Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Arizona (11), Nebraska's second district (1), and Georgia (16). States won by Obama in the 2012, such as Ohio (18), Iowa (6), and Maine's second district (1), were also won by Trump. The close result in Maine was not expected by most commentators, nor were Trump's victory of over 10 points in the second district and their disparities. The dramatic shift of Midwestern states towards Trump were contrasted in the media against the relative movement of Southern states towards the Democrats. For example, former Democratic strongholds such as Minnesota and Maine leaned towards the GOP. Meanwhile, Iowa voted more Republican than Texas did, Georgia was more Democratic than Ohio, and the margin of victory for Trump was greater in North Carolina than Arizona. Trump's smaller victories in Alaska and Utah also took some experts by surprise. Close states were: States where the margin of victory was under 1% (50 electoral votes; 46 won by Trump, four by Clinton): 1. Michigan, 0.23% – 16 2. New Hampshire, 0.37% – 4 3. Pennsylvania, 0.72% – 20 (tipping point state, including two faithless GOP electors) 4. Wisconsin, 0.77% – 10 (tipping point state, excluding the two faithless GOP electors) States/districts where the margin of victory was between 1% and 5% (83 electoral votes; 56 won by Trump, 27 by Clinton): 1. Florida, 1.20% – 29 2. Minnesota, 1.52% – 10 3. Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, 2.24% – 1 4. Nevada, 2.42% – 6 5. Maine, 2.96% – 2 6. Arizona, 3.55% – 11 7. North Carolina, 3.66% – 15 8. Colorado, 4.91% – 9 States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (94 electoral votes; 76 won by Trump, 18 by Clinton): 1. Georgia, 5.16% – 16 2. Virginia, 5.32% – 13 3. Ohio, 8.13% – 18 4. New Mexico, 8.21% – 5 5. Texas, 8.99% – 36 6. Iowa, 9.41% – 6 Red denotes states (or congressional districts) won by Republican Donald Trump; blue denotes those won by Democrat Hillary Clinton. Voter demographic data for 2016 were collected by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, a consortium of ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and the Associated Press. The voter survey is based on exit polls completed by 24,537 voters leaving 350 voting places throughout the United States on Election Day, in addition to 4,398 telephone interviews with early and absentee voters. Trump's crucial victories in the Midwest were aided in large part by his strong margins among non-college whites—while Obama lost those voters by a margin of 10 points in 2012, Clinton lost this group by 20 percent. The election also represented the first time that Republicans performed better among lower-income whites than among affluent white voters. To some analysts' surprise, Trump narrowed Clinton's margin compared to Obama by seven points among blacks and African-Americans, eight points among Latinos, and 11 points among Asian-Americans. Meanwhile, Trump increased his lead with non-Hispanic white voters through one percent over Mitt Romney's performance, and American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders shifted their support towards the Republican candidate using the same relative amount. Additionally, although 74 percent of Muslim voters supported Clinton, Trump nearly doubled his support among those voters compared to Mitt Romney, according to the Council on American–Islamic Relations exit poll. However, "more convincing data" from the polling firm Latino Decisions indicates that Clinton received a higher share of the Hispanic vote, and Trump a lower share, than the Edison exit polls showed. Using wider, more geographically and linguistically representative sampling, Latino Decisions concluded that Clinton won 79% of Hispanic voters (also an improvement over Obama's share in 2008 and 2012), while Trump won only 18% (lower than previous Republicans such as Romney and McCain). Additionally, the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study found that Clinton's share of the Hispanic vote was one percentage point higher than Obama's in 2012, while Trump's was seven percentage points lower than Romney's. Similarly, a large, multi-lingual study by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund found that Clinton won 79% of Asian-American voters, higher than the Edison exit poll showed, while Trump won only 18%, a decrease from McCain's and Romney's numbers. Furthermore, according to the AALDEF's report, Trump received merely 2% of the Muslim-American vote, whereas Clinton received 97%. Various methods were used to forecast the outcome of the 2016 election. For the 2016 election, there were many competing election forecast approaches including Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, The Upshot at The New York Times, Daily Kos, Princeton Election Consortium, Cook Political Report, Rothenberg and Gonzales, PollyVote, Sabato's Crystal Ball and Electoral-Vote. These models mostly showed a Democratic advantage since the nominees were confirmed, and were supported by pundits and statisticians, including Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, Nate Cohn at The New York Times, and Larry Sabato from the Crystal Ball newsletter, who predicted a Democratic victory in competitive presidential races and projected consistent leads in several battleground states around the country. The near-unanimity of forecasters in predicting a Clinton victory may have been the result of groupthink. However, FiveThirtyEight's model pointed to the possibility of an Electoral College- popular vote split widening in the final weeks based on Trump's improvement in swing states like Florida or Pennsylvania. This was due to the demographics targeted by Trump's campaign which lived in big numbers there, in addition to Clinton's poor performance in several of those swing states in comparison with Obama's performance in 2012, as well as having a big number of her potential voters in very populated traditionally 'blue' states, but also in some very populated states traditionally 'red', like Texas, which were projected safe for Trump. Early exit polls generally favored Clinton. After the polls closed and some of the results came in, the forecasts were found to be inaccurate, as Trump performed better in the competitive Midwestern states, such as Iowa, Ohio, and Minnesota, than expected. Three states (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan) which were considered to be part of Clinton's firewall, were won by Trump. Of the states in the Great Lakes region, Clinton won the swing state of Minnesota by one point, as well as traditional Democratic strongholds such as New York and Illinois with populous urban centers. This result stands in contrast to that of 2012, when President Obama won all but Indiana, which he carried in 2008. This table displays the final polling average published by Real Clear Politics on November 7, the actual electoral margin, and the over- performance by either candidate relative to the polls. Many pollsters were puzzled by the failure of mainstream forecasting models to predict the outcome of the 2016 election. Some journalists compared the 2016 election to the failure of prognosticator Arthur Henning in the "Dewey Defeats Truman" incident from the 1948 presidential election. Sean Trende, writing for RealClearPolitics, wrote that many of the polls were accurate, but that the pundits' interpretation of these polls neglected polling error. Nate Silver found that the high number of undecided and third-party voters in the election was neglected in many of these models, and that many of these voters decided to vote for Trump. According to a February 2018 study by Public Opinion Quarterly, the main sources of polling error were "a late swing in vote preference toward Trump and a pervasive failure to adjust for over- representation of college graduates (who favored Clinton)," whereas the share of "shy" Trump voters (who declined to admit their support for Trump to the pollsters) proved to be negligible. FiveThirtyEight's final polls-plus forecast predicted 18 states, plus the second congressional districts of Maine and Nebraska, with an interval of confidence lower than 90%. However, every major forecaster, including FiveThirtyEight, the New York Times Upshot, prediction markets aggregator PredictWise, ElectionBettingOdds from Maxim Lott and John Stossel, the DailyKos, the Princeton Election Consortium, the Huffington Post, the Cook Political Report, Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball, and the Rothenberg and Gonzales Report, called every state the same way (although Cook and Rothenberg-Gonzales left two and five states as toss-ups, respectively). The lone exception was Maine's 2nd congressional district. Of the forecasters who published results on the district, the Times gave Trump a 64% chance of winning and PredictWise a 52% chance, FiveThirtyEight gave Clinton a 51% chance of winning in polls-only and 54% in polls-plus, Princeton gave her a 60% chance, Cook labelled it a toss-up, and Sabato leaned it towards Trump. The following table displays the final winning probabilities given by each outlet, along with the final electoral result. The states shown have been identified by Politico, WhipBoard, the New York Times, and the Crystal Ball as battlegrounds. Legend Total television viewers8:00 to 11:00 p.m. EDT Total cable TV viewers2:00 to 3:00 a.m. EDT Cable TV viewers 25 to 542:00 to 3:00 a.m. EDT Trump's victory, considered unlikely by most forecasts, was characterized as an "upset" and as "shocking" by the media. Trump himself thought he would lose even as the polls were closing. Following the announcement of Trump's election, large protests broke out across the United States with some continuing for several days. Protesters have held up a number of different signs and chanted various shouts including "Not my president" and "We don't accept the president-elect". The movement organized on Twitter under the hashtags #Antitrump and #NotMyPresident. High school and college students walked out of classes to protest. The protests were peaceful for the most part. At some protests fires were lit, flags and other items were burned and people yelled derogatory remarks about Trump. Rioters also broke glass at certain locations. Celebrities such as Madonna, Cher, and Lady Gaga took part in New York. Some protesters took to blocking freeways in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Portland, Oregon, and were dispersed by police in the early hours of the morning. In a number of cities, protesters were dispersed with rubber bullets, pepper spray and bean-bags fired by police. In New York City, calls were made to continue the protests over the coming days after the election. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti expressed understanding of the protests and praised those who peacefully wanted to make their voices heard. After the election, computer scientists, including J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, urged the Clinton campaign to request an election recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (three swing states where Trump had won narrowly) for the purpose of excluding the possibility that the hacking of electronic voting machines had influenced the recorded outcome. However, statistician Nate Silver performed a regression analysis which demonstrated that the alleged discrepancy between paper ballots and electronic voting machines "completely disappears once you control for race and education level". On November 25, 2016, the Obama administration said the results from November8 "accurately reflect the will of the American people". The following day, the White House released another statement, saying: "the federal government did not observe any increased level of malicious cyberactivity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on Election Day." Donald Trump and New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu both complained that liberal voters from Massachusetts were illegally bused into New Hampshire for the 2016 election, and Scott Brown blamed the same phenomenon for losing his senate race in 2014. The New Hampshire Secretary of State and New Hampshire Department of Justice issued a report in 2018 regarding complaints of voters being bused in from Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts for the 2016 election. They found that in every case, field inspectors were able to determine that the voters were from New Hampshire, though they were riding a bus operated by an out-of-state company (which has its name and address written on the outside of the bus, presumably the source of the confusion). Out of 743,000 votes cast, four were determined to be cast illegally, either because the voters were told to go to the wrong location, or because the voter believed they were able to vote in each town in which they owned property. Out of about 6,000 same-day voter registrations in the state, the report says only 66 voters could not have their residency confirmed (though fraud is not the only explanation for such a failure). On November 23, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein launched a public fundraiser to pay for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, asserting that the election's outcome had been affected by hacking in those states; Stein did not provide evidence for her claims. Changing the outcome of these three states would make Clinton the winner, and this would require showing that fewer than 60,000 votes had been counted for Trump which should have been counted for Clinton. Stein filed for a recount in Wisconsin on November 25, after which Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias said their campaign would join Stein's recount efforts in that state and possibly others "in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides". Stein subsequently filed for a recount in Pennsylvania on November 28, and in Michigan on November 30. Concurrently, American Delta Party/Reform Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente sought and was granted a partial recount in Nevada that was unrelated to Stein's efforts. President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement denouncing Stein's Wisconsin recount request saying, "The people have spoken and the election is over." Trump further commented that the recount "is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded". The Trump campaign and Republican Party officials moved to block Stein's three recount efforts through state and federal courts. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ordered a halt to the recount in Michigan on December 7, dissolving a previous temporary restraining order against the Michigan Board of Elections that allowed the recount to continue, stating in his order: "Plaintiffs have not presented evidence of tampering or mistake. Instead, they present speculative claims going to the vulnerability of the voting machinery—but not actual injury." On December 12, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond rejected an appeal by the Green Party and Jill Stein to force a recount in Pennsylvania, stating that suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election "borders on the irrational" and that granting the Green Party's recount bid could "ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts" given the December 13, 2016, federal deadline to certify the vote for the Electoral College. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin recount was allowed to continue as it was nearing completion and had uncovered no significant irregularities. The recounts in Wisconsin and Nevada were completed on schedule, resulting in only minor changes to vote tallies. A partial recount of Michigan ballot found some precinct imbalances in Detroit, which were corrected. A subsequent state audit found no evidence of voter fraud and concluded that the mistakes, which were "almost entirely" caused by poll-worker mistakes attributed to poor training, did not impair "the ability of Detroit residents to cast a ballot and have their vote counted". The overall outcome of the election remained unchanged by the recount efforts. Intense lobbying (in one case involving claims of harassment and death threats) and grass-roots campaigns were directed at various GOP electors of the United States Electoral College to convince a sufficient number of them (37) to not vote for Trump, thus precluding a Trump presidency. Members of the Electoral College themselves started a campaign for other members to "vote their conscience for the good of America" in accordance with Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Paper No. 68. This group's members may have become faithless electors in the presidential election. On December 5, former candidate Lawrence Lessig and attorney Laurence Tribe established The Electors Trust under the aegis of EqualCitizens.US to provide pro bono legal counsel as well as a secure communications platform for members of the Electoral College who were considering a vote of conscience against Trump. On December 6, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne W. Williams castigated Democratic electors who had filed a lawsuit in Federal court to have the state law binding them to the popular vote (in their case for Hillary Clinton) overturned. On December 10, ten electors, in an open letter headed by Christine Pelosi to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, demanded an intelligence briefing in light of Russian interference in the election to help Trump win the presidency. Fifty-eight additional electors subsequently added their names to the letter, bringing the total to 68 electors from 17 different states. On December 16, the briefing request was denied. On December 19, several electors voted against their pledged candidates: two against Trump and five against Clinton. A further three electors attempted to vote against Clinton but were replaced or forced to vote again. The 115th United States Congress officially certified the results on January 6, 2017. In the Electoral College vote on December 19, for the first time since 1808, multiple faithless electors voted against their pledged qualified presidential candidate. Five Democrats rebelled in Washington and Hawaii, while two Republicans rebelled in Texas. Two Democratic electors, one in Minnesota and one in Colorado, were replaced after voting for Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, respectively. Electors in Maine conducted a second vote after one of its members voted for Sanders; the elector then voted for Clinton. Likewise, for the first time since 1896, multiple faithless electors voted against the pledged qualified vice presidential candidate. One Clinton elector in Colorado attempted to vote for John Kasich. The single vote was ruled invalid by Colorado state law, the elector was dismissed, and an alternative elector was sworn in who voted for Clinton., One Clinton elector in Minnesota voted for Bernie Sanders as president and Tulsi Gabbard as vice president; his votes were discarded and he was replaced by an alternate who voted for Clinton., One Clinton elector in Maine voted for Bernie Sanders; this vote was invalidated as "improper" and the elector subsequently voted for Clinton., Four Clinton electors in Washington did not vote for Clinton (three votes went to Colin Powell, and one to Faith Spotted Eagle)., One Trump elector in Georgia resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate., Two Trump electors in Texas did not vote for Trump (one vote went to John Kasich, one to Ron Paul); one elector did not vote for Pence and instead voted for Carly Fiorina for vice-president; a third resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate., One Clinton elector in Hawaii voted for Bernie Sanders. Of the faithless votes, Colin Powell and Elizabeth Warren were the only two to receive more than one; Powell received three electoral votes for president and Warren received two for vice president. Receiving one valid electoral vote each were Sanders, John Kasich, Ron Paul and Faith Spotted Eagle for president, and Carly Fiorina, Susan Collins, Winona LaDuke and Maria Cantwell for vice president. Sanders is the first Jewish American to receive an electoral vote for president. LaDuke is the first Green Party member to receive an electoral vote, and Paul is the third member of the Libertarian Party to do so, following the party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees each getting one vote in 1972. It is the first election with faithless electors from more than one political party. The seven people to receive electoral votes for president were the most in a single election since 1796, and more than any other election since the enactment of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804. History of the United States (2008–present), Inauguration of Donald Trump, 2016 United States gubernatorial elections, 2016 United States House of Representatives elections, 2016 United States Senate elections Presidential election process from USA.gov, the official United States Federal Government web portal, 2016 Presidential Form2 Filers at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) The 2018 Russian presidential election was held on 18 March 2018. Incumbent Vladimir Putin won reelection for his second consecutive (fourth overall) term in office with 77% of the vote. Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party was the perennial candidate, having unsuccessfully run in five previous presidential elections. Other candidates included Pavel Grudinin (Communist Party), Sergey Baburin (Russian All-People's Union), Ksenia Sobchak (Civic Initiative), Maxim Suraykin (Communists of Russia), Boris Titov (Party of Growth) and Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko). Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny announced his intent to run in December 2016 but was barred from doing so due to a prior criminal conviction, which may have been politically motivated, for corruption. Consequently, Navalny called for a boycott of the election. He had previously organized several public rallies against corruption among members of Putin's government. The incumbent Vladimir Putin was eligible to run. He declared his intent to do so on 6 December 2017, being widely expected to win. This came following several months of speculation throughout the second half of 2017 as, although he was widely expected to run for another term, Putin made evasive comments including that he had still not decided whether he would like to "step down" from the post of president, that he would "think about running", and that he "hadn't yet decided whether to run for another term". Different sources predicted that he would run as an independent to capitalize more support from the population, and although he could also have been nominated by the United Russia party as in 2012, Putin chose to run as an independent. The President of Russia is directly elected for a term of six years, since being extended from four years in 2008 during Dmitry Medvedev's administration. According to Article 81 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, a candidate for president must be at least 35 years old, hold no dual nationality, have permanently resided in Russia for the past 10 years, and cannot serve more than two terms consecutively. Parties with representation in the State Duma are able to nominate a candidate to run for the office while candidates from officially registered parties that are not in parliament have to collect at least 100,000 signatures. Independent candidates have to collect at least 300,000 signatures with no more than 7,500 from each federal subject of Russia and also from action groups made up of at least 500 people. The nomination process took place during Russia's winter holiday period, and 31 January 2018 was the last day for submitting signatures in support of contested access candidates. On 3 March 2017, senators Andrey Klishas and Anatoly Shirokov submitted to the State Duma draft amendments to the electoral legislation. One of the amendments involves the transfer of elections from the second to the third Sunday in March, i.e. from 11 to 18 March 2018. According to article 5, paragraph 7 of Russian Federal law No. 19-FZ, "If the Sunday on which presidential elections are to be held coincides with the day preceding a public holiday, or this Sunday falls on week including a public holiday or this Sunday in is declared to be a working day, elections are appointed on the following Sunday". The second week of March includes International Women's Day (8 March), which is an official holiday in Russia. The bill passed through the State Duma and Federation Council without delay in May 2017 and was signed into law by Vladimir Putin on 1 June 2017. On 15 December, the upper house of the Federal Assembly, the Federation Council, officially confirmed that 18 March 2018 will be the date of the election, officially beginning the process of campaigning and registration for candidates. This date is significant in the country as it is the fourth anniversary of Russian annexation of Crimea. A total of 97,000 polling stations were open across the country from 08:00 until 20:00 local time. Political parties represented in the State Duma or the legislative bodies of not less than one-third of the federal subjects could nominate a candidate without collecting signatures. The following parties could nominate candidates without collecting signatures: Civic Platform, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, A Just Russia, Rodina and United Russia. On 1 July 2017, Chairman of Rodina Aleksey Zhuravlyov announced that his party would only support incumbent president Vladimir Putin in the election. On 11 December, the leader of Civic Platform Rifat Shaykhutdinov also said that his party would support Putin. On 24 December, the leader of A Just Russia Sergey Mironov stated that his party would not put forward a candidate. Senior party member Mikhail Yemelyanov confirmed that A Just Russia would support Putin's candidacy. Individuals belonging to a party without any seats in the State Duma had to collect 105,000 signatures to become candidates, while those running as independents had to collect 315,000 and also to form a group of activists made up of at least 500 people. Multiple political commentators, including former presidential hopeful Irina Khakamada, talked about the difficulty of gathering signatures without the support of a political party, a hurdle which cast doubt on many of the claims of the large number of people who said that they would run for president as independents. However, according to CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova, the conditions for contested-access candidates were easier than ever because such potential candidates no longer had to collect 1,000,000 signatures. Pamfilova incorrectly predicted that there could be even more candidates in this election than there were in 2000, when 11 candidates contested the presidency (the largest number of candidates in the history of presidential elections in Russia). In July 2017, Party of Growth announced that it would hold primaries to nominate a presidential candidate. Four candidates participated in the primaries: Oksana Dmitriyeva, Dmitry Potapenko, Dmitry Marinichev and Alexander Huruji. Voting was conducted via the internet from August to November 2017. On 10 August 2017, the party's press secretary told the media that the results of the primaries will be taken into account at the party congress which will be held to decide the candidate for Party of Growth. However, the winner of the primaries would not guarantee themselves the right to run on behalf of the party. On 26 November, it was announced that the party would nominate Boris Titov, who was not involved in the primaries. According to a person from the party leadership, none of the proposed candidates were able to obtain sufficient support. On 2 November 2017, the Left Front headed by Sergei Udaltsov started online primaries for the nomination of a single left-wing candidate. Primaries were held in two rounds, the first round took place from 2 to 23 November, and the second round – from 24 to 30 November. The first round included 77 candidates, among whom were representatives of various left-wing political parties and organizations, including Pavel Grudinin, Yury Boldyrev, Gennady Zyuganov, Sergey Mironov (who later supported Vladimir Putin), Sergey Glazyev, Zakhar Prilepin, Viktor Anpilov, Valery Zorkin, Zhores Alferov, Sergey Baburin (who later was nominated as a candidate from the party Russian All-People's Union), Natalia Lisitsyna (who was later nominated as a candidate from the Russian United Labour Front), Maxim Suraykin (who was nominated as a candidate from the Communists of Russia) and others. Boldyrev and Grudinin made it through to the second round, which was won by Grudinin, who garnered 4,086 votes (58.4%). At the end of December 2017, Grudinin was officially nominated as the candidate from the Communist Party. The bloc Third Force held primaries among candidates from ten non- parliamentary parties to nominate presidential candidates. According to the organizers, the primaries would determine four presidential candidates representing different views. The official presentation of the candidates was held on 30 October 2017. The candidates included: Andrei Bogdanov, Andrey Getmanov, Olga Onishchenko, Stanislav Polishchuk, Sirazhdin Ramazanov, Ildar Rezyapov, Vyacheslav Smirnov, Irina Volynets and Alexey Zolotukhin. However, the block failed to identify a clear winner, then all candidates, except for Olga Onishchenko has declared that they would participate in the elections. Later, however, all of the candidates refused to participate. These candidates were officially registered by the CEC. Candidates are listed in the order they appear on the ballot paper (alphabetical order in Russian). Sergey Baburin was nominated at the party congress on 22 December 2017. On 24 December, Baburin filed registration documents with the CEC, but the documents were rejected 25 December because the CEC identified violations in the information provided regarding 18 of his party's 48 representatives. On 29 December, Baburin resubmitted the documents and they were approved by the CEC. Russian All-People's Union started to collect signatures in support of Baburin on 9 January 2018. Signatures were collected in 56 federal subjects. On 30 January 2018, Sergey Baburin handed over the signatures to the CEC. When testing revealed only 3.28% of invalid signatures, Sergey Baburin was admitted to the election. At the end of November 2017, Pavel Grudinin won the primaries of Left Front, a coalition of left-wing parties with no representation in the State Duma. Some branch of the Communist Party voted to support the candidacy of Grudinin and did not deny his nomination from the Communist Party. Despite the fact that in early November the First Secretary of the Communist party, Gennady Zyuganov, said that his nomination is supported by all left-wing organizations, which the media felt was the official statement from Zyuganov to participate in the election, Zyuganov later denied this, saying that the official decision will be made at the party Congress in December. On 21 December, it was reported that Zyuganov proposed to nominate Grudinin. Initially, the Communist Party and the National Patriotic Forces of Russia (NPFR) planned to nominate a single candidate: Grudinin, supported by the Communists, or Yury Boldyrev, supported by the NPFR. Boldyrev also participated in the primaries of the Left Front, where he lost in the second round to Grudinin. According to Deputy Alexander Yushchenko, Gennady Zyuganov was still among the candidates for the nomination. He named the other candidates as Yury Afonin, Sergey Levchenko, and Leonid Kalashnikov. On 22 December, Zyuganov, Levchenko, and Kalashnikov withdrew their bids, and Zyuganov rejected the candidacies of Afonin and Boldyrev, leaving Grudinin as the sole candidate. Grudinin was officially selected as the presidential candidate from the Communist Party at its congress on 23 December. Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny started his presidential campaign on 13 December 2016. In early 2017, he traveled to different cities across Russia to open campaign offices and meet with his supporters, despite his involvement in legal cases that might have barred him from running. As noted in an article by Newsweek and by the former Russian presidential administration adviser Gleb Pavlovsky, the American-style campaign by Navalny was unprecedented in modern Russia as most candidates do not start campaigning until a few months before the election. The primary focus of Navalny's campaign was combating corruption within the current government under Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. On 2 March, Navalny published a documentary on YouTube titled He Is Not Dimon To You, detailing the corrupt dealings of Prime Minister Medvedev. He then called for mass rallies to be held on 26 March to bring attention to this after the government did not respond to the documentary, which at least 26,6 million people attended across Russia. 26 March rally was the largest protest held in Russia since the protests in 2011. Navalny called for another protest to be held on Russia Day, which is 12 June. On his website, Navalny listed the main principles of his presidential program: combating government corruption, improving infrastructure and living standards in Russia, decentralizing power from Moscow, developing the economy instead of remaining in isolation from the West, and reforming the judicial system. His more specific economic proposals included instituting a minimum wage, lowering prices of apartments and reducing bureaucracy of home construction, making healthcare and education free, lowering taxes for many citizens, taxing the gains from privatization, decentralization of financial management and increase in local governance, increasing transparency in state-owned firms, implementing work visas for Central Asian migrants coming into the country for work, and increasing economic cooperation with western European states. In April 2017, it was reported that Navalny's campaign staff had collected more than 300,000 pledged signatures from people across 40 regions of Russia electronically. More than 75,000 people signed up to volunteer for his campaign and nearly $700,000 has been donated. However, his eligibility was put into question by his five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement of timber from the company Kirovles, when Navalny was working as an aide to Governor Nikita Belykh of the Kirov Oblast. The Russian Supreme Court overturned his sentence in November 2016 after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that Navalny's rights were violated, and sent the case back to a district court in the city of Kirov for review. In February 2017, the district court upheld Navalny's suspended sentence. The Constitution of Russia does not allow convicted criminals to run for office. Navalny promised to appeal the result to the ECHR, and said he would continue campaigning, while in early May the deputy head of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) commented that he would not be allowed to run unless the sentence is overturned. In August, the head of the CEC, Ella Pamfilova, reinforced this sentiment, saying that it would "take a miracle" for Navalny to be granted permission to run. She cited two scenarios in which Navalny could run: if his conviction was overturned, or if the federal election law was rapidly changed to allow those with criminal convictions to run. Pamfilova added that the probability of either scenario was "extremely low". Pamfilova later commented that Navalny could legally run for president by "some time in 2028", i.e., ten years after his sentence expires. The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Navalny as a political prisoner. Members of the Navalny campaign were harassed and detained by the police, including his chief of staff Leonid Volkov, who was sentenced to thirty days in jail in early December for organizing an unauthorized rally (requests for rallies in city centers are often denied in Russia) in Nizhny Novgorod. Navalny published his election manifesto on 13 December 2017, two days prior to the official start of campaigning. He officially submitted his documents for registration as a candidate on 24 December 2017, and was rejected by the CEC the following day due to his conviction. Later that same day, 25 December, Navalny called on his supporters to boycott the election in response. Mass street protests were planned for 28 January 2018. Vladimir Putin announced his run on 6 December 2017, during his speech at the GAZ automobile plant. A Just Russia, Civic Platform, The Greens, Great Fatherland Party, Labor Party, Party of Pensioners, Patriots of Russia, Rodina, and United Russia have endorsed his presidential bid. Rumors about the nomination of Ksenia Sobchak in the 2018 election appeared a month before she officially announced that she would run for president. Sobchak officially announced that she would run for president on 19 October 2017, in a YouTube video. In the video, Sobchak said she is the candidate "against all", because since the 2004 election, the "against all" option (or "none of the above" as it is more commonly known in English-speaking countries) has been excluded from the ballot, and Sobchak wants to give people the opportunity to again vote "against all". At the same time, Sobchak said she will withdraw her candidacy if Alexey Navalny is registered as a candidate by the Central Election Commission. Originally Sobchak put herself forward as an independent candidate. In this case she would have had to collect at least 300,000 signatures in order to be admitted to the election. Soon after, however, Sobchak's campaign team said that would be nominated by a political party, namely the People's Freedom Party or Civic Initiative. On 15 November 2017, it was announced that Sobchak will be nominated by CivicInitiative at its congress in December. On 23 December 2017, at Civic Initiative's congress Sobchak was officially nominated for president. On the same day, she joined the party. Sobchak's team began gathering signatures in support of her candidacy on 27 December, soon after her registration documents were approved by the CEC. In December 2017, it became known that the party Communists of Russia nominated Maxim Suraykin as presidential candidate. On 28 May 2017, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communists of Russia took the decision on nomination of Maxim Suraykin as presidential candidate. In November 2017, Maxim Suraykin was one of the candidates proposed by the Left Front as a single candidate from the left opposition. The results of the voting on the website of the Left Front Suraikin won 59 votes. On 24 December Maxim Suraykin were officially nominated at the Communists Russia National Convention. On the same day he also submitted to the Central Election Commission. Initially the Party of Growth conducted primaries which were attended by four candidates: Oksana Dmitriyeva, Dmitry Potapenko, Dmitry Marinichev and Alexander Khurudzhi. Boris Titov did not participate in the primaries. However, at the meeting of the federal council of the party it was decided to nominate Titov. According to a person from the party leadership, none of the proposed candidates were able to obtain sufficient support. According to Titov, the main task of participation in election is to promote the party's Growth Strategy economic program, which was prepared by the Stolypin Club and presented to President Vladimir Putin in May 2017. During the campaign Titov and his team intend to travel around the country to promote the program. Titov was officially nominated by his party on 21 December. He submitted to the CEC the documents required for registration the next day. Titov's documents were approved by the CEC on 25 December, which meant that he could begin collecting signatures. A party spokesman commented that the collection signatures in support of Titov will begin in early January 2018. Economist Grigory Yavlinsky announced his presidential bid in February 2016 as the candidate for the liberal party Yabloko, though suggestions that he would run were first voiced in 2013 after he was barred from taking part in the 2012 election. His policies mainly focus on improving the economic situation through governance reforms and stopping involvement in conflicts. He was nominated by the party leader, Emilia Slabunova, who stressed the need to unite all "democratic forces" behind one candidate and noted his political experience, and also received an endorsement from opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov. Yavlinsky had previously run in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections, getting 7.4% of the vote in the former. He spoke at a party forum announcing the start of the campaign in February 2017. Among the other proposals he made were to give out several acres of free land to families so they can build home there and develop it, which he said would house 15 million families, and to turn the Russian Armed Forces into a fully professional military by abolishing conscription. In March 2017, Yavlinsky stated that he will be visiting several major cities in fifteen different regions across the country to raise support. He used Alexei Navalny's recent tour of different cities as an example, refusing to use the traditional model of campaigning a few months before the election. Since he is unable to visit more locations, Slabunova, the leader of Yabloko, and Nikolai Rybakov, his chief of staff, will go to other cities to campaign as well. On 1 November 2017, Yabloko launched the official website of Yavlinsky's campaign. Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced his participation in the presidential elections on 28 October 2016 as the candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party. In the event of his election, Zhirinovsky promised to amend the Constitution of Russia and to radically change the policies of the country. In particular, Zhirinovsky promised to abolish the federal structure of Russia and to return to the Governorates, rename the post of "President of Russia" to the "Supreme Ruler of Russia" and to restore Russia's borders to the borders of the USSR as of 1985. In March 2017, Zhirinovsky promised to declare a general amnesty if elected president. On 14 February 2018, the CEC set the schedule for the distribution of airtime for presidential candidates. Debates took place on five federal TV channels: Russia 1, Russia 24, Channel One, TV Center and PTR, as well as on three radio stations: Radio Rossii, Radio Mayak and Vesti FM. As in previous election campaigns, incumbent President Vladimir Putin refused to participate in the debates. Debates occurred from 26 February to 15 March. Vladimir Zhirinovsky was the only candidate to attend the first debate, with the other three candidates sending representatives. The second debate, which didn't actually involve any candidate-to-candidate discussion, was attended by six candidates and Boris Titov's representative. Opinion polls published in the months preceding the election consistently showed Putin with an overwhelming lead over his competitors. The final results of the elections were approved by the CEC on 23 March 2018. China was the first world power to react to the election results, saying in a congratulatory message to Putin that it vowed to push ties with Russia to a "higher level." Other countries which sent their congratulations included: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Moldova, North Korea, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Western reaction to the election result was predominantly muted as the election came at a time of heightened tensions between the West and Russia due to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the ongoing U.S. investigation of the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and a series of other issues. The European Union said that violations and shortcomings in the election flouted international standards while the White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley initially said that there was no congratulatory phone call scheduled between U.S. president Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump later congratulated Putin in a phone call while the president of the European Commission Jean- Claude Juncker later congratulated Putin; their actions in turn drew criticism. France and Germany acknowledged Putin's victory but both countries avoided explicitly using the word "congratulate", instead "wishing success" to Putin for his new six-year term in office. Voting irregularities were reported by independent election monitoring group Golos. Edward Snowden criticized what he claimed was ballot stuffing and Russian opposition entities Alexei Navalny and Open Russia criticized what they alleged to be voting fraud. Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Electoral Commission, said that there were no serious violations and those involved in the violations would be caught; she later said that Putin's level of support showed that society had united in the face of pressure from abroad. According to one monitor group who observed voters in a number of voting stations which showed "suspicious" results in previous elections, the actual turnout at these stations was 21-34% while official results from these stations showed 76-86% (in one station 8,765 physical voters were counted, official results showed 13,235 votes). The group concluded that in these elections the government and local administration officers chose to simply falsify the voting protocols rather than use easy-to- spot ballot stuffing or carousel voting. Election statistician Sergey Shpilkin said that while this election was slightly "cleaner" that the preceding ones, there were around 10 million votes added in favor of Putin illegally. Prominent Russian dissident Garry Kasparov said that the elections were a "charade." The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said that the election "took place in an overly controlled legal and political environment marked by continued pressure on critical voices, while the Central Election Commission (CEC) administered the election efficiently and openly." The head observer of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation described the election as "transparent, credible, democratic" while Maxim Grigoriev, deputy head of the monitoring group of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation called it "unprecedentedly clean".

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The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 American drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F. Zanuck. The film tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and end up in California. The motion picture details their arduous journey across the United States as they travel to California in search of work and opportunities for the family members, and features cinematography by Gregg Toland. The film is widely considered to be one of the greatest American films of all time. In 1989, it was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film opens with Tom Joad (Henry Fonda), released from prison and hitchhiking his way back to his parents' family farm in Oklahoma. Tom finds an itinerant ex-preacher named Jim Casy (John Carradine) sitting under a tree by the side of the road. Casy was the preacher who baptized Tom, but now Casy has "lost the spirit" and his faith. Casy goes with Tom to the Joad property only to find it deserted. There, they meet Muley Graves (John Qualen) who is hiding out. In a flashback, he describes how farmers all over the area were forced from their farms by the deed holders of the land. A local boy (John Arledge), hired for the purpose, is shown knocking down Muley's house with a Caterpillar tractor. The large Joad family of twelve leaves at daybreak, along with Casy, who decides to accompany them. They pack everything into a dilapidated 1926 Hudson "Super Six" sedan adapted to serve as a truck in order to make the long journey to the promised land of California. The trip along Highway 66 is arduous, and it soon takes a toll on the Joad family. The elderly Grandpa (Charley Grapewin) dies along the way. Tom writes the circumstances surrounding the death on a page from the family Bible and places it on the body before they bury it so that if his remains were found, his death would not be investigated as a possible homicide. They park in a camp and meet a man, a migrant returning from California, who laughs at Pa's optimism about conditions in California. He speaks bitterly about his experiences in the West. Grandma (Zeffie Tilbury) dies when they reach California, the son Noah (Frank Sully) and son-in-law Connie (Eddie Quillan) also leave the family group. The family arrives at the first transient migrant campground for workers and finds the camp is crowded with other starving, jobless and desperate travelers. Their truck slowly makes its way through the dirt road between the shanty houses and around the camp's hungry-faced inhabitants. Tom says, "Sure don't look none too prosperous." After some trouble with a so- called "agitator", the Joads leave the camp in a hurry. The Joads make their way to another migrant camp, the Keene Ranch. After doing some work in the fields, they discover the high food prices in the company store for meat and other products. The store is the only one in the area, by a long shot. Later they find a group of migrant workers are striking, and Tom wants to find out all about it. He goes to a secret meeting in the dark woods. When the meeting is discovered, Casy is killed by one of the camp guards. As Tom tries to defend Casy from the attack, he inadvertently kills the guard. Tom suffers a serious wound on his cheek, and the camp guards realize it will not be difficult to identify him. That evening the family hides Tom under the mattresses of the truck just as guards arrive to question them; they are searching for the man who killed the guard. Tom avoids being spotted and the family leaves the Keene Ranch without further incident. After driving for a while, they must stop at the crest of a hill when the engine overheats due to a broken fan belt; they have little gas, but decide to try coasting down the hill to some lights. The lights are from a third type of camp: Farmworkers' Wheat Patch Camp (Weedpatch in the book), a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture, complete with indoor toilets and showers, which the Joad children had never seen before. Tom is moved to work for change by what he has witnessed in the various camps. He tells his family that he plans to carry on Casy's mission in the world by fighting for social reform. He leaves to seek a new world and to join the movement committed to social justice. Tom Joad says: I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too. As the family moves on again, they discuss the fear and difficulties they have had. Ma Joad concludes the film, saying: I ain't never gonna be scared no more. I was, though. For a while it looked as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we didn't have nobody in the whole wide world but enemies. Like nobody was friendly no more. Made me feel kinda bad and scared too, like we was lost and nobody cared... Rich fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain't no good and they die out, but we keep a-coming. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out, they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, cos we're the people. Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, Jane Darwell as Ma Joad, John Carradine as Jim Casy, Charley Grapewin as William James "Grandpa" Joad, Dorris Bowdon as Rose of Sharon, Russell Simpson as Pa Joad, O. Z. Whitehead as Al Joad, John Qualen as Muley Graves, Eddie Quillan as Connie Rivers, Zeffie Tilbury as Grandma Joad, Frank Sully as Noah Joad, Frank Darien as Uncle John, Darryl Hickman as Winfield Joad, Shirley Mills as Ruth "Ruthie" Joad, Roger Imhof as Mr. Thomas, Grant Mitchell as Caretaker, Charles D. Brown as Wilkie, John Arledge as Davis, Ward Bond as Policeman, Harry Tyler as Bert, William Pawley as Bill, Charles Tannen as Joe, Selmer Jackson as Inspection Officer, Charles Middleton as Leader, Eddie Waller as Proprietor, Paul Guilfoyle as Floyd, David Hughes as Frank, Cliff Clark as City Man, Joseph Sawyer as Keene Ranch Foreman, Frank Faylen as Tim, Adrian Morris as Agent, Hollis Jewell as Muley's Son, Robert Homans as Spencer, Irving Bacon as Driver, Kitty McHugh as Mae, Tom Tyler as Deputy (uncredited), Joe Bordeaux as Migrant (uncredited) According to The New York Times, The Grapes of Wrath was America's best- selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that month it won the National Book Award, favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. Soon it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1962, the Nobel Prize committee said The Grapes of Wrath was "great work" and one of the committee's main reasons for granting Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature. Time magazine included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". In 2009, The Daily Telegraph also included the novel in its "100 novels everyone should read". In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Grapes of Wrath tenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The first part of the film follows the book fairly closely. However, the second half and the ending in particular are significantly different from the book. While the book ends with the downfall and break-up of the Joad family, the film switches the order of sequences so that the family ends up in a "good" camp provided by the government, and events turn out relatively well. In the novel, Rose-of-Sharon ("Rosasharn") Rivers (played in the film by Dorris Bowdon) gives birth to a stillborn baby. Later she offers her milk- filled breasts to a starving man, dying in a barn. These scenes were not included in the film. While the film is somewhat stark, it has a more optimistic and hopeful view than the novel, especially when the Joads land at the Department of Agriculture camp – the clean camp. Also, the producers decided to tone down Steinbeck's political references, such as eliminating a monologue using a land owner's description of "reds" as anybody "that wants thirty cents an hour when we're payin' twenty-five," to show that under the prevalent conditions that definition applies to every migrant worker looking for better wages. The film emphasizes Ma Joad's pragmatic, forward-looking way of dealing with their situation despite Tom's departure, as it concludes with her spiritual "We're the people" speech. Ivy and Sairy Wilson, who attend to Grandpa's death and travel with the Joads until they reach California, are left out of the movie. Noah's departure from the family is passed over in the movie. Instead, he simply disappears without explanation. In the book, Floyd tells Tom about how the workers were being exploited, but in the movie he does not appear until after the deputy arrives in Hooverville. Sandry, the religious fanatic who scares Rose of Sharon, is left out of the movie. Vivian Sobchack argued that the film uses visual imagery to focus on the Joads as a family unit, whereas the novel focuses on their journey as a part of the "family of man". She points out that their farm is never shown in detail, and that the family members are never shown working in agriculture; not a single peach is shown in the entire film. This subtly serves to focus the film on the specific family, as opposed to the novel's focus on man and land together. In the film, most family members are either reduced, such as Al, Noah and Uncle John, to background characters or, like Rose of Sharon and Connie, to being the focus of only one or two relatively minor scenes. Instead, the film is largely concerned with Tom, Ma and, to a lesser extent, Jim Casy. Thus, despite the film's focus on the Joads as a specific family rather than a part of the "family of man", the movie explores very little of the members of the family itself. Henry Fonda – "Red River Valley", Eddie Quillan – "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (Traditional), "A Tisket, A Tasket" (Words & music by Ella Fitzgerald & Van Alexander) According to critic Roger Ebert, both executive producer Darryl F. Zanuck and director John Ford were odd choices to make this film because both were considered politically conservative. Zanuck was nervous about the left-wing political views of the novel, especially the ending. Due to the red-baiting common to the era, Darryl Zanuck sent private investigators to Oklahoma to help him legitimize the film. When Zanuck's investigators found that the "Okies'" predicament was indeed terrible, Zanuck was confident he could defend political attacks that the film was somehow pro-Communist. Ebert believes that World War II also helped sell the film's message, as Communism received a brief respite from American demonizing during that period. Production on the film began on October 4, 1939, and was completed on November 16, 1939. Some of the filming locations include: McAlester, Sayre both in Oklahoma; Gallup, Laguna Pueblo, and Santa Rosa, all in New Mexico; Thousand Oaks, Lamont, Needles, San Fernando Valley, all in California; Topock, Petrified Forest National Park, all in Arizona. The film score by Alfred Newman is based on the song "Red River Valley". Additionally, the song "Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad" is sung in a nighttime scene at a labor camp. The film premiered in New York City on January 24, 1940, and Los Angeles on January 27, 1940. The wide release date in the United States was March 15, 1940. Frank Nugent of The New York Times wrote: In the vast library where the celluloid literature of the screen is stored there is one small, uncrowded shelf devoted to the cinema's masterworks, to those films which by dignity of theme and excellence of treatment seem to be of enduring artistry, seem destined to be recalled not merely at the end of their particular year but whenever great motion pictures are mentioned. To that shelf of screen classics Twentieth Century-Fox yesterday added its version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John Ford and performed at the Rivoli by a cast of such uniform excellence and suitability that we should be doing its other members an injustice by saying it was "headed" by Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine and Russell Simpson. When critic Bosley Crowther retired in 1967, he named The Grapes of Wrath one of the best fifty films ever made. (N.B.: 40 percent of the works Crowther named were not American-made, so he was placing this work in a large context.) In a film review written for Time magazine by its editor Whittaker Chambers, he separated his views of Steinbeck's novel from Ford's film, which he liked. Chambers wrote: But people who go to pictures for the sake of seeing pictures will see a great one. For The Grapes of Wrath is possibly the best picture ever made from a so-so book...Camera craft purged the picture of the editorial rash that blotched the Steinbeck book. Cleared of excrescences, the residue is a great human story which made thousands of people, who damned the novel's phony conclusions, read it. It is the saga of an authentic U.S. farming family who lose their land. They wander, they suffer, but they endure. They are never quite defeated, and their survival is itself a triumph. A review in Variety reported, "Here is outstanding entertainment, projected against a heart- rending sector of the American scene," concluding, "It possesses an adult viewpoint and its success may lead other producers to explore the rich field of contemporary life which films long have neglected and ignored." John Mosher wrote in The New Yorker, "With a majesty never before so constantly sustained on any screen, the film never for an instant falters. Its beauty is of the sort found in the art of Burchfield, Benton and Curry, as the landscape and people involved belong to the world of these painters." The Film Daily year- end poll of 546 critics nationwide ranked The Grapes of Wrath as the second- best film of 1940, behind only Rebecca. Academy Awards wins (1941) Best Supporting Actress, Jane Darwell as Ma Joad., Best Director, John Ford. Academy Awards nominations (1941) Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henry Fonda as Tom Joad., Best Film Editing, Robert L. Simpson., Best Picture, Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson., Best Sound Recording, Edmund H. Hansen., Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Nunnally Johnson. Other wins National Board of Review of Motion Pictures: NBR Award; Best Picture- 1940., New York Film Critics: NYFCC Award; Best Director, John Ford; Best Film- 1940., Blue Ribbon Awards, Japan: Blue Ribbon Award Best Foreign Language Film, John Ford- 1963., National Film Registry – 1989. American Film Institute recognition AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies – #21, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:, Tom Joad – #12 Hero, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:, "Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there." – Nominated, 100 Years...100 Cheers – #7, 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary) – #23 The film was released on VHS in 1988 by Key Video. It was later released in video format on March 3, 1998 by 20th Century Fox on its Studio Classic series. A DVD was released on April 6, 2004 by 20th Century Fox Entertainment. The DVD contains a special commentary track by scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw. It also includes various supplements: an A&E; Network biography of Daryl F. Zanuck, outtakes, a gallery, Franklin D. Roosevelt lauds motion pictures at Academy featurette, Movietone news: three drought reports from 1934, etc. The film was released on Blu-ray on April 3, 2012, and features all supplemental material from the DVD release. List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film review aggregator website The Grapes of Wrath at Film Site by Tim Dirks, by A. O. Scott (The New York Times) John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." He has been called "a giant of American letters," and many of his works are considered classics of Western literature. During his writing career, he authored 33 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Red Pony (1937). The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies. Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists. Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German, English, and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, shortened the family name to Steinbeck when he immigrated to the United States. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Mettmann, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck." His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served as Monterey County treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934), a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church, although Steinbeck later became agnostic. Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in some of the world's most fertile soil, about twenty-five miles from the Pacific Coast. Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches and later with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men. He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms. While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English Literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto, leaving without a degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe, where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plaster mannequins. When their money ran out six months later due to a slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back to Pacific Grove, California, to a cottage owned by his father, on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During the Great Depression, Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he was able to live on the fish and crab that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market. Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row. In 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class from Warder Clyde Allee, a biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook on ecology. Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of a great chain of being, caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand. Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges. Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at the lab as secretary-bookkeeper. Steinbeck helped on an informal basis. They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts' ecological philosophy. When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him. Steinbeck's first novel, , published in 1929, is loosely based on the life and death of privateer Henry Morgan. It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of the city of Panama, sometimes referred to as the "Cup of Gold", and on the women, brighter than the sun, who were said to be found there. Between 1930 and 1933, Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pastures of Heaven, published in 1932, consists of twelve interconnected stories about a valley near Monterey, which was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony, a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown, named after a Vedic hymn, follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of the land he works. Although he had not achieved the status of a well-known writer, he never doubted that he would achieve greatness. Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with Tortilla Flat (1935), a novel set in post-war Monterey, California, that won the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. It portrays the adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I, just before U.S. prohibition. They are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life devoted to wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. In presenting the 1962 Nobel Prize to Steinbeck, the Swedish Academy cited "spicy and comic tales about a gang of paisanos, asocial individuals who, in their wild revels, are almost caricatures of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. It has been said that in the United States this book came as a welcome antidote to the gloom of the then prevailing depression." Tortilla Flat was adapted as a 1942 film of the same name, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield, a friend of Steinbeck. With some of the proceeds, he built a summer ranch-home in Los Gatos. Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression. These included In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. He also wrote an article series called The Harvest Gypsies for the San Francisco News about the plight of the migrant worker. Of Mice and Men was a drama about the dreams of two migrant agricultural laborers in California. It was critically acclaimed and Steinbeck's 1962 Nobel Prize citation called it a "little masterpiece". Its stage production was a hit, starring Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as George's companion, the mentally childlike, but physically powerful itinerant farmhand Lennie. Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling director George S. Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be a disappointment. Steinbeck wrote two more stage plays (The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright). Of Mice and Men was also adapted as a 1939 Hollywood film, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lennie (he had filled the role in the Los Angeles stage production) and Burgess Meredith as George. Meredith and Steinbeck became close friends for the next two decades. Another film based on the novella was made in 1992 starring Gary Sinise as George and John Malkovich as Lennie. Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles about migrant agricultural workers that he had written in San Francisco. It is commonly considered his greatest work. According to The New York Times, it was the best-selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that month, it won the National Book Award, favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. Later that year, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted as a film directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad; Fonda was nominated for the best actor Academy Award. Grapes was controversial. Steinbeck's New Deal political views, negative portrayal of aspects of capitalism, and sympathy for the plight of workers, led to a backlash against the author, especially close to home. Claiming the book was both obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941. Of the controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy." The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (by two different movie studios) were in production simultaneously, allowing Steinbeck to spend a full day on the set of The Grapes of Wrath and the next day on the set of Of Mice and Men. In the 1930s and 1940s, Ed Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to give himself time off from his writing and to collect biological specimens, which Ricketts sold for a living. Their joint book about a collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well. However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today. Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on the trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and ended a year later, in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol he married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954), "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright, and characters in In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of the period. Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and divorced his wife Carol. Ricketts' biographer Eric Enno Tamm notes that, except for East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts' untimely death in 1948. Steinbeck's novel The Moon Is Down (1942), about the Socrates-inspired spirit of resistance in an occupied village in Northern Europe, was made into a film almost immediately. It was presumed that the unnamed country of the novel was Norway and the occupiers the Nazis. In 1945, Steinbeck received the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement. In 1943, Steinbeck served as a World War II war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and worked with the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA). It was at that time he became friends with Will Lang, Jr. of Time/Life magazine. During the war, Steinbeck accompanied the commando raids of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s Beach Jumpers program, which launched small-unit diversion operations against German-held islands in the Mediterranean. At one point, he accompanied Fairbanks on an invasion of an island off the coast of Italy and helped capture Italian and German prisoners, using a Tommy Gun. Some of his writings from this period were incorporated in the documentary Once There Was a War (1958). Steinbeck returned from the war with a number of wounds from shrapnel and some psychological trauma. He treated himself, as ever, by writing. He wrote Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Lifeboat (1944), and the film, A Medal for Benny (1945), with screenwriter Jack Wagner about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war. He later requested that his name be removed from the credits of Lifeboat, because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones. In 1944, suffering from homesickness for his Pacific Grove/Monterey life of the 1930s, he wrote Cannery Row (1945), which became so famous that in 1958 Ocean View Avenue in Monterey, the setting of the book, was renamed Cannery Row. After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), knowing it would be filmed eventually. The story first appeared in the December 1945 issue of Woman's Home Companion magazine as "The Pearl of the World." It was illustrated by John Alan Maxwell. The novel is an imaginative telling of a story which Steinbeck had heard in La Paz in 1940, as related in The Log From the Sea of Cortez, which he described in Chapter 11 as being "so much like a parable that it almost can't be". Steinbeck traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico for the filming with Wagner who helped with the script; on this trip he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata, and subsequently wrote a film script (Viva Zapata!) directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn. In 1947, Steinbeck made the first of many trips to the Soviet Union, this one with photographer Robert Capa. They visited Moscow, Kiev, Tbilisi, Batumi and Stalingrad, some of the first Americans to visit many parts of the USSR since the communist revolution. Steinbeck's 1948 book about their experiences, A Russian Journal, was illustrated with Capa's photos. In 1948, the year the book was published, Steinbeck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1952 Steinbeck's longest novel, East of Eden, was published. According to his third wife, Elaine, he considered it his magnum opus, his greatest novel. In 1952, John Steinbeck appeared as the on-screen narrator of 20th Century Fox's film, O. Henry's Full House. Although Steinbeck later admitted he was uncomfortable before the camera, he provided interesting introductions to several filmed adaptations of short stories by the legendary writer O. Henry. About the same time, Steinbeck recorded readings of several of his short stories for Columbia Records; the recordings provide a record of Steinbeck's deep, resonant voice. Following the success of Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on East of Eden, James Dean's film debut. Steinbeck's last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), examines moral decline in America. The protagonist Ethan grows discontented with his own moral decline and that of those around him. The book has a very different tone from Steinbeck's amoral and ecological stance in earlier works like Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row. It was not a critical success. Many reviewers recognized the importance of the novel, but were disappointed that it was not another Grapes of Wrath. In the Nobel Prize presentation speech next year, however, the Swedish Academy cited it most favorably: "Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad." Apparently taken aback by the critical reception of this novel, and the critical outcry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, Steinbeck published no more fiction in the remaining six years before his death. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception." The selection was heavily criticized, and described as "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" in one Swedish newspaper. The reaction of American literary critics was also harsh. The New York Times asked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose "limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophising", noting that "[T]he international character of the award and the weight attached to it raise questions about the mechanics of selection and how close the Nobel committee is to the main currents of American writing. ... [W]e think it interesting that the laurel was not awarded to a writer ... whose significance, influence and sheer body of work had already made a more profound impression on the literature of our age". Steinbeck, when asked on the day of the announcement if he deserved the Nobel, replied: "Frankly, no." Biographer Jackson Benson notes, "[T]his honor was one of the few in the world that one could not buy nor gain by political maneuver. It was precisely because the committee made its judgment ... on its own criteria, rather than plugging into 'the main currents of American writing' as defined by the critical establishment, that the award had value." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said: Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a "compromise choice" among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best of a bad lot. "There aren't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation," wrote committee member Henry Olsson. Although the committee believed Steinbeck's best work was behind him by 1962, committee member Anders Österling believed the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent showed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as a social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway." Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers. In 1953, he wrote that he considered cartoonist Al Capp, creator of the satirical Li'l Abner, "possibly the best writer in the world today." At his own first Nobel Prize press conference he was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: "Hemingway's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote." In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Steinbeck the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. He thought of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture and was considered a hawk for his position on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield. At one point he was allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase while his son and other members of his platoon slept. In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in August. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts' death in deep depression. In June 1949, Steinbeck met stage-manager Elaine Scott at a restaurant in Carmel, California. Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship and in December 1950 Steinbeck and Scott married, within a week of the finalizing of Scott's own divorce from actor Zachary Scott. This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968. In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalist Jack Rudloe, who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, now Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death. In 1966, Steinbeck traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the site of Mount Hope, a farm community established in Israel by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, was murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 in what became known as the Outrages at Jaffa. John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968, of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969 at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it. The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in The New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain—and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize—the Nobel judges needed him." Steinbeck's incomplete novel based on the King Arthur legends of Malory and others, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, was published in 1976. Many of Steinbeck's works are required reading in American high schools. In the United Kingdom, Of Mice and Men is one of the key texts used by the examining body AQA for its English Literature GCSE. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools. Contrariwise, Steinbeck's works have been frequently banned in the United States. The Grapes of Wrath was banned by school boards: in August 1939, Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States. Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country". Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel, , which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child. In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend, Max Wagner, a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration for The Red Pony. Later he used actual American conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history and mythology. One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. Steinbeck's boyhood home, a turreted Victorian building in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open for tours on Sunday afternoons during the summer. The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at 1 Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. Dana Gioia (chair of the National Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all." Its "Steinbeckiana" includes "Rocinante", the camper-truck in which Steinbeck made the cross- country trip described in Travels with Charley. His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives. In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The site of the Hovden Sardine Cannery next to Doc's laboratory is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In 1958 the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named Ocean View Avenue, was renamed Cannery Row in honor of the novel. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row, historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts. On February 27, 1979 (the 77th anniversary of the writer's birth), the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service's Literary Arts series honoring American writers. Steinbeck was inducted in to the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 1995. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck into the California Hall of Fame, located at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. His son, author Thomas Steinbeck, accepted the award on his behalf. To commemorate the 112th anniversary of Mr. Steinbeck's birthday on February 27, 2014, Google displayed an interactive doodle utilizing animation which included illustrations portraying scenes and quotes from several novels by the author. Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts appear as a fictionalized characters in the 2016 novel, Monterey Bay about the founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, by Lindsay Hatton (Penguin Press). Steinbeck was affiliated to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church and he stayed attached throughout his life to Episcopalianism. Especially in his works of fiction, Steinbeck was highly conscious of religion and incorporated it into his style and themes. The shaping of his characters often drew on the Bible and the theology of Anglicanism, combining elements of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Steinbeck distanced himself from religious views when he left Salinas for Stanford. However, the work he produced still reflected the language of his childhood at Salinas, and his beliefs remained a powerful influence within his fiction and non-fiction work. William Ray considered his Episcopal views are prominently displayed in The Grapes of Wrath, in which themes of conversion and self-sacrifice play a major part in the characters Casy and Tom who achieve spiritual transcendence through conversion. Steinbeck's contacts with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures may have influenced his writing. He joined the League of American Writers, a Communist organization, in 1935. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter. Through Francis Whitaker, a member of the Communist Party USA's John Reed Club for writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union. In 1939, he signed a letter with some other writers in support of the Soviet invasion of Finland and the Soviet-established puppet government. Documents released by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2012 indicate that Steinbeck offered his services to the Agency in 1952, while planning a European tour, and the Director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell Smith, was eager to take him up on the offer. What work, if any, Steinbeck may have performed for the CIA during the Cold War is unknown. Steinbeck was a close associate of playwright Arthur Miller. In June 1957, Steinbeck took a personal and professional risk by supporting him when Miller refused to name names in the House Un-American Activities Committee trials. Steinbeck called the period one of the "strangest and most frightening times a government and people have ever faced." In 1967, when he was sent to Vietnam to report on the war, his sympathetic portrayal of the United States Army led the New York Post to denounce him for betraying his liberal past. Steinbeck's biographer, Jay Parini, says Steinbeck's friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson influenced his views on Vietnam. Steinbeck may also have been concerned about the safety of his son serving in Vietnam. Steinbeck complained publicly about government harassment. Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, said that J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI at the time, could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him. According to Thomas, a true artist is one who "without a thought for self, stands up against the stones of condemnation, and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice, or the halls of government. By doing so, these people will naturally become the enemies of the political status quo." In a 1942 letter to United States Attorney General Francis Biddle, John Steinbeck wrote: "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome." The FBI denied that Steinbeck was under investigation. In 1936, Steinbeck published the first of what came to be known as his Dustbowl trilogy, which included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. This first novel tells the story of a fruit pickers' strike in California which is both aided and damaged by the help of "the Party," generally taken to be the Communist Party, although this is never spelled out in the book. Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written as a play in 1937. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. The Grapes of Wrath is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Some critics found it too sympathetic to the workers' plight and too critical of capitalism, but it found a large audience of its own. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction (novels) and was adapted as a film starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell and directed by John Ford. Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons – based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry – and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. The book was published in 1952. It was made into a 1955 movie directed by Elia Kazan and starring James Dean. In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom- built camper top – which was rare at the time – and drove across the United States with his faithful 'blue' standard poodle, Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home on Long Island. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. 1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field, 1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine, 1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler, 1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield, 1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, 1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak, 1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova, 1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués, 1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern, 1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters, 1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey, 1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins, 1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez, 1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey), 1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran), 1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger, 1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise, 2016—In Dubious Battle—directed by James Franco and featuring Franco, Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez Pigasus – A personal stamp used by Steinbeck. DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, Novels and Stories 1932–1937 (Library of America, 1994), DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941 (Library of America, 1996), DeMott, Robert, ed. John Steinbeck, Novels 1942–1952 (Library of America, 2002), DeMott, Robert and Railsback, Brian, eds. John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley and Later Novels, 1947–1962 (Library of America, 2007), Benson, Jackson J. (ed.) The Short Novels Of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham: Duke UP, 1990 ., Davis, Robert C. The Grapes of Wrath: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. PS3537 .T3234 G734, French, Warren. John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited. NY: Twayne, 1994 ., Hughes, R. S. John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction. R.S. Hughes. Boston : Twayne, 1989. ., Meyer, Michael J. The Hayashi Steinbeck Bibliography, 1982–1996. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998 ., Benson, Jackson J. Looking for Steinbeck's Ghost. Reno: U of Nevada P, 2002 ., Ditsky, John. John Steinbeck and the Critics. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2000 ., Heavilin, Barbara A. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002 ., Li, Luchen. ed. John Steinbeck: A Documentary Volume. Detroit: Gale, 2005 ., Steinbeck, John Steinbeck IV and Nancy (2001). The Other Side of Eden: Life with John Steinbeck. Prometheus Books., Tamm, Eric Enno (2005). Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell. Thunder's Mouth Press. ., Bensen, Jackson J. "John Steinbeck, Writer" Penguin Putnam Inc., second edition, New York, 1990, 0-14-01.4417X, National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California, FBI file on John Steinbeck, The Steinbeck Quarterly journal, John Steinbeck Biography Early Years: Salinas to Stanford: 1902–1925 from National Steinbeck Center, Western American Literature Journal: John Steinbeck, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1945 - Mrs. Stanford Steinbeck, Gwyndolyn, Thom and John Steinbeck John Steinbeck Collection, 1902–1979, Wells Fargo John Steinbeck Collection, 1870–1981 Nobel Laureate page, "Writings of John Steinbeck" from C-SPAN's The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" outside of the United States, is a lyric by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. The song links the judgment of the wicked at the end of the age (through allusions to biblical passages such as Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19) with the American Civil War. It is an extremely popular and well-known American patriotic song. The "Glory, Hallelujah" tune was a folk hymn developed in the oral hymn tradition of camp meetings in the southern United States and first documented in the early 1800s. In the first known version, "Canaan's Happy Shore," the text includes the verse "Oh! Brothers will you meet me (3×)/On Canaan's happy shore?" and chorus "There we'll shout and give him glory (3×)/For glory is his own." This developed into the familiar "Glory, glory, hallelujah" chorus by the 1850s. The tune and variants of these words spread across both the southern and northern United States. At a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Warren, near Boston, Massachusetts, on Sunday, May 12, 1861, the John Brown song, using the well known "Oh! Brothers" tune and the "Glory, Hallelujah" chorus, was publicly played "perhaps for the first time." The American Civil War had begun the previous month. In 1890, George Kimball wrote his account of how the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia, known as the "Tiger" Battalion, collectively worked out the lyrics to "John Brown's Body." Kimball wrote: According to Kimball, these sayings became by-words among the soldiers and, in a communal effort — similar in many ways to the spontaneous composition of camp meeting songs described above — were gradually put to the tune of "Say, Brothers": Some leaders of the battalion, feeling the words were coarse and irreverent, tried to urge the adoption of more fitting lyrics, but to no avail. The lyrics were soon prepared for publication by members of the battalion, together with publisher C. S. Hall. They selected and polished verses they felt appropriate, and may even have enlisted the services of a local poet to help polish and create verses. The official histories of the old First Artillery and of the 55th Artillery (1918) also record the Tiger Battalion's role in creating the John Brown Song, confirming the general thrust of Kimball's version with a few additional details. Kimball's battalion was dispatched to Murray, Kentucky, early in the Civil War, and Julia Ward Howe heard this song during a public review of the troops outside Washington, D.C., on Upton Hill, Virginia. Rufus R. Dawes, then in command of Company "K" of the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, stated in his memoirs that the man who started the singing was Sergeant John Ticknor of his company. Howe's companion at the review, The Reverend James Freeman Clarke, suggested to Howe that she write new words for the fighting men's song. Staying at the Willard Hotel in Washington on the night of November 18, 1861, Howe wrote the verses to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Of the writing of the lyrics, Howe remembered: Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly of February 1862. The sixth verse written by Howe, which is less commonly sung, was not published at that time. The song was also published as a broadside in 1863 by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia. Both "John Brown" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" were published in Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes in 1874 and reprinted in 1889. Both songs had the same Chorus with an additional "Glory" in the second line: "Glory! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!" Julia Ward Howe was married to Samuel Gridley Howe, the famed scholar in education of the blind. Samuel and Julia were also active leaders in anti-slavery politics and strong supporters of the Union. Samuel Howe was a member of the Secret Six, the group who funded John Brown's work. "Canaan's Happy Shore" has a verse and chorus of equal metrical length and both verse and chorus share an identical melody and rhythm. "John Brown's Body" has more syllables in its verse and uses a more rhythmically active variation of the "Canaan" melody to accommodate the additional words in the verse. In Howe's lyrics, the words of the verse are packed into a yet longer line, with even more syllables than "John Brown's Body." The verse still uses the same underlying melody as the refrain, but the addition of many dotted rhythms to the underlying melody allows for the more complex verse to fit the same melody as the comparatively short refrain. \relative c" { \partial 16 g16 g8. g16 g8. f16 e8. g16 c8. d16 e8. e16 e8. d16 c4 c8. c16 a8. a16 a8. b16 c8. c16 b8. a16 \partial 2. g8. a16 g8. e16 g4} \addlyrics {Mine eyes have seen the glo– ry of the com– ing of the Lord: He is tramp– ling out the vin– tage where the grapes of wrath are stored; } Howe submitted the lyrics she wrote to The Atlantic Monthly, and it was first published in the February 1862 issue of the magazine. Many modern recordings of the Battle Hymn of the Republic use the lyric "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free" as opposed to the lyric originally written by Julia Ward Howe: "let us die to make men free." Howe's original manuscript differed slightly from the published version. Most significantly, it included a final verse: In the 1862 sheet music, the chorus always begins: In 1960 the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus. The 45 rpm single record, which was arranged and edited by Columbia Records and Cleveland disk jockey Bill Randle, was a commercial success and reached #13 on Billboard's Hot 100 the previous autumn. It is the choir's only Top 40 hit in the Hot 100., Judy Garland performed this song on her weekly television show in December 1963. She originally wanted to do a dedication show for President John F. Kennedy upon his assassination, but CBS would not let her, so she performed the song without being able to mention his name., Andy Williams experienced commercial success in 1968 with an a cappella version recorded at Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral. Backed by the St. Charles Borromeo choir, his version reached #11 on the adult contemporary chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100., Anita Bryant performed it January 17, 1971, at the halftime show of Super Bowl V., The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed this song at the inaugural parade of President Ronald Reagan on January 20, 1981., It was performed in St. Paul's Cathedral on September 14, 2001, as part of a memorial service for those lost in the September 11, 2001 attacks., The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir also sang this song at President Barack Obama's Second Presidential Inauguration Ceremony on January 21, 2013., The Mother Bethel AME Church Choir from Philadelphia performed this song during the opening day of the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016., A U.S. military choir and band performed this song at the pre-inauguration ceremony of President-Elect Donald Trump on January 19, 2017, at the Lincoln Memorial., The Naval Academy Glee Club performed this song on September 1, 2018 at the funeral of Sen. John McCain at the Washington National Cathedral. In the years since the Civil War, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has been used frequently as an American patriotic song. The refrain "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" has been adopted by fans of a number of sporting teams, most notably in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. The popular use of the tune by Tottenham Hotspur can be traced to September 1961 during the 1961–62 European Cup. Their first opponents in the competition were the Polish side Górnik Zabrze, and the Polish press described the Spurs team as "no angels" due to their rough tackling. In the return leg at White Hart Lane, some fans then wore angel costumes at the match holding placards with slogans such as "Glory be to shining White Hart Lane", and the crowded started singing the refrain "Glory, glory, hallelujah" as Spurs beat the Poles 8–1, starting the tradition at Tottenham. It was released as the B-side to "Ozzie's Dream" for the 1981 Cup Final. The theme was then picked up by Hibernian, with Hector Nicol's release of the track "Glory, glory to the Hibees" in 1963. "Glory, Glory Leeds United" was a popular chant during Leeds' 1970 FA Cup run. Manchester United fans picked it up as "Glory, Glory Man United" during the 1983 FA Cup Final. As a result of its popularity with these and other British teams, it has spread internationally and to other sporting codes. An example of its reach is its popularity with fans of the Australian Rugby League team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs (Glory, Glory to South Sydney) and to A-League team Perth Glory. Words from the first verse gave John Steinbeck's wife Carol Steinbeck the title of his 1939 masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. The title of John Updike's In the Beauty of the Lilies also came from this song, as did Terrible Swift Sword and Never Call Retreat, two volumes in Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War. Terrible Swift Sword is also the name of a board wargame simulating the Battle of Gettysburg. The lyrics of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" appear in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermons and speeches, most notably in his speech "How Long, Not Long" from the steps of the Alabama State Capitol building on March 25, 1965, after the 3rd Selma March, and in his final sermon "I've Been to the Mountaintop", delivered in Memphis, Tennessee on the evening of April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination. In fact, the latter sermon, King's last public words, ends with the first lyrics of the "Battle Hymn": "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Bishop Michael B. Curry of North Carolina, after his election as the first African American Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, delivered a sermon to the Church's General Convention on July 3, 2015, in which the lyrics of The Battle Hymn framed the message of God's love. After proclaiming "Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on", a letter from President Barack Obama was read, congratulating Bishop Curry on his historic election. Curry is known for quoting The Battle Hymn during his sermons. The tune has played a role in many movies where patriotic music has been required, including the 1970 World War II war comedy Kelly's Heroes, and the 1999 sci-fi western Wild Wild West. The inscription, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord", is written at the feet of the sculpture of the fallen soldier at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. Some songs make use of both the melody and elements of the lyrics of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", either in tribute or as a parody: "Marching Song of the First Arkansas" is a Civil War-era song that has a similar lyrical structure to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". It has been described as "a powerful early statement of black pride, militancy, and desire for full equality, revealing the aspirations of black soldiers for Reconstruction as well as anticipating the spirit of the civil rights movement of the 1960s"., The tune has been used with alternative lyrics numerous times. The University of Georgia's fight song, "Glory Glory to Old Georgia", is based on the patriotic tune, and has been sung at American college football games since 1909. Other college teams also use songs set to the same tune. One such is "Glory, Glory to Old Auburn" at Auburn University. Another is "Glory Colorado", traditionally played by the band and sung after touchdowns scored by the Colorado Buffaloes. "Glory Colorado" has been a fight song at the University of Colorado (Boulder) for more than one hundred years. The University of Georgia's rivals, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, sing a parody of "Glory, Glory to Old Georgia" called "To Hell with Georgia" set to the same tune., In 1901 Mark Twain wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Updated", with the same tune as the original, as a comment on the Philippine–American War. It was later recorded by the Chad Mitchell Trio., "The Burning of the School" is a well-known parody of the song., The United States Army paratrooper song, "Blood on the Risers", first sung in World War II, includes the lyrics "Gory, gory" in the lyrics, based on the original's "Glory, glory"., A number of terrace songs (in association football) are sung to the tune in Britain. Most frequently, fans chant "Glory, Glory..." plus their team's name: the chants have been recorded and released officially as songs by Hibernian, Tottenham, Leeds United and Manchester United. The 1994 World Cup official song "Gloryland" interpreted by Daryl Hall and the Sounds of Blackness has the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". In Argentina the St. Alban's former Pupils Assn (Old Philomathian Club) used the tune for its "Glory Glory Philomathians" as well. Not heard often nowadays it is still a cherished song for the Old Philomathians., In Australia, the most famous version of the song is used by the South Sydney Rabbitohs, an Australian rugby league club – "Glory Glory to South Sydney". The song mentions all the teams in the competition when the song was written, and says what Souths did to them when they played. Each verse ends with, "They wear the Red and Green"., The parody song "Jesus Can't Play Rugby", popular at informal sporting events, uses the traditional melody under improvised lyrics. Performances typically feature a call-and-response structure, wherein one performer proposes an amusing reason why Jesus Christ might be disqualified from playing rugby—e.g. "Jesus can't play rugby 'cause his dad will rig the game"—which is then repeated back by other participants (mirroring the repetitive structure of "John Brown's Body"), before ending with the tongue-in-cheek proclamation "Jesus saves, Jesus saves, Jesus saves". A chorus may feature the repeated call of "Free beer for all the ruggers", or, after concluding the final verse, "Jesus, we're only kidding". Other songs simply use the melody, i.e. the melody of "John Brown's Body", with no lyrical connection to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic": "Solidarity Forever", a marching song for organized labor in the 20th century., The anthem of the American consumers' cooperative movement, "The Battle Hymn of Cooperation", written in 1932., The tune has been used as a marching song in the Finnish military with the words Kalle-Kustaan muori makaa hiljaa haudassaan, ja yli haudan me marssimme näin ("Carl Gustaf's hag lies silently in her grave, and we're marching over the grave like this")., The Finnish Ice Hockey fans can be heard singing the tune with the lyrics "Suomi tekee kohta maalin, eikä kukaan sille mitään voi" (Finland will soon score, and no one can do anything about it")., The popular folk dance "Gólya" ("Stork"), known in several Hungarian-speaking communities in Transylvania (Romania), as well as in Hungary proper, is set to the same tune. The same dance is found among the Csángós of Moldavia with a different tune, under the name "Hojna"; with the Moldavian melody generally considered original, and the "Battle Hymn" tune a later adaptation., The melody is used in British nursery rhyme "Little Peter Rabbit"., The melody is used in French Canadian Christmas carol called "Glory, Alleluia", covered by Ginette Reno and others., The melody is used in the marching song of the Assam Regiment of the Indian Army: "Badlu Ram ka Badan", or "Badlu Ram's body", its chorus being "Shabash Hallelujah" instead of "Glory Hallelujah" The word "Shabash" in Hindusthani means "congratulations" or "well done", The Song "Belfast Brigade" using alternate lyrics is sung by the Lucky4 in support of the Irish Republican Army., The Discordian Handbook Principia Discordia has a version of the song called Battle Hymn of the Eristocracy:. It has been recorded for example by Aarni., The Subiaco Football Club, in the West Australian Football League, uses the song for their team song. Also, the Casey Demons in the Victorian Football League also currently use the song. The words have been adjusted due to the song mainly being written during the period of time they were called the Casey Scorpions and the Springvale Football Club. As well as these two clubs, the West Torrens Football Club used the song until 1990, when their successor club, Woodville-West Torrens, currently use this song in the South Australian National Football League., The Brisbane Bears, before they merged with the Fitzroy Football Club, used the Battle Hymn of the Republic in experiment mode before eventually scrapping it in favour of the original song. Irish composer Ina Boyle set the text for solo soprano, mixed choir and orchestra; she completed her version in 1918. Belfast Brigade, John Brown's Body, Battle Cry of Freedom, Solidarity Forever, William Weston Patton, "Glory, Glory" (Georgia fight song), Blood on the Risers, Children's street culture Claghorn, Charles Eugene, "Battle Hymn: The Story Behind The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Papers of the Hymn Society of America, XXIX., Clifford, Deborah Pickman. 'Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe". Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1978., Collins, Ace. Songs Sung, Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America's Best-Loved Patriotic Songs. HarperResource, 2003., Hall, Florence Howe. The story of the Battle hymn of the republic (Harper, 1916) online, Hall, Roger Lee. Glory, Hallelujah: Civil War Songs and Hymns, Stoughton: PineTree Press, 2012., Jackson, Popular Songs of Nineteenth-Century America, note on "Battle Hymn of the Republic", pp. 263–64., McWhirter, Christian. Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2012., Scholes, Percy A. "John Brown's Body", The Oxford Companion of Music. Ninth edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1955., Snyder, Edward D. "The Biblical Background of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic,'" New England Quarterly (1951) 24#2 pp. 231–238 in JSTOR, Stauffer, John, and Benjamin Soskis, eds. The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Biography of the Song That Marches On (Oxford University Press; 2013) . 380 pages; Traces the history of the melody and lyrics & shows how the hymn has been used on later occasions, Stutler, Boyd B. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! The Story of "John Brown's Body" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Cincinnati: The C. J. Krehbiel Co., 1960., Vowell, Sarah. "John Brown's Body," in The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad. Ed. by Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. 1917 Sheet Music at Duke University as part of the American Memory collection of the Library of Congress, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Facsimile of first draft "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", Stevenson & Stanley (Edison Amberol 79, 1908)—Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project., MIDI for The Battle Hymn of the Republic from Project Gutenberg, The Battle Hymn of the Republic sung at Washington National Cathedral, mourning the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) is a water desalination process that distills sea water by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages of what are essentially countercurrent heat exchangers. Multi-stage flash distillation plants produce about 26% of all desalinated water in the world, but today virtually all new desalination plants use reverse osmosis due to much lower energy consumption. The plant has a series of spaces called stages, each containing a heat exchanger and a condensate collector. The sequence has a cold end and a hot end while intermediate stages have intermediate temperatures. The stages have different pressures corresponding to the boiling points of water at the stage temperatures. After the hot end there is a container called the brine heater. When the plant is operating in steady state, feed water at the cold inlet temperature flows, or is pumped, through the heat exchangers in the stages and warms up. When it reaches the brine heater it already has nearly the maximum temperature. In the heater, an amount of additional heat is added. After the heater, the water flows through valves back into the stages that have ever lower pressure and temperature. As it flows back through the stages the water is now called brine, to distinguish it from the inlet water. In each stage, as the brine enters, its temperature is above the boiling point at the pressure of the stage, and a small fraction of the brine water boils ("flashes") to steam thereby reducing the temperature until an equilibrium is reached. The resulting steam is a little hotter than the feed water in the heat exchanger. The steam cools and condenses against the heat exchanger tubes, thereby heating the feed water as described earlier. The total evaporation in all the stages is up to approximately 15% of the water flowing through the system, depending on the range of temperatures used. With increasing temperature there are growing difficulties of scale formation and corrosion. 110-120 °C appears to be a maximum, although scale avoidance may require temperatures below 70 °C. The feed water carries away the latent heat of the condensed steam, maintaining the low temperature of the stage. The pressure in the chamber remains constant as equal amounts of steam is formed when new warm brine enters the stage and steam is removed as it condenses on the tubes of the heat exchanger. The equilibrium is stable, because if at some point more vapor forms, the pressure increases and that reduces evaporation and increases condensation. In the final stage the brine and the condensate has a temperature near the inlet temperature. Then the brine and condensate are pumped out from the low pressure in the stage to the ambient pressure. The brine and condensate still carry a small amount of heat that is lost from the system when they are discharged. The heat that was added in the heater makes up for this loss. The heat added in the brine heater usually comes in the form of hot steam from an industrial process co-located with the desalination plant. The steam is allowed to condense against tubes carrying the brine (similar to the stages). The energy that makes possible the evaporation is all present in the brine as it leaves the heater. The reason for letting the evaporation happen in multiple stages rather than a single stage at the lowest pressure and temperature, is that in a single stage, the feed water would only warm to an intermediate temperature between the inlet temperature and the heater, while much of the steam would not condense and the stage would not maintain the lowest pressure and temperature. Such plants can operate at 23–27 kWh/m (appr. 90 MJ/m) of distilled water. Because the colder salt water entering the process counterflows with the saline waste water/distilled water, relatively little heat energy leaves in the outflow—most of the heat is picked up by the colder saline water flowing toward the heater and the energy is recycled. In addition, MSF distillation plants, especially large ones, are often paired with power plants in a cogeneration configuration. Waste heat from the power plant is used to heat the seawater, providing cooling for the power plant at the same time. This reduces the energy needed by half to two- thirds, which drastically alters the economics of the plant, since energy is by far the largest operating cost of MSF plants. Reverse osmosis, MSF distillation's main competitor, requires more pretreatment of the seawater and more maintenance, as well as energy in the form of work (electricity, mechanical power) as opposed to cheaper low-grade waste heat. Marine flash distillers, Multi-effect distillation, Multiple-effect distillation, Reverse osmosis, Reverse osmosis plant, Regenerative heat exchanger International Desalination Association, Encyclopedia of Desalination and Water Resources, Prospects of improving energy consumption of the multi-stage flash distillation process O. A. Hamed, G. M. Mustafa, K. BaMardouf and H. Al-Washmi. Saline Water Conversion Corporation, Saudi Arabia, 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016. Australia is the driest habitable continent on Earth and its installed desalination capacity has been increasing. Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from dams and water catchments. As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought, state governments began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Approximately one percent of the world's drinkable water originates from desalination plants. The first modern large-scale desalination plant was the Kwinana plant in Perth, completed in November 2006 and over 30 plants are currently operating across the country. Many plants are utilizing nearby wind or wave farms to use renewable energy and reduce operating costs, and solar powered desalination units are used for remote communities. Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from dams and water catchments. However, during 2000-2010 a significant lack of rainfall drained water reservoirs. The most affected cities were the capitals, where there is high uncertainty in water supply and demand. In 2007, Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, experienced a dramatic drop of its main dam Warragamba, where water levels dropped to 33% of normal. Australia’s first desalination plant was constructed in 1903 to treat saline groundwater in the gold fields of Western Australia at Kalgoorlie. Several desalination plants were built in Australia between 1960 and 1980, especially following the revolution in membrane technology that made reverse osmosis economically viable, but vapor-compression desalination and multi- stage flash distillation plants were also built. By 2002, however, only two reverse osmosis desalination plants were still operating, one on Kangaroo Island and the other on Rottnest Island. Seawater reverse osmosis is the only type of desalination technology currently used for large-scale desalination plants in Australia, the most important of these plants being located in Perth and Sydney. Compared to existing sources, desalination is considered to be expensive, but research is underway to develop more effective desalination technology. Despite its drawbacks, it is considered a possible solution to the country's water shortages. Australia is the driest inhabitable continent on earth and its installed desalination capacity is around 1% of the total world’s desalination capacity. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has considered several desalination technologies processes in Australia: Reverse osmosis, Electrodialysis, Multi-stage flash distillation, Multiple-effect distillation, Vapor-compression desalination, Solar humidification, Membrane Distillation A solar powered desalination unit designed for remote communities has been tested in the Northern Territory. The reverse osmosis solar installation (ROSI) uses membrane filtration to provide a reliable and clean drinking water stream from sources such as brackish groundwater. Solar energy overcomes the usually high-energy operating costs as well as greenhouse emissions of conventional reverse osmosis systems. A photovoltaic solar array tracks the Sun and powers the pumps needed to process the water, using the plentiful sunlight available in remote regions of Australia not served by the power grid. In Australia many desalination plants are utilizing wind farms to produce enough energy to operate nearby desalination plants. For example, the Kurnell Desalination Plant, with a capacity of producing 250 million liters (ML) of drinking water per day, supplies 15% of Sydney’s water needs via RO technology and is powered using “100 percent renewable energy” from the 140 MW Capital Wind Farm. The Garden Island plant, currently planned for commissioning in 2014, will be powered by wave energy, using Carnegie Wave Energy's CETO system. This system uses submerged buoys to pressurize water offshore, which is piped onshore to either drive turbines for electricity generation or as in this case, to directly desalinate seawater. The Garden Island project is a commercial scale demonstration project, which follows a pilot project off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia The availability of renewable resources as well as their fluctuation in electricity production from region to region requires a customized design for each desalination facility. In order to maintain steady-state operations many facilities utilize renewable energy while connected to a smart grid, importing or exporting energy to the plant as required. The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant utilizes this strategy where 48 wind turbines produce 80MW on the Emu Downs Wind Farm to provide an overall 24MW to the desalination plant. Electrical energy from the renewable energy can also be stored in storage batteries and utilized when needed. As seen in the PV-powered RO system in Gillen Bore, Australia; producing 1,200 L/d. Or if the plant is not required full-time, it can operate using the power as it becomes available. In 2005 a PV-powered hybrid UF/RO filtration system providing 764 liters per day tolerated well power variation from changing weather conditions. About 2 million people occupy the Perth region in the south western corner of Western Australia. The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant (PSDP) was installed in late 2006 to produce up to 45 gigalitres of potable water per year. In addition, its brine discharge has been shown to have no adverse impact on the environment. The plant buys its power from electricity generated by the Emu Downs Wind Farm, located 200 kilometers north of Perth. The 83 megawatt wind farm consists of 48 wind turbines and contributes over 272 giga-watt-hours (GWhr) per year into the grid, fully offsetting the Perth SWRO Plant’s estimated electrical requirement of 180 GWhr per year. The plant has attracted interest from the world’s water industry and media, and has won numerous national and international awards including the International Desalination Association’s International Desalination Plant of the Year in 2007. Another seawater desalination plant on the coast about 160 kilometres south of Perth is now operational. This plant is designed to have an initial annual output of 50 gigalitres which later doubled to 100 gigalitres when the project was completed in 2012. Anderson, J. M. (2006). "Integrating recycled water into urban water supply solutions." Desalination 187(1-3): 1-9 Solar desalination is a technique to produce water with a low salt concentration from sea-water or brine using solar energy. There are two common methods of solar desalination. Either using the direct heat from the sun or using electricity generated by solar cells to power a membrane process. In the direct method, a solar collector is coupled with a distilling mechanism and the process is carried out in one simple cycle. Solar stills of this type are described in survival guides, provided in marine survival kits, and employed in many small desalination and distillation plants. Water production by direct method solar distillation is proportional to the area of the solar surface and incidence angle and has an average estimated value of . Because of this proportionality and the relatively high cost of property and material for construction direct method distillation tends to favor plants with production capacities less than . Indirect solar desalination employs two separate systems; a solar collection array, consisting of photovoltaic and/or fluid based thermal collectors, and a separate conventional desalination plant. Production by indirect method is dependent on the efficiency of the plant and the cost per unit produced is generally reduced by an increase in scale. Many different plant arrangements have been theoretically analyzed, experimentally tested and in some cases installed. They include but are not limited to multiple-effect humidification (MEH), multi-stage flash distillation (MSF), multiple-effect distillation (MED), multiple-effect boiling (MEB), humidification–dehumidification (HDH), reverse osmosis (RO), and freeze-effect distillation. Indirect solar desalination systems using photovoltaic (PV) panels and reverse osmosis (RO) have been commercially available and in use since 2009. Output by 2013 is up to per hour per system, and per day per square metre of PV panel. Municipal-scale systems are planned. Utirik Atoll in the Pacific Ocean has been supplied with fresh water this way since 2010. Indirect solar desalination by a form of humidification/dehumidification is in use in the seawater greenhouse. Methods of solar distillation have been employed by humankind for thousands of years. From early Greek mariners to Persian alchemists, this basic technology has been utilized to produce both freshwater and medicinal distillates. Solar stills were in fact the first method used on a large scale to process contaminated water and convert it to a potable form. In 1870 the first US patent was granted for a solar distillation device to Norman Wheeler and Walton Evans. Two years later in Las Salinas, Chile, Charles Wilson, a Swedish engineer, began building a direct method solar powered distillation plant to supply freshwater to workers at a saltpeter and silver mine. It operated continuously for 40 years and produced an average of 22.7 m of distilled water a day using the effluent from mining operations as its feed water. Solar desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater in the modern United States extends back to the early 1950s when Congress passed the Conversion of Saline Water Act, which led to the establishment of the Office of Saline Water (OSW) in 1955. The OSW's main function was to administer funds for research and development of desalination projects. One of the five demonstration plants constructed was located in Daytona Beach, Florida and devoted to exploring methods of solar distillation. Many of the projects were aimed at solving water scarcity issues in remote desert and coastal communities. In the 1960s and 1970s several modern solar distillations plants were constructed on the Greek isles with capacities ranging from 2000 to 8500 m/day. In 1984 a MED plant was constructed in Abu-Dhabi with a capacity of 120 m/day and is still in operation. In Italy, an open source design called "the Eliodomestico" by Gabriele Diamanti was developed for personal use at the building materials price of $50. Of the estimated 22 million m of freshwater being produced a day through desalination processes worldwide, less than 1% is made using solar energy. The prevailing methods of desalination, MSF and RO, are energy intensive and rely heavily on fossil fuels. Because of inexpensive methods of freshwater delivery and abundant low cost energy resources, solar distillation has, up to this point, been viewed as cost prohibitive and impractical. It is estimated that desalination plants powered by conventional fuels consume the equivalent of 203 million tons of fuel a year. With the approach (or passage) of peak oil production, fossil fuel prices will continue to increase as those resources decline; as a result solar energy will become a more attractive alternative for achieving the world's desalination needs. There are two primary means of achieving desalination using solar energy, through a phase change by thermal input, or in a single phase through mechanical separation. Phase change (or multi-phase) can be accomplished by either direct or indirect solar distillation. Single phase desalination is predominantly accomplished in a solar-powered desalination unit, which uses photovoltaic cells that produce electricity to drive pumps, although there are experimental methods being researched using solar thermal collection to provide this mechanical energy. Multi-stage flash distillation is one of the predominant conventional phase- change methods of achieving desalination. It accounts for roughly 45% of the total world desalination capacity and 93% of all thermal methods. Solar derivatives have been studied and in some cases implemented in small and medium scale plants around the world. In Margarita de Savoya, Italy there is a 50–60 m/day MSF plant with a salinity gradient solar pond providing its thermal energy and storage capacity. In El Paso, Texas there is a similar project in operation that produces 19 m/day. In Kuwait a MSF facility has been built using parabolic trough collectors to provide the necessary solar thermal energy to produce 100 m of fresh water a day. And in Northern China there is an experimental, automatic, unmanned operation that uses 80 m of vacuum tube solar collectors coupled with a 1 kW wind turbine (to drive several small pumps) to produce 0.8 m/day. Production data shows that MSF solar distillation has an output capacity of 6-60 L/m/day versus the 3-4 L/m/day standard output of a solar still. MSF experience very poor efficiency during start up or low energy periods. In order to achieve the highest efficiency MSF requires carefully controlled pressure drops across each stage and a steady energy input. As a result, solar applications require some form of thermal energy storage to deal with cloud interference, varying solar patterns, night time operation, and seasonal changes in ambient air temperature. As thermal energy storage capacity increases a more continuous process can be achieved and production rates approach maximum efficiency. There are two inherent design problems facing any thermal solar desalination project. Firstly, the system's efficiency is governed by preferably high heat and mass transfer rates during evaporation and condensation. The surfaces have to be properly designed within the contradictory objectives of heat transfer efficiency, economy, and reliability. Secondly, the heat of condensation is valuable because it takes large amounts of solar energy to evaporate water and generate saturated, vapor-laden hot air. This energy is, by definition, transferred to the condenser's surface during condensation. With most forms of solar stills, this heat of condensation is ejected from the system as waste heat. The challenge still existing in the field today, is to achieve the optimum temperature difference between the solar-generated vapor and the seawater-cooled condenser, maximal reuse of the energy of condensation, and minimizing the asset investment. Efficient desalination systems use heat recovery to allow the same heat input to provide several times the water than a simple evaporative process such as solar stills. One solution to the barrier presented by the high level of solar energy required in solar desalination efforts is to reduce the pressure within the reservoir. This can be accomplished using a vacuum pump, and significantly decreases the temperature of heat energy required for desalination. For example, water at a pressure of 0.1 atmospheres boils at rather than . The solar humidification–dehumidification (HDH) process (also called the multiple-effect humidification–dehumidification process, solar multistage condensation evaporation cycle (SMCEC) or multiple-effect humidification (MEH)) is a technique that mimics the natural water cycle on a shorter time frame by evaporating and condensing water to separate it from other substances. The driving force in this process is thermal solar energy to produce water vapor which is later condensed in a separate chamber. In sophisticated systems, waste heat is minimized by collecting the heat from the condensing water vapor and pre-heating the incoming water source. This system is effective for small- to mid- scale desalination systems in remote locations because of the relative inexpensiveness of solar thermal collectors. In indirect, or single phase, solar-powered desalination, two different technological systems are combined: a solar energy collection system (e.g. through the use of photovoltaic panels) and a proven desalination system such as reverse osmosis, are combined. Single phase solar desalination is predominantly accomplished by the use of photovoltaic cells that produce electricity to drive pumps used for reverse osmosis desalination. However, alternative experimental methods are being researched, which use solar thermal collection to provide mechanical energy to drive the reverse osmosis process. In reverse osmosis desalination systems, seawater pressure is raised above the natural osmotic pressure, forcing pure water through membrane pores to the fresh water side. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most common desalination process in terms of installed capacity due to its superior energy efficiency compared to thermal desalination systems, despite requiring extensive water pre- treatment. Furthermore, part of the consumed mechanical energy can be reclaimed from the concentrated brine effluent with an energy recovery device. Solar-powered RO desalination is common in demonstration plants due to the modularity and scalability of both photovoltaic (PV) and RO systems. A detailed economic analysis and a thorough optimisation strategy of PV powered RO desalination were carried out with favorable results reported. Economic and reliability considerations are the main challenges to improving PV powered RO desalination systems. However, the quickly dropping PV panel costs are making solar-powered desalination ever more feasible. While the intermittent nature of sunlight and its variable intensity throughout the day makes PV efficiency prediction difficult and desalination during night time challenging, several solutions exist. For example, batteries, which provide the energy required for desalination in non-sunlight hours can be used to store solar energy in daytime. Apart from the use of conventional batteries, alternative methods for solar energy storage exist. For example, thermal energy storage systems solve this storage problem and ensure constant performance even during non-sunlight hours and cloudy days, improving overall efficiency. Point Paterson Desalination Plant

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The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and plays its home games at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which opened for the 2009 season. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season. The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in . The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002. The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances in history, just behind the New England Patriots record eleven Super Bowl appearances. This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC. The Cowboys have won five of those Super Bowl appearances, tying them with their NFC rivals, the San Francisco 49ers; both are second to Pittsburgh's and New England's record six Super Bowl championships. The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (1966–85), in which they missed the playoffs only twice (1974 and 1984). In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world, according to Forbes. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U.S. sports team. In 2018 they also became the first NFL franchise to be valued at $5 billion and making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year. Prior to the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, there had not been an NFL team south of Washington, D.C. since the Dallas Texans folded in 1952. Oilman Clint Murchison Jr. had been trying to get an NFL expansion team in Dallas (as was Lamar Hunt – who ended up with an AFL franchise), but George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, had a monopoly in the South. Murchison had tried to purchase the Washington Redskins from Marshall in 1958. An agreement was struck, but as the deal was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. This infuriated Murchison and he called off the deal. Marshall then opposed any franchise for Murchison in Dallas. Since NFL expansion needed unanimous approval from team owners at that time, Marshall's position would prevent Murchison from joining the league. Marshall had a falling out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music to the Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins" and Marshall's wife had penned the lyrics. Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchison's plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchison's attorney to sell him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959. Murchison purchased "Hail to the Redskins" for $2,500. Before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games. After a few Marshall expletives, Murchison gave the rights to "Hail to the Redskins" to Marshall for his vote, the lone one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time, and a rivalry was born. From 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, more than any other NFL franchise during that span. In addition, they appeared in 5 and won two Super Bowls, at the end of the 1971 and 1977 regular seasons. Danny White became the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 1980 after quarterback Roger Staubach retired. Despite going 12–4 in 1980, the Cowboys came into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. In the opening round of the 1980–81 NFL playoffs they avenged their elimination from the prior year's playoffs by defeating the Rams. In the Divisional Round they squeaked by the Atlanta Falcons 30–27. For the NFC Championship they were pitted against division rival Philadelphia, the team that won the division during the regular season. The Eagles captured their first conference championship and Super Bowl berth by winning 20–7. 1981 brought another division championship for the Cowboys. They entered the 1981-82 NFL playoffs as the number 2 seed. Their first game of the postseason saw them blow out Tampa Bay in a 38–0 shutout. For the Conference Title game they were pitted against the San Francisco 49ers, the number 1 seed. Despite having a late 4th quarter 27–21 lead, they would lose to the 49ers 28–27. 49ers quarterback Joe Montana led his team on an 89-yard game-winning touchdown drive, connecting with Dwight Clark in a play known as The Catch. The 1982 season was shortened after a player strike. With a 6–3 record Dallas made it to the playoffs for the 8th consecutive season. As the number 2 seed for the 1982–83 NFL playoffs they eliminated the Buccaneers 30–17 in the Wild Card round and dispatched the Packers 37–26 in the Divisional round to advance to their 3rd consecutive Conference championship game. 3rd time was not the charm for the Cowboys as they fell 31–17 to their division rival and eventual Super Bowl XVII champions, the Washington Redskins. For the 1983 season the Cowboys went 12–4 and made it once again to the playoffs but were defeated at home in the Wild Card by the Rams 24–17. Prior to the 1984 season, H.R. "Bum" Bright purchased the Dallas Cowboys from Clint Murchison, Jr. Dallas posted a 9–7 record that season but missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. After going 10–6 in 1985 and winning a division title, the Cowboys were shut out 20-0 by the Rams in the Divisional round at home. Hard times came for the organization as they went 7–9 in 1986, 7–8 in 1987, and 3–13 in 1988. During this time period Bright became disenchanted with the team. During the savings and loan crisis, the team and Mr. Bright's savings and loan were taken over by the FSLIC. During an embarrassing home loss to Atlanta in 1987, Bright told the media that he was "horrified" at coach Tom Landry's play calling. The FSLIC forced Mr. Bright to sell the Cowboys to Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989. Jones immediately fired Tom Landry, the only head coach in franchise history, replacing him with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson, who was also Jerry Jones' teammate at the University of Arkansas as a fellow defensive lineman and Michael Irvin was under his tutelage in college. With the first pick in the draft, the Cowboys selected UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. Later that same year, they would trade veteran running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst in almost 30 years, "The Trade" later allowed Dallas to draft a number of impact players to rebuild the team. Johnson quickly returned the Cowboys to the NFL's elite. Skillful drafts added fullback Daryl Johnston and center Mark Stepnoski in 1989, running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, defensive tackle Russell Maryland and offensive tackle Erik Williams in 1991, and safety Darren Woodson in 1992. The young talent joined holdovers from the Landry era such as wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard Nate Newton, linebacker Ken Norton Jr., and offensive lineman Mark Tuinei, defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat, and veteran pickups such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley. Things started to look up for the franchise in 1990. On Week 1 Dallas won their first home game since September 1988 when they defeated the San Diego Chargers 17–14. They went 2–7 in their next 9 games but won 4 of their last 6 games to finish the season with a 4th place 7–9 record. Coming into 1991 the Cowboys replaced offensive coordinator Dave Shula with Norv Turner; the Cowboys raced to a 6–5 start, then defeated the previously-unbeaten Redskins despite injury to Troy Aikman. Backup Steve Beuerlein took over and the Cowboys finished 11–5. In the Wild Card round they defeated the Bears 17–13 for the Cowboys first playoff win since 1982. In the Divisional round their season ended in a 38–6 playoff rout by the Lions. In 1992 Dallas set a team record for regular season wins with a 13–3 mark. They started off the season by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion Redskins 23–10. Going into the playoffs as the number 2 seed they had a first round bye before facing division rival the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys won that game 34–10 to advance to the NFC Conference Championship game for the first time in 10 years. They were pitted against the San Francisco 49ers, the number 1 seed. On January 17, 1993 the Cowboys went to Candlestick Park and defeated the 49ers 30–20 to clinch their first Super Bowl berth since 1978. Dallas defeated the Buffalo Bills 52–17 in Super Bowl XXVII, during which they forced a record nine turnovers. Johnson became the first coach to claim a national championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. Despite starting the 1993 season 0–2, they again defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, 30–13 (becoming the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl after starting 0–2). Dallas finished the regular season 12–4 as the number 1 seed of the NFC. They defeated the Green Bay Packers 27–17 in the divisional round. In the NFC Conference Championship, Dallas beat the 49ers in Dallas, 38–21. Dallas sent a then-NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl in 1993: Aikman, safety Thomas Everett, Irvin, Johnston, Maryland, Newton, Norton, Novacek, Smith, Stepnoski, and Williams. Only weeks after Super Bowl XXVIII, however, friction between Johnson and Jones culminated in Johnson stunning the football world by announcing his resignation. Jones then hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to replace Johnson. The Cowboys finished 12–4 in 1994. They once again clinched a first round bye and defeated Green Bay 35–9 in the Divisional Round. They missed the Super Bowl, however, after losing to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 38–28. Prior to the start of 1995 season Jerry Jones lured All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders away from San Francisco. Dallas started the season 4–0 including shutting out their division rival New York Giants 35–0 at Giants Stadium to open their season. Emmitt Smith set an NFL record with 25 rushing touchdowns that season. They ended the season 12–4 and went into the playoffs as the number 1 seed. In the Divisional round they dispatched their division rival Eagles 30–11 to advance to their 4th consecutive NFC Conference Championship Game, in which they defeated Green Bay, 38–27. In Super Bowl XXX the Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–17 at Sun Devil Stadium for their fifth Super Bowl championship. Switzer joined Johnson as the only coaches to win a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. The glory days of the Cowboys were again beginning to dim as free agency, age, and injuries began taking their toll. Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2–3. They finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, won the NFC East title, and entered the playoffs as the number 3 seed in the NFC. They defeated Minnesota 40–15 in the Wild Card round but were eliminated in the Divisional round of the playoffs 26–17 by the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys went 6–10 in 1997 (including losing their last 6 games of the season), with discipline and off-field problems becoming major distractions. As a result, Switzer resigned as head coach in January 1998 and former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was hired to take his place. Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10–6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, but the Cowboys were defeated in the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20–7. In 1999 Dallas went 8–8 (during which Irvin suffered a career- ending spinal injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles) ending in another playoff loss (this time to the Minnesota Vikings 27–10). Gailey was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl. Defensive coordinator Dave Campo was promoted to head coach for the 2000 season. Prior to the season starting cornerback Deion Sanders was released after 5 seasons with the team. He later signed with division rival Washington. In Week 1, they were blown out 41–14 by Philadelphia. That game was very costly when veteran quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a serious concussion which ultimately ended his career. Longtime NFL QB Randall Cunningham filled in for Aikman for the rest of the season at QB. The Cowboys finished the season in 4th place with a 5–11 record. The only highlights of 2000 were Emmitt Smith having his 10th consecutive 1,000 yard rushing season and a season sweep over the Redskins. 2001 was another hard year in Dallas. Prior to the season starting Aikman was released from the team and he retired due to the concussions he had received. Jerry Jones signed Tony Banks as a QB. Banks had been a starter for half of the season the previous year for the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens before being benched. Jones also drafted QB Quincy Carter in the second round of that year's draft, and Banks was released during the preseason. Ryan Leaf, Anthony Wright, and Clint Stoerner all competed for the quarterback position that season. Dallas again finished at 5–11, last place in the NFC East, but they swept the Redskins for the 4th consecutive season. Prior to the 2002 season Dallas drafted safety Roy Williams with the 8th overall pick. The season started out low as the Cowboys lost to the expansion Houston Texans 19–10 on Week 1. By far the highlight of 2002 was on October 28, when during a home game against the Seattle Seahawks, Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing record previously held by Walter Payton. Their Thanksgiving Day win over the Redskins was their 10th consecutive win against Washington. However, that was their final win of 2002: Dallas lost their next 4 games to finish with another last place 5–11 record. The losing streak was punctuated with a Week 17 20–14 loss against Washington. That game was Smith's last game as a Cowboys player: he was released during the offseason. Campo was immediately fired as head coach at the conclusion of the season. Jones then lured Bill Parcells out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season getting off to a hot 7–2 record, but went 3–4 for the rest of the season. They were able to win the division with the 10–6 record but lost in the Wild Card round to eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers, 29–10. In 2004 Dallas was unable to replicate their 2003 success, and ended 6–10. Quincy Carter was released during the preseason and was replaced at QB by Vinny Testaverde. Dallas got off to a hot 7–3 start for the 2005 season but ended up in 3rd place with a 9–7 record. Prior to the beginning of that season, they signed veteran Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback. 2006 was an interesting year for the Cowboys. Prior to the season they signed free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens who was talented yet controversial. The Cowboys started the season 3–2. During a week 7 matchup against the Giants, Bledsoe, who had been struggling since the start of the season, was pulled from the game and was replaced by backup Tony Romo. Romo was unable to salvage that game and Dallas lost 38–22. However, Romo was named the starter for the team and went 5–1 in his first 6 games. Dallas ended the season with a 9–7 2nd-place finish. They were able to clinch the number 5 playoff seed. They traveled to play Seattle where the Seahawks won 21–20. After the season Parcells retired and was replaced by Wade Phillips. Dallas started the 2007 season with a bang, winning their first five games. They won 12 of their first 13 games, with their only loss during that span being to New England, who went undefeated that season. Despite dropping two of their last three regular season games, the Cowboys clinched their first number 1 NFC seed in 12 years, which also granted them a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost in the divisional round 21–17 to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. In the tumultuous 2008 season, the Cowboys started off strong, going 3–0 for the second straight year, en route to a 4–1 start. However, things soon went downhill from there, after quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken pinkie in an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. With Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger playing as backups, Dallas went 1–2 during a three-game stretch. Romo's return showed promise, as Dallas went 3–0. However, injuries mounted during the season, with the team losing several starters for the year, such as Kyle Kosier, Felix Jones, safety Roy Williams, punter Mat McBriar, and several other starters playing with injuries. Entering December, the 8–4 Cowboys underperformed, finishing 1–3. They failed to make the playoffs after losing at Philadelphia in the final regular season game which saw the Eagles reach the playoffs instead. On May 2, 2009, the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility collapsed during a wind storm. The collapse left twelve Cowboys players and coaches injured. The most serious injuries were special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who suffered fractured cervical vertebrae and had surgery to stabilize fractured vertebrae in his neck, and Rich Behm, the team's 33-year-old scouting assistant, who was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed. The 2009 season started positively with a road win against Tampa Bay, but fortunes quickly changed as Dallas fell to a 2–2 start. In week five, with starting wide receiver Roy Williams sidelined by injury, receiver Miles Austin got his first start of the season and had a record setting day (250 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns) to help lead Dallas to an overtime win over Kansas City. Following their bye week, they went on a three- game winning streak including wins over Atlanta and NFC East division rival Philadelphia. Despite entering December with a record of 8–3, they lost their slim grip on 1st place in the division with losses to the New York Giants and San Diego. Talks of past December collapses resurfaced, and another collapse in 2009 seemed validated. However, the team surged in the final three weeks of the season with a 24–17 victory at the Superdome, ending New Orleans' previously unbeaten season in week 15. For the first time in franchise history, they posted back-to-back shutouts when they beat division rivals Washington (17–0) and Philadelphia (24–0) to end the season. In the process, the Cowboys clinched their second NFC East title in three years as well as the third seed in the NFC Playoffs. Six days later, in the wild-card round of the playoffs, Dallas played the Eagles in a rematch of week 17. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles for the first Cowboys' post-season win since the 1996 season, ending a streak of six consecutive NFL post-season losses. Dallas ended their playoff run after a hard divisional playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings. After beginning the 2010 season at 1–7, Phillips was fired as head coach and was replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett as the interim head coach. The Cowboys finished the season 6–10. With the 9th pick of the 1st round of the 2011 draft, the Cowboys selected USC tackle Tyron Smith. To start the 2011 season the Cowboys played the Jets on a Sunday night primetime game in New York, on September 11. The Cowboys held the lead through most of the game, until a fumble, blocked punt, and interception led to the Jets coming back to win the game. In week 2 the Cowboys traveled to San Francisco to play the 49ers. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, while the Cowboys trailed 10–7, Tony Romo suffered a rib injury and was replaced by Jon Kitna. Kitna threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions until Romo returned in the 3rd quarter as Dallas trailed 17–7. Romo then threw 3 touchdown passes to Miles Austin as the Cowboys rallied to send the game into overtime. On their opening possession after a 49ers punt, Romo found wide receiver Jesse Holley on a 78-yard pass, which set up the game-winning field goal by rookie kicker Dan Bailey. The Cowboys ended the season 8–8. They were in a position to win the NFC East but lost to the Giants in a Week 17 primetime Sunday Night game on NBC which allowed the Giants to win the division. The Giants would go on to win Super Bowl XLVI. The Cowboys started off the 2012 season on a high note by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 24–17 on the opening night of the season. They would hover around the .500 mark for the majority of the season. They lost a close Week 6 game to eventual Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens 31–29 at M&T; Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Going into Week 17 they found themselves once again one win away from winning the division. Standing in their way were the Washington Redskins, who had beaten them on Thanksgiving at AT&T; Stadium and whom were one win away from their first division title since 1999. Led by Robert Griffin III the Redskins defeated the Cowboys at home 28-18. Dallas once again finished the season 8–8. In the 2013 season the Cowboys started off by defeating the New York Giants for the second straight year; this time 36–31. It was the first time since AT&T; Stadium had opened back in 2009 that the Cowboys were able to defeat the Giants at home. The win was punctuated by Brandon Carr intercepting an Eli Manning pass for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter. For the third straight year Dallas once again found themselves stuck in the .500 area. In Week 5, they lost a shootout to the eventual AFC Champion Denver Broncos 51–48. They battled it out with the Philadelphia Eagles for control of the division throughout the season. In December however they lost 2 crucial back to back games to Chicago and Green Bay. They were very successful in division games having a 5–0 division record heading into another Week 17 showdown for the NFC East crown against the Eagles. That included beating Washington 24–23 on Week 16 thanks to late game heroics of Tony Romo. However Romo received a severe back injury in that game which prematurely ended his season. The Cowboys called upon backup quarterback Kyle Orton to lead them into battle on the final week of the season. Orton was unsuccessful who threw a game ending interception to the Eagles which allowed the Eagles to win 24–22. Dallas ended the year at 8–8 for the third year in a row. The only difference of this 8–8 ending compared to the others was that Dallas ended the season in second place compared to the 2 previous 3rd-place finishes. To start off the 2014 season Dallas began by losing to San Francisco 28–17. After that they went on a 6-game winning streak. The highlight of this streak was defeating the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field 30–23. In Week 8, the Redskins won in overtime 20–17, and Romo injured his back again. He missed next week, a home loss to the Arizona Cardinals 28–17 with backup QB Brandon Weeden. Romo returned in Week 9 to lead a 31–17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England as part of the NFL International Series. Dallas played their traditional Thanksgiving home game against division rival Philadelphia. Both teams were vying for first place in the division with identical 8–3 records. The Eagles got off to a fast start and the Cowboys were unable to catch up, losing 33–10. They would rebound the next week when they defeated Chicago 41–28. Week 15 was a rematch against 1st place Philadelphia. This time it was the Cowboys who got off to a fast start going up 21–0. Then the Eagles put up 24 points but Dallas came back to win 38–27 to go into first place for the first time in the season and improve to 10–4. Going into their Week 16 matchup at home against Indianapolis, Dallas was in a position to clinch their first division title since 2009 by defeating the Colts 42-7 and the Eagles losing that week to the Redskins. They became the 2014 NFC East Champions, eliminating the Eagles from the playoffs. Dallas ended the regular season with a 12–4 record and an 8–0 away record when they won on the road against Washington 44–17. On January 4, 2015, the Cowboys, as the number 3 seed, hosted the number 6 seed Detroit Lions in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. In the game, the Lions got off to a hot start, going up 14–0 in the first quarter. Dallas initially struggled on both sides of the ball. However, towards the end of the second quarter Romo threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams. Matt Prater of the Lions would kick a field goal before halftime to go up 17–7. Dallas came out swinging to start the second half by picking off Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first play of the third quarter. However, the Cowboys failed to capitalize on the turnover, as Dan Bailey missed a field goal during Dallas's ensuing drive. Detroit then kicked another field goal to make the score 20–7. A DeMarco Murray touchdown later in that quarter closed the gap to 20–14. A 51-yard Bailey field goal almost 3 minutes into the fourth quarter trimmed the Cowboys' deficit to 3. The Lions got the ball back and started driving down the field. On 3rd down-and-1 of that Lions drive, Stafford threw a 17-yard pass intended for Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew, but the ball hit Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens in the back a fraction of a second before he ran into Pettigrew. The play was initially flagged as defensive pass interference against Hitchens. However, the penalty was then nullified by the officiating crew. The Cowboys got the ball back on their 41-yard line and had a successful 59-yard drive which was capped off by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Romo to Williams to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game at 24–20. The Lions got the ball back with less than 2:30 to play in regulation. Stafford fumbled the ball at the 2 minute mark. The fumble was recovered by Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who then fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Lions. Lawrence would redeem himself by sacking Stafford on a 4th down-and-3 play. The sack led to Stafford fumbling the ball again, which Lawrence recovered to seal the game for the Cowboys, who won 24–20. This was the first time in franchise playoff history that Dallas had been down by 10 or more points at halftime and rallied to win the game. The following week, the Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin to play the Packers in the divisional round. Despite having a 14–7 halftime lead, the Cowboys fell to the Packers 26–21, thus ending their season. The season ended on an overturned call of a completed catch by Dez Bryant. The catch was challenged by the Packers, and the referees overturned the call because of the "Calvin Johnson rule." During the 2015 offseason the Cowboys allowed running back DeMarco Murray to become a free agent. Murray signed with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. On July 15 wide receiver Dez Bryant signed a 5-year, $70 million contract. At home against the New York Giants, Dallas won 27–26. Dez Bryant left the game early with a fractured bone in his foot. On the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, Romo suffered a broken left collarbone, the same one he injured in 2010, and Brandon Weeden replaced him. Dallas won 20–10 to begin the season 2–0, but then went on a seven-game losing streak. They finished the season 4–12 and last in their division. After a preseason injury to Tony Romo, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott was slated as the starting quarterback, as Romo was expected to be out 6–8 weeks. In game 1 against the New York Giants, Dallas lost 20–19. After this loss, Dallas would go on an eleven-game winning streak. After much speculation leading to a potential quarterback controversy, Romo made an announcement that Prescott had earned the right to take over as the Cowboys starting quarterback. In game 10, Romo suited up for the first time in the season and was the backup quarterback. Dallas defeated the Baltimore Ravens to win their 9th straight game, breaking a franchise record of 8 straight games set in 1977. It also marked rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott breaking Tony Dorsett's single season rushing record for a Cowboys rookie. Prescott also tied an NFL rookie record held by Russell Wilson and Dan Marino by throwing multiple touchdowns in 5 straight games. Dallas finished 13–3, tying their best 16-game regular season record. While Dallas defeated Green Bay at Lambeau Field in week 6, the Packers would win at AT&T; Stadium in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on a last-second field goal, ending the Cowboys’ season. Dak Prescott was named NFL Rookie of the Year in the NFL honors on February 4, 2017, and Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing yards. Both Prescott and Elliott made the 2017 Pro Bowl. This is the first time the Cowboys sent two rookies to the Pro Bowl. 2017 was the first season since 2002 without quarterback Tony Romo, who retired on April 4 after 14 seasons with the Cowboys. The season also featured second-year running back Ezekiel Elliott being suspended for 6 games after violating the league's conduct policy. The suspension was to begin at the start of the year but was pushed back to November. The Cowboys finished the year at 9-7 without making the playoffs. Following the season, Dez Bryant was released after eight seasons in Dallas and tight end Jason Witten, who holds several franchise receiving records, retired after 15 seasons, ending an era. The Dallas Cowboys' 2017 season was the subject of the third season of Amazon's sports documentary series All or Nothing. The series is produced by NFL Films. In 1966, six years after their founding, the Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). This is only partly true; Dallas had in fact decided to host games on Thanksgiving by their own decision because there was nothing else to do or watch on that day. In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the then-St. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team (Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976). Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, they were nowhere near as popular nationwide as the Cowboys, who were regular Super Bowl contenders during this era. This, combined with St. Louis's consistently weak attendance, a series of ugly Cardinals losses in the three- game stretch, and opposition from the Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a local high school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978; it was then, after Rozelle asked Dallas to resume hosting Thanksgiving games, that the Cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day forever. The Dallas Cowboys' blue star logo, which represents Texas as "The Lone Star State," is one of the most well-known team logos in professional sports. The blue star originally was a solid shape until a white line and blue border was added in 1964. The logo has remained the same since. Today, the blue star has been extended to not only the Dallas Cowboys, but owner Jerry Jones' AFL team, the Dallas Desperados that have a similar logo based on that of the Cowboys. The blue star also is used on other entries like an imaging facility and storage facility. The Dallas Cowboys' white home jersey has royal blue (PMS 287 C) solid socks, numbers, lettering, and two stripes on the sleeves outlined in black. The home pants are a common metallic silver-green color (PMS 8280 C) that helps bring out the blue in the uniform. The navy (PMS 289 C) road jerseys (nicknamed the "Stars and Stripes" jersey) have white lettering and numbers with navy pinstripes. A white/gray/white stripe are on each sleeve as well as the collared V-neck, and a Cowboys star logo is placed upon the stripes. A "Cowboys" chest crest is directly under the NFL shield. The away pants are a pearlish metallic-silver color (PMS 8180 C) and like the home pants, enhance the navy in the uniforms. The team uses a serifed font for the lettered player surnames on the jersey nameplates. The team's helmets are also a unique silver with a tint of blue known as "Metallic Silver Blue" (PMS 8240 C) and have a blue/white/blue vertical stripe placed upon the center of the crown. The Cowboys also include a unique, if subtle, feature on the back of the helmet: a blue strip of Dymo tape with the player's name embossed, placed on the white portion of the stripe at the back of the helmet. When the Dallas Cowboys franchise debuted in 1960, the team's uniform included a white helmet adorned with a simple blue star and a blue-white-blue stripe down the center crown. The team donned blue jerseys with white sleeves and a small blue star on each shoulder for home games and the negative opposite for away games. Their socks also had two horizontal white stripes overlapping the blue. In 1964 the Cowboys opted for a simpler look (adopting essentially the team's current uniform) by changing their jersey/socks to one solid color with three horizontal stripes on the sleeves; the white jersey featured royal blue stripes with a narrow black border, the royal blue jersey white stripes with the same black outline. The star-shouldered jerseys were eliminated; "TV" numbers appeared just above the jersey stripes. The new helmet was silverblue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe down the center (the middle white stripe was thicker). The blue "lone star" logo was retained, but with a white border setting it off from the silver/blue. The new pants were silver/blue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe. In 1964 the NFL allowed teams to wear white jerseys at home; several teams did so, and the Cowboys have worn white at home ever since, except on certain "throwback" days. In 1966, the team modified the jerseys, which now featured only two sleeve stripes, slightly wider; the socks followed the same pattern. In 1967 the "lone star" helmet decal added a blue outline to the white-bordered star, giving the logo a bigger, bolder look. The logo and this version of the uniform has seen little change to the present day. The only notable changes in the last 40 years were: from 1970–1973 when the "TV" numbers were moved from the shoulders to the sleeves above the stripes, from 1982–1988 the pants featured a white uniform number in an elliptical blue circle worn near the hip., the removal of the indented serifs on the front and back jersey numbers in the early 1980s (seen currently on the throwback jersey), In 1980 the blue jersey was rendered in a slightly darker shade than the 1964–79 version; from 1981–1994 the dark jerseys sported numbers that were gray with white borders and a blue pinstripe. The stripes on the sleeves and socks also used the same gray with white border scheme (sans navy pinstripe)., Player names on jersey backs, which appeared in 1970, were originally in block-letter style; from 1982 onward the names were slightly smaller and in footed, "serif" style., the 1996 addition of the word "Cowboys" in the center of the neckline which lasted until 1998 on the white jersey but currently remains on the blue jersey. During the 1976 season, the blue-white-blue stripe on the crown of the helmets were temporarily changed to red-white-blue to commemorate the United States' bicentennial anniversary. In 1994, the NFL celebrated their 75th Anniversary, and the Dallas Cowboys celebrated their back-to-back Super Bowl titles by unveiling a white "Double-Star" jersey on Thanksgiving Day. This jersey was used for special occasions and was worn throughout the 1994–1995 playoffs. During the same season, the Cowboys also wore their 1960–63 road jersey with a silver helmet for one game as part of a league-wide "throwback" policy. During the 1995 season, the team wore the navy "Double-Star" jersey for games at Washington and Philadelphia and permanently switched to solid color socks (royal blue for the white uniform, and navy blue for the dark uniform). The navy "Double-Star" jersey was not seen again until the NFL's Classic Throwback Weekend on Thanksgiving Day 2001–2003. In 2004, the Cowboys resurrected their original 1960–1963 uniform on Thanksgiving Day. This uniform became the team's alternate or "third jersey" and was usually worn at least once a year, primarily Thanksgiving Day. Two exceptions were when the Cowboys wore their normal white uniforms on Thanksgiving in 2007 and 2008. While the team didn't wear the throwback uniform exactly on Thanksgiving Day in those two years, Dallas wore them on a date around Thanksgiving for those two years. In 2007 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 29, 2007 against the Green Bay Packers. In 2008 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 23, 2008 against the San Francisco 49ers. The team went back to wearing this uniform at home on Thanksgiving Day in 2009 while their opponent was the Oakland Raiders who wore their AFL Legacy Weekend throwbacks. Dallas wore this alternate uniform on October 11, 2009 as part of one of the NFL's AFL Legacy Weekends when they traveled to Kansas City to play the Chiefs who were sporting their AFL Dallas Texans' uniforms. This created a rare game in which neither team wore a white jersey and the first time the Cowboys wore the alternative uniform as a visiting team. The 1960–1963 uniform may also be used on other special occasion. Other instances include the 2005 Monday Night game against the Washington Redskins when the team inducted Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irving into the Cowboys Ring of Honor, and the 2006 Christmas Day game against the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2013, the NFL issued a new helmet rule stating that players will no longer be allowed to use alternate helmets due to the league's enhanced concussion awareness. This caused the Cowboys' white 1960s throwback helmets to become non-compliant. The team instead decided to wear their normal blue jerseys at home for Thanksgiving, which has since become an annual tradition. In 2017, the team initially announced that they will wear blue jerseys at home on a more regular basis, only to rescind soon after. In 2015, the Cowboys released their Color Rush uniform, featuring a variation of the 1990s "Double Star" alternates with white pants and socks. The uniform was first used in a Thanksgiving game against the Carolina Panthers and in subsequent Thursday Night Football games since 2016. The Cowboys also unveiled a navy uniform-white pants combination which was first used on December 10, 2017 against the Giants. In 1964, Tex Schramm started the tradition of the Cowboys wearing their white jersey at home, contrary to an unofficial rule that teams should wear colored jerseys at home. Schramm did this because he wanted fans to see a variety of opponents' colors at home games. Since then, a number of other teams have worn their white uniforms at home, including the Miami Dolphins. According to Mike McCord, the Cowboys' equipment director, one of the reasons why the Cowboys started wearing white at home was because of the intense heat during Cowboys' home games at Texas Stadium. Throughout the years, the Cowboys' blue jersey has been popularly viewed to be "jinxed" because the team often seemed to lose when they wore them. This purported curse drew attention after the team lost Super Bowl V with the blue jerseys. However, the roots of the curse likely date back earlier to the 1968 divisional playoffs, when the blue-shirted Cowboys were upset by the Cleveland Browns in what turned out to be Don Meredith's final game with the Cowboys. Dallas's lone victory in a conference championship or Super Bowl wearing the blue jerseys was in the 1978 NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, league rules were changed to allow the Super Bowl home team to pick their choice of jersey. Most of the time, Dallas will wear their blue jerseys when they visit Washington, Philadelphia (sometimes), Miami, or one of the handful of other teams that traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season due to the hot climates in their respective cities or other means. Occasionally opposing teams will wear their white jerseys at home to try to invoke the curse, such as when the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game, as well as their November 4, 2007 meeting. Various other teams followed suit in the 1980s. Although Dallas has made several tweaks to their blue jerseys over the years, Schramm said he did not believe in the curse. Since the league began allowing teams to use an alternate jersey, the Cowboys' alternates have been primarily blue versions of past jerseys and the Cowboys have generally had success when wearing these blue alternates. With the implementation of the 2013 NFL helmet rule for alternate jerseys, the team decided instead to wear their regular blue jerseys for their Thanksgiving game, something they have not done at home since Schramm started the white-jersey-at-home tradition. With the Cowboys traditionally hosting Thanksgiving Day games, separate practice uniforms have been used for these games in recent years. Through the 2000 season, the Cowboys continued the usual practice of wearing white at home. In 2001, the Cowboys wore blue at home for the first time in years with was an older design of the blue jersey. Dallas would lose the game, but again wore the older blue jersey at home on Thanksgiving the next year and won. With the 2002 victory, it seems an exception to the theory of the blue jersey jinx is invoked on Thanksgiving. Thus, the Cowboys continued wearing blue at home on Thanksgiving from 2003–2006, however it was always an older-styled alternate blue jersey. In 2007 and 2008, the Cowboys returned to wearing white at home for their Thanksgiving game. From 2009 to 2017, the Cowboys returned to wearing blue at home on Thanksgiving only. (From 2009–2012, the team again decided to go with an older-styled blue uniform as they had in previous years on Thanksgiving, and since 2013 have worn the newer-styled blue jersey.) The Cowboys wore white jerseys on Thanksgiving in 2018. In the 2015 season, the Cowboys wore their Color Rush variation of the 1990s "Double Star" jerseys for a Thanksgiving game against the Carolina Panthers. The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as the Fair Park Bowl, it is located in Fair Park, site of the State Fair of Texas. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named. (Beginning with the January 2010 game, the Cotton Bowl Classic has been played at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington.) The Dallas Cowboys called the Cotton Bowl home for 11 years, from the team's formation in 1960 until 1971, when the Cowboys moved to Texas Stadium. It is the only Cowboys stadium within the Dallas city limits. The Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the 1966 NFL Championship at the Cotton Bowl. For the majority of the franchise's history the Cowboys played their home games at Texas Stadium. Just outside the city of Dallas, the stadium was located in Irving. The stadium opened on October 24, 1971, at a cost of $35 million and with a seating capacity of 65,675. The stadium was famous for its hole-in-the-roof dome. The roof's worn paint had become so unsightly in the early 2000s that it was repainted in the summer of 2006 by the City of Irving. It was the first time the famed roof was repainted since Texas Stadium opened. The roof was structurally independent from the stadium it covered. The Cowboys lost their final game at Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens, 33–24, on December 20, 2008. After Cowboys Stadium was opened in 2009, the Cowboys turned over the facility to the City of Irving. In 2009, it was replaced as home of the Cowboys by Cowboys Stadium, which officially opened on May 27, 2009 in Arlington. Texas Stadium was demolished by implosion on April 11, 2010. AT&T; Stadium, previously named Cowboys Stadium, is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington. After failed negotiations to build a new stadium on the site of the Cotton Bowl, Jerry Jones, along with the city of Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, funded the stadium at a cost of $1.3 billion. The stadium is located in Tarrant County, the first time the Cowboys will call a stadium home outside of Dallas County. It was completed on May 29, 2009 and seats 80,000, but is expandable to seat up to 100,000. AT&T; Stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world. A highlight of AT&T; Stadium is its gigantic, center-hung high-definition television screen, the largest in the world. The , scoreboard surpasses the screen that opened in 2009 at the renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City as the world's largest. At the debut pre-season game of Cowboys Stadium, a punt by Tennessee Titans kicker, A. J. Trapasso, hit the 2,100 in. screen above the field. The punt deflected and was ruled in-play until Titans coach Jeff Fisher informed the officials that the punt struck the scoreboard. (Many believe Trapasso was trying to hit the suspended scoreboard, based on replays and the angle of the kick.) The scoreboard is, however, within the regulation of the NFL guidelines — hanging approximately five feet above the minimum height. No punts hit the scoreboard during the entire 2009 regular season during an actual game. Also, on August 22, 2009, the day after AJ Trapasso hit the screen, many fans touring the facility noted that half of the field was removed with large cranes re- positioning the screen. According to some fans, a tour guide explained that Jerry Jones invited a few professional soccer players to drop kick soccer balls to try to hit the screen. Once he observed them hitting it consistently he had the screen moved up another 10 feet. The first regular season home game of the 2009 season was against the New York Giants. A league record-setting 105,121 fans showed up to fill Cowboys Stadium for the game before which the traditional "blue star" at the 50-yard line was unveiled for the first time; however, the Cowboys lost in the final seconds, 33–31. The Cowboys got their first regular season home win on September 28, 2009. They beat the Carolina Panthers 21–7 with 90,588 in attendance. The game was televised on ESPN's Monday Night Football and marked a record 42nd win for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. On July 25, 2013, the Cowboys announced that AT&T; would be taking over the rights to the name of the stadium. Dallas Cowboys training camp locations: 1960: Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, 1961: St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1962: Northern Michigan College, Marquette, Michigan, 1963–1989: California Lutheran College, Thousand Oaks, California, 1990–1997: St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, 1998–2002: Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, 2001, 2004–2006, 2008, 2012–2015: River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California, 2002–2003, 2007, 2009: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, 2010–2011: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas and River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California, 2016–present: The Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas The NFC East, composed of the Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins and New York Giants, is one of the least-changed divisions of the original six formed in the wake of the NFL-AFL merger (its only major changes being the relocation of the Cardinals franchise from St. Louis to Arizona and its subsequent move to the NFC West in the league's 2002 realignment). Three of the four teams have been division rivals since the Cowboys' entry into the NFL. As such, the Cowboys have some of the longest and fiercest rivalries in the sport. The Redskins and Dallas Cowboys enjoy what has been called by Sports Illustrated the top NFL rivalry of all time and "one of the greatest in sports." Some sources trace the enmity to before the Cowboys were even formed, due to a longstanding disagreement between Redskins owner George Preston Marshall and Cowboys founder Clint Murchison, Jr. over the creation of a new football team in the South, due to Marshall's TV monopoly in that region. The two teams' storied on-field rivalry goes back to 1960 when the two clubs first played each other, resulting in a 26–14 Washington victory. Since that time, the two teams have met in 116 regular season contests and two NFC Championships. Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 70–42–2, and the Redskins lead the all-time playoff series 2–0. The Cowboys currently have a 14–7 advantage over the Redskins at FedEx Field. Some notable moments in the rivalry include Washington's victory over Dallas in the 1982 NFC Championship and the latter's 1989 win over the Redskins for their only victory that season. The last Cowboys game with Tom Landry as coach was a win over Washington on December 11, 1988. In the 2010s, the Redskins have struggled to consistently compete for the Division title, but still play the Cowboys particularly tough, posting an impressive upset victory against Dallas in 2014, despite being outclassed by the Cowboys in the overall standings. The competition with Philadelphia has been particularly intense since the late 1970s, when the long-moribund Eagles returned to contention. In January 1981, the two teams faced off in the NFC Championship, with Philadelphia winning 20–7. A series of other factors heightened tensions during the 1980s and 1990s, including several provocative actions by Philadelphia fans and Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan. Among these were the 1989 "Bounty Bowls", in which Ryan allegedly placed a bounty on Dallas kicker Luis Zendejas and Veterans Stadium fans pelted the Cowboys with snowballs and other debris. A 1999 game at Philadelphia saw Eagles fans cheering as Michael Irvin lay motionless and possibly paralyzed on the field. In 2008 the rivalry became more intense when in the last game of the year in which both teams could clinch a playoff spot with a victory, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Cowboys 44–6. The following season, the Cowboys avenged that defeat by beating the Eagles three times: twice during the regular season to claim the title as NFC East champions and once more in a wild-card playoff game by a combined score of 78–30, including a 24–0 shutout in week 17. That three-game sweep was Dallas' first over any opponent and the longest winning streak against the Eagles since 1992–1995 when Dallas won seven straight matches against Philadelphia. During the 2013 season Dallas won the first meeting 17–3 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. They would meet again in Week 17 at AT&T; Stadium with the winner clinching the 2013 NFC East title. The Cowboys came into the game at a disadvantage with starting quarterback Tony Romo out with a season ending back injury which put backup Kyle Orton as the starter. It was a tight game with the Eagles up 24–22 with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation. Orton got the ball and started driving down the field when he was intercepted by the Eagles defense, which ended the game and the Cowboys season. In 2014, the Cowboys and Eagles both won against each other on the road, with Philadelphia posting a dominant 33–10 win on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, and Dallas returning the favor two weeks later by defeating the Eagles 38–27 in Philadelphia. The second game between these rivals clenched a playoff spot for Dallas and led to formerly first place Philadelphia missing out on the post- season. Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 63–50. The first game ever played between the Giants and Cowboys was a 31–31 tie on December 4, 1960. Dallas logged its first win in the series on October 29, 1961 and New York's first was on November 11, 1962. Among the more notable moments in the rivalry was the Giants' defeat of Dallas in the 2007 playoffs en route to their victory in Super Bowl XLII and winning the first regular season game played at Cowboys Stadium in 2009. Dallas currently leads the all- time series 65–46–2. The two teams met in the first regular season game the Cowboys ever played in 1960 (a 35–28 loss to the Steelers), the first-ever regular season victory for the expansion Cowboys in 1961, and would later meet in three Super Bowls, all of them closely contested events. The Steelers-Cowboys is to date the Super Bowl matchup with the most contests. The Steelers won Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII; both games were decided in the final seconds, first on a last- second throw by Roger Staubach, then as a fourth-quarter rally by Dallas fell short on an onside kick. The Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX in January 1996. It is said that the rivalry was fueled in the 1970s due to the stark contrast of the teams: the Cowboys, being more of a "flashy" team with Roger Staubach's aerial attack and the "flex" Doomsday Defense; while the Steelers were more of a "blue-collar" team with a strong running game and the 1970s-esque Steel Curtain defense, a contrast that still exists today. In addition, both teams have national fan bases rivaled by few NFL teams, and both come from areas with a strong following for football at all levels. Dallas leads the all-time series 16–13 including the playoffs. The bitter rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers has been going on since the 1970s. The NFL Top 10 ranked this rivalry to be the tenth best in the history of the NFL. San Francisco has played Dallas in seven postseason games. The Cowboys defeated the 49ers in the 1970 and 1971 NFC Championship games, and again in the 1972 Divisional Playoff Game. The 1981 NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, which saw the 49ers' Joe Montana complete a game-winning pass to Dwight Clark in the final minute (now known as The Catch) is one of the most famous games in NFL history. The rivalry became even more intense during the 1992–1994 seasons. San Francisco and Dallas faced each other in the NFC Championship Game three separate times. Dallas won the first two match-ups, and San Francisco won the third. In each of these pivotal match-ups, the game's victor went on to win the Super Bowl. Both the Cowboys and the 49ers are tied for third all-time in Super Bowl victories to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, with five each. The 49ers- Cowboys rivalry is also part of the larger cultural rivalry between California and Texas. The Cowboys lead the all-time series with a record of 18-17-1. The Cowboys–Packers rivalry is a rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. It is one of the best known intra-conference rivalries in the NFL. The two teams do not play every year; instead, they play once every three years due to the NFL's rotating division schedules, or if the two teams finish in the same place in their respective divisions, they would play the ensuing post-season. The rivalry has also resulted in notable playoff games. The all time regular seasons series record is 15–13 in favor of the Packers, and the postseason series is tied 4–4. Unlike many NFL teams, the Cowboys do not retire jersey numbers of past standouts as a matter of policy. Instead, the team has a "Ring of Honor", which is on permanent display encircling the field. Originally at Texas Stadium, the ring is now on display at AT&T; Stadium in Arlington. The first inductee was Bob Lilly in 1975 and by 2005, the ring contained 17 names, all former Dallas players except for one head coach and one general manager/president. Although the team does not officially retire jersey numbers, some are kept "unofficially inactive". As of 2020, these following numbers have been kept out of circulation: Troy Aikman's No. 8, Tony Romo's No. 9, Roger Staubach's No. 12, Bob Hayes' and Emmitt Smith's No. 22, Bob Lilly's No. 74, and No. 88, worn by Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin, and Dez Bryant. The Ring of Honor has been a source of controversy over the years. Tex Schramm was believed to be a "one-man committee" in choosing inductees and many former Cowboys players and fans felt that Schramm deliberately excluded linebacker Lee Roy Jordan because of a bitter contract dispute the two had during Jordan's playing days. When Jerry Jones bought the team he inherited Schramm's Ring of Honor "power" and immediately inducted Jordan. Jones also has sparked controversy regarding his decisions in handling the "Ring of Honor". For four years he was unsuccessful in convincing Tom Landry to accept induction. Meanwhile, he refused to induct Tex Schramm (even after Schramm's induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame). In 1993, thanks in part to the efforts of Roger Staubach as an intermediary, Landry accepted induction and had a ceremony on the day of that year's Cowboys-Giants game (Landry had played and coached for the Giants). In 2003, Jones finally chose to induct Tex Schramm. Schramm and Jones held a joint press conference at Texas Stadium announcing the induction. Unfortunately, Schramm did not live to see his ceremonial induction at the Cowboys-Eagles game that fall. Some of the more recent inductees were Troy Aikman, all-time NFL leading rusher Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, known as "The Triplets". The Cowboys waited until Smith had retired as a player before inducting Aikman and Irvin, so all three could be inducted together, which occurred during halftime at a Monday Night Football home game against the arch-rival Washington Redskins on September 19, 2005. The 5 most recent inductees are defensive end Charles Haley, offensive lineman Larry Allen, and wide receiver Drew Pearson, who were inducted into the Ring of Honor during halftime of the Cowboys' game vs. the Seattle Seahawks on November 6, 2011, safety Darren Woodson, who was inducted on November 1, 2015, and executive Gil Brandt, who was inducted on November 29, 2018. , the Cowboys' flagship radio station is KRLD-FM. Brad Sham is the team's longtime play-by-play voice. Working alongside him is former Cowboy quarterback Babe Laufenberg, who returned in 2007 after a one-year absence to replace former safety Charlie Waters. The Cowboys, who retain rights to all announcers, chose not to renew Laufenberg's contract in 2006 and brought in Waters. However, Laufenberg did work as the analyst on the "Blue Star Network", which televises Cowboys preseason games not shown on national networks. The anchor station is KTVT, the CBS owned and operated station in Dallas. Previous stations which aired Cowboys games included KVIL-FM, KRLD, and KLUV-FM. Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter on the radio broadcasts. During his tenure as Cowboys coach, Tom Landry co-hosted his own coach's show with late veteran sportscaster Frank Glieber and later with Brad Sham. Landry's show was famous for his analysis of raw game footage and for him and his co-host making their NFL "predictions" at the end of each show. Glieber is one of the original voices of the Cowboys Radio Network, along with Bill Mercer, famous for calling the Ice Bowl of 1967 and both Super Bowl V and VI. Mercer is perhaps best known as the ringside commentator of WCCW in the 1980s. Upon Mercer's departure, Verne Lundquist joined the network, and became their play-by-play announcer by 1977, serving eight years in that capacity before handing those chores permanently over to Brad Sham, who joined the network in 1977 as the color analyst and occasional fill-in for Lundquist. Longtime WFAA- TV sports anchor Dale Hansen was the Cowboys color analyst with Brad Sham as the play-by-play announcer from 1985–1996. Dave Garrett served as the Cowboys' play-by-play announcer from 1995–97, when Brad Sham left the team and joined the Texas Rangers' radio network team as well as broadcast Sunday Night Football on Westwood One. Seeking to expand its radio broadcasting scope nationally, the Cowboys began a five-year partnership with Compass Media Networks on February 2, 2011. The result was the America's Team Radio Network, a supplement to the franchise's regional one. Beginning with the 2011 season, Kevin Burkhardt and Danny White handled the broadcasts, with Jerry Recco as the studio host. The Dallas Cowboys fight song, "Cowboys Stampede March" by Tom Merriman Big Band was the official fight song of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys used at Texas Stadium 1961 until about the early-mid '90s. "This little platter came from the personal collection of Tex Schramm, and it seems to be from the dawn of the Dallas Cowboys when he was casting about for a song to associate with the team. Eventually, the song "Cowboy Stampede March" would become THE song associated with the team thru their broadcasts in the '60s thru the '80s." George Gimarc The Cowboys now play We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa for starting defensive line, because of the saying "How Bout Dem Cowboys." For every touchdown scored by the Cowboys at a home game the song "Cowboys and Cut Cigars" by The Burning of Rome is played after a train horn. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, List of Dallas Cowboys seasons, List of Dallas Cowboys players, America's Team, Doomsday Defense NFL 2002 Record & Fact Book NFL.com – Dallas Cowboys The Super Bowl is the annual American football game that determines the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The game culminates a season that begins in the previous calendar year, and is the conclusion of the NFL playoffs. The winner receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The contest is held in an American city, chosen three to four years beforehand, usually at warm- weather sites or domed stadiums. Since January 1971, the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game has faced the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game in the culmination of the NFL playoffs. Before the 1970 merger between the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL), the two leagues met in four such contests. The first two were marketed as the "AFL–NFL World Championship Game", but were also casually referred to as "the Super Bowl game" during the television broadcast. Super Bowl III in January 1969 was the first such game that carried the "Super Bowl" moniker in official marketing; the names "Super Bowl I" and "Super Bowl II" were retroactively applied to the first two games. The NFC/NFL leads in Super Bowl wins with 27, while the AFC/AFL has won 26. 20 franchises, including teams that have relocated to another city, have won the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots () and Pittsburgh Steelers () have won the most Super Bowls with six championships, while the Dallas Cowboys () and the San Francisco 49ers () have five wins. New England has the most Super Bowl appearances with 11, while the Buffalo Bills () have the most consecutive appearances with four (all losses) from 1990 to 1993. The Miami Dolphins (1971–1973) and New England Patriots (2016–2018) are the only other teams to have at least three consecutive appearances. The Denver Broncos () and Patriots have each lost a record five Super Bowls. The Minnesota Vikings () and the Bills have lost four. The record for consecutive wins is two and is shared by seven franchises: the Green Bay Packers (1966–1967), the Miami Dolphins (1972–1973), the Pittsburgh Steelers (1974–1975 and 1978–1979, the only team to accomplish this feat twice and the only team with four wins in six consecutive seasons), the San Francisco 49ers (1988–1989), the Dallas Cowboys (1992–1993), the Denver Broncos (1997–1998), and the New England Patriots (2003–2004). Among those, Dallas (1992–1993; 1995) and New England (2001; 2003–2004) are the only teams to win three out of four consecutive Super Bowls. The 1972 Dolphins capped off the only perfect season in NFL history with their victory in Super Bowl VII. The only team with multiple Super Bowl appearances and no losses is the Baltimore Ravens, who in winning Super Bowl XLVII defeated and replaced the 49ers in that position. Four current NFL teams have never appeared in a Super Bowl, including franchises that have relocated or been renamed: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans, though both the Browns (1950, 1954, 1955, 1964) and Lions (1935, 1952, 1953, 1957) had won NFL Championship Games prior to the creation of the Super Bowl in the 1966 season. Numbers in parentheses in the table are Super Bowl appearances as of the date of that Super Bowl and are used as follows: Winning team and losing team columns indicate the number of times that team has appeared in a Super Bowl as well as each respective teams' Super Bowl record to date., Venue column indicates number of times that stadium has hosted a Super Bowl., City column indicates number of times that metropolitan area has hosted a Super Bowl. Seven franchises have won consecutive Super Bowls, one of which (Pittsburgh) has accomplished it twice: Green Bay Packers (Super Bowls I and II), Miami Dolphins (VII and VIII), Pittsburgh Steelers (twice: IX and X; XIII and XIV), San Francisco 49ers (XXIII and XXIV), Dallas Cowboys (XXVII and XXVIII), Denver Broncos (XXXII and XXXIII), New England Patriots (XXXVIII and XXXIX) No franchise has yet won three Super Bowls in a row. Several franchises have had eras of sustained success, nearly accomplishing a three-peat: The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls, and also won the NFL Championship Game the preceding year. If the Super Bowl had been instituted that year, the Packers would have qualified and faced the Buffalo Bills of the AFL., The Miami Dolphins appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls (VI, VII, and VIII) – winning the last two, and coming within one win of three consecutive Super Bowl titles., The Pittsburgh Steelers won two consecutive Super Bowls (IX and X); the following season they were eliminated in the , two wins short of a three-peat, by the eventual Super Bowl XI champion Oakland Raiders. They also won two more consecutive Super Bowls (XIII and XIV) for four wins in six seasons., The San Francisco 49ers won two consecutive Super Bowls (XXIII and XXIV); the following season they were eliminated in the , two wins short of a three-peat, by the eventual Super Bowl XXV champion New York Giants., The Dallas Cowboys won two consecutive Super Bowls (XXVII and XXVIII); the following season they were eliminated in the , two wins short of a three-peat, by the eventual Super Bowl XXIX champion San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX the following year for three wins in four seasons, and thus were two wins away from four consecutive Super Bowl titles., The New England Patriots won Super Bowls XLIX, LI, and LIII for three wins in five seasons. They also appeared in and lost Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles following the 2017 season, giving them four Super Bowl appearances in five years and putting them one win away from three consecutive Super Bowl titles. Moreover, in the intervening year, were eliminated in the by the eventual Super Bowl 50 champion Denver Broncos. In total, then, the Patriots were three wins away from five consecutive Super Bowl titles. Three franchises have lost consecutive Super Bowls: Buffalo Bills (4) (Super Bowls XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII) – The only team to appear in four straight Super Bowls, they lost in all four appearances., Minnesota Vikings (2) (VIII and IX) – They also lost Super Bowl XI, and were by the eventual Super Bowl X losers, the Dallas Cowboys, for three losses in four seasons., Denver Broncos (2) (XXI and XXII) – They also lost Super Bowl XXIV, but did not even make the 1988–89 playoffs for Super Bowl XXIII for three losses in four seasons. The Buffalo Bills have the most consecutive appearances with four (all losses) from 1990 to 1993. The Miami Dolphins (1971–1973) and New England Patriots (2016–2018) are the only other teams to have at least three consecutive appearances. Including those three, 11 teams have at least two consecutive appearances. The Dallas Cowboys are the only team with three separate streaks (1970–1971, 1977–1978, and 1992–1993). The Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, and New England Patriots have each had two separate consecutive appearances. The full listing of teams with consecutive appearances is below in order of first occurrence; winning games are bolded: Green Bay Packers (twice: Super Bowls I and II; XXXI and XXXII), Dallas Cowboys (thrice: V and VI; XII and XIII; XXVII and XXVIII), Miami Dolphins (VI, VII, and VIII), Minnesota Vikings (VIII and IX), Pittsburgh Steelers (twice: IX and X; XIII and XIV), Washington Redskins (XVII and XVIII), Denver Broncos (twice: XXI and XXII; XXXII and XXXIII), San Francisco 49ers (XXIII and XXIV), Buffalo Bills (XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII), New England Patriots (twice: XXXVIII and XXXIX; LI, LII, and LIII), Seattle Seahawks (XLVIII and XLIX) The following teams have faced each other more than once in the Super Bowl: 3 times – Pittsburgh Steelers (1975: Super Bowl X and 1978: XIII) vs. Dallas Cowboys (1995: XXX) see also Cowboys–Steelers rivalry, 2 times – Miami Dolphins (1972: VII) vs. Washington Redskins (1982: XVII), 2 times – San Francisco 49ers (1981: XVI and 1988: XXIII) vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 2 times – Dallas Cowboys (1992: XXVII and 1993: XXVIII) vs. Buffalo Bills, 2 times – New York Giants (2007: XLII and 2011: XLVI) vs. New England Patriots, 2 times – New England Patriots (2004: XXXIX) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (2017: LII), 2 times – New England Patriots (2001: XXXVI and 2018: LIII) vs. St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, and then the number of appearances, and finally precedence is given to the first team to achieve this record. Four current teams have never reached the Super Bowl. Two of them held NFL league championships prior to Super Bowl I in the 1966 NFL season: Cleveland Browns – NFL champions four times in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964; appeared in seven other NFL Championship Games in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1965, 1968, and 1969; and appeared in three AFC Championship Games in the , , and seasons. The Browns are officially viewed as one continuous franchise that began in 1946 as a member of the All-America Football Conference, joined the NFL in 1950, suspended operations after 1995, and resumed play in 1999. The Baltimore Ravens were established in 1996 as an expansion team with former Browns personnel, and have since won two Super Bowls as a separate franchise (XXXV and XLVII)., Detroit Lions – NFL champions four times in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957; appeared in one other NFL Championship Game in 1954; and appeared in one NFC Championship Game in the season., Jacksonville Jaguars – 1995 expansion team; AFC Championship Game appearances in the , , and seasons., Houston Texans – 2002 expansion team; Divisional Round appearances in the , , , and seasons. They are the only NFL team to never reach the Conference Championship Round. Although four teams have not appeared in a Super Bowl to date, there are an additional nine teams whose most recent Super Bowl appearance was before Houston joined the NFL in 2002, resulting in a longer drought. New York Jets (III, 1968 season), Won, Minnesota Vikings (XI, 1976 season), Lost, Miami Dolphins (XIX, 1984 season), Lost, Cincinnati Bengals (XXIII, 1988 season), Lost, Washington Redskins (XXVI, 1991 season), Won, Buffalo Bills (XXVIII, 1993 season), Lost, Los Angeles Chargers (played as San Diego Chargers in XXIX, 1994 season), Lost, Dallas Cowboys (XXX, 1995 season), Won, Tennessee Titans (XXXIV, 1999 season), Lost Eight teams have appeared in the Super Bowl without ever winning. In descending order of number of appearances and then years since their last appearance, they are: Minnesota Vikings (4) – appeared in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI; they won the NFL Championship in 1969, the last year before the AFL–NFL merger, but failed to win the subsequent Super Bowl. An NFL expansion team in 1961, they have no pre-Super Bowl league championships., Buffalo Bills (4) – XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII; in 1964 and 1965, they won the last two AFL Championships before the first Super Bowl in 1966., Cincinnati Bengals (2) – XVI and XXIII; an AFL expansion team in 1968, they have no pre-Super Bowl league championships., Carolina Panthers (2) – XXXVIII and 50; a post-merger expansion team, their first season was in 1995., Atlanta Falcons (2) – XXXIII and LI; an NFL expansion team in 1966, they have no pre-Super Bowl league championships., Los Angeles Chargers (1) – XXIX as the San Diego Chargers; their only AFL Championship was in 1963, also as the San Diego Chargers., Tennessee Titans (1) – XXXIV; they won the first two AFL Championships in 1960 and 1961 as the Houston Oilers., Arizona Cardinals (1) – XLIII; their only uncontested NFL Championship was in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals. They also claim the 1925 NFL Championship. History of the National Football League championship, List of AFC champions, List of NFC champions, List of NFL champions from 1920 to 1969, List of AFL champions, List of AAFC champions, List of Super Bowl records, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award, List of NFL franchise post-season droughts, List of NFL franchise post-season streaks National Football League, Super Bowl, List of winning rosters This article contains an in-depth explanation of the history of the Dallas Cowboys, a professional American football team that competes in the National Football League (NFL). The Dallas Cowboys were the NFL's first modern-era expansion team. The NFL was late in awarding Dallas; after Lamar Hunt was rebuffed in his efforts to acquire an NFL franchise for Dallas, he became part of a group of owners that formed the American Football League with Hunt's AFL franchise in Dallas known as the Texans (later to become the Kansas City Chiefs). In an effort not to cede the South to the AFL, the NFL awarded Dallas a franchise, but not until after the 1960 college draft had been held. As a result, the NFL's first ever expansion team played its inaugural season without the benefit of a college draft. Originally, the formation of an NFL expansion team in Texas was met with strong opposition by Washington Redskins owner, George Preston Marshall. This was no surprise, because despite being located in the nation's capital, Marshall's Redskins had enjoyed a monopoly as the only NFL team to represent the American South for several decades. This came as little surprise to would- be team owners, Clint Murchison Jr. and Bedford Wynne, so to ensure the birth of their expansion team, the men bought the rights to the Redskins fight song, "Hail to the Redskins" and threatened to refuse to allow Washington to play the song at games. Needing the song, which had become a staple for his "professional football team of Dixie", Marshall changed his mind, and the city of Dallas was granted an NFL franchise on January 28, 1960. This early confrontation between the two franchises helped to trigger what became one of the more heated National Football League rivalries, which continues to this day. The team was first known as the Dallas Steers, then the Dallas Rangers. On March 19, 1960, the organization announced that the team name was the Cowboys to avoid confusion with the American Association Dallas Rangers baseball team. The founding investors of the Dallas Cowboys were Clint Murchison, Jr. (45%), John D. Murchison (45%), along with minority shareholders, Toddie Lee and Bedford Wynne (Director and Secretary) (5%) and William R. Hawn (5%). The new owners subsequently hired Tex Schramm as general manager, Gil Brandt as player personnel director, and Tom Landry as head coach. The Cowboys began play in 1960, and played their home games a few miles east of Downtown Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. For their first three seasons, they shared this stadium with the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs franchise), who began play in the American Football League that same year. The 1960 Cowboys finished their inaugural campaign 0-11-1 with a roster largely made up of sub-par players (many well past their prime). The following year, the Cowboys made their first college draft selection, taking TCU Horned Frogs defensive tackle Bob Lilly with the 13th pick in the draft (although the Cowboys finished with the league's worst record in 1960, the first overall selection in the 1961 draft was given to the expansion team Minnesota Vikings). The 1961 season also saw the Cowboys pick up their first victory in franchise history, a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game of the season. The Cowboys had played the Steelers in their first ever regular season game only the year before. The Cowboys finished their second campaign with an overall 4-9-1 record. In 1962, Dallas improved slightly, going 5-8-1. After the season, the Cowboys became the sole professional football franchise in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as the AFL's Dallas Texans, despite winning the 1962 AFL championship by a score of 20–17 in double overtime, moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs eventually joined the NFL as part of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. In 1963, Dallas fell back to 4–10. In 1964, they posted another 5-8-1 campaign. During this period, the Cowboys had the misfortune of being associated as the city where President Kennedy was assassinated. The Cowboys' success later in the decade largely contributed to restoring civic pride in Dallas after the assassination. During the early and mid-1960s, the Cowboys gradually built a contender. Quarterback Don Meredith was acquired in 1960, running back Don Perkins, linebacker Chuck Howley and Lilly were acquired in 1961, linebacker Lee Roy Jordan in 1963, cornerback Mel Renfro in 1964, and wide receiver Bob Hayes and running back Dan Reeves in 1965. In 1965, the Cowboys went 7–7, achieving a .500 record for the first time. In 1966, the Cowboys posted their first winning season, finishing atop the Eastern Conference with a 10-3-1 record. Dallas sent eight players to the Pro Bowl, including Howley, Meredith, Perkins, and future Pro Football Hall of Fame members Hayes, Lilly, and Renfro. In their first-ever postseason appearance, the Cowboys faced the Green Bay Packers in the 1966 NFL Championship Game, with a trip to the first ever Super Bowl on the line. Green Bay defeated Dallas in a 34-27 thriller by stopping the Cowboys on a goal line stand with 28 seconds remaining and went on to win Super Bowl I 35-10 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite this disappointment, 1966 marked the start of an NFL-record-setting eight consecutive postseason appearances for the Cowboys. (Dallas later broke its own record with nine consecutive trips to the playoffs between 1975 and 1983, a record that was tied by the Indianapolis Colts when they reached the playoffs every year from 2002 to 2010, and broken by the 2009-2018 New England Patriots.) It was also the beginning of a still NFL record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons that extended through 1985. That same year, the Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee that they would regularly host Thanksgiving games as a condition of their very first one (since games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not a certainty). This is only partly true; Dallas had in fact decided to host games on Thanksgiving by their own decision because there was nothing else to do or watch on that day. With exception of 1975 and 1977, the Cowboys have hosted a game every Thanksgiving day since. In 1967, the Cowboys finished with a 9-5 record and had their first playoff victory, a 52-14 rout of the Cleveland Browns. They went on to face the Packers in the 1967 NFL Championship game, a rematch of the 1966 NFL championship game, with the winner advancing to Super Bowl II. The game, which happened on December 31, 1967, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, turned out to be the coldest NFL game in history (about -13° F with a -40° wind chill). The Cowboys lost 21-17 on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Packers quarterback Bart Starr with 16 seconds remaining. The game later became known as the "Ice Bowl." Green Bay went on to win the Super Bowl again, this time against the Oakland Raiders. Dallas remained one of the NFL's top teams for the remainder of the 1960s, easily winning their division in 1968 (with a 12-2 record) and in 1969 (with an 11-2-1 mark). Each season, however, ended with a disappointing, decisive loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns in turn lost in the NFL championship game to the Baltimore Colts and Minnesota Vikings in the 1968 and 1969 seasons respectively. The 1968 Colts and 1969 Vikings subsequently lost Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV to the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively. Repeated failures to achieve their ultimate goal earned the Cowboys the nickname "Next Year's Champions" and a reputation for not being able to "win the big one." Peter Gent, a wide receiver with Dallas from 1964 to 1968, later wrote a book called North Dallas Forty based on his observations and experiences with the team. The book was later made into a movie of the same name in 1979. The book and movie depicted many of the team's players as carousing, drug-abusing partiers callously used by the team and then tossed aside when they became too injured to continue playing productively. In 1969, ground was broken on a new stadium for the Cowboys to replace the Cotton Bowl. Texas Stadium in Irving, a Dallas suburb, was completed during the 1971 season. At the end of the decade, the historians Robert A. Calvert, Donald E. Chipman, and Randolph Campbell wrote The Dallas Cowboys and the NFL, an inside study of the organization and financing of the team. A reviewer describes the Cowboys as a vital cog of "an industry that occupies an important segment of American time and attention . . . a sophisticated industry that has worked out complex statistics to select the best thrower of a forward pass. . . . [and] has reformed television habits . . . " In the 1970s, the NFL underwent many changes as it absorbed the AFL and became a unified league, but the Cowboys also underwent many changes. Meredith and Perkins retired in 1969 and new players were joining the organization, like Cliff Harris, and Pro Football Hall of Famers Rayfield Wright, Mike Ditka, Herb Adderley and Roger Staubach. Led by quarterback Craig Morton, the Cowboys had a 10–4 season in 1970. A 38-0 shutout by the Cardinals was the low point of the year, but the team recovered to make it to the playoffs. They defeated Detroit 5–0 in the lowest-scoring playoff game in NFL history and then defeated San Francisco 17–10 in the first-ever NFC Championship Game to qualify for their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, a mistake-filled Super Bowl V, where they lost 16–13 to the Baltimore Colts courtesy of a field goal by Colts' kicker Jim O'Brien with five seconds remaining in the contest. Despite the loss, linebacker Chuck Howley was named the Super Bowl MVP, the first and only time in Super Bowl history that the game's MVP did not come from the winning team. The Cowboys moved from the Cotton Bowl to Texas Stadium in week six of the 1971 season. Although the first game in their new home was a 44–21 victory over New England, Dallas stumbled out of the gate by going 4–3 in the first half of the season, including losses to the mediocre New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears. Landry named Staubach as the permanent starting quarterback to start the second half of the season, and Dallas was off and running. The Cowboys won their last seven regular season games (finishing 11-3) before dispatching of the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs to return to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl VI, behind an MVP performance from Staubach and a then Super Bowl record 252 yards rushing, the Cowboys crushed the upstart Miami Dolphins, 24-3, to finally bury the "Next Year's Champions" stigma. The Cowboys rushed for 252 yards, while holding the Dolphins, who went 17-0 in 1972, to 185 total yards. The 1972 season was another winning one for the Cowboys, but their 10–4 record was only good for them to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. In the divisional playoffs they faced the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers had a 28–13 lead and seemed to have avenged their playoff losses to Dallas in the two previous seasons. But after Landry benched Morton, Staubach threw two touchdown passes with less than two minutes remaining—including the game- winner to Ron Sellers—for a miraculous 30-28 Dallas win, the first of several dramatic comebacks led by Staubach during the 1970s. However, they were defeated by their archrival Washington Redskins 26–3 in the NFC Championship Game. The Cowboys were now beginning to grow in popularity not just in Dallas, but nationwide. Their televised appearances on Thanksgiving Day games beginning in 1966 helped bring the Cowboys to a nationwide audience. Under Coach Landry, the so-called "Doomsday Defense" became a powerful and dominating force in the NFL and their offense was also exciting to watch. Dallas had also established itself as the most innovative franchise off the field. It was the first to use computers in scouting, the first to have a modern cheerleading squad performing sophisticated choreographed routines, and the first to broadcast games in Spanish. General manager Schramm became the most powerful GM in the NFL; it was he who pushed the league to adopt changes such as relocating the goal posts to the back of the end zone and (after the 1974 season) the use of instant replay. While Pittsburgh won more Super Bowls in the 1970s, Dallas emerged as the "glamour" team of the decade. The 1979 film North Dallas Forty, based on a book written by former Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent, presented a veiled portrayal of the team's on-and-off field culture during this time. In 1973, Dallas finished 10–4 and won the NFC East. In the playoffs, they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 27–16 before losing in the NFC Championship Game to the Minnesota Vikings, 27-10. The Cowboys faltered slightly in 1974, finishing 8–6 and missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Bob Lilly retired following the season, capping his 14-year Hall of Fame career. After missing the playoffs in 1974, the team drafted well the following year, adding defensive lineman Randy White (a future Hall of Fame member) and linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. The fresh influx of talent helped the Cowboys back to the playoffs in 1975 as a wild card, where they beat the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to advance to Super Bowl X, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-17. In 1976, the team went 11–3, winning the NFC East. However, they were quickly eliminated from the playoffs with a 14–12 loss to the Rams. The Cowboys began the 1977 season 8-0 before losing in consecutive weeks to the St. Louis Cardinals in a Monday night home game and the Steelers in Pittsburgh. After the losses, however, the Cowboys won their final four regular season games. Dallas had both the #1 defense and #1 offense in the NFL. In the postseason, the Cowboys routed the Chicago Bears 37-7 and Minnesota Vikings 23-6 before defeating the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans. As a testament to Doomsday's dominance in the hard-hitting game, defensive linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin were named co-Super Bowl MVPs, the first and only time multiple players have received the award. After a slow start in 1978, Dallas won its final six regular season games to finish the season at 12–4. After an unexpectedly close divisional playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys traveled to Los Angeles and shut out the Rams in the NFC Championship Game 28–0 to return to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XIII, Dallas faced the Steelers at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Steelers outlasted the Cowboys 35–31, despite a furious comeback that saw Dallas score two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter; the game was not decided until the final 22 seconds, when a Dallas onside kick failed. Bob Ryan, an NFL films editor, dubbed the Cowboys "America's Team" following this season, a nickname that has earned derision from non-Cowboys fans but has stuck through both good times and bad. Dallas finished the 1979 season 11-5. The team slumped in November, but rallied to win its next two games. This set the stage for the regular season finale against Washington, with the winner capturing the NFC East title and the loser missing the playoffs. In the game, Texas Stadium fans were treated to one of Staubach's greatest comebacks – which also was his last. The Cowboys trailed 17–0, but then scored three touchdowns to take the lead. Led by running back John Riggins, the Redskins came back to build a 34–21 lead, but the Cowboys scored 2 touchdowns in the final five minutes – including a Staubach touchdown pass to Tony Hill with less than a minute remaining – for an amazing 35–34 victory. The season ended with a whimper, however, as two weeks later, the underdog Rams traveled to Dallas and upset the Cowboys 21–19 in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Cowboys had a chance to win in the final two minutes after the Rams scored their final touchdown, but the Rams' defense stopped Staubach from making a miracle comeback like the kinds that he had become famous for. The Rams went on to win the NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 and reach Super Bowl XIV, which they lost to the defending champion, Pittsburgh, by a score of 31-19. This game marked the end of an era, as repeated concussions compelled Staubach to announce his retirement a few months later in an emotional press conference at Texas Stadium. All told, from 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, more than any other NFL franchise during that span. Danny White became the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 1980. Without Staubach, not much was expected of the Cowboys, but they surprised everyone with a 12–4 regular season. Philadelphia also finished 12–4, but got the division title on a close tiebreaker. The Cowboys won the wildcard game at home against the Rams, then White engineered a late comeback to win the divisional playoff game in Atlanta. Dallas faced the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, but suffered a highly embarrassing 20–7 loss to their division rival in Veterans Stadium. Dallas started the 1981 season 4-0, and captured the NFC East crown with another 12–4 record. Dallas dismantled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional playoff 38–0. They then traveled to San Francisco to face the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. It was one of the most famous finishes in NFL history. Dallas led 27–21 with just under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter and appeared to be headed to their sixth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. However, San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana led a long 49er drive that was capped by a Joe Montana touchdown pass to Dwight Clark with 51 seconds remaining. Dallas was not finished just yet, needing only a field goal to win. A White completion to Drew Pearson moved the ball into 49er territory and almost went for a touchdown. Two plays later, though, White fumbled after being hit, and San Francisco recovered to seal their 28–27 victory. San Francisco went on to win Super Bowl XVI. Clark's leaping grab in the end zone came to be famous as "The Catch", and represented a changing of the guard in the NFC from the dominant Cowboys teams of the 1970s to the dominant 49ers teams of the 1980s. Dallas finished the strike-shortened 1982 season with a record of 6–3. The Cowboys held a one-game lead over the Redskins with two games to play in the regular season, but fell at home to Philadelphia, then lost a Monday night match in Minnesota (a game best known for Tony Dorsett's NFL record 99-yard touchdown run). Dallas played two home games in the unusual postseason "Super Bowl Tournament", defeating Tampa Bay and Green Bay. In the NFC Championship Game, Washington defeated Dallas 31–17 at RFK Stadium. This finished a remarkable run that saw the Cowboys play in 10 of 13 conference championship games. The Cowboys opened the 1983 season in impressive fashion, erasing a 23–3 deficit at Washington to defeat the Super Bowl champion Redskins 31-30, then winning their next six games. When Dallas and Washington squared off again in Week 15 at Texas Stadium, both teams had 12–2 records. However, the Redskins beat the Cowboys handily in that game, and Dallas subsequently lost its next two games to end its season (a rout by the 49ers in the regular season finale and an upset home loss to the Rams in the wild card playoff game). Change and controversy marked the Cowboys' 1984 season (its 25th, which Schramm commemorated as the "Silver Season"). Despite leading Dallas to the playoffs in each of his four seasons as starting quarterback, Danny White began to draw criticism for "not being able to win the big game", and several players privately expressed their preference for backup quarterback Gary Hogeboom. Landry decided to start Hogeboom, and while Dallas started the season 4–1, Hogeboom's inconsistency eventually led to White regaining the starting job. It was not enough, though. The Cowboys suffered an embarrassing Week 12 loss to the winless Bills in Buffalo, and needing a win in their final two games to secure a playoff spot, lost both. Dallas finished the 1984 season 9–7, and missed the postseason for the first time in a decade. An important off-field change also took place in 1984. Clint Murchison, in dire financial straits because of a collapse in oil prices, sold the Cowboys to Dallas oilman H.R. "Bum" Bright in May. Bright's ownership coincided with a decline in the Cowboys' fortunes. The 1985 season saw a somewhat uneven string of wins and losses, the worst being in Week 11 when they were annihilated 44–0 by the unstoppable Chicago Bears, the team's first shutout since 1970. With a 10–6 record, the Cowboys won the division, but were blanked by the Rams 20–0 in the playoffs. This was the franchise's final winning season and postseason appearance with Tom Landry as coach. The 1986 campaign started optimistically, with highly regarded offensive coordinator Paul Hackett and Heisman Trophy-winning Herschel Walker having joined the team. The Cowboys ran their record to 6–2, but White's wrist was broken in a mid-season loss to the Giants, and the team only managed to win one of its final seven games. Dallas finished with a 7–9 record, ending the franchise's streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons that had dated back to its first-ever winning season in 1966. To this date, no other NFL team has successfully matched this feat. Dallas started the 1987 season 1-1 before NFL players went on strike and management responded by hiring replacement players. Schramm, having anticipated the strike, assembled one of the better replacement teams, which was soon bolstered by several starters who crossed the picket line (including Dorsett, Danny White, and Randy White). However, the "Counterfeit Cowboys" suffered an embarrassing home loss to a Redskins team composed entirely of replacement players, and once the strike ended, Dallas' regular squad lost six of its next eight games to finish 7–8. The Cowboys went into a free-fall in 1988. After starting the season 2–2, a last-second loss in New Orleans started a 10-game Cowboy losing streak. Among the few bright spots in the season were the team's first-round draft pick, wide receiver Michael Irvin (whom Schramm had predicted would spur the team's "return from the dead"), and a Week 15 victory against the Redskins in Washington, Tom Landry's last. Bright sold the Cowboys to Arkansas businessman Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989. The next day, Jones' first act as owner was to fire Landry. The abrupt termination of the only coach that the Cowboys had ever known attracted considerable criticism. He admitted to becoming more forgetful with play calling and clock management as he passed his 60th birthday, and to being a bit unwilling to adapt his offense for the NFL of the 1980s, although he was not totally to blame for the Cowboys' problems, which included years of poor drafts. Schramm, Brandt, and other longtime personnel were soon gone as well. Jones replaced Landry with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson. With the worst record of 1988, Dallas gained the #1 draft pick for 1989, UCLA QB Troy Aikman (Tom Landry had expressed interest in Aikman just before being fired). After Dallas opened the 1989 season 0–5, Johnson traded away Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. (A total of 18 players or draft choices were involved in what was the largest trade in NFL history at the time.) The Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst record since the team's inception. Rookie quarterback Steve Walsh, starting in place of an injured Aikman, led the team to its lone victory in a midseason Sunday night game in Washington. The two games with Philadelphia in 1989 (which became known as the Bounty Bowls) were marked by particularly strong hostility between the staff and fans of both teams. Eagles coach Buddy Ryan insulted Jimmy Johnson, saying that he did nothing in his tenure at the University of Miami except run the score up on bad teams and also made fun of his weight. Ryan reputedly wanted his players to injure Cowboys kicker Roger Ruzek, who had been cut from the Eagles early in the season, and in the season-ender in Philadelphia, the Cowboys were pelted with snowballs. Dallas's 1-15 season of 1989 gave them the league's worst record for the second consecutive year. However, they did not get the #1 draft pick again, as they had forfeited their first round pick the previous year when they took Steve Walsh in the Supplemental Draft. Johnson quickly returned the Cowboys to the NFL's elite with a series of skillful drafts. Having picked Aikman, fullback Daryl Johnston and center Mark Stepnoski in 1989, Johnson added running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, defensive tackle Russell Maryland and offensive tackle Erik Williams in 1991, and safety Darren Woodson in 1992. The young talent joined holdovers from the Landry era such as wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard Nate Newton, linebacker Ken Norton, Jr., and offensive lineman Mark Tuinei, and veteran pickups such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley. In 1990, the Cowboys finished 7-9, with Smith being named NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year and Johnson earning Coach of the Year honors. In 1991, Dallas finished with an 11-5 record, making the playoffs for the first time since 1985. The Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears 17-13 in the wild card round. In the divisional round, they faced the Lions, who had beaten them earlier in the season. Detroit went in for a repeat performance, dismembering the Cowboys 38–6 for their first, and to date only, postseason victory since 1957. The 1991 Cowboys also became the first team to feature the league leaders in rushing yards (Smith) and receiving yards (Irvin). The 1991 season also marked Dallas's return to Monday Night Football after an absence of two years. In 1992, the Cowboys finished with a 13-3 record (second best in the league), boasted the league's #1 defense, reached their peak in popularity (many road fans were cheering for the Cowboys), and finally avenged their 1981 NFC Championship Game loss to San Francisco by defeating the 49ers in the conference title game, 30-20, in a muddy Candlestick Park. The Cowboys went on to crush the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, 52-17, forcing a Super Bowl record 9 turnovers. QB Troy Aikman was named MVP after completing 73.3% of his passes for 273 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions for a passer rating of 140.7, and even out rushed Bills running back Thurman Thomas 28 yards to 19 yards. Emmitt Smith rushed for 108 yards, and became the first NFL rushing champion to win a Super Bowl in the same season. Coach Johnson became the first coach to claim a National Championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. The following season, the Cowboys finished with a 12-4 record in the regular season. They again defeated the 49ers in the NFC Championship, this time by a score of 38–21 at Texas Stadium, and again defeated the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl, this time by a score of 30-13\. The Cowboys sent an NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl: Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Thomas Everett, Daryl Johnston, Russell Maryland, Nate Newton, Ken Norton Jr, Jay Novacek, Mark Stepnoski and Erik Williams. Emmitt Smith won his third rushing title despite missing the first two games of the season, which the Cowboys went 0–2 in, over a contract dispute, and was named both NFL and Super Bowl MVP. Smith is one of only six players to win both the NFL MVP award and Super Bowl MVP award in the same season, and is the only one of those six players who was not a quarterback. Only weeks after Super Bowl XXVIII, however, friction between Johnson and Jones culminated in Johnson stunning the football world by announcing his resignation. The next day Jones hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to replace Johnson. Norton and guard Kevin Gogan departed via free agency, but Dallas drafted offensive lineman Larry Allen, who became a mainstay on the line for the next decade. In 1994, the Cowboys played before the largest crowd to ever attend an NFL game when 112,376 in Mexico City turned out for a preseason match against the Houston Oilers. The Cowboys cruised to another NFC East title in 1994. They finished the regular season 12-4, with their four losses coming by a combined 20 points. The team suffered key injuries, however, when Erik Williams was lost for the year after a mid- season auto accident and Emmitt Smith was hobbled for the final month with a pulled hamstring. Dallas advanced to the NFC Championship Game, where they faced San Francisco for the third consecutive year. Dallas fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter, and despite a valiant comeback, the 49ers held on to win 38-28, thus denying the Cowboys their chance of winning a record three consecutive Super Bowls. In 1995, Jones made a huge free agent splash by signing All-Pro corner Deion Sanders away from San Francisco. Dallas posted another two catch touchdown regular season record and NFC East crown. Emmitt Smith won his Third rushing title and scored a then NFL record 25 rushing touchdowns. After crushing the Eagles 30-11 in the divisional playoffs, the Cowboys earned their 8th NFC Championship title by defeating the Green Bay Packers 38-27 at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys then topped the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX 27-17, avenging two four-point losses to Pittsburgh in Super Bowls X and XIII. Coach Switzer followed Johnson to become the second coach to claim a National Championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football. Only one other coach, Pete Carroll, has since accomplished this feat. The Cowboys have not been back to the NFC Conference Championship game since. Injuries and off-field incidents deviled the 1996 Cowboys. Novacek, possibly Aikman's most trusted target, suffered an off-season back injury that ended his career. Irvin was convicted of narcotics possession and suspended for the first five games of the season. In December defensive tackle Leon Lett was given a one-year suspension for failing a narcotics test. Late in the season Irvin and Williams drew national attention when they were accused of assaulting a Dallas woman, although the allegations were later recanted. Haley and Emmitt Smith were also plagued by injuries during the season. Yet Dallas still managed to earn its fifth consecutive NFC East title with a 10-6 record. The Cowboys thumped the Vikings 40-15 in the first round of the playoffs, then traveled to Carolina, where they lost to the upstart Panthers 26-17 after Irvin and Sanders left the game with injuries. Preseason pundits again put the Cowboys at the top of the NFC in 1997. However, Dallas finished the season with a disappointing 6-10 record as continued discipline and off-field problems became major distractions. Switzer was arrested during the preseason after a handgun was found in his luggage at an airport metal detector. The team collapsed down the stretch, losing its final 5 games. Switzer resigned as head coach in January 1998 and was replaced by former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. After missing the playoffs in 1997, Gailey led the team to a 10-6 record in 1998 as Dallas became the first NFC East team to sweep the division. The Cowboys suffered a humiliating first-round playoff exit, however, when the Arizona Cardinals defeated them at Texas Stadium 20–7 for their first postseason victory in half a century. Jones raised hopes in the off-season, though, signing fleet-footed wide receiver Raghib "Rocket" Ismail. The Cowboys started the 1999 campaign in impressive fashion, erasing a 21-point deficit in Washington on opening day for a 41-35 overtime victory. In their fourth game of the season, however, Dallas lost Irvin to a neck injury that ended his career. Darryl Johnston also suffered a career-ending injury early in the season, and Aikman, Allen, Sanders and cornerback Kevin Smith missed time as well. Dallas sputtered to an 8-8 finish in 1999. They gained a wild-card berth in their final regular season game, but lost in Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, 27-10. Key players were now grumbling about Gailey, and Jones fired him in January 2000. Defensive coordinator Dave Campo was promoted to head coach, but he could only post three consecutive 5-11 seasons. Instability plagued the quarterback position after several concussions; the first suffered on opening day against the Eagles (known as the Pickle Juice Game because Eagle players drank pickle juice at halftime Source), finally ended Aikman's career late in the 2000 season; five different quarterbacks started between 2001 and 2002. The lowest point of the Campo era was an embarrassing and humiliating loss on opening night of the 2002 season to the brand-new Houston Texans. One of the only highlights of this era occurred on October 27, 2002, when running back Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's all-time career yardage rushing record during a 17-14 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Many fans and media blamed Jerry Jones for the team's ills, noting that he refused to hire a strong coach, preferring to hire coaches who did not want to be involved with personnel duties so that Jones himself could manage them. However, Jones proved them wrong in 2003 by luring Bill Parcells out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season, posting a 10-6 record and a playoff berth by leading the NFL in sacks, turnovers and having the best overall defense in the NFL. However, they lost to the eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers in the Wild Card round, 29-10. However, the 2004 season was one of turmoil. Injuries and persistent penalty problems plagued the Cowboys, who were shaken early in training camp when starting quarterback Quincy Carter was suddenly released, allegedly for drug use. 40-year-old veteran Vinny Testaverde, recently brought in by former coach Parcells to be the back-up, became the starter. They had only a 3-5 record at midseason, but injured rookie running back Julius Jones returned in late November, and in consecutive games logged two of the best single-game performances in franchise history. Dallas went 1-3 down the stretch, though, finishing the season 6-10\. In November 2004, a vote was passed by the City of Arlington in Tarrant County to build a new stadium adjacent to the existing Ameriquest Field in Arlington. The team began playing at the new site in 2009 after thirty-eight years playing in the city of Irving, and forty-nine years in Dallas County. The Cowboys improved their defense before the 2005 season, adding DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Kevin Burnett, and Chris Canty through the draft. Parcells hoped to jumpstart the team's transition from the traditional 4–3 defense, which had been the Cowboys' base defense for the past 20 years, to his preferred 3–4 defense, which he believes favors the talents of the current lineup (speed and athleticism over power). Jerry Jones also added a number of veterans, including nose tackle Jason Ferguson and cornerback Anthony Henry via free agency. On offense, the Cowboys tried to upgrade their passing game by signing free agent quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe had a solid year and gave the Cowboys stability at the QB position, which had been lacking since Troy Aikman's retirement 5 years earlier. The Cowboys endured an up-and-down 2005 season. Entering Thanksgiving the Cowboys had a 7–3 record, Dallas finished the season 2–4 and missed the playoffs. An injury to kicker Billy Cundiff led to inconsistency at that position, and costly misses contributed to close losses against Seattle and Denver. Shortly before the regular season finale, the Cowboys learned that they had been eliminated from the playoff chase, and turned in a listless performances against the St Louis Rams on Sunday Night Football to finish the season 9–7, 3rd place in the NFC East. The Cowboys entered the season with high hopes but got off to a mediocre 3-2 start before an important Monday Night Football game against division rivals, the New York Giants. The Cowboys suffered a tough 36-22 loss despite "a changing of guard" at the QB position from Drew Bledsoe to Tony Romo. With the next three games on the road, speculation grew that the Giants could run away with the division for a second straight year. Romo won his first game as a starter the following week against the Carolina Panthers with an outstanding 4th quarter comeback to win (35-14). The Cowboys' chance to challenge the Giants seemingly fizzled when they lost to the Washington Redskins at FedExField on a last second field goal (the "Hand of God" game) However, the Giants entered a slump, and Tony Romo impressed the media as a quarterback, revitalizing the Cowboys with a 27-10 win over the Cardinals, a well-earned (21-14) victory over the previously unbeaten Colts, and a thorough routing of Tampa Bay (38-10) on Thanksgiving Day. During that home game, Romo solidified his position as QB and quieted any remaining skeptics by completing 22-of-29 passes for 306 yards and five touchdowns (tying a franchise record). Furthermore, the Cowboys took a two-game lead of the NFC East by beating the Giants in a Week 13 rematch. The success of the new quarterback surprised much of the nation and helped Romo receive much air-time on sports shows. The Cowboys then self-destructed in the last four games of the season, losing to the Saints in a battle for second-best record in the league, to the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that would have earned them the division championship if they had won, and to the 2-13 Detroit Lions in a game where Tony Romo's four fumbles cast significant doubt on his ability to successfully lead his team in the playoffs. The Cowboys played a wild card matchup at Seattle to start the playoffs. Leading 20–13 with 6:42 left in the game with the ball at their own 1-yard line, Romo threw a short pass to Terry Glenn where he fumbled it and it went out of bounds in the endzone resulting in a safety. The Seahawks got the ball back and Matt Hasselbeck threw a touchdown to Jerramy Stevens to take a 21–20 lead after missing the two-point conversion. With 1:19 left in the game, the Cowboys had a chance win the game on a 19-yard field goal, but the hold was fumbled by Romo, who continued to serve as field goal holder even after ascending to the starting quarterback's role (the backup quarterback is traditionally the holder on field goals). He picked up the loose ball and tried to run it to the 1-yard line for a first down, but was tackled at the 2. As the game came to a close, the Cowboys managed to get the ball back with two seconds left, but Romo's hail mary pass attempt to the endzone fell incomplete. On January 22, at the conclusion of the Cowboys' season, head coach Bill Parcells retired. On February 8, after a replacement search that included Mike Singletary, Jason Garrett, Jim Caldwell, Ron Rivera and Norv Turner, San Diego defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was hired as the new head coach. Jerry Jones eventually hired Garrett as offensive coordinator (even before hiring Phillips). Phillips has since hired his son Wes Phillips, and former linebacker Dat Nguyen to his new list of assistant coaches. During the 2007 offseason, the Cowboys signed offensive lineman Leonard Davis and quarterback Brad Johnson to back up Tony Romo and have also resigned center Andre Gurode and kicker Martin Gramatica. They have also released two players; quarterback Drew Bledsoe and tight end Ryan Hannam. Tony Romo also received a $67.5 million contract for six years with the Dallas Cowboys on October 30, 2007, making Romo the third highest paid quarterback in the NFL, after Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cowboys tied a franchise record in 2007 with by winning 13 regular season games, a feat that had been accomplished 15 years earlier by their 1992 Super Bowl winning squad. Terrell Owens had arguably the most productive year in his career and franchise history. He tied the franchise record for most scoring receptions in a single game (four). When Owens caught a touchdown pass in Week 16 against the Panthers, he set the franchise record for most touchdown receptions in a single season (15). Tony Romo set team records in Touchdowns (36) and Passing Yards (4,211) in one season. After receiving the top NFC playoff seed, and getting a first-round bye, they lost to the Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs to end one of the most exciting seasons of the decade. In week 5 against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, the Cowboys turned the ball over six times, including five interceptions thrown by Romo. Despite having a -5 turnover margin, the Cowboys managed to defeat the Bills. Trailing 24–22 in the final moments of the game, Dallas sent rookie kicker Nick Folk out to attempt a potential 53-yard game winner. His first kick sailed through the uprights, but didn't count because Buffalo called a timeout immediately before the snap. Folk had to attempt the kick a second time, and hammered it through the goalposts again to finish a dramatic victory. The season produced some of the team's most memorable games of the decade as well. In Week 9, tight end Jason Witten, who already had a reputation as a tough and intense player, caught a 25-yard pass from Romo. Immediately after the catch, two Eagles delivered a hit that knocked Witten's helmet off. Unfazed by the contact, Witten ran another 30 yards without a helmet. When he was finally dragged down at the Eagles' 6, he walked to the sideline with a bloody nose. Thanks to their dramatic victory over the Bills in Week 5, Dallas started with a 5–0 record. They were the last team in the NFC to remain undefeated up to that point heading into their next game against the 5-0 New England Patriots. The Patriots won 48–27, handing the Cowboys their first loss of the season, and remained undefeated until they lost that season's Super Bowl. Besides the loss to the Patriots in Week 6, their only other losses came in Weeks 15 and 17 against their division rivals Philadelphia and Washington. When wide receiver Terrell Owens went down with an ankle injury against the Panthers in Week 16, and missed Week 17 against the Redskins, the offense became stagnant. Another highlight of that season was a Week 13 match with Green Bay, which Dallas won 37–27, that was reminiscent of the 1990s Cowboys-Packers duels. Like the Cowboys, the Packers finished the regular season 13–3, but Dallas got the #1 seed due to a better conference record and head to head win. This gave them both a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. However, they lost their first playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, a team that they had defeated in their two regular- season matchups. Dallas was the first number one seed in the NFC to lose in the divisional round since 1990. Meanwhile, the Giants went on to topple Green Bay in the NFC Championship and upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. A record thirteen members of the Cowboys were named to the Pro Bowl, while five were named All-Pro by the Associated Press. The Cowboys began the 2008 season by defeating the Cleveland Browns 28-10, Coming off their commanding road win over the Browns, the Cowboys played their Week 2 home opener under the MNF spotlight. In the last MNF game at Texas Stadium, Dallas dueled with their NFC East foe, the Philadelphia Eagles. In the first quarter, the Cowboys trailed early as Eagles kicker David Akers got a 34-yard field goal. Dallas answered in their first possession with QB Tony Romo completing a 72-yard TD pass to WR Terrell Owens In a game that had 9 lead changes, it also set different point records, including most first half points in MNF history (54) and most combined points in the rivalry's history (78). Dallas held on to win 41–37. After starting 4–1 the Cowboys flew to the University of Phoenix Stadium for a Week 6 Sunday Night Football showdown with the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals returned the opening kick return for a touchdown but Dallas tied the game 7–7 at halftime. With only 3:17 left in the 4th quarter Tony Romo completed a 70-yard pass to Marion Barber III and the kicker Nick Folk hit a 52-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime. In overtime the Cowboys punter Mat McBriar had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown also in overtime QB Tony Romo broke his right pinkie finger. In the week following the game Tony Romo was listed as questionable, and then missed three games. In addition, Matt McBriar and Sam Hurd were placed in injured reserve, and Felix Jones was listed as out for 2–3 weeks with a hamstring injury. Furthermore, Adam (Pacman) Jones was suspended by the NFL for a minimum of 4 weeks after an altercation with his bodyguard. Lastly The Cowboys traded for WR Roy Williams with the Detroit Lions, in exchange for their first, third, and sixth-round picks. After the bye week, they won another four game, Dallas finished the season 1–3, losing its final game in Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens 33–24 followed by a disastrous 44–6 loss to Philadelphia. With a 9–7 record, the team finished third in the division and failed to qualify for the playoffs. After the season ended, highly controversial and productive receiver Terrell Owens was released after receiving a $34 million extension the previous June that was supposed to allow him to retire a Cowboy. Jones said he released Owens because of production and "In this particular case, we have an outstanding player in Roy Williams, and it was a significant factor in the decision I made to release Terrell." In three seasons with the Cowboys, Owens had 235 receptions for 3,587 yards and 38 touchdowns, but his numbers declined last season, when he had 69 receptions for 1,052 yards and 10 touchdowns. The 2009 season marked the 50th season of play for the Cowboys. In May of that year, the new Cowboys Stadium was completed in Arlington, Texas. It was widely criticized for its appearance, cost (over $1 billion) and high energy use. The first game played in the team's new home was a preseason match with the Tennessee Titans on August 21, and the first regular season one was a three- point loss to the Giants on September 20. By Week 9, the Cowboys stood at 6–2 after defeating their archrival Eagles in Philadelphia. Then followed a loss to the Packers, and victories over Washington and Oakland, the latter being on Thanksgiving. The team then fell to the Giants a second time, and lost at home to the Chargers. By this point, the Cowboys' playoff chances were doubtful, and the old talk of the "December curse" reappeared. The next game was a surprise upset of the 13-0 New Orleans Saints, followed by a shutout of Washington. Combined with Giants defeats, the Cowboys now found themselves guaranteed a wild card spot at the minimum. On January 3, they hosted the Eagles, who had won their last five games. Philadelphia's offense completely folded, and the team suffered a 24–0 shutout, making this the first time in franchise history that Dallas blanked two consecutive opponents. This gave them the division title and the #3 NFC seed, but also gave their opponent a wild card, which meant that they had to play in Dallas again the following week. The rematch saw the Eagles score 17 points, but their defense, which had been considered one of the NFL's best a few weeks earlier, again performed poorly and the Cowboys put up 34 points, to beat them for the third time in one season. Having won their first playoff game since 1996, the Cowboys traveled to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to face Brett Favre and the Vikings. Their season quickly ended after Minnesota scored four touchdowns and limited them to a single field goal. Linebacker Keith Brooking criticized the last touchdown pass of the game, arguing that it served no purpose other than to run up the score in a game the Vikings already had won. The Cowboys opened 2010 in Washington against a revitalized Redskins team that now featured Donovan McNabb (traded from the Eagles in April) and former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. Although neither team performed well, Dallas lost unexpectedly when on the last play of the game Tony Romo threw a pass into the end zone that was nullified by a holding penalty. The Redskins thus won 13–7. In Week 2, Dallas fell to the Bears 27–20 in their second straight home opener loss. This was also the team's first 0–2 start since 2001. Desperate to win, they headed to Houston for the third "Battle of Texas" with the Texans (the first and second were in 2002 and 2006) and beat them 27–13. After coming back from their bye week, the Cowboys suffered another home embarrassment, this time against Tennessee. Dallas's fortunes continued to slide in Week 6 as they lost to Minnesota 24–21. Things steadily got worse the next week as Tony Romo was knocked out with a fractured collarbone while playing the Giants on MNF. Filling in for him was 38-year-old QB Jon Kitna, who hadn't started in two years. Although rusty, he managed two touchdown passes and the Cowboys scored 35 points. But their division rival edged them out 41–35 to win in Cowboys Stadium for the second straight year. By Week 8, the Cowboys found themselves at 1–6 after losing at home to Jacksonville after four Jon Kitna interceptions. After a disastrous 45–7 loss in Green Bay, Wade Phillips was fired (thus breaking Jerry Jones's policy of not changing head coaches during the season) and replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. Now largely eliminated from playoff contention, the Cowboys headed to the Meadowlands for a rematch with New York. This time things were different as Jon Kitna passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns. An all-around better performance by the team allowed them to win 33–20. After beating Detroit at home, the Cowboys lost a close Thanksgiving game to New Orleans. They next defeated the Colts in Indianapolis 38–35 on an OT field goal to retain faint playoff hopes. However, a home loss to Philadelphia mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention. Week 15 saw them beat the hapless Redskins 33–30. The Cowboys then lost a meaningless game in Arizona and followed that with a meaningless win over the Eagles to end their season at 6–10. After going 5–3 as interim head coach during the last eight games of the previous season, Jason Garrett took the head coaching position full-time. With Tony Romo back in action, the Cowboys took on the New York Jets for a Sunday Night game commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. An early lead soon led to a 24–24 tie, but Romo threw an interception in the 4th quarter that allowed New York to get into the red zone and score a field goal, resulting in the Cowboys losing 27-24. The next week, the Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 27–24 in overtime after Romo made a valiant overtime comeback effort despite playing through a painful rib injury. Despite this and a punctured lung, Romo started in Week 3 as the Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. They won 18–16 in a bizarre game with six field goals from rookie kicker Dan Bailey. Dallas's offense struggled the entire night with Romo handicapped by pain, multiple dropped passes, and several botched snaps from rookie center Kevin Kowalski. They went 1–3 in the month of October including an embarrassing Week 7 34-7 loss by the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. They turned things around by going undefeated in November. That run included a Week 10 44-7 blowout over the Buffalo Bills. Week 11 was a 27-24 overtime victory over the Redskins. They entered December with a 7–4 record vying for first place of their division with the New York Giants, whom the Cowboys were yet to play. After losing 19-13 in overtime against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, they headed to a Sunday Night primetime home game against the Giants. Despite leading 34–22 with less than 6 minutes to play, the Cowboys lost 37–34 after a game-tying field goal by Dan Bailey was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul. They rebounded by the next week by defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31–15. Week 16 brought a second loss to the Eagles. Despite entering Week 17 with an 8–7 record, the Cowboys were in a position to win the division. However, so was their final regular season opponent the Giants. However, the Cowboys lost 31–14 to finish the season 8–8 and miss the playoffs for the second straight season while the Giants went on to win Super Bowl XLVI. The Cowboys started the 2012 season on a high note by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 24–17. They were unable to capitalize on their momentum as they dropped 3 out of their next 4 games. One of those losses was a tight 31–29 game to the eventual Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens. They entered their annual Thanksgiving Day game with a 5–5 record. Their opponent was the upstart division rival Washington Redskins whom were being led by rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. The Redskins got off to a quick start leading 28–3 at halftime. The Cowboys fought back in the second half but it wasn't enough which led to a 38–31 loss. The Cowboys won their next 3 games before losing in Week 16 to the New Orleans Saints in overtime. Going into Week 17 they were once again one win away from winning their division but so were their opponents that week the Redskins. The game was tight throughout. With less than 3 minutes to go, the Cowboys were down 21–18 but had the ball and were starting to drive down the field. Their playoff hopes were destroyed after Tony Romo threw a game ending interception. They lost 28–18, ending their season with an 8–8 record and missing the playoffs for the third straight year. The Cowboys opened the 2013 season by defeating their division rival New York Giants 36–31. This win was punctuated after Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw an interception to Brandon Carr whom returned it for a touchdown. This was the first time the Cowboys had defeated the Giants at home since 2008. Just like the previous year, the Cowboys lost 3 of their next 4 games. The third loss of that run was a shootout to the eventual AFC Champion Denver Broncos 51–48. Numbers wise Tony Romo had an excellent day throwing for over 500 yards with 5 touchdowns. However, late in the 4th quarter with the game tied at 48 he threw an interception to Danny Trevathan which set up the Broncos winning field goal. They rebounded in Week 6 by decisively defeating the division rival Washington Redskins 31–16. Week 7 brought another division game, this time against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys were firing on all cylinders that day winning 17–3. However, the next week they lost to the Detroit Lions in a tight 31–30 loss to end the month of October. They went 3–1 in the month of November which included another win over the Giants. Their sole loss that month was a Week 10 49-17 blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints. They began December with 2 crucial losses to the Chicago Bears 45-28 and the Green Bay Packers 37-36. The Week 15 loss to the Packers was especially bitter since they had a 26–3 halftime lead. Talk of the annual "December Curse" was in full affect. They came into their Week 16 division matchup against the Redskins with a 7–7 record but still in the hunt with the Eagles for the NFC East crown. In the game they started the 4th quarter down 23–14. They battled back to win 24–23. The win was highlighted by a 4th and goal touchdown pass from Romo to DeMarco Murray from the 12 yard line with 1:15 left. However, Romo received a serious back injury during the 4th quarter. While he was able to finish the game, the injury prematurely ended his season. For the third consecutive year the Cowboys entered Week 17 one win away from the division title along with their opponents the Eagles. The Cowboys came into the game with a 5–0 division record. With Romo out backup quarterback Kyle Orton started. With less than 2 minutes left and being down 24–22, Orton threw a game-ending interception, losing the game, finishing 8-8 and missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. After starting 2014 with an embarrassing 28–17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys went on a roll, winning their next 6 games. It was their longest winning streak since 2007. The highlight of this streak was defeating the defending Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks 30–23. The Seahawks' loss in that game was only their second home loss in the past three seasons. The streak was ended by their division rival Washington Redskins in overtime 20–17. However, Romo once again injured his back. He was out the next game against the Arizona Cardinals where backup Brandon Weeden started, and the Cardinals won 28–17. Romo returned in Week 10 as the Cowboys played in London for the first time ever against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL International Series in which they won 31–17. The Cowboys entered their annual Thanksgiving Day game with an 8–3 record, identical with their opponents the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles got off to a fast start and the Cowboys were never able to catch up, thus the Eagles won 33–10. They rebounded the next week over the Chicago Bears 41–28 to clinch their first winning season since 2009. Week 15 was a rematch against the Eagles. This time the Cowboys got off to a hot start going up 21–0. However, the Eagles then scored 24 unanswered points. The Cowboys came back with a 78-yard drive capped with a DeMarco Murray touchdown run. The next Eagles drive ended with Mark Sanchez getting intercepted by Cowboys safety J.J. Wilcox. The Cowboys took full advantage of that, with Dez Bryant scoring his third touchdown of the evening, the most in one game in his career. The Eagles had two more turnovers, including another Sanchez interception to end the game. The Cowboys won 38–27 to take over first place. Week 16 started with the Eagles losing to the Redskins 27-24, meaning the Cowboys could clinch their division if they were able to beat the Indianapolis Colts. They responded by routing the Colts 42–7 to win the NFC East and make the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Their final regular- season game was on the road against the Redskins, where the Cowboys won 44–17 to finish the season at 12–4, the #3 seed, and undefeated in away games. They also finished December 4–0 which was huge after they had struggled in the month of December during recent years. In the Wild Card round of the 2014–15 NFL playoffs the Cowboys hosted the sixth-seeded Detroit Lions. The Lions got off to a hot start going up 14–0 in the first quarter. The Cowboys initially struggled on both sides of the ball. However, in towards the end of the 2nd quarter Romo connected to Terrance Williams for a 76 yard touchdown pass. The Lions hit a field goal before halftime to go up 17–7. The Cowboys came out swinging to start the second half by picking off Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first play of the 3rd quarter. Dan Bailey missed a field goal during their ensuing drive. The Lions then kicked another field goal to make the score 20–7. A DeMarco Murray touchdown run later in that quarter closed the gap to 20–14. A 51-yard field goal almost 3 minutes into the 4th quarter put the Cowboys down by 3. The Lions got the ball back and started driving down the field. A 17 yard pass on 3rd down from Stafford to Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew was initially flagged as defensive pass interference against Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens. The flag was then picked up by the officiating crew and the penalty was nullified. Dallas got the ball back on their 41 yard line and had a successful 59 yard drive which was capped off by a 8 yard touchdown pass from Romo to Williams to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game 24–20. The Lions got the ball back with less than 2:30 to play. Stafford fumbled the ball at the 2-minute mark and was picked up by Cowboys defensive tackle DeMarcus Lawrence who then fumbled the ball which gave the Lions the ball back. Lawrence redeemed himself by sacking Stafford on a 4th and 3 play which lead to Stafford fumbling the ball again which Lawrence recovered to end the game, winning 24–20. This was the first time in franchise playoff history that the Cowboys had been down by more than 10 points at halftime to come back and win the game. For the divisional round they faced the Green Bay Packers in their first postseason matchup in Green Bay since the Ice Bowl. There was a lot of hype in the week leading up to the game, as during the regular season, the Packers had gone 8–0 at home while the Cowboys had gone 8–0 on the road. At halftime the Cowboys had a 14–10 lead and went up 21–13 in the 3rd quarter. However, the Packers came back to take a 26–21 lead in the 4th quarter. With less than 5 minutes in the game on a 4th and 3 play Romo threw a 30 yard pass to Bryant to put them at the 1 yard line. However, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy challenged the catch and the ruling was overturned. The explanation given was that Bryant didn't maintain control of the ball as he came down with it. The ball was turned over on downs and the Packers ran the clock out to win the game 26-21, thus ending the Cowboys season. Two days after the game, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett signed a 5-year, $30 million contract along with defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who signed a 3-year contract. Marinelli was largely credited for greatly improving the Cowboys defense, which was the worst-ranked defense the previous season under Monte Kiffin. After their successful 2014 season, the Cowboys began the 2015 season with high expectations. During Week 1, Tony Romo managed to lead the team to an astonishing comeback against the New York Giants for a 27-26 win, despite the loss of Dez Bryant. The next week against the Philadelphia Eagles, Romo was taken out with a collarbone injury, but the Cowboys won 20-10 to give them a 2-0 start. Romo missed the next seven games, and the Cowboys lost all of those games to drop to 2-7. Romo finally returned in Week 11 to lead the Cowboys to a 24-14 victory against the Miami Dolphins, but in the Cowboys' next game on Thanksgiving Day, Romo injured his collarbone again and was ruled out for the rest of the season, and the team was slaughtered by the then-undefeated Carolina Panthers 33-14, dropping their record to 3-8. In the next game on Monday Night Football, the Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins 19-16, which proved to be their last win of the season and their only win without Romo as starter. In Week 14, the Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers 28-7. In Week 15, the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention with a 19-16 loss to the New York Jets in a Saturday night edition of Thursday Night Football. After that, the Cowboys lost to the Buffalo Bills 16-6 and then lost against the Redskins 34-23 to finish the regular season with a record of 4-12 and a last place finish in the NFC East. The Cowboys went 3-1 with Romo as the starting quarterback, but they were 1-11 in all of their other games. The Cowboys drafted running back Ezekiel Elliott from Ohio State in the first round and quarterback Dak Prescott from Mississippi State in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. During a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks, Tony Romo suffered a back injury, allowing Prescott to become starter for the 2016 season. With Prescott's stellar play, along with Elliott's running game, the Cowboys finished with a 13-3 record, earning them home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But the Cowboys' promising season ended in heartbreak as they lost 34-31 to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. After the season, Romo retired after 14 seasons with the Cowboys and Prescott was named Offensive Rookie of the year. 2017 was a tulmultous season for the Cowboys. In August the NFL announced that star running back Ezekiel Elliott would be suspended the first 6 games of the season for violating the league's personal conduct policy stemming from accusations of domestic abuse from an ex-girlfriend in 2016. Elliott maintained his innocence and was never criminally charged. The suspension was on and off again through the first two months of the season due to him attempting to appeal this decision. The Cowboys started the season by defeating the New York Giants 19-3. During Week 2 they were routed by the Denver Broncos 42-17. They bounced back in Week 3 winning on the road against the Arizona Cardinals 28-17. They returned home for a 2-game homestand and lost both games, first to the Los Angeles Rams 35-30 then to the Green Bay Packers 35-31. After a Week 6 bye they returned to form by blowing out the San Francisco 49ers 40-10. Week 8 was a division game against the Washington Redskins, in which the Cowboys won 33-19. In Week 9 the Cowboys faced the Kansas City Chiefs, and became the first team that season to intercept Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith en route to a 28-17 win. It was the Cowboys 3rd straight win which brought them to 5-3. It was after this game that Elliott's suspension came into effect. The Cowboys would lose their next 3 games in embarrassing fashion to the Atlanta Falcons 27-7, division leading Philadelphia Eagles 37-9, and on Thanksgiving Day to the Los Angeles Chargers 28-6. On Week 13 they hosted the Redskins in which the Cowboys showed their season was far from over by defeating the Redskins 38-14. Former Redskins Running back Alfred Morris rushed for 127 yards with one touchdown against his former team. Dez Bryant caught a touchdown which made him the Cowboys all-time leader in receiving touchdowns. Week 14 was another division game against the Giants, in which the Cowboys won 30-10. Week 15 was a primetime game on NBC Sunday Night Football against the Oakland Raiders. The Cowboys had a late 20-17 lead when a defensive pass interference against them put the Raiders in the red zone with less than a minute left. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr tried rushing in a potential game winning TD but Cowboys safety Jeff Heath caused Carr to fumble the ball before the ball crossed the endzone to force a touchback and seal a 20-17 Cowboys victory. Elliott returned from suspension on Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks. Despite this the Seahawks prevailed 21-12 to eliminate the Cowboys from playoff contention. Their season ended on a 6-0 win against the Eagles to finish with a 9-7 second place record. The Eagles would go on to win Super Bowl LII. Before the 2018 season began the Cowboys parted ways with 3 of their key offensive players. Wide receiver Dez Bryant was released in April 2018. His performance had steadily declined since the 2015 season. During the 2017 season he started having sideline outbursts. Longtime tight end Jason Witten retired in May after 15 seasons. Lastly the franchise's most successful kicker Dan Bailey was cut on September 1 after losing the job to former CFL kicker Brett Maher. Other additions prior to the start of the season was former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns who signed for 2 years and wide receiver Tavon Austin whom the Cowboys received from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a 2019 6th round draft pick. The season started out with a disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers 16-8. The following week they bounced back to beat the New York Giants 20-13. Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks was a mess offensively as Dak Prescott threw two costly interceptions. Ezekiel Elliott also had a 4th quarter fumble that ended any chance of a comeback. The Seahawks prevailed with a 24-13 victory. In Week 4 to beat the Detroit Lions 26-24 thanks to a game-winning field goal by Maher as time expired. October was not a good month for the Cowboys as they went 1-2. In Week 5, they lost to the Houston Texans 19-16 in overtime. In Week 6, they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 40-7. In Week 7, the Cowboys lost to the Washington Redskins 20-17 after Maher missed a game-tying field goal. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones traded their number one 2019 draft pick to the Oakland Raiders for their star wide receiver Amari Cooper. They had a Week 8 bye and then hosted the Tennessee Titans the week after. The Cowboys had won their first 3 games at home that season and when the Titans had 2 1st quarter turnovers along with Cooper's first touchdown as a Cowboy they seemed poised to make it 4 in a row. However, they were shutout in the second half of the game and lost 28-14. This brought them to 3-5. The trade for Cooper did pay off as the Cowboys returned to the playoffs after winning seven of their final eight games, earning the NFC East title with a 10–6 record. The Cowboys defeated the Seahawks 24-22 in the Wild Card round, notching their fourth playoff win since 1995, but lost to the eventual NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams 30-22 in the Divisional round. After a contract holdout by Elliot resulted in the running back signing a 6-year, $90 million extension, Dallas jumped to a 3–0 start to begin the season. However, the team finished with an 8–8 record at the end after suffering a number of losses throughout the season and ultimately missed the playoffs, despite Dak Prescott passing for a career high 4,902 yards and 30 touchdowns. Following the season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decided not to renew Jason Garrett's contract, bringing an end to his tenure as head coach. The Dallas Cowboys team/franchise has been "first" in the record books for a whole host of accomplishments, a few of which include: The first NFL team to win three Super Bowls in four years, with Super Bowl wins in the 1992, 1993, and 1995 seasons. Only one other team, the New England Patriots, have won three Super Bowls in a four-year time span, doing so in the 2001, 2003, and 2004 seasons., The first and only team to hold the opposing team to no touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Dallas beat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI. The only other team to do this is the New England Patriots, who did so in their 13-3 win against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII., The first NFL team to play in five, six, seven and eight Super Bowls. They have a 5-3 record in the Super Bowl, with all three losses by a margin of four points or less. Three other teams, all from the American Football Conference (AFC) have since accomplished this feat: the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl XLV, the New England Patriots, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl XLIX, and the Denver Broncos, whose eighth appearance came in Super Bowl 50., The first and only NFL team to lose a Super Bowl and still have a player selected as the Super Bowl MVP. (Linebacker Chuck Howley, who intercepted two passes and forced a fumble in Super Bowl V, became the first defensive player to win the award.), The first NFL team to win the Super Bowl after losing it the previous year. After losing Super Bowl V following the 1970 season, they won Super Bowl VI following the 1971 season. The only other two teams to do this are the Miami Dolphins, who followed up their Super Bowl VI loss to the Cowboys by going undefeated and untied the next season, capped off by a 14–7 win against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, and the New England Patriots, who followed up their 41-33 loss in Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2017 season by winning Super Bowl LIII 13-3 against the Los Angeles Rams the next season., The first NFL team to lose the Super Bowl after winning it the previous year. After defeating the Denver Broncos 27–10 in Super Bowl XII following the 1977 season, they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers 35–31 in Super Bowl XIII following the 1978 season. This has only happened four times since: The Washington Redskins lost Super Bowl XVIII 38-9 to the Raiders a year after winning Super Bowl XVII 27-17 against the Miami Dolphins, the Green Bay Packers lost Super Bowl XXXII 31-24 to the Denver Broncos a year after winning Super Bowl XXXI 35-21 against the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks lost Super Bowl XLIX 28-24 to the New England Patriots a year after winning Super Bowl XLVIII in a crushing 43–8 blowout against the Denver Broncos, and the New England Patriots lost Super Bowl LII 41-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles a year after winning Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons., The first team in NFC East history to sweep all of its division opponents (home and away), going 8–0 in 1998 against the Giants, Eagles, Cardinals and Redskins., The first and only NFL team to post 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985)., The first NFL team to send at least 13 players to the Pro Bowl (2007 season)., The first and only NFL team to play 58 postseason games., The first NFL team to win 33 postseason games., The first wild card NFL team to go to the Super Bowl, 1975, after winning the NFC Championship., The first touchdown was scored by Darryl Hannah, Jr. National Football League, Sports E-Cyclopdia.com

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The Legend of Tarzan is an American animated television series created by Walt Disney Television, based on Tarzan from the novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who was the character's original creator and appears in one episode of the series, and also based on the movie Tarzan by Walt Disney Pictures. The series picks up where the 1999 feature film left off, with the title character adjusting to his new role as leader of the gorilla family following Kerchak's death, and Jane (whom he has since married) adjusting to life in the jungle. Rounding out the cast are Jane's father, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter; Tantor, the germophobic red elephant; Kala, a female gorilla who is Tarzan's adoptive mother; and Terk, a wisecracking female gorilla and Tarzan's adoptive cousin. The series aired on ABC from July 13 to September 7, 2002, as part of its "Disney's One Saturday Morning" lineup until it was moved to UPN's "Disney's One Too" lineup. Tarzan (voiced by Michael T. Weiss) – Since the end of the film, Tarzan has assumed his role as leader of the Gorillas. He married Jane and they live happily in the jungle, residing in the treehouse that Tarzan's parents had built before their deaths. Although Tarzan doesn't live with Kala and the other gorillas, Tarzan will still leap into action to protect them at any length, and he often returns to seek Kala's advice in dealing with situations such as the doubts of the other gorillas, and Jane wanted him to be more "civilized". While helping Jane get over her more romantic ideas about jungle life, she acts as his guide to the duplicity of human nature — and insists he eats his food from a plate. It is a never-ending growth process for both, with some startling insights into what "civilized" means, and some uproarious stumbling blocks along the way., Jane Porter (voiced by Olivia d'Abo) – Daughter of Archimedes Porter and wife of Tarzan. Jane is married to Tarzan, and they live in the treehouse built by Tarzan's late parents. Throughout the series, Jane is shown to have adjusted quite well to her new jungle life with Tarzan, but often when she begins to miss her old life in England, she tries to get Tarzan to act more "civilized" which sometimes poses as a problem to Tarzan's morals. Her appearance and human actions often cause some members of Tarzan's gorilla tribe to have doubts about her, and question Tarzan's "leadership". She is often the damsel in distress of the series, either being abducted or held hostage by the episode's antagonist, only for Tarzan (or someone else) to rescue her., Terk (voiced by April Winchell) – Terk the gorilla loves the spotlight, and she's perfect "big sister" material because she's Tarzan's closest friend and adoptive cousin — protective, concerned, and absolutely convinced that Tarzan can't survive without her despite Tarzan having proven repeatedly to be stronger, faster, and more skillful at just about everything in the jungle than Terk. Terk loves telling Tarzan what to do — that is until Tarzan's physical strength proves he can hold her in a headlock instead. Even though Terk is very bossy at times, Tarzan knows it's because she cares, though she will never say so willingly., Tantor (voiced by Jim Cummings) – "Someone's gonna get hurt, and it's always me!" is Tantor's rallying cry. Despite his size and relative stature within the jungle kingdom, Tantor the elephant is a coward – he is afraid of anything and everything, including bacteria, pond scum, piranhas (which are not found in Africa), and anything else that can be named. But when it comes to helping Tarzan in trouble, Tantor shows know-it-all Terk a thing or two in the bravery department and leads the way., Kala (voiced by Susanne Blakeslee) – If his woes become too great or his thoughts too burdensome, Tarzan seeks seclusion and the calm counsel of his gorilla mother, Kala. A sympathetic ear when Tarzan needs someone wise to talk to, Kala acts as the voice of the apes, always reminding Tarzan of his unique obligations to the family. She is also Jane's closest confidant. The two share a warm, strong bond, and Jane regards her mother-in-law as her only kindred spirit in the jungle. From Kala's point of view, Jane is the human daughter she never had. Kala was Kerchak's mate, and perhaps the only one besides Tarzan that ever openly defied him without repercussions. Her open mind is a well of great wisdom, and she is almost always right. Even though Kerchak is gone, she is still highly respected. Although kind and motherly to Tarzan, Jane, and all the gorillas, Kala is almost undoubtedly the bravest gorilla in the family. When the family was trapped in a cave by Tublat, Kala bravely stood up to the villain and encouraged all the other gorillas to be brave as well. Her presence and support keeps the family together and ensures that they are always there for each other even in the direst situations., Professor Archimedes Q. Porter (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – Father of Jane, Professor Porter is a noted scientist with years of expertise studying gorillas, though prior to arriving in Africa in the first film, he had never seen one in the wild. Sometimes the kindhearted professor gets so absorbed in his thinking that he simply forgets what he's doing. Even so, Jane doesn't bat an eye at her father's eccentric antics — she's used to them and shares his enthusiasm. When they both finally meet the gorillas, it's the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, even if the professor does faint at the sight., Clayton – Having died at the end of the film, Clayton was seen several times in flashbacks in the series. He is the older brother of Lady Waltham, who accused Tarzan of murdering him in the film until at the end of "Tarzan and the Gauntlet of Revenge". Clayton was occasionally mentioned in the series and appeared as a hallucination when Tarzan was delirious from a toxin., Kerchak – Kerchak was Kala's mate and Tarzan's adoptive father, who was tragically killed by Clayton near the end of the film. He was mentioned and appeared in several flashbacks in the series, including "Tarzan and Tublat's Revenge", and "The Face From the Past". Tarzan made a statue of him at the end of "Tublat’s Revenge" to commemorate his adoptive father and predecessor as leader of the gorilla troop. Flynt and Mungo (voiced by Erik von Detten and Jason Marsden) – Clueless ape brothers Flynt and Mungo have grown up along with Tarzan, but they're still as dopey as ever. Maybe it's too much self-inflicted head trauma from playing their childhood game "stop hitting yourself", but their IQs don't seem to have improved with time. The brothers don't mean any harm, but likely as not, their dumb behavior is bound to give Tarzan some serious headaches as he flies to save them — and protect the family — from danger. Since they spend all their time together, being separated will cause them to freak out. They are the only characters to keep their voice actors from the film., Booto – The leader of a rhinoceros herd., Manu (voiced by Frank Welker) – A mischievous baby baboon, who is fascinated with humans, and, when no one is looking, he is irresistibly drawn to rummaging through their belongings and trying on their clothes. He may even run off with a shiny keepsake or two. Like an inquisitive child, he leaves a mess behind, which means a red-faced Tarzan and the other family members are usually stuck with cleaning up after him. His mischief, however, sometimes ends up doing more good than first assumed, especially where the villainous Samuel Philander was concerned., Renard Dumont (voiced by René Auberjonois) – A slick, opportunistic French proprietor of "Dumont's Trading Post" (est. 1912), whose lust for material gain is compromised only by his persistent attempts to, through oily charm and token gestures, lure Jane from her cozy and loving (though to him primitive and apparently boring and uncomfortable) life with Tarzan. Though somewhat of a nemesis in his first appearance, he later becomes a reluctant ally of Tarzan. A good example is when he disguises himself as a high-ranking official in order to secure the release of Tarzan, Hugo, and Hooft. He even allows Tarzan and his friends to borrow one of his boats to find out the source of the poison that has flown into the river and endangered the jungle (knowing that the contaminated water would ruin his business). In "The Return of La", he is briefly transformed into a gibbon by Jane possessed by La's ghost., Hugo and Hooft (voiced by Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty) – Deserters of the French Foreign Legion, these Americans now work for Dumont, though they still have the occasional run-in with Lt. Colonel Staquait (their former superior), who considers their insubordination (refusal to raze a village of women and children) a capital offense. They also seem to owe money to "Joey the Shark", a loan shark in Chicago (which is probably why they joined the Legion in the first place). Although they are smooth-talking conmen who try to cheat people out of money, they are good-natured and willing to do anything for their friends. A good example is when they are arrested and sent to prison; when Tarzan helps them escape, they have the chance to flee but return to save him from being executed., Jabari (voiced by Taylor Dempsey) – The son of Baruti and Jamila bearing an uncanny resemblance to the young Tantor. He and "Mr. Tantor" have bonded over their shared phobias and paranoia., Dania (voiced by Kathy Najimy) – A beautiful female elephant, who wants to be with Tantor for her love. Terk gets the two elephants together, and they hit it off. Dania meets Tantor's friends, with the exception of Tarzan, who is out tracking poachers. Dania has a great dislike of Terk, regarding her as obnoxious and loud, and forces Tantor to choose between them when all her attempts to break the elephants up fail. After the poachers are defeated and Terk rescued, Dania approaches Tantor and offers to give him another chance at being her boyfriend. Tantor refuses and dumps her, causing Dania to storm off in anger., Chief Keewazi (voiced by James Avery) – Leader of the Waziri tribe, a group of natives who live deep in the jungle., Basuli (voiced by Phil LaMarr) – Chief Keewazi's headstrong son and future leader of the Waziri tribe. He becomes a good friend of Tarzan. Tarzan once aided Basuli in retrieving an eagle's feather, which he needed as part of a rite of passage in order to marry. Though he and Tarzan are friends, they compete in many ways., Dr. Robin Doyle (voiced by Sheena Easton) – A female Irish anthropologist, who began her studies in the jungle, and has the Professor smitten. The first time she came to Africa was to study the Waziri people with Professor Porter, he was afraid he was too old for her and sought out a fountain that he thought would make the drinker young again. In the episode "Protege", she brought her nephew Ian., Moyo (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) – Another gorilla in Tarzan's family. He once believed Tarzan cared more about Jane than the family. When Hista, an enormous red python, attacked while Tarzan was with Jane, Moyo managed to chase Hista away for the time being. When Tarzan returned, he boasted about this one-time accomplishment, claimed that Tarzan was too busy being with Jane to protect the family, and challenged Tarzan for the leadership of the gorillas. Moyo defeated Tarzan, though only because Tarzan had saved Moyo from imminent death from being impaled on sharp spikes. Moyo led the family away and, by an error of judgment, they walked into a tar pit. After some conflict, Moyo and Tarzan cooperated to rescue the family, and lure Hista into the tar pit, where the great snake became stuck and sank, killing him and forever ending the python's reign of terror. Moyo reconciled with Tarzan, finally seeing that Jane was part of their family, and stepped down as leader. He promised to wait until he was ready to try to become a leader again. Despite his arrogance and stubbornness, when the elephants and gorillas engage in jungle warfare, Moyo plays a big part in helping Tarzan lead the gorillas to victory. Just as the gorillas are about to triumph, a fire breaks out, and Moyo is the first gorilla to follow Tarzan's lead in putting out the fire., Hazel, Greenly, and Eleanor (voiced by Tara Strong, Grey DeLisle, and Nicollette Sheridan) – Three upper-class women and Jane's friends from England, who came to the jungle to "save" Jane from Tarzan because they thought that she was unhappy in the jungle, and being held against her will. When she tried to show them that she was still the same polished girl they knew from London by throwing a typical English picnic, she asked that Tarzan wear his father's suit. Tarzan, thinking Jane was embarrassed by him, wasn't too thrilled on "being something he wasn't", but after a heart to heart talk with the Professor, he put on the suit. Meanwhile, Jane and her friends were being chased by the Panthers Sheeta and Nuru; using the skills she learned in the jungle, Jane was able to help her friends survive until Tarzan was able to save them. The next time her friends came to visit, they brought Greenly's fiance Henry to the jungle to "toughen him up". After an earthquake created a tsunami, they ended up lost in the jungle with Henry. The geologist showed exceptional ingenuity and resolve in helping the group survive until Tarzan could save them (again), including snake-charming a snake with his oboe and wrestling a crocodile (and winning). Hazel is mentioned in "Tarzan and the Flying Ace" as being the biggest gossip in the British Isles, which is how Robert knew where to find Jane. Hazel also happens to be the name of Jane's best friend in the books, sharing her last name with the voice actor, Tara Strong. William Cecil Clayton - He was mentioned and seen in one flashback, Clayton was the antagonist from the film responsible for Kerchak's death until he met his own while fighting Tarzan, This caused Clayton's sister Lady Waltham to go mad for revenge for his death., Tublat (voiced by Keith David) – A rogue ape and a former member of Tarzan's gorilla family. He challenged Kerchak for leadership, but he was defeated and cast out. He is considered dangerous by all the gorillas due to his aggressive and sociopathic behavior. He is based on Kala's husband (and Tarzan's foster father) in the original "Tarzan" novel. His personality is also very much like the original Kerchak or Terkoz from the novel. Conversely, Kerchak's personality in the 1999 film is just like Tublat's in the original novel. He once took over another gorilla family that Gobu belonged to but inspired by Tarzan the family overthrew him and Gobu replaced him. He often calls Tarzan a "hairless runt". He has four toes on his right foot (it is possible he lost one in a fight), and this is one way to tell he is in the area. In the series, he plots to dispose of Tarzan so that he can take over the gorilla pack for himself and makes no secret of his hatred against Tarzan, believing him to be unworthy of leading the gorilla family (despite Tarzan's actual success as a leader of the gorillas). Noted by the bones in the cave he formerly resided in, it is possible he may be more carnivorous than other gorillas., Queen La (voiced by Diahann Carroll) – In the original novels, she a high priestess of a blood cult who fell in love with Tarzan. In her adaptation for the series, she is a former member of the Waziri tribe and an utterly vicious sorceress who rules over the abandoned city of Opar, where she lords over the Leopard Men. She falls in love with Tarzan after he comes to rescue Jane's father from the Leopard Men, who were capturing males as potential husbands for La. Her attempts to seduce Tarzan fail every time, as his loyalty is firm with Jane, and in almost every encounter La is trying to hurt Jane and take Tarzan for herself. She could actually be considered to be Jane's rival for Tarzan's affections. Her magic staff is eventually shattered by Jane, turning La to dust and the Leopard men back into ordinary leopards. Her spirit still lingers and tries to steal Jane's body and restore her staff. After some forced body-switching and getting inside Tarzan, she is eventually forced inside the body of a rat and the staff is taken by a Waziri elder who was determined to end her evil, trapping her in the rodent form., Leopard Men - A group of leopards who La changed into humanoid form to serve her, Samuel T. Philander (voiced by Craig Ferguson) – Professor Archimedes' academic rival who frequently attempts to steal his ideas or garner fame by turning Tarzan in as the "missing link". On one occasion, he found Pellucidar yet his photographic proof was ruined by Manu photographing himself. He even tried to capture the silver ape Mangani who is known for his healing powers. Samuel even tried to capture Tarzan, but his men mistook Archimedes for Tarzan (with a lot of help from Philander). His humiliations reduced him to living in a ratty apartment in Chicago and constantly ducking the Landlord when he was visited by Edgar Rice Burroughs wanting to know what he knew about Tarzan. He is modeled on the British comedy actor Terry-Thomas., Count Nikolas Rokoff (voiced by Ron Perlman) – A greedy former Russian count stripped of his title who hears about a treasure in the valley of the leopards and plans to find it to regain his title. Tarzan refuses to help him until Rokoff threatens to kill Jane if he doesn't. His intellectual battle with Tarzan goes like a chess game until Tarzan finally releases the last few leopards from the boarded-up cave on him, but it is unclear if they kill Rokoff or not. The treasure is later stolen by baboons., Lt. Colonel Staquait (voiced by Jim Cummings) – A vicious, scar-faced Colonel in the French Foreign Legion. He sees himself on the right side of the law, but his draconian means do not justify his actions, putting him at odds with Tarzan. He acts as judge and executioner and has made it his goal to hunt down Hugo and Hooft because they refused his order to burn down a village full of women and children. Tarzan helped fake their demise, but eventually, the Colonel learned the truth and imprisoned them. Tarzan ended up imprisoned in Fort Doom as well, then after allowing Hugo and Hoof to escape, he was sentenced to be hanged, but was released after Renard impersonated a French magistrate, which Staquait doesn't notice as the heroes safely returned to Africa by steamship., Thaddeus Hunt (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - The leader of a band of kidnappers (presumably drug traffickers) who try to kidnap Tarzan and former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt for ransom money. His two main minions are Jake and Sam, his third named is Jones. He and his men are eventually arrested by Roosevelt's two government agents., Nuru and Sheeta (voiced by Frank Welker) – They are two vicious panthers that frequently find and battle Tarzan. They are sometimes seen as part of a group of leopards, which is a factual error, as leopards never hunt in packs., Mabaya (voiced by Frank Welker) – A rogue bull elephant who originally belonged to the same herd as Jabari and his parents. Mabaya, like all rogues, is almost constantly angry and attacks or tramples anything in his path. He is easily recognized by his broken right tusk and bloodshot red eyes. Episodes featuring Mabaya usually require Tantor to overcome his fears and face down the renegade in an elephantine match of strength., Hista (voiced by Frank Welker) – A giant crimson red python that threatens the gorilla family until Tarzan and Moyo manage to lure him into a tar pit, where the snake dies after sinking into it. His weakness is that he, like other snakes, has poor vision and senses body heat to hunt, a weakness Tarzan uses to his advantage (also his very name "Hista" means "snake" in Mangani)., Johannes Niels and Merkus (voiced by John O'Hurley and Jim Cummings) – Two miners who first came to the jungle to mine diamonds. Niels is the tall, blond-haired and calmer of the two, and Merkus is shorter, muscular and more violent. Tarzan agreed to guide them to a volcano to dig for diamonds, on the condition that he gets one to give to Jane. After a mishap, they lose their diamonds and leave in chains. They later return to retrieve the diamonds, which may not have survived the lava. They are attacked by Tublat, whom they capture, and are about to take him around the world as a showpiece until Tarzan, along with a protesting Terk, rescue him. Once again, Niels and Merkus leave the jungle empty-handed., Zutho (voiced by Jason Alexander) – A shady mandrill that Tarzan, Terk, and Tantor first encountered as kids at the forbidden side of the river. While Tarzan teaches Zutho and his friends how to make spears, a fire broke out and nearly destroyed the jungle but the rain had put it down. Tarzan blamed himself and ended up in Zutho's debt. Years later, Zutho resurfaces in order to get Tarzan to fulfill his favor into dealing with some annoying monkeys that were keeping him up at night. With help from Jane, Terk, and Tantor, Tarzan did the right thing and admitted what happened the day of the fire to Kala who then dealt with Zutho where she grabbed him by the ear and planned to inform his mother what he made Tarzan do., Gozan (voiced by John DiMaggio) – A fat mandrill who is one of Zutho's friends., Hungo - A skinny and silent mandrill who is one of Zutho's friends., Ian McTeague (voiced by Charles Napier) – A corrupt greedy businessman. He started up an illegal mining operation near the mountain, where he and his men believe that there is gold for them to dig. As they do so, they use the water from the river to irrigate their operation, where they separate the dirt from ore with chemicals, which are then later spilled out into the rest of the river heading towards the jungle. Because of this, it has caused a plague among the animals drinking it (even Tantor almost fell victim to it). Even the Waziri tribe fell victim to the plague, as they used the river for their crops and drinking. Needless to say, McTeague doesn't care about the toxicity of the chemicals and continues dumping them into the river, as he still wants to be rich. Upon learning about the mine, Tarzan and his friends ally with the Waziri tribe to build a dam to block the river and then break it down to have the rushing water destroy the whole mine operation for good, leaving the river fresh and clean again. McTeague and his men then leave in a huff, but not after McTeague angrily swears revenge against Tarzan and the Waziri tribe for ruining his mining operation., Lady Waltham (voiced by Amanda Donohue) – An aristocrat and sister of the deceased Clayton (originally intended to be his widow) who wants revenge on Tarzan for killing her brother (at least, in her own mind). She had her valet Hobson capture those close to him and then poison Tarzan. Tarzan was then given a challenge by Lady Waltham which was either save those he is close to from danger or head to a mountain she dubbed "Clayton's Peak" where the antidote is. Though Tarzan saves his friends and family, he ends up saving Lady Waltham from leopards. Afterward, she gave Tarzan the antidote realizing that Tarzan would never have killed her brother on purpose. She is implied to have made peace with Tarzan and his family and has returned to her original life., Hobson (voiced by Jim Cummings) – Lady Waltham's valet., Muviro (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – A treacherous Waziri warrior and one of Basuli's subordinates. Despite serving for Basuli, Muviro holds a personal hatred and jealousy against the chief's son and is hostile towards outsiders (mainly Tarzan and his friends). Upon learning that Basuli is planning to get an eagle's feather with Tarzan's help as part of the customs for Basuli to marry and be a future chief, Muviro secretly plotted to dispose of Basuli so that he himself can be the new chief. He caused several incidents during Tarzan and Basuli's journey: such as chopping down a tree into a river they were crossing over to provoke a pod of hippos, disturbing a herd of rhinos to stampede after the duo and causing a rock slide on them in an elephant graveyard near the mountain. After the third attempt fails, Muviro reveals his true colors to both Tarzan and Basuli before engaging into a fight with the latter. Fortunately, Basuli defeats Muviro and banishes him from the tribe for his treachery, and Muviro is last seen walking away into the midst with an angry look on his face, implying that he might return to get revenge., Robert Canler (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – Jane's old childhood friend and next-door neighbor, nicknamed Bobby, who knew her since she was five. He is an ace pilot who carries a sword-cane with a silver eagle head and a Webley pistol and flies in a plane with floats. He once worked for British Intelligence but switched to the "other side" (possibly Germany, but never specified) as a double agent when he realized how profitable it would be, by bringing them a code machine which was disguised as a music box that he gave Jane. Despite his betrayal of Jane, he rescues her from certain death and is eventually arrested by Captain Nigel Taylor of the RAF., Sabor the Leopard (mentioned; responsible for the deaths of Tarzan's real parents as well as Kala's child in the first film; killed in battle against Tarzan) Bob Markham (voiced by Mark Harmon) – A logger, widower, and single father to his daughter Abby. After his wife died, he sunk everything he had into logging. However, the way he was logging tore up so much soil, that a long-dormant plague was released and threatened to kill his men and daughter. With help from Tarzan and Terk, Markham gathered all but one of the ingredients for the cure. The last one was a flower that was only found in one part of the jungle until Markham's men bulldozed over them while logging. By some luck, Abby had picked one of them before, and Jane showed her how to press it, thus preserving it. After Abby and Markham's men were cured, they ceased logging and started to plant the seeds saved from the flower., Abigail "Abby" Markham (voiced by Nicolette Little) – Abby Markham is the daughter of Bob Markham, she appears to be 5–9 years old, but maybe older. Markham loves his daughter and will do anything for her. When she falls ill with the same plague that threatens his men, he asks for Tarzan's help to cure her. Together, they get all but one ingredient for the cure, a flower found only in an area that Markham's men had already bulldozed over; Luckily, Abby had picked one of the flowers prior to the bulldozing and preserved it by pressing it. She is last seen playing tag with Jane and Terk., Gubo (voiced by Tate Donovan) – A gorilla from another family. Tarzan and Terk found him being attacked by hyenas and saved him. He ended up with a broken leg. Terk felt she wasn't girly enough for him. He managed to trick Tarzan into coming with him to his family so he could meet his leader. Tarzan then finds out Tublat is his leader. He showed up a few months ago and killed Gubo's original leader. Tublat and Tarzan prepare for battle, but Gubo stands up to him and reminds everyone that there is strength in numbers and the gorilla's gang up on Tublat, driving him off. Gubo then steps in to take place as a new leader. Terk tries her lady charms, but Gubo tells her that he always liked Terk the way she is. They both end up leaving to throw mud at warthogs., Edgar Rice Burroughs (voiced by Steven Weber) – A fictionalized version of Tarzan's creator, he is an American book author, who was in need of inspiration for his next novel. He eventually finds it when discovering about Tarzan. After meeting some of Tarzan's acquaintances, he finally meets Tarzan when Tarzan saves him. After a talk with Tarzan and Jane, he creates a novel (in comparison to the real version of it), and his boss says everyone will remember him by it., Theodore Roosevelt (voiced by Stephen Root) – Former President of the United States. The writers take Roosevelt's real-life post-presidency trip to Africa to collect wildlife for the American Museum of Natural History of New York City, and put it in the series. All episodes of Season 2 were used in the plot of the direct to video sequel, Tarzan & Jane, though some parts have been cut to make them look more like flashbacks. These episodes are believed to have happened sometime during or before Season 1, since some characters first appearances occurred in these episodes, the overall true specific order is unknown. In late 2001, Disney Channel added The Legend of Tarzan to their lineup. Reruns continued until September 2, 2003, when the series (along with Fillmore! and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command) was pre-empted in favor of a 90-minute showing of Recess. Reruns aired on Toon Disney until 2009 and when it converted to Disney XD, it ran from 2009 to 2012. CommonSenseMedia gave the show a rating of 3 stars out of 5, writing "Despite the show's charms, it doesn't quite live up to the original film. But it does teach viewers about the responsibilities of growing up — the good, the bad, and, of course, the funny — and it's definitely something that families can watch together, especially as it spends a lot of time focusing on family dynamics." The Hour praised the show for having Disney-quality animation, for being faithful to the film's storyline, and for giving viewers a chance to discover what happens after the movie ends. However, it noted the voice actors are not the same and said the voice of Terk is "really annoying". In 2002, the show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and two Golden Reel Awards. Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a 1984 adventure film directed by Hugh Hudson based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes (1912). Christopher Lambert stars as Tarzan (though the name Tarzan is never used in the film's dialogue) and Andie MacDowell as Jane; the cast also includes Ralph Richardson (in his final role), Ian Holm, James Fox, Cheryl Campbell, and Ian Charleson. The film received a mixed-to-positive critical reception upon its release, with many praising the film as a welcome return of Tarzan to the silver screen after 1981's Tarzan, the Ape Man starring Bo Derek. Greystoke went on to receive three Oscar nominations at the 57th Academy Awards ceremony for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Richardson, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and Best Makeup. It became the first ever Tarzan feature film to be nominated for an Academy Award; the later Disney animated feature film adaptation became the first one to win an Oscar. John, Lord Clayton, the heir to the 6th Earldom of Greystoke, and his pregnant wife Alice are shipwrecked on the African coast. John builds a home in the trees, and Alice gives birth to a son. Alice later grows ill from malaria and dies. While John is grieving her, the tree house is visited by curious chimpanzees, one of whom kills him. One female of the group, Kala, who is carrying her dead infant, hears the cries of the infant human in his crib. She adopts the nude boy and raises him as a member of the Mangani. At age one, the boy learns gorilla talk and learns how to walk. At age five, the boy learns how to swing a vine and is still trying to fit in with his ape family. The boy holding on his mother's back when the apes climb up the trees that a leopard and her cubs coming. The nude boy learns to growl at the sleepy gorilla Droopy Ears to wake him up that he makes some friends. Droopy Ears and the boy became best friends and play together. But then, a Black panther has come while waiting to hunt. But the boy and Droopy Ears didn't see him while curious about the river. Droopy Ears showed the boy and swing on the water to make a splash with his hand and the boy uses his hand to make a splash too and digging to pick up mud to cover his face. When a black panther attacks, he learns how to swim to evade it while the rest of the apes flees, and another ape is killed. The black panther pulls dead Droopy Ears for his meal. At age 12, the boy discovers the tree-house in which he lived as a baby with his real mother and father. He finds a wooden block, with pictures of both a boy and a chimpanzee painted on it. He sees himself in a mirror and recognizes the physical differences between himself and the rest of his ape family. He also discovers his father's hunting knife and how it works. The objects fascinate the boy, and he takes them with him. The boy learns how to pee which he's peeing on White Eyes. One day his mother is killed by a native hunting party, and he kills one of them in revenge. Years later, Belgian explorer Philippe d'Arnot is traveling with a band of British adventurers along the river. He is disgusted by their boorish nature and love of 'blood and sport'. A band of natives attack the party, killing everyone except Philippe, who is injured and conceals himself in the trees. The young man finds Philippe and nurses him back to health. D'Arnot discovers that the man is a natural mimic and teaches him to speak rudimentary English. D'Arnot deduces that this man is the son of the late Lord John and Lady Alice of Greystoke and calls the man "Jean" (the French version of John). Jean agrees to return to England with his benefactor and reunite with his human family. On arrival at Greystoke, the family's country estate in the Lowlands of Scotland, John is welcomed by his grandfather, the 6th Earl of Greystoke, and his ward, a young American woman called Jane. The Earl still grieves the loss of his son and daughter-in-law years earlier but is very happy to have his grandson home. He displays eccentric behaviour and often confuses John with John's father. John is treated as a novelty by the local social set, and some of his behaviour is seen as threatening and savage. He befriends a young mentally disabled worker on the estate and in his company relaxes into his natural ape-like behavior. Jane meanwhile teaches John more English, French, and social skills. They become very close and one evening passionately make love in secret. Lord Greystoke enjoys renewed vigour at the return of his grandson and, reminiscing about his childhood game of using a silver tray as a toboggan on a flight of stairs in the grand house, decides to relive the old pastime. He crashes at the foot of the stairs and slowly dies, apparently from a head injury, in the arms of his grandson. At his passing, John displays similar emotion and lack of understanding about death as he did in Africa following the death of Kala. John inherits the title Earl of Greystoke. Jane helps John through his grief, and they become engaged. He is also cheered when his mentor, Philippe, returns. One day he visits the Natural History Museum in London with Jane. During their visit, John is disturbed by the displays of stuffed animals. He discovers many live, caged apes from Africa, including his adoptive father, Silverbeard. They recognise each other, and John releases Silverbeard and other caged animals. They are pursued by police and museum officials. They reach a woodland park, where Silverbeard is fatally shot. John, devastated, yells to the crowd, "He was my father!" Unable to assimilate to the human society that he views as cruel, John decides to return to Africa and reunite with his ape family. Philippe and Jane escort him back to the jungle where Philippe and John first met. John returns to the world he understands. Jane does not join him, but Philippe expresses his hope that perhaps they may someday be reunited. Christopher Lambert – John Clayton/Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, a man orphaned in the jungle who was adopted by a group of apes and became their leader and is the last member of the Earl of Greystoke, Tali McGregor – Infant Tarzan, Peter Kyriakou – One-year-old Tarzan, Danny Potts – Five-year-old Tarzan, Eric Langlois – Twelve Year Old Tarzan, Ralph Richardson – The 6th Earl of Greystoke, John Clayton's grandfather who is the current Earl of Greystoke and confuses John for his son due to grief and his deteriorated memory, Ian Holm – Capitaine Fyllieppe d'Arnot, a Belgian explorer who discovered John in the jungle, taught him the way of man, and brought him to England, James Fox – Lord Charles Esker, a lord who tries to keep the line of Greystoke intact, Andie MacDowell – Jane Porter, the Earl's ward who becomes romantically involved with John, Glenn Close – Jane Porter (voice, uncredited). Close later voiced Kala, Tarzan's adoptive ape mother in the Disney animated adaptation., Cheryl Campbell – Alice, Lady Clayton of Greystoke, John's biological mother who dies of malaria, Paul Geoffrey – John "Jack" Clayton, Viscount Clayton, John's biological father who is killed by his adoptive ape father, Ian Charleson – Jeffson Brown, Nigel Davenport – Major Jack Downing, Nicholas Farrell – Sir Hugh Belcher, Richard Griffiths – Captain Billings, Hilton McRae – Willy, David Suchet – Buller, John Wells – Sir Evelyn Blount, Paul Brooke – The Rev. Stimson Peter Elliott as Silverbeard, the dominant male of the Mangani troop and John's adoptive ape father. Elliott was also the ape movement choreographer., Ailsa Berk – Kala, John's adoptive ape mother who took him in after she lost her infant, John Alexander – White Eyes, an aggressive male in the troop who has a strong hatred for John, Christopher Beck – Droopy Ears, a childhood friend of John who was unfortunately killed by a black panther, Mak Wilson – Figs, an overweight member of the troop who is a faithful follower of John, Emil Abossolo-Mbo and Deep Roy – additional ape performers In August 1974 producer Stanley Jaffe announced Warner Bros had bought the rights to the Tarzan character from the Burroughs estate and wanted to make a new Tarzan film. "It won't be a caricature or a popularization," he said. "It will be a serious period action adventure true to the characters and done in terms of contemporary mores." Robert Towne signed to write the script. No director or cast was attached but the producer said "I expect the Tarzan we'll cast won't be a muscle man." Towne later recalled, "I called up a friend and said, “Let’s do it.” But he says, “Oh, damn man, that’s going to be a problem”—because an associate of his had met resistance trying to put together a Tarzan film. Oh, no, come on—Jane Goodall, Shadow of Man. We could actually do it now as if it really happened. And my friend said “You’re right, screw it, let’s do it"." In September 1975 a report said the film would be made the following year. "It's a very heavy story," said Towne. "Very sensual. Basically it's about Tarzan and his foster mother." The film had a tentative budget of $6 million and a working title of Lord Greystoke. Towne said working on the script is what made him want to direct. "I suddenly realized that I'd written a bunch of descriptions without much dialogue to go along with it," he said. "I'd reached the age where I realized that I couldn't necessarily just turn that over to a director and say "Don't fuck it up." It's just a bunch of descriptions, and then it became embarrassingly apparent to me that those were what I saw when I wrote them down. There was nobody else who could see them, so I needed to direct... The distance between the page and the stage is so enormous that it is unbelievable how even the brightest people can misread your intent or not see it altogether. Scripts have air in them. Scripts are supposed to leave things up to interpretation, but people can misread things enormously, so sometimes it's just a matter of wanting to put on the screen what you had in mind." By October 1977 Towne was attached as director as well as writer. Anthea Sylbert was appointed Warners executive in charge of the project. Towne made his directorial debut on another project he had written, Personal Best. This movie, about female athletes, came out of Towne's interest in human movement, which arose from his research into Greystoke. He intended Personal Best to be a "trial run" for Greystoke. However filming Personal Best proved extremely difficult - Towne had to deal with an actors strike and a budget blow out. He wound up in conflict with producer David Geffen and Warners that led to him selling his interest in Greystoke. "Greystoke may be the kid I love the most, but I was eight months' pregnant with Personal Best, so that's the kid I had to save," said Towne. Part of the $1 million that Towne received for Greystoke was put in escrow to be held against any money he went over budget on Personal Best. Towne later said he was practically broke. "Nobody can believe how mucked up financially you can be by these studio guys. But a cab driver in New York who doesn't get tipped gets more sympathy than any Hollywood writer." Personal Best was a box office flop. In 2010 Towne said losing Greystoke was "then, is now, and always will be the biggest creative regret of my life." A new director became attached to the project - Hugh Hudson whose debut feature Chariots of Fire had been a surprise box office hit. "Towne's script was brilliant," said Hudson. "It was only half finished and overlong but all the jungle stuff was there and it was fascinating. I said yes at once." Hudson was going to make the film with his Chariots producer, David Puttnam and Rick Baker signed to do apes. Puttnam eventually pulled out and went off to produce Local Hero instead. "After looking into it carefully I felt it needed a more experienced producer," he said. "I've never worked with special effects and frankly they terrify me. And on that film you need someone who's done that. I'd have been learning on the job and that could have proved expensive and one of the things I rely on is people's belief that I can deliver good value for money. I had this awful vision of Greystoke going over budget and my whole reputation going down the drain." Hudson said, "I think he [Puttnam] felt he had lost control because it was a studio picture set up by Semel and Daly and they wanted to deal directly with me, and he had this other film going, The Killing Fields, that he probably wanted to do more. Stanley Canter [who’s credited as producer alongside Hudson] had a deal with Warners and the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, but he wasn’t involved in the making of the film." Hudson had the script revived by Michael Austin. They spent nine months on it. Hudson said the film was "about Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden. It's about the loss of innocence and about the evolutionary urge. This boy is discovered by a Belgian, d'Arnot, and he's taught language. Up to that point he's very contented, but d'Arnot is the snake in the myth. He gives him the word, and from that point you could say he's lost. The question is, does he have to go on to join society, or not? The story asks you to consider how society lives, halfway between the apes and the angels, aspiring to go up yet coming from down there. It's about the battle of nature and nurture, nature and culture - a dilemma, a terrible dichotomy in us all. It's about the freedom of the jungle and the distortions and strictures of society, and how perhaps we can't do without either of them. There's not enough nature in society, and maybe not enough society in nature. The thing is about that sort of balance, which is so tender, so difficult to achieve, yet so essential to all of us. It's about two opposing forces, which shouldn't be opposing at all." Towne had done tests involving real apes but Hudson felt this was too difficult and decided to use humans in ape costumes. Hudson wanted to cast unknowns as Tarzan and Jane. "They are complete innocents, and therefore somebody new is more acceptable to the audience than a face you know. They also represent the innocent side of ourselves, and we should be able to identify with them. So Tarzan is what we might be, if we had lived like that: light, lithe, every muscle used, but not rippling like a Charles Atlas." Hudson tested four people as Tarzan: a Danish ballet dancer, Julian Sands, Viggo Mortensen and Christopher Lambert. Hudson said it came down to Lambert and Mortensen. "I just felt that Christopher was the right person. He had this strange quality — somehow, because he was myopic, when he took his glasses off, he couldn’t really see properly so he would seem to look through you into the distance." Andie MacDowell made her film debut as Jane. "The camera loves her, and I just felt she was the right person," said Hudson. "Of course it's a risk, but then the whole project is a risk. If I'm a good director I'll get the performance I want out of her." Hudon used Dr. Earl Hopper, the American author of Social Mobility, as an adviser on the film's psychological and social plausibility. He also used Professor Roger Fouts of the Central Washington University, a primatologist who has successfully instructed chimpanzees in sign language for the deaf. "Tarzan is everyman, and he is also everyman's idealized projection of himself," said Hudson. "We all aspire to be how he is, morally and physically. We'd all love to have that body, be wild, swing in the trees, and get the ideal woman, who is Jane. And all that, all that meaning, is dressed up in a terrific 'Boys Own' story, a marvelously exciting adventure yarn." Filming started in November 1982. The film was shot in Korup National Park in western Cameroon and in Scotland. Several great houses in the UK were used for the Greystoke family seat: Floors Castle near Kelso in Roxburghshire, Scotland, is used for the exterior and ballroom scenes,, Hatfield House in Hertfordshire (entrance hall, grand staircase),, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Greystoke was the first Hollywood film to be shot in the Super Techniscope format. The dialogue of Andie MacDowell, who played Jane, was dubbed in post- production by Glenn Close. According to Hudson, this was due to MacDowell's southern US accent, which he did not want for the film, and that she was not (at the time) a trained actor. The young Jane featured at the beginning of the film is portrayed as American, which is consistent with Burroughs. Sir Ralph Richardson, who played The 6th Earl of Greystoke, died shortly after filming ended, and he received a posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film was dedicated to his memory. Warners cut out 25 minutes from the jungle footage of Tarzan growing up. "I was sorry to lose those scenes", said Hudson. "But you can't have everything." Vangelis was going to do the music but according to Hudson he got "writer's block" so they got John Scott "and he did a very good job in a very short space of time", said the director. When the film finished Hudson said the result was "70%" of the film he wanted to make. In a departure from most previous Tarzan films, Greystoke returned to Burroughs' original novel for many elements of its plot. It also utilized a number of corrective ideas first put forth by science fiction author Philip José Farmer in his mock-biography Tarzan Alive, most notably Farmer's explanation of how the speech-deprived ape man was later able to acquire language by showing Tarzan to be a natural mimic. According to Burroughs' original concept, the apes who raised Tarzan actually had a rudimentary vocal language, and this is portrayed in the film. Greystoke rejected the common film portrayal of Tarzan as a simpleton that was established by Johnny Weissmuller's 1930s renditions, reasserting Burroughs' characterisation of an articulate and intelligent human being, not unlike the so-called "new look" films that Sy Weintraub produced in the 1960s. The second half of the film departs radically from Burroughs' original story. Tarzan is discovered and brought to Scotland, where he fails to adapt to civilization. His return to the wild (having already succeeded his grandfather as Lord Greystoke) is portrayed as a matter of necessity rather than choice, and he is separated forever from Jane, who "could not have survived" in his world. In his book Harlan Ellison's Watching, Harlan Ellison explains that the film's promotion as "the definitive version" of the Tarzan legend is misleading. He details production and scripting failures which in his opinion contribute to the film's inaccuracy. The film grossed $45.9 million upon its release, making it the 15th most popular film at the box office in 1984. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 71%, based on , with a rating average of 6/10. British Academy Film Awards Best Make Up Artist – Paul Engelen, Peter Frampton, Rick Baker, Joan Hills, British Film Institute Technical Achievement Award, New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actor – Ralph Richardson Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Ralph Richardson, Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay – Robert Towne, Michael Austin, Academy Award for Best Makeup – Rick Baker, Paul Engelen, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Best Costumes – John Mollo, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Best Fantasy Film, British Academy Film Awards Best Sound – Ivan Sharrock, Gordon K. McCallum, Les Wiggins, Roy Baker, British Academy Film Awards Best Supporting Actor – Ian Holm, British Academy Film Awards Best Supporting Actor – Ralph Richardson, Writers Guild of America Award 1985 Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium – Robert Towne, Michael Austin Tarzan is a series of twenty-four adventure novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) and published between 1912 and 1966, followed by several novels either co-written by Burroughs, or officially authorized by his estate. There are also two works written by Burroughs especially for children that are not considered part of the main series. The series is considered a classic of literature and is the author's best-known work. Tarzan has been called one of the best-known literary characters in the world. Tarzan has been adapted many times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. (It has been adapted for the cinema more times than any book.) The copyright on Tarzan of the Apes has expired in the United States in the early 1960s, though the name Tarzan is still protected as a trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The work also remains under copyright in some other countries where copyright terms are longer. The novel tells the story of John Clayton II. John and Alice (Rutherford) Clayton, Lord and Lady Greystoke of England, are marooned in the western coastal jungles of equatorial Africa in 1888. After an unstated amount of time later, their son John Clayton II is born. At one year old his mother dies, and soon thereafter his father is killed by the savage king ape Kerchak. The infant is then adopted by the she-ape Kala. Clayton is named "Tarzan" ("White Skin" in the ape language) and raised in ignorance of his human heritage. As a boy, feeling alienated from his peers due to their physical differences, he discovers his true parents' cabin, where he first learns of others like himself in their books. Using basic primers with pictures, over many years he teaches himself to read English, but having never heard it, cannot speak it. Upon his return from one visit to the cabin, he is attacked by a huge gorilla which he manages to kill with his father's knife, although he is terribly wounded in the struggle. As he grows up, Tarzan becomes a skilled hunter, exciting the jealousy of Kerchak, the ape leader, who finally attacks him. Tarzan kills Kerchak and takes his place as "king" of the apes. Later, a tribe of black Africans settle in the area, and Tarzan's adopted mother, Kala, is killed by one of its hunters. Avenging himself on the killer, Tarzan begins an antagonistic relationship with the tribe, raiding its village for weapons and practicing cruel pranks on them. They, in turn, regard him as an evil spirit and attempt to placate him. A few years later when Tarzan is 18 years of age, a new party is marooned on the coast, including 19 year old Jane Porter, the first white woman Tarzan has ever seen. Tarzan's cousin, William Cecil Clayton, unwitting usurper of the ape man's ancestral English estate, is also among the party. Tarzan spies on the newcomers, aids them in secret, and saves Jane from the perils of the jungle. Among the party was French naval officer Paul D'Arnot. While rescuing D'Arnot from the natives, a rescue ship recovers the castaways. D'Arnot teaches Tarzan to speak French and offers to take Tarzan to the land of white men where he might connect with Jane again. On their journey, D'Arnot teaches him how to behave among white men. In the ensuing months, Tarzan eventually learns to speak English as well. Ultimately, Tarzan travels to find Jane in Wisconsin, USA. Tarzan learns the bitter news that she has become engaged to William Clayton. Meanwhile, clues from his parents' cabin have enabled D'Arnot to prove Tarzan's true identity as John Clayton the Earl of Greystoke. Instead of reclaiming his inheritance from William, Tarzan chooses rather to conceal and renounce his heritage for the sake of Jane's happiness. The novel picks up soon after where Tarzan of the Apes left off. The ape man, feeling rootless in the wake of his noble sacrifice of his prospects of wedding Jane Porter, leaves America for Europe to visit his friend Paul d'Arnot. On the ship he becomes embroiled in the affairs of Countess Olga de Coude, her husband, Count Raoul de Coude, and two shady characters attempting to prey on them, Nikolas Rokoff and his henchman Alexis Paulvitch. Rokoff, it turns out, is also the countess's brother. Tarzan thwarts the villains' scheme, making them his deadly enemies. Later, in France, Rokoff tries time and again to eliminate the ape man, finally engineering a duel between him and the count by making it appear that he is the countess's lover. Tarzan deliberately refuses to defend himself in the duel, even offering the count his own weapon after the latter fails to kill him with his own, a grand gesture that convinces his antagonist of his innocence. In return, Count Raoul finds him a job as a special agent in the French ministry of war. Tarzan is assigned to service in Algeria. A sequence of adventures among the local Arabs ensues, including another brush with Rokoff. Afterward Tarzan sails for Cape Town and strikes up a shipboard acquaintance with Hazel Strong, a friend of Jane's. But Rokoff and Paulovitch are also aboard, and manage to ambush him and throw him overboard. Miraculously, Tarzan manages to reach shore in a lifeboat he finds from a derelict ship. He finds himself in the coastal jungle where he was brought up by the apes. He soon rescues and befriends a native warrior, Busuli of the Waziri, and is adopted into the Waziri tribe. After defeating a raid on their village by ivory raiders, Tarzan becomes their chief. The Waziri know of a lost city deep in the jungle, from which they have obtained their golden ornaments. Tarzan has them take him there, but is captured by its inhabitants, a race of ape-like men, and is condemned to be sacrificed to their sun god. To Tarzan's surprise, the priestess to perform the sacrifice is a beautiful woman who speaks the ape language he learned as a child. She tells him she is La, high priestess of the lost city of Opar. When the sacrificial ceremony is fortuitously interrupted, she hides Tarzan and promises to lead him to freedom. But the ape man escapes on his own, locates a treasure chamber, and manages to rejoin the Waziri. Meanwhile, Hazel Strong has reached Cape Town where she meets Jane and her father, Professor Porter, together with Jane's fiancé, Tarzan's cousin William Cecil Clayton. They are all invited on a cruise up the west coast of Africa aboard the Lady Alice, the yacht of another friend, Lord Tennington. Rokoff, now using the alias of M. Thuran, ingratiates himself with the party and is also invited along. The Lady Alice crashes into the same derelict ship Tarzan found, and it sinks, forcing the passengers and crew into the lifeboats. The one containing Jane, Clayton and "Thuran" is separated from the others and suffers terrible privations. Coincidentally, the boat finally makes shore in the same general area that Tarzan did. Unknown to the three, it is but a few miles from the landing site of the other life boats. The three construct a rude shelter and eke out an existence of near starvation. After some weeks, Jane and William Clayton are surprised in the forest by a lion. Clayton loses Jane's respect by cowering in fear before the beast instead of defending her. But, they are saved from attack when the lion is suddenly speared and killed by an unknown hand. Their hidden savior is in fact Tarzan, who leaves without revealing himself due to seeing Jane in the arms of Clayton. Jane breaks off her engagement to Clayton, finally gathering the courage to follow her heart and not marry a man she does not love. Later Jane is kidnapped and taken to Opar by a party of the Oparian ape-men who were pursuing their escaped sacrifice, Tarzan. The ape man learns of her capture and tracks them, managing to save her from being sacrificed by La. La is crushed by Tarzan's spurning of her for Jane. Tarzan and Jane make their way up the coast to the former's boyhood cabin, where they encounter the remainder of the castaways of the Lady Alice, except for Clayton. D'Arnot is there with his naval ship and is preparing to rescue and return the party to civilization. "Thuran" is exposed as Rokoff and arrested. The missing Clayton had been very ill and was abandoned by Rokoff at the location where he, Rokoff and Jane's boat had landed. Jane and Tarzan go to find him, but he dies in spite of Tarzan and Jane's efforts to help him. Tarzan weds Jane and Tennington weds Hazel in a double ceremony performed by Professor Porter, who had been ordained a minister in his youth. Then they all set sail for civilization, taking along the treasure Tarzan had found in Opar. The story begins a year after the conclusion the previous book, Tarzan (Lord Greystoke) and Jane have had a son they named Jack. Tarzan has spent much time building an estate home on the Waziri lands in Uziri, Africa, but has returned to his ancestral estate in London for the rainy season. Tarzan's adversaries from the previous novel, Nikolas Rokoff and Alexis Paulvitch, escape prison and kidnap the Greystoke heir. But the trap is elaborate and insidious, leading both Tarzan and Jane to be kidnapped as well. Rokoff exiles Tarzan on a jungle island, informing him that Jack will be left with a cannibal tribe to be raised as one of their own, while Jane's fate was to be left to his imagination. Using his jungle skill and primal intelligence, Tarzan wins the help of Sheeta, the vicious panther, a tribe of great apes led by the moderately intelligent Akut, and a native warrior, Mugambi. With their aid, Tarzan reaches the mainland and begins a lengthy pursuit to find Jane (who is actively engineering her own extrication) and Jack. By the end of the story Rokoff is dead, while Paulvitch, his cohort, is presumed dead but manages to escape into the jungle. The Tarzan family returned to London along with Mugambi, who is offered a place at Tarzan's Waziri estate. The story begins 10 years after the conclusion of the previous novel. During the past decade, Alexis Paulvitch, who had escaped Tarzan at the end of the last novel, has lived a hideous life of abuse and disease among tribal people in Africa. Now he is discovered by a European ship and taken aboard. In the months that followed, Paulvitch encounters the ape, Akut, (whom Tarzan had befriended in that previous story) at one of the ship's stops. Because of Akut's interactions with Tarzan, he was unafraid of white men, and Paulvitch, unaware of the previous relationship, saw an opportunity to make some money. He took Akut to London and began displaying him publicly. After the trauma of the kidnappings ten years earlier, Jane had refused to return to Africa or to allow Jack to know anything about his father's past for fear that he might somehow try to relive it. Perhaps she instinctively knew that Jack was somehow very connected to Tarzan's old life, for Jack did have an avid interest in wildlife and he was extremely athletic. When the Claytons heard about the displayed ape, John decided to take Jack to see him. Tarzan was surprised to find the ape was his old friend, Akut, and began conversing with him. Jack was amazed to see that his father could do so. John then told Jack of his life as Tarzan. Jack started sneaking away to see Akut and began learning the language of the apes. Jack began to form a plan to take Akut back to the jungle. Paulvitch saw an opportunity for revenge, and agreed to help Jack. They escape to an African port where Paulvitch attacks Jack. Jack (probably now 12), like his father, was man-sized as a teen. Paulvitch is killed, and Jack, terrified, escapes into the jungle with Akut, thinking he will have to run for the rest of his life. Like Tarzan before him, Jack learns survival in the jungle and encounters the Mangani apes, who he can speak with because of his dialogue with Akut. The nearest they can manage of his name "Jack" in the ape tongue is "Korak". This means "killer" which seems appropriate since Jack has proven himself to be such. By around the age of 13 Jack finds an abused girl of about 11 named Meriem and rescues her. He begins teaching her to survive the jungle and they begin a sibling type relationship and live adventurously in the jungle for several years. In the interim, Tarzan and Jane have begun living at their Wahiri estate in Africa again, not having any idea what became of their son. After about six years Tarzan and Jane encounter Korak (now about 18) and Meriem (now 16) and reunite with them and are returned to London and married. Arguably, the book is as much about Meriem as it is about Tarzan's son. At the end of the previous novel (#4) Tarzan (John Clayton) and Jane's son, Jack a.k.a. Korak, has come into adulthood. John (Tarzan) and Jane Clayton have left London and returned to their Waziri ranch, some distance from Tarzan's original stomping grounds in Africa (where Jack will find them in novel #4). John Clayton finds that his fortunes have been embezzled, so he decides to return to the lost city of Opar, where he procured a large supply of gold from their forgotten vaults and reinforced his family fortune (in novel #2). During this return trip Tarzan is injured in an earthquake and loses all memories of his adult, civilized life and about Jane. La, the high priestess of the Flaming god of Opar, takes advantage of his amnesia. She had fallen in lust with the ape man during their first encounter. But while La hopes his amnesia opens the door for her lustful advances, her priests are not going to allow Tarzan to escape their sacrificial knives this time. In the meanwhile, Jane is in trouble and wonders what is keeping her husband from coming to her rescue. A collection of twelve loosely connected short stories of Tarzan's late teenage years, within a year or two before Tarzan first sees white people including Jane Porter. 1. "Tarzan's First Love" 2. "The Capture of Tarzan" 3. "The Fight for the Balu" 4. "The God of Tarzan" 5. "Tarzan and the Black Boy" 6. "The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance" 7. "The End of Bukawai" 8. "The Lion" 9. "The Nightmare" 10. "The Battle for Teeka" 11. "A Jungle Joke" 12. "Tarzan Rescues the Moon" In the year 1914, while John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (Tarzan) is away from his plantation home in British East Africa, it is destroyed by invading German troops from Tanganyika. On his return he discovers among many burned bodies one that appears to be the corpse of his wife, Jane Porter Clayton. Another fatality is the Waziri warrior Wasimbu, left crucified by the Germans. (Wasimbu's father Muviro, first mentioned in this story, goes on to play a prominent role in later Tarzan novels.) Maddened, the ape-man seeks revenge not only on the perpetrators of the tragedy but upon all Germans, and sets out for the battle front of the war in west Africa. On the way he has a run-in with a lion (or Numa, as it is called by the apes among whom Tarzan was raised), which he traps in a gulch by blocking the entrance. Upon reaching the front he infiltrates the German headquarters and seizes Major Schneider, the officer he believes led the raid on his estate. Returning to the gulch, he throws Schneider to the lion. Tarzan goes on to help the British forces in various ways, including setting the lion loose in the enemy trenches. Tarzan later kills von Goss, another German officer involved in the attack on the Greystoke estate. He then becomes embroiled in the affairs of Bertha Kircher, a woman he has seen in both the German and British camps, and believes to be a German spy, particularly after he learns she possesses his mother's locket, which he had given as a gift to Jane. His efforts to retrieve it lead him to a rendezvous between Kircher and Captain Fritz Schneider, brother of the Major Schneider Tarzan previously threw to the lion, and the actual commander of the force that burned his estate. Killing Schneider, Tarzan believes his vengeance complete. Abandoning his vendetta against the Germans he departs for the jungle, swearing off all company with mankind. Seeking a band of Mangani, the species of apes among whom he had been raised, Tarzan crosses a desert, undergoing great privations. Indeed, the desert is almost his undoing. He only survives by feigning death to lure a vulture (Ska in the ape language) into his reach. He then catches and devours the vulture, which gives him the strength to go on. The scene is a powerful one, a highlight both of the novel and of the Tarzan series as a whole. On the other side of the desert Tarzan locates an ape band. While with them he once again encounters Bertha Kircher, who has just escaped from Sergeant Usanga, leader of a troop of native deserters from the German army, by whom she had been taken captive. Despite his suspicion of Bertha, Tarzan's natural chivalry leads him to grant her shelter and protection among the apes. Later he himself falls captive to the tribe of cannibals the deserters have sheltered among, along with Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, a British aviator who has been forced down in the jungle. Learning of Tarzan's plight, Bertha heroically leads the apes against the natives and frees them both. Smith-Oldwick becomes infatuated with Bertha, and they search for his downed plane. They find it, but are captured again by Usanga, who attempts to fly off in it with Bertha. Tarzan arrives in time to pull Usanga from the plane. Smith-Oldwick and Bertha Kircher then try to pilot it back across the desert to civilization, but fail to make it. Seeing the plane go down, Tarzan once more sets out to rescue them. On the way he encounters another Numa, this one an unusual black lion caught in a pit trap, and frees it. He, the two lovers and the lion are soon reunited, but attacked by warriors from the lost city of Xuja, hidden in a secret desert valley. Tarzan is left for dead and Bertha and Smith-Oldwick taken prisoner. The Xujans are masters of the local lions and worshippers of parrots and monkeys. They are also completely insane as a consequence of long inbreeding. Recovering, Tarzan once more comes to the rescue of his companions, aided by the lion he had saved earlier. But the Xujans pursue them and they turn at bay to make one last stand. The day is saved by a search party from Smith- Oldwick's unit, who turn the tide. Afterward, Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick find out that Bertha is a double agent who has actually been working for the British. Tarzan also learns from the diary of the deceased Fritz Schneider that Jane might still be alive. Two months have passed since the conclusion of the previous novel (#7) in which Tarzan spent many months wandering about Africa wreaking vengeance upon those whom he believed brutally murdered Jane. At the end of that novel Tarzan learns that her death was a ruse, that she had not been killed at all. In attempting to track Jane, Tarzan has come to a hidden valley called Pal-ul-don filled with dinosaurs, notably the savage Triceratops-like Gryfs, which, unlike their prehistoric counterparts, are carnivorous and stand 20 feet tall at the shoulder. The lost valley is also home to two different adversarial races of tailed human-looking creatures: the hairless and white skinned, city- dwelling Ho-don and the hairy and black-skinned, hill-dwelling Waz-don. Tarzan befriends a Ho-don warrior, and the Waz-don chief, actuating some uncustomary relations. In this new world Tarzan becomes a captive but so impresses his captors with his accomplishments and skills that they name him Tarzan-Jad-Guru (Tarzan the Terrible). Having been brought there by her German captor, it turns out Jane is also being held captive in Pal-ul-don. She becomes a center- piece in a religious power struggle that consumes much of the novel until she escapes, after which her German captor becomes dependent on her due to his own lack of jungle survival skills. With the aid of his native allies, Tarzan continues to pursue his beloved, going through an extended series of fights and escapes to do so. In the end success seems beyond even his ability to achieve, until in the final chapter he and Jane are saved by their son Korak, who has been searching for Tarzan just as Tarzan has been searching for Jane. The story picks up with the Clayton family, Tarzan, Jane and their son Korak, returning from their adventures in the previous novel (#8). Along the way they find an orphaned lion cub, which Tarzan takes home and trains. Flora Hawkes, a previous housemaid of the Claytons, had overheard of Tarzan's discovery of the treasure chamber in the lost city of Opar (The Return of Tarzan, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar) and had managed to copy his map to it. She concocted a plan to lead an expedition to collect the gold. As a contingency to discourage any local denizens from questioning them, she sought out and found a Tarzan look-alike to accompany them. Two years passed since the Clayton family picked up their lion cub, and the Greystoke estate had become financially depleted due his support of the Allies war efforts, and he concluded it was time to return to Opar for another withdrawal. Tarzan encountered Hawkes' party, where he was drugged and ended up in the hands of the Oparians. Queen La, who had come into disfavor with the high priest, felt she had nothing to lose by escaping with Tarzan through the only unguarded route—a path to the legendary valley of diamonds, from which no one had ever returned. There, Tarzan found a race of humans who were little better than animals in intelligence, being enslaved by a race of intelligent gorillas. With the help of his golden lion, Tarzan used the natives to restore La to power. Before leaving he accepted a bag of diamonds for a reward. Meanwhile, the fake Tarzan convinced Tarzan's Waziri party to take the gold from Hawkes' party while most of them were out hunting. He then buried the gold so he could retain it later. The real Tarzan eventually confronted the fake, who managed to pilfer Tarzan's bag of diamonds. The fake was then chased by Tarzan's golden lion, but escaped into a river. He was later captured and permanently imprisoned by a local tribe. Tarzan lost the diamonds, but was able to attain the gold and return with it. Tarzan, the king of the jungle, enters an isolated country called Minuni, inhabited by a people four times smaller than himself. The Minunians live in magnificent city-states which frequently wage war against each other. Tarzan befriends the king, Adendrohahkis, and the prince, Komodoflorensal, of one such city-state, called Trohanadalmakus, and joins them in war against the onslaught of the army of Veltopismakus, their warlike neighbours. Tarzan is captured on the battle-ground and taken prisoner by the Veltopismakusians. The Veltopismakusian scientist Zoanthrohago conducts an experiment reducing Tarzan to the size of a Minunian, and the ape-man is imprisoned and enslaved among other Trohanadalmakusian prisoners of war. He meets, though, Komodoflorensal in the dungeons of Veltopismakus, and together they are able to make a daring escape. Tarzan finds an outpost of European knights and crusaders from a "forbidden valley" hidden in the mountains. Tarzan and a young German find a lost remnant of the Roman empire hidden in the mountains of Africa. This novel is notable for the introduction of Nkima, who serves as Tarzan's monkey companion in it and a number of later Tarzan stories. It also reintroduces Muviro, first seen in Tarzan and the Golden Lion, as sub-chief of Tarzan's Waziri warriors. In response to a radio plea from Abner Perry, a scientist who with his friend David Innes has discovered the interior world of Pellucidar at the Earth's core, Jason Gridley launches an expedition to rescue Innes from the Korsars (corsairs), the scourge of the internal seas. He enlists Tarzan, and a fabulous airship is constructed to penetrate Pellucidar via the natural polar opening connecting the outer and inner worlds. The airship is crewed primarily by Germans, with Tarzan's Waziri warriors under their chief Muviro also along for the expedition. In Pellucidar Tarzan and Gridley are each separated from the main force of the expedition and must struggle for survival against the prehistoric creatures and peoples of the inner world. Gridley wins the love of the native cave-woman Jana, the Red Flower of Zoram. Eventually everyone is reunited, and the party succeeds in rescuing Innes. As Tarzan and the others prepare to return home, Gridley decides to stay to search for Frederich Wilhelm Eric von Mendeldorf und von Horst, one last member of the expedition who remains lost (The missing Von Horst's adventures are told in a sequel, Back to the Stone Age, which event does not involve either Gridley or Tarzan). Tarzan, his monkey friend Nkima, and Chief Muviro and his faithful Waziri warriors prevent Russian communists from looting the lost city of Opar. Backed by Chief Muviro and his faithful Waziri warriors, Tarzan faces Soviet agents seeking revenge and a lost tribe descended from early Christians practicing a bizarre and debased religious cult. After encountering and befriending Valthor, a warrior of the lost city of Athne (whom he rescues from a group of bandits known as shiftas), the City of Ivory and capital of the land of Thenar, Tarzan is captured by the insane yet beautiful queen Nemone of its hereditary enemy, Cathne, the City of Gold, capital of the land of Onthar. This novel is perhaps best known for two scenes; in the first, Tarzan is forced to fight Cathne's strongest man in its arena. While an ordinary man might have been in trouble, Tarzan easily overpowers his antagonist. The second scene, in which Tarzan is forced to fight a lion, starts with the ape man being forced to run away from a hunting lion, Belthar, which will hunt him down and kill him. Tarzan at first believes he can outrun the beast (lions tire after the first 100 yards at top speed). This lion, however, is of a breed specifically selected for endurance, and ultimately Tarzan must turn to face him, though aware that without a knife he can do little but delay the inevitable. Fortunately his own lion ally, Jad- bal-ja, whom he had raised from a cub, arrives and intervenes, killing Belthar and saving Tarzan. Nemone, who believes her life is linked to that of her pet, kills herself when it dies. Unusually for lost cities in the Tarzan series, which are typically visited but once, Cathne and Athne reappear in a later Tarzan adventure, Tarzan the Magnificent. (The only other lost city Tarzan visits more than once is Opar.) Tarzan discovers a mad scientist with a city of talking gorillas. To create additional havoc, a Hollywood film crew sets out to shoot a Tarzan movie in Africa and brings along an actor who is an exact double of the apeman himself, but is his opposite in courage and determination. An amnesiac Tarzan and his monkey companion Nkima are taken by an African warrior to be his guardian spirits, and as such come into conflict with the murderous secret society of the Leopard Men. Tarzan's wife Jane, in her first appearance in the series since Tarzan and the Ant Men, becomes involved in a search for a bloodthirsty lost tribe reputed to possess an immortality drug. Also drawn in are Tarzan and his monkey companion, little Nkima, and Chief Muviro and his faithful Waziri warriors, who are searching for Muviro's lost daughter Buira. Nkima's vital contribution to the adventure is recognized when he is made a recipient of the treatment along with the human protagonists at the end of the novel. Tarzan cared little for the fate of adventurer Brian Gregory, drawn to the legendary city of Ashair by the rumor of the Father of Diamonds, the world's hugest gem. But to the ape-man the tie of friendship was unbreakable, and Paul d'Arnot's pleas moved him to agree to guide the expedition Gregory's father and sister organized for his rescue. The enigmatic Atan Thome was also obsessed with the Father of Diamonds, and planted agents in the Gregory safari to spy out its route and sabotage its efforts. Both parties reached their goal, remote Ashair... as prisoners of its priests, doomed to die in loathsome rites. Tarzan encounters a lost race with uncanny mental powers, after which he revisits the lost cities of Cathne and Athne, previously encountered in the earlier novel Tarzan and the City of Gold. As usual, he is backed up by Chief Muviro and his faithful Waziri warriors. While serving in the R.A.F. under his civilian name of John Clayton during World War II, Tarzan is shot down over the island of Sumatra in the Japanese- occupied Dutch East Indies. He uses his jungle survival skills to save his comrades in arms, and fight the Japanese while seeking escape from enemy territory. Tarzan tracks down yet another impostor resembling him, who is under the delusion he is Tarzan. Collection of three unconnected short stories. 1. "Tarzan and the Castaways" (originally entitled "The Quest of Tarzan") 2. "Tarzan and the Champion" 3. "Tarzan and the Jungle Murders" Originally written as a series of four novellas, they were first published as novels in 1925 and 1926. The Eternal Lover recounts a sister and brother visiting the Greystoke estate in Africa before the first World War. While there, the sister falls unconscious, and remembers her adventures from a past life thousands of years ago. Tarzan makes occasional appearances as their present-day host. The first half of The Mad King is set before the African visit, and focuses on the brother, finding out that they are related to the royalty of a small kingdom between Austria and Serbia. The second half is set after the African visit as the brother returns to the European kingdom on the eve of World War I. Tarzan does not appear in these two stories, although the sister from Eternal Lover does. Originally written as a pair of novellas specifically for younger readers, the two stories; "The Tarzan Twins" and "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, with Jad- bal-ja, the Golden Lion" were published together in 1963. While the fact that they were written for children usually excludes them from lists of the main Tarzan novels, the family in the stories does make an appearance in Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1929). Eighty-three typed pages for an unfinished Tarzan novel were found in Burroughs' safe after his death. In the mid-1990s the Burroughs estate and Dark Horse Comics chose Joe R. Lansdale to revise and complete the novel which was released as a co-authored work in 1995. A licensed novelization serialized in 15 parts by newspapers in 1921. This work by Maude Robinson Toombs is based on the scripts for the 15-part film- serial of the same name, and was first released as a collected edition in 2006. Novelization authorized by the Burroughs estate, based on the screenplay of the 1957 film. Published by Whitman Books. Authorized by the Burroughs estate as the 25th official novel, this work by Fritz Leiber is based on the screenplay for the film of the same name. The book includes footnotes connecting the story to events from Burroughs' twenty- four prior novels. In the 1980s, TSR, Inc. published two Tarzan books as part of their Endless Quest gamebook series. By Douglas Niles . Released as EQ #26. By Richard Reinsmith . Released as EQ #31. The pilot episode of the 1996–1997 television series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures was adapted into an authorized 1996 novel by R. A. Salvatore. The book is nominally set during the middle of The Return of Tarzan as it chronicles a time after Tarzan returned to Africa from Paris, but before he married Jane. Following The Lost Adventure the Burroughs estate authorized Philip Jose Farmer to write an official Tarzan novel, released in 1999 as The Dark Heart of Time. Best known for his Riverworld series, Philip Jose Farmer has also written a number of Tarzan-based pastiche works. He also authored (1972/2006), and two authorized Opar novels set thousands of years in the past: Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974) and Flight to Opar (1976). Set in October 1918—during Tarzan's search for Jane—the novel takes place between Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible. The novel's antagonist is James D. Stonecraft, an American oil magnate who believes that Tarzan knows the secret of immortality. Stonecraft hires hunters to track and capture Tarzan for the secret, leading to a conflicts at the "City Built by God" and the "Crystal Tree of Time". Through all of the adventure Tarzan is focused on escaping his pursuers so that he may return to his search for his wife. Author Andy Briggs has rebooted the series as young adult fiction, in the vein of Young Bond, with the first novel—Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy—published in June 2011. The reboot is set in modern Africa and features Tarzan at around 18 and Jane as the teenage daughter of doctor turned illegal logger. Andy Briggs's second book in the young adult reboot. Andy Briggs also released the third book on February 7, 2013. Author Will Murray's authorized sequel to Tarzan the Terrible. Released as The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan [volume 1]. Michael A. Sanford's authorized novel covers events between Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan. Tarzan, after concealing his true identity of Lord Greystoke from Jane Porter, journeys from Wisconsin north to Canada and uncovers an ancient civilization of Vikings. Released as The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs 2. Will Murray's authorized novel details the encounter between the giant ape (shipwrecked in Africa while being transported from Skull Island to New York) and the apeman. Released as The Wild Adventures of King Kong [book 1]. Thomas Zachek's's authorized collection of Tarzan novellas relates three African adventures of the Ape Man in the run-up to World War II. Released as The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs Series 3. Ralph N. Laughlin and Ann E. Johnson's authorized novel featuring four generations of Tarzan's family under threat in the 1980s. Released as The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs Series 4. Tarzan is transported to Mars and seeks out John Carter to in order to get home. In Win Scott Eckert's authorized novel, Tarzan returns to the Earth’s core on a mission to stop Nazis from obtaining a powerful super weapon. While Tarzan of the Apes met with some critical success, subsequent books in the series received a cooler reception and have been criticized for being derivative and formulaic. The characters are often said to be two-dimensional, the dialogue wooden, and the storytelling devices (such as excessive reliance on coincidence) strain credulity. While Burroughs is not a polished novelist, he is a vivid storyteller, and many of his novels are still in print. In 1963, author Gore Vidal wrote a piece on the Tarzan series that, while pointing out several of the deficiencies that the Tarzan books have as works of literature, praises Edgar Rice Burroughs for creating a compelling "daydream figure." Despite critical panning, the Tarzan stories have been amazingly popular. Fans love his melodramatic situations and the elaborate details he works into his fictional world, such as his construction of a partial language for his great apes. Since the beginning of the 1970s, Tarzan books and movies have often been criticized as being blatantly racist. The early books often give a negative and stereotypical portrayal of native Africans, both Arab and black. In The Return of Tarzan, Arabs are "surly looking" and say things like "dog of a Christian," while blacks are "lithe, ebon warriors, gesticulating and jabbering." He used every ploy for the purpose of painting his antagonists in simple unflattering colors. While he commonly uses racial stereotypes of black people, his later books also contain black characters that are good-hearted, generous, and intelligent. At the end of Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar (1918), the fifth book in the twenty-four book series, Burroughs writes, "Lord and Lady Greystoke with Basuli and Mugambi rode together at the head of the column, laughing and talking together in that easy familiarity which common interests and mutual respect breed between honest and intelligent men of any races." Burroughs explains somewhat Tarzan’s attitudes toward people in general in Tarzan And The City Of Gold (1933), where he writes, "Ordinarily, Tarzan was no more concerned by the fate of a white man than by that of a black man or any other created thing to which he was not bound by ties of friendship; the life of a man meant less to Tarzan of the Apes than the life of an ape." Other ethnic groups and social classes are likewise rendered as stereotypes; this was the custom in popular fiction of the time. A Swede has "a long yellow moustache, an unwholesome complexion, and filthy nails" and Russians cheat at cards. The aristocracy (excepting the House of Greystoke) and royalty are invariably effete. In later books, there is an attempt to portray Africans in a more realistic light. For example, in Tarzan's Quest, while the hero is still Tarzan, and the black Africans relatively primitive, they are portrayed as individuals, with good and bad traits, and the main villains have white skins. Burroughs never does get over his distaste for European royalty, though. Burroughs' opinions, made known mainly through the narrative voice in the stories, reflect attitudes widely held in his time, which in a 21st-century context would be considered racist and sexist. The author is not especially mean-spirited in his attitudes. His heroes do not engage in violence against women or in racially motivated violence. Still, a superior-inferior relationship between races is plain and occasionally explicit. According to James Loewen's Sundown Towns, this may be a vestige of Burroughs having been from Oak Park, Illinois, a former Sundown town (a town that forbids non-whites from living within it)--or it may very well be the fact these were common attitudes at the turn of the century. Some defenders of the Tarzan series argue that some of the words Burroughs uses to describe Africans, such as "savage," were generally understood to have a different and less offensive meaning in the early 20th century than they do today. After Burroughs' death a number of writers produced new Tarzan stories without the permission of his estate. In some instances, the estate managed to prevent publication of such unauthorized pastiches. The most notable exception in the United States was a series of five novels by the pseudonymous "Barton Werper" that appeared 1964-65 by Gold Star Books. As a result of legal action by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., they were taken off the market. The five novels in this series included: Tarzan and the Silver Globe (Derby: Connecticut: New International Library/Gold Star Books, 1964), Tarzan and the Cave City (Derby: Connecticut: New International Library/Gold Star Books, 1964), Tarzan and the Snake People (Derby: Connecticut: New International Library/Gold Star Books, 1964), Tarzan and the Abominable Snowmen (Derby: Connecticut: New International Library/Gold Star Books, 1965), Tarzan and the Winged Invaders (Derby: Connecticut: New International Library/Gold Star Books, 1965) In Israel in the 1950s and early 1960s there was a thriving industry of locally produced Tarzan adventures published weekly in 24-page brochures by several competing publishing houses, none of which bothered to get any authorization from the Burroughs estate. The stories featured Tarzan in contemporary Africa, a popular theme being his fighting against the Mau Mau in 1950s Kenya and single-handedly crushing their revolt several times over. He also fought a great variety of monsters, vampires and invaders from outer space infesting the African jungles, and discovered several more lost cities and cultures in addition to the ones depicted in the Burroughs canon. Some brochures had him meet with Israelis and take Israel's side against her Arab enemies, especially Nasser's Egypt. None of the brochures ever bore a writer's name, and the various publishers - "Elephant Publishing" (), "Rhino Publishing" () and several similar names - provided no more of an address than POB numbers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. These Tarzan brochures were extremely popular among Israeli youths of the time, successfully competing with the numerous Hebrew translations of the original Tarzan novels. The Tarzan brochures faded out by the middle 1960s. The popularity of Tarzan in Israel had some effect on the spoken Hebrew language. As it happens, "tarzan" () is a long-established Hebrew word, translatable as "dandy, fop, coxcomb" (according to R. Alcalay's Complete Hebrew-English Dictionary of 1990). However, a word could not survive with that meaning while being identical with the name of a popular fictional character usually depicted as wearing a loincloth and jumping from tree to tree in the jungle. Since the 1950s the word in its original meaning has completely disappeared from the spoken language, and is virtually unknown to Hebrew speakers at present - though still duly appearing in dictionaries. In the 1950s new Tarzan stories were also published in Syria and Lebanon. Tarzan in these versions was a staunch supporter of the Arab cause and helped his Arab friends foil various fiendish Israeli plots. Tarzan in film and other non-print media, Tarzan in comics Peter Bräunlein: Ein weißer Mann in Afrika. Rassismus und Geschlechterverhältnisse in Tarzanfilmen. In: iz3w, Issue No. 280, October 2004, pp. 41–43., Allen Carey-Webb: "Heart of Darkness, Tarzan, and the 'Third World'. Canons and Encounters in World Literature, English 109." College Literature 19 (1992), 121-41., Eric Cheyfitz: The Poetics of Imperialism: Translation and Colonization from The Tempest to Tarzan. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991., Erling B. Holtsmark: Tarzan and Tradition: Classical Myth in Popular Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981., Walt Morton: "Tracking the Sign of Tarzan: Trans-Media Representation of a Pop-Culture Iocn." In: You Tarzan: Masculinity, Movies and Men. Ed. Pat Kirkham and Janet Thumin. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993., Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Black African Cinema. University of California Press 1994. pp. 40–52., Richard J. Utz (ed.): Investigating the Unliterary: Six Readings of 'Tarzan of the Apes'. Regensburg: Martzinek, 1995. A Resource Guide to the Films of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Illustrated Bibliography of the Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Official Tarzan and Edgar Rice Burroughs Web Site, Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site

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This Is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same title. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by Trevor McDonald, which to date was its most recent airing. In the show the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities have been 'victims' of the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it has alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV. The surprise element was a very important part of the show; if the guest heard about the project beforehand, it would be cancelled. The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was first presented by Ralph Edwards to the first "victim", Eamonn Andrews, who was the presenter from the second show. The scriptwriter for the first 35 episodes was Gale Pedrick. In 1958 it was the most popular regular show on the BBC with audiences between 8.75 and 10.5 million. It ended in 1964 when Andrews moved to Associated British Corporation, but it was revived on ITV (produced by Thames Television) in 1969. The only other occasion during Andrews' presentational run where he was not the presenter was in 1974 when he was the subject a second time, and the show was presented by David Nixon. Michael Aspel (himself, a "victim" in 1980) became presenter after Andrews died in 1987. The show returned to the BBC in 1994 but was still produced independently by Thames Television. The programme was discontinued again in 2003. At first, the show was always broadcast live; later, programmes were sometimes pre-recorded. Live broadcasts ended in 1983 when boxer Alan Minter could not stop swearing during his appearance; also newspapers were able to find out which star was to be featured and ratings dropped as people no longer watched it just to see who was on that week. The show returned in June 2007 on ITV for a one-off-special programme hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald with guest Simon Cowell. The new edition was co-produced by ITV Productions, STV Productions, TIYL Productions, Click TV and Ralph Edwards Productions. Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway featured a return of This Is Your Life to celebrate Ant & Dec's 25 years together, quizzing them on their 25 years as part of "Ant vs Dec" in episode 6 of Series 11. Michael Aspel returned as host alongside Ashley Roberts. Lynn Redgrave, in December 1996, was caught while taking her bow in her one- woman show on stage at the Haymarket Theatre, the only time the Redgrave clan was seen together on stage at the same time. Bob Hope and Dudley Moore have been the only subjects of two-part editions of the programme, in 1970 and 1987 respectively. Both were broadcast over two weeks. Clive Mantle's profile included a post-credits sequence where he thanked the audience for coming. Footballer Danny Blanchflower turned down the "red book" in February 1961. Author Richard Gordon (of Doctor in the House fame) was asked in 1974 and, like Bill Oddie (of The Goodies) in 2001, he initially turned it down, but changed his mind and appeared on the show. Actor Richard Beckinsale was a feature on the show shortly after his 31st birthday, eight months before his death. Hattie Jacques appeared in 1963 and featured her husband John Le Mesurier who had helped set up the surprise. However, much to her extreme discomfort, she was at the time living separately from Le Mesurier with her younger lover John Schofield. In 1996, the Sunday Mirror reported that a planned show for Cockney comedy actor Arthur Mullard was pulled after researchers contacted his eldest son. The same report featured claims that Mullard had terrorised his family and had sexually abused his daughter for many years. The series originally included non-celebrities who had done extraordinary things in their lives. In later years, following a persistent criticism of only deeming celebrities worthy of being featured on the show, non-celebrities were featured again. These included businesspeople, military personnel, the clergy and those that had performed outstanding community or charity service but who were not well known to the general public. Examples include: paramedic Allan Norman; Group Captain Leonard Cheshire; Cromer lifeboatman Henry "Shrimp" Davies; Colonel Tod Sweeney; Mary Ward, community nurse to the boat people of the canals; Chay Blyth; Sir Nicholas Winton; Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader; and Sir Fitzroy Maclean. The series never profiled serving politicians, although retired politicians were occasionally featured, e.g. Lord Brabourne. Forty-two celebrities have appeared on the show twice — including Honor Blackman, Dora Bryan, Bob Monkhouse and Eamonn Andrews himself. David Butler was 17 when he became the youngest ever subject of This Is Your Life (episode aired 5 March 1962). He was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the headmaster's study of Hemel Hempstead Grammar School. David lost both his legs and a hand when, aged 11, he found an unexploded bomb on Ivinghoe Beacon. When snooker player Stephen Hendry was surprised with the red book in 1990, aged 21, he remarked that he had "hardly had a life". The theme tune used from 1969 was called 'Gala Performance' and was composed by Laurie Johnson for KPM. 2 June 2007 (ITV) A celebration of This Is Your Life, Guest and series list (web.archive.org) The Atheist Bus Campaign was an advertising campaign in 2008 and 2009 that aimed to place "peaceful and upbeat" messages about atheism on transport media in Britain, in response to evangelical Christian advertising. It was created by comedy writer Ariane Sherine and launched on 21 October 2008, with official support from the British Humanist Association and Richard Dawkins. The campaign's original goal was to raise £5,500 to run 30 buses across London for four weeks early in 2009 with the slogan: "There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, agreed to match all donations up to a maximum of £5,500, providing a total of £11,000 if the full amount were to be raised. The campaign reached that target by 10:06AM on 21 October and had raised £100,000 by the evening of 24 October. The campaign closed on 11 April 2009, having raised a total of £153,523.51. The first buses started running on 6 January 2009 – 800 ran around the UK and it was also planned to place 1,000 adverts on the London Underground featuring quotations from famous atheists. There were also two large LCD screens placed on Oxford Street, central London. Sherine first proposed the campaign in June 2008 in a guardian.co.uk Comment is Free blog post, Atheists – gimme five in the Guardian. She expressed her frustration that the Christian organisation JesusSaid.org was allowed to use bus advertising to promote the web address of a website that said that all non-Christians would burn in hell for all eternity. Sherine called on atheists to counter this kind of evangelical advertising by donating five pounds towards a positive philosophical advert. Her idea was taken up by political blogger Jon Worth, who went on to set up a PledgeBank page. The PledgeBank page closed on 31 July 2008, having received 877 of the 4,679 pledges necessary for the original target of £23,400. This event attracted some limited comment in the mainstream media early in August. Sherine then wrote a follow-up Comment is free article, Dawkin 'bout a Revolution, detailing events since the original piece. In response, the British Humanist Association offered to lend the campaign its official support and undertook to administer all donations. Sherine then asked Richard Dawkins for a quote for the campaign, at which point he offered to match the first £5,500 raised. The Atheist Bus Campaign's donation phase launched on Tuesday 21 October 2008 with another article by Sherine, All aboard the atheist bus campaign, on Comment is free. To the surprise of the organisers the fundraising target was broken within hours of the launch, raising almost £48,000 by the end of day one. After four days the campaign had raised more than £100,000. There have been donations to the Justgiving page every day since the campaign's launch, and by 9 January 2009 the total had surpassed £140,000. The BHA has reported a flood of interest in its activities and the Atheist Bus Campaign Facebook group has been growing rapidly since the launch. Many atheists feel the campaign has given them a voice and represented them in a way they have long hoped for. The story attracted widespread media attention around the world. Writing in The Times, Joan Bakewell observed that "Not since Going to Work on an Egg has an advertising initiative made such an impact, and for so little cost." There has been some opposition to the adverts. By 21 January 2009 the ASA had received 326 complaints about the bus adverts, including a complaint from Stephen Green of Christian Voice (UK) who said "It is given as a statement of fact and that means it must be capable of substantiation if it is not to break the rules." Hanne Stinson of the BHA has suggested that if the ASA rule on this complaint, then the ASA will be ruling on whether God exists. On 21 January the ASA ruled that the adverts were not in breach of its rules as the advert "was an expression of the advertiser's opinion" and was incapable of substantiation. They also claimed that although the advert was contrary to many people's beliefs, it would not generate "serious or widespread offence". By the end of the year, the ASA had received 392 complaints about the adverts. The campaign has also received criticism from leading clergy including George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Peter Price, the current Bishop of Bath and Wells, who said "the campaign lacked both judgement and a sense of reality." In Southampton, a bus driver refused to drive a bus displaying the advert. His employers, First Bus, undertook to find him another bus to drive. Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has said of the campaign: "That's religion! Once you're paying money to put slogans on things, well it's either a product you're selling, a political party or religion". Television critic Charlie Brooker was the fourth person to donate to the campaign, giving £100 with the comment "I hope to God this helps".The poet and musician Labi Siffre donated £1000 on 22 October 2008 with the verse, "As God knew / What Judas would do / In the final accounting / Who betrayed who?" Philosopher AC Grayling donated £500, while writer Zoe Margolis donated with the comment "About time the rational voices were heard too". Richard Dawkins donated the most of any celebrity with £5,500, but even his donation has been eclipsed by that of an unknown donor called Simon Bishop, who has given £20,000 to the campaign. The campaign is also supported by Matthew Parris. Additionally, Paul Woolley, the director of Christian think tank Theos, and a close associate of the Archbishop of Canterbury, has donated £50 as he thinks the campaign is a "great way to get people thinking about God. The posters will encourage people to consider the most important question we will ever face in our lives." The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association is a supporter of the Campaign. The wording of the proposed advert caused considerable debate among atheists and Christians alike and Sherine discussed it in a post-launch article, "Probably the best atheist bus campaign ever", on the Guardian's "Comment Is Free" section. Dawkins stated that he preferred the wording "There is almost certainly no God". Ariane Sherine claims it is necessary to be factually accurate, and that as it is impossible to disprove the existence of God it is only possible to say one 'probably' does not exist. Critic D. J. Taylor felt that this qualification let the campaign down, but admired it for introducing some tentativeness into an often polarised debate, while atheists including A. C. Grayling think that they can be certain there is no God and therefore the word 'probably' should not be used. It was also suggested that inserting the word would avoid a breach of the Advertising Standards Authority's rules. The final phase of the campaign challenged the idea that children should be labelled with their parents' religion. In November 2009, an ad appeared on billboards, not buses, in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, displaying a young girl's picture with the caption "Please don't label me" followed by "Let me grow up and choose for myself". The background displays phrases ascribing various labels to the child—"Libertarian child", "Catholic child", "Sikh child", "Capitalist child", "Atheist child", "Protestant child", and so forth. On 21 November 2009 it was reported in The Times and the Daily Telegraph that the children featured in the 'Don't Label Me' campaign were from an Evangelical Christian family. The British Humanist Association stated that the photographs had been sourced from a photographic agency website, and that it was unaware of the religious background of the models. In addition, Atheist Bus Campaign donors have raised over £23,000 for the British Humanist Association's Inclusive Schools campaign. Following publicity from the campaign, the BBC has agreed to allow a special version of Thought for the Day. It will be presented as Thought for the Afternoon, and will be the first programme of the series not presented by a figure from an established faith. Partly in response to the campaign three different Christian groups have launched advertising campaigns. Slogans include, "There definitely is a God; so join the Christian Party and enjoy your life."; "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.", a quote from Psalm 14; and "There IS a God, BELIEVE. Don't worry and enjoy your life." The Christian Party's adverts were the most-complained about of 2009, with the ASA receiving 1,204 complaints regarding them. When Richard Dawkins turned down a debate with Christian apologist William Lane Craig in 2011, adverts were placed in Oxford with a parody slogan "There's probably no Dawkins. Now stop worrying and enjoy Oct 25th at the Sheldonian Theatre." Influenced by the Atheist Bus Campaign, the American Humanist Association launched a bus campaign in Washington, D.C. in November 2008 with the slogan "Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness' sake." The Freedom From Religion Foundation had also launched a bus campaign in the United States, featuring buses with various quotations appearing during February and March 2009. In February, a campaign formed in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States, to run ads saying "You Can Be Good Without God" in various cities in the state of Indiana. Significant attention and media coverage has been devoted to atheist roadside billboard campaigns, funded by various groups at the local level between 2008 and 2010. In February 2009, a nationwide campaign was launched by the Freethought Association of Canada with Justin Trottier and Chris Hammond serving as spokespersons. The Toronto Transit Commission in Canada approved the advertisements on the commission's buses, trams, and metro and rapid transit trains, with the same message as the British adverts, and debuted in mid- February. Following a request by the Association humaniste du Québec, the Société des transports de Montréal, Canada, accepted the proposed message "Dieu n'existe probablement pas, alors cessez de vous inquiéter et profitez de la vie", a translation of the original UK advert, and the bus should take to the road during March 2009. Secular Humanists and Free Thinkers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and London have had their adverts refused. In Canada's capital city, Ottawa, the ads were initially refused, but the decision was ultimately overturned by Ottawa City Council and the ads will be permitted. In British Columbia, Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna adverts were barred on the ground that no religious advertisement is allowed on buses. The ads also ran in Calgary and eventually Halifax and Ottawa. The ads were initially rejected in both Halifax and Ottawa, but court cases overturned the bans. In 2010, CFI Canada announced plans to put ads on Canadian buses with the phrase "Extraordinary Claims require Extraordinary Evidence". Below that phrase it lists Allah, bigfoot, UFOs, Homeopathy, Zeus, Psychics and Christ. As of 2014, the bus campaign has not gone into action and it is unclear if it was cancelled. In 2014, a series of ads were designed and planned to be placed on buses in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The campaign was intended to coincide with the launch of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and featured opposition to the public funding of religious school boards in Ontario. The ads highlighted public funding of religious schools as a human rights violation. The ads were blocked by Pattison Outdoor Advertising who cited the Canadian Advertising Foundation's Code of Standards. The advertising campaign was privately funded by Dr. Richard Thain, a dentist and humanist from Eastern Ontario. Dr. Thain launched a law-suit against the City of Winnipeg and Pattison Outdoor Advertising in 2017 with a claim that his charter right to freedom of expression had been denied by the refusal to carry the ads. The parties in the suit are expected to have an examination for discovery early in 2020. Several of the ads were carried in a modified form on bus shelters in the City of Winnipeg. On 11 December 2010 the Brazilian Association of Atheists and Agnostics (ATEA) attempted to run a bus campaign with the slogan "Ateísmo – celebre a razão" ("Atheism – Celebrate reason"), but were prevented from doing so on buses in Salvador, Bahia and Porto Alegre. The agency responsible for bus ads in Salvador informed that they would not sign the ad contract for fear of lawsuits, while in Porto Alegre, the passengers' association barred the campaign as the city ordinance prevents that bus ads bear messages related to religion. Instead, billboards were placed outdoors. The messages were "Religião não define caráter" ("Religion does not define character") and "Se deus existe, tudo é permitido" ("If God exists, everything is permitted"). The Atheist Foundation of Australia also attempted to run a bus campaign with the slogan "Atheism – celebrate reason", but were prevented from doing so by advertising company APN Outdoor, Australia's largest outdoor advertiser, which refused to run the adverts. In the state of Tasmania the government-owned bus company, Metro Tasmania, also rejected the ads, citing their precedent of blocking any controversial material. However, after conciliation before the office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner the ads are scheduled to appear in 2010. In New Zealand, fund-raising was started in December 2009 for the NZ Atheist Bus Campaign, administered by the Humanist Society of New Zealand. In just a couple of days, the original target of NZ$ 10000 was reached. A new doubled target of NZ$20000 was reached in under a week. The organisers said this will provide signs for 12 buses in Auckland, eight in Wellington and four in Christchurch. However the advertisements were later rejected by several bus companies, notably NZ Bus, leading the organisers to bring a claim of discrimination to the Human Rights Review Tribunal. The organisers later ran a billboard campaign in the three cities with some of the money raised for the bus campaign using three different slogans combined with the slogan used in the original United Kingdom campaign. In Finland a similar campaign was announced on 16 March 2009 to run on buses in Finland in three of the country's largest cities, Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. The campaign was run bun Vapaa-ajattelijain liitto. In Helsinki, the text said "Jumalaa tuskin on olemassa. Lopeta siis murehtiminen ja nauti elämästä", a direct translation of the English campaign. In Tampere and Turku the text was changed to "Iloitse elämästäsi kuin se olisi ainoasi, koska se on" ("Enjoy your life as if it was your only one, because it is") due to opposition of local transportation providers. The German Atheist Bus Campaign had problems finding a bus company that would run their ads and the official website states that they were rejected by 17 companies from all over Germany. Instead they decided to drive the bus themselves on a tour that covered 20 major German cities. On each stop the bus took people from the city on a sightseeing roundtrip with an emphasis on scientific and religious historical developments in respect to secularisation and atheism. This decision was met with mixed reactions from the supporters of the campaign who had originally hoped for a conventional advertising campaign, which had succeeded in other countries. In Austria the Atheist Bus Campaign (Atheistische Buskampagne) was launched in July 2009 and had a follow-up campaign in the fall of 2010. Like in Germany advertising on buses for religious (but also political) purposes was not allowed by the bus services that are usually operated by the cities and not private companies. The first leg of the campaign was running three slogans: "There is probably no god.", "Es gibt keinen Gott" and "Gott ist ein tschechischer Schlagersänger." The third is a humorous reference to the Czech singer Karel Gott. The Humanist Association of Ireland ran a series of advertisements on Dublin commuter trains which they called the Unbelievable Campaign. The campaign was to highlight that judges and the president have to take a religious oath, which effectively stops 250,000 people from taking these posts. An atheist bus campaign promoted by the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR) was due to start on 4 February 2009 in Genoa. The city was chosen on the occasion of the nomination of its archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, as president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI). The slogan of the Italian campaign reads "La cattiva notizia è che Dio non esiste. Quella buona è che non ne hai bisogno", meaning "The bad news is that God does not exist. The good news is that you do not need him". On 16 January 2009 IGPDecaux, the company holding licenses for ads on public transport in Genoa, refused to give authorization to the atheist bus campaign on the grounds that it may "offend the moral, civic and religious convictions of the public". Antonio Catricalà, the then head of the Italian National Authority for Fair Trading and Competition, announced that the Authority filed a case against the Atheist Bus initiative because of the potentially "dangerous and mendacious nature" of the ads. As a reaction, the UAAR launched a new campaign in Genoa with a different slogan to comply with the advertising authority's rules: "The good news is there are millions of atheists in Italy. The excellent news is they believe in freedom of expression". On 12 January 2009, Dutch philosopher, atheist activist and director of the Center for Inquiry Low Countries, Floris van den Berg, announced the intention to launch a similar campaign in the Netherlands. Kees van der Staaij of the conservative Protestant Reformed Political Party (SGP) asked parliamentary questions about the matter to Secretary of State of Transport Tineke Huizinga, and discussed the topic with Van den Berg on 28 January in Nova. However, the bus campaign was abandoned, because the major bus companies Connexxion, Arriva and Veolia do not allow messages of a political or religious nature. On 11 March 2009, Van den Berg was interviewed by the NOS when he took a new initiative to place a billboard along the A4 motorway near Schiphol, that for the first time in the Netherlands promoted an atheist message: "There is probably no god. Dare to think for yourself and enjoy this life!" In Spain an advertising campaign has been launched with the slogan "Probablemente Dios no existe. Deja de preocuparte y goza de la vida", a direct translation of the British advert, on buses in Barcelona which started on 12 January. Madrid and Valencia will follow up at the end of January. This campaign has received criticism from Catholics. In Sweden, the Swedish Humanist Association ran ads in the Stockholm Metro during the summer of 2009 with the slogan "Gud finns nog inte", meaning "God probably does not exist" that were influenced by the British ads. In Russia in September 2010 activists of "Общественное объединение по продвижению секуляризма в России" decided to make the same campaign in Moscow. It proposed the slogan "По всей видимости Бога нет" (There's probably no God). But clericals in the authorities prohibited it. After the activists were trying to get success via change the Campaign slogan on quotation from art.14 of Constitution of Russia "Russian Federation is a secular state", but clerical lobby prohibited this quotation also. Atheists were refused by Advertising Committee of Moscow, large advertising company News Outdoor (division of News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch) and small advertising agencies, city bus operator Mosgortrans, etc.". Now activists are collecting donations for "Atheistmobile" to ride in Moscow with Campaign slogan. The Swiss Freethinkers' Association planned to put the statement "Wahrscheinlich gibt es keinen Gott. Kein Grund zur Sorge, geniess das Leben!" onto one public bus in ten cities of Switzerland. The campaign is a reaction to billboards with Bible quotes such as "I believe that Jesus Christ is God's son" or "Jesus is the light of life". The stated goal of the campaign was to give people a voice who feel harried by missionary messages. Unknown parties have threatened the Luzern public transport operator VBL to set their buses on fire if they carry such messages; VBL employees were also verbally harassed. The Freethinkers' Association received hate email from radical Christians. The political party Evangelische Volkspartei was thinking about creating a counter-campaign. In Bern, the metropolitan public transport operator SVB refused to carry the campaign, saying that they "do not want to take part in this provocation". Zürich and Geneva showed similar reactions: The cities did not want to risk offending religious feelings. Atheist Bus donation page, The Next Stop donation page, Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign, Bus Locations—British Humanist Association, German Atheist Bus Campaign, New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign The Sinner's Prayer (also called the Consecration Prayer and Salvation Prayer) is an evangelical Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who feel convicted of the presence of sin in their lives and have the desire to form or renew a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is a popular phenomenon in evangelical circles. It is not intended as liturgical like a creed or a confiteor, but rather, is intended to be an act of initial conversion to Christianity. While some Christians see reciting the sinner's prayer as the moment defining one's salvation, others see it as a beginning step of one's lifelong faith journey. It also may be prayed as an act of "re-commitment" for those who are already believers in the faith. Often, at the end of a worship service, in what is known as an altar call, a minister or other worship leader will invite those desiring to receive Christ (thus becoming born again) to repeat with him or her the words of some form of a sinner's prayer. It also is frequently found on printed gospel tracts, urging people to "repeat these words from the bottom of your heart". The "Sinner’s Prayer" takes various forms, all of which have the same general thrust. Since it is considered a matter of one's personal will, it can be prayed silently, aloud, read from a suggested model, or repeated after someone modeling the prayer role. There is no formula of specific words considered essential, although it usually contains an admission of sin and a petition asking that Jesus enter into the person's heart (that is to say, the center of their life). The use of the sinner's prayer is common within some Protestant denominations, such as Baptist Churches and Methodist Churches, as well as in movements that span several denominations, including evangelical, fundamental, and charismatic Christianity. It has also been used, though not as widely, by some Anglicans, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics. It is sometimes uttered by Christians seeking redemption or reaffirming their faith in Christ during a crisis or disaster, when death may be imminent. The "Sinner’s Prayer" is not without its critics. Because no such prayer or conversion is found in the Bible, some biblical scholars have even labeled the sinner's prayer a "cataract of nonsense" and an "apostasy". David Platt has raised questions over the authenticity of the conversions of people using the sinner's prayer based on research by George Barna. The Sinner's Prayer, as popularly known today, has roots in Protestant Christianity. Some affirm that it evolved, in some form or another, during the early days of the Protestant Reformation, as a reaction against the Roman Catholic dogma of justification by means of meritorious works. Others believe it originated as late as the eighteenth century revival movement. However, Paul Harrison Chitwood, in his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Sinner's Prayer, provides strong evidence that the Sinner's Prayer originated in the early twentieth century. Evangelists such as Billy Graham and evangelistic organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ brought the concept to prominence in the 20th century. Televangelists often ask viewers to pray a Sinner's Prayer with them, one phrase at a time, to become a Christian. Quite commonly, such a prayer appears at the conclusion of a tract and is recited in a religious service or other public service as an invitation for congregants to affirm their faith, sometimes as part of an altar call. It is said to happen many times every day around the world—in one-to-one conversations between friends, relatives, and even strangers; in pastors' offices; via email; in online chat rooms; in addition to both small and large worship services. An early proponent of the sinner's prayer was the well-known American evangelist D. L. Moody. An early version of what some would consider the Sinners' Prayer is found in Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, published in 1678, Ninth Stage, Chapter 18: The Peace with God organization, and other evangelistic organizations and preachers, messengers (delegates) to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) 2012 annual meeting reaffirmed the "Sinner's Prayer" after some debate: The absence of any specific examples of people praying the "Sinner's Prayer" in the Bible is also used by some to argue against it. There are also no examples of conversions in the Bible with people praying such a prayer. Though a more prominent concern is voiced by those who say it creates within the sinner a false sense of security. David Platt, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, has said that "Many assume they are saved simply because of a prayer they prayed. It's not that praying a prayer in and of itself is bad—but the question in is what kind of faith are we calling people to?" Speaking at the Verge church leaders' conference said the emphasis on the Sinner's Prayer is "unbiblical and damning." he continued, Platt says he is concerned that some people "say they believe in Jesus, …say they have accepted Jesus, …say that they have received Jesus, but they are not saved and will not enter the kingdom of heaven". While he affirmed that people calling out to God with repentant faith is fundamental to attaining eternal life (salvation), he said his comments about the "sinner's prayer" have been deeply motivated "by a concern for authentic conversions". Subsequently he has written: Francis Chan, a well- known evangelical Christian, has been making statements that contradict the sinner's prayer and emphasizing baptism and the Holy Spirit A second and related criticism is that many believers fail to mature as Christians after their supposed conversion using the Sinner's Prayer. An article in Christianity Today claims that "mediocrity and hypocrisy characterize the lives of many avowed Christians". The writer encourages believers to go beyond a sinner's prayer and "embark on a life fully devoted to the love of God, the love of neighbor, the moral practice of God's will, and radical, costly discipleship". "Love of God" and "Love of neighbor" are the Great Commandments. See also Disciple (Christianity). Does the reciter truly understand what the commitment to Christ really means? Praying a sinner’s prayer with someone who isn’t genuinely repentant may create a false sense of security in the one reciting it. According to , if a sinner is ready to accept Jesus as Savior, a biblical prerequisite is that the sinner (Christian prospect) has been drawn by the Holy Spirit. Another criticism of the Sinner's Prayer is that passages used to support it actually are not about the lost repeating a prayer in order to become Christians. The Sinner's Prayer is often employed in conjunction with Revelation 3:20 and Romans 10:9-10, 13. Revelation 3:20 is employed to teach that Christ is knocking at the door of one's heart, and when a lost person asks Him to come inside, Jesus comes into the sinner's heart. Romans 10:9-10, 13 are employed to affirm that one must confess with his mouth, that is, say the sinner's prayer, in order to become a Christian. However, the Baptist Greek professor Thomas Ross argues that Revelation 3:20 is about members of a church turning to the Lord, not about Christ entering into the heart of the lost. He provides 14 reasons that Revelation 3:20 is not about the lost asking Jesus into their hearts to become saved. He similarly argues that Romans 10:9-14 refers to Christians confessing Christ publicly before men and manifesting a life of prayer, rather than to the lost becoming saved by a one- time repetition of the Sinner's Prayer. Another form of this criticism of the sinner's prayer states that simply praying the sinner's prayer does not actually grant salvation to the one praying. One essay on the topic from the "Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry" asserts that "The 'Sinner's Prayer' is, today, an effective tool of Satan to dupe people into believing they are saved when they are not". Other opponents of the Sinner's Prayer point out that no classic Christian confession of faith from any evangelical denomination in Christendom affirms that one must say the Sinner's Prayer to be saved; on the contrary, Baptist, Presbyterian and other Reformed, and other evangelical groups unanimously teach justification by faith alone. They argue that the Sinner's Prayer is a modern deviation from orthodox evangelicalism and a deviation from classic evangelical methods of evangelism. The Sinner's Prayer was not practiced before the 1700s. Therefore, to say that it is the way to be saved is to say that prior to the 1700s no one was saved. Baptismal regenerationalists—those Christians who believe that when one is baptized in water is the actual moment that an individual receives salvation include Roman Catholics, the Churches of Christ, International Churches of Christ, Christian churches and churches of Christ, and the United Pentecostal Church International. This is based on passages in the New Testament that some interpret to require water baptism for salvation. Examples of these may be found in , , , , . In what is termed the Great Commission of Jesus just prior to his Ascension in , he instructed his followers to go, make disciples, teach them, and baptize them. Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist. His disciples baptized converts, and Jesus personally baptized people, according to John 3:22 which says that "Jesus...spent some time with [the disciples], and baptized." This is not in opposition to John 4:1 which says that "Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples" did. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus teaching and training the disciples to be powerful and effective at converting people. He showed them how in John 3, and by John 4 they were able to baptize on their own. Opponents of baptismal regeneration understand baptism to be a means of identifying with Christ, and that when performed by immersion it is symbolic of his death, burial and resurrection. Some dispensationalists believe the baptism that saves a person is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives, and not water baptism. Many other evangelicals and fundamentalists recognize that texts such as Mark 16:16, John 3:5, and Acts 2:38 refer to baptism in water, but argue that such verses, interpreted in their context, provide no support whatsoever for baptismal regeneration. Historic or Landmark Baptists affirm that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was a completed event that took place in the first century and is not for today, arguing that texts employed to support baptismal regeneration are actually totally consistent with justification by faith alone. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Orthodox churches also teach that forgiveness is received in baptism (although they practice this in the "Christening" with water of infants or adult converts). A leading Roman Catholic authority defines "baptism" in the following fashion: Evidence presented to advocate baptism being necessary for salvation includes the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul). After Christ had told Saul to enter Damascus where Saul would be told what he "must" do, Saul was blind for three days and was praying during this time. Ananias arrived, cured Paul of his blindness and baptized Saul. Others see it as an example of apparently instantaneous salvation coming through repentance without water baptism or any kind of work, citing the assurance Jesus gave to the penitent thief on a cross next to him during the crucifixion. An opposing position here is that the penitent thief was dying under the older Mosaic law which did not require baptism (cf. Mikveh) and that before Christ's death He had authority and did forgive many without any of the salvation requirements found after His Death, Burial and Resurrection found in the rest of the New Testament. Additionally, it is unknown whether the thief had been baptized at a stage in life before being crucified. John the Baptist and Jesus' disciples already had baptized many individuals. Baptismal regenerationalists refer to water baptism as the "washing of regeneration", believing it to be part of the "born again" conversion experience in the Bible. The passage states, "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord". Opponents of baptismal regeneration argue that vast numbers of texts in John's Gospel, the only specifically evangelistic book of the New Testament (John 20:31), promise eternal life to every single believer (John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:47, etc.) and so demonstrate that eternal life is received by faith alone before baptism. Similarly, while texts affirm that those who do not repent and believe are damned (Luke 13:3; Jn 3:18, 36), no Biblical text affirms that the unbaptized are damned, so baptismal regeneration is false. Advocates of the Sinner's Prayer also believe verses such as Romans 10:13 show that people are saved before baptism when they pray and ask to be saved, while evangelical and fundamentalist opponents of the Sinner's Prayer believe that a defense of the Sinner's Prayer plays into the hands of opponents of justification by faith alone by enshrining a human tradition over the Biblical mandate to repent and believe to receive eternal life (Mr 1:15). Moreover, opponents of the Sinner's Prayer reference Romans 6:3-5 to assert that the audience of the book of Romans was already baptized, and, therefore, were being instructed to call on the name of the Lord after they had heard and believed the message being preached (Acts 10:14-17). Other verses such as Acts 22:16 suggest that baptism and "calling on His name" are complementary actions required for forgiveness of sins. Christian views on the old covenant, Conversion to Christianity, Decision theology, Evangelism, Jesus Prayer, Journey Into Life, a widely-used tract ending with such a prayer, Lord's Prayer, Ministry of Jesus, Proselytism The Sinner’s Prayer: A Historical and Theological Analysis, by Paul Harrison Chitwood (Ph. D. Dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001)

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Blue Bloods is an American police procedural drama television series that airs on CBS. Its main characters are members of the fictional Reagan family, an Irish Catholic family in New York City with a history of work in law enforcement. Blue Bloods stars Tom Selleck as New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan; other main cast members include Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou, and Sami Gayle. The show is filmed on location in New York City with occasional references to nearby suburbs. The series debuted on September 24, 2010, with episodes airing on Fridays following before being moved to Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time and 9:00 p.m. Central and Mountain time for a four-week tryout. After four weeks, it returned to its original Friday 10:00 p.m. Eastern time slot, where it has remained since. On April 12, 2019, CBS renewed the series for a tenth season; it premiered on September 27, 2019. The series follows the Reagans, a family who has history of work in law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the Police Commissioner. Frank's oldest son Danny is an NYPD detective, his youngest son Jamie is an NYPD police sergeant, and his daughter Erin is the district attorney. Frank's second son Joe (though the series mistakenly refers to him as the oldest in more recent episodes) was murdered by a crooked cop in the line of duty in events that pre-date the series, when he was involved with an FBI investigation of a group of corrupt NYPD cops known as the Blue Templar. Frank's father Henry is a former NYPD beat cop who rose through the ranks to become Police Commissioner. Each member of the family represents a different aspect of police work or the legal process: Frank as the commissioner, Danny as the detective, Jamie as the beat cop, and Erin as the prosecutor. Additionally, while each person's story might occasionally interweave with another's, the show also follows the professional and, at times, personal relationships with their respective partners and colleagues. Frank with Garrett Moore, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and de facto Chief of Staff, Detective 1st Grade Abigail Baker, the Primary Aide to the Commissioner, and later Lieutenant Sidney Gormley, the Special Assistant to the Commissioner and de facto Chief of Department; Danny with Detective Jackie Curatola, and later Detective Maria Baez; Jamie with Officer Edit "Eddie" Janko; and Erin with Detective Anthony Abetemarco who is an investigator for the DA's office. The Reagans are an Irish Catholic family that gathers for Sunday dinner each week; according to People, "the Sunday supper is the heart of each show." Both Henry's and Frank's wives, Betty and Mary, are deceased, as is another son Joe, a detective with the Warrants Squad who was murdered prior to the series premiere. Erin is divorced and has one daughter, college student Nicky, who lived with her mother until accepting a job in San Francisco in season 10. Danny is a widower with two sons, Jack and Sean; he was married to Linda, a nurse who was killed off-screen in a helicopter crash between seasons 7 and 8. Jamie married his partner, Eddie Janko, in the Season 9 finale; they acknowledged their mutual attraction during season 7 and became engaged at the end of season 8. Selleck mentioned that he was drawn to the project because of the strong pilot script and that he was concerned about becoming involved in an ongoing series because he did not want to compromise his commitment to the Jesse Stone television movies. Beginning January 19, 2011, Blue Bloods was moved to Wednesdays at 10 p.m. for a four-week tryout. In February 2011, the series returned to its Friday night time slot due to the series premiere of . In the UK, the show helped launch Sky Atlantic by premiering on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, at 10:30 p.m. In Australia, the show premiered in February 2011 in a primetime Wednesday slot on Network Ten, then from February 2013 for season two was moved from the network's primary SD channel to its HD channel one alongside White Collar, then on August 26, 2013, the show moved back to the primary SD channel on Mondays for season three. In New Zealand, the show premieres on July 13, 2013 on TV3 replacing in a primetime Saturday slot after . On October 20, 2012, CBS announced that Jennifer Esposito was being dropped from the series, with her character, Detective Curatola, being placed on indefinite leave of absence. Esposito and CBS had been at odds over her limited availability for work after the actress was diagnosed with celiac disease. She had missed a week after collapsing on set earlier in the season. According to Esposito, CBS challenged her request for a reduced work schedule, and further, kept her from finding work elsewhere. In a press release from CBS, the network said that Esposito had "informed us that she is only available to work on a very limited part-time schedule. As a result, she's unable to perform the demands of her role and we regretfully had to put her character on a leave of absence." Curatola's last appearance was in the season three episode "Nightmares". According to TV by the Numbers, by committing itself to a third season of Blue Bloods, CBS all but guaranteed a fourth season, because, as a CBS Television Studios production, CBS had a financial incentive to produce at least the minimum number of episodes needed for stripped syndication. On March 27, 2013, CBS made it official by renewing Blue Bloods for a fourth season to begin in the fall of 2013. Blue Bloods was renewed for a fifth season on March 13, 2014, and has since been renewed for seasons 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. A house in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn is used for exterior shots of the Reagan house. The series received $79 million in tax breaks from the state of New York for its seasons four through seven. In Australia, the series premiered on Network Ten's primary channel on February 2, 2011. Due to poor ratings of the first season, Ten moved the series to its HD channel One, which premiered the second season on October 31, 2011. Due to decreased viewership of Ten's primary channel, season three moved back from August 26, 2013, and season four returned on March 17, 2014. Foxtel channel TV HITS (styled TV H!TS) have started airing the series from Episode 1, weeknights at 8:30pm AEST as of March 20. In New Zealand, the series premiered on TV3 on July 13, 2013. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sky Atlantic premiered the series on February 1, 2011, with season two returning on October 4, 2011, season three on December 13, 2012, and season four on November 28, 2013. Season five premiered on January 21, 2015. Reruns of Blue Bloods air nationally in the United States every Wednesday on Ion Television, and WGN America, the latter of which airs the show daily. CBS Television Distribution currently distributes the series to local outlets on weekends, with two episodes being offered. Repeats of Blue Bloods air on Pick in the UK. The show airs twice a day on TV2 Charlie in Denmark. Reviewers have praised the series' on-location shooting. The New York Daily News praised Selleck's performance as Frank Reagan, while also praising the family dinner scene for discussion of morally complex issues. The Daily News drew comparisons between Selleck's characters Jesse Stone and Frank Reagan, saying that both Reagan and Stone are moral, principled men of few words. In Entertainment Weeklys annual Fall TV Preview, Ken Tucker named Blue Bloods one of the "5 Best New Shows" of 2010. In late 2014, the left-leaning magazine Slates Laura Hudson criticized the show for its depiction of racial incidents involving the police. In 2017, Selleck was nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor for his work on the show. The pilot episode garnered 15.246 million viewers because of the Live + 7 days after with viewings from DVRs. Without the DVR adding to the live viewing the show's debut episode garnered a total of 13.02 million viewers. Overall, the ratings have been steady for the series, after the pilot episode. The lowest viewer total through the first seven seasons was 8.88 million in episode eight of season seven (which ran against Game 3 of the 2016 World Series); it was one of the few episodes through the first seven seasons that had fewer than 9 million initial-broadcast viewers. The second-season finale on May 11, 2012, was watched by 10.73 million viewers and received a 1.2/4 ratings/share among adults ages 18–49. The highest (non-pilot) live viewership of 12.93 million occurred in episode 14 of season four ("Manhattan Queens"), which was the series' 81st episode. In January 2013, CBS announced via press release that Blue Bloods was the first scripted Friday series in 10 years to average at least 13 million viewers (live + 7), gaining eight percent more viewers than the previous year. The in 2001 had 14.78 million viewers, while the in 2003 had 14.92 million. From season 8 onward, ratings have declined. Season 9 was the first season with no episodes reaching 10 million first-run viewers, although Blue Bloods still ranked as the eighth most watched program in 2018–19 Live + 7 viewership. Season 9 also saw the lowest first-run viewership for any episode (7.62 million for Ep. 14, "My Brother's Keeper"). The first season of Blue Bloods, an American police procedural–family drama television series, aired in the United States on CBS between September 24, 2010 to May 13, 2011. The series was created and, along with Leonard Goldberg and Michael Cuesta, executively produced by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. The show revolves around the Reagan family, consisting of the retired police commissioner, current police commissioner, police officers, and an assistant district attorney, all working with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Actors Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou and Tom Selleck make up the main cast as the Reagan family—Danny, Erin, Jamie, Henry and Frank. Blue Bloods first season aired during the 2010–11 television season on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. EST. The series debuted with the pilot episode, which was viewed by 13.01 million viewers. The season ended with the finale "The Blue Templar", which was watched by 11.79 million viewers. The season averaged 12.58 million viewers per 22 episodes. Internationally, the first season was very successful in Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand, ranking among the top 30 most watched programs on the respective channels. The first season also garnered positive reviews from television critics, praising the performances of lead actors Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck and the family dynamic among the Reagans. A running theme through the first season is Jamie's assumption of Joe's investigation. The FBI tried to recruit Jamie, but instead he conducted his own covert investigation into Joe's murder. The corrupt cops were operating within a fraternal organization called the "Blue Templar", and murdered Joe when his covert investigation was getting close to exposing names. Joe's assailants attempt to kill Jamie by sabotaging the brakes in his car; however, this effort backfired. After the failed hit, Jamie informs Frank, Danny, and grandfather Henry about the results of his informal investigation. Along with Frank's prosecutor daughter Erin, the Reagan family completes Joe's Blue Templar investigation. After gathering sufficient evidence to obtain arrest warrants, Frank personally leads a squad of police officers, including Danny and Jamie, to execute the warrant. They arrest the corrupt cops while they are having a covert meeting to divide stolen drug money. The group's leader, a detective named Sonny Malevsky, admits to killing Joe. After his confession, Malevsky commits suicide with his service pistol. The entire season was released on DVD in Region 1 on September 13, 2011, Region 2 on September 19, 2011 and Region 4 on September 15, 2011. The first season of Blue Bloods was produced by Panda Productions, Paw In Your Face Productions and CBS Productions. The series aired in the United States on CBS Friday nights at 10:00 P.M. EST and Canada on CTV via simulcast. Internationally, season one aired in New Zealand on TV3 Saturday nights at 9:30 P.M., in Australia on Network Ten for the first twelve episodes (Wednesday nights at 8:30 P.M. for the first six and Friday nights at 9:30 P.M.) and on One for the rest of the season. In a deal with CBS Studios International, the series was acquired by the UK channel Sky Atlantic on January 5, 2011 and was one of the first series to air on the new channel, which launched on February 1, 2011. The series was created by Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green and executive produced by Burgess, Green, producer Leonard Goldberg and director Michael Cuesta. The show was initially run by director Ken Sanzel, but Sanzel left in August 2010 amid alleged creative tension with series star Tom Selleck. Staff directors for the season include Cuesta, Félix Alcalá, Jan Eliasberg, Karen Gaviola, Stephen Gyllenhaal, Ralph Hemecker, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Frederick K. Keller, Matt Penn, John Polson, Michael Pressman, Rosemary Rodriguez, and Alex Zakrzewski. Episodes were written by a team of writers, which consisted of Burgess, Green, Brian Burns, Siobhan Byrne-O'Connor, Amanda Green, Julie Hébert, Thomas Kelly, Gwendolyn M. Parker, Mark Rosner, Ken Sanzel, Diana Son, and Kevin Wade. Cinematographers hired for the season included Craig DiBona, David Insley, Tim Ives and Teodoro Maniaci. Composers Mark Morgan and Rob Simonsen provided the background music for the season. The first season featured a cast of five main actors who received star billing. Tom Selleck portrays Francis "Frank" Reagan, the patriarch of the Reagan family, a former Marine, and current Police Commissioner who is notably silent about his political beliefs. Donnie Wahlberg acted as Frank's eldest son Daniel "Danny" Reagan, a hard-nosed NYPD Detective and former Marine who often roughs up his suspects, despite being prohibited to do so. Bridget Moynahan portrays Frank's daughter Erin Reagan-Boyle, an assistant district attorney who abides by the law in her dealings with criminal justice. Will Estes portrayed Frank's youngest son Jamison "Jamie" Reagan, a rookie police officer and graduate from Harvard Law before entering the police academy. Len Cariou played Frank's father Henry Reagan, a retired police commissioner and former Marine who, like Danny, is very vocal about his political beliefs. In addition to the regular cast, the season also featured actors who received the "also starring" billing, appearing in almost every episode of the season. Jennifer Esposito portrayed Jackie Curatola, an NYPD detective at the precinct and Danny's partner. Nicholas Turturro portrayed Sergeant Anthony Renzulli, Jamie's partner and mentor, who had been a partner of Joe Reagan. Several recurring characters appeared in the first season. Amy Carlson appeared as Linda Reagan, Danny's wife and mother of two children Jack and Sean. Sami Gayle portrayed Erin's teenage daughter Nicole "Nikki" Reagan-Boyle (Marlene Lawston played this role in the pilot episode). Abigail Hawk portrayed Abigail Baker, Frank's primary aide. Brothers Andrew and Tony Terraciano portray Sean and Jack Reagan, Danny and Linda's sons. Gregory Jbara acted as Garrett Moore, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. Robert Clohessy played Sgt. Sidney Gormley, the immediate supervisor of Danny and the other detectives at the precinct. Actress Dylan Moore appeared in the first eight episodes as Jamie's brief fiancée Sydney Davenport. Bruce Altman portrayed Mayor Frank Russo, Frank's superior. Andrea Roth appeared in four episodes as Kelly Davidson, a television news reporter who dated Frank. Yvonna Kopacz Wright portrayed Ava Hotchkiss, a detective at the precinct and Danny's temporary partner. Noelle Beck appeared in three episodes as Frank's Deputy Press Secretary Sue Connors. Nick Sandow recurred in four episodes as Lieutenant Alex Bello, an officer at Internal Affairs. Michael T. Weiss portrayed Sonny Malevsky, a detective who had worked with Joe Reagan before his murder. Colleen Clinton appeared as Agent Anderson, an FBI agent who attempts to recruit Jamie for her investigation into the Blue Templar. Bobby Cannavale appeared in three episodes as Charles Rosselini, Erin's boss who becomes romantically involved with her. Robert John Burke portrayed Jyle Hogan in three episodes. Tom Selleck as Police Commissioner Francis "Frank" Reagan, Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Daniel "Danny" Reagan, Bridget Moynahan as ADA Erin Reagan-Boyle, Will Estes as Officer Jamison "Jamie" Reagan, Len Cariou as Henry Reagan Jennifer Esposito as Detective Jackie Curatola, Amy Carlson as Linda Reagan, Sami Gayle as Nicole "Nicky" Reagan-Boyle Blue Bloods premiered with the pilot episode, which attracted 13.01 million viewers. After four episodes, the season received a full order of 22 episodes. The series was the most watched program on Friday nights during its duration and was the second most watched program during its short move to the Wednesday timeslot. Apart from the pilot episode, the most-watched episode of the season was "Little Fish", which accrued a viewership of 12.30 million viewers. The series finale was watched by 11.78 million viewers. The season averaged over 12.58 million viewers and a 7.8/14 household rating, becoming the 19th most- watched series of the 2010-2011 primetime television season. In the 18-49 adult demographic, the season averaged a 2.2 Nielsen rating, equating to 2.88 million viewers and ranking number 85th for the 2010-2011 primetime television season. In Canada, Blue Bloods stood as a solid performer on CTV, landing within the top twenty of the top programs in Canada. The show ended its first season as the most watched new drama series as well as second most watched new series of the season. The season ranked number five in the 18-49 and 25-54 age demographics. In the United Kingdom, the series was among the weekly top five most viewed program on Sky Atlantic, amassing an audience between 450,000 and 630,000 viewers. In Australia, the series premiered with a strong 1.11 million viewers, but viewership fell to 288,000 viewers by April, prompting Network Ten to move the series to its HD channel One, which premiered the second half of the season on October 31, 2011. Upon the premiere of the pilot episode, the series received positive reviews from television critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from television critics, the show received an average score of 70, which indicates "generally favorable review", based on 25 reviews. Reviews for the full season were generally positive. Nick Hartel of DVD Talk deemed the DVD release of the season as "Recommended", writing that it "should wisely be approached as a family drama that utilizes the police angle as a common bonding element." Hartel lauded Selleck, Wahlberg and Cariou's performances and the family dinners, noting that "the arguments and interruptions that garnish the meals give "Blue Bloods" its most human qualities." Hartel also noted that the series "quickly resort to genre story staples", adding that the "identity crisis of cop drama versus family drama results in the former getting the short end of the stick with many cases feeling like an afterthought or plot contrivance for the Reagans to discuss at the weekly family dinner." C.S. Stonebridge of The Numbers wrote, "The regular crimes are also intriguing enough to carry most episodes, although there were a few too many times where there were pretty big coincidences that strained credibility. But this storyline made watching each episode more important, as opposed to a show like Law & Order, where you could almost literally grab any episode in the show's 20 year run and watch it without having to have seen any of the earlier episodes to know what's going on." Stuart Cummins of What Culture called the series "entertaining police drama that combines the best elements of shows such as Numbers, CSI and Law & Order with the family crises and dramas found in shows like Brothers & Sisters." Chuck Barney of San Jose Mercury News found the cases on the series to "don't carry much of a wow factor" and the show overall lacked "the kind of grittiness that might make it more powerful." Barney however praised the actors' performances and the family dynamic of the Reagans. Some reviewers, however, share mixed to negative opinion concerning the shows format. DVD Verdict writer Adam Arseneau wrote positively about the season, praising the actors' performances, the family dynamic and the multi-generational police family plot while deeming the family dinners and the lessons doled out from them "smacks of self-righteousness and lazy writing." Arseneau concluded about the season, "If we had genuinely solid material to engage the Reagans, Blue Bloods could be one of the best cop shows on television. As it stands, it rarely transcends average." David Brown from Radio Times gave the season release three stars (out of five), writing "Imagine something that mixes the best elements of Law & Order and Brothers & Sisters and you get the idea." The Guardian writer Michael Hann wrote negatively of the series, noting that "one can know what is happening without even watching the show, since each episode follows the same template." All viewing figures and ranks are sourced from BARB. Jennifer Esposito (born April 11, 1973) is an American actress and author. She is known for her roles in the feature films Crash, Summer of Sam, Don't Say a Word, Taxi, and Welcome to Collinwood. She has also appeared in several television series, most notably The Looney Tunes Show, Spin City, Related, Samantha Who?, Blue Bloods, and Mistresses. From 2016 to 2017, she played Special Agent Alexandra Quinn on the CBS series NCIS. Esposito was born on April 11, 1973, in New York City, into a working class household, the second of two daughters of Phyllis, an interior decorator, and Robert Esposito, a music producer. She is of Italian (Neapolitan) descent. She was raised on Staten Island and is a graduate of Moore Catholic High School. Esposito made her first television appearance in Law & Order in 1996. She then joined the cast of Spin City, where she appeared for two seasons. She also appeared in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. One of her more notable roles was as "Ruby" in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam in 1999, which was set against the late 1970s backdrop of the Son of Sam murders. Esposito's next films included Dracula 2000, The Master of Disguise, the 2004 comedy Taxi, and the Academy Award-winning film Crash, in which she played Don Cheadle's partner and romantic interest, Ria. On May 21, 2004, for Dinner for Five season 3, episode 7, she joined Jon Favreau, Stephen Dorff, Luis Guzmán, and Barry Pepper. Esposito has made television appearances on the series , Rescue Me, and Mercy. She was a regular cast member on Related and Samantha Who?. Esposito joined the cast of the CBS drama Blue Bloods in 2010, playing the role of Detective Jackie Curatola, the partner of Detective Danny Reagan (played by Donnie Wahlberg). In the third season, Esposito was diagnosed with celiac disease, and after collapsing on set, Esposito informed CBS that her condition would limit her availability to work on the series. Rather than work around her limited schedule, Blue Bloods producers chose to write her character out of the series in 2012. In 2013, she launched Jennifer's Way Bakery, in Manhattan's West Village which only serves celiac-safe food. In 2014, she joined the NBC series Taxi Brooklyn. On April 22, 2014, Da Capo Lifelong Books published Esposito's first book Jennifer's Way, a detailed look into her personal struggle with celiac disease before and after she was diagnosed and the things she did to survive. The book made The New York Times Best Sellers list on July 6, 2014. In 2015, Esposito played Calista Raines in the ABC drama series Mistresses, and it was reported that she was a cast member on the CBS pilot Taxi-22, opposite John Leguizamo. She played Dominic West's sister in the Showtime series The Affair for six episodes. In 2015, Esposito became the brand ambassador for Eclair Naturals, a gluten-free, GMO- free, and vegan body and skin care line available in Rite Aid stores across the United States. In 2016, it was announced Esposito would join the cast of NCIS as Special Agent Alexandra "Alex" Quinn, an experienced agent who left field work and became an instructor at the Law Enforcement Training Center. NCIS leader, Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), will lure Quinn back into the field as part of his team where he will take advantage of her sharp wit, quick mind and immense talent as a federal agent. Upon joining the cast of NCIS as Special Agent Alex Quinn, executive producer Gary Glasberg said, "We couldn't be happier to have Jennifer Esposito joining us for season 14. She embodies everything that we hoped for in the character of Quinn and we can't wait to have her come be a part of our team". In June 2017 it was announced that this would be her only season. Esposito appeared on the September 10, 2016, episode of where she said her doctor had her hospitalized in a psych ward. She said the hospitalization happened during the time she was an actress on the show Samantha Who? In 2019 she joined the cast of The Boys, an Amazon Prime Exclusive. Esposito married American actor Bradley Cooper on December 30, 2006. In May 2007, after five months of marriage, they filed for divorce, which was finalized that November. In 2009, Esposito became engaged to Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis. The couple separated in August 2010. In October 2011, Esposito announced that she had celiac disease on The Late Show with David Letterman. In May 2014, Esposito announced her engagement to British model Louis Dowler. They married on November 16, 2014 in New York City. It was reported in March 2016 that Esposito had filed for divorce from Dowler.

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"Dueling Banjos" is a traditional composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1954 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos," which contained riffs from Smith recorded in 1955 playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass banjo player Don Reno. The composition's first wide-scale airing was on a 1963 television episode of The Andy Griffith Show called "Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee," in which it is played by visiting musical family the Darlings (played by The Dillards, a bluegrass group) along with Griffith himself. The song was made famous by the 1972 film Deliverance, which also led to a successful lawsuit by the song's composer, as it was used in the film without Smith's permission. The film version was arranged and recorded by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell, but only credited to Weissberg on a single subsequently issued in December 1972. It went to #2 for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, all four weeks behind Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song," and topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks the same year. It reached #1 for one week on both the Cashbox and Record World pop charts. The song also reached No. 5 on the Hot Country Singles chart at the same time it was on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary Singles charts. It was also nominated for the 30th Golden Globe Awards in the Best Original Song category. In Deliverance, a scene depicts Billy Redden playing it opposite Ronny Cox, who joins him on guitar. Redden plays "Lonnie," a mentally challenged and inbred but extremely gifted banjo player. Redden could not actually play the banjo and the director thought his hand movements looked unconvincing. A local musician, Mike Addis, was brought in to depict the movement of the boy's left hand. Addis hid behind Redden, with his left arm in Redden's shirt sleeve. Careful camera angles kept Addis out of frame and completed the illusion, though anyone familiar with bluegrass banjo playing can see that the left-hand movements do not match up with the music produced, and that the banjo being used (an open-back instrument) could never produce the music one hears (clearly from a resonator banjo). The music itself was dubbed in from the recording made by Weissberg and Mandell and was not played by the actors themselves. Two young musicians, Ron Brentano and Mike Russo, had originally been signed to play their adaptation for the film, but instead it was performed by Weissberg and Mandell. "Dueling Banjos" was arranged and performed for the film by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on its soundtrack. When Arthur "Boogie" Smith was not acknowledged as the composer by the filmmakers, he sued and eventually won, receiving songwriting credit as well as royalties. The song was briefly used in a TV commercial for the 2003 Saturn Vue. List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1973 (U.S.) Eric Weissberg (born August 16, 1939) is an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for playing solo in "Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the film Deliverance (1972) and released as a single that reached number 2 in the United States and Canada in 1973. A member of the folk group, the Tarriers, for years, Weissberg later developed a career as a session musician. He has played and recorded with leading rock and popular musicians and groups of the late 20th century. Weissberg continues to play at folk festivals. Weissberg attended The Little Red Schoolhouse in New York's Greenwich Village and graduated from The High School of Music & Art in New York City. He went on to the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Juilliard School of Music. From 1956 to 1958, Weissberg frequently joined Bob Yellin, John Herald and Paul Prestopino at Washington Square Park to play on Sundays from 12-6pm. Public folk-singing in that park was forbidden by the city except for Sunday afternoons. John Herald the lead singer played guitar. Bob Yellin played guitar and 5-string. Weissberg usually played 5-string but also fiddle. Paul Prestopino played mandolin. Weissberg joined an early version of the Greenbriar Boys (1958–59), but left before they made any recordings. He joined The Tarriers, replacing Erik Darling. At the time, the Tarriers had had a hit with "Banana Boat Song"; Harry Belafonte's version, released soon afterward, became a bigger hit. Weissberg was taken on as a string-bass player, but the group soon made use of his multi-instrumental talents as banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, mandolin player, and singer. He started performing with the Tarriers while still a student at Juilliard. His first album with The Tarriers, Tell The World About This (1960), has a much rougher feel than the smoothly produced sound of The Weavers or The Kingston Trio. In 1964, he had one-year's service with the National Guard, which he had earlier joined. After his return, the Tarriers re-formed. In 1965, the group accompanied Judy Collins on a tour of Poland and Russia, but disbanded soon after. Collins was sufficiently impressed with his musicianship to use Weissberg as a session musician on Fifth Album (1965) and several later albums. Commercially, interest in acoustic folk groups was waning. Weissberg developed a career as a session musician, playing on albums by The Clancy Brothers, Doc Watson, Melanie, Billy Joel, Frankie Valli, Bob Dylan, Loudon Wainwright III, Talking Heads, Tom Paxton, Jim Croce, Art Garfunkel, John Denver, Ronnie Gilbert, and others. He is well known for playing the banjo solo in "Dueling Banjos", used as the theme in the film Deliverance (1972), produced by Joe Boyd and directed by John Boorman. It was released later as a single and became a hit; playing on Top 40, AOR, and country stations alike. It reached the Top Ten and hit #1 in the US and Canada. Weissberg released a related album, called Dueling Banjos: From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Deliverance' (1973), which also became a hit. The album was made up mostly of tracks which Weissberg had recorded on New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass (1963), with Marshall Brickman and Clarence White. (Also a screenwriter, Brickman later received an Oscar for Annie Hall.) They removed two tracks from the 1963 album and added the track for "Dueling Banjos," releasing it under the new name. One of the original 1963 tracks on the new album, "Shuckin' The Corn," was later sampled by Beastie Boys on the track "5-Piece Chicken Dinner" from their album Paul's Boutique. Warner Brothers was sued by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, the composer of "Feudin' Banjos", which he had written and recorded in 1955. It was renamed as "Dueling Banjos" in the movie. He won a "substantial settlement," which included appended film credit for the song and a portion of royalties. Continuing to play folk festivals, Weissberg is nearly as well known in that venue for his dobro guitar as for his bluegrass banjo playing. He has also recorded with jazz musicians Herbie Mann and Bob James. In 1998, he joined Richard Thompson and dozens of other folk musicians on Nanci Griffith's album, Other Voices Too. He often tours with Tom Paxton. They frequently play a variant of "Dueling Banjos" in the set, in addition to Paxton's material. On February 12, 2009, Weissberg performed at the Riverside Church in New York City with the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, to honor President Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Directed by Maurice Peress, they performed Earl Robinson's The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra, in which Weissberg played solo banjo. The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone (The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Maken, 1962), "Sunny's Gallery of Folk Songs" (Sunny Schwartz, 1963), Fifth Album (Judy Collins, 1965), Live At Newport (1959–1966) (Judy Collins), Ballads From Deep Gap (Doc and Merle Watson, 1967) ′′ Bombs Over Puerto Rico (Jim & Ingrid Croce 1969), The Good Book (Melanie, 1971), Poems, Prayers & Promises (John Denver, 1971) Careful Man (Jim Croce 1973), Portfolio (Richie Havens, 1973), Rocky Mountain High (John Denver, 1973), True Stories and Other Dreams (Judy Collins, 1973), John Denver's Greatest Hits (John Denver, 1973), Piano Man (Billy Joel, 1973), Back Home Again (John Denver, 1974), Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan, 1974), Judith (Judy Collins, 1975), Free Beer (Free Beer, 1975), Sing Children Sing: Songs of the United States of America (UNICEF, 1977), Final Exam (Loudon Wainwright III, 1978), None But One (Jean Ritchie, 1981), Cabbage Patch Dreams (Cabbage Patch Kids, 1984), Little Creatures (Talking Heads, 1985), The Wanderer (Kevin Rowland, 1988), Album III (Loudon Wainwright III, 1990), Heroes (Tom Paxton, 1992), Judy Sings Dylan ... Just Like a Woman (Judy Collins, 1993), Shameless (Judy Collins, 1994), Take The Fifth (compilation; Bridget St John, 1995), Other Voices Too (Nanci Griffith, 1998), Live For The Record (Tom Paxton, 1999), Times Like These (Rick Danko, 2000), Live at Wolf Trap (Judy Collins, 2002), (Brian Keane, 2013), North Mountain Rambling (David Kraai, 2017) Official Eric Weissberg site Billy Redden (born 1956) is an American actor, best known for his role as a backwoods mountain boy in the 1972 film Deliverance. He played Lonnie, a banjo-playing teenager in north Georgia, who played the noted "Dueling Banjos" with Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox). The film was critically acclaimed and received nominations for awards in several categories. Redden was born in Rabun County, Georgia on October 13, 1956. At the age of fifteen, he was discovered by Lynn Stalmaster, who was scouting for the movie Deliverance. Stalmaster recommended Redden to the director John Boorman, though Redden was not an albino child as Boorman had requested, and Redden was cast. He portrayed a banjo-playing "local" during the film's famous "dueling banjos" scene. Boorman felt that Redden's skinny frame, large head, and almond-shaped eyes made him the natural choice to play the part of an "inbred from the back woods." Because Redden could not play a banjo, he wore a special shirt which allowed a real banjo player to hide behind him for the scene, which was shot with carefully chosen camera angles that would conceal the player, whose arms were slipped around Redden's waist to play the tune. Interestingly, the hidden banjo player was shown playing "clawhammer" style, while the soundtrack had the banjo music as three finger "Earl Scruggs" style. After Deliverance, Redden was cast in Lamberto Bava's 1984 film Blastfighter. The film was recorded in and around Clayton and many people recall it as a mixture of Deliverance and First Blood. Redden next appeared in Tim Burton's 2003 film Big Fish. Burton was intent on getting Redden, as he wanted him to play the role of a banjo-playing "welcomer" in the utopian town of Spectre. Burton located Redden in Clayton, Georgia, where he was part-owner of the Cookie Jar Café, and also worked as a cook and dishwasher. In 2004, Redden made a guest appearance on Blue Collar TV, playing a car repairman named Ray in a "Redneck Dictionary" skit. He represented the word "raisin bread" (as in "Ray's inbred"). He played a banjo in the skit. In 2009, Redden played again his usual role (The banjo man) in 's film Outrage: Born in Terror. In 2012, 40 years after the release of Deliverance, Redden was interviewed in association with a documentary, The Deliverance of Rabun County (2012). It explored the feelings of people in Rabun County four decades later about the 1972 film. Redden said that though Deliverance was the best thing that happened to him, he never saw much money from the movie: Noting some locals objected to the stereotypes in the movie, Redden said that the people in Rabun County were good people: Deliverance (1972) - Lonnie, Blastfighter (1984) - Banjo Man (uncredited), Big Fish (2003) - Banjo Man, Outrage (2009) - Banjo Man

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An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study. School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which schools are closed or no classes or other mandatory activities are held. The dates and periods of school holidays vary considerably throughout the world, and there is usually some variation even within the same jurisdiction. Governments often legislate on the total number of school days for state schools. The holidays given below apply to primary and secondary education. Teaching sessions (terms or semesters) in tertiary education are usually longer. In predominantly Christian countries, the "Christmas holidays" (or "winter break" or "winter recess" in some countries) include both the Christmas and New Year holidays. In Europe, this typically lasts two (or sometimes slightly less) to three weeks. In the southern hemisphere, Christmas is in the summer holiday period and the break is much longer (six to eight weeks). In countries with a Christian religious tradition, Easter holiday (in the United States it is sometimes known as Spring Break or Spring Vacation) is a school holiday that takes place in the northern spring, with the date varying by country and level of schooling. In most countries, the longest break in the school year is during summer, lasting between 5 and 14 weeks. In Ireland, Italy, Lithuania and Russia, summer holidays are normally three months, compared to six to eight weeks in Britain, The Netherlands and Germany. Summer holidays for most children are a time to relax, enjoy themselves, and catch up on studies, or to spend time with family or relatives. Many families travel together on school holidays. School holidays have many effects on a country, ranging from the price of travel and holiday accommodation, which increase as demand increases while children are off school, to a change in crime rate: Example UK crime rate monthly figures. Traffic congestion and heavy passenger loads on public transport on school run routes may be worse on school days during term time. The number of families taking holidays away from urban areas can reduce traffic and use of public transport in cities while loading long-distance highways and means of transport. In some countries, i.e. Netherlands, where many families travel to their holiday destinations, the start and end dates of school holidays in different regions are staggered to reduce the heavy traffic and pressure on means of transport that would otherwise occur on these dates. In Nigeria, the longest holiday is from Mid July to second week of September for Secondary schools and a longer duration within same period for tertiary institutions. Holidays are basically determined by schools and it starts from June to Early days in September. In South Africa, the main holiday usually lasts from early December to early or mid-January (4 or 6 weeks). There is an autumn break of up to 2-week in late March or early April, a longer winter break in late June and early July, and a spring break in late September or early October. In Brazil, summer holidays start in early December and end in late January or early February. Winter holidays are generally the entire month of July. Some schools in the tropical north follow a different school year. The Brazilian Carnival is 40 days before Easter Sunday and those dates are not school holidays. Brazilian schools must have at least 200 school days. Some national and Catholic holidays are usually celebrated in 3 or 4 days, like Easter, Corpus Christi and Carnival. In Canada, the summer holiday includes the months of July and August, with students returning to school in late August or early September. The winter break lasts for two weeks (sometimes a day or two longer), beginning on Saturday and encompassing Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The spring break is one to two weeks long depending on the city or province. Good Friday and Easter may or may not fall within spring break. In Ontario, Canada's largest province, spring break is a four-day-long weekend between Good Friday and Easter Monday. The school year is divided into semesters. The first semester runs from late February or early March to July. Following a two-week or three-week winter break school resumes and lasts until early or mid December, followed by 10–12 weeks of summer vacations. In addition, schools have a one-week-long break for National Holidays in mid-September. Being located in the Southern Hemisphere, Spring begins approximately at the end of this holiday week so it acts similarly to the American Spring break. In Mexico, school usually ends in the second week of July and resumes the third week of August depending on what scheduling system a school uses, and whether it is high school or college. Christmas holiday is 2 weeks. Also there is the Easter recess which lasts 2 weeks. In the United States, there are typically 180 school days in a year (although school years at colleges and universities are often shorter). Private schools tend to have classes for 170 days each year. Thanksgiving Holiday or Break – Occurs at the end of November. This holiday usually consists of the week of Thanksgiving – the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, and the day after. Some areas have the Monday and Tuesday of the Thanksgiving week as regular days and take Wednesday as an early dismissal day; with Thanksgiving and the day after off. Other schools take the whole week off and have an early release on the Friday before the break., Christmas or Holiday Break – Varies in length per school; usually starts at the third Saturday in December and ends a day or two after New Year's Day (sometimes the first Monday after the New Year's Day), unless New Year's Day falls on a Sunday in which case the first Monday (January 2) is the official holiday and schools may not begin until January 3; the most recent occurrence of this was in the 2016–17 holiday break when January 1, 2017, fell on a Sunday., Martin Luther King Day Break – Martin Luther King Day is always on the third Monday of January each year. Some students have a full or half-day Friday and have the weekend, Martin Luther King day, and sometimes Monday and Tuesday off., Easter Break – Usually lasts for one or two weeks in March or April (often starting the day before Palm Sunday). Also referred to as Spring Break., Columbus Day Break – Columbus Day is always the second Monday in October. Many schools take a week off, though some areas only take Columbus Day itself off. In some states, however, Columbus Day is not observed as a school holiday at all. It is often believed that when the United States was a primarily agrarian society, children were needed during the Northern Hemisphere summer months for farm labor. However, there is little evidence supporting this, with 19th- century rural schools more typically favoring a summer academic term and more vacation time during spring and autumn. Summer is still a popular time for family vacations, and most have a 2 or 3-month summer vacation. The academic year typically runs from late August or early September until May or June, depending on the length of the year and number of the holiday, vacation, and snow days occurring during the year. The year is divided into two semesters, three trimesters or four quarters, typically with a report card issued to students' parents at the end of each. An academic year typically includes a fall and spring semester, with a shorter optional summer session. Many also have a short optional winter session. Some operate on a trimester calendar. Continuing education classes (often available at community colleges and private "boot camp" style schools) are often shorter and start throughout the year with no particular seasonality. Autumn or Fall Break – Usually lasts for one week in October (in the week of Columbus Day). See Columbus Day above., Winter Break – One week in February (usually at or around President's Day) or March (depending on the region)., Spring Vacation or Break – See Easter Break above., Summer Vacation or Break – Lasts for about 12 weeks, starting anywhere from late May to late June, and ending anywhere from late August to the day after Labor Day in early September. This often depends on the region – for example, most schools in the Northeastern United States end in June and start just after Labor Day, while the majority of schools in the Southern U.S. have schools end in May and start again in August., Teacher's Day off – Exists in some school districts, being two to three days at any time in school calendar, Inservice day(s) – Scheduled breaks for teachers to participate in in-season training or discussions, or to attend the state or national conventions held by a teacher's union., All federal and state holidays – That includes religious holidays, such as Good Friday; and sometimes Jewish and Islamic holidays, depending on school demographic. Note: Often in Charter Schools breaks are shorter due to the extended number of days students spend in school (200 days vs. 180 days for standard public schools). College breaks Colleges and universities vary widely. Some closely follow the K-12 break schedule, others have the same but longer breaks to accommodate students who live farther away and wish to return home for holidays. Most colleges and universities have the following breaks/holidays: Thanksgiving Holiday – End of November (The week of Thanksgiving – 3 days before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, and the day after – the Friday before the break is considered a half-day)., Christmas/Holiday Break – mid-December to late January, Spring Break – a week in March or April (usually starting on Good Friday), Summer Break – Early/mid May to between late August and the day after Labor Day in September Most colleges and university years are divided into two semesters. The first starting from day after Labor Day in early September until mid-December, and the second lasting from the end of January until early May. Winter and summer classes could be taken in between the breaks. Public elementary and secondary schools averaged (at the state level) between 170 and 180 school days in the 2007-08 academic year. Different states have different legal minimum requirements for instructional days and hours per year. Summer holidays usually last from early July to end of August. The winter holiday usually lasts 1 month, and its time varies depending on the date of the Chinese New Year. In Hong Kong summer holidays last from mid-July to the end of August. Christmas, Lunar New Year and Easter holidays last usually for one and a half weeks. In South India, summer vacations last from the end of March to the beginning of June. The Diwali break begins in either October or November, depending on the month Diwali occurs in that year. It lasts for about 1 week. Christmas break starts on the last week of December (22nd or 23rd) and ends on the first week of January (5th). In Tamil Nadu, one day leave is given for Deepavali. Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal festival(Thai Pongal): It is a four-day festival which, according to the Tamil calendar, is usually celebrated from January 14 to January 17. In north India, the typical summer vacation runs from mid May to the end of June, school starting from July 1 usually. Dusherra break is for usually for 10 days, and dusherra lies in the middle. Christmas holidays are not usually given, however, some schools combine the Christmas holidays with the winter break. Schools in Uttar Pradesh give a holiday on Charan Singh's birth anniversary, and that's when the winter break starts for some. For some other schools the winter break starts on 28 December, and usually ends on the second weekend of the new year. Schools are off for two weeks after their academic year ends(contrary to the summer vacations between two academic years in the south.) The new academic year starts on 1 April. There are many public holidays in India, depending on the region. Muslim holidays like Eid are enjoyed throughout the country by students of all religions. Certain Holidays and mandated across the Nation. January 26 : Republic Day August 15 : Independence Day October 2 : Gandhi Jayanti (Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi ) Main Holidays Summer Break: Summer holiday is usually from the end of June to the first of week of September, Winter Break: The winter break usually lasts from the end of December to the first week of January which also includes the new year's holiday, New semester : This break is given according to the board of the school like as in schools with an ICSE Board have a holiday in the first or the first two week(s) of April while in CBSE it happens in another time of the year likely after the summer break Other Islamic occasions are celebrated by a holiday or a small break like the Eid break Indian festivals like Diwali are also given a holiday or two This information is relevant as of 2019 In Indonesia, there are three main school holidays: New school year holiday – known as libur kenaikan kelas (up-grading holiday), usually takes place for 2–3 weeks between late June and early July. Dates are vary, depending on each province/region. The holiday starts from Monday in the first week to Saturday in the last week., Mid-term holiday, aims to separate the two semesters. It takes place for two weeks between late December and early January, coinciding with Christmas and New Year holidays. The starting and ending day are just like the new school year holiday., Eid al-Fitr holiday (or lebaran holiday), lasts for around two weeks. Date varies according to the Islamic calendar., Fasting Holiday / Ramadhan Holiday (or puasa holiday), about 1 month. Date varies according to Islamic Calendar. This break mostly combined with the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Sometimes it can be 2 month holiday. School usually start at the first Monday in the new month. Its even can be up to 3–4 month holiday if new school year holiday (libur kenaikan kelas) happen before or at the month of Ramadhan, But, if Christmas happen after Eid al-Fitr, the school will start in the new year (some province, Maluku, etc.). The school will start at Monday. On the first meeting, student and teacher will say sorry to each other and shake hand each other, known as "Halal Bihalal" it tooks about 3 day, and after Halal Bihalal, parents will receive "rapot" or a reports book show student achievement for 1-year study. Beside the main holidays, there are many small holidays which takes place for 1–2 days, such as the Independence Day, religious breaks, and Teacher's Day. In Japan, school holidays take place from late March to early April, from the late July until early September, and over the Christmas and New Year period from December 24 to January 7. Additionally there is a full holiday week in May called "Golden Week." Summer vacations and winter vacations are usually similar in length, lasting about 1 month each. There is also spring vacation which lasts about 2 weeks. In addition, there are a couple of 3–5 day long holidays per year, including "Chuseok" which is in fall and "Seolnal" which is in late winter. In Malaysia, there are 2 main semester holiday and an additional of mid-term break and year end holiday. The mid-year holidays last for two weeks, from late May until mid-June, in between the two school terms. The year-end holidays last for six weeks, from mid-November until early January, in between two school years. Each school term has a mid-term break; one week in March for the first semester and one week in the months of August or September (variable) for the second semester. Schools are closed on national and state public holidays. Schools are allowed to have a few special holidays without replacement for events such as school anniversary and sports day. For festivities such as Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year and Deepavali, schools usually apply for additional holidays to allow longer breaks for students to visit relatives in their hometowns. However, every day missed exceeding the special holiday allowance would be replaced by having classes on weekends. In the Philippines, summer break starts from the late March to early June, semestral break starts from late October to early November, and Christmas break starts from mid December to early January. Event-based holidays are declared by the President (for national holidays) and the provincial governor or city mayor for local holidays through the Department of Education (DepEd) for Basic Education and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for Colleges. In Singapore, there are four school terms. Terms 1 and 2 are referred to as Semester 1, as terms 3 and 4 are referred to as Semester 2. Each term consists of ten school weeks. Term 1 starts the day immediately after New Year's Day. If the first school day is a Thursday or a Friday, it is not counted as a school week. After term 1, there is a break of a week, called the March Holidays. Thereafter, term 2 commences and is followed by a break of four weeks, the June Holidays. It is followed by term 3, after which there will be another break of one week, the September Holidays. Then, term 4 would start, and after it there is the December holidays, which would be either five or six weeks long, depending on whether the first week of the year was counted as a school week. Students are also given days off on public holidays, as well as Children's Day, Youth's Day, Teacher's Day and the day after National Day. Winter holidays last from late January to early February (2 weeks). Summer holidays last from early June to mid September (14 weeks). January 1 – New Year, April 23 – National Sovereignty and Children's Day, May 1 – Labour and Solidarity Day, May 19 – Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day, August 30 – Victory Day, October 29 – Republic Day There are Ramadan Feast (3 days) and Sacrifice Feast (4 days) holidays, but dates of these holidays changing every year because Ramadan & Sacrifice Feasts are calculated according to Muslim calendar. If these feasts are at the middle of the week, then the break becomes a full week break with the Arefe (the day before the feast) day. In Australia and New Zealand, academic years for primary and secondary institutions are divided into two semesters, with each semester being further divided into two terms (thus totaling four terms per year). Although historically the year was divided into three terms with an extended Easter break interrupting the first term, the year has been divided into four terms since the late 1980s (with the exception of the Australian state of Tasmania which did not change until 2013). Following southern hemisphere seasons, the main summer holiday between academic years encompasses most of December, all of January and sometimes a few days at the beginning of February, and always encompasses Christmas and New Year as well as Australia Day on 26 January. In year 12, however, the term ends in November; for those who go on to university, the term starts in March. New Zealand celebrates Waitangi Day on 6 February; the summer holidays in New Zealand may or may not extend as far as that day, depending on the year. There is typically a break of two weeks mid- semester (i.e. after Term 1 and after Term 3) and a break of three weeks in the middle of the year, although this can vary between jurisdictions. In the year 2000, due to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the state of New South Wales extended the break after Term 3 to three weeks, compensating by reducing the break in the middle of the year to two weeks. Historically, the Term 1 holiday have been scheduled around Easter, reflecting the three-term system's notion of an extended Easter break within Term 1; although since the mid-1990s this has gradually changed, and now only Queensland and Victoria tie the school holidays closely to Easter; the remainder of Australia and all of New Zealand now have a fixed length to Term 1 which leads to the Easter period falling within Term 1 in some years with an early Easter, such as 2016. Typically, the Term 1 holidays will run for two weeks within April; the mid- year holidays encompass the last week of June and the first two weeks of July; and the Term 3 holidays encompass the last week of September and the first week of October. This varies between jurisdictions, and exact dates depend on what day of the week these respective months begin, as (with the exception of the beginning and end of the academic year), terms tend to begin and end with full weeks. In Austria, the summer holidays are usually between early July and early September. There is, with the exception of Vorarlberg and Salzburg, no Autumn break but there is a Christmas break (from December 24 until January 6) and an Easter break (lasts for 10 days). The mid-term break in February lasts for a week and the Whitsun break lasts for 4 days including the weekend. There are also days off during religious holidays (Assumption, Ascension, Corpus Christi etc.). For primary schools, the academic year in Belgium begins on the first weekday in September and ends on the last weekday in June, with the summer holiday comprising the entire months of July and August. Secondary schools and universities often close about a week earlier, as soon as school results have been processed and published. A week of autumn break is usually scheduled during the week of All Saints’ Day (November 1). The winter- or Christmas holiday lasts two weeks and encompasses both Christmas and New Year's Day. The dates for both the one-week spring break and the two-week Easter holiday vary. In catholic regions where carnival is celebrated, spring break usually takes place during the carnival week. To get al balance in school days between spring break and summer holiday, the two weeks of Easter holiday can take place with Easter both at the beginning, the middle or the end of the holiday period. In some cases, when Easter is at the complete end of the holiday, Easter Monday serves as an additional day off. In Croatia, there can be anywhere from three to five major breaks throughout the school year at public schools, depending on the region. Regardless of the number of holidays a school decides to have, a school year must have a minimum of 175 working days, or 160 for students undertaking the final exam at the end of high school. Summer break runs from mid-June (typically the 15th/16th) to early September (usually the first Monday in September), usually lasting for 11 weeks., Winter (Christmas) break usually starts on December 24 (Christmas Eve) and ends in the first Monday after January 6. It lasts for 3 weeks in total. Some parts of the country have opted to split the winter holidays in two parts: the first part lasting for 2 weeks starting on Christmas Eve and encompassing Christmas and New Year, and the second part lasting for one week, usually the last week of February., Spring (Easter) break lasts about 10 days, and encompasses Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday, and the work week after or before Easter. Some schools have opted to shorten the winter holidays in exchange for an Autumn break, which typically lasts for one week around All Saints' Day (November 1st). Other free days include public holidays and local patron saint days. If these land on a Tuesday or Thursday, the day before (Monday, if the holiday is on Tuesday) of after (Friday, if it's on Thursday), is usually also considered a free day, to "merge" the holiday with the weekend. In the Czech Republic, the summer holidays begin at the end of the school year around 30.June and end at the start of the school year on September 1 or soon thereafter. Then there are autumn holidays: two days plus 28.October (the date of the proclamation of Czechoslovakia). The winter (Christmas) holidays last usually from 22.December to 3.January. There is also a one-day half term holiday on 31.January. The spring holidays are a week long and may occur in February or March, depending on the region, sometimes they continue with Easter holidays (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday). There are also free days such as 1.May (International Workers' Day), 8.May (end od World war two) and 28.September (The assassination of St. Wenceslas - the duke and the patron saint of the Czech lands). The school director is authorised to add up to three more free days during the school year. The school holidays are determined by the Ministry of Schools for each school year and are valid for every basic and high school. In Denmark the summer holiday lasts 6–7 weeks. Most schools also have one week of winter holiday and one week of autumn holiday, usually in February and October respectively. Finally, the schools are closed from just before Christmas until just after New Year. In Estonia, summer holidays last for three months from June to August. Christmas holidays last for two weeks, autumn and spring holidays are each one week. In 2016, the Estonian Ministry of Education decided to add a new holiday, starting from 2017, to balance the learning weeks. There are going to be 5 holidays: Autumn holiday (21- 29 October), Winter Holiday (23 December- 7 January), a new holiday (24 February- 4 March), Spring holiday (21 April- 1 May) and Summer holiday (12 June- 31 August). Summer break starts 1 week later. French school holidays are scheduled each year by the Ministry of Education. This can lead to overcrowding in tourist resorts such as the Mediterranean coast and the ski resorts. To alleviate this problem, the holiday schedules are staggered by dividing the country into three zones. Despite these measures, the synchronized school holiday schedules still cause some crowding effects, as families head to popular holiday locations all at the same time. This can result in price increases and availability problems in some locations during the school holiday periods. Holidays are divided into three separate zones except for the first two holidays: All Saints and the Christmas / New Year. In Germany, ~75 week days of the year are school-free days. The exact dates are chosen by each of the 16 states, often in consultation with each other for reasons of planning and traffic management. The usual holiday blocks are: New Year (~2 weeks), Easter (~2 weeks), Summer (6 weeks), Autumn (2 weeks). Depending on the state, further holidays can be around Pentecost or in winter between the first and the second half of the school year. In Greece, there are three breaks throughout the school year at public schools. Summer holidays run from June to September. Holidays begin between June 10 and 20, and end around September 11., Christmas holidays begin around December 23 and end around January 8 (about 2 weeks)., Easter holidays last 2 weeks from Lazarus Saturday to Thomas Sunday (according to the Orthodox calculations), There are also two 1-day national holidays: October 28 and March 25 The dates for the start and the end of the school year at both primary and post-primary level are not fixed, but mid-year breaks are standardised. Due to the start of certificate exams, post-primary schools are usually not open for tuition after the Friday before the June public holiday (the first Monday in June) in any year. The school year generally starts in the week in which September 1 falls, with a minimum of 183 teaching days in primary schools but only 167 days in secondary schools. There are mid-term breaks in October and February, which last one week. There are two-week breaks at Christmas/New Year as well as at Easter. Summer holidays start around the last week of May or the first week of June for secondary schools, or the end of June for primary education, and end around the last week in August or the first week in September. The Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate exams start on the first Wednesday in June, and last for two and a half weeks, intruding on students' summer holidays. In Italy, most school holidays are determined by the Ministry of Education, University and Research, and are valid for all public schools of every order and grade. There are summer holidays from mid June up to the second week of September, except for students taking final exams in Middle and Superior schools, as those exams can go on until mid July. Christmas holidays start on December 23 and end on the first or second working day after January 6;the summer holidays in Italy about 12 weeks, other holidays include one week around Easter as well as one day on December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), two days for October 31 and November 1 (All Saints), the national holidays of April 25 (Liberation day) and June 2 (Republic Day), as well as the Workers' Day (May 1). Locally, school authorities have freedom upon the establishment of the lessons calendar to grant further vacation days on important local festivals (e.g. the local Patron saint day). In Latvia, summer holidays last for three months from June to August. Christmas holidays last for two weeks, autumn and spring holidays are each one week. In Lithuania summer holiday for 9th and 11th grade begins a few days later than 10th and 12th grade students. This is due to exams for those grades. In the past, upper level Lithuanian students had around 70 days of holiday. However, now the holiday lasts almost three months. In the Netherlands, summer holidays last for six weeks for all Schools. The country is divided into three regions which start their summer holidays one week after another. Summer holidays usually start in mid-July and end in late August. Dutch elementary and high school students also have a one-week autumn holiday in mid October, two weeks of Christmas holidays, usually the last two weeks of December, as well as one week "crocus/spring holidays" in February (for the south during Carnaval), and "May holidays", which last one or two week(s) for high schools and for elementary schools (This may differ from school to school). May holidays span a period of national holidays such as King's Day (former Queen's Day) (April 27), Remembrance of the Dead (May 4) and Liberation Day (May 5) and sometimes include Ascension Day and Pentecost. In North Macedonia, there are two breaks throughout the school year at public schools. Summer break usually runs from June 10 to September 1., Winter (Christmas) break starts after New Year's Eve (January 1) and ends usually after January 20. Other free days include the public holidays and local or School patron days. In Norway, school holidays vary by region. Generally, the school year starts around the third week of August. Most regions have a week off at the beginning of October (weeks 40 or 41). Christmas holidays start some days before Christmas Eve and end in the first week of January. There is one week of winter vacation in late February (weeks 8 or 9). Easter holiday is from Palm Sunday to Easter Monday or a day or two later, and Summer holidays begin some days before midsummer. All public schools have the following breaks/holidays: November 1 – All Saints Day, 1 day break, November 11 – Independence Day, 1 day break, January 6 – the Epiphany, 1 day break, Christmas Break – Christmas Eve or the weekend before the first day of the school week after New Year's Day, Winter Break – two weeks in January or February (depending on region), Easter Break – Maundy Thursday to the Tuesday after Easter Monday, May Break – May 1 (Labor Day), May 2 (Polish Flag Day) and May 3 (Constitution of May 3), Corpus Christi – four days in May or June (depending on the year), Summer Break – first Saturday after June 20 to the end of August or early September (first school week day in September unless it falls on a Friday) Summer holidays run from Late May-mid June to early-mid September and are around 13–15 weeks long. Spring break – one to two weeks between late march and early may depending on the date of Easter. . Winter break is three weeks long ( it starts in the third or fourth week of December and it ends on the second or third Monday of January). There is a break in Late January-early February between the first and the second semester – one week long. Fall Break (just for the primary school) – one week in late October to early November. All public schools have the following holidays: Winter Break – two weeks in January, Spring Break – one week in April, Fall Break – one week in November, Summer Break – from May 25 to September 1, February 23 – Men's Day or Defender's Day, March 8 – International Women's Day, May 1 – Spring and Labour Day, May 9 – Victory Day, November 4 – Day of the National Unity In Slovakia, summer holidays begin at the end of the school year on June 30 and end at the start of the school year on September 1. The autumn holidays are at the end of October. The winter (Christmas) holidays usually last from December 23 to January 7. There is also a one-day half term holiday on January 31. The spring holidays are a week long and may be in February or March, depending on the region. Next are the Easter holidays (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday). There are also free days such as May 1, May 8, September 1, September 15, and November 17. The school director is authorized to add up to three more free days during the school year. The school holidays are determined by the Ministry of Schools and are valid for every basic and high school. In Slovenia, summer holidays begin on June 24 (June 25 is National day, which is also a public holiday) and end on September 1. Other holidays are usually one week long, they expand if national holidays fall on the work days. The Autumn holidays ("Krompirjeve počitnice" – "Potato holidays") begin around October 31, which is Reformation day and November 1 which is called "All Saints' Day". The New Year holidays usually start around Christmas and last until January 2. In the middle of February there are winter holidays, which are divided into two parts. In each part there are other Slovenian students who have holidays. The second part of the winter holiday usually ends at the end of February. The shortest holidays are First May holidays, and as their name suggests they begin on around May 1 (usually on April 27, which is Uprising Against the Occupation Day, which is also a national holiday) and last until May 2, which is also a national holiday. There are also free days such as February 8 (Slovenian cultural festival – Prešeren Day) and Easter Monday, and other national holidays like August 15 (Feast of the Assumption) fall on school holidays and are more important to adults. Students from the last year of Primary and Secondary schools usually start summer holidays one week earlier due to the final exams. These holidays are valid for Primary and Secondary schools only and are determined by the Ministry of Schools. University students, however, have summer holidays until October 1, however the exams from spring examination period can be after 25 June and the summer examination period starts in September. Usually students have only one other holiday and that is the New Year holiday but it depends on every single college which days will be free for students. For example, in 2015, most university students also had First May holidays. Short holidays usually begin after exams and depend on how good students are at their exams or how many exams they have taken for each term. Most of the time, university students have holidays on national holidays. In Sweden, the school year starts around mid or late August (September 1 at the universities). The week before All Saint's Day (taken as a Saturday around November 2) primary and secondary school students have an autumn holiday. Christmas holiday starts around December 19–20, depending on the day of the week on which Christmas Eve occurs. It usually ends some days after January 6, which is also a public holiday. In March, primary and secondary school students have one week of winter vacation; the exact week varies by location. Easter public holidays last four days from Friday to Monday. Easter school holidays are either the week preceding Easter or the week immediately following, depending on location. Primary and secondary school summer holidays last about ten weeks, starting in the second week of June. School holidays in the United Kingdom follow a standard pattern, with a school year of 190 days of teaching, beginning with the Autumn Term, but the exact timing varies between countries and counties. Local authorities set term dates which apply to all Community, Voluntary Controlled, Community Special Schools and Maintained Nursery Schools. Academies, Free schools, Voluntary Aided schools and Foundation schools are able to choose their own dates but many follow the same dates as the Local Authority. Although these schools can set their own term dates, they are still required to open for the same length of time. Independent private schools tend to set longer holidays than state schools. In Britain, an academic year usually runs from September of one year through to late July of the following year, with the time split up into three terms. Each of these is usually divided into halves with a week-long "half- term" break between. Primary (1–11) and secondary (11–16) schools usually follow a 39-week academic year, while further (16+) and higher (18+) educational establishments often have 36 or 33-week terms, generally with no half-term break. Oxford and Cambridge have shorter terms still, usually 8 weeks each term. For English state schools, the year commences in the first week of September with a half-term break (1 week) at the end of October, and the term ends shortly before Christmas. After a two-week holiday encompassing New Year, the second term stretches to Easter and is of variable length to allow for that movable feast. It has a half-term break around mid-February. There are two weeks of Easter holiday, then the final term starts and lasts until the third week of July. The half-term break is at the end of May and students with exams will often finish their studies at that break and take exams during June and July. The summer break lasts for approx 6 weeks and was designed originally to allow children to help with the harvest. In Scotland, the summer break is earlier because of the different day lengths and agricultural practices. Private (public) schools may follow different terms, and some self-governing academies follow different termly structures. Summer holidays in State schools are usually between five and seven weeks long, starting in mid-late July and ending in early September. Schools have Christmas and Easter holidays, each usually lasting about two weeks. The school year is split up into three sections: Autumn term (between Summer and Christmas); Spring term (between Christmas and Easter); and Summer term (between Easter and the Summer holiday). Roughly half-way through each term, pupils will get one week off school, known as half-term. Half term often falls the week of Halloween and close to Firework Night (however this has not been the case of late) in the Autumn term, the February half term tends to also fall the week of Valentine's Day, also half term in the Summer term tends to be at the end of May with students returning the first Monday of June. Independent schools often have longer holidays including up to 10 weeks for Summer, but often have longer school days and sometimes lessons on Saturday mornings. See School Holidays in England for the impact of school holidays on tourism and life for parents and others. In Scotland the academic year usually begins in the third week of August. In October, there are one or two weeks off, which is the half-way point between Summer and Christmas holidays. The Christmas holiday usually begins a few days before December 25 and ends a few days after January 5. There is up to a week off half-way through the Spring term and a two-week break for Easter. After Easter is Summer term and the 3rd half term break is the half-way point to the summer holidays. The summer holiday usually begins at the end of June for most pupils in primary 1–7 and secondary years 1–3. Years 4, 5, and 6 have a period of exam leave at the end of May or early June, but may return for the last few weeks before the summer holiday starts. Schools in Northern Ireland have similar school holidays to those in the Republic of Ireland. Schools in Northern Ireland have shorter mid-term breaks than those in the rest of the UK and, to substitute, a longer summer holiday that includes the whole month of July and August. Academic term Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist on climate change whose campaigning has gained international recognition. Thunberg is known for her straightforward speaking manner, both in public and to political leaders and assemblies, in which she urges immediate action to address what she describes as the climate crisis. Thunberg first became known for youth activism in August 2018 when, at age 15, she began spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament to call for stronger action on climate change by holding up a sign reading (School strike for the climate). Soon, other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together, they organised a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future. After Thunberg had addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, student strikes took place every week somewhere in the world. In 2019, there were at least two coordinated multi-city protests involving over 1,000,000 students each. At home, Thunberg convinced her parents to adopt several lifestyle choices to reduce their own carbon footprint, including giving up air travel and not eating meat. Her sudden rise to world fame has made her a leader and a target. In May 2019, Thunberg was featured on the cover of Time magazine, which named her a "next generation leader" and said that many see her as a role model. Thunberg and the school strike movement were also featured in a 30-minute Vice documentary titled Make the World Greta Again. Some media have described her impact on the world stage as the "Greta effect". Thunberg has received many honours and awards, including honorary fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and in 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people and the youngest individual Time Person of the Year. In September 2019, she addressed the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. Thunberg was also nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Greta Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden, the daughter of opera singer Malena Ernman and actor Svante Thunberg. Her paternal grandfather is actor and director Olof Thunberg. She is also related to Svante Arrhenius, the Nobel-winning chemist who first estimated the greenhouse effect on the earth's climate. Thunberg says she first heard about climate change in 2011, when she was eight years old, and could not understand why so little was being done about it. The situation made her depressed. She stopped talking and eating and lost in two months. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism. Her Asperger diagnosis was made public nationwide in Sweden by her mother in May 2015, in order to help other families in a similar situation, as she said. While acknowledging that her diagnosis "has limited me before", she does not view her Asperger's as an illness and has instead called it her "superpower". For about two years, Thunberg challenged her parents to lower the family's carbon footprint and overall impact on the environment by becoming vegan, upcycling, and giving up flying. She has said she tried showing them graphs and data, but when that did not work, she warned her family that they were stealing her future. Giving up flying in part meant her mother had to give up her international career as an opera singer. When she started protesting, her parents did not support her activism. Interviewed by the BBC in December 2019, her father said his wife stopped flying to try to 'save' their daughter rather than the climate. He added: "To be honest, (her mother) didn't do it save the climate. She did it to save her child because she saw how much it meant to her, and then, when she did that, she saw how much (Greta) grew from that, how much energy she got from it." Thunberg credits her parents' eventual response and lifestyle changes with giving her hope and belief that she could make a difference. The family story is recounted in the 2018 book Scenes from the Heart. In late 2018, Thunberg began the school climate strikes and public speeches for which she has become an internationally recognised climate activist. Her father does not like her missing school but said: "[We] respect that she wants to make a stand. She can either sit at home and be really unhappy, or protest, and be happy". Greta struggled with depression for three or four years before she began her school strike. Thunberg says that her teachers are divided in their views about her missing class to make her point. She says: "As people they think what I am doing is good, but as teachers they say I should stop." In July 2019, Time magazine reported Thunberg was taking a "sabbatical year" from school, intending to travel in the Americas while meeting people from the climate movement. In one of her first speeches demanding climate action, Thunberg described the selective mutism aspect of her condition as meaning she "only speaks when necessary". In 2019, Thunberg also contributed a voiceover for a release of "The 1975", a song by the English band by the same name. Thunberg finishes by urging: "So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel." Proceeds will go to Extinction Rebellion at Thunberg's request. In an interview with Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, Thunberg said she first got the idea of a climate strike after school shootings in the United States in February 2018 led to several youths refusing to go back to school. These teen activists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, went on to organise the March for Our Lives in support of greater gun control. In May 2018, Thunberg won a climate change essay competition held by Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. In part, she wrote that "I want to feel safe. How can I feel safe when I know we are in the greatest crisis in human history?” After the paper published her article she was contacted by Bo Thorén from Fossil Free Dalsland, a group interested in doing something about climate change. Thunberg attended a few of their meetings. At one of them, Thorén suggested that school children could strike for climate change. Thunberg tried to persuade other young people to get involved but "no one was really interested", so eventually she decided to go ahead with the strike by herself. On 20 August 2018, Thunberg, who had just started ninth grade, decided not to attend school until the 2018 Swedish general election on 9 September; her protest began after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden's hottest summer in at least 262 years. Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, and she protested by sitting outside the Riksdag every day for three weeks during school hours with the sign Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate). Thunberg posted her original strike photo on Instagram and Twitter, and other social media accounts quickly took up her cause. A representative of the Finnish bank, Nordea, quoted one of Thunberg's tweets to more than 200,000 followers. Thunberg's social media profile attracted local reporters whose stories earned international coverage in little more than a week. One Swedish climate-focused social media company was We Don't Have Time (WDHT), founded by Ingmar Rentzhog. He said that her strike began attracting public attention after he turned up with a freelance photographer and then posted Thunberg's photograph on his Facebook page and Instagram account. He also made a video in English that he posted on the company's YouTube channel that had almost 88,000 views. Rentzhog subsequently asked Thunberg to become an unpaid youth advisor to WDHT. He then used her name and image without her knowledge or permission to raise millions for a WDHT for-profit subsidiary, We Don't Have Time AB, of which Rentzhog is the chief executive officer. Thunberg received no money from the company. Thunberg terminated her volunteer advisor role with WDHT once she realised they were making money from her name, stating "[I am] not part of any organisation... am absolutely independent… [and] do what I do completely for free." After the general elections, Thunberg continued to strike only on Fridays. She inspired school students across the globe to take part in student strikes. As of December 2018, more than 20,000 students had held strikes in at least 270 cities. The school strikes for climate on 20 and 27 September 2019 were attended by over four million people, according to one of the co-organisers. After October 2018, Thunberg's activism evolved from solitary protesting to taking part in demonstrations throughout Europe; making several high-profile public speeches, and mobilising her growing number of followers on social media platforms. By March 2019, she was still staging her regular protests outside the Swedish parliament every Friday, where other students now occasionally join her. According to her father, her activism has not interfered with her schoolwork, but she has had less spare time. In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, England, to New York, USA, in the racing yacht Malizia II, equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines. The trip was announced as a carbon-neutral transatlantic crossing serving as a demonstration of Thunberg's declared beliefs of the importance of reducing emissions. France 24 reported that several crew would fly to New York to sail the yacht back to Europe. The voyage lasted fifteen days, from 14 to 28 August 2019. On 23 September, Thunberg attended the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City. In Canada, Thunberg participated in climate protests in the cities of Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver including leading a climate rally as part of the Global Climate Strike in Montreal. Hundreds of thousands took part in the protest described as the largest in the city's history. The mayor of Montreal gave her the Freedom of the City. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance, and Thunberg spoke briefly with him. While in the United States, Thunberg participated in climate protests in New York City, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Denver, and the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. In each city or location, Thunberg's keynote speech began by acknowledging that she was standing on native land, saying: "In acknowledging the enormous injustices inflicted upon these people, we must also mention the many enslaved and indentured servants whose labour the world still profits from today." All of Thunberg's North American speeches and many others, have been compiled into an online video archive. On 23 September 2019, in New York, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) hosted a press conference where Thunberg joined fifteen other children including Ayakha Melithafa, Alexandria Villaseñor, Catarina Lorenzo, Carl Smith and others. Together, the group announced they had made an official complaint against five nations that are not on track to meet the emission reduction targets they committed to in their Paris Agreement pledges: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey. The complaint challenges these countries under the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Protocol is a quasi-judicial mechanism which allows children or their representatives, who believe their rights have been violated, to bring a complaint before the relevant 'treaty body', the Committee on the Rights of the Child. If the complaint is successful, the countries will be asked to respond, but any suggestions are not legally binding. Thunberg had intended to remain in the Americas to travel overland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Santiago, Chile, in December, however, it was announced on short notice that COP25 was to be moved to Madrid, Spain, because of serious public unrest in Chile. Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions from air travel, so she posted on social media that she needed a ride across the Atlantic Ocean. Riley Whitelum and his wife, Elayna Caraus, two Australians who had been sailing around the world aboard their catamaran, La Vagabonde, offered to take her. So, on 13 November 2019, Thunberg set sail from Hampton, Virginia, for Lisbon, Portugal. Her departing message was the same as it has been since she began her activism: "My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone – that is to unite behind the science and to act on the science." Thunberg arrived in the Port of Lisbon on 3 December 2019, then travelled on to Madrid to speak at COP25 and to participate with the local Fridays for Future climate strikers. There she called for more "concrete action," arguing that the global wave of school strikes over the previous year had "achieved nothing", because greenhouse gas emissions were still rising—by 4% since 2015. On 30th December 2019 Thunberg was guest editor of the BBC Radio's flagship current affairs programme, the Today Programme. Thunberg's edition of the programme featured interviews on climate change with Sir David Attenborough, Bank of England chief Mark Carney, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, and Shell Oil executive Maarten Wetselaar. The BBC subsequently released a podcast containing these interviews and other highlights. On 11 January 2020 Thunberg called on German company Siemens to stop the delivery of railway equipment for the controversial Carmichael coal mine by Indian company Adani in Australia, but on 13 January Siemens said that it would continue to honour its contract with Adani. On 21 January 2020, Thunberg returned to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, and delivered two speeches and participated in panel discussions hosted by The New York Times and the World Economic Forum. Thunberg used many of the themes contained in her previous speeches, but focused on one in particular: "Our house is still on fire." Thunberg joked that she cannot complain about not being heard, saying: "I am being heard all the time." Thunberg's rhetoric uses graphic analogies to highlight her concerns, she often speaks bluntly to business and political leaders. She has stated four interwoven themes: 1. Humanity is facing an existential crisis because of climate change, 2. The current generation of adults is responsible for climate change, 3. Climate change will have a disproportionate effect on young people, and that too little is being done about the situation. 4. Politicians and decision-makers need to listen to the scientists. Thunberg relies on the scientific community's consensus on climate change. From this consensus she says that the Paris Agreement's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5° C commitment is insufficient and that the greenhouse gas emissions curve needs to start declining steeply no later than 2020. In February 2019, at a conference of the European Economic and Social Committee, she said that the EU must reduce their emissions by 80% by 2030, double the 40% goal. Thunberg has given many speeches during climate strikes, at NGO events such as a TEDx conference, and before gatherings of national and world leaders. She published a collection of her climate action speeches, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, in May 2019 with the earnings being donated to charity. In one speech, at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019, Thunberg said to world leaders: "This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" "You are failing us." Thunberg said toward the end of her speech. "But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you." Thunberg has received both strong support and strong criticism for her work. She has inspired others to take their own actions for the environment. In February 2019, 224 academics signed an open letter of support stating they were inspired by Thunberg's actions and the striking school children in making their voices heard. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres endorsed the school strikes initiated by Thunberg, admitting that "My generation has failed to respond properly to the dramatic challenge of climate change. This is deeply felt by young people. No wonder they are angry." Speaking at an event in New Zealand in May 2019, Guterres said his generation was "not winning the battle against climate change" and that it's up to youth to "rescue the planet". In June 2019, Thunberg spoke by video link with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who had submitted the Green New Deal to the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2019, which calls for the United States to achieve carbon neutrality within a decade. They discussed how it feels when their views are not taken seriously because they are young, and what tactics really work. Thunberg has received recognition and many honours and awards from a variety of organisations in several countries. Thunberg has inspired a number of her school-aged peers in what has been described as "The Greta effect". In response to her outspoken stance, various politicians have also acknowledged the need to focus on climate change. Britain's secretary for the environment, Michael Gove, said: "When I listened to you, I felt great admiration, but also responsibility and guilt. I am of your parents' generation, and I recognise that we haven't done nearly enough to address climate change and the broader environmental crisis that we helped to create." Labour politician Ed Miliband, who was responsible for introducing the Climate Change Act 2008, said: "You have woken us up. We thank you. All the young people who have gone on strike have held up a mirror to our society … you have taught us all a really important lesson. You have stood out from the crowd." In June 2019, a YouGov poll in Britain found that public concern about the environment had soared to record levels in the UK since Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion had "pierced the bubble of denial". In August 2019, publication and sales of children's books about the climate crisis reportedly doubled. Publishers attribute this to the "Greta effect". Inspired by Thunberg, wealthy philanthropists and investors from the United States have donated almost half a million pounds to support Extinction Rebellion and school strike groups to establish the Climate Emergency Fund. Trevor Neilson, one of the philanthropists, said the three founders would be contacting friends among the global mega-rich to donate "a hundred times" more in the weeks and months ahead. In February 2019, Thunberg shared a stage with the then President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, where he outlined "In the next financial period from 2021 to 2027, every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change". Climate issues also played a significant role in European Parliament election in May 2019 as Green parties recorded their best ever result, boosting their MEP seat numbers from 52 to 72. Many of the gains came from northern European countries where young people have taken to the streets inspired by Thunberg. In December 2019, the New Scientist described the impact made by Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion with the headline: "The year the world woke up to climate change". Being embarrassed or ashamed to take a plane because of its environmental impact has been described on social media as flygskam or 'shame of flying', along with the hashtag #jagstannarpåmarken, which translates as #istayontheground. It is a phenomenon in which people feel social pressure not to fly because of the rising greenhouse gas emissions of the airline industry. It was originally championed by Swedish Olympic athlete Björn Ferry, but has gained significant momentum after Thunberg’s refusal to fly on environmental grounds. Sweden has reported a 4% drop in domestic travel for 2019 and an increase in rail use. The BBC says that the movement could halve the growth of global air travel, but Airbus and Boeing say that it will continue to grow at around 4% until 2035. In June 2019, Swedish Railways (SJ) reported that the number of Swedes taking the train for domestic journeys had risen by 8% from the previous year, reflecting growing public concern (reflected in a survey published by the Swedish Railways) about the impact of flying on emissions. Thunberg and her campaign have been criticised by politicians and others; the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian president Vladimir Putin, U.S. president Donald Trump, French president Emmanuel Macron, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), and some media commentators such as Piers Morgan. The criticism ranges from personal attacks to claims she oversimplifies the complex issues involved. In July 2019, Agence France-Presse reported that OPEC's secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo "complained of what he called 'unscientific' attacks on the oil industry by climate change campaigners, calling them 'perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward", in apparent reference to the recent school strikes inspired by Thunberg's 'Fridays for Future' movement. Thunberg and other climate activists responded by calling his remarks a badge of honour. Following Thunberg's filing of a lawsuit against France, Germany and other countries which failed to meet their Paris Agreement emission reduction targets, Emmanuel Macron said: "such radical positions (as held by Thunberg) antagonise our societies... She should focus on those that are blocking, those that are the furthest... I don't feel like either the French or the German governments are trying to block". In September 2019, Donald Trump shared a video of Thunberg angrily addressing world leaders, along with her quote that "people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction". Trump wrote about Thunberg, tweeting: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" Thunberg reacted by changing her Twitter bio to match his description and stating she could not "understand why grown-ups would choose to mock children and teenagers for just communicating and acting on the science when they could do something good instead." In October 2019, Vladimir Putin described Thunberg as a "kind girl and very sincere", while suggesting she was being manipulated to serve others' interests. Putin criticised her as "poorly informed": "No one has explained to Greta that the modern world is complex and different and people in Africa or in many Asian countries want to live at the same wealth level as in Sweden." Similar to her reaction to Trump, Thunberg updated her Twitter bio to reflect Putin's description of her. In December 2019, Thunberg tweeted "Indigenous people are literally being murdered for trying to protect the forrest from illegal deforestation. Over and over again. It is shameful that the world remains silent about this". When asked about this subject two days later, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro responded: "Greta said that the Indians were dying because they were trying to protect the Amazon. It is impressive how the press gives voice to such a brat." On the same day, Thunberg changed her Twitter description to "pirralha", the Portuguese word for "brat" used by Bolsonaro. In December 2019, President Trump again mocked Thunberg after she was named Person of the Year for 2019 by Time magazine: "So ridiculous", Trump tweeted. "Greta must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!" Thunberg respond by changing her Twitter biography to: "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend." In August 2019, Scott Walsman wrote in Scientific American that Thunberg's detractors have "launched personal attacks", "bash [her] autism", and "increasingly rely on ad hominem attacks to blunt her influence." Writing in The Guardian, Aditya Chakrabortty said that columnists including Brendan O'Neill, Toby Young, the blog Guido Fawkes, as well as Helen Dale and Rod Liddle at The Spectator and The Sunday Times had been making "ugly personal attacks" on Thunberg. As part of its climate change denial, Germany's right wing Alternative for Germany party has attacked Thunberg "in fairly vicious ways", according to Jakob Guhl, a researcher for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Arron Banks' Twitter post saying that "freak yachting accidents do happen in August..." outraged a number of British MPs (Member of Parliament), celebrities and academics. Tanja Bueltmann, founder of EU Citizens' Champion, said Banks had "invoked the drowning of a child" for his own amusement and said that most of those attacking Thunberg "are white middle-aged men from the right of the political spectrum". Writing in The Guardian, Gaby Hinsliff, said Thunberg has become "the new front in the Brexit culture war" arguing that the outrage generated by personal attacks on Thunberg by Brexiteers "gives them the welcome oxygen of publicity". In an interview with Suyin Haynes in Time magazine, Thunberg addressed the criticism she has received online saying: "It's quite hilarious when the only thing people can do is mock you, or talk about your appearance or personality, as it means they have no argument or nothing else to say." Joe Biden, a former US vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, responded to President Trump's tweet mocking Thunberg after she was named Person of the Year 2019 by Time magazine tweeting: "What kind of president bullies a teenager? @realDonaldTrump, you could learn a few things from Greta on what it means to be a leader." Greta Thunberg has been depicted in popular culture and art. Greta and the Giants, a book by Zoë Tucker and Zoe Persico, published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books was inspired by the life of Thunberg. American painter Elizabeth Peyton chose her portrait named Greta Thunberg, 2019 as the leading image of one of her shows. She has been depicted in multiple murals. In Bristol, a mural of Thunberg by artist Jody Thomas, portrays the bottom half of her face as if under rising sea water since May 2019. In San Francisco the Argentinian muralist Andrés Iglesias (known as Cobre) finished a mural portraying Thunberg in November 2019. Make the World Greta Again, May 2019, is a 30-minute documentary featuring interviews with a number of youth protest leaders in Europe, released by Vice. Greta (working title) is a planned 2020 documentary for Hulu, produced by Cecilia Nessen and Frederik Heinig via B-Reel Films and directed by Nathan Grossman." Svenska Dagbladet (The Swedish Daily News) essay competition, May 2018, shared, a climate debate writing competition for young people. Children's Climate Prize, November 2018, nominated by the Swedish electricity company Telge Energi. Thunberg declined to accept the award because many of the finalists would have to fly to Stockholm for the ceremony and a required meeting. TIME'S 25 most influential teens of 2018, 10 December 2018, an annual list compiled by Time magazine of the most influential teenagers in the world that year. Fryshuset scholarship, 2018, for Young Role Model of the Year. Swedish Woman of the Year (Årets Svenska Kvinna), 8 March 2019, awarded by the Swedish Women's Educational Association to "a Swedish woman who, through her accomplishments, has represented and brought attention to the Sweden of today in the greater world". Nobel Peace Prize nomination, 13 March 2019, by two deputies of the Swedish parliament and three deputies of the Norwegian parliament. Rachel Carson Prize, 22 March 2019, awarded to a woman who has distinguished herself in outstanding work for the environment in Norway or internationally. Goldene Kamera film and television awards, 31 March 2019, special Climate Action Award. Thunberg dedicated the prize to the activists protesting against the destruction of the Hambach Forest, which is threatened by lignite mining. Le Prix Liberté, 1 April 2019, honouring a young person engaged in a fight for peace and freedom. Thunberg donated the €25,000 prize money to four organisations working for climate justice and helping areas already affected by climate change. Fritt Ord Award, April 2019, shared with Natur og Ungdom, which "celebrates freedom of speech". Thunberg donated her share of the prize money to a lawsuit seeking to halt Norwegian oil exploration in the Arctic. TIME 100, April 2019, by Time magazine, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for that year. Laudato si' Prize, April 2019, awarded under the second encyclical of Pope Francis, "on care for our common home". Doctor honoris causa (honorary doctorate), May 2019, conferred by the Belgian, University of Mons for "contribution...to raising awareness on sustainable development." Time magazine cover, 27 May 2019 issue, where she was described as a role model and one of the "next generation leaders". Ambassador of Conscience Award, 7 June 2019, Amnesty International's most prestigious award, in this instance, for leadership in the climate movement, Thunberg said the award was "for all those millions of people, young people, around the world who together make up the movement called Friday's for Future." Geddes Environment Medal, July 2019, by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, for "an outstanding practical, research or communications contribution to conservation and protection of the natural environment and the development of sustainability"., Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, July 2019, automatically conferred with the Geddes award. Vogue magazine cover, September 2019 issue, Thunberg and fifteen other women were featured on a cover created by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. GQ Game Changer Award, 3 September 2019, one of a number of categories awarded under the GQ magazine, Men of the Year Awards; this inaugural category being inspired by Thunberg. Webby Award, Social Movement of the Year, 12 September 2019, presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet. Right Livelihood Award, 25 September 2019, from the Right Livelihood Foundation and known as Sweden's alternative Nobel Prize, one of four 2019 winners, "for inspiring and amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts". Keys to the City of Montréal, 27 September 2019, by Mayor of Montréal Valérie Plante. Nelloptodes gretae, 1 October 2019, a newly identified species of beetle is named for Greta Thunberg in an academic paper by entomologist Michael Darby, published in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine for her outstanding contribution in raising awareness of environmental issues and because the beetle's antennae bear a passing resemblance to Greta's pigtails. International Children's Peace Prize, 4 October 2019, shared with 14-year-old Divina Maloum from Cameroon, awarded by the KidsRights Foundation, whose mission is to "support and empower vulnerable children around the world, by raising funds for small-scale local projects, and by raising awareness for children’s rights through the international media." Thunberg accepted the award but declined to attend the ceremony as she was overseas, requiring her to fly to the Hague. Maphiyata echiyatan hin win (Woman Who Came from the Heavens), Lakota tribal name conferred, 8 October 2019, at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, following a climate panel and support for the Dakota Access pipeline opposition, after being invited by Tokata Iron Eyes, a 16 year old, Lakota, climate activist. Nordic Council Environment Prize, 29 October 2019. Thunberg declined to accept the award or the prize money of $52,000, stating, "the climate movement does not need any more awards," and that that the climate movement needed people in power to start to listen to science and not awards. Glamour magazine Woman of the Year, 11 November 2019, Jane Fonda accepted on behalf of Thunberg in absentia following her principle not to fly. Time Person of the Year, December 2019, by Time magazine, the youngest ever recipient and the first born in the 21st century. For succeeding in "creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions of vague, middle-of-the-night anxieties into a worldwide movement calling for urgent change. She has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not." and: "For sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have, for bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders, for showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads.” This also put her on the Time magazine cover for the second time in 2019. Nature's 10 nomination, 2019, 19 December 2019, an annual list of ten "people who mattered" in science, produced by the scientific journal Nature, specifically, for being a "climate catalyst: A Swedish teenager [who] brought climate science to the fore as she channeled her generation’s rage." Conservationist of the Year, 2019, awarded by the Perfect World Foundation for bringing attention to wildlife and nature conservation. Juliana v. United States, a lawsuit by 21 youths against the United States for significantly harming their right to life and liberty, and seeks to force the government to adopt methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Severn Cullis-Suzuki – as a minor was also a notable environmental activist in 1992 Mini-documentary portraying Thunberg by Great Big Story (YouTube), A compilation of Thunberg's speeches and interviews, along with IPCC Reports, Make The World Greta Again A Vice documentary that follows Greta and the organisers of the school strikes for climate as they are cementing a worldwide movement ahead of their first global protest that took place on 15 March 2019., Time's Person of the Year article on Thunberg Sixth grade (also called Grade Six, Year 6 in Australia, equivalent to P7 (Scotland); Year 7 elsewhere in the UK) is a year of education for students ages 11–12. In many nations, it is the first year of middle school or the last year of elementary school, last year of primary school in Australia (or the first year of secondary school in England and Wales). In Senegal, it would correspond to 6ème Lycee. It is the first grade of the third cycle called Collège (French). In Morocco, it would correspond to the sixth and the last year of elementary school. It is the last year before middle school. In Tanzania, it would correspond to darasa la sita. It is the second to last year of primary school In Tunisia, it would correspond to the sixth and the last year of primary school. It is the last year before middle school. In Uganda, it would correspond to P7 and the last year of Primary School. In Uganda, Primary School is the level after Nursery or Pre-primary and is usually attended by pupils between ages of 6-12 though sometimes it can be 5-11 for early beginners or 7-13 for late beginners. P7 is the last year before secondary school. Pupils sit National Examinations called Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) set by the National Examinations Board (UNEB). Those that pass the examinations are eligible for admission to Secondary School. In Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Iran, India and many other countries sixth grade is called Class 6 and it is the first year of secondary school. In Afghanistan, Grade 6 is the first year of middle school. Students are aged 11–12. In China, 6th grade would be the last year of elementary school. The students would be 11 or 12 years old, unless, of course, the student(s) has been held back. In Kuwait, Grade 6 is the first year of middle school. In Laos, Grade 6 is the first year of secondary school. In Malaysia, the equivalent is Year 6 also known as Standard 6, as the Malaysia academic year starts in January, unlike in Europe, Canada, and the United States where it starts in August. Students will sit for an important exam called Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), which translates from Malay into English as "Low/Elementary School Assessment Test", before graduating from elementary education. Standard 6 is the final primary/elementary school year before embarking into secondary /high school (Form 1). In Malaysia, primary education are commonly broken down into primary school and secondary school. There is no existence of middle school. Middle school and high school are lumped as secondary school. In the Philippines, Grade 6 is the last year of elementary school. In Singapore, E.T would be usually referred as Primary 6 and the students would be 12 years old. Students sit for an important exam called PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) In Saudi Arabia, Grade 6 is the last year of elementary school. In South Korea, Grade 6 is the final year of elementary school. In Vietnam, Grade 6 is the first year of middle school. In Israel, Grade 6 (called Kita Vav) is the final year of elementary school. In Indonesia, Grade 6 (called Kelas 6) is the final year of elementary school. Students would be in the age of 10 in the half, 11, or 12 years old. Students have a final examination called Ujian Sekolah Berstandar Nasional (USBN). Before USBN, they have preparation called Try Out. In Taiwan, Grade 6 will be in elementary school for education, prepare to the middle school. In Hong Kong, Grade 6 (called Primary 6) is the final year of primary school. Students would be in the age of 11 or 12. In Belgium 6th grade is equivalent to the 6th year of primary school. In Bulgaria, it would correspond to шести клас or 6-ти клас. Children in sixth grade are usually 12–13 years old. In Finland, equivalent is grade 6 (ages 11–13). Sixth grade is the last grade before students start attending Middle School. In France, it would correspond to 6 (7 years before end of high school) which is the first year of junior high. Students are aged 11–12. In Germany, it would be equivalent to 6. Klasse. Or 2. Klasse Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule. In Greece, the equivalent is the sixth school year of primary education school, referred to as Sixth Grade of Primary (Ekti Dimotikou - Έκτη Δημοτικού). In the Republic of Ireland, the equivalent is "6th Class" or Rang a sé which is the eighth and final year of primary school. In Italy, 6th grade is called "prima media" (first intermediate), and is the first year of Scuola secondaria di primo grado (first level of secondary school). Students are aged 11–12. In Lithuania, Grade 6 is the first year of secondary school. Students are aged 11–12. In Malta, 6th grade is equivalent to Form 1 age of 11-12. This is the first year where students have different teachers for each subject but most schools have the same classroom for most of the subjects (such as Mathematics, English, Italian, French, science, Maltese etc.). This is the first year of secondary school. In the Netherlands it's the equivalent to Groep 8, the 8th and last year of elementary school. In Portugal, the sixth grade (sexto ano, 6º ano) is the second year of the two-year 2º Ciclo do Ensino Básico that includes also the fifth grade. Starting with the school year of 2011/2012, students take final exams (provas finais) at the end of the sixth grade. But fifth and sixth grade are considered to be secondary school already. In Spain, the sixth grade is called 6º de Primaria (Educación Primaria) and is the last year of Primaria, which can be roughly translated from Spanish as Middle School.6th grade is year 1 in Spain In Sweden 6th grade is called Sjätte Klass (6th class). Children in 6th class are usually 12–13 years old. Its English and Welsh equivalent is Year 7, the first year of secondary school in most counties. Its Northern Irish equivalent is First Form or Year 8, which is also the first year of secondary school. The Scottish equivalent is P7, which is the last year of primary school. The sixth grade is the sixth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually either 11 or 12, though could be younger or older, if they are promoted (skip grades) or held back for not reaching a standard. In the United States, sixth grade has been considered the last year of elementary school or the first year of middle school. In some school districts it's the last year of Intermediate School. This can be seen at the local level, where adjacent districts can differ on what level sixth grade occupies. Students still in Elementary school may continue to have a single teacher or more than one, but fewer than Middle school students. However, there have been schools where fifth graders (In Elementary) had five classes, and in sixth grade (Middle School) only had two classes/teachers who taught more than one subject. Students who attend private & faith based schools generally remain in grammar school for Kindergarten thru 8th grade, then go to high school in 9th grade (aka Freshmen), the same as public schools. In mathematics, students learn about fractions, decimals, exponents and pre-algebra. Geometry, graphs and physics are also taught, but usually as a primer to prepare the student for future learning., Exponents are also generally introduced, and students learn about the properties of circles and polygons, and the measurement of angles in degrees. Pre-Algebra and Algebra I are taught in some schools, as honors courses. Though most schools do not have honors programs until middle school, the few exceptions are in programs like GATE.(Gifted and Talented Education), In science, students usually learn about life science, physical science and earth science. Students are introduced to scientific methodology, taxonomy, and ecology., In English, students usually learn about grammar and the different types of writing (e.g. poetry, narrative, book report, research report)., In social studies, the curriculum varies from state to state, and often from local district to local district. Many states, such as New York, focus on the Eastern Hemisphere, usually with an emphasis on pre-modern eras (Ancient Civilizations, Middle Ages, and the like)., Band can be introduced. It is an option whether you want to play an instrument. Students can also choose chorus or transitions. The instruments students play may include the flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, French horn, and percussion instruments. “Primaria” education, in its current form became compulsory in 2009, and runs from grade one through grade six, for students aged 6 – 12 years. The Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) officially determines primary school a part of ‘Basic Education’, making it free of charge, with one year of mandatory pre-school education. SEP standardizes curriculum content for public and private schools, which includes Spanish, mathematics, natural sciences, history, geography, art, and physical education. The National Institute for Assessment of Education monitors standards and provides quality control. Middle Education Secondary Education in Mexico is organized into two stages: Lower-Secondary Education (Educación Secundaria Básica), grades 7-9, and Upper-Secondary Education (Educación Media Superior), grades 10-12. Lower secondary school, or “Educacio Secundaria”, is compulsory and lasts for three years (grades 7 – 9). Education at state schools is free, and students may follow either an academic track (educación secundaria general) or a technical track (educación secundaria técnica). Students who enroll in the academic track generally continue their education at the upper secondary level. Lower-secondary programs, not leading to further study, are designated as nivel medio básico, nivel medio elemental or nivel medio terminal (basic lower secondary education). These are non-academic programs with a strong emphasis on vocational, commercial and artistic training. The “Preparatoria”, or upper secondary education (Educación Media Superior), is the second stage of secondary school in Mexico. Upper Secondary education consists of grades 10 – 12 and admission depends on institutional policies. Many upper secondary schools are affiliated with large public universities, while others are SEP or state-controlled colegios, private schools, preparatory schools or private schools. Two degree tracks are offered: Academic University- Preparatory and Professional Technical Education. The Academic track provides students with a general academic curriculum for the first two years of study, followed by more specialized study in the final year. Foreign Language is compulsory and students are awarded the Bachillerato certificate and certifocado de estudios (transcript) upon completion. The General Baccalaureate system is administered by the Secretariat for Tertiary Education and Scientific Research (SESIC). In the professional track, Professional Technical Institutions provide technical preparation that prepares students to work immediately following completion. The track leads to the Título de técnico professional (Title of professional technician), and consists of general education classes and professional classes in their chosen field. Vocational Education is offered at Professional Technical Institutions following the completion of lower secondary school (Educacion Secundaria Básica). The Technical Baccalaureate system is administered by the Secretariat for Technological Education and Research. Students graduate with the qualification of professional technician, technical professional, or base level technician, depending on the type of institution they attend and the program they undertake. Upper-secondary technical / technological instruction usually consists of dual academic-vocational programs called bachillerato tecnológico / technological upper-secondary education (also called bachillerato técnico / technical upper-secondary education). Successful students earn a technical qualification, usually título de técnico / title of technician in the vocational stream, and may seek undergraduate admissions in an appropriate field of study. The conferred título de técnico is registered with the Secretaría de Educación Pública / Secretariat of Public Education which issues a cédula / registration card serving as licensing in Mexico. The cédula indicates that the credential is at the técnico / upper-secondary technician level. Tertiary Education The Mexican higher education system largely follows the American model. A huge growth in demand has led to the expansion of program and degree options, as well as a swell in enrollment. Much of the growth has occurred at private institutions, where minimal fees are maintained. Higher Education (Educación superior) is offered at various types of institutions, including Public Universities, Technological Institutions and Universities, Teacher Training Institutes, and Private Institutions; the six official types of institutions in Mexico are public autonomous universities, public state institutions, institutions dependent on the federal government, private independent (libre) institutions, private institutions with official validity, and institutions without official validity. Each Mexican state has a public university and a teachers’ training college, for which a university diploma is awarded upon graduation. Institutions are recognized by the Comités Interinstitucionales para la Evaluación de la Educación Superior (CIEES) and/or accredited organizations recognized by the Consejo para la Acreditación de la Educación Superior (COPAES); the Subsecretaría de Educación Superior (SES) oversees curriculum. Undergraduate education can from 2 to 6 years. Similar to the U.S. System, Associate Degrees - Técnico Superior Universitario (University Higher Technician) or Profesional Asociado (Professional Associate), are two years in length. These programs are offered at Technological Universities. Other shortened programs (fewer than 4 years) include a certificado or diploma/higher university technician in a specialized field. These degrees can sometimes be applied to further higher education. The Licenciado (Licentiate) and Titulo Profesional (Professional Title) last 4 to 6 years. Common 5-year programs include accounting, economics, engineering, law, and architecture. Graduate Level work is offered at the level of Especialista (Specialist), Maestría (Master's degree), and Doctorado (Doctorate). Especialista (Specialist) is usually a 1-year program with the licentiate degree required for admission. The licentiate degree can also grant access to the Maestría (Master's degree), which lasts between 1 and 2 years. A thesis is usually required for graduation. The Doctorado (Doctorate), like in the U.S., is a degree based on coursework, research, and a thesis or dissertation. The degree requires at least 2 years of study beyond a master's degree. In Australia, sixth grade is the last (second last year in South Australia) year of Primary School, however in Australia it is more commonly called "Year 6". Students are generally turning twelve in this year. In New Zealand, Year 7 (formerly Form 1) is the equivalent of sixth grade, with students aged 11 or 12 during the year. It is the seventh year of primary school and the seventh year of compulsory education. Depending on the area, students may take Years 7 and 8 at a full primary school, a secondary school, or a separate intermediate school. The nomenclature for all school grades in Brazil, including sixth, was recently changed. In that sense, sixth grade (ages 11 and 12) corresponds now to Brazil's seventh grade. In Argentina (CABA), sixth grade (age 11/12) would be the second to last year of primary school.. After seventh grade (age 12/13) students start the first year of high school (age 13/14) which is 5 years long for regular High Schools, or 6 years long for technical high schools. The latter offers a specialization and a higher diploma. In Peru, Grade 6 is the final year of primary school. Educational stage, Student

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, also written as Tenjo Tenge, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ito "Oh! Great" Ōgure. The story primarily focuses on the members of the Juken Club and their opposition, the Executive Council, which is the ruling student body of a high school that educates its students in the art of combat. As the story unfolds, both groups become increasingly involved with an ongoing battle that has been left unresolved for four hundred years. Tenjho Tenge was serialized in the magazine Ultra Jump from 1997 to 2010, and collected into 22 volumes by Shueisha. It was adapted into a twenty-four episode anime series and aired on TV Asahi between April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004. A two-episode original video animation was also made and aired on March 16, 2005. Both versions of the series have been licensed for release in the English language by two different companies. The manga was licensed and released by CMX beginning in 2005, which came under criticism by fans for editing its sexual content. When CMX closed down in 2010, after releasing 18 volumes, Viz Media picked up the rights and completed their own uncut release of the series in 2013. The anime was licensed and released by Geneon Entertainment, also beginning in 2005, however, it is now licensed by Discotek Media. The Japanese phrase also is part of the full phrase which can be translated literally as "There is no equal to me in this entire world (i.e. below the heaven and on this earth)", and in daily parlance now, the shortened form (yui ga dokuson) coming to mean a heavy-handed egotism. Traditionally the phrase is attributed to the Buddha Sakyamuni, purported to have said this whilst taking seven steps immediately after being born, supposed to assert his unparalleled status. The plot begins with Souichiro Nagi and his friend Bob Makihara going to their first day of high school at Toudou Academy. They had intended to rule the school by beating up anybody that got in their way, as they had done at their previous schools. They soon learn that Toudou is no ordinary high school, but rather a school that was founded to teach and integrate different fighting styles. Its students are skilled in the various arts of combat with some students possessing supernatural abilities, such as pyrokinesis, precognition, and superhuman strength based on the abilities to use their "spirit" or "ki" in Japanese. After an altercation with the Executive Council, Souichiro and Bob join the only surviving club that opposes them, the Juken club. As the storyline develops, both groups find they are becoming increasingly involved in a long enduring conflict that was left unresolved from the Japanese Feudal era by some of the characters' ancestors. Tenjho Tenge was serialized in the Japanese monthly manga magazine Ultra Jump from 1997 to 2010. It was author and illustrator Oh! Great's first crossover mainstream manga from writing and illustrating pornographic series. About twice a year, its publisher Shueisha compiled five of the chapters into tankōbon volumes, with the first released on May 19, 1998 and the twenty- second and final volume on November 19, 2010. Tenjho Tenge was licensed for an English language publication by CMX, an imprint of DC Comics, as one of their launch titles and the first volume was released on February 16, 2005. Their version of the manga is heavily edited/censored in order for them to give it a Teen "rating" "to give it the widest possible distribution in the United States". According to CMX, these changes were made in conjunction with Shueisha and Tenjho Tenge creator Oh! Great, who examines each of their changes. This censorship however garnered quite a bit of controversy, see Controversy section for more info. CMX released eighteen volumes in North America before the company was shut down in July 2010. In November 2010, Viz Media acquired the rights to the Tenjho Tenge manga, stating that their version would be 100% uncut and faithful to the original Japanese. From June 21, 2011 to February 5, 2013, they released the series bi-monthly in eleven 2-in-1 volumes, which collects two individual volumes into a single large one. Viz's releases also includes omake, color pages from the series's original run in Ultra Jump, and since each release will cover two volumes, the second cover will be printed in as a color page. The manga is also published in many other countries, such as in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press, in Italy, France and Germany by Panini Comics, in Mexico by Grupo Editorial Vid, in Brazil by Editora JBC, and in Spain by Norma Editorial. The Tenjho Tenge anime was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated by Madhouse, and produced by TV Asahi and Avex Mode, the animation division of the Avex group of companies. The twenty-four episodes were originally aired weekly on TV Asahi in Japan on Thursdays from April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004. These episodes were made into eight-volume DVD box sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005 and released in the form of an original video animation named Tenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight. The anime follows closely to its source material up to the manga's eighth volume with the exception of the sexual content which was toned down. The anime has been dubbed into English, French, German, and the Tagalog language. The anime series has been licensed for the English language by Geneon Entertainment, and has released all episodes except the DVD special named Tenjho Tenge: The Past Chapter, which is the back-story told through flashbacks in the second half of the anime television series condensed into the size of four episodes. The series was broadcast in North America by the cable channel Fuse TV. Although not mentioned on the Geneon Entertainment's website, or the Tenjho Tenge mini- site, the OVA is available on the last volume, sometimes listed as Episodes 25 and 26. In Australia and the UK, the series was released over seven volumes, and includes the OVA on the seventh disc. Almost 5 years after the closure of Geneon USA, Discotek Media re-licensed the series for a DVD release in 2013. The anime's music, including the background music and theme songs, were composed and performed by various artists, such as m.c.A.T and Aiko Kayo who provided the opening and closing themes songs of the anime. In 2004, Avex record label released the Tenjho Tenge soundtrack and a single. In 2005, Avex released two character collection albums. The Tenjho Tenge manga is described by Chris Beveridge of AnimeOnDVD as an "engaging mix of action and comedy together while wrapping it all up in a large plot that's fairly dark and really violent at times". Its creator, Oh! Great, is known to flavor his works with wanton sex and violence. Oh! Great uses sex as an important aspect of the storyline by using it as a powerful motivator both negatively and positively. He often has his characters contemplate the significance and importance of fighting as well as the meaning of strength. This conscious deliberation of subjective reasoning and objective truth between characters is the most imperative aspect of story and is considered to be rare in manga. Dani Moure of AnimeOnDVD said readers may find that Oh! Great's narrative is occasionally hard to follow and at times the plot moves slowly. Oh! Great is known for his characters to have unrealistic body proportions, and Tenjho Tenge is no different. The majority of the female characters have "ultra large breasts" and the male characters are extraordinarily muscular, but this facilitates the characters' personalities to come through in their distinctive features. Overall, the Tenjho Tenge manga is well received, having sold over 10.7 million copies and its volumes regularly being in the top twenty best-selling manga for Japanese Tohan charts and North American Diamond Comic Distributors charts. The Tenjho Tenge anime is described as a significantly toned down version of the Japanese manga, but still retains most of the spirit of its predecessor. Much of the nudity was removed by the animators, but was made up in the way of sexual innuendos, gratuitous cleavage, and panty shots. Since the anime is a close adaptation of the manga, critique of the plot is comparable to the manga's. Some reviewers felt that the anime was handled in a frantic and ill- planned manner that made the conclusion not satisfactory even with the original video animation. The animation done by Madhouse is considered to be well done. They used bright vibrant colors, solid backgrounds, and plenty of visible detail with very little pixelation or jagged movement, but at times used repeated character shots and animations. The animation done during the fight scenes is done in real time and is done as close to reality as possible while still bending, and often violating, the laws of physics. The early fight scenes are thought to be the "most intense seen in recent anime" by Kevin Gilvear of DVD Times. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network affirmed the quality of animation in these scenes does drop somewhat over time, but the action still looks better than the average fighting anime. Both the Japanese and English voice acting are considered to be good, but the English dub at times can be a little uneven. The English dub on occasion has poor dialogue, according to Anime News Network's Patrick King, which causes it to lose much of the anime's sincerity. Overall, the anime is considered to be above average, but suffers from a lack of a good ending, mainly because the anime only covered the first arc of the story. The series's original soundtrack is considered to be average. Most of the music does well with setting the tone within the anime, although some reviewers found it to be somewhat repetitive. Some found the drama tracks to be unsatisfactory, even though they were "well executed". For many, the highlight of the soundtrack is m.c.A.T's "Bomb A Head!", which was used as the anime's opening song. CMX came under a great deal of criticism for its edits from readers. These edits included the length and breadth of the book, censoring out anything they felt was questionable for a teen audience such as covering up or removing nudity, fanservice, and sexual innuendo as well as a removal of an omake chapter. This was done by a brand whose promotional material asserts that it offers "pure manga -- 100% the way the original Japanese creators want you to see it." One of grievances made against CMX is that the edits are not only severe, but very noticeable. One review states it is "possibly the most heavily censored title in the history of the North American manga industry." In response, protesters boycott the edited version and even started up their own website. Immediately following the controversy, Jake Tarbox, group editor of CMX, resigned from the company. "Tarbox was widely blamed by the fan community for the censoring of Tenjho Tenge, although inside sources suggest that Tarbox was not responsible for the decision to censor the manga." In the face of complaints, CMX had internal discussions about the possibility of publishing an unedited version of Tenjho Tenge, but decided to complete the current version. At the 2007 Anime Expo, CMX announced that they planned to change Tenjho Tenge's rating to Mature beginning with volume fifteen, but warned that it still would be edited, but more lightly. Jason Thompson declared CMX's censorship of the series one of "The Greatest Censorship Fails" in manga. Official website, Official anime website, Viz Media English manga website, Geneon English anime website, Madmen English anime website, Harris, Franklin. "Censored book not a good start." The Decatur Daily. Thursday March 10, 2005. The anime series Tenjho Tenge was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated by Madhouse, and produced by TV Asahi and Avex Mode, the animation division of the Avex group of companies. The twenty-four episodes were originally aired weekly on TV Asahi in Japan on Thursdays from April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004. These episodes were made into eight-volume DVD box sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005 and released in the form of an original video animation named Tenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight. The anime follows closely to its source material up to the manga's eighth volume with the exception of the sexual content which was toned down. The anime has been dubbed into English, French, German and the Tagalog language. The anime series has been licensed for the English language by Geneon Entertainment, and has released all episodes except the DVD special named Tenjho Tenge: The Past Chapter, which is the back-story told through flashbacks in the second half of the anime television series condensed into the size of four episodes. The series was broadcast in North America by the cable channel Fuse TV. This is a list of chapters of the manga Tenjho Tenge by Oh! great. The Tenjho Tenge manga was first serialized by the Japanese monthly manga magazine Ultra Jump, by the publisher Shueisha in 1997. About two times a year, Shueisha compiles six or more of Tenjho Tenges chapters into bound volumes. Tenjho Tenge has been licensed for English language publication by CMX, which is an imprint of DC Comics. Individual chapters are called "fights". The story primarily focuses on the members of the Juken Club and their opposition, the Executive Council, which is the ruling student body of a high school that educates its students in the art of combat. As the story unfolds, both groups become increasingly involved with an ongoing battle that has been left unresolved for four hundred years. Tenjho Tenge manga official website, Tenjho Tenge cmx manga website

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Fisher & Paykel () is a major appliance manufacturer and is owned by Haier. It is based in East Tamaki, New Zealand. Originally an importer of domestic refrigerators, Fisher & Paykel now holds over 420 patents and bases its identity on innovative design, particularly in the areas of usability and environmental awareness. The company's trademarked appliances include Active Smart refrigerators, AeroTech ovens, DishDrawer dishwashers, Smart Drive washing machines and Smartload top loading dryers. The company also manufactures gas and electric cooktops. In 2004, Fisher & Paykel Appliances purchased the United States-based cookware manufacturer Dynamic Cooking Systems, and Italian cookware company Elba in 2006. Fisher & Paykel had grown into a global company operating in 50 countries and manufacturing in Thailand, China, Italy and Mexico. The company had a manufacturing base in Australia for almost 20 years and nearly 70 years in New Zealand, but stated it can no longer compete with low cost labour countries and had to close them. In 2012, Haier, a major Chinese appliance manufacturer, purchased over 90% of Fisher & Paykel Appliance shares. Fisher & Paykel Appliances Ltd was listed publicly in 2001, following the separation of Fisher & Paykel Industries Ltd into Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd and Fisher & Paykel Appliances Ltd that same year. Fisher & Paykel Industries Ltd was founded in 1934 by Sir Woolf Fisher and Maurice Paykel. The company publicly listed in 1979 with authorised capital of NZ$ 40 million. Initially the company was an importer of Crosley appliances, Maytag and Pilot products; in 1938 the company began manufacturing Kelvinator washing machines under license. This followed the introduction of tariffs by the First Labour Government of New Zealand. In 1956, manufacturing was moved to a purpose-built factory in Mount Wellington, Auckland. This facility included flexible machinery manufacturing techniques developed in tandem with the raw material suppliers, enabling Fisher & Paykel Industries to greatly increase production. In 1955, Fisher and Paykel acquired Dunedin electric oven manufacturer H. E. Shacklock Ltd, which dominated the New Zealand domestic appliance market through the era of Government protectionism. Subsequently, the Shacklock brand was gradually withdrawn from the Fisher and Paykel product range. The company began exporting within Australasia and East Asia around 1968. At that time the company also manufactured cabinets, sparkplugs and televisions. During the 1980s, the company became more focussed on research and development, resulting in the development of the ECS direct drive mechanism washing machine and highly automated production lines. In 1989, the company opened its first overseas manufacturing facility in Cleveland, Australia. The company entered the European market in 1992, and by 1994 was exporting to over 80 countries. On 12 November 2001, Fisher & Paykel Industries split into Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd. In October 2004, Fisher & Paykel Appliances acquired Dynamic Cooking Systems Inc, a United States manufacturer and distributor of cooking appliances. Dynamic Cooking Systems was acquired for US$33 million (NZ$49.3 million) in a debt- free state, allowing the company to leverage market presence while maintaining its quality of engineering. In June 2006, the Italian cookware business Elba was acquired from DeLonghi for €78 million (NZ$158 million). Elba has been since renamed as Fisher & Paykel Appliances Italy S.p.A. and exports to over 54 countries, focusing on the UK market. Fisher & Paykel makes a relatively broad range of mid to high end dishwashers. Its notable drawcard to the Fisher & Paykel brand is the DishDrawer range. Most dishwasher brands don’t offer drawer-style dishwashers, so Fisher & Paykel is the leader for this niche design. In 2018, Australian customers gave Fisher & Paykel 4 out of 5 stars for overall customer satisfaction for dishwashers. Fisher & Paykel Appliances currently manufactures cooking, laundry and whiteware appliances. The company's flagship product is the DishDrawer double drawer dishwasher which is claimed to wash dishes more efficiently than standard dishwashers or hand washing. The current Fisher & Paykel-branded product range includes built-in ovens, electric cooktops, dishwashers, dryers, freezers, ranges, rangehoods, refrigerators and washing machines. A large number of Fisher & Paykel products utilise microprocessor and brushless DC electric motor technology from production line equipment to improve efficiency. The company's trademarked brushless motor-based performance features include Smart Drive washing machines, SmartLoad Dryers and DishDrawer dishwashers. Microprocessor-based control systems form the basis of Active Smart refrigerators and AeroTech ovens. Fisher & Paykel US, Fisher & Paykel CA, Fisher & Paykel NZ, Fisher & Paykel AU, Dynamic Cooking Systems Fisher Engineering is an American manufacturer of snowplows and other professional snow removal equipment, located in Rockland, Maine. Fisher Engineering is a subsidiary of Douglas Dynamics (NYSE:PLOW), which also owns Western Products and Blizzard, each producing their own snowplow brands. Fisher Engineering is one of the leading snow management equipment providers in the Northeastern United States. Fisher Engineering designs and manufactures snowplows for commercial snow plowing, as well as institutional, residential and municipal applications. Dean L. Fisher, a civil engineer from Kansas and a United States Navy U.S. Navy SeaBee, founded Fisher Engineering in 1948. After noticing a potential market for small snowplows mounted on Willys Jeeps, Fisher decided to go into business for himself and started a manufacturing facility in Rockland, Maine. With a handful of welders and general workers, Fisher began designing and building snowplows, producing approximately 50 in the first year. Initially, Fisher Engineering built snowplows exclusively for Willys Jeep vehicles, the only light-duty four-wheel-drive vehicle at the time. As new models of lightweight four-wheel-drive vehicles came to market, Fisher responded by introducing corresponding snowplow models. At the same time, he began introducing new innovations. By 1957, the trip-edge cutting surface and under- the-hood, belt-driven hydraulic systems were available in the FISHER snowplow line. In 1984, Dean Fisher sold Fisher Engineering to Douglas Dynamics of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The purchase gave Douglas Dynamics ownership of the two largest snowplow manufacturers in America at the time—Western Products and Fisher Engineering. In 1957, Fisher Engineering developed a “trip-edge” system, which allows the lower cutting surface of the blade to collapse backward when the snowplow hits an immovable object. In 1962, Fisher Engineering introduced the “Quick-Switch” hydraulic angling system. The system enabled the snowplow operator to change the angle of the blade left and right, hydraulically, from a control lever mounted inside the vehicle’s cab. Until then, the snowplow operator had to manually change the angle of the blade from outside the vehicle. In 1975–76, Fisher Engineering created an electrically-driven hydraulic system capable of operating off the electrical systems of modern trucks. In 2005, Douglas Dynamics purchased the Blizzard Corporation, which is known for its adjustable-wing snowplows. Shortly thereafter, Fisher Engineering introduced the XLS™ adjustable-width snowplow that incorporates the technology acquired from Blizzard Corp. Homesteader™ – Straight-blade snowplow for residential use, HT Series™ – Full-size straight-blade snowplow for half-ton pickups, SD Series – Straight-blade snowplow for lightweight four-wheel-drive vehicles, HD Series – Commercial-grade straight-blade snowplow for heavy-duty pickups and four-wheel-drive vehicles, XBLADE™ – Straight-blade commercial snowplow with crossbar reinforcements and a stainless steel moldboard, XtremeV™ – Commercial-grade, hydraulic V-plow, XLS – Adjustable-width snowplow with wings that are extendable and can be put into scoop and windrowing positions, MC Series – Large municipal and contractor-grade snowplow, HD2 - Replaced the HD with more accessories, made with more reinforced vertical ribs, HDX - Replaced the XBlade with an articulating A-frame and adjustable attack angle POLY-CASTER™ – Large salt and sand spreader for commercial or municipal ice control, mountable in large pickup trucks, PRO-CASTER™ – Salt and sand spreader mountable in pickup, dump or platform trucks, for commercial and municipal ice control, SPEED-CASTER™ 2 – Tailgate-mounted salt and sand spreader for commercial and residential ice control, Low Profile – Low-profile tailgate-mounted salt and sand spreader for commercial and residential ice control The fisher (Pekania pennanti) is a small, carnivorous mammal native to North America. It is a member of the mustelid family (commonly referred to as the weasel family), and is in the monospecific genus Pekania. The fisher is closely related to, but larger than, the American marten (Martes americana). The fisher is a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern United States. Names derived from aboriginal languages include pekan, pequam, wejack, and woolang. It is sometimes misleadingly referred to as a fisher cat, although it is not a cat. Males and females look similar. Adult males are long and weigh . Adult females are long and weigh . The fur of the fisher varies seasonally, being denser and glossier in the winter. During the summer, the color becomes more mottled, as the fur goes through a moulting cycle. The fisher prefers to hunt in full forest. Although an agile climber, it spends most of its time on the forest floor, where it prefers to forage around fallen trees. An omnivore, the fisher feeds on a wide variety of small animals and occasionally on fruits and mushrooms. It prefers the snowshoe hare and is one of the few animals able to prey successfully on porcupines. Despite its common name, it rarely eats fish. The reproductive cycle of the fisher lasts almost a year. Female fishers give birth to a litter of three or four kits in the spring. They nurse and care for their kits until late summer, when they are old enough to set out on their own. Females enter estrus shortly after giving birth and leave the den to find a mate. Implantation of the blastocyst is delayed until the following spring, when they give birth and the cycle is renewed. Fishers have few predators besides humans. They have been trapped since the 18th century for their fur. Their pelts were in such demand that they were extirpated from several parts of the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Conservation and protection measures have allowed the species to rebound, but their current range is still reduced from its historic limits. In the 1920s, when pelt prices were high, some fur farmers attempted to raise fishers. However, their unusual delayed reproduction made breeding difficult. When pelt prices fell in the late 1940s, most fisher farming ended. While fishers usually avoid human contact, encroachments into forest habitats have resulted in some conflicts. Despite the name "fisher", the animal is not known to eat fish. The name is instead related to the word "fitch", meaning a European polecat (Mustela putorius) or pelt thereof, due to the resemblance to that animal. The name comes from colonial Dutch equivalent fisse or visse. In the French language, the pelt of a polecat is also called fiche or fichet. In some regions, the fisher is known as a pekan, derived from its name in the Abenaki language. Wejack is an Algonquian word (cf. Cree wuchak, otchock, Ojibwa ojiig) borrowed by fur traders. Other American Indian names for the fisher are Chipewyan thacho and Carrier chunihcho, both meaning "big marten", and Wabanaki uskool. The Latin specific name pennanti honors Thomas Pennant, who described the fisher in 1771. Buffon had first described the creature in 1765, calling it a pekan. Pennant examined the same specimen, but called it a fisher, unaware of Buffon's earlier description. Other 18th-century scientists gave it similar names, such as Schreber, who named it Mustela canadensis, and Boddaert, who named it Mustela melanorhyncha. The fisher was eventually placed in the genus Martes by Smith in 1843. In 2008, advances in DNA analysis allowed a more detailed study of the fisher's evolutionary history. The fisher and the genus Martes were determined to have descended from a common ancestor, but the fisher was distinct enough to put it in its own genus. It was decided to create the genus Pekania and reclassify the fisher as Pekania pennanti. Members of the genus Pekania are distinguished by their four premolar teeth on the upper and lower jaws. Its close relative Mustela has just three. The fisher has 38 teeth. The dentition formula is: Some evidence shows that ancestors of the fisher migrated to North America during the Pliocene era between 2.5 and 5.0 million years ago. Two extinct mustelids, M. palaeosinensis and M. anderssoni, have been found in eastern Asia. The first true fisher, M. diluviana, has only been found in Middle Pleistocene North America. M. diluviana is strongly indicated to be related to the Asian finds, which suggests a migration. M. pennanti has been found as early as the Late Pleistocene era, about 125,000 years ago. No major differences are seen between the Pleistocene fisher and the modern fisher. Fossil evidence indicates that the fisher's range extended farther south than it does today. Three subspecies were identified by Goldman in 1935, M. p. columbiana, M. p. pacifica, and M. p. pennanti. Later research has debated whether these subspecies could be positively identified. In 1959, E.M. Hagmeier concluded that the subspecies are not separable based on either fur or skull characteristics. Although some debate still exists, in general, the fisher is recognized to be a monotypic species with no extant subspecies. Fishers are a medium-sized mammal, comparable in size to the domestic cat. Their bodies are long, thin, and low to the ground. The sexes have similar physical features, but they are sexually dimorphic in size, with the male being much larger than the female. Males are in length and weigh . Females measure and weigh . The largest male fisher ever recorded weighed . The fisher's fur changes with the season and differs slightly between sexes. Males have coarser coats than females. In the early winter, the coats are dense and glossy, ranging from on the chest to on the back. The color ranges from deep brown to black, although it appears to be much blacker in the winter when contrasted with white snow. From the face to the shoulders, fur can be hoary- gold or silver due to tricolored guard hairs. The underside of a fisher is almost completely brown except for randomly placed patches of white or cream- colored fur. In the summer, the fur color is more variable and may lighten considerably. Fishers undergo moulting starting in late summer and finishing by November or December. Fishers have five toes on each foot, with unsheathed, retractable claws. Their feet are large, making it easier for them to move on top of snow packs. In addition to the toes, four central pads are on each foot. On the hind paws are coarse hairs that grow between the pads and the toes, giving them added traction when walking on slippery surfaces. Fishers have highly mobile ankle joints that can rotate their hind paws almost 180°, allowing them to maneuver well in trees and climb down head-first. The fisher is one of relatively few mammalian species with the ability to descend trees head-first. A circular patch of hair on the central pad of their hind paws marks plantar glands that give off a distinctive odor. Since these patches become enlarged during breeding season, they are likely used to make a scent trail to allow fishers to find each other so they can mate. Fishers are generalist predators. Although their primary prey is snowshoe hares and porcupines, they are also known to supplement their diet with insects, nuts, berries, and mushrooms. Since they are solitary hunters, their choice of prey is limited by their size. Analyses of stomach contents and scat have found evidence of birds, small mammals, and even deer—the latter two indicating that they are not averse to eating carrion. Fishers have been seen to feed on deer carcasses. While the behavior is not common, fishers have been known to kill larger animals, such as wild turkey, bobcat (although, in most cases, confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, that frequently prey on them and in fact is one of their main predators) and Canadian lynx. Researchers in Maine have found "about a dozen" cases of confirmed fisher predation on Canadian lynx, and several more suspected cases, in a four township area of Maine. According to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wildlife biologist Scott McClellan, the fishers involved in these kills attacked lynxs bedded down in snowstorms with a quick "powerful grip" bite to the lynx's neck. Signs of struggle indicated that some lynxs attempted to defend themselves but McClellan states that "the fishers would finish the cats off pretty quickly. 'There was some struggle certainly, but it didn’t appear to last very long. There were some broken branches, tufts of fur, and claw marks where the lynx was trying to get away.' The McClellan study in The Journal of Wildlife Management documents 14 fisher-caused mortalities of Canadian lynx from 1999 to 2011 in northern Maine, and found that predation was the leading source of mortality of lynx in the study area (18 deaths, 14 by fisher). Fishers are one of the few predators that seek out and kill porcupines. Stories in popular literature indicate that fishers can flip a porcupine onto its back and "scoop out its belly like a ripe melon". This was identified as an exaggerated misconception as early as 1966. Observational studies show that fishers make repeated biting attacks on the face of a porcupine and kill it after about 25–30 minutes. The female fisher begins to breed at about one year of age and her reproductive cycle is an almost year-long event. Mating takes place in late March to early April. Blastocyst implantation is then delayed for ten months until mid-February of the following year when active pregnancy begins. After gestating for about 50 days, the female gives birth to one to four kits. The female then enters estrus 7–10 days later and the breeding cycle begins again. Females den in hollow trees. Kits are born blind and helpless. They are partially covered with fine hair. Kits begin to crawl after about three weeks. After about seven weeks, they open their eyes. They start to climb after eight weeks. Kits are completely dependent on their mother's milk for the first eight to ten weeks, after which they begin to switch to a solid diet. After four months, kits become intolerant of their litter mates, and at five months, the mother pushes them out on their own. After one year, juveniles will have established their own range. Fishers are generally crepuscular, being most active at dawn and dusk. They are active year-round, and are solitary, associating with other fishers only for mating. Males become more active during mating season. Females are least active during pregnancy and gradually increase activity after birth of their kits. A fisher's hunting range varies from in the summer to in the winter. Ranges up to in the winter are possible depending on the quality of the habitat. Male and female fishers have overlapping territories. This behavior is imposed on females by males due to dominance in size and a male's desire to increase mating success. Parasites of fishers include nematode Baylisascaris devosi, tapeworm Taenia sibirica, nematode Physaloptera sp., trematodes Alaria mustelae and Metorchis conjunctus, nematode Trichinella spiralis, and Molineus sp. Although fishers are competent tree climbers, they spend most of their time on the forest floor and prefer continuous forest to other habitats. They have been found in extensive conifer forests typical of the boreal forest, but are also common in mixed-hardwood and conifer forests. Fishers prefer areas with continuous overhead cover with greater than 80% coverage and avoid areas with less than 50% coverage. Fishers are more likely to be found in old-growth forests. Since female fishers require moderately large trees for denning, forests that have been heavily logged and have extensive second growth appear to be unsuitable for their needs. Fishers also select for forest floors with large amounts of coarse woody debris. In western forests, where fire regularly removes understory debris, fishers show a preference for riparian woodland habitat. Fishers tend to avoid areas with deep snow. Habitat is also affected by snow compaction and moisture content. Fishers are widespread throughout the northern forests of North America. They are found from Nova Scotia in the east to the Pacific shore of British Columbia and Alaska. They can be found as far north as Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories and as far south as the mountains of Oregon. Isolated populations occur in the Sierra Nevada of California, throughout New England and the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fishers were virtually eliminated from the southern and eastern parts of their range, including most American states and eastern Canada including Nova Scotia. Overtrapping and loss of forest habitat were the reasons for the decline. Most states had placed restrictions on fisher trapping by the 1930s, coincidental with the end of the logging boom. A combination of forest regrowth in abandoned farmlands and improved forest management practices increased available habitat and allowed remnant populations to recover. Populations have since recovered sufficiently that the species is no longer endangered. Increasing forest cover in eastern North America means that fisher populations will remain sufficiently robust for the near future. Between 1955 and 1985, some states had allowed limited trapping to resume. In areas where fishers were eliminated, porcupine populations subsequently increased. Areas with a high density of porcupines were found to have extensive damage to timber crops. In these cases, fishers were reintroduced by releasing adults relocated from other places into the forest. Once the fisher populations became re- established, porcupine numbers returned to natural levels. In Washington, fisher sightings were reported into the 1980s, but an extensive survey in the 1990s did not locate any. Scattered fisher populations now exist in the Pacific Northwest. In 1961, fishers from British Columbia and Minnesota were reintroduced in Oregon to the southern Cascades near Klamath Falls and to the Wallowa Mountains near La Grande. From 1977–1980, fishers were introduced to the region around Crater Lake. Starting in January 2008, fishers were reintroduced into Washington State. The initial reintroduction was on the Olympic peninsula (90 animals), with subsequent reintroductions into the south Cascade Mountains. The reintroduced animals are monitored by radio collars and remote cameras, and have been shown to be reproducing. From 2008 to 2011, about 40 fishers were reintroduced in the northern Sierra Nevada near Stirling City, complementing fisher populations in Yosemite National Park and along California's northern boundary between the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. Fishers are a protected species in Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. In Idaho and California, fishers are protected through a closed trapping season, but they are not afforded any specific protection; however, in California the fisher has been granted threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. In June 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that fishers be removed from the endangered list in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Recent studies, as well as anecdotal evidence, show that fishers have begun making inroads into suburban backyards, farmland, and periurban areas in several US states and eastern Canada, as far south as most of northern Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota and Iowa, and even rural New Jersey. Having virtually disappeared after the construction of the Cape Cod Canal in the early 1900s, some reports have shown that populations have become re-established on Cape Cod, although the populations are likely smaller than the populations in the western part of New England. Fishers have had a long history of contact with humans, but most of it has been to the detriment of fisher populations. Unprovoked attacks on humans are extremely rare, but fishers will attack if they feel threatened or cornered. In one case, a fisher was blamed for an attack on a 6-year-old boy. In another case, a fisher is believed to be responsible for an attack on a 12-year-old boy. Fishers have been trapped since the 18th century. They have been popular with trappers due to the value of their fur, which has been used for scarves and neck pieces. It is reported that fisher tails were used in the making of spodiks, a form of ceremonial hat worn by Jews of certain Hasidic sects. The best pelts are from winter trapping, with secondary-quality pelts from spring trapping. The lowest-quality furs come from out-of-season trapping when fishers are moulting. They are easily trapped, and the value of their fur was a particular incentive for catching this species. Prices for pelts have varied considerably over the past 100 years. They were highest in the 1920s and 1930s, when average prices were about US$100. In 1936, pelts were being offered for sale in New York City for $450–750 per pelt. Prices declined through the 1960s, but picked up again in the late 1970s. In 1979, the Hudson's Bay Company paid $410 for one female pelt. In 1999, 16,638 pelts were sold in Canada for C$449,307 at an average price of $27. Between 1900 and 1940, fishers were threatened with near extinction in the southern part of their range due to overtrapping and alterations to their habitat. In New England, fishers, along with most other furbearers, were nearly exterminated due to unregulated trapping. Fishers became extirpated in many northern U.S. states after 1930, but were still abundant enough in Canada to maintain a harvest over 3,000 fishers per year. Limited protection was afforded in the early 20th century, but total protection was not given to the few remaining fishers until 1934. Closed seasons, habitat recovery, and reintroductions have restored fishers to much of their original range. Trapping resumed in the U.S. after 1962, once numbers had recovered sufficiently. During the early 1970s, the value of fisher pelts soared, leading to another population crash in 1976. After a few years of closed seasons, fisher trapping reopened in 1979 with a shortened season and restricted bag limits. The population has steadily increased since then, with steadily increasing numbers of trapped animals, despite a much lower pelt value. Fishers have been captured live for fur farming, zoo specimens, and scientific research. From 1920–1946, pelt prices averaged about C$137. Since pelts were relatively valuable, attempts were made to raise fishers on farms. Fur farming was popular with other species such as mink and ermine, so the same techniques were thought to be applicable to fishers. However, farmers found it difficult to raise fishers due to their unusual reproductive cycle. In general, knowledge of delayed implantation in fishers was unknown at the time. Farmers noted that females mated in the spring but did not give birth. Due to declining pelt prices, most fisher farms closed operations by the late 1940s. Fishers have also been captured and bred by zoos, but they are not a common zoo species. Fishers are poor animals to exhibit because, in general, they hide from visitors all day. Some zoos have had difficulty keeping fishers alive since they are susceptible to many diseases in captivity. Yet at least one example shows a fisher kept in captivity that lived to be 10 years old, and another living to be about 14 years old, well beyond its natural lifespan of 7 years. In 1974, R.A. Powell raised two fisher kits for the purpose of performing scientific research. His primary interest was an attempt to measure the activity of fishers to determine how much food the animals required to function. He did this by running them through treadmill exercises that simulated activity in the wild. He compared this to their food intake and used the data to estimate daily food requirements. The research lasted for two years. After one year, one of the fishers died due to unknown causes. The second was released back into the wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In some areas, fishers can become pests to farmers when they raid chicken coops. Instances of fishers preying on cats and small dogs have been reported. A 1979 study examined the stomach contents of all fishers trapped in the state of New Hampshire; cat hairs were found in only one of over 1,000 stomachs. An informal unfinished 2011 study in suburban upstate New York found no cat remains in 24 scat or stomach samples, and an earlier published study found no cat in 226 Massachusetts samples. In 2012, a study conducted by the Integral Ecology Research Center, UC Davis, U.S. Forest Service, and the Hoopa tribe showed that fishers in California were exposed to and killed by anticoagulant rodenticides associated with marijuana cultivation. In this study, 79% of fishers that were tested in California were exposed to an average of 1.61 different anticoagulant rodenticides and four fishers died directly attributed to these toxicants. A 2015 follow-up study building on these data determined that the trend of exposure and mortality from these toxicants increased to 85%, that California fishers were now exposed to an average of 1.73 different anticoagulant rodenticides, and that 9 more fishers died, bringing the total to 13. The extent of marijuana cultivation within fishers' home ranges was highlighted in a 2013 study focusing on fisher survival and impacts from marijuana cultivation within the Sierra National Forest. Fishers had an average of 5.3 individual grow sites within their home range. One fisher had 16 individual grow sites within its territory. One of the first mentions of fishers in literature occurred in The Audubon Book of True Nature Stories. Robert Snyder relates a tale of his encounter with fishers in the woods of the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He recounts three sightings, including one where he witnessed a fisher attacking a porcupine. In Winter of the Fisher, Cameron Langford relates a fictional encounter between a fisher and an aging recluse living in the forest. The recluse frees the fisher from a trap and nurses it back to health. The fisher tolerates the attention, but being a wild animal, returns to the forest when well enough. Langford uses the ecology and known habits of the fisher to weave a tale of survival and tolerance in the northern woods of Canada. Fishers are mentioned in several other books, including The Blood Jaguar (an animal shaman), Ereth's Birthday (a porcupine hunter) and in The Sign of the Beaver, where a fisher is thought to have been caught in a trap. Fisher videos, photos and facts Arkive.org., Fisher Cat Screech Online community of fisher cat sightings, sounds, and videos.

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The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptic orbit, 1 is a parabolic escape orbit, and greater than 1 is a hyperbola. The term derives its name from the parameters of conic sections, as every Kepler orbit is a conic section. It is normally used for the isolated two-body problem, but extensions exist for objects following a Klemperer rosette orbit through the galaxy. In a two-body problem with inverse-square-law force, every orbit is a Kepler orbit. The eccentricity of this Kepler orbit is a non-negative number that defines its shape. The eccentricity may take the following values: circular orbit: e = 0, elliptic orbit: 0 < e < 1 (see ellipse), parabolic trajectory: e = 1 (see parabola), hyperbolic trajectory: e > 1 (see hyperbola) The eccentricity e is given by where E is the total orbital energy, L is the angular momentum, m is the reduced mass, and α the coefficient of the inverse- square law central force such as gravity or electrostatics in classical physics: or in the case of a gravitational force: where ε is the specific orbital energy (total energy divided by the reduced mass), μ the standard gravitational parameter based on the total mass, and h the specific relative angular momentum (angular momentum divided by the reduced mass). For values of e from 0 to 1 the orbit's shape is an increasingly elongated (or flatter) ellipse; for values of e from 1 to infinity the orbit is a hyperbola branch making a total turn of , decreasing from 180 to 0 degrees. The limit case between an ellipse and a hyperbola, when e equals 1, is parabola. Radial trajectories are classified as elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic based on the energy of the orbit, not the eccentricity. Radial orbits have zero angular momentum and hence eccentricity equal to one. Keeping the energy constant and reducing the angular momentum, elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic orbits each tend to the corresponding type of radial trajectory while e tends to 1 (or in the parabolic case, remains 1). For a repulsive force only the hyperbolic trajectory, including the radial version, is applicable. For elliptical orbits, a simple proof shows that arcsin(formula_4) yields the projection angle of a perfect circle to an ellipse of eccentricity e. For example, to view the eccentricity of the planet Mercury (e = 0.2056), one must simply calculate the inverse sine to find the projection angle of 11.86 degrees. Next, tilt any circular object (such as a coffee mug viewed from the top) by that angle and the apparent ellipse projected to your eye will be of that same eccentricity. The word "eccentricity" comes from Medieval Latin eccentricus, derived from Greek ekkentros "out of the center", from ek-, "out of" + kentron "center". "Eccentric" first appeared in English in 1551, with the definition "a circle in which the earth, sun. etc. deviates from its center". By five years later, in 1556, an adjectival form of the word had developed. The eccentricity of an orbit can be calculated from the orbital state vectors as the magnitude of the eccentricity vector: where: e is the eccentricity vector. For elliptical orbits it can also be calculated from the periapsis and apoapsis since and , where a is the semimajor axis. where: r is the radius at apoapsis (i.e., the farthest distance of the orbit to the center of mass of the system, which is a focus of the ellipse)., r is the radius at periapsis (the closest distance). The eccentricity of an elliptical orbit can also be used to obtain the ratio of the periapsis to the apoapsis: For Earth, orbital eccentricity ≈ 0.0167, apoapsis is aphelion, and periapsis is perihelion relative to sun. For Earth's annual orbit path, r/r ratio = longest_radius / shortest_radius ≈ 1.034 relative to center point of path. The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit is currently about 0.0167; the Earth's orbit is nearly circular. Venus and Neptune have even lower eccentricities. Over hundreds of thousands of years, the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit varies from nearly 0.0034 to almost 0.058 as a result of gravitational attractions among the planets (see graph). The table lists the values for all planets and dwarf planets, and selected asteroids, comets, and moons. Mercury has the greatest orbital eccentricity of any planet in the Solar System (e = 0.2056). Such eccentricity is sufficient for Mercury to receive twice as much solar irradiation at perihelion compared to aphelion. Before its demotion from planet status in 2006, Pluto was considered to be the planet with the most eccentric orbit (e = 0.248). Other Trans-Neptunian objects have significant eccentricity, notably the dwarf planet Eris (0.44). Even further out, Sedna, has an extremely high eccentricity of due to its estimated aphelion of 937 AU and perihelion of about 76 AU. Most of the Solar System's asteroids have orbital eccentricities between 0 and 0.35 with an average value of 0.17. Their comparatively high eccentricities are probably due to the influence of Jupiter and to past collisions. The Moon's value is 0.0549, the most eccentric of the large moons of the Solar System. The four Galilean moons have eccentricity < 0.01. Neptune's largest moon Triton has an eccentricity of (), the smallest eccentricity of any known moon in the Solar System; its orbit is as close to a perfect circle as can be currently measured. However, smaller moons, particularly irregular moons, can have significant eccentricity, such as Neptune's third largest moon Nereid (0.75). Comets have very different values of eccentricity. Periodic comets have eccentricities mostly between 0.2 and 0.7, but some of them have highly eccentric elliptical orbits with eccentricities just below 1, for example, Halley's Comet has a value of 0.967. Non-periodic comets follow near-parabolic orbits and thus have eccentricities even closer to 1. Examples include Comet Hale–Bopp with a value of 0.995 and comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) with a value of . As Hale–Bopp's value is less than 1, its orbit is elliptical and it will return. Comet McNaught has a hyperbolic orbit while within the influence of the planets, but is still bound to the Sun with an orbital period of about 10 years. As of a 2010 Epoch, Comet C/1980 E1 has the largest eccentricity of any known hyperbolic comet with an eccentricity of 1.057, and will leave the Solar System eventually. ʻOumuamua is the first interstellar object found passing through the Solar System. Its orbital eccentricity of 1.20 indicates that ʻOumuamua has never been gravitationally bound to our sun. It was discovered 0.2 AU (30,000,000 km; 19,000,000 mi) from Earth and is roughly 200 meters in diameter. It has an interstellar speed (velocity at infinity) of 26.33 km/s (58,900 mph). The mean eccentricity of an object is the average eccentricity as a result of perturbations over a given time period. Neptune currently has an instant (current epoch) eccentricity of 0.0113, but from 1800 to 2050 has a mean eccentricity of . Orbital mechanics require that the duration of the seasons be proportional to the area of the Earth's orbit swept between the solstices and equinoxes, so when the orbital eccentricity is extreme, the seasons that occur on the far side of the orbit (aphelion) can be substantially longer in duration. Today, northern hemisphere fall and winter occur at closest approach (perihelion), when the earth is moving at its maximum velocity—while the opposite occurs in the southern hemisphere. As a result, in the northern hemisphere, fall and winter are slightly shorter than spring and summer—but in global terms this is balanced with them being longer below the equator. In 2006, the northern hemisphere summer was 4.66 days longer than winter, and spring was 2.9 days longer than fall due to the Milankovitch cycles. Apsidal precession also slowly changes the place in the Earth's orbit where the solstices and equinoxes occur. Note that this is a slow change in the orbit of the Earth, not the axis of rotation, which is referred to as axial precession (see ). Over the next 10,000 years, the northern hemisphere winters will become gradually longer and summers will become shorter. However, any cooling effect in one hemisphere is balanced by warming in the other, and any overall change will be counteracted by the fact that the eccentricity of Earth's orbit will be almost halved. This will reduce the mean orbital radius and raise temperatures in both hemispheres closer to the mid-interglacial peak. Of the many exoplanets discovered, most have a higher orbital eccentricity than planets in our solar system. Exoplanets found with low orbital eccentricity, near circular orbits, are very close to their star and are tidally locked to the star. All eight planets in the Solar System have near- circular orbits. The exoplanets discovered show that the solar system, with its unusually low eccentricity, is rare and unique. One theory attributes this low eccentricity to the high number of planets in the Solar System; another suggests it arose because of its unique asteroid belts. A few other multiplanetary systems have been found, but none resemble the Solar System. The Solar System has unique planetesimal systems, which led the planets to have near-circular orbits. Solar planetesimal systems include the asteroid belt, Hilda family, Kuiper belt, Hills cloud, and the Oort cloud. The exoplanet systems discovered have either no planetesimal systems or one very large one. Low eccentricity is needed for habitability, especially advanced life. High multiplicity planet systems are much more likely to have habitable exoplanets. The grand tack hypothesis of the Solar System also helps understand its near-circular orbits and other unique features. Eccentricity (mathematics), Eccentricity vector, Equation of time, Milankovitch cycles, Orbits World of Physics: Eccentricity, The NOAA page on Climate Forcing Data includes (calculated) data from Berger (1978), Berger and Loutre (1991). Laskar et al. (2004) on Earth orbital variations, Includes eccentricity over the last 50 million years and for the coming 20 million years., The orbital simulations by Varadi, Ghil and Runnegar (2003) provides series for Earth orbital eccentricity and orbital inclination., Kepler's Second law's simulation Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravitational effects could explain the unusual clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (eTNOs), bodies beyond Neptune that orbit the Sun at distances averaging more than 250 times that of the Earth. These eTNOs tend to make their closest approaches to the Sun in one sector, and their orbits are similarly tilted. These improbable alignments suggest that an undiscovered planet may be shepherding the orbits of the most distant known Solar System objects. This hypothetical super-Earth-sized planet would have a predicted mass of five to ten times that of the Earth, and an elongated orbit 400 to 800 times as far from the Sun as the Earth. Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown suggest that Planet Nine could be the core of a giant planet that was ejected from its original orbit by Jupiter during the genesis of the Solar System. Others propose that the planet was captured from another star, was once a rogue planet, or that it formed on a distant orbit and was pulled into an eccentric orbit by a passing star. , no observation of Planet Nine had been announced. While sky surveys such as Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Pan-STARRS did not detect Planet Nine, they have not ruled out the existence of a Neptune-diameter object in the outer Solar System. The ability of these past sky surveys to detect Planet Nine were dependent on its location and characteristics. Further surveys of the remaining regions are ongoing using NEOWISE and the 8-meter Subaru Telescope. Unless Planet Nine is observed, its existence is purely conjectural. Several alternative theories have been proposed to explain the observed clustering of TNOs. Following the discovery of Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The best-known of these theories predicted the existence of a distant planet that was influencing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. After extensive calculations Percival Lowell predicted the possible orbit and location of the hypothetical trans-Neptunian planet and began an extensive search for it in 1906. He called the hypothetical object Planet X, a name previously used by Gabriel Dallet. Clyde Tombaugh continued Lowell's search and in 1930 discovered Pluto, but it was soon determined to be too small to qualify as Lowell's Planet X. After Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989, the difference between Uranus' predicted and observed orbit was determined to have been due to the use of a previously inaccurate mass of Neptune. Attempts to detect planets beyond Neptune by indirect means such as orbital perturbation date back to before the discovery of Pluto. Among the first was George Forbes who postulated the existence of two trans-Neptunian planets in 1880. One would have an average distance from the Sun, or semi-major axis, of 100 astronomical units (AU), 100 times that of the Earth. The second would have a semimajor axis of 300 AU. His work is considered similar to more recent Planet Nine theories in that the planets would be responsible for a clustering of the orbits of several objects, in this case the aphelion distances of periodic comets similar to that of the Jupiter-family comets. The discovery of Sedna's peculiar orbit in 2004 led to speculation that it had encountered a massive body other than one of the known planets. Sedna's orbit is detached, with a perihelion distance of 76 AU that is too large to be due to gravitational interactions with Neptune. Several authors proposed that Sedna entered this orbit after encountering an unknown planet on a distant orbit, a member of the open cluster that formed with the Sun, or another star that later passed near the Solar System. The announcement in March 2014 of the discovery of a second sednoid with a perihelion distance of 80 AU, , in a similar orbit led to renewed speculation that an unknown super-Earth remained in the distant Solar System. At a conference in 2012, Rodney Gomes proposed that an undetected planet was responsible for the orbits of some eTNOs with detached orbits and the large semi-major axis Centaurs, small Solar System bodies that cross the orbits of the giant planets. The proposed Neptune-massed planet would be in a distant (1500 AU), eccentric (eccentricity 0.4), and inclined (inclination °) orbit. Like Planet Nine it would cause the perihelia of objects with semi-major axes greater than 300 AU to oscillate, delivering some into planet-crossing orbits and others into detached orbits like that of Sedna. An article by Gomes, Soares, and Brasser was published in 2015, detailing their arguments. In 2014, astronomers Chad Trujillo and Scott S. Sheppard noted the similarities in the orbits of Sedna and and several other eTNOs. They proposed that an unknown planet in a circular orbit between 200 and 300 AU was perturbing their orbits. Later, in 2015, Raúl and Carlos de la Fuente Marco argued that two massive planets in orbital resonance were necessary to produce the similarities of so many orbits. In early 2016, California Institute of Technology's Batygin and Brown described how the similar orbits of six eTNOs could be explained by Planet Nine and proposed a possible orbit for the planet. This hypothesis could also explain eTNOs with orbits perpendicular to the inner planets and others with extreme inclinations, and had been offered as an explanation of the tilt of the Sun's axis. Planet Nine is hypothesized to follow an elliptical orbit around the Sun with an eccentricity of to . The planet's semi-major axis is estimated to be to , roughly 13 to 26 times the distance from Neptune to the Sun. It would take the planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make one full orbit around the Sun. Its inclination to the ecliptic, the plane of the Earth's orbit, is projected to be to . The aphelion, or farthest point from the Sun, would be in the general direction of the constellation of Taurus, whereas the perihelion, the nearest point to the Sun, would be in the general direction of the southerly areas of Serpens (Caput), Ophiuchus, and Libra. Brown thinks that if Planet Nine is confirmed to exist, a probe could reach it in as little as 20 years by using a powered slingshot trajectory around the Sun. The planet is estimated to have 5 to 10 times the mass of Earth and a radius of 2 to 4 times Earth's. Brown thinks that if Planet Nine exists, its mass is sufficient to clear its orbit of large bodies in 4.6 billion years, the age of the Solar System, and that its gravity dominates the outer edge of the Solar System, which is sufficient to make it a planet by current definitions. Astronomer Jean-Luc Margot has also stated that Planet Nine satisfies his criteria and would qualify as a planet if and when it is detected. Several possible origins for Planet Nine have been examined including its ejection from the neighborhood of the known giant planets, capture from another star, and in situ formation. In their initial article, Batygin and Brown proposed that Planet Nine formed closer to the Sun and was ejected into a distant eccentric orbit following a close encounter with Jupiter or Saturn during the nebular epoch. The gravity of a nearby star, or drag from the gaseous remnants of the Solar nebula, then reduced the eccentricity of its orbit. This raised its perihelion, leaving it in a very wide but stable orbit beyond the influence of the other planets. The odds of this occurring has been estimated at a few percent. Had it not been flung into the Solar System's farthest reaches, Planet Nine could have accreted more mass from the proto- planetary disk and developed into the core of a gas giant. Instead, its growth was halted early, leaving it with a lower mass than Uranus or Neptune. Dynamical friction from a massive belt of planetesimals could also enable Planet Nine's capture in a stable orbit. Recent models propose that a 60–130 Earth mass disk of planetesimals could have formed as the gas was cleared from the outer parts of the proto-planetary disk. As Planet Nine passed through this disk its gravity would alter the paths of the individual objects in a way that reduced Planet Nine's velocity relative to it. This would lower the eccentricity of Planet Nine and stabilize its orbit. If this disk had a distant inner edge, 100–200 AU, a planet encountering Neptune would have a 20% chance of being captured in an orbit similar to that proposed for Planet Nine, with the observed clustering more likely if the inner edge is at 200 AU. Unlike the gas nebula, the planetesimal disk is likely to have been long lived, potentially allowing a later capture. Planet Nine could have been captured from outside the Solar System during a close encounter between the Sun and another star. If a planet was in a distant orbit around this star, three-body interactions during the encounter could alter the planet's path, leaving it in a stable orbit around the Sun. A planet originating in a system without Jupiter-massed planets could remain in a distant eccentric orbit for a longer time, increasing its chances of capture. The wider range of possible orbits would reduce the odds of its capture in a relatively low inclination orbit to 1–2 percent. This process could also occur with rogue planets, but the likelihood of their capture is much smaller, with only 0.05–0.10% being captured in orbits similar to that proposed for Planet Nine. An encounter with another star could also alter the orbit of a distant planet, shifting it from a circular to an eccentric orbit. The in situ formation of a planet at this distance would require a very massive and extensive disk, or the outward drift of solids in a dissipating disk forming a narrow ring from which the planet accreted over a billion years. If a planet formed at such a great distance while the Sun was in its original cluster, the probability of it remaining bound to the Sun in a highly eccentric orbit is roughly 10%. A previous article reported that if the massive disk extended beyond 80 AU some objects scattered outward by Jupiter and Saturn would have been left in high inclination (inc > 50°), low eccentricity orbits which have not been observed. An extended disk would also have been subject to gravitational disruption by passing stars and by mass loss due to photoevaporation while the Sun remained in the open cluster where it formed. The gravitational influence of Planet Nine would explain four peculiarities of the Solar System: the clustering of the orbits of eTNOs;, the high perihelia of objects like 90377 Sedna that are detached from Neptune's influence;, the high inclinations of eTNOs with orbits roughly perpendicular to the orbits of the eight known planets;, high-inclination trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with semi-major axis less than 100 AU. Planet Nine was initially proposed to explain the clustering of orbits, via a mechanism that would also explain the high perihelia of objects like Sedna. The evolution of some of these objects into perpendicular orbits was unexpected, but found to match objects previously observed. The orbits of some objects with perpendicular orbits were later found to evolve toward smaller semi-major axes when the other planets were included in simulations. Although other mechanisms have been offered for many of these peculiarities, the gravitational influence of Planet Nine is the only one that explains all four. The gravity of Planet Nine would also increase the inclinations of other objects that cross its orbit, however, which could leave the scattered disk objects, bodies orbiting beyond Neptune with semi-major axes greater than 50 AU, and short-period comets with a broader inclination distribution than is observed. Previously Planet Nine was hypothesized to be responsible for the 6 degree tilt of the Sun's axis relative to the orbits of the planets, but recent updates to its predicted orbit and mass limit this shift to ~1 degree. The clustering of the orbits of TNOs with large semi-major axes was first described by Trujillo and Sheppard, who noted similarities between the orbits of Sedna and . Without the presence of Planet Nine, these orbits should be distributed randomly, without preference for any direction. Upon further analysis, Trujillo and Sheppard observed that the arguments of perihelion of 12 TNOs with perihelia greater than and semi-major axes greater than were clustered near zero degrees, meaning that they rise through the ecliptic when they are closest to the Sun. Trujillo and Sheppard proposed that this alignment was caused by a massive unknown planet beyond Neptune via the Kozai mechanism. For objects with similar semi-major axes the Kozai mechanism would confine their arguments of perihelion to near 0 or 180 degrees. This confinement allows objects with eccentric and inclined orbits to avoid close approaches to the planet because they would cross the plane of the planet's orbit at their closest and farthest points from the Sun, and cross the planet's orbit when they are well above or below its orbit. Trujillo and Sheppard's hypothesis about how the objects would be aligned by the Kozai mechanism has been supplanted by further analysis and evidence. Batygin and Brown, looking to refute the mechanism proposed by Trujillo and Sheppard, also examined the orbits of the TNOs with large semi-major axes. After eliminating the objects in Trujillo and Sheppard's original analysis that were unstable due to close approaches to Neptune or were affected by Neptune's mean-motion resonances, Batygin and Brown determined that the arguments of perihelion for the remaining six objects (Sedna, , , , , and ) were clustered around . This finding did not agree with how the Kozai mechanism would tend to align orbits with arguments of perihelion at 0° or 180°. Batygin and Brown also found that the orbits of the six eTNOs with semi-major axes greater than 250 AU and perihelia beyond 30 AU (Sedna, , , , , and ) were aligned in space with their perihelia in roughly the same direction, resulting in a clustering of their longitudes of perihelion, the location where they make their closest approaches to the Sun. The orbits of the six objects were also tilted with respect to that of the ecliptic and approximately coplanar, producing a clustering of their longitudes of ascending nodes, the directions where they each rise through the ecliptic. They determined that there was only a 0.007% likelihood that this combination of alignments was due to chance. These six objects had been discovered by six different surveys on six different telescopes. That made it less likely that the clumping might be due to an observation bias such as pointing a telescope at a particular part of the sky. The observed clustering should be smeared out in a few hundred million years due to the locations of the perihelia and the ascending nodes changing, or precessing, at differing rates due to their varied semi-major axes and eccentricities. \frac{1}{(1-e^2)^2}\sum_{k=5}^8 \frac{m_k a_k^2}{M a^2}cos^2(i) where formula_1 are the masses and semi-major axes of the planets Jupiter through Neptune.}} This indicates that the clustering could not be due to an event in the distant past, for example a passing star, and is most likely maintained by the gravitational field of an object orbiting the Sun. Two of the six objects ( and ) also have very similar orbits and spectra. This has led to the suggestion that they were a binary object disrupted near aphelion during an encounter with a distant object. The disruption of a binary would require a relatively close encounter, which becomes less likely at large distances from the Sun. In a later article Trujillo and Sheppard noted a correlation between the longitude of perihelion and the argument of perihelion of the TNOs with semi-major axes greater than 150 AU. Those with a longitude of perihelion of 0–120° have arguments of perihelion between 280–360°, and those with longitude of perihelion between ° and ° have arguments of perihelion between ° and °. The statistical significance of this correlation was 99.99%. They suggested that the correlation is due to the orbits of these objects avoiding close approaches to a massive planet by passing above or below its orbit. A 2017 article by Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos noted that distribution of the distances to the ascending nodes of the eTNOs, and those of centaurs and comets with large semi-major axes, may be bimodal. They suggest it is due to the eTNOs avoiding close approaches to a planet with a semi-major axis of 300–400 AU. The clustering of the orbits of eTNOs and raising of their perihelia is reproduced in simulations that include Planet Nine. In simulations conducted by Batygin and Brown, swarms of scattered disk objects with semi-major axes up to 550 AU that began with random orientations were sculpted into roughly collinear and coplanar groups of spatially confined orbits by a massive distant planet in a highly eccentric orbit. This left most of the objects' perihelia pointed in similar directions and the objects' orbits with similar tilts. Many of these objects entered high-perihelion orbits like Sedna and, unexpectedly, some entered perpendicular orbits that Batygin and Brown later noticed had been previously observed. In their original analysis Batygin and Brown found that the distribution of the orbits of the first six eTNOs was best reproduced in simulations using a 10 Earth mass planet in the following orbit: semi-major axis a ≈ (orbital period 700=18,520 years), eccentricity e ≈ 0.6, (perihelion ≈ , aphelion ≈ ), inclination i ≈ 30° to the ecliptic, longitude of the ascending node Ω ≈ ., argument of perihelion ω ≈ 140° and longitude of perihelion ϖ = These parameters for Planet Nine produce different simulated effects on TNOs. Objects with semi-major axis greater than 250 AU are strongly anti-aligned with Planet Nine, with perihelia opposite Planet Nine's perihelion. Objects with semi-major axes between 150 AU and 250 AU are weakly aligned with Planet Nine, with perihelia in the same direction as Planet Nine's perihelion. Little effect is found on objects with semi-major axes less than 150 AU. The simulations also revealed that objects with semi-major axis greater than could have stable, aligned orbits if they had lower eccentricities. These objects have yet to be observed. Other possible orbits for Planet Nine were also examined, with semi-major axes between and , eccentricites up to 0.8, and a wide range of inclinations. These orbits yield varied results. Batygin and Brown found that orbits of the eTNOs were more likely to have similar tilts if Planet Nine had a higher inclination, but anti-alignment also decreased. Simulations by Becker et al. showed that their orbits were more stable if Planet Nine had a smaller eccentricity, but that anti-alignment was more likely at higher eccentricities. Lawler et al. found that the population captured in orbital resonances with Planet Nine was smaller if it had a circular orbit, and that fewer objects reached high inclination orbits. Investigations by Cáceres et al. showed that the orbits of the eTNOs were better aligned if Planet Nine had a lower perihelion orbit, but its perihelion would need to be higher than 90 AU. Later investigations by Batygin et al. found that higher eccentricity orbits reduced the average tilts of the eTNOs orbits. While there are many possible combinations of orbital parameters and masses for Planet Nine, none of the alternative simulations have been better at predicting the observed alignment of objects in the Solar System. The discovery of additional distant Solar System objects would allow astronomers to make more accurate predictions about the orbit of the hypothesized planet. These may also provide further support for, or refutation of, the Planet Nine hypothesis. Simulations that included the migration of giant planets resulted in a weaker alignment of the eTNOs orbits. The direction of alignment also switched, from more aligned to anti-aligned with increasing semi-major axis, and from anti-aligned to aligned with increasing perihelion distance. The latter would result in the sednoids' orbits being oriented opposite most of the other eTNOs. Planet Nine modifies the orbits of eTNOs via a combination of effects. On very long timescales Planet Nine exerts a torque on the orbits of the eTNOs that varies with the alignment of their orbits with Planet Nine's. The resulting exchanges of angular momentum cause the perihelia to rise, placing them in Sedna-like orbits, and later fall, returning them to their original orbits after several hundred million years. The motion of their directions of perihelion also reverses when their eccentricities are small, keeping the objects anti-aligned, see blue curves on diagram, or aligned, red curves. On shorter timescales mean-motion resonances with Planet Nine provides phase protection, which stabilizes their orbits by slightly altering the objects' semi-major axes, keeping their orbits synchronized with Planet Nine's and preventing close approaches. The gravity of Neptune and the other giant planets, and the inclination of Planet Nine's orbit, weaken this protection. This results in a chaotic variation of semi-major axes as objects hop between resonances, including high order resonances such as 27:17, on million-year timescales. The mean-motion resonances may not be necessary for the survival of eTNOs if they and Planet Nine are both on inclined orbits. The orbital poles of the objects precess around, or circle, the pole of the Solar System's Laplace plane. At large semi-major axes the Laplace plane is warped toward the plane of Planet Nine's orbit. This causes orbital poles of the eTNOs on average to be tilted toward one side and their longitudes of ascending nodes to be clustered. Planet Nine can deliver eTNOs into orbits roughly perpendicular to the ecliptic. Several objects with high inclinations, greater than 50°, and large semi-major axes, above 250 AU, have been observed. These orbits are produced when some low inclination eTNOs enter a secular resonance with Planet Nine upon reaching low eccentricity orbits. The resonance causes their eccentricities and inclinations to increase, delivering the eTNOs into perpendicular orbits with low perihelia where they are more readily observed. The eTNOs then evolve into retrograde orbits with lower eccentricities, after which they pass through a second phase of high eccentricity perpendicular orbits, before returning to low eccentricity and inclination orbits. The secular resonance with Planet Nine involves a linear combination of the orbit's arguments and longitudes of perihelion: Δϖ – 2ω. Unlike the Kozai mechanism this resonance causes objects to reach their maximum eccentricities when in nearly perpendicular orbits. In simulations conducted by Batygin and Morbidelli this evolution was relatively common, with 38% of stable objects undergoing it at least once. The arguments of perihelion of these objects are clustered near or opposite Planet Nine's and their longitudes of ascending node are clustered around 90° in either direction from Planet Nine's when they reach low perihelia. This is in rough agreement with observations with the differences attributed to distant encounters with the known giant planets. A population of high-inclination TNOs with semi-major axes less than 100 AU may be generated by the combined effects of Planet Nine and the other giant planets. The eTNOs that enter perpendicular orbits have perihelia low enough for their orbits to intersect those of Neptune or the other giant planets. An encounter with one of these planets can lower an eTNO's semi-major axis to below 100 AU, where the object's orbits is no longer controlled by Planet Nine, leaving it in an orbit like . The predicted orbital distribution of the longest lived of these objects is nonuniform. Most would have orbits with perihelia ranging from 5 AU to 35 AU and inclinations below 110 degree; beyond a gap with few objects are would be others with inclinations near 150 degrees and perihelia near 10 AU. Previously it was proposed that these objects originated in the Oort Cloud, a theoretical cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances of 2,000 to 200,000 AU. In simulations without Planet Nine an insufficient number are produced from the Oort cloud relative to observations, however. Planet Nine would alter the source regions and the inclination distribution of comets. In simulations of the migration of the giant planets described by the Nice model fewer objects are captured in the Oort cloud when Planet Nine is included. Other objects would be captured in a cloud of objects dynamically controlled by Planet Nine. This Planet Nine cloud, made up of the eTNOs and the perpendicular objects, would extend from semi-major axes of 200 AU to 3000 AU and contain roughly 0.3–0.4 Earth masses. When the perihelia of objects in the Planet Nine cloud drop low enough for them to encounter the other planets some would be scattered into orbits that enter the inner Solar System where they could be observed as comets. If Planet Nine exists these would make up roughly one third of the Halley-type comets. Interactions with Planet Nine would also increase the inclinations of the scattered disk objects that cross its orbit. This could result in more with moderate inclinations of 15–30 degrees than are observed. The inclinations of the Jupiter-family comets derived from that population would also have a broader inclination distribution than is observed. Recent estimates of a smaller mass and eccentricity for Planet Nine would reduce its effect on these inclinations. In February 2019, the total of eTNOs that fit the original hypothesis of having semi-major axis of over 250 AU had increased to 14 objects. Based on the new objects, the updated orbital parameters of hypothesized Planet Nine were: semi-major axis of 400–500 AU;, orbital eccentricity of 0.15–0.3;, orbital inclination around 20°;, mass of about 5 Earth masses. Batygin was cautious in interpreting the results of the simulation developed for his and Brown's research article, saying, "Until Planet Nine is caught on camera it does not count as being real. All we have now is an echo." Brown put the odds for the existence of Planet Nine at about 90%. Greg Laughlin, one of the few researchers who knew in advance about this article, gives an estimate of 68.3%. Other skeptical scientists demand more data in terms of additional KBOs to be analyzed or final evidence through photographic confirmation. Brown, though conceding the skeptics' point, still thinks that there is enough data to mount a search for a new planet. The Planet Nine hypothesis is supported by several astronomers and academics. Jim Green, director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said, "the evidence is stronger now than it's been before". But Green also cautioned about the possibility of other explanations for the observed motion of distant eTNOs and, quoting Carl Sagan, he said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Tom Levenson concluded that, for now, Planet Nine seems the only satisfactory explanation for everything now known about the outer regions of the Solar System. Astronomer Alessandro Morbidelli, who reviewed the research article for The Astronomical Journal, concurred, saying, "I don't see any alternative explanation to that offered by Batygin and Brown." Astronomer Renu Malhotra remains agnostic about Planet Nine, but noted that she and her colleagues have found that the orbits of eTNOs seem tilted in a way that is difficult to otherwise explain. "The amount of warp we see is just crazy," she said. "To me, it's the most intriguing evidence for Planet Nine I've run across so far." Other authorities have varying degrees of skepticism. American astrophysicist Ethan Siegel, who previously speculated that planets may have been ejected from the Solar System during an early dynamical instability, is skeptical of the existence of an undiscovered planet in the Solar System. In a 2018 article discussing a survey that did not find evidence of clustering of the eTNOs' orbits he suggests the previously observed clustering could have been the result of observing bias and claims most scientists think Planet Nine does not exist. Planetary scientist Hal Levison thinks that the chance of an ejected object ending up in the inner Oort cloud is only about 2%, and speculates that many objects must have been thrown past the Oort cloud if one has entered a stable orbit. The results of the Outer Solar System Survey (OSSOS) suggest that the observed clustering is the result of a combination of observing bias and small number statistics. OSSOS, a well-characterized survey of the outer Solar System with known biases, observed eight objects with semi-major axis > 150 AU with orbits oriented in a wide range of directions. After accounting for the observational biases of the survey, no evidence for the arguments of perihelion (ω) clustering identified by Trujillo and Sheppard was seen, and the orientation of the orbits of the objects with the largest semi-major axis was statistically consistent with being random. This result differed from an analysis of discovery biases in the previously observed eTNOs by Mike Brown. He found that after observation biases were accounted for, the clustering of longitudes of perihelion of 10 known eTNOs would be observed only 1.2% of the time if their actual distribution was uniform. When combined with the odds of the observed clustering of the arguments of perihelion, the probability was 0.025%. A later analysis of the discovery biases of 14 eTNOs by Brown and Batygin determined the probability of the observed clustering of the longitudes of perihelion and the orbital pole locations to be 0.2%. Simulations of 15 known objects evolving under the influence of Planet Nine also revealed differences from observations. Cory Shankman and his colleagues included Planet Nine in a simulation of many clones (objects with similar orbits) of 15 objects with semi-major axis > 150 AU and perihelion > 30 AU. While they observed alignment of the orbits opposite that of Planet Nine's for the objects with semi-major axis greater than 250 AU, clustering of the arguments of perihelion was not seen. Their simulations also showed that the perihelia of the eTNOs rose and fell smoothly, leaving many with perihelion distances between 50 AU and 70 AU where none had been observed, and predicted that there would be many other unobserved objects. These included a large reservoir of high-inclination objects that would have been missed due to most observations being at small inclinations, and a large population of objects with perihelia so distant that they would be too faint to observe. Many of the objects were also ejected from the Solar System after encountering the other giant planets. The large unobserved populations and the loss of many objects led Shankman et al. to estimate that the mass of the original population was tens of Earth masses, requiring that a much larger mass had been ejected during the early Solar System. Shankman et al. concluded that the existence of Planet Nine is unlikely and that the currently observed alignment of the existing eTNOs is a temporary phenomenon that will disappear as more objects are detected. Ann-Marie Madigan and Michael McCourt postulate that an inclination instability in a distant massive belt is responsible for the alignment of the arguments of perihelion of the eTNOs. An inclination instability could occur in a disk of particles with high eccentricity orbits (e > 0.6) around a central body, such as the Sun. The self-gravity of this disk would cause its spontaneous organization, increasing the inclinations of the objects and aligning the arguments of perihelion, forming it into a cone above or below the original plane. This process would require an extended time and significant mass of the disk, on the order of a billion years for a 1–10 Earth-mass disk. While an inclination instability could align the arguments of perihelion and raise perihelia, producing detached objects, it would not align the longitudes of perihelion. Mike Brown considers Planet Nine a more probable explanation, noting that current surveys have not revealed a large enough scattered-disk to produce an "inclination instability". In Nice model simulations of the Solar System that included the self-gravity of the planetesimal disk an inclination instability did not occur. Instead, the simulation produced a rapid precession of the objects' orbits and most of the objects were ejected on too short of a timescale for an inclination instability to occur. Antranik Sefilian and Jihad Touma propose that a massive disk of moderately eccentric TNOs is responsible for the clustering of the longitudes of perihelion of the eTNOs. This disk would contain 10 Earth-mass of TNOs with aligned orbits and eccentricities that increased with their semimajor axes ranging from zero to 0.165. The gravitational effects of the disk would offset the forward precession driven by the giant planets so that the orbital orientations of its individual objects are maintained. The orbits of objects with high eccentricities, such as the observed eTNOs, would be stable and have roughly fixed orientations, or longitudes of perihelion, if their orbits were anti-aligned with this disk. Although Brown thinks the proposed disk could explain the observed clustering of the eTNOs, he finds it implausible that the disk could survive over the age of the Solar System. Batygin thinks that there is insufficient mass in the Kuiper belt to explain the formation of the disk and asks "why would the protoplanetary disk end near 30 AU and restart beyond 100 AU?" The Planet Nine hypothesis includes a set of predictions about the mass and orbit of the planet. An alternative theory predicts a planet with different orbital parameters. Malhotra, Kathryn Volk, and Xianyu Wang have proposed that the four detached objects with the longest orbital periods, those with perihelia beyond and semi-major axes greater than , are in n:1 or n:2 mean- motion resonances with a hypothetical planet. Two other objects with semi- major axes greater than are also potentially in resonance with this planet. Their proposed planet could be on a lower eccentricity, low inclination orbit, with eccentricity e < 0.18 and inclination i ≈ 11°. The eccentricity is limited in this case by the requirement that close approaches of to the planet are avoided. If the eTNOs are in periodic orbits of the third kind, with their stability enhanced by the libration of their arguments of perihelion, the planet could be in a higher inclination orbit, with i ≈ 48°. Unlike Batygin and Brown, Malhotra, Volk and Wang do not specify that most of the distant detached objects would have orbits anti-aligned with the massive planet. Trujillo and Sheppard argued in 2014 that a massive planet in a circular orbit with an average distance between and was responsible for the clustering of the arguments of perihelion of twelve TNOs with large semi-major axes. Trujillo and Sheppard identified a clustering near zero degrees of the arguments of perihelion of the orbits of twelve TNOs with perihelia greater than and semi- major axes greater than . After numerical simulations showed that the arguments of perihelion should circulate at varying rates, leaving them randomized after billions of years, they suggested that a massive planet in a circular orbit at a few hundred astronomical units was responsible for this clustering. This massive planet would cause the arguments of perihelion of the TNOs to librate about 0° or 180° via the Kozai mechanism so that their orbits crossed the plane of the planet's orbit near perihelion and aphelion, the closest and farthest points from the planet. In numerical simulations including a 2–15 Earth mass body in a circular low-inclination orbit between and the arguments of perihelia of Sedna and librated around 0° for billions of years (although the lower perihelion objects did not) and underwent periods of libration with a Neptune mass object in a high inclination orbit at 1,500 AU. Another process such as a passing star would be required to account for the absence of objects with arguments of perihelion near 180°. These simulations showed the basic idea of how a single large planet can shepherd the smaller TNOs into similar types of orbits. They were basic proof of concept simulations that did not obtain a unique orbit for the planet as they state there are many possible orbital configurations the planet could have. Thus they did not fully formulate a model that successfully incorporated all the clustering of the eTNOs with an orbit for the planet. But they were the first to notice there was a clustering in the orbits of TNOs and that the most likely reason was from an unknown massive distant planet. Their work is very similar to how Alexis Bouvard noticed Uranus' motion was peculiar and suggested that it was likely gravitational forces from an unknown 8th planet, which led to the discovery of Neptune. Raúl and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos proposed a similar model but with two distant planets in resonance. An analysis by Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos with Sverre J. Aarseth confirmed that the observed alignment of the arguments of perihelion could not be due to observational bias. They speculated that instead it was caused by an object with a mass between that of Mars and Saturn that orbited at some from the Sun. Like Trujillo and Sheppard they theorized that the TNOs are kept bunched together by a Kozai mechanism and compared their behavior to that of Comet 96P/Machholz under the influence of Jupiter. They also struggled to explain the orbital alignment using a model with only one unknown planet, and therefore suggested that this planet is itself in resonance with a more- massive world about from the Sun. In their article, Brown and Batygin noted that alignment of arguments of perihelion near 0° or 180° via the Kozai mechanism requires a ratio of the semi-major axes nearly equal to one, indicating that multiple planets with orbits tuned to the data set would be required, making this explanation too unwieldy. Due to its extreme distance from the Sun, Planet Nine would reflect little sunlight, potentially evading telescope sightings. It is expected to have an apparent magnitude fainter than 22, making it at least 600 times fainter than Pluto. If Planet Nine exists and is close to perihelion, astronomers could identify it based on existing images. At aphelion, the largest telescopes would be required, but if the planet is currently located in between, many observatories could spot Planet Nine. Statistically, the planet is more likely to be close to its aphelion at a distance greater than 600 AU. This is because objects move more slowly when near their aphelion, in accordance with Kepler's second law. A 2019 study estimated that Planet Nine, if it exists, may be smaller and closer than originally thought. This would make the hypothetical planet brighter and easier to spot, with an apparent magnitude of 21–22. According to University of Michigan professor Fred Adams, within the next 10 to 15 years, Planet Nine will either be observable or enough data will have been gathered to rule out its existence. The search of databases of stellar objects by Batygin and Brown has already excluded much of the sky along Planet Nine's predicted orbit. The remaining regions include the direction of its aphelion, where it would be too faint to be spotted by these surveys, and near the plane of the Milky Way, where it would be difficult to distinguish from the numerous stars. This search included the archival data from the Catalina Sky Survey to magnitude c. 19, Pan-STARRS to magnitude 21.5, and infrared data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. They have more recently also searched the first year data release from the Zwicky Transient Facility without identifying Planet Nine. Other researchers have been conducting searches of existing data. David Gerdes, who helped develop the camera used in the Dark Energy Survey, claims that software designed to identify distant Solar System objects such as could find Planet Nine if it was imaged as part of that survey, which covered a quarter of the southern sky. Michael Medford and Danny Goldstein, graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley, are also examining archived data using a technique that combines images taken at different times. Using a supercomputer they will offset the images to account for the calculated motion of Planet Nine, allowing many faint images of a faint moving object to be combined to produce a brighter image. A search combining multiple images collected by WISE and NEOWISE data has also been conducted without detecting Planet Nine. This search covered regions of the sky away from the galactic plane at the "W1" wavelength (the 3.4 μm wavelength used by WISE) and is estimated to be able to detect a 10-Earth mass object out to 800–900 AU. Because the planet is predicted to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere, the primary search is expected to be carried out using the Subaru Telescope, which has both an aperture large enough to see faint objects and a wide field of view to shorten the search. Two teams of astronomers—Batygin and Brown, as well as Trujillo and Sheppard—are undertaking this search together, and both teams expect the search to take up to five years. Brown and Batygin initially narrowed the search for Planet Nine down to roughly 2,000 square degrees of sky near Orion, a swath of space that Batygin thinks could be covered in about 20 nights by the Subaru Telescope. Subsequent refinements by Batygin and Brown have reduced the search space to 600–800 square degrees of sky. In December 2018, they spent 4 half–nights and 3 full nights observing with the Subaru Telescope. Although a distant planet such as Planet Nine would reflect little light, due to its large mass it would still be radiating the heat from its formation as it cools. At its estimated temperature of the peak of its emissions would be at infrared wavelengths. This radiation signature could be detected by Earth- based submillimeter telescopes, such as ALMA, and a search could be conducted by cosmic microwave background experiments operating at mm wavelengths. Jim Green of NASA's Science Mission Directorate is optimistic that it could be observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, that is expected to be launched in 2021. The Zooniverse project, started in February 2017, is using archival data from the WISE spacecraft to search for Planet Nine. The project will also search for substellar objects like brown dwarfs in the neighborhood of the Solar System. 32,000 animations of four images each, which constitute 3 per cent of the WISE data, have been uploaded to the Backyard Worlds website. By looking for moving objects in the animations, citizen scientists might find Planet Nine. In April 2017, using data from the SkyMapper telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, citizen scientists on the Zooniverse platform reported four candidates for Planet Nine. These candidates will be followed up on by astronomers to determine their viability. The project, which started on 28 March 2017, completed their goals in less than three days with around five million classifications by more than 60,000 individuals. Precise observations of Saturn's orbit using data from Cassini suggest that Planet Nine could not be in certain sections of its proposed orbit because its gravity would cause a noticeable effect on Saturn's position. This data neither proves nor disproves that Planet Nine exists. An initial analysis by Fienga, Laskar, Manche, and Gastineau using Cassini data to search for Saturn's orbital residuals, small differences with its predicted orbit due to the Sun and the known planets, was inconsistent with Planet Nine being located with a true anomaly, the location along its orbit relative to perihelion, of −130° to −110° or −65° to 85°. The analysis, using Batygin and Brown's orbital parameters for Planet Nine, suggests that the lack of perturbations to Saturn's orbit is best explained if Planet Nine is located at a true anomaly of . At this location, Planet Nine would be approximately from the Sun, with right ascension close to 2 and declination close to −20°, in Cetus. In contrast, if the putative planet is near aphelion it would be located near right ascension 3.0 to 5.5 and declination −1° to 6°. A later analysis of Cassini data by astrophysicists Matthew Holman and Matthew Payne tightened the constraints on possible locations of Planet Nine. Holman and Payne developed a more efficient model that allowed them to explore a broader range of parameters than the previous analysis. The parameters identified using this technique to analyze the Cassini data was then intersected with Batygin and Brown's dynamical constraints on Planet Nine's orbit. Holman and Payne concluded that Planet Nine is most likely to be located within 20° of RA = 40°, Dec = −15°, in an area of the sky near the constellation Cetus. William Folkner, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has stated that the Cassini spacecraft is not experiencing unexplained deviations in its orbit around Saturn. An undiscovered planet would affect the orbit of Saturn, not Cassini. This could produce a signature in the measurements of Cassini, but JPL has seen no unexplained signatures in Cassini data. An analysis in 2016 of Pluto's orbit by Holman and Payne found perturbations much larger than predicted by Batygin and Brown's proposed orbit for Planet Nine. Holman and Payne suggested three possible explanations: systematic errors in the measurements of Pluto's orbit; an unmodeled mass in the Solar System, such as a small planet in the range of 60– (potentially explaining the Kuiper cliff); or a planet more massive or closer to the Sun instead of the planet predicted by Batygin and Brown. An analysis of the orbits of comets with nearly parabolic orbits identifies five new comets with hyperbolic orbits that approach the nominal orbit of Planet Nine described in Batygin and Brown's initial article. If these orbits are hyperbolic due to close encounters with Planet Nine the analysis estimates that Planet Nine is currently near aphelion with a right ascension of 83–90° and a declination of 8–10°. Scott Sheppard, who is skeptical of this analysis, notes that many different forces influence the orbits of comets. Malena Rice and Gregory Laughlin have proposed that a network of telescopes be built to detect occultations by Jupiter Trojans. The timing of these occultations would provide precise astrometry of these objects enabling their orbits to be monitored for variations due to the tide from Planet Nine. An analysis by Sarah Millholland and Gregory Laughlin identified a pattern of commensurabilities (ratios between orbital periods of pairs of objects consistent with both being in resonance with another object) of the eTNOs. They identify five objects that would be near resonances with Planet Nine if had a semi-major axis of 654 AU: Sedna (3:2), (3:1), (4:1), (5:1), and (5:1). They identify this planet as Planet Nine but propose a different orbit with an eccentricity e ≈ 0.5, inclination i ≈ 30°, argument of perihelion ω ≈ 150°, and longitude of ascending node Ω ≈ 50° (the last differs from Brown and Batygin's value of 90°). Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos also note commensurabilities among the known eTNOs similar to that of the Kuiper belt, where accidental commensurabilities occur due to objects in resonances with Neptune. They find that some of these objects would be in 5:3 and 3:1 resonances with a planet that had a semi-major axis of ≈700 AU. Three objects with smaller semi-major axes near 172 AU (, and ) have also been proposed to be in resonance with Planet Nine. These objects would be in resonance and anti-aligned with Planet Nine if it had a semi-major axis of 315 AU, below the range proposed by Batygin and Brown. Alternatively, they could be in resonance with Planet Nine, but have orbital orientations that circulate instead of being confined by Planet Nine if it had a semi-major axis of 505 AU. A later analysis by Elizabeth Bailey, Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin found that if Planet Nine is in an eccentric and inclined orbit the capture of many of the eTNOs in higher order resonances and their chaotic transfer between resonances prevent the identification of Planet Nine's semi-major axis using current observations. They also determined that the odds of the first six objects observed being in N/1 or N/2 period ratios with Planet Nine are less than 5% if it has an eccentric orbit. Planet Nine does not have an official name and will not receive one unless its existence is confirmed via imaging. Only two planets, Uranus and Neptune, have been discovered in our solar system during recorded history. However, many minor planets, including dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets have been discovered and named. Consequently, there is a well-established process for naming newly discovered solar system objects. If Planet Nine is observed, the International Astronomical Union will certify a name, with priority usually given to a name proposed by its discoverers. It is likely to be a name chosen from Roman or Greek mythology. In their original article, Batygin and Brown simply referred to the object as "perturber", and only in later press releases did they use "Planet Nine". They have also used the names "Jehoshaphat" and "George" for Planet Nine. Brown has stated: "We actually call it Phattie when we're just talking to each other." In a 2019 interview with Derek Muller for the YouTube channel Veritasium, Batygin also suggested, based on an online petition, to name the planet after singer David Bowie, and to name any potential moons of the planet after characters from Bowie's song catalogue, such as Ziggy Stardust or Starman. In 2018, planetary scientist Alan Stern objected to the name Planet Nine, saying, "It is an effort to erase Clyde Tombaugh's legacy and it's frankly insulting", suggesting the name Planet X until its discovery. He signed a statement with 34 other scientists saying, "We further believe the use of this term [Planet Nine] should be discontinued in favor of culturally and taxonomically neutral terms for such planets, such as Planet X, Planet Next, or Giant Planet Five." According to Brown, Planet X' is not a generic reference to some unknown planet, but a specific prediction of Lowell's which led to the (accidental) discovery of Pluto. Our prediction is not related to this prediction." History of Solar System formation and evolution hypotheses, Hypothetical planets of the Solar System, Nemesis (hypothetical star), Tyche (hypothetical planet), Vulcan (hypothetical planet) The Search for Planet Nine – Blog by Brown and Batygin, Interactive 3D visualisation of the hypothetical Planet 9 and the detached objects, Hypothetical Planet X – NASA Planetary Science Division Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbit around the Sun takes 87.97 days, the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System. It is named after the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger of the gods. Like Venus, Mercury orbits the Sun within Earth's orbit as an inferior planet, and its apparent distance from the Sun as viewed from Earth never exceeds 28°. This proximity to the Sun means the planet can only be seen near the western horizon after sunset or eastern horizon before sunrise, usually in twilight. At this time, it may appear as a bright star-like object, but is often far more difficult to observe than Venus. The planet telescopically displays the complete range of phases, similar to Venus and the Moon, as it moves in its inner orbit relative to Earth, which recurs over its synodic period of approximately 116 days. Mercury rotates in a way that is unique in the Solar System. It is tidally locked with the Sun in a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, meaning that relative to the fixed stars, it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun. As seen from the Sun, in a frame of reference that rotates with the orbital motion, it appears to rotate only once every two Mercurian years. An observer on Mercury would therefore see only one day every two Mercurian years. Mercury's axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar System's planets (about degree). Its orbital eccentricity is the largest of all known planets in the Solar System; at perihelion, Mercury's distance from the Sun is only about two-thirds (or 66%) of its distance at aphelion. Mercury's surface appears heavily cratered and is similar in appearance to the Moon's, indicating that it has been geologically inactive for billions of years. Having almost no atmosphere to retain heat, it has surface temperatures that vary diurnally more than on any other planet in the Solar System, ranging from at night to during the day across the equatorial regions. The polar regions are constantly below . The planet has no known natural satellites. Two spacecraft have visited Mercury: flew by in 1974 and 1975; and MESSENGER, launched in 2004, orbited Mercury over 4,000 times in four years before exhausting its fuel and crashing into the planet's surface on April 30, 2015. The BepiColombo spacecraft is planned to arrive at Mercury in 2025. Mercury appears to have a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid, iron sulfide outer core layer, a deeper liquid core layer, and a solid inner core. Mercury is one of four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, and is a rocky body like Earth. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with an equatorial radius of . Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede and Titan. Mercury consists of approximately 70% metallic and 30% silicate material. Mercury's density is the second highest in the Solar System at 5.427 g/cm, only slightly less than Earth's density of 5.515 g/cm. If the effect of gravitational compression were to be factored out from both planets, the materials of which Mercury is made would be denser than those of Earth, with an uncompressed density of 5.3 g/cm versus Earth's 4.4 g/cm. Mercury's density can be used to infer details of its inner structure. Although Earth's high density results appreciably from gravitational compression, particularly at the core, Mercury is much smaller and its inner regions are not as compressed. Therefore, for it to have such a high density, its core must be large and rich in iron. Geologists estimate that Mercury's core occupies about 55% of its volume; for Earth this proportion is 17%. Research published in 2007 suggests that Mercury has a molten core. Surrounding the core is a mantle consisting of silicates. Based on data from the mission and Earth-based observation, Mercury's crust is estimated to be thick. One distinctive feature of Mercury's surface is the presence of numerous narrow ridges, extending up to several hundred kilometers in length. It is thought that these were formed as Mercury's core and mantle cooled and contracted at a time when the crust had already solidified. Mercury's core has a higher iron content than that of any other major planet in the Solar System, and several theories have been proposed to explain this. The most widely accepted theory is that Mercury originally had a metal–silicate ratio similar to common chondrite meteorites, thought to be typical of the Solar System's rocky matter, and a mass approximately 2.25 times its current mass. Early in the Solar System's history, Mercury may have been struck by a planetesimal of approximately 1/6 that mass and several thousand kilometers across. The impact would have stripped away much of the original crust and mantle, leaving the core behind as a relatively major component. A similar process, known as the giant impact hypothesis, has been proposed to explain the formation of the Moon. Alternatively, Mercury may have formed from the solar nebula before the Sun's energy output had stabilized. It would initially have had twice its present mass, but as the protosun contracted, temperatures near Mercury could have been between 2,500 and 3,500 K and possibly even as high as 10,000 K. Much of Mercury's surface rock could have been vaporized at such temperatures, forming an atmosphere of "rock vapor" that could have been carried away by the solar wind. A third hypothesis proposes that the solar nebula caused drag on the particles from which Mercury was accreting, which meant that lighter particles were lost from the accreting material and not gathered by Mercury. Each hypothesis predicts a different surface composition, and there are two space missions set to make observations. MESSENGER, which ended in 2015, found higher-than-expected potassium and sulfur levels on the surface, suggesting that the giant impact hypothesis and vaporization of the crust and mantle did not occur because potassium and sulfur would have been driven off by the extreme heat of these events. BepiColombo, which will arrive at Mercury in 2025, will make observations to test these hypotheses. The findings so far would seem to favor the third hypothesis; however, further analysis of the data is needed. Mercury's surface is similar in appearance to that of the Moon, showing extensive mare-like plains and heavy cratering, indicating that it has been geologically inactive for billions of years. Because knowledge of Mercury's geology had been based only on the 1975 flyby and terrestrial observations, it is the least understood of the terrestrial planets. As data from MESSENGER orbiter are processed, this knowledge will increase. For example, an unusual crater with radiating troughs has been discovered that scientists called "the spider". It was later named Apollodorus. Albedo features are areas of markedly different reflectivity, as seen by telescopic observation. Mercury has dorsa (also called "wrinkle-ridges"), Moon-like highlands, montes (mountains), planitiae (plains), rupes (escarpments), and valles (valleys). Names for features on Mercury come from a variety of sources. Names coming from people are limited to the deceased. Craters are named for artists, musicians, painters, and authors who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field. Ridges, or dorsa, are named for scientists who have contributed to the study of Mercury. Depressions or fossae are named for works of architecture. Montes are named for the word "hot" in a variety of languages. Plains or planitiae are named for Mercury in various languages. Escarpments or rupēs are named for ships of scientific expeditions. Valleys or valles are named for abandoned cities, towns, or settlements of antiquity. Mercury was heavily bombarded by comets and asteroids during and shortly following its formation 4.6 billion years ago, as well as during a possibly separate subsequent episode called the Late Heavy Bombardment that ended 3.8 billion years ago. During this period of intense crater formation, Mercury received impacts over its entire surface, facilitated by the lack of any atmosphere to slow impactors down. During this time Mercury was volcanically active; basins such as the Caloris Basin were filled by magma, producing smooth plains similar to the maria found on the Moon. Data from the October 2008 flyby of MESSENGER gave researchers a greater appreciation for the jumbled nature of Mercury's surface. Mercury's surface is more heterogeneous than either Mars's or the Moon's, both of which contain significant stretches of similar geology, such as maria and plateaus. Craters on Mercury range in diameter from small bowl-shaped cavities to multi- ringed impact basins hundreds of kilometers across. They appear in all states of degradation, from relatively fresh rayed craters to highly degraded crater remnants. Mercurian craters differ subtly from lunar craters in that the area blanketed by their ejecta is much smaller, a consequence of Mercury's stronger surface gravity. According to IAU rules, each new crater must be named after an artist that was famous for more than fifty years, and dead for more than three years, before the date the crater is named. The largest known crater is , with a diameter of 1,550 km. The impact that created the Caloris Basin was so powerful that it caused lava eruptions and left a concentric ring over 2 km tall surrounding the impact crater. At the antipode of the Caloris Basin is a large region of unusual, hilly terrain known as the "Weird Terrain". One hypothesis for its origin is that shock waves generated during the Caloris impact traveled around Mercury, converging at the basin's antipode (180 degrees away). The resulting high stresses fractured the surface. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this terrain formed as a result of the convergence of ejecta at this basin's antipode. Overall, about 15 impact basins have been identified on the imaged part of Mercury. A notable basin is the 400 km wide, multi-ring Tolstoj Basin that has an ejecta blanket extending up to 500 km from its rim and a floor that has been filled by smooth plains materials. Beethoven Basin has a similar-sized ejecta blanket and a 625 km diameter rim. Like the Moon, the surface of Mercury has likely incurred the effects of space weathering processes, including Solar wind and micrometeorite impacts. There are two geologically distinct plains regions on Mercury. Gently rolling, hilly plains in the regions between craters are Mercury's oldest visible surfaces, predating the heavily cratered terrain. These inter-crater plains appear to have obliterated many earlier craters, and show a general paucity of smaller craters below about 30 km in diameter. Smooth plains are widespread flat areas that fill depressions of various sizes and bear a strong resemblance to the lunar maria. Notably, they fill a wide ring surrounding the Caloris Basin. Unlike lunar maria, the smooth plains of Mercury have the same albedo as the older inter-crater plains. Despite a lack of unequivocally volcanic characteristics, the localisation and rounded, lobate shape of these plains strongly support volcanic origins. All the smooth plains of Mercury formed significantly later than the Caloris basin, as evidenced by appreciably smaller crater densities than on the Caloris ejecta blanket. The floor of the Caloris Basin is filled by a geologically distinct flat plain, broken up by ridges and fractures in a roughly polygonal pattern. It is not clear whether they are volcanic lavas induced by the impact, or a large sheet of impact melt. One unusual feature of Mercury's surface is the numerous compression folds, or rupes, that crisscross the plains. As Mercury's interior cooled, it contracted and its surface began to deform, creating wrinkle ridges and lobate scarps associated with thrust faults. The scarps can reach lengths of 1000 km and heights of 3 km. These compressional features can be seen on top of other features, such as craters and smooth plains, indicating they are more recent. Mapping of the features has suggested a total shrinkage of Mercury's radius in the range of ~1 to 7 km. Small-scale thrust fault scarps have been found, tens of meters in height and with lengths in the range of a few km, that appear to be less than 50 million years old, indicating that compression of the interior and consequent surface geological activity continue to the present. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered that similar small thrust faults exist on the Moon. Images obtained by MESSENGER have revealed evidence for pyroclastic flows on Mercury from low-profile shield volcanoes. MESSENGER data has helped identify 51 pyroclastic deposits on the surface, where 90% of them are found within impact craters. A study of the degradation state of the impact craters that host pyroclastic deposits suggests that pyroclastic activity occurred on Mercury over a prolonged interval. A "rimless depression" inside the southwest rim of the Caloris Basin consists of at least nine overlapping volcanic vents, each individually up to 8 km in diameter. It is thus a "compound volcano". The vent floors are at a least 1 km below their brinks and they bear a closer resemblance to volcanic craters sculpted by explosive eruptions or modified by collapse into void spaces created by magma withdrawal back down into a conduit. Scientists could not quantify the age of the volcanic complex system, but reported that it could be of the order of a billion years. The surface temperature of Mercury ranges from at the most extreme places: 0°N, 0°W, or 180°W. It never rises above 180 K at the poles, due to the absence of an atmosphere and a steep temperature gradient between the equator and the poles. The subsolar point reaches about 700 K during perihelion (0°W or 180°W), but only 550 K at aphelion (90° or 270°W). On the dark side of the planet, temperatures average 110 K. The intensity of sunlight on Mercury's surface ranges between 4.59 and 10.61 times the solar constant (1,370 W·m). Although the daylight temperature at the surface of Mercury is generally extremely high, observations strongly suggest that ice (frozen water) exists on Mercury. The floors of deep craters at the poles are never exposed to direct sunlight, and temperatures there remain below 102 K; far lower than the global average. Water ice strongly reflects radar, and observations by the 70-meter Goldstone Solar System Radar and the VLA in the early 1990s revealed that there are patches of high radar reflection near the poles. Although ice was not the only possible cause of these reflective regions, astronomers think it was the most likely. The icy regions are estimated to contain about 10–10 kg of ice, and may be covered by a layer of regolith that inhibits sublimation. By comparison, the Antarctic ice sheet on Earth has a mass of about 4 kg, and Mars's south polar cap contains about 10 kg of water. The origin of the ice on Mercury is not yet known, but the two most likely sources are from outgassing of water from the planet's interior or deposition by impacts of comets. Mercury is too small and hot for its gravity to retain any significant atmosphere over long periods of time; it does have a tenuous surface-bounded exosphere containing hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium, potassium and others at a surface pressure of less than approximately 0.5 nPa (0.005 picobars). This exosphere is not stable—atoms are continuously lost and replenished from a variety of sources. Hydrogen atoms and helium atoms probably come from the solar wind, diffusing into Mercury's magnetosphere before later escaping back into space. Radioactive decay of elements within Mercury's crust is another source of helium, as well as sodium and potassium. MESSENGER found high proportions of calcium, helium, hydroxide, magnesium, oxygen, potassium, silicon and sodium. Water vapor is present, released by a combination of processes such as: comets striking its surface, sputtering creating water out of hydrogen from the solar wind and oxygen from rock, and sublimation from reservoirs of water ice in the permanently shadowed polar craters. The detection of high amounts of water-related ions like O, OH, and HO was a surprise. Because of the quantities of these ions that were detected in Mercury's space environment, scientists surmise that these molecules were blasted from the surface or exosphere by the solar wind. Sodium, potassium and calcium were discovered in the atmosphere during the 1980–1990s, and are thought to result primarily from the vaporization of surface rock struck by micrometeorite impacts including presently from Comet Encke. In 2008, magnesium was discovered by MESSENGER. Studies indicate that, at times, sodium emissions are localized at points that correspond to the planet's magnetic poles. This would indicate an interaction between the magnetosphere and the planet's surface. On November 29, 2012, NASA confirmed that images from MESSENGER had detected that craters at the north pole contained water ice. MESSENGER principal investigator Sean Solomon is quoted in The New York Times estimating the volume of the ice to be large enough to "encase Washington, D.C., in a frozen block two and a half miles deep". Despite its small size and slow 59-day-long rotation, Mercury has a significant, and apparently global, magnetic field. According to measurements taken by , it is about 1.1% the strength of Earth's. The magnetic-field strength at Mercury's equator is about . Like that of Earth, Mercury's magnetic field is dipolar. Unlike Earth's, Mercury's poles are nearly aligned with the planet's spin axis. Measurements from both the and MESSENGER space probes have indicated that the strength and shape of the magnetic field are stable. It is likely that this magnetic field is generated by a dynamo effect, in a manner similar to the magnetic field of Earth. This dynamo effect would result from the circulation of the planet's iron-rich liquid core. Particularly strong tidal effects caused by the planet's high orbital eccentricity would serve to keep the core in the liquid state necessary for this dynamo effect. Mercury's magnetic field is strong enough to deflect the solar wind around the planet, creating a magnetosphere. The planet's magnetosphere, though small enough to fit within Earth, is strong enough to trap solar wind plasma. This contributes to the space weathering of the planet's surface. Observations taken by the spacecraft detected this low energy plasma in the magnetosphere of the planet's nightside. Bursts of energetic particles in the planet's magnetotail indicate a dynamic quality to the planet's magnetosphere. During its second flyby of the planet on October 6, 2008, MESSENGER discovered that Mercury's magnetic field can be extremely "leaky". The spacecraft encountered magnetic "tornadoes" – twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting the planetary magnetic field to interplanetary space – that were up to wide or a third of the radius of the planet. These twisted magnetic flux tubes, technically known as flux transfer events, form open windows in the planet's magnetic shield through which the solar wind may enter and directly impact Mercury's surface via magnetic reconnection This also occurs in Earth's magnetic field. The MESSENGER observations showed the reconnection rate is ten times higher at Mercury, but its proximity to the Sun only accounts for about a third of the reconnection rate observed by MESSENGER. Mercury has the most eccentric orbit of all the planets; its eccentricity is 0.21 with its distance from the Sun ranging from . It takes 87.969 Earth days to complete an orbit. The diagram illustrates the effects of the eccentricity, showing Mercury's orbit overlaid with a circular orbit having the same semi- major axis. Mercury's higher velocity when it is near perihelion is clear from the greater distance it covers in each 5-day interval. In the diagram the varying distance of Mercury to the Sun is represented by the size of the planet, which is inversely proportional to Mercury's distance from the Sun. This varying distance to the Sun leads to Mercury's surface being flexed by tidal bulges raised by the Sun that are about 17 times stronger than the Moon's on Earth. Combined with a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance of the planet's rotation around its axis, it also results in complex variations of the surface temperature. The resonance makes a single solar day on Mercury last exactly two Mercury years, or about 176 Earth days. Mercury's orbit is inclined by 7 degrees to the plane of Earth's orbit (the ecliptic), as shown in the diagram on the right. As a result, transits of Mercury across the face of the Sun can only occur when the planet is crossing the plane of the ecliptic at the time it lies between Earth and the Sun, which is in May or November. This occurs about every seven years on average. Mercury's axial tilt is almost zero, with the best measured value as low as 0.027 degrees. This is significantly smaller than that of Jupiter, which has the second smallest axial tilt of all planets at 3.1 degrees. This means that to an observer at Mercury's poles, the center of the Sun never rises more than 2.1 arcminutes above the horizon. At certain points on Mercury's surface, an observer would be able to see the Sun peek up about halfway over the horizon, then reverse and set before rising again, all within the same Mercurian day. This is because approximately four Earth days before perihelion, Mercury's angular orbital velocity equals its angular rotational velocity so that the Sun's apparent motion ceases; closer to perihelion, Mercury's angular orbital velocity then exceeds the angular rotational velocity. Thus, to a hypothetical observer on Mercury, the Sun appears to move in a retrograde direction. Four Earth days after perihelion, the Sun's normal apparent motion resumes. A similar effect would have occurred if Mercury had been in synchronous rotation: the alternating gain and loss of rotation over revolution would have caused a libration of 23.65° in longitude. For the same reason, there are two points on Mercury's equator, 180 degrees apart in longitude, at either of which, around perihelion in alternate Mercurian years (once a Mercurian day), the Sun passes overhead, then reverses its apparent motion and passes overhead again, then reverses a second time and passes overhead a third time, taking a total of about 16 Earth-days for this entire process. In the other alternate Mercurian years, the same thing happens at the other of these two points. The amplitude of the retrograde motion is small, so the overall effect is that, for two or three weeks, the Sun is almost stationary overhead, and is at its most brilliant because Mercury is at perihelion, its closest to the Sun. This prolonged exposure to the Sun at its brightest makes these two points the hottest places on Mercury. Maximum temperature occurs when the Sun is at an angle of about 25 degrees past noon due to diurnal temperature lag, at 0.4 Mercury days and 0.8 Mercury years past sunrise. Conversely, there are two other points on the equator, 90 degrees of longitude apart from the first ones, where the Sun passes overhead only when the planet is at aphelion in alternate years, when the apparent motion of the Sun in Mercury's sky is relatively rapid. These points, which are the ones on the equator where the apparent retrograde motion of the Sun happens when it is crossing the horizon as described in the preceding paragraph, receive much less solar heat than the first ones described above. Mercury attains inferior conjunction (nearest approach to Earth) every 116 Earth days on average, but this interval can range from 105 days to 129 days due to the planet's eccentric orbit. Mercury can come as near as to Earth, and that is slowly declining: The next approach to within is in 2679, and to within in 4487, but it will not be closer to Earth than until 28,622. Its period of retrograde motion as seen from Earth can vary from 8 to 15 days on either side of inferior conjunction. This large range arises from the planet's high orbital eccentricity. On average, Mercury is the closest planet to the Earth, and it is the closest planet to each of the other planets in the Solar System. The longitude convention for Mercury puts the zero of longitude at one of the two hottest points on the surface, as described above. However, when this area was first visited, by , this zero meridian was in darkness, so it was impossible to select a feature on the surface to define the exact position of the meridian. Therefore, a small crater further west was chosen, called Hun Kal, which provides the exact reference point for measuring longitude. The center of Hun Kal defines the 20° West meridian. A 1970 International Astronomical Union resolution suggests that longitudes be measured positively in the westerly direction on Mercury. The two hottest places on the equator are therefore at longitudes 0°W and 180°W, and the coolest points on the equator are at longitudes 90°W and 270°W. However, the MESSENGER project uses an east-positive convention. For many years it was thought that Mercury was synchronously tidally locked with the Sun, rotating once for each orbit and always keeping the same face directed towards the Sun, in the same way that the same side of the Moon always faces Earth. Radar observations in 1965 proved that the planet has a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance, rotating three times for every two revolutions around the Sun. The eccentricity of Mercury's orbit makes this resonance stable—at perihelion, when the solar tide is strongest, the Sun is nearly still in Mercury's sky. The rare 3:2 resonant tidal locking is stabilized by the variance of the tidal force along Mercury's eccentric orbit, acting on a permanent dipole component of Mercury's mass distribution. In a circular orbit there is no such variance, so the only resonance stabilized in such an orbit is at 1:1 (e.g., Earth–Moon), when the tidal force, stretching a body along the "center-body" line, exerts a torque that aligns the body's axis of least inertia (the "longest" axis, and the axis of the aforementioned dipole) to point always at the center. However, with noticeable eccentricity, like that of Mercury's orbit, the tidal force has a maximum at perihelion and therefore stabilizes resonances, like 3:2, enforcing that the planet points its axis of least inertia roughly at the Sun when passing through perihelion. The original reason astronomers thought it was synchronously locked was that, whenever Mercury was best placed for observation, it was always nearly at the same point in its 3:2 resonance, hence showing the same face. This is because, coincidentally, Mercury's rotation period is almost exactly half of its synodic period with respect to Earth. Due to Mercury's 3:2 spin–orbit resonance, a solar day (the length between two meridian transits of the Sun) lasts about 176 Earth days. A sidereal day (the period of rotation) lasts about 58.7 Earth days. Simulations indicate that the orbital eccentricity of Mercury varies chaotically from nearly zero (circular) to more than 0.45 over millions of years due to perturbations from the other planets. This was thought to explain Mercury's 3:2 spin–orbit resonance (rather than the more usual 1:1), because this state is more likely to arise during a period of high eccentricity. However, accurate modeling based on a realistic model of tidal response has demonstrated that Mercury was captured into the 3:2 spin–orbit state at a very early stage of its history, within 20 (more likely, 10) million years after its formation. Numerical simulations show that a future secular orbital resonant perihelion interaction with Jupiter may cause the eccentricity of Mercury's orbit to increase to the point where there is a 1% chance that the planet may collide with Venus within the next five billion years. In 1859, the French mathematician and astronomer Urbain Le Verrier reported that the slow precession of Mercury's orbit around the Sun could not be completely explained by Newtonian mechanics and perturbations by the known planets. He suggested, among possible explanations, that another planet (or perhaps instead a series of smaller 'corpuscules') might exist in an orbit even closer to the Sun than that of Mercury, to account for this perturbation. (Other explanations considered included a slight oblateness of the Sun.) The success of the search for Neptune based on its perturbations of the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to place faith in this possible explanation, and the hypothetical planet was named Vulcan, but no such planet was ever found. The perihelion precession of Mercury is 5,600 arcseconds (1.5556°) per century relative to Earth, or 574.10±0.65 arcseconds per century relative to the inertial ICRF. Newtonian mechanics, taking into account all the effects from the other planets, predicts a precession of 5,557 arcseconds (1.5436°) per century. In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity provided the explanation for the observed precession, by formalizing gravitation as being mediated by the curvature of spacetime. The effect is small: just 42.98 arcseconds per century for Mercury; it therefore requires a little over twelve million orbits for a full excess turn. Similar, but much smaller, effects exist for other Solar System bodies: 8.62 arcseconds per century for Venus, 3.84 for Earth, 1.35 for Mars, and 10.05 for 1566 Icarus. Einstein's formula for the perihelion shift per revolution is formula_1, where formula_2 is the orbital eccentricity, formula_3 the semi- major axis, and formula_4 the orbital period. Filling in the values gives a result of 0.1035 arcseconds per revolution or 0.4297 arcseconds per Earth year, i.e., 42.97 arcseconds per century. This is in close agreement with the accepted value of Mercury's perihelion advance of 42.98 arcseconds per century. Mercury's apparent magnitude is calculated to vary between −2.48 (brighter than Sirius) around superior conjunction and +7.25 (below the limit of naked- eye visibility) around inferior conjunction. The mean apparent magnitude is 0.23 while the standard deviation of 1.78 is the largest of any planet. The mean apparent magnitude at superior conjunction is −1.89 while that at inferior conjunction is +5.93. Observation of Mercury is complicated by its proximity to the Sun, as it is lost in the Sun's glare for much of the time. Mercury can be observed for only a brief period during either morning or evening twilight. Mercury can, like several other planets and the brightest stars, be seen during a total solar eclipse. Like the Moon and Venus, Mercury exhibits phases as seen from Earth. It is "new" at inferior conjunction and "full" at superior conjunction. The planet is rendered invisible from Earth on both of these occasions because of its being obscured by the Sun, except its new phase during a transit. Mercury is technically brightest as seen from Earth when it is at a full phase. Although Mercury is farthest from Earth when it is full, the greater illuminated area that is visible and the opposition brightness surge more than compensates for the distance. The opposite is true for Venus, which appears brightest when it is a crescent, because it is much closer to Earth than when gibbous. Nonetheless, the brightest (full phase) appearance of Mercury is an essentially impossible time for practical observation, because of the extreme proximity of the Sun. Mercury is best observed at the first and last quarter, although they are phases of lesser brightness. The first and last quarter phases occur at greatest elongation east and west of the Sun, respectively. At both of these times Mercury's separation from the Sun ranges anywhere from 17.9° at perihelion to 27.8° at aphelion. At greatest western elongation, Mercury rises at its earliest before sunrise, and at greatest eastern elongation, it sets at its latest after sunset. Mercury can be easily seen from the tropics and subtropics more than from higher latitudes. Viewed from low latitudes and at the right times of year, the ecliptic intersects the horizon at a steep angle. Mercury is 10° above the horizon when the planet appears directly above the Sun (i.e. its orbit appears vertical) and is at maximum elongation from the Sun (28°) and also when the Sun is 18° below the horizon, so the sky is just completely dark. This angle is the maximum altitude at which Mercury is visible in a completely dark sky. At middle latitudes, Mercury is more often and easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere than from the Northern. This is because Mercury's maximum western elongation occurs only during early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, whereas its greatest eastern elongation happens only during late winter in the Southern Hemisphere. In both of these cases, the angle at which the planet's orbit intersects the horizon is maximized, allowing it to rise several hours before sunrise in the former instance and not set until several hours after sundown in the latter from southern mid- latitudes, such as Argentina and South Africa. An alternate method for viewing Mercury involves observing the planet during daylight hours when conditions are clear, ideally when it is at its greatest elongation. This allows the planet to be found easily, even when using telescopes with apertures. Care must be taken to ensure the instrument isn't pointed directly towards the Sun because of the risk for eye damage. This method bypasses the limitation of twilight observing when the ecliptic is located at a low elevation (e.g. on autumn evenings). Ground-based telescope observations of Mercury reveal only an illuminated partial disk with limited detail. The first of two spacecraft to visit the planet was , which mapped about 45% of its surface from 1974 to 1975. The second is the MESSENGER spacecraft, which after three Mercury flybys between 2008 and 2009, attained orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011, to study and map the rest of the planet. The Hubble Space Telescope cannot observe Mercury at all, due to safety procedures that prevent its pointing too close to the Sun. Because the shift of 0.15 revolutions in a year makes up a seven-year cycle (0.15 × 7 ≈ 1.0), in the seventh year Mercury follows almost exactly (earlier by 7 days) the sequence of phenomena it showed seven years before. The earliest known recorded observations of Mercury are from the Mul.Apin tablets. These observations were most likely made by an Assyrian astronomer around the 14th century BC. The cuneiform name used to designate Mercury on the Mul.Apin tablets is transcribed as Udu.Idim.Gu\u.Ud ("the jumping planet"). Babylonian records of Mercury date back to the 1st millennium BC. The Babylonians called the planet Nabu after the messenger to the gods in their mythology. The ancient Greeks knew the planet as Στίλβων (Stilbon), meaning "the gleaming", Ἑρμάων (Hermaon) and Ἑρμής (Hermes), a planetary name that is retained in modern Greek (Ερμής: Ermis). The Romans named the planet after the swift-footed Roman messenger god, Mercury (Latin Mercurius), which they equated with the Greek Hermes, because it moves across the sky faster than any other planet. The astronomical symbol for Mercury is a stylized version of Hermes' caduceus. The Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy wrote about the possibility of planetary transits across the face of the Sun in his work Planetary Hypotheses. He suggested that no transits had been observed either because planets such as Mercury were too small to see, or because the transits were too infrequent. In ancient China, Mercury was known as "the Hour Star" (Chen-xing ). It was associated with the direction north and the phase of water in the Five Phases system of metaphysics. Modern Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet literally as the "water star" (), based on the Five elements. Hindu mythology used the name Budha for Mercury, and this god was thought to preside over Wednesday. The god Odin (or Woden) of Germanic paganism was associated with the planet Mercury and Wednesday. The Maya may have represented Mercury as an owl (or possibly four owls; two for the morning aspect and two for the evening) that served as a messenger to the underworld. In medieval Islamic astronomy, the Andalusian astronomer Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī in the 11th century described the deferent of Mercury's geocentric orbit as being oval, like an egg or a pignon, although this insight did not influence his astronomical theory or his astronomical calculations. In the 12th century, Ibn Bajjah observed "two planets as black spots on the face of the Sun", which was later suggested as the transit of Mercury and/or Venus by the Maragha astronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi in the 13th century. (Note that most such medieval reports of transits were later taken as observations of sunspots.) In India, the Kerala school astronomer Nilakantha Somayaji in the 15th century developed a partially heliocentric planetary model in which Mercury orbits the Sun, which in turn orbits Earth, similar to the Tychonic system later proposed by Tycho Brahe in the late 16th century. The first telescopic observations of Mercury were made by Galileo in the early 17th century. Although he observed phases when he looked at Venus, his telescope was not powerful enough to see the phases of Mercury. In 1631, Pierre Gassendi made the first telescopic observations of the transit of a planet across the Sun when he saw a transit of Mercury predicted by Johannes Kepler. In 1639, Giovanni Zupi used a telescope to discover that the planet had orbital phases similar to Venus and the Moon. The observation demonstrated conclusively that Mercury orbited around the Sun. A rare event in astronomy is the passage of one planet in front of another (occultation), as seen from Earth. Mercury and Venus occult each other every few centuries, and the event of May 28, 1737 is the only one historically observed, having been seen by John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. The next occultation of Mercury by Venus will be on December 3, 2133. The difficulties inherent in observing Mercury mean that it has been far less studied than the other planets. In 1800, Johann Schröter made observations of surface features, claiming to have observed mountains. Friedrich Bessel used Schröter's drawings to erroneously estimate the rotation period as 24 hours and an axial tilt of 70°. In the 1880s, Giovanni Schiaparelli mapped the planet more accurately, and suggested that Mercury's rotational period was 88 days, the same as its orbital period due to tidal locking. This phenomenon is known as synchronous rotation. The effort to map the surface of Mercury was continued by Eugenios Antoniadi, who published a book in 1934 that included both maps and his own observations. Many of the planet's surface features, particularly the albedo features, take their names from Antoniadi's map. In June 1962, Soviet scientists at the Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, led by Vladimir Kotelnikov, became the first to bounce a radar signal off Mercury and receive it, starting radar observations of the planet. Three years later, radar observations by Americans Gordon Pettengill and R. Dyce, using the 300-meter Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico, showed conclusively that the planet's rotational period was about 59 days. The theory that Mercury's rotation was synchronous had become widely held, and it was a surprise to astronomers when these radio observations were announced. If Mercury were tidally locked, its dark face would be extremely cold, but measurements of radio emission revealed that it was much hotter than expected. Astronomers were reluctant to drop the synchronous rotation theory and proposed alternative mechanisms such as powerful heat-distributing winds to explain the observations. Italian astronomer Giuseppe Colombo noted that the rotation value was about two-thirds of Mercury's orbital period, and proposed that the planet's orbital and rotational periods were locked into a 3:2 rather than a 1:1 resonance. Data from subsequently confirmed this view. This means that Schiaparelli's and Antoniadi's maps were not "wrong". Instead, the astronomers saw the same features during every second orbit and recorded them, but disregarded those seen in the meantime, when Mercury's other face was toward the Sun, because the orbital geometry meant that these observations were made under poor viewing conditions. Ground-based optical observations did not shed much further light on Mercury, but radio astronomers using interferometry at microwave wavelengths, a technique that enables removal of the solar radiation, were able to discern physical and chemical characteristics of the subsurface layers to a depth of several meters. Not until the first space probe flew past Mercury did many of its most fundamental morphological properties become known. Moreover, recent technological advances have led to improved ground-based observations. In 2000, high-resolution lucky imaging observations were conducted by the Mount Wilson Observatory 1.5 meter Hale telescope. They provided the first views that resolved surface features on the parts of Mercury that were not imaged in the mission. Most of the planet has been mapped by the Arecibo radar telescope, with resolution, including polar deposits in shadowed craters of what may be water ice. Reaching Mercury from Earth poses significant technical challenges, because it orbits so much closer to the Sun than Earth. A Mercury-bound spacecraft launched from Earth must travel over into the Sun's gravitational potential well. Mercury has an orbital speed of , whereas Earth's orbital speed is . Therefore, the spacecraft must make a large change in velocity (delta-v) to enter a Hohmann transfer orbit that passes near Mercury, as compared to the delta-v required for other planetary missions. The potential energy liberated by moving down the Sun's potential well becomes kinetic energy; requiring another large delta-v change to do anything other than rapidly pass by Mercury. To land safely or enter a stable orbit the spacecraft would rely entirely on rocket motors. Aerobraking is ruled out because Mercury has a negligible atmosphere. A trip to Mercury requires more rocket fuel than that required to escape the Solar System completely. As a result, only two space probes have visited it so far. A proposed alternative approach would use a solar sail to attain a Mercury-synchronous orbit around the Sun. The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's (1974–1975). The spacecraft used the gravity of Venus to adjust its orbital velocity so that it could approach Mercury, making it both the first spacecraft to use this gravitational "slingshot" effect and the first NASA mission to visit multiple planets. provided the first close-up images of Mercury's surface, which immediately showed its heavily cratered nature, and revealed many other types of geological features, such as the giant scarps that were later ascribed to the effect of the planet shrinking slightly as its iron core cools. Unfortunately, the same face of the planet was lit at each of close approaches. This made close observation of both sides of the planet impossible, and resulted in the mapping of less than 45% of the planet's surface. The spacecraft made three close approaches to Mercury, the closest of which took it to within of the surface. At the first close approach, instruments detected a magnetic field, to the great surprise of planetary geologists—Mercury's rotation was expected to be much too slow to generate a significant dynamo effect. The second close approach was primarily used for imaging, but at the third approach, extensive magnetic data were obtained. The data revealed that the planet's magnetic field is much like Earth's, which deflects the solar wind around the planet. For many years after the encounters, the origin of Mercury's magnetic field remained the subject of several competing theories. On March 24, 1975, just eight days after its final close approach, ran out of fuel. Because its orbit could no longer be accurately controlled, mission controllers instructed the probe to shut down. is thought to be still orbiting the Sun, passing close to Mercury every few months. A second NASA mission to Mercury, named MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging), was launched on August 3, 2004. It made a fly-by of Earth in August 2005, and of Venus in October 2006 and June 2007 to place it onto the correct trajectory to reach an orbit around Mercury. A first fly-by of Mercury occurred on January 14, 2008, a second on October 6, 2008, and a third on September 29, 2009. Most of the hemisphere not imaged by was mapped during these fly-bys. The probe successfully entered an elliptical orbit around the planet on March 18, 2011. The first orbital image of Mercury was obtained on March 29, 2011. The probe finished a one-year mapping mission, and then entered a one-year extended mission into 2013. In addition to continued observations and mapping of Mercury, MESSENGER observed the 2012 solar maximum. The mission was designed to clear up six key issues: Mercury's high density, its geological history, the nature of its magnetic field, the structure of its core, whether it has ice at its poles, and where its tenuous atmosphere comes from. To this end, the probe carried imaging devices that gathered much-higher-resolution images of much more of Mercury than , assorted spectrometers to determine abundances of elements in the crust, and magnetometers and devices to measure velocities of charged particles. Measurements of changes in the probe's orbital velocity were expected to be used to infer details of the planet's interior structure. MESSENGER final maneuver was on April 24, 2015, and it crashed into Mercury's surface on April 30, 2015. The spacecraft's impact with Mercury occurred near 3:26 PM EDT on April 30, 2015, leaving a crater estimated to be in diameter. The European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency developed and launched a joint mission called BepiColombo, which will orbit Mercury with two probes: one to map the planet and the other to study its magnetosphere. Launched on October 20, 2018, BepiColombo is expected to reach Mercury in 2025. It will release a magnetometer probe into an elliptical orbit, then chemical rockets will fire to deposit the mapper probe into a circular orbit. Both probes will operate for one terrestrial year. The mapper probe carries an array of spectrometers similar to those on MESSENGER, and will study the planet at many different wavelengths including infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray. Outline of Mercury (planet), Budha, Hinduism's name for the planet and the god Mercury, Colonization of Mercury, Exploration of Mercury, Mercury in astrology, Mercury in fiction, Timeline of the far future, Cold trap (astronomy) Mercury nomenclature and map with feature names from the USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Equirectangular map of Mercury by Applied Coherent Technology Corp, 3D globe of Mercury by Google, Mercury at Solarviews.com, Mercury by Astronomy Cast, MESSENGER mission web site, BepiColombo mission web site

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The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. It followed the Bank of North America, the nation's first de facto central bank. Establishment of the Bank of the United States was part of a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes, championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit, and to improve handling of the financial business of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution. The First Bank building, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within Independence National Historical Park, was completed in 1797, and is a National Historic Landmark for its historic and architectural significance. In 1791, the Bank of the United States was one of the three major financial innovations proposed and supported by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. In addition to the national bank, the other measures were an assumption of the state war debts by the U.S. government, establishment of a mint and imposition of a federal excise tax. The goals of Hamilton's three measures were to: Establish financial order, clarity, and precedence in and of the newly formed United States., Establish credit—both in a country and overseas—for the new nation., Resolve the issue of the fiat currency, issued by the Continental Congress immediately prior to and during the American Revolutionary War—the "Continental". In simpler words, Hamilton's four goals were to: Have the Federal Government assume the Revolutionary War debts of the several states, Pay off the war debts, Raise money for the new government, Establish a national bank and create a common currency According to the plan put before the first session of the First Congress in 1790, Hamilton proposed establishing the initial funding for the First Bank of the United States through the sale of $10 million in stock of which the United States government would purchase the first $2 million in shares. Hamilton, foreseeing the objection that this could not be done since the U.S. government did not have $2 million, proposed that the government purchase the stock using money lent to it by the bank; the loan to be paid back in ten equal annual installments. The remaining $8 million of stock would be available to the public, both in the United States and overseas. The chief requirement of these non-government purchases was that one-quarter of the purchase price had to be paid in gold or silver; the remaining balance could be paid in bonds, acceptable scrip, etc. Unlike the Bank of England, the primary function of the bank would be a credit issued to government and private interests, for internal improvements and other economic development, per Hamilton's system of Public Credit. The business would be involved in on behalf of the federal government—a depository for collected taxes, making short-term loans to the government to cover real or potential temporary income gaps, serving as a holding site for both incoming and outgoing monies—was considered highly important but still secondary in nature. There were other, non-negotiable conditions for the establishment of the First Bank of the United States. Among these were: That the bank would have a twenty-year charter running from 1791 to 1811, after which time it would be up to the Congress to approve or deny renewal of the bank and its charter; however, during that time no other federal bank would be authorized; states, for their part, would be free to charter however many intrastate banks they wished., That the bank, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, would: 1. be forbidden to buy a government bond. 2. have a mandatory rotation of directors. 3. neither issue notes nor incur debts beyond its actual capitalization., That foreigners, whether overseas or residing in the United States, would be allowed to be First Bank of the United States stockholders, but would not be allowed to vote., That the Secretary of the Treasury would be free to remove government deposits, inspect the books, and require statements regarding the bank's condition as frequently as once a week. To ensure that the government could meet both the current and future demands of its governmental accounts, an additional source of funding was required, "for interest payments on the assumed state debts would begin to fall due at the end of 1791...those payments would require $788,333 annually, and... an additional $38,291 was needed to cover deficiencies in the funds that had been appropriated for existing commitments." To achieve this, Hamilton repeated a suggestion he had made nearly a year before—increase the duty on imported spirits, plus raise the excise tax on domestically distilled whiskey and other liquors. Local opposition to the tax led to the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton's bank proposal faced widespread resistance from opponents of increased federal power. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and James Madison led the opposition, which claimed that the bank was unconstitutional, and that it benefited merchants and investors at the expense of the majority of the population. Like most of the Southern members of Congress, Jefferson and Madison also opposed a second of the three proposals of Hamilton: establishing an official government Mint. They believed this centralization of power away from local banks was dangerous to a sound monetary system and was mostly to the benefit of business interests in the commercial north, not southern agricultural interests, arguing that the right to own property would be infringed by these proposals. Furthermore, they contended that the creation of such a bank violated the Constitution, which specifically stated that Congress was to regulate weights and measures and issue coined money (rather than mint and bills of credit). The first part of the bill, the concept, and establishment of a national mint, met with no real objection, and sailed through; it was assumed the second and third part (the bank and an excise tax to finance it) would likewise glide through, and in their own way they did: The House version of the bill, despite some heated objections, easily passed. The Senate version of the bill did likewise, with considerably fewer, and milder, objections. It was when "the two bills changed houses, complications set in. In the Senate, Hamilton's supporters objected to the House's alteration of the plans for the excise tax." The establishment of the bank also raised early questions of constitutionality in the new government. Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, argued that the bank was an effective means to utilize the authorized powers of the government implied under the law of the Constitution. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson argued that the bank violated traditional property laws and that its relevance to constitutionally authorized powers was weak. Another argument came from James Madison, who believed Congress had not received the power to incorporate a bank or any other governmental agency. His argument rested primarily on the Tenth Amendment: that all powers not endowed to Congress are retained by the States (or the people). Additionally, his belief was that if the Constitution's writers had wanted Congress to have such power, they would have made it explicit. The decision would ultimately fall on President George Washington, following his deliberate investigation of the cabinet members' opinions. George Washington initially declared that he was hesitant to sign the "bank bill" into law. Washington asked for the written advice and supporting reasons from all his cabinet members—most particularly from Hamilton. Attorney General Edmund Randolph from Virginia felt that the bill was unconstitutional. Jefferson, also from Virginia, agreed that Hamilton's proposal was against both the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Hamilton, who, unlike his fellow cabinet members, came from New York, quickly responded to those who claimed incorporation of the bank unconstitutional. While Hamilton's rebuttals were many and varied, chief among them were these two: What the government could do for a person (incorporate), it could not refuse to do for an "artificial person", a business. And the First Bank of the United States is privately owned and not a government agency, was a business. "Thus...unquestionably incident to sovereign power to erect corporations to that of the United States, in relation to the objects entrusted to the management of the government.", Any government by its very nature was sovereign "and includes by force of the term a right to attainment of the ends...which are not precluded by restrictions & exceptions specified in the constitution... On February 25, 1791, convinced that the constitution authorized the measure, Washington signed the "bank bill" into law. On March 19, 1791 Washington appointed three Commissioners for the taking of subscriptions for this new bank: Thomas Willing, David Rittenhouse, and Samuel Howell. Willing was later elected as President on October 25, 1791, until he resigned due to ill health on November 10, 1807. He was succeeded by David Lenox, serving until the expiration of its charter on March 4, 1811. After Hamilton left office in 1795, the new Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott, Jr. informed Congress that, due to the existing state of government finances, more money was needed. This could be achieved either by selling the government's shares of stock in the bank or by raising taxes. Wolcott advised the first choice. Congress quickly agreed. Hamilton objected, believing that the dividends on that stock had been inviolably pledged for the support of the sinking fund to retire the debt. Hamilton tried to organize opposition to the measure but was unsuccessful. In 1811, the U.S. Senate tied on a vote to renew the bank's charter. Vice President George Clinton broke the tie and voted against renewal. The bank's charter thus expired in 1811. In 1816, the bank was succeeded by the Second Bank of the United States. After the charter for the First Bank of the United States expired in 1811, Stephen Girard purchased most of its stock as well as the building and its furnishings on South Third Street in Philadelphia and opened his own bank, later known as Girard Bank. Girard hired George Simpson, the cashier of the First Bank of the United States, as cashier of the new bank, and with seven other employees, opened for business on May 18, 1812. He allowed the Trustees of the First Bank of the United States to use some offices and space in the vaults to continue the process of winding down the affairs of the closed bank at a very nominal rent. Over its early history the bank was known as "Girard's Bank," or as "Girard Bank" or also as "Stephen Girard's Bank" or even the "Bank of Stephen Girard." Girard was the sole proprietor of his bank, and thus avoided the Pennsylvania state law which prohibited an unincorporated association of persons from establishing a bank, and which required a charter from the legislature for a banking corporation. The First Bank of the United States was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while the city served as the national capital, from 1790 to 1800. The bank began operations in Carpenters' Hall in 1791, some 200 feet from its permanent home. Design of the bank building is credited to Samuel Blodgett, Superintendent of Buildings for the new capital in Washington, DC., although it has also been attributed to James Hoban. It was completed in 1795. The First Bank of the United States has received various designations as a historic building. It was included in Independence National Historical Park when the park was formed in 1956. The building's architecture was studied by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1958. With the rest of Independence National Historical Park, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, and the bank was then declared a National Historic Landmark on May 4, 1987. It is described in the landmark designation as an early masterpiece of monumental Classical Revival design. Until about 2000, the building housed offices for Independence National Historical Park. A proposal to have it house the collection of the Philadelphia Civil War Museum was abandoned when funding from the state of Pennsylvania was not forthcoming. Future plans for the building are to house the National Park Service archaeology lab which is currently located across the street. Bank Bill of 1791, Federal Reserve Act, History of central banking in the United States, United States Department of the Treasury, Stephen Simpson (writer), journalist and outspoke critic of the Bank and its practices, List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia, National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia Lomazoff, Eric. Reconstructing the National Bank Controversy: Politics and Law in the Early American Republic. (U of Chicago Press, 2018) online review, advanced historical research, Lomazoff, Eric. "Turning (Into) 'The Great Regulating Wheel': The Conversion of the Bank of the United States, 1791–1811." Studies in American Political Development 26.1 (2012): 1-23., Morgan, H. Wayne. "The Origins and Establishment of the First Bank of the United States." Business History Review 30.4 (1956): 472-492. online, Perkins, Edwin J. American public finance and financial services, 1700–1815 (1994) pp. 324–48. online free, Reid, Charles J. "America's First Great Constitutional Controversy: Alexander Hamilton's Bank of the United States." U. of St. Thomas Law JournalJ 14 (2018): 105-192. online, , libertarian approach, Wright, Robert E. and David J. Cowen. Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich (2006) excerpt, Wright, Robert E. One nation under debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the history of what we owe (McGraw Hill Professional, 2008). Documents produced by the First Bank of the United States on FRASER, Hamilton's opinion, Record of the Debate The Second Bank of the United States, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States during its 20-year charter from February 1816 to January 1836. The bank's formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was "The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States." A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U.S. Government, and was accountable to Congress and the U.S. Treasury. Twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the bank's single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80% of the bank's capital, including one thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans. In its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world. The essential function of the bank was to regulate the public credit issued by private banking institutions through the fiscal duties it performed for the U.S. Treasury, and to establish a sound and stable national currency. The federal deposits endowed the BUS with its regulatory capacity. Modeled on Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank was chartered by President James Madison in 1816 and began operations at its main branch in Philadelphia on January 7, 1817, managing twenty-five branch offices nationwide by 1832. The efforts to renew the bank's charter put the institution at the center of the general election of 1832, in which the bank's president Nicholas Biddle and pro-bank National Republicans led by Henry Clay clashed with the "hard-money" Andrew Jackson administration and eastern banking interests in the Bank War. Failing to secure recharter, the Second Bank of the United States became a private corporation in 1836, and underwent liquidation in 1841. The political support for the revival of a national banking system was rooted in the early 19th century transformation of the country from simple Jeffersonian agrarianism towards one interdependent with industrialization and finance. In the aftermath of the War of 1812 the federal government suffered from the disarray of an unregulated currency and a lack of fiscal order; business interests sought security for their government bonds. A national alliance arose to legislate a central bank to address these needs. The political climate—dubbed the Era of Good Feelings—favored the development of national programs and institutions, including a protective tariff, internal improvements and the revival of a Bank of the United States Southern and western support for the bank, led by Republican nationalists John C. Calhoun of South Carolina and Henry Clay of Kentucky was decisive in the successful chartering effort. The charter was signed into law by James Madison on April 10, 1816. Subsequent efforts by Calhoun and Clay to earmark the bank's $1.5 million establishment "bonus", and annual dividends estimated at $650,000, as a fund for internal improvements, were vetoed by President Madison, on strict constructionist grounds. Opposition to the bank's revival emanated from two interests. Old Republicans, represented by John Taylor of Caroline and John Randolph of Roanoke characterized the Second Bank of the United States as both constitutionally illegitimate and a direct threat to Jeffersonian agrarianism, state sovereignty and the institution of slavery, expressed by Taylor's statement that "...if Congress could incorporate a bank, it might emancipate a slave". Hostile to the regulatory effects of the central bank, private banks—proliferating with or without state charters—had scuttled rechartering of the first BUS in 1811. These interests played significant roles in undermining the institution during the administration of U.S. President Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The BUS was launched in the midst of a major global market readjustment as Europe recovered from the Napoleonic Wars The central bank was charged with restraining uninhibited private bank note issue—already in progress—that threatened to create a credit bubble and the risks of a financial collapse. Government land sales in the West, fueled by European demand for agricultural products, ensured that a speculative bubble would form. Simultaneously, the national bank was engaged in promoting a democratized expansion of credit to accommodate laissez-faire impulses among eastern business entrepreneurs and credit hungry western and southern farmers. Under the management of the first BUS president William Jones, the bank failed to control paper money issued from its branch banks in the West and South, contributing to the post-war speculative land boom. When the U.S. markets collapsed in the Panic of 1819—a result of global economic adjustments—the central bank came under withering criticism for its belated tight money policies—policies that exacerbated mass unemployment and plunging property values. Further, it transpired that branch directors for the Baltimore office had engaged in fraud and larceny. Resigning in January 1819, Jones was replaced by Langdon Cheves who continued the contraction in credit in an effort to stop inflation and stabilize the bank, even as the economy began to correct. The central bank's reaction to the crisis—a clumsy expansion, then a sharp contraction of credit—indicated its weakness, not its strength. The effects were catastrophic, resulting in a protracted recession with mass unemployment and a sharp drop in property values that persisted until 1822. The financial crisis raised doubts among the American public as to the efficacy of paper money, and in whose interests a national system of finance operated. Upon this widespread disaffection the anti-bank Jacksonian Democrats would mobilize opposition to the BUS in the 1830s. The national bank was in general disrepute among most Americans when Nicholas Biddle, the third and last president of the bank, was appointed by President James Monroe in 1823. Under Biddle's guidance, the BUS evolved into a powerful banking institution that produced a strong and sound system of national credit and currency. From 1823 to 1833, Biddle expanded credit steadily, but with restraint, in a manner that served the needs of the expanding American economy. Albert Gallatin, former Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, wrote in 1831 that the BUS was fulfilling its charter expectations. By the time of Jackson's inauguration in 1829, the national bank appeared to be on solid footing. The U.S. Supreme Court had affirmed the constitutionality of the bank under McCulloch v. Maryland, the 1819 case which Daniel Webster had argued successfully on its behalf a decade earlier, the U.S. Treasury recognized the useful services it provided, and the American currency was healthy and stable. Public perceptions of the central bank were generally positive. The bank first came under attack by the Jackson administration in December 1829, on the grounds that it had failed to produce a stable national currency, and that it lacked constitutional legitimacy. Both houses of Congress responded with committee investigations and reports affirming the historical precedents for the bank's constitutionality and its pivotal role in furnishing a uniform currency. Jackson rejected these findings, and privately characterized the bank as a corrupt institution, dangerous to American liberties. Biddle made repeated overtures to Jackson and his cabinet to secure a compromise on the bank's rechartering (its term due to expire in 1836) without success. Jackson and the anti-bank forces persisted in their condemnation of the BUS, provoking an early recharter campaign by pro-bank National Republicans under Henry Clay. Clay's political ultimatum to Jackson—with Biddle's financial and political support—sparked the Bank War and placed the fate of the BUS at center of the 1832 presidential election. Jackson mobilized his political base by vetoing the recharter bill and, the veto sustained, easily won reelection on his anti-bank platform. Jackson proceeded to destroy the bank as a financial and political force by removing its federal deposits, and in 1833, federal revenue was diverted into selected private banks by executive order, ending the regulatory role of the Second Bank of the United States. In hopes of extorting a rescue of the bank, Biddle induced a short-lived financial crisis that was initially blamed on Jackson's executive action. By 1834, a general backlash against Biddle's tactics developed, ending the panic and all recharter efforts were abandoned. In February 1836, the bank became a private corporation under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania law. A shortage of hard currency ensued, causing the Panic of 1837 and lasting approximately seven years. The Bank suspended payment in 1839 and was liquidated in 1841. The bank maintained the following branches. Listed is the year each branch opened. Augusta, Georgia (1817, closed 1817), Baltimore, Maryland (1817), Boston, Massachusetts (1817), Charleston, South Carolina (1817), Chillicothe, Ohio (1817), Cincinnati, Ohio (1817), Fayetteville, North Carolina (1817), Lexington, Kentucky (1817), Louisville, Kentucky (1817) Middletown, Connecticut (1817), New Orleans, Louisiana (1817), New York City, New York (1817), Norfolk, Virginia (1817), Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1817), Providence, Rhode Island (1817), Richmond, Virginia (1817), Savannah, Georgia (1817), Washington, D.C. (1817) Mobile, Alabama (1826), Nashville, Tennessee (1827), Portland, Maine (1828), Buffalo, New York (1829), St. Louis, Missouri (1829), Burlington, Vermont (1830), Utica, New York (1830), Natchez, Mississippi (1830) William Jones, January 7, 1817 – January 25, 1819, James Fisher, January 25, 1819 – March 6, 1819, Langdon Cheves, March 6, 1819 – January 6, 1823, Nicholas Biddle, January 6, 1823 – March 3, 1836 The Second Bank of the United States was America's central bank, comparable to the Bank of England and the Bank of France, with one key distinction – the United States government owned one-fifth (20%) of its capital. Whereas other central banks of that era were wholly private, the BUS was more characteristic of a government bank. Under its charter, the bank had a capital limit of $35 million, $7.5 million of which represented the government-owned share. The central bank was required to remit a "bonus" payment of $1.5 million, payable in three installments, to the government for the privilege of using the public funds, interest free, in its private banking ventures. The institution was answerable for its performance to the U.S. Treasury and Congress and subject to Treasury Department inspection. As exclusive fiscal agent for the federal government, it provided a number of services as part of its charter including: holding and transfer of all U.S. deposits, payment and receipt of all government transactions, and processing of tax payments. In other words, the BUS was "the depository of the federal government, which was its principal stockholder and customer". The chief personnel for the bank comprised twenty- five directors, five of whom were appointed by the President of the United States, subject to Senate approval. Federally appointed directors were barred from acting as officials in other banks. Two of the three BUS presidents, William Jones and Nicholas Biddle, were chosen from among these government directors. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was authorized to establish branch offices where it deemed suitable and these were immune from state taxation. The primary regulatory task of the Second Bank of the United States, as chartered by Congress in 1816, was to restrain the uninhibited proliferation of paper money (bank notes) by state or private lenders, which was highly profitable to these institutions. In this capacity, the bank would preside over this democratization of credit, contributing to a vast and profitable disbursement of bank loans to farmers, small manufacturers and entrepreneurs, encouraging rapid and healthy economic expansion. Historian Bray Hammond describes the mechanism by which the Bank exerted its anti-inflationary influence: Under this banking regime, the impulse towards over speculation, with the risks of creating a national financial crisis, would be avoided, or at least mitigated. It was just this mechanism that the local private banks found objectionable, because it yoked their lending strategies to the fiscal operations of the national government, requiring them to maintain adequate gold and silver reserves to meet their debt obligations to the U.S. Treasury. The proliferation of private-sector banking institutions – from 31 banks in 1801 to 788 in 1837 – meant that the Second Bank faced strong opposition from this sector during the Jackson administration. The architect of the Second Bank of the United States was William Strickland (1788–1854), a former student of Benjamin Latrobe (1764–1820), the man who is often called the first professionally trained American architect. Latrobe and Strickland were both disciples of the Greek Revival style. Strickland went on to design many other American public buildings in this style, including financial structures such as the Mechanics National Bank (also in Philadelphia). He also designed the New Orleans, Dahlonega, and Charlotte branch mints in the mid-to-late 1830s, as well as the second building for the main U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1833. Strickland's design for the Second Bank of the United States is in essence based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, and is a significant early and monumental example of Greek Revival architecture. The hallmarks of the Greek Revival style can be seen immediately in the north and south façades, which use a large set of steps leading up to the main level platform, known as the stylobate. On top of these, Strickland placed eight severe Doric columns, which are crowned by an entablature containing a triglyph frieze and simple triangular pediment. The building appears much as an ancient Greek temple, hence the stylistic name. The interior consists of an entrance hallway in the center of the north façade flanked by two rooms on either side. The entry leads into two central rooms, one after the other, that span the width of the structure east to west. The east and west sides of the first large room are each pierced by large arched fan window. The building's exterior uses Pennsylvania blue marble, which, due to the manner in which it was cut, has begun to deteriorate due to weak parts of the stone being exposed to the elements. This phenomenon is most visible on the Doric columns of the south façade. Construction lasted from 1819 to 1824. The Greek Revival style used for the Second Bank contrasts with the earlier, Federal style in architecture used for the First Bank of the United States, which also still stands and is located nearby in Philadelphia. This can be seen in the more Roman-influenced Federal structure's ornate, colossal Corinthian columns of its façade, which is also embellished by Corinthian pilasters and a symmetric arrangement of sash windows piercing the two stories of the façade. The roofline is also topped by a balustrade and the heavy modillions adorning the pediment give the First Bank an appearance much more like a Roman villa than a Greek temple. Since the bank's closing in 1841, the edifice has performed a variety of functions. Today, it is part of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The structure is open to the public free of charge and serves as an art gallery, housing a large collection of portraits of prominent early Americans painted by Charles Willson Peale and many others. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its architectural and historic significance. The Wall Street branch in New York City was converted into the United States Assay Office before it was demolished in 1915. The federal-style façade was saved and installed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1924. Banking in the Jacksonian Era, Federal Reserve Act, Federal Reserve System, First Bank of the United States, History of central banking in the United States, McCulloch v. Maryland, Panic of 1837, List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia, National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia online review, Bodenhorn, Howard. A History of Banking in Antebellum America: Financial Markets and Economic Development in an Era of Nation-Building (2000). Stresses how all banks promoted faster growth in all regions., Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828. New York: Harper & Row, 1965., Feller, Daniel "The bank war", in Julian E. Zelizer, ed. The American Congress (2004), pp 93–111., Hammond, Bray. "Jackson, Biddle, and the Bank of the United States", The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 7, No. 1 (May, 1947), pp. 1–23 in Essays on Jacksonian America, Ed. Frank Otto Gatell. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. New York. 1970., Hammond, Bray. 1957. Banks and Politics in America, from the Revolution to the Civil War. Princeton, Princeton University Press., Hammond, Bray. 1953. "The Second Bank of the United States. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Ser., Vol. 43, No. 1 (1953), pp. 80–85, Hofstadter, Richard. Great Issues in American History: From the Revolution to the Civil War, 1765–1865 (1958)., Kahan, Paul. The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance (Yardley: Westholme, 2016. xii, 187 pp., Killenbeck, Mark R. "M'Culloch v. Maryland: Securing a Nation". Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006., Knodell, Jane Ellen. The Second Bank of the United States: "Central" Banker in an Era of Nation Building, 1816–1836. (Routledge, 2017. 160pp.) online review, McGrane, Reginald C. Ed. The Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle (1919), Meyers, Marvin. 1953. "The Jacksonian Persuasion". American Quarterly Vol. 5 No. 1 (Spring, 1953) in Essays on Jacksonian America, Ed. Frank Otto Gatell. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. New York., Minicucci, Stephen. 2004. Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860, Studies in American Political Development, Vol. 18, Issue 2: p. 160–185, October 2004, Cambridge University Press, Ratner, Sidney, James H. Soltow, and Richard Sylla. The Evolution of the American Economy: Growth, Welfare, and Decision Making. (1993), Remini Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Bank War: A Study in the Growth of Presidential Power (1967)., Remini, Robert V. 1981. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832. vol. II. Harper & Row, New York., Remini, Robert V. 1984. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1833–1845. vol. III. Harper & Row, New York., Remini, Robert. V. 1993. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. W. W. Norton & Company, New York., Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. Age of Jackson (1946). Pulitzer prize winning intellectual history; strongly pro-Jackson., Schweikart, Larry. Banking in the American South from the Age of Jackson to Reconstruction (1987), Taylor; George Rogers, ed. Jackson Versus Biddle: The Struggle over the Second Bank of the United States (1949)., Temin, Peter. The Jacksonian Economy (1969), Walters Jr, Raymond. "The origins of the Second Bank of the United States." Journal of Political Economy 53.2 (1945): 115–131 online; focus on Dallas, Calhoun and 5 others, Wellman, Paul I. 1984. The House Divides: The Age of Jackson and Lincoln. Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York., Wilburn, Jean Alexander. Biddle's Bank: The Crucial Years (1967)., Wilentz, Sean. 2008. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W.W. Horton and Company. New York. Second Bank – official site at Independence Hall National Historical Park, Documents produced by the Second Bank of the United States on FRASER, Andrew Jackson on the Web : Bank of the United States The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of financial panics (particularly the panic of 1907) led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises. Over the years, events such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s have led to the expansion of the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System. The U.S. Congress established three key objectives for monetary policy in the Federal Reserve Act: maximizing employment, stabilizing prices, and moderating long- term interest rates. The first two objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. Its duties have expanded over the years, and currently also include supervising and regulating banks, maintaining the stability of the financial system, and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions. The Fed also conducts research into the economy and provides numerous publications, such as the Beige Book and the FRED database. The Federal Reserve System is composed of several layers. It is governed by the presidentially appointed board of governors or Federal Reserve Board (FRB). Twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, located in cities throughout the nation, regulate and oversee privately owned commercial banks. Nationally chartered commercial banks are required to hold stock in, and can elect some of the board members of, the Federal Reserve Bank of their region. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) sets monetary policy. It consists of all seven members of the board of governors and the twelve regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents, though only five bank presidents vote at a time (the president of the New York Fed and four others who rotate through one-year voting terms). There are also various advisory councils. Thus, the Federal Reserve System has both public and private components. It has a structure unique among central banks, and is also unusual in that the United States Department of the Treasury, an entity outside of the central bank, prints the currency used. The federal government sets the salaries of the board's seven governors, and it receives all the system's annual profits, after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks' capital investment is paid, and an account surplus is maintained. In 2015, the Federal Reserve earned a net income of $100.2 billion and transferred $97.7 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Although an instrument of the US Government, the Federal Reserve System considers itself "an independent central bank because its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the board of governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms." The primary motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics. Other purposes are stated in the Federal Reserve Act, such as "to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes". Before the founding of the Federal Reserve System, the United States underwent several financial crises. A particularly severe crisis in 1907 led Congress to enact the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. Today the Federal Reserve System has responsibilities in addition to ensuring the stability of the financial system. Current functions of the Federal Reserve System include: To address the problem of banking panics, To serve as the central bank for the United States, To strike a balance between private interests of banks and the centralized responsibility of government, To supervise and regulate banking institutions, To protect the credit rights of consumers, To manage the nation's money supply through monetary policy to achieve the sometimes-conflicting goals of, maximum employment, stable prices, including prevention of either inflation or deflation, moderate long-term interest rates, To maintain the stability of the financial system and contain systemic risk in financial markets, To provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system, To facilitate the exchange of payments among regions, To respond to local liquidity needs, To strengthen U.S. standing in the world economy Banking institutions in the United States are required to hold reservesamounts of currency and deposits in other banksequal to only a fraction of the amount of the bank's deposit liabilities owed to customers. This practice is called fractional-reserve banking. As a result, banks usually invest the majority of the funds received from depositors. On rare occasions, too many of the bank's customers will withdraw their savings and the bank will need help from another institution to continue operating; this is called a bank run. Bank runs can lead to a multitude of social and economic problems. The Federal Reserve System was designed as an attempt to prevent or minimize the occurrence of bank runs, and possibly act as a lender of last resort when a bank run does occur. Many economists, following Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, believe that the Federal Reserve inappropriately refused to lend money to small banks during the bank runs of 1929; Friedman argued that this contributed to the Great Depression. Because some banks refused to clear checks from certain other banks during times of economic uncertainty, a check-clearing system was created in the Federal Reserve System. It is briefly described in The Federal Reserve SystemPurposes and Functions as follows: In the United States, the Federal Reserve serves as the lender of last resort to those institutions that cannot obtain credit elsewhere and the collapse of which would have serious implications for the economy. It took over this role from the private sector "clearing houses" which operated during the Free Banking Era; whether public or private, the availability of liquidity was intended to prevent bank runs. Through its discount window and credit operations, Reserve Banks provide liquidity to banks to meet short-term needs stemming from seasonal fluctuations in deposits or unexpected withdrawals. Longer term liquidity may also be provided in exceptional circumstances. The rate the Fed charges banks for these loans is called the discount rate (officially the primary credit rate). By making these loans, the Fed serves as a buffer against unexpected day-to-day fluctuations in reserve demand and supply. This contributes to the effective functioning of the banking system, alleviates pressure in the reserves market and reduces the extent of unexpected movements in the interest rates. For example, on September 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve Board authorized an $85 billion loan to stave off the bankruptcy of international insurance giant American International Group (AIG). In its role as the central bank of the United States, the Fed serves as a banker's bank and as the government's bank. As the banker's bank, it helps to assure the safety and efficiency of the payments system. As the government's bank or fiscal agent, the Fed processes a variety of financial transactions involving trillions of dollars. Just as an individual might keep an account at a bank, the U.S. Treasury keeps a checking account with the Federal Reserve, through which incoming federal tax deposits and outgoing government payments are handled. As part of this service relationship, the Fed sells and redeems U.S. government securities such as savings bonds and Treasury bills, notes and bonds. It also issues the nation's coin and paper currency. The U.S. Treasury, through its Bureau of the Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing, actually produces the nation's cash supply and, in effect, sells the paper currency to the Federal Reserve Banks at manufacturing cost, and the coins at face value. The Federal Reserve Banks then distribute it to other financial institutions in various ways. During the Fiscal Year 2013, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing delivered 6.6 billion notes at an average cost of 5.0 cents per note. Federal funds are the reserve balances (also called Federal Reserve Deposits) that private banks keep at their local Federal Reserve Bank. These balances are the namesake reserves of the Federal Reserve System. The purpose of keeping funds at a Federal Reserve Bank is to have a mechanism for private banks to lend funds to one another. This market for funds plays an important role in the Federal Reserve System as it is what inspired the name of the system and it is what is used as the basis for monetary policy. Monetary policy is put into effect partly by influencing how much interest the private banks charge each other for the lending of these funds. Federal reserve accounts contain federal reserve credit, which can be converted into federal reserve notes. Private banks maintain their bank reserves in federal reserve accounts. The Federal Reserve regulates private banks. The system was designed out of a compromise between the competing philosophies of privatization and government regulation. In 2006 Donald L. Kohn, vice chairman of the board of governors, summarized the history of this compromise: The balance between private interests and government can also be seen in the structure of the system. Private banks elect members of the board of directors at their regional Federal Reserve Bank while the members of the board of governors are selected by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The Federal Banking Agency Audit Act, enacted in 1978 as Public Law 95-320 and 31 U.S.C. section 714 establish that the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks may be audited by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO has authority to audit check-processing, currency storage and shipments, and some regulatory and bank examination functions, however, there are restrictions to what the GAO may audit. Under the Federal Banking Agency Audit Act, 31 U.S.C. section 714(b), audits of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve banks do not include (1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank or government or non-private international financing organization; (2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters; (3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or (4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the board of governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to items (1), (2), or (3). See Federal Reserve System Audits: Restrictions on GAO's Access (GAO/T-GGD-94-44), statement of Charles A. Bowsher. The board of governors in the Federal Reserve System has a number of supervisory and regulatory responsibilities in the U.S. banking system, but not complete responsibility. A general description of the types of regulation and supervision involved in the U.S. banking system is given by the Federal Reserve: There is a very strong economic consensus in favor of independence from political influence. The board of directors of each Federal Reserve Bank District also has regulatory and supervisory responsibilities. If the board of directors of a district bank has judged that a member bank is performing or behaving poorly, it will report this to the board of governors. This policy is described in United States Code: The Federal Reserve plays a role in the U.S. payments system. The twelve Federal Reserve Banks provide banking services to depository institutions and to the federal government. For depository institutions, they maintain accounts and provide various payment services, including collecting checks, electronically transferring funds, and distributing and receiving currency and coin. For the federal government, the Reserve Banks act as fiscal agents, paying Treasury checks; processing electronic payments; and issuing, transferring, and redeeming U.S. government securities. In the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980, Congress reaffirmed that the Federal Reserve should promote an efficient nationwide payments system. The act subjects all depository institutions, not just member commercial banks, to reserve requirements and grants them equal access to Reserve Bank payment services. The Federal Reserve plays a role in the nation's retail and wholesale payments systems by providing financial services to depository institutions. Retail payments are generally for relatively small-dollar amounts and often involve a depository institution's retail clientsindividuals and smaller businesses. The Reserve Banks' retail services include distributing currency and coin, collecting checks, and electronically transferring funds through the automated clearinghouse system. By contrast, wholesale payments are generally for large-dollar amounts and often involve a depository institution's large corporate customers or counterparties, including other financial institutions. The Reserve Banks' wholesale services include electronically transferring funds through the Fedwire Funds Service and transferring securities issued by the U.S. government, its agencies, and certain other entities through the Fedwire Securities Service. The Federal Reserve System has a "unique structure that is both public and private" and is described as "independent within the government" rather than "independent of government". The System does not require public funding, and derives its authority and purpose from the Federal Reserve Act, which was passed by Congress in 1913 and is subject to Congressional modification or repeal. The four main components of the Federal Reserve System are (1) the board of governors, (2) the Federal Open Market Committee, (3) the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, and (4) the member banks throughout the country. The seven-member board of governors is a federal agency. It is charged with the overseeing of the 12 District Reserve Banks and setting national monetary policy. It also supervises and regulates the U.S. banking system in general. Governors are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for staggered 14-year terms. One term begins every two years, on February 1 of even-numbered years, and members serving a full term cannot be renominated for a second term. "[U]pon the expiration of their terms of office, members of the Board shall continue to serve until their successors are appointed and have qualified." The law provides for the removal of a member of the board by the president "for cause". The board is required to make an annual report of operations to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The chair and vice chair of the board of governors are appointed by the president from among the sitting governors. They both serve a four-year term and they can be renominated as many times as the president chooses, until their terms on the board of governors expire. The current members of the board of governors are as follows: In late December 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Jeremy C. Stein, a Harvard University finance professor and a Democrat, and Jerome Powell, formerly of Dillon Read, Bankers Trust and The Carlyle Group and a Republican. Both candidates also have Treasury Department experience in the Obama and George H. W. Bush administrations respectively. "Obama administration officials [had] regrouped to identify Fed candidates after Peter Diamond, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, withdrew his nomination to the board in June [2011] in the face of Republican opposition. Richard Clarida, a potential nominee who was a Treasury official under George W. Bush, pulled out of consideration in August [2011]", one account of the December nominations noted. The two other Obama nominees in 2011, Janet Yellen and Sarah Bloom Raskin, were confirmed in September. One of the vacancies was created in 2011 with the resignation of Kevin Warsh, who took office in 2006 to fill the unexpired term ending January 31, 2018, and resigned his position effective March 31, 2011. In March 2012, U.S. Senator David Vitter (R, LA) said he would oppose Obama's Stein and Powell nominations, dampening near-term hopes for approval. However, Senate leaders reached a deal, paving the way for affirmative votes on the two nominees in May 2012 and bringing the board to full strength for the first time since 2006 with Duke's service after term end. Later, on January 6, 2014, the United States Senate confirmed Yellen's nomination to be chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; she was the first woman to hold the position. Subsequently, President Obama nominated Stanley Fischer to replace Yellen as the Vice Chair. In April 2014, Stein announced he was leaving to return to Harvard May 28 with four years remaining on his term. At the time of the announcement, the FOMC "already is down three members as it awaits the Senate confirmation of ... Fischer and Lael Brainard, and as [President] Obama has yet to name a replacement for ... Duke. ... Powell is still serving as he awaits his confirmation for a second term." Allan R. Landon, former president and CEO of the Bank of Hawaii, was nominated in early 2015 by President Obama to the board. In July 2015, President Obama nominated University of Michigan economist Kathryn M. Dominguez to fill the second vacancy on the board. The Senate had not yet acted on Landon's confirmation by the time of the second nomination. Daniel Tarullo submitted his resignation from the board on February 10, 2017, effective on or around April 5, 2017. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of 12 members, seven from the board of governors and 5 of the regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents. The FOMC oversees and sets policy on open market operations, the principal tool of national monetary policy. These operations affect the amount of Federal Reserve balances available to depository institutions, thereby influencing overall monetary and credit conditions. The FOMC also directs operations undertaken by the Federal Reserve in foreign exchange markets. The FOMC must reach consensus on all decisions. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is a permanent member of the FOMC; the presidents of the other banks rotate membership at two- and three-year intervals. All Regional Reserve Bank presidents contribute to the committee's assessment of the economy and of policy options, but only the five presidents who are then members of the FOMC vote on policy decisions. The FOMC determines its own internal organization and, by tradition, elects the chair of the board of governors as its chair and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as its vice chair. Formal meetings typically are held eight times each year in Washington, D.C. Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents also participate in Committee deliberations and discussion. The FOMC generally meets eight times a year in telephone consultations and other meetings are held when needed. There is very strong consensus among economists against politicising the FOMC. The Federal Advisory Council, composed of twelve representatives of the banking industry, advises the board on all matters within its jurisdiction. There are 12 Federal Reserve Banks, each of which is responsible for member banks located in its district. They are located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The size of each district was set based upon the population distribution of the United States when the Federal Reserve Act was passed. The charter and organization of each Federal Reserve Bank is established by law and cannot be altered by the member banks. Member banks, do however, elect six of the nine members of the Federal Reserve Banks' boards of directors. Each regional Bank has a president, who is the chief executive officer of their Bank. Each regional Reserve Bank's president is nominated by their Bank's board of directors, but the nomination is contingent upon approval by the board of governors. Presidents serve five-year terms and may be reappointed. Each regional Bank's board consists of nine members. Members are broken down into three classes: A, B, and C. There are three board members in each class. Class A members are chosen by the regional Bank's shareholders, and are intended to represent member banks' interests. Member banks are divided into three categories: large, medium, and small. Each category elects one of the three class A board members. Class B board members are also nominated by the region's member banks, but class B board members are supposed to represent the interests of the public. Lastly, class C board members are appointed by the board of governors, and are also intended to represent the interests of the public. The Federal Reserve Banks have an intermediate legal status, with some features of private corporations and some features of public federal agencies. The United States has an interest in the Federal Reserve Banks as tax-exempt federally created instrumentalities whose profits belong to the federal government, but this interest is not proprietary. In Lewis v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated that: "The Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the FTCA [the Federal Tort Claims Act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations." The opinion went on to say, however, that: "The Reserve Banks have properly been held to be federal instrumentalities for some purposes." Another relevant decision is Scott v. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, in which the distinction is made between Federal Reserve Banks, which are federally created instrumentalities, and the board of governors, which is a federal agency. Regarding the structural relationship between the twelve Federal Reserve banks and the various commercial (member) banks, political science professor Michael D. Reagan has written that: A member bank is a private institution and owns stock in its regional Federal Reserve Bank. All nationally chartered banks hold stock in one of the Federal Reserve Banks. State chartered banks may choose to be members (and hold stock in their regional Federal Reserve bank) upon meeting certain standards. The amount of stock a member bank must own is equal to 3% of its combined capital and surplus. However, holding stock in a Federal Reserve bank is not like owning stock in a publicly traded company. These stocks cannot be sold or traded, and member banks do not control the Federal Reserve Bank as a result of owning this stock. From the profits of the Regional Bank of which it is a member, a member bank receives a dividend equal to 6% of its purchased stock. The remainder of the regional Federal Reserve Banks' profits is given over to the United States Treasury Department. In 2015, the Federal Reserve Banks made a profit of $100.2 billion and distributed $2.5 billion in dividends to member banks as well as returning $97.7 billion to the U.S. Treasury. About 38% of U.S. banks are members of their regional Federal Reserve Bank. An external auditor selected by the audit committee of the Federal Reserve System regularly audits the Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Banks. The GAO will audit some activities of the Board of Governors. These audits do not cover "most of the Fed's monetary policy actions or decisions, including discount window lending (direct loans to financial institutions), open-market operations and any other transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee" ...[nor may the GAO audit] "dealings with foreign governments and other central banks." The annual and quarterly financial statements prepared by the Federal Reserve System conform to a basis of accounting that is set by the Federal Reserve Board and does not conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or government Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). The financial reporting standards are defined in the Financial Accounting Manual for the Federal Reserve Banks. The cost accounting standards are defined in the Planning and Control System Manual. , the Federal Reserve Board has been publishing unaudited financial reports for the Federal Reserve banks every quarter. November 7, 2008, Bloomberg L.P. News brought a lawsuit against the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System to force the board to reveal the identities of firms for which it has provided guarantees during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Bloomberg, L.P. won at the trial court and the Fed's appeals were rejected at both the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. The data was released on March 31, 2011. The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. What happens to money and credit affects interest rates (the cost of credit) and the performance of an economy. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve authority to set monetary policy in the United States. The Federal Reserve sets monetary policy by influencing the federal funds rate, which is the rate of interbank lending of excess reserves. The rate that banks charge each other for these loans is determined in the interbank market and the Federal Reserve influences this rate through the three "tools" of monetary policy described in the Tools section below. The federal funds rate is a short-term interest rate that the FOMC focuses on, which affects the longer-term interest rates throughout the economy. The Federal Reserve summarized its monetary policy in 2005: Effects on the quantity of reserves that banks used to make loans influence the economy. Policy actions that add reserves to the banking system encourage lending at lower interest rates thus stimulating growth in money, credit, and the economy. Policy actions that absorb reserves work in the opposite direction. The Fed's task is to supply enough reserves to support an adequate amount of money and credit, avoiding the excesses that result in inflation and the shortages that stifle economic growth. There are three main tools of monetary policy that the Federal Reserve uses to influence the amount of reserves in private banks: The Federal Reserve System implements monetary policy largely by targeting the federal funds rate. This is the interest rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans of federal funds, which are the reserves held by banks at the Fed. This rate is actually determined by the market and is not explicitly mandated by the Fed. The Fed therefore tries to align the effective federal funds rate with the targeted rate by adding or subtracting from the money supply through open market operations. The Federal Reserve System usually adjusts the federal funds rate target by 0.25% or 0.50% at a time. Open market operations allow the Federal Reserve to increase or decrease the amount of money in the banking system as necessary to balance the Federal Reserve's dual mandates. Open market operations are done through the sale and purchase of United States Treasury security, sometimes called "Treasury bills" or more informally "T-bills" or "Treasuries". The Federal Reserve buys Treasury bills from its primary dealers. The purchase of these securities affects the federal funds rate, because primary dealers have accounts at depository institutions. The Federal Reserve education website describes open market operations as follows: To smooth temporary or cyclical changes in the money supply, the desk engages in repurchase agreements (repos) with its primary dealers. Repos are essentially secured, short-term lending by the Fed. On the day of the transaction, the Fed deposits money in a primary dealer's reserve account, and receives the promised securities as collateral. When the transaction matures, the process unwinds: the Fed returns the collateral and charges the primary dealer's reserve account for the principal and accrued interest. The term of the repo (the time between settlement and maturity) can vary from 1 day (called an overnight repo) to 65 days. The Federal Reserve System also directly sets the "discount rate", which is the interest rate for "discount window lending", overnight loans that member banks borrow directly from the Fed. This rate is generally set at a rate close to 100 basis points above the target federal funds rate. The idea is to encourage banks to seek alternative funding before using the "discount rate" option. The equivalent operation by the European Central Bank is referred to as the "marginal lending facility". Both the discount rate and the federal funds rate influence the prime rate, which is usually about 3 percentage points higher than the federal funds rate. Another instrument of monetary policy adjustment employed by the Federal Reserve System is the fractional reserve requirement, also known as the required reserve ratio. The required reserve ratio sets the balance that the Federal Reserve System requires a depository institution to hold in the Federal Reserve Banks, which depository institutions trade in the federal funds market discussed above. The required reserve ratio is set by the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System. The reserve requirements have changed over time and some history of these changes is published by the Federal Reserve. As a response to the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve now makes interest payments on depository institutions' required and excess reserve balances. The payment of interest on excess reserves gives the central bank greater opportunity to address credit market conditions while maintaining the federal funds rate close to the target rate set by the FOMC. In order to address problems related to the subprime mortgage crisis and United States housing bubble, several new tools have been created. The first new tool, called the Term Auction Facility, was added on December 12, 2007. It was first announced as a temporary tool but there have been suggestions that this new tool may remain in place for a prolonged period of time. Creation of the second new tool, called the Term Securities Lending Facility, was announced on March 11, 2008. The main difference between these two facilities is that the Term Auction Facility is used to inject cash into the banking system whereas the Term Securities Lending Facility is used to inject treasury securities into the banking system. Creation of the third tool, called the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), was announced on March 16, 2008. The PDCF was a fundamental change in Federal Reserve policy because now the Fed is able to lend directly to primary dealers, which was previously against Fed policy. The differences between these three new facilities is described by the Federal Reserve: Some measures taken by the Federal Reserve to address this mortgage crisis have not been used since the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve gives a brief summary of these new facilities: A fourth facility, the Term Deposit Facility, was announced December 9, 2009, and approved April 30, 2010, with an effective date of June 4, 2010. The Term Deposit Facility allows Reserve Banks to offer term deposits to institutions that are eligible to receive earnings on their balances at Reserve Banks. Term deposits are intended to facilitate the implementation of monetary policy by providing a tool by which the Federal Reserve can manage the aggregate quantity of reserve balances held by depository institutions. Funds placed in term deposits are removed from the accounts of participating institutions for the life of the term deposit and thus drain reserve balances from the banking system. The Term Auction Facility is a program in which the Federal Reserve auctions term funds to depository institutions. The creation of this facility was announced by the Federal Reserve on December 12, 2007, and was done in conjunction with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets. The reason it was created is that banks were not lending funds to one another and banks in need of funds were refusing to go to the discount window. Banks were not lending money to each other because there was a fear that the loans would not be paid back. Banks refused to go to the discount window because it is usually associated with the stigma of bank failure. Under the Term Auction Facility, the identity of the banks in need of funds is protected in order to avoid the stigma of bank failure. Foreign exchange swap lines with the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank were opened so the banks in Europe could have access to U.S. dollars. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke briefly described this facility to the U.S. House of Representatives on January 17, 2008: It is also described in the Term Auction Facility FAQ The Term Securities Lending Facility is a 28-day facility that will offer Treasury general collateral to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's primary dealers in exchange for other program-eligible collateral. It is intended to promote liquidity in the financing markets for Treasury and other collateral and thus to foster the functioning of financial markets more generally. Like the Term Auction Facility, the TSLF was done in conjunction with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank. The resource allows dealers to switch debt that is less liquid for U.S. government securities that are easily tradable. The currency swap lines with the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank were increased. The Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) is an overnight loan facility that will provide funding to primary dealers in exchange for a specified range of eligible collateral and is intended to foster the functioning of financial markets more generally. This new facility marks a fundamental change in Federal Reserve policy because now primary dealers can borrow directly from the Fed when this used to be prohibited. , the Federal Reserve banks will pay interest on reserve balances (required and excess) held by depository institutions. The rate is set at the lowest federal funds rate during the reserve maintenance period of an institution, less 75bp. , the Fed has lowered the spread to a mere 35 bp. The Term Deposit Facility is a program through which the Federal Reserve Banks will offer interest-bearing term deposits to eligible institutions. By removing "excess deposits" from participating banks, the overall level of reserves available for lending is reduced, which should result in increased market interest rates, acting as a brake on economic activity and inflation. The Federal Reserve has stated that: The Federal Reserve initially authorized up to five "small-value offerings are designed to ensure the effectiveness of TDF operations and to provide eligible institutions with an opportunity to gain familiarity with term deposit procedures." After three of the offering auctions were successfully completed, it was announced that small-value auctions would continue on an ongoing basis. The Term Deposit Facility is essentially a tool available to reverse the efforts that have been employed to provide liquidity to the financial markets and to reduce the amount of capital available to the economy. As stated in Bloomberg News: Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, testifying before House Committee on Financial Services, described the Term Deposit Facility and other facilities to Congress in the following terms: The Asset Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (ABCPMMMFLF) was also called the AMLF. The Facility began operations on September 22, 2008, and was closed on February 1, 2010. All U.S. depository institutions, bank holding companies (parent companies or U.S. broker-dealer affiliates), or U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks were eligible to borrow under this facility pursuant to the discretion of the FRBB. Collateral eligible for pledge under the Facility was required to meet the following criteria: was purchased by Borrower on or after September 19, 2008 from a registered investment company that held itself out as a money market mutual fund;, was purchased by Borrower at the Fund's acquisition cost as adjusted for amortization of premium or accretion of discount on the ABCP through the date of its purchase by Borrower;, was rated at the time pledged to FRBB, not lower than A1, F1, or P1 by at least two major rating agencies or, if rated by only one major rating agency, the ABCP must have been rated within the top rating category by that agency;, was issued by an entity organized under the laws of the United States or a political subdivision thereof under a program that was in existence on September 18, 2008; and, had stated maturity that did not exceed 120 days if the Borrower was a bank or 270 days for non-bank Borrowers. On October 7, 2008, the Federal Reserve further expanded the collateral it will loan against to include commercial paper using the new Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF). The action made the Fed a crucial source of credit for non-financial businesses in addition to commercial banks and investment firms. Fed officials said they'll buy as much of the debt as necessary to get the market functioning again. They refused to say how much that might be, but they noted that around $1.3 trillion worth of commercial paper would qualify. There was $1.61 trillion in outstanding commercial paper, seasonally adjusted, on the market , according to the most recent data from the Fed. That was down from $1.70 trillion in the previous week. Since the summer of 2007, the market has shrunk from more than $2.2 trillion. This program lent out a total $738 billion before it was closed. Forty-five out of 81 of the companies participating in this program were foreign firms. Research shows that Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients were twice as likely to participate in the program than other commercial paper issuers who did not take advantage of the TARP bailout. The Fed incurred no losses from the CPFF. A little-used tool of the Federal Reserve is the quantitative policy. With that the Federal Reserve actually buys back corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities held by banks or other financial institutions. This in effect puts money back into the financial institutions and allows them to make loans and conduct normal business. The bursting of the United States housing bubble prompted the Fed to buy mortgage-backed securities for the first time in November 2008. Over six weeks, a total of $1.25 trillion were purchased in order to stabilize the housing market, about one-fifth of all U.S. government- backed mortgages. The first attempt at a national currency was during the American Revolutionary War. In 1775, the Continental Congress, as well as the states, began issuing paper currency, calling the bills "Continentals". The Continentals were backed only by future tax revenue, and were used to help finance the Revolutionary War. Overprinting, as well as British counterfeiting, caused the value of the Continental to diminish quickly. This experience with paper money led the United States to strip the power to issue Bills of Credit (paper money) from a draft of the new Constitution on August 16, 1787, as well as banning such issuance by the various states, and limiting the states' ability to make anything but gold or silver coin legal tender on August 28. In 1791, the government granted the First Bank of the United States a charter to operate as the U.S. central bank until 1811. The First Bank of the United States came to an end under President Madison because Congress refused to renew its charter. The Second Bank of the United States was established in 1816, and lost its authority to be the central bank of the U.S. twenty years later under President Jackson when its charter expired. Both banks were based upon the Bank of England. Ultimately, a third national bank, known as the Federal Reserve, was established in 1913 and still exists to this day. The first U.S. institution with central banking responsibilities was the First Bank of the United States, chartered by Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on February 25, 1791, at the urging of Alexander Hamilton. This was done despite strong opposition from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, among numerous others. The charter was for twenty years and expired in 1811 under President Madison, because Congress refused to renew it. In 1816, however, Madison revived it in the form of the Second Bank of the United States. Years later, early renewal of the bank's charter became the primary issue in the reelection of President Andrew Jackson. After Jackson, who was opposed to the central bank, was reelected, he pulled the government's funds out of the bank. Jackson was the only President to completely pay off the debt. The bank's charter was not renewed in 1836. From 1837 to 1862, in the Free Banking Era there was no formal central bank. From 1846 to 1921, an Independent Treasury System ruled. From 1863 to 1913, a system of national banks was instituted by the 1863 National Banking Act during which series of bank panics, in 1873, 1893, and 1907 occurred The main motivation for the third central banking system came from the Panic of 1907, which caused a renewed desire among legislators, economists, and bankers for an overhaul of the monetary system. During the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the United States economy went through a series of financial panics. According to many economists, the previous national banking system had two main weaknesses: an inelastic currency and a lack of liquidity. In 1908, Congress enacted the Aldrich–Vreeland Act, which provided for an emergency currency and established the National Monetary Commission to study banking and currency reform. The National Monetary Commission returned with recommendations which were repeatedly rejected by Congress. A revision crafted during a secret meeting on Jekyll Island by Senator Aldrich and representatives of the nation's top finance and industrial groups later became the basis of the Federal Reserve Act. The House voted on December 22, 1913, with 298 voting yes to 60 voting no. The Senate voted 4325 on December 23, 1913. President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill later that day. The head of the bipartisan National Monetary Commission was financial expert and Senate Republican leader Nelson Aldrich. Aldrich set up two commissions – one to study the American monetary system in depth and the other, headed by Aldrich himself, to study the European central banking systems and report on them. In early November 1910, Aldrich met with five well known members of the New York banking community to devise a central banking bill. Paul Warburg, an attendee of the meeting and longtime advocate of central banking in the U.S., later wrote that Aldrich was "bewildered at all that he had absorbed abroad and he was faced with the difficult task of writing a highly technical bill while being harassed by the daily grind of his parliamentary duties". After ten days of deliberation, the bill, which would later be referred to as the "Aldrich Plan", was agreed upon. It had several key components, including a central bank with a Washington-based headquarters and fifteen branches located throughout the U.S. in geographically strategic locations, and a uniform elastic currency based on gold and commercial paper. Aldrich believed a central banking system with no political involvement was best, but was convinced by Warburg that a plan with no public control was not politically feasible. The compromise involved representation of the public sector on the Board of Directors. Aldrich's bill met much opposition from politicians. Critics charged Aldrich of being biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller Jr., Aldrich's son-in- law. Most Republicans favored the Aldrich Plan, but it lacked enough support in Congress to pass because rural and western states viewed it as favoring the "eastern establishment". In contrast, progressive Democrats favored a reserve system owned and operated by the government; they believed that public ownership of the central bank would end Wall Street's control of the American currency supply. Conservative Democrats fought for a privately owned, yet decentralized, reserve system, which would still be free of Wall Street's control. The original Aldrich Plan was dealt a fatal blow in 1912, when Democrats won the White House and Congress. Nonetheless, President Woodrow Wilson believed that the Aldrich plan would suffice with a few modifications. The plan became the basis for the Federal Reserve Act, which was proposed by Senator Robert Owen in May 1913. The primary difference between the two bills was the transfer of control of the Board of Directors (called the Federal Open Market Committee in the Federal Reserve Act) to the government. The bill passed Congress on December 23, 1913, on a mostly partisan basis, with most Democrats voting "yea" and most Republicans voting "nay". Key laws affecting the Federal Reserve have been: Federal Reserve Act, 1913, Glass–Steagall Act, Banking Act of 1935, Employment Act of 1946, Federal Reserve-Treasury Department Accord of 1951, Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 and the amendments of 1970, Federal Reserve Reform Act of 1977, International Banking Act of 1978, Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978), Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (1980), Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991, Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (1999), Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act (2006), Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008), Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) The Federal Reserve records and publishes large amounts of data. A few websites where data is published are at the board of governors' Economic Data and Research page, the board of governors' statistical releases and historical data page, and at the St. Louis Fed's FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) page. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) examines many economic indicators prior to determining monetary policy. Some criticism involves economic data compiled by the Fed. The Fed sponsors much of the monetary economics research in the U.S., and Lawrence H. White objects that this makes it less likely for researchers to publish findings challenging the status quo. The net worth of households and nonprofit organizations in the United States is published by the Federal Reserve in a report titled Flow of Funds. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2012, this value was $64.8 trillion. At the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, this value was $95.5 trillion. The most common measures are named M0 (narrowest), M1, M2, and M3. In the United States they are defined by the Federal Reserve as follows: The Federal Reserve stopped publishing M3 statistics in March 2006, saying that the data cost a lot to collect but did not provide significantly useful information. The other three money supply measures continue to be provided in detail. The Personal consumption expenditures price index, also referred to as simply the PCE price index, is used as one measure of the value of money. It is a United States-wide indicator of the average increase in prices for all domestic personal consumption. Using a variety of data including United States Consumer Price Index and U.S. Producer Price Index prices, it is derived from the largest component of the gross domestic product in the BEA's National Income and Product Accounts, personal consumption expenditures. One of the Fed's main roles is to maintain price stability, which means that the Fed's ability to keep a low inflation rate is a long-term measure of their success. Although the Fed is not required to maintain inflation within a specific range, their long run target for the growth of the PCE price index is between 1.5 and 2 percent. There has been debate among policy makers as to whether the Federal Reserve should have a specific inflation targeting policy. Most mainstream economists favor a low, steady rate of inflation. Low (as opposed to zero or negative) inflation may reduce the severity of economic recessions by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn, and reduce the risk that a liquidity trap prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy. The task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to monetary authorities. One of the stated goals of monetary policy is maximum employment. The unemployment rate statistics are collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and like the PCE price index are used as a barometer of the nation's economic health. The Federal Reserve is self-funded. The vast majority (90%+) of Fed revenues come from open market operations, specifically the interest on the portfolio of Treasury securities as well as "capital gains/losses" that may arise from the buying/selling of the securities and their derivatives as part of Open Market Operations. The balance of revenues come from sales of financial services (check and electronic payment processing) and discount window loans. The board of governors (Federal Reserve Board) creates a budget report once per year for Congress. There are two reports with budget information. The one that lists the complete balance statements with income and expenses as well as the net profit or loss is the large report simply titled, "Annual Report". It also includes data about employment throughout the system. The other report, which explains in more detail the expenses of the different aspects of the whole system, is called "Annual Report: Budget Review". These detailed comprehensive reports can be found at the board of governors' website under the section "Reports to Congress" One of the keys to understanding the Federal Reserve is the Federal Reserve balance sheet (or balance statement). In accordance with Section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System publishes once each week the "Consolidated Statement of Condition of All Federal Reserve Banks" showing the condition of each Federal Reserve bank and a consolidated statement for all Federal Reserve banks. The board of governors requires that excess earnings of the Reserve Banks be transferred to the Treasury as interest on Federal Reserve notes. Below is the balance sheet (in billions of dollars): In addition, the balance sheet also indicates which assets are held as collateral against Federal Reserve Notes. The Federal Reserve System has faced various criticisms since its inception in 1913. Critique of the organization and system has come from sources such as writers, journalists, economists, and financial institutions as well as politicians and various government employees. Criticisms include lack of transparency, doubt of efficacy due to what is seen by some as poor historical performance and traditionalist concerns about the debasement of the value of the dollar. From the beginning, the Federal Reserve has been the subject of many popular conspiracy theories, that typically link the Fed to numerous other supposed conspiracies, such as funding the political movements of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and the capacity to trigger recessions for easy access to cheap assets. Consumer leverage ratio, Core inflation, Farm Credit System, Fed model, Federal Home Loan Banks, Federal Reserve Police, Federal Reserve Statistical Release, Free banking, Gold standard, Government debt, Greenspan put, History of Federal Open Market Committee actions, History of central banking in the United States, Independent Treasury, Legal Tender Cases, List of economic reports by U.S. government agencies, Securities market participants (United States), Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations, United States Bullion Depositoryknown as Fort Knox Bundled references Sarah Binder & Mark Spindel. 2017. The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve. Princeton University Press., from the St. Louis Fed, Congressional Research Service Changing the Federal Reserve's Mandate: An Economic Analysis, Congressional Research Service Federal Reserve: Unconventional Monetary Policy Options, Conti-Brown, Peter. The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve (Princeton UP, 2016)., Epstein, Lita & Martin, Preston (2003). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Federal Reserve. Alpha Books. ., Greider, William (1987). Secrets of the Temple. Simon & Schuster. ; nontechnical book explaining the structures, functions, and history of the Federal Reserve, focusing specifically on the tenure of Paul Volcker, Hafer, R. W. The Federal Reserve System: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2005. 451 pp, 280 entries; ., Meyer, Laurence H. (2004). A Term at the Fed: An Insider's View. HarperBusiness. ; focuses on the period from 1996 to 2002, emphasizing Alan Greenspan's chairmanship during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the stock market boom and the financial aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks., Woodward, Bob. Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom (2000) study of Greenspan in the 1990s. Broz, J. Lawrence. The International Origins of the Federal Reserve System. Cornell University Press. 1997., Carosso, Vincent P. "The Wall Street Trust from Pujo through Medina", Business History Review (1973) 47:421–437, Chandler, Lester V. American Monetary Policy, 192841. (1971)., Epstein, Gerald and Thomas Ferguson. "Monetary Policy, Loan Liquidation and Industrial Conflict: Federal Reserve System Open Market Operations in 1932". Journal of Economic History 44 (December 1984): 957984. in JSTOR, Kubik, "Paul J. Federal Reserve Policy during the Great Depression: The Impact of Interwar Attitudes regarding Consumption and Consumer Credit". Journal of Economic Issues. Volume: 30. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 1996. pp. 829+., Livingston, James. Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 18901913 (1986), Marxist approach to 1913 policy, Mayhew, Anne. "Ideology and the Great Depression: Monetary History Rewritten". Journal of Economic Issues 17 (June 1983): 353360., (cloth) and (paper), In three volumes published so far, Meltzer covers the first 70 years of the Fed in considerable detail., Mullins, Eustace C. The Secrets of the Federal Reserve, 1952. John McLaughlin., Roberts, Priscilla. 'Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?' The Federal Reserve System's Founding Fathers and Allied Finances in the First World War", Business History Review (1998) 72: 585603, Bernard Shull, "The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve's Unlikely Rise to Power and Influence" (2005), Steindl, Frank G. Monetary Interpretations of the Great Depression. (1995)., Wells, Donald R. The Federal Reserve System: A History (2004), West, Robert Craig. Banking Reform and the Federal Reserve, 18631923 (1977), Wicker, Elmus. "A Reconsideration of Federal Reserve Policy during the 19201921 Depression", Journal of Economic History (1966) 26: 223238, in JSTOR, Wicker, Elmus. Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 191733. (1966)., Wicker, Elmus. The Great Debate on Banking Reform: Nelson Aldrich and the Origins of the Fed Ohio State University Press, 2005., Wood, John H. A History of Central Banking in Great Britain and the United States (2005), Wueschner; Silvano A. Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 19171927 Greenwood Press. (1999) Records of the Federal Reserve System in the National Archives (Record Group 82)

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The Traverse City Beach Bums were a professional baseball team based in the Traverse City, Michigan, suburb of Blair Township, in the United States. The Beach Bums played in the East Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since their establishment in 2006, the Beach Bums played their home games at Wuerfel Park. The "Beach Bums" name referred to the residents and visitors who come to Michigan's most popular resort town, to spend time on the beach. Traverse City lies on the Grand Traverse Bay, a branch of Lake Michigan. The team's colors of navy blue and gold represent the region's bays and bright summer sunshine. Wuerfel Park averaged well over 200,000 fans per season for Beach Bums home games, ranking near the top of attendance lists in independent baseball. In their first three seasons, the Beach Bums drew over 600,000 fans with a mix of loyal, local fans, tourists, and regional baseball fans. John and Leslye Wuerfel were the managing members of the Beach Bums; their last name is the namesake of the Beach Bums' home ballpark. Their son, Jason, was the Beach Bums' Vice President and Director of Baseball Operations. Jason Wuerfel lettered four times with the University of Michigan varsity baseball team, and also won the 2003 Wolverine Award for Spirit and Leadership. He played professionally with the Elmira Pioneers, the Mid-Missouri Mavericks, and the Ohio Valley Redcoats. Jason also owns and operates the Beach Bums Baseball Academy, an organization that instructs young baseball players in the Traverse City area. In November 2008, the Beach Bums named two new coaches, with Gregg Langbehn being hired as the manager and Roger Mason accepting the position of pitching coach. Langbehn had previously spent 10 seasons as a coach and manager in the Houston Astros minor league system, while Mason, a Northern Michigan native, spent nine seasons as a pitcher in major league baseball, including a World Series appearance with the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies. In 2018, the team was sold to the owners of the Midwest League West Michigan Whitecaps who folded the Frontier League franchise and launched a new team in the Northwoods League, the Traverse City Pit Spitters. The Beach Bums were Traverse City's first professional baseball team since 1915. Predecessors included the semi-professional Traverse City Hustlers of the 1890s, and the professional Traverse City Resorters, from 1910 to 1915. Following the 2004 season, the Frontier League granted a franchise for Traverse City, Michigan. However, the league was not sure whether to consider the team for expansion or relocation. In 2005, the Richmond Roosters were purchased by the Wuerfels and moved to Traverse City. The Beach Bums played their first home game at Wuerfel Park on May 24, 2006, against the Kalamazoo Kings, with a sell-out crowd of 5,825. The club's final game, a 9-2 loss to the Windy City ThunderBolts, was played at Wuerfel Park on August 31, 2018, before 3,142 spectators. Traverse City Beach Bums, Frontier League, Beach Bums page at OurSports Central A beach bum trust provision, in the law of trusts, ties the ability of a trust beneficiary to take from the trust to the beneficiary's own earnings. Such a provision serves to prevent a beneficiary from lazily living off the trust funds (i.e. a "beach bum"). If the beneficiary earns no income, then he or she reaps nothing from the trust. Turtle Creek Stadium (formerly Pit Spitters Park and Wuerfel Park) is a 4,660-seat multi-use entertainment facility in Blair Township, Michigan, in the United States that hosted its first regular season baseball game on May 24, 2006, as the tenants of the facility, the Traverse City Beach Bums, took on the Kalamazoo Kings. It was built as a new home of the Beach Bums baseball team, the first in Traverse City in 93 years. In 2018, the Beach Bums folded, and the park sold. In 2019, Wuerfel Park became home to Traverse City's new baseball team, the Traverse City Pit Spitters of the summer collegiate Northwoods League. The ballpark is located on a site adjacent from the Chums Village commerce park, south of Traverse City near the intersection of US 31 and M-37. The groundbreaking for Wuerfel Park took place in late 2004 and was completed in time for the Beach Bums' inaugural 2006 season. The ballpark's façade resembles that of a resort hotel, a feature unique to baseball stadium architecture. John and Leslye Wuerfel (the namesakes of the ballpark), owners of Wuerfel Resorts and of the Beach Bums, designed Wuerfel Park to reference the region's resort industry and to their own type of business. In 2018, the Traverse City Beach Bums were sold. This led to the new Traverse City Pit Spitters playing at the park beginning in 2019. May 28, 2019, served as the opening night for the park. On this night, the name was changed officially to "Pit Spitters Park" On December 17, 2019, nearby Turtle Creek Casino announced they had purchased the naming rights for the park and it will now be known as "Turtle Creek Stadium".

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The Social Gospel was a movement in Protestantism that applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labor, lack of unionization, poor schools, and the dangers of war. It was most prominent in the early-20th-century United States and Canada. Theologically, the Social Gospelers sought to put into practice the Lord's Prayer (): "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". They typically were postmillennialist; that is, they believed the Second Coming could not happen until humankind rid itself of social evils by human effort. The Social Gospel was more popular among clergy than laity. Its leaders were predominantly associated with the liberal wing of the progressive movement, and most were theologically liberal, although a few were also conservative when it came to their views on social issues. Important leaders included Richard T. Ely, Josiah Strong, Washington Gladden, and Walter Rauschenbusch. The term Social Gospel was first used by Charles Oliver Brown in reference to Henry George's 1879 treatise, Progress and Poverty, which sparked the single tax movement. The Social Gospel affected much of Protestant America. The Presbyterians described their goals in 1910 by proclaiming: The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. In the late 19th century, many Protestants were disgusted by the poverty level and the low quality of living in the slums. The social gospel movement provided a religious rationale for action to address those concerns. Activists in the Social Gospel movement hoped that by public health measures as well as enforced schooling the poor could develop talents and skills, the quality of their moral lives would begin to improve. Important concerns of the Social Gospel movement were labor reforms such as abolishing child labor and regulating the hours of work by mothers. By 1920 they were crusading against the 12-hour day for workers at US Steel. Washington Gladden (1836–1918) was an American clergyman. His words and actions earned him the title of "a pioneer" of the Social Gospel even before the term came into use. Gladden spoke up for workers and their right to organize unions. For Gladden, the "Christian law covers every relation of life" including the relationship between employers and their employees. His 1877 book The Christian Way: Whither It Leads and How to Go On was his first national call for such a universal application of Christian values in everyday life. The book began his leadership in the Social Gospel movement. Historians consider Gladden to be one of the Social Gospel movement's "founding fathers". In the 20th century, the mantle of leadership was passed to Walter Rauschenbusch. Another of the defining theologians for the Social Gospel movement was Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist pastor of the Second German Baptist Church in “Hell's Kitchen”, New York. In 1892, Rauschenbusch and several other leading writers and advocates of the Social Gospel formed a group called the Brotherhood of the Kingdom. Pastors and leaders will join the organization to debate and implement the social gospel. In 1907, he published the book Christianity and the Social Crisis which would influence the actions of several actors of the social gospel. His work may be "the finest distillation of social gospel thought." Rauschenbusch railed against what he regarded as the selfishness of capitalism and promoted instead a form of Christian socialism that supported the creation of labor unions and cooperative economics. While pastors like Rauschenbusch were combining their expertise in biblical ethics and economic studies and research to preach theological claims around the need for social reform, others, such as Dwight Moody, refused to preach about social issues based on personal experience. Moody's experience led him to believe that the poor were too focused on receiving charity. Moody claimed that concentrating on social aid distracted people from the life saving message of the Gospel. Rauschenbusch sought to address the problems of the city with socialist ideas which proved to be frightening to the middle classes, the primary supporters of the Social Gospel. In contrast, Moody attempted to save people from the city and was very effective in influencing the middle class Americans who were moving into the city with traditional style revivals. The social gospel movement was not a unified and well-focused movement, for it contained members who disagreed with the conclusions of others within the movement. Rauschenbusch stated that the movement needed "a theology to make it effective" and likewise, "theology needs the social gospel to vitalize it." In A Theology for the Social Gospel (1917), Rauschenbusch takes up the task of creating "a systematic theology large enough to match [our social gospel] and vital enough to back it." He believed that the social gospel would be "a permanent addition to our spiritual outlook and that its arrival constitutes a state in the development of the Christian religion", and thus a systematic tool for using it was necessary. In A Theology for the Social Gospel, Rauschenbusch states that the individualistic gospel has made sinfulness of the individual clear, but it has not shed light on institutionalized sinfulness: "It has not evoked faith in the will and power of God to redeem the permanent institutions of human society from their inherited guilt of oppression and extortion." This ideology would be inherited by liberation theologians and civil rights advocates and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. The "Kingdom of God" is crucial to Rauschenbusch's proposed theology of the social gospel. He states that the ideology and doctrine of "the Kingdom of God," of which Jesus Christ reportedly "always spoke" has been gradually replaced by that of the Church. This was done at first by the early church out of what appeared to be necessity, but Rauschenbusch calls Christians to return to the doctrine of "the Kingdom of God." Of course, such a replacement has cost theology and Christians at large a great deal: the way we view Jesus and the synoptic gospels, the ethical principles of Jesus, and worship rituals have all been affected by this replacement. In promoting a return to the doctrine of the "Kingdom of God", he clarified that the "Kingdom of God": is not subject to the pitfalls of the Church; it can test and correct the Church; is a prophetic, future-focused ideology and a revolutionary, social and political force that understands all creation to be sacred; and it can help save the problematic, sinful social order. In this book, he explains that Christians must be like the Almighty who became man in Jesus Christ, who was with everyone equally and considered people as a subject of love and service. Many reformers inspired by the movement opened settlement houses, most notably Hull House in Chicago operated by Jane Addams. They helped the poor and immigrants improve their lives. Settlement houses offered services such as daycare, education, and health care to needy people in slum neighborhoods. The YMCA was created originally to help rural youth adjust to the city without losing their religious faith, but by the 1890s became a powerful instrument of the Social Gospel. Nearly all the denominations (including Catholics) engaged in foreign missions, which often had a social gospel component in terms especially of medical uplift. The Black denominations, especially the African Methodist Episcopal church (AME) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church (AMEZ), had active programs in support of the Social Gospel. Both evangelical ("pietistic") and liturgical ("high church") elements supported the Social Gospel, although only the pietists were active in promoting Prohibition. In the United States prior to the First World War, the Social Gospel was the religious wing of the progressive movement which had the aim of combating injustice, suffering and poverty in society. Denver, Colorado, was a center of Social Gospel activism. Thomas Uzzel led the Methodist People's Tabernacle from 1885 to 1910. He established a free dispensary for medical emergencies, an employment bureau for job seekers, a summer camp for children, night schools for extended learning, and English language classes for immigrants. Myron Reed of the First Congregational Church became a spokesman, 1884 to 1894 for labor unions on issues such as worker's compensation. His middle-class congregation encouraged Reed to move on when he became a socialist, and he organized a nondenominational church. The Baptist minister Jim Goodhart set up an employment bureau, and provided food and lodging for tramps and hobos at the mission he ran. He became city chaplain and director of public welfare of Denver in 1918. Besides these Protestants, Reform Jews and Catholics helped build Denver's social welfare system in the early 20th century. Mark A. Matthews (1867–1940) of Seattle's First Presbyterian Church was a leading city reformer, who investigated red light districts and crime scenes, denouncing corrupt politicians, businessmen, and saloon keepers. With 10,000 members, his was the largest Presbyterian Church in the country, and he was selected the national moderator in 1912. He built a model church, with night schools, unemployment bureaus, kindergarten, an anti-tuberculosis clinic, and the nation's first church-owned radio station. Matthews was the most influential clergymen in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the most active Social Gospelers in America. The American South had its own version of the Social Gospel, focusing especially on Prohibition. Other reforms included protecting young wage-earning women from the sex trade, outlawing public swearing, boxing, dogfights and similar affronts to their moral sensibilities. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, took on new responsibilities with the enlargement and professionalization of missionary women's roles starting in 1886 with the Southern Methodist Woman’s Parsonage and Home Mission Society. By 1900, says historian Edward Ayers, the white Baptists, although they were the most conservative of all the denominations in the South, became steadily more concerned with social issues, taking stands on "temperance, gambling, illegal corruption, public morality, orphans and the elderly." During the New Deal of the 1930s, Social Gospel themes could be seen in the work of Harry Hopkins, Will Alexander, and Mary McLeod Bethune, who added a new concern with African Americans. After 1940, the movement lessened, but it was invigorated in the 1950s by black leaders like Baptist minister Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. After 1980, it weakened again as a major force inside mainstream churches; indeed, those churches were losing strength. Examples of the Social Gospel's continued influence can still be found in Jim Wallis's Sojourners organization's Call to Renewal and more local organizations like the Virginia Interfaith Center. Another modern example can be found in the work of John Steinbruck, senior pastor of Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, DC, from 1970 to 1997, who was an articulate and passionate preacher of the Social Gospel and a leading voice locally and nationally for the homeless, Central American refugees, and victims of persecution and prejudice. Because the Social Gospel was primarily concerned with the day-to-day life of laypeople, one of the ways in which it made its message heard was through labor movements. Particularly, the Social Gospel had a profound effect upon the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL began a movement called Labor Forward, which was a pro-Christian group who "preached unionization like a revival." In Philadelphia, this movement was counteracted by bringing revivalist Billy Sunday, himself firmly anti-union, who believed "that the organized shops destroyed individual freedom." The Social Gospel movement peaked in the early 20th century, but scholars debate over when the movement began to decline, with some asserting that the destruction and trauma caused by the First World War left many disillusioned with the Social Gospel's ideals while others argue that the war stimulated the Social Gospelers' reform efforts. Theories regarding the decline of the Social Gospel after the First World War often cite the rise of neo-orthodoxy as a contributing factor in the movement's decline. While the Social Gospel was short-lived historically, it had a lasting impact on the policies of most of the mainline denominations in the United States. Most began programs for social reform, which led to ecumenical cooperation in 1910 while in the formation of the Federal Council of Churches. Although this cooperation was about social issues that often led to charges of socialism. It is likely that the Social Gospel's strong sense of leadership by the people led to women's suffrage, and that the emphasis it placed on morality led to prohibition. Biographer Randall Woods argues that Social Gospel themes learned from childhood allowed Lyndon B. Johnson to transform social problems into moral problems. This helps explain his longtime commitment to social justice, as exemplified by the Great Society and his commitment to racial equality. The Social Gospel explicitly inspired his foreign-policy approach to a sort of Christian internationalism and nation building. The Social Gospel Movement has been described as "the most distinctive American contribution to world Christianity." The Social Gospel, after 1945, influenced the formation of Christian democracy political ideology among Protestants and Catholics in Europe. Many of the Social Gospel's ideas also reappeared in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. "Social Gospel" principles continue to inspire newer movements such as Christians Against Poverty. Reinhold Niebuhr has argued that the 20th century history of Western democracies has not vindicated the optimistic view of human nature which the social gospelers shared with the Enlightenment. Labor historians argue that the movement had little influence on the labor movement and attributes that failure professional elitism and a lack of understanding of the collective nature of the movement. Labor did not reject social gospellers because they were unaware of them but, rather, because their tactics and ideas were considered inadequate. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, a political party that was later reformulated as the New Democratic Party, was founded on social gospel principles in the 1930s by J. S. Woodsworth, a Methodist minister, and Alberta MP William Irvine. Woodsworth wrote extensively about the social gospel from experiences gained while working with immigrant slum dwellers in Winnipeg from 1904 to 1913. His writings called for the Kingdom of God "here and now". This political party took power in the province of Saskatchewan in 1944. This group, led by Tommy Douglas, a Baptist minister, introduced universal medicare, family allowance and old age pensions. This political party has since largely lost its religious basis, and became a secular social democratic party. The Social Service Council (SSC) was the "reforming arm of Protestantism in Canada", and promoted idea of the social gospel. Under the "aggressive leadership of Charlotte Whitton", the Canadian Council of Child Welfare, opposed "a widening of social security protection..." and "continued to impede the implementation of provincial mothers' pensions", instead pressing for the "traditional private charity" model. Charlotte Whitton argued that children should be removed from their homes "instead of paying money to needy parents" Charlotte Whitton, as Christie and Gauvreau point out, was also a member of the SSC, The SSC's mandate included the "intensive Christian conquest of Canada". The Social Gospel was a significant influence in the formation of the People's Church in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1919. Started by Methodist minister A. E. Smith, the People's Church attempted to provide an alternative to the traditional church, which Smith viewed as unconcerned with social issues. In his autobiography All My Life Smith describes his last sermon before starting the People's Church, saying "The Church was afraid it might give offense to the rich and powerful." The People's Church was successful for a time, with People's Churches founded in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, and Calgary. In Winnipeg, Methodist minister and Social Gospeler William Ivens started another workers church, the "Labor Church," in 1918. Both Smith and Ivens tried to take leaves of absence from their Methodist ministries, which were initially granted. Upon a decision to bring all such special cases before the Methodist Stationing Committee, however, the decisions were rescinded. The Social Gospel theme is reflected in the novels In His Steps (1897) and The Reformer (1902), by the Congregational minister Charles Sheldon, who coined the motto "What would Jesus do?" In his personal life, Sheldon was committed to Christian socialism and identified strongly with the Social Gospel movement. Walter Rauschenbusch, one of the leading early theologians of the Social Gospel in the United States, indicated that his theology had been inspired by Sheldon's novels. Members of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom produced many of the written works that defined the theology of the Social Gospel movement and gave it public prominence. These included Walter Rauschenbusch's Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907) and Christianizing the Social Order (1912), as well as Samuel Zane Batten's The New Citizenship (1898) and The Social Task of Christianity (1911). In the United States, the Social Gospel is still influential in mainline Protestant denominations such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the United Methodist Church; it seems to be growing in the Episcopal Church as well, especially with that church's effort to support the ONE Campaign. In Canada, it is widely present in the United Church and in the Anglican Church. In Evangelical churches, contemporary actions of social justice are linked to the social gospel movement. Reflecting these commitments, the majority of Christian humanitarian evangelical organizations were founded in the course of the 20th century. Among the most important are World Vision International (1950), Samaritan's Purse (1970), Mercy Ships (1978), Prison Fellowship International (1979), International Justice Mission (1997). Catholic temperance movement, Chartism, Christian Social Union (Church of England), Christian humanism, Emerging church, Evangelical left, The Gospel of Wealth, Prosperity theology, Salem Bland, Temperance movement Charles Monroe Sheldon (February 26, 1857, Wellsville, New York - February 24, 1946, Topeka, Kansas) was an American Congregationalist minister and leader of the Social Gospel movement. His novel, In His Steps, introduced the principle of "What Would Jesus Do?" which articulated an approach to Christian theology that became popular at the turn of the 20th century and had a revival almost one hundred years later. The stretch of US-24 on the north side of Topeka, Kansas between US-75 and K-4 is named the "Charles Sheldon Trafficway" in his honour. Sheldon was a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover (class of 1879). He became an advocate of the late nineteenth century school of thought known as Christian Socialism. His theological outlook focused on the practicalities of the moral life, with much less emphasis on the doctrinal traditions of personal redemption from sin in Christ. In the winter of 1896 Sheldon developed a sermon story that he read as a weekly series from the pulpit of Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas. The unifying theme of these sermons was based on posing the question, "what would Jesus do?" when facing moral decisions. He viewed this question as traditional within Christianity and likely drew some inspiration from William T. Stead's If Christ came to Chicago! (1893) and other earlier sources. The theme of the sermons was later fictionalized into the novel In His Steps. The central ethos of the novel was not about personal redemption but about moral choices related to encountering circumstances of poverty and deprivation. Sheldon's theological motif reflected his socialist outlook. Sheldon's own parish work became identified with the Social Gospel. Walter Rauschenbusch, widely viewed as the chief architect of the Social Gospel, acknowledged the importance Sheldon placed on imitating Jesus. He saw the significance of Sheldon's work in bringing home the realization that it is hard to live a Christ-like life, given the temptations of modern society. While Rauschenbusch found this awareness valuable, he saw that it did not demand what he believed was a necessary transformation of social institutions. Sheldon was in touch with the concerns of middle-class America at the end of the century. He saw his role as one of communication—to introduce his congregation and the wider public to the ideas of Lyman Abbott, Richard Ely, George Herron, and Rauschenbusch. That was his intention in writing In His Steps. Of the social issues Sheldon espoused during his lifetime, the two he was most passionate about were equality and prohibition. He believed that all persons were equal and should be treated as such. He was a pioneer among Protestant ministers in welcoming blacks into a mainstream church. He was also committed to fair treatment for Jews and Catholics, and proclaimed the equality of men and women. A strong supporter of the feminist struggle for equal rights, he urged women to enter politics. He also pushed for full equality in the workplace. Sheldon was also a vegetarian who promoted compassion towards animals just as he did towards humans. He even criticized circuses for their treatment of animals. In March 1900 he became editor for a week of the Topeka Daily Capital applying the "What Would Jesus Do?" concept. In that short time, the newspaper's circulation exploded from just under 12,000 to 387,000, overwhelming the paper's Topeka printing plant causing it to print 120,000 copies each in Chicago, Illinois and New York City. After his retirement from Central Congregational Church in 1920, Sheldon edited "Christian Herald, An Illustrated News Weekly for the Home", a religious periodical, from 1920 to 1924 and continued to write articles after his final retirement in 1924. In the 1990s WWJD bracelets became a popular item among young people and publishers increased sales of the public domain book In His Steps and tied it in with marketing of "What would Jesus do?" items. A ten part mini-series produced by KTWU featured an hour-long segment "Beyond Theology: What Would Jesus Do?" which examines how this question might be considered in context of the political, social and cultural changes that have taken place in America. The program also takes a look at the manner in which Sheldon applied the social gospel in his own life and in his community. 1892: Richard Bruce, or the Life That Now Is, 1893: Robert Hardy's Seven Days; a Dream and its Consequences, 1893: The Twentieth Door, 1894: The Crucifixion of Phillip Strong, 1895: His Brother's Keeper; or Christian Stewarship, 1897: In His Steps "What Would Jesus Do?", 1898: The Redemption of Freetown, 1898: Malcom Kirk: A Tale Of Moral Heroism In Overcoming The World, 1898: One of the Two; "Be not overcome the evil, but overcome evil with good", 1899: John King's Question Class, 1899: The Miracle at Markham; How Twelve Churches Became One, 1899: Lend a Hand, 1899: For Christ and the Church, 1900: Born to Serve: a story, 1900: Edward Blake: College Student, 1901: The Reformer, 1903: His Mother's Prayers, 1903: The Narrow Gate, 1904: The Wilderness of the Upper Yukon; a hunter's explorations for wild sheep in sub-arctic mountains, 1905: The Heart of the World: A Story of Christian Socialism, 1906: The spirit's power: or the revival, 1909: Paul Douglas-journalist, 1911: The High Calling, 1912: A Builder of Ships; The Story of Brander Cushing's Ambition, 1914: "Jesus is Here!" Continuing the Narrative of In His Steps (What Would Jesus Do?), 1912: In His Steps; a Dramatic Adaptation of the Story (with Frank H. Lane), 1912: The Wilderness of the North Pacific Coast Islands: A Hunter's Experiences while Searching for Wapiti, Bears, and Caribou on the Larger Coast Islands of British Columbia and Alaska, 1916: Howard Chase, Red Hill, Kansas, 1916: Of One Blood, 1917: Modern Pagans, 1919: All The World, 1920: Heart Stories, 1921: In His Steps To-day. What would Jesus do in solving the problems of present political, economic and social life?, 1921: The richest man in Kansas, 1924: The everyday Bible (as editor), 1924: The Mere Man and His Problems, 1925: Charles M. Sheldon: His Life Story, 1925: Two Old Friends, 1926: The Life of Jesus, 1927: Casework Evangelism: Studies in the Art of Christian Personal Work (only Introduction), 1928: The 13th Resolution, 1929: Life's Treasure Book, Past, Present, and Future, 1930: The Wilderness of Denali, 1941: The Golden Book of Bible Stories: Favorite Stories from the Old and New Testaments Retold for Children 1886: True to the Old Flag: A Tale of the American War of Independence (by G. A. Henty), 1899: Won by the Sword: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War (by G.A. Henty), 1900: Under the Rebel's Reign: A Story of Egyptian Revolt (by Charles Neufeld), 1901: The Goddess of Excelsior (by Bret Harte), 1902: To Herat and Cabul, A Story of the First Afghan War (by G.A. Henty), 1905: The Queen of Shindy Flat (by Bessie Marchant), 1905: The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come (by John Bunyan), 1907: The Yap Reporter and His Crisis (by Edward Price Bell), 1907: Riall in The Race Riots. Another Adventure of The Yap Reporter (by Edward Price Bell), 1907: The Yap Reporter on The Plains (by Edward Price Bell), 1907: Bige Hoak (by Edward Price Bell), 1907: On the Trail of the Arabs: A Story of Heroic Deeds in Africa (by Herbert Strang), 1911: THE INVISIBLE ISLAND - A Story of the Far North of Queensland (by Alexander MacDonald), 1912: Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia (by F.S. Brereton), 1914: In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain (by G.A. Henty), 1914: Edgar the Ready: A Tale of the Third Edward's Reign (by W. P. Shervill), 1915: A sturdy young Canadian (by Frederick Sadleir Brereton), 1930: Pioneers In Tropical America (by Harry Johnston) James Smylie, "Sheldon's In His Steps: Conscience and Discipleship," Theology Today, Volume 32, number 1 (July 1975) pp. 32–45. Profile on Sheldon from the Congregational Church, Topeka, Kansas, Kansas State Historical Society archived documents on Charles Sheldon, Inventory of the Charles Monroe Sheldon Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, PBS Documentary "Beyond Theology: What Would Jesus Do? http://ktwu.washburn.edu/productions/WWJD-BT/ Josiah Strong (April 14, 1847 – June 26, 1916) was an American Protestant clergyman, organizer, editor and author. He was a leader of the Social Gospel movement, calling for social justice and combating social evils. He supported missionary work so that all races could be improved and uplifted and thereby brought to Christ. He is controversial, however, due to his beliefs about race and methods of converting people to Christianity. In his 1885 book Our Country, Strong argued that Anglo-Saxons are a superior race who must "Christianize and civilize" the "savage" races, which he argued would be good for the American economy and the "lesser races". Josiah Strong was one of the founders of the Social Gospel movement that sought to apply Protestant religious principles to solve the social ills brought on by industrialization, urbanization and immigration. He served as General Secretary (1886–1898) of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States, a coalition of Protestant missionary groups. After being forced out he set up his own group, the League for Social Service (1898–1916), and edited its magazine The Gospel of the Kingdom. The League was later expanded to become the American Institute of Social Service, based on the concept of the Musée social. Strong, like most other leaders of the Social Gospel movement, added strong evangelical roots, including a belief in sin and redemption. Strong, like Walter Rauschenbusch and George D. Herron had an intense conversion experience and believed that regeneration was necessary to bring social justice by combating social sin. Though they were often critical of evangelicalism, they thought of their mission as an expansion of it. Their primitivist desire for noninstitutional Christianity was influenced by liberal, postmillennial idealism, and their attitudes influenced neo-orthodox theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. His best-known and most influential work was Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (1885), intended to promote domestic missionary activity in the American West. When the work appeared, Protestants had long been accustomed to meeting the sorts of perils that Strong saw threatening the country's survival, Christianization, and world greatness. His work flowed from a tradition habituated to perceive threats to "our country". It was a tradition that helped ensure the end of slavery in defense of the Union during the Civil War, while also predisposing many northern Protestants to look past, if not entirely forget, the ex-slaves following the war. Historians also suggest it may have encouraged support for imperialistic United States policy among American Protestants. He pleaded as well for more missionary work in the nation's cities, and for reconciliation to end racial conflict. He was one of the first to warn that Protestants (most of whom lived in rural areas or small towns) were ignoring the problems of the cities and the working classes Strong believed that all races could be improved and uplifted and thereby brought to Christ. In the "Possible Future" portion of Our Country, Strong focused on the "Anglo-Saxon race"—that is the English language speakers. He said in 1890: "In 1700 this race numbered less than 6,000,000 souls. In 1800, Anglo-Saxons (I use the term somewhat broadly to include all English-speaking peoples) had increased to about 20,500,000, and now, in 1890, they number more than 120,000,000.") had a responsibility to "civilize and Christianize" the world, sharing their technology and knowledge of Christianity. The "Crisis" portion of the text described the seven "perils" facing the nation: Catholicism, Mormonism, Socialism, Intemperance, Wealth, Urbanization, and Immigration. Conservative Protestants, by contrast, argued that missionaries should spend their time preaching the Gospel; they allowed for charitable activity, but argued that it did not actually save souls. In 1891 a revised edition was issued based on the census of 1890. The large increase in immigration during this period led him to conclude that the perils he outlined in the first edition had only grown. The term Anglo-Saxon before 1900 was often used as a synonym for people of English descent throughout the world. Strong said in 1890: "In 1700 this race numbered less than 6,000,000 souls. In 1800, Anglo-Saxons (I use the term somewhat broadly to include all English-speaking peoples) had increased to about 20,500,000, and now, in 1890, they number more than 120,000,000". In 1893 Strong suggested, "This race is destined to dispossess many weaker ones, assimilated others, and mold of the remainder until ... it has Anglo-Saxonized mankind." Strong argued that, "The Anglo-Saxon is the representative of two great ideas, which are closely related. One of them is that of civil liberty. Nearly all of the civil liberty of the world is enjoyed by Anglo-Saxons: the English, the British colonists, and the people of the United States. ... The other great idea of which the Anglo-Saxon is the exponent is that of a pure spiritual Christianity." He went on, "It follows, then, that the Anglo-Saxon, as the great representative of these two ideas, the depositary of these two greatest blessings, sustains peculiar relations to the world's future, is divinely commissioned to be, in a peculiar sense, his brother's keeper." Josiah Strong on Anglo-Saxon Predominance, 1891, excerpt complete text from Books.Google.com, Address of Rev. Dr. Josiah Strong: The American missionary. Dec 1895 Volume 49, Issue 12 pp. 423-424, Josiah Strong, Expansion Under the New World-Conditions. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1900., Josiah Strong, Religious Movements for Social Betterment. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1900., Josiah Strong, The Times and Young Men. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1901., Josiah Strong, The Next Great Awakening. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1902., Josiah Strong, The Challenge of the City. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1907., Josiah Strong, My Religion in Everyday Life. New York: Baker & Taylor, 1910., Josiah Strong, Our World: The New World Life. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1913-14., Josiah Strong, Our World: The New World-Religion. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1915., Our Country complete text at Questia, Excerpt from Our Country, Excerpt from Our Country, Excerpt from Our Country Berge, William H. "Voices for Imperialism: Josiah Strong and the Protestant Clergy," Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association, No. 1 (1973) online, Bowman, Matthew. "Sin, Spirituality, and Primitivism: The Theologies of the American Social Gospel, 1885-1917," Religion and American Culture, Winter 2007, Vol. 17#1 pp 95–126, Deichmann, Wendy. "Women and Social Betterment in the Social Gospel Work of Josiah Strong," in Wendy J. Deichmann and Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford, eds., Gender and the Social Gospel (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003)., Deichmann, Wendy. "Forging an Ideology for American Missions: Josiah Strong and Manifest Destiny," in Wilbert R. Shenk,ed., North American Foreign Mission, 1810-1914: Theology, Theory, and Policy (Wm B. Eerdmans Co. & Curzon Press, 2004)., Deichmann, Wendy. "Manifest Destiny, the Social Gospel and the Coming Kingdom: Josiah Strong's Program of Global Reform, 1885-1916," chap. 5 in Perspectives on the Social Gospel: Papers from the Inaugural Social Gospel Conference at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, "Texts and Studies in the Social Gospel" series, Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston, NY: 1992)., Herbst, Jurgen. "Introduction," in Josiah Strong Our Country (Belknap Press 1963 edition), Luker, Ralph E. The Social Gospel in Black and White: American Racial Reform, 1885-1912 (1998)., Muller, Dorothea R. "Josiah Strong and American Nationalism: A Reevaluation," The Journal of American History 53 (Dec. 1966), 487-503, online at JSTOR at most academic libraries., Muller, Dorothea R. "The Social Philosophy of Josiah Strong: Social Christianity and American Progressivism," Church History 1959 v 28 #2 pp. 183–201] online at JSTOR

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The daylily is a flowering plant in the genus Hemerocallis , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Despite the common name, it is not in fact a lily. Gardening enthusiasts and professional horticulturalists have long bred daylily species for their attractive flowers. Thousands of cultivars have been registered by local and international Hemerocallis societies. The name Hemerocallis comes from the Greek words (hēmera) "day" and (kalos) "beautiful". Daylilies are perennial plants, whose name alludes to its flowers, which typically last about a day. The flowers of most species open in early morning and wither during the following night, possibly replaced by another one on the same scape the next day. Some species are night-blooming. Daylilies are not commonly used as cut flowers for formal flower arranging, yet they make good cut flowers otherwise, as new flowers continue to open on cut stems over several days. Hemerocallis is native to Asia, primarily eastern Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan. This genus is popular worldwide because of the showy flowers and hardiness of many kinds. There are over 80,000 registered cultivars. Hundreds of cultivars have fragrant flowers, and more scented cultivars are appearing more frequently in northern hybridization programs. Some earlier blooming cultivars rebloom later in the season, particularly if their capsules, in which seeds are developing, are removed. Despite the name, daylilies are not true lilies, although the flower has a similar shape. Before 2009, the scientific classification of daylilies put them into the family Liliaceae. Liliaceae species include Tiger Lilies, Easter Lilies, and many types of Asiatic lilies. Unlike the daylily's fibrous root system, Liliaceae species grow from bulbs and, if ingested, are harmful to humans and animals. It is a common misconception that daylilies share the specific toxic properties of true lilies. In 2009, under the APG III system, daylilies were removed from the Liliaceae family and assigned to the Xanthorrhoeaceae family, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Xanthorrhoeaceae was renamed Asphodelaceae in AGP IV. Most kinds of daylilies occur as clumps, each of which has leaves, a crown, scapes, flowers, and roots. The long, linear lanceolate leaves are grouped into opposite fans with arching leaves. The crown is the small white portion between the leaves and the roots. Along the scape of some kinds of daylilies, small leafy "proliferations" form at nodes or in bracts. A proliferation forms roots when planted and is often an exact clone of its parent plant. Many kinds of daylilies have thickened roots in which they store food and water. A normal, single daylily flower has three petals and three sepals, collectively called tepals, each with a midrib in either the same basic color or a different color. The centermost part of the flower, called the throat, may be a different color than the more distal areas of the tepals. Each flower usually has six stamens, each with a two-lobed anther. After successful pollination, a flower forms a botanical capsule (often erroneously called a pod since botanical pods are found in Fabaceae, not Hemerocallis). The orange or tawny daylily (Hemerocallis fulva), common along roadsides in much of North America, is native to Asia. Along with the lemon lily (Hemerocallis flava), it is the foundational species for most modern cultivars. Although the buds and flowers are often used by humans in gourmet dishes, Hemerocallis species are toxic to cats and ingestion may be fatal. Treatment is usually successful if started before renal failure has developed. , Plants of the World Online recognized 16 species: Hemerocallis citrina (syn. H. altissima , H. coreana ) - China, Japan, Korea, Russian Far East, Hemerocallis coreana - Japan, Korea, Shandong Province in China, Hemerocallis darrowiana - Sakhalin Island in Russia, Hemerocallis dumortieri - China, Japan, Korea, Hemerocallis forrestii - Sichuan + Yunnan Provinces in China, Hemerocallis fulva (H. sempervirens , H. sendaica and H. aurantiaca are now treated as varieties of this species) – orange daylily, tawny daylily, tiger lily, ditch lily - China, Japan, Korea; naturalized in Europe, North America, New Zealand, Indian Subcontinent; considered an invasive weed in some places, Hemerocallis hakuunensis (syn. H. micrantha ) - Korea; includes Hemerocallis hongdoensis, Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (syn. H. flava ) – lemon lily, yellow daylily - China, Mongolia, Russian Far East, Siberia, Kazakhstan; naturalized in Europe and North America, Hemerocallis major (Baker) M.Hotta, Hemerocallis middendorffii - China, Japan, Korea, Russian Far East, Hemerocallis minor (syn. H. sulphurea ) - China, Mongolia, Korea, Russian Far East, Siberia, Hemerocallis multiflora - Henan Province in China, Hemerocallis nana - Yunnan Province in China, Hemerocallis plicata - Sichuan + Yunnan Provinces in China, Hemerocallis thunbergii (syn. H. serotina , H. vespertina ) - Japan, Hemerocallis yezoensis - Japan, Kuril Islands Two hybrids are recognized: Hemerocallis × exilis = H. fulva var. angustifolia × H. thunbergii, Hemerocallis × fallaxlittoralis = H. littorea × H. thunbergii A number of hybrid names appear in the horticultural literature but are not recognized as valid by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. These include: H. × hybrida, H. × ochroleuca, H. × stoutiana, H. × traubara, H. × traubiana, H. × washingtonia, H. × yeldara, H. × yeldiana Daylilies have been found growing wild for millennia throughout China, Mongolia, Northern India, Korea, and Japan. There are thousand-year-old Chinese paintings showing orange daylilies that are remarkably similar to the flowers that grace modern gardens. It is theorized that daylilies were first brought to Europe by traders along the silk routes from Asia. However it was not until 1753 that daylilies were given their botanic name of Hemerocallis by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. Daylilies were first brought to North America by early European immigrants, who packed the roots along with other treasured possessions for the journey to the New World. By the early 1800s, the plant had become naturalized, and a bright orange clump of flowers was a common site in many homestead gardens. As popular as daylilies were for many hundreds of years, it was not until the late 19th century that botanists and gardeners began to experiment with hybridizing the plants. Over the next hundred years, thousands of different hybrids were developed from a only a few wild varieties. In fact, most modern hybrids are descended from two types of daylily. One is Hemerocallis flava—the yellow lemon lily. The other is Hemerocallis fulva, the familiar tawny-orange daylily, also known affectionately as the "ditch lily." The daylily is generally referred to as "the perfect perennial" by gardeners, due to its brilliant colors, ability to tolerate drought and frost and to thrive in many different climate zones, and generally low maintenance. It is a vigorous perennial that lasts for many years in a garden, with very little care and adapts to many different soil and light conditions. Daylilies have a relatively short blooming period, depending on the type. Some will bloom in early spring while others wait until the summer or even autumn. Most daylily plants bloom for 1 through 5 weeks, although some bloom twice in one season ("rebloomers)". There are more than 80,000 daylily cultivars. Depending on the species and cultivar, daylilies grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 1 through 11, making them some of the more adaptable landscape plants. Hybridizers have developed the vast majority of cultivars within the last 100 years. The large-flowered, bright yellow Hemerocallis 'Hyperion', introduced in the 1920s, heralded a return to gardens of the once-dismissed daylily, and is still widely available in the nursery trade. Daylily breeding has been a specialty in the United States, where daylily heat- and drought-resistance made them garden standbys since the 1950s. New cultivars have sold for thousands of dollars, but many sturdy and prolific cultivars sell at reasonable prices of US$20 or less. Hemerocallis is one of the very highly hybridized plant genera. Hybridizers register hundreds of new cultivars yearly. Hybridizers have extended the genus' color range from the yellow, orange, and pale pink of the species, through vibrant reds, purples, lavenders, greenish tones, near-black, near- white, and more. However, hybridizers have not yet been able to produce a daylily with primarily blue flowers in forms of blue such as azure blue, cobalt blue, and sky blue. Flowers of some cultivars have small areas of cobalt blue. Other flower traits that hybridizers developed include height, scent, ruffled edges, contrasting "eyes" in the center of a bloom, and an illusion of glitter which is called "diamond dust." Sought-after improvements include foliage color and variegation and plant disease resistance and the ability to form large, neat clumps. Hybridizers also seek to make less hardy plants hardier in Canada and the Northern United States by crossing evergreen and semi-evergreen plants with those that become dormant and by using other methods. In the last several decades, many hybridizers have focused on breeding tetraploid plants, which tend to have sturdier scapes and tepals than diploids and some flower-color traits that are not found in diploids. Until this trend took root, nearly all daylilies were diploid. "Tets," as they are called by aficionados, have 44 chromosomes, while triploids have 33 chromosomes and diploids have 22 chromosomes per individual plant. Hemerocallis fulva 'Europa', H. fulva 'Kwanso', H. fulva 'Kwanso Variegata', H. fulva 'Kwanso Kaempfer', H. fulva var. maculata, H. fulva var. angustifolia, and H. fulva 'Flore Pleno' are all triplods that almost never produce seeds and reproduce almost solely by underground runners (stolons) and dividing groups by gardeners. A polymerous daylily flower is one with more than three sepals and more than three petals. Although some people synonymize "polymerous" with "double," some polymerous flowers have over five times the normal number of petals. Formerly daylilies were only available in yellow, pink, fulvous (bronzed), and rosy-fulvous colors, now they come in an assortment of many more color shades and tints thanks to intensive hybridization. They can now be found in nearly every color except pure blue and pure white. Those with yellow, pink, and other pastel flowers may require full sun to bring out all of their colors; darker varieties, including many of those with red and purple flowers are not colorfast in bright sun. The highest award a cultivar can receive in the United States is the Stout Silver Medal, given in memory of Dr. Arlow Burdette Stout, who is considered to be the father of modern daylily breeding in North America. This annual award—as voted by American Hemerocallis Society Garden judges—can be given only to a cultivar that has first received the Award of Merit not less than two years previously. The 2014 winner of the Stout Silver Medal is 'Webster's Pink Wonder', hybridized by Richard Webster and introduced by R. Cobb. A complete list of Stout Silver Medal winners can be seen on the AHS website. In the UK the following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:- 'All American Chief', 'Always Afternoon', 'Arctic Snow', 'Asterisk', 'August Frost', 'Beauty to Behold', 'Burning Daylight', 'Cat Dancer', 'Cayenne', 'Cherry Eyed Pumpkin', H. citrina, 'Condilla', 'Curly Cinnamon Windmill', 'Custard Candy', 'Eggplant Escapade', 'Elegant Candy', 'Fooled Me', 'Grey Witch', 'Holly Dancer', 'Jamaican Me Crazy', 'Jellyfish Jealousy', 'Julie Newmar', 'Karen's Curls', 'Killer', 'Lady Neva', 'Lime Frost', 'Mahogany Magic', 'Mary's Gold', 'Moonlit Masquerade', 'North Wind Dancer', 'Old Tangiers', 'Performance Anxiety', ‘Pink Damask’, 'Primal Scream', 'Radiant Moonbeam', ’Red Precious’, 'Ruby Spider', 'Running Late', 'Russian Rhapsody', 'Selma Longlegs', 'Serena Sunburst', 'Sir Modred', 'Spider Man', 'Stafford', 'Strawberry Candy', 'Tuxedo Junction' Contarinia quinquenotata, commonly known as the daylily gall midge, is a small gray insect infesting the flower buds of Hemerocallis species causing the flower to remain closed and rot. It is a pest within the horticultural trade in several parts of the world, including Southern and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. The flowers of Hemerocallis citrina are edible and are used in Chinese cuisine. They are sold (fresh or dried) in Asian markets as gum jum (金针 in Chinese; pinyin: jīn zhēn) or yellow flower vegetables (黃花菜 in Chinese; pinyin: huáng huā cài). They are used in hot and sour soup, daylily soup (金針花湯), Buddha's delight, and moo shu pork. Arlow Stout – pioneer in the hybridization of daylilies, Contarinia quinquenotata – daylily gall midge, Siloam daylilies – over 450 daylily cultivars registered by Pauline Henry. Hemerocallis species by the Drs. Lobeck has species, hybrids, and cultivars; links; terms and Latin meanings; images and history of hybrids, DaylilyDB Daylily Database — Largest online collection of community submitted daylily photos, searchable by cultivar, hybridizer, color, and registration year, providing data and photos., Charlotte's Daylily Diary Charlotte Chamitoff's Daylily Diary is a wealth of information on growing daylilies and daylily hybridizing. The website is full of daylily images and information about individual hybridizers., Charlotte's International Garden of the Week For 9 years, Charlotte Chamitoff has delighted daylily lovers with her Garden of the Week. See daylily gardens from all over the world. The American Hemerocallis Society, Australian Daylily Society, Canadian Hemerocallis Society, National Capital Daylily Club, Northern Virginia Daylily Society, Ontario Daylily Society, Region 4 of the American Hemerocallis Society, The British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society, The Metropolitan Columbus Daylily Society An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit (Australia and New Zealand), or heirloom vegetable (especially in Ireland and the UK) is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particularly in isolated or ethnic minority communities of the Western world. These were commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but are not used in modern large-scale agriculture. In some parts of the world, it is illegal to sell seeds of cultivars that are not listed as approved for sale. The Henry Doubleday Research Association, now known as Garden Organic, responded to this legislation by setting up the Heritage Seed Library to preserve seeds of as many of the older cultivars as possible. However, seed banks alone have not been able to provide sufficient insurance against catastrophic loss. In some jurisdictions, like Colombia, laws have been proposed that would make seed saving itself illegal. Many heirloom vegetables have kept their traits through open pollination, while fruit varieties such as apples have been propagated over the centuries through grafts and cuttings. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been returning in popularity in North America and Europe. Before the industrialization of agriculture, a much wider variety of plant foods were grown for human consumption, largely due to farmers and gardeners saving seeds and cuttings for future planting. From the 16th century through the early 20th centuries, the diversity was huge. Old nursery catalogues were filled with plums, peaches, pears and apples of numerous varieties and seed catalogs offered legions of vegetable varieties. Valuable and carefully selected seeds were sold and traded using these catalogs along with useful advice on cultivation. Since World War II, agriculture in the industrialized world has mostly consisted of food crops which are grown in large, monocultural plots. In order to maximize consistency, few varieties of each type of crop are grown. These varieties are often selected for their productivity and their ability to ripen at the same time while withstanding mechanical picking and cross-country shipping, as well as their tolerance to drought, frost, or pesticides. This form of agriculture has led to a 75% drop in crop genetic diversity. While heirloom gardening has maintained a niche community, in recent years it has seen a resurgence in response to the industrial agriculture trend. In the Global South, heirloom plants are still widely grown, for example, in the home gardens of South and Southeast Asia. Before World War II, the majority of produce grown in the United States was heirlooms. In the 21st century, numerous community groups all over the world are working to preserve historic varieties to make a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers available again to the home gardener, by renovating old orchards, sourcing historic fruit varieties, engaging in seed swaps, and encouraging community participation. The definition and use of the word heirloom to describe plants is fiercely debated. One school of thought places an age or date point on the cultivars. For instance, one school says the cultivar must be over 100 years old, others 50 years, and others prefer the date of 1945, which marks the end of World War II and roughly the beginning of widespread hybrid use by growers and seed companies. Many gardeners consider 1951 to be the latest year a plant could have originated and still be called an heirloom, since that year marked the widespread introduction of the first hybrid varieties. It was in the 1970s that hybrid seeds began to proliferate in the commercial seed trade. Some heirloom varieties are much older; some are apparently pre-historic. Another way of defining heirloom cultivars is to use the definition of the word heirloom in its truest sense. Under this interpretation, a true heirloom is a cultivar that has been nurtured, selected, and handed down from one family member to another for many generations. Additionally, there is another category of cultivars that could be classified as "commercial heirlooms": cultivars that were introduced many generations ago and were of such merit that they have been saved, maintained and handed down – even if the seed company has gone out of business or otherwise dropped the line. Additionally, many old commercial releases have actually been family heirlooms that a seed company obtained and introduced. Regardless of a person's specific interpretation, most authorities agree that heirlooms, by definition, must be open-pollinated. They may also be open-pollinated varieties that were bred and stabilized using classic breeding practices. While there are no genetically modified tomatoes available for commercial or home use, it is generally agreed that no genetically modified organisms can be considered heirloom cultivars. Another important point of discussion is that without the ongoing growing and storage of heirloom plants, the seed companies and the government will control all seed distribution. Most, if not all, hybrid plants, if they don't have sterile seeds and can be regrown, will not be the same as the original hybrid plant, thus ensuring the dependency on seed distributors for future crops. The heritage fruit trees that exist today are clonally descended from trees of antiquity. Heirloom roses are sometimes collected (nondestructively as small cuttings) from vintage homes and from cemeteries, where they were once planted at gravesites by mourners and left undisturbed in the decades since. Modern production methods and the rise in population have largely supplanted this practice. In the UK and Europe, it is thought that many heritage vegetable varieties (perhaps over 2,000) have been lost since the 1970s, when EEC (now EU) laws were passed making it illegal to sell any vegetable cultivar not on the national list of any EEC country. This was set up to help in eliminating seed suppliers selling one seed as another, guarantee the seeds were true to type, and that they germinated consistently. Thus, there were stringent tests to assess varieties, with a view to ensuring they remain the same from one generation to the next. These tests (called DUS) assess "distinctness", "uniformity", and "stability". But since some heritage cultivars are not necessarily uniform from plant to plant, or indeed within a single plant—a single cultivar—this has been a sticking point. "Distinctness" has been a problem, moreover, because many cultivars have several names, perhaps coming from different areas or countries (e.g., carrot cultivar Long Surrey Red is also known as "Red Intermediate", "St. Valery", and "Chertsey"). However, it has been ascertained that some of these varieties that look similar are in fact different cultivars. On the other hand, two that were known to be different cultivars were almost identical to each other, thus one would be dropped from the national list in order to clean it up. Another problem has been the fact that it is somewhat expensive to register and then maintain a cultivar on a national list. Therefore, if no seed breeder or supplier thinks it will sell well, no one will maintain it on a list, and so the seed will not be re-bred by commercial seed breeders. In recent years, progress has been made in the UK to set up allowances and less stringent tests for heritage varieties on a B national list, but this is still under consideration. When heirloom plants are not being sold, however, laws are often more lenient. Because most heirloom plants are at least 50 years old and grown and swapped in a family or community they fall under the public domain. Another worldwide alternative is to submit heirloom seeds to a seedbank. These public repositories in turn maintain and disburse these genetics to anyone who will use them appropriately. Typically, approved uses are breeding, study, and sometimes, further distribution. There are a variety of intellectual property protections and laws that are applied to heirloom seeds which can often differ greatly between states. Plant patents are based on the Plant Patent Act of 1930 which protects plants grown from cuttings and division, while under intellectual property rights, the Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 (PVPA) shields non-hybrid, seed- propagated plants. However, seed breeders can only shelter their variety for 20 years under PVPA. There are also a couple exceptions under the PVPA which allow growers to cultivate, save seeds, and sell the resultant crops as well as give breeders allowances to use PVPA protected varieties as starter material as long as it constitutes less than half of the breeding material. There are also seed licenses which may place restrictions on the use of seeds or trademarks that guard against the use of certain plant variety names. In 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture caused a seed-lending library to shut down and promised to curtail any similar efforts in the state. The lending library, hosted by a town library, allowed gardeners to "check out" a package of open-pollinated seed, and "return" seeds kept from the crop grown from those seeds. The Department of Agriculture said that this activity raises the possibility of "agro-terrorism", and that a Seed Act of 2004 requires the library staff to test each seed packet for germination rate and whether the seed was true to type. In 2016 the department reversed this decision, and clarified that seed libraries and non-commercial seed exchanges are not subject to the requirements of the Seed Act. As the effects of climate change intensify and the world population rises, more attention is being put on heirloom plants as a way to restore genetic diversity and feed a growing population while safeguarding the food supply of diverse regions. Specific heirloom plants are often selected, saved, and planted again because of their superior performance in a particular locality. Over many crop cycles these plants develop unique adaptive qualities to their environment which empowers local communities and can be vital to maintaining the genetic resources of the world. Bhutanese red rice, Black rice, Heirloom tomato Ark of Taste, Biodiversity, Community gardening, History of gardening, Association Kokopelli, Landrace, List of organic gardening and farming topics, Local food, Orthodox seed, Rare breed, Recalcitrant seed, Seed saving, Seedbank, Slow Food, Kyoyasai, a specific class of Japanese heirloom vegetables originating around Kyoto, Japan. What is an heirloom vegetable?, Heirloom Vegetables from the Home and Garden Information Center at Clemson University, FAO/IAEA Programme Mutant Variety Database, FDA Statement of Policy - Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties, DEFRA - Plant varieties and seeds Somatic fusion, also called protoplast fusion, is a type of genetic modification in plants by which two distinct species of plants are fused together to form a new hybrid plant with the characteristics of both, a somatic hybrid. Hybrids have been produced either between different varieties of the same species (e.g. between non-flowering potato plants and flowering potato plants) or between two different species (e.g. between wheat Triticum and rye Secale to produce Triticale). Uses of somatic fusion include making potato plants resistant to potato leaf roll disease. Through somatic fusion, the crop potato plant Solanum tuberosum - the yield of which is severely reduced by a viral disease transmitted on by the aphid vector - is fused with the wild, non-tuber-bearing potato Solanum brevidens, which is resistant to the disease. The resulting hybrid has the chromosomes of both plants and is thus similar to polyploid plants. Somatic hybridization was first introduced by Carlson et al. in Nicotiana glauca. The somatic fusion process occurs in four steps: 1. The removal of the cell wall of one cell of each type of plant using cellulase enzyme to produce a somatic cell called a protoplast 2. The cells are then fused using electric shock (electrofusion) or chemical treatment to join the cells and fuse together the nuclei. The resulting fused nucleus is called heterokaryon. 3. The formation of the cell wall is then induced using hormones 4. The cells are then grown into calluses which then are further grown to plantlets and finally to a full plant, known as a somatic hybrid. The procedure for seed plants describe above, fusion of moss protoplasts can be initiated without electric shock but by the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG). Further, moss protoplasts do not need phytohormones for regeneration, and they do not form a callus. Instead, regenerating moss protoplasts behave like germinating moss spores. Of further note sodium nitrate and calcium ion at high pH can be used, although results are variable depending on the organism. Somatic cells of different types can be fused to obtain hybrid cells. Hybrid cells are useful in a variety of ways, e.g., (i) to study the control of cell division and gene expression, (ii) to investigate malignant transformations, (iii) to obtain viral replication, (iv) for gene or chromosome mapping and for (v) production of monoclonal antibodies by producing hybridoma (hybrid cells between an immortalised cell and an antibody producing lymphocyte), etc. Chromosome mapping through somatic cell hybridization is essentially based on fusion of human and mouse somatic cells. Generally, human fibrocytes or leucocytes are fused with mouse continuous cell lines. When human and mouse cells (or cells of any two mammalian species or of the same species) are mixed, spontaneous cell fusion occurs at a very low rate (10-6). Cell fusion is enhanced 100 to 1000 times by the addition of ultraviolet inactivated Sendai (parainfluenza) virus or polyethylene glycol (PEG). These agents adhere to the plasma membranes of cells and alter their properties in such a way that facilitates their fusion. Fusion of two cells produces a heterokaryon, i.e., a single hybrid cell with two nuclei, one from each of the cells entering fusion. Subsequently, the two nuclei also fuse to yield a hybrid cell with a single nucleus. A generalized scheme for somatic cell hybridization may be described as follows. Appropriate human and mouse cells are selected and mixed together in the presence of inactivated Sendai virus or PEG to promote cell fusion. After a period of time, the cells (a mixture of man, mouse and 'hybrid' cells) are plated on a selective medium, e.g., HAT medium, which allows the multiplication of hybrid cells only. Several clones (each derived from a single hybrid cell) of the hybrid cells are thus isolated and subjected to both cytogenetic and appropriate biochemical analyses for the detection of enzyme/ protein/trait under investigation. An attempt is now made to correlate the presence and absence of the trait with the presence and absence of a human chromosome in the hybrid clones. If there is a perfect correlation between the presence and absence of a human chromosome and that of a trait in the hybrid clones, the gene governing the trait is taken to be located in the concerned chromosome. The HAT medium is one of the several selective media used for the selection of hybrid cells. This medium is supplemented with hypoxanthine, aminopterin and thymidine, hence the name HAT medium. Antimetabolite aminopterin blocks the cellular biosynthesis of purines and pyrimidines from simple sugars and amino acids. However, normal human and mouse cells can still multiply as they can utilize hypoxanthine and thymidine present in the medium through a salvage pathway, which ordinarily recycles the purines and pyrimidines produced from degradation of nucleic acids. Hypoxanthine is converted into guanine by the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT), while thymidine is phosphorylated by thymidine kinase (TK); both HGPRT and TK are enzymes of the salvage pathway. On a HAT medium, only those cells that have active HGPRT (HGPRT+) and TK (TK+) enzymes can proliferate, while those deficient in these enzymes (HGPRr- and/or TK-) can not divide (since they cannot produce purines and pyrimidines due to the aminopterin present in the HAT medium). For using HAT medium as a selective agent, human cells used for fusion must be deficient for either the enzyme HGPRT or TK, while mouse cells must be deficient for the other enzyme of this pair. Thus, one may fuse HGPRT deficient human cells (designated as TK+ HGPRr-) with TK deficient mouse cells (denoted as TK- HGPRT+). Their fusion products (hybrid cells) will be TK+ (due to the human gene) and HGPRT+ (due to the mouse gene) and will multiply on the HAT medium, while the man and mouse cells will fail to do so. Experiments with other selective media can be planned in a similar fashion. 1. Somatic cell fusion appears to be the only means through which two different parental genomes can be recombined among plants that cannot reproduce sexually (asexual or sterile). 2. Protoplasts of sexually sterile (haploid, triploid, and aneuploid) plants can be fused to produce fertile diploids and polyploids. 3. Somatic cell fusion overcomes sexual incompatibility barriers. In some cases somatic hybrids between two incompatible plants have also found application in industry or agriculture. 4. Somatic cell fusion is useful in the study of cytoplasmic genes and their activities and this information can be applied in plant breeding experiments. Table: Reference #5 Note: The table only lists a few examples, there are many more crosses. The possibilities of this technology are great; however, not all species are easily put into protoplast culture.

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The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. Primarily developed during live performances, the band premiered an early version of the record several months before recording began. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London. The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised their earlier work. A concept album, its themes explore conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by the deteriorating health of founding member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968. The group used recording techniques such as multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers. Snippets from interviews with the band's road crew, as well as philosophical quotations, were also used. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many sonic aspects and the recruitment of singer Clare Torry, who appears on "The Great Gig in the Sky". The sleeve, which depicts a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson, following keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design, representing the band's lighting and the record's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: "Money" and "Us and Them". The Dark Side of the Moon received critical acclaim upon release, and has since been hailed by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. The record reached number one on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart (now known as the Billboard 200), and has charted for over 900 weeks in total. With estimated sales of over 45 million copies, it is Pink Floyd's best seller, and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. The record helped to propel Pink Floyd to international fame, bringing wealth and recognition to all four of its members. It has been remastered and re-released on several occasions, most recently for digital distribution. Following Meddle in 1971, Pink Floyd assembled for a tour of Britain, Japan and the United States in December of that year. In a band meeting at drummer Nick Mason's home in Camden, bassist Roger Waters proposed that a new album could form part of the tour. Waters' idea was for an album that dealt with things that "make people mad", focusing on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and dealing with the apparent mental problems suffered by former band member Syd Barrett. The band had explored a similar idea with 1969's The Man and The Journey. In an interview for Rolling Stone, guitarist David Gilmour said: "I think we all thought – and Roger definitely thought – that a lot of the lyrics that we had been using were a little too indirect. There was definitely a feeling that the words were going to be very clear and specific." Generally, all four members agreed that Waters' album concept unified by a single theme was a good idea. Waters, Gilmour, Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright participated in the writing and production of the new material, and Waters created the early demo tracks at his Islington home in a small studio built in his garden shed. Parts of the new album were taken from previously unused material; the opening line of "Breathe" came from an earlier work by Waters and Ron Geesin, written for the soundtrack of The Body, and the basic structure of "Us and Them" borrowed from an original composition by Wright for Zabriskie Point. The band rehearsed at a warehouse in London owned by the Rolling Stones, and then at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London. They also purchased extra equipment, which included new speakers, a PA system, a 28-track mixing desk with a four channel quadraphonic output, and a custom-built lighting rig. Nine tonnes of kit was transported in three lorries; this would be the first time the band had taken an entire album on tour. The album had been given the provisional title of Dark Side of the Moon (an allusion to lunacy, rather than astronomy). However, after discovering that that title had already been used by another band, Medicine Head, it was temporarily changed to Eclipse. The new material premiered at The Dome in Brighton, on 20 January 1972, and after the commercial failure of Medicine Head's album the title was changed back to the band's original preference. Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, as it was then known, was performed in the presence of an assembled press on 17 February 1972 – more than a year before its release – at the Rainbow Theatre, and was critically acclaimed. Michael Wale of The Times described the piece as "bringing tears to the eyes. It was so completely understanding and musically questioning." Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times wrote "The ambition of the Floyd's artistic intention is now vast." Melody Maker was less enthusiastic: "Musically, there were some great ideas, but the sound effects often left me wondering if I was in a bird-cage at London zoo." The following tour was praised by the public. The new material was performed in the same order in which it was eventually recorded; differences included the lack of synthesisers in tracks such as "On the Run", and Bible readings replaced by Clare Torry's vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky". Pink Floyd's lengthy tour through Europe and North America gave them the opportunity to make continual improvements to the scale and quality of their performances. Work on the album was interrupted in late February when the band travelled to France and recorded music for French director Barbet Schroeder's film La Vallée. They then performed in Japan and returned to France in March to complete work on the film. After a series of dates in North America, the band flew to London to begin recording, from 24 May to 25 June. More concerts in Europe and North America followed before the band returned on 9 January 1973 to complete the album. The Dark Side of the Moon built upon experiments Pink Floyd had attempted in their previous live shows and recordings, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions which, according to critic David Fricke, had become characteristic of the band after founding member Syd Barrett left in 1968. Gilmour, Barrett's replacement, later referred to those instrumentals as "that psychedelic noodling stuff", and with Waters cited 1971's Meddle as a turning-point towards what would be realised on the album. The Dark Side of the Moons lyrical themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time, death, and insanity, the latter inspired in part by Barrett's deteriorating mental state. The album contains musique concrète on several tracks. Each side of the album is a continuous piece of music. The five tracks on each side reflect various stages of human life, beginning and ending with a heartbeat, exploring the nature of the human experience, and (according to Waters) "empathy". "Speak to Me" and "Breathe" together stress the mundane and futile elements of life that accompany the ever-present threat of madness, and the importance of living one's own life – "Don't be afraid to care". By shifting the scene to an airport, the synthesiser-driven instrumental "On the Run" evokes the stress and anxiety of modern travel, in particular Wright's fear of flying. "Time" examines the manner in which its passage can control one's life and offers a stark warning to those who remain focused on mundane aspects; it is followed by a retreat into solitude and withdrawal in "Breathe (Reprise)". The first side of the album ends with Wright and vocalist Clare Torry's soulful metaphor for death, "The Great Gig in the Sky". Opening with the sound of cash registers and loose change, the first track on side two, "Money", mocks greed and consumerism using tongue-in-cheek lyrics and cash-related sound effects. "Money" became the most commercially successful track, and has been covered by several acts. "Us and Them" addresses the isolation of the depressed with the symbolism of conflict and the use of simple dichotomies to describe personal relationships. "Any Colour You Like" concerns the lack of choice one has in a human society. "Brain Damage" looks at a mental illness resulting from the elevation of fame and success above the needs of the self; in particular, the line "and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes" reflects the mental breakdown of former bandmate Syd Barrett. The album ends with "Eclipse", which espouses the concepts of alterity and unity, while forcing the listener to recognise the common traits shared by humanity. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, in two sessions, between May 1972 and January 1973. The band were assigned staff engineer Alan Parsons, who had worked as assistant tape operator on Atom Heart Mother, and who had also gained experience as a recording engineer on the Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be. The recording sessions made use of advanced studio techniques; the studio was capable of 16-track mixes, which offered a greater degree of flexibility than the eight- or four-track mixes they had previously used, although the band often used so many tracks that to make more space available second-generation copies were made. Beginning on 1 June, the first track to be recorded was "Us and Them", followed six days later by "Money". Waters had created effects loops from recordings of various money-related objects, including coins thrown into a food-mixing bowl taken from his wife's pottery studio, and these were later re-recorded to take advantage of the band's decision to record a quadraphonic mix of the album (Parsons has since expressed dissatisfaction with the result of this mix, attributed to a lack of time and the paucity of available multi-track tape recorders). "Time" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" were the next pieces to be recorded, followed by a two- month break, during which the band spent time with their families and prepared for an upcoming tour of the US. The recording sessions suffered regular interruptions; Waters, a supporter of Arsenal F.C., would often break to see his team compete, and the band would occasionally stop work to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus on the television, leaving Parsons to work on material recorded up to that point. Gilmour has, however, disputed this claim; in an interview in 2003 he said: "We would sometimes watch them but when we were on a roll, we would get on." Returning from the US in January 1973, they recorded "Brain Damage", "Eclipse", "Any Colour You Like" and "On the Run", while fine- tuning the work they had already laid down in the previous sessions. A foursome of female vocalists was assembled to sing on "Brain Damage", "Eclipse" and "Time", and saxophonist Dick Parry was booked to play on "Us and Them" and "Money". With director Adrian Maben, the band also filmed studio footage for . Once the recording sessions were complete, the band began a tour of Europe. The album features metronomic sound effects during "Speak to Me", and tape loops opening "Money". Mason created a rough version of "Speak to Me" at his home, before completing it in the studio. The track serves as an overture and contains cross-fades of elements from other pieces on the album. A piano chord, replayed backwards, serves to augment the build-up of effects, which are immediately followed by the opening of "Breathe". Mason received a rare solo composing credit for "Speak to Me". The sound effects on "Money" were created by splicing together Waters' recordings of clinking coins, tearing paper, a ringing cash register, and a clicking adding machine, which were used to create a 7-beat effects loop (later adapted to four tracks in order to create a "walk around the room" effect in quadraphonic presentations of the album). At times the degree of sonic experimentation on the album required the engineers and band to operate the mixing console's faders simultaneously, in order to mix down the intricately assembled multitrack recordings of several of the songs (particularly "On the Run"). Along with the conventional rock band instrumentation, Pink Floyd added prominent synthesisers to their sound. For example, the band experimented with an EMS VCS 3 on "Brain Damage" and "Any Colour You Like", and a Synthi A on "Time" and "On the Run". They also devised and recorded unconventional sounds, such as an assistant engineer running around the studio's echo chamber (during "On the Run"), and a specially treated bass drum made to simulate a human heartbeat (during "Speak to Me", "On the Run", "Time" and "Eclipse"). This heartbeat is most prominent as the intro and the outro to the album, but it can also be heard sporadically on "Time" and "On the Run". "Time" features assorted clocks ticking, then chiming simultaneously at the start of the song, accompanied by a series of Rototoms. The recordings were initially created as a quadraphonic test by Parsons, who recorded each timepiece at an antique clock shop. Although these recordings had not been created specifically for the album, elements of this material were eventually used in the track. Several tracks, including "Us and Them" and "Time", demonstrated Richard Wright's and David Gilmour's ability to harmonise their voices. In the 2003 Classic Albums documentary The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, Waters attributed this to the fact that their voices sounded extremely similar. To take advantage of this, Parsons utilised studio techniques such as the double tracking of vocals and guitars, which allowed Gilmour to harmonise with himself. The engineer also made prominent use of flanging and phase shifting effects on vocals and instruments, odd trickery with reverb, and the panning of sounds between channels (most notable in the quadraphonic mix of "On the Run", when the sound of the Hammond B3 organ played through a Leslie speaker rapidly swirls around the listener). The album's credits include Clare Torry, a session singer and songwriter, and a regular at Abbey Road. She had worked on pop material and numerous cover albums, and after hearing one of those albums Parsons invited her to the studio to sing on Wright's composition "The Great Gig in the Sky". She declined this invitation as she wanted to watch Chuck Berry perform at the Hammersmith Odeon, but arranged to come in on the following Sunday. The band explained the concept behind the album, but were unable to tell her exactly what she should do. Gilmour was in charge of the session, and in a few short takes on a Sunday night Torry improvised a wordless melody to accompany Wright's emotive piano solo. She was initially embarrassed by her exuberance in the recording booth, and wanted to apologise to the band – only to find them delighted with her performance. Her takes were then selectively edited to produce the version used on the track. For her contribution she was paid £30, equivalent to about £ in 2020. In 2004, she sued EMI and Pink Floyd for 50% of the songwriting royalties, arguing that her contribution to "The Great Gig in the Sky" was substantial enough to be considered co-authorship. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, with all post-2005 pressings crediting Wright and Torry jointly. Snippets of voices between and over the music are another notable feature of the album. During recording sessions, Waters recruited both the staff and the temporary occupants of the studio to answer a series of questions printed on flashcards. The interviewees were placed in front of a microphone in a darkened Studio 3, and shown such questions as "What's your favourite colour?" and "What's your favourite food?", before moving on to themes more central to the album (such as madness, violence, and death). Questions such as "When was the last time you were violent?", followed immediately by "Were you in the right?", were answered in the order they were presented. Roger "The Hat" Manifold proved difficult to find, and was the only contributor recorded in a conventional sit-down interview, as by then the flashcards had been mislaid. Waters asked him about a violent encounter he had had with another motorist, and Manifold replied "... give 'em a quick, short, sharp shock ..." When asked about death he responded "live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me ..." Another roadie, Chris Adamson, who was on tour with Pink Floyd, recorded the snippet which opens the album: "I've been mad for fucking years – absolutely years". The band's road manager Peter Watts (father of actress Naomi Watts) contributed the repeated laughter during "Brain Damage" and "Speak to Me". His second wife, Patricia "Puddie" Watts (now Patricia Gleason), was responsible for the line about the "geezer" who was "cruisin' for a bruisin used in the segue between "Money" and "Us and Them", and the words "I never said I was frightened of dying" heard halfway through "The Great Gig in the Sky". Perhaps the most notable responses "I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime" and closing words "there is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark" came from the studios' Irish doorman, Gerry O'Driscoll. Paul and Linda McCartney were also interviewed, but their answers were judged to be "trying too hard to be funny", and were not included on the album. McCartney's Wings bandmate Henry McCullough contributed the line "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time". Following the completion of the dialogue sessions, producer Chris Thomas was hired to provide "a fresh pair of ears". Thomas's background was in music, rather than engineering. He had worked with Beatles producer George Martin, and was acquainted with Pink Floyd's manager Steve O'Rourke. All four members of the band were engaged in a disagreement over the style of the mix, with Waters and Mason preferring a "dry" and "clean" mix which made more use of the non-musical elements, and Gilmour and Wright preferring a subtler and more "echoey" mix. Thomas later claimed there were no such disagreements, stating "There was no difference in opinion between them, I don't remember Roger once saying that he wanted less echo. In fact, there were never any hints that they were later going to fall out. It was a very creative atmosphere. A lot of fun." Although the truth remains unclear, Thomas's intervention resulted in a welcome compromise between Waters and Gilmour, leaving both entirely satisfied with the end product. Thomas was responsible for significant changes to the album, including the perfect timing of the echo used on "Us and Them". He was also present for the recording of "The Great Gig in the Sky" (although Parsons was responsible for hiring Torry). Interviewed in 2006, when asked if he felt his goals had been accomplished in the studio, Waters said: The album was originally released in a gatefold LP sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie. Hipgnosis had designed several of the band's previous albums, with controversial results; EMI had reacted with confusion when faced with the cover designs for Atom Heart Mother and Obscured by Clouds, as they had expected to see traditional designs which included lettering and words. Designers Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell were able to ignore such criticism as they were employed by the band. For The Dark Side of the Moon, Richard Wright instructed them to come up with something "smarter, neater – more classy". The design was inspired by a photograph of a prism with a colour beam projected through it that Thorgerson had found in a photography book. The artwork was created by their associate, George Hardie. Hipgnosis offered the band a choice of seven designs, but all four members agreed that the prism was by far the best. The final design depicts a glass prism dispersing light into colour. The design represents three elements: the band's stage lighting, the album lyrics, and Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design. The spectrum of light continues through to the gatefold – an idea that Waters came up with. Added shortly afterwards, the gatefold design also includes a visual representation of the heartbeat sound used throughout the album, and the back of the album cover contains Thorgerson's suggestion of another prism recombining the spectrum of light, facilitating interesting layouts of the sleeve in record shops. The light band emanating from the prism on the album cover has six colours, missing indigo compared to the traditional division of the spectrum into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Inside the sleeve were two posters and two pyramid-themed stickers. One poster bore pictures of the band in concert, overlaid with scattered letters to form PINK FLOYD, and the other an infrared photograph of the Great Pyramids of Giza, created by Powell and Thorgerson. The band were so confident of the quality of Waters' lyrics that, for the first time, they printed them on the album's sleeve. As the quadraphonic mix of the album was not then complete, the band (with the exception of Wright) boycotted the press reception held at the London Planetarium on 27 February. The guests were, instead, presented with a quartet of life-sized cardboard cut-outs of the band, and the stereo mix of the album was presented through a poor-quality public address system. Generally, however, the press were enthusiastic; Melody Makers Roy Hollingworth described side one as "so utterly confused with itself it was difficult to follow", but praised side two, writing: "The songs, the sounds, the rhythms were solid and sound, Saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled, and then gushed and tripped away into the night." Steve Peacock of Sounds wrote: "I don't care if you've never heard a note of the Pink Floyd's music in your life, I'd unreservedly recommend everyone to The Dark Side of the Moon". In his 1973 review for Rolling Stone magazine, Loyd Grossman declared Dark Side "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement". In (1981), Robert Christgau found its lyrical ideas clichéd and its music pretentious, but called it a "kitsch masterpiece" that can be charming with highlights such as taped speech fragments, Parry's saxophone, and studio effects which enhance Gilmour's guitar solos. The Dark Side of the Moon was released first in the US on 1 March 1973, and then in the UK on 16 March. It became an instant chart success in Britain and throughout Western Europe; by the following month, it had gained a gold certification in the US. Throughout March 1973 the band played the album as part of their US tour, including a midnight performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 17 March before an audience of 6,000. The album reached the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart's number one spot on 28 April 1973, and was so successful that the band returned two months later for another tour. Much of the album's early American success is attributed to the efforts of Pink Floyd's US record company, Capitol Records. Newly appointed chairman Bhaskar Menon set about trying to reverse the relatively poor sales of the band's 1971 studio album Meddle. Meanwhile, disenchanted with Capitol, the band and manager O'Rourke had been quietly negotiating a new contract with CBS president Clive Davis, on Columbia Records. The Dark Side of the Moon was the last album that Pink Floyd were obliged to release before formally signing a new contract. Menon's enthusiasm for the new album was such that he began a huge promotional advertising campaign, which included radio-friendly truncated versions of "Us and Them" and "Time". In some countries – notably the UK – Pink Floyd had not released a single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky", and unusually "Money" was released as a single on 7 May, with "Any Colour You Like" on the B-side. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. A two-sided white label promotional version of the single, with mono and stereo mixes, was sent to radio stations. The mono side had the word "bullshit" removed from the song – leaving "bull" in its place – however, the stereo side retained the uncensored version. This was subsequently withdrawn; the replacement was sent to radio stations with a note advising disc jockeys to dispose of the first uncensored copy. On 4 February 1974, a double A-side single was released with "Time" on one side, and "Us and Them" on the opposite side. Menon's efforts to secure a contract renewal with Pink Floyd were in vain however; at the beginning of 1974, the band signed for Columbia with a reported advance fee of $1M (in Britain and Europe they continued to be represented by Harvest Records). The Dark Side of the Moon became one of the best-selling albums of all time and is in the top 25 of a list of best-selling albums in the United States. Although it held the number one spot in the US for only a week, it remained in the Billboard album chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. The album re- appeared on the Billboard charts with the introduction of the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in May 1991, and has been a perennial feature since then. In the UK, it is the seventh-best-selling album of all time and the highest selling album never to reach number one. In the US the LP was released before the introduction of platinum awards in 1976. It therefore held only a gold disc until 16 February 1990, when it was certified 11× platinum. On 4 June 1998 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album 15× platinum, denoting sales of fifteen million in the United States – making it their biggest-selling work there (The Wall is 23× platinum, but as a double album this signifies sales of 11.5 million). "Money" has sold well as a single, and as with "Time", remains a radio favourite; in the US, for the year ending 20 April 2005, "Time" was played on 13,723 occasions, and "Money" on 13,731 occasions. Industry sources suggest that worldwide sales of the album total about 45 million. "On a slow week" between 8,000 and 9,000 copies are sold, and a total of 400,000 were sold in 2002, making it the 200th-best- selling album of that year – nearly three decades after its initial release. The album has sold 9,502,000 copies in the US since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard. To this day, it occupies a prominent spot on Billboards Pop Catalog Chart. It reached number one when the 2003 hybrid CD/SACD edition was released and sold 800,000 copies in the US. On the week of 5 May 2006 The Dark Side of the Moon achieved a combined total of 1,716 weeks on the Billboard 200 and Pop Catalog charts. One in every fourteen people in the US under the age of 50 is estimated to own, or to have owned, a copy. Upon a change in methodology in 2009 allowing catalogue titles to be included in the Billboard 200, The Dark Side of the Moon returned to the chart at number 189 on 12 December of that year for its 742nd charting week. It has continued to sporadically appear on the Billboard 200 since then, with the total at 949 weeks on the chart as of January 2020. "The combination of words and music hit a peak," explained Gilmour. "All the music before had not had any great lyrical point to it. And this one was clear and concise. The cover was also right. I think it's become like a benevolent noose hanging behind us. Throughout our entire career, people have said we would never top the Dark Side record and tour. But The Wall earned more in dollar terms." In 1979, The Dark Side of the Moon was released as a remastered LP by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, and in April 1988 on their "Ultradisc" gold CD format. The album was released by EMI and Harvest on the then-new compact disc format in Japan in June 1983, in the US and Europe in August 1984, and in 1992 it was re-released as a remastered CD in the box set Shine On. This version was re- released as a 20th anniversary box set edition with postcards the following year. The cover design was again by Storm Thorgerson, the designer of the original 1973 cover. On some pressings, a faintly audible orchestral version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" can be heard after "Eclipse" over the album's closing heartbeats. The original quadraphonic mix, created by Alan Parsons, was commissioned by EMI but never endorsed by Pink Floyd, as Parsons was disappointed with his mix. To celebrate the album's 30th anniversary, an updated surround version was released in 2003. The band elected not to use Parsons' quadraphonic mix (done shortly after the original release), and instead had engineer James Guthrie create a new 5.1 channel surround sound mix on the SACD format. Guthrie had worked with Pink Floyd since co-producing and engineering their eleventh album, The Wall, and had previously worked on surround versions of The Wall for DVD-Video and Waters' In the Flesh for SACD. Speaking in 2003, Alan Parsons expressed some disappointment with Guthrie's SACD mix, suggesting that Guthrie was "possibly a little too true to the original mix", but was generally complimentary. The 30th-anniversary edition won four Surround Music Awards in 2003, and has since sold more than 800,000 copies. The cover image was created by a team of designers including Storm Thorgerson. The image is a photograph of a custom-made stained glass window, built to match the exact dimensions and proportions of the original prism design. Transparent glass, held in place by strips of lead, was used in place of the opaque colours of the original. The idea is derived from the "sense of purity in the sound quality, being 5.1 surround sound ..." The image was created out of a desire to be "the same but different, such that the design was clearly DSotM, still the recognisable prism design, but was different and hence new". The Dark Side of the Moon was also re-released in 2003 on 180-gram virgin vinyl (mastered by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering) and included slightly different versions of the original posters and stickers that came with the original vinyl release, along with a new 30th anniversary poster. In 2007 the album was included in Oh, by the Way, a box set celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd, and a DRM-free version was released on the iTunes Store. In 2011 the album was re-released as part of the Why Pink Floyd...? campaign, featuring a remastered version of the album along with various other material. The success of the album brought wealth to all four members of the band; Richard Wright and Roger Waters bought large country houses, and Nick Mason became a collector of upmarket cars. Some of the profits were invested in the production of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Engineer Alan Parsons received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for The Dark Side of the Moon, and he went on to have a successful career as a recording artist with the Alan Parsons Project. Although Waters and Gilmour have on occasion downplayed his contribution to the success of the album, Mason has praised his role. In 2003, Parsons reflected: "I think they all felt that I managed to hang the rest of my career on Dark Side of the Moon, which has an element of truth to it. But I still wake up occasionally, frustrated about the fact that they made untold millions and a lot of the people involved in the record didn't." Part of the legacy of The Dark Side of the Moon is in its influence on modern music, the musicians who have performed cover versions of its songs, and even in a modern urban myth. Its release is often seen as a pivotal point in the history of rock music, and comparisons are sometimes drawn between Pink Floyd and Radiohead – specifically their 1997 album OK Computer – which has been called The Dark Side of the Moon of the 1990s, owing to the fact that both albums share themes relating to the loss of a creative individual's ability to function in the modern world. In a 2018 book about classic rock, Steven Hyden recalls concluding, in his teens, that The Dark Side of the Moon and Led Zeppelin IV were the two greatest albums of the genre, vision quests "encompass[ing] the twin poles of teenage desire". They had similarities, in that both album's cover and internal artwork eschew pictures of the bands in favor of "inscrutable iconography without any tangible meaning (which always seemed to give the music packaged inside more meaning)". But whereas Led Zeppelin had looked outward, toward "conquering the world" and was known at the time for its outrageous sexual antics while on tour, Pink Floyd looked inward, toward "overcoming your own hang-ups" and seemed so sedate and boring that, Hyden commented, the scene in Live at Pompeii where they take a lunch break at the studio might well have been the most interesting part of recording The Dark Side of the Moon. The Dark Side of the Moon has frequently appeared on rankings of the greatest albums of all-time. In 1987, Rolling Stone listed the record 35th on its "Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years", and sixteen years later, in 2003 the album polled in 43rd position on the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".and was voted 43rd again on the magazine's 2012 list. In 2006, it was voted "My Favourite Album" by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's audience. NME readers voted the album eighth in their 2006 "Best Album of All Time" online poll, and in 2009, Planet Rock listeners voted the album the "greatest of all time". The album is also number two on the "Definitive 200" list of albums, made by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers "in celebration of the art form of the record album". It came 29th in The Observers 2006 list of "The 50 Albums That Changed Music", and 37th in The Guardians 1997 list of the "100 Best Albums Ever", as voted for by a panel of artists and music critics. The album's cover has been lauded by critics and listeners alike, VH1 proclaiming it the fourth greatest in history, and Planet Rock listeners the greatest of all time. In 2013, The Dark Side of the Moon was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2014, readers of Rhythm voted it the seventh most influential progressive drumming album. It was voted number 9 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). One of the more notable covers of The Dark Side of the Moon is Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd. Released in 2006, the album is a progressive rock tribute featuring artists such as Adrian Belew, Tommy Shaw, Dweezil Zappa, and Rick Wakeman. In 2000, The Squirrels released The Not So Bright Side of the Moon, which features a cover of the entire album. The New York dub collective Easy Star All-Stars released Dub Side of the Moon in 2003 and Dubber Side of the Moon in 2010. The group Voices on the Dark Side released the album Dark Side of the Moon a Cappella, a complete a cappella version of the album. The bluegrass band Poor Man's Whiskey frequently play the album in bluegrass style, calling the suite Dark Side of the Moonshine. A string quartet version of the album was released in 2003. In 2009, The Flaming Lips released a track-by-track remake of the album in collaboration with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, and featuring Henry Rollins and Peaches as guest musicians. Several notable acts have covered the album live in its entirety, and a range of performers have used samples from The Dark Side of the Moon in their own material. Jam-rock band Phish performed a semi-improvised version of the entire album as part their show on 2 November 1998 in West Valley City, Utah. Progressive metal band Dream Theater have twice covered the album in their live shows, and in May 2011 Mary Fahl released From the Dark Side of the Moon, a song-by-song "re-imagining" of the album. Milli Vanilli used the tape loops from Pink Floyd's "Money" to open their track "Money", followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch on Music for the People. Dark Side of the Rainbow and Dark Side of Oz are two names commonly used in reference to rumours (circulated on the Internet since at least 1994) that The Dark Side of the Moon was written as a soundtrack for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Observers playing the film and the album simultaneously have reported apparent synchronicities, such as Dorothy beginning to jog at the lyric "no one told you when to run" during "Time", and Dorothy balancing on a tightrope fence during the line "balanced on the biggest wave" in "Breathe". David Gilmour and Nick Mason have both denied a connection between the two works, and Roger Waters has described the rumours as "amusing". Alan Parsons has stated that the film was not mentioned during production of the album. Pink Floyd David Gilmour – vocals, guitars, Synthi AKS, Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects, Richard Wright – organ (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric piano (Wurlitzer, Rhodes), EMS VCS 3, Synthi AKS, vocals, Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, VCS 3, tape effects Additional musicians Dick Parry – saxophone on "Us and Them" and "Money", Clare Torry – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky", Doris Troy – backing vocals, Lesley Duncan – backing vocals, Liza Strike – backing vocals, Barry St. John – backing vocals Production Alan Parsons – engineering, Peter James – assistant ), Chris Thomas – mix supervisor Design Hipgnosis – sleeve design, photography, George Hardie – sleeve art, stickers art Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining a following as a psychedelic rock group, they were distinguished for their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows, and became a leading band of the progressive rock genre. They are one of the most commercially successful and influential bands in popular music history. Pink Floyd were founded by students Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). Under Barrett's leadership, they released two charting singles and a successful debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined in December 1967; Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind the albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979), and The Final Cut (1983). The band also composed several film scores. Following personal tensions, Wright left Pink Floyd in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd, rejoined later by Wright. The three produced two more albums—A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994)—and toured both albums before entering a long period of inactivity. In 2005, all but Barrett reunited for a one-off performance at the global awareness event Live 8. Barrett died in 2006, and Wright in 2008. The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was based on unreleased material from the Division Bell recording sessions. Pink Floyd were one of the first British psychedelia groups, and are credited with influencing genres such as progressive rock and ambient music. Four albums topped US or UK record charts; the songs "See Emily Play" (1967) and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (1979) were their only top 10 singles in either territory. The band were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. By 2013, they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, with The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall two of the best-selling albums of all time. Roger Waters and Nick Mason met while studying architecture at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street. They first played music together in a group formed by Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Richard Wright, a fellow architecture student, joined later that year, and the group became a sextet, Sigma 6\. Waters played lead guitar, Mason drums, and Wright rhythm guitar (since there was rarely an available keyboard). The band performed at private functions and rehearsed in a tearoom in the basement of the Regent Street Polytechnic. They performed songs by the Searchers and material written by their manager and songwriter, fellow student Ken Chapman. In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into a flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens near Crouch End in London, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the nearby Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic. Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and guitarist Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters' switch to bass. Sigma 6 went through several names, including the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set. In 1964, as Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, guitarist Syd Barrett joined Klose and Waters at Stanhope Gardens. Barrett, two years younger, had moved to London in 1962 to study at the Camberwell College of Arts. Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; Waters had often visited Barrett and watched him play guitar at Barrett's mother's house. Mason said about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me." Noble and Metcalfe left the Tea Set in late 1963, and Klose introduced the band to singer Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force (RAF). In December 1964, they secured their first recording time, at a studio in West Hampstead, through one of Wright's friends, who let them use some down time free. Wright, who was taking a break from his studies, did not participate in the session. When the RAF assigned Dennis a post in Bahrain in early 1965, Barrett became the band's frontman. Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of 90 minutes each. During this period, spurred by the group's need to extend their sets to minimise song repetition, the band realised that "songs could be extended with lengthy solos", wrote Mason. After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit the band in mid-1965 and Barrett took over lead guitar. The group first referred to themselves as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965. Barrett created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. The name is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of rhythm and blues songs and they had begun to receive paid bookings, including a performance at the Marquee Club in December 1966, where Peter Jenner, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, noticed them. Jenner was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created, and with his business partner and friend Andrew King became their manager. The pair had little experience in the music industry and used King's inheritance to set up Blackhill Enterprises, purchasing about £1,000 () worth of new instruments and equipment for the band. It was around this time that Jenner suggested they drop the "Sound" part of their band name, thus becoming the Pink Floyd. Under Jenner and King's guidance, the group became part of London's underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall and the Marquee. While performing at the Countdown Club, the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand them with rudimentary but effective light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights. Jenner and King's social connections helped gain the band prominent coverage in the Financial Times and an article in the Sunday Times which stated: "At the launching of the new magazine IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic." In 1966, the band strengthened their business relationship with Blackhill Enterprises, becoming equal partners with Jenner and King and the band members each holding a one-sixth share. By late 1966, their set included fewer R&B; standards and more Barrett originals, many of which would be included on their first album. While they had significantly increased the frequency of their performances, the band were still not widely accepted. Following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance was not music. When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. The band was much better received at the UFO Club in London, where they began to build a fan base. Barrett's performances were enthusiastic, "leaping around ... madness ... improvisation ... [inspired] to get past his limitations and into areas that were ... very interesting. Which none of the others could do", wrote biographer Nicholas Schaffner. In 1967, Pink Floyd began to attract the attention of the music industry. While in negotiations with record companies, IT co-founder and UFO club manager Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking agent Bryan Morrison arranged and funded a recording session at Sound Techniques in West Hampstead. Three days later, Pink Floyd signed with EMI, receiving a £5,000 advance (). EMI released the band's first single, "Arnold Layne", with the B-side "Candy and a Currant Bun", on 10 March 1967 on its Columbia label. Both tracks were recorded on 29 January 1967. "Arnold Layne"'s references to cross-dressing led to a ban by several radio stations; however, creative manipulation by the retailers who supplied sales figures to the music business meant that the single peaked in the UK at number 20\. EMI-Columbia released Pink Floyd's second single, "See Emily Play", on 16 June 1967. It fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", peaking at number 6 in the UK. The band performed on the BBC's Look of the Week, where Waters and Barrett, erudite and engaging, faced tough questioning from Hans Keller. They appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops, a popular programme that controversially required artists to mime their singing and playing. Though Pink Floyd returned for two more performances, by the third, Barrett had begun to unravel, and it was around this time that the band first noticed significant changes in his behaviour. By early 1967, he was regularly using LSD, and Mason described him as "completely distanced from everything going on". Morrison and EMI producer Norman Smith negotiated Pink Floyd's first recording contract, and as part of the deal, the band agreed to record their first album at EMI Studios in London. Mason recalled that the sessions were trouble-free. Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism. EMI-Columbia released The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967. The album peaked at number 6, spending 14 weeks on the UK charts. One month later, it was released under the Tower Records label. Pink Floyd continued to draw large crowds at the UFO Club; however, Barrett's mental breakdown was by then causing serious concern. The group initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but some were less optimistic, including Jenner and his assistant, June Child, who commented: "I found [Barrett] in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, [and] we got him out to the stage ... The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down". Forced to cancel Pink Floyd's appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as several other shows, King informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Waters arranged a meeting with psychiatrist R. D. Laing, and though Waters personally drove Barrett to the appointment, Barrett refused to come out of the car. A stay in Formentera with Sam Hutt, a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. The band followed a few concert dates in Europe during September with their first tour of the US in October. As the US tour went on, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. During appearances on the Dick Clark and Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett confounded his hosts by not responding to questions and staring off into space. He refused to move his lips when it came time to mime "See Emily Play" on Boone's show. After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit and immediately sent them home to London. Soon after their return, they supported Jimi Hendrix during a tour of England; however, Barrett's depression worsened as the tour continued, reaching a crisis point in December, when the band responded by adding a new member to their line-up. In December 1967, the group added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour already knew Barrett, having studied with him at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960s. The two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and busked their way around the south of France. In 1965, while a member of Joker's Wild, Gilmour had watched the Tea Set. Morrison's assistant, Steve O'Rourke, set Gilmour up in a room at O'Rourke's house with a salary of £30 per week (), and in January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member; the second guitarist and its fifth member, the band intending to continue with Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter. Jenner commented: "The idea was that Dave would ... cover for [Barrett's] eccentricities and when that got to be not workable, Syd was just going to write. Just to try to keep him involved". In an expression of his frustration, Barrett, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", instead introduced "Have You Got It Yet?" to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn. In a January 1968 photo-shoot of the five-man Pink Floyd, the photographs show Barrett looking detached from the others, staring into the distance. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a conclusion in January while en route to a performance in Southampton when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett. According to Gilmour, the answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. Waters later admitted, "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him". In early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the band's future; Barrett agreed to leave. Jenner and King believed Barrett to be the creative genius of the band, and decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Morrison then sold his business to NEMS Enterprises, and O'Rourke became the band's personal manager. Blackhill announced Barrett's departure on 6 April 1968. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Waters. Initially, Gilmour mimed to Barrett's voice on the group's European TV appearances; however, while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters and Wright material such as "It Would Be So Nice" and "Careful with That Axe, Eugene". In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to record their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. The album included Barrett's final contribution to their discography, "Jugband Blues". Waters began to develop his own songwriting, contributing "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "Let There Be More Light" and "Corporal Clegg". Wright composed "See-Saw" and "Remember a Day". Norman Smith encouraged them to self-produce their music, and they recorded demos of new material at their houses. With Smith's instruction at Abbey Road, they learned how to use the recording studio to realise their artistic vision. However, Smith remained unconvinced by their music, and when Mason struggled to perform his drum part on "Remember a Day", Smith stepped in as his replacement. Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise'". As neither Waters nor Mason could read music, to illustrate the structure of the album's title track, they invented their own system of notation. Gilmour later described their method as looking "like an architectural diagram". Released in June 1968, the album featured a psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. The first of several Pink Floyd album covers designed by Hipgnosis, it was the second time that EMI permitted one of their groups to contract designers for an album jacket. The release peaked at number 9, spending 11 weeks on the UK chart. Record Mirror gave the album an overall favourable review, but urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party". John Peel described a live performance of the title track as "like a religious experience", while NME described the song as "long and boring ... [with] little to warrant its monotonous direction". On the day after the album's UK release, Pink Floyd performed at the first ever free concert in Hyde Park. In July 1968, they returned to the US for a second visit. Accompanied by the Soft Machine and the Who, it marked Pink Floyd's first significant tour. In December of that year, they released "Point Me at the Sky"; no more successful than the two singles they had released since "See Emily Play", it would be the band's last until their 1973 release, "Money". Ummagumma represented a departure from their previous work. Released as a double-LP on EMI's Harvest label, the first two sides contained live performances recorded at Manchester College of Commerce and Mothers, a club in Birmingham. The second LP contained a single experimental contribution from each band member. Ummagumma was released in November 1969 and received positive reviews. The album peaked at number 5, spending 21 weeks on the UK chart. In October 1970, Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother. An early version premièred in France in January, but disagreements over the mix prompted the hiring of Ron Geesin to work out the sound problems. Geesin worked to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band, production was troublesome. Geesin eventually completed the project with the aid of John Alldis, who was the director of the choir hired to perform on the record. Smith earned an executive producer credit, and the album marked his final official contribution to the band's discography. Gilmour said it was "A neat way of saying that he didn't ... do anything". Waters was critical of Atom Heart Mother, claiming that he would prefer if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again". Gilmour was equally dismissive of the album and once described it as "a load of rubbish", stating: "I think we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period". Pink Floyd's first number 1 album, Atom Heart Mother was hugely successful in Britain, spending 18 weeks on the UK chart. It premièred at the Bath Festival on 27 June 1970. Pink Floyd toured extensively across America and Europe in 1970. In 1971, Pink Floyd took second place in a reader's poll, in Melody Maker, and for the first time were making a profit. Mason and Wright became fathers and bought homes in London while Gilmour, still single, moved to a 19th-century farm in Essex. Waters installed a home recording studio at his house in Islington in a converted toolshed at the back of his garden. In January 1971, upon their return from touring Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd began working on new material. Lacking a central theme, they attempted several unproductive experiments; engineer John Leckie described the sessions as often beginning in the afternoon and ending early the next morning, "during which time nothing would get [accomplished]. There was no record company contact whatsoever, except when their label manager would show up now and again with a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of joints". The band spent long periods working on basic sounds, or a guitar riff. They also spent several days at Air Studios, attempting to create music using a variety of household objects, a project which would be revisited between The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. Released in October 1971, "Meddle not only confirms lead guitarist David Gilmour's emergence as a real shaping force with the group, it states forcefully and accurately that the group is well into the growth track again", wrote Jean-Charles Costa of Rolling Stone. NME called Meddle "an exceptionally good album", singling out "Echoes" as the "Zenith which the Floyd have been striving for". However, Melody Maker's Michael Watts found it underwhelming, calling the album "a soundtrack to a non-existent movie", and shrugging off Pink Floyd as "so much sound and fury, signifying nothing". Meddle is a transitional album between the Barrett-influenced group of the late 1960s and the emerging Pink Floyd. The LP peaked at number 3, spending 82 weeks on the UK chart. Pink Floyd recorded The Dark Side of the Moon between May 1972 and January 1973 with EMI staff engineer Alan Parsons at Abbey Road. The title is an allusion to lunacy rather than astronomy. The band had composed and refined the material while touring the UK, Japan, North America and Europe. Producer Chris Thomas assisted Parsons. Hipgnosis designed the packaging, which included George Hardie's iconic refracting prism design on the cover. Thorgerson's cover features a beam of white light, representing unity, passing through a prism, which represents society. The refracted beam of coloured light symbolises unity diffracted, leaving an absence of unity. Waters is the sole author of the lyrics. Released in March 1973, the LP became an instant chart success in the UK and throughout Western Europe, earning an enthusiastic response from critics. Each member of Pink Floyd except Wright boycotted the press release of The Dark Side of the Moon because a quadraphonic mix had not yet been completed, and they felt presenting the album through a poor-quality stereo PA system was insufficient. Melody Makers Roy Hollingworth described side one as "utterly confused ... [and] difficult to follow", but praised side two, writing: "The songs, the sounds ... [and] the rhythms were solid ... [the] saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled". Rolling Stones Loyd Grossman described it as "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement." Throughout March 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon featured as part of Pink Floyd's US tour. The album is one of the most commercially successful rock albums of all time; a US number 1, it remained on the Billboard chart for more than fourteen years, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. In Britain, the album peaked at number 2, spending 364 weeks on the UK chart. Dark Side is the world's third best- selling album, and the twenty-first best-selling album of all time in the US. The success of the album brought enormous wealth to the members of Pink Floyd. Waters and Wright bought large country houses while Mason became a collector of expensive cars. Disenchanted with their US record company, Capitol Records, Pink Floyd and O'Rourke negotiated a new contract with Columbia Records, who gave them a reported advance of $1,000,000 (US$ in dollars). In Europe, they continued to be represented by Harvest Records. After a tour of the UK performing Dark Side, Pink Floyd returned to the studio in January 1975 and began work on their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here. Parsons declined an offer to continue working with them, becoming successful in his own right with the Alan Parsons Project, and so the band turned to Brian Humphries. Initially, they found it difficult to compose new material; the success of The Dark Side of the Moon had left Pink Floyd physically and emotionally drained. Wright later described these early sessions as "falling within a difficult period" and Waters found them "tortuous". Gilmour was more interested in improving the band's existing material. Mason's failing marriage left him in a general malaise and with a sense of apathy, both of which interfered with his drumming. Despite the lack of creative direction, Waters began to visualise a new concept after several weeks. During 1974, Pink Floyd had sketched out three original compositions and had performed them at a series of concerts in Europe. These compositions became the starting point for a new album whose opening four-note guitar phrase, composed purely by chance by Gilmour, reminded Waters of Barrett. The songs provided a fitting summary of the rise and fall of their former bandmate. Waters commented: "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... [that] indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd." While Pink Floyd were working on the album, Barrett made an impromptu visit to the studio. Thorgerson recalled that he "sat round and talked for a bit, but he wasn't really there". He had changed significantly in appearance, so much so that the band did not initially recognise him. Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the experience. Most of Wish You Were Here premiered on 5 July 1975, at an open-air music festival at Knebworth. Released in September, it reached number one in both the UK and the US. In 1975, Pink Floyd bought a three-storey group of church halls at 35 Britannia Row in Islington and began converting the building into a recording studio and storage space. In 1976, they recorded their tenth album, Animals, in their newly finished 24-track studio. The concept of Animals originated with Waters, loosely based on George Orwell's political fable, Animal Farm. The album's lyrics described different classes of society as dogs, pigs, and sheep. Hipgnosis received credit for the packaging of Animals; however, Waters designed the final concept, choosing an image of the ageing Battersea Power Station, over which they superimposed an image of a pig. The division of royalties was a source of conflict between band members, who earned royalties on a per-song basis. Although Gilmour was largely responsible for "Dogs", which took up almost the entire first side of the album, he received less than Waters, who contributed the much shorter two-part "Pigs on the Wing". Wright commented: "It was partly my fault because I didn't push my material ... but Dave did have something to offer, and only managed to get a couple of things on there." Mason recalled: "Roger was in full flow with the ideas, but he was really keeping Dave down, and frustrating him deliberately." Gilmour, distracted by the birth of his first child, contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed much toward Animals; Wright had marital problems, and his relationship with Waters was also suffering. Animals is the first Pink Floyd album that does not include a writing credit for Wright, who commented: "Animals ... wasn't a fun record to make ... this was when Roger really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band ... that it was only because of him that [we] were still going ... when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me." Released in January 1977, the album peaked on the UK chart at number two, and the US chart at number three. NME described the album as "one of the most extreme, relentless, harrowing and downright iconoclastic hunks of music", and Melody Makers Karl Dallas called it "[an] uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific". Pink Floyd performed much of the album's material during their "In the Flesh" tour. It was the band's first experience playing large stadiums, whose size caused unease in the band. Waters began arriving at each venue alone, departing immediately after the performance. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England, threatening to leave the band. At the Montreal Olympic Stadium, a group of noisy and enthusiastic fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters so much that he spat at one of them. The end of the tour marked a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band achieved the success they had sought, with nothing left for them to accomplish. In July 1978, amid a financial crisis caused by negligent investments, Waters presented two ideas for Pink Floyd's next album. The first was a 90-minute demo with the working title Bricks in the Wall; the other later became Waters' first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Although both Mason and Gilmour were initially cautious, they chose the former. Bob Ezrin co-produced and wrote a forty-page script for the new album. Ezrin based the story on the central figure of Pink—a gestalt character inspired by Waters' childhood experiences, the most notable of which was the death of his father in World War II. This first metaphorical brick led to more problems; Pink would become drug-addled and depressed by the music industry, eventually transforming into a megalomaniac, a development inspired partly by the decline of Syd Barrett. At the end of the album, the increasingly fascist audience would watch as Pink tore down the wall, once again becoming a regular and caring person. During the recording of The Wall, Waters, Gilmour and Mason became dissatisfied with Wright's lack of contribution, and fired him. Gilmour said that Wright "hadn't contributed anything of any value whatsoever to the album—he did very, very little" and this was why he "got the boot". According to Mason, "Rick's contribution was to turn up and sit in on the sessions without doing anything, just 'being a producer'." Waters commented: "[Wright] was not prepared to cooperate in making the record ... [and] it was agreed by everybody ... either [he] can have a long battle or [he] can agree to ... finish making the album, keep [his] full share ... but at the end of it [he would] leave quietly. Rick agreed." The album was supported by "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)", which topped the charts in the US and the UK; it was Pink Floyd's first single since "Money". The Wall was released on 30 November 1979 and topped the Billboard chart in the US for fifteen weeks, reaching number three in the UK. The Wall ranks number three on the RIAA's list of the all-time Top 100 albums, with 23 million certified units sold in the US. The cover, with a stark brick wall and band name, was the first Pink Floyd album cover since The Piper at the Gates of Dawn not designed by Hipgnosis. Gerald Scarfe produced a series of animations for the subsequent live shows, The Wall Tour. He also commissioned the construction of large inflatable puppets representing characters from the storyline including the "Mother", the "Ex-wife" and the "Schoolmaster". Pink Floyd used the puppets during their performances of the album. Relationships within the band were at an all-time low; their four Winnebagos parked in a circle, the doors facing away from the centre. Waters used his own vehicle to arrive at the venue and stayed in different hotels from the rest of the band. Wright returned as a paid musician and was the only one of the four to profit from the venture, which lost about $600,000 (US$ in dollars). The Wall concept also spawned a film, the original idea for which was to be a combination of live concert footage and animated scenes. However, the concert footage proved impractical to film. Alan Parker agreed to direct and took a different approach. The animated sequences would remain, but scenes would be acted by professional actors with no dialogue. Waters was screen- tested, but quickly discarded and they asked Bob Geldof to accept the role of Pink. Geldof was initially dismissive, condemning The Walls storyline as "bollocks". Eventually won over by the prospect of participation in a significant film and receiving a large payment for his work, Geldof agreed. Screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1982, Pink Floyd – The Wall premièred in the UK in July 1982. In 1982, Waters suggested a new musical project with the working title Spare Bricks, originally conceived as the soundtrack album for Pink Floyd – The Wall. With the onset of the Falklands War, Waters changed direction and began writing new material. He saw Margaret Thatcher's response to the invasion of the Falklands as jingoistic and unnecessary, and dedicated the album to his late father. Immediately arguments arose between Waters and Gilmour, who felt that the album should include all new material, rather than recycle songs passed over for The Wall. Waters felt that Gilmour had contributed little to the band's lyrical repertoire. Michael Kamen, a contributor to the orchestral arrangements of The Wall, mediated between the two, also performing the role traditionally occupied by the then-absent Wright. The tension within the band grew. Waters and Gilmour worked independently; however, Gilmour began to feel the strain, sometimes barely maintaining his composure. After a final confrontation, Gilmour's name disappeared from the credit list, reflecting what Waters felt was his lack of songwriting contributions. Though Mason's musical contributions were minimal, he stayed busy recording sound effects for an experimental Holophonic system to be used on the album. With marital problems of his own, he remained a distant figure. Pink Floyd did not use Thorgerson for the cover design, Waters choosing to design the cover himself. Released in March 1983, The Final Cut went straight to number one in the UK and number six in the US. Waters wrote all the lyrics, as well as all the music on the album. Gilmour did not have any material ready for the album and asked Waters to delay the recording until he could write some songs, but Waters refused. Gilmour later commented: "I'm certainly guilty at times of being lazy ... but he wasn't right about wanting to put some duff tracks on The Final Cut." Rolling Stone magazine gave the album five stars, with Kurt Loder calling it "a superlative achievement ... art rock's crowning masterpiece". Loder viewed The Final Cut as "essentially a Roger Waters solo album". Gilmour recorded his second solo album, About Face, in 1984, and used it to express his feelings about a variety of topics, from the murder of John Lennon to his relationship with Waters. He later stated that he used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. Soon afterwards, Waters began touring his first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Wright formed Zee with Dave Harris and recorded Identity, which went almost unnoticed upon its release. Mason released his second solo album, Profiles, in August 1985. Following the release of The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Waters publicly insisted that Pink Floyd would not reunite. He contacted O'Rourke to discuss settling future royalty payments. O'Rourke felt obliged to inform Mason and Gilmour, which angered Waters, who wanted to dismiss him as the band's manager. He terminated his management contract with O'Rourke and employed Peter Rudge to manage his affairs. Waters wrote to EMI and Columbia announcing he had left the band, and asked them to release him from his contractual obligations. Gilmour believed that Waters left to hasten the demise of Pink Floyd. Waters later stated that, by not making new albums, Pink Floyd would be in breach of contract—which would suggest that royalty payments would be suspended—and that the other band members had forced him from the group by threatening to sue him. He went to the High Court in an effort to dissolve the band and prevent the use of the Pink Floyd name, declaring Pink Floyd "a spent force creatively." When Waters' lawyers discovered that the partnership had never been formally confirmed, Waters returned to the High Court in an attempt to obtain a veto over further use of the band's name. Gilmour responded with a press release affirming that Pink Floyd would continue to exist. He later told The Sunday Times: "Roger is a dog in the manger and I'm going to fight him." In 2013, Waters said he had failed to appreciate that the Pink Floyd name had commercial value independent of the band members, and was wrong to have attempted to stop the others using it. In 1986, Gilmour began recruiting musicians for what would become Pink Floyd's first album without Waters, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. There were legal obstacles to Wright's re-admittance to the band, but after a meeting in Hampstead, Pink Floyd invited Wright to participate in the coming sessions. Gilmour later stated that Wright's presence "would make us stronger legally and musically", and Pink Floyd employed him as a musician with weekly earnings of $11,000. Recording sessions began on Gilmour's houseboat, the Astoria, moored along the River Thames. Gilmour worked with several songwriters, including Eric Stewart and Roger McGough, eventually choosing Anthony Moore to write the album's lyrics. Gilmour later said the project was difficult without Waters' creative direction. Mason, concerned that he was too out-of-practice to perform on the album, used session musicians to complete many of the drum parts and instead worked on sound effects. A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released in September 1987. Storm Thorgerson, whose creative input was absent from The Wall and The Final Cut, designed the album cover. To drive home that Waters had left the band, they included a group photograph on the inside cover, the first since Meddle. The album went straight to number three in the UK and the US. Waters commented: "I think it's facile, but a quite clever forgery ... The songs are poor in general ... [and] Gilmour's lyrics are third-rate." Although Gilmour initially viewed the album as a return to the band's top form, Wright disagreed, stating: "Roger's criticisms are fair. It's not a band album at all." Q Magazine described the album as essentially a Gilmour solo album. Waters attempted to subvert the Momentary Lapse of Reason tour by contacting promoters in the US and threatening to sue them if they used the Pink Floyd name. Gilmour and Mason funded the start-up costs with Mason using his Ferrari 250 GTO as collateral. Early rehearsals for the upcoming tour were chaotic, with Mason and Wright entirely out of practice. Realising he had taken on too much work, Gilmour asked Ezrin to assist them. As Pink Floyd toured North America, Waters' Radio K.A.O.S. tour was on occasion, close by, though in much smaller venues than those hosting his former band's performances. Waters issued a writ for copyright fees for the band's use of the flying pig. Pink Floyd responded by attaching a large set of male genitalia to its underside to distinguish it from Waters' design. The parties reached a legal agreement on 23 December; Mason and Gilmour retained the right to use the Pink Floyd name in perpetuity and Waters received exclusive rights to, among other things, The Wall. For several years Pink Floyd had busied themselves with personal pursuits, such as filming and competing in the La Carrera Panamericana and recording a soundtrack for a film based on the event. In January 1993, they began working on a new album, returning to Britannia Row Studios, where for several days, Gilmour, Mason and Wright worked collaboratively, improvising material. After about two weeks, the band had enough ideas to begin creating songs. Ezrin returned to co-produce the album and production moved to the Astoria, where from February to May 1993, they worked on about 25 ideas. Contractually, Wright was not a member of the band, and said "It came close to a point where I wasn't going to do the album." However, he earned five co-writing credits, his first on a Pink Floyd album since 1975's Wish You Were Here. Another songwriter credited on the album was Gilmour's future wife, Polly Samson. She helped him write several tracks, including "High Hopes", a collaborative arrangement which, though initially tense, "pulled the whole album together," according to Ezrin. They hired Michael Kamen to arrange the album's orchestral parts; Dick Parry and Chris Thomas also returned. Writer Douglas Adams provided the album title and Thorgerson the cover artwork. Thorgerson drew inspiration for the album cover from the Moai monoliths of Easter Island; two opposing faces forming an implied third face about which he commented: "the absent face—the ghost of Pink Floyd's past, Syd and Roger". Eager to avoid competing against other album releases, as had happened with A Momentary Lapse, Pink Floyd set a deadline of April 1994, at which point they would resume touring. The album reached number 1 in the UK and the US. It spent 51 weeks on the UK chart. Pink Floyd spent more than two weeks rehearsing in a hangar at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California, before opening on 29 March 1994, in Miami, with an almost identical road crew to that used for their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. They played a variety of Pink Floyd favourites, and later changed their setlist to include The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. The tour, Pink Floyd's last, ended on 29 October 1994. On 2 July 2005, Waters, Gilmour, Mason and Wright performed together as Pink Floyd for the first time in more than 24 years, at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London. The reunion was arranged by Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof; after Gilmour declined the offer, Geldof asked Mason, who contacted Waters. About two weeks later, Waters called Gilmour, their first conversation in two years, and the next day Gilmour agreed. In a statement to the press, the band stressed the unimportance of their problems in the context of the Live 8 event. They planned their setlist at the Connaught Hotel in London, followed by three days of rehearsals at Black Island Studios. The sessions were problematic, with disagreements over the style and pace of the songs they were practising; the running order was decided on the eve of the event. At the beginning of their performance of "Wish You Were Here", Waters told the audience: "[It is] quite emotional, standing up here with these three guys after all these years, standing to be counted with the rest of you ... we're doing this for everyone who's not here, and particularly of course for Syd." At the end, Gilmour thanked the audience and started to walk off the stage. Waters called him back, and the band shared a group hug. Images of the hug were a favourite among Sunday newspapers after Live 8. Waters said of their almost 20 years of animosity: "I don't think any of us came out of the years from 1985 with any credit ... It was a bad, negative time, and I regret my part in that negativity." Though Pink Floyd turned down a contract worth £136 million for a final tour, Waters did not rule out more performances, suggesting it ought to be for a charity event only. However, Gilmour told the Associated Press that a reunion would not happen: "The [Live 8] rehearsals convinced me [that] it wasn't something I wanted to be doing a lot of ... There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people's lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won't be a tour or an album again that I take part in. It isn't to do with animosity or anything like that. It's just ... I've been there, I've done it." In February 2006, Gilmour was interviewed for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which declared: "Patience for fans in mourning. The news is official. Pink Floyd the brand is dissolved, finished, definitely deceased." Asked about the future of Pink Floyd, Gilmour responded: "It's over ... I've had enough. I'm 60 years old ... it is much more comfortable to work on my own." Gilmour and Waters repeatedly said that they had no plans to reunite. Barrett died on 7 July 2006, at his home in Cambridge, aged 60\. His funeral was held at Cambridge Crematorium on 18 July 2006; no Pink Floyd members attended. Wright said: "The band are very naturally upset and sad to hear of Syd Barrett's death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire." Although Barrett had faded into obscurity over the decades, the national press praised him for his contributions to music. On 10 May 2007, Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason performed at the Barrett tribute concert "Madcap's Last Laugh" at the Barbican Centre in London. Gilmour, Wright and Mason performed the Barrett compositions "Bike" and "Arnold Layne", and Waters performed a solo version of his song "Flickering Flame". Wright died of an undisclosed form of cancer on 15 September 2008, aged 65\. His former bandmates paid tributes to his life and work; Gilmour said: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound." A week after Wright's death, Gilmour performed "Remember a Day" from A Saucerful of Secrets, written and originally sung by Wright, in tribute to him. Keyboardist Keith Emerson released a statement praising Wright as the "backbone" of Pink Floyd. On 10 July 2010, Waters and Gilmour performed together at a charity event for the Hoping Foundation. The event, which raised money for Palestinian children, took place at Kiddington Hall in Oxfordshire, England, with an audience of approximately 200. In return for Waters' appearance at the event, Gilmour performed "Comfortably Numb" at Waters' performance of The Wall at the London O2 Arena on 12 May 2011, singing the choruses and playing the two guitar solos. Mason also joined, playing tambourine for "Outside the Wall" with Gilmour on mandolin. On 26 September 2011, Pink Floyd and EMI launched an exhaustive re-release campaign under the title Why Pink Floyd ... ?, reissuing the back catalogue in newly remastered versions, including "Experience" and "Immersion" multi-disc multi-format editions. The albums were remastered by James Guthrie, co-producer of The Wall. In November 2015, Pink Floyd released a limited edition EP, , comprising six songs recorded prior to The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. In 2012, Gilmour and Mason decided to revisit recordings made with Wright, mainly during the Division Bell sessions, to create a new Pink Floyd album. They recruited session musicians to help record new parts and "generally harness studio technology". Waters was not involved. Mason described the album as a tribute to Wright: "I think this record is a good way of recognising a lot of what he does and how his playing was at the heart of the Pink Floyd sound. Listening back to the sessions, it really brought home to me what a special player he was." The Endless River was released on 7 November 2014, the second Pink Floyd album distributed by Parlophone following the release of the 20th anniversary editions of The Division Bell earlier in 2014. Though it received mixed reviews, it became the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon UK and debuted at number one in several countries. The vinyl edition was the fastest-selling UK vinyl release of 2014 and the fastest-selling since 1997. Gilmour stated that The Endless River is Pink Floyd's last album, saying: "I think we have successfully commandeered the best of what there is ... It's a shame, but this is the end." There was no supporting tour, as Gilmour felt it was impossible without Wright. In August 2015, Gilmour reiterated that Pink Floyd were "done" and that to reunite without Wright "would just be wrong". In November 2016, Pink Floyd released a boxset, The Early Years 1965–1972, comprising outtakes, live recordings, remixes, and films from their early career. This was followed in December 2019 by The Later Years, compiling Pink Floyd's work after Waters' departure. The box set includes a remixed version of A Momentary Lapse of Reason with more contributions by Wright and Mason, and an expanded reissue of the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder. In 2018, Mason formed a new band, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, to perform Pink Floyd's early material. The band includes Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet and longtime Pink Floyd collaborator Guy Pratt. They toured Europe in September 2018 and North America in 2019. Waters joined the band at the Beacon Theatre in New York City to perform vocals for "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". Considered one of the UK's first psychedelic music groups, Pink Floyd began their career at the vanguard of London's underground music scene. According to Rolling Stone: "By 1967, they had developed an unmistakably psychedelic sound, performing long, loud suitelike compositions that touched on hard rock, blues, country, folk, and electronic music." Released in 1968, the song "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" helped galvanise their reputation as an art rock group. Other genres attributed to the band are space rock, experimental rock, acid rock, proto-prog, experimental pop (while under Barrett), psychedelic pop, and psychedelic rock. O'Neill Surber comments on the music of Pink Floyd: Rarely will you find Floyd dishing up catchy hooks, tunes short enough for air-play, or predictable three-chord blues progressions; and never will you find them spending much time on the usual pop album of romance, partying, or self-hype. Their sonic universe is expansive, intense, and challenging ... Where most other bands neatly fit the songs to the music, the two forming a sort of autonomous and seamless whole complete with memorable hooks, Pink Floyd tends to set lyrics within a broader soundscape that often seems to have a life of its own ... Pink Floyd employs extended, stand-alone instrumentals which are never mere vehicles for showing off virtuoso but are planned and integral parts of the performance. During the late 1960s, the press labelled their music psychedelic pop, progressive pop and progressive rock. In 1968, Wright commented on Pink Floyd's sonic reputation: "It's hard to see why we were cast as the first British psychedelic group. We never saw ourselves that way ... we realised that we were, after all, only playing for fun ... tied to no particular form of music, we could do whatever we wanted ... the emphasis ... [is] firmly on spontaneity and improvisation." Waters gave a less enthusiastic assessment of the band's early sound: "There wasn't anything 'grand' about it. We were laughable. We were useless. We couldn't play at all so we had to do something stupid and 'experimental' ... Syd was a genius, but I wouldn't want to go back to playing "Interstellar Overdrive" for hours and hours." Unconstrained by conventional pop formats, Pink Floyd were innovators of progressive rock during the 1970s and ambient music during the 1980s. Rolling Stone critic Alan di Perna praised Gilmour's guitar work as integral to Pink Floyd's sound, and described him as the most important guitarist of the 1970s, "the missing link between Hendrix and Van Halen". Rolling Stone named him the 14th greatest guitarist of all time. In 2006, Gilmour said of his technique: "[My] fingers make a distinctive sound ... [they] aren't very fast, but I think I am instantly recognisable ... The way I play melodies is connected to things like Hank Marvin and the Shadows." Gilmour's ability to use fewer notes than most to express himself without sacrificing strength or beauty drew a favourable comparison to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. In 2006, Guitar World writer Jimmy Brown described Gilmour's guitar style as "characterised by simple, huge-sounding riffs; gutsy, well-paced solos; and rich, ambient chordal textures." According to Brown, Gilmour's solos on "Money", "Time" and "Comfortably Numb" "cut through the mix like a laser beam through fog." Brown described the "Time" solo as "a masterpiece of phrasing and motivic development ... Gilmour paces himself throughout and builds upon his initial idea by leaping into the upper register with gut-wrenching one- and-one-half-step 'over bends', soulful triplet arpeggios and a typically impeccable bar vibrato." Brown described Gilmour's phrasing as intuitive and perhaps his best asset as a lead guitarist. Gilmour explained how he achieved his signature tone: "I usually use a fuzz box, a delay and a bright EQ setting ... [to get] singing sustain ... you need to play loud—at or near the feedback threshold. It's just so much more fun to play ... when bent notes slice right through you like a razor blade." Throughout their career, Pink Floyd experimented with their sound. Their second single, "See Emily Play" premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, on 12 May 1967. During the performance, the group first used an early quadraphonic device called an Azimuth Co-ordinator. The device enabled the controller, usually Wright, to manipulate the band's amplified sound, combined with recorded tapes, projecting the sounds 270 degrees around a venue, achieving a sonic swirling effect. In 1972, they purchased a custom-built PA which featured an upgraded four-channel, 360-degree system. Waters experimented with the VCS 3 synthesiser on Pink Floyd pieces such as "On the Run", "Welcome to the Machine", and "In the Flesh?". He used a binson echorec 2 delay effect on his bass-guitar track for "One of These Days". Pink Floyd used innovative sound effects and state of the art audio recording technology during the recording of The Final Cut. Mason's contributions to the album were almost entirely limited to work with the experimental Holophonic system, an audio processing technique used to simulate a three-dimensional effect. The system used a conventional stereo tape to produce an effect that seemed to move the sound around the listener's head when they were wearing headphones. The process enabled an engineer to simulate moving the sound to behind, above or beside the listener's ears. Pink Floyd also composed several film scores, starting in 1968, with The Committee. In 1969, they recorded the score for Barbet Schroeder's film More. The soundtrack proved beneficial: not only did it pay well but, along with A Saucerful of Secrets, the material they created became part of their live shows for some time thereafter. While composing the soundtrack for director Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point, the band stayed at a luxury hotel in Rome for almost a month. Waters claimed that, without Antonioni's constant changes to the music, they would have completed the work in less than a week. Eventually he used only three of their recordings. One of the pieces turned down by Antonioni, called "The Violent Sequence", later became "Us and Them", included on 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon. In 1971, the band again worked with Schroeder on the film La Vallée, for which they released a soundtrack album called Obscured by Clouds. They composed the material in about a week at the Château d'Hérouville near Paris, and upon its release, it became Pink Floyd's first album to break into the top 50 on the US Billboard chart. Regarded as pioneers of live music performance and renowned for their lavish stage shows, Pink Floyd also set high standards in sound quality, making use of innovative sound effects and quadraphonic speaker systems. From their earliest days, they employed visual effects to accompany their psychedelic rock music while performing at venues such as the UFO Club in London. Their slide-and-light show was one of the first in British rock, and it helped them become popular among London's underground. To celebrate the launch of the London Free School's magazine International Times in 1966, they performed in front of 2,000 people at the opening of the Roundhouse, attended by celebrities including Paul McCartney and Marianne Faithfull. In mid-1966, road manager Peter Wynne-Willson joined their road crew, and updated the band's lighting rig with some innovative ideas including the use of polarisers, mirrors and stretched condoms. After their record deal with EMI, Pink Floyd purchased a Ford Transit van, then considered extravagant band transportation. On 29 April 1967, they headlined an all-night event called The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream at the Alexandra Palace, London. Pink Floyd arrived at the festival at around three o'clock in the morning after a long journey by van and ferry from the Netherlands, taking the stage just as the sun was beginning to rise. In July 1969, precipitated by their space-related music and lyrics, they took part in the live BBC television coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, performing an instrumental piece which they called "Moonhead". In November 1974, they employed for the first time the large circular screen that would become a staple of their live shows. In 1977, they employed the use of a large inflatable floating pig named "Algie". Filled with helium and propane, Algie, while floating above the audience, would explode with a loud noise during the In the Flesh Tour. The behaviour of the audience during the tour, as well as the large size of the venues, proved a strong influence on their concept album The Wall. The subsequent The Wall Tour featured a high wall, built from cardboard bricks, constructed between the band and the audience. They projected animations onto the wall, while gaps allowed the audience to view various scenes from the story. They commissioned the creation of several giant inflatables to represent characters from the story. One striking feature of the tour was the performance of "Comfortably Numb". While Waters sang his opening verse, in darkness, Gilmour waited for his cue on top of the wall. When it came, bright blue and white lights would suddenly reveal him. Gilmour stood on a flightcase on castors, an insecure setup supported from behind by a technician. A large hydraulic platform supported both Gilmour and the tech. During the Division Bell Tour, an unknown person using the name Publius posted a message on an internet newsgroup inviting fans to solve a riddle supposedly concealed in the new album. White lights in front of the stage at the Pink Floyd concert in East Rutherford spelled out the words Enigma Publius. During a televised concert at Earls Court on 20 October 1994, someone projected the word "enigma" in large letters on to the backdrop of the stage. Mason later acknowledged that their record company had instigated the Publius Enigma mystery, rather than the band. Marked by Waters' philosophical lyrics, Rolling Stone described Pink Floyd as "purveyors of a distinctively dark vision". Author Jere O'Neill Surber wrote: "their interests are truth and illusion, life and death, time and space, causality and chance, compassion and indifference." Waters identified empathy as a central theme in the lyrics of Pink Floyd. Author George Reisch described Meddle psychedelic opus, "Echoes", as "built around the core idea of genuine communication, sympathy, and collaboration with others." Despite having been labelled "the gloomiest man in rock", author Deena Weinstein described Waters as an existentialist, dismissing the unfavourable moniker as the result of misinterpretation by music critics. Waters' lyrics to Wish You Were Here "Have a Cigar" deal with a perceived lack of sincerity on the part of music industry representatives. The song illustrates a dysfunctional dynamic between the band and a record label executive who congratulates the group on their current sales success, implying that they are on the same team while revealing that he erroneously believes "Pink" is the name of one of the band members. According to author David Detmer, the album's lyrics deal with the "dehumanising aspects of the world of commerce", a situation the artist must endure to reach their audience. Absence as a lyrical theme is common in the music of Pink Floyd. Examples include the absence of Barrett after 1968, and that of Waters' father, who died during the Second World War. Waters' lyrics also explored unrealised political goals and unsuccessful endeavours. Their film score, Obscured by Clouds, dealt with the loss of youthful exuberance that sometimes comes with ageing. Longtime Pink Floyd album cover designer, Storm Thorgerson, described the lyrics of Wish You Were Here: "The idea of presence withheld, of the ways that people pretend to be present while their minds are really elsewhere, and the devices and motivations employed psychologically by people to suppress the full force of their presence, eventually boiled down to a single theme, absence: The absence of a person, the absence of a feeling." Waters commented: "it's about none of us really being there ... [it] should have been called Wish We Were Here". O'Neill Surber explored the lyrics of Pink Floyd and declared the issue of non-being a common theme in their music. Waters invoked non-being or non- existence in The Wall, with the lyrics to "Comfortably Numb": "I caught a fleeting glimpse, out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now, the child is grown, the dream is gone." Barrett referred to non-being in his final contribution to the band's catalogue, "Jugband Blues": "I'm most obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here." Author Patrick Croskery described Animals as a unique blend of the "powerful sounds and suggestive themes" of Dark Side with The Wall portrayal of artistic alienation. He drew a parallel between the album's political themes and that of Orwell's Animal Farm. Animals begins with a thought experiment, which asks: "If you didn't care what happened to me. And I didn't care for you", then develops a beast fable based on anthropomorphised characters using music to reflect the individual states of mind of each. The lyrics ultimately paint a picture of dystopia, the inevitable result of a world devoid of empathy and compassion, answering the question posed in the opening lines. The album's characters include the "Dogs", representing fervent capitalists, the "Pigs", symbolising political corruption, and the "Sheep", who represent the exploited. Croskery described the "Sheep" as being in a "state of delusion created by a misleading cultural identity", a false consciousness. The "Dog", in his tireless pursuit of self-interest and success, ends up depressed and alone with no one to trust, utterly lacking emotional satisfaction after a life of exploitation. Waters used Mary Whitehouse as an example of a "Pig"; being someone who in his estimation, used the power of the government to impose her values on society. At the album's conclusion, Waters returns to empathy with the lyrical statement: "You know that I care what happens to you. And I know that you care for me too." However, he also acknowledges that the "Pigs" are a continuing threat and reveals that he is a "Dog" who requires shelter, suggesting the need for a balance between state, commerce and community, versus an ongoing battle between them. O'Neill Surber compared the lyrics of Dark Side of the Moon "Brain Damage" with Karl Marx theory of self-alienation; "there's someone in my head, but it's not me." The lyrics to Wish You Were Here "Welcome to the Machine" suggest what Marx called the alienation of the thing; the song's protagonist preoccupied with material possessions to the point that he becomes estranged from himself and others. Allusions to the alienation of man's species being can be found in Animals; the "Dog" reduced to living instinctively as a non- human. The "Dogs" become alienated from themselves to the extent that they justify their lack of integrity as a "necessary and defensible" position in "a cutthroat world with no room for empathy or moral principle" wrote Detmer. Alienation from others is a consistent theme in the lyrics of Pink Floyd, and it is a core element of The Wall. War, viewed as the most severe consequence of the manifestation of alienation from others, is also a core element of The Wall, and a recurring theme in the band's music. Waters' father died in combat during the Second World War, and his lyrics often alluded to the cost of war, including those from "Corporal Clegg" (1968), "Free Four" (1972), "Us and Them" (1973), "When the Tigers Broke Free" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home" from The Final Cut (1983), an album dedicated to his late father and subtitled A Requiem for the Postwar Dream. The themes and composition of The Wall express Waters' upbringing in an English society depleted of men after the Second World War, a condition that negatively affected his personal relationships with women. Waters' lyrics to The Dark Side of the Moon dealt with the pressures of modern life and how those pressures can sometimes cause insanity. He viewed the album's explication of mental illness as illuminating a universal condition. However, Waters also wanted the album to communicate positivity, calling it "an exhortation ... to embrace the positive and reject the negative." Reisch described The Wall as "less about the experience of madness than the habits, institutions, and social structures that create or cause madness." The Wall protagonist, Pink, is unable to deal with the circumstances of his life, and overcome by feelings of guilt, slowly closes himself off from the outside world inside a barrier of his own making. After he completes his estrangement from the world, Pink realises that he is "crazy, over the rainbow". He then considers the possibility that his condition may be his own fault: "have I been guilty all this time?" Realising his greatest fear, Pink believes that he has let everyone down, his overbearing mother wisely choosing to smother him, the teachers rightly criticising his poetic aspirations, and his wife justified in leaving him. He then stands trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", further exacerbating his alienation of species being. As with the writings of philosopher Michel Foucault, Waters' lyrics suggest Pink's insanity is a product of modern life, the elements of which, "custom, codependancies, and psychopathologies", contribute to his angst, according to Reisch. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially successful and influential rock bands of all time. They have sold more than 250 million records worldwide, including 75 million certified units in the United States, and 37.9 million albums sold in the US since 1993. The Sunday Times Rich List, Music Millionaires 2013 (UK), ranked Waters at number 12 with an estimated fortune of £150 million, Gilmour at number 27 with £85 million and Mason at number 37 with £50 million. In 2004, MSNBC ranked Pink Floyd number 8 on their list of "The 10 Best Rock Bands Ever". In the same year, Q named Pink Floyd as the biggest band of all time according to "a points system that measured sales of their biggest album, the scale of their biggest headlining show and the total number of weeks spent on the UK album chart". Rolling Stone ranked them number 51 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". VH1 ranked them number 18 in the list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Colin Larkin ranked Pink Floyd number 3 in his list of the 'Top 50 Artists of All Time', a ranking based on the cumulative votes for each artist's albums included in his All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2008, the head rock and pop critic of The Guardian, Alexis Petridis, wrote that the band occupy a unique place in progressive rock, stating, "Thirty years on, prog is still persona non grata [...] Only Pink Floyd—never really a prog band, their penchant for long songs and 'concepts' notwithstanding—are permitted into the 100 best album lists." Pink Floyd have won several awards. In 1981 audio engineer James Guthrie won the Grammy Award for "Best Engineered Non-Classical Album" for The Wall, and Roger Waters won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for "Best Original Song Written for a Film" in 1983 for "Another Brick in the Wall" from The Wall film. In 1995, Pink Floyd won the Grammy for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" for "Marooned". In 2008, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden presented Pink Floyd with the Polar Music Prize for their contribution to modern music; Waters and Mason attended the ceremony and accepted the award. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2010. Pink Floyd have influenced numerous artists. David Bowie called Barrett a significant inspiration, and The Edge of U2 bought his first delay pedal after hearing the opening guitar chords to "Dogs" from Animals. Other bands and artists who cite them as an influence include Queen, Tool, Radiohead, Steven Wilson, Kraftwerk, Marillion, Queensrÿche, Nine Inch Nails, the Orb and the Smashing Pumpkins. Pink Floyd were an influence on the neo-progressive rock subgenre which emerged in the 1980s. The English rock band Mostly Autumn "fuse the music of Genesis and Pink Floyd" in their sound. Pink Floyd were admirers of the Monty Python comedy group, and helped finance their 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In May 2017, to mark the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's first single, an audio-visual exhibition, Their Mortal Remains, opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition featured analysis of cover art, conceptual props from the stage shows, and photographs from Mason's personal archive. It was extended for two weeks beyond its planned closing date of 1 October. Syd Barrett — lead and rhythm guitars, vocals (1965–1968), Nick Mason — drums, percussion, vocals (1965–1995, 2005, 2012–2014), Roger Waters — bass, vocals, rhythm guitar (1965–1985, 2005), Richard Wright — keyboards, piano, organ, vocals (1965–1979, 1990–1995, 2005) (touring/session member from 1979–1981 and 1986–1990), David Gilmour — lead and rhythm guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards (1967–1995, 2005, 2012–2014) The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), A Saucerful of Secrets (1968), More (1969), Ummagumma (1969), Atom Heart Mother (1970), Meddle (1971), Obscured by Clouds (1972), The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979), The Final Cut (1983), A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994), The Endless River (2014) Pink Floyd World Tour (1968), The Man and The Journey Tour (1969), Atom Heart Mother World Tour (1970–71), Meddle Tour (1971), Dark Side of the Moon Tour (1972–73), French Summer Tour (1974), British Winter Tour (1974), Wish You Were Here Tour (1975), In the Flesh Tour (1977), The Wall Tour (1980–81), A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour (1987–89), The Division Bell Tour (1994) Books Johnny's Greatest Hits is a compilation album by vocalist Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records on March 17, 1958, and has been described as the "original greatest-hits package". The LP collected all but one of the songs from the first six singles he recorded, including eight A- and B-sides that made the singles charts in The Billboard (now simply known as Billboard magazine) as well as three B-sides that did not chart and one new track ("I Look at You") that was co-written by Mathis but not released as a single. The album made its debut on the Best Selling Pop LP's chart in the issue of The Billboard dated April 14, 1958, and eventually spent three weeks at number one. It had its last appearance there over 10 years later, in the July 20, 1968, issue, which marked its 490th non-consecutive week there, a record for the most number of weeks on the magazine's list of the most popular pop albums in the US that it held for 15 years until Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon reached 491 weeks there in the issue dated October 29, 1983. Johnny's Greatest Hits received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies in June 1959, and Platinum certification for reaching the one million mark was awarded on November 1, 1999. The album was initially only available in the monaural format but was reissued in 1962 with a banner added to the original cover that read, "Electronically Re-channeled for Stereo". In 1977, the album was once again reissued, this time with a new jacket design that included a current and much larger headshot of Mathis. This cover was also used for its first release on compact disc in 1988 and as part of a 1995 three-disc set that included his Platinum 1959 album Heavenly and his 1984 concert album Live. Robert Christgau insisted that "Wonderful! Wonderful!", "It's Not for Me to Say", "Chances Are", "The Twelfth of Never", and "Wild Is the Wind" "are the substance of Mathis's legend and legacy. Poised on the cusp of black and white, masculine and feminine, they projected an image of egoless tenderness, an irresistible breath of sensuality that infused the airwaves for the second half of 1957 and kept 1958's Johnny's Greatest Hits on the album chart for 490 weeks." AllMusic's Cub Koda simply proclaimed, "It seldom gets more romantic than this." 1. "Chances Are" (Robert Allen, Al Stillman) – 3:03 2. "All the Time" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans) – 2:44 3. "The Twelfth of Never" (Livingston, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:28 4. "When Sunny Gets Blue" (Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 2:41 5. "When I Am with You" (Stillman, Ben Weisman) – 2:58 6. "Wonderful! Wonderful!" (Sherman Edwards, Ben Raleigh) – 2:49 1. "It's Not for Me to Say" (Allen, Stillman) – 3:05 2. "Come to Me" (Allen, Peter Lind Hayes) – 3:05 3. "Wild Is the Wind" (Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington) – 2:27 4. "Warm and Tender" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:25 5. "No Love (But Your Love)" (Billy Myles) – 2:19 6. "I Look at You" (Johnny Mathis, Jessie Mae Robinson) – 2:43 All of the tracks on this compilation were released before Billboard created its Hot 100 chart for tracking song performance., For the initial release of the album in the UK, "All the Time" was replaced by "Teacher, Teacher", which was included on the US version of More Johnny's Greatest Hits. Mitch Miller – producer, Al Ham – producer, Ray Conniff – conductor (except as noted); chorus conductor ("Wonderful! Wonderful!"), Ray Ellis – conductor ("Wild Is the Wind", "Come to Me", "When I Am with You", "All the Time", "I Look at You"), Normand Menard – photograph Rose F. Ricciardella – liner notes, Richard Noble – photography, Andy Engel – design, Neither the original singles nor the liner notes for any of the releases of this compilation provided producer credits, but other compilations have. While all of these other releases acknowledge Mitch Miller as a producer on all of the tracks included here, the ones that credit Al Ham as an additional producer on certain songs disagree on which ones those are. The 2006 collection only recognizes Ham as producer on "Wonderful! Wonderful!", "When Sunny Gets Blue", "It's Not for Me to Say", and "Wild Is the Wind", but the 2004 collection The Essential Johnny Mathis also credits him in this capacity on "Chances Are", "The Twelfth of Never", and "No Love (But Your Love)". Johnny Mathis singing "Chances Are" & "It's Not For Me To Say"

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Motown: The Musical is a jukebox musical that premiered on Broadway in April 2013. The musical is based on Berry Gordy's autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown (1994), and on the history of his founding and running of the Motown record label, and his personal and professional relationships with Motown artists such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. The production's music and lyrics are taken from selections from the Motown catalog. It received four nominations at the 67th Tony Awards. Motown: The Musical premiered on Broadway, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, on April 14, 2013, after previews starting on March 11. The production was directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox, scenic design by David Korins, costumes by ESosa, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound design by Peter Hylenski, and projection design by Daniel Brodie. The musical finished its original Broadway run on January 18, 2015, closing after 37 previews and 738 regular performances. A national tour began in April 2014, featuring Clifton Oliver and Allison Semmes. The show returned on July 12, 2016 to Broadway for an announced 18-week run at the Nederlander Theatre. However, the run closed earlier than expected, on July 31, 2016. After speculation that a London production would be staged in the Dominion Theatre, which will be refurbished after We Will Rock You closes, an eventual West End production was announced in May 2015 for the Shaftesbury Theatre, which began on February 11, 2016 and will run until 20 April 2019. The West End production is directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, who also directed this musical on Broadway and its US tour. The cast stars Cedric Neal (as Berry Gordy), Lucy St. Louis (as Diana Ross), Sifiso Mazibuko (as Marvin Gaye), and Obioma Ugoala (as Smokey Robinson). A UK and Ireland tour began on 11 October 2018 at The Alexandra, Birmingham. In 1983, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, recording stars are gathered to celebrate Motown Records' 25th anniversary. In a flashback, the young Berry Gordy watches the neighbors dancing in Detroit. In 1957, the adult Berry forms his own record label, and begins to make lifelong friends with recording artists/singers such as Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson. Berry discovers the Supremes and Diana Ross, among many others. The recording stars sing their popular numbers, including: Diana Ross ("I Hear a Symphony", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", and "You're All I Need to Get By"), Stevie Wonder, The Supremes ("Buttered Popcorn", "Where Did Our Love Go"), The Miracles ("Shop Around"), The Marvelettes ("Please Mr. Postman"), Mary Wells ("Bye Bye Baby"/"Two Lovers Medley"), The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas ("Dancing in the Street"), The Contours ("Do You Love Me"), and The Jackson 5. The musical contains a total of 66 songs. The following song list is not the order of the songs in the production: "ABC" (music by Alphonso J. Mizell, Freddie Perren, Berry Gordy Jr., and Deke Richards; lyrics by Mizell, Perren, Gordy, and Richards), "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (music by Valerie Simpson, lyrics by Nickolas Ashford), "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (music by Norman J. Whitfield; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "All Night Long (All Night)" (music by Lionel Richie; lyrics by Richie), "Baby I Need Your Loving" (music by Brian Holland and Herbert Lamont Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" (music by Whitfield; lyrics by Barrett Strong), "A Breathtaking Guy" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson), "Brick House" (music by Richie, Ronald LaPread, Walter Orange, Milan Williams, Thomas McClary and William King; lyrics by Richie, LaPread, Orange, Williams, McClary and King), "Buttered Popcorn" (music by Gordy and Barney Ales; lyrics by Gordy and Ales), "Bye Bye Baby" (music by Mary Wells; lyrics by Wells), "Can I Close the Door" (music by Gordy and Michael Lovesmith; lyrics by Gordy and Lovesmith), "Come See About Me" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Cruisin'" (music by William Robinson and Marvin Tarplin; lyrics by W. Robinson), "Dancing in the Street" (music by Marvin Gaye, Ivy Jo Hunter and William Stevenson; lyrics by Gaye, Hunter and Stevenson), "Do You Love Me" (music by Gordy; lyrics by Gordy), "Fingertips, Part 2" (music by Clarence O. Paul and Henry Cosby; lyrics by Paul and Cosby), "For Once in My Life" (music by Orlando Murden and Ronald Miller; lyrics by Murden and Miller), "Get Ready" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson), "Give It to Me Baby" (music by Rick James; lyrics by James), "Good Morning Heartache" (music by Ervin M. Drake, Dan Fisher and Irene Higginbotham; lyrics by Drake, Fisher and Higginbotham), "Got a Job" (music by Smokey Robinson, Gordy and Tyran Carlo; lyrics by Robinson, Gordy and Carlo), "Hail to the Beat" (music by Gordy and Lovesmith; lyrics by Gordy and Lovesmith), "The Happening" (music by Dozier, Brian Holland and Frank De Vol; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Happy Birthday" (music by Stevie Wonder; lyrics by Wonder), "Hey Joe (Black Like Me)" (music by Gordy and Lovesmith; lyrics by Gordy and Lovesmith), "How High the Moon" (music by Morgan Lewis; lyrics by Nancy Hamilton), "I Can't Get Next to You" (music by Whitfield; lyrics by Strong), "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "I Got a Feeling" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "I Hear a Symphony" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (music by Whitfield; lyrics by Strong), "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (music by Whitfield and Cornelius Grant; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "I Want You Back" (music by Perren, Mizell, Gordy and Richards; lyrics by Perren, Mizell, Gordy and Richards), "I'll Be There" (music by Hal Davis, Gordy, Bob West and Willie Hutch; lyrics by Davis, Gordy, West and Hutch), "It's What's in the Grooves That Counts" (music by Gordy and Lovesmith; lyrics by Gordy and Lovesmith), "Lonely Teardrops" (music by Gordy, Gwendolyn Gordy Fuqua and Carlo; lyrics by Gordy, Fuqua and Carlo), "Love Child" (music by R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Joan Pamela Sawyer and Richards; lyrics by Taylor, Wilson, Sawyer and Richards), "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "The Love You Save" (music by Perren, Mizell, Gordy and Richards; lyrics by Perren, Mizell, Gordy and Richards), "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (music by Gaye; lyrics by Gaye), "My Girl" (music by Ronald White and Smokey Robinson; lyrics by White and Robinson), "My Guy" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson), "My Mama Done Told Me" (music by Smokey Robinson, Gordy and Carlo; lyrics by Robinson, Gordy and Carlo), "Please Mr. Postman" (music by William Garrett, Georgia Dobbins, Brian Holland, Freddie Gorman and Robert Bateman; lyrics by Garrett, Dobbins, Brian Holland, Gorman and Bateman), "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" (music by Simpson; lyrics by Ashford), "Reach Out I'll Be There" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Reet Petite" (music by Gordy and Carlo; lyrics by Gordy and Carlo), "Remember Me" (music by Simpson; lyrics by Ashford), "Shop Around" (music by Smokey Robinson and Gordy; lyrics by Robinson and Gordy), "Shotgun" (music and lyrics by Junior Walker (Autry Dewalt)), "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (music by Wonder, Syreeta Wright, Lee Garrett and Lula Mae Hardaway; lyrics by Wonder, Wright, Garrett and Hardaway), "Square Biz" (music by Mary C. Brockert and Allen Henry McGrier; lyrics by Brockert and McGrier), "Stop! In the Name of Love" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" (music by Gaye, George Gordy and Stevenson; lyrics by Gaye, Gordy and Stevenson), "Super Freak" (music by James and Alonzo Miller; lyrics by James and Miller), "The Tears of a Clown" (music by Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Cosby; lyrics by Robinson), "To Be Loved" (music by Gordy, Fuqua and Carlo; lyrics by Gordy, Fuqua and Carlo), "Two Lovers" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson), "War" (music by Whitfield; lyrics by Strong), "What's Going On" (music by Renaldo Benson, Alfred W. Cleveland and Gaye; lyrics by Benson, Cleveland and Gaye), "Where Did Our Love Go" (music by Brian Holland and Dozier; lyrics by Edward Holland, Jr.), "Who's Lovin' You" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson), "You Are You" (music by Gordy; lyrics by Gordy), "You're All I Need to Get By" (music by Simpson; lyrics by Ashford), "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" (music by James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan and Larry Stock; lyrics by Cavanaugh, Morgan and Stock), "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (music by Smokey Robinson; lyrics by Robinson) Charles Isherwood, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "More than 50 songs...are performed in 'Motown,' usually, alas, in truncated versions. Most are simply presented as concert versions by the actors playing the artists who made them famous, but a few are shoehorned awkwardly into the story as 'book' songs... Making way for so much music means that 'Motown' breezily scrimps on storytelling. Characters come and go so quickly we barely have time to register their famous names, let alone get to know them... The performers put their songs across with verve and an admirable lack of self-consciousness, given that the audience is likely to be intimately familiar with every nuance of phrasing from the original recordings..." The TheatreMania reviewer noted: Rather than giving us a complex portrait on this fascinating businessman, the show's shoddily written book is essentially a self-serving theatrical memoir in which Gordy gets to tell his life story. But just as importantly, the piece also serves as a celebration of the music that brought America's black and white populations together in a way nothing else ever did. Perhaps that is why Gordy and his creative team, led by director Charles Randolph-Wright, seem so worried they left out an audience favorite that they crammed in more than 50 hits. The result is that too few of the beloved Motown classics receive the kind of full-scale, all-out renditions they deserve. An early, extended version of Martha & The Vandellas' 'Dancing in the Street' proves not just a high point (abetted by energetic choreography from Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams), but a false promise of what lies ahead...The one person who truly shines, though, is Valisia LeKae as Gordy's longtime paramour, superstar Diana Ross. It's not just her almost spot-on re-creation of Miss Ross' breathy voice and steely demeanor that commands our attention. The consistent display of her genuine star power — most evident in a thrilling 'Reach Out and Touch' segment — also draws us in. Motown: The Musical - Official Site at motownthemusical.com Motown Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla Motown, the brand used outside the US) were the most successful proponents of the Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a pop influence. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million. During the 1960s, Motown achieved 79 records in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1960 and 1969. Following the events of the Detroit Riots of 1967 and the loss of key songwriting/production team Holland- Dozier-Holland the same year over pay disputes, Gordy relocated Motown to Los Angeles, California. Motown expanded into film and television production, remaining an independent company until 1988, when it was sold to MCA Records. PolyGram purchased the label from MCA in 1993, followed by MCA successor Universal Music Group when it acquired PolyGram in 1999. Motown spent much of the 2000s headquartered in New York City as a part of the UMG subsidiaries Universal Motown and Universal Motown Republic Group. From 2011 to 2014, it was a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music. In 2014, however, UMG announced the dissolution of Island Def Jam, and Motown relocated back to Los Angeles to operate under the Capitol Music Group, now operating out of the Capitol Tower. In 2018, Motown was inducted into Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame class at the Charles H. Wright Museum. Berry Gordy's interest in the record business began when he opened a record store called the 3D Record Mart, a shop where he hoped to "educate customers about the beauty of jazz", in Detroit, Michigan. (The Gordys were an entrepreneurial family.) Although the shop did not last very long, Gordy's interest in the music business did not fade. He frequented Detroit's downtown nightclubs, and in the Flame Show Bar he met bar manager Al Green (not the famed singer), who owned a music publishing company called Pearl Music and represented Detroit-based musician Jackie Wilson. Gordy soon became part of a group of songwriters—with his sister Gwen Gordy and Billy Davis—who wrote songs for Wilson. "Reet Petite" was their first major hit which appeared in November 1957. During the next eighteen months, Gordy helped to write six more Wilson A-sides, including "Lonely Teardrops", a peak-popular hit of 1958. Between 1957 and 1958, Gordy wrote or produced over a hundred sides for various artists, with his siblings Anna, Gwen and Robert, and other collaborators in varying combinations. Smokey Robinson first met Gordy in 1957; he was little more than a local seventeen-year-old who fronted a vocal harmony group called the Matadors. At the time, Gordy was interested in the doo-wop style that Robinson sang. In 1958, Gordy released "Got a Job" (an answer song to "Get a Job" by the Silhouettes) for Robinson by leasing the record to a larger company outside Detroit called End Records, based in New York. The practice was common at the time for a small-time producer. "Got a Job" was the first single by Robinson's group, now called the Miracles. Gordy recorded a number of other records by forging a similar arrangement, most significantly with United Artists. In 1958, Gordy wrote and produced "Come to Me" for Marv Johnson. Seeing that the song had great crossover potential, Gordy leased it to United Artists for national distribution but also released it locally on his own startup imprint. Needing $800 to cover his end of the deal, Gordy asked his family to borrow money from a cooperative family savings account. After some debate, his family agreed, and in January 1959 “Come to Me” was released regionally on Gordy's new Tamla label. Gordy originally wanted to name the label Tammy Records, after the hit song popularized by Debbie Reynolds from the 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor, in which Reynolds also starred. When he found the name was already in use, Berry decided on Tamla instead. In April 1959, Gordy and his sister Gwen founded Anna Records which released about two dozen singles between 1959 and 1960. The most popular was Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", written by Gordy and a secretary named Janie Bradford, and produced by Gordy. Many of the songs distributed locally by Anna and Tamla Records were nationally distributed by Chess Records (sometimes with Anna and Tamla imprints). Gordy's relationship with Chess fostered closer dealings with Harvey Fuqua, nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots. Harvey Fuqua later married Gwen Gordy in 1961. Gordy looked toward creative self-sufficiency and established publishing firm Jobete, incorporated to the state of Michigan in June 1959. He applied for copyrights on more than seventy songs before the end of 1959, including material used for the Miracles and Frances Burnett records that were leased to Chess and Coral Records. The Michigan Chronicle of Detroit called Gordy an "independent producer of records", as his contributions to the city were beginning to attract notice. By that time, he was the president of Jobete, Tamla, and Rayber, a music writing company. Gordy worked in various Detroit-based studios during this period to produce recordings and demos, but most prominently with United Sound Systems which was considered the best studio in town. However, producing at United Sound Systems was financially taxing and not appropriate for every job, so Gordy decided it would be more cost effective to maintain his own facility. In mid-1959, he purchased a photography studio at 2648 West Grand Boulevard and converted the main floor into a recording studio and office space. Now, rather than shopping his songs to other artists or leasing his recordings to outside companies, Gordy began using the Tamla and Motown imprints to release songs that he wrote and produced. He incorporated Motown Records in April 1960. Smokey Robinson became the vice president of the company (and later named his daughter "Tamla" and his son "Berry"). Several of Gordy's family members, including his father Berry Sr., brothers Robert and George, and sister Esther, were given key roles in the company. By the middle of the decade, Gwen and Anna Gordy had joined the label in administrative positions as well. Gordy's partner at the time (and wife from 1960–64), Raynoma Liles, also played a key role in the early days of Motown, leading the company's first session group, The Rayber Voices, and overseeing Jobete. Also in 1959, Gordy purchased the property that would become Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio. The photography studio located in the back of the property was modified into a small recording studio, and the Gordys moved into the second-floor living quarters. Within seven years, Motown would occupy seven additional neighboring houses: Hitsville U.S.A., 1959 – (ground floor) administrative office, tape library, control room, Studio A; (upper floor) Gordy living quarters (1959–62), artists and repertoire (1962–72), Jobete Publishing office, 1961 – sales, billing, collections, shipping, and public relations, Berry Gordy Jr. Enterprise, 1962 – offices for Berry Gordy Jr. and Esther Gordy Edwards, Finance department, 1965 – royalties and payroll, Artist personal development, 1966 – Harvey Fuqua (head of artist development and producer of stage performances), Maxine Powell (instructor in grooming, poise, and social graces for Motown artists), Maurice King (vocal coach, musical director and arranger), Cholly Atkins (house choreography), and rehearsal studios, Two houses for administrative offices, 1966 – sales and marketing, traveling and traffic, and mixing and mastering, ITMI (International Talent Management Inc.) office, 1966 – management Motown had hired over 450 employees and had a gross income of $20 million by the end of 1966. Early Tamla/Motown artists included Mable John, Eddie Holland and Mary Wells. "Shop Around", the Miracles' first number 1 R&B; hit, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. It was Tamla's first million-selling record. On April 14, 1960, Motown and Tamla Records merged into a new company called Motown Record Corporation. A year later, the Marvelettes scored Tamla's first US number-one pop hit, "Please Mr. Postman". By the mid-1960s, the company, with the help of songwriters and producers such as Robinson, A&R; chief William "Mickey" Stevenson, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Norman Whitfield, had become a major force in the music industry. From 1961 to 1971, Motown had 110 top 10 hits. Top artists on the Motown label during that period included the Supremes (initially including Diana Ross), the Four Tops, and the Jackson 5, while Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Marvelettes, and the Miracles had hits on the Tamla label. The company operated several labels in addition to the Tamla and Motown imprints. A third label, which Gordy named after himself (though it was originally called "Miracle") featured the Temptations, the Contours, Edwin Starr, and Martha and the Vandellas. A fourth, V.I.P., released recordings by the Velvelettes, the Spinners, the Monitors, and Chris Clark. A fifth label, Soul, featured Jr. Walker & the All Stars, Jimmy Ruffin, Shorty Long, the Originals, and Gladys Knight & the Pips (who had found success before joining Motown, as "The Pips" on Vee-Jay). Many more Motown- owned labels released recordings in other genres, including Workshop Jazz (jazz) Earl Washington Reflections and Earl Washington's All Stars, Mel-o-dy (country, although it was originally an R&B; label), and Rare Earth, which featured the band Rare Earth themselves. Under the slogan "The Sound of Young America", Motown's acts were enjoying widespread popularity among black and white audiences alike. Smokey Robinson said of Motown's cultural impact: Into the 1960s, I was still not of a frame of mind that we were not only making music, we were making history. But I did recognize the impact because acts were going all over the world at that time. I recognized the bridges that we crossed, the racial problems and the barriers that we broke down with music. I recognized that because I lived it. I would come to the South in the early days of Motown and the audiences would be segregated. Then they started to get the Motown music and we would go back and the audiences were integrated and the kids were dancing together and holding hands. In 1967 Berry Gordy purchased what is now known as Motown Mansion in Detroit's Boston-Edison Historic District as his home, leaving his previous home to his sister Anna and then-husband Marvin Gaye (where photos for the cover of his album What's Going On were taken). In 1968, Gordy purchased the Donovan building on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Interstate 75, and moved Motown's Detroit offices there (the Donovan building was demolished in January 2006 to provide parking spaces for Super Bowl XL). In the same year Gordy purchased Golden World Records, and its recording studio became "Studio B" to Hitsville's "Studio A". In the United Kingdom, Motown's records were released on various labels: at first London (only the Miracles' "Shop Around"/"Who's Lovin' You" and "Ain't It Baby"), then Fontana ("Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes was one of four) and then Oriole American ("Fingertips" by Little Stevie Wonder was one of many). In 1963, Motown signed with EMI's Stateside label ("Where Did Our Love Go" by the Supremes and "My Guy" by Mary Wells were Motown's first British top-20 hits). Eventually EMI created the Tamla Motown label ("Stop! In the Name of Love" by the Supremes was the first Tamla Motown release in March 1965). After the songwriting trio Holland–Dozier–Holland left the label in 1967 over royalty-payment disputes, Norman Whitfield became the company's top producer, turning out hits for The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Rare Earth. In the meantime Berry Gordy established Motown Productions, a television subsidiary which produced TV specials for the Motown artists, including TCB, with Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations, Diana! with Diana Ross, and Goin' Back to Indiana with the Jackson 5. The company loosened its production rules, allowing some of its longtime artists the opportunity to write and produce more of their own material. This resulted in the recordings of successful and critically acclaimed albums such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) and Let's Get it On (1973), and Stevie Wonder's Music of My Mind (1972), Talking Book (1972), and Innervisions (1973). Motown had established branch offices in both New York City and Los Angeles during the mid-1960s, and by 1969 had begun gradually moving more of its operations to Los Angeles. The company moved all of its operations to Los Angeles in June 1972, with a number of artists, among them Martha Reeves, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and many of the Funk Brothers studio band, either staying behind in Detroit or leaving the company for other reasons. By re- locating, Motown aimed chiefly to branch out into the motion-picture industry, and Motown Productions got its start in film by turning out two hit-vehicles for Diana Ross: the Billie Holiday biographical film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and Mahogany (1975). Other Motown films would include Scott Joplin (1977), Thank God It's Friday (1978), The Wiz (1978) and The Last Dragon (1985). Ewart Abner, who had been associated with Motown since the 1960s, became its president in 1973. By the 1970s, the Motown "hit factory" had become a target of a backlash from some fans of rock music. Record producer Pete Waterman recalls of this period: "I was a DJ for years and I worked for Motown – the press at the time, papers like NME, used to call it Toytown. When I DJ'd on the Poly circuit, the students wanted me to play Spooky Tooth and Velvet Underground. Things don't change. Nowadays, of course, Motown is hip." Despite losing Holland–Dozier–Holland, Norman Whitfield, and some of its other hitmakers by 1975, Motown still had a number of successful artists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Rick James, Teena Marie, the Dazz Band, Jose Feliciano and DeBarge. By the mid-1980s Motown had started losing money, and Berry Gordy sold his ownership in Motown to MCA Records (which began a US distribution deal with the label in 1983) and Boston Ventures in June 1988 for $61 million. In 1989, Gordy sold the Motown Productions TV/film operations to Motown executive Suzanne de Passe, who renamed the company de Passe Entertainment and continues to run it . During the 1990s, Motown was home to successful recording artists such as Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill, although the company itself remained in a state of turmoil. MCA appointed a series of executives to run the company, beginning with Berry Gordy's immediate successor, Jheryl Busby. Busby quarreled with MCA, alleging that the company did not give Motown's product adequate attention or promotion. In 1991, Motown sued MCA to have its distribution deal with the company terminated, and began releasing its product through PolyGram. PolyGram purchased Motown from Boston Ventures three years later. In 1994, Busby was replaced by Andre Harrell, the entrepreneur behind Uptown Records. Harrell served as Motown's CEO for just under two years, leaving the company after receiving bad publicity for being inefficient. Danny Goldberg, who ran PolyGram's Mercury Records group, assumed control of Motown, and George Jackson served as president. By 1998, Motown had added stars such as 702, Brian McKnight, and Erykah Badu to its roster. In December 1998, PolyGram was acquired by Seagram, and Motown was absorbed into the Universal Music Group. Seagram had purchased Motown's former parent MCA in 1995, and Motown was in effect reunited with many of its MCA corporate siblings (Seagram had hoped to build a media empire around Universal, and started by purchasing PolyGram). Universal briefly considered shuttering the label, but instead decided to restructure it. Kedar Massenburg, a producer for Erykah Badu, became the head of the label, and oversaw successful recordings from Badu, McKnight, Michael McDonald, and new Motown artist India.Arie. Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations had remained with the label since its early days, although all except Wonder recorded for other labels for several years. Ross left Motown for RCA Records from 1981 to 1988, but returned in 1989 and stayed until 2002, while Robinson left Motown in 1991 (although he did return to release one more album for the label in 1999). The Temptations left for Atlantic Records in 1977, but returned in 1980 and eventually left again in 2004. , Wonder is the only artist from Motown's early period still on the label. In 2005, Massenburg was replaced by Sylvia Rhone, former CEO of Elektra Records. Motown was merged with Universal Records to create the Universal Motown Records and placed under the newly created umbrella division of Universal Motown Republic Group. Notable artists on Universal Motown included Drake Bell, Ryan Leslie, Melanie Fiona, Kelly Rowland, Forever the Sickest Kids, The Veer Union and Four Year Strong. Motown celebrated its 50th anniversary on January 12, 2009. In the Summer of 2011, Universal Motown reverted to the Motown brand after having been separated from Universal Motown Republic Group, hired Ethiopia Habtemariam as its Senior Vice President, and operated under The Island Def Jam Music Group. Artists from Universal Motown were transferred to the newly revitalized Motown label. On January 25, 2012, it was announced that Ne-Yo would join the Motown label both as an artist as well as the new Senior Vice President of A&R.; On April 1, 2014, it was announced that Island Def Jam will no longer be running following the resignation of CEO Barry Weiss. In a press release sent out by Universal Music Group, the label will now be reorganizing Def Jam Recordings, Island Records and Motown Records all as separate entities. Motown would then begin serving as a subsidiary of Capitol Records. In late 2018, Motown began celebrating its 60th anniversary by reissuing numerous albums from their catalog. Motown specialized in a type of soul music it referred to with the trademark "The Motown Sound". Crafted with an ear towards pop appeal, the Motown Sound typically used tambourines to accent the back beat, prominent, and often melodic electric bass-guitar lines, distinctive melodic and chord structures, and a call-and-response singing style that originated in gospel music. In 1971, Jon Landau wrote in Rolling Stone that the sound consisted of songs with simple structures but sophisticated melodies, along with a four-beat drum pattern, regular use of horns and strings and "a trebly style of mixing that relied heavily on electronic limiting and equalizing (boosting the high range frequencies) to give the overall product a distinctive sound, particularly effective for broadcast over AM radio". Pop production techniques such as the use of orchestral string sections, charted horn sections, and carefully arranged background vocals were also used. Complex arrangements and elaborate, melismatic vocal riffs were avoided. Motown producers believed steadfastly in the "KISS principle" (keep it simple, stupid). The Motown production process has been described as factory-like. The Hitsville studios remained open and active 22 hours a day, and artists would often go on tour for weeks, come back to Detroit to record as many songs as possible, and then promptly go on tour again. Berry Gordy held quality control meetings every Friday morning, and used veto power to ensure that only the very best material and performances would be released. The test was that every new release needed to fit into a sequence of the top five selling pop singles of the week. Several tracks that later became critical and commercial favorites were initially rejected by Gordy; the two most notable being the Marvin Gaye songs "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "What's Going On". In several cases, producers would re- work tracks in hopes of eventually getting them approved at a later Friday morning meeting, as producer Norman Whitfield did with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg". Many of Motown's best-known songs, including all the early hits for the Supremes, were written by the songwriting trio of Holland–Dozier–Holland (Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland). Other important Motown producers and songwriters included Norman Whitfield, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Smokey Robinson, Barrett Strong, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Frank Wilson, Pamela Sawyer & Gloria Jones, James Dean & William Weatherspoon, Johnny Bristol, Harvey Fuqua, Gil Askey, Stevie Wonder, and Gordy himself. The style created by the Motown musicians was a major influence on several non-Motown artists of the mid-1960s, such as Dusty Springfield and the Foundations. In the United Kingdom, the Motown Sound became the basis of the northern soul movement. Smokey Robinson said the Motown Sound had little to do with Detroit: In addition to the songwriting process of the writers and producers, one of the major factors in the widespread appeal of Motown's music was Gordy's practice of using a highly-select and tight-knit group of studio musicians, collectively known as the Funk Brothers, to record the instrumental or "band" tracks of a majority of Motown recordings. Among the studio musicians responsible for the "Motown Sound" were keyboardists Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, and Joe Hunter; guitarists Joe Messina, Robert White, and Eddie Willis; percussionists Eddie "Bongo" Brown and Jack Ashford; drummers Benny Benjamin, Uriel Jones, and Richard "Pistol" Allen; and bassists James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt. The band's career and work is chronicled in the 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown, which publicised the fact that these musicians "played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined." Much of the Motown Sound came from the use of overdubbed and duplicated instrumentation. Motown songs regularly featured two drummers instead of one (either overdubbed or in unison), as well as three or four guitar lines. Bassist James Jamerson often played his instrument with only the index finger of his right hand, and created many of the basslines apparent on Motown songs such as "Up the Ladder to the Roof" by The Supremes. Artist development was a major part of Motown's operations instituted by Berry Gordy. The acts on the Motown label were fastidiously groomed, dressed and choreographed for live performances. Motown artists were advised that their breakthrough into the white popular music market made them ambassadors for other African-American artists seeking broad market acceptance, and that they should think, act, walk and talk like royalty, so as to alter the less-than- dignified image commonly held of black musicians by white Americans in that era. Given that many of the talented young artists had been raised in housing projects and lacked the necessary social and dress experience, this Motown department was not only necessary, it created an elegant style of presentation long associated with the label. The artist development department specialized primarily in working with younger, less-experienced acts; experienced performers such as Jr. Walker and Marvin Gaye were exempt from artist- development classes. Many of the young artists participated in an annual package tour called the "Motortown Revue", which was popular, first, on the "Chitlin' Circuit", and, later, around the world. The tours gave the younger artists a chance to hone their performance and social skills and learn from the more experienced artists. In order to avoid accusations of payola should DJs play too many records from the original Tamla label, Gordy formed Motown Records as a second label in 1960. The two labels featured the same writers, producers and artists. Many more subsidiary labels were established later under the umbrella of the Motown parent company, including Gordy Records, Soul Records and VIP Records; in reality the Motown Record Corporation controlled all of these labels. Most of the distinctions between Motown labels were largely arbitrary, with the same writers, producers and musicians working on all the major subsidiaries, and artists were often shuffled between labels for internal marketing reasons. All of these records are usually considered to be "Motown" records, regardless of whether they actually appeared on the Motown Records label itself. Tamla Records: Established 1959, Tamla was a primary subsidiary for mainstream R&B;/soul music. Tamla is actually the company's original label: Gordy founded Tamla Records several months before establishing the Motown Record Corporation. The label's numbering system was combined with those of Motown and Gordy in 1982, and the label was merged with Motown in 1988. Notable Tamla artists included Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and the Marvelettes. Tamla was briefly re-activated in 1996 as a reggae label, but only released a 12" single by Cocoa Tea called "New Immigration Law". Tamla also had a sub-label called Penny Records in 1959; artists on that label included Bryan Brent And The Cut Outs, who recorded a single for the label entitled "Vacation Time" b/w "For Eternity" (2201). Tamla Records slogan: "The Sound that Makes the World Go 'Round"., Motown Records: Established 1960, Motown was and remains the company's main label for mainstream R&B;/soul music (and, today, hip-hop music as well). The label's numbering system was combined with those of Tamla and Gordy in 1982, and the label (and company) was purchased by MCA in 1988. Notable Motown artists have included Mary Wells, the Supremes, Four Tops, the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Boyz II Men, Commodores, Lionel Richie, Dazz Band, Brian McKnight, 98 Degrees, and Erykah Badu. Motown Records slogan: "The Sound of Young America"., Gordy Records: Established 1962, Gordy was also a primary subsidiary for mainstream R&B;/soul music. Originally known as Miracle Records (slogan: "If It's a Hit, It's a Miracle"), the name was changed in 1962 to avoid confusion with the Miracles singing group. The label's numbering system was combined with those of Motown and Tamla in 1982, and the label was merged with Motown in 1988. Notable Gordy artists included the Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, the Contours, Edwin Starr, Rick James, The Mary Jane Girls, Teena Marie, Switch, and DeBarge. Gordy Records slogan: "It's What's in the Grooves that Counts"., Tamla Motown Records: Motown's non-US label, established in March 1965 and folded into the regular Motown label in 1976. Distributed by EMI, Tamla Motown issued the releases on the American Motown labels, using its own numbering system. In some cases, Tamla Motown would issue singles and albums not released in the United States (for example, the singles "I Second That Emotion" and "Why (Must We Fall in Love)" by Diana Ross & the Supremes with the Temptations, as well as the successful Motown Chartbusters series of albums). Check-Mate Records: Short-lived (1961–1962) R&B;/soul subsidiary, purchased from Chess Records. Notable artists included David Ruffin and The Del-Phis (later Martha and the Vandellas)., Miracle Records: Short-lived (1961) R&B;/soul subsidiary that lasted less than a year. Some pressings featured the infamous tagline, "If it's a hit, it's a Miracle." Renamed Gordy Records in 1962. Notable releases included early recordings by Jimmy Ruffin and the Temptations., MoWest Records: MoWest was a short-lived (1971–1973; 1976 in UK) subsidiary for R&B;/soul artists based on the West Coast. Shut down when the main Motown office moved to Los Angeles. Notable artists included G. C. Cameron, the Sisters Love, Syreeta Wright, the Four Seasons, Commodores (their first two singles in 1972 and 1973), and Los Angeles DJ Tom Clay. Unlike other Motown releases in the UK that were released by Tamla Motown, MoWest retained its US label design and logo for its UK releases as well. In fact, MoWest lasted longer in the UK up until 1976., Motown Yesteryear: a label created in late 1970s and used through the 1980s for the reissues of 7-inch singles from all eras of the company's history, after printing in the initial label has ceased. One Motown Yesteryear single made Billboard′s Top 40 – the Contours' "Do You Love Me", in 1988, when its inclusion in the film Dirty Dancing revived interest., Soul Records: Established in 1964, Soul was a R&B;/soul subsidiary for releases with less of a jazz feel and/or more of a blues feel. Notable Soul artists included Jr. Walker & the All-Stars, Shorty Long, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Originals, the Fantastic Four, and Jimmy Ruffin. The label was dissolved in 1978. This label has no affiliation with the short-lived S.O.U.L. Records- an early 1990s imprint that was founded by the production team the Bomb Squad., V.I.P. Records: Established in 1964, V.I.P. was an R&B;/soul subsidiary. Notable artists included the Velvelettes, the Spinners, the Monitors, the Elgins and Chris Clark. V.I.P. also was the outlet for pop records that were leased to Motown by EMI (the distributor of Tamla-Motown in Europe). The label was dissolved in 1974., Weed Records: A very short-lived subsidiary. Only one release, Chris Clark's 1969 CC Rides Again album, was issued. This release featured the tongue-in-cheek tagline: "Your Favorite Artists Are On Weed". The logo was a parody of the "Snapping Fingers" logo for Stax Records, but the hand in this case is holding up a peace sign. The name "Weed Records" is now owned by the Tokyo/New York-based Weed Records. Mel-o-dy Records.: Established in 1962 as a secondary R&B;/soul music subsidiary, Mel-o-dy later focused on white country music artists. Notable Mel-o-dy artists include Dorsey Burnette. The label was dissolved in 1965., Hitsville Records.: Founded as Melodyland Records in 1974. After the Melodyland Christian Center threatened legal action, the name was changed to Hitsville in 1976. Like Mel-o-dy before it, Hitsville focused on country music. Run by Mike Curb and Ray Ruff, Hitsville's notable artists included Ronnie Dove, Pat Boone, T. G. Sheppard and Jud Strunk. The label was dissolved in 1977. In the UK, Melodyland/Hitsville material was released on MoWest., M.C. Records: Operated 1977 to 1978 as a continuation of the Hitsville label. A joint venture between Gordy and Mike Curb. The Mel-o-dy, Hitsville, and M.C. catalogs are now managed by Mercury Nashville Records. Wondirection Records.: A record label owned by Stevie Wonder, it had one 12-inch dance release, the 10' 35" rap track "The Crown" by Gary Byrd and the G.B. Experience., Mad Sounds Recordings.: Short-lived hip-hop/rap subsidiary label, released five albums in the mid-1990s- including Zig Zag by Tha Mexakinz, Trendz by Trendz of Culture and Rottin ta da Core by Rottin Razkals. Workshop Jazz Records.: Motown's jazz subsidiary, active from 1962 to 1964. Notable Workshop Jazz artists included the George Bohannon Trio, Earl Washington All Stars, and Four Tops (whose recordings for the label went unissued for 30 years). The Workshop Jazz catalog is currently managed by Verve Records., Blaze Records.: A short-lived label featuring a Jack Ashford instrumental released in September 1969, "Do The Choo-Choo" with b-side "Do The Choo-Choo Pt II" written by L. Chandler, E. Willis, J. Ashford, with label number 1107., Mo Jazz Records.: Another jazz label created in the 1990s, this was Motown's most successful jazz imprint. Notable artists included Norman Brown, Foley, Norman Connors, and J. Spencer. It also reissued instrumental albums like Stevie Wonder's 1968 album Eivets Rednow and Grover Washington Jr.'s CTI/Kudu albums under the Classic Mo Jazz subsidiary. This label (including its roster and catalog) was folded into Verve Records after the PolyGram/Universal merger. Rare Earth Records.: Established in 1969 after the signing of Rare Earth (after whom the label was named), Rare Earth Records was a subsidiary focusing on rock music by white artists. Notable acts included Rare Earth, R. Dean Taylor, the Pretty Things, Love Sculpture, Kiki Dee, Toe Fat, The Cats and Shaun Murphy (both solo and her collaborations with Meat Loaf). The label also was the subsidiary to house the first white band signed to Motown, the Rustix., Prodigal Records.: Purchased by Motown in 1976, Motown used Prodigal Records as a second rock music subsidiary; a successor label to Rare Earth Records. The Rare Earth band moved over to the label following the Rare Earth label's demise. Pop singer Charlene's #3 pop single for Motown I've Never Been To Me was originally released and charted on this label in 1977 (#97). Prodigal was dissolved in 1978., Morocco Records.: Acronym for "MOtown ROCk COmpany". As the name suggests, Morocco was a rock music subsidiary. Active from 1983 to 1984, it was a short-lived attempt to revive the Rare Earth Records concept. Only seven albums were released on the label. Its two most promising acts, Duke Jupiter and the black new wave trio Tiggi Clay (via their lead singer, Fizzy Qwick) eventually moved to the parent label. Divinity Records.: Short-lived (1962–1963) gospel subsidiary. With five releases by artists- Wright Specials, Gospel Stars, Bernadettes, and Liz Lands. Label sequence starts at 99004 to 99008, the final recording being "We Shall Overcome" (for label number 99008) that was recorded in the Graystone Ballroom, was withdrawn and transferred to GORDY 7023B as "I Have A Dream" speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.., Black Forum Records.: A spoken-word subsidiary that focused mainly on albums featuring progressive political and pro-civil rights speeches/poetry. Black Forum issued recordings by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Elaine Brown, Langston Hughes, Margaret Danner, and others from 1970 until 1973., Natural Resources: This label was active from 1972 to 1973 and in 1976 as a minor subsidiary for white artists and instrumental bands. It served as a label for Motown, Tamla and Gordy reissues and Motown compilation albums in 1978 and 1979., Motown Latino Records.: Short-lived (1982) subsidiary for Spanish-language Latin American music. Its only artist was Jose Feliciano., Gaiee Records.: Only one single was released on this label in 1975; Valentino's "Gay/Lesbian" anthem "I Was Born This Way", which was later covered by fellow Motown artist Carl Bean in 1977. Biv 10 Records: A hip-hop/R&B; label that was founded by Bell Biv Devoe/New Edition member Michael Bivins. The label operated throughout most of the 1990s. Its roster included Another Bad Creation, Boyz II Men, and 702., Chisa Records: Motown released output for Chisa, a label owned by Hugh Masekela, from 1969 to 1972 (prior to that, the label was distributed by Vault Records)., CTI Records: Motown distributed output for CTI Records, a jazz label owned by Creed Taylor, from 1974 to 1975. CTI subsidiaries distributed by Motown included Kudu Records, Three Brothers Records and Salvation Records., Three Brothers Records: A short-lived sublabel of CTI Records that had two single releases. One was by a Spike Jones influenced group called The Clams. With a few exceptions, the bulk of CTI's recordings is now owned by Sony Music Entertainment., Ecology Records: A very short-lived label owned by Sammy Davis Jr. and distributed by Motown. Only release: single "In My Own Lifetime"/"I'll Begin Again", by Davis in 1971., Gull Records: A UK-based label still in operation, Motown released Gull's output in the US in 1975. Gull had Judas Priest on its roster in 1975, but their LP Sad Wings of Destiny, intended for release by Motown in the US, was issued after the Motown/Gull Deal had fallen through., Manticore Records: A record label created by the members of the rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Manticore released albums by ELP and various other Progressive rock artists. Manticore was originally distributed in the U.S. by Atlantic Records from 1973 to 1975 but switched to Motown distribution until the label folded in 1977. Rayber Records, IPG Records, Rich Records, Summer Camp Records, Inferno Records, Tabu Records, Ric-Tic Records, Groovesville Records London American Records issued the releases for Motown from 1960 to 1961., Fontana Records issued the releases for Motown from 1961 to 1962., Oriole American Records issued the releases for Motown from 1962 to 1963., Stateside Records issued the releases for Motown from 1963 to 1965, when the Tamla Motown label was created. Motown discography, Hitsville USA, Music of Detroit Official Motown Records website, Official Classic Motown website, The Motown Museum, Complete discography of pre-1986 Motown singles, Complete discography of pre-1986 Motown albums, What Makes Motown Sound Like Motown? at Reverb.com,, The Motown Invasion, 2009 BBC Documentary, at YouTube Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, to commemorate Motown's 25th year (Motown was founded in January 1959). The program was taped before a live studio audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983, and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", Smokey Robinson's long-awaited reunion with The Miracles, a Temptations / Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final #1 hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The show was co-written by de Passe with Ruth Adkins Robinson who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow-up label tributes—through "Motown 40," Buz Kohan was the head writer. Junior Walker performed 30 seconds of his signature hit "Shotgun." It was performed as a solo; The All-Stars, his long-time group, did not participate. Lionel Richie performed his hit "You Mean More To Me" in a pre-taped segment. Appearing with him was Lynette Butler, identified as a "Sickle Cell Poster Child." Richie did not appear with his former group the Commodores, who appeared without him on a separate live segment of the special, singing "Brick House," which was led, as on the original recording, by Commodore Walter "Clyde" Orange. The other original Commodores, William King, Ron LaPread, Milan Williams, and Thomas McCleary were present and performed on this segment. Marvin Gaye, who had left the label a year before to sign with Columbia Records and had a current hit with "Sexual Healing," agreed at the last minute to join the roster of other Motown legends to perform. When he came on, he played the piano and gave the audience a narrative of black music history before he stepped off the piano and sang his classic 1971 hit, "What's Going On", to thunderous applause. Marvin's performance on the show, following his appearances on February 23, 1983 on the Grammys and the NBA All-Star Game, was one of his final national television appearances before his murder by his own father in April 1984. The 'first lady of Motown' Mary Wells and Vandellas frontwoman Martha Reeves were each given a 30-second spot, singing their respective hits, "My Guy" and "Heatwave." Michael Jackson, who had recently released his worldwide best-selling album Thriller, was reunited with his brothers to perform a medley of their hits "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", "Never Can Say Goodbye", and "I'll Be There". Jermaine was also there, finally performing with his brothers for the first time since leaving the group in 1975, and brother Randy joined the group for the medley as well (When Jermaine left the Jackson 5 for a solo career, Randy had replaced him). Michael originally turned down the opportunity to perform at the show believing he had been doing too much television at the time; but at Berry Gordy's request, Michael agreed to perform under the condition he was allotted time for a solo spot, to which Gordy agreed. As the other members of the Jackson 5 left the stage, Michael transitioned dramatically into his own solo spot. Widely hailed as his breakthrough performance as a solo artist, he danced while singing to his own pre recorded vocals of "Billie Jean", which at the time was in the middle of a seven-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 music charts and was the only non-Motown song performed on the show. This was also the first time he performed what would become his most famous signature move, the moonwalk. Michael's concert performances of "Billie Jean" in the years since Motown 25 were always formatted on his performance on this special, from the opening pose with the fedora, black sequin jacket, and glove, to the moonwalk routine in the song's bridge. This special marked the long-awaited reunion of Motown VP Smokey Robinson with his original group The Miracles: Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, Claudette Robinson (then wife of Smokey), and Marv Tarplin (who was on stage with them, slightly off-camera to the right, but can be seen in certain shots) for the first time since he left the group 11 years before (in 1972). Original Miracles member Ronnie White did not participate in the reunion for personal reasons (his wife, Earlyn, died that year). As Motown's first group (also the label's first million-selling act) they were first on the show, singing four of their greatest hits, "Shop Around", "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", "The Tears of a Clown", and "Going To A Go-Go". Stevie Wonder, accompanied by his band and his girl group Wonderlove sang several of his greatest hits, including "I Wish," "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "My Cherie Amour," "Sir Duke," and also preceded by a vintage clip of Wonder singing his first hit "Fingertips." Motown 25 was a showcase for the highly anticipated reunion of the Supremes: Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Supremes replacement Cindy Birdsong (original member Florence Ballard had died in 1976). Four of their greatest hits were to be sung that night, including "Someday We'll Be Together", "Baby Love" and "Stop! In the Name of Love", however this reunion was cut short. Richard Pryor opened the segment with a fairy-tale story of 'three maidens from the Projects of Brewster' which was then followed with a montage of various Supremes' video clips. Diana then started down the center aisle of the auditorium with her hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". When Ross finished, she made a brief speech about 'the night that everyone came back' (although some of the surviving artists and musicians had not been invited). After the beginning chords of "Someday We'll Be Together", Birdsong entered from stage left, and Wilson entered from stage right. Shortly after the first verse, Wilson took over the lead vocals. A few moments later, Motown labelmates such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and others quickly filled the stage for an impromptu finale. Although producer Suzanne de Passe had instructed Diana to introduce Berry Gordy after leading the finale (a fact unknown to Mary), Wilson decided to do the honors by calling Berry down herself. Additionally, earlier in the program, Wilson made a brief tribute to Ballard, and former label mate Paul Williams of the Temptations. By the time the reunion aired on May 16, Ross/Wilson altercations were widely reported, including an article and pictures in Us Magazine, and the performance resulted in negative publicity for the group. The Temptations and Four Tops competed in a "Battle of the Bands" style event. The only original or "Classic Five" Temptations performing were Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams, as Eddie Kendricks (who left the group in 1971) and David Ruffin (who left the group in 1968, and was replaced by Dennis Edwards) had a falling out with the group. Paul Williams (who also left the group in 1971) had died in 1973, and Al Bryant (who left the group and was replaced by Ruffin in 1964) had died in 1975. Joining Williams and Franklin were then-Temptations Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, and Ron Tyson. All of the original members of the Four Tops performed: Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, and Lawrence Payton, with Levi Stubbs providing the lead vocals. The two groups performed "Reach Out I'll Be There","Baby I Need Your Loving", "Get Ready", "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", "My Girl" "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "I Can't Get Next to You", among other numbers. The joint performance was a success, and the Temptations and Four Tops toured together for two years following the special. This "battle" later returned in a Motown TV special at the Apollo theater and created a long running tour for the two groups to compete in. While Motown 25 was billed as "Yesterday, Today, Forever", artists from the golden era of Motown, such as The Marvelettes, The Vandellas, The Contours, Kim Weston, Brenda Holloway, Marv Johnson, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Rare Earth, The Isley Brothers and The Velvelettes were not included in the special, while newer artists such as DeBarge, High Inergy and José Feliciano (who paid homage to Berry Gordy singing Lonely Teardrops) were. (Singers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson appeared onstage at the end with the other artists, but they did not perform.) Non-Motown artists, such as Adam Ant (who paid homage to the Supremes singing "Where Did Our Love Go" with Diana Ross) and Linda Ronstadt were featured as well. Ronstadt performed "Ooh Baby Baby" and "Tracks of My Tears" with Smokey Robinson. She had hits with both songs and in 1976 her version of The Miracles' "Tracks of My Tears" even went to #12 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart, a first for a Motown song. According to the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, James Jamerson, a key component of the Motown sound, and member of The Funk Brothers who recorded many of the backing tracks to the Motown hits, had to buy a Motown 25 ticket from a scalper and sat at the back of the hall with the general public. In addition, the "Motown Sound," which Motown producer Paul Riser would later credit The Funk Brothers and the musicians at Motown of creating in Standing in the Shadows of Motown, was crudely trivialized during a segment in Motown 25 where executives and employees at Motown, and even Berry Gordy himself, gave all kind of answers to what the Motown Sound was—with no answer giving credit to the musicians. Additional appearances were made by Dick Clark, Howard Hesseman and Tim Reid (reprising their WKRP in Cincinnati roles as disc jockeys), fast-talker John Moschitta Jr., T.G. Sheppard (who recorded for Motown's 1970s country label and had two #1 hits on Billboard's country chart), Billy Dee Williams, and The Lester Wilson Dancers. Additionally, clips of Rick James and The Mary Jane Girls were featured. The original vinyl release of the album, narrated by Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson, was produced by Jon Badeaux in 1983. The name of that release is The Motown Story: First 25 Years. That album, now out of print, received a Grammy nomination as Best Historical Recording, Jon Badeaux, Producer. The special was the highest-viewed prime time show in the United States for the week. 9pm to 11pm; Rating: 22.8; Viewers: 33.9 million Motown 25 was released on DVD through Star Vista Entertainment/Time Life in six-DVD, three-DVD and one-DVD versions on September 30, 2014. Prior to this, the special could only be found on VHS and Laserdisc. The only footage of Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever on DVD was Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" which was officially released on the HIStory on Film, Volume II DVD and the DVD included in Thriller 25. There are some differences between the VHS video release and the DVD. On the VHS version, there are a few shots of Berry Gordy seated in the audience that are omitted on the DVD. In addition, some vintage clips that were used on the original broadcast and on the VHS release were replaced, most notably during the Supremes "Stop! In the Name of Love" montage where several different clips of the Supremes singing the word "Stop!" were edited together. The majority of the clips replaced appear to be from a taping of the British show Ready, Steady, Go!: The Sounds of Motown, that featured, along with the Supremes, The Temptations, The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, and Stevie Wonder. Posner, Gerald (2002). "Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power'. New York: Random House. ., Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). . New York: Cooper Squaree Publishers. .

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Radio Times is a British weekly magazine which provides radio and television listings. It was the world's first broadcast listings magazine when it was founded in 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company (from 1927 the British Broadcasting Corporation). It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 1937 until 2011 when the BBC Magazines division was merged into Immediate Media Company. In 2017 it was bought by the German media group Hubert Burda. The Radio Times was first issued on 28 September 1923 for the price of 2d, carrying details of BBC wireless programmes (newspapers at the time boycotted radio listings, fearing that increased listenership might decrease their sales). It included a '' by the BBC's chairman, Lord Pease. Initially, The Radio Times was a combined enterprise between the British Broadcasting Company and the publisher George Newnes, who type-set, printed and distributed the magazine. In 1925 the BBC assumed full editorial control, but printing and distribution could not begin in-house until 1937. The Radio Times established a reputation for using leading writers and illustrators, and the covers from the special editions are now collectable design classics. In 1928, The Radio Times announced a regular series of 'experimental television transmissions by the Baird process' for half an hour every morning. The launch of the first regular 405-line television service by the BBC was reflected with television listings in the Radio Times London edition of 23 October 1936. Thus Radio Times became the first television listings magazine in the world. Initially only two pages in each edition were devoted to television. However, on 8 January 1937 the magazine published a lavish photogravure supplement and by September 1939, there were three pages of television listings. From issue 693, with the cover date of 8 January 1937, the definitive article "The" was no longer used on the masthead, and the magazine became simply Radio Times. Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and television broadcasting ceased. Radio listings continued throughout the war with a reduced service, but by 1944, paper rationing meant editions were only 20 pages of tiny print on thin paper, when the Radio Times expanded with regional editions were introduced from 29 July 1945 and television resumed on 7 June 1946. From 18 January 1953 the television listings, which had been in the back of the magazine, were placed alongside the daily radio schedules and on 17 February 1957, the television listings were moved to a separate section at the front with radio listings relegated to the back, a day's listings was sometimes spread over up to three double-spreads mixed with advertisements, but this format was phased out when independent publishers were allowed to publish television programme schedules: Since it published on Tuesdays (its publication day having gradually moved forward from Fridays over many years) and carried listings for the following Saturday through to Friday (this began in 1960, before which issues ran Sunday to Saturday; the changeover meant that Saturday 8 October 1960 was listed twice). On 6 September 1969, Radio Times is given a radical makeover as well as the front cover is surrounded by black border and italicses its masthead (in the Caslon typeface with swash capitals that remained until April 2001) was an attempt to emphasize the "R" for radio and "T" for television, in some changes for the new format while the highlights section in the right page is scrapped and the radio listings becoming two pages for a day, but despite the new look, they switched the date format from "month-day-year" to "day-month-year" and ceases carrying cigarette advertisements after 46 years since its first published. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-sized issue has been published each December containing listings for two weeks of programmes. Originally, this covered Christmas and New Year listings, but in some years these appear in separate editions, with the two-week period ending just before New Year. On 1 September 1984, web- offset printing was used for the first time, and the magazine became brighter and more colourful, with newsprint and sheets of gravure is replaced by black ink and white paper, including the new "today at a glance" for BBC television listings on the right page, and from 2 June 1990 the entire magazine was published in colour for the first time which ended monochrome for over 67 years, the day's listings beginning with "at a glance", followed by two pages of BBC Television channels and BBC Radio stations (with BBC Local Radio at the end). The channel logos arrived on 16 February 1991 as the same date for the new BBC One and BBC Two station idents, when they started covering all channels. Before the deregulation of television listings on 1 March 1991, the four weekly listings magazines were as follows: Radio Times carried programme listings for BBC radio and television channels as well as BBC Local Radio stations since 8 November 1967., The ITV-published magazine TVTimes (also known as TVTimes Magazine from 3 October 1981 to 5 October 1984), launched on 22 September 1955 carried television programme listings for ITV, and Channel 4 (including S4C in the Wales edition) from November 1982. Prior to this, several of the regional ITV companies produced their own listings magazines for Look Westward (WTV), The Viewer (Tyne Tees Television), TV Post (Ulster Television), Television Weekly (TWW/WWN/ITSWW/Harlech Television) and TV World (ATV/ABC) are published, before TVTimes went national on 21 September 1968., Rupert Murdoch's publication TV Guide (not to be confused with the American magazine of the same name), launched on 25 March 1989 carrying the 28 pages of Astra satellite television listings for Sky Television channels (including Sky One, Sky News, Sky Movies, Eurosport, and from 15 December 1990, Sky Arts, The Movie Channel, The Power Station and The Sports Channel on the Marcopolo satellite which were added after the BSB's merger), MTV Europe, RTL Véronique (for English language programmes), Screensport, The Children's Channel, Lifestyle and a highlights of BBC, ITV and Channel 4 listings as well. It became a monthly magazine from 1991, and it was later absorbed by Satellite TV Europe magazine in 1992., In the Republic of Ireland, Raidió Teilifís Éireann publishes the RTÉ Guide (formerly as the RTV Guide) launched in December 1961 which offers detailed programme listings for RTÉ Television and RTÉ Radio channels, while early on listings were carried for BBC Northern Ireland but were later dropped in 1966 and only RTÉ programme listings were carried until 13 April 1991. Today both publications carry listings for all major terrestrial, cable and satellite television channels in the United Kingdom and following deregulation, new listings magazines such as IPC Media's What's on TV and Bauer Media Group's TV Quick began to be published. While the major refresh on 31 August 1991, the highlights section was scrapped and replaced by the number of satellite channels on the left in the daytime listings with "at a glance" on the right, then followed by evening's television listings. On 5 September 1992, Radio Times devoted two pages of satellite and cable channels to making up the six pages of television listings for a day: During 1993, Radio Times had several alterations for the radio and television listing pages: 1 January – the VideoPlus+ number codes to cover all the terrestrial and satellite television channels for the first time., 5 June – the radio listings is given a radical makeover with highlights on the right, including Virgin 1215, Classic FM and BBC World Service were added on each pages., 25 September – the daytime television listings with "at a glance" is now on the right page, but however these advertisements were occupied on the left page. Radio Times design was refreshed on 3 September 1994 as the television listings had the day's name written vertically with "today's choices" replacing "at a glance" on the left of a page, while the major revamp on 25 September 1999 as well as the programme page headings were returned which also changed the "letters" section beginning on the front pages and primetime television listings from two narrow columns to one wide column, and lasted until 13 April 2001 (shortly before Easter), which saw the new masthead title with the BBC's corporated typeface Gill Sans (until 2004) and the programme pages with eight pages of television listings reverted to having the day running across the top of the page horizontally. On 26 November 2002, NTL and BBC Worldwide announced a major new agreement that will offer an exclusive and tailored edition of Radio Times to every customer across the United Kingdom for every week it will be delivered directly to subscribers' homes. The special NTL edition of Radio Times replaces the monthly Cable Guide, which ran from September 1986 to December 2002, will contain programme information for NTL channels (including all terrestrial channels) with Front Row's pay-per- view movies and events will also be included. Subscribers will be offered the first four weekly issues of the new title for the same price as the existing monthly magazine, will be delivered free to homes in time for the first programme week of 4 January 2003, both companies will actively and jointly market the new edition. On 30 October 2004, the programme listings pages have been revamped with the regional variations is now at the bottom of daytime section as well as the same spread on the five main channels including BBC Three, BBC Four, ITV2 and ITV3 (launched on 1 November) now appear on digital/cable on the right page and a "Kids' TV" section in a single page on the left, also on 22 May 2007, two extra pages of television listings per day were added as part of a slight tweak in the publication's format, bringing it up to ten pages of listings per day in total, or five double-page spreads: one page of highlights with daytime listings and regional variations, followed by two pages of evening's terrestrial television listings (with "at a glance" for digital channels until 2010), then six pages of listings for digital, satellite and cable channels. Until 2009, the listings issued a warning phrase "contains strong language" used for BBC television programmes from 9:00pm during the hours of watershed restrictions. The most sweeping change came into effect on 10 April 2010 as Radio Times went through a major overhaul with the two pages for latest reviews of highlights ("choices") that similar to TVTimes, while the daytime listings moved onto the evening section having the full day's output for the five main channels on one double-page spread to complete the set: Choices, Main channels, Freeview Satellite and cable, Films/Sport, Radio Other changes saw the addition of electronic program guide numbers into the channel headers, and include director and year of production details on all Film4 movies throughout the day, then on 20 February 2016 after the closure of the BBC Three channel, Radio Times now includes BBC Four in the main channels section with Channel 5 being relegated to the Freeview section pages. By the 1950s Radio Times had grown to be the magazine with the largest circulation in Europe, with an average sales of 8.8 million in 1955. In the mid-1970s it was just over four million while as of 2013 it is just over one million. The latest circulation figure (January 2013 – January 2014) for the Radio Times is 831,591 ( 6.9%) making it third in the TV listings magazine market behind TV Choice (1,374,813 11.8%) and What's on TV (1,049,558 14.1%). After the deregulation of television listings, there was strong criticism from other listings magazines that Radio Times was advertised on the BBC (as well as on commercial channels), saying that it gave unfair advantage to a publication and includes the tagline: "If it's on... it's in". The case went to court, but the outcome was that as the Radio Times had close connections with the BBC it would be allowed to be advertised by the BBC; however from 1992 until 2004, it must be a static picture of the cover and show clear disclaimer "Other television listings magazines are available" leading to the phrase entering common public usage for a time. By the early 2000s, advertisements for the publication had become sparse on the BBC. The Radio Times has not been promoted on BBC television and radio channels since 2005, following complaints by rival publications that the promotions were unfair competition. For various reasons, some issues were not printed. These include: Printing disputes and other operational difficulties have also led to the magazine appearing in a different formats to the standard: There have been 18 editors of Radio Times to date (including one uncredited and one returning) since the magazine began publication: Leonard Crocombe (1923–1926), Walter Fuller (1926–1927), Eric Maschwitz (1927–1933), Maurice Gorham (1933–1941), Gordon Stowell (1941–1944), Tom Henn (1944–1954), Douglas G Williams (1954–1968), C J Campbell Nairne (1968–1969), Geoffrey Cannon (1969–1979) Brian Gearing (1979–1988), Nicholas Brett (1988–1996), Sue Robinson (1996–2000), Nicholas Brett (returned) (2000–2001), Nigel Horne (2001–April 2002), Liz Vercoe (uncredited) (April 2002–July 2002), Gill Hudson (August 2002–August 2009), Ben Preston (September 2009 – 2017), Mark Frith (2017–present) There are several regional editions, which each contain different listings for regional programming. All editions of Radio Times carry variations for adjoining regions and local radio listings. When it began on 28 September 1923, there was just a single national edition, but from 10 October 1926 there were three separate editions – Southern, Northern and Scottish/Ulster. They were published until 7 January 1934 when Radio Times reverted back to one edition: After the war, regional editions were introduced on 29 July 1945 and the television service is finally resumed on 7 June 1946 (after closed down on 1 September 1939 in the duration of war for over six years). The spread of television editions for Radio Times when the full listings (with six pages) were not included in all issues until August 1952: When BBC Two began in 1964, there were a number of "BBC-2 edition" for areas where only certain parts of a region could get BBC Two until 1966: On 31 August 1970, the four English regional editions (along the nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) were separated into ten areas: Cumberland/Westmorland, East Anglia, London & South East, Midlands, North East, North West, South, South West, West, Yorkshire/Lincolnshire Radio Times started carrying ITV and Channel 4 (with S4C) listings to begin with they mirrored the ITV regional areas from 1 March 1991: The number of regional editions has been reduced, separated and renamed since between the late 1940s and 2000s due to there being fewer variations in the schedules: The North of England region was separated from Northern Ireland in 1949 who had their own edition., On 8 October 1960 the Midlands region was renamed Midlands & East Anglia, and the West of England region was renamed South & West., As from 21 March 1964 the previously unmarked London region was renamed London & South East, it was later dropped on 25 March 1989 when the "London" name is no longer used, became known as South East, and later reverted back to its original "London" name on 23 February 1991., These regions were further subdivided with individual editions for each BBC Local Radio station, this continued until 1981 when each regional edition began to cover three local stations., From 1982 until 1991, S4C listings were included in the Wales edition known as "Rhaglenni Cymraeg", but only the Welsh language programmes were listed, and no English language programmes were billed as "Rhaglenni Saesneg" at various times, those would require consultation for the TVTimes' pull-out supplement Sbec was used., No edition of Radio Times in the Channel Islands their already used in the South West region, but Channel Television published its own listings magazine, the CTV Times (formerly Channel Viewer) until 25 October 1991 as it was feared that the company might cease trading without the revenue from its own magazine., The Yorkshire region was absorbed by the North East region on 25 September 1993 and later added the North West region on 7 April 2007 to resembles the old North of England area from 1945 until 1970., In recent years before the launch of Channel 5 in 1997, the regional variations were at the bottom of the relevant channel listings on each pages., The most recent of these was on 25 August 2007 when the Midlands and London/Anglia regions were merged., The exception to this process of merging is Wales, which used to be part of a larger Wales/West (of England) version, mirroring the HTV region, and separated on 16 April 2005 leaving the West of England area to join South and South West regions together. In December 2012, the BBC completed a digitisation exercise, scanning the listings of all BBC programmes from an entire run of about 4,500 copies of the magazine from 1923 (the first issue) to 2009, the BBC Genome Project, with a view to creating an online database of its programme output. They identified around five million programmes, involving 8.5 million actors, presenters, writers and technical staff. BBC Genome was released for public use on 15 October 2014. Corrections to OCR errors and changes to advertised schedules are being crowdsourced. When the magazine was a BBC publication, covers had a BBC bias (in 2005, 31 of the 51 issues had BBC-related covers). Doctor Who is the most represented programme on the cover, appearing on 29 issues (with 35 separate covers due to multiples) in the 49 years since the programme began on 22 November 1963. On 10 July 1969, Radio Times celebrated the Apollo 11 moon landing with this cover bearing the "TARGET MOON" caption at the top of the Saturn V rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on 16 July as part of the NASA's Apollo mission before landed on the moon on 20 July, and also a special eight-page pull-out colour supplement marking for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in 2019. Most covers consist of a single side of glossy paper. However, the magazine often uses double or triple-width covers that open out for large group photographs, while events such as Crufts or new series of popular programmes are marked by producing several different covers for collectors. Sporting events with more than one of the Home Nations (such as the Six Nations, UEFA European Championship, Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup) taking part are often marked with different covers for each nation, showing their own team. The second series of Life on Mars, meanwhile, was marked by the Radio Times producing a mock-up of a 1973-style cover promoting the series, placed on page 3 of the magazine. On 30 April 2005, a double-width cover was used to commemorate the return of the Daleks to Doctor Who and the forthcoming general election. This cover recreated a scene from the 1964 Doctor Who serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth in which the Daleks were seen crossing Westminster Bridge, with the Houses of Parliament in the background. The cover text read "VOTE DALEK!" In a 2008 contest sponsored by the Periodical Publishers Association, this cover was voted the best British magazine cover of all time. Each year, the Radio Times celebrates those individuals and programmes that are featured on the cover at the Radio Times Covers Party, where framed oversized versions of the covers are presented. The cover of the 'Christmas Number' (as this issue came to be called) dating from the time when it contained just a single week's listings, usually features a generic festive artwork, atypical for the magazine, which since the 1970s has almost exclusively used as a TVTimes-style photographic covers for all other issues. In recent years, Radio Times has published and sold packs of reproductions of some of the Christmas covers of the magazine as Christmas cards. An Annual was published three times: in 1954, 1955 and 1956. From 2000 to 2018, BBC Worldwide has published the Radio Times Guide to Films, featuring more than 21,000 films in a 1,707-page book. The 2006 edition was edited by Kilmeny Fane-Saunders and featured an introduction by Barry Norman, former presenter of the BBC's Film programme until his death on 30 June 2017 at the age of 83. The Radio Times Guide to Films 2007 is introduced by Andrew Collins. There are also similar publications, the Radio Times Guide to Comedy and the Radio Times Guide to Science-Fiction. The Radio Times website was launched in 1997 primarily as a listings service. In 2011, it relaunched offering a diverse editorial product to accompany its listings and television, radio and film recommendations. Radio Times Extra, The Listener, Radio Times Most Powerful People, BEEB, Fast Forward, Time Out, TVTimes, RTÉ Guide Tony Currie, The 'Radio Times' Story (2001. Kelly Publications), David Driver, The Art of 'Radio Times': The First Sixty Years (1981), Martin Baker, Art of Radio Times: A Golden Age of British Illustration BBC – History of the Radio Times, Radio programme about cover art with gallery, A selection of Vintage Radio Times covers, BBC Genome - Radio Times listings from 1923 to 2009 Round the Horne is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The fourth was written by Took, Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Donald Webster. Horne's supporting cast comprised Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and, in the first three series, Bill Pertwee. The announcer was Douglas Smith, who also took part in the sketches. All except the last series featured music by Edwin Braden, played by the band "the Hornblowers", with a song in the middle of each show performed by the close-harmony singing group the Fraser Hayes Four; in the fourth series, the music was by Max Harris with a smaller group of players than the earlier series. The show was the successor to Beyond Our Ken, which had run from 1958 to 1964 with largely the same cast. By the time the new series began, television had become the dominant broadcasting medium in Britain, and Round the Horne, which built up a regular audience of 15 million, was the last radio show to reach so many listeners. Horne was surrounded by larger-than-life characters including the camp pair Julian and Sandy, the disreputable eccentric J.Peasmold Gruntfuttock, and the singer of dubious folk songs, Rambling Syd Rumpo, who all became nationally familiar. The show encountered periodic scrutiny from the BBC management for its double entendres, but consistently received the backing of the director- general of the BBC, Sir Hugh Greene. Horne died suddenly in 1969; the BBC decided that Round the Horne could not continue without its star and they cancelled plans for a fifth series that year. Over the following decades Round the Horne has been re-broadcast continually, and all 67 shows have been published on CD. In 2019, in a poll run by Radio Times, Round the Horne was voted the BBC's third-best radio show of any genre, and the best radio comedy series of all. In 1957 the radio presenter and comedian Kenneth Horne was the compere on the popular Saturday evening comedy and music radio show Variety Playhouse. The programme's writers were Eric Merriman and Barry Took, and when the series came to an end, they prepared a script for a pilot episode of a new show, Beyond Our Ken. The show, in which Horne was joined by Kenneth Williams, Ron Moody, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden, was broadcast in October 1957. The series was due to begin in April 1958, but in February Horne suffered a debilitating stroke; he was temporarily paralysed down his left-hand side and lost the power of speech. The BBC postponed the series. After physiotherapy Horne was able to begin recording Beyond Our Ken in June, in preparation for the broadcast of the first series between July and November. Beyond Our Ken was written around the imperturbable establishment figure of Horne, while the other performers played a "spectrum of characters never before heard on the radio", including the exaggeratedly upper class Rodney and Charles (Williams and Paddick), the genteel, dotty pensioners Ambrose and Felicity (Williams and Marsden), the hoarse-voiced cook Fanny Haddock – a parody of the television cook Fanny Cradock (Marsden), the earthy gardening guru Arthur Fallowfield (Williams), the semi-articulate rock and roll singer Ricky Livid (Paddick) and Hankie Flowered, a parody of the comedian Frankie Howerd (Bill Pertwee). The first episode was not well received by a sample audience, but the BBC decided to back Horne and his team, and the initial six-week contract was extended to 21 weeks. Before the series came to an end, a second had been commissioned to run the following year. After the first series Moody was succeeded by Pertwee; Took left after the second series, leaving Merriman to write the remaining programmes on his own. After the seventh series of Beyond Our Ken ended Horne was scheduled to appear in a number of other BBC programmes; Eric Merriman objected, contending that he had made Horne into a star, and that "no other comedy series should be allowed to use him", according to Horne's biographer, Barry Johnston. When the BBC refused to withdraw Horne from the programme Down with Women, Merriman resigned from writing Beyond Our Ken and the show came to an end. After some pressure from Horne to keep the remainder of the team together, the BBC commissioned Round the Horne as a replacement on similar lines. They turned to Took, as one of the original writers of Beyond Our Ken, and his new writing partner, Marty Feldman. The name of the programme came from a pun on Horne's name, combined with the naval term "round the Horn", meaning to navigate the waters at the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn. The pair aimed to write what they described as "down-market material in an upmarket way". The scripts they produced led to a faster-paced programme than Beyond Our Ken, which included more allusions to contemporary events, including politics and films. Round the Horne was based on a revue format, and contained parody and satire. The programme would include an introduction from Horne, who would sometimes give answers to a supposed quiz from the previous week, and then lead into sketches that would include a set-piece based on a film or novel, such as "The Man with the Golden Thunderball", and "The Three Musketeers". Martin Dibbs, in his history of the BBC Variety Department, writes that "the show was characterised by incessant innuendo and camp representation to an extent never before tolerated within the BBC." As in Beyond Our Ken, there was a cast of recurring characters. Took and Feldman developed new characters for Williams, Paddick, Marsden and Pertwee, whose ability to change between personas produced a programme described by the radio historians Andy Foster and Steve Furst as "a cast of thousands played by the same four accomplished actors". Horne's role was described in The Daily Telegraph as providing "the perfect foil to the inspired lunacy happening all around him". The media analysts Frank Krutnik and Steve Neale consider that as such, Horne's role was similar to that of Jack Benny, Fred Allen and Tommy Handley, "as a 'stooge' rather than a joke-wielder, frequently switching roles between announcer and in- sketch performer". The first episode of Round the Horne was broadcast on the Light Programme on 7 March 1965. It was described in Radio Times as "Five characters in search of the authors". The series consisted of 16 episodes and ran to 20 June 1965. The programme was produced by John Simmonds and included music from the Fraser Hayes Four and the studio orchestra, "the Hornblowers", conducted by Paul Fenoulhet; from episode six, Fenoulhet was replaced by Edwin Braden. Douglas Smith, an announcer and newsreader on the Home Service and the Third Programme, was used as the programme's announcer, but was given a larger role as the series progressed; he ended up advertising spoof products and giving human sound effects in addition to his normal role. One of the early episodes included a sketch by Horne, a monologue based on "the centenary of the birth of the crumpet", including a huge crumpet built for Queen Victoria. As an added novelty he hollowed out the centre and a Gaiety Girl was secreted inside. When the loyal toast was drunk, she leapt out, wearing pink combs and waving a Union Jack – either that or the other way round, I don't remember. In any event the whole affair was a great success and, as many people commented afterwards 'it was a smashing bit of crumpet'. The sketch angered the strongly-conservative Member of Parliament Sir Cyril Black, who wrote to the BBC to complain. Frank Gillard, the BBC's director of radio, wrote to Dennis Morris, the chief of the Light Programme, asking Round the Horne to "watch its step, particularly over the next few weeks and keep itself within reasonable bounds". Instead, Took and Feldman wrote a riposte that Horne read at the end of the following programme, addressed to the "minority of killjoys" who complained: Let me say to them that our scripts are whiter than white, as is the face of the producer when he reads them. You see, evil is in the eye of the beholder – and we believe you can make anything sound as if it has a double meaning – if you know how. So cheerio, see you next week. Further complaints about the programme were received and Sir Hugh Greene, the director-general of the BBC, asked to see the scripts before broadcasting. All were returned with the words "I see nothing to object to in this" written on them. The complaints continued from Black, and from Mary Whitehouse – a campaigner against social liberalism – about the cast putting emphasis on certain words. Took replied that "When Laurence Olivier plays Hamlet he puts emphasis on certain words – it's called acting". A second series was commissioned, and ran for thirteen weeks, from Sunday 13 March to 5 June 1966. The programme was recorded in front of a studio audience, and Williams would play up to them with physical humour, causing hilarity in the studio. Simmonds spoke to the cast, telling them that the radio audience were hearing unexplained laughter, and to try to keep the visual pranks to a minimum. At the end of the series Roy Rich, the head of BBC Light Entertainments for radio, spoke to Took, Feldman, Horne and Williams and discussed possible changes to the programme, including the removal of the Fraser Hayes Four, and the possible changing of Pertwee and Marsden. No changes were made before the next series was commissioned. On 7 October 1966, at the age of 59, Horne suffered a severe heart attack. He was much weakened, and was unfit to work for three months. As a result, he did not appear in the Round the Horne Christmas special, which was recorded on 28 November. He returned to work in January 1967 to record the third series. The third series ran for 21 episodes from 5 February to 25 June 1967. After recording the first episode, Williams wrote in his diary that "the script was singularly uninspired I think – no innovations or bright ideas for the beginning of a new series ... For the first time I am beginning to feel that this show is rather dated and tired". The BBC hierarchy also thought the first show was slightly lacking and Williams was also downbeat after the second recording, writing that "I think the show is quite dead artistically and the format has completely atrophied itself – it is moribund now. I think I will withdraw after this series". Trying to turn the show around, Took and Feldman wrote out the popular camp Julian and Sandy characters (played by Paddick and Williams) from the third episode, but the cast and Simmonds all insisted they were put back, so the writers duly obliged. After a few weeks the show had settled down and Williams recorded in his diary that the recording "went v. well. Script was v. good indeed and the audience splendid – a great deal of affection there, one felt". Feldman became increasingly successful on television, particularly with At Last the 1948 Show (1967); he decided to concentrate on writing and performing on the screen and left the series. Took agreed to stay, and he was joined by Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and – for the first six episodes of the next series – Donald Webster. In September 1967 BBC radio was radically reorganised. The Home Service, Third Programme and Light Programme were abolished and replaced by four new national channels – Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4; Round the Horne moved from the Light Programme to Radio 2. The change came with reduced budgets. The Fraser Hayes Four and Eddie Braden and the Hornblowers were replaced with a small instrumental group led by Max Harris, and Pertwee was dropped from the programme. The cost fell from £601 a show in series 3 to £486 in series 4. That year's Christmas special was broadcast with the new line-up and writers. The fourth series began on 25 February 1968 and ran for 16 episodes to 9 June. After the first episode Williams was unimpressed with the new material, and wrote in his diary "Now there are 4 writers on it! It is unbelievable really. Four! For half an hour of old crap with not a memorable line anywhere ... of course one goes on and flogs it gutless and the rubbish gets by". Without Feldman, Took was enjoying the show less than he had previously. He also felt the humour was becoming more obviously dirty and complained to Williams that "We might as well write a series called Get Your Cock Out". Horne died of a heart attack on 14 February 1969, while hosting the annual Guild of Television Producers' and Directors' Awards at the Dorchester hotel in London. An award had gone to Took and Feldman for their television series Marty, and Horne had just urged viewers to tune into the fifth series of Round the Horne – which was due to start on 16 March – when he fell from the podium. By 24 February 1969 it had been decided that Round the Horne could not continue without its star. As a result, the scripts for series five – which Horne had jokingly suggested should be subtitled "The First All-Nude Radio Show" – were hastily adapted into a new series for Williams called Stop Messing About, which ran for two series before it was dropped from the schedule in 1970. The persona adopted by the writers for Horne was not greatly different from his real-life one, and largely the same as that of his Beyond Our Ken character: the urbane, unflappable, tolerant but sometimes surprised central figure, around whom the other characters revolved. The Times called Horne the "master of the scandalous double-meaning delivered with shining innocence", and in Round the Horne he combined the role of straight man to the flamboyant Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo and J.Peasmold Gruntfuttock with that of genial host of the show. Feldman called him "the best straight man I had ever seen", who nonetheless had "a lot of funny lines"; Jonathan Rigby, who played Horne in a stage show, Round the Horne ... Revisited, thought him "a stand-up comedian with a posh accent ... part of his genius was that he was able to be himself". Horne introduced some programmes by reading out the answers to last week's (non-existent) questions: At other times he would give a short lecture on justly forgotten figures from history, such as Robert Capability Lackwind, allegedly the inventor of Toad in the Hole, or Nemesis Fothergill, known to ornithologists – and the police – as the Birdman of Potter's Bar. In many episodes his opening slot was announcing the day's forthcoming events, such as International free style gnome fingering at the five minute Hippo Wash Brompton Oratory, Swan Upping at Downham and Swan Downing at Upham, and the two-man Rabbi bob sled championship down the escalators at Leicester Square tube station. He would close the programmes by commenting on the final sketch, or announcing a competition to complete a limerick with two fecund opening lines ("A young market gardener from Bude, Developed a cactus quite lewd ...") or with a public service announcement such as this police message: At the start of the first series of Round the Horne Douglas Smith took the traditional role of a BBC announcer on comedy shows, introducing the programme and its component parts and reading the credits at the end. As the show developed, the writers gave him more to do. In the second series Smith continually interrupts the programme to promote "Dobbiroids Magic Rejuvenators" (from "the makers of Dobbins Medical Cummerbunds for horses") and Dobbimist horse deodorant for UFO ("under fetlock odour"). In the third and fourth series he is included in the movie spoofs, playing a range of roles including a rumbling volcano: His other roles include a telephone box, an inflatable rubber boat, a drophead Bentley and a cow: By the fourth series Smith has risen to the heights of playing the World ("You've just gone through my Khyber Pass travelling on a camel"), and in one programme he gets a solo singing spot, barracked by Paddick and Williams ("Letting an announcer sing! It's a disgrace!") performing "Nobody Loves a Fairy When she's Forty". The first of the new characters was an elderly ex-Gaiety Girl (played by Marsden) known as Bea Clissold in her theatrical heyday, when she was "the pure brass of the music hall", and subsequently an aristocratic widow. She has been much married and much divorced, and has retired to live in seclusion at Chattering Parva, waited on and complained about by her octogenarian butler, Spasm (Williams). Horne interviews her each week in the early programmes, when she reminisces about her life and husbands. In a commentary on the show's characters published in 1974 Took wrote, "Her anecdotes of past marriages combine the lurid with the turgid as the narrative flashes back on leaden wings to the turn of the century and the exploits of the young Bea Clissold". She appeared in the first programme of the series, and was a major feature of its early episodes. After she ceased to be one of the central characters she continually popped up with her catch phrase, "Many times, many, many times", originally referring to the number of times she was married, and later an all- purpose innuendo. The camp pair Julian and Sandy (played by Paddick and Williams) made their debuts in the fourth programme of the first series and rapidly established themselves as a permanent fixture throughout the run of Round the Horne. They are out of work actors whom Horne encounters each week in new temporary jobs. The writers' original idea was that the characters should be elderly and dignified Shakespearean actors filling in as domestic cleaners while "resting" (i.e. unemployed), but the producer, John Simmonds, thought they seemed rather sad, and at his suggestion Took and Feldman turned the characters into chorus boys. In a typical sketch Horne looks in at a new establishment, usually in Chelsea, with a title such as "Bona Tours", "Bona Books", "Bona Antiques" or "Bona Caterers", and is greeted with, "Oh hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy". The latter adds, using the gay and theatrical slang, palare, "How bona to vada your dolly old eek again", or "What brings you trolling in here?" Having first appeared as house cleaners, they are later shown working in a variety of implausible jobs. Took summed them up: "From working as part time domestics while 'resting' they progressed to running almost every trendy activity going from fox-hunting in Carnaby Street to the gents' outfitting department of MI5". The use of palare enabled the writers to give Julian and Sandy some double entendres that survived BBC censorship because the authorities either did not know or did not admit to knowing their gay meaning. In the fourth series, Sandy tells Horne that Julian is a brilliant pianist: "a miracle of dexterity at the cottage upright", which to those familiar with gay slang could either refer to pianistic excellence or to – illegal – sexual activity in a public lavatory. At the time, gay male sex was a criminal offence in Britain. Julian and Sandy became nationally popular characters and are widely credited with contributing a little to the public acceptance of homosexuality that led to the gradual repeal of the anti-gay laws, beginning in 1967. A week after the debut of Julian and Sandy came the first appearance of J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock, first broadcast on 5 April 1965. Played by Williams, Gruntfuttock is described by the writers as "the walking slum". In his first appearance he is a job applicant at the BBC, inspired by voices in his head, and keen to get on close terms with one of the female presenters. In later programmes he is first the king and then dictator of Peasmoldia, a small enclave in the East End, and subsequently Brother Gruntfuttock, member of an obscure religious community. He writes in regularly with incorrect and sometimes physically implausible answers to last week's questions: In the fourth series he is a persistent caller of the spoof phone-in, the Round the Horne Forum of the Air, airing his peculiar personal obsessions in between bouts of heavy breathing. He was Feldman's favourite Round the Horne character; the two authors wrote of Gruntfuttock, "He married beneath him – which gives you some idea what his wife Buttercup (Betty Marsden) must be like. All in all not a couple one would wish to meet on a dark night or indeed at any time." Charles and Fiona are supposedly characters played by an extremely theatrical actor and actress: "ageing juvenile Binkie Huckaback" (Paddick) and Dame Celia Molestrangler (Marsden). The two, originally based on the theatre stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, were introduced in the eighth programme of the first series, and quickly became a fixture. They appeared in parodies of "stiff- upper-lip" dramas by Noël Coward and others; their fictitious plays had titles such as Present Encounter and Bitter Laughter. Their agonised love affairs are punctuated by brittle, staccato dialogue, in which they talk of their emotions in tortuous sentences: Their sketches customarily end with an unexpected twist, such as the revelation that they are living in a telephone box, or are dining at the Ritz in the nude, or trysting in a refrigerator. Barry Took wrote that they were his own favourite Round the Horne characters. During the second series they were dropped in favour of a new feature, "The Seamus Android Show" (see below) but were quickly brought back. In the ninth show of the first series Chou En Ginsberg (Williams) appeared for the first time. He is a parody of the stereotypical far-Eastern villain Fu Manchu. The first part of his name was borrowed from Chou En-Lai, the then Chinese premier; for comic contrast the writers wanted an incongruous second name and experimented with "Chou En Murphy" and "Chou En McWhirter" before settling on "Ginsberg". He always announces himself as "Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (Failed)". He appears regularly in the James Bond parodies, "Kenneth Horne, Master Spy", plotting a fiendish international crime, luring Horne into his clutches but then being outwitted. Chou was joined in the next show by his concubine, Lotus Blossom (Paddick) who is, in the words of her master, common as muck. A drawing of the two by William Hewison in Took and Feldman's 1974 book Round the Horne shows a diminutive Chou alongside a large, looming and graceless Lotus Blossom bulging out of her cheongsam. Her attempts to entertain Special Agent Horne with her songs and dances cause him more distress than Chou's threats of death. First heard in the tenth show of the first series, and a fixture thereafter, Rambling Syd (Williams) is an itinerant folk singer. The writers describe him as "one of the last of the breed of wandering minstrels who are fast dying out – thank heavens". Often misappropriating the tunes of genuine folk songs, Rambling Syd's lyrics consist of dubious-sounding nonsense words such as these, from the "Runcorn Splod Cobbler's Song": Or, to the tune of "Foggy Dew": Took said of the character that his "bogus ethnic patter and totally meaningless songs" created the illusion of "something terribly naughty going on" – but that any naughtiness was in fact in the listener's mind. The character was loosely based on the television cook Fanny Cradock. Described by Took and Feldman as "fashion reporter, TV cook, agony aunt, pain in the neck", Daphne Whitethigh (Marsden) is a hoarse-voiced pundit, "whose advice on the placing of the bosom or the way to prepare Hippo in its shell is an absolute must for all those trendy moderns who want to look and feel frightful". Among her helpful cooking tips are that although rhinoceros is not very appetising you do get marvellous crackling; her recipes for yak include yak à l'orange, yak in its jacket, and coupe yak. She advises followers of female fashion that bosoms are still out, but may be on the way back (Horne says he will keep a light burning in the window) and her other useful pointers include how to use cold cream to remove those baboon claw marks from one's hip, and how to avoid crow's feet round the eyes: refrain from sleeping in trees. Described by Took as "an unskilled television labourer whose gift of the blarney and wistful Irish charm could empty any theatre in three minutes", Seamus Android is a parody of the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews, whose weekly television chat show was broadcast live on Sunday evenings. Took and Feldman had appeared on Andrews's show and been astonished by "the non sequiturs and other nonsense he came out with". Seamus Android was the only regular character played by Pertwee, who was otherwise cast as what Took called "the odds and ends" – the minor characters and straight parts. Android's interviewees include the much married actress Zsa-Zsa Poltergeist, the Hollywood producer Daryll F. Klaphanger, and the star of The Ipswich File, Michael Bane; promised appearances by such as Lord Ghenghiz Wilkinson, the dancing cloakroom attendant, Nemesis Poston, the juggling monk, and Anthony Wormwood-Nibblo, the Hoxton cat thief and heiress fail to materialise. As Pertwee was not in the cast for the last series, Android was dropped. Played by Paddick, this is the only regular Round the Horne character who had in all essentials already appeared in Beyond Our Ken, where he was named Stanley Birkinshaw. In Round the Horne he has no regular name, and appears in various capacities. He is a man with ill-fitting false teeth; his diction distorts all sibilants, and sprays saliva in all directions. Dentures often opens the show in the style of a toastmaster ("My lordsh, ladiesh and gentlemen," etc). In the second series he appears as "The Great Omipaloni, the world's fastest illusionist – and also the dampest". In the third series he is Buffalo Sidney Goosecreature, adversary of the Palone Ranger, and in the fourth he is Angus McSpray ("Rishe againsht the Shasshenachsh") to Williams's Bonnie Prince Charlie. The invention of Mortimer and Cooke, Julie Coolibah (Marsden) appears in the fourth season. She is an Australian visiting London, deeply suspicious of British men ("I know you Pommies are sex mad"). Every time she talks to Horne she interprets his innocent remarks as sexual overtures: When Julie manages to find work in London she has constant difficulties coping with the men. As a bus conductress she is outraged when a passenger gives her fourpence and asks "How far can I go for that?" She tells Horne, "I cracked him with my cash-bag and put him off". Round the Horne is described by Foster and Furst as "one of the seminal comedies to come out of the BBC". The programme continued the comedy vein of The Goon Show and provided an influential link, through I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, to the work of the Monty Python writers and performers; at one point Monty Python was given the working title Barry Took's Flying Circus by the BBC. Round the Horne helped change the way the BBC dealt with broadcasting humour: "The ebullience of the ... comedy – not to mention the filth of the innuendos – swept away decades of insipid and paternalistic inhibition at the BBC", according to Richard Morrison, the chief arts correspondent of The Times. Six years after the last series was first broadcast, The Daily Mirror called Round the Horne "the last great radio show". In 2002 The Spectator described it as "one of the great radio successes"; the following year William Cook wrote in The Guardian that the show, "boasted a wonderful writing team" and "bestrode the airwaves like a colossus, reaching an audience of 15 million – the sort of ratings most current comedies can only dream about." In 2005 The Sunday Times referred to it as "One of the best-loved shows of all time." Punch commented that the series was probably the last comedy show on radio to have a huge following. According to Took, Round the Horne was broadcast when radio was considered to be on the wane when compared to television; such was the show's popularity, many thought radio would continue to be a leading form of entertainment. Although Round the Horne attracted some adverse comments from Black, Whitehouse and others of similar views, the show was well received by the press. In 1967 The Times called it "half an hour of the purest impure entertainment", and as the third series came to an end the paper called for a Christmas special and a further series in the new year. "No-one, but no-one at all has yet presented those elegant queens, those touchily vulnerable bona- boys, those fashion fetichists so deftly, so pointedly, and, in the final accounting, so purely". In 1969 the paper commented that the show was "a success with lovers of the sophisticated pun" as well as appealing to "those who like a good belly laugh", with "obvious jokes ... mixed with clever word juggling". In 1995, looking back at British radio comedy, The Guardian placed Round the Horne first in its list of the five greatest shows. In 2019, in a poll run by Radio Times, Round the Horne was voted the third best radio show of any kind, and the best comedy. Recordings of all the episodes have been issued on CD by the BBC in its "Audiobooks" publications (2002): Series 1:, Series 2:, Series 3:, Series 4: In 2005, to mark the 40th anniversary of the show, the BBC published a boxed set containing all episodes, on 35 CDs, with an accompanying 3-hour, 3-disc set "Round The Horne: The Complete and Utter History", written and narrated by Took: By 2006 over half a million copies of tapes and CDs of Round the Horne had been sold by the BBC. Editions of Round the Horne are regularly broadcast on the digital radio service BBC Radio 4 Extra. Some scripts from all four series have been published. Those printed in two different books listed below are not always identical. Some print the scripts as written and others as finally broadcast. The scripts have been published in five books: Programme 1: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 4: Took and Feldman, 1974, Programme 5: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 7: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 12: Took, 1989, Programme 13: Took, 1989, Programme 14: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 16: Took, 1998 Programme 1: Took and Feldman, 1974; and Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 2: Took, 1998, Programme 3: Took, 1989, Programme 4: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 5: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 6: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 8: Took and Feldman, 1974, Programme 9: Took, 1989, Programme 10: Took, 1989, Programme 12: Took and Feldman, 1974, Programme 13: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000, 1966 Christmas show: Took and Coward, 2000 Programme 1: Took, 1989, Programme 4: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 6: Took, 1989, Programme 7: Took and Feldman, 1974, Programme 10: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 11: Took and Feldman, 1974, Programme 12: Took, 1989, Programme 13: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 14: Took, 1989, Programme 16: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 17: Took, 1998, Programme 19: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 20: Took and Feldman, 1974 Programme 4: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 5: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 8: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 12: Took and Coward, 2000, Programme 14: Took, 1998, Programme 15: Took and Coward, 2000 The Bona Book of Julian and Sandy by Took and Feldman was published in 1976 and dedicated, "For David Attenborough, who ought to know better". It contains the scripts of thirteen Julian and Sandy sketches: Bona Books (from series 2, programme 2), Bona Prods (from series 3, programme 10), Bona Bijou Tourettes (from series 3, programme 12), La Casserole de Bona Gourmet (from series 3, programme 15), Bona Hunt (from series 3, programme 14), Fabe Homes and Bona Gardens (from series 1, programme 10), Bona Tattoos (from series 2, programme 3), The Ballet Bona (from series 2, programme 9), Bona Grapplers (from series 2, programme 10), Bona Law (from series 3, programme 2), Bona Pets (from series 2, programme 13), Bona Palare (from series 4, programme 13), Bona Performers (from series 2, programme 13) Three weeks after the fourth series of Round the Horne finished, the first episode of Horne A'Plenty was broadcast on the ITV channel. In a sketch show format, and with Took as script editor (and later producer), this was an attempt to translate the spirit of Round the Horne to television, although with different actors supporting Horne: Graham Stark, for example, substituted for Williams and Sheila Steafel for Marsden. The first six-part series ran from 22 June to 27 July 1968, the second from 27 November to 1 January 1969. A stage version, Round the Horne ... Revisited, was adapted from the original radio scripts by Brian Cooke, the last surviving writer of the series, and directed by Michael Kingsbury. It was first produced in October 2003 at the White Bear, a fringe theatre in south London, and opened in the West End at The Venue, Leicester Square in January 2004, running for more than a year. It featured Jonathan Rigby as Horne, Robin Sebastian as Williams, Nigel Harrison as Paddick, Kate Brown as Marsden and Charles Armstrong as Smith. A scene from the show featured in the 2004 Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum. Following the success of the London production, a second cast was assembled to tour the provinces. Stephen Critchlow played Horne, with Stephen Matthews, David Rumelle, Felicity Duncan and Oliver Beamish as Williams, Paddick, Marsden and Smith. The original show ran in London until December 2004, when it was replaced by a Christmas edition with an unchanged cast. A third edition, Round the Horne Revisited 2, rounded off the London run from February to April 2005, and then made a provincial tour. The original version of the stage play was filmed by the BBC; the television director was Nick Wood. The programme was first transmitted on BBC Four on 13 June 2004 and was repeated ten times on Four or BBC Two over the next four years. In 2008 Barry Took's former wife, Lyn, and the director Richard Baron prepared a new stage adaptation, Round the Horne – Unseen and Uncut, which drew entirely on Took and Feldman material from series one to three. It toured in 2008 and 2009. The cast included, from the 2004 show, Rigby as Horne, Sebastian as Williams and Harrison as Paddick (later succeeded by David Delve), with Pertwee's characters – all omitted from the 2004 show – restored, played by Michael Shaw; Stephen Boswell played Smith. Unlike the 2004 production, it had a six-strong cast, augmented by a group of vocalists and musicians in the roles of the Hornblowers and the Fraser Hayes Four. In 2015, to mark 50 years since the radio series began, Apollo Theatre Company produced a stage adaptation, Round the Horne: The 50th Anniversary Tour, compiled from the original scripts and directed by Tim Astley. The cast comprised Julian Howard McDowell (Horne), Colin Elmer (Williams), Jonathan Hansler (Paddick), Eve Winters (Marsden) and Nick Wymer (Smith). A 45-minute BBC radio documentary, Round and Round the Horne, was broadcast on 18 September 1976. It was presented by Frank Bough and included interviews with Williams and Took. A 60-minute radio documentary, Horne A' Plenty, was broadcast on 14 February 1994. It was presented by Leslie Phillips and included new interviews with Marsden and Took and archive material featuring Horne. A three-hour radio special, Horne of Plenty, was broadcast on 5 March 2005 for the 40th anniversary of the show. It was presented by Jonathan James- Moore and included interviews with Ron Moody, Pertwee, Merriman's son Andy, Cooke, Lyn Took, and extracts from Williams's diary read "in character" by David Benson. The special included the first and final episodes of Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne in their entirety. Round the Horne is cited as a source in 38 entries in The Oxford English Dictionary. Rambling Syd is quoted in the entry for "nadger": "In plural. The testicles. 'Now my dearios, I'll tether my nadgers to a grouting pole for the old grey mare is grunging in the meadow' – from a comedy monologue by the character 'Rambling Syd Rumpo' whose material is characterized by the use of nonsense words with a general air of sexual innuendo; the meaning is intentionally vague." Rambling Syd's surname is also cited: "rumpo", "n. Brit. slang. = rumpy-pumpy n. Perhaps influenced by the name of 'Rambling Syd Rumpo', a character (played by Kenneth Williams) in the British radio series Round the Horne (1965–9 ), whose songs, although largely consisting of nonsense words, often had an air of sexual innuendo." Julian and Sandy are cited among the sources for a range of palare words, including "bona" (Good, excellent; attractive), "naff" (Unfashionable, vulgar; lacking in style, inept; worthless, faulty), "nante" (Nothing), "omee" (Man – spelled "omi" by Took and Feldman) and "palone" (A young woman. Also: an effeminate man). Round the Horne on BBC Radio 4 Extra The BBC Genome Project is a digitised, searchable database of programme listings initially based upon the contents of the Radio Times from the first issue in 1923 to 2009. TV listings post 2009 can be accessed via BBC Programmes site BBC Genome is not the BBC's first online searchable database; in April 2006, the BBC gave the public access to Infax, the BBC's programme database at the time. Infax contained around 900,000 entries, but not every programme ever broadcast, and it ceased operation in December 2007. The front page of the website is still available to see via the Internet Archive here. After Infax ceased, a message on the website said that it would be incorporating in the information into individual programme pages. In 2012, it was replaced by the database Fabric but this is only for internal use within the BBC. In December 2012, the BBC completed a digitisation exercise, scanning the listings from Radio Times of all BBC programmes 1923-2009 from an entire run of about 4,500 copies of the magazine. They identified around five million programmes, involving 8.5 million actors, presenters, writers and technical staff. The listings are as published, in advance, and so do not include late changes or cancellations which were reflected on Infax. However, they do include huge numbers of early radio and television broadcasts, and "DJ shows" from BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 which were rarely kept officially, which were not listed on Infax (which also did not usually include repeats of archived programmes prior to 1976) because they were not in the BBC archives. The issues were scanned at high resolution, producing TIF images and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) was then used to turn the text from the page into searchable text on the Genome database. BBC Genome was released for public use on 15 October 2014. The aim of this project is to allow researchers to be able to find out information easier and to help BBC Archives to build up a picture of what exists and what is currently missing from the archive. Corrections to OCR errors and changes to advertised schedules are being crowdsourced, with over 440,910 user generated edits accepted after editorial review as of mid- December 2018. Each listing entry has a unique identifier which may be expressed as a URL. For example, the very first screening of Doctor Who is http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/8f81c193ba224e84981f353cae480d49. A broadcast programme may have more than one such identifier, if it was broadcast (and thus listed) on repeat occasions, or in different regions. Digitised editions of entire magazines (including front covers, prose articles, advertisements, and other non-listings content) from the 1920s were added in March 2017; for the 1930s in December 2017; for the 1940s in December 2018; and for the 1950s in December 2019. BBC Archives, BBC Programme Database, Timeline of the BBC BBC Genome TV Listings (1923-2009), BBC Programme TV Listings (2010-)

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A third-party beneficiary, in the law of contracts, is a person who may have the right to sue on a contract, despite not having originally been an active party to the contract. This right, known as a ius quaesitum tertio, arises when the third party (tertius or alteri) is the intended beneficiary of the contract, as opposed to a mere incidental beneficiary (penitus extraneus). It vests when the third party relies on or assents to the relationship, and gives the third party the right to sue either the promisor (promittens, or performing party) or the promisee (stipulans, or anchor party) of the contract, depending on the circumstances under which the relationship was created. A contract made in favor of a third party is known as a "third-party beneficiary contract." Under traditional common law, the ius quaesitum tertio principle was not recognized, instead relying on the doctrine of privity of contract, which restricts rights, obligations, and liabilities arising from a contract to the contracting parties (said to be privy to the contract). However, the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 introduced a number of allowances and exceptions for ius quaesitum tertio in English law. Other common-law countries are also making reforms in this area, though the United States is unique in abandoning privity early in the mid-19th century. While the law on this subject varies, there is nonetheless a commonly accepted construction of third-party rights in the laws of most countries. A right of action arises only when it appears the object of the contract was to benefit the third party's interests and the third-party beneficiary has either relied on or accepted the benefit. A promisee nominates a third party usually for one of two reasons—either the promisee owes something to the third party and the performance of this new obligation will discharge it, or the promisee will somehow get a material benefit by giving something to the third party. There are also two possible ways to explain the functioning of the contractual relationship: either, The parties A (promisee) and B (promisor) contract each in his own name but with the intention of creating an opportunity for C (third-party beneficiary) to acquire a benefit, conditional upon acceptance, from B; or, C immediately acquires a conditional right, from which A is able to release B until the moment of acceptance, when the right of A to release B is extinguished. In either case, a third-party contract differs from agency in that the promisee acts in his own name and for himself, whereas an agent or representative does not. It is also distinguishable from a promesse de porte- fort under which the third party has a negative obligation to perform and, by expressing his consent, initially substitutes himself for an intended party to a contract and therefore binds himself. Also, as a somewhat distinct rule, the intended beneficiary of a third-party contract does not need to be in existence at the time the contract is concluded. This means a contract may benefit an unborn person (usually a family member) or secure benefits for a legal person, such as a company, still in the process of forming or registering. For third-party rights to come into existence, certain contractual criteria must be met to show an object to benefit: A valid contract must exist between two contracting parties and not some other relationship, The contracting parties must have intended to confer a benefit, and not a simple interest, to a third party, either expressly or impliedly, The third-party beneficiary must be named or referred to, or is a member of a distinct class referred to, The intention to benefit must generally be irrevocable (though a life insurance policy is an exception), Some intimation to the third party of the contract's existence To be enforceable, a ius quaesitum tertio must be irrevocable. This is established by any of the following: Delivery of the contract to the third party, Registration for publication, Intimation to the third party, The third party coming under onerous obligations on the faith of having a ius quaesitum tertio, Evidence that the third party knew of the provision intended for his or her benefit A third-party beneficiary only acquires a right of action to enforce his benefit once he has accepted the benefit provided for in the contract. Under the South African interpretation, however, prior to formal acceptance of the benefit, the third-party beneficiary only has a spes, or expectation; in other words, he does not have the right to accept, but rather a mere competency. Acceptance may also be a suspensive condition in certain contracts. Under Scots law, acceptance is not necessary to be vested in a right of action, but is necessary to be liable. Before acceptance, however, the ius quaesitum tertio is tenuous so that acceptance of a benefit does not create a right, but rather entrenches that right. In either case, the contracting parties may vary or rescind the contract until acceptance or reliance. In order for a third party beneficiary to have any rights under the contract, he must be an intended beneficiary, as opposed to an incidental beneficiary. The burden is on the third party to plead and prove that he was indeed an intended beneficiary. An incidental beneficiary is a party who stands to benefit from the execution of the contract, although that was not the intent of either contracting party. For example, if Andrew hires Bethany to renovate his house and insists that she use a specific house painter, Charlie, because he has an excellent reputation, then Charlie is an incidental beneficiary. Neither Andrew nor Bethany is entering into the contract with the particular intent to benefit Charlie. Andrew simply wants his house properly renovated; Bethany simply wants to be paid to do the renovation. If the contract is breached by either party in a way that results in Charlie never being hired for the job, Charlie nonetheless has no rights to recover anything under the contract. Similarly, if Andrew were to promise to buy Bethany a Cadillac, and were to later go back on that promise, General Motors would have no grounds upon which to recover for the lost sale. The distinction that creates an intended beneficiary is that one party—the "promisee"—makes an agreement to provide some consideration to a second party—the "promisor"—in exchange for the promisor's agreement to provide some product or service to the third-party beneficiary named in the contract. The promisee must have an intention to benefit the third party (though this requirement has an unusual meaning under the law). Although there is a presumption that the promisor intends to promote the interests of the third party in this way, if Andrew contracts with Bethany to have a thousand killer bees delivered to the home of Andrew's worst enemy Charlie, then Charlie is still considered to be the intended beneficiary of that contract. (This would be illegal if the intent was to scare his enemy; contracts are voided based on criminality.) There are two common situations involving intended beneficiaries: Creditor beneficiary – e.g., when Andrew owes some debt to Charlie, and Andrew agrees to provide some consideration to Bethany in exchange for her promise to pay Charlie some of the debt, Donee beneficiary – e.g., when Andrew wishes to make a gift to Charlie and Andrew agrees to provide some consideration to Bethany in exchange for her promise to pay Charlie the amount of the gift. Under old common law principles, the donee beneficiary actually had a greater claim to the benefits this created, but such distinctions have been abolished. Once the beneficiary's rights have vested, the original parties to the contract are both bound to perform the contract. Any efforts by the promisor or the promisee to rescind or modify the contract at that point are void. Indeed, if the promisee changed his mind and offered to pay the promisor money not to perform, the third party could sue the promisee for tortious interference with the third party's contract rights. There are four ways to determine whether the third party beneficiary's rights have vested: 1. If the beneficiary knows of and has detrimentally relied on the rights created; 2. If the beneficiary expressly assented to the contract at the request of one of the parties; 3. If the beneficiary files a lawsuit to enforce the contract; or 4. If the beneficiary's rights vest pursuant to an express term in the contract providing for such vesting. Where a contract for the benefit of a third party is breached by the non- performance of the promisor, the beneficiary can sue the promisor for the breach just as any party to a contract can sue the other. Because the rights of the third party are defined by the contract created between the promisor and the promisee, the promisor may assert against the beneficiary any defenses to the contract that could be asserted against the promisee. These include all of the traditional basis by which the formation of a contract may be challenged (e.g., lack of capacity, lack of consideration, the statute of frauds) and all of the traditional bases by which non-performance on the contract may be excused (e.g., failure of consideration, impossibility, illegality, frustration of purpose). Because the promisor can assert any defenses that could be asserted against the promisee, the beneficiary also becomes liable for counterclaims on the contract that the promisor could establish against the promisee. This liability can never exceed the amount that the promisor owes under the contract. In other words, if the promisor is owed money by the promisee, any award to the third party for the promisor's failure to perform can be reduced by the amount thus owed. If the promisor is owed more than the value of the contract, the beneficiary's recovery will be reduced to nothing (but the third party can never be made to assume an actual debt). A creditor beneficiary can sue both the promisor and the promisee, but the beneficiary cannot recover against both. If the suit is successful against one party to the contract, the other party will be dismissed. Because the creditor beneficiary is receiving the performance of the promisor in order to fulfill the promisee's debt, the failure of the promisor to perform means that the beneficiary can still sue the promisee to recover the preexisting debt. The failure of performance simply means that the debt has never been paid. A donee beneficiary can sue the promisor directly to enforce the promise. (Seaver v. Ransom, 224 NY 233, 120 NE 639 [1918]). A donee beneficiary is when a contract is made expressly for giving a gift to a third party, the third party is known as the donee beneficiary. The most common donee beneficiary contract is a life insurance policy. The promisee can also sue the promisor for failing to pay the third party beneficiary. Under the common law, such suits were barred, but courts have since determined that the promisee can sue for specific performance of the contract, provided that the beneficiary has not already sued the promisor. Furthermore, if the promisee was in debt to a creditor beneficiary, and the failure of the promisor to perform caused the promisee to be held liable for that debt, the promisee can sue to recover the amount of the debt. Beneficial interest, Pay it forward The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 (c 31) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly reformed the common law doctrine of privity and "thereby [removed] one of the most universally disliked and criticised blots on the legal landscape". The second rule of the Doctrine of Privity, that a third party could not enforce a contract for which he had not provided consideration, had been widely criticised by lawyers, academics and members of the judiciary. Proposals for reform via an act of Parliament were first made in 1937 by the Law Revision Committee in their Sixth Interim Report. No further action was taken by the government until the 1990s, when the Law Commission proposed a new draft bill in 1991, and presented their final report in 1996. The bill was introduced to the House of Lords in December 1998, and moved to the House of Commons on 14 June 1999. It received the Royal Assent on 11 November 1999, coming into force immediately as the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The act allows third parties to enforce terms of contracts that benefit them in some way, or which the contract allows them to enforce. It also grants them access to a range of remedies if the terms are breached. The act also limits the ways in which a contract can be changed without the permission of an involved third party. At the same time, it provides protection for the promisor and promisee in situations where there is a dispute with the third party, and allows parties to a contract to specifically exclude the protection afforded by the Act if they want to limit the involvement of third parties. The historical doctrine of privity consisted of two rules – the first was that a third party may not have obligations imposed by the terms of a contract, and second was that a third party may not enforce a contract for which he has not provided consideration. The first rule was not contested, while the second was described as "one of the most universally disliked and criticised blots on the legal landscape". Originally, the second rule was not held to be valid. In the 17th century, a third party was allowed to enforce terms of a contract that benefited him, as shown in Provender v Wood [1627] Hetley 30, where the judgement stated that "the party to whom the benefit of a promise accrews, may bring his action". The first reversal of this law came in Bourne v Mason [1669] 1 Vent., where the Court of King's Bench found that a third party had no rights to enforce a contract that benefited him. This ruling was quickly reversed, and decisions immediately after used the original rule. Over the next 200 years, different judges provided different decisions as to whether or not a third party could enforce a contract that benefited them. The dispute ended in 1861 with Tweddle v Atkinson [1861] 121 ER 762, which confirmed that a third party could not enforce a contract that benefited him. This decision was affirmed by the House of Lords in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre v Selfridge and Co Ltd [1915] AC 847 in 1915, where Lord Haldane stated that only a person who was party to a contract could sue on it. This version of the doctrine is commonly known as the original or basic doctrine. The second rule of privity, that a third party cannot claim benefits from a contract, was widely criticised by academics, members of the judiciary and legal professionals. One problem was that the rule made no exceptions for cases where it was obviously intended for the third party to claim a benefit, such as the young couple in Tweddle v Atkinson, or the widow in Beswick v Beswick, where an uncle gave his nephew a business, on the condition that the nephew would pay the uncle a certain amount per week, and in the event of the uncle's death, give a lesser amount to his widow. A second argument used to undermine the doctrine of privity was to point out the large number of exceptions to the rule created by acts of Parliament, which seemed to indicate that Parliament itself had an issue with the doctrine. Critics also argued that with the large number of inconsistencies and exceptions with the doctrine of privity, it was "bad" law, as it provided no reliable rule; the way that the law works in theory is hugely different from how it is enforced in the courts. The doctrine is also not found in many other legal systems, such as that of the United States. The doctrine came under criticism from many academics and judges, including Lord Scarman, Lord Denning, Lord Reid and Arthur Linton Corbin, and Stephen Guest wrote that "[I]t is said that it serves only to defeat the legitimate expectations of the third party, that it undermines the social interest of the community in the security of bargains and it is commercially inconvenient". The first legislative proposal to reform the doctrine of privity was made in 1937; the Law Revision Committee, in their Sixth Interim Report, proposed an act of Parliament that would allow third parties to enforce terms of a contract that specified that they were allowed. The Second World War intervened and the report was not acted on; even as late as 1986 the assumption was that Parliament would not act, and any reform would come from judicial sources (in particular, the House of Lords). In 1991, the Law Commission (the successor to the Law Revision Committee) published Consultation Paper No. 121 "Privity of Contract: Contracts for the Benefit of Third Parties", which proposed a similar change, and, in July 1996, the final report (No. 242), along with a draft bill, were published. The proposed changes were supported by the legal profession and academics alike. The bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 3 December 1998, and, during its second reading, was jokingly offered to Lord Denning as a birthday present due to his fight to overturn the doctrine of privity. It was moved to the House of Commons on 14 June, and it received the Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. Section 1 of the act overrides the old common law rule that a third party could not enforce the terms of a contract, as established in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Selfridge & Co Ltd, and also the rule that a third party could not act against the promisor, established in Tweddle v Atkinson. It allows a third party to enforce terms of a contract in one of two situations: firstly if the third party is specifically mentioned in the contract as someone authorised to do so, and secondly if the contract "purports to confer a benefit" on him. An exception to the second rule involves contracts that include language barring third parties from applying the rule. Another exception applies to contracts between solicitors and their clients to write wills, something governed by White v Jones [1995] 2 AC 207. After the act was first published, Guenter Treitel argued that in a situation where the promisor felt that the second rule had been wrongly applied by a statement in the contract, the onus would be on him to prove it. In Nisshin Shipping Co Ltd v Cleaves & Co Ltd [2003] EWHC 2602, the High Court supported Treitel's reasoning. The second situation, that a third party can enforce terms that "purport to confer a benefit on him", has been described by Meryll Dean as too broad, and one view put forward in the parliamentary debates was that it was "un-workable" in situations such as complex construction contracts involving dozens of sub-contractors with chains of contracts among them. This argument, and a proposal to exempt the construction industry from the act, was rejected by both the Law Commission and Parliament. The phrase "purport to confer a benefit" was originally found in the 1937 Law Commission paper, and was used in the New Zealand Contracts (Privity) Act 1982 before it was adopted for the English act. The third party must be identified by name or as a member of a particular group, and does not need to exist when the contract was made. This can cause problems, however – if, for example, a party (party A) enters a contract to have another party (party B) construct a building, and A later sells the building to C who finds that it has structural problems, C has no cause of action against B because he was not named in the original contract. If a third party chooses to enforce the terms of a contract, he can do so against the promisor and has the right to any remedy that would be available if he was party to the contract, such as specific performance. An exception to this is the ability to terminate the contract and have it rendered void, since the Law Commission believed that "the third party should not be entitled to terminate the contract for breach as this may be contrary to the promisee's wishes or interests". Although the topic is not discussed in the Law Commission's report or the bill itself, it is generally considered that the third party has no rights against the promisee, regardless of his rights against the promisor. Andrew Burrows, who prepared the Law Commission's report, said that the third party does not acquire rights against the promisee, something Guenter Treitel has also suggested. A different stance is taken in Scots law, where a promisee has a duty to the third party to ensure performance of the contract. Section 2 of the Act governs changes to and rescission of contracts. It prevents parties to a contract rescinding it or altering it to remove or modify the terms that affect the third party if the third party has told the promisor that he "assents" to the term, or that he has relied on the contract (and the promisor knows this, or could be expected to have known this). This is only the default position; the act allows parties to insert clauses into the contract which allow them to rescind or alter the contract without the consent of the third party if they so choose. The courts can ignore the consent of the third party and allow the promisor and promisee to change the contract if the third party is mentally incapable, unfindable or if it is impossible to tell if the third party has truly consented. At the same time the courts may add conditions to that decision, such as requiring the promisor or promisee to pay the third party compensation. Assenting is considered complete when the third party "communicates" his assent to the promisor, which can be done in a variety of ways, including by post. The contract may specify the communication method(s), and if it does, any other method is not valid. The third party does not have to have suffered a detriment from his "reliance"; it is enough that he has simply relied on the contract. It must be the third party who relied on the term, rather than another party closely related to the third party. If the third party relies on the terms of the contract, which are then breached, he can not only claim damages for any loss he suffered from relying on the contract but also for "standard" damages, such as loss of profit. Section 3 covers the defences available to the promisor if the third party brings an action against him. In a dispute between the promisor and the third party over a term, the promisor can rely on any defence he would have if the dispute was with the promisee, as long as the defence is applicable to the term under dispute. The Law Commission directly rejected the suggestion that the promisor should have every defence in a dispute with a third party that he would have in a dispute with the promisee (regardless of whether or not it could be applied to the disputed term). Part III is directly modelled on the similar section of the New Zealand Contracts (Privity) Act 1982. The Act allows the promisor to list additional defences that can be used against the third party in the contract, which can be used to get around the Law Commission's decision not to give the promisor equal defences against both the third party and promisee by simply listing those additional defences the promisor would like access to. The Act takes a different attitude for the defences available to the third party in counterclaims, with the Law Commission saying that to apply the same rules would be "misleading and unnecessarily complex". This is because the counterclaim may be more valuable than the original claim, which would impose an obligation on the third party to pay the promisor money, something not appropriate under the doctrine of privity which prohibits the placing of a burden or obligation on a third party. Again, the parties to the contract can insert a clause overriding this. Section 4 preserves the right of the promisee to enforce any term of the contract. This allows the promisee to sue for any losses to themselves, but not for losses of the third party. Section 5 helps protect the promisor from double liability (having to pay two sets of damages for the same breach, one to the third party and one to the promisee) if the promisor breaches the contract. It does so in a very limited way, though – the promisor is only protected if he has first paid damages to the promisee, and the third party's claim comes after that. In addition the act only limits damages paid in this situation, it does not eliminate them. If the promisee brings an action against the promisor and wins, any damages paid to the third party in a subsequent action must take the previous damages paid to the promisee into account. If the third party brings an action, and the promisee does so afterwards then the promisee cannot claim any damages. This is because the Law Commission felt that if the third party claimed compensation for the breach, the promisee would have no interest in the dispute any more. This fails to take into account situations where the promisee has suffered personal loss from the breach of contract. If the promisee brings an action first then the third party is prohibited from doing so, unless the promisee's action fails, in which case the third party is free to pursue his own claim. Section 6 creates exceptions to the scope of the act. While the act applies to standard contracts and contracts made by deeds, it does not apply to contracts made as a part of negotiable instruments, bills of exchange or promissory notes, or contracts governed by the Companies Act 1985, such as articles of association. The act also excludes contracts for the transport of goods across national lines, as these fall under international trade laws, and terms in an employment contract which allow a third party to sue an employee. These were excluded for one of two reasons – either the position of third parties in those types of contract are too well established to be changed easily, or there are reasons of public policy that make it a bad idea to allow the involvement of third parties, such as contracts of employment. Section 7(1) confirms that any exceptions to the rule of privity which existed prior to the 1999 act remain valid. This confirms the act does not supersede impliedly earlier protection of the law. Weakening the act's effect, section 7(3) prevents third parties from being "treated as a party to the contract" in relying on any other act. Equally section 7(2) gives to defendants (facing action from third parties) the ability to exclude liability for negligence, if reasonable other than for death or personal injury; it dis-applies the protection of s.2(2) of Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which subject all such provisions with a counterparty consumer to the contract to the condition of reasonableness. The Act allows the insertion of arbitration clauses, which require the parties to submit to specific arbitration procedures in the event of disputes. The Law Commission initially excluded arbitration clauses from the act, but later amended their draft bill so as to allow third parties to take advantage of arbitration proceedings. The provisions on arbitration clauses were not received well during the bill's passage through Parliament, and were described as "very messy", "a labyrinth" and "a mire". The Commission initially proposed that jurisdiction clauses be specifically excluded from the act. During the bill's passage through Parliament, however, this exclusion disappeared, and the act's explanatory notes assume that the act covers jurisdiction clauses. Section 9 takes into account the differences between English and Northern Irish law, and modifies how the act should be interpreted in Northern Ireland. Particularly it replaces the use of the Companies Act 1985 in Part VI with the Northern Irish equivalent, the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. Part IX also repeals sections 5 and 6 of the Law Reform (Husband and Wife) (Northern Ireland) Act 1964. The act applies in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, but not Scotland, which has its own rules on privity and the rights of third parties. The act came into law on 11 November 1999 when it received the Royal Assent, but the full provisions of the act did not come into force until May 2000. The act made clear that contracts negotiated during a six-month "twilight period" after the act's passage fell under its provisions if they included language saying that they had been made under the terms of the act. The act had various consequences – as well as allowing third parties to enforce terms it also made a number of exceptions to the basic rule unnecessary, such as claiming on behalf of another party as seen in Jackson v Horizon Holidays Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 1468. It did not repeal or abolish these exceptions, however, and this allows the courts to accept cases based on the old common law exceptions as well as the 1999 act. The act specifically allows parties to exempt the provisions of the act from contracts, allowing them a way out if they so choose. The reaction from the judiciary, legal profession and academia was largely supportive of the act; the doctrine of privity had long been thought unfair. The act has been criticised somewhat by the construction industry for its refusal to make an exception for complex construction contracts, and for the vagueness of the term "purports to confer a benefit". It is generally accepted, however, that it would be unfair to make an exception for a particular industry, and case law has clarified the meaning of "purports to confer a benefit". Indemnity is a contractual obligation of one party (indemnifier) to compensate the loss incurred to the other party (indemnity holder) due to the acts of the indemnitor or any other party. The duty to indemnify is usually, but not always, coextensive with the contractual duty to "hold harmless" or "save harmless". In contrast, a "guarantee" is an obligation of one party assuring the other party that guarantor will perform the promise of the third party if it defaults. Indemnities form the basis of many insurance contracts; for example, a car owner may purchase different kinds of insurance as an indemnity for various kinds of loss arising from operation of the car, such as damage to the car itself, or medical expenses following an accident. In an agency context, a principal may be obligated to indemnify their agent for liabilities incurred while carrying out responsibilities under the relationship. While the events giving rise to an indemnity may be specified by contract, the actions that must be taken to compensate the injured party are largely unpredictable, and the maximum compensation is often expressly limited. Under section 4 of the Statute of Frauds (1677), a "guarantee" (an undertaking of secondary liability; to answer for another's default) must be evidenced in writing. No such formal requirement exists in respect of indemnities (involving the assumption of primary liability; to pay irrespective of another's default) which are enforceable even if made orally. Under current English law, indemnities must be clearly and precisely worded in the contract in order to be enforceable. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 stated that a consumer cannot be made to unreasonably indemnify another for their breach of contract or negligence, though this section was repealed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 schedule 4 paragraph 6. In England and Wales an "indemnity" monetary award may form part of rescission during an action of restitutio in integrum. The property and funds are exchanged, but indemnity may be granted for costs necessarily incurred to the innocent party pursuant to the contract. The leading case is Whittington v Seale-Hayne, in which a contaminated farm was sold. The contract made the buyers renovate the real estate and, the contamination incurred medical expenses for their manager, who had fallen ill. Once the contract was rescinded, the buyer could be indemnified for the cost of renovation as this was necessary to the contract, but not the medical expenses as the contract did not require them to hire a manager. Were the sellers at fault, damages would clearly be available. The distinction between indemnity and damages is subtle and may be differentiated by considering the roots of the law of obligations: how can money be paid if the defendant is not at fault? The contract before rescission is voidable but not void, so, for a period of time, there is a legal contract. During that time, both parties have legal obligation. If the contract is to be voided ab initio the obligations performed must also be compensated. Therefore, the costs of indemnity arise from the (transient and performed) obligations of the claimant rather than a breach of obligation by the defendant. An indemnity is distinct from a guarantee, which is the promise of a third party to honor the obligation of a party to a contract should that party be unable or unwilling to do so (usually a guarantee is limited to an obligation to pay a debt). This distinction between indemnity and guarantee was discussed as early as the eighteenth century in Birkmya v Darnell. In that case, concerned with a guarantee of payment for goods rather than payment of rent, the presiding judge explained that a guarantee effectively says "Let him have the goods; if he does not pay you, I will." An indemnity is distinct from a warranty in that: An indemnity guarantees compensation equal to the amount of loss subject to the indemnity, while a warranty only guarantees compensation for the reduction in value of the acquired asset due to the warranted fact being untrue (and the beneficiary must prove such diminution in value)., Warranties require the beneficiary to mitigate their losses, while indemnities do not., Warranties do not cover problems known to the beneficiary at the time the warranty is given, while indemnities do. Many private contracts and terms of service in the United States require one party (indemnitor, typically a customer) to pay (indemnify) the other side's costs for legal claims arising from the relationship. They are particularly common in online services. The US government publishes special Terms of Service, which it has negotiated with many companies, to exclude indemnification for official US government work. US law "is violated by any indemnification agreement that, without statutory authorization, imposes on the United States an open-ended, potentially unrestricted liability." Under US law, interpretation of indemnification clauses varies by state. For example, in California indemnification clauses do not cover certain risks unless the risks are listed in the contract, while in New York a brief clause, "X shall defend and indemnify Y for all claims arising from the Product" does make X responsible for all claims against Y. Indemnity can be extremely costly, since X's liability insurance typically does not cover claims against Y, but X still has to cover them. In 2017, the Utah Supreme Court said that "By statute, a contractual provision requiring a purchaser of a product to indemnify a manufacturer is 'void and unenforceable' in certain circumstances. UTAH CODE § 78B-6-707." In 2012–2014, a New Jersey woman had to pay a lawyer to get out of an indemnity payment for injury at a storage unit. When someone slipped on ice in 2012, while going to a unit, Public Storage sued in court to make the woman who rented the unit pay for the injury. She tried to ignore the case, so state court ruled she must pay. She then retained a lawyer and went to court. In 2014, the US District Court said this specific indemnity clause was unenforceable in New Jersey, because it covered Public Storage's own negligence without explicitly saying so, contrary to New Jersey law (other states differ). A 2013 decision in New Jersey upheld a broad indemnity clause, since it was followed by another sentence, "indemnity agreement is intended to be as broad and inclusive as is permitted by the law of the State of New Jersey". The judge said, "It is true that a consumer, unfamiliar with the laws of New Jersey, would not be able to state with certainty how far the waiver extends". In 2010, the Colorado Supreme Court required a flower shop to indemnify its shopping center for a customer who slipped on the icy parking lot, through no fault of the flower shop, because the tenant was there to visit that shop, and the shop's lease had a broad indemnity clause. In 1999, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming did not require a customer to indemnify a white-water rafting company for injury to his wife, since the wording may have only applied to him and his children, and clauses cannot be enforced in Wyoming to indemnify a company for its own negligence. In 1979 the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a subcontractor must indemnify the builder for damages it caused, according to an indemnification clause in their purchase order. In 1966 the Supreme Court of California ruled that The Hertz Corporation could not enforce its clause requiring renters to indemnify Hertz' insurer. Indemnities can be expensive enough to bankrupt a company which pays them: "If manufacturers ... are to survive, they will need liability insurance, as well as favorable contracts with retailers. If you look at a big retailers, such as Trader Joe's or Costco or Walmart or Randalls, very often there will be an indemnity provision providing that, if you want to sell a product in our stores, and if it gets someone sick or if it has to be recalled, and it's your fault, you must pay us back for that." When a contract is "negotiable", the indemnitor negotiates to control these legal costs. It will not let the indemnified party (indemnitee) overspend, "An arrangement in which the indemnitee makes decisions about how to defend and settle the claim while the indemnitor writes the checks presents a moral hazard. Knowing that its defense and settlement costs are being borne by the indemnitor, the indemnitee may be encouraged to engage a more expensive legal team or pursue a riskier defense strategy than it would otherwise. For this reason, most indemnitors are unwilling to indemnify against claims when they do not control the defense of the claim." The American Bar Association has published advice on negotiations of construction contracts: that (1) owners try to get contractors to indemnify as much as possible, while (2) contractors (a) only indemnify for their own negligence and (b) "establish a right but not a duty for the contractor to defend under an indemnification claim." An example of letting the indemnitor control costs is in the case of a contractor for a homeowners association (HOA), where "Contractor shall indemnify, defend (by counsel reasonably acceptable to Association) and hold harmless the Association." Companies and HOAs also use indemnity to protect directors, since few would serve as directors if their risks were not indemnified. Negotiation is important for both parties. "Just about all homeowner association management contracts have a provision which states that the HOA shall indemnify the manager under certain circumstances ... There are several ways the indemnification clause can be drafted and both management and HOA must take into account what protects each the best." If indemnitors can negotiate a limit on liability in their contract, this limits the cost of a potential indemnity if they "make clear in the agreement that any limitations of liability (whether in the form of caps or exclusions of certain types of damages e.g., consequential) apply to the ... indemnification." When a contract is negotiable (adhesion contract), the wording often lets the indemnitee decide what to spend on legal costs and bill the indemnitor. Most clauses are quite broad. The following are examples of indemnity requirements from a range of businesses. The last one, Angie's List, limits issues to the user's fault, but decisions and costs are still controlled by the indemnitee (Angie's List). "The yacht owner shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the marina from any costs, expenses, damages, and against all claims, demands, loss, lawsuits, including judgments and attorney fees for damages to property, injury or life to third parties resulting or arising from the yacht owner's use of the yacht." The lawyer for a boat owners' group interprets this as, "By signing a marina contract with such provisions, you may find yourself responsible for costs not covered by your insurance policy ... What it means is that if your guest is injured at the marina, even if it's the marina's fault, you agree that you will defend the marina against the claim and pay any damages for which the marina is deemed responsible.", "You agree to indemnify and hold Uber ... harmless from any and all claims ... in connection with: (i) your use of the Services ...", "Occupant shall indemnify and hold Owner [Public Storage] and Owner's Agents harmless from any loss incurred by Owner and Owner's Agents in any way arising out of Occupant's use of the Premises or the Property including, but not limited to, claims of injury or loss by Occupant's visitors or invitees.", "You agree to defend, hold harmless and indemnify edX [founded by Harvard and MIT] ... against any third-party claims ... in any way related to your use of the Site ...", "You agree that you will indemnify and hold harmless NPR ... from any and all claims ... arising from ... (2) your use of the NPR Services, (3) the User Materials you have Submitted on or through the NPR Services, or (4) NPR's publication, distribution or use of such User Materials ...", "If you are using our Services on behalf of a business, that business accepts these terms. It will hold harmless and indemnify Google ... from any claim, action or proceedings arising from or related to the use of the Services ...", "Upon request by Bank of America or its Affiliates, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Bank of America ... from all liabilities, claims and expenses, including attorneys fees, that arise from ... third party claims arising from your use of the Sites. Bank of America and its Affiliates reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you are not required to indemnify Bank of America or its Affiliates for its own violations of applicable laws.", "You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Verizon Parties from and against all losses ... related to claims made by any third-party due to or arising out of (a) Submitted Material ... (b) your use of the Sites or Resources ... Verizon reserves the right to assume the defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will cooperate with Verizon in asserting any available defenses.", "You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Angie's List ... against all losses ... arising from: (a) any violation of this Agreement by You; (b) the inaccurate or untruthful Content or other information provided by You to Angie's List or that You submit, transmit or otherwise make available through the Service; or (c) any intentional or willful violation of any rights of another or harm You may have caused to another. Angie's List will have sole control of the defense of any such damage or claim." Indemnity insurance compensates the beneficiaries of the policies for their actual economic losses, up to the limiting amount of the insurance policy. It generally requires the insured to prove the amount of its loss before it can recover. Recovery is limited to the amount of the provable loss even if the face amount of the policy is higher. This is in contrast to, for example, life insurance, where the amount of the beneficiary's economic loss is irrelevant. The death of the person whose life is insured for reasons not excluded from the policy obligate the insurer to pay the entire policy amount to the beneficiary. Most business interruption insurance policies contain an Extended Period of Indemnity Endorsement, which extends coverage beyond the time that it takes to physically restore the property. This provision covers additional expenses that allow the business to return to prosperity and help the business restore revenues to pre-loss levels. Slave owners were considered to have suffered a loss whenever their slaves were granted their freedom. When the slaves of Zanzibar were freed in 1897, it was by compensation since the prevailing opinion was that the slave owners suffered the loss of an asset whenever a slave was freed. In the 1860s in the United States, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had requested many millions of dollars from Congress with which to compensate slave owners for the loss of their slaves. On 9 July 1868, Section IV of the Fourteenth Amendment dismissed all of the claims that slave owners had been injured by the freeing of the slaves. In 1807–1808, in Prussia, statesman Baron Heinrich vom Stein introduced a series of reforms, the principal of which was the abolition of serfdom with indemnification to territorial lords. Haiti was required to pay an indemnity of 150,000,000 francs to France in order to atone for the loss suffered by the French slave owners. In Peru, Antonio Salinas y Castañeda (1810–1874), a wealthy Peruvian landowner and conservative politician, led the meeting of the main landowners of the country for an indemnity after slavery abolition and ruled the commission who promoted the immigration of Asians to replace former slaves as a workforce during Ramón Castilla government. The nation that wins a war may insist on being paid compensations for the costs of the war, even after having been the instigator of the war. Following the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki required that China pay Japan the sum of 200,000,000 taels., Following the massacres of foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion, the defeated Qing Empire were to pay 450 million taels of fine silver as indemnity over a course of 39 years to the eight nations involved. Under the exchange rates at the time, this was equal to 335 million US gold dollars or £67 million. Double indemnity (insurance), Professional indemnity insurance, Protection and indemnity insurance, Political correctness, Reparations (transitional justice), Legal remedy, Restitution, Reparation (legal), Reparations, Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, Holocaust reparations, World War I reparations, made from Germany due to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, War reparations, Reparations for slavery

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the twelfth entry in the Call of Duty series and the sequel to the 2012 video game . It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 6, 2015. A feature- limited version developed by Beenox and Mercenary Technology that only supports multiplayer modes was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was also the final Call of Duty title released on those platforms. Black Ops III takes place in 2065, 40 years after the events of Black Ops II, in a world facing upheaval from climate change and new technologies. Similar to its predecessors, the story follows a group of black ops soldiers. The game's campaign is designed to support 4-player cooperative gameplay, allowing for bigger, more open level design and less corridor shooting. As the player character is cybernetically enhanced, players have access to various special activities. The game also features a standalone Zombies mode, and a "Nightmares" mode which replaces all enemies as zombies. Announced on April 26, 2015, the game is the first Call of Duty video game released after Activision parted with Microsoft Studios and partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment, which secured the timed exclusivity of the game's downloadable content. Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews from critics, albeit slightly lower than the previous two games in the sub-series, with critics praising the gameplay, Zombies mode, and amount of content. However, it was criticized for its story, absence of fan favorite story mode characters, and lack of innovation. The seventh-generation console versions in particular were criticized for the lack of a campaign and numerous features, as well as it being online-only. It was a commercial success, with it becoming the top-selling retail game in the US in 2015, and one of the most successful titles released for the eighth generation of video game consoles. A sequel, , was released in October 2018. The campaign in Black Ops III is designed to support 4-player cooperative gameplay, allowing for bigger, more open level design and less corridor shooting. In addition, the player can customize their character's appearance and clothing. The campaign features its own progression system, featuring unlock tokens which must be used to acquire different weapons and gears as they progress through the campaign. The game features a "realistic" difficulty mode, in which players will get defeated if they are hit by one bullet. Finishing all campaign missions will also unlock "Nightmares" mode, where players can replay the entire campaign with a new narrative, as well as zombies replacing most of the normal enemies. The multiplayer introduces a new momentum based movement system, which utilizes thruster packs to allow players to perform slow boosts into the air, as well as perform wall running and sliding, all the while giving players complete gun control. In addition to the Pick 10 class system from Black Ops II, Treyarch implemented a character system called "Specialists", where players can pick from 9 different soldiers, each with either a special weapon or ability unique to them. In a later update, a tenth specialist named Blackjack was added to the game. Blackjack is able to mimic the abilities of other specialists, and is only playable for a short amount of time upon completing a set of challenges. A new "Gunsmith" feature offers aesthetic variations in weapon attachments, allowing various weapon customization combinations. The Paintshop feature allows players to create their own custom prints onto specific portions of a gun, further emphasizing the depth of customization in the game. Zombies features a new XP progression system, which allows players to unlock items in a similar fashion to multiplayer and campaign. Unlockable items include "Gobblegums", which grant players with temporary bonuses, and weapon kits that allow players to modify the appearance and attributes of the guns with various camos and attachments. Shadows of Evil was revealed as a new map for the Zombies mode on July 9, 2015 at San Diego Comic-Con International 2015. The map features four brand new characters: Nero the Magician, Jessica the Femme Fatale, Vincent the Cop and Campbell the Boxer as the main cast, and takes place in a new setting called Morg City. "The Giant" includes the original characters, Tank Dempsey, Edward Richtofen, Nikolai Belinski and Takeo Masaki. These characters return from the Black Ops II map "Origins", in their alternate timeline versions. They reappear in the DLC maps "The Giant", "Der Eisendrache", "Zetsubou no Shima", "Gorod Krovi" and "Revelations". The zombies gamemode involves a story, which links with every DLC. On May 16, 2017 Treyarch released a fifth DLC including the remastered versions of Zombies maps from their previous Call of Duty games, called "Zombies Chronicles". These maps are "Nacht der Untoten", "Verrückt", "Shi No Numa", "Kino der Toten", "Ascension", "Shangri La", "Moon" and "Origins". These maps retain most of the original aesthetics updated with Black Ops III's graphics engine, while also add in the gameplay elements of Black Ops III, such as Gobblegums and Weapon Kits. Call of Duty: Black Ops III takes place in 2065, 40 years after the events of Black Ops II, in a world facing upheaval from conflicts, climate change and new technologies. A Third Cold War is ongoing between two global alliances, known as Winslow Accord and Common Defense Pact. In response to the drone assaults caused by narco-terrorist Raul Menendez in 2025, several countries around the world have developed Directed Energy Air Defense systems that render conventional air forces virtually useless. As such, most of the warfare between countries is done by covert operatives fighting behind enemy lines. Military technology has progressed to the point where robotics play a major role in combat, and both fully robotic humanoid drones and cyborg supersoldiers have been developed to fight in the battlefield. There is speculation and fear about an eventual robotic takeover. Like previous installments in the Black Ops series, the campaign follows a team of black ops soldiers, who work for Winslow Accord. The player character (voiced by Ben Browder if male and Abby Brammell if female) and Jacob Hendricks (Sean Douglas) are members of the faction's wetwork team, while Commander John Taylor (Christopher Meloni) and his team Sebastian Diaz (Reynaldo Gallegos), Sarah Hall (Katee Sackhoff), and Peter Maretti (Ary Katz), compose the faction's cybernetics division. Rachel Kimsey voices CIA agent Rachel Kane, Robert Picardo voices the Coalescence Corporation CEO Sebastian Krueger, Tony Amendola voices the therapist Dr. Yousef Salim, and Lynn Chen voices the 54 Immortals criminal organization leader, Goh Xiulan. NFL running back Marshawn Lynch makes a cameo appearance in the game as a 54 Immortals mercenary. Included in the game is the "Nightmares" campaign mode, which is a retelling of the main campaign with the plot changed to incorporate zombies and other supernatural beings. In this campaign, the lethal Virus 61-15 is released in various cities around the world, turning whoever it infects into zombies. In response, the governments of the world seal off the worst infected areas into Quarantine Zones and form the Deadkillers, cybernetic soldiers trained to exterminate zombies. On October 27, 2065, the Winslow Accord black ops initiate a successful mission in Ethiopia to rescue hostages from the tyrannical Nile River Coalition. However, the Player is critically wounded by a combat robot. Rescued by Taylor, the Player undergoes cybernetic surgery to save their life, being installed with a direct neural interface (DNI) and receiving virtual training from Taylor and his team during surgery. Hendricks also undergoes surgery. After five years of wetwork, the Player and Hendricks are put under the command of Rachel Kane and tasked with investigating a CIA black site in Singapore that has gone quiet. They find the site attacked by the 54 Immortals and the site's data stolen. Kane concludes that Taylor and his team defected and murdered the staff. The Player and Hendricks then disguise themselves as arms dealers and meet up with the 54 Immortals. The mission goes awry when their cover is blown, causing the death of one of the 54i's leaders, Goh Min. They manage to recover data regarding Taylor's last known location, a facility of the Coalescence Corporation in Singapore (destroyed ten years prior in a mysterious explosion that killed 300,000 people and turned most of the island's east inhospitable). The Player and Hendricks travel to the facility, and discover a hidden CIA research laboratory. The pair find Diaz leaking CIA information and are forced to kill him. Interfacing with Diaz's DNI, Hendricks discovers Taylor is trying to find the survivors of the explosion: Sebastian Krueger and Dr. Yousef Salim. The leaked information allows the Immortals to capture Kane. The Player disobeys Kane's orders to leave and rescues her by killing Immortals' other leader, Goh Min's sister Xiulan. The trio then head to Egypt and find Salim, who reveals that he performed secret DNI experiments involving comforting humans via a calming exercise involving imagining a frozen forest. Salim is then interrogated and executed by Taylor. The Player, Hendricks and Kane pursue Taylor with assistance from the Egyptian Army. After killing Hall, the Player connects to her DNI and encounters Corvus, a gestalt intelligence created during the experiments to monitor thoughts of DNI users which malfunctioned, causing the explosion. Infecting Taylor and his team, Corvus made them obsessed with finding the forest, with the Player and Hendricks also becoming infected after interfacing with Hall and Diaz. After killing Maretti, the pair track down Taylor in Cairo. After wounding the Player, Taylor manages to resist Corvus and tear his DNI out, sparing the Player. However, Hendricks then succumbs to Corvus and kills Taylor before abandoning the Player, leaving for Zürich to find Krueger. The Player races to Zürich with Kane to stop him. Reaching Zürich's Coalescence Corporation, the pair find Corvus caused the explosion with the gas Nova 6. Kane attempts to contain it, but Corvus locks her in the compound room, leaking the gas to kill her in front of a helpless Player. Continuing on, the Player finds Hendricks holding Krueger hostage. After Hendricks kills Krueger, the Player kills him in turn. The Player then tries to kill themselves to end Corvus' infection, but ends up in a simulated frozen forest, created by Corvus to retain the consciousness of dead DNI users. Taylor, still alive after becoming a glitch in the forest, reunites with the Player, stating that they must purge their DNI to end Corvus. With Taylor's help, the Player resists Corvus' last-ditch manipulation and purges their DNI, erasing the virus. Stumbling out of the Zurich headquarters, the Player identifies themselves to Zürich Security Forces as "Taylor". Taylor's mission reports reveal that the Player actually died during their cybernetics surgery due to complications. The resulting events until Taylor's death occur in a simulation deviating from Taylor and Hendricks's experience of hunting down Dylan Stone and his team (Javier Ramirez, Alice Conrad, and Joseph Fierro), their teammates who defected after finding the CIA black site. The Player's consciousness is shown living in Taylor's mind throughout the simulation, indicating that the Player manages to take over Taylor's body after his simulated death until the DNI purge sees Corvus erased and Taylor regains control. The Player wakes up only to be told by Dr. Salim that they are dead, and that the Player must recount their memories. The Player tells Dr. Salim that they are a Deadkiller who was sent to investigate the disappearance of Taylor's Deadkiller team. However, upon investigating, the Player and Hendricks discover that Taylor's team has used their DNI connections to disable the Quarantine Zone defenses all over the world. Teaming up with Rachel Kane, the Player and Hendricks chase Taylor's team all from Singapore to Egypt, eventually being forced to kill the entire team. However, Hendricks is infected by the same virus that turned Taylor and his team mad, and heads for Zurich. The Player discovers that Dr. Salim is in fact Deimos, the demigod responsible for unleashing the undead plague on humanity. Deimos had entered the Player's mind when they interfaced with Hall, and attempts to manipulate them into opening a portal to his home dimension, Malus. The Player is then contacted by another demigod, Dolos, who is sympathetic to humanity and seeks to kill Deimos, her brother. Dolos transports both the Player and Deimos to Malus, where Deimos is vulnerable. Under Dolos' guidance, the Player kills Deimos, ending the undead plague on Earth, but trapping the Player in Malus. Dolos then explains to the Player that her true plans are to kill every other demigod and supernatural being that can challenge her, and the Player agrees to help her. The Multiplayer mode of Black Ops III features a shared narrative setting with the campaign, in which players battle in virtual simulations across a variety of battlefields, while wielding the avatars of nine elite soldiers, referred to collectively as "Specialists": infantry grunt Donnie "Ruin" Walsh; scoutswoman Alessandra "Outrider" Castillo; engineer David "Prophet" Wilkes; demolitions expert Erin "Battery" Baker; 54 Immortals enforcer He "Seraph" Zhen-Zhen; survivalist Tavo "Nomad" Rojas; specialized combat robot "Reaper"; assassin "Spectre"; and arsonist Krystof "Firebreak" Hejek. Through progression of each Specialist, players can unlock audio logs that provide backstories of each of the soldiers. Full progression of all Specialists unlocks a final audio log, in which an unknown informant reports to their superior about keeping tabs on "eight other soldiers", implying that one of the Specialists is not a simulated avatar, but the real person injecting themselves into the simulation to monitor the others. Like in previous games, the Zombies storyline in Call of Duty: Black Ops III is told in an episodic format, with one map, "Shadows of Evil", available at launch, and the rest to follow in the downloadable content season. "Shadows of Evil" focuses on a new group of characters: Nero Blackstone (Jeff Goldblum), Jessica Rose (Heather Graham), Jack Vincent (Neal McDonough) and Floyd Campbell (Ron Perlman), who reside in the fictional Morg City. Treyarch describes the new characters as "troubled individuals" with "a long and sordid history of past misdeeds". The four characters are thrown into a twisted version of the city, overrun by zombies, and are guided by a mysterious, unreliable figure called the Shadowman (Robert Picardo). "Shadows of Evil" acts as a prologue that leads into the core storyline, focusing on the Dimension 63 version of the original characters: "Tank" Dempsey (Steven Blum), Nikolai Belinski (Fred Tatasciore), Takeo Masaki (Tom Kane) and Edward Richtofen (Nolan North), who were introduced in the Black Ops II map "Origins", referred to collectively as Primis. Their story continues from where "Origins" left off, as they attempt to prevent from ever occurring across the multiverse. Other characters include the leader of Group 935, Doctor Ludvig Maxis (also voiced by Tatasciore), and his daughter Samantha. The downloadable content maps feature the original versions of Primis, referred to as Ultimis, and reintroduce various minor characters mentioned/featured in previous games, including Group 935 scientist Doctor Groph (also voiced by Blum), the OSS spy Peter McCain, Dr. Maxis' assistant Sophia (Christa Lewis), the Ascension Group scientist Gersh, as well as introduces the mysterious omnipotent being Doctor Monty (Malcolm McDowell). Robert Picardo also briefly reprises his role from Call of Duty: Black Ops as United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Following , Doctor Ludvig Maxis, whose brain resided in a mechanical drone at the time, arrives at Agartha and is given a new body by Doctor Monty, a self- proclaimed omnipotent being and member of the Order of the Keepers. After helping to cleanse the soul of his daughter Samantha from the original timeline, Monty instructs Maxis to retrieve an artifact called the Summoning Key, a powerful artifact that can fix their world back to its original state. To do so, Maxis instructs his friend Doctor Edward Richtofen to retrieve the Kronorium, an ancient book detailing the events of every universe and dimension, which contains the location of the Key. After learning of the Key's location, Richtofen travels to Dimension 63 and arrives in Morg City in 1944, where the Apothicons, former Keepers who were corrupted and mutated by the dark energy of the Aether, manipulated four individuals: Jessica Rose, a burlesque dancer; Jack Vincent, a corrupt cop; Floyd Campbell, an up-and- coming boxer; and Nero Blackstone, a washed-up magician. Misled into doing the bidding of the head Apothicon named the Shadowman, the four opened a rift beneath the city using the Summoning Key, thereby freeing an ancient Apothicon beast. With the Keepers' aid, the four manage to trap the Shadowman inside the Key, and banish the beast from their dimension. Before they could retrieve the Summoning Key from the Keepers, however, Richtofen snags the Key from them, thanks them for their effort and exits through a portal, leaving the four and the rest of Dimension 63 to be doomed by the Apothicons. The Dimension 63 versions of "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki pursue Richtofen in his interdimensional journey, and arrive in the Der Riese facility in the original timeline, only moments after Maxis and Samantha were teleported away by the original Richtofen. The three attempt to convince him to awaken their original selves, but are interrupted by the Dimension 63 Richtofen, who appears out of the teleporter and kills his counterpart, triggering various timeline fractures. The four then band together to fend off the zombie horde once more; eventually, they activate a beacon within the facility, allowing Maxis to locate them from Agartha. In pursuit of the original Dempsey, the four then travel to Der Eisendrache, Group 935's fortress in Austria. Despite Group 935 member Doctor Groph's attempt at preventing the group from retrieving the test subject, he ultimately fails and perishes when Richtofen overrides the castle's defense system and sends a barrage of missiles to destroy the moon and Group 935's base on it. As the four retrieve the original Dempsey, Richtofen reveals his plan to prevent their original incarnations from wreaking havoc upon the universe. Dimension 63 Dempsey then volunteers to kill his own counterpart before allowing Richtofen to absorb his soul with the Key. Afterwards, the group attempts to teleport to a new fractured timeline to locate the original Takeo, who is held prisoner at a Pacific island by the Japanese research group Division 9. They discover that Division 9 had been experimenting with plant life mutation using Element 115, with the original Takeo also a victim of the experimentation. After they manage to release him from the mutation, Dimension 63 Takeo is shocked to learn that the Emperor of Japan betrayed his original self and sent him to this island out of petty jealousy. The original Takeo proceeds to commit seppuku, with his Dimension 63 self decapitating him. After absorbing the original Takeo's soul with the Key, Richtofen takes the crew to Alcatraz in Dimension 63, where they retrieve several blood vials, the purpose of which he refuses to explain at the time. The crew then teleports to another fractured timeline and lands in a war-torn Stalingrad in 1945, where the Soviet Union has stolen Group 935's technology to create their own giant robots and mechanical soldiers, while Germany is aided by ancient dragons resurrected and bred by Division 9. As the crew traverses across the city, they are forced to help Sophia, Maxis' former assistant who has been transformed into a machine, to initiate the Ascension Protocol, allowing her to gain knowledge of interdimensional travel. Monty also introduces himself to the crew, as he informs them of the state of the multiverse. Amidst the chaos, the original Nikolai, who has taken control of a modified drone unit, teams up with the group to destroy the alpha dragon. However, upon the dragon's death, Nikolai refuses to surrender, forcing the four to take out his drone. The original Nikolai is angered by his Dimension 63 self as he mentions their deceased wife, and attempts to shoot him, only to be killed in retaliation. With all souls collected, Richtofen calls out to Maxis to summon a portal, and release the souls into it. The group returns to Agartha and arrives in "The House", a place built by Monty to prevent all forces of evil from infecting it, ensuring the safety of the children (Samantha and cleansed versions of the original souls in child form). After sealing off the House from the rest of the multiverse, Maxis is manipulated by the voice of the Shadowman into releasing him upon contact with the Summoning Key. The Shadowman then uses his power to merge various other dimensions, including the Dark Aether, allowing the Apothicons to enter and wreak havoc. Richtofen and the crew manage to help Sophia enter the dimension, and with her assistance, retrieve the Summoning Key and the Kronorium. They then confront the Shadowman together, and defeat him once and for all using the combined power of the two artifacts. Maxis, who still resides within the Key, then absorbs the souls of the children into the Key, and joins Sophia as they fly toward the Apothicon sun, banishing all Apothicon presences from Agartha. Richtofen and the crew are able to remain in the dimension without fading from existence, thanks to the blood vials they retrieved earlier. Monty, worried about the four becoming a paradox in his perfect world, contemplates between erasing their existence and sending them to a distant corner of the universe. In a moment, the four begin to fade away, then reappear in ancient medieval times, where they would be remembered as "Primis", heroes who aided the Keepers in sealing away the Apothicons in the Great War, effectively "completing the cycle" of the universe. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the twelfth game in the Call of Duty franchise, and the fourth entry in the Black Ops series. The game was the second to benefit under publisher Activision's three-year development cycle, the first being . The cycle allows each of the development teams of the Call of Duty series (Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games) to develop games in a three-year timespan, as opposed to the two allowed previously. Black Ops III uses a heavily modified version of the IW engine used previously in Black Ops II. On June 9, 2015, versions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were confirmed to be under development by Beenox and Mercenary Technology. These versions lack some features available on other platforms, such as the game's campaign mode. On June 15, 2015, it was announced that as part of a new exclusivity deal with Sony Computer Entertainment, all downloadable content for future Call of Duty games, beginning with Black Ops III, would be released first on PlayStation platforms as timed exclusives. This ends a similar exclusivity deal with Microsoft dating back to . A multiplayer beta was released for the PlayStation 4 on August 18, 2015, and was released for the Xbox One and Microsoft Windows on August 26, 2015. All versions of the multiplayer beta ran for six days. Jack Wall, who previously composed the score for , returned along with Treyarch's Audio Director Brian Tuey to compose the score for the game. The game also featured an instrumental score entitled "Jade Helm", provided by Avenged Sevenfold, for use in the multiplayer mode. Additionally, both Wall, Tuey and Treyarch's Sound Designer Kevin Sherwood contributed to the composition of the Zombies mode's soundtrack, including several new songs performed by Elena Siegman and Malukah for each of the maps. Teasers were released beginning with Snapchat links appearing in the gameplay of Black Ops II as well as a teaser video released by Treyarch. On April 26, 2015, the first reveal trailer for the game was released and revealed the return of the Zombies mode and beta access for people that pre-order the game for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The full game was released on November 6, 2015. On September 29, 2015, the official Twitter account of Call of Duty was temporarily renamed to "Current Events Aggregate". It then began tweeting messages about real-life fashion, movies and a terrorist attack that takes place in Singapore. Activision later revealed that these tweets are fake, and served to promote the game's story campaign. This marketing campaign was strongly criticized for faking news, and publisher Activision was blamed for being "irresponsible". The game's director Jason Blundell said that the team was "shocked" by the negative reaction of the marketing campaign, and offered an apology. Seize Glory is an official live action trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 that was directed by Wayne McClammy and starring Michael B. Jordan, Cara Delevingne and Marshawn Lynch. The trailer features Michael B. Jordan following a man named Kevin as he runs through warfare while destroying zombies and robots. The trailer first aired during November 2015. The trailer begins with “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones as the background music. The setting is a war zone of explosions, soldiers, and a demolished city. Michael B. Jordan standing on a tower, watching over the battle, looks at the camera and says, “What? Y’all don’t know about Kevin?” Kevin, a younger man, explodes onto the battle field with a large assault rifle. Kevin runs through the chaotic city enjoying himself as he shoots at everything and Michael B. Jordan builds up Kevin's character. Kevin performs exciting moves like sliding down stairs and running on walls. Kevin even eats a sandwich while setting off explosives on enemies. Then, Marshawn Lynch, a star running back in the National Football League, fully geared with weapons and armor slides in, ready to take out a whole room of zombies. Kevin flies in and steals Marshawn's glory. Kevin makes the classic cool guy move by setting of explosives behind him without looking while he walks away. Suddenly, a girl that Michael B. Jordan introduces as Cara, jumps down from the sky and sends Kevin off the screen. Cara, a young woman, takes Kevin's spotlight and starts wreaking havoc on the battle field. Cara, smiling, throws her handguns to the side while walking away from explosions in the background. In the middle of the screen, in bold white letters, appears the slogan, “There’s a Soldier in All of Us.” Activision hired Wayne McClammy as the director. Wayne has been the director of many Call of Duty advertisements. According to Activision Publishing CMO Tim Ellis, the trailer's intent was to show that “The gaming population is so much bigger and more diverse than people may think". Actors Michael B. Jordan and Cara Delevingne were chosen to star in the trailer as both were known by Activision to be fans of the Call of Duty series. Call of Duty: Black Ops III and the Digital Deluxe Edition counterpart were available to pre-order on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The Digital Deluxe Edition comes with the season pass, which can also be ordered separately. Pre- ordering provided access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer beta and in-game items for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, such as custom reticles, an emblem, a calling card, and Advanced Supply Drops. Sony also announced that the Black Ops III beta would come to the PS4 first on August 19 through August 23, 2015. The beta for the PS4 went live on August 18, 2015, several hours earlier than originally announced. After the beta period ended, it was announced that all pre-orders would include the bonus multiplayer map "NUK3TOWN", a remake of the original "Nuketown" map, featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops, and in Call of Duty: Black Ops II as "Nuketown 2025". Owing to the lack of the campaign mode, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions included a digital copy of Black Ops as an added bonus, as well as having their price reduced by 10 dollars compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. A comic book titled Call of Duty: Black Ops III was announced on July 1, 2015. Serving as a prequel to the game, the first issue was released worldwide on November 4, 2015 and was published by Dark Horse Comics. The story is written by Larry Hama, while Marcelo Ferreira served as the artist for the comic book. The story takes place several years prior to the main events of the game, and stars Jacob Hendricks and John Taylor along with their black ops squadmates in an attempt to stop a Russian terrorist plot. Subsequent issues were released throughout 2016. On July 11, 2016, Treyarch announced a new comic book series titled , to expand upon the story of the Zombies mode. The story features the return of the TranZit team: Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton Johnson, Russman and Samuel Stuhlinger, previously the main protagonists of , as they embark on a search for an artifact known as the Kronorium, while discovering the truth behind Edward Richtofen's reappearance. The miniseries, also published by Dark Horse, features Justin Jordan as the writer and Jonathan Wayshak as the main artist, while Simon Bisley draws the cover art of each issue. The first issue was released on October 28, 2016, and subsequent issues were released throughout 2017. In addition to the Digital Deluxe Edition, other special editions include the Hardened Edition and the Juggernog Edition. The Juggernog Edition includes a mini-refrigerator, a season pass and multiple in-game content. A Collector's Edition bonus map for the Zombie mode, The Giant was announced. It is a remake of the map Der Riese, and features the original characters, Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo, and Richtofen. A multiplayer-only starter pack for Microsoft Windows was announced and released on February 16, 2016. It features the multiplayer mode's core mechanics, though certain features, such as the Zombie mode and the Nightmare mode, were excluded. This version of the game is available for players to purchase until the end of February 2016, though it has been made available permanently since. In December 2015, during Sony's PlayStation Experience event, Activision announced the first downloadable content map pack for Black Ops III, titled Awakening, and was released first on PlayStation 4 on February 2, 2016. Releases for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows happened in March 2016. The map pack contains four new multiplayer maps: Skyjacked (a remake of the Black Ops II multiplayer map Hijacked), Rise, Splash, and Gauntlet, a new Zombies map, Der Eisendrache, and several new gumballs for the Zombie mode. In March 2016, Treyarch revealed the second Map Pack, titled "Eclipse". The map pack has four new multiplayer maps, including a remake of the World at War map "Bonzai" and a new Zombies map, "Zetsubou no Shima". The map pack was released on April 19 for PlayStation 4 and May 19 for Xbox One and PC. The third map pack, Descent, was revealed on June 28, 2016, featuring four new MP maps, including a remake of the Black Ops II map "Raid" and a new Zombies map, "Gorod Krovi". The map pack was released on July 12 for PlayStation 4 and August 11 for Xbox One and PC. The PC release of Descent received controversy, for Activision and Treyarch announced that the map packs would no longer be sold separately, and PC players must purchase the season pass to receive all map packs, while owners of Awakening and/or Eclipse would receive discounts upon purchasing the season pass. The fourth map pack, Salvation, was revealed on August 25, 2016, with remakes of the MP maps "Standoff" from Black Ops II and "Outskirt" from World at War, along with the final Zombies map, "Revelations". The map pack was released on September 6 for PlayStation 4, and October 6 for Xbox One and PC. A fifth and final map pack, Zombies Chronicles, contains remastered versions of 8 Zombies maps from previous games: "Nacht Der Untoten", "Verrückt", and "Shi no Numa" from World at War, "Kino Der Toten", "Ascension", "Shangri-La", and "Moon" from Black Ops, and "Origins" from Black Ops II, and is not included in the season pass of the game. The map pack was released on May 16, 2017 for PlayStation 4, and June 16 for Xbox One and PC. On May 24, 2017, Activision and Treyarch announced a Multiplayer DLC Trial Pack for the PC version of Black Ops III, allowing all players to play on all multiplayer maps from the four map packs for free for a limited time, while also offering XP bonuses to players who previously owned the map packs and/or the season pass. On March 20, 2018, the Zombies maps from the four map packs were made available for separate purchase on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with PC to follow on May 2. On June 11, 2018, Activision and Treyarch announced the "Back in Black" map pack, which contains four remastered versions of fan-favorite multiplayer maps from Black Ops and Black Ops II: "Summit", "Jungle", "Firing Range", and "Slums". These four maps, which are also included in at launch, are offered first to PlayStation 4 for players who pre-order Black Ops 4 on the aforementioned platform. According to review aggregator Metacritic, Call of Duty: Black Ops III received "generally favorable" critic reviews for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and "mixed or average" critic reviews for PC. GameSpot awarded it a score of 7 out of 10, saying, "Black Ops III doesn't offer anything remarkable to the series, but does just enough to maintain the Call of Duty status quo. The franchise, however slowly, continues its inexorable march." Polygon also gave the game a score of 7 out of 10, saying "Black Ops IIIs biggest point of recommendation may be the breadth of content there, and that's a valid point of view. But Treyarch doesn't meaningfully move the series forward here." IGN awarded it a score of 9.2 out of 10, saying "With fun 4-player co-op, new powers, and a fleshed out Zombies mode, Black Ops 3 is the biggest Call of Duty game yet." Stuart Andrews of Trusted Reviews criticized the setting and narrative, writing "Black Ops 3 is a solid installment that will please the series' hardcore fans, but it's not a mainstream crowd-pleaser in the way that last year's Advanced Warfare was", and unfavorably compared it to its predecessors, disparaging that it "focuses entirely on the sci-fi stuff, loses most of its conspiracy theory trappings and brings augmented super-soldiers in. The result sometimes feels less like a third Black Ops game than Call of Duty: Even More Advanced Warfare. Black Ops III sold over 6.6 million copies in its first week of sales and grossed over $550 million in sales during its first three days of release. In the United Kingdom, the game bested to become the top selling game. Black Ops III was the top best selling game in the US according to NPD's figures. Black Ops III later became the top selling game of 2015. According to Activision, Black Ops III was one of the best-selling games released for the eighth generation of video game consoles, and that its financial performance is significantly better than its predecessor, . Notes Footnotes Call of Duty: Black Ops is a 2010 first-person shooter, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was released worldwide in November 2010 for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. Aspyr later released the game for OS X in September 2012. It is the seventh title in the Call of Duty series and the third to be developed by Treyarch. It serves as the sequel to . Set in the 1960s during the Cold War, the game's campaign follows CIA operative Alex Mason as he attempts to recall certain memories in combat in order to locate a numbers station. This station is due to transmit broadcasts to sleeper agents who are bound to use chemical weapons across the United States. Mason and CIA operative Jason Hudson are the game's main playable characters, as well as Red Army soldier Viktor Reznov in only one mission. Locations featured in the game include Cuba, Russia, United States, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Laos, Vietnam, and the Arctic Circle. The multiplayer of Black Ops features multiple objective- based game modes that are playable on 14 different maps included with the game. Improvements to loadout options and killstreak rewards are made. A form of virtual currency, COD Points, allows players to purchase weapons and customization options for their in-game character, as well as attachments and customization options for their weapon. Development for the game began in 2009. It runs an enhanced version of the IW 3.0 engine used in Treyarch's past title, World at War. The improvements made allowed for bigger campaign levels to be made as well as enhanced lighting. Treyarch focused specifically on Black Ops during development; they were developing two games at once while making World at War. Different teams within the company focused on a certain game mode. Music was composed by Sean Murray, with music by The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eminem and Avenged Sevenfold appearing in the game. Marketing of the game began in April 2010. Multiple trailers promoting the game and its modes were released from May until October. The game received generally positive reviews from critics. Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game had sold more than 5.6 million copies, 4.2 million in the U.S. and 1.4 million in the UK, breaking the record set by its predecessor by some 2.3 million copies. After six weeks on release, Activision reported that Black Ops had exceeded $1 billion in sales. On August 3, 2011, Activision confirmed that the game had sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling games of all time in the US, UK and Europe. A sequel, , was released in November 2012. was released in November 2015 as the sequel to Black Ops II. Black Ops is a first-person shooter, retaining the same gameplay mechanics as previous Call of Duty titles. The player assumes the role of a foot soldier who can wield various firearms (only two of which can be carried at once), throw grenades and other explosives, and use other equipment as weapons. A player close enough to an enemy can kill with one knife blow. A character can take three stances: standing, crouching or prone. Each affects rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. The player can drop to the prone stance from the standing stance while running (colloquially known as "dolphin diving"), and can momentarily sprint before having to stop. The screen glows red to indicate damage to a player's health, which regenerates over time. When the character is within the blast radius of a live grenade, an on-screen marker indicates where it is in relation to the player, helping the player to move away or to throw it back. Among the weapons new to the series in Black Ops are crossbows with bolts and explosive ammunition, Dragon's Breath rounds and ballistic knives. The player assumes the role of various characters during the single-player campaign, changing perspectives throughout the story. The playable characters are special forces operatives conducting black operations behind enemy lines. In this way, the player's characters have their own traits such as voices and shadows. Each mission features a series of objectives that are displayed on the heads-up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives as it has been in the earlier versions. The player is accompanied by friendly troops throughout the game. Although primarily a first-person shooter, certain levels feature sequences where the player pilots a Hind helicopter and guides friendly troops from a SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. The campaign features several scripted cinematic moments. One of them is a bullet time effect during the "Victor Charlie" level, activated when the player fires toward the last enemy of a Viet Cong squad. As a first in the Call of Duty main series, player characters can now speak during gameplay, whereas in previous installments, primarily those made by Infinity Ward, characters would be silent during gameplay, even if they could speak during cutscenes. The online multiplayer mode of Black Ops usually revolves around two teams on a specific mission. For example, in Team Deathmatch the team with the most kills wins, while in Capture the Flag, players take the other team's flags and return it to their own base. Additionally, there is Free For All in which players aren't separated into teams. Not including Downloadable maps, there are 14 different maps. Black Ops retains the experience points and unlockable reward system that has been kept since Call of Duty 4. The game's multiplayer focuses on socialization and customization. "Create-a-Class 2.0" allows enhanced personalization with appearance items as well as upgradable perks; weapons are extensively customizable with writing, emblems, attachments and camouflage painting. Even reticles can be modified. There are more than one style for an attachment, which allows for a lot more personalized weaponry; for example, the player can choose between a red dot sight or a reflex sight, both of which share many of the same traits, although the red dot fills up less of the screen (something desired by many players). Character models depend on the first tier perk instead of the weapon's type. Furthermore, face paints can be unlocked. New custom killstreak rewards include explosive R/C cars, guided missiles and controllable attack helicopters. A currency system has been implemented allowing players to buy weapons, accessories and clothes. Players can gamble with their "COD Points" in a free-for-all based playlist called "Wager Match", which is composed of four game modes. Time limited objectives known as "Contracts" can be purchased to gain more currency and experience points. The progression system is not featured in local split- screen multiplayer. In local split-screen play, all character customization options are already unlocked. Players can no longer define game rules such as win conditions. Players can play alone or with friends against AI opponents in "Combat Training" with a separate progression system. Online split-screen is re-introduced on Xbox 360 and PS3. The guest account can rank up but is reset after each sign out. Only on Xbox 360, a second Gold Xbox Live account can be used to keep the second player's progression. Aside from the Combat Training mode, Xbox users can also have up to four players in split-screen mode play against AI opponents even without having an Xbox Live account. This is done by configuring the Local Split Screen settings and setting the number of enemies to a value greater than zero. For the first time in the series, clips from online gameplay can be recorded. Some specific features that have been removed from the PC version of Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 return, such as lean, mod tools, the developer console and dedicated servers. Dedicated servers are exclusively provided by Game Servers. Steam is the exclusive platform for Black Ops on PC, and the game is protected by Valve Anti-Cheat. The Wii version of the game includes in-game voice chat. This is the first Call of Duty title to include the voice chat feature for the Wii. Nintendo and PDP have partnered to release the first headset to be used with the Wii known as PDP's Headbanger Headset. A zombie cooperation mode, titled "Zombies", is included in the game. Originally featured in World at War, it was revamped to be included in Black Ops. It is a four-player online and two-player split screen co-op mode (which can also be unlocked online). "Five" takes place in The Pentagon during a chain of events that differ from the storyline of the campaign mode. The playable characters, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro are interrupted from negotiations by an outbreak of zombies. "Five" has many hidden secrets, from an 'Easter Egg' song, which Treyarch's Zombies are famous for (in the case of "Five", the Easter Egg song is 'Won't Back Down' by Eminem and featuring P!nk). There are also hints of connections between "Five" and the first DLC zombies map in the Black Ops season pass, Ascension through hidden radios throughout the map. Kino Der Toten takes place in an abandoned Group 935 facility located within a theater in Berlin, and takes place in 1965. The words "Kino Der Toten" mean "Cinema of the Dead" in German, though the in-game character, Edward Richtofen, translates it as "Theater of the Damned" in the loading screen pre- game. The map features a single teleporter pad, as well as several hidden references to other maps, both past and future. By activating various meteor pieces throughout the map, players can hear an Easter Egg song, "115" written by Kevin Sherwood, and sung by Elena Seigman, who is the lead singer in many of Treyarch Sound's songs. The playable characters in this map return from the World at War Zombies mode. Edward Richtofen, a mad German scientist from the World War Two era, Takeo Masaki, the last of the Japanese Samurai, Nikolai Belinski, a WWII era Soviet soldier, and Tank Dempsey, a Marine from the United States are teleported to Kino Der Toten from the last map of World at War, Der Riese. Black Ops takes place between 1961 and 1968 during the Cold War, 16 years after the events of . It portrays a secret history of CIA clandestine black operations carried out behind enemy lines. Missions take place in various locations around the globe such as the Ural Mountains, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Hong Kong, Laos, South Vietnam, the Arctic Circle and Siberia. The single-player campaign revolves around an experimental chemical weapon codenamed "Nova-6". This weapon is bound to be used by sleeper agents in the United States, who are infused with sequences of numbers, once broadcasts are transmitted from an unknown numbers station. The player controls the protagonist, SAD/SOG operative and former Force Recon Cpt. Alex Mason (Sam Worthington). Occasionally, CIA paramilitary operations officer Jason Hudson (Ed Harris) and some other characters are playable to progress the story. Alex is often joined by fellow operatives Force Recon Master Sergeant Frank Woods (James C. Burns) and SEAL Chief Joseph Bowman (Ice Cube), while Jason teams up with Grigori Weaver (Gene Farber), a Russian-born field operative. Viktor Reznov (Gary Oldman), a key character from the Soviet campaign in , returns along with that game's Russian protagonist Dimitri Petrenko (Boris Kievsky) also making an appearance. Oldman also voices Daniel Clarke, a British scientist assisting in the development of Project Nova. Opposing the CIA are the leaders of Project Nova: former Red Army General Nikita Dragovich (Eamon Hunt), Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Andrew Divoff), and former Nazi scientist Doctor Friedrich Steiner (Mark Bramhall). Black Ops also features several historical figures: during the story Mason meets John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro. On February 25, 1968, SAD operative Alex Mason is strapped to a chair in an interrogation room, bombarded with questions by his unseen captors about the location of a numbers station. Mason then recalls several events, as an attempt to answer their questions. On April 17, 1961, Mason, Woods, and Bowman take part in Operation 40 to assassinate Fidel Castro and assist the CIA sponsored Cuban exiles in overthrowing Castro's communist regime in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Mason apparently succeeds before realizing that the CIA's Cuban rebels are losing against Castro's armed forces. Therefore, he decides to stay behind to protect the extraction plane with Woods and Bowman aboard from an oncoming blockade, before being captured by the real Castro, having shot a double. Handed over to Major General Nikita Dragovich to be held captive at Vorkuta Gulag in the Soviet Union, Mason befriends inmate, former Red Army soldier and World War II veteran Viktor Reznov. Reznov recounts to Mason the identities of their enemies: Dragovich, his right-hand man Lev Kravchenko, and ex-Nazi scientist Friedrich Steiner, who defected to the Soviet Union. On October 29, 1945, Reznov, , and their platoon were sent to extract Steiner from a Nazi base in the Arctic. However, they were betrayed by Dragovich, who tested Steiner's nerve gas known as "Nova 6" on Petrenko's squad, killing them. Reznov was spared the same fate when British Commandos, also interested in acquiring Nova 6, attacked the Soviets. In the chaos, Reznov destroyed the Nova 6 and escaped, only to be captured by the Soviets and sent to Vorkuta. The Soviets later recreated Nova 6 with the help of a British scientist, Daniel Clarke. Having spent over a year imprisoned, Mason and Reznov spark an uprising to flee the gulag. During the escape, Reznov diverts the attention of the Soviet prison guards away from Mason to allow him to escape. On November 10, 1963, Mason meets with President John F. Kennedy, who authorizes a mission to assassinate Dragovich; Mason briefly envisions aiming a handgun at Kennedy. Mason, Woods, Bowman, and Weaver are dispatched to the Baikonur Cosmodrome to disrupt the Soviet space program and eliminate members of "Ascension", a Soviet program giving sanctuary to Nazi scientists in exchange for their knowledge. The team destroys the Soyuz spacecraft, while Woods apparently kills Dragovich in a car explosion with a commandeered BTR. On January 21, 1968, Mason's team is sent to Vietnam. After defending Khe Sanh from a North Vietnamese assault, they recover a dossier on Dragovich from a Russian defector being held by the North Vietnamese Army in Hue City during the Tet Offensive. The defector turns out to be none other than Reznov, who joins them as they penetrate Laos to recover a Nova 6 shipment from a downed Soviet plane. They are captured by Viet Cong and Spetznaz infiltrators at the crash site. Bowman, after being physically and mentally drained from being forced to play Russian Roulette, instigates the captors and is executed, but Woods and Mason manage to hatch an escape, wherein they are able to hijack an Mi-24 Hind, and cripple the Ho Chi Minh trail before moving on to rescue Reznov from Kravchenko's base. They confront Kravchenko and Woods stabs him, but Kravchenko pulls the pins off of four grenades strapped to himself, forcing Woods to sacrifice himself by pushing both himself and Kravchenko out of a window. In a huge explosion, Mason presumes the two dead. Meanwhile, Hudson and Weaver interrogate Clarke in Kowloon City. Clarke reveals the location of a hidden facility in Mount Yamantau before being killed by Dragovich's men. Hudson and Weaver move to destroy the facility and receive a transmission from Steiner requesting to meet at Rebirth Island, as Dragovich has begun killing loose ends. Mason and Reznov head there to assassinate Steiner at the same time, succeeding just as Hudson and Weaver arrive. Mason is adamant that Reznov executed Steiner, but Hudson had witnessed Mason carrying out the act alone. Hudson and Weaver are revealed to be Mason's interrogators. Dragovich has sleeper cells placed all over the United States which, when ordered by the numbers broadcast, will release the Nova 6 gas. As a result, the U.S., now at DEFCON 2 is preparing a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, which would result in the inevitable Mutual Assured Destruction of World War III. Hudson needed Steiner to abort the gas launch, but after his death, only Mason has any knowledge of the numbers station. Hudson reveals that Dragovich brainwashed Mason to understand the numbers broadcasts and assassinate Kennedy, effectively making him a Soviet sleeper agent. The real Reznov never escaped, but died during the Vorkuta breakout attempt, and the Soviet defector in Hue was actually killed before Mason reached him. Mason's visions of Reznov are a result of a dissociative disorder caused by the traumatic brainwashing program. Prior to the Vorkuta uprising, Reznov reprogrammed Mason to assassinate Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner instead. Mason finally remembers the location of the broadcast station: a Russian cargo ship named Rusalka off the coast of Cuba. An assault on the Rusalka begins, with Mason and Hudson infiltrating the underwater submarine base protecting the ship. Hudson calls in the United States Navy to destroy the Rusalka. Mason and Hudson confront Dragovich in the lower levels of the facility, and Mason strangles and drowns him to death before escaping with Hudson. They regroup with Weaver, who declares victory. Archive footage of President Kennedy prior to his assassination on November 22, 1963 is shown, revealing Mason was among onlookers who watched Kennedy disembark from Air Force One at Love Field. His presence, and Dragovich's taunt before his death, suggest that Mason may have carried out his initial programming. A hidden message that can be accessed in the game's main menu reveals that Woods survived the confrontation with Kravchenko and is currently incarcerated in the Hanoi Hilton. The Zombies story takes place over various eras of time, mostly during the final year of World War II, and the 1960s. The story mainly follows four soldiers: "Tank" Dempsey (Steve Blum) of the United States Marine Corps, Nikolai Belinski (Fred Tatasciore) of the Red Army, Takeo Masaki (Tom Kane) of the Imperial Japanese Army, and Doctor Edward Richtofen (Nolan North) of the Wehrmacht. Other characters include Doctor Ludvig Maxis (Fred Tatasciore) and his daughter Samantha (Julie Nathanson). The map "Five" features historical figures: John F. Kennedy (Jim Meskimen), Robert McNamara (Robert Picardo), Richard Nixon (Dave Mallow), and Fidel Castro (Marlon Correa). "Call of the Dead" features the appearance of celebrities: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, Michael Rooker, all playing themselves and George A. Romero. During World War II, Doctor Ludvig Maxis formed Group 935, a group of scientists that was intended to improve the human condition. Lacking funds, they soon turned to creating superweapons to aid the Nazis. Their discovery of Element 115 from a meteorite in Japan lead to the creation of zombies. Maxis and his assistant, Dr. Edward Richtofen, also work on other projects, leading to the creation of teleportation devices and 115-powered weapons. Attempting to use himself as a test subject, Richtofen accidentally teleports to a catacomb within the Moon, where he comes into contact with a mysterious pyramid device that causes him to hear mysterious voices, slowly taking away his sanity. He is later teleported to an exotic jungle known as Shangri-La, where he spends three weeks studying the Vril energy force. Upon returning to Germany, Richtofen secretly forms a plan to kill Maxis, and gathers many members of Group 935 to build a Moon base, known as Griffin Station. While maintaining his cover with Maxis and the rest of Group 935, Richtofen manages to capture three soldiers: Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki; he begins to conduct experiments with Element 115, causing memory loss for all three soldiers. Maxis continues his work on other experiments, attempting to use his daughter's dog, Fluffy, as a test subject for his own teleportation device. However, the experiment fails, and Fluffy is transformed into an undead Hellhound. Richtofen takes the opportunity and traps Maxis and his daughter Samantha inside the teleporter with Fluffy, believing that they would die. Richtofen escapes as Der Riese is overrun by zombies with his three captured soldiers, and arrives at the Rising Sun research facility in Japan, where Element 115 was first discovered. After gathering a sample of 115 at the site, and recovering a weapon known as the Wunderwaffe DG-2, they return to the Der Riese factory in Germany. In an attempt to escape the zombie horde, the group accidentally overloads a teleporter with the DG-2, sending them forward in time. They arrive at an abandoned Nazi theater in the 1960s, where Richtofen discovers several recordings left behind by Dr. Maxis. Samantha, having survived and managing to control the zombies, continues raising the undead in order to hunt down Richtofen. Some time in 1963, the United States government manages to grab hold of several of Group 935's inventions, keeping them hidden in the Pentagon. Due to the presence of the undead-raising Element 115, zombies breach the Pentagon. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro are trapped within the Pentagon, forced to fight their way out. Meanwhile, Richtofen's crew arrive at a Soviet Cosmodrome site, where Richtofen intends to travel to Group 935's Moon base, Griffin Station. The crew is contacted by Gersh, a member of the Ascension Group who requests to be freed from Samantha's grip. After freeing Gersh, the four of them are teleported further in time, and arrive at a Siberian lighthouse sometime in 2011, once used by Richtofen as a secret lab. However, they are trapped within a locked room, and forced to rely on four movie actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Danny Trejo, Robert Englund, and Michael Rooker, who are filming a zombie movie on-site along with director George A. Romero, who had been infected as well. Richtofen requests the four celebrities to find a golden rod, which is a Vril generator device, which he then uses to fix the teleporter. He transports himself and the other three soldiers back to Shangri-La, leaving the celebrities behind to continue fighting Romero and the horde. At Shangri-La, the group discovers two explorers, Gary and Brock, who died trapped within a time loop while trying to discover the secrets of the mythical Argatha realm. The group saves the explorers' lives by traveling back and forth in time, altering the environments of the temple in the process. They discover an altar within the temple with Richtofen's name written on it, as well as a piece of a meteorite containing Element 115. However, the explorers remain stuck in the never-ending loop. With the Vril generator and the meteorite piece, Richtofen now believes he can control the zombies, and returns to Griffin Station. Here, they attempt to activate the MPD, a machine that controls the Aether energy, which opens to reveal Samantha inside; instead of dying by Richtofen's trap, Samantha was teleported to the moon while Maxis was sent somewhere else. Samantha accidentally triggered the MPD and was trapped within the device, but this also allowed her to enter the Aether realm. Maxis, who was retrieved by Group 935 scientists, apologized to his daughter and committed suicide in front of her, prompting her to assume control of the zombies and seek vengeance on Richtofen. Richtofen fuses the golden rod and the meteorite piece, and using it to switch souls with Samantha, takes over as the new zombie controller. This causes his former allies to feel betrayed, and they ally themselves with Samantha (who now resides in Richtofen's body). Maxis is revealed to have become a sentient artificial intelligence living within the systems of Griffin Station, and he guides his daughter and the three soldiers to launch three missiles at the Earth. This severs Richtofen's link with the Aether, but the launch results in the , while still leaving Richtofen in control of the undead. In May 2009, publisher Activision was rumored to be looking for licensing regarding Vietnam War-era music which led to speculation that Call of Duty 7 would be set in Vietnam. In May 2009, Treyarch employee David Kim revealed on his LinkedIn profile that he would work as a senior animator on Call of Duty 7. In November 2009, only a few days before Modern Warfare 2s release, Activision officially announced a new Call of Duty title for 2010 through their third quarter financial call. In February 2010, a casting call for Call of Duty 7 led to speculation that the game would be taking place during the Cold War era with some battles taking place in South Vietnam. On April 30, 2010, Black Ops was officially announced. The game runs on an enhanced World at War engine (which itself was improved from Call of Duty 4) at 60 frames per second across all platforms, excluding the Wii. It features a streaming texture technology (also seen in Modern Warfare 2), making bigger levels possible such as "Payback" where the player controls a helicopter. Lighting effects have been improved as well. Call of Duty: Black Ops supports 3-D imaging rendered by the engine itself. This feature is available on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions. For Black Ops, Treyarch focused only on this game unlike past practice. However, it had different teams, each working on separate game modes. Treyarch used a motion capture technology similar to the one used in James Cameron's film Avatar, which allows accurate facial expressions, capturing the whole performance of the actor. The studio also consulted special forces veterans from both belligerents of the Cold War: Major John Plaster (US Army-Ret.) who served in the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War, and former Soviet special forces operative Sonny Puzikas. The latter taught Treyarch how Spetsnaz soldiers would react in combat, such as rolling out of the line of fire. Spetsnaz AIs in the game have been modeled after him, from his tactics and his movements to his face. Although having a historical background, the classified aspect of these Cold War black operations allowed the studio to create its own fictional story. The game also allows players to turn down the blood and turn off the profanity. It was announced on November 9, 2015 that Black Ops would become backwards compatible with the Xbox One. It was originally meant to be available for backwards compatibility in December 2015, but the date was later changed to some time in 2016. Black Ops was originally the sixth-most requested Xbox 360 title to become backwards compatible with the Xbox One. On May 17, 2016, the game was made available through Xbox One's backward compatibility. Shortly after, it was reported that sales of the Xbox 360 version had increased by 13,000 percent. Black Ops features the voices of Sam Worthington as Alex Mason, Ed Harris as Jason Hudson, Gary Oldman reprises his role as Viktor Reznov from World at War and also voices Dr. Clarke, James C. Burns voices and provides performance capture for Frank Woods and Ice Cube voices Joseph Bowman, who is also the multiplayer announcer for the SOG faction. Gene Farber voices Grigori Weaver, Emmanuelle Chriqui plays a live-action character called Numbers, Eamon Hunt voices Nikita Dragovich, Andrew Divoff voices Lev Kravchenko and Robert Picardo voices Secretary Robert McNamara. Dimitri Diatchenko, an American born actor and musician voices the Spetsnaz faction and several other characters due to his strong Russian accent. Call of Duty: Black Ops features Vietnam War era music including "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones (played during a gameplay sequence, the credits, and as an easter egg in the multiplayer map Nuketown) and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son". Eminem's "Won't Back Down" (featuring Pink) is used for the credits as well, and additionally appears as an Easter Egg in the Zombie map "Five". In the Call of the Dead zombie map the song "Not Ready to Die" by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold is featured as an easter egg. The original music was composed by Sean Murray, who also composed Call of Duty: World at War while Kevin Sherwood composed music for the Zombies mode. The soundtrack was released on November 9. The use of The Rolling Stones' music in the game has seen a significant increase in the band's music sales since launch. "Gimme Shelter" sold 2,000 copies in the week before the launch trailer was revealed, 5,000 the week after, and 11,000 the week after the game's release. "Sympathy for the Devil" experienced a similar boost as gamers discovered the band's music. The game's score was composed by Sean Murray, and the official soundtrack was released on November 9, 2010. In addition, a soundtrack for the popular Zombies mode was released on January 25, 2011. Black Ops was first officially unveiled when the website for the game went live on April 30, 2010 prior to the release of its debut teaser trailer on GameTrailers TV Episode 310. In early April 2010, an unmarked envelope was sent to various gaming news publications as well as high-profile Call of Duty fans via mail. It contained a USB flash drive with sound and text files. These files were codes to be decrypted, only to find a mysterious teaser site for an unknown game. Other codes were updated periodically. Similarly to , the first full-length trailer of Black Ops was aired after the 3rd quarter on ESPN during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May 18, 2010. During E3 2010, studio head Mark Lamia opened the Microsoft conference by playing Black Ops on stage. It was also announced that the timed Xbox 360 exclusivity for additional content of Call of Duty titles, which began with Modern Warfare 2, extends until 2012. A remixed version of the ESPN trailer with Eminem's "Won't Back Down" was released on June 14, prior to the E3 Activision conference for which he also performed. A multiplayer teaser trailer was released on August 9, 2010 revealing killstreaks, weapons, and other in-game multiplayer features. A full multiplayer reveal took place on September 1, 2010, and revealed many multiplayer features from the game. Chrysler produced a limited- edition Call of Duty Jeep as the Wrangler is featured in Black Ops. In late September, viral site GKNOVA6 was updated revealing fuzzy footages of zombies. On October 11, a single player trailer aired on ESPN during the New York Jets versus Minnesota Vikings NFL Monday Night Football game. The same trailer was aired the next day in the United Kingdom at half time of the England versus Montenegro 2012 European Football Championship qualifying game. On October 29, the official launch trailer was released online. The same trailer aired on October 31 during the New Orleans Saints versus Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Sunday Night Football game. The trailer features the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones. Like Modern Warfare 2, "Hardened" and "Prestige" limited editions are available: the Hardened Edition includes a SteelBook case, a medal with its display case, four exclusive co-op levels and an Xbox Live or PlayStation Home avatar outfit. The Prestige Edition offers, in addition to the Hardened Edition's content, a real RC-XD remote-control vehicle modeled after the in- game killstreak reward, which gives video and audio feedback to its controller. In Japan, the game is distributed by Square Enix. Two versions are available: subtitled or dubbed, released respectively on November 18, 2010 and December 16, 2010. Both have dismemberment censored. Gore is censored as well in Germany in addition to the removal of "Sympathy for the Devil" and Nazi symbols considered "anti-constitutional" in the country. Treyarch released the "First Strike" Map Pack on February 1, 2011 for the Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 received the map pack on March 3, 2011 and the PC version was released on March 25, 2011 through Steam. The Map Pack includes additional maps that can be played in the multiplayer mode. These maps include "Berlin Wall", "Discovery", "Kowloon" and "Stadium" and a map for the Zombies mode titled "Ascension" which takes place in a Soviet launch site. On April 11, 2011, a second map pack called "Escalation" was announced by Activison and Microsoft. It features 4 new multiplayer maps named "Zoo", "Hotel", "Convoy", "Stockpile" and one new zombies map named 'Call of the Dead'. This map is based on the movies by George A. Romero, the revolutionary epic-zombie-horror director. The trailer for this map shows the four playable characters: Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund and Michael Rooker. The name is a reference to the immensely popular Dead Series created and directed by Romero. The trailer also offers a sneak peek of a zombiefied version of George A. Romero himself, lurking out of water. The map is set on a ship, with instead of Nazi zombies, shipcrew zombies. It was released on May 3, 2011 for the Xbox 360, June 2 on the PC and June 10 for the PlayStation 3. A third map pack called "Annihilation" was released for the Xbox 360 on June 28, 2011, and on July 28, 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and PC. It contains four new multiplayer maps named "Hangar 18", "Hazard", "Drive-In", "Silo", and a new zombies map named "Shangri La", which takes place in a legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle. The fourth map pack, "Rezurrection" was released on August 23, 2011 for the Xbox 360, and September 22, 2011 on PlayStation 3 and PC. The Rezurrection Map Pack is made up of 5 Zombies mode only maps. It includes the first 4 maps from ("Shi No Numa"/"Swamp", "Nacht Der Untoten"/"Night", "Verruckt"/"Asylum", "Der Riese"/"Factory") and a new map called "Moon". "Moon" allows players to fight zombies in zero gravity with both the player and the zombies under zero gravity influence. Call of Duty: Black Ops received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic, except for the DS, where it received "mixed or average" reviews. GameSpot awarded it 9.0 out of ten and wrote "Call of Duty: Black Ops bears the series' standard superbly, delivering an engrossing campaign and exciting competitive multiplayer." Edge magazine was less positive, giving it a 7/10, writing that "As polished and pretty and fun as Black Ops often is, it feels more like a yearly update than a sequel [which] isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way". Several reviewers also complained that the game felt too much like a rail shooter, with PC Gamer branding it "barely interactive". Reviewers also noted that the PC version of the game was buggy and had "a number of frustrating problems", including a lag in multiplayer modes which for some players rendered the game almost "unplayable". Players have also reported serious bugs with the PlayStation 3 version, including compatibility issues with 3D televisions. PC World magazine noted that user reviews of the game were much less positive than those of critics. As of November 12, 2010, three days after the release, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game held average user ratings of 3.1, 3.1, and 1.8 stars on Amazon.com, respectively (on a 1 to 5 scale), with many PC users complaining about lag, stuttering and bugs. In January 2011, to a player complaining about the remaining connection problems for the game on PlayStation 3, an Activision customer service representative threatened that they could shut down the servers for the game for the PlayStation Network at any time. After some days and following some game media heat, Dan Amrich, Activision Social Media Manager, declared that even if they could kill the servers, they did not plan currently to do it. The Daily Telegraph praised Black Ops as a superb experience of gameplay, "the meaty kick of the guns, the blistering pace of the action and the sterling soundtrack of explosions, gunshots and whistling bullets all serve to quicken the player's pulse and tighten their grip on the controller", and mentioned, it is beyond the overwhelming, chaotic action in the game's major gun battles, offers among other things, a stealthy infiltration of a substation in the snow-capped steppes, in which the slow down in action is compensated for by nail-shredding tension and creepy atmosphere. Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the Wii version 90% and said "Black Ops on Wii is a fantastic shooter packed with all the features of its HD brothers, with the only exception being split-screen multiplayer." Martin Gaston at VideoGamer.com gave the Wii version 6 out of 10, complaining of Treyarch's reworking of in-game sequences as movies, poor AI, and gameplay problems from lower-resolution graphics. In February 2011, the Xbox 360 version was named the Xbox Live's top title of 2010 by GameSpot. Within 24 hours of its release, Black Ops had sold a combined total of 5.6 million units in the U.S. and UK market, surpassing that of Modern Warfare 2 and establishing a new record for largest entertainment launch. Compared to the much anticipated opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the game earned more than twice as much as the film, earning $360 million. Only five days after its release, sales from the game worldwide reached US$650 million, surpassing the previous record achieved by Modern Warfare 2 which earned $550 million in five days. By November 22, the game remained the bestselling title in the United Kingdom, despite sales dropping by 85%. Some estimates had placed sales of the game as reaching 18 million units sold, earning a revenue of $818 million. This would fall about 2 million copies and $182 million short of Modern Warfare 2. By December 22, worldwide revenue of Black Ops exceeded $1 billion. Sales remained strong months after the game's release, remaining at the top-seller list in February 2011. On March 3, 2011 the news magazine The Hollywood Reporter also reported on the best selling video games ever. It announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best- selling game ever in the United States of America. Black Ops was the best- selling game of all time in the UK until Grand Theft Auto V overtook it in November 2014. By November 2013, the game had sold 26.2 million copies. Cuba has condemned the release of the game as it has special forces trying but failing to kill a young Fidel Castro, killing instead a body-double. The Cuba- based pro-Fidel Castro website Cubadebate said the game "encourages sociopathic attitudes of American children and adolescents, the main consumers of these virtual games." Black Ops was also released for both mobile phones and smartphones. This version is a side-scrolling shooter. It features a different storyline, a different set of characters, and is set in the Vietnam War in 1967. The game was developed by Glu Mobile and published by Activision. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 on November 12, 2012, and for the Wii U on November 18 in North America and November 30 in PAL regions. Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise of video games, a sequel to the 2010 game and the first Call of Duty game for the Wii U. A corresponding game for the PlayStation Vita, , was developed by nStigate Games and also released on November 13. The game's campaign follows up the story of Black Ops and is set in two different time periods; the late 1980s and 2025. In the '80s, the player switches control between Alex Mason and Frank Woods, two of the protagonists from Black Ops, while in 2025, the player assumes control of Mason's son, David (codenamed "Section"). Both time periods involve the characters pursuing Raul Menendez, a Nicaraguan cartel leader, who is responsible for kidnapping Woods in the 80s and later sparking a second Cold War in 2025. The campaign features nonlinear gameplay and has multiple endings. Development for the game began soon after the release of Black Ops, with Activision promising that the follow-up would bring "meaningful innovation" to the Call of Duty franchise. Black Ops II is the first game in the series to feature futuristic warfare technology and the first to present branching storylines driven by player choice as well as selecting weapons before starting story mode missions. It also offers a 3D display option. The game was officially revealed on May 1, 2012, following a set of leaked information released during the previous months. Black Ops II received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its gameplay, story, multiplayer, and Zombies mode, but was criticized for its Strike Force missions. The game was a commercial success; within 24 hours of going on sale, the game grossed over $500 million. It had remained the largest entertainment launch of all time until September 2013, when Take-Two Interactive announced that Grand Theft Auto V had grossed $800 million in its first day of release. It went on to sell 7.5 million copies in the U.S. in November 2012, making it the highest-grossing game of the month. A sequel, , was released in 2015. Black Ops II was made backwards compatible for the Xbox One in April 2017. Black Ops II is the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. Known as "Strike Force missions", these branching storylines appear during the 2025 storyline and feature permanent death. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign storyline. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign. Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War. Similarly, in the main story missions, there are certain points where the player is given different choices and paths to progress, which could have an effect on the gameplay, as well as the story. Black Ops II is also the first game in the series to allow the player to customize their loadout before beginning a mission, creating freedom in choosing how to approach a mission. One of the biggest changes added to multiplayer in Black Ops II is the introduction of Pick 10, a new system within the Create-a-Class menu. Pick 10 gives the player a total of 10 allocation slots in a class, which are used for guns, perks, grenades, etc. The player can choose to allocate the slots however they like, to either have more attachments for a gun, or more perks. Killstreaks from previous Call of Duty games are renamed as Scorestreaks, which are now earned by gaining points, rather than kills. This allows the player to focus on objective modes, which also earn points towards Scorestreaks. Unlike past games, weapons in Black Ops II have a progression system, which is used to unlock weapon attachments. After maxing out a weapon's level, the player can choose to "prestige" the gun, similar to how they can prestige the player level, and reset their attachment progress. In exchange, the player can customize their weapons with custom clan tags and emblems. Black Ops II is also the first Call of Duty game to include a competitive mode. Known as League Play, the mode allows players of similar skill level to be matched together, and play according to the rules of Major League Gaming. Treyarch confirmed that the Zombies mode would return for Black Ops II with new game modes. This is the third Call of Duty game to feature a Zombies mode, following and , and the first to have game modes other than the traditional Survival mode. Treyarch also confirmed that Zombies would run on the game's multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience, along with new features. A new, 8 player co-op game called "Grief" is also supported, featuring 2 teams of 4 players competing to survive, unlike the previous games which only supported 4 player online co-op. As with the previous installments, each Zombies map contains "Easter eggs" side quests, which is used to progress the story. Another new mode, "Turned", is introduced with several downloadable content maps, in which one player attempts to survive three player-controlled zombies who must turn the other player into a zombie. The single-player campaign features two connected storylines, with the first set from 1986 to 1989 during the final years of the First Cold War, and the other set in 2025 during a Second Cold War and Rare earths trade dispute. The protagonist of Black Ops, (Sam Worthington) returns as the protagonist in the first Cold War section, and chronicles the rise to infamy of the game's primary antagonist, Raul Menendez (Kamar de los Reyes). The 2025 section of the game features Alex Mason's son David (codenamed Section) (Rich MacDonald) as the protagonist, in which Menendez is plotting against the United States and China with one of his ultimate goals being to see the United States locked in a new Cold War with China, in revenge for many of his misfortunes. In this era, wars are defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles, and other futuristic technology. Returning characters include Alex's CIA squadmates Frank Woods (James C. Burns) and Jason Hudson (Michael Keaton), former Soviet Army Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Andrew Divoff), and disgraced Red Army Captain Viktor Reznov (Gary Oldman). New characters include: Section's SEAL teammates Mike Harper (Michael Rooker) and Javier Salazar (Celestino Cornielle), their commanding officer Admiral Tommy Briggs (Tony Todd), the CIA double agent Farid (Omid Abtahi), U.S. President Marion Bosworth (Cira Larkin), Strategic Defense Coalition leader General Tian Zhao (Byron Mann), Tacitus Corporation ex-employee Chloe Lynch (codename Karma) (Erin Cahill). The game also features several historical and real-life characters, including: UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi (Robert Wisdom), former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega (Benito Martinez), Colonel Oliver North (voiced by himself), and former CIA director David Petraeus (Jim Meskimen). Jimmy Kimmel cameos as himself in one of the game's endings, while the rock band Avenged Sevenfold makes a non-canonical appearance at the end of the game. In 1986, Alex Mason, now retired from active duty, pursues an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is approached by Jason Hudson for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan Civil and South African Border Wars. Frank Woods and his team have disappeared aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA, but Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently locating Raul Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. As a lengthy firefight breaks out, the trio are rescued by Savimbi. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team. In light of this, Mason, Woods, and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, an established primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in Southern Africa and Latin America. The CIA later authorize a strike against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The trio and Chinese operative Tian Zhao ally with the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviets. They locate Lev Kravchenko, who survived the grenade explosion with Woods in Vietnam, and interrogate him into disclosing that Menendez has moles inside the CIA before executing him. The Mujahideen then betray the Americans and Zhao, leaving them to die in the Afghan wilderness until their rescue by two unidentified civilians. The origins of Menendez's anti-American sentiment is revealed at this point. His sister Josefina was disfigured in a fire as part of an insurance fraud masterminded by an American businessman. The CIA sanctions the assassination of Menendez's father after uncovering his ties to South American drug trade. Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Panamanian security forces led by President Manuel Noriega raid Menendez's compound in Nicaragua; during the chaos, Woods inadvertently kills Josefina with a grenade. Conspiring with Noriega to fake his demise, Menendez crosses paths with Mason and Woods again during the American invasion of Panama. Utilizing moles within the CIA, Menendez captures Hudson and David, and has Hudson manipulate Woods into shooting Mason before crippling Woods. He then executes Hudson, promising to return and complete his revenge at a later date. In 2025, Menendez reemerges as the charismatic leader of Cordis Die, a militant populist movement. His organization stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese stock exchanges, forcing their government to leverage its economic influence and sparking a second Cold War between NATO and the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition headed by Zhao. David, now a Navy SEAL Lt. Commander code-named Section, spearheads an effort by American Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to track down Menendez. They fail to apprehend him, but learn that Menendez is planning a second cyberattack with global repercussions, dependent on a quantum supercomputer engineered by rogue developer Chloe Lynch. Section and two other SEALs, Harper and Salazar, either rescue Lynch by killing Menendez's second-in-command, DeFalco, or he escapes. The "Strike Force" mission "Second Chance" must be completed to rescue Lynch if the latter occurs. JSOC finally capture Menendez in Yemen with the assistance of undercover CIA agent, Farid. However, prior to being apprehended, Menendez orders Farid to kill a captured Harper. Farid will be executed by Menendez if he refuses. American forces take Menendez aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Barack Obama, commanded by Admiral Briggs; however, Menendez escapes with the aid of a mole inside JSOC: Salazar. How Salazar's betrayal pans out is determinant on the fates of Lynch, Farid, and DeFalco. Menendez hacks into the U.S. military satellite to seize control of their entire drone fleet. Whether the Americans regain control is determined on whether the Strike Force missions were completed and whether Briggs remains alive to activate the ship's defenses. Regardless, Menendez uses the drones to attack Los Angeles during a meeting of G20 leaders, hoping to kill them and foment widespread economic and civil chaos. With the drones also targeting several other strategic cities across the U.S. and China, Section escorts the President of the United States to safety in a Cougar HE. Menendez is tracked to Haiti, where Section must either execute or reapprehend him. The events of the player's ending is determinant on the fates of Menendez, Lynch, and Alex Mason, and whether the Strike Force missions were completed. If Section executes Menendez, a video is uploaded to YouTube, where Menendez commands Cordis Die to revolt. Cordis Die supporters launch a massive global insurrection, resulting in the burning of the White House and widespread anarchy. This is the canonical ending and sets the stage for ., If Section reapprehends Menendez and Lynch survives, she will prevent Menendez's cyberattack and he will remain imprisoned, watching Lynch being interviewed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she insults Menendez as he rages in his cell., If Section reapprehends Menendez and Lynch was killed or not rescued, Menendez's cyberattack will succeed and he will break out of prison. He heads to the Vault and kills Woods, then travels to his sister's grave, digs up her corpse, and lights himself on fire., If Mason survives being shot by Woods, he will reunite with him and Section. If he does not, David retires from the military after visiting his father's grave., If all the Strike Force missions were completed, China and the United States enter into an alliance, ending the Second Cold War. A non-canon ending is unlocked by completing the game, depicting Menendez and Woods performing at a concert with Synyster Gates and M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold. It is shown after the 2nd half of the credits. Zombies takes place throughout various time periods, mostly focused during the modern time, in a post-apocalyptic world, created as a result of the missile launch from the moon striking the Earth. The majority of the story follows four new characters: Samuel Stuhlinger (David Boat), Marlton Johnson (Scott Menville), Abigail "Misty" Briarton (Stephanie Lemelin) and Russman (Keith Szarabajka). Dr. Edward Richtofen (Nolan North), one of the previous playable characters from the previous game, returns as the demonic announcer, overseeing the four characters. Another returning character is Dr. Ludvig Maxis (Fred Tatasciore), who instructs the new group to help him defeat Richtofen. Players can choose whether to help Maxis or Richtofen, which will have different results once the story ends. The map "Mob of the Dead" features a new crew of characters: Albert "The Weasel" Arlington (Joe Pantoliano), Billy Handsome (Ray Liotta), Michael "Finn" O'Leary (Michael Madsen), and Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (Chazz Palminteri). The map "Origins" features an alternate version of the original crew: Tank Dempsey (Steven Blum), Nikolai Belinski (also voiced by Tatasciore), Takeo Masaki (Tom Kane), and Richtofen (Nolan North), as well as Maxis' daughter, Samantha (Julie Nathanson). In the year 2025 at Nevada, a team of CIA and CDC operatives investigate a nuclear testing site known as "Nuketown", where they are attacked by zombies. At the same time, Dr. Edward Richtofen seizes control of the zombies by entering the Aether from Group 935's moon base. However, Dr. Ludvig Maxis joins with his daughter Samantha and Richtofen's former allies, Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki, to thwart him. To end this, Maxis launches three massive nuclear missiles filled with Element 115, the element responsible for the reanimation of dead cells, at the Earth, destroying its atmosphere. One missile completely destroys Nuketown and all present, except for one individual, Marlton Johnson, who escapes after hiding out in the site's bunker. Ten years later , Earth has been reduced to a crumbling, hellish wasteland overrun by zombies. In this new world, four survivors - Samuel Stuhlinger, Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton, and Russman - have banded together to survive in Washington with the help of a bus driven by a robotic driver. The four are contacted by both Richtofen and Maxis, who is now a digital artificial intelligence, for aid against the other. Both former scientists request the four to assist them in powering up a tower within the area to work in their favor. Once done, regardless of the path they choose, they are teleported by Richtofen to a crumbling skyline in Shanghai, China. The four learn of The Flesh, a cannibalistic cult that chooses to eat zombie meat, as well as the beginnings of a new airborne pandemic of Element 115. Stuhlinger is threatened by Richtofen, who knows of his past as a member of The Flesh, which allows only him to hear Richtofen and not the others. At the site, Maxis and Richtofen once again instruct the four to power up a second tower. Following their battles in Shanghai, Russman leads the group across the continents to a large hole in the ground known as The Rift in Africa, hoping to find answers about the unseen forces commanding them. Richtofen commands Samuel to "mend the rift". The four gain a new ally in the form of a mute giant (real name later known as Arthur) in a Western town warped underground by temporal displacement, and are hampered by a ghostly woman in a massive mansion. In the canonical ending, the group aids Maxis, allowing him to use the power from the towers to enter the Aether and assume ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie's body. However, the Earth begins shaking, and Maxis explains to the four that he is beginning the process of the destruction of the Earth and humanity to reach Agartha, where he believes Samantha is; in the non-canon ending, the group aids Richtofen, letting him gain unlimited power over the Aether and the Earth, allowing him to kill Maxis and condemn Samantha's soul to eternal damnation. Following the canonical ending, Maxis then plucks Samantha's soul from Richtofen's body on the Moon and forces her to join him in Agartha. Realizing her father has been corrupted by the Aether, Samantha reaches out to an alternate version of him, who resides in Dimension 63. She ends up in 1918 in France during World War I, where Group 935 was formed much earlier, with Maxis as one of its leaders, operating to secure German victory in the war. Group 935 created mechanical robots, as well as staffs that control the powers of the elements. Stumbling upon an ancient tomb believed to be of Vril origin, they accidentally unleash the first known zombie outbreak in history. Aiming to stop Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States of America send Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mastermind behind the advanced technology. By this time, Group 935's operatives have been wiped out, and Maxis himself was lobotomized when he began to turn into a zombie. The group are contacted by Samantha, who begs them to free her from Agartha. Richtofen puts Maxis' brain in a flying drone, and he joins the fight against the zombies and to free Samantha. The group is eventually successful, and while Maxis meets his daughter, they enter Agartha to be rewarded. A cutscene is played, showing Samantha with a boy named Eddie inside a house playing with toys of the characters who have appeared in the Zombies game mode throughout games. Air raid sirens are heard and the two children retreat to the basement with Maxis, with Samantha noting her father has . A separate story, "Mob of the Dead", taking place also in Dimension 63, focuses on four mobsters: Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca, Billy Handsome, Michael "Finn" O'Leary, and Albert "The Weasel" Arlington, who are incarcerated at Alcatraz Island. On New Year's Eve 1933, the four attempt to escape the prison, using Weasel's plan to build a makeshift airplane called Icarus. However, the prison becomes infested with zombies, and they are forced to fight their way out. They succeed in building the airplane, but crash-land at the Golden Gate Bridge. They are then teleported back to the prison, with no memories of their previous attempt (except Weasel, who keeps a journal of the ongoing events). They continuously try to escape, but the result remains the same. After many failures, they discover that they were actually stuck in Purgatory, constantly repeating a cycle as punishment for their past sins. In reality, the escape plan never came to fruition, and Weasel was killed by the other three on New Year's Eve, while the rest were given the death penalty weeks later. Having remembered the truth, Sal, Billy and Finn set out to kill Weasel once again. Two possible endings can occur: if Weasel is killed, the cycle repeats once again; if Weasel lives and the other three are killed, the cycle is broken, and he is finally freed of his punishment. Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick stated on November 8, 2011, that a new Call of Duty game was in development for a 2012 release and would be the newest installment in the franchise. The game was officially confirmed by Activision during its fourth-quarter earnings call on February 9, 2012, who promised that it would feature "meaningful innovation" for the series. Oliver North, who was involved in the Iran–Contra affair was a consultant on the 1980s portion and helped promote the game. The author and defense expert Peter W. Singer served as a consultant on the 2025 storyline of the game. Reports of Black Ops 2 surfaced following a product page for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 appearing on Amazon France before quickly being taken down in February 2012. No information had yet been released by Activision, but Gameblog claimed that Activision demanded it remove its original report too. When it refused to do so, the publisher cut off Gameblog from ad support, review game mailings and future Activision events for refusing to comply. Later Activision denied Gameblog's claims that it had been cut off. Around the same time, computer game artist Hugo Beyer also listed "Black Ops 2" as his current project in his Linkedin CV, before his LinkedIn page was taken down. Beyer is an artist working for Nerve Software, "a Dallas-based independent developer" which has "helped" with previous Activision games including, Black Ops in 2010. A "Black Ops 2" trademark by Activision was spotted January 2012. Further, Black Ops 2 was listed by the France international entertainment retail chain Fnac in March 2012, which touted a predictable November release date. On April 9, 2012, an image was leaked from a URL on the official Call of Duty website, which leaked the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 logo, as well as a reveal date of April 28, 2012. The URL was later removed. On April 18, 2012, Kotaku received an image from "a retail source", which showed a teaser poster that lacked a game title but had clear nods to Black Ops and a May 2 date that seemingly points to a reveal. On April 27, 2012, an image containing two Target pre-order cards sent by IGN reader Richard confirmed the game's title and release date. The cards clearly display the Call of Duty: Black Ops II logo, and the release date November 13, 2012. On April 23, 2012, Activision redesigned CallofDuty.com to announce that the game would be revealed on May 1, 2012, during the NBA playoffs on TNT. The art featured on the site matched up perfectly with the supposed retailer leak received by Kotaku. However, parts of the official website went live hours prior to the announcement, which revealed the title, confirmed the release date for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the "21st Century Cold War" setting. Activision had hinted that the game may eventually become available for Nintendo's own consoles, although had no official announcements for the time being. As promised by Activision, the preview for the game was revealed in the form of a YouTube trailer that detailed the futuristic setting, the characters carried over from the previous games, and the conflict. After the game was revealed, the preorder rates on the game set records three times higher than for the preorders of the first Black Ops. Critics have noted the trailer's similarities to that of . On July 19, 2012, a second trailer was released by Treyarch, offering insight into the game's narrative. The storyline was described by writer David S. Goyer as "better than a Hollywood movie". In developing Black Ops II, Treyarch introduced several revisions to the gameplay mechanics for online multiplayer that have been a hallmark of the Call of Duty franchise. These include the introduction of "multi-team" games that allow matches to host three or more teams of players, in contrast to the traditional two factions, and revisions to the "Create-A-Class" function that allows users to select which guns, attachments, weapon camouflage and perks (additional bonuses that alter aspects of gameplay) to use in multiplayer matches. The "Kill Streak" function, which gives players in-game rewards for killing other players, was revised and is now known as "Score Streaks". Whereas players still receive in-game rewards, these are unlocked by performing certain actions – such as killing other players, successfully capturing territory, and so on – rather than simply killing other players. Furthermore, the "wager matches" feature included in was removed. These changes were introduced to shift the emphasis towards objective-based gameplay, to reward players who work in teams and to make the game more accessible to new players. Additionally, Treyarch announced plans to integrate Black Ops II into the world of "eSports" or competitive gaming. To this end, Treyarch unveiled a matchmaking system designed to pair players up based on their skills within the game to ensure that online games are relatively equal in terms of player skill. They also announced what they termed "CODcasting", a form of live streaming that allows users to stream their games directly onto YouTube from their gaming consoles. There is also 3D support if players are playing with an HDMI cable on a 3D TV. Before one enters multiplayer mode, one needs to simply just turn on the 3D setting in the "options" menu. Square Enix released the game for the Japanese market on November 22, 2012, as a subbed version. A Japanese voice-dubbed version was released separately on December 20, 2012. The script for this version was translated by Zenigame Nakamoto. The translated version was criticized for its translation errors. The Japanese release of the Wii U port is only the dubbed version since the console was not available in Japan in November. The game's soundtrack was composed by Jack Wall, with the main theme composed by Trent Reznor, the leader of industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails since 1988. The soundtrack was released as a part of the Hardened Edition and Care Package releases, as well as on iTunes and Amazon, with two supplemental tracks by Brian Tuey, as well as "Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 (Allegro Molto)" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Also, a version of the song "Try It Out" by Skrillex and Alvin Risk is used in the game, but it is not present in the soundtrack album. When the Campaign is completed, after the end credits, Woods and Menendez perform a concert with heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold on their song "Carry On", with Woods on drums and Menendez on rhythm guitar. The band chose to use Woods as the drummer in the game due to the loss of their original drummer The Rev, who died of a drug overdose on December 28, 2009. The band's song "Shepherd of Fire" is featured on the Zombie mode Origins. Additional artists include Sean Murray, Jimmy Hinson, Sergio Jimenez Lacima, Kamar de los Reyes, Azam Ali, & Rudy Cardenas. Heralding the release of Black Ops IIs DLCs, Activision releases a live-action short starring a well-groomed Peter Stormare, who acts as a "Replacer", part of a group who are sent by mutual friends to take your place during your daily life while you can stay at home and play Black Ops IIs new content. Stormare goes on to explain the aims of his jobs and is then shown in multiple situations where he has taken over random people's jobs, such as masquerading as a pregnant lady's husband, working at an office, and enduring a grandmother's endless talking, as well as other such scenarios. To promote Black Ops IIs second DLC, entitled "Uprising", comedian J.B. Smoove joined Stormare in the second production of The Replacers, in which the two maintain a haphazard relationship. Stormare normally acts as a mentor to the new replacer Smoove by pointing out his various quirks while doing his job, such as his poor performance defending his client while he replaces a lawyer, admitting that he might be guilty. A Black Ops II Season Pass was released by Treyarch with the release of the game. On December 12, 2012, all Xbox 360 Season Pass holders received access to the Nuketown Zombies map, with PC holders following on January 17, and PlayStation 3 holders on January 19, having been delayed two days due to PSN technical issues. It was later released as an individual download for PC on April 13, 2013. The first major DLC pack is called Revolution. It was announced on January 8, 2013, and released for Xbox 360 on January 29 and PC and PS3 on February 28 The pack contained four new multiplayer maps – Downhill, Hydro, Mirage and Grind; and two new Zombies modes – Turned and Die Rise. Also included was the first DLC weapon; the Peacekeeper. Turned occurs in the Diner segment of the TranZit map from the original release, and allows up to four players to fight each other in two teams – one human against three zombies. The Die Rise map is a larger zombies survival map taking place in two semi-destroyed skyscrapers in Shanghai, where one to four players use elevators to travel between floors. Personalisation pack microtransactions for the game were released for Xbox 360 on March 12, 2013, and PC and PS3 on April 12. These allow the player to make small aesthetic changes to the multiplayer functionality of the game, like adding the flag of their country to the kill notification box, adding new weapon skins and allowing the player to use more Create-a-Class slots. The second major DLC pack is known as Uprising. It was released for Xbox 360 on April 16, 2013, and came out for PC and PS3 players on 16 May. It includes the new zombies map Mob of the Dead as well as new multiplayer maps Magma, Vertigo, Encore, and a re-imagining of fan-favourite from previous installment Black Ops Firing Range, known as Studio. The third major DLC pack is called Vengeance. It was released for Xbox 360 on July 2, 2013, and PC and PS3 on August 1. It includes new zombies map Buried as well as new multiplayer maps Cove, Detour, Rush and a remake of the popular map Summit from Black Ops: Uplink. The fourth and final major DLC pack is called Apocalypse. It was released for Xbox 360 on August 27, 2013, and PC and PS3 on September 26. It includes new zombies map Origins back to the old characters (Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and Dempsey), as well as new multiplayer maps Pod, Frost and two remakes of popular maps Courtyard and Stadium of and Black Ops: First Strike DLC. On July 8, 2014, Activision released Nuketown 2025 for the Wii U Version. On March 27, 2013, Activision revealed that they were considering releasing Revolution, but a firm decision had not yet been made. Call of Duty: Black Ops II received "generally positive" reviews for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions, but "mixed or average" reviews for the PC version, according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN editor Anthony Gallegos describes the game as "a good example of how to evolve an annualized franchise." Gallegos praised the game for telling a story was genuinely interesting and creating a villain that he empathised with to the point of questioning his own actions over the course of the story. Gallegos directed criticisms at the artificial intelligence of allies in Strike Force mode and at the ending of the campaign, which he felt was disappointing even though he was aware that the outcome was directly influenced by the choices he made. Dan Ryckert of Game Informer was also critical of the artificial intelligence of Strike Force mode, and was unimpressed by the "Pick Ten" system introduced to multiplayer modes, noting that it was "interesting, but ultimately less exciting" than the system used in previous Call of Duty titles. Like Gallegos, Ryckert praised the narrative and structure of the single-player campaign, introducing changes that he felt were overdue and noting that the branching storylines "had me talking to others about their experiences in a way I had never done before with this [Call of Duty] series". Steven O'Donnell and Stephanie Bendixsen, of video game talk show Good Game, both gave the game an 8.5 out of 10, praising the gameplay multiplayer and zombies mode, but were critical of the campaign's confusing narrative and Strike Force missions. In particular to the narrative, Good Game was critical of the opening battle where the player guns down fleeing African rebels, feeling that it was added purely for shock value and commenting that: Frederick Charles Fripp of IT News Africa gave it a final score of 9.2/10 and wrote that "BO2 is a non-stop action-packed shooter that will keep gamers on their toes and on the edge of their seats. It has everything a player could want in a game: great graphics, a good story, easy controls and superb acting." Activision reported sales figures for Black Ops II in the U.S. were more than 7.5 million copies sold on launch day and grossed over $500 million, in the US alone in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time until the record was surpassed by Grand Theft Auto V in September 2013. It is the fourth year in a row that the Call of Duty series has broken the same record. 2011's grossed $400 million on one full day; 2010's grossed $360 million on day one; in 2009, brought in $310 million. Black Ops II went on to gross $1 billion in the first 15 days of availability, beating Modern Warfare 3s record of the first 16 days. On November 5, 2013, IGN confirmed that the game sold 24.2 million copies, making it the third highest selling game in the series, behind 2010's Black Ops, and 2011's Modern Warfare 3. In July 2014, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega sued Activision for lost profits from the use of his likeness in the game. He also claims that his inclusion translated to higher sales of Black Ops II. Noriega makes an appearance in the Cold War portions of the game and aids the primary antagonist. The suit sought compensation for lost profits and damages for his depiction as a "kidnapper, murderer, and enemy of the state" in the game. On October 28, the Los Angeles court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Noriega's inclusion was protected under free speech laws.

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The adrenal glands (also known as suprarenal glands) are endocrine glands that produce a variety of hormones including adrenaline and the steroids aldosterone and cortisol. They are found above the kidneys. Each gland has an outer cortex which produces steroid hormones and an inner medulla. The adrenal cortex itself is divided into three zones: the zona glomerulosa, the zona fasciculata and the zona reticularis. The adrenal cortex produces three main types of steroid hormones: mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, and androgens. Mineralocorticoids (such as aldosterone) produced in the zona glomerulosa help in the regulation of blood pressure and electrolyte balance. The glucocorticoids cortisol and cortisone are synthesized in the zona fasciculata; their functions include the regulation of metabolism and immune system suppression. The innermost layer of the cortex, the zona reticularis, produces androgens that are converted to fully functional sex hormones in the gonads and other target organs. The production of steroid hormones is called steroidogenesis, and involves a number of reactions and processes that take place in cortical cells. The medulla produces the catecholamine which function to produce a rapid response throughout the body in stress situations. A number of endocrine diseases involve dysfunctions of the adrenal gland. Overproduction of cortisol leads to Cushing's syndrome, whereas insufficient production is associated with Addison's disease. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a genetic disease produced by dysregulation of endocrine control mechanisms. A variety of tumors can arise from adrenal tissue and are commonly found in medical imaging when searching for other diseases. The adrenal glands are located on both sides of the body in the retroperitoneum, above and slightly medial to the kidneys. In humans, the right adrenal gland is pyramidal in shape, whereas the left is semilunar or crescent shaped and somewhat larger. The adrenal glands measure approximately 3 cm in width, 5.0 cm in length, and up to 1.0 cm in thickness. Their combined weight in an adult human ranges from 7 to 10 grams. The glands are yellowish in colour. The adrenal glands are surrounded by a fatty capsule and lie within the renal fascia, which also surrounds the kidneys. A weak septum (wall) of connective tissue separates the glands from the kidneys. The adrenal glands are directly below the diaphragm, and are attached to the crura of the diaphragm by the renal fascia. Each adrenal gland has two distinct parts, each with a unique function, the outer adrenal cortex and the inner medulla, both of which produce hormones. The adrenal cortex is the outermost layer of the adrenal gland. Within the cortex are three layers, called "zones". When viewed under a microscope each layer has a distinct appearance, and each has a different function. The adrenal cortex is devoted to production of hormones, namely aldosterone, cortisol, and androgens. The outermost zone of the adrenal cortex is the zona glomerulosa. It lies immediately under the fibrous capsule of the gland. Cells in this layer form oval groups, separated by thin strands of connective tissue from the fibrous capsule of the gland and carry wide capillaries. This layer is the main site for production of aldosterone, a mineralocorticoid, by the action of the enzyme aldosterone synthase. Aldosterone plays an important role in the long- term regulation of blood pressure. The zona fasciculata is situated between the zona glomerulosa and zona reticularis. Cells in this layer are responsible for producing glucocorticoids such as cortisol. It is the largest of the three layers, accounting for nearly 80% of the volume of the cortex. In the zona fasciculata, cells are arranged in columns radially oriented towards the medulla. Cells contain numerous lipid droplets, abundant mitochondria and a complex smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The innermost cortical layer, the zona reticularis, lies directly adjacent to the medulla. It produces androgens, mainly dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (the precursor to testosterone) in humans. Its small cells form irregular cords and clusters, separated by capillaries and connective tissue. The cells contain relatively small quantities of cytoplasm and lipid droplets, and sometimes display brown lipofuscin pigment. The adrenal medulla is at the centre of each adrenal gland, and is surrounded by the adrenal cortex. The chromaffin cells of the medulla are the body's main source of the catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline, released by the medulla. Approximately 20% noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and 80% adrenaline (epinephrine) are secreted here. The adrenal medulla is driven by the sympathetic nervous system via preganglionic fibers originating in the thoracic spinal cord, from vertebrae T5–T11. Because it is innervated by preganglionic nerve fibers, the adrenal medulla can be considered as a specialized sympathetic ganglion. Unlike other sympathetic ganglia, however, the adrenal medulla lacks distinct synapses and releases its secretions directly into the blood. The adrenal glands have one of the greatest blood supply rates per gram of tissue of any organ: up to 60 small arteries may enter each gland. Three arteries usually supply each adrenal gland: The superior suprarenal artery, a branch of the inferior phrenic artery, The middle suprarenal artery, a direct branch of the abdominal aorta, The inferior suprarenal artery, a branch of the renal artery These blood vessels supply a network of small arteries within the capsule of the adrenal glands. Thin strands of the capsule enter the glands, carrying blood to them. Venous blood is drained from the glands by the suprarenal veins, usually one for each gland: The right suprarenal vein drains into the inferior vena cava, The left suprarenal vein drains into the left renal vein or the left inferior phrenic vein. The central adrenomedullary vein, in the adrenal medulla, is an unusual type of blood vessel. Its structure is different from the other veins in that the smooth muscle in its tunica media (the middle layer of the vessel) is arranged in conspicuous, longitudinally oriented bundles. The adrenal glands may not develop at all, or may be fused in the midline behind the aorta. These are associated with other congenital abnormalities, such as failure of the kidneys to develop, or fused kidneys. The gland may develop with a partial or complete absence of the cortex, or may develop in an unusual location. The adrenal gland secretes a number of different hormones which are metabolised by enzymes either within the gland or in other parts of the body. These hormones are involved in a number of essential biological functions. Corticosteroids are a group of steroid hormones produced from the cortex of the adrenal gland, from which they are named. Corticosteroids are named according to their actions: Mineralocorticoids such as aldosterone regulate salt ("mineral") balance and blood volume., Glucocorticoids such as cortisol influence metabolism rates of proteins, fats and sugars ("glucose"). Mineralocorticoids The adrenal gland produces aldosterone, a mineralocorticoid, which is important in the regulation of salt ("mineral") balance and blood volume. In the kidneys, aldosterone acts on the distal convoluted tubules and the collecting ducts by increasing the reabsorption of sodium and the excretion of both potassium and hydrogen ions. Aldosterone is responsible for the reabsorption of about 2% of filtered glomerular filtration rates. Sodium retention is also a response of the distal colon and sweat glands to aldosterone receptor stimulation. Angiotensin II and extracellular potassium are the two main regulators of aldosterone production. The amount of sodium present in the body affects the extracellular volume, which in turn influences blood pressure. Therefore, the effects of aldosterone in sodium retention are important for the regulation of blood pressure. Glucocorticoids Cortisol is the main glucocorticoid in humans. In species that do not create cortisol, this role is played by corticosterone instead. Glucocorticoids have many effects on metabolism. As their name suggests, they increase the circulating level of glucose. This is the result of an increase in the mobilization of amino acids from protein and the stimulation of synthesis of glucose from these amino acids in the liver. In addition, they increase the levels of free fatty acids, which cells can use as an alternative to glucose to obtain energy. Glucocorticoids also have effects unrelated to the regulation of blood sugar levels, including the suppression of the immune system and a potent anti-inflammatory effect. Cortisol reduces the capacity of osteoblasts to produce new bone tissue and decreases the absorption of calcium in the gastrointestinal tract. The adrenal gland secretes a basal level of cortisol but can also produce bursts of the hormone in response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary. Cortisol is not evenly released during the day – its concentrations in the blood are highest in the early morning and lowest in the evening as a result of the circadian rhythm of ACTH secretion. Cortisone is an inactive product of the action of the enzyme 11β-HSD on cortisol. The reaction catalyzed by 11β-HSD is reversible, which means that it can turn administered cortisone into cortisol, the biologically active hormone. Formation All corticosteroid hormones share cholesterol as a common precursor. Therefore, the first step in steroidogenesis is cholesterol uptake or synthesis. Cells that produce steroid hormones can acquire cholesterol through two paths. The main source is through dietary cholesterol transported via the blood as cholesterol esters within low density lipoproteins (LDL). LDL enters the cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis. The other source of cholesterol is synthesis in the cell's endoplasmic reticulum. Synthesis can compensate when LDL levels are abnormally low. In the lysosome, cholesterol esters are converted to free cholesterol, which is then used for steroidogenesis or stored in the cell. The initial part of conversion of cholesterol into steroid hormones involves a number of enzymes of the cytochrome P450 family that are located in the inner membrane of mitochondria. Transport of cholesterol from the outer to the inner membrane is facilitated by steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and is the rate-limiting step of steroid synthesis. The layers of the adrenal gland differ by function, with each layer having distinct enzymes that produce different hormones from a common precursor. The first enzymatic step in the production of all steroid hormones is cleavage of the cholesterol side chain, a reaction that forms pregnenolone as a product and is catalyzed by the enzyme P450scc, also known as cholesterol desmolase. After the production of pregnenolone, specific enzymes of each cortical layer further modify it. Enzymes involved in this process include both mitochondrial and microsomal P450s and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. Usually a number of intermediate steps in which pregnenolone is modified several times are required to form the functional hormones. Enzymes that catalyze reactions in these metabolic pathways are involved in a number of endocrine diseases. For example, the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia develops as a result of deficiency of 21-hydroxylase, an enzyme involved in an intermediate step of cortisol production. Regulation Glucocorticoids are under the regulatory influence of the hypothalamus- pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Glucocorticoid synthesis is stimulated by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a hormone released into the bloodstream by the anterior pituitary. In turn, production of ACTH is stimulated by the presence of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is released by neurons of the hypothalamus. ACTH acts on the adrenal cells first by increasing the levels of StAR within the cells, and then of all steroidogenic P450 enzymes. The HPA axis is an example of a negative feedback system, in which cortisol itself acts as a direct inhibitor of both CRH and ACTH synthesis. The HPA axis also interacts with the immune system through increased secretion of ACTH at the presence of certain molecules of the inflammatory response. Mineralocorticoid secretion is regulated mainly by the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS), the concentration of potassium, and to a lesser extent the concentration of ACTH. Sensors of blood pressure in the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the kidneys release the enzyme renin into the blood, which starts a cascade of reactions that lead to formation of angiotensin II. Angiotensin receptors in cells of the zona glomerulosa recognize the substance, and upon binding they stimulate the release of aldosterone. Primarily referred to in the United States as epinephrine and norepinephrine, adrenaline and noradrenaline are catecholamines, water-soluble compounds that have a structure made of a catechol group and an amine group. The adrenal glands are responsible for most of the adrenaline that circulates in the body, but only for a small amount of circulating noradrenaline. These hormones are released by the adrenal medulla, which contains a dense network of blood vessels. Adrenaline and noradrenaline act at adrenoreceptors throughout the body, with effects that include an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. actions of adrenaline and noradrenaline are responsible for the fight or flight response, characterised by a quickening of breathing and heart rate, an increase in blood pressure, and constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body. Formation Catecholamines are produced in chromaffin cells in the medulla of the adrenal gland, from tyrosine, a non-essential amino acid derived from food or produced from phenylalanine in the liver. The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase converts tyrosine to L-DOPA in the first step of catecholamine synthesis. L-DOPA is then converted to dopamine before it can be turned into noradrenaline. In the cytosol, noradrenaline is converted to epinephrine by the enzyme phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT) and stored in granules. Glucocorticoids produced in the adrenal cortex stimulate the synthesis of catecholamines by increasing the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase and PNMT. Catecholamine release is stimulated by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Splanchnic nerves of the sympathetic nervous system innervate the medulla of the adrenal gland. When activated, it evokes the release of catecholamines from the storage granules by stimulating the opening of calcium channels in the cell membrane. Cells in zona reticularis of the adrenal glands produce male sex hormones, or androgens, the most important of which is DHEA. In general, these hormones do not have an overall effect in the male body, and are converted to more potent androgens such as testosterone and DHT or to estrogens (female sex hormones) in the gonads, acting in this way as a metabolic intermediate. The human genome includes approximately 20,000 protein coding genes and 70% of these genes are expressed in the normal, adult adrenal glands. Only some 250 genes are more specifically expressed in the adrenal glands compared to other organs and tissues. The adrenal gland specific genes with highest level of expression include members of the cytochrome P450 superfamily of enzymes. Corresponding proteins are expressed in the different compartments of the adrenal gland, such as CYP11A1, HSD3B2 and FDX1 involved in steroid hormone synthesis and expressed in cortical cell layers, and PNMT and DBH involved in noradrenalin and adrenalin synthesis and expressed in the medulla. The adrenal glands are composed of two heterogenous types of tissue. In the center is the adrenal medulla, which produces adrenaline and noradrenaline and releases them into the bloodstream, as part of the sympathetic nervous system. Surrounding the medulla is the cortex, which produces a variety of steroid hormones. These tissues come from different embryological precursors and have distinct prenatal development paths. The cortex of the adrenal gland is derived from mesoderm, whereas the medulla is derived from the neural crest, which is of ectodermal origin. The adrenal glands in a newborn baby are much larger as a proportion of the body size than in an adult. For example, at age three months the glands are four times the size of the kidneys. The size of the glands decreases relatively after birth, mainly because of shrinkage of the cortex. The cortex, which almost completely disappears by age 1, develops again from age 4–5. The glands weigh about 1 g at birth and develop to an adult weight of about 4 grams each. In a fetus the glands are first detectable after the sixth week of development. Adrenal cortex tissue is derived from the intermediate mesoderm. It first appears 33 days after fertilisation, shows steroid hormone production capabilities by the eighth week and undergoes rapid growth during the first trimester of pregnancy. The fetal adrenal cortex is different from its adult counterpart, as it is composed of two distinct zones: the inner "fetal" zone, which carries most of the hormone-producing activity, and the outer "definitive" zone, which is in a proliferative phase. The fetal zone produces large amounts of adrenal androgens (male sex hormones) that are used by the placenta for estrogen biosynthesis. Cortical development of the adrenal gland is regulated mostly by ACTH, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that stimulates cortisol synthesis. During midgestation, the fetal zone occupies most of the cortical volume and produces 100–200 mg/day of DHEA-S, an androgen and precursor of both androgens and estrogens (female sex hormones). Adrenal hormones, especially glucocorticoids such as cortisol, are essential for prenatal development of organs, particularly for the maturation of the lungs. The adrenal gland decreases in size after birth because of the rapid disappearance of the fetal zone, with a corresponding decrease in androgen secretion. During early childhood androgen synthesis and secretion remain low, but several years before puberty (from 6–8 years of age) changes occur in both anatomical and functional aspects of cortical androgen production that lead to increased secretion of the steroids DHEA and DHEA-S. These changes are part of a process called adrenarche, which has only been described in humans and some other primates. Adrenarche is independent of ACTH or gonadotropins and correlates with a progressive thickening of the zona reticularis layer of the cortex. Functionally, adrenarche provides a source of androgens for the development of axillary and pubic hair before the beginning of puberty. The adrenal medulla is derived from neural crest cells, which come from the ectoderm layer of the embryo. These cells migrate from their initial position and aggregate in the vicinity of the dorsal aorta, a primitive blood vessel, which activates the differentiation of these cells through the release of proteins known as BMPs. These cells then undergo a second migration from the dorsal aorta to form the adrenal medulla and other organs of the sympathetic nervous system. Cells of the adrenal medulla are called chromaffin cells because they contain granules that stain with chromium salts, a characteristic not present in all sympathetic organs. Glucocorticoids produced in the adrenal cortex were once thought to be responsible for the differentiation of chromaffin cells. More recent research suggests that BMP-4 secreted in adrenal tissue is the main responsible for this, and that glucocorticoids only play a role in the subsequent development of the cells. The normal function of the adrenal gland may be impaired by conditions such as infections, tumors, genetic disorders and autoimmune diseases, or as a side effect of medical therapy. These disorders affect the gland either directly (as with infections or autoimmune diseases) or as a result of the dysregulation of hormone production (as in some types of Cushing's syndrome) leading to an excess or insufficiency of adrenal hormones and the related symptoms. Cushing's syndrome is the manifestation of glucocorticoid excess. It can be the result of a prolonged treatment with glucocorticoids or be caused by an underlying disease which produces alterations in the HPA axis or the production of cortisol. Causes can be further classified into ACTH-dependent or ACTH-independent. The most common cause of endogenous Cushing's syndrome is a pituitary adenoma which causes an excessive production of ACTH. The disease produces a wide variety of signs and symptoms which include obesity, diabetes, increased blood pressure, excessive body hair (hirsutism), osteoporosis, depression, and most distinctively, stretch marks in the skin, caused by its progressive thinning. When the zona glomerulosa produces excess aldosterone, the result is primary aldosteronism. Causes for this condition are bilateral hyperplasia (excessive tissue growth) of the glands, or aldosterone-producing adenomas (a condition called Conn's syndrome). Primary aldosteronism produces hypertension and electrolyte imbalance, increasing potassium depletion and sodium retention. Adrenal insufficiency (the deficiency of glucocorticoids) occurs in about 5 in 10,000 in the general population. Diseases classified as primary adrenal insufficiency (including Addison's disease and genetic causes) directly affect the adrenal cortex. If a problem that affects the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis arises outside the gland, it is a secondary adrenal insufficiency. Addison's disease refers to primary hypoadrenalism, which is a deficiency in glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid production by the adrenal gland. In the Western world, Addison's disease is most commonly an autoimmune condition, in which the body produces antibodies against cells of the adrenal cortex. Worldwide, the disease is more frequently caused by infection, especially from tuberculosis. A distinctive feature of Addison's disease is hyperpigmentation of the skin, which presents with other nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue. A complication seen in untreated Addison's disease and other types of primary adrenal insufficiency is the adrenal crisis, a medical emergency in which low glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid levels result in hypovolemic shock and symptoms such as vomiting and fever. An adrenal crisis can progressively lead to stupor and coma. The management of adrenal crises includes the application of hydrocortisone injections. In secondary adrenal insufficiency, a dysfunction of the hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal axis leads to decreased stimulation of the adrenal cortex. Apart from suppression of the axis by glucocorticoid therapy, the most common cause of secondary adrenal insufficiency are tumors that affect the production of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) by the pituitary gland. This type of adrenal insufficiency usually does not affect the production of mineralocorticoids, which are under regulation of the renin–angiotensin system instead. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a congenital disease in which mutations of enzymes that produce steroid hormones result in a glucocorticoid deficiency and malfunction of the negative feedback loop of the HPA axis. In the HPA axis, cortisol (a glucocorticoid) inhibits the release of CRH and ACTH, hormones that in turn stimulate corticosteroid synthesis. As cortisol cannot be synthesized, these hormones are released in high quantities and stimulate production of other adrenal steroids instead. The most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia is due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. 21-hydroxylase is necessary for production of both mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids, but not androgens. Therefore, ACTH stimulation of the adrenal cortex induces the release of excessive amounts of adrenal androgens, which can lead to the development of ambiguous genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. Adrenal tumors are commonly found as incidentalomas, unexpected asymptomatic tumors found during medical imaging. They are seen in around 3.4% of CT scans, and in most cases they are benign adenomas. Adrenal carcinomas are very rare, with an incidence of 1 case per million per year. Pheochromocytomas are tumors of the adrenal medulla that arise from chromaffin cells. They can produce a variety of nonspecific symptoms, which include headaches, sweating, anxiety and palpitations. Common signs include hypertension and tachycardia. Surgery, especially adrenal laparoscopy, is the most common treatment for small pheochromocytomas. Bartolomeo Eustachi, an Italian anatomist, is credited with the first description of the adrenal glands in 1563-4. However, these publications were part of the papal library and did not receive public attention, which was first received with Caspar Bartholin the Elder's illustrations in 1611. The adrenal glands are named for their location relative to the kidneys. The term "adrenal" comes from ad- (Latin, "near") and renes (Latin, "kidney"). Similarly, "suprarenal", as termed by Jean Riolan the Younger in 1629, is derived from the Latin supra () and renes (). The suprarenal nature of the glands was not truly accepted until the 19th century, as anatomists clarified the ductless nature of the glands and their likely secretory role – prior to this, there was some debate as to whether the glands were indeed suprarenal or part of the kidney. One of the most recognized works on the adrenal glands came in 1855 with the publication of On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsule, by the English physician Thomas Addison. In his monography, Addison described what the French physician George Trousseau would later name Addison's disease, an eponym still used today for a condition of adrenal insufficiency and its related clinical manifestations. In 1894, English physiologists George Oliver and Edward Schafer studied the action of adrenal extracts and observed their pressor effects. In the following decades several physicians experimented with extracts from the adrenal cortex to treat Addison's disease. Edward Calvin Kendall, Philip Hench and Tadeusz Reichstein were then awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on the structure and effects of the adrenal hormones. Adrenopause Adrenal gland at the Human Protein Atlas, Adrenal gland histology, – "Adrenal Gland", – "Posterior Abdominal Wall: The Retroperitoneal Fat and Suprarenal Glands", Adrenal Gland, from Colorado State University The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood exits into the paired renal veins. Each kidney is attached to a ureter, a tube that carries excreted urine to the bladder. The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the kidney. Each human adult kidney contains around 1 million nephrons, while a mouse kidney contains only about 12,500 nephrons. The kidney participates in the control of the volume of various body fluid compartments, fluid osmolality, acid-base balance, various electrolyte concentrations, and removal of toxins. Filtration occurs in the glomerulus: one-fifth of the blood volume that enters the kidneys is filtered. Examples of substances reabsorbed are solute-free water, sodium, bicarbonate, glucose, and amino acids. Examples of substances secreted are hydrogen, ammonium, potassium and uric acid. The kidneys also carry out functions independent of the nephron. For example, they convert a precursor of vitamin D to its active form, calcitriol; and synthesize the hormones erythropoietin and renin. Renal physiology is the study of kidney function. Nephrology is the medical specialty which addresses diseases of kidney function: these include chronic kidney disease, nephritic and nephrotic syndromes, acute kidney injury, and pyelonephritis. Urology addresses diseases of kidney (and urinary tract) anatomy: these include cancer, renal cysts, kidney stones and ureteral stones, and urinary tract obstruction. Procedures used in the management of kidney disease include chemical and microscopic examination of the urine (urinalysis), measurement of kidney function by calculating the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the serum creatinine; and kidney biopsy and CT scan to evaluate for abnormal anatomy. Dialysis and kidney transplantation are used to treat kidney failure; one (or both sequentially) of these are almost always used when renal function drops below 15%. Nephrectomy is frequently used to cure renal cell carcinoma. In humans, the kidneys are located high in the abdominal cavity, one on each side of the spine, and lie in a retroperitoneal position at a slightly oblique angle. The asymmetry within the abdominal cavity, caused by the position of the liver, typically results in the right kidney being slightly lower and smaller than the left, and being placed slightly more to the middle than the left kidney. The left kidney is approximately at the vertebral level T12 to L3, and the right is slightly lower. The right kidney sits just below the diaphragm and posterior to the liver. The left sits below the diaphragm and posterior to the spleen. On top of each kidney is an adrenal gland. The upper parts of the kidneys are partially protected by the 11th and 12th ribs. Each kidney, with its adrenal gland is surrounded by two layers of fat: the perirenal fat present between renal fascia and renal capsule and pararenal fat superior to the renal fascia. The kidney is a bean-shaped structure with a convex and a concave border. A recessed area on the concave border is the renal hilum, where the renal artery enters the kidney and the renal vein and ureter leave. The kidney is surrounded by tough fibrous tissue, the renal capsule, which is itself surrounded by perirenal fat, renal fascia, and pararenal fat. The anterior (front) surface of these tissues is the peritoneum, while the posterior (rear) surface is the transversalis fascia. The superior pole of the right kidney is adjacent to the liver. For the left kidney, it is next to the spleen. Both, therefore, move down upon inhalation. A Danish study measured the median renal length to be on the left side and on the right side in adults. Median renal volumes were 146 cm on the left and 134 cm on the right. The functional substance, or parenchyma, of the kidney is divided into two major structures: the outer renal cortex and the inner renal medulla. Grossly, these structures take the shape of eight to 18 cone-shaped renal lobes, each containing renal cortex surrounding a portion of medulla called a renal pyramid. Between the renal pyramids are projections of cortex called renal columns. Nephrons, the urine-producing functional structures of the kidney, span the cortex and medulla. The initial filtering portion of a nephron is the renal corpuscle, which is located in the cortex. This is followed by a renal tubule that passes from the cortex deep into the medullary pyramids. Part of the renal cortex, a medullary ray is a collection of renal tubules that drain into a single collecting duct. The tip, or papilla, of each pyramid empties urine into a minor calyx; minor calyces empty into major calyces, and major calyces empty into the renal pelvis. This becomes the ureter. At the hilum, the ureter and renal vein exit the kidney and the renal artery enters. Hilar fat and lymphatic tissue with lymph nodes surrounds these structures. The hilar fat is contiguous with a fat-filled cavity called the renal sinus. The renal sinus collectively contains the renal pelvis and calyces and separates these structures from the renal medullary tissue. The kidneys possess no overtly moving structures. The kidneys receive blood from the renal arteries, left and right, which branch directly from the abdominal aorta. Despite their relatively small size, the kidneys receive approximately 20% of the cardiac output. Each renal artery branches into segmental arteries, dividing further into interlobar arteries, which penetrate the renal capsule and extend through the renal columns between the renal pyramids. The interlobar arteries then supply blood to the arcuate arteries that run through the boundary of the cortex and the medulla. Each arcuate artery supplies several interlobular arteries that feed into the afferent arterioles that supply the glomeruli. Blood drains from the kidneys, ultimately into the inferior vena cava. After filtration occurs, the blood moves through a small network of small veins (venules) that converge into interlobular veins. As with the arteriole distribution, the veins follow the same pattern: the interlobular provide blood to the arcuate veins then back to the interlobar veins, which come to form the renal veins which exiting the kidney . The kidney and nervous system communicate via the renal plexus, whose fibers course along the renal arteries to reach each kidney. Input from the sympathetic nervous system triggers vasoconstriction in the kidney, thereby reducing renal blood flow. The kidney also receives input from the parasympathetic nervous system, by way of the renal branches of the vagus nerve; the function of this is yet unclear. Sensory input from the kidney travels to the T10-11 levels of the spinal cord and is sensed in the corresponding dermatome. Thus, pain in the flank region may be referred from corresponding kidney. Renal histology is the study of the microscopic structure of the kidney. Distinct cell types include: Kidney glomerulus parietal cell, Kidney glomerulus podocyte, Kidney proximal tubule brush border cell, Loop of Henle thin segment cell, Thick ascending limb cell, Kidney distal tubule cell, Collecting duct principal cell, Collecting duct intercalated cell, Interstitial kidney cells About 20,000 protein coding genes are expressed in human cells and almost 70% of these genes are expressed in normal, adult kidneys. Just over 300 genes are more specifically expressed in the kidney, with only some 50 genes being highly specific for the kidney. Many of the corresponding kidney specific proteins are expressed in the cell membrane and function as transporter proteins. The highest expressed kidney specific protein is uromodulin, the most abundant protein in urine with functions that prevent calcification and growth of bacteria. Specific proteins are expressed in the different compartments of the kidney with podocin and nephrin expressed in glomeruli, Solute carrier family protein SLC22A8 expressed in proximal tubules, calbindin expressed in distal tubules and aquaporin 2 expressed in the collecting duct cells. The mammalian kidney develops from intermediate mesoderm. Kidney development, also called nephrogenesis, proceeds through a series of three successive developmental phases: the pronephros, mesonephros, and metanephros. The metanephros are primordia of the permanent kidney. The kidneys excrete a variety of waste products produced by metabolism into the urine. The microscopic structural and functional unit of the kidney is the nephron. It processes the blood supplied to it via filtration, reabsorption, secretion and excretion; the consequence of those processes is the production of urine. These include the nitrogenous wastes urea, from protein catabolism, and uric acid, from nucleic acid metabolism. The ability of mammals and some birds to concentrate wastes into a volume of urine much smaller than the volume of blood from which the wastes were extracted is dependent on an elaborate countercurrent multiplication mechanism. This requires several independent nephron characteristics to operate: a tight hairpin configuration of the tubules, water and ion permeability in the descending limb of the loop, water impermeability in the ascending loop, and active ion transport out of most of the ascending limb. In addition, passive countercurrent exchange by the vessels carrying the blood supply to the nephron is essential for enabling this function. The kidney participates in whole-body homeostasis, regulating acid-base balance, electrolyte concentrations, extracellular fluid volume, and blood pressure. The kidney accomplishes these homeostatic functions both independently and in concert with other organs, particularly those of the endocrine system. Various endocrine hormones coordinate these endocrine functions; these include renin, angiotensin II, aldosterone, antidiuretic hormone, and atrial natriuretic peptide, among others. Filtration, which takes place at the renal corpuscle, is the process by which cells and large proteins are retained while materials of smaller molecular weights are filtered from the blood to make an ultrafiltrate that eventually becomes urine. The kidney generates 180 liters of filtrate a day. The process is also known as hydrostatic filtration due to the hydrostatic pressure exerted on the capillary walls. Reabsorption is the transport of molecules from this ultrafiltrate and into the peritubular capillary. It is accomplished via selective receptors on the luminal cell membrane. Water is 55% reabsorbed in the proximal tubule. Glucose at normal plasma levels is completely reabsorbed in the proximal tubule. The mechanism for this is the Na/glucose cotransporter. A plasma level of 350 mg/dL will fully saturate the transporters and glucose will be lost in the urine. A plasma glucose level of approximately 160 is sufficient to allow glucosuria, which is an important clinical clue to diabetes mellitus. Amino acids are reabsorbed by sodium dependent transporters in the proximal tubule. Hartnup disease is a deficiency of the tryptophan amino acid transporter, which results in pellagra. Secretion is the reverse of reabsorption: molecules are transported from the peritubular capillary through the interstitial fluid, then through the renal tubular cell and into the ultrafiltrate. The last step in the processing of the ultrafiltrate is excretion: the ultrafiltrate passes out of the nephron and travels through a tube called the collecting duct, which is part of the collecting duct system, and then to the ureters where it is renamed urine. In addition to transporting the ultrafiltrate, the collecting duct also takes part in reabsorption. The kidneys secrete a variety of hormones, including erythropoietin, calcitriol, and renin. Erythropoietin is released in response to hypoxia (low levels of oxygen at tissue level) in the renal circulation. It stimulates erythropoiesis (production of red blood cells) in the bone marrow. Calcitriol, the activated form of vitamin D, promotes intestinal absorption of calcium and the renal reabsorption of phosphate. Renin is an enzyme which regulates angiotensin and aldosterone levels. Although the kidney cannot directly sense blood, long-term regulation of blood pressure predominantly depends upon the kidney. This primarily occurs through maintenance of the extracellular fluid compartment, the size of which depends on the plasma sodium concentration. Renin is the first in a series of important chemical messengers that make up the renin–angiotensin system. Changes in renin ultimately alter the output of this system, principally the hormones angiotensin II and aldosterone. Each hormone acts via multiple mechanisms, but both increase the kidney's absorption of sodium chloride, thereby expanding the extracellular fluid compartment and raising blood pressure. When renin levels are elevated, the concentrations of angiotensin II and aldosterone increase, leading to increased sodium chloride reabsorption, expansion of the extracellular fluid compartment, and an increase in blood pressure. Conversely, when renin levels are low, angiotensin II and aldosterone levels decrease, contracting the extracellular fluid compartment, and decreasing blood pressure. Two organ systems, the kidneys and lungs, maintain acid-base homeostasis, which is the maintenance of pH around a relatively stable value. The lungs contribute to acid-base homeostasis by regulating carbon dioxide (CO) concentration. The kidneys have two very important roles in maintaining the acid-base balance: to reabsorb and regenerate bicarbonate from urine, and to excrete hydrogen ions and fixed acids (anions of acids) into urine. The kidneys help maintain the water and salt level of the body. Any significant rise in plasma osmolality is detected by the hypothalamus, which communicates directly with the posterior pituitary gland. An increase in osmolality causes the gland to secrete antidiuretic hormone (ADH), resulting in water reabsorption by the kidney and an increase in urine concentration. The two factors work together to return the plasma osmolality to its normal levels. Various calculations and methods are used to try to measure kidney function. Renal clearance is the volume of plasma from which the substance is completely cleared from the blood per unit time. The filtration fraction is the amount of plasma that is actually filtered through the kidney. This can be defined using the equation. The kidney is a very complex organ and mathematical modelling has been used to better understand kidney function at several scales, including fluid uptake and secretion. Nephrology is the subspeciality under Internal Medicine that deals with kidney function and disease states related to renal malfunction and their management including dialysis and kidney transplantation. Urology is the specialty under Surgery that deals with kidney structure abnormalities such as kidney cancer and cysts and problems with urinary tract. Nephrologists are internists, and urologists are surgeons, whereas both are often called "kidney doctors". There are overlapping areas that both nephrologists and urologists can provide care such as kidney stones and kidney related infections. There are many causes of kidney disease. Some causes are acquired over the course of life, such as diabetic nephropathy whereas others are congenital, such as polycystic kidney disease. Medical terms related to the kidneys commonly use terms such as renal and the prefix nephro-. The adjective renal, meaning related to the kidney, is from the Latin rēnēs, meaning kidneys; the prefix nephro- is from the Ancient Greek word for kidney, nephros (νεφρός). For example, surgical removal of the kidney is a nephrectomy, while a reduction in kidney function is called renal dysfunction. Diabetic nephropathy, Glomerulonephritis, Hydronephrosis is the enlargement of one or both of the kidneys caused by obstruction of the flow of urine., Interstitial nephritis, Kidney stones (nephrolithiasis) are a relatively common and particularly painful disorder. A chronic condition can result in scars to the kidneys. The removal of kidney stones involves ultrasound treatment to break up the stones into smaller pieces, which are then passed through the urinary tract. One common symptom of kidney stones is a sharp to disabling pain in the middle and sides of the lower back or groin., Kidney tumour, Wilms tumor, Renal cell carcinoma, Lupus nephritis, Minimal change disease, In nephrotic syndrome, the glomerulus has been damaged so that a large amount of protein in the blood enters the urine. Other frequent features of the nephrotic syndrome include swelling, low serum albumin, and high cholesterol., Pyelonephritis is infection of the kidneys and is frequently caused by complication of a urinary tract infection., Kidney failure, Acute kidney failure, Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease, Renal artery stenosis, Renovascular hypertension Generally, humans can live normally with just one kidney, as one has more functioning renal tissue than is needed to survive. Only when the amount of functioning kidney tissue is greatly diminished does one develop chronic kidney disease. Renal replacement therapy, in the form of dialysis or kidney transplantation, is indicated when the glomerular filtration rate has fallen very low or if the renal dysfunction leads to severe symptoms. Dialysis is a treatment that substitutes for the function of normal kidneys. Dialysis may be instituted when approximately 85%-90% of kidney function is lost, as indicated by a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of less than 15. Dialysis removes metabolic waste products as well as excess water and sodium (thereby contributing to regulating blood pressure); and maintains many chemical levels within the body. Life expectancy is 5–10 years for those on dialysis; some live up to 30 years. Dialysis can occur via the blood (through a catheter or arteriovenous fistula), or through the peritoneum (peritoneal dialysis) Dialysis is typically administered three times a week for several hours at free-standing dialysis centers, allowing recipients to lead an otherwise essentially normal life. Congenital hydronephrosis, Congenital obstruction of urinary tract, Duplex kidneys, or double kidneys, occur in approximately 1% of the population. This occurrence normally causes no complications, but can occasionally cause urinary tract infections., Duplicated ureter occurs in approximately one in 100 live births, Horseshoe kidney occurs in approximately one in 400 live births, Nephroblastoma (Syndromic Wilm's tumour), Nutcracker syndrome, Polycystic kidney disease, Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease afflicts patients later in life. Approximately one in 1000 people will develop this condition, Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease is far less common, but more severe, than the dominant condition. It is apparent in utero or at birth., Renal agenesis. Failure of one kidney to form occurs in approximately one in 750 live births. Failure of both kidneys to form used to be fatal; however, medical advances such as amnioinfusion therapy during pregnancy and peritoneal dialysis have made it possible to stay alive until a transplant can occur., Renal dysplasia, Unilateral small kidney, Multicystic dysplastic kidney occurs in approximately one in every 2400 live births, Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction or UPJO; although most cases are congenital, some are acquired. Many renal diseases are diagnosed on the basis of a detailed medical history, and physical examination. The medical history takes into account present and past symptoms, especially those of kidney disease; recent infections; exposure to substances toxic to the kidney; and family history of kidney disease. Kidney function is tested for using blood tests and urine tests. A usual blood test is for urea and electrolytes, known as a U and E. Creatinine is also tested for. Urine tests such as urinalysis can evaluate for pH, protein, glucose, and the presence of blood. Microscopic analysis can also identify the presence of urinary casts and crystals. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) can be calculated. Renal ultrasonography is essential in the diagnosis and management of kidney- related diseases. Other modalities, such as CT and MRI, should always be considered as supplementary imaging modalities in the assessment of renal disease. The role of the renal biopsy is to diagnose renal disease in which the etiology is not clear based upon noninvasive means (clinical history, past medical history, medication history, physical exam, laboratory studies, imaging studies). In general, a renal pathologist will perform a detailed morphological evaluation and integrate the morphologic findings with the clinical history and laboratory data, ultimately arriving at a pathological diagnosis. A renal pathologist is a physician who has undergone general training in anatomic pathology and additional specially training in the interpretation of renal biopsy specimens. Ideally, multiple core sections are obtained and evaluated for adequacy (presence of glomeruli) intraoperatively. A pathologist/pathology assistant divides the specimen(s) for submission for light microscopy, immunofluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. The pathologist will examine the specimen using light microscopy with multiple staining techniques (hematoxylin and eosin/H&E;, PAS, trichrome, silver stain) on multiple level sections. Multiple immunofluorescence stains are performed to evaluate for antibody, protein and complement deposition. Finally, ultra- structural examination is performed with electron microscopy and may reveal the presence of electron-dense deposits or other characteristic abnormalities that may suggest an etiology for the patient's renal disease. In the majority of vertebrates, the mesonephros persists into the adult, albeit usually fused with the more advanced metanephros; only in amniotes is the mesonephros restricted to the embryo. The kidneys of fish and amphibians are typically narrow, elongated organs, occupying a significant portion of the trunk. The collecting ducts from each cluster of nephrons usually drain into an archinephric duct, which is homologous with the vas deferens of amniotes. However, the situation is not always so simple; in cartilaginous fish and some amphibians, there is also a shorter duct, similar to the amniote ureter, which drains the posterior (metanephric) parts of the kidney, and joins with the archinephric duct at the bladder or cloaca. Indeed, in many cartilaginous fish, the anterior portion of the kidney may degenerate or cease to function altogether in the adult. In the most primitive vertebrates, the hagfish and lampreys, the kidney is unusually simple: it consists of a row of nephrons, each emptying directly into the archinephric duct. Invertebrates may possess excretory organs that are sometimes referred to as "kidneys", but, even in Amphioxus, these are never homologous with the kidneys of vertebrates, and are more accurately referred to by other names, such as nephridia. In amphibians, kidneys and the urinary bladder harbour specialized parasites, monogeneans of the family Polystomatidae. The kidneys of reptiles consist of a number of lobules arranged in a broadly linear pattern. Each lobule contains a single branch of the ureter in its centre, into which the collecting ducts empty. Reptiles have relatively few nephrons compared with other amniotes of a similar size, possibly because of their lower metabolic rate. Birds have relatively large, elongated kidneys, each of which is divided into three or more distinct lobes. The lobes consists of several small, irregularly arranged, lobules, each centred on a branch of the ureter. Birds have small glomeruli, but about twice as many nephrons as similarly sized mammals. The human kidney is fairly typical of that of mammals. Distinctive features of the mammalian kidney, in comparison with that of other vertebrates, include the presence of the renal pelvis and renal pyramids and a clearly distinguishable cortex and medulla. The latter feature is due to the presence of elongated loops of Henle; these are much shorter in birds, and not truly present in other vertebrates (although the nephron often has a short intermediate segment between the convoluted tubules). It is only in mammals that the kidney takes on its classical "kidney" shape, although there are some exceptions, such as the multilobed reniculate kidneys of pinnipeds and cetaceans. Kidneys of various animals show evidence of evolutionary adaptation and have long been studied in ecophysiology and comparative physiology. Kidney morphology, often indexed as the relative medullary thickness, is associated with habitat aridity among species of mammals and diet (e.g., carnivores have only long loops of Henle). In ancient Egypt, the kidneys, like the heart, were left inside the mummified bodies, unlike other organs which were removed. Comparing this to the biblical statements, and to drawings of human body with the heart and two kidneys portraying a set of scales for weighing justice, it seems that the Egyptian beliefs had also connected the kidneys with judgement and perhaps with moral decisions. According to studies in modern and ancient Hebrew, various body organs in humans and animals served also an emotional or logical role, today mostly attributed to the brain and the endocrine system. The kidney is mentioned in several biblical verses in conjunction with the heart, much as the bowels were understood to be the "seat" of emotion – grief, joy and pain. Similarly, the Talmud (Berakhoth 61.a) states that one of the two kidneys counsels what is good, and the other evil. In the sacrifices offered at the biblical Tabernacle and later on at the temple in Jerusalem, the priests were instructed to remove the kidneys and the adrenal gland covering the kidneys of the sheep, goat and cattle offerings, and to burn them on the altar, as the holy part of the "offering for God" never to be eaten. In ancient India, according to the Ayurvedic medical systems, the kidneys were considered the beginning of the excursion channels system, the 'head' of the Mutra Srotas, receiving from all other systems, and therefore important in determining a person's health balance and temperament by the balance and mixture of the three 'Dosha's – the three health elements: Vatha (or Vata) – air, Pitta – bile, and Kapha – mucus. The temperament and health of a person can then be seen in the resulting color of the urine. Modern Ayurveda practitioners, a practice which is characterized as pseudoscience, have attempted to revive these methods in medical procedures as part of Ayurveda Urine therapy. These procedures have been called "nonsensical" by skeptics. The Latin term renes is related to the English word "reins", a synonym for the kidneys in Shakespearean English (e.g. Merry Wives of Windsor 3.5), which was also the time when the King James Version of the Bible was translated. Kidneys were once popularly regarded as the seat of the conscience and reflection, and a number of verses in the Bible (e.g. Ps. 7:9, Rev. 2:23) state that God searches out and inspects the kidneys, or "reins", of humans, together with the heart. The kidneys, like other offal, can be cooked and eaten. Kidneys are usually grilled or sautéed, but in more complex dishes they are stewed with a sauce that will improve their flavor. In many preparations, kidneys are combined with pieces of meat or liver, as in mixed grill. Dishes include the British steak and kidney pie, the Swedish hökarpanna (pork and kidney stew), the French rognons de veau sauce moutarde (veal kidneys in mustard sauce) and the Spanish riñones al Jerez (kidneys stewed in sherry sauce) . Artificial kidney, Holonephros, Nephromegaly, Organ donation, Organ harvesting, Pelvic kidney, World Kidney Day Kidney at the Human Protein Atlas, The Kidney in 3D Viewer – At Hilzbook, electron microscopic images of the kidney (Dr. Jastrow's EM-Atlas), European Renal Genome project kidney function tutorial, Training at wisc-online.com, How do kidneys work The endocrine system is a chemical messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In humans, the major endocrine glands are the thyroid gland and the adrenal glands. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neural control center for all endocrine systems. The study of the endocrine system and its disorders is known as endocrinology. Endocrinology is a branch of internal medicine. A number of glands that signal each other in sequence are usually referred to as an axis, for example, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In addition to the specialized endocrine organs mentioned above, many other organs that are part of other body systems, including bone, kidney, liver, heart and gonads, have secondary endocrine functions. For example, the kidney secretes endocrine hormones such as erythropoietin and renin. Hormones can consist of either amino acid complexes, steroids, eicosanoids, leukotrienes, or prostaglandins. The endocrine system can be contrasted to both exocrine glands, which secrete hormones to the outside of the body using ducts and paracrine signalling between cells over a relatively short distance. Endocrine glands have no ducts, are vascular and commonly have intracellular vacuoles or granules that store their hormones. In contrast, exocrine glands, such as salivary glands, sweat glands, and glands within the gastrointestinal tract, tend to be much less vascular and have ducts or a hollow lumen. The word endocrine derives via New Latin from the Greek words , endon, "inside, within," and , krīnō, "to separate, distinguish". The human endocrine system consists of several systems that operate via feedback loops. Several important feedback systems are mediated via the hypothalamus and pituitary. TRH – TSH – T3/T4, GnRH – LH/FSH – sex hormones, CRH – ACTH – cortisol, Renin – angiotensin – aldosterone, leptin vs. insulin Endocrine glands are glands of the endocrine system that secrete their products, hormones, directly into interstitial spaces and then absorbed into blood rather than through a duct. The major glands of the endocrine system include the pineal gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, testes, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, hypothalamus and adrenal glands. The hypothalamus and pituitary gland are neuroendocrine organs. There are many types of cells that comprise the endocrine system and these cells typically make up larger tissues and organs that function within and outside of the endocrine system. Hypothalamus Anterior pituitary gland Pineal gland Posterior pituitary gland Thyroid gland, Follicular cells of the thyroid gland produce and secrete T and T in response to elevated levels of TRH, produced by the hypothalamus, and subsequent elevated levels of TSH, produced by the anterior pituitary gland, which further regulates the metabolic activity and rate of all cells, including cell growth and tissue differentiation. Parathyroid gland, Epithelial cells of the parathyroid glands are richly supplied with blood from the inferior and superior thyroid arteries and secrete parathyroid hormone (PTH). PTH acts on bone, the kidneys, and the GI tract to increase calcium reabsorption and phosphate excretion. In addition, PTH stimulates the conversion of Vitamin D to its most active variant, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, which further stimulates calcium absorption in the GI tract. Adrenal glands, Adrenal cortex, Adrenal medulla Pancreas, Alpha cells, Beta cells, Delta cells, F Cells Ovaries, Granulosa cells, Testis, Leydig cells A hormone is any of a class of signaling molecules produced by glands in multicellular organisms that are transported by the circulatory system to target distant organs to regulate physiology and behaviour. Hormones have diverse chemical structures, mainly of 3 classes: eicosanoids, steroids, and amino acid/protein derivatives (amines, peptides, and proteins). The glands that secrete hormones comprise the endocrine system. The term hormone is sometimes extended to include chemicals produced by cells that affect the same cell (autocrine or intracrine signalling) or nearby cells (paracrine signalling). Hormones are used to communicate between organs and tissues for physiological regulation and behavioral activities, such as digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sensory perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress, growth and development, movement, reproduction, and mood. Hormones affect distant cells by binding to specific receptor proteins in the target cell resulting in a change in cell function. This may lead to cell type-specific responses that include rapid changes to the activity of existing proteins, or slower changes in the expression of target genes. Amino acid–based hormones (amines and peptide or protein hormones) are water-soluble and act on the surface of target cells via signal transduction pathways; steroid hormones, being lipid-soluble, move through the plasma membranes of target cells to act within their nuclei. The typical mode of cell signalling in the endocrine system is endocrine signaling, that is, using the circulatory system to reach distant target organs. However, there are also other modes, i.e., paracrine, autocrine, and neuroendocrine signaling. Purely neurocrine signaling between neurons, on the other hand, belongs completely to the nervous system. Autocrine signaling is a form of signaling in which a cell secretes a hormone or chemical messenger (called the autocrine agent) that binds to autocrine receptors on the same cell, leading to changes in the cells. Some endocrinologists and clinicians include the paracrine system as part of the endocrine system, but there is not consensus. Paracrines are slower acting, targeting cells in the same tissue or organ. An example of this is somatostatin which is released by some pancreatic cells and targets other pancreatic cells. Juxtacrine signaling is a type of intercellular communication that is transmitted via oligosaccharide, lipid, or protein components of a cell membrane, and may affect either the emitting cell or the immediately adjacent cells. It occurs between adjacent cells that possess broad patches of closely opposed plasma membrane linked by transmembrane channels known as connexons. The gap between the cells can usually be between only 2 and 4 nm. Diseases of the endocrine system are common, including conditions such as diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, and obesity. Endocrine disease is characterized by misregulated hormone release (a productive pituitary adenoma), inappropriate response to signaling (hypothyroidism), lack of a gland (diabetes mellitus type 1, diminished erythropoiesis in chronic kidney failure), or structural enlargement in a critical site such as the thyroid (toxic multinodular goitre). Hypofunction of endocrine glands can occur as a result of loss of reserve, hyposecretion, agenesis, atrophy, or active destruction. Hyperfunction can occur as a result of hypersecretion, loss of suppression, hyperplastic or neoplastic change, or hyperstimulation. Endocrinopathies are classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary. Primary endocrine disease inhibits the action of downstream glands. Secondary endocrine disease is indicative of a problem with the pituitary gland. Tertiary endocrine disease is associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamus and its releasing hormones. As the thyroid, and hormones have been implicated in signaling distant tissues to proliferate, for example, the estrogen receptor has been shown to be involved in certain breast cancers. Endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine signaling have all been implicated in proliferation, one of the required steps of oncogenesis. Other common diseases that result from endocrine dysfunction include Addison's disease, Cushing's disease and Graves' disease. Cushing's disease and Addison's disease are pathologies involving the dysfunction of the adrenal gland. Dysfunction in the adrenal gland could be due to primary or secondary factors and can result in hypercortisolism or hypocortisolism . Cushing's disease is characterized by the hypersecretion of the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) due to a pituitary adenoma that ultimately causes endogenous hypercortisolism by stimulating the adrenal glands. Some clinical signs of Cushing's disease include obesity, moon face, and hirsutism. Addison's disease is an endocrine disease that results from hypocortisolism caused by adrenal gland insufficiency. Adrenal insufficiency is significant because it is correlated with decreased ability to maintain blood pressure and blood sugar, a defect that can prove to be fatal. Graves' disease involves the hyperactivity of the thyroid gland which produces the T3 and T4 hormones. Graves' disease effects range from excess sweating, fatigue, heat intolerance and high blood pressure to swelling of the eyes that causes redness, puffiness and in rare cases reduced or double vision. A neuroendocrine system has been observed in all animals with a nervous system and all vertebrates have a hypothalamus-pituitary axis. All vertebrates have a thyroid, which in amphibians is also crucial for transformation of larvae into adult form. All vertebrates have adrenal gland tissue, with mammals unique in having it organized into layers. All vertebrates have some form of a renin–angiotensin axis, and all tetrapods have aldosterone as a primary mineralocorticoid. Endocrine disease, Endocrinology, List of human endocrine organs and actions, Neuroendocrinology, Nervous system, Paracrine signalling, Releasing hormones, Tropic hormone

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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s fifth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212.7 million people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning . Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures and intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent. The ancient history involves the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander III of Macedon, the Seleucid Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Gupta Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Afghan Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire (partially) and, most recently, the British Indian Empire. Pakistan is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. An ethnic civil war and Indian military intervention in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. In 1973, Pakistan adopted a new constitution which stipulated that all laws are to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah. A middle power, Pakistan has the sixth-largest standing armed forces in the world and is also a nuclear power as well as a declared nuclear-weapons state, the second in South Asia and the only nation in the Muslim world to have that status. Pakistan has a semi-industrialised economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector and a growing services sector. It is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the world's largest and fastest-growing middle class. Pakistan's political history since independence has been characterized by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with India. The country continues to face challenging problems, including overpopulation, terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, and corruption. Pakistan is a member of the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the OIC, the Commonwealth of Nations, the SAARC, the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition and the Major non-NATO ally. The name Pakistan literally means "land of the pure" in Urdu and Persian. It alludes to the word (pāk), meaning "pure" in Persian and Pashto. The suffix (-stān) is a Persian suffix meaning the place of, and also recalls the synonymous (and cognate) Sanskrit word (sthāna). The name of the country was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never, using it as an acronym ("thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN") referring to the names of the five northern regions of British India: Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan. The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan. The earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Indus region, which covers most of present day Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (2,800–1,800 BCE) at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The Vedic period (1500–500 BCE) was characterised by an Indo-Aryan culture; during this period the Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed, and this culture later became well established in the region. Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in the Punjab, which was founded around 1000 BCE. Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire (around 519 BCE), Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE and the Maurya Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great, until 185 BCE. The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165–150 BCE), prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world, which was established during the late Vedic period in 6th century BCE. The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was provided on an individualistic basis. The ancient university was documented by the invading forces of Alexander the Great and was also recorded by Chinese pilgrims in the 4th or 5th century CE. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty (489–632 CE) of Sindh ruled this region and the surrounding territories. The Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharmapala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh in 711 CE. The Pakistan government's official chronology claims this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid but the concept of Pakistan came in 19th century. The Early Medieval period (642–1219 CE) witnessed the spread of Islam in the region. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam. These developments set the stage for the rule of several successive Muslim empires in the region, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom, and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE). The Lodi dynasty, the last of the Delhi Sultanate, was replaced by the Mughal Empire (1526–1857 CE). The Mughals introduced Persian literature and high culture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culture in the region. From the region of modern-day Pakistan, key cities during the Mughal rule were Lahore and Thatta, both of which were chosen as the site of impressive Mughal buildings. In the early 16th century, the region remained under the Mughal Empire ruled by Muslim emperors. By the early 18th century, increasing European influence contributed to the slow disintegration of the Mughal Empire as the lines between commercial and political dominance became increasingly blurred. During this time, the English East India Company had established coastal outposts. Control over the seas, greater resources, technology, and British military protection led the Company to increasingly flex its military muscle, allowing the Company to gain control over the subcontinent by 1765 and sideline European competitors. Expanding access beyond Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of region by the 1820s. Many historians see this as the start of the region's colonial period. By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and itself effectively made an arm of British administration, the Company began more deliberately to enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture. Such reforms included the enforcement of the English Education Act in 1835 and the introduction of the Indian Civil Service (ICS). Traditional madrasahs—primary institutions of higher learning for Muslims in the subcontinent—were no longer supported by the English Crown, and nearly all of the madrasahs lost their financial endowment. The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early 18th century enabled the Sikh Empire to control larger areas until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia. A rebellion in 1857 called the Sepoy mutiny of Bengal was the region's major armed struggle against the British Empire and Queen Victoria. Divergence in the relationship between Hinduism and Islam created a major rift in British India that led to motivated religious violence in British India. The language controversy further escalated the tensions between Hindus and Muslims. The Hindu renaissance witnessed an awakening of intellectualism in traditional Hinduism and saw the emergence of more assertive influence in the social and political spheres in British India. A Muslim intellectual movement, founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to counter the Hindu renaissance, envisioned, as well as advocated for the two-nation theory, and led to the creation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906. In contrast to the Indian National Congress's anti-British efforts, the Muslim League was a pro-British movement whose political program inherited the British values that would shape Pakistan's future civil society. In events during World War I, British Intelligence foiled an anti-English conspiracy involving the nexus of Congress and the German Empire. The largely non-violent independence struggle led by the Indian Congress engaged millions of protesters in mass campaigns of civil disobedience in the 1920s and 1930s against the British Empire. The Muslim League slowly rose to mass popularity in the 1930s amid fears of under- representation and neglect of British Muslims in politics. In his presidential address of 29 December 1930, Allama Iqbal called for "the amalgamation of North-West Muslim-majority Indian states" consisting of Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and Baluchistan. The perceived neglect of Muslim interests by Congress led British provincial governments during the period of 1937–39 convinced Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan to espouse the two-nation theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940 presented by Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque, popularly known as the Pakistan Resolution. In World War II, Jinnah and British-educated founding fathers in the Muslim League supported the United Kingdom's war efforts, countering opposition against it whilst working towards Sir Syed's vision. The 1946 elections resulted in the Muslim League winning 90 percent of the seats reserved for Muslims. Thus, the 1946 election was effectively a plebiscite in which the Indian Muslims were to vote on the creation of Pakistan, a plebiscite won by the Muslim League. This victory was assisted by the support given to the Muslim League by the support of the landowners of Sindh and Punjab. The Congress, which initially denied the Muslim League's claim of being the sole representative of Indian Muslims, was now forced to recognise the fact. The British had no alternative except to take Jinnah's views into account as he had emerged as the sole spokesperson of the Entire British India's Muslims. However, the British did not want British India to be partitioned, and in one last effort to prevent it, they devised the Cabinet Mission plan. As the cabinet mission failed, the British government announced its intention to end the British Rule in 1946–47. Nationalists in British India—including Jawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad of Congress, Jinnah of the All-India Muslim League, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs—agreed to the proposed terms of transfer of power and independence in June 1947 with the Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma. As the United Kingdom agreed to the partitioning of India in 1947, the modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 , amalgamating the Muslim-majority eastern and northwestern regions of British India. It comprised the provinces of Balochistan, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, and Sindh. In the riots that accompanied the partition in Punjab Province, it is believed that between 200,000 and 2,000,000 people were killed in what some have described as a retributive genocide between the religions while 50,000 Muslim women were abducted and raped by Hindu and Sikh men and 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women also experienced the same fate at the hands of Muslims. Around 6.5 million Muslims moved from India to West Pakistan and 4.7 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from West Pakistan to India. It was the largest mass migration in human history. Dispute over Jammu and Kashmir led to the First Kashmir War in 1948. After independence in 1947, Jinnah, the President of the Muslim League, became the nation's first Governor-General as well as the first President-Speaker of the Parliament, but he died of tuberculosis on 11 September 1948. Meanwhile, Pakistan's founding fathers agreed to appoint Liaquat Ali Khan, the secretary- general of the party, the nation's first Prime Minister. With dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations, independent Pakistan had two British monarchs before it became a republic. The creation of Pakistan was never fully accepted by many British leaders, among them Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League's idea of Pakistan. Jinnah refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as Governor-General of Pakistan. When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, he replied 'most probably'. Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a respected Deobandi alim (scholar) who occupied the position of Shaykh al-Islam in Pakistan in 1949, and Maulana Mawdudi of Jamaat-i-Islami played a pivotal role in the demand for an Islamic constitution. Mawdudi demanded that the Constituent Assembly make an explicit declaration affirming the "supreme sovereignty of God" and the supremacy of the shariah in Pakistan. A significant result of the efforts of the Jamaat-i-Islami and the ulama was the passage of the Objectives Resolution in March 1949. The Objectives Resolution, which Liaquat Ali Khan called the second most important step in Pakistan's history, declared that "sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust". The Objectives Resolution has been incorporated as a preamble to the constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1973. Democracy was stalled by the martial law that had been enforced by President Iskander Mirza, who was replaced by army chief, General Ayub Khan. After adopting a presidential system in 1962, the country experienced exceptional growth until a second war with India in 1965 that led to an economic downturn and wide-scale public disapproval in 1967. Consolidating control from Ayub Khan in 1969, President Yahya Khan had to deal with a devastating cyclone that caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan. In 1970 Pakistan held its first democratic elections since independence, meant to mark a transition from military rule to democracy, but after the East Pakistani Awami League won against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Yahya Khan and the military establishment refused to hand over power. Operation Searchlight, a military crackdown on the Bengali nationalist movement, led to a declaration of independence and the waging of a war of liberation by the Bengali Mukti Bahini forces in East Pakistan. However, the conflict was described as a civil war as opposed to a war of liberation in West Pakistan. Independent researchers estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 civilians died during this period while the Bangladesh government puts the number of dead at three million, a figure that is now nearly universally regarded as excessively inflated. Some academics such as Rudolph Rummel and Rounaq Jahan say both sides committed genocide; others such as Richard Sisson and Leo E. Rose believe there was no genocide. In response to India's support for the insurgency in East Pakistan, preemptive strikes on India by Pakistan's air force, navy, and marines sparked a conventional war in 1971 that resulted in an Indian victory and East Pakistan gaining independence as Bangladesh. With Pakistan surrendering in the war, Yahya Khan was replaced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as president; the country worked towards promulgating its constitution and putting the country on the road to democracy. Democratic rule resumed from 1972 to 1977—an era of self-consciousness, intellectual leftism, nationalism, and nationwide reconstruction. In 1972 Pakistan embarked on an ambitious plan to develop its nuclear deterrence capability with the goal of preventing any foreign invasion; the country's first nuclear power plant was inaugurated in that same year. Accelerated in response to India's first nuclear test in 1974, this crash program was completed in 1979. Democracy ended with a military coup in 1977 against the leftist PPP, which saw General Zia-ul-Haq become the president in 1978. From 1977 to 1988, President Zia's corporatisation and economic Islamisation initiatives led to Pakistan becoming one of the fastest- growing economies in South Asia. While building up the country's nuclear program, increasing Islamisation, and the rise of a homegrown conservative philosophy, Pakistan helped subsidise and distribute US resources to factions of the mujahideen against the USSR's intervention in communist Afghanistan. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province became a base for the anti-Soviet Afghan fighters, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a significant role in encouraging and organising the 'jihad'. President Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, and Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the country's first female Prime Minister. The PPP was followed by conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N), and over the next decade the leaders of the two parties fought for power, alternating in office while the country's situation worsened; economic indicators fell sharply, in contrast to the 1980s. This period is marked by prolonged stagflation, instability, corruption, nationalism, geopolitical rivalry with India, and the clash of left wing-right wing ideologies. As PML(N) secured a supermajority in elections in 1997, Sharif authorised nuclear testings (See:Chagai-I and Chagai-II), as a retaliation to the second nuclear tests ordered by India, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in May 1998. Military tension between the two countries in the Kargil district led to the Kargil War of 1999, and turmoil in civic-military relations allowed General Pervez Musharraf to take over through a bloodless coup d'état. Musharraf governed Pakistan as chief executive from 1999 to 2001 and as President from 2001 to 2008—a period of enlightenment, social liberalism, extensive economic reforms, and direct involvement in the US-led war on terrorism. When the National Assembly historically completed its first full five-year term on 15 November 2007, the new elections were called by the Election Commission. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007, the PPP secured the most votes in the elections of 2008, appointing party member Yousaf Raza Gillani as Prime Minister. Threatened with impeachment, President Musharraf resigned on 18 August 2008, and was succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari. Clashes with the judicature prompted Gillani's disqualification from the Parliament and as the Prime Minister in June 2012. By its own financial calculations, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $118 billion, sixty thousand casualties and more than 1.8 million displaced civilians. The general election held in 2013 saw the PML(N) almost achieve a supermajority, following which Nawaz Sharif was elected as the Prime Minister, returning to the post for the third time in fourteen years, in a democratic transition. In 2018, Imran Khan (the chairman of PTI) won the 2018 Pakistan general election with 116 general seats and became the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan in election of National Assembly of Pakistan for Prime Minister by getting 176 votes against Shehbaz Sharif (the chairman of PMLN) who got 96 votes. The idea of Pakistan, which had received overwhelming popular support among Indian Muslims, especially those in the provinces of British India where Muslims were in a minority such as the United Provinces, was articulated in terms of an Islamic state by the Muslim League leadership, the ulama (Islamic clergy) and Jinnah. Jinnah had developed a close association with the ulama and upon his death was described by one such alim, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, as the greatest Muslim after Aurangzeb and as someone who desired to unite the Muslims of the world under the banner of Islam. The Objectives Resolution in March 1949, which declared God as the sole sovereign over the entire universe, represented the first formal step to transform Pakistan into an Islamic state. Muslim League leader Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman asserted that Pakistan could only truly become an Islamic state after bringing all believers of Islam into a single political unit. Keith Callard, one of the earliest scholars on Pakistani politics, observed that Pakistanis believed in the essential unity of purpose and outlook in the Muslim world and assumed that Muslim from other countries would share their views on the relationship between religion and nationality. However, Pakistan's pan-Islamist sentiments for a united Islamic bloc called Islamistan were not shared by other Muslim governments, although Islamists such as the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, became drawn to the country. Pakistan's desire for an international organization of Muslim countries was fulfilled in the 1970s when the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) was formed. The strongest opposition to the Islamist ideological paradigm being imposed on the state came from the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan whose educated class, according to a survey by social scientist Nasim Ahmad Jawed, preferred secularism and focused on ethnic identity unlike educated West Pakistanis who tended to prefer an Islamic identity. The Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami considered Pakistan to be an Islamic state and believed Bengali nationalism to be unacceptable. In the 1971 conflict over East Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-Islami fought the Bengali nationalists on the Pakistan Army's side. After Pakistan's first ever general elections the 1973 Constitution was created by an elected Parliament. The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic and Islam as the state religion. It also stated that all laws would have to be brought into accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted. The 1973 Constitution also created certain institutions such as the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to channel the interpretation and application of Islam. Pakistan's leftist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto faced vigorous opposition which coalesced into a movement united under the revivalist banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet") which aimed to establish an Islamic state based on Sharia laws. Bhutto agreed to some Islamist demands before being overthrown in a coup. In 1977, after taking power from Bhutto in a coup d'état, General Zia-ul-Haq, who came from a religious background, committed himself to establishing an Islamic state and enforcing sharia law. Zia established separate Shariat judicial courts and court benches to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine. Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties. Zia-ul-Haq forged a strong alliance between the military and Deobandi institutions and even though most Barelvi ulama and only a few Deobandi scholars had supported Pakistan's creation, Islamic state politics came to be mostly in favour of Deobandi (and later Ahl- e-Hadith/Salafi) institutions instead of Barelvi. Sectarian tensions increased with Zia's anti-Shia policies. According to a Pew Research Center (PEW) opinion poll, a majority of Pakistanis support making Sharia the official law of the land. In a survey of several Muslim countries, PEW also found that Pakistanis tend to identify with their religion more than their nationality in contrast to Muslims in other nations such as Egypt, Indonesia and Jordan. The geography and climate of Pakistan are extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Pakistan covers an area of , approximately equal to the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. It is the 33rd-largest nation by total area, although this ranking varies depending on how the disputed territory of Kashmir is counted. Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and land borders of in total: with Afghanistan, with China, with India and with Iran. It shares a marine border with Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan by the cold, narrow Wakhan Corridor. Pakistan occupies a geopolitically important location at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Geologically, Pakistan is located in the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone and overlaps the Indian tectonic plate in its Sindh and Punjab provinces; Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are within the Eurasian plate, mainly on the Iranian plateau. Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Kashmir lie along the edge of the Indian plate and hence are prone to violent earthquakes. This region has the highest rates of seismicity and the largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region. Ranging from the coastal areas of the south to the glaciated mountains of the north, Pakistan's landscapes vary from plains to deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus. Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain, and the Balochistan Plateau. The northern highlands contain the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Pamir mountain ranges (see mountains of Pakistan), which contain some of the world's highest peaks, including five of the fourteen eight-thousanders (mountain peaks over ), which attract adventurers and mountaineers from all over the world, notably K2 () and Nanga Parbat (). The Balochistan Plateau lies in the west and the Thar Desert in the east. The Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea. There is an expanse of alluvial plains along it in the Punjab and Sindh. The climate varies from tropical to temperate, with arid conditions in the coastal south. There is a monsoon season with frequent flooding due to heavy rainfall, and a dry season with significantly less rainfall or none at all. There are four distinct seasons in Pakistan: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. Rainfall varies greatly from year to year, and patterns of alternate flooding and drought are common. The diversity of the landscape and climate in Pakistan allows a wide variety of trees and plants to flourish. The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees such as spruce, pine, and deodar cedar in the extreme northern mountains to deciduous trees in most of the country (for example, the mulberry-like shisham found in the Sulaiman Mountains), to palms such as coconut and date in the southern Punjab, southern Balochistan, and all of Sindh. The western hills are home to juniper, tamarisk, coarse grasses, and scrub plants. Mangrove forests form much of the coastal wetlands along the coast in the south. Coniferous forests are found at altitudes ranging from in most of the northern and northwestern highlands. In the xeric regions of Balochistan, date palm and Ephedra are common. In most of the Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains support tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forest as well as tropical and xeric shrublands. These forests are mostly of mulberry, acacia, and eucalyptus. About 2.2% or of Pakistan was forested in 2010. The fauna of Pakistan also reflects the country's varied climate. Around 668 bird species are found there, including crows, sparrows, mynas, hawks, falcons, and eagles. Palas, Kohistan, has a significant population of western tragopan. Many birds sighted in Pakistan are migratory, coming from Europe, Central Asia, and India. The southern plains are home to mongooses, small Indian civet, hares, the Asiatic jackal, the Indian pangolin, the jungle cat, and the desert cat. There are mugger crocodiles in the Indus, and wild boar, deer, porcupines, and small rodents in the surrounding areas. The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are home to Asiatic jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats, and leopards. The lack of vegetative cover, the severe climate, and the impact of grazing on the deserts have left wild animals in a precarious position. The chinkara is the only animal that can still be found in significant numbers in Cholistan. A small number of nilgai are found along the Pakistan–India border and in some parts of Cholistan. A wide variety of animals live in the mountainous north, including the Marco Polo sheep, the urial (a subspecies of wild sheep), the markhor goat, the ibex goat, the Asian black bear, and the Himalayan brown bear. Among the rare animals found in the area are the snow leopard and the blind Indus river dolphin, of which there are believed to be about 1,100 remaining, protected at the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh. In total, 174 mammals, 177 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 198 freshwater fish species and 5,000 species of invertebrates (including insects) have been recorded in Pakistan. The flora and fauna of Pakistan suffer from a number of problems. Pakistan has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world, which, along with hunting and pollution, has had adverse effects on the ecosystem. The government has established a large number of protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and game reserves to address these issues. Pakistan's political experience is essentially related to the struggle of Indian Muslims to regain the power they lost to British colonisation. Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, with Islam as the state religion. The first constitution was adopted in 1956 but suspended by Ayub Khan in 1958, who replaced it with the second constitution in 1962. A complete and comprehensive constitution was adopted in 1973—it was suspended by Zia-ul- Haq in 1977 but reinstated in 1985—is the country's most important document, laying the foundations of the current government. The Pakistani military establishment has played an influential role in mainstream politics throughout Pakistan's political history. The periods 1958–1971, 1977–1988, and 1999–2008 saw military coups that resulted in the imposition of martial law and military commanders who governed as de facto presidents. Today Pakistan has a multi- party parliamentary system with clear division of powers and checks and balances among the branches of government. The first successful democratic transition occurred in May 2013. Politics in Pakistan is centred on, and dominated by, a homegrown social philosophy comprising a blend of ideas from socialism, conservatism, and the third way. As of the general elections held in 2013, the three main political parties in the country are: the centre-right conservative Pakistan Muslim League-N; the centre-left socialist PPP; and the centrist and third-way Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI). Head of State: The President, who is elected by an Electoral College is the ceremonial head of the state and is the civilian commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces (with the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee as principal military adviser), but military appointments and key confirmations in the armed forces are made by the Prime Minister after reviewing the reports on candidates' merit and performance. Almost all appointed officers in the judicature, military, the chairman joint chiefs, joint staff, and legislature require the executive confirmation from the Prime Minister, whom the President must consult by law. However, the powers to pardon and grant clemency lie with the President of Pakistan., Legislative: The bicameral legislature comprises a 104-member Senate (upper house) and a 342-member National Assembly (lower house). Members of the National Assembly are elected through the first-past-the-post system under universal adult suffrage, representing electoral districts known as National Assembly constituencies. According to the constitution, the 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties according to their proportional representation. Senate members are elected by provincial legislators, with all the provinces having equal representation. Executive: The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the majority rule party or a coalition in the National Assembly— the lower house. The Prime Minister serves as the head of government and is designated to exercise as the country's chief executive. The Prime Minister is responsible for appointing a cabinet consisting of ministers and advisers as well as running the government operations, taking and authorising executive decisions, appointments and recommendations of senior civil servants that require executive confirmation of the Prime Minister., Provincial governments: Each of the four provinces has a similar system of government, with a directly elected in which the leader of the largest party or coalition is elected Chief Minister. Chief Ministers oversee the provincial governments and head the provincial cabinet. It is common in Pakistan to have different ruling parties or coalitions in each of the provinces. The provincial bureaucracy is headed by the Chief Secretary, who is appointed by the Prime Minister. The provincial assemblies have power to make laws and approve the provincial budget which is commonly presented by the provincial finance minister every fiscal year. Provincial governors who are the ceremonial heads of the provinces are appointed by the President. Judicature: The judiciary of Pakistan is a hierarchical system with two classes of courts: the superior (or higher) judiciary and the subordinate (or lower) judiciary. The Chief Justice of Pakistan is the chief judge who oversees the judicature's court system at all levels of command. The superior judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and five High Courts, with the Supreme Court at the apex. The Constitution of Pakistan entrusts the superior judiciary with the obligation to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. Neither the Supreme Court nor a High Court may exercise jurisdiction in relation to Tribal Areas, except otherwise provided for. The disputed regions of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan have separate court systems. As the Muslim world's second most populous nation-state (after Indonesia) and its only nuclear power, Pakistan has an important role in the international community. With a semi-agricultural and semi-industrialized economy, its foreign policy determines its standard of interactions for its organisations, corporations, and individual citizens. Its geostrategic intentions were explained by Jinnah in a broadcast message in 1947, which is featured in a prominent quotation on the homepage of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: "The foundation of our foreign policy is friendship with all nations across the globe." Since Independence, Pakistan has attempted to balance its relations with foreign nations. Pakistan is a strong ally of China, with both countries placing considerable importance on the maintenance of an extremely close and supportive special relationship. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States in the war against terrorism—a status achieved in 2004. Pakistan's foreign policy and geostrategy mainly focus on the economy and security against threats to its national identity and territorial integrity, and on the cultivation of close relations with other Muslim countries. The Kashmir conflict remains the major point of contention between Pakistan and India; three of their four wars were fought over this territory. Due partly to difficulties in relations with its geopolitical rival India, Pakistan maintains close political relations with Turkey and Iran, and both countries have been a focal point in Pakistan's foreign policy. Saudi Arabia also maintains a respected position in Pakistan's foreign policy. A non-signatory party of the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Pakistan is an influential member of the IAEA. In recent events, Pakistan has blocked an international treaty to limit fissile material, arguing that the "treaty would target Pakistan specifically". In the 20th century, Pakistan's nuclear deterrence program focused on countering India's nuclear ambitions in the region, and nuclear tests by India eventually led Pakistan to reciprocate to maintain a geopolitical balance as becoming a nuclear power. Currently, Pakistan maintains a policy of credible minimum deterrence, calling its program vital nuclear deterrence against foreign aggression. Located in the strategic and geopolitical corridor of the world's major maritime oil supply lines and communication fibre optics, Pakistan has proximity to the natural resources of Central Asian countries. Briefing on the country's foreign policy in 2004, a Pakistani senator reportedly explained: "Pakistan highlights sovereign equality of states, bilateralism, mutuality of interests, and non-interference in each other's domestic affairs as the cardinal features of its foreign policy." Pakistan is an active member of the United Nations and has a Permanent Representative to represent Pakistan's positions in international politics. Pakistan has lobbied for the concept of "enlightened moderation" in the Muslim world. Pakistan is also a member of Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), and the G20 developing nations. Because of ideological differences, Pakistan opposed the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and during the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the closest allies of the United States. Relations between Pakistan and Russia have greatly improved since 1999, and co-operation in various sectors has increased. Pakistan has had an "on-and-off" relationship with the United States. A close ally of the United States during the Cold war, Pakistan's relationship with the United States soured in the 1990s when the US imposed sanctions because of Pakistan's secretive nuclear development. Since 9/11, Pakistan has been a close ally of the United States on the issue of counter- terrorism in the regions of the Middle East and South Asia, with the US supporting Pakistan with aid money and weapons. Initially, the United States- led war on terrorism led to an improvement in the relationship, but it was strained by a divergence of interests and resulting mistrust during the war in Afghanistan and by issues related to terrorism. Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel; nonetheless, some Israeli citizens have visited the country on tourist visas. However, an exchange took place between the two countries using Turkey as a communication conduit. Despite Pakistan being the only country in the world that has not established diplomatic relations with Armenia, an Armenian community still resides in Pakistan. Pakistan had warm relations with Bangladesh, despite some initial strains in their relationship. Pakistan was one of the first countries to establish formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and the relationship continues to be warm since China's war with India in 1962, forming a special relationship. In the 1960s to 1980s, Pakistan greatly helped China in reaching out to the world's major countries and helped facilitate US President Nixon's state visit to China. Despite the change of governments in Pakistan and fluctuations in the regional and global situation, China policy in Pakistan continues to be a dominant factor at all times. In return, China is Pakistan's largest trading partner, and economic co-operation has flourished, with substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan's infrastructural expansion such as the Pakistani deep-water port at Gwadar. Sino-Pakistani friendly relations touched new heights as both the countries signed 51 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in 2015 for co-operation in different areas. Both countries signed a Free Trade Agreement in the 2000s, and Pakistan continues to serve as China's communication bridge to the Muslim world. In 2016 China announced that it will set up an anti-terrorism alliance with Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. In December 2018, Pakistan's government defended China's re-education camps for a million Uyghur Muslims. After Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries and made an active bid for leadership of the Muslim world, or at least for leadership in efforts to achieve unity. The Ali brothers had sought to project Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, in part due to its large manpower and military strength. A top-ranking Muslim League leader, Khaliquzzaman, declared that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries into Islamistan—a pan-Islamic entity. Such developments (along with Pakistan's creation) did not get American approval, and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee voiced international opinion at the time by stating that he wished that India and Pakistan would re-unite. Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction to Pakistan's Pan-Islamic aspirations. Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states. Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan. However, Pakistan also masterminded an attack on the Afghan city of Jalalabad during the Afghan Civil War to establish an Islamic government there. Pakistan had wished to foment an 'Islamic Revolution' that would transcend national borders, covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. On the other hand, Pakistan's relations with Iran have been strained at times due to sectarian tensions. Iran and Saudi Arabia used Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy sectarian war, and by the 1990s Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban organisation in Afghanistan became a problem for Shia Iran, which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Tensions between Iran and Pakistan intensified in 1998 when Iran accused Pakistan of war crimes after Pakistani warplanes had bombarded Afghanistan's last Shia stronghold in support of the Taliban. Pakistan is an influential and founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Maintaining cultural, political, social, and economic relations with the Arab world and other countries in the Muslim world is a vital factor in Pakistan's foreign policy. A federal parliamentary republic state, Pakistan is a federation that comprises four provinces: Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, and three territories: Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. The Government of Pakistan exercises the de facto jurisdiction over the Frontier Regions and the western parts of the Kashmir Regions, which are organised into the separate political entities Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas). In 2009, the constitutional assignment () awarded the Gilgit–Baltistan a semi-provincial status, giving it self-government. The local government system consists of a three-tier system of districts, tehsils, and union councils, with an elected body at each tier. There are about 130 districts altogether, of which Azad Kashmir has ten and Gilgit–Baltistan seven. Law enforcement is carried out by a joint network of the intelligence community with jurisdiction limited to the relevant province or territory. The National Intelligence Directorate coordinates the information intelligence at both federal and provincial levels; including the FIA, IB, Motorway Police, and paramilitary forces such as the Pakistan Rangers and the Frontier Corps. Pakistan's "premier" intelligence agency, the Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI), was formed just within a year after the Independence of Pakistan in 1947. Pakistan's ISI was ranked as the top intelligence agency in the world in 2011 by the International Business Times UK. ABC News Point in 2014 also reported that the ISI was ranked as the top intelligence agency in the world while Zee News reported the ISI as ranking fifth among the world's most powerful intelligence agencies. The court system is organised as a hierarchy, with the Supreme Court at the apex, below which are High Courts, Federal Shariat Courts (one in each province and one in the federal capital), District Courts (one in each district), Judicial Magistrate Courts (in every town and city), Executive Magistrate Courts, and civil courts. The Penal code has limited jurisdiction in the Tribal Areas, where law is largely derived from tribal customs. The Kashmir—the most northwesterly region of South Asia—is a major territorial dispute that has hindered relations between India and Pakistan. The two nations have fought at least three large-scale conventional wars in successive years in 1947, 1965, and 1971. The conflict in 1971 witnessed Pakistan's unconditional surrender and a treaty that subsequently led to the independence of Bangladesh. Other serious military engagements and skirmishes have included the armed contacts in Siachen Glacier (1984) and Kargil (1999). Approximately 45.1% of the Kashmir region is controlled by India, which also claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, including most of Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and the Siachen. The claim is contested by Pakistan, which controls approximately 38.2% of the Kashmir region, an area known as the Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. India claims the Kashmir on the basis of the Instrument of Accession—a legal agreement with Kashmir's leaders executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, who agreed to cede the area to India. Pakistan claims Kashmir on the basis of a Muslim majority and of geography, the same principles that were applied for the creation of the two independent states. India referred the dispute to the United Nations on 1 January 1948. In a resolution passed in 1948, the UN's General Assembly asked Pakistan to remove most of its troops as a plebiscite would then be held. However, Pakistan failed to vacate the region and a ceasefire was reached in 1949 establishing a Line of Control (LoC) that divided Kashmir between the two nations. India, fearful that the Muslim majority populace of Kashmir would secede from India, did not allow a plebiscite to take place in the region. This was confirmed in a statement by India's Defense Minister, Krishna Menon, who said: "Kashmir would vote to join Pakistan and no Indian Government responsible for agreeing to plebiscite would survive." Pakistan claims that its position is for the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations, while India has stated that Kashmir is an integral part of India, referring to the Simla Agreement (1972) and to the fact that elections take place regularly. In recent developments, certain Kashmiri independence groups believe that Kashmir should be independent of both India and Pakistan. The law enforcement in Pakistan is carried out by joint network of several federal and provincial police agencies. The four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) each have a civilian police force with jurisdiction extending only to the relevant province or territory. At the federal level, there are a number of civilian intelligence agencies with nationwide jurisdictions including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Motorway Patrol, as well as several paramilitary forces such as the National Guards (Northern Areas), the Rangers (Punjab and Sindh), and the Frontier Corps (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan). The most senior officers of all the civilian police forces also form part of the Police Service, which is a component of the civil service of Pakistan. Namely, there is four provincial police service including the Punjab Police, Sindh Police, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police, and the Balochistan Police; all headed by the appointed senior Inspector-Generals. The ICT has its own police component, the Capital Police, to maintain law and order in the capital. The CID bureaus are the crime investigation unit and form a vital part in each provincial police service. The law enforcement in Pakistan also has a Motorway Patrol which is responsible for enforcement of traffic and safety laws, security and recovery on Pakistan's inter-provincial motorway network. In each of provincial Police Service, it also maintains a respective Elite Police units led by the NACTA—a counter-terrorism police unit as well as providing VIP escorts. In the Punjab and Sindh, the Pakistan Rangers are an internal security force with the prime objective to provide and maintain security in war zones and areas of conflict as well as maintaining law and order which includes providing assistance to the police. The Frontier Corps serves the similar purpose in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa, and the Balochistan. Male homosexuality is illegal in Pakistan and punishable with up to life in prison. In its 2018 Press Freedom Index, Reporters without borders ranked Pakistan number 139 out of 180 countries based on freedom of the press. TV stations and news papers are routinely shut down for publishing any reports critical of the government or the military. The armed forces of Pakistan are the eighth largest in the world in terms of numbers in full-time service, with about 617,000 personnel on active duty and 513,000 reservists, as of tentative estimates in 2010. They came into existence after independence in 1947, and the military establishment has frequently influenced the national politics ever since. Chain of command of the military is kept under the control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee; all of the branches joint works, co-ordination, military logistics, and joint missions are under the Joint Staff HQ. The Joint Staff HQ is composed of the Air HQ, Navy HQ, and Army GHQ in the vicinity of the Rawalpindi Military District. The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is the highest principle staff officer in the armed forces, and the chief military adviser to the civilian government though the chairman has no authority over the three branches of armed forces. The Chairman joint chiefs controls the military from the JS HQ and maintains strategic communications between the military and the civilian government. , the CJCSC is General Zubair Hayat alongside chief of army staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, chief of naval staff Admiral Muhammad Zaka, and chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan. The main branches are the Army–Air Force–Navy–Marines, which are supported by the number of paramilitary forces in the country. Control over the strategic arsenals, deployment, employment, development, military computers and command and control is a responsibility vested under the National Command Authority which oversaw the work on the nuclear policy as part of the credible minimum deterrence. The United States, Turkey, and China maintain close military relations and regularly export military equipment and technology transfer to Pakistan. Joint logistics and major war games are occasionally carried out by the militaries of China and Turkey. Philosophical basis for the military draft is introduced by the Constitution in times of emergency, but it has never been imposed. Since 1947 Pakistan has been involved in four conventional wars, the first war occurred in Kashmir with Pakistan gaining control of Western Kashmir, (Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan), and India retaining Eastern Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir). Territorial problems eventually led to another conventional war in 1965; over the issue of Bengali refugees that led to another war in 1971 which resulted in Pakistan's unconditional surrender in East Pakistan. Tensions in Kargil brought the two countries at the brink of war. Since 1947 the unresolved territorial problems with Afghanistan saw border skirmishes which were kept mostly at the mountainous border. In 1961, the military and intelligence community repelled the Afghan incursion in the Bajaur Agency near the Durand Line border. Rising tensions with neighbouring USSR in their involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence community, mostly the ISI, systematically coordinated the US resources to the Afghan mujahideen and foreign fighters against the Soviet Union's presence in the region. Military reports indicated that the PAF was in engagement with the Soviet Air Force, supported by the Afghan Air Force during the course of the conflict; one of which belonged to Alexander Rutskoy. Apart from its own conflicts, Pakistan has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions. It played a major role in rescuing trapped American soldiers from Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 in Operation Gothic Serpent. According to UN reports, the Pakistani military is the third largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions after Ethiopia and India. Pakistan has deployed its military in some Arab countries, providing defence, training, and playing advisory roles. The PAF and Navy's fighter pilots have voluntarily served in Arab nations' militaries against Israel in the Six-Day War (1967) and in the Yom Kippur War (1973). Pakistan's fighter pilots shot down ten Israeli planes in the Six-Day War. In the 1973 war one of the PAF pilots, Flt. Lt. Sattar Alvi (flying a MiG-21), shot down an Israeli Air Force Mirage and was honoured by the Syrian government. Requested by the Saudi monarchy in 1979, Pakistan's special forces units, operatives, and commandos were rushed to assist Saudi forces in Mecca to lead the operation of the Grand Mosque. For almost two weeks Saudi Special Forces and Pakistani commandos fought the insurgents who had occupied the Grand Mosque's compound. In 1991 Pakistan got involved with the Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a US-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia. Despite the UN arms embargo on Bosnia, General Javed Nasir of the ISI airlifted anti-tank weapons and missiles to Bosnian mujahideen which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege. Under Nasir's leadership the ISI was also involved in supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Province, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia. Since 2004 the military has been engaged in a war in North-West Pakistan, mainly against the homegrown Taliban factions. Major operations undertaken by the army include Operation Black Thunderstorm, Operation Rah-e-Nijat and Operation Zarb-e-Azb. According to SIPRI, Pakistan was the 9th largest recipient and importer of arms between 2012–2016. Economists estimate that Pakistan was part of the wealthiest region of the world throughout the first millennium CE, with the largest economy by GDP. This advantage was lost in the 18th century as other regions such as China and Western Europe edged forward. Pakistan is considered a developing country and is one of the Next Eleven, a group of eleven countries that, along with the BRICs, have a high potential to become the world's largest economies in the 21st century. In recent years, after decades of social instability, , serious deficiencies in macromanagement and unbalanced macroeconomics in basic services such as rail transportation and electrical energy generation have developed. The economy is considered to be semi-industrialized, with centres of growth along the Indus River. The diversified economies of Karachi and Punjab's urban centres coexist with less-developed areas in other parts of the country, particularly in Balochistan. According to the Economic complexity index, Pakistan is the 67th-largest export economy in the world and the 106th most complex economy. During the fiscal year 2015–16, Pakistan's exports stood at US$20.81 billion and imports at US$44.76 billion, resulting in a negative trade balance of US$23.96 billion. , Pakistan's estimated nominal GDP is US$271 billion. The GDP by PPP is US$946,667 million. The estimated nominal per capita GDP is US$1,561, the GDP (PPP)/capita is US$5,010 (international dollars), and the debt-to-GDP ratio is 66.50%. According to the World Bank, Pakistan has important strategic endowments and development potential. The increasing proportion of Pakistan's youth provides the country with both a potential demographic dividend and a challenge to provide adequate services and employment. 21.04% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day. The unemployment rate among the aged 15 and over population is 5.5%. Pakistan has an estimated 40 million middle class citizens, projected to increase to 100 million by 2050. A 2015 report published by the World Bank ranked Pakistan's economy at 24th-largest in the world by purchasing power and 41st-largest in absolute terms. It is South Asia's second-largest economy, representing about 15.0% of regional GDP. Pakistan's economic growth since its inception has been varied. It has been slow during periods of democratic transition, but robust during the three periods of martial law, although the foundation for sustainable and equitable growth was not formed. The early to middle 2000s was a period of rapid economic reforms; the government raised development spending, which reduced poverty levels by 10% and increased GDP by 3%. The economy cooled again from 2007. Inflation reached 25.0% in 2008, and Pakistan had to depend on a fiscal policy backed by the International Monetary Fund to avoid possible bankruptcy. A year later, the Asian Development Bank reported that Pakistan's economic crisis was easing. The inflation rate for the fiscal year was 14.1%. Since 2013, as part of an International Monetary Fund program, Pakistan's economic growth has picked up. In 2014 Goldman Sachs predicted that Pakistan's economy would grow 15 times in the next 35 years to become the 18th-largest economy in the world by 2050. In his 2016 book, The Rise and Fall of Nations, Ruchir Sharma termed Pakistan's economy as at a 'take-off' stage and the future outlook until 2020 has been termed 'Very Good'. Sharma termed it possible to transform Pakistan from a "low-income to a middle-income country during the next five years". Pakistan is one of the largest producers of natural commodities, and its labour market is the 10th-largest in the world. The 7-million–strong Pakistani diaspora contributed US$19.9 billion to the economy in 2015–16. The major source countries of remittances to Pakistan are: the UAE; the United States; Saudi Arabia; the Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman); Australia; Canada; Japan; the United Kingdom; Norway; and Switzerland. According to the World Trade Organization, Pakistan's share of overall world exports is declining; it contributed only 0.13% in 2007. The structure of the Pakistani economy has changed from a mainly agricultural to a strong service base. Agriculture accounts for only 20.9% of the GDP. Even so, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Pakistan produced 21,591,400 metric tons of wheat in 2005, more than all of Africa (20,304,585 metric tons) and nearly as much as all of South America (24,557,784 metric tons). Majority of the population, directly or indirectly, is dependent on this sector. It accounts for 43.5% of employed labour force and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings. A large portion of the country's manufactured exports is dependent on raw materials such as cotton and hides that are part of the agriculture sector, while supply shortages and market disruptions in farm products do push up inflationary pressures. The country is also the fifth-largest producer of cotton, with cotton production of 14 million bales from a modest beginning of 1.7 million bales in the early 1950s; is self-sufficient in sugarcane; and is the fourth-largest producer in the world of milk. Land and water resources have not risen proportionately, but the increases have taken place mainly due to gains in labour and agriculture productivity. The major breakthrough in crop production took place in the late 1960s and 1970s due to the Green Revolution that made a significant contribution to land and yield increases of wheat and rice. Private tube wells led to a 50 percent increase in the cropping intensity which was augmented by tractor cultivation. While the tube wells raised crop yields by 50 percent, the High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat and rice led to a 50–60 percent higher yield. Meat industry accounts for 1.4 percent of overall GDP. Industry is the third-largest sector of the economy, accounting for 20.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), and 13 percent of total employment. Large-scale manufacturing (LSM), at 12.2% of GDP, dominates the overall sector, accounting for 66% of the sectoral share, followed by small-scale manufacturing, which accounts for 4.9% of total GDP. Pakistan's cement industry is also fast growing mainly because of demand from Afghanistan and from the domestic real estate sector. In 2013 Pakistan exported 7,708,557 metric tons of cement. Pakistan has an installed capacity of 44,768,250 metric tons of cement and 42,636,428 metric tons of clinker. In 2012 and 2013, the cement industry in Pakistan became the most profitable sector of the economy. The textile industry has a pivotal position in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. In Asia, Pakistan is the eighth-largest exporter of textile products, contributing 9.5% to the GDP and providing employment to around 15 million people (some 30% of the 49 million people in the workforce). Pakistan is the fourth-largest producer of cotton with the third-largest spinning capacity in Asia after China and India, contributing 5% to the global spinning capacity. China is the second largest buyer of Pakistani textiles, importing US$1.527 billion of textiles last fiscal. Unlike the US, where mostly value-added textiles are imported, China buys only cotton yarn and cotton fabric from Pakistan. In 2012, Pakistani textile products accounted for 3.3% or US$1.07bn of all UK textile imports, 12.4% or $4.61bn of total Chinese textile imports, 3.0% or $2.98b of all US textile imports, 1.6% or $0.88bn of total German textile imports and 0.7% or $0.888bn of total Indian textile imports. Services sector has 58.8% share in GDP and has emerged as the main driver of economic growth. Pakistani society like other developing countries is a consumption oriented society, having a high marginal propensity to consume. The growth rate of services sector is higher than the growth rate of agriculture and industrial sector. Services sector accounts for 54 percent of GDP in 2014 and little over one-third of total employment. Services sector has strong linkages with other sectors of economy; it provides essential inputs to agriculture sector and manufacturing sector. Pakistan's I.T sector is regarded as among the fastest growing sector's in Pakistan. The World Economic Forum, assessing the development of Information and Communication Technology in the country ranked Pakistan 110th among 139 countries on the 'Networked Readiness Index 2016'. , Pakistan has over 35 million Internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in Internet penetration. Overall, it has the 20th-largest population of Internet users in the world. The current growth rate and employment trend indicate that Pakistan's Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry will exceed the $10-billion mark by 2020. The sector employees 12,000 and count's among top five freelancing nations. The country has also improved its export performance in telecom, computer and information services, as the share of their exports surged from 8.2pc in 2005–06 to 12.6pc in 2012–13. This growth is much better than that of China, whose share in services exports was 3pc and 7.7pc for the same period respectively. By the end of 2016, nuclear power was provided by four licensed commercial nuclear power plants. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is solely responsible for operating these power plants, while the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority regulates safe usage of the nuclear energy. The electricity generated by commercial nuclear power plants constitutes roughly 5.8% of Pakistan's electrical energy, compared to 64.2% from fossil fuels (crude oil and natural gas), 29.9% from hydroelectric power, and 0.1% from coal. Pakistan is one of the four nuclear armed states (along with India, Israel, and North Korea) that is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it is a member in good standing of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The KANUPP-I, a Candu-type nuclear reactor, was supplied by Canada in 1971—the country's first commercial nuclear power plant. The Sino-Pakistani nuclear cooperation began in the early 1980s. After a Sino-Pakistani nuclear cooperation agreement in 1986, China provided Pakistan with a nuclear reactor dubbed CHASNUPP-I for energy and industrial growth of the country. In 2005 both countries proposed working on a joint energy security plan, calling for a huge increase in generation capacity to more than 160,000 MWe by 2030. Under its Nuclear Energy Vision 2050, the Pakistani government plans to increase nuclear power generation capacity to 40,000 MWe, 8,900 MWe of it by 2030. In June 2008 the nuclear commercial complex was expanded with the ground work of installing and operationalising the Chashma-III and Chashma–IV reactors at Chashma, Punjab Province, each with 325–340 MWe and costing ₨ 129 billion; from which the ₨ 80 billion came from international sources, principally China. A further agreement for China's help with the project was signed in October 2008, and given prominence as a counter to the US–India agreement that shortly preceded it. The cost quoted then was US$1.7 billion, with a foreign loan component of US$1.07 billion. In 2013 Pakistan established a second commercial nuclear complex in Karachi with plans of additional reactors, similar to the one in Chashma. The electrical energy is generated by various energy corporations and evenly distributed by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) among the four provinces. However, the Karachi- based K-Electric and the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) generates much of the electrical energy used in Pakistan in addition to gathering revenue nationwide. , Pakistan has an installed electricity generation capacity of ~22,797. With its diverse cultures, people, and landscapes, Pakistan attracted around 1 million foreign tourists in 2014, contributing PKR 94.8 billion to the country's economy, which represented a significant decline since the 1970s when the country received unprecedented numbers of foreign tourists due to the popular Hippie trail. The trail attracted thousands of Europeans and Americans in the 1960s and 1970s who travelled via land through Turkey and Iran into India through Pakistan. The main destinations of choice for these tourists were the Khyber Pass, Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore, Swat and Rawalpindi. The numbers following the trail declined after the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet–Afghan War. The country continues to attract an estimated 500,000 foreign tourists annually. Pakistan's tourist attractions range from the mangroves in the south to the Himalayan hill stations in the north-east. The country's tourist destinations range from the Buddhist ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Taxila, to the 5,000-year-old cities of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over . The northern part of Pakistan has many old fortresses, examples of ancient architecture, and the Hunza and Chitral valleys, home to the small pre-Islamic Kalasha community claiming descent from Alexander the Great. Pakistan's cultural capital, Lahore, contains many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, the Shalimar Gardens, the Tomb of Jahangir, and the Lahore Fort. In October 2006, just one year after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, The Guardian released what it described as "The top five tourist sites in Pakistan" in order to help the country's tourism industry. The five sites included Taxila, Lahore, the Karakoram Highway, Karimabad, and Lake Saiful Muluk. To promote Pakistan's unique cultural heritage, the government organizes various festivals throughout the year. In 2015 the World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan 125 out of 141 countries. The transport industry accounts for ~10.5% of the nation's GDP. Pakistan's motorway infrastructure is better than those of India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, but the train system lags behind those of India and China, and aviation infrastructure also needs improvement. There is scarcely any inland water transportation system, and coastal shipping only meets minor local requirements. Highways form the backbone of Pakistan's transport system; a total road length of accounts for 92% of passengers and 96% of inland freight traffic. Road transport services are largely in the hands of the private sector. The National Highway Authority is responsible for the maintenance of national highways and motorways. The highway and motorway system depends mainly on north–south links connecting the southern ports to the populous provinces of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Although this network only accounts for 4.6% of total road length, it carries 85% of the country's traffic. The Pakistan Railways, under the Ministry of Railways (MoR), operates the railroad system. From 1947 until the 1970s the train system was the primary means of transport until the nationwide constructions of the national highways and the economic boom of the automotive industry. Beginning in the 1990s there was a marked shift in traffic from rail to highways; dependence grew on roads after the introduction of vehicles in the country. Now the railway's share of inland traffic is below 8% for passengers and 4% for freight traffic. As personal transportation began to be dominated by the automobile, total rail track decreased from in 1990–91 to in 2011. Pakistan expects to use the rail service to boost foreign trade with China, Iran, and Turkey. There are an estimated 139 airports and airfields in Pakistan—including both the military and the mostly publicly owned civilian airports. Although Jinnah International Airport is the principal international gateway to Pakistan, the international airports in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Multan also handle significant amounts of traffic. The civil aviation industry is mixed with public and private sectors, which was deregulated in 1993. While the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is the major and dominant air carrier that carries about 73% of domestic passengers and all domestic freight, the private airlines such as airBlue, Shaheen Air International, and Air Indus, also provide similar services at a low cost. Major seaports are in Karachi, Sindh (the Karachi port, and Port Qasim). Since the 1990s some seaport operations have been moved to Balochistan with the construction of Gwadar Port and Gadani Port. According to the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report, quality ratings of Pakistan's port infrastructure increased from 3.7 to 4.1 between 2007 and 2016. Developments in science and technology have played an important role in Pakistan's infrastructure and helped the country connect to the rest of the world. Every year, scientists from around the world are invited by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the Pakistan Government to participate in the International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics. Pakistan hosted an international seminar on "Physics in Developing Countries" for the International Year of Physics 2005. Pakistani theoretical physicist Abdus Salam won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the electroweak interaction. Influential publications and critical scientific work in the advancement of mathematics, biology, economics, computer science, and genetics have been produced by Pakistani scientists at both the domestic and international levels. In chemistry, Salimuzzaman Siddiqui was the first Pakistani scientist to bring the therapeutic constituents of the neem tree to the attention of natural products chemists. Pakistani neurosurgeon Ayub Ommaya invented the Ommaya reservoir, a system for treatment of brain tumours and other brain conditions. Scientific research and development play a pivotal role in Pakistani universities, government- sponsored national laboratories, science parks, and the industry. Abdul Qadeer Khan, regarded as the founder of the HEU-based gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment program for Pakistan's integrated atomic bomb project. He founded and established the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976, serving as both its senior scientist and the Director-General until his retirement in 2001, and he was an early and vital figure in other science projects. Apart from participating in Pakistan's atomic bomb project, he made major contributions in molecular morphology, physical martensite, and its integrated applications in condensed and material physics. In 2010 Pakistan was ranked 43rd in the world in terms of published scientific papers. The Pakistan Academy of Sciences, a strong scientific community, plays an influential and vital role in formulating recommendations regarding science policies for the government. The 1960s saw the emergence of an active space program led by SUPARCO that produced advances in domestic rocketry, electronics, and aeronomy. The space program recorded a few notable feats and achievements. The successful launch of its first rocket into space made Pakistan the first South Asian country to have achieved such a task. Successfully producing and launching the nation's first space satellite in 1990, Pakistan became the first Muslim country and second South Asian country to put a satellite into space.As an aftermath of the 1971 war with India, the clandestine crash program developed atomic weapons partly motivated by fear and to prevent any foreign intervention, while ushering in the atomic age in the post cold war era. Competition with India and tensions eventually led to Pakistan's decision to conduct underground nuclear tests in 1998, thus becoming the seventh country in the world to successfully develop nuclear weapons. Pakistan is the first and only Muslim country that maintains an active research presence in Antarctica. Since 1991 Pakistan has maintained two summer research stations and one weather observatory on the continent and plans to open another full-fledged permanent base in Antarctica. Energy consumption by computers and usage has grown since the 1990s when PCs were introduced; Pakistan has about 30 million Internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in Internet penetration . Key publications have been produced by Pakistan, and domestic software development has gained considerable international praise. Overall, it has the 20th-largest population of Internet users in the world. Since the 2000s Pakistan has made a significant amount of progress in supercomputing, and various institutions offer research opportunities in parallel computing. The Pakistan government reportedly spends ₨ 4.6 billion on information technology projects, with emphasis on e-government, human resources, and infrastructure development. The constitution of Pakistan requires the state to provide free primary and secondary education. At the time of the establishment of Pakistan as a state, the country had only one university, Punjab University in Lahore. Very soon the Pakistan government established public universities in each of the four provinces, including Sindh University (1949), Peshawar University (1950), Karachi University (1953), and Balochistan University (1970). Pakistan has a large network of both public and private universities, which includes collaboration between the universities aimed at providing research and higher education opportunities in the country, although there is concern about the low quality of teaching in many of the newer schools. It is estimated that there are 3,193 technical and vocational institutions in Pakistan, and there are also madrassahs that provide free Islamic education and offer free board and lodging to students, who come mainly from the poorer strata of society. Strong public pressure and popular criticism over extremists' usage of madrassahs for recruitment, the Pakistan government has made repeated efforts to regulate and monitor the quality of education in the madrassahs. Education in Pakistan is divided into six main levels: nursery (preparatory classes); primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); matriculation (grades nine and ten, leading to the secondary certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a higher secondary certificate); and university programmes leading to graduate and postgraduate degrees. There is a network of private schools that constitutes a parallel secondary education system based on a curriculum set and administered by the Cambridge International Examinations of the United Kingdom. Some students choose to take the O-level and A level exams conducted by the British Council. According to the International Schools Consultancy, Pakistan has 439 international schools. As a result of initiatives taken in 2007, the English medium education has been made compulsory in all schools across the country. Additional reforms enacted in 2013 required all educational institutions in Sindh to begin offering Chinese language courses, reflecting China's growing role as a superpower and its increasing influence in Pakistan. The literacy rate of the population is 62.3% as of 2018. The rate of male literacy is 72.5% while the rate of female literacy is 51.8%. Literacy rates vary by region and particularly by sex; as one example, tribal areas female literacy is 9.5%, while Azad Jammu & Kashmir has a literacy rate of 74%. With the advent of computer literacy in 1995, the government launched a nationwide initiative in 1998 with the aim of eradicating illiteracy and providing a basic education to all children. Through various educational reforms, by 2015 the Ministry of Education expected to attain 100% enrollment levels among children of primary school age and a literacy rate of ~86% among people aged over 10. Pakistan is currently spending 2.2 percent of its GDP on education; which according to the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences is one of the lowest in South Asia. According to Provisional results of 2017 Census in Pakistan, the total population in Pakistan was 207.8 million, representing a 57% increase in 19 years. which is equivalent to 2.6% of the world population. Pakistan's census provisional results exclude data from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, which is likely to be included in the final report. Noted as the sixth most populated country in the world, its growth rate in 2016 was reported to be 1.45%, which is the highest of the SAARC nations, though this growth rate has been decreasing in recent years. The population is projected to reach 210.13 million by 2020. At the time of the partition in 1947, Pakistan had a population of 32.5 million; the population increased by ~57.2% between the years 1990 and 2009. By 2030 Pakistan is expected to surpass Indonesia as the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. Pakistan is classified as a "young nation", with a median age of 23.4 in 2016; about 104 million people were under the age of 30 in 2010. In 2016 Pakistan's fertility rate was estimated to be 2.68, higher than its neighbour India (2.45). Around 35% of the people are under 15. The vast majority of those residing in southern Pakistan live along the Indus River, with Karachi being the most populous commercial city in the south. In eastern, western, and northern Pakistan, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan, and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia, which increased to 38% by 2013. Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more. Expenditure on healthcare was ~2.8% of GDP in 2013. Life expectancy at birth was 67 years for females and 65 years for males in 2013. The private sector accounts for about 80% of outpatient visits. Approximately 19% of the population and 30% of children under five are malnourished. Mortality of the under-fives was 86 per 1,000 live births in 2012. More than sixty languages are spoken in Pakistan, including a number of provincial languages. Urdu—the lingua franca and a symbol of Muslim identity and national unity—is the national language understood by over 75% of Pakistanis. It is the main medium of communication in the country but the primary language of only 8% of Pakistan's population. Urdu and English are the official languages of Pakistan, with English primarily used in official business and government, and in legal contracts; the local variety is known as Pakistani English. The Punjabi language, the most common in Pakistan and the first language of 44.2% of Pakistan's population, is mostly spoken in the Punjab. Saraiki, mainly spoken in South Punjab and Hindko, is predominant in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pashto is the provincial language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Sindhi language is commonly spoken in Sindh while the Balochi language is dominant in Balochistan. Brahui, a Dravidian language, is spoken by the Brahui people who live in Balochistan. There are also speakers of Gujarati in Karachi. Marwari, a Rajasthani language, is also spoken in parts of Sindh. Various languages such as Shina, Balti, and Burushaski are spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan, whilst languages such as Pahari, Gojri, and Kashmiri are spoken by many in Azad Kashmir. The Arabic language is officially recognised by the constitution of Pakistan. It declares in article 31 No. 2 that "The State shall endeavour, as respects the Muslims of Pakistan (a) to make the teaching of the Holy Quran and Islamiat compulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning of Arabic language ..."Constitution of Pakistan: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 – Article: 31 Islamic way of life, Article 31 No. 2, 1973, Retrieved 22 August 2018. Even after partition in 1947, Indian Muslims continued to migrate to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and these migrants settled mainly in Karachi and other towns of Sindh province. The wars in neighboring Afghanistan during the 1980s and 1990s also forced millions of Afghan refugees into Pakistan. The Pakistan Census excludes the 1.41 million registered refugees from Afghanistan, who are found mainly in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and tribal belt, with small numbers residing in Karachi and Quetta. Pakistan is home to one of the world's largest refugee populations. In addition to Afghans, around 2 million Bangladeshis and half a million other undocumented people live in Pakistan. They are claimed to be from other areas such as Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, and Africa. Experts say that the migration of both Bengalis and Burmese (Rohingya) to Pakistan started in the 1980s and continued until 1998. Shaikh Muhammad Feroze, the chairman of the Pakistani Bengali Action Committee, claims that there are 200 settlements of Bengali-speaking people in Pakistan, of which 132 are in Karachi. They are also found in various other areas of Pakistan such as Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Tando Adam, and Lahore. Large-scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made that city one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world after Myanmar. The Burmese community of Karachi is spread out over 60 of the city's slums such as the Burmi Colony in Korangi, Arakanabad, Machchar colony, Bilal colony, Ziaul Haq Colony, and Godhra Camp. Thousands of Uyghur Muslims have also migrated to the Gilgit- Baltistan region of Pakistan, fleeing religious and cultural persecution in Xinjiang, China. Since 1989 thousands of Kashmiri Muslim refugees have sought refuge in Pakistan, complaining that many of the refugee women had been raped by Indian soldiers and that they were forced out of their homes by the soldiers. The major ethnic groups are Punjabis (44.7% of the country's population), Pashtuns, also known as Pathans (15.4%), Sindhis (14.1%), Saraikis (8.4%), Muhajirs (the Indian emigrants, mostly Urdu-speaking), who make up 7.6% of the population, and the Baloch with 3.6%. The remaining 6.3% consist of a number of ethnic minorities such as the Brahuis, the Hindkowans, the various peoples of Gilgit-Baltistan, the Kashmiris, the Sheedis (who are of African descent), and the Hazaras. There is also a large Pakistani diaspora worldwide, numbering over seven million, which has been recorded as the sixth largest diaspora in the world. Since achieving independence as a result of the partition of India, the urbanisation has increased exponentially, with several different causes. The majority of the population in the south resides along the Indus River, with Karachi the most populous commercial city. In the east, west, and north, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan, and Peshawar. During the period 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia. Furthermore, more than 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more. Immigration, from both within and outside the country, is regarded as one of the main factors contributing to urbanisation in Pakistan. One analysis of the 1998 national census highlighted the significance of the partition of India in the 1940s as it relates to urban change in Pakistan. During and after the independence period, Urdu speaking Muslims from India migrated in large numbers to Pakistan, especially to the port city of Karachi, which is today the largest metropolis in Pakistan. Migration from other countries, mainly from those nearby, has further accelerated the process of urbanisation in Pakistani cities. Inevitably, the rapid urbanisation caused by these large population movements has also created new political and socio-economic challenges. In addition to immigration, economic trends such as the green revolution and political developments, among a host of other factors, are also important causes of urbanisation. The state religion in Pakistan is Sunni Islam. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan, which provides all its citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion subject to law, public order, and morality. The population of Pakistan follow different religions. Most of Pakistanis are Muslims (96.0%) followed by Hindus (1.85%) and Christians (1.5%). There are also people in Pakistan who follow other religions, such as Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and the minority of Parsi (who follow Zoroastrianism). The Kalash people maintain a unique identity and religion within Pakistan. In addition, some Pakistanis also do not profess any faith (such as atheists and agnostics) in Pakistan. According to the 1998 census, people who did not state their religion accounted for 0.5% of the population. Islam is the dominant religion. About 96% of Pakistanis are Muslim. Pakistan has the second-largest number of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The majority of them are Sunni (estimated between 75 and 95%) while Shias represent between 5–20%. Pakistan, like India, is said to have at least 16 million Shias. The Ahmadis, a small minority representing 0.22–2% of Pakistan's population, are officially considered non-Muslims by virtue of the constitutional amendment. The Ahmadis are particularly persecuted, especially since 1974 when they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. In 1984, Ahmadiyya places of worship were banned from being called "mosques". , 12% of Pakistani Muslims self-identify as non-denominational Muslims. There are also several Quraniyoon communities. Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, has a long history and a large following among the Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, at both the academic and popular levels. Popular Sufi culture is centered around gatherings and celebrations at the shrines of saints and annual festivals that feature Sufi music and dance. Two Sufis whose shrines receive much national attention are Ali Hajweri in Lahore (c. 12th century) and Shahbaz Qalander in Sehwan, Sindh (c. 12th century). There are two levels of Sufism in Pakistan. The first is the 'populist' Sufism of the rural population. This level of Sufism involves belief in intercession through saints, veneration of their shrines, and forming bonds with a pir (saint). Many rural Pakistani Muslims associate with pirs and seek their intercession. The second level of Sufism in Pakistan is 'intellectual Sufism', which is growing among the urban and educated population. They are influenced by the writings of Sufis such as the medieval theologian al-Ghazali, the Sufi reformer Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindi, and Shah Wali Allah. Contemporary Islamic fundamentalists criticise Sufism's popular character, which in their view does not accurately reflect the teachings and practice of Muhammad and his companions. Hinduism is the second-largest religion in Pakistan after Islam, according to the 1998 census. , Pakistan had the fifth-largest Hindu population in the world. In the 1998 census, the Hindu (jati) population was found to be 2,111,271 while the Hindu (scheduled castes) numbered an additional 332,343. Hindus are found in all provinces of Pakistan but are mostly concentrated in Sindh. They speak a variety of languages such as Sindhi, Seraiki, Aer, Dhatki, Gera, Goaria, Gurgula, Jandavra, Kabutra, Koli, Loarki, Marwari, Sansi, Vaghri, and Gujarati. At the time of Pakistan's creation, the 'hostage theory' gained currency. According to this theory, the Hindu minority in Pakistan was to be given a fair deal in Pakistan in order to ensure the protection of the Muslim minority in India. However, Khawaja Nazimuddin, the second Prime Minister of Pakistan, stated: Some Hindus in Pakistan feel that they are treated as second-class citizens and many have continued to migrate to India. Pakistani Hindus faced riots after the Babri Masjid demolition, endured a massacre (in 2005) by security forces in Balochistan, and have experienced other attacks, forced conversions, and abductions. Christians formed the next largest religious minority, after Hindus, with a population of 2,092,902, according to the 1998 census. They were followed by the Bahá'í Faith, which had a following of 30,000, then Sikhism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, each back then claiming 20,000 adherents, and a very small community of Jains. There is a Roman Catholic community in Karachi that was established by Goan and Tamil migrants when Karachi's infrastructure was being developed by the British during the colonial administration between World War I and World War II. The influence of atheism is very small, with 1.0% of the population identifying as atheist in 2005. However, the figure rose to 2.0% in 2012 according to Gallup. Civil society in Pakistan is largely hierarchical, emphasising local cultural etiquette and traditional Islamic values that govern personal and political life. The basic family unit is the extended family, although for socio- economic reasons there has been a growing trend towards nuclear families. The traditional dress for both men and women is the Shalwar Kameez; trousers, jeans, and shirts are also popular among men. In recent decades, the middle class has increased to around 35 million and the upper and upper-middle classes to around 17 million, and power is shifting from rural landowners to the urbanised elites. Pakistani festivals, including Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Ramazan, Christmas, Easter, Holi, and Diwali, are mostly religious in origin. Increasing globalisation has resulted in Pakistan ranking 56th on the A.T. Kearney/FP Globalization Index. The Shalwar Kameez is the national dress of Pakistan and is worn by both men and women in all four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa as well as in FATA and Azad Kashmir. Each province has its own style of Shalwar Kameez. Pakistanis wear clothes in a range of exquisite colours and designs and in type of fabric (silk, chiffon, cotton, etc.). Besides the national dress, domestically tailored suits and neckties are often worn by men, and are customary in offices, schools, and social gatherings. The fashion industry has flourished in the changing environment of the fashion world. Since Pakistan came into being, its fashion has evolved in different phases and developed a unique identity. Today, Pakistani fashion is a combination of traditional and modern dress and has become a mark of Pakistani culture. Despite modern trends, regional and traditional forms of dress have developed their own significance as a symbol of native tradition. This regional fashion continues to evolve into both more modern and purer forms. The Pakistan Fashion Design Council based in Lahore organizes PFDC Fashion Week and the Fashion Pakistan Council based in Karachi organizes Fashion Pakistan Week. Pakistan's first fashion week was held in November 2009. The private print media, state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) for radio were the dominant media outlets until the beginning of the 21st century. Pakistan now has a large network of domestic, privately owned 24-hour news media and television channels. A 2016 report by the Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan 147th on the Press Freedom Index, while at the same time terming the Pakistani media "among the freest in Asia when it comes to covering the squabbling among politicians." BBC calls the Pakistani media "among the most outspoken in South Asia". Pakistani media has also played a vital role in exposing corruption. The Lollywood, Kariwood, Punjabi, and Pashto film industry is based in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar. While Bollywood films were banned from public cinemas from 1965 until 2008, they have remained an important part of popular culture. In contrast to the ailing Pakistani film industry, Urdu televised dramas and theatrical performances continue to be popular, as many entertainment media outlets air them regularly. Urdu dramas dominate the television entertainment industry, which has launched critically acclaimed miniseries and featured popular actors and actresses since the 1990s. In the 1960s–1970s, pop music and disco (1970s) dominated the country's music industry. In the 1980s–1990s, British influenced rock music appeared and jolted the country's entertainment industry. In the 2000s, heavy metal music gained popular and critical acclaim. Pakistani music ranges from diverse forms of provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern musical forms that fuse traditional and western music. Pakistan has many famous folk singers. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has stimulated interest in Pashto music, although there has been intolerance of it in some places. According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the sixth-largest diaspora in the world. Statistics gathered by the Pakistani government show that there are around 7 million Pakistanis residing abroad, with the vast majority living in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Pakistan ranks 10th in the world for remittances sent home. The largest inflow of remittances, , is from Saudi Arabia, amounting to $5.9 billion. The term Overseas Pakistani is officially recognised by the Government of Pakistan. The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis was established in 2008 to deal exclusively with all matters of overseas Pakistanis such as attending to their needs and problems, developing projects for their welfare, and working for resolution of their problems and issues. Overseas Pakistanis are the second-largest source of foreign exchange remittances to Pakistan after exports. Over the last several years, home remittances have maintained a steadily rising trend, with a more than 100% increase from US$8.9 billion in 2009–10 to US$19.9 billion in 2015–16. The Overseas Pakistani Division (OPD) was created in September 2004 within the Ministry of Labour (MoL). It has since recognised the importance of overseas Pakistanis and their contribution to the nation's economy. Together with Community Welfare Attaches (CWAs) and the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF), the OPD is making efforts to improve the welfare of Pakistanis who reside abroad. The division aims to provide better services through improved facilities at airports, and suitable schemes for housing, education, and health care. It also facilitates the reintegration into society of returning overseas Pakistanis. Notable members of the Pakistani diaspora include London Mayor Sadiq Khan, UK Cabinet Member Sajid Javid, former UK Conservative Party Chair Baroness Warsi, singers Zayn Malik and Nadia Ali, MIT Physics Professor Dr. Nergis Mavalvala, actors Riz Ahmed and Kumail Nanjiani, businessmen Shahid Khan and Sir Anwar Pervez, Boston University professors Adil Najam and Hamid Nawab, Texas A&M; Professor Muhammad Suhail Zubairy, Yale Professor Sara Suleri, UC San Diego Professor Farooq Azam, and historian Ayesha Jalal. Pakistan has literature in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Baluchi, Persian, English, and many other languages. The Pakistan Academy of Letters is a large literary community that promotes literature and poetry in Pakistan and abroad. The National Library publishes and promotes literature in the country. Before the 19th century, Pakistani literature consisted mainly of lyric and religious poetry and mystical and folkloric works. During the colonial period, native literary figures were influenced by western literary realism and took up increasingly varied topics and narrative forms. Prose fiction is now very popular. The national poet of Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal, wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian. He was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilisation and encouraged Muslims all over the world to bring about a successful revolution. Well-known figures in contemporary Pakistani Urdu literature include Josh Malihabadi Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Saadat Hasan Manto. Sadequain and Gulgee are known for their calligraphy and paintings. The Sufi poets Shah Abdul Latif, Bulleh Shah, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, and Khawaja Farid enjoy considerable popularity in Pakistan. Mirza Kalich Beg has been termed the father of modern Sindhi prose. Historically, philosophical development in the country was dominated by Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Syed, Muhammad Asad, Maududi, and Mohammad Ali Johar. Ideas from British and American philosophy greatly shaped philosophical development in Pakistan. Analysts such as M. M. Sharif and Zafar Hassan established the first major Pakistani philosophical movement in 1947. After the 1971 war, philosophers such as Jalaludin Abdur Rahim, Gianchandani, and Malik Khalid incorporated Marxism into Pakistan's philosophical thinking. Influential work by Manzoor Ahmad, Jon Elia, Hasan Askari Rizvi, and Abdul Khaliq brought mainstream social, political, and analytical philosophy to the fore in academia. Works by Noam Chomsky have influenced philosophical ideas in various fields of social and political philosophy. Four periods are recognised in Pakistani architecture: pre-Islamic, Islamic, colonial, and post-colonial. With the beginning of the Indus civilization around the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE, an advanced urban culture developed for the first time in the region, with large buildings, some of which survive to this day. Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, and Kot Diji are among the pre-Islamic settlements that are now tourist attractions. The rise of Buddhism and the influence of Greek civilisation led to the development of a Greco- Buddhist style, starting from the 1st century CE. The high point of this era was the Gandhara style. An example of Buddhist architecture is the ruins of the Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The arrival of Islam in what is today Pakistan meant the sudden end of Buddhist architecture in the area and a smooth transition to the predominantly pictureless Islamic architecture. The most important Indo-Islamic-style building still standing is the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. During the Mughal era, design elements of Persian-Islamic architecture were fused with and often produced playful forms of Hindustani art. Lahore, as the occasional residence of Mughal rulers, contains many important buildings from the empire. Most prominent among them are the Badshahi Mosque, the fortress of Lahore with the famous Alamgiri Gate, the colourful, Mughal-style Wazir Khan Mosque, the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, and the Shahjahan Mosque in Thatta. In the British colonial period, predominantly functional buildings of the Indo-European representative style developed from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components. Post-colonial national identity is expressed in modern structures such as the Faisal Mosque, the Minar-e-Pakistan, and the Mazar-e-Quaid. Several examples of architectural infrastructure demonstrating the influence of British design can be found in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi. Pakistani cuisine is similar to that of other regions of South Asia, with some of it being originated from the royal kitchens of 16th-century Mughal emperors. Most of those dishes have their roots in British, Indian, Central Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Unlike Middle Eastern cuisine, Pakistani cooking uses large quantities of spices, herbs, and seasoning. Garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chili, and garam masala are used in most dishes, and home cooking regularly includes curry, roti, a thin flatbread made from wheat, is a staple food, usually served with curry, meat, vegetables, and lentils. Rice is also common; it is served plain, fried with spices, and in sweet dishes. Lassi is a traditional drink in the Punjab region. Black tea with milk and sugar is popular throughout Pakistan and is consumed daily by most of the population. Sohan halwa is a popular sweet dish from the southern region of Punjab province and is enjoyed all over Pakistan. Most sports played in Pakistan originated and were substantially developed by athletes and sports fans from the United Kingdom who introduced them during the British Raj. Field hockey is the national sport of Pakistan; it has won three gold medals in the Olympic Games held in 1960, 1968, and 1984. Pakistan has also won the Hockey World Cup a record four times, held in 1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994. Cricket, however, is the most popular game across the country. The country has had an array of success in the sport over the years, and has the distinct achievement of having won each of the major ICC international cricket tournaments: ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC World Twenty20, and ICC Champions Trophy; as well as the ICC Test Championship. The cricket team (known as Shaheen) won the Cricket World Cup held in 1992; it was runner-up once, in 1999. Pakistan was runner-up in the inaugural World Twenty20 (2007) in South Africa and won the World Twenty20 in England in 2009. In March 2009, militants attacked the touring Sri Lankan cricket team, after which no international cricket was played in Pakistan until May 2015, when the Zimbabwean team agreed to a tour. Pakistan also won the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy by defeating arch-rivals India in the final. Association Football is the second most played sports in Pakistan and it is organised and regulated by the Pakistan Football Federation. Football in Pakistan is as old as the country itself. Shortly after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) was created, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah became its first Patron-in-Chief. The highest football division in Pakistan is the Pakistan Premier League. Pakistan is known as one of the best manufacturer of the official FIFA World Cup ball. The best football players to play for Pakistan are Kaleemullah, Zesh Rehman, Muhammad Essa, Haroon Yousaf, and Muhammad Adil. Pakistan has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1989 and 2004 South Asian Games; the 1984, 1993, 1996 and 2003 World Squash Championships; the 1987 and 1996 Cricket World Cup; and the 1990 Hockey World Cup. Pakistan is set to host the 2022 South Asian Games. Outline of Pakistan Muhammad Qasim Zaman,Islam in Pakistan: A History (Princeton UP, 2018) online review Pakistan Public Policies & Researches Pakistan from UCB Libraries GovPubs, Pakistan from the BBC News, Pakistan at Encyclopædia Britannica, Key Development Forecasts for Pakistan from International Futures South Asia or Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan SAARC countries and, for some authorities, adjoining countries to the west and east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land (clockwise, from west) by Western Asia, Central Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia. The current territories of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka form South Asia. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which was established in 1985 and includes all eight nations comprising South Asia. South Asia covers about 5.2 million km (2 million mi), which is 11.71% of the Asian continent or 3.5% of the world's land surface area. The population of South Asia is about 1.891 billion or about one fourth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. Overall, it accounts for about 39.49% of Asia's population, over 24% of the world's population, and is home to a vast array of people. In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest populations of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains and Zoroastrians. South Asia alone accounts for 98.47% population of global Hindus, 90.5% of global Sikhs, 31% of global Muslims, 35 million Christians and 25 million Buddhists. The total area of South Asia and its geographical extent is not clear cut as systemic and foreign policy orientations of its constituents are quite asymmetrical. Aside from the central region of South Asia, formerly part of the British Empire, there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia. Modern definitions of South Asia are consistent in including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives as the constituent countries. Myanmar is included by some scholars in South Asia, but in Southeast Asia by others. Some do not include Afghanistan, others question whether Afghanistan should be considered a part of South Asia or the Middle East. The current territories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, which were the core of the British Empire from 1857 to 1947, form the central region of South Asia, in addition to Afghanistan, which was a British protectorate until 1919, after the Second Anglo-Afghan war. The mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included as well. Myanmar (formerly Burma) is often added, and by various deviating definitions based on often substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Tibet Autonomous Region are included as well. The common concept of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the British Raj, with several exceptions. The Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the Raj, have not been proposed as any part of South Asia. Additionally Burma was administered as part of the Raj until 1937, but is now considered a part of Southeast Asia and is a member state of ASEAN. The 562 princely states that were protected by but not directly ruled by the Raj became administrative parts of South Asia upon joining Union of India or Dominion of Pakistan. Geopolitically, it had formed the whole territory of Greater India, The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a contiguous block of countries, started in 1985 with seven countriesBangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lankaand added Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2007. China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of full members of SAARC. This bloc of countries include two independent countries that were not part of the British Raj – Nepal, and Bhutan. Afghanistan was a British protectorate from 1878 until 1919, after the Afghans lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan war. The World Factbook, based on geo-politics, people, and economy defines South Asia as comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement incorporated Afghanistan in 2011, and the World Bank grouping of countries in the region also includes all eight members comprising South Asia and SAARC as well, and the same goes for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The United Nations Statistics Division's scheme of sub-regions include all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia, along with Iran only for statistical purposes. Population Information Network (POPIN) includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as part of South Asia. Maldives, in view of its characteristics, was admitted as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network only in principle. The Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region includes only the original seven signatories of SAARC. The British Indian Ocean Territory is connected to the region by a publication of Jane's for security considerations. The region may also include the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which was part of the British Indian princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, but is now administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. The inclusion of Myanmar in South Asia is without consensus, with many considering it a part of Southeast Asia and others including it within South Asia. Afghanistan was of importance to the British colonial empire, especially after the Second Anglo-Afghan War over 1878–1880. Afghanistan remained a British protectorate until 1919 when a treaty with Vladimir Lenin included the granting of independence to Afghanistan. Following India's partition, Afghanistan has generally been included in South Asia, with some considering it a part of Southwest Asia. During the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) American foreign policy considered Pakistan and Afghanistan in Southwest Asia, while others included it as a part of South Asia. There is no universal agreement among scholars on which countries should be included within South Asia. In the past, a lack of a coherent definition for South Asia resulted in not only a lack of academic studies, but also in a lack of interest for such studies. The confusion existed also because of the lack of a clear boundary – geographically, geopolitical, socio-culturally, economically or historically – between South Asia and other parts of Asia, especially the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Identification with a South Asian identity was also found to be significantly low among respondents in an older two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. However, modern definitions of South Asia are very consistent in including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives as the constituent countries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "subcontinent" signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and also a "large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent". Historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot state that the term "Indian subcontinent" describes a natural physical landmass in South Asia that has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia. The Indian subcontinent is also a geological term referring to the land mass that drifted northeastwards from ancient Gondwana, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Palaeocene. This geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The use of the term Indian subcontinent began in the British Empire, and has been a term particularly common in its successors. This region has also been labelled as "India" (in its classical and pre-modern sense), "Greater India", or as South Asia. According to anthropologist John R. Lukacs, "the Indian Subcontinent occupies the major landmass of South Asia", while the political science professor Tatu Vanhanen states, "the seven countries of South Asia constitute geographically a compact region around the Indian Subcontinent". According to Chris Brewster, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan constitute the Indian subcontinent; with Afghanistan and Maldives included it is more commonly referred to as South Asia. The geopolitical boundaries of Indian subcontinent, according to Dhavendra Kumar, include "India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and other small islands of the Indian Ocean". Maldives, the country consisting of a small archipelago southwest of the peninsula, is considered part of the Indian subcontinent. The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably. The South Asia term is particularly common when scholars or officials seek to differentiate this region from East Asia. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance." This "neutral" notion refers to the concerns of Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly given the recurring conflicts between India and Pakistan, wherein the dominant placement of "India" as a prefix before the subcontinent might offend some political sentiments. There is no globally accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. While Afghanistan is not considered as a part of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan is often included in South Asia. Similarly, Myanmar is included by some scholars in South Asia but not in Indian subcontinent. The history of core South Asia begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens, as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of South Asia from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE in present-day Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, was the first major civilization in South Asia. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE. The earliest prehistoric culture have roots in the mesolithic sites as evidenced by the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older, as well as neolithic times. According to anthropologist Possehl, the Indus Valley Civilization provides a logical, if somewhat arbitrary, starting point for South Asian religions, but these links from the Indus religion to later-day South Asian traditions are subject to scholarly dispute. The Vedic period, named after the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans, lasted from c. 1900 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, Linguistic and archaeological data show a cultural change after 1500 BCE, with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion. By about 1200 BCE, the Vedic culture and agrarian lifestyle was established in the northwest and northern Gangetic plain of South Asia. Rudimentary state-forms appeared, of which the Kuru-Pañcāla union was the most influential. The first recorded state-level society in South Asia existed around 1000 BCE. In this period, states Samuel, emerged the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic texts, which merged into the earliest Upanishads. These texts began to ask the meaning of a ritual, adding increasing levels of philosophical and metaphysical speculation, or "Hindu synthesis". Increasing urbanisation of India between 800 and 400 BCE, and possibly the spread of urban diseases, contributed to the rise of ascetic movements and of new ideas which challenged the orthodox Brahmanism. These ideas led to Sramana movements, of which Mahavira (c. 549–477 BCE), proponent of Jainism, and Buddha (c. 563-483), founder of Buddhism, were the most prominent icons. The Greek army led by Alexander the Great stayed in the Hindu Kush region of South Asia for several years and then later moved into the Indus valley region. Later, the Maurya Empire extended over much of South Asia in the 3rd century BCE. Buddhism spread beyond south Asia, through northwest into Central Asia. The Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan and the edicts of Aśoka suggest that the Buddhist monks spread Buddhism (Dharma) in eastern provinces of the Seleucid Empire, and possibly even farther into Western Asia. The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE, to Sri Lanka, later to Southeast Asia. Buddhism, by the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, was prominent in the Himalayan region, Gandhara, Hindu Kush region and Bactria. From about 500 BCE through about 300 CE, the Vedic-Brahmanic synthesis or "Hindu synthesis" continued. Classical Hindu and Sramanic (particularly Buddhist) ideas spread within South Asia, as well outside South Asia. The Gupta Empire ruled over a large part of the region between 4th and 7th centuries, a period that saw the construction of major temples, monasteries and universities such as the Nalanda. During this era, and through the 10th century, numerous cave monasteries and temples such as the Ajanta Caves, Badami cave temples and Ellora Caves were built in South Asia. Islam came as a political power in the fringe of South Asia in 8th century CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh, and Multan in Southern Punjab, in modern-day Pakistan. By 962 CE, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia were under a wave of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia. Among them was Mahmud of Ghazni, who raided and plundered kingdoms in north India from east of the Indus river to west of Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030. Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retracted each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab. The wave of raids on north Indian and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni, plundering and looting these kingdoms. The raids did not establish or extend permanent boundaries of their Islamic kingdoms. The Ghurid Sultan Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad began a systematic war of expansion into North India in 1173. He sought to carve out a principality for himself by expanding the Islamic world. Mu'izz sought a Sunni Islamic kingdom of his own extending east of the Indus river, and he thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom that became the Delhi Sultanate. Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Mu'izz al-Din in South Asia by that time. The Delhi Sultanate covered varying parts of South Asia and was ruled by a series of dynasties, called Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. Muhammad bin Tughlaq came to power in 1325, launched a war of expansion and the Delhi Sultanate reached it largest geographical reach over the South Asian region during his 26-year rule. A Sunni Sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlaq persecuted non- Muslims such as Hindus, as well as non-Sunni Muslims such as Shia and Mahdi sects. Revolts against the Delhi Sultanate sprang up in many parts of South Asia during the 14th century. After the death of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Bengal Sultanate came to power in 1352 CE, as the Delhi Sultanate began disintegrating. The Bengal Sultanate remained in power through the early 16th century. It was reconquered by the armies of the Mughal Empire. The state religion of the Bengal Sultanate was Islam, and the region under its rule, a region that ultimately emerged as the modern nation of Bangladesh, saw a growth of a syncretic form of Islam. In the Deccan region, the Hindu kingdom Vijayanagara Empire came to power in 1336 and remained in power through the 16th century, after which it too was reconquered and absorbed into the Mughal Empire. About 1526, the Punjab governor Dawlat Khan Lodī reached out to the Mughal Babur and invited him to attack Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire replaced it. The modern history period of South Asia, that is 16th-century onwards, witnessed the start of the Central Asian dynasty named the Mughals, with Turkish-Mongol roots and Sunni Islam theology. The first ruler was Babur, whose empire extended the northwest and Indo-Gangetic Plain regions of South Asia. The Deccan and northeastern region of the South Asia was largely under Hindu kings such as those of Vijayanagara Empire and Ahom kingdom, with some regions such as parts of modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh under local Sultanates such as the Shia Islamic rulers of Golconda Sultanate. The Mughal Empire continued its wars of expansion after Babur's death. With the fall of the Rajput kingdoms and Vijayanagara, its boundaries encompassed almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughal Empire was marked by a period of artistic exchanges and a Central Asian and South Asian architecture synthesis, with remarkable buildings such as the Taj Mahal. At its height, the empire was the world's largest economy, worth almost 25% of global GDP, more than the entirety of Western Europe. However, this time also marked an extended period of religious persecution. Two of the religious leaders of Sikhism, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur were arrested under orders of the Mughal emperors, asked to convert to Islam, and executed when they refused. Religious taxes on non-Muslims called jizya were imposed. Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples were desecrated. However, not all Muslim rulers persecuted non- Muslims. Akbar, a Mughal ruler for example, sought religious tolerance and abolished jizya. In Aurangzeb's time, almost all of South Asia was claimed by the Mughal Empire. Through Aurangzeb's Islamic Sharia based rule, South Asia reached its zenith, becoming the world's largest economy and biggest manufacturing power, estimated over 25% of world GDP, a value higher than China's and entire Western Europe's one. The economic developments on South Asia waved the period of proto-industrialization. After the death of Aurangzeb and the collapse of the Mughal Empire, which marks the beginning of modern India, in the early 18th century, it provided opportunities for the Marathas, Sikhs, Mysoreans and Nawabs of Bengal to exercise control over large regions of the Indian subcontinent. Maritime trading between South Asia and European merchants began after the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama returned to Europe. British, French, Portuguese colonial interests struck treaties with these rulers and established their trading ports. In northwest South Asia, a large region was consolidated into the Sikh Empire by Ranjit Singh. After the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal and Tipu Sultan and his French allies, the British Empire expanded their interests till the Hindu Kush region. In the east, the Bengal region was split into Muslim East Bengal and Hindu West Bengal, by the colonial British empire, in the early 1900s, a split that was reversed. However, after World War II, at the eve of India's independence, the region was split again into East Pakistan and West Bengal. East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971. According to Saul Cohen, early colonial era strategists treated South Asia with East Asia, but in reality, the South Asia region excluding Afghanistan is a distinct geopolitical region separated from other nearby geostrategic realms, one that is geographically diverse. The region is home to a variety of geographical features, such as glaciers, rainforests, valleys, deserts, and grasslands that are typical of much larger continents. It is surrounded by three water bodiesthe Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Seaand has acutely varied climate zones. The tip of the Indian Peninsula had the highest quality pearls. The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how the region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries vary based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers. Much of the region consists of a peninsula in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east, and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. According to Robert M. Cutler – a scholar of Political Science at Carleton University, the terms South Asia, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia are distinct, but the confusion and disagreements have arisen due to the geopolitical movement to enlarge these regions into Greater South Asia, Greater Southwest Asia, and Greater Central Asia. The frontier of Greater South Asia, states Cutler, between 2001–2006 has been geopolitically extended to eastern Iran and western Afghanistan in the west, and in the north to northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and southern Uzbekistan. Most of this region is resting on the Indian Plate, the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate. The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia, forming a land mass which extends from the Himalayas into a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia, as well as Kunlun and Karakoram ranges, and extending up to but not including Ladakh, Kohistan, the Hindu Kush range and Balochistan. It may be noted that geophysically the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet is situated at the outside of the border of the regional structure, while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are situated inside that border. It was once a small continent before colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50–55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau. It is the peninsular region south of the Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountain ranges and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau, extending southward into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea (to the southwest) and the Bay of Bengal (to the southeast). The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The variety is influenced by not only the altitude but also by factors such as proximity to the seacoast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons. Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon periods. The northern belt of Indo-Gangetic plains also is hot in summer, but cooler in winter. The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalayan ranges. As the Himalayas block the north-Asian bitter cold winds, the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below. For the most part, the climate of the region is called the Monsoon climate, which keeps the region humid during summer and dry during winter, and favours the cultivation of jute, tea, rice, and various vegetables in this region. South Asia is largely divided into four broad climate zones: The northern Indian edge and northern Pakistani uplands have a dry subtropical continental climate, The far south of India and southwest Sri Lanka have an equatorial climate, Most of the peninsula have a tropical climate with variations:, Hot subtropical climate in northwest India, Cool winter hot tropical climate in Bangladesh, Tropical semi-arid climate in the center, The Himalayas have an Alpine climate Maximum relative humidity of over 80% has been recorded in Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Sri Lanka, while the area adjustment to Pakistan and western India records lower than 20%–30%. Climate of South Asia is largely characterized by monsoons. South Asia depends critically on monsoon rainfall. Two monsoon systems exist in the region: The summer monsoon: Wind blows from southwest to most of parts of the region. It accounts for 70%–90% of the annual precipitation., The winter monsoon: Wind blows from northeast. Dominant in Sri Lanka and Maldives. The warmest period of the year precedes the monsoon season (March to mid June). In the summer the low pressures are centered over the Indus-Gangetic Plain and high wind from the Indian Ocean blows towards the center. The monsoons are the second coolest season of the year because of high humidity and cloud covering. But, at the beginning of June, the jetstreams vanish above the Tibetan Plateau, low pressure over the Indus Valley deepens and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) moves in. The change is violent. Moderately vigorous monsoon depressions form in the Bay of Bengal and make landfall from June to September. This list includes dependent territories within their sovereign states (including uninhabited territories), but does not include claims on Antarctica. EEZ+TIA is exclusive economic zone (EEZ) plus total internal area (TIA) which includes land and internal waters. The population of South Asia is about 1.749 billion which makes it the most populated region in the world. It is socially very mixed, consisting of many language groups and religions, and social practices in one region that are vastly different from those in another. South Asia is home to some of the most populated cities in the world. Dhaka, Delhi, Mumbai and Karachi are four of the world's largest megacities. There are numerous languages in South Asia. The spoken languages of the region are largely based on geography and shared across religious boundaries, but the written script is sharply divided by religious boundaries. In particular, Muslims of South Asia such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan use the Arabic alphabet and Persian Nastaliq. Till 1952, Muslim-majority Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) too mandated only the Nastaliq script, but thereafter has adopted regional scripts and particularly Bengali, after the Language Movement for the adoption of Bengali as the official language of the then East Pakistan. Non-Muslims of South Asia, and some Muslims in India, on the other hand, use their traditional ancient heritage scripts such as those derived from Brahmi script for Indo-European languages and non-Brahmi scripts for Dravidian languages and others. The Nagari script has been the primus inter pares of the traditional South Asian scripts. The Devanagari script is used for over 120 South Asian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Pali, Konkani, Bodo, Sindhi and Maithili among other languages and dialects, making it one of the most used and adopted writing systems in the world. The Devanagari script is also used for classical Sanskrit texts. The largest spoken language in this region is Hindi, followed by Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi. In the modern era, new syncretic languages developed in the region such as Urdu that is used by Muslim community of northern South Asia (particularly Pakistan and northern states of India). The Punjabi language spans three religions: Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism. The spoken language is similar, but it is written in three scripts. The Sikh use Gurmukhi alphabet, Muslim Punjabis in Pakistan use the Nastaliq script, while Hindu Punjabis in India use the Gurmukhi or Nāgarī script. The Gurmukhi and Nagari scripts are distinct but close in their structure, but the Persian Nastaliq script is very different. English, with British spelling, is commonly used in urban areas and is a major economic lingua franca of South Asia. In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, about 510 million Muslims, as well as over 25 million Buddhists and 35 million Christians. Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population, while Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Sikhs constitute most of the rest. The Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians are concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (90%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%). Indian religions are the religions that originated in the India; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology, concepts, goals and ideas, and from South Asia spread into East Asia and southeast Asia. Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations. Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia, which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia. Subsequently, under the influence of Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire, Islam spread in South Asia. About one-third of the Muslims are from South Asia. Population of South Asian countries in 1950, 1975, 2000, 2025, 2050, 2075 and 2100 projection from the United Nations has been displayed in table. The given population projections are based on medium fertility index. With India and Bangladesh approaching replacement rates fast, population growth in South Asia is facing steep decline and may turn negative in mid 21st century. India is the largest and fastest growing economy in the region (US$2.957 trillion) and makes up almost 80% of the South Asian economy; it is the world's 6th largest in nominal terms and 3rd largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates (US$10.385 trillion). India is the only member of powerful G-20 major economies and BRICS from the region. It is the fastest growing major economy in the world and one of the world's fastest registering a growth of 7.3% in FY 2014–15. Followed by Bangladesh, which has a GDP of ($314.656 billion) and a GDP per capita of $1888 which is 4th in the region. It has the fastest GDP growth rate in Asia. It is one of the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world and It is also listed among the Next Eleven countries. It is also one of the fastest growing middle-income countries. It has the world's 39th largest GDP in nominal terms and is the 29th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates ($829.272 billion). Bangladesh's economic growth crossed 7% in fiscal 2015–2016 after almost a decade in the region of 6%, It's expected to grow by 8.13% in 2019–2020. Followed by Pakistan, It has an economy of ($314 billion) and ranks 5th in GDP per capita in the region. Then by Sri Lanka which has the 2nd highest per capita and is the 4th largest economy in the region. According to a World Bank report in 2015, driven by a strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices, from the last quarter of 2014 South Asia become the fastest- growing region in the world The Major Market stock exchanges in the region are Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with market Capitalization of $2.298 trillion (11th largest in the world), National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) with market capitalization of $2.273 trillion (12th largest in the world), Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with market capitalization of $72 billion. Economic data is sourced from the International Monetary Fund, current as of April 2017, and is given in US dollars. According to WHO, South Asia is home to two out of the three countries in the world still affected by polio, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with 306 & 28 polio cases registered in 2014 respectively. Attempts to eradicate polio have been badly hit by opposition from militants in both countries, who say the program is cover to spy on their operations. Their attacks on immunization teams have claimed 78 lives since December 2012. According to the World Bank's 2011 report, based on 2005 ICP PPP, about 24.6% of the South Asian population falls below the international poverty line of $1.25/day. Afghanistan and Bangladesh rank the highest, with 30.6% and 43.3% of their respective populations below the poverty line. Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have the lowest number of people below the poverty line, with 2.4%, 1.5% and 4.1% respectively. India has lifted the most people in the region above the poverty line between 2008 and 2011, around 140 million. As of 2011, 21.9% of India's population lives below the poverty line, compared to 41.6% in 2005. The World Bank estimates that India is one of the highest ranking countries in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa with dire consequences for mobility, mortality, productivity, and economic growth. According to the World Bank, 70% of the South Asian population and about 75% of South Asia's poor live in rural areas and most rely on agriculture for their livelihood according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation. In 2015, approximately 281 million people in the region were malnourished. The report says that Nepal reached both the WFS target as well as MDG and is moving towards bringing down the number of undernourished people to less than 5% of the population. Bangladesh reached the MDG target with the National Food Policy frameworkwith only 16.5% of the population undernourished. In India, the malnourished comprise just over 15 percent of the population. While the number of malnourished people in the neighborhood has shown a decline over the last 25 years, the number of under- nourished in Pakistan displays an upward trend. There were 28.7 million hungry in Pakistan in the 1990sa number that has steadily increased to 41.3 million in 2015 with 22% of the population malnourished. Approximately 194.6 million people are undernourished in India, which accounts for the highest number of people suffering from hunger in any single country. The 2006 report stated, "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region". Corruption and the lack of initiative on the part of the government has been one of the major problems associated with nutrition in India. Illiteracy in villages has been found to be one of the major issues that need more government attention. The report mentioned that although there has been a reduction in malnutrition due to the Green Revolution in South Asia, there is concern that South Asia has "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children". Below is the latest general statistical data for South Asian nations. Their total population, area and GDPs have been cited along with their shares of percentage of this attribute of total South Asia in bracket. Republic of India accounts for most of landmass, population and GDP and hence, heavily influences average of South Asian development attributes. Sri Lanka and Maldives are leaders in the region in terms of Human Development Index and GDP per capita while Afghanistan scores lowest in terms of both the attributes in the region. Countries and territories from extended definitions India is a secular federative parliamentary republic with premier as head of government. With most populous functional democracy in world and world's longest written constitution, India has been stably sustaining the political system it adopted in 1950 with no regime change except that by a democratic election. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer establishments. Since the formation of its republic abolishing British law, it has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press. India leads region in democracy index. It has a multi-party system in its internal regional politics whereas alternative transfer of powers to alliances of Indian left-wing and right-wing political parties in national government provide it with characteristics of a two-party state. India has been facing notable internal religious conflicts and separatism however consistently becoming more and more stable with time. Foundation of Pakistan lies in Pakistan movement started in colonial India based on Islamic nationalism. Pakistan is a federal parliamentary Islamic republic and was the world's first country to adopt Islamic republic system to modify its republican status under its otherwise secular constitution in 1956. Pakistan's governance is one of the most conflicted in the world. The military rule and the unstable government in Pakistan has become a concern for the South Asian region. Out of 22 appointed Pakistani Prime ministers, none has been able to complete a full term in office. The nature of Pakistani politics can be characterized as a multi-party system. Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic. Law of Bangladesh defines it as both Islamic as well as secular. The nature of Bangladeshi politics can be characterized as a multi-party system. Afghanistan has been a unitary presidential Islamic republic since 2004. Afghanistan has been suffering from one of most unstable regimes on earth as a result of multiple foreign invasions, civil wars, revolutions and terrorist groups. Persisting instability for decades have left country's economy stagnated and torn and Afghanistan remains one of most poor and least developed countries on planet. The unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic of Sri Lanka is oldest sustained democracy in Asia. Tensions between Sinhalese and Tamils led to Sri Lankan civil war that undermined country's stability for more than two and a half decade. Sri Lanka however, has been leading region in HDI with per capita GDP well ahead of India and Bangladesh. Nepal was last Hindu state in world before becoming a secular democratic republic in 2008. The country has been ranked among world's poorest in terms of GDP per capita but has made considerable progress in development indicators outpacing many other South Asian states. Bhutan is a Buddhist state with a constitutional monarchy. The country has been ranked as least corrupt and peaceful with most economic freedom in the region in 2016. Myanmar's politics is dominated by a military Junta, which has sidelined the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Maldives is a unitary presidential republic with Sunni Islam strictly as state religion. Populism is a general characteristic of internal politics of South Asian nations. Multiateral organizations South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC has been the primary regional supranational body comprising all current South Asian nations. The idea of cooperation among South Asian countries was first discussed in New Delhi in April 1947. In 1970s, South Asian countries agreed upon forming a trade bloc within the region. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 accelerated efforts to form a union to restrengthen deteriorating regional security. After agreements, the union was finally established in Dhaka in December 1985. However, deterioration of India-Pakistan ties have led India to emphasize more on sub-regional groups SASEC and BBIN. Due to 2016 Uri terror attack on Indian security forces, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives pulled out of 19th summit of SAARC that was supposed to be held in Pakistan which led to its ultimate cancellation. South Asia continues to remain least integrated region in the world. Meanwhile, in East Asia, regional trade accounts for 50% of total trade, it accounts for only a little more than 5% in South Asia. By country India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the dominant political powers in the region. India is by far the largest country in the area covering around three- fourths the land area of the South Asian region. India has the largest population of around three times the combined population of the 6 other countries in the region. India is also the world's largest democracy . India's defense budget is $66.5 billion which exceeds to the whole Pakistan's Federal budget of $42 billion for 2018-19 greatly. Bangladesh is a unitary state and parliamentary democracy. Bangladesh also stands out as one of the few Muslim- majority democracies. "It is a moderate and generally secular and tolerant — though sometimes this is getting stretched at the moment — alternative to violent extremism in a very troubled part of the world", said Dan Mozena, the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh's legal code is secular, more citizens are embracing a conservative version of Islam, with some pushing for sharia law, analysts say. Experts say that the rise in conservatism reflects the influence of foreign-financed Islamic charities and the more austere version of Islam brought home by migrant workers in Persian Gulf countries. Diplomacy among the countries of South Asia has been mainly driven by populist politics, with the centre-stage taken by India-Pakistan conflict ever since their independence in 1947, and then the creation of Bangladesh under tense circumstances in 1971. During the height of Cold war, the elite political leaders of Pakistan aligned with the US, while India played crucial role informing the Non-Aligned Movement and while maintaining goodwill relations with the USSR. Pakistan's governance is one of the most conflicted in the region. The military rule and the unstable government in Pakistan has become a concern for the South Asian region. In Nepal, the governance has struggled to come in the side of democracy and it only showed signs in the recent past, basically in the 21st century, to support the democratic system. The political situation in Sri Lanka has been dominated by an increasingly assertive Sinhalese nationalism, and the emergence of a Tamil separatist movement under LTTE, which was suppressed in May 2009. Myanmar's politics is dominated by a military Junta, which has sidelined the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia, Indian subcontinent, List of tallest buildings and structures in South Asia, South Asia Disaster Report, South Asian cuisine South Asia, The World Bank, Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago, South Asian and Himalayan Arts, Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian, South Asia, Brookings Institution, South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation, Asia Development Bank Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the regions that are geographically south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent and north-west of Australia. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean. The region is the only part of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere, although the majority of it is in the Northern Hemisphere. In contemporary definition, Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions: 1. Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. 2. Maritime Southeast Asia, also known historically as Nusantara, the East Indies, or the Malay Archipelago, comprising the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India, Indonesia (except Western New Guinea, which is considered part of the Australian continent), East Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Christmas Island, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with both heavy seismic and volcanic activities. The Sunda Plate is the main plate of the region, featuring almost all Southeast Asian countries except Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, and northern Luzon of the Philippines. The mountain ranges in Myanmar, Thailand, and peninsular Malaysia are part of the Alpide belt, while the islands of the Philippines are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to have relatively high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Southeast Asia covers about 4.5 million km (1.7 million mi), which is 10.5% of Asia or 3% of earth's total land area. Its total population is more than floor(/1e6) million, about 8.5% of the world's population. It is the third most populous geographical region in the world after South Asia and East Asia. The region is culturally and ethnically diverse, with hundreds of languages spoken by different ethnic groups. Ten countries in the region are members of ASEAN, a regional organization established for economic, political, military, educational and cultural integration amongst its members. The region, together with part of South Asia, was well known by Europeans as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Chinese sources referred the region as 南洋 (Nanyang), which literally means the "Southern Ocean." The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighboring regions. In the 20th century, however, the term became more restricted to territories of the former French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). The maritime section of Southeast Asia is also known as the Malay Archipelago, a term derived from the European concept of a Malay race. Another term for Maritime Southeast Asia is Insulindia (Indian Islands), used to describe the region between Indochina and Australasia. The term "Southeast Asia" was first used in 1839 by American pastor Howard Malcolm in his book Travels in South-Eastern Asia. Malcolm only included the Mainland section and excluded the Maritime section in his definition of Southeast Asia. The term was officially used in the midst of World War II by the Allies, through the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) in 1943. SEAC popularised the use of the term "Southeast Asia," although what constituted Southeast Asia was not fixed; for example, SEAC excluded the Philippines and a large part of Indonesia while including Ceylon. However, by the late 1970s, a roughly standard usage of the term "Southeast Asia" and the territories it encompasses had emerged. Although from a cultural or linguistic perspective the definitions of "Southeast Asia" may vary, the most common definitions nowadays include the area represented by the countries (sovereign states and dependent territories) listed below. Ten of the eleven states of Southeast Asia are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while East Timor is an observer state. Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia (or Indochina) and Maritime Southeast Asia (or the similarly defined Malay Archipelago) (). Mainland Southeast Asia includes: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam Maritime Southeast Asia includes: Indonesia, Philippines, East Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, East Timor The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India have strong cultural ties with Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered both South Asian and Southeast Asian. Sri Lanka has on some occasions been considered a part of Southeast Asia because of its cultural ties to mainland Southeast Asia. The rest of the island of New Guinea which is not part of Indonesia, namely, Papua New Guinea, is sometimes included, and so are Palau, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, which were all part of the Spanish East Indies with strong cultural and linguistic ties to the region, specifically, the Philippines. The eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor (east of the Wallace Line) are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania (Wallacea) due to its distinctive faunal features. New Guinea and its surrounding islands are geologically considered as a part of Australian continent, connected via the Sahul Shelf. The region was already inhabited by Homo erectus from 1,000,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene age. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, having moved eastwards from the Indian subcontinent. Rock art (parietal art) dating from 40,000 years ago (which is currently the world's oldest) has been discovered in the caves of Borneo. Homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. It has been proposed that the Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, and the Philippines, may have migrated to Southeast Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BC, and as they spread through the archipelago, they often settled along coastal areas and confined indigenous peoples such as Orang Asli of peninsular Malaysia, Negritos of the Philippines or Papuans of New Guinea to inland regions. Archaeologists refer these people as Deutero- Malays, whom are more advanced in farming techniques and metal knowledge than their indigenous counterpart, the Proto-Malays. Studies presented by HUGO (Human Genome Organization) through genetic studies of the various peoples of Asia, show empirically that there was a single migration event from Africa, whereby the early people travelled along the south coast of Asia, first entered the Malay peninsula 50,000–90,000 years ago. The Orang Asli, in particular the Semang who show Negrito characteristics, are the direct descendants of these earliest settlers of Southeast Asia. These early people diversified and travelled slowly northwards to China, and the populations of Southeast Asia show greater genetic diversity than the younger population of China. Studies on the genetics of modern Malays however show that there is a complex history of admixture of human populations in Southeast Asia, with the Malay population showing four major ancestral components: Austronesian, Proto- Malay, East Asian, and South Asian. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao (Nusantara) maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The Bronze Age Dong Son culture flourished in Northern Vietnam from about 1000 BC to 1 BC. Its influence spread to other parts Southeast Asia. The region entered the Iron Age era in 500 BC, when iron was forged also in northern Vietnam still under Dong Son, due to its frequent interactions with neighboring China. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years, some reaching the island of Madagascar, became the ancestors of modern-day Malagasy people. Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar, as well as commerce between Western Asia, eastern coast of India and Chinese southern coast. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome. Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History about Chryse and Argyre, two legendary islands rich in gold and silver, located in the Indian Ocean. Their vessels, such as the vinta, were capable to sail across ocean. Magellan's voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships. A slave from the Sulu Sea was believed to have been used in Magellan's voyage as a translator. Most Southeast Asian people were originally animist, engaged in ancestors, nature, and spirits worship. These belief systems were later supplanted by Hinduism and Buddhism after the region, especially coastal areas, came under contacts with Indian subcontinent during the 1st century. Indian Brahmins and traders brought Hinduism to the region and made contacts with local courts. Local rulers converted to Hinduism or Buddhism and adopted Indian religious traditions to reinforce their legitimacy, elevate ritual status above their fellow chief counterparts and facilitate trade with South Asian states. They periodically invited Indian Brahmins into their realms and began a gradual process of Indianisation in the region. Shaivism was the dominant religious tradition of many southern Indian Hindu kingdoms during the 1st century. It then spread into Southeast Asia via Bay of Bengal, Indochina, then Malay Archipelago, leading to thousands of Shiva temples on the islands of Indonesia as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, co-evolving with Buddhism in the region. Theravada Buddhism entered the region during the 3rd century, via maritime trade routes between the region and Sri Lanka. Buddhism later established a strong presence in Funan region in the 5th century. In present- day mainland Southeast Asia, Theravada is still the dominant branch of Buddhism, practiced by the Thai, Burmese and Cambodian Buddhists. This branch was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture. Mahayana Buddhism established presence in Maritime Southeast Asia, brought by Chinese monks during their transit in the region en route to Nalanda. It is still the dominant branch of Buddhism practiced by Indonesian and Malaysian Buddhists. The spread of these two Indian religions confined the adherents of Southeast Asian indigenous beliefs into remote inland areas. Maluku Islands and New Guinea were never been Indianised and its native people were predominantly animists until the 15th century when Islam began to spread in those areas. While in Vietnam, Buddhism never managed to develop strong institutional networks due to strong Chinese influence. In present-day Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country where its folk religion makes up the plurality. Recently, Vietnamese folk religion is undergoing a revival with the support of the government. Elsewhere, there are ethnic groups in Southeast Asia that resist conversion and still retain their original animist beliefs, such as the Dayaks in Kalimantan, the Igorots in Luzon, and the Shans in eastern Myanmar. After the region came under contacts with Indian subcontinent circa 400 BCE, it began a gradual process of Indianisation where Indian ideas such as religions, cultures, architectures and political administrations were brought by traders and religious figures and adopted by local rulers. In turn, Indian Brahmins and monks were invited by local rulers to live in their realms and help transforming local polities to become more Indianised, blending Indian and indigenous traditions. Sanskrit and Pali became the elite language of the region, which effectively made Southeast Asia part of the Indosphere. Most of the region had been Indianised during the first centuries, while the Philippines later Indianised circa 9th century when Kingdom of Tondo was established in Luzon. Vietnam, especially its northern part, was never fully Indianised due to the many periods of Chinese domination it experienced. The first Indian-influenced polities established in the region were the Pyu city- states that already existed circa 2nd century BCE, located in inland Myanmar. It served as an overland trading hub between India and China. Theravada Buddhism was the predominant religion of these city states, while the presence of other Indian religions such as Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism were also widespread. In the 1st century, the Funan states centered in Mekong Delta were established, encompassed modern-day Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Laos, and eastern Thailand. It became the dominant trading power in mainland Southeast Asia for about five centuries, provided passage for Indian and Chinese goods and assumed authority over the flow of commerce through Southeast Asia. In maritime Southeast Asia, the first recorded Indianised kingdom was Salakanagara, established in western Java circa 2nd century CE. This Hindu kingdom was known by the Greeks as Argyre (Land of Silver). By the 5th century CE, trade networking between East and West was concentrated in the maritime route. Foreign traders were starting to use new routes such as Malacca and Sunda Strait due to the development of maritime Southeast Asia. This change resulted in the decline of Funan, while new maritime powers such as Srivijaya, Tarumanagara, and Medang emerged. Srivijaya especially became the dominant maritime power for more than 5 centuries, controlling both Strait of Malacca and Sunda Strait. This dominance started to decline when Srivijaya were invaded by Chola Empire, a dominant maritime power of Indian subcontinent, in 1025. The invasion reshaped power and trade in the region, resulted in the rise of new regional powers such as the Khmer Empire and Kahuripan. Continued commercial contacts with the Chinese Empire enabled the Cholas to influence the local cultures. Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout Southeast Asia are the result of the Chola expeditions. As Srivijaya influence in the region declined, The Hindu Khmer Empire experienced a golden age during the 11th to 13th century CE. The empire's capital Angkor hosts majestic monuments—such as Angkor Wat and Bayon. Satellite imaging has revealed that Angkor, during its peak, was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world. The Champa civilisation was located in what is today central Vietnam, and was a highly Indianised Hindu Kingdom. The Vietnamese launched a massive conquest against the Cham people during the 1471 Vietnamese invasion of Champa, ransacking and burning Champa, slaughtering thousands of Cham people, and forcibly assimilating them into Vietnamese culture. During the 13th century CE, the region experienced Mongol invasions, affected areas such as Vietnamese coast, inland Burma and Java. In 1258, 1285 and 1287, the Mongols tried to invade Đại Việt and Champa. The invasions were unsuccessful, yet both Dai Viet and Champa agreed to become tributary states to Yuan dynasty to avoid further conflicts. The Mongols also invaded Pagan Kingdom in Burma from 1277 to 1287, resulted in fragmentation of the Kingdom and rise of smaller Shan States ruled by local chieftains nominally submitted to Yuan dynasty. However, in 1297, a new local power emerged. Myinsaing Kingdom became the real ruler of Central Burma and challenged the Mongol rule. This resulted in the second Mongol invasion of Burma in 1300, which was repulsed by Myinsaing. The Mongols would later in 1303 withdrawn from Burma. In 1292, The Mongols sent envoys to Singhasari Kingdom in Java to ask for submission to Mongol rule. Singhasari rejected the proposal and injured the envoys, enraged the Mongols and made them sent a large invasion fleet to Java. Unbeknownst to them, Singhasari collapsed in 1293 due to a revolt by Kadiri, one of its vassals. When the Mongols arrived in Java, a local prince named Raden Wijaya offered his service to assist the Mongols in punishing Kadiri. After Kadiri was defeated, Wijaya turned on his Mongol allies, ambushed their invasion fleet and forced them to immediately leave Java. After the departure of the Mongols, Wijaya established the Majapahit Empire in eastern Java in 1293. Majapahit would soon grew into a regional power. Its greatest ruler was Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked the empire's peak when other kingdoms in the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali came under its influence. Various sources such as the Nagarakertagama also mention that its influence spanned over parts of Sulawesi, Maluku, and some areas of western New Guinea and southern Philippines, making it one of the largest empire to ever exist in Southeast Asian history. By the 15th century CE however, Majapahit's influence began to wane due to many war of successions it experienced and the rise of new Islamic states such as Samudera Pasai and Malacca Sultanate around the strategic Strait of Malacca. Majapahit then collapsed around 1500. It was the last major Hindu kingdom and the last regional power in the region before the arrival of the Europeans. Islam began to make contacts with Southeast Asia in the 8th-century CE, when the Umayyads established trade with the region via sea routes. However its spread into the region happened centuries later. In the 11th century, a turbulent period occurred in the history of Maritime Southeast Asia. The Indian Chola navy crossed the ocean and attacked the Srivijaya kingdom of Sangrama Vijayatungavarman in Kadaram (Kedah); the capital of the powerful maritime kingdom was sacked and the king was taken captive. Along with Kadaram, Pannai in present-day Sumatra and Malaiyur and the Malayan peninsula were attacked too. Soon after that, the king of Kedah Phra Ong Mahawangsa became the first ruler to abandon the traditional Hindu faith, and converted to Islam with the Sultanate of Kedah established in 1136. Samudera Pasai converted to Islam in 1267, the King of Malacca Parameswara married the princess of Pasai, and the son became the first sultan of Malacca. Soon, Malacca became the center of Islamic study and maritime trade, and other rulers followed suit. Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He." There are several theories to the Islamisation process in Southeast Asia. Another theory is trade. The expansion of trade among West Asia, India and Southeast Asia helped the spread of the religion as Muslim traders from Southern Yemen (Hadramout) brought Islam to the region with their large volume of trade. Many settled in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. This is evident in the Arab- Indonesian, Arab-Singaporean, and Arab-Malay populations who were at one time very prominent in each of their countries. Finally, the ruling classes embraced Islam and that further aided the permeation of the religion throughout the region. The ruler of the region's most important port, Malacca Sultanate, embraced Islam in the 15th century, heralding a period of accelerated conversion of Islam throughout the region as Islam provided a positive force among the ruling and trading classes. Gujarati Muslims played a pivotal role in establishing Islam in Southeast Asia. Trade among Southeast Asian countries has a long tradition. The consequences of colonial rule, struggle for independence and in some cases war influenced the economic attitudes and policies of each country until today. From 111 BC to 938 AD northern Vietnam was under Chinese rule. Vietnam was successfully governed by a series of Chinese dynasties including the Han, Eastern Han, Eastern Wu, Cao Wei, Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Sui, Tang, and Southern Han. Records from Magellan's voyage show that Brunei possessed more cannon than European ships, so the Chinese must have been trading with them. Malaysian legend has it that a Chinese Ming emperor sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to Malacca, with a retinue of 500, to marry Sultan Mansur Shah after the emperor was impressed by the wisdom of the sultan. Han Li Po's well (constructed 1459) is now a tourist attraction there, as is Bukit Cina, where her retinue settled. The strategic value of the Strait of Malacca, which was controlled by Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th and early 16th century, did not go unnoticed by Portuguese writer Duarte Barbosa, who in 1500 wrote "He who is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice". Western influence started to enter in the 16th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese in Malacca, Maluku and the Philippines, the latter being settled by the Spanish years later. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch established the Dutch East Indies; the French Indochina; and the British Strait Settlements. By the 19th century, all Southeast Asian countries were colonised except for Thailand. European explorers were reaching Southeast Asia from the west and from the east. Regular trade between the ships sailing east from the Indian Ocean and south from mainland Asia provided goods in return for natural products, such as honey and hornbill beaks from the islands of the archipelago. Before the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Europeans mostly were interested in expanding trade links. For the majority of the populations in each country, there was comparatively little interaction with Europeans and traditional social routines and relationships continued. For most, a life with subsistence level agriculture, fishing and, in less developed civilizations, hunting and gathering was still hard. Europeans brought Christianity allowing Christian missionaries to become widespread. Thailand also allowed Western scientists to enter its country to develop its own education system as well as start sending Royal members and Thai scholars to get higher education from Europe and Russia. During World War II, Imperial Japan invaded most of the former western colonies. The Shōwa occupation regime committed violent actions against civilians such as the Manila massacre and the implementation of a system of forced labour, such as the one involving 4 to 10 million romusha in Indonesia. A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation. The Allied powers who defeated Japan in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II then contended with nationalists to whom the occupation authorities had granted independence. Gujarat, India had a flourishing trade relationship with Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries. The trade relationship with Gujarat declined after the Portuguese invasion of Southeast Asia in the 17th century. The United States took the Philippines from Spain in 1898. It became a forward base for American trade with Asia. Most countries in the region enjoy national autonomy. Democratic forms of government and the recognition of human rights are taking root. ASEAN provides a framework for the integration of commerce, and regional responses to international concerns. China has asserted broad claims over the South China Sea, based on its Nine-Dash Line, and has built artificial islands in an attempt to bolster its claims. China also has asserted an exclusive economic zone based on the Spratly Islands. The Philippines challenged China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013, and in Philippines v. China (2016), the Court ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected China's claims. Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia and it also the largest archipelago in the world by size (according to the CIA World Factbook). Geologically. the Indonesian archipelago is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. Geological uplifts in the region have also produced some impressive mountains, culminating in Puncak Jaya in Papua, Indonesia at , on the island of New Guinea; it is the only place where ice glaciers can be found in Southeast Asia. The highest mountain in Southeast Asia is Hkakabo Razi at 5,967 meters and can be found in northern Burma sharing the same range of its parent peak, Mount Everest. The South China Sea is the major body of water within Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore, have integral rivers that flow into the South China Sea. Mayon Volcano, despite being dangerously active, holds the record of the world's most perfect cone which is built from past and continuous eruption. Southeast Asia is bounded to the southeast by the Australian continent, a boundary which runs through Indonesia. But a cultural touch point lies between Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian region of the Papua and West Papua, which shares the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea. The climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year round with plentiful rainfall. Northern Vietnam and the Myanmar Himalayas are the only regions in Southeast Asia that feature a subtropical climate, which has a cold winter with snow. The majority of Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon. The tropical rain belt causes additional rainfall during the monsoon season. The rain forest is the second largest on earth (with the Amazon being the largest). An exception to this type of climate and vegetation is the mountain areas in the northern region, where high altitudes lead to milder temperatures and drier landscape. Other parts fall out of this climate because they are desert like. Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world. Climate change will have a big effect on agriculture in Southeast Asia such as irrigation systems will be affected by changes in rainfall and runoff, and subsequently, water quality and supply. Climate change is also likely to pose a serious threat to the fisheries industry in Southeast Asia. The vast majority of Southeast Asia falls within the warm, humid tropics, and its climate generally can be characterised as monsoonal. The animals of Southeast Asia are diverse; on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the orangutan, the Asian elephant, the Malayan tapir, the Sumatran rhinoceros and the Bornean clouded leopard can also be found. Six subspecies of the binturong or bearcat exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable. Tigers of three different subspecies are found on the island of Sumatra (the Sumatran tiger), in peninsular Malaysia (the Malayan tiger), and in Indochina (the Indochinese tiger); all of which are endangered species. The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard and inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia. The Philippine eagle is the national bird of the Philippines. It is considered by scientists as the largest eagle in the world, and is endemic to the Philippines' forests. The wild Asian water buffalo, and on various islands related dwarf species of Bubalus such as anoa were once widespread in Southeast Asia; nowadays the domestic Asian water buffalo is common across the region, but its remaining relatives are rare and endangered. The mouse deer, a small tusked deer as large as a toy dog or cat, mostly can be found on Sumatra, Borneo (Indonesia) and in Palawan Islands (Philippines). The gaur, a gigantic wild ox larger than even wild water buffalo, is found mainly in Indochina. There is very little scientific information available regarding Southeast Asian amphibians. Birds such as the peafowl and drongo live in this subregion as far east as Indonesia. The babirusa, a four-tusked pig, can be found in Indonesia as well. The hornbill was prized for its beak and used in trade with China. The horn of the rhinoceros, not part of its skull, was prized in China as well. The Indonesian Archipelago is split by the Wallace Line. This line runs along what is now known to be a tectonic plate boundary, and separates Asian (Western) species from Australasian (Eastern) species. The islands between Java/Borneo and Papua form a mixed zone, where both types occur, known as Wallacea. As the pace of development accelerates and populations continue to expand in Southeast Asia, concern has increased regarding the impact of human activity on the region's environment. A significant portion of Southeast Asia, however, has not changed greatly and remains an unaltered home to wildlife. The nations of the region, with only few exceptions, have become aware of the need to maintain forest cover not only to prevent soil erosion but to preserve the diversity of flora and fauna. Indonesia, for example, has created an extensive system of national parks and preserves for this purpose. Even so, such species as the Javan rhinoceros face extinction, with only a handful of the animals remaining in western Java. The shallow waters of the Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems, where coral, fish and molluscs abound. According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat (Indonesia) is the highest recorded on Earth. Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, the Verde Passage is dubbed by Conservation International as the world's "center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity". The whale shark, the world's largest species of fish and 6 species of sea turtles can also be found in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean territories of the Philippines. The trees and other plants of the region are tropical; in some countries where the mountains are tall enough, temperate-climate vegetation can be found. These rainforest areas are currently being logged-over, especially in Borneo. While Southeast Asia is rich in flora and fauna, Southeast Asia is facing severe deforestation which causes habitat loss for various endangered species such as orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century. At the same time, haze has been a regular occurrence. The two worst regional hazes were in 1997 and 2006 in which multiple countries were covered with thick haze, mostly caused by "slash and burn" activities in Sumatra and Borneo. In reaction, several countries in Southeast Asia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution to combat haze pollution. The 2013 Southeast Asian Haze saw API levels reach a hazardous level in some countries. Muar experienced the highest API level of 746 on 23 June 2013 at around 7 am. Even prior to the penetration of European interests, Southeast Asia was a critical part of the world trading system. A wide range of commodities originated in the region, but especially important were spices such as pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. The spice trade initially was developed by Indian and Arab merchants, but it also brought Europeans to the region. First Spaniards (Manila galleon) who sailed from the Americas and Portuguese, then the Dutch, and finally the British and French became involved in this enterprise in various countries. The penetration of European commercial interests gradually evolved into annexation of territories, as traders lobbied for an extension of control to protect and expand their activities. As a result, the Dutch moved into Indonesia, the British into Malaya and parts of Borneo, the French into Indochina, and the Spanish and the US into the Philippines. An economic effect of this imperialism was the shift in the production of commodities. For example, the rubber plantations of Malaysia, Java, Vietnam and Cambodia, the tin mining of Malaya, the rice fields of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and Irrawaddy River delta in Burma, were a response to powerful market demands. The overseas Chinese community has played a large role in the development of the economies in the region. The origins of Chinese influence can be traced to the 16th century, when Chinese migrants from southern China settled in Indonesia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries. Chinese populations in the region saw a rapid increase following the Communist Revolution in 1949, which forced many refugees to emigrate outside of China. The region's economy greatly depends on agriculture; rice and rubber have long been prominent exports. Manufacturing and services are becoming more important. An emerging market, Indonesia is the largest economy in this region. Newly industrialised countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, while Singapore and Brunei are affluent developed economies. The rest of Southeast Asia is still heavily dependent on agriculture, but Vietnam is notably making steady progress in developing its industrial sectors. The region notably manufactures textiles, electronic high- tech goods such as microprocessors and heavy industrial products such as automobiles. Oil reserves in Southeast Asia are plentiful. Seventeen telecommunications companies contracted to build the Asia-America Gateway submarine cable to connect Southeast Asia to the US This is to avoid disruption of the kind recently caused by the cutting of the undersea cable from Taiwan to the US in the 2006 Hengchun earthquakes. Tourism has been a key factor in economic development for many Southeast Asian countries, especially Cambodia. According to UNESCO, "tourism, if correctly conceived, can be a tremendous development tool and an effective means of preserving the cultural diversity of our planet." Since the early 1990s, "even the non-ASEAN nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, where the income derived from tourism is low, are attempting to expand their own tourism industries." In 1995, Singapore was the regional leader in tourism receipts relative to GDP at over 8%. By 1998, those receipts had dropped to less than 6% of GDP while Thailand and Lao PDR increased receipts to over 7%. Since 2000, Cambodia has surpassed all other ASEAN countries and generated almost 15% of its GDP from tourism in 2006. Furthermore, Vietnam is considered as a rising power in Southeast Asia due to its large foreign investment opportunities and the booming tourism sector, despite only having their trade embargo lifted in 1995. Indonesia is the only member of G-20 major economies and is the largest economy in the region. Indonesia's estimated gross domestic product for 2016 was US$932.4 billion (nominal) or $3,031.3 billion (PPP) with per capita GDP of US$3,604 (nominal) or $11,717 (PPP). Stock markets in Southeast Asia have performed better than other bourses in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010, with the Philippines' PSE leading the way with 22 percent growth, followed by Thailand's SET with 21 percent and Indonesia's JKSE with 19 percent. Southeast Asia's GDP per capita is US$3,853 according to a 2015 United Nations report, which is comparable to Guatemala and Tonga. Southeast Asia has an area of approximately . As of , around /1e6 round 0 million people live in the region, more than a fifth live (143 million) on the Indonesian island of Java, the most densely populated large island in the world. Indonesia is the most populous country with /1e6 round 0 million people, and also the 4th most populous country in the world. The distribution of the religions and people is diverse in Southeast Asia and varies by country. Some 30 million overseas Chinese also live in Southeast Asia, most prominently in Christmas Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and also as the Hoa in Vietnam. People of Southeast Asian origins are known as Southeast Asians or Aseanites. The Aslians and Negritos were believed as one of the earliest inhabitant in the region. They are genetically related to the Papuans in Eastern Indonesia, East Timor and Australian Aborigines. In modern times, the Javanese are the largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia, with more than 100 million people, mostly concentrated in Java, Indonesia. The second largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia is Vietnamese (Kinh people) with around 86 million population, mainly inhabiting in Vietnam, thus forming a significant minority in neighboring Cambodia and Laos. The Thais is also a significant ethnic group with around 59 million population forming the majority in Thailand. In Burma, the Burmese account for more than two-thirds of the ethnic stock in this country. Indonesia is clearly dominated by the Javanese and Sundanese ethnic groups, with hundreds of ethnic minorities inhabited the archipelago, including Madurese, Minangkabau, Bugis, Balinese, Dayak, Batak and Malays. While Malaysia is split between more than half Malays and one-quarter Chinese, and also Indian minority in the West Malaysia however Dayaks make up the majority in Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun makes up the majority in Sabah which are in the East Malaysia. The Malays are the majority in West Malaysia and Brunei, while they forming a significant minority in Indonesia, Southern Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore. In city-state Singapore, Chinese are the majority, yet the city is a multicultural melting pot with Malays, Indians and Eurasian also called the island their home. The Chams forming a significant minority in Central and South Vietnam, also in Central Cambodia. While the Khmers are the majority in Cambodia, and forming a significant minority in Southern Vietnam and Thailand. The Hmong people are the minority in Vietnam, China and Laos. Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Visayan (mainly Cebuanos, Warays and Hiligaynons), Ilocano, Bicolano, Moro (mainly Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanao) and Central Luzon (mainly Kapampangan and Pangasinan) groups are significant. The Philippines is also unique in Southeast Asia, in holding the only Latino founded communities in Southeast Asia due to its former political union with Mexico during the era of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and also possessing a Mexican-Spanish based Creole language called Chavacano. There is also burgeoning American expat population in the Philippines. Countries in Southeast Asia practice many different religions. By population, Islam is the most practised faith, numbering approximately 240 million adherents, or about 40% of the entire population, concentrated in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and in the Southern Philippines. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority country around the world. There are approximately 205 million Buddhists in Southeast Asia, making it the second largest religion in the region, after Islam. Approximately 38% of the global Buddhist population resides in Southeast Asia. Buddhism is predominant in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Singapore. Ancestor worship and Confucianism are also widely practised in Vietnam and Singapore. Christianity is predominant in the Philippines, eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia and East Timor. The Philippines has the largest Roman Catholic population in Asia. East Timor is also predominantly Roman Catholic due to a history of Portuguese rule. No individual Southeast Asian country is religiously homogeneous. Some groups are protected de facto by their isolation from the rest of the world. In the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, Hinduism is dominant on islands such as Bali. Christianity also predominates in the rest of the part of the Philippines, New Guinea and Timor. Pockets of Hindu population can also be found around Southeast Asia in Singapore, Malaysia etc. Garuda (Sanskrit: Garuḍa), the phoenix who is the mount (vahanam) of Vishnu, is a national symbol in both Thailand and Indonesia; in the Philippines, gold images of Garuda have been found on Palawan; gold images of other Hindu gods and goddesses have also been found on Mindanao. Balinese Hinduism is somewhat different from Hinduism practised elsewhere, as Animism and local culture is incorporated into it. Christians can also be found throughout Southeast Asia; they are in the majority in East Timor and the Philippines, Asia's largest Christian nation. In addition, there are also older tribal religious practices in remote areas of Sarawak in East Malaysia, Highland Philippines and Papua in eastern Indonesia. In Burma, Sakka (Indra) is revered as a nat. In Vietnam, Mahayana Buddhism is practised, which is influenced by native animism but with strong emphasis on ancestor worship. The religious composition for each country is as follows: Some values are taken from the CIA World Factbook: Each of the languages have been influenced by cultural pressures due to trade, immigration, and historical colonization as well. There are nearly over 800 native languages in the region. The language composition for each country is as follows (with official languages in bold): Jabodetabek , . Jabodetabek is an abbreviation of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, which are the satellite cities of the Special Capital Region of Jakarta., Metro Manila ,, Bangkok Metropolitan Region ,, Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley ,, Greater Penang ,, Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area ,, Hanoi Capital Region ,, Da Nang City ,, Yangon Region ,, Gerbangkertosusila ,, Greater Bandung Metropolitan Area ,, Metro Cebu ,, Metro Davao ,, Metro Iloilo-Guimaras ,, Metro Cagayan de Oro, Phnom Penh City , The culture in Southeast Asia is very diverse: on mainland Southeast Asia, the culture is a mix of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian and Thai (Indian) and Vietnamese (Chinese) cultures. While in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia the culture is a mix of indigenous Austronesian, Indian, Islamic, Western, and Chinese cultures. Also Brunei shows a strong influence from Arabia. Vietnam and Singapore show more Chinese influence in that Singapore, although being geographically a Southeast Asian nation, is home to a large Chinese majority and Vietnam was in China's sphere of influence for much of its history. Indian influence in Singapore is only evident through the Tamil migrants, which influenced, to some extent, the cuisine of Singapore. Throughout Vietnam's history, it has had no direct influence from India – only through contact with the Thai, Khmer and Cham peoples. Moreover, Vietnam is also categorized under the East Asian cultural sphere along with China, Korea, and Japan due to the large amount of Chinese influence embedded in their culture and lifestyle. Rice paddy agriculture has existed in Southeast Asia for thousands of years, ranging across the subregion. Some dramatic examples of these rice paddies populate the Banaue Rice Terraces in the mountains of Luzon in the Philippines. Maintenance of these paddies is very labour- intensive. The rice paddies are well-suited to the monsoon climate of the region. Stilt houses can be found all over Southeast Asia, from Thailand and Vietnam, to Borneo, to Luzon in the Philippines, to Papua New Guinea. The region has diverse metalworking, especially in Indonesia. This include weaponry, such as the distinctive kris, and musical instruments, such as the gamelan. The region's chief cultural influences have been from some combination of Islam, India, and China. Diverse cultural influence is pronounced in the Philippines, derived particularly from the period of the Spanish and American rule, contact with Indian-influenced cultures, and the Chinese and Japanese trading era. As a rule, the peoples who ate with their fingers were more likely influenced by the culture of India, for example, than the culture of China, where the peoples ate with chopsticks; tea, as a beverage, can be found across the region. The fish sauces distinctive to the region tend to vary. The arts of Southeast Asia have affinity with the arts of other areas. Dance in much of Southeast Asia includes movement of the hands as well as the feet, to express the dance's emotion and meaning of the story that the ballerina is going to tell the audience. Most of Southeast Asia introduced dance into their court; in particular, Cambodian royal ballet represented them in the early 7th century before the Khmer Empire, which was highly influenced by Indian Hinduism. Apsara Dance, famous for strong hand and feet movement, is a great example of Hindu symbolic dance. Puppetry and shadow plays were also a favoured form of entertainment in past centuries, a famous one being Wayang from Indonesia. The arts and literature in some of Southeast Asia is quite influenced by Hinduism, which was brought to them centuries ago. Indonesia, despite conversion to Islam which opposes certain forms of art, has retained many forms of Hindu-influenced practices, culture, art and literature. An example is the Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppet) and literature like the Ramayana. The wayang kulit show has been recognized by UNESCO on 7 November 2003, as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It has been pointed out that Khmer and Indonesian classical arts were concerned with depicting the life of the gods, but to the Southeast Asian mind the life of the gods was the life of the peoples themselves—joyous, earthy, yet divine. The Tai, coming late into Southeast Asia, brought with them some Chinese artistic traditions, but they soon shed them in favour of the Khmer and Mon traditions, and the only indications of their earlier contact with Chinese arts were in the style of their temples, especially the tapering roof, and in their lacquerware. Traditional music in Southeast Asia is as varied as its many ethnic and cultural divisions. Main styles of traditional music can be seen: Court music, folk music, music styles of smaller ethnic groups, and music influenced by genres outside the geographic region. Of the court and folk genres, gong-chime ensembles and orchestras make up the majority (the exception being lowland areas of Vietnam). Gamelan and Angklung orchestras from Indonesia, Piphat /Pinpeat ensembles of Thailand and Cambodia and the Kulintang ensembles of the southern Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi and Timor are the three main distinct styles of musical genres that have influenced other traditional musical styles in the region. String instruments also are popular in the region. On 18 November 2010, UNESCO officially recognized angklung as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and encourage Indonesian people and government to safeguard, transmit, promote performances and to encourage the craftsmanship of angklung making. The history of Southeast Asia has led to a wealth of different authors, from both within and without writing about the region. Originally, Indians were the ones who taught the native inhabitants about writing. This is shown through Brahmic forms of writing present in the region such as the Balinese script shown on split palm leaf called lontar (see image to the left — magnify the image to see the writing on the flat side, and the decoration on the reverse side). The antiquity of this form of writing extends before the invention of paper around the year 100 in China. Note each palm leaf section was only several lines, written longitudinally across the leaf, and bound by twine to the other sections. The outer portion was decorated. The alphabets of Southeast Asia tended to be abugidas, until the arrival of the Europeans, who used words that also ended in consonants, not just vowels. Other forms of official documents, which did not use paper, included Javanese copperplate scrolls. This material would have been more durable than paper in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, the Malay language is now generally written in the Latin script. The same phenomenon is present in Indonesian, although different spelling standards are utilised (e.g. 'Teksi' in Malay and 'Taksi' in Indonesian for the word 'Taxi'). The use of Chinese characters, in the past and present, is only evident in Vietnam and more recently, Singapore and Malaysia. The adoption of Chinese characters in Vietnam dates back to around 111 B.C., when it was occupied by the Chinese. A Vietnamese script called Chữ Nôm used modified Chinese characters to express the Vietnamese language. Both classical Chinese and Chữ Nôm were used up until the early 20th century. However, the use of the Chinese script has been in decline, especially in Singapore and Malaysia as the younger generations are in favour of the Latin Script. List of Southeast Asian leaders, Northeast Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, Tiger Cub Economies Tiwari, Rajnish (2003): Post-crisis Exchange Rate Regimes in Southeast Asia (PDF), Seminar Paper, University of Hamburg. Osborne, Milton (2010; first published in 1979). Southeast Asia: An Introductory History Allen & Unwin., Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan (1996; first published in 1896). Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition. . Cf. Part Four, Chapter 27., Farah, Paolo Davide (2015) Energy Investments and Environmental Concerns in Southeast Asia, in: Paolo Davide FARAH & Piercarlo ROSSI, ENERGY: POLICY, LEGAL AND SOCIAL-ECONOMIC ISSUES UNDER THE DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SECURITY, World Scientific Reference on Globalisation in Eurasia and the Pacific Rim, Imperial College Press (London, UK) & World Scientific Publishing, Nov. 2015. Topography of Southeast Asia in detail (PDF) (previous version), Southeast Asia Digital Library at Northern Illinois University, Southeast Asia Visions, a collection of historical travel narratives Cornell University Library Digital Collection, Official website of the ASEAN Tourism Association, Art of Island Southeast Asia, a full text exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the team moved to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. They played for four seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to their current home of Dodger Stadium in . The Dodgers have won six World Series championships and twenty three National League pennants. Eleven NL MVP award winners have played for the Dodgers, winning a total of thirteen MVP Awards; eight Cy Young Award winners have also pitched for the Dodgers, winning a total of twelve Cy Young Awards. The team has eighteen Rookie of the Year Award winners, more than twice as many as the second place New York Yankees 8. The Dodgers have had four consecutive Rookies of the Year from 1979 to 1982 and five in a row from 1992 to 1996. Although they were winners of the National League pennant in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the Dodgers lost in both the 2017 and 2018 World Series. In the early 20th century, the team, then known as the Brooklyn Robins, won league pennants in 1916 and 1920, losing the World Series both times, first to Boston and then Cleveland. In the 1930s, the team changed its name to the Dodgers, after the Brooklyn pedestrians who dodged the streetcars in the city. In 1941, the Dodgers captured their third National League pennant, only to lose to the New York Yankees. This marked the onset of the Dodgers–Yankees rivalry, as the Dodgers would face them in their next six World Series appearances. Led by Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era; and three-time National League Most Valuable Player Roy Campanella, also signed out of the Negro Leagues, the Dodgers captured their first World Series title in 1955 by defeating the Yankees for the first time, a story notably described in the 1972 book The Boys of Summer. Following the 1957 season the team left Brooklyn. In just their second season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won their second World Series title, beating the Chicago White Sox in six games in 1959. Spearheaded by the dominant pitching style of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, the Dodgers captured three pennants in the 1960s and won two more World Series titles, sweeping the Yankees in four games in 1963, and edging the Minnesota Twins in seven in 1965. The 1963 sweep was their second victory against the Yankees, and their first against them as a Los Angeles team. The Dodgers won four more pennants in 1966, 1974, 1977 and 1978, but lost in each World Series appearance. They went on to win the World Series again in 1981, thanks in part to pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela. The early 1980s were affectionately dubbed "Fernandomania." In 1988, another pitching hero, Orel Hershiser, again led them to a World Series victory, aided by one of the most memorable home runs of all time, by their injured star outfielder Kirk Gibson coming off the bench to pinch hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 1, in his only appearance of the series. The Dodgers won the pennant in 2017 and 2018, but lost the World Series to the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox respectively. The Dodgers share a fierce rivalry with the San Francisco Giants,dating back to when the two franchises played in New York City. Both teams moved west for the 1958 season. Both the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York/San Francisco Giants have appeared in the World Series 20 times. The Giants have won two more World Series (8); when the two teams were based in New York, the Giants won five World Series championships, and the Dodgers one. After the move to California, the Dodgers have won five 5 World Series to the Giants have won 3. The Dodgers were founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Atlantics, taking the name of a defunct team that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the American Association in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the National League in 1890. They promptly won the NL Championship their first year in the League. The team was known alternatively as the Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas, Robins, and Trolley Dodgers before officially becoming the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1930s. In Brooklyn, the Dodgers won the NL pennant several times (1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956) and the World Series in 1955. After moving to Los Angeles, the team won National League pennants in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, and 2018, with World Series championships in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988. In all, the Dodgers have appeared in 20 World Series: 9 in Brooklyn and 11 in Los Angeles. For most of the first half of the 20th century, no Major League Baseball team employed an African American player. Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team when he played his first major league game on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was mainly due to general manager Branch Rickey's efforts. The deeply religious Rickey's motivation appears to have been primarily moral, although business considerations were also a factor. Rickey was a member of The Methodist Church, the antecedent denomination to The United Methodist Church of today, which was a strong advocate for social justice and active later in the American Civil Rights Movement. This event was the harbinger of the integration of professional sports in the United States, the concomitant demise of the Negro Leagues, and is regarded as a key moment in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Robinson was an exceptional player, a speedy runner who sparked the team with his intensity. He was the inaugural recipient of the Rookie of the Year award, which is now named the Jackie Robinson Award in his honor. The Dodgers' willingness to integrate, when most other teams refused to, was a key factor in their 1947–1956 success. They won six pennants in those 10 years with the help of Robinson, three-time MVP Roy Campanella, Cy Young Award winner Don Newcombe, Jim Gilliam and Joe Black. Robinson would eventually go on to become the first African-American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Real estate investor Walter O'Malley acquired majority ownership of the Dodgers in 1950, when he bought the 25 percent share of co-owner Branch Rickey and became allied with the widow of the another equal partner, Mrs. John L. Smith. Before long, he was working to buy new land in Brooklyn to build a more accessible and profitable ballpark than the aging Ebbets Field. Beloved as it was, Ebbets Field was no longer well-served by its aging infrastructure and the Dodgers could no longer sell out the park even in the heat of a pennant race, despite largely dominating the National League from 1946 to 1957. O'Malley wanted to build a new, state of the art stadium in Brooklyn. But City Planner Robert Moses and New York politicians refused to grant him the eminent domain authority required to build pursuant to O'Malley's plans. To put pressure on the city, during the 1955 season, O'Malley announced that the team would play seven regular season games and one exhibition game at Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium in 1956. Moses and the City considered this an empty threat, and did not believe O'Malley would go through with moving the team from New York City. After teams began to travel to and from games by air instead of train, it became possible to include locations in the far west. Los Angeles officials attended the 1956 World Series looking to the Washington Senators to move to the West Coast. When O'Malley heard that LA was looking for a club, he sent word to the Los Angeles officials that he was interested in talking. LA offered him what New York would not: a chance to buy land suitable for building a ballpark, and own that ballpark, giving him complete control over all revenue streams. When the news came out, NYC Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. and Moses made an offer to build a ballpark on the World's Fair Grounds in Queens that would be shared by the Giants and Dodgers. However, O'Malley was interested in his park only under his conditions, and the plans for a new stadium in Brooklyn seemed like a pipe dream. O'Malley decided to move the Dodgers to California, convincing Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move to San Francisco instead of Minneapolis to keep the Giants-Dodgers rivalry alive on the West Coast. The Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957, which the Dodgers won 2–0 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. New York would remain a one-team town with the New York Yankees until 1962, when Joan Payson founded the New York Mets and brought National League baseball back to the city. The blue background used by the Dodgers, would be adopted by the Mets, honoring their New York NL forebears with a blend of Dodgers blue and Giants orange. The Dodgers were the first Major League Baseball team to ever play in Los Angeles. On April 18, 1958, the Dodgers played their first LA game, defeating the former New York and now new San Francisco Giants, 6–5, before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Catcher Roy Campanella, left partially paralyzed in an off-season accident, was never able to play in Los Angeles. Construction on Dodger Stadium was completed in time for Opening Day 1962. With its clean, simple lines and its picturesque setting amid hills and palm trees, the ballpark quickly became an icon of the Dodgers and their new California lifestyle. O'Malley was determined that there would not be a bad seat in the house, achieving this by cantilevered grandstands that have since been widely imitated. More importantly for the team, the stadium's spacious dimensions, along with other factors, gave defense an advantage over offense and the Dodgers moved to take advantage of this by assembling a team that would excel with its pitching. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have won 11 more National League Championships and five World Series rings. First baseball team to win championships in different leagues in consecutive years (1889–1890), First television broadcast (1939), First use of batting helmets (1941), First MLB team to employ and start an African-American player in the 20th century (Jackie Robinson, 1947), First MLB team to have numbers on the front of their uniforms (1952), First West Coast team (1958) – along with the San Francisco Giants, First Western team to win a World Series (1959), First MLB team to allow a female sports journalist into a locker room (Anita Martini, 1974), Largest home-opener attendance: 78,672 (1958) (since broken by the Colorado Rockies in 1993), Largest single game attendance: 93,103 (1959) and 115,300 (2008) *World Record, First MLB team to open an office in Asia (1998), Longest MLB record for home start going 13–0 (2009), North American record for the buying of a sports team ($2 billion, 2012), Most recent MLB team with the most no-hitters (26), First MLB team to employ a female lead trainer (Sue Falsone, 2012) The Dodgers' official history reports that the term "Trolley Dodgers" was attached to the Brooklyn ballclub due to the complex maze of trolley cars that weaved its way through the borough of Brooklyn. In 1892, the city of Brooklyn (Brooklyn was an independent city until annexed by New York City in 1898) began replacing its slow-moving, horse-drawn trolley lines with the faster, more powerful electric trolley lines. Within less than three years, by the end of 1895, electric trolley accidents in Brooklyn had resulted in more than 130 deaths and maimed well over 500 people. Brooklyn's high profile, the significant number of widely reported accidents, and a trolley strike in early 1895, combined to create a strong association in the public's mind between Brooklyn and trolley dodging. Sportswriters started using the name "Trolley Dodgers" to refer to the Brooklyn team early in the 1895 season. The name was shortened to, on occasion, the "Brooklyn Dodgers" as early as 1898. Sportswriters in the early 20th century began referring to the Dodgers as the "Bums", in reference to the team's fans and possibly because of the "street character" nature of Jack Dawkins, the "Artful Dodger" in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Newspaper cartoonist Willard Mullin used a drawing of famous clown Emmett Kelly to depict "Dem Bums": the team would later use "Weary Willie" in promotional images, and Kelly himself was a club mascot during the 1950s. Other team names used by the franchise were the Atlantics, Grays, Grooms, Bridegrooms, Superbas and Robins. All of these nicknames were used by fans and sportswriters to describe the team, but not in any official capacity. The team's legal name was the Brooklyn Base Ball Club. However, the Trolley Dodger nickname was used throughout this period, simultaneously with these other nicknames, by fans and sportswriters of the day. The team did not use the name in any formal sense until 1932, when the word "Dodgers" appeared on team jerseys. The "conclusive shift" came in 1933, when both home and road jerseys for the team bore the name "Dodgers". Examples of how the many popularized names of the team were used are available from newspaper articles before 1932. A New York Times article describing a game in 1916 starts out: "Jimmy Callahan, pilot of the Pirates, did his best to wreck the hopes the Dodgers have of gaining the National League pennant", but then goes on to comment: "the only thing that saved the Superbas from being toppled from first place was that the Phillies lost one of the two games played". What is interesting about the use of these two nicknames is that most baseball statistics sites and baseball historians generally now refer to the pennant- winning 1916 Brooklyn team as the Robins. A 1918 New York Times article uses the nickname in its title: "Buccaneers Take Last From Robins", but the subtitle of the article reads: "Subdue The Superbas By 11 To 4, Making Series An Even Break". Another example of the use of the many nicknames is found on the program issued at Ebbets Field for the 1920 World Series, which identifies the matchup in the series as "Dodgers vs. Indians" despite the fact that the Robins nickname had been in consistent use for around six years. The "Robins" nickname was derived from the name of their Hall of Fame manager, Wilbert Robinson, who led the team from 1914 to 1931. The Dodgers' uniform has remained relatively unchanged since the 1930s. The home jersey is white with "Dodgers" written in script across the chest in royal. The road jersey is gray with "Los Angeles" written in script across the chest in royal. The word "Dodgers" was first used on the front of the team's home jersey in 1933; the uniform was then white with red pinstripes and a stylized "B" on the left shoulder. The Dodgers also wore green outlined uniforms and green caps throughout the 1937 season but reverted to blue the following year. The current design was created in 1939, and has remained the same ever since with only cosmetic changes. Originally intended for the 1951 World Series for which the ballclub failed to qualify, red numbers under the "Dodgers" script were added to the home uniform in 1952. The road jersey also has a red uniform number under the script. When the franchise moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, the city name on the road jersey changed, and the stylized "B" was replaced with the interlocking "LA" on the caps in 1958. In 1970, the Dodgers removed the city name from the road jerseys and had "Dodgers" on both the home and away uniforms. The city script returned to the road jerseys in 1999, and the tradition-rich Dodgers flirted with an alternate uniform for the first time since 1944 (when all-blue satin uniforms were introduced). These 1999 alternate jerseys had a royal top with the "Dodgers" script in white across the chest, and the red number on the front. These were worn with white pants and a new cap with silver brim, top button and Dodger logo. These alternates proved unpopular and the team abandoned them after only one season. In 2014, the Dodgers introduced an alternate road jersey: a gray version with the "Dodgers" script instead of the city name. In 2018, the Dodgers wore their 60th anniversary patch to honor the 60 years of being in Los Angeles. The Dodgers have been groundbreaking in their signing of players from Asia; mainly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Former owner Peter O'Malley began reaching out in 1980 by starting clinics in China and South Korea, building baseball fields in two Chinese cities, and in 1998 becoming the first major league team to open an office in Asia. The Dodgers were the second team to start a Japanese player in recent history, pitcher Hideo Nomo, the first team to start a South Korean player, pitcher Chan Ho Park, and the first Taiwanese player, Chin-Feng Chen. In addition, they were the first team to send out three Asian pitchers, from different Asian countries, in one game: Park, Hong- Chih Kuo of Taiwan, and Takashi Saito of Japan. In the 2008 season, the Dodgers had the most Asian players on its roster of any major league team with five. They included Japanese pitchers Takashi Saito and Hiroki Kuroda; South Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park; and Taiwanese pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo and infielder Chin-Lung Hu. In 2005, the Dodgers' Hee Seop Choi became the first Asian player to compete in the Home Run Derby. For the 2013 season, the Dodgers signed starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu with a six-year, $36 million contract, after posting a bid of nearly $27 million to acquire him from the KBO's Hanhwa Eagles. For the 2016 season, the Dodgers signed starting pitcher Kenta Maeda with an eight-year, $25 million contract, after posting a bid of $20 million to acquire him from the NPB's Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The Dodgers' rivalry with the San Francisco Giants dates back to the 19th century, when the two teams were based in New York; the rivalry with the New York Yankees took place when the Dodgers were based in New York, but was revived with their East Coast/West Coast World Series battles in 1963, 1977, 1978, and 1981. The Dodgers rivalry with the Philadelphia Phillies also dates back to their days in New York, but was most fierce during the 1970s, 1980s, and 2000s. The Dodgers also had a heated rivalry with the Cincinnati Reds during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The rivalry with the Los Angeles Angels and the San Diego Padres dates back to the Angels' and Padres' respective inaugural seasons (Angels in 1961, Padres in 1969). Regional proximity is behind the rivalries with both the Angels and the Padres. The Dodgers–Giants rivalry is one of the longest-standing rivalries in U.S. baseball. The feud between the Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants began in the late 19th century when both clubs were based in New York City, with the Dodgers playing in Brooklyn and the Giants playing at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. After the 1957 season, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley moved the team to Los Angeles for financial and other reasons. Along the way, he managed to convince Giants owner Horace Stoneham—who was considering moving his team to Minnesota—to preserve the rivalry by bringing his team to California as well. New York baseball fans were stunned and heartbroken by the move. Given that the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have been bitter rivals in economic, cultural, and political arenas for over a century and a half, the new venue in California became fertile ground for its transplantation. Each team's ability to endure for over a century while moving across an entire continent, as well as the rivalry's leap from a cross-city to a cross-state engagement, have led to the rivalry being considered one of the greatest in American sports history. Unlike many other historic baseball match-ups in which one team remains dominant for most of their history, the Dodgers–Giants rivalry has exhibited a persistent balance in the respective successes of the two teams. While the Giants have more wins in franchise history, the Dodgers and Giants are tied for most National League Pennants at 23, though the Giants have won eight World Series titles, while the Dodgers have won six. The 2010 World Series was the Giants' first championship since moving to California, while the Dodgers had won five World Series titles since their move, their last title coming in the 1988 World Series.. This rivalry refers to a series of games played with the Los Angeles Angels. The Freeway Series takes its name from the massive freeway system in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, the home of both teams; one could travel from one team's stadium to the other simply by traveling along Interstate 5. The term is akin to Subway Series which refers to meetings between New York City baseball teams. The term "Freeway Series" also inspired the official name of the region's NHL rivalry: the Freeway Face-Off. The Dodgers–Yankees rivalry is one of the most well-known rivalries in Major League Baseball. The two teams have met eleven times in the World Series, more times than any other pair from the American and National Leagues. The initial significance was embodied in the two teams' proximity in New York City, when the Dodgers initially played in Brooklyn. After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, the rivalry retained its significance as the two teams represented the dominant cities on each coast of the United States, and since the 1980s, the two largest cities in the United States. Although the rivalry's significance arose from the two teams' numerous World Series meetings, the Yankees and Dodgers have not met in the World Series since . They would not play each other in a non-exhibition game until 2004, when they played a three- game interleague series. Their last meeting was in August 2019, when the Yankees won two out of three games in Los Angeles. The Dodgers have a loyal fanbase, evidenced by the fact that the Dodgers were the first MLB team to attract more than 3 million fans in a season (in 1978), and accomplished that feat six more times before any other franchise did it once. The Dodgers drew at least 3 million fans for 15 consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2010, the longest such streak in all of MLB. On July 3, 2007, Dodgers management announced that total franchise attendance, dating back to 1901, had reached 175 million, a record for all professional sports. In 2007, the Dodgers set a franchise record for single-season attendance, attracting over 3.8 million fans. In 2009, the Dodgers led MLB in total attendance. The Dodger baseball cap is consistently in the top three in sales. During the 2011–2012 season, Frank McCourt, the owner of the Dodgers at that time, was going through a rough divorce with his wife over who should be the owner of the Dodger team. Instead, Frank McCourt paid $131 million to his wife as part of the divorce settlement. As a result, the team payroll was financially low for a big-budget team crippling the Dodgers in the free-agent market. Collectively, the team performance waned due to the distracting drama in the front office resulting in low attendance numbers. Given the team's proximity to Hollywood, numerous celebrities can often be seen attending home games at Dodger Stadium. Celebrities such as co-owner Magic Johnson, Mary Hart, Larry King, Tiger Woods, Alyssa Milano and Shia LaBeouf are known to sit at field box seats behind home plate where they sign autographs for fellow Dodger fans. Actor Bryan Cranston is a lifelong Dodger fan. The Dodgers set the world record for the largest attendance for a single baseball game during an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox on March 28, 2008 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in honor of the Dodgers 50th anniversary, with 115,300 fans in attendance. All proceeds from the game benefited the official charity of the Dodgers, ThinkCure! which supports cancer research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and City of Hope. Primarily Dodgers fans are from their own location in southern California and also parts of southern Nevada; however there are also strong pockets of Dodger support in Mexico and throughout Asia, and their away games throughout the US will usually attract substantial numbers of expat and traveling fans. Vin Scully called Dodgers games from 1950 to 2016. His longtime partners were Jerry Doggett (1956–1987) and Ross Porter (1977–2004). In 1976, he was selected by Dodgers fans as the Most Memorable Personality (on the field or off) in the team's history. He is also a recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters (inducted in 1982). Unlike the modern style in which multiple sportscasters have an on-air conversation (usually with one functioning as play-by-play announcer and the other[s] as color commentator), Scully, Doggett and Porter generally called games solo, trading with each other inning-by-inning. In the 1980s and 1990s, Scully would call the entire radio broadcast except for the third and seventh inning, allowing the other Dodger commentators to broadcast an inning. When Doggett retired after the 1987 season, he was replaced by Hall-of-Fame Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, who previously broadcast games for the California Angels and Chicago White Sox. Drysdale died in his hotel room following a heart attack before a game in Montreal in 1993. This was a difficult broadcast for Scully and Porter who could not mention it on-air until Drysdale's family had been notified and the official announcement made. He was replaced by former Dodgers outfielder Rick Monday. Porter's tenure ended after the 2004 season, after which the format of play-by-play announcers and color commentators was installed, led by Monday and newcomer Charley Steiner. Scully, however, continued to announce solo. Scully called roughly 100 games per season (all home games and road games in California and Arizona) for both flagship radio station KLAC and on television for SportsNet LA. Scully was simulcast for the first three innings of each of his appearances, then announced only for the TV audience. If Scully was calling the game, Steiner took over play-by-play on radio beginning with the fourth inning, with Monday as color commentator. If Scully was not calling the game, Steiner and Orel Hershiser called the entire game on television while Monday and Kevin Kennedy did the same on radio. In the event the Dodgers were in post-season play, Scully called the first three and last three innings of the radio broadcast alone and Steiner and Monday handled the middle innings. Vin Scully retired from calling games in 2016. His tenure with the Dodgers was the longest with any single sports team at 67 years. Youthful announcer Joe Davis was selected in 2017 by Dodgers management to handle play by play on television with Orel Hershiser as his colorman. The Dodgers also broadcast on radio in Spanish, and the play-by-play is voiced by another Frick Award winner, Jaime Jarrín, who has been with the Dodgers since 1959. The color analyst for some games is former Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, for whom Jarrin once translated post-game interviews. The Spanish- language radio flagship station is KTNQ. Owner: Guggenheim Baseball Management, Chairman/Controlling Partner: Mark Walter, Partner: Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Partner: Peter Guber, Partner: Todd Boehly, Partner: Billie Jean King, Partner: Ilana Kloss, Partner: Robert "Bobby" Patton, Jr., Partner: Alan Smolinisky, Partner: Robert L. Plummer President/chief executive officer: Stan Kasten, President of Baseball Operations: Andrew Friedman, General Manager: Dave Roberts Leo Durocher 1938–1941, Pee Wee Reese 1950–1958, Duke Snider 1962, Maury Wills 1963–1966, Davey Lopes 1978–1979 Koufax, Campanella, and Robinson were the first Dodgers to have their numbers retired, in a ceremony at Dodger Stadium on June 4, 1972. This was the year in which Koufax was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; Robinson and Campanella were already Hall-of-Famers. Alston's number was retired in the year following his retirement as the Dodgers manager, six years before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Gilliam died suddenly in 1978 after a 28-year career with the Dodgers organization. The Dodgers retired his number two days after his death, prior to Game 1 of the 1978 World Series. As of 2018, he is the only non-Hall-of-Famer to have his number retired by the Dodgers (Alston's number was retired before he was elected to the Hall of Fame). Beginning in 1980, the Dodgers have retired the numbers of longtime Dodgers (Snider, Reese, Drysdale, Lasorda, and Sutton) during the seasons in which each was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 1997, 50 years after he broke the color barrier and 25 years after the Dodgers retired his number, Robinson's No. 42 was retired throughout Major League Baseball. Robinson is the only major league baseball player to have this honor bestowed upon him. Starting in the 2007 season, Jackie Robinson Day (April 15, commemorating Opening Day of Robinson's rookie season of 1947) has featured many or all players and coaches wearing the number 42 as a tribute to Robinson. The Dodgers have not issued the number 34 since the departure of Fernando Valenzuela in 1991, although it has not been officially retired. Charlie Byrne (1883–1897), Charles Ebbets (1898–1925), Edward McKeever (1925, interim), Wilbert Robinson (1925–1929), Frank B. York (1930–1932), Stephen McKeever (1933–1938), Larry MacPhail (1939–1942), Branch Rickey (1943–1950), Walter O'Malley (1950–1970), Peter O'Malley (1970–1997), Bob Graziano (1998–2004), Jamie McCourt (2004–2009), Dennis Mannion (2009–2010), Stan Kasten (2012–present) Since 1884, the Dodgers have used a total of 31 Managers, the most current being Dave Roberts, who was appointed following the 2015 postseason, after the departure of Don Mattingly. Over the nearly 43 years from 1954 to mid-1996, the Dodgers employed only two managers, Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda, both of whom are in the Hall of Fame. During this entire time period of extraordinary stability, the Dodgers were family owned by Walter O'Malley and then his son Peter O'Malley. It was during this era that the Dodgers won 11 of their 21 pennants, and all six of their World Series championships. The managers of the Los Angeles Dodgers (1958–present) are as follows: Walter Alston (1958–1976) (in Brooklyn since 1954), Tommy Lasorda (1976–1996), Bill Russell (1996–1998), Glenn Hoffman (1998), Davey Johnson (1999–2000), Jim Tracy (2001–2005), Grady Little (2006–2007), Joe Torre (2008–2010), Don Mattingly (2011–2015), Dave Roberts (2016–present) Larry MacPhail (1938–1942), Branch Rickey (1943–1950), Buzzie Bavasi (1950–1968), Fresco Thompson (1968), Al Campanis (1968–1987), Fred Claire (1987–1998), Tommy Lasorda (1998), Kevin Malone (1999–2001), Dave Wallace (2001), Dan Evans (2001–2004), Paul DePodesta (2004–2005), Ned Colletti (2005–2014), Farhan Zaidi (2014–2018), Vacant (2019–present) During their time in Brooklyn, stadium organist Gladys Goodding became so well known that fans would joke that she was "the only Dodger who played every game without an error". From the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958, the Dodgers employed a handful of well-known public address announcers; the most famous of which was John Ramsey, who served as the PA voice of the Dodgers from 1958 until his retirement in 1982; he was also well known for announcing at other venerable Los Angeles venues, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, and the Forum. Ramsey died in 1990. From 1958 to 1982, Doug Moore, Philip Petty, and Dennis Packer served as back-up voices for John Ramsey for the Dodgers, California Angels, Los Angeles Chargers, USC football and Los Angeles Rams. Packer was Ramsey's primary backup for the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings until Ramsey's retirement from the Forum in 1978. Thereafter, Packer became the public address announcer for the Lakers, Kings, indoor soccer and indoor tennis events at the Forum. Nick Nickson, a radio broadcaster for the Los Angeles Kings, replaced John Ramsey as the Dodger Stadium public address announcer in 1983 and served in that capacity through the 1989 season to work with the Kings full-time. Dennis Packer and Pete Arbogast were emulators of John Ramsey, using the same stentorian style of announcing Ramsey was famous for. Packer and Arbogast shared the stadium announcing chores for the 1994 FIFA World Cup matches at the Rose Bowl. Arbogast won the Dodgers job on the day that Ramsey died on January 25, 1990, by doing a verbatim imitation of Ramsey's opening and closing remarks that were standard at each game. His replacement, in 1994 was Mike Carlucci, who remained as the Dodgers' PA voice announcer until he resigned in 2001 to concentrate on his voiceover and acting career along with his Olympics announcing duties. From 2002 to 2014, the Dodgers public address announcer was Eric Smith, who also announces for the Los Angeles Clippers and USC Trojans. On April 3, 2015 the Dodgers announced that former radio broadcaster Todd Leitz was hired to become their new public address announcer. Leitz was an anchor and news reporter in Los Angeles at KNX 1070 AM for 10 years, and a news reporter at KABC 790 for two years. From 1988 to 2015, Nancy Bea enjoyed popularity behind the Dodger Stadium keyboard similar to Gladys Goodding. Since retirement in 2015, Beal's replacement and current organist is Dieter Ruehle, who also plays at Staples Center for Los Angeles Kings games. Vin Scully is permanently honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame's "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit as a result of winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 1982. Frick Award recipients are not official members of the Hall. Sue Falsone, was the first female physical therapist in Major League baseball, and from 2012 to 2013, was the first female head athletic trainer. 1994 in baseball, Dodger Dog, List of Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasters, List of Los Angeles Dodgers managers, List of Los Angeles Dodgers seasons, List of World Series champions, Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster, Roy Campanella Award Red Barber, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, Stanley Cohen, Dodgers! The First 100 Years, Robert W. Creamer, Stengel: His Life and Times, Steve Delsohn, True Blue: The Dramatic History of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Told By the Men Who Lived It, Carl Erskine and Vin Scully, Tales From the Dodger Dugout: Extra Innings, Harvey Froemmer, New York City Baseball, Steve Garvey, "My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer", Cliff Gewecke, Day by Day in Dodgers History, Andrew Goldblatt, The Giants and the Dodgers: Four Cities, Two Teams, One Rivalry, Richard Goldstein, Superstars and Screwballs: 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball, Peter Golenbock, Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, Frank Graham, The Brooklyn Dodgers: An Informal History, Orel Hershiser with Jerry B. Jenkins, Out of the Blue, Donald Honig, The Los Angeles Dodgers: Their First quarter Century, Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn, The Era 1947–1957: When the Yankees, the Giants and the Dodgers Ruled the World, Mark Langill, The Los Angeles Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda with David Fisher, The Artful Dodger, Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, Joseph McCauley, Ebbets Field: Brooklyn's Baseball Shrine, William McNeil, The Dodgers Encyclopedia, Tom Meany (editor), The Artful Dodgers, Andrew Paul Mele, A Brooklyn Dodgers Reader, John J. Monteleone (editor), Branch Rickey's Little Blue Book, Thomas Oliphant, Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers, David Plaut, Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of 1962, Carl E. Prince, Brooklyn's Dodgers: The Bums, The Borough and The Best of Baseball, Jackie Robinson, I Never Had It Made, Gene Schoor, The Complete Dodgers Record Book, Gene Schoor, The Pee Wee Reese Story, Duke Snider with Bill Gilbert, The Duke of Flatbush, Michael Shapiro, The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, The Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together, Glen Stout, The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball, Neil J. Sullivan, The Dodgers Move West, Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, John Weaver, Los Angeles: The Enormous Village, 1781–1981 Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Reference.com, "The 1960s Dodgers: Two Parts Patience, One Part Creative Insanity" by Steve Treder, November 10, 2004. Article on the 1960s Los Angeles Dodgers in The Hardball Times. The 1981 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1981 season. The 78th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of- seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It marked their third meeting in the Series in five years as well as a record eleventh Series meeting overall and last Series meeting to date. The Dodgers won the Series in six games in a mirror image of the two teams' last two Series meetings in and ; it was the Dodgers' first title since , their first victory over the Yankees since , and third World Series win over the Yankees, overall. This is the last World Series that a team won after losing the first two games on the road. This also was the last meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship until the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers reached the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Finals, and also the last meeting between the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series to date (the two teams have met 11 times in the World Series, making it the most frequent matchup in World Series history). Due to the players' strike, which ran from June 12 to August 8, the 1981 season was split into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division (or a wild card team if the same club won both halves, although this did not occur in any division) meeting in the best-of-five League Division Series (this division series was a one-off occasion; it was not until 1994 that the Division Series would be implemented on a permanent basis). The four survivors would then move on to the two best-of-five League Championship Series. The expanded playoffs led to Game 1 of the World Series being pushed back to October 20, the latest starting date for a Fall Classic up to that time. In the National League, the Dodgers led the National League West prior to the strike. The Houston Astros, however, won the second-half division title. The Dodgers then defeated the Astros, three games to two, in the National League Division Series before beating the Montreal Expos, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series. The Yankees, who led the American League East in the season's first half, took on the Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the second half division title, in the American League Division Series. New York was victorious three games to two, then went on to sweep the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series. The split-season decision was not a popular one, both among teams and their fans. The arrangement resulted in teams with the best overall record in either their division or league that year, in particular the Cincinnati Reds (the majors' best team with 66-42), being left out of the postseason along with the St. Louis Cardinals which lead the NL East with an overall record of 59-43 and a winning percentage of 0.578. Though the teams with the best record in the American League East and West did win their divisions, the Yankees finished 3rd overall in the AL East while the Kansas City Royals finished 4th overall with a losing 50-53 record. The Dodgers got to the Series with help from Mexican-born rookie phenom Fernando Valenzuela, who won his first eight games including five by shutout. Valenzuela would pitch eight shutouts in all and win both the National League's Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards. Joining Valenzuela in the rotation were veterans Burt Hooton (11–6, 2.28) and Jerry Reuss (10–4, 2.30). The core of the position players remained intact with perennial all-star Steve Garvey at first, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at shortstop, and team leader in home runs with thirteen, Ron Cey at third. Budding star, Pedro Guerrero, would move to the outfield becoming a regular starter for the first time in his career, in place of the aging and often injured Reggie Smith. Manager Tommy Lasorda was looking for his first World Series win in his fifth full season with the Dodgers after losing to the Yankees in and 1978. The Yankees, managed by Bob Lemon (in his second stint, having replaced Gene Michael), had a losing second-half (25–26) but won the first-half (34–22) to qualify for the playoffs. Ace starter Ron Guidry won 11 games against while rookie Dave Righetti emerged as an important starter, winning eight games with a 2.05 ERA. Righetti would win the American League's Rookie of the Year award. Reliever Goose Gossage recorded 20 saves with an 0.77 ERA, striking out 48 in 47 innings. Dave Winfield was signed as a free agent in the off-season, joined another all-star, Reggie Jackson, in the outfield. Winfield led the Yankees with 25 doubles and 68 RBIs. Winfield's huge contract (US$21 million over 10 years), was added to an already strong lineup. While the Yankees boasted a well-balanced squad, the Dodgers were not to be denied their first World Series title in 16 years. The Series commenced on October 20, making it the latest start of the Series, breaking the previous record by 3 days (1910 World Series, October 17). Bob Watson smashed a three-run homer off Jerry Reuss in the first to get the Yankees started. Lou Piniella chased Reuss with an RBI single in the third, and Dodger reliever Bobby Castillo walked four batters in the fourth to give New York a 5–0 lead. Ron Guidry held the Dodgers to four hits and a run (on a Steve Yeager homer) through seven innings. Ron Davis gave up two in the eighth by walking Derrel Thomas and Davey Lopes to lead off. After the walks, Davis was relieved by closer Goose Gossage who gave up a pinch-hit RBI single to Jay Johnstone and a sacrifice fly by Dusty Baker to score Thomas and Lopes, but Gossage closed out the win in the ninth. Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles suffered a hairline fracture of his left thumb when he made a diving stop. The injury caused him to miss Games 3, 4, and 5, but he played in Games 2 & 6\. Former teammates Burt Hooton and Tommy John were locked in a scoreless duel until the fifth, when Larry Milbourne doubled in Willie Randolph for the only run John would really need. The Yankees pushed across two more in the eighth off Steve Howe on a RBI single by Bob Watson and a sacrifice fly by Randolph. John pitched seven shutout innings, and Goose Gossage closed for his second save in two games. Prior to this game, Yankee manager Bob Lemon sat Reggie Jackson. Jackson injured himself running the bases in Game 2 of the ALCS and missed the first two games of the World Series, but was medically cleared to play Game 3. Jackson was not even allowed to pinch-hit. Lemon said he was resting Jackson as a precaution and because the Dodgers were starting a left hand pitcher. NL Rookie of the Year, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, lasted the entire game despite allowing nine hits and walking seven and constantly pitching out of trouble. He walked two Yankee batters in the first, but pitched out of it. Ron Cey, meanwhile, provided him a 3–0 lead in the Dodger half with a three-run homer off Dave Righetti. The Yankees cut it to 3–2 in the second on a Bob Watson homer and a Larry Milbourne RBI single. Valenzuela stranded two runners in this inning. Rick Cerone gave the Yanks a 4–3 lead in the third with a two- run homer, but the Yankees left two on once again. Watson led off the fifth with a double, but no one scored as Valenzuela pitched out of it again. In both the third and fifth innings, the Dodgers were helped by the Yankees' being unable to use a designated hitter (since it was used in last season's Series). In both innings, Valenzuela issued two-out intentional walks to number 8 hitter Larry Milbourne in order to pitch to Dave Righetti and George Frazier. Valenzuela struck out the pitchers both times. The Dodgers gave Valenzuela the lead back in the bottom of the fifth off Frazier when Pedro Guerrero doubled in Steve Garvey to tie it, and Cey scored on a double play grounder by Mike Scioscia. With a lead and the Dodger Stadium crowd behind him, Valenzuela appeared to finally settle down. After pinch hitting, Valenzuela's regular catcher Mike Scioscia took over behind the plate. This seemed to have a calming effect on the rookie, as Scioscia knew Spanish and was better able to talk with Valenzuela than Steve Yeager. The Yankees mounted their final threat in the eighth when Aurelio Rodríguez and Milbourne led off with back-to-back singles. Pinch-hitter Bobby Murcer attempted a sacrifice bunt, but popped it foul. Cey dove and caught it, then doubled Milbourne off first. After being held out of game 3, Reggie Jackson was back in the starting lineup for this game. The Yankees batters had early success against Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch, who faced four batters without recording an out before being relieved by Dave Goltz. Willie Randolph led the game off with a triple and scored on a Larry Milbourne double. Dave Winfield walked and Jackson singled before Goltz gave up a sacrifice fly to Bob Watson. Randolph smashed a two-out solo home run in the second and Rick Cerone batted in a run with a single in the third for a 4–0 Yankee lead. Yankee starter Rick Reuschel then had problems of his own. He allowed an RBI single to Davey Lopes and an RBI groundout to Ron Cey in the third before leaving in favor of Rudy May. May gave up a double to Steve Garvey and an RBI single to Cey in the fifth, but the Yankees countered with two in the sixth on RBI singles by Oscar Gamble and Watson off Tom Niedenfuer. With a 6–3 lead, the Yankees turned the pitching over to their relief combination of Ron Davis and Goose Gossage. Davis had troubles in the sixth. He issued a one-out walk to Mike Scioscia and gave up a pinch-hit homer to Jay Johnstone to make the score 6–5. Then, Lopes lifted a fly ball to right that Jackson lost in the sun and dropped for an error. Lopes reached second and stole third with no throw by catcher Cerone three pitches later. Davis then gave up a game-tying single to Bill Russell. In the seventh, Dusty Baker led off with an infield hit off George Frazier and went to third on a Rick Monday liner that got past center fielder Bobby Brown when he tried to make a shoestring catch. Monday reached second. Pedro Guerrero was then walked intentionally. Yankee manager Bob Lemon then brought starting pitcher Tommy John out of the bullpen instead of Gossage. Steve Yeager, hitting for Scioscia, promptly gave the Dodgers the lead when he drove home Baker with a sacrifice fly. Lopes followed with an infield single that drove Monday home for an 8–6 lead. John managed to strand Guerrero in scoring position to end the seventh and pitched the last two innings, but closer Gossage never got in the game. Jackson brought the Yankees closer with a home run in the eighth off lefty Steve Howe, capping a 3-for-3 day. But Howe was able to close out the win, despite Willie Randolph pinning Dodger centerfielder Derrell Thomas against the centerfield wall with a deep fly ball. The series was now tied 2–2. According to Johnstone's book Temporary Insanity (1985), Steinbrenner confronted Davis in the Yankees' locker room after the game and demanded, "Why did you throw Johnstone a fastball?" Needing a win to stop the Dodgers' momentum in this series, the Yankees trotted out their ace, Ron Guidry. Guidry was sharp through six innings, holding the Dodgers to two singles. Reggie Jackson, continuing his torrid hitting, helped provide Guidry a lead by doubling to left in the second off Jerry Reuss, moving to third on a Davey Lopes error, and scoring on a Lou Piniella infield single. The game then took a turn in the seventh inning. After fanning Dusty Baker, Guidry surrendered back-to-back solo home runs to Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager. After he had struck out, Baker suggested to Yeager and Guerrero that they move up in the batter's box to take away Guidry's late breaking slider. Both home runs were hit on sliders almost to the same place in left-center. Meanwhile, Reuss was as effective as Guidry, holding the Yanks to five hits and the lone run and going the distance. A tense moment occurred in the eighth when Goose Gossage beaned Ron Cey. Cey had to be helped off the field with a concussion, but was cleared to play Game 6 after it was delayed one day by rain. This was the latest-ending World Series by calendar date up to that time (surpassing the 1911 Series, which ended on October 26). Originally scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, Game 6 was delayed a day by rain. This allowed Bob Lemon to start Tommy John opposite Dodger starter Burt Hooton. This also allowed Ron Cey to be in the Dodger lineup. Willie Randolph provided John an early lead with a solo homer in the third. The Dodgers tied it in the fourth on an RBI single by Game 5 hero Steve Yeager. In the bottom of the fourth, Yankee manager Bob Lemon made a controversial decision. Graig Nettles led off the inning with a double. After Hooton retired the next two batters, he intentionally walked Larry Milbourne to face John (there was no designated hitter in this series). Lemon pinch-hit for his starting pitcher in the fourth inning of a 1–1 game. Pinch-hitter Bobby Murcer flied out to end the inning. In his 1991 autobiography T.J.: My 26 Years in Baseball, John revealed that before the game, Lemon and team owner George Steinbrenner settled on the following strategy: get the lead early and then protect it with the bullpen (despite the bullpen's collapses earlier in the series). As ABC cameras showed during the broadcast, John paced the Yankee dugout in disbelief after being pulled. In the fifth, George Frazier, who relieved John, gave up an RBI single to Ron Cey and a two-run triple to Pedro Guerrero. Frazier would take the loss and become the first pitcher to lose three games in a best-of-seven World Series and second pitcher to lose three times in any World Series (the first being Lefty Williams, a member of the Chicago White Sox in the best-of-nine 1919 World Series). New York's bullpen further collapsed in the sixth. Ron Davis issued one-out walks to pitcher Hooton and Davey Lopes. Bill Russell singled to short left field, and Hooton unexpectedly rounded third and headed home. Dave Winfield stumbled on the wet grass, fell forward, and uncorked an errant throw. Hooton scored standing, after which Lemon pulled Davis in favor of Rick Reuschel. On Reuschel's second pitch, Lopes and Russell pulled a double steal. Reuschel walked Steve Garvey intentionally and gave up an RBI force-out to pinch-hitter Derrel Thomas. After Dusty Baker reached on an error by Nettles, loading the bases again, Guerrero singled in two more runs. The Yankees would score in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Lou Piniella. Guerrero would cap a five-RBI night, and the Dodgers' World Series win, by blasting a solo home run in the eighth. Burt Hooton would pitch 5 1/3 innings and get the win. Steve Howe replaced him and earned the save. Winfield's throw typified his struggles in this, his first World Series. At the plate, he went 1-for-22 with one RBI. After the series, Steinbrenner issued a public apology to the City of New York for his team's performance, while at the same time assuring the fans that plans to put the team together for 1982 would begin immediately. The Yankee owner was criticized by players and press alike for doing so, as many people felt losing a World Series was not something for which a team needed to apologize. For the first time, there were co-MVP's in a World Series: Cey (.350 avg., 7-for-20, HR, 6 RBIs), Yeager (.286 avg., 4-for-14, 2 HR's), and Guerrero (.333 avg, 7-for-21, 2 HR's, 7 RBIs) shared the award. After combining for 10 division titles and eight World Series appearances between 1974 and 1981, the 1981 World Series marked the end of an era for both teams as they soon were without key contributors. The Yankees lost Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage, and Tommy John, among others. The franchise would not reach the postseason again until 1995 and would not win another title until 1996. Key Dodger losses included Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Reggie Smith, and Don Sutton. With a stronger farm system and adding valuable players via trade or free agency, they did win division titles in 1983 and 1985, while narrowly missing in 1982. Their success culminated with a world championship in 1988, becoming the only team to win two World Series between 1978 and 1990, and the only team to win more than one World Series title during the 1980s. However, since their 1988 World Series win, the Dodgers would not appear in another World Series until 2017 (which they lost to the Houston Astros), despite reaching the NLCS in 2008, 2009, 2013, and 2016. They would also appear in the World Series in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox, which they also lost. The Yankees, on the other hand, appeared in seven World Series (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2009) in that span, winning all but 2001 and 2003. 1981 World Series (4–2): Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L.) over New York Yankees (A.L.) SERIES STATS | REGULAR SEASON SERIES STATS | REGULAR SEASON SERIES STATS | REGULAR SEASON SERIES STATS | REGULAR SEASON Yankees pitcher George Frazier tied a World Series record for losing three of the six games in 1981. The only other pitcher to lose that many was the Chicago White Sox's Lefty Williams, who intentionally lost his three starts in the infamous 1919 World Series. ABC Sports covered this World Series on television in the United States, its third under the then-present contract of alternating Series coverage with NBC Sports. Keith Jackson and Al Michaels shared play-by-play duties, with Michaels replacing Jackson when the latter deferred to his primary role as ABC's lead college football announcer. Color commentary was handled by Howard Cosell and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer; Palmer would later join ABC's baseball broadcast team after retiring as a player. ABC's coverage was also simulcast over the Yankees' and Dodgers' local television outlets, respectively WPIX in New York City and KTTV in Los Angeles. This World Series was the last to be called by Jackson in the broadcast booth. Michaels became ABC's lead baseball play-by-play announcer (and exclusive World Series announcer) by the time the network next aired the World Series in 1983. On radio, CBS Radio carried the games with Vin Scully handling play-by-play and Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson providing analysis, working together for the third consecutive year. Scully was the Dodgers' primary local announcer during the regular season. When the Dodgers next appeared in the World Series in 1988, Scully called the series nationally on television for NBC. After the series, Johnstone, Yeager, Reuss, and Rick Monday of the Dodgers recorded a cover version of Queen's "We Are the Champions" under the name "Big Blue Wrecking Crew". The quartet performed the song on an episode of Solid Gold, the syndicated TV-show. 1981 Japan Series 1981 NLCS |Game 5 at MLB.com, 1981 NL West Playoff |Game 1 at MLB.com, A Last Hurrah For Los Angeles at SI.com, 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers at baseballlibrary.com, 1981 New York Yankees at baseballlibrary.com The 1963 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the Dodgers sweeping the Series in four games to capture their second title in five years, and their third in franchise history. Starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres, and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games. The dominance of the Dodgers pitchers was so complete that at no point in any of the four games did the Yankees have the lead. New York was held to a .171 team batting average, the lowest ever for the Yankees in the post-season. This was the first time that the Yankees were swept in a World Series in four straight (the 1922 World Series had one tie). Of the Los Angeles Dodgers' four World Series championships since the opening of Dodger Stadium, this was the only one won at Dodger Stadium. Also, of the six championships from the Dodgers franchise, it remains the only one won at home. This series was also the first meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship. Seven more such meetings have followed with three more times each in the World Series and the NBA Finals, and the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. Despite injuries that limited Mickey Mantle to just 65 games, the Yankees went 104–57 to win their fourth straight American League pennant—this one by games. Catcher Elston Howard (.287 BA, 28 HRs, 85 RBI) won the MVP Award, while Joe Pepitone, Roger Maris, and Tom Tresh also topped the 20 home run mark. Their pitching was anchored by Whitey Ford (24 wins, 2.74 ERA) and Jim Bouton (21 wins, 2.53 ERA). The Dodgers' road to the World Series was much more challenging. After blowing a four-game lead with seven to play in 1962, the Dodgers again built a lead in 1963. On August 21, the Dodgers beat the Cardinals 2–1 in 16 innings to take a game lead. When they went to St. Louis for a three-game series on September 16, their lead was one game over the Cardinals, who had won 19 of 20 games. Sports fans around the country were saying how the Dodgers were going to blow it again. But the Dodgers swept the three games from the Cardinals to move four games ahead with nine to play; a 4–1 win over the Mets clinched the pennant in the season's 158th game. Sandy Koufax started it off with a record 15-strikeout performance in Game 1 to outduel the Yankees' ace left-hander Whitey Ford. The 15 strikeouts bested fellow Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine's mark in 1953 by one, and would be surpassed by Bob Gibson in 1968. Koufax also tied a World Series record when he fanned the first five Yankees he faced. Clete Boyer was the only Yankees regular not to strike out. Mickey Mantle, Tom Tresh and Tony Kubek each struck out twice, and Bobby Richardson struck out three times—his only three- strikeout game in 1448 regular season or World Series games. Koufax also struck out three pinch-hitters, including Harry Bright to end the game. Ford set the Dodgers down in order in the first inning, but got into trouble in the second inning. With one out, right fielder Frank Howard doubled into left center field. A single by first baseman Bill Skowron plated Howard to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Second baseman Dick Tracewski's single preceded a three- run home run by catcher John Roseboro to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. The Dodgers upped the lead to 5-0 when Skowron singled home Willie Davis with two outs in the third inning against Ford, who went just five innings. The Yankees scored twice in the eighth inning when Tony Kubek singled with one out and Tom Tresh homered with two outs to cut the lead to 5-2. Willie Davis doubled in two runs in the first inning, former Yankee Bill Skowron homered in the fourth, and Tommy Davis had two triples, including an RBI triple in the eighth to lead the Dodger offense. Yankee starter Al Downing, who would take the loss, went only five innings and charged with three runs. Ralph Terry, in relief, allowed Davis's RBI triple. Dodger manager Walt Alston went with #3 starter Johnny Podres over #2 starter Don Drysdale because he was left-handed and Yankee Stadium was favorable to left-handed pitchers. Podres delivered a six-hitter through innings; ace reliever Ron Perranoski, also a left-hander, got the last two outs and the save, and the Dodgers headed home with 2–0 Series lead. Don Drysdale pitched a masterful three-hitter at Dodger Stadium in his complete-game win. Manager Walter Alston called Drysdale's performance "one of the greatest pitched games I ever saw." Jim Bouton, making his first World Series start, dueled Drysdale throughout, permitting only four hits in seven innings for a losing cause. The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the first on a Jim Gilliam walk, a wild pitch and a single by Tommy Davis. Gilliam almost scored again in the eighth off Hal Reniff, but was caught in an attempt to steal third. The final out came on Joe Pepitone's drive that backed Dodger right fielder Ron Fairly up against the bullpen gate to make the catch of a ball that would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium. Tony Kubek had two of the Yankees' three hits, but none of the hits were extra-base hits. Aces were on the mound again in a game 1 rematch between Whitey Ford and Sandy Koufax. This time, it was a pitcher's duel. The Dodgers scored first in the bottom of the fifth on a monumental Frank Howard home run into the upper deck at Dodger Stadium. The Yankees tied it on a Mickey Mantle home run in the top of the seventh. But in the bottom of the inning, Gilliam hit a high hopper to Yankee third baseman Clete Boyer; Boyer leaped to make the grab, and fired an accurate throw to first base. But first baseman Joe Pepitone lost Boyer's peg in the white-shirted crowd background; the ball struck Pepitone in the arm and rolled down the right field line, allowing Gilliam to scamper all the way to third base. He then scored a moment later on Willie Davis' sacrifice fly. Sandy Koufax went on to hold the Yankees for the final two innings for a 2–1 victory and the Dodgers' third world championship. To date, this is the only time the Dodgers have won the deciding game of a World Series at home. The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two of the four games and had two complete game victories. When the award was given to Koufax at a luncheon in New York City, he was presented with a new car—while the luncheon was taking place, a New York City police officer put a parking violation ticket on the car's windshield. 1963 World Series (4–0): Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L.) over New York Yankees (A.L.) The Yankees' four runs in the series was, at the time, the second- lowest total in a World Series, as the Philadelphia Athletics had scored only three runs in . The Los Angeles Dodgers would set a new low in , two runs. In the 1986 novel Replay by Ken Grimwood, the protagonist bets his life savings on a Dodgers sweep, knowing they will win. His winnings total more than 12 million dollars, at the apparent odds of 100–1, with Grimwood referring to it as "one of the great upsets in baseball history"., This is the World Series that Jack Nicholson's character R.P. McMurphy lobbies unsuccessfully to watch on television (and subsequently "announces" by imagining the action) in Miloš Forman's 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He imagines quite a different scene than what occurred, however, as he describes Richardson, Tresh, and Mantle knocking Koufax out of the box. In reality, the Yankees never led at any time in the Series, and only once in the entire Series (and that only for a half-inning) were the Yankees and Dodgers tied at a score other than 0–0. A brief clip of Ernie Harwell's NBC Radio broadcast of Game 2 can be heard in the film. This was longtime Yankees announcer Mel Allen's 22nd and final World Series broadcast. Allen was suffering from an attack of severe laryngitis at the time of the Series, and while doing play-by-play for NBC television during Game 4 his voice gave out completely in the bottom of the eighth inning, requiring Vin Scully to take over for the remainder of the game. (The following year—Allen's last with the Yankees—he would be passed over for the Series assignment in favor of boothmate Phil Rizzuto.), Game 4 was the highest-rated sports broadcast of 1963, per Nielsen ratings. Of all televised World Series games, its 39.5 rating (percentage of all U.S. television-equipped households that watched the game) has only been surpassed by Game 7 in (39.6) and Game 6 in (40.0). 1963 Japan Series

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In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Several sports leagues have implemented salary caps, using it to keep overall costs down, and also to maintain a competitive balance by restricting richer clubs from entrenching dominance by signing many more top players than their rivals. Salary caps can be a major issue in negotiations between league management and players' unions because they limit players' and teams' ability to negotiate higher salaries even if a team is operating at significant profits, and have been the focal point of several strikes by players and lockouts by owners and administrators. Salary caps are used by the following major sports leagues around the world: North America, The National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, National Women's Soccer League and minor leagues in various sports., The National Basketball Association uses a soft cap plus luxury tax system, while Major League Baseball has no salary cap and instead implements a luxury tax only (see below)., United Kingdom:, In England, the top-level leagues in both rugby codes—the Gallagher Premiership in rugby union and the Super League in rugby league—have salary caps., The four Welsh regional sides in rugby union's Pro12, now known as Pro14, unilaterally adopted a salary cap effective with the 2012–13 season., Australia and New Zealand: Most major leagues operating in the two countries have salary cap provisions:, The Australian Football League (Australian rules football), which operates only in Australia. The AFL Women's league, operated by the (men's) AFL, is also capped., The National Rugby League (rugby league), A-League (association football) and National Basketball League, each of which is based in Australia but has one team in New Zealand., The countries' national netball leagues—Suncorp Super Netball in Australia and the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand—are capped. The trans-Tasman predecessor to both leagues, the ANZ Championship, was also capped., In rugby union, New Zealand's top domestic competition, now known as the Mitre 10 Cup, is capped. In addition, the Australian teams in the Super Rugby competition operate under a unilaterally adopted cap (teams from the other four countries participating in Super Rugby—Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa—are not subject to any cap at present, although both New Zealand and South Africa impose a cap and floor on individual player salaries)., Eurasia: The Kontinental Hockey League, based in Russia and also including teams in Belarus, China, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia, has operated with a salary cap since its creation in 2008., France: The country's top-level rugby union league, Top 14, instituted a salary cap effective with the 2010–11 season. Recently, several European association football leagues have also discussed introducing salary caps. The Union of European Football Associations introduced a set of Financial Fair Play Regulations in 2011, which limits football clubs' spending relative to their income. In theory, there are two main benefits derived from salary caps – promotion of parity between teams, and control of costs. Primarily, an effective salary cap prevents wealthy teams from certain destructive behaviours, such as signing a multitude of high-paid star players to prevent their rivals from accessing these players, and ensuring victory through superior economic power. With a salary cap, each club has roughly the same economic power to attract players, which contributes to parity by producing roughly equal playing talent in each team in the league, and in turn brings economic benefits to the league and to its individual teams. Leagues need to ensure a degree of parity between teams so that games are exciting for the fans and not a foregone conclusion. The leagues that have adopted salary caps generally do so because they believe letting richer teams accumulate talent affects the quality of the sporting product they want to sell. If only one or a handful of dominant teams are able to win consistently and challenge for the championship, many of the contests will be blowouts by the superior team, reducing the sport's attractiveness for fans at the stadium and viewers on television. Television revenue is an important part of the income of many sports around the world, and the more evenly matched and exciting the contests, the more interesting the television product, and the higher the value of the television broadcast rights. An unbalanced league also threatens the financial viability of the weaker teams, because if there is no long-term hope of their team winning, fans of the weaker clubs will gravitate to other sports and leagues. One famous example of this occurring was in the Union Association, which operated in 1884. The league was dominated by the St. Louis Maroons, whose owner, Henry Lucas, was also league president in an obvious conflict-of-interest situation which is now banned. Lucas bought all the best players for his own franchise, and the Maroons easily won the pennant with a record of 94–19 (.832 winning percentage), 21 games ahead of their nearest rivals. The league folded at the end of the season. Another famous example is the All-America Football Conference, which operated between 1946 and 1949. Despite starring many top players and innovative coaches, the AAFC was dominated by one team, the Cleveland Browns, who lost only three games in four years and won every championship in the league's four-year existence, being unbeaten in 1948, and winning three of the championships in blowouts. Attendances and profits consistently fell after the league's second season, for the Browns as well as their rivals, and the league folded at the end of 1949. The need for parity is more pronounced in leagues that use the franchise system rather than the promotion and relegation system, which is used in European football. The structure of a promotion and relegation system means weaker teams struggle against the threat of relegation, adding importance and excitement to the matches of weaker teams. International club competitions such as the UEFA Champions League also means that the top clubs always have something to play for, even in the most unbalanced of national leagues. A salary cap can also help to control the costs of teams, and prevent situations in which a club will sign high-cost contracts for star players in order to reap the benefits of immediate popularity and success, only to later find themselves in financial difficulty because of these costs. Without caps, there is a risk that teams will overspend in order to win now at the expense of long term stability. Team owners who use the same risk-benefit analysis used in business may risk not just the fortunes of their own team, but the reputation and viability of the whole league. Sports fans are generally looking to support a team for life, not just a product to purchase for the short term. If teams regularly go bankrupt or change markets the same way businesses do, then the whole sport looks unstable to the fans, who may lose interest and switch their support to a more stable sport where their team and their rivals are more likely to be playing in the long term. A salary cap can be defined as a hard cap or a soft cap. A hard cap represents a maximum amount that may not be exceeded for any reason. Contracts which cause a team to violate a hard cap are subject to major sanctions, including the voiding of violating contracts, and the stripping of championships won while breaching salary cap rules, which happened to the Melbourne Storm in the NRL. Hard caps are designed so that penalties deter breaking the cap, but there are numerous examples of clubs who have occasionally and/or systematically cheated the cap. A soft cap represents an amount which may be exceeded in limited circumstances, but otherwise exceeding the cap will trigger a penalty which is known in advance. Typically these penalties are financial in nature; fines or a luxury tax are common penalties used by leagues. A salary floor is a minimum amount that must be spent on the team as a whole, and this is separate from the minimum player salary that is agreed to by the league. Some leagues, in particular the NFL, have a hard salary floor that requires teams to meet the salary floor every year, which helps prevent teams from using the salary cap to minimize costs. When the salary cap and floor are the same, the result is a standard form contract model of payment, in which each player is paid the same amount, sometimes varying by position. The standard form contract model is used extensively in North American minor leagues. Before the implementation of salary caps, the economic influence of clubs on player markets was controlled by the reserve clause, which was long a standard clause in professional sports player contracts in the United States. The clause forbade a player from negotiations with another team without the permission of the team holding that player's rights even after the contract's term was completed. This system began to unravel in the 1970s due largely to the activism of players' unions, and the threat of anti-trust legal actions. St. Louis Cardinal star Curt Flood started the ball rolling when he refused a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. He had been a player for 12 years and felt he should have a voice in where he played baseball. Even though he lost his case in the Supreme Court he was the first baseball player to try to end the reserve clause. Although anti-trust actions were not a threat to baseball, which has long been exempt from anti-trust laws, that sport's reserve clause was struck down by a United States arbitrator as a violation of labor laws. By the 1990s most players with several years' professional experience became free agents upon the expiry of their contracts and were free to negotiate a new contract with their previous team or with any other team. This situation, called Restricted Free Agency, led to "bidding wars" for the best players—a situation which inherently gave an advantage in landing such players to more affluent teams in larger media markets. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) formulated in 2011 had an initial salary cap of $120 million. While the previous CBA had a salary floor, the new CBA did not have one until . Starting with that season, each team is required to spend a minimum of 88.8% of the cap in cash on player compensation, and 90% in future years. However, the floor is based on total cash spent over each of two four-year periods, the first running from 2013–2016 and the second from 2017–2020. A team can be under the floor in one or more seasons in a cycle without violating the CBA, as long as its total spending during the four-year period reaches the required percentage of the cap. This allows for unforeseen circumstances such as career ending injuries or unexpected player retirements leading to immediate penalty. As a result, teams are not forced to immediately take on a replacement for missing players which allows them to use more organic approaches such as a trade, free agency acquisition or the draft. The NFL's cap is a hard cap that the teams have to stay under at all times, and the salary floor is also a hard floor. Penalties for violating or circumventing the cap regulations include fines of up to $5 million for each violation, cancellation of contracts and/or loss of draft picks. Violating the salary floor regulations does not result in any fines or competitive penalties; instead, deficiencies are placed into a pool and distributed among all players who were on the regular roster of the offending team during a four-year floor cycle, prorated according to time on the roster in said period. The cap was first introduced for the 1994 season and was expected to be $32 million, but an unexpectedly high bid from Fox and other networks increased the cap to $34.6 million. Both the cap and the floor are adjusted annually based on the league's revenues, and they have increased each year. In , the final capped year under that agreement, the cap was $128 million per team, while the floor was 87.6% of the cap. Using the formula provided in the league's collective bargaining agreement, the floor in 2009 was $112.1 million. Under the NFL's agreement with the NFLPA, the effects on the salary cap of guaranteed payments such as signing bonuses are, with a few rare exceptions, prorated evenly over the term of the contract. In transitions, if a player retires, is traded, or is cut before June 1, all remaining bonus is applied to the salary cap for the current season. If the payroll change occurs after June 1, the current season's bonus proration is unchanged, and the next year's cap must absorb the entire remaining bonus. When a player is franchise tagged the salary cap will be affected. When the salary cap can't be met for a tagged player the National Football League will fund the remainder of the contract. Only a single player may be tagged per year. Because of this setup, NFL contracts almost always include the right to cut a player before the beginning of a season. If a player is cut, his salary for the remainder of his contract is neither paid nor counted against the salary cap for that team. A highly sought-after player signing a long-term contract will usually receive a signing bonus, thus providing him with financial security even if he is cut before the end of his contract. Incentive bonuses require a team to pay a player additional money if he achieves a certain goal. For the purposes of the salary cap, bonuses are classified as either "likely to be earned", which requires the amount of the bonus to count against the team's salary cap, or "not likely to be earned", which is not counted. A team's salary cap is adjusted downward for NLTBE bonuses that were earned in the previous year but not counted against that year's cap. It is adjusted upward for LTBE bonuses that were not earned in the previous year but were counted against that year's cap. One effect of the salary cap was the release of many higher-salaried veteran players to other teams once their production started to decline from the elite level. On the other hand, many teams have made a practice of using free agents to restock with better personnel more suited to the team. The salary cap prevented teams with superior finances from engaging in the formerly widespread practice of stocking as much talent on the roster as possible by placing younger players on reserve lists with false injuries while they develop into NFL-capable players. In this respect, the cap functions as a supplement to the 53-man roster limit and practice squad limits. Generally, the practice of retaining veteran players who had contributed to the team in the past, but whose abilities have declined, became less common in the era of the salary cap. A veteran's minimum salary was required to be higher than a player with lesser experience, which means teams tended to favor cheaper, less experienced prospects with growth potential, with an aim to having a group of players who quickly develop into their prime while still being on cheaper contracts than their peers. To offset this tendency which pushed out veteran players, including those who became fan favorites, the players' association accepted an arrangement where a veteran player who receives no bonuses in his contract may be paid the veteran minimum of up to $810,000, while accounting for only $425,000 in salary-cap space (a 47.5% discount). The salary cap also served to limit the rate of increase of the cost of operating a team. This has accrued to the owners' benefit, and while the initial cap of $34.6 million has increased to $123 million (maximum in 2009), this is due to large growths of revenue, including merchandising revenues and web enterprises, which ownership is sharing with players as well. The owners opted out of the CBA in 2008, leading to an uncapped season in 2010. During the season, most NFL teams spent as if there was a cap in place anyway, with the league warning against teams front-loading contracts during the season. The Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins chose to spend money in the spirit of an uncapped year, and in 2012 the Cowboys and Redskins (the top two NFL teams by revenue in 2011) were docked $10 million and $36 million respectively from their salary caps, to be spread over the next two seasons. This $46 million was subsequently divided up among the remaining 26 NFL teams ($1.77 million each) as added cap space. This excluded the Raiders and Saints, as they were also over the cap, though to a lesser degree than the Cowboys and Redskins. The actions of the league to punish those teams that were acting within their legal bounds during the uncapped year led to a lawsuit against them by the NFLPA. The case argued that the rest of the league colluded to keep average player salaries from rising in a year they expected them to skyrocket and unfairly punished teams that did not collude. The NFL settled the lawsuit with the NFLPA. Year by Year Salary Cap A salary cap existed in the early days of the National Hockey League (NHL). During the Great Depression, the league was under financial pressure to lower its salary cap to $62,500 per team and $7,000 per player, forcing some teams to trade away well-paid star players in order to fit the cap. Prior to the resolution of the 2004–05 lockout, the NHL was the only major North American professional sports league that had no luxury tax, very limited revenue sharing and no salary cap. During the Original Six era through to the early years of the expansion era, the NHL's strict reserve clause negated the need for a salary cap. Player salaries first became an issue in the 1970s, when Alan Eagleson founded the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) and the upstart World Hockey Association began competing with the NHL for players. Not all NHL owners were willing to engage in a bidding war, in particular, Harold Ballard of the Toronto Maple Leafs spent as close to the league minimum on rosters as he could. Since Maple Leaf Gardens was consistently sold out no matter how poorly the Maple Leafs played, Ballard's team was by far the most profitable. The 1994–95 NHL lockout was fought over the issue of the salary cap. The 1994–95 season was only partially cancelled, with 48 games and the playoffs eventually being played. Eight NHL franchises were based in Canada at the time of the lockout. Until the 1990s, the Canadian teams usually paid player salaries in Canadian dollars, but with the rise of free agency and a decline in the value of Canadian dollar, players and their agents increasingly demanded to be paid in U.S. dollars. Canadian teams' revenues were, then as now, mostly in Canadian dollars, and the effects of the discrepancy were particularly acute for the small market franchises. The financial difficulties and uncertainties of competing in smaller Canadian markets led to two clubs moving to the U.S.; the Quebec Nordiques to Denver, and the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman successfully persuaded the US-based teams to donate towards a pool to mitigate the adverse effects of the exchange rate. The negotiations for the 2004–05 NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement revolved primarily around players' salaries. The league contended that its clubs spent about 75% of revenues on salaries, a percentage far higher than existed in other North American sports; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman demanded "cost certainty" and presented the NHLPA with several concepts that the Players' Association considered nothing more than euphemisms for a salary cap, which it had vowed it would never accept. The previous CBA had expired on September 15, 2004, and a lockout ensued, leading to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 NHL season, the first time a major sports league in North America had lost an entire season to a labor dispute. The lockout was resolved when the NHLPA agreed to a hard salary cap based on league revenues, with the NHL implementing revenue sharing to allow for a higher cap figure. The NHL salary cap is formally titled the "Upper Limit of the Payroll Range" in the new CBA. For the 2005–06 NHL season, the salary cap was set at US$39 million per team, with a maximum of $7.8 million (20% of the team's cap) for a player. The CBA also mandated the payment of salaries in U.S. dollars, codifying what had been a universal practice for more than a decade. Revenues for the six Canadian teams that were in the league at the time of the lockout have all increased significantly since then, and because the US dollar fell to relative parity with its Canadian counterpart in the early 2010s, league-wide revenues measured in U.S. dollars were inflated accordingly. As a result of these factors, the cap was raised each year of the 2005–12 CBA to $64.3 million for the 2011–12 season, with a cap of $12.86 million for a player. The CBA also contains a salary floor which is formally titled the "Lower Limit of the Payroll Range", the minimum that each team must pay in player salaries. The lower limit was originally set at 55% of the cap, but is now defined to be $16 million below the cap, therefore the 2011–12 minimum was $48.3 million. Since the current CBA was approved after a later lockout in 2012–13, league revenues have stagnated due to a significant fall in the value of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar. The cap was $69 million for the 2014–15 season and will be $74 million for 2016–17. The difference between the salary cap and a team's actual payroll is referred to as the team's "payroll room" or "cap room". Each year of an NHL player contract, the salary earned contributes to the team's "cap hit". The basic cap hit of a contract for each year it is effective is the total money a player will earn in regular salary over the life of the contract divided by the number of years it is effective. This, in theory, prevents a team from paying a player different amounts each year in order to load his cap hit in years in which the team has more cap room. Teams still use this practice, however, for other reasons. Performance bonuses also count towards the cap, but there is a percentage a team is allowed to go over the cap in order to pay bonuses. A team must still factor in possible bonus payments, however, which could go over that percentage. Salaries for players sent to the minors, under most circumstances, do not count towards the cap while they are there. If a player has a legitimate long-term injury, his cap hit is still counted; however, the team is permitted to replace him with one or more players whose combined salary is equal to (or less than) that of the injured player, even if the additional players would put the team over the salary cap. If the team's cap room is larger than the injured player's cap hit, they may take on as much as their cap room; however, the injured player may not return to play until the team is again compliant with the original cap. The NHL has become the first of the major North American leagues to implement a hard cap while retaining guaranteed player contracts. Guaranteed player contracts in the NHL differ from other sports, notably the NFL, where teams may opt out of a contract by waiving or cutting a player. NHL teams may buy out players' contracts, but must still pay a portion of the money still owed which is spread out over twice the remaining duration of the contract. This does not apply for players over 35 at the time of signing; in this case a team cannot buy out the player's contract to reduce salary. Any other player can be bought out for ⅓ of the remaining salary if the player is younger than 28 at the time of termination, or ⅔ of the remaining salary if the player is 28 or older. Trading cash for players or paying a player's remaining salary after trading him have been banned outright in order to prevent wealthier teams from evading the restrictions of the cap. Players, agents or employees found to have violated the cap face fines of $250,000 – $1 million and/or suspension. Teams found to have violated the cap face fines of up to $5 million, cancellation of contracts, forfeiture of draft picks, deduction of points and/or forfeiture of game(s) determined to have been affected by the violation of the cap. The NBA had a salary cap in the mid-1940s, but it was abolished after only one season. The league continued to operate without such a cap until 1984–85 season, when one was instituted in an attempt to level the playing field among all of the NBA's teams and ensure competitive balance for the Association in the future. Before the cap was reinstated, teams could spend whatever amount of money they wanted on players, but in the first season under the new cap, they were each limited to $3.6 million in total payroll. Under the 2005 CBA, salaries were capped at 57 percent of basketball-related income (BRI) and lasted for six years until June 30, 2011. The next CBA, which took effect in 2011–12, set the cap at 51.2 percent of BRI in 2011–12, with a 49-to-51 band in subsequent years. The salary cap for was set at $94.14 million, with the salary floor at 84.73 million and the luxury tax limit at $113.29 million. The current CBA took effect with the 2017–18 season. The NBA uses a "soft" cap, meaning that teams were allowed to exceed the cap in order to retain the rights to a player who was already on the team. This provision was known as the "Larry Bird" exception, named after the former Boston Celtics great who was retained by that team until his retirement under the provisions of this rule. The purpose of this rule was to address fan unease over the frequent changing of teams by players under the free agency system, as fans became displeased over their favorite player on their favorite team suddenly bolting to another team. The "Larry Bird" provision of the salary cap gave the player's current team an advantage over other teams in free agent negotiations, thus increasing the chances that a player would stay with his current team. The provision tended to result in most teams being over the cap at any given time. Teams that violated the cap rules faced fines of up to $5 million, cancellation of contracts and/or loss of draft picks, and are prohibited from signing free agents for more than the league minimum. The NBA also has a salary floor, but teams are not penalized as long as their total payroll exceeds the floor at the end of the season. The NBA also uses a "luxury tax" which is triggered if the average team payroll exceeds a certain amount higher than the cap. In this case, the teams with payrolls exceeding a certain threshold had to pay a tax to the league which is divided amongst the teams with lower payrolls. However, this penalty was levied against teams in violation only if the league average also breached a separate threshold. The NBA implemented a maximum salary for individual players. This was done following a dramatic increase in player salaries, in spite of the salary cap, in the mid-1990s. Under the CBA, a player's maximum possible salary increased along with his time of service in the league. For a player of five years' experience, the maximum salary threshold began at 25% of the salary cap, with annual increases of up to 10.5% possible beyond that for players re-signed by their original team, or 8% annual increases for free agents that signed with new teams. For players of greater experience, the salary limit was higher – but the 10.5% limit on annual increases remained the same. The 2011 CBA resulted in several major changes to the salary cap scheme. Most of these changes were retained in the 2017 CBA. The cap remains a soft cap; the Bird exception remains in place, but teams have less financial room to retain a player with Bird rights than under pre-2011 agreements. The 2011 CBA also reduced the maximum length of a contract by a year, and reduced allowable annual raises. Bird free agents are entitled to 5-year contracts with 7.5% raises; all other players (including sign-and-trade acquisitions) are limited to 4-year deals with 4.5% raises. Maximum salaries remain at 25, 30, or 35% of the cap, depending on years of service. These provisions remained intact in the 2017 CBA. Under the current CBA, a player coming off his rookie scale contract, who would normally be eligible to receive a salary of 25% of the cap, is eligible to receive 30% if he has been named MVP in any of the previous three seasons; named the Defensive Player of the Year in the immediately preceding season or two of the three most recent seasons; or named to an All-NBA team in the immediately preceding season or two of the three most recent seasons. These criteria are the same that determine eligibility for a new type of contract introduced with the 2017 CBA—the Designated Veteran Player Extension (DVPE), popularly known as a "supermax" contract. Players entering their eighth or ninth season in the league who meet the aforementioned criteria may be eligible to sign an extension of up to 5 years at 35% of the cap, a salary normally allowed only for players with 10 or more years in the league. Such an extension can only be offered by the team that had the player under contract in the immediately preceding season. A team can use this extension on either a player under contract or its own free agent, but only if the signing team had originally drafted the player or obtained him in a trade during his rookie contract. Substantial changes were made in 2011 to the luxury tax regime. The dollar-for-dollar tax provisions of the 2005 CBA remained in effect through the 2012–13 season. Starting in 2013–14, the tax changed to an incremental system. Tax is now assessed at different levels based on the amount that a team is over the tax threshold, which remains at a level above the actual cap. The scheme is not cumulative—each level of tax applies only to amounts over that level's threshold. For example, a team that is $8 million over the tax threshold pays $1.50 for each of its first $5 million over the tax threshold, and $1.75 per dollar for the remaining $3 million. In addition, "repeat offenders", subject to additional tax penalties, are defined as teams that paid tax in four of the five previous seasons. As in the previous CBA, the tax revenue is divided among teams with lower payrolls. However, under the new scheme, no more than 50% of the total tax revenue can go exclusively to teams that did not go over the cap; the use of the remaining 50% was not specified in the new agreement. Taxpaying teams have additional spending limits under the two most recent agreements (2011 and 2017). They have a smaller "midlevel exception" (another cap provision that allows teams to go over the cap to sign at least one player per season), and can acquire less salary in a trade. Also, since 2013–14, teams that exceed the tax threshold by the so-called "apron", an amount most recently set in the 2017 CBA at $6 million, cannot receive a player in a sign-and-trade deal. The midlevel exception itself also changed with the 2011 CBA. The maximum duration of midlevel contracts was reduced from 5 years to 4 for non-taxpaying teams and 3 for taxpaying teams, and maximum allowable raises were also reduced. In addition, the midlevel exception was extended to teams under the salary cap for the first time; these teams received a 2-year exception. This exception was retained in the 2017 CBA. Under the 2011 CBA, teams were allowed to "amnesty" one player before the start of any season, as long as his current contract was signed during the 2005 CBA. The amnestied player was waived from the team; although the player's former team remained obligated to pay his salary under the old contract (with a credit for any salary paid by a future team), that salary was no longer counted for purposes of the cap or luxury tax calculations. This provision could be used only once per team during the duration of the CBA, which was originally a 10-year deal but allowed either side to opt out in 2017. The "amnesty" provision was eliminated in the 2017 CBA, which was agreed to by the owners and players shortly before the opt-out date. The salary floor, previously 75% of the cap, increased to 85% in 2011–12 and 2012–13, and 90% in future years. Instead of a salary cap, Major League Baseball implements a luxury tax (also called a competitive balance tax), an arrangement in which teams whose total payroll exceeds a certain figure (determined annually) are taxed on the excess amount in order to discourage large market teams from having a substantially higher payroll than the rest of the league. The tax was first instituted in 1997 and is paid to the league, which then puts the money into its industry- growth fund. A team that goes over the luxury tax threshold for the first time in a five-year period pays a penalty of 22.5% of the amount they were over the threshold, second-time violators pay a 30% penalty, and teams that exceed the limit three or more times pay a 50% penalty from 2013 onwards. There is also an incentive to lower payroll; if in any year a team goes under the threshold, the penalty rate decreases to 17.5%, 25% or 40% (depending on prior record over the previous five years) for the next time the tax is paid. The threshold for 2018 is $210 million. The following teams have been subject to luxury tax since 2003: As of 2017, the New York Yankees have paid 61.75% of all luxury tax collected by MLB. Money collected under the MLB luxury tax are apportioned as follows: The first $2,375,400 and 50% of the remaining total are used to fund player benefits, 25% goes to the Industry Growth Fund, and the remaining 25% is used to defray team's funding obligations from player benefits. Measuring the success of the luxury tax in bringing the benefits of parity has brought mixed results. A team with a $100 million plus payroll has won the World Series 12 times (the 2009 Yankees; the 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 Red Sox; the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals; the 2010, 2012 and 2014 San Francisco Giants; the 2015 Kansas City Royals; the 2016 Chicago Cubs; and the 2017 Houston Astros). However, while $100 million plus payrolls have only existed since 2001, the last team to win the World Series with a payroll less than $100 million was the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies (payroll $98.26 million); this can be explained by the fact that the majority of elite players require high salaries when they hit free agency (unless their team extends their contract beforehand), and teams with those players generally perform better. While a top tier payroll increases a team's chances of making the playoffs, it does not guarantee they will consistently win championships. On the other hand, the New York Yankees have consistently had the highest total payroll in MLB, and they have appeared in 40 of the 114 World Series for 27 wins as of 2018 (35.1% of all World Series for a 24.6% success rate). In the past 30 years, 18 different teams have won the World Series. In comparison, only 14 different teams won the NFL Super Bowl, 13 won the NHL Stanley Cup and 10 won the NBA championship in that same time frame. Other pundits, such as Michael Lewis, the author of the bestseller Moneyball, have argued that using World Series championships as an example of parity may be misleading, and playoff appearances may be a better indicator of relative team strength. The playoff system used in baseball comprises a small number of games compared to success over a long season, and has been described as a "crapshoot" by Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane (the central figure of Moneyball). In fact, teams with consistently high payrolls, including the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, have secured high numbers of playoff berths (the two teams have combined to win the AL East 19 out of 25 seasons from 1994–2018). In contrast, teams with low payrolls are far less likely to make the playoffs: for example, the Pittsburgh Pirates went 20 years without a winning season before making the 2013 playoffs. A number of the small market teams, notably the Milwaukee Brewers, have called for the introduction of a salary cap, but any introduction is opposed by the MLB players' union and the Yankees' ownership group; the latter have threatened legal action if such a cap is implemented. Although some saw the success of NHL owners in their 2004–05 lockout as an opportunity for MLB to reform its collective bargaining agreement, baseball owners agreed to a new five-year deal in October 2006 that did not include a salary cap. Unlike the other three major North American sports, MLB also has no team salary floor: the only minimum limits for team payrolls are based on the minimum salaries for individual players of various levels of experience that are written into MLB's collective bargaining agreement. The players' union has also historically been vehemently opposed to a team salary floor, considering any floor proposal to be a prelude to a later request for a cap. Here are some major points of the MLS rules and regulations for the 2017 season. A team's roster can be made up of up to 30 players. They are eligible to be selected to the 18-player team for each game., The salary cap is $4.035 million per team in 2018, not counting the extra salary of designated players. Players in the first 20 roster spots will count against the cap., Roster spots 19 and 20 are not required to be filled, and teams may spread their salary budget across only 18 players. A minimum salary budget charge ($67,500 in 2018) will be imputed against a team's salary budget for each unfilled senior roster spot below 18., The maximum salary for any non-designated player is $504,375., A designated player counts $504,375 against a team's cap. However, if a player joins his team in the middle of the season, the charge against the budget will be $252,187., Players who are in the roster spots from 21–30 will not count against a team's cap. They will be known as off-budget players., Those in roster slots 21–24 must be a senior minimum salary player ($65,000 base salary – will increase to $67,500 in 2018) or Generation adidas player., Those in slots 25–30 must be a reserve minimum salary player ($53,000 base salary – will increase to $54,500 in 2018). Additionally, those who earn the lowest possible league salary must be 24 or younger during the 2017 calendar year., Those in slots 29–30 must also be homegrown players., In addition to the salary cap, each MLS team can also spend additional funds on a player in the form of allocation money and homegrown player subsidy. Since the 2012 season, the cap number for designated players has depended on the players' ages. Since the 2013 season, players 20 or younger have counted $150,000 against the cap and those age 21 to 23 have counted $200,000, with older players remaining at the standard cap number ($368,750 for 2013, $387,500 for 2014, $436,250 for 2015, $457,500 for 2016, $480,625 for 2017, and $504,375 for 2018). For the purpose of determining a cap number, the player's age is determined solely by his year of birth. On June 13, 2006, a proposed salary management system featuring a Maximum Salary Expenditure Cap (SEC) was ratified at the Canadian Football League board of governors meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The CFL began enforcing strict salary cap regulation for the 2007 season and the cap was initially set at $4.05 million. The cap will be $5.3 million for the 2020 season or an average salary of $115,217 per active roster player. However, most clubs spend between $7,000,000 to $8,000,000 per season on salaries due to injury exemptions allowed under the cap. For instance, the Edmonton Eskimos spent $8.8 million on salaries in 2017 season and $7.9 million in 2016, while still cap compliant. Penalties for teams found to have breached the salary cap or salary floor regulations are: The following breaches of the salary cap have occurred (no team has yet been penalized for violating salary floor regulations): In 2007, the Montreal Alouettes were fined $116,570 and forfeited a first-round draft pick after a CFL investigation found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $108,285 during the season., The Saskatchewan Roughriders were also fined in 2007 ($76,552) for a string of minor breaches in relation to benefit payments to injured players., In 2008, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were fined $87,147 for exceeding the salary cap by that amount., In 2009, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were fined $44,687 for minor breaches in relation to player bonuses., In 2010, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were fined $26,677 for exceeding the salary cap by that amount., In 2013, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were fined $17,975 for exceeding the salary cap by that amount. Salary caps are common in other leagues. The salary cap of the first Arena Football League was $1.82 million per team in its final season in 2008. In 2005, the Tampa Bay Storm were fined $125,000 for salary cap violations and their head coach Tim Marcum was suspended for four games (last two of the 2005 season and first two of the 2006 season) and fined $25,250; Marcum was suspended for a fifth game the next day for criticizing the decision at a press conference. When the Arena Football League returned in 2010, it instituted a standard salary of $400 per game and a salary cap of $1.5 million, considerably lower than that paid by teams in the previous AFL; given that the new AFL had a 16-game season in 2010, this effectively means that its players are semi-professional. The National Women's Soccer League, launched in 2013, was initially planned to have a team cap of $500,000, but that was later lowered to $200,000. However, the sport's three North American national federations—the United States Soccer Federation, which runs the league; the Canadian Soccer Association; and the Mexican Football Federation—committed to paying the league salaries of many national team players. For the league's first season, 23 US players, plus 16 players each from Canada and Mexico, had their salaries paid by their respective federations; these players' salaries do not count against the team cap. In a player allocation held before the inaugural season, each of the eight charter teams received two Canadian and two Mexican internationals; seven of the eight teams received three US internationals and the Western New York Flash received two. Salary caps are rarely used in Europe. However, several European rugby competitions, as well as ice hockey leagues have successfully instituted salary caps. Rugby league's Super League, mainly in England with a team also in France (and formerly one in Wales), is capped. The league has used promotion and relegation for most of its history, though from 2009 through 2014 it operated on a licensing system with some similarities to the North American franchising model. Promotion and relegation returned to Super League in the 2015 season. In rugby union, two of the continent's three main domestic/regional leagues—the English Premiership and the French Top 14—instituted caps despite both being at the top of extensive pyramid structures with promotion and relegation throughout. The most notable European ice hockey league with a salary cap is the Kontinental Hockey League (which uses the franchising model), and that league implemented a cap despite currency issues. The Premiership's salary cap has been in place since the late 1990s. By 2007–08, the cap reached £2.2 million. In the following season, it nearly doubled to £4 million, and remained at that amount through the 2011–12 season. A provision applicable only in seasons that run up against the quadrennial Rugby World Cup, such as 2015–16, gives teams a credit for each player in the squad participating in the competition, helping them to manage their reduced squads in the season's early weeks. This credit was £30,000 in the 2011–12 season, and rose to £35,000 for 2015–16. In addition, each club has a separate salary cap for its academy players (£200,000 prior to 2015–16, reduced to £100,000 thereafter, but with home-grown players no longer counting under this cap), and is allowed to provide an unlimited educational fund to enable its players to pursue university or vocational training. Finally, each club has a separate cap of £400,000 for use in signing replacements for players lost to long-term injuries (12 weeks or more). Through 2011–12, the cap remained at £4 million. However, academy credits were introduced that season. Teams received a £30,000 credit for each home-grown player in their senior squads who was under age 24 at the start of the season and earned more than £30,000, with a maximum of eight such credits. This increased the effective cap to a maximum of £4.24 million (not counting World Cup roster credits). Two substantial changes took effect for 2012–13. First, the cap increased to £4.26 million before academy credits and up to £4.5 million with credits. The most significant change was that each team could now sign one player whose salary did not count against the cap, similar to the Designated Player Rule in MLS. The player so designated, which the Premiership calls an "excluded player", had to meet one of the following three criteria: Played at least two full seasons with his current club before his designation., Played outside the Premiership in the season before his designation., Included in the official squad of any participant in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final tournament. For the 2014–15 season, the cap increased to £4.76 million before academy credits and up to £5 million with credits. Other features of the cap remained unchanged. Several significant changes were introduced for the 2015–16 season: The base cap increased to £5.1 million., The maximum possible number of academy credits per club remained at eight, but the per-player credit increased to £50,000. In turn, this means that the effective cap for a club that uses all of its academy credits was increased by £400,000 (instead of £240,000 in past seasons)., Clubs may now have two excluded players instead of one. Unlike the first slot, which can be used for a player on a team's current roster, the new slot can only be filled by a player who had not been in the Premiership in the 12 months preceding the start of his initial contract with his Premiership club. A player's inclusion in, or exclusion from, a Rugby World Cup roster is no longer relevant to his status as an excluded player. The cap later increased to a base of £6.5 million with maximum academy credits of £600,000 for the 2016–17 season, and is now at a base of £7 million with the same maximum for academy credits. Additionally, each team receives a credit of £80,000 for each member of the England national team on the roster, and a luxury tax (which the Premiership calls an "overrun tax") is imposed on clubs that exceed the salary cap by more than 5%. The base value of the cap will remain at £7 million through the end of the 2019–20 season. In December 2009, Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), operator of the Top 14, announced it would impose a cap of €8 million, effective with the 2010–11 season. Previously, the only restrictions on team salaries were that wage bills were limited to 50% of turnover and that 10% of the salary budget had to be held in reserve. Along with the announcement of the cap, LNR also declared that the reserve requirement would be raised to 20%, with the previous limitation of 50% of turnover remaining in effect. The new cap was slightly higher than the highest official wage bill in the 2009–10 season. Also, due to the complex nature of French club administration, clubs were seen as likely to find creative ways to skirt the cap. This was publicly admitted in 2014 by Mourad Boudjellal, owner of current Top 14 power Toulon. Boudjellal found a loophole that allowed him to set up a separate company to supplement the salary of star Jonny Wilkinson by a six-figure amount while staying under the cap. The Top 14 salary cap was set at €9.5 million for 2012–13. For 2013–14, the cap was increased to €10 million, and in addition youth players are excluded from the cap unless their salaries are more than €50,000. The €10 million total cap remained in place for three seasons (through 2015–16); the agreement allowed for the threshold for exclusion of youth players to be adjusted before any of those seasons, but no such adjustment was made. The €10 million cap was later extended through the 2018–19 season. Additionally, each club that has a member of the France national team on its roster (more specifically, one of the 30 players named by the French Rugby Federation to the so-called "elite squad") is allowed to exceed the cap by a set amount per national team member. This amount was fixed at €100,000 through the 2015–16 season, and increased to €200,000 starting in 2016–17. The cap rules were further tweaked for the 2015–16 season. Player bonus payments that amount to more than 10% of a player's salary are now counted against the cap. On 20 December 2011, the four Welsh regional sides that participate in the competition then known as Pro12 and now as Pro14 announced that they would impose a salary cap of £3.5 million, effective with the 2012–13 season. The cap covers only the registered squad for European competitions—at the time of announcement, the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup, and from 2014–15 the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. It does not cover players in the regions' academies. This cap was unilaterally instituted only on the Welsh teams. The Pro14 league is uncapped, and none of the other three European countries involved in the Pro12 (Ireland, Italy, and Scotland) are known to have formally instituted such a system. South Africa maintains a cap and floor on individual player salaries but does not impose a separate team cap. The operation of the cap was modified for select Wales national team players in 2014 by agreement between the Welsh Rugby Union and the Welsh professional players' trade union. This agreement introduced "National Dual Contracts", which make signatories available for all Wales national team matches regardless of whether they fall within an official World Rugby window for Test matches. The WRU funds 60% of the salary of NDC players, with the region covering the other 40%, with only the latter amount included in the salary cap. When the Russian Superleague was dissolved to make way to the modern-day KHL, the Kontinental Hockey League Players' Trade Union (KHLPTU) agreed to the implementation of a salary cap. When first implemented there was a salary cap, as well as a salary floor. For the 2009-10 KHL season, the salary cap was 620 million rubles ($US18.3 million) and the salary floor was 200 million rubles ($US5.9 million). The KHL's cap operates despite the KHL's multinational nature, with teams in Belarus, China, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Slovakia, in addition to its primary base of Russia. The six non-Russian countries use four different currencies (three countries use the euro), with most floating against the ruble. From 2011–12, each team can sign up to two "designated players" whose salaries are not counted against the cap. Up until 2011, the KHL salary cap was a soft cap, with a luxury tax amounting to 30% of the payroll that is over the cap paid to the special stabilization account, which helps KHL teams facing financial hardship. From the 2012-13 KHL season onward, the KHL uses a hard cap, set at 1.25 billion rubles ($US36.5 million). Several European association football leagues have considered introducing salary caps in the early 21st century. In 2002, the BBC reported that the G14 group of 18 leading European football teams would cap their payrolls at 70% of team's income, starting from the 2005/2006 season, however this did not occur. Serie A, the leading Italian football league and The Football League in England have also considered salary caps. These measures would be implemented to ensure clubs spend responsibly rather than as a tool to create parity. Top executives in European football have acknowledged that a number of challenges not present in North America would confront anyone who tried to implement an effective cap across European football or even across a single league with a view to creating competitive balance: The various national leagues are in competition with each other for the best players because there is free movement of players between the leagues. Football leagues in European Union countries have been forbidden from prohibiting the signing of EU players from other nations, or even from limiting their numbers. Therefore, if one league imposed a strict cap on its teams, the best players from the country in question would still be free to move to uncapped rival leagues., The existence of lucrative and prestigious international club competitions encourage clubs to ensure dominance of their national leagues in order to play in the higher-level European leagues. For many top clubs, the domestic league is little more than a stepping stone to the European league. Success in European club competitions is not only a matter of national pride, as the number of places allocated to each country for these competitions is determined by that country's teams' past performances in Europe. Salary capped clubs in a franchise structure do not have to compete with teams in rival leagues where there is no salary cap., Different governing bodies have authority over domestic and international competitions. For example, UEFA governs European football and organizes the prestigious Champions League and Europa League, but its authority over the domestic leagues is very limited. Although UEFA could, in theory, impose a salary cap, it would only apply to UEFA's club competitions and to the portion of each team's payroll paid to players registered with UEFA. A wealthy Champions League team could then sign players who would play exclusively in domestic competitions. In other sports that have a single governing body which oversees a single premier competition, the power to enforce salary cap rules is much greater., The pyramid structure of European leagues means the number of small clubs in the various lower divisions can run into the thousands. The promotion and relegation system which allows transfers between these divisions presents challenges to a cap system. A club that is relegated to a lower league after a poor season may find themselves significantly over the lower division cap. Similarly, a promoted club might have to face the challenge of hastily finding players who it could then pay under a higher cap. A salary cap exacerbates the problem of players switching clubs along with the clubs' movement between tiers., European tax systems and rates vary greatly from country to country. One prominent club, AS Monaco, plays in Monaco, a principality with no income tax at all. A flat payroll limit would therefore equate to aggregate take home pay that varied greatly from one club to the next, which would make it difficult for teams in countries with higher taxation to attract the best players. By comparison, the differences between the tax systems and tax rates of Canada, the US and between their respective provinces and states are not nearly as great., Europeans use multiple currencies and football wages are usually paid in the local currency. Although the countries hosting all but one of the most prominent European leagues now use the Euro, the one exception, England, has the richest league. Even if a hypothetical UEFA-wide cap were denominated in Euros, fluctuating exchange rates would make it difficult for the cap to be fairly administered in the United Kingdom since its salaries are paid in pounds sterling. By comparison, most player salaries paid to players on Canadian major sports teams are paid in U.S. dollars; in fact this is now mandated in the NHL to ensure that payrolls do not fluctuate with exchange rates. On the other hand, trying to force British clubs to pay wages in Euros so that their payrolls could not exceed a cap would meet with opposition from clubs since their revenues are collected in pounds, and might even provoke political opposition from Britons determined to prevent the Euro from replacing the pound. The Australian Football League has implemented a salary cap on its clubs since 1987, when Brisbane and West Coast were admitted, as part of its equalization policy designed to neutralize the ability of the richest and most successful clubs, Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon, to perennially dominate the competition. The cap was set at A$1.25 million for 1987–1989 as per VFL agreement, with the salary floor set at 90% of the cap or $1.125 million; the salary floor was increased to 92.5% of the cap in 2001, and to 95% of the cap for 2013 onwards due to increased revenues. The salary cap, known officially as Total Player Payments, is A$13,000,000 for the 2020 season with a salary floor of $12,350,000. Both the salary cap and salary floor has increased substantially since the competition was re-branded as the AFL in 1990 to assist in stemming the dominance of other high membership clubs, such as Adelaide, Hawthorn and the West Coast Eagles. Certain payments are excluded from the cap, and concessions are available for some players, in particular "veteran" players (those who have completed 10 seasons with their current club) and "nominated" rookie list players, who are discounted by 50% for purposes of the cap, depending on the number of these players at each club. The AFL Players Association negotiates for players with the AFL on the topic of average salary. The breaches of the salary cap and salary floor regulations are exceeding the TPP, falling below the salary floor, not informing the AFL of payments, late or incorrect lodgement or loss of documents relating to player financial and contract details, or engaging in draft tampering. Trading cash for players and playing coaches, formerly common practices, are also prohibited to prevent wealthier clubs from circumventing the restrictions of the salary cap and salary floor. Penalties for players, club officials or agents include fines of up to one-and-a-half times the amount involved and/or suspension. Penalties for clubs include fines of up to triple the amount involved, forfeiture of draft picks and/or deduction of premiership points. As of 2019, no club has been penalised for breaches of the salary floor regulations, and no punishment has included the deduction of premiership points. The VFL/AFL's salary cap has been quite successful in terms of parity: since the cap was introduced in 1987, 17 of the 18 teams have reached the Grand Final, and 13 teams have won the premiership. Another major statistic in regards to the success of the VFL/AFL's cap is that the three richest and most successful clubs, Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon, who won 41 of the premierships between them from 75 Grand Finals in the 90 seasons between 1897 and 1986 (83.3% of all Grand Finals for a 45.6% premiership success rate), have only won six of the premierships between them from twelve Grand Finals since (35.2% of all Grand Finals for an 17.6% premiership success rate). Of note in this regard is that the Sydney Swans, playing as South Melbourne before 1981, mostly struggled in the 50 seasons between 1946 and 1995, and made the finals on just four occasions in that time (a finals success rate of 8%). They had not won a premiership since 1933 and had not appeared in a Grand Final since 1945, but since the implementation of the salary cap, have since qualified for the finals in 20 of 24 seasons (a finals success rate of 83%) and played in five Grand Finals, winning the premiership in 2005 and 2012. Originally, the cap was only for the Total Player Payments of each club and not the club's football department. This has caused concern in recent years; for instance, three of the four top-spending clubs played in the Preliminary Finals in 2012 and 2013, and the last team to win the premiership outside the top eight spending teams was North Melbourne in 1999. There had been calls for a separate cap for the football department, or to reform the salary cap to include football department spending, but these had been opposed by the wealthier clubs, with Sydney CEO Andrew Ireland saying that the AFL needed to examine the gap between football department spending for these teams. In 2014, the AFL and its clubs accepted a luxury tax on football department spending (excluding the salary cap) to take effect in 2015 and an overall revenue tax to take effect by 2017. Clubs that exceed the football department cap will pay the AFL the lesser of $1 million or 37.5% of the excess, and repeat offenders will pay the lesser of 75% of the excess or $2 million. The AFL salary cap is occasionally controversial, as it is a soft salary cap and can sometimes be slightly different for each club. Clubs in poor financial circumstances have not always used their full cap, in some circumstances not even reaching the salary floor. The AFL has also used the cap to pursue its policy of supporting clubs in non-traditional markets such as Sydney and Brisbane. Apart from the AFL, several regional leagues also have salary caps which although widening between them and the AFL and overall less than national competitions, are substantial enough to dictate the movement of semi- professional and professional players between states and the overall playing quality and spectator attendance of the state leagues. In 2017, the AFL launched a semi-professional women's national league, known as AFL Women's. All of its current and announced future teams are fielded by AFL clubs. In the league's inaugural season of 2017, a three-tiered salary structure was employed. Marquee players received A$27,000 for the season, with second-tier players earning $12,000 and other listed players $8,500. All three amounts were scheduled to rise for the league's second season of 2018. The National Rugby League has a salary cap of A$9.6 million in 2018, with a salary floor of A$9.12 million (95% of the cap). The salary cap keeps average annual player salaries at around A$364,800. The National Rugby League adopted a hard salary cap model in its first season in 1998. The NRL's stated purposes for having a salary cap are "to assist in spreading the playing talent" and "ensure that clubs are not put into positions where they are forced to spend more money than they can afford in terms of player payments, just to be competitive." Before the 2012 season, the NRL's then Chief executive David Gallop said "The cap's there to make sure that pure purchasing power cannot dominate the sport... It means we can genuinely say that all 16 teams ... have a chance. For the fan every week, every game is a contest. That's at the core of why rugby league is so successful." The breaches of the salary cap and salary floor regulations outlined by the NRL are exceeding the salary cap, falling below the salary floor, not informing the NRL of payments, late or incorrect lodgement or loss of documents relating to player financial and contract details or engaging in contract tampering. Trading cash for players is also prohibited to prevent wealthier clubs from evading the salary cap and salary floor regulations. Penalties for players, club officials and agents include fines of the one-and-a-half times of the amount involved and/or suspension. Penalties for clubs include fines of up to triple the amount involved ($10,000 for each document that is late or incorrectly lodged or lost) and/or deduction of premiership points. The NRL is one of the few major leagues to implement a salary cap in a sport that has competing leagues in other countries where there is either no salary cap or a much higher cap per club. As a result, at times there has been a tradition of players from Australia moving to Europe where salaries for the elite, and even for average players, were considerably higher. This is often dependent on exchange rates or the rise and fall in the fortunes of international rugby league or union competitions. The NRL chooses to continue with the cap, believing that any reduction in quality of the sporting product due to the loss of these players is less than allowing richer clubs to dominate. In practice, the goal of parity has been quite successful, with 12 different clubs winning the 19 premierships between 1998 and 2018. Through the 2017 southern hemisphere season, the five Australian teams then playing in rugby union's Super Rugby competition were subjected to an A$5 million salary cap for a squad of 30 full-time players per Australian team. The Australian Rugby Union, now known as Rugby Australia, decided in 2011 to introduce the salary cap because of financial pressures. Originally starting in 2012 as a cap of A$4.1 million, it was later was raised to $4.5 million for the 2013 and 2014 seasons to take pressure off the teams' ability to recruit and retain players. The salary cap has been key component of negotiations between Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) over the collective bargaining agreement. The fact that the Australian teams in Super Rugby face a salary cap has been attributed as a factor that makes it more difficult for Australian teams to win the title. The cap regulations had some small concessions: Five players on each team could be paid $30,000 each per season by team sponsors; this amount was not included in the team cap., The maximum cap charge for a non-Australian player was $137,000, regardless of his actual wages. Rugby Australia and RUPA later negotiated a new bargaining agreement, running from 2018–2020, that made significant changes to previous cap schemes. The 2018 season, coinciding with the transition from five Australian Super Rugby sides to four, was uncapped, but the salary cap returned for 2019 and 2020, at A$5.5 million. Prior concessions for sponsor payments and non-Australian players were removed, while a salary floor was added at 90% of the cap. The 14 teams participating in New Zealand's top domestic competition, now known as the Mitre 10 Cup, faced a salary cap in 2013 that was the lesser of $NZ 1.35 million or 36% of the union's commercial revenue. Maximum player salaries are $55,000, and minimum salaries are $18,000. In August 2013, it was announced that the cap would be further reduced, with the team cap for the 2015 season set to $1.025 million. New Zealand first implemented the salary cap in the 2006 season. The purpose of the salary cap was to ensure an even spread of players to produce competitive matches and higher television audiences for the new, fully professional competition. The salary cap had been as high as $2 million in 2008. However, the competition had generated losses of approximately $9.6m in 2007, and salary payments had increased by 75% in the previous four years. Some teams were reported to be in dire financial position, with four teams having payrolls of $1.75 million or more. The salary cap was cut in 2008, converting what was then known as the ITM Cup into a semi-professional competition, with players not under national team or Super Rugby contracts needing to find other part-time jobs. The A-League national association football (soccer) competition has set a salary cap of $3.063 million for the 2018/19 Season. Clubs must spend at least the Salary Floor which is $2.756 million (representing 90% of the Salary Cap). The Salary Cap applies to the 20 to 23 Players that Clubs have registered to their Hyundai A-League Player Roster. Unless specifically exempt, all payments and benefits (eg. cars, accommodation, etc) provided by a Club to a Player are included in the Club’s Salary Cap. Each team can sign two "marquee playes" and one "guest player", the latter of whom can only play for a maximum of 14 matches in a season, whose salaries are excluded from the team's salary cap. The A-League has also introduced a "junior marquee" for eligible under 23 year old players with the aim of keeping young talented players in Australia (or New Zealand for the Wellington Phoenix) for a longer period, similar to the Designated Player Rule in Major League Soccer in North America. The breaches of the salary cap and salary floor regulations outlined by the A-League are exceeding the salary cap, falling below the salary floor, not informing the A-League of payments, late or incorrect lodgement or loss of documents relating to player financial and contract details or engaging in contract tampering. Penalties for players, club officials or agents include fines of up to one and one half times the amount involved and/or suspension. Penalties for clubs include fines of up to triple the amount involved ($7,500 for each document that is late or incorrectly lodged or lost) and/or deduction of competition points. In the 2006–07 season, Sydney FC were fined $174,000 and deducted three competition points after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $110,000 and failed to declare third-party payments during the 2005–06 season in which they were premiers. In 2014–15, Perth Glory were fined $269,000, deducted nine points and ruled ineligible to compete in the finals series after it was found that they had exceeded the salary cap by $400,000 during the season. The National Basketball League has a salary cap of A$1.1 million for each of its eight teams as of the 2016–17 season. In addition, from 2003–04 through 2015–16, the NBL used a "points cap" to encourage spread of talent: players were assigned points on a 1–10 basis each season "based on their performance in the NBL or based on the league they have participated in for the season just concluded", and each team's player roster (of between 10 and 12 players) had to fall within a "Total Team Points" limit. On May 9, 2014, in order to help attract high-calibre imports or offer financial incentive for local stars considering overseas opportunities, the NBL introduced a marquee player rule. It originally allowed a team to nominate one player whose salary was paid outside the cap, with a 25% Marquee Player levy applied to any payment made above the salary cap. The levy still applies to non-local marquee players (i.e., players who are neither Australians nor New Zealanders), with one exception introduced in 2016–17. Effective with the 2016–17 season, several significant changes were made to the cap scheme. First, the cap was changed from a hard cap of A$1 million to a soft cap of $1.1 million. Teams exceeding the cap are required to pay "salary equalisation" (effectively a luxury tax) equal to the amount above the cap. Additionally, players' values for purposes of the cap are not based on their publicised salaries, but are instead determined by an NBL panel. Also, the points system in place for the previous 13 seasons was scrapped; in its place, a salary cap provision was added requiring that all teams have at least one group of five players with a collective cap value of no more than A$400,000. Second, the Marquee Player rule was modified with regard to "non-restricted" players; the cap charge for a qualifying player who fills the marquee player slot is now $150,000, regardless of his actual salary. Since that season, "non-restricted" players have been defined as all Australians and New Zealanders, plus one player per team from another country that is a member of either FIBA Asia or FIBA Oceania. The 2018–19 season saw another significant change to the cap scheme with the introduction of the NBL's "Next Stars" initiative, targeted mainly at young American players seeking an alternative to U.S. college basketball, plus Australians and New Zealanders considering U.S. college basketball. The league identifies young prospects preparing to graduate from secondary school and offers them NBL contracts at a first-year salary of A$100,000, plus housing and transport allowances. Players who sign "Next Stars" contracts are then allocated among the league's teams, with each team receiving an extra import roster slot intended to be filled by a "Next Star". As these slots are funded by the NBL, they do not count against the salary cap. In netball's now-defunct ANZ Championship, which featured five teams each from Australia and New Zealand, each franchise was restricted to a NZ$380,000 salary cap (as of 2013) from which player salaries were paid. Salary amounts varied among players, but each player received a retainer of at least NZ$12,000 per season; high-profile players were expected to earn up to NZ$50,000. Following the 2016 season, Australia's national governing body of Netball Australia broke away from the trans-Tasman championship and launched its own national league, Suncorp Super Netball. The initial team salary cap in the new league was A$675,000, with minimum player salaries of A$27,375. This latter figure was more than double the minimum wage of A$13,250 in the final season of the ANZ Championship. New Zealand rebranded its now-domestic league as the ANZ Premiership, presumably retaining its prior salary cap provisions. Since then, Super Netball's salary cap has risen modestly. The original team cap of A$675,000 had been structured with a $500,000 cap on playing payments, plus an additional $150,000 for club-related employment, educational, and ambassadorial roles, and the balance for health insurance and technology allowances. For the 2019 season, the minimum player wage (not including the health insurance allowance, set at $1,635 for that season) rises to $30,000, and the team cap on playing payments rises to $515,000. Salary caps and currency conversions accurate . Notes: Salary caps and currency conversions accurate as of January 2018. salary caps 101, CapGeek.com – NHL salary cap calculator, buyout calculator, org charts, free agents, and more, The Hockey GM – Up to date salary cap information for NHL teams, Overview of salary caps in US professional leagues, Ask the Commish NFL Salary Cap FAQ, up to date with current (2006) labor deal, NBA salary cap FAQ, Salary Cap Spreadsheets for the Washington Redskins from TheWarpath.net, 49ers Salary Cap site, NRL salary cap page, Sports' salary cap discussed in detail, 2010/2011 Toronto Maple Leafs Salary Cap The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. Like many professional sports leagues, the NBA has a salary cap to control costs and benefit parity, defined by the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This limit is subject to a complex system of rules and exceptions and is calculated as a percentage of the league's revenue from the previous season. Under the CBA ratified in July 2017, the cap will continue to vary in future seasons based on league revenues. For the 2019–20 season, the cap is set at $109.14 million. The majority of leagues (NFL, NHL, MLS) have hard caps while the NBA has a soft salary cap. Hard salary caps forbid teams from going above the salary cap. Soft salary caps allow teams to go above the salary cap but will subject such teams to reduced privileges in free agency. Teams that go above the luxury tax cap are subject to the luxury tax (a tax on every dollar spent over the luxury tax cap). The NBA had a salary cap in the mid-1940s, but it was abolished after only one season. The league continued to operate without such a cap until 1984–85 season, when one was instituted in an attempt to level the playing field among all of the NBA's teams and ensure competitive balance for the League in the future. Before the cap was reinstated, teams could spend whatever amount of money they wanted on players, but in the first season under the new cap, they were each limited to $3.6 million in total payroll. Under the 2005 CBA, salaries were capped at 57 percent of basketball-related income (BRI) and lasted for six years until June 30, 2011. The next CBA, which took effect in 2011, set the cap at 51.2 percent of BRI in 2011–12, with a 49-to-51 band in subsequent years. To ensure the players get their share of the BRI, teams are required to spend 90 percent of the salary cap each year, the salary floor for the 2019–20 season is $98.226 million. In December 2016, the league and the players' union reached a tentative agreement on a new CBA, with both sides ratifying it by the end of that month. The new agreement will run through the 2023–24 season, with either side able to opt out after the 2022–23 season. NBA Salary Cap in USD NBA Salary Cap in 2016 USD (Inflation rate through May 2016) Unlike the NFL and NHL, the NBA features a so-called soft cap, meaning that there are several significant exceptions that allow teams to exceed the salary cap to sign players. This is done to allow teams to keep their own players, which, in theory, fosters fan support in each individual city. By contrast, the NFL and NHL salary caps are considered hard, meaning that they offer relatively few (if any) circumstances under which teams can exceed the salary cap. The NBA and MLS version of the "soft" cap does, however, offer less leeway to teams than that of Major League Baseball. MLB does allow teams to spend as much as they want on salary, but it penalizes them a percentage of the amount by which they exceed the soft cap. The percentage increases as the number of consecutive years a team exceeds the cap grows, resetting only when a team falls under the cap. Other penalties related to the MLB draft, can also apply effective with the 2018 team payrolls. While the soft cap allows teams to exceed the salary cap indefinitely by re- signing their own players using the "Larry Bird" family of exceptions, there are consequences for exceeding the cap by large amounts. A luxury tax payment is required of teams whose payroll exceeds a certain "tax level", determined by a complicated formula, and teams exceeding it are punished by being forced to pay bracket-based amounts for each dollar by which their payroll exceeds the tax level. While most NBA teams hold contracts valued in excess of the salary cap, few teams have payrolls at luxury tax levels. The tax threshold in 2005–06 was $61.7 million. In 2005–06, the New York Knicks' payroll was $124 million, putting them $74.5 million above the salary cap, and $62.3 million above the tax line, which Knicks owner James Dolan paid to the league. Tax revenues are normally redistributed evenly among non-tax-paying teams, so there is often a several-million-dollar incentive to owners not to pay the luxury tax. The luxury tax level for the 2008–09 season was $71.15 million. For the 2009–10 season, the luxury tax level was set at $69.92 million. The luxury tax level for the 2010–11 and 2012–13 NBA seasons was $70,307,000. The 2011 CBA instituted major changes to the luxury tax regime. The previous CBA had a dollar-for-dollar tax provision system, which remained in effect through the 2012–13 season. Teams exceeding the tax level were punished by being forced to pay one dollar to the league for each dollar by which their payroll exceeded the tax level. Starting in 2013–14, the tax changed to an incremental system. Under the current system, tax is assessed at different levels based on the amount that a team is over the luxury tax threshold. The scheme is not cumulative—each level of tax applies only to amounts over that level's threshold. For example, a team that is $8 million over the tax threshold will pay $1.50 for each of its first $5 million over the tax threshold, and $1.75 per dollar for the remaining $3 million. Starting in 2014–15, "repeat offenders", subject to additional penalties, are defined as teams that paid tax in previous seasons. In the first season, repeat offenders from in all previous three seasons will pay a stiffer tax rate; from 2015–16 thereafter, teams paying taxes in three out of four years will be subject to the higher repeater rate. As in the previous CBA, the tax revenue is divided among teams with lower payrolls. However, under the new scheme, no more than 50% of the total tax revenue can go exclusively to teams that did not go over the cap. Initial reports did not specify the use of the remaining 50% under the 2011 CBA, but it was later confirmed that this amount would be used to fund revenue sharing for the season during which tax was paid. For the 2013–14 season, the luxury tax threshold was set at $71.748 million. The Brooklyn Nets, whose payroll for that season was projected to be over $100 million, would face a luxury tax bill above $80 million, resulting in a total payroll cost of $186 million. Because the NBA's salary cap is a soft one, the CBA allows for several important scenarios in which a team can sign players even if their payroll exceeds the cap. The exceptions are as follows: Once a year, teams can use a mid-level exception (MLE) to sign a player to a contract for a specified maximum amount. The amount of the MLE and its duration depend on the team's cap status. In the 2017 CBA, the MLE was initially set at $8.406 million in the 2017–18 season for teams that are over the cap either before or after the signing, but under the luxury tax apron, set at $6 million above the tax line. Teams can use this exception to offer contracts of up to four years. Teams above the apron have an MLE initially set at $5.192 million, allowing contracts of up to three years. Teams with cap room, which were ineligible for the MLE before the 2011 CBA, have an MLE initially set at $4.328 million that allows two-year contracts. In subsequent seasons, all MLE amounts will be determined by applying the percentage change of the salary cap to the previous exception amount. Before the 2011 CBA, the MLE was equal to the average NBA salary for all teams over the cap; teams with cap room were then ineligible for the MLE. The Mid-Level Exception for the 2008–09 NBA season was $5.585 million. The MLE was $5.854 million for the 2009–10 NBA regular season. Under the 2017 CBA, the apron was initially set at $6 million above the tax line for the 2017–18 season. In a new feature, the apron changes from season to season, with the percentage change (up or down) set at half of the rate of change of the cap for that season. The bi-annual exception can currently be used by teams below the apron to sign a free agent to a contract starting at $3.29 million. Like the mid-level exception, the bi-annual exception can also be split among more than one player, and can be used to sign players for up to two years; raises were originally limited to 8% per year, but in the 2017 CBA are limited to 5%. This exception was referred to as the "$1 million exception" in the 1999 CBA, although it was valued at $1 million for only the first year of the agreement. An example of the bi-annual exception was the Los Angeles Lakers' signing of Karl Malone to a contract before the 2003–04 season. The exception was eliminated for teams above the tax apron following the 2011 NBA lockout as many high spending teams were using this as a tool to gain top paid players. A team cannot use this exception in consecutive years; a team that used it in 2016–17 (under the 2011 CBA) could not use it in 2017–18 (under the 2017 CBA). It also cannot be used by a team that has already used an MLE in the same season. Additionally, once a team uses the bi-annual exception, the tax apron becomes a hard salary cap for the remainder of that season. The NBA allows teams to sign their first-round draft choices to rookie "scale" contracts even if their payroll exceeds the cap. The 2017 CBA introduced two-way contracts between NBA teams and players in the NBA G League (formerly the D-League). Before the 2017 CBA, all D-League players were contracted directly with the league, and all D-League players could be called up by any NBA team, regardless of whether they were affiliated with the player's D-League team. Now, each NBA team can sign two players to contracts that allow them to assign the players to the G League without risk of being "poached" by another NBA team. The players signed to such deals benefit by receiving a considerably higher salary than other G League players while in that league, as well as earning a prorated share of the NBA minimum rookie salary for each day they are with their contracted NBA team. Salaries of two-way players are not included in salary cap calculations. Additionally, a team can convert a two-way contract to a standard NBA contract at any time, with the player's salary becoming the NBA minimum for the player's years of service, prorated from the time of the conversion; a converted contract also does not count in cap calculations. Related to the two-way contract, and also introduced in the 2017 CBA, is an attachment to the standard NBA contract known as Exhibit 10. A contract that contains this attachment may be converted to a two-way contract at the team's option. Exhibit 10 can be used only in one-year, non-guaranteed contracts for the minimum NBA salary, with no bonuses except for an "Exhibit 10 bonus" of $5,000 to $50,000. The bonus is paid if the player is waived by his NBA team, signs with the G League, is assigned to that NBA team's G League affiliate, and remains with the affiliate at least 60 days. The bonus is not counted against the salary cap, but is counted in overall league salaries. Each NBA team is limited to six active contracts that contain Exhibit 10 at any given time. Perhaps the most well-known of the NBA's salary cap exceptions is the Larry Bird exception, so named because the Boston Celtics were the first team permitted to exceed the salary cap to re-sign one of their own players (in that case, Larry Bird). Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "qualifying veteran free agents" or "Bird Free Agents" in the CBA, and this exception falls under the terms of the Veteran Free Agent exception. In essence, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re- sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. Players claimed after being amnestied have their Bird rights transferred to their new team. Other players claimed off waivers are not eligible for the full Bird exception, but may qualify for the early Bird exception. Prior to an arbitrator ruling in June 2012, all players that were waived and changed teams lost their Bird rights. This means a player can obtain "Bird rights" by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination thereof. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him. Since the 2011 CBA, Bird-exception contracts can be up to five years in length, down from six under the 2005 CBA. The lesser form of the Larry Bird exception is the "early Bird" exception. Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "early qualifying veteran free agents", and qualify after playing two seasons with the same team. Players that are traded or claimed off waivers have their Bird rights transferred to their new team. Prior to an arbitrator ruling in June 2012, all players that were waived and changed teams lost their Bird rights. Using this exception, a team can re-sign its own free agent for either 175% of his salary the previous season, or the NBA's average salary, whichever is greater. Early Bird contracts must be for at least two seasons, but can last no longer than four seasons. If a team agrees to a trade that would make a player lose his Early Bird Rights, he has the power to veto the trade. A much-publicized example for this was Devean George, who vetoed his inclusion into a larger trade during the 2007–08 season that would have sent him from the Dallas Mavericks to the New Jersey Nets. "Non-qualifying free agents" (those who do not qualify under either the Larry Bird exception or the early Bird exception) are subject to the non-Bird exception. Under this exception, teams can re-sign a player to a contract beginning at either 120% of his salary for the previous season, or 120% of the league's minimum salary, whichever amount is higher. Contracts signed under the Non-Bird exception can last up to four years (down from six under the 2005 CBA). Teams can sign players for the NBA's minimum salary even if they are over the cap, for up to two years in length. In the case of two-year contracts, the second-season salary is the minimum salary for that season. The contract may not contain a signing bonus. This exception also allows minimum-salary players to be acquired via trade. There is no limit to the number of players that can be signed or acquired using this exception. Ordinarily a team can not engage in a trade which would leave it 100,000 dollars above the salary cap, regardless of whether the trade reduces or increase its overall payroll, and requires exceptions in order to do so, the traded player exception is one of such. The exception allows a team to trade for any player, or number of players, as long their collective incoming salary does not exceed a set amount, which is based on whether if the team pays the luxury tax after the trade, and the collective outgoing (of the players the team is trading away) salary. Taxpaying teams can absorb up to 125% of the outgoing salary + $100,000, and for non-taxpayers the amount is as follows: Also, if a team trades away players with higher salary than of the players they acquire in return, the traded player exception allows them acquire players with salaries not exceeding such difference + $100,000, for up to one year after the trade in which they acquired such a credit. Allows a team that is over the cap to acquire a replacement for a disabled player who will be out for either the remainder of that season (for in-season injuries/deaths) or the next season (if the disability occurs during the offseason). The maximum salary of the replacement player is either 50% of the injured player's salary, or the mid-level exception for a non-taxpaying team, whichever is less. This exception requires an NBA-designated doctor to verify the extent of the injury. Under the 2005 CBA, a team could sign a player under this exception for five years; since the 2011 CBA, it has been allowed only for one year. Note that while teams can often use one exception to sign multiple players, they cannot use a combination of exceptions to sign a single player. A player banned from the league for a drug-related offense who is reinstated may be re-signed by his prior team for a salary up to his previous salary. The maximum amount of money a player can sign for is based on the number of years that player has played and the total of the salary cap. The maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is either $25,500,000 or 25% of the total salary cap (projected for 2017–18), whichever is greater. For a player with 7–9 years of experience, the maximum is $30,600,000 or 30% of the cap, and for a player with 10+ years of experience, the maximum is $35,700,000 or 35% of the cap. There is an exception to this rule: a player is able to sign a contract for 105% of his previous contract, even if the new contract is higher than the league limit. The 2017 CBA made a subtle change to the determination of maximum salaries. Under the 2011 CBA, the salary cap was based on players receiving 44.74% of the league's basketball-related income (BRI), while the calculation of maximum salaries used a lower figure of 42.14% of BRI. This difference was eliminated in the 2017 CBA, with the same 44.74% of BRI used for both cap and maximum salary calculations. First-round draft choices are assigned salaries according to their draft position. The first overall pick receives more than the second pick, the second more than the third, and so on. Each contract is for two years, with a team option for the third and fourth seasons (CBAs before 2011 provided for three-year contracts with an option for the fourth season), with built-in raises every year to compensate for increases in the average salary. A team may elect to exceed rookie scale for a drafted player that was unsigned for which they retained his draft rights three seasons after the draft. The contract would be for at least three seasons, with a maximum value up to the team's available cap room. In 2017, the scale for lottery picks was as follows: Second-round picks are not subject to a scale, and technically can be paid anywhere from the minimum to the maximum contract amount. In practice, they rarely receive more than the minimum. Prior to the 2017 CBA, the rookie scales for each season were negotiated into the agreement. For the current agreement, only the rookie scales for the 2017–18 season were determined in advance. In subsequent seasons, the percentage change in the salary cap will be applied to all dollar amounts in the previous season's scale. Amounts that are expressed as a percentage of salary, such as the allowable salary change from the third to the fourth season of the rookie contract, remain the same from season to season. Since the 2011 CBA, each NBA team has been able to nominate a player on his rookie contract to receive a "Designated Player" contract extension. A Designated Player is eligible for a 5-year contract extension, instead of being held to the standard 4-year restriction. From 2011 through the 2016–17 season, a team could only allocate a single Designated Player contract at any one time (if a team had already extended a rookie contract by using the Designated Player extension, they could not create a second Designated Player contract until the current contract expired, or until the player moved to a different team); however the 2011 CBA allowed teams to sign a second Designated Player from another team in addition to the one they already had. All teams were limited to having a maximum of two Designated Players contracted on their roster at any time (one which they had created from one of their own rookie contracts, and one acquired from another team). Under the 2017 CBA, the "Designated Player" limit remains at two, but in a new feature, teams are now able to create Designated Player contracts from their own veteran contracts. In addition, teams may now use their Designated Player slots on any combination of their own rookie contracts, their own veteran contracts, or players acquired in trades. A Designated Player coming off his rookie contract may be eligible to earn 30% of the salary cap (rather than the standard 25%) if he passes certain criteria. Through the 2017–18 season, in order to be eligible, the player must be voted to start in two All-Star Games, or be named to an All-NBA Team twice (at any level), or be named MVP. Officially titled the "5th Year 30% Max Criteria", it has been dubbed (and is more commonly known as) the "Derrick Rose Rule" after the 2011 MVP, due to the fact that when the criteria were introduced, Rose was the only player in the NBA eligible to sign the maximum extension (due to his MVP award). The reasoning for the rule is to suitably reward players being extended off of their rookie contract who are considered to be of a higher "caliber" than their peers, without restricting them to the lower (25%) salary level. A player may sign a "5th Year, 30% Max" contract before the final year of his rookie contract and before fulfilling the criteria needed to receive the 30% salary grade. Should the player fail to fulfill the criteria before the start of his Designated Player contract, he will receive the standard five-year, 25% Designated Player contract. James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers had such a clause in their contract extensions, but both failed to meet the criteria. The only player in the NBA who was attempting to qualify for a full 30% contract in 2013–14 was Paul George, who signed a provisional 30%/5 year contract in September 2013. George, who had made the All-NBA third team in 2012–13, qualified by again making the All-NBA third team. The 2017 CBA changed the qualification criteria for "5th Year, 30% Max" contracts. Players who come off rookie contracts at the end of the 2017–18 season, or later, must meet any of the following criteria to qualify: Selection to an All-NBA team (at any level) in the player's fourth season, or in two of the three seasons between his second and fourth seasons., Selection as Defensive Player of the Year in the player's fourth season, or in two of the three seasons between his second and fourth seasons., Selection as MVP in any season from the player's second onward. These criteria are identical to those for the veteran player extensions introduced in the 2017 CBA. Had these criteria been part of the 2011 CBA, Rose would still have qualified for a 30% contract, as he was in his third NBA season when he was named MVP. The following players have signed 5 year/30% contracts: Derrick Rose (signed with the Chicago Bulls; was later traded to the New York Knicks during the last year on that deal) until 2017 (qualified by winning the 2011 MVP award), Blake Griffin (signed with the L.A. Clippers; was later traded to the Detroit Pistons in 2018) signed through 2018 (qualified by making the All-NBA second team in 2011–12 and 2012–13), Paul George (signed with Indiana Pacers; since has been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and then to the Los Angeles Clippers prior to the 2019 season) signed until 2019 (qualified by making the All-NBA third team in 2012–13 and 2013–14) In addition the following players are known to have signed 5 year/25% contracts: Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) until 2023, Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder) until 2017, Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans) until 2021, John Wall (Washington Wizards) until 2019, James Harden (Houston Rockets) until 2018, Kyrie Irving (Boston Celtics) until 2020, Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers) until 2021 Kevin Love was eligible for a designated player contract, but the Minnesota Timberwolves opted for a 4-year contract (with a player option year included, potentially allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent) instead. During Kevin Durant's final five seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2011–2016), he received a Designated Player level salary. His contract was initially drawn up before the lockout—during which the Derrick Rose Rule was implemented—but was officially approved under the provisions of the 2005 CBA by the NBA after the lockout. This led some people to question whether the Thunder had (with NBA approval) effectively signed two players as their Designated Player, as both were contracted for 5 years. The provision in the 2017 CBA that allows teams to create Designated Player contracts for their own veteran players, officially known as the "Designated Veteran Player Extension" (DVPE), came to be called the "Kevin Durant Rule" because it was seen as a reaction to a wave of veteran superstars leaving their teams in free agency, capped off by Durant's departure from the Thunder to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 offseason. The contract is also commonly called "The Supermax". The 2011 CBA allowed all of the teams that were trying to lure Durant to offer him the same initial salary of $26.5 million. For a veteran player to qualify for such an extension, he must be entering his eighth or ninth season in the NBA, and have either: made the All-NBA team (at any level) in either the season immediately before signing the extension, or two of the three previous seasons;, been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in either the season immediately before signing the extension, or two of the three previous seasons; or, been named NBA MVP at least once in the previous three seasons. Additionally, the team offering the extension must have originally drafted the player, or obtained him in a trade while he was on his rookie contract. Players who qualify can be offered contracts with a starting salary between 30 and 35% of the salary cap. The extension cannot last more than five years after the expiration of the player's current contract (or five years for a player who is a free agent when signed), but can be negotiated and signed one year before the current contract expires. The extension can be offered to a team's own free agent as well as a player with time left on his contract. Additionally, once a player signs a DVPE, he cannot be traded for one year. Ironically, while the rule was intended to encourage star players to stay with their current teams, the first major move by an NBA team involving a player eligible for the DVPE was the Sacramento Kings' trade of DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2017 All-Star break. Cousins' contract with the Kings was not set to expire until 2018, but he was eligible to sign a DVPE after the 2016–17 season for up to $209 million over five years, a financial commitment that the Kings were apparently unwilling to make. By the end of the 2018–19 season, Sports Illustrated writer Andrew Sharp began a story on the supermax rule with the following sentence: "If you've been paying attention to the NBA for the past two years, it goes without saying that the NBA's "supermax" contracts have been a failure." First, he noted that supermax money was not enough to discourage superstars on small-market teams from seeking to join title contenders, even for noticeably less money. Sharp argued that the rule in fact created more problems than it solved:Teams who develop and retain homegrown superstars will find themselves rewarded with uniquely- bloated salary caps and stiff luxury tax payments. Meanwhile, superstars who decide to stay loyal will be asked to spend their prime with shorthanded rosters and handicapped front offices. Sharp's colleague Rohan Nadkarni questioned the DVPE eligibility criteria, as key players like Klay Thompson and Karl-Anthony Towns are not eligible despite their excellent performances. Following the announcement of the 2016–17 All-NBA team, four players were eligible to sign DVPE contracts during the 2017 offseason. All four were named to one of the three All-NBA teams for that season; two were already eligible under the new criteria. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors (met DVPE criteria before the 2016–17 season), James Harden, Houston Rockets, John Wall, Washington Wizards, Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder (met DVPE criteria before the 2016–17 season) Harden and Westbrook would not have qualified under the standard DVPE criteria because both signed extensions to their contracts in the 2016 offseason, Harden for two years and Westbrook for one. The players' union and owners negotiated a special dispensation allowing them to sign DVPE contracts should they otherwise qualify. The next player to qualify for a supermax contract was Anthony Davis, who at the time had played his entire NBA career with the New Orleans Pelicans. He qualified by being named to the All-NBA first team in , enabling the Pelicans to offer him a five-year extension worth up to $230 million, effective with the 2019–20 season. Davis also became the first player to publicly turn down a supermax offer, notifying the Pelicans during the 2018–19 season that he would not accept a supermax deal and also requesting a trade. Davis would ultimately be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers after the 2018–19 season. During the 2019 season, three further players qualified for supermax deals. Damian Lillard and Kemba Walker both qualified to immediately sign supermax deals by making a 2018–19 All-NBA Team. While Giannis Antetokounmpo will not become a free agent until the 2021 offseason, he became eligible to sign a supermax deal in 2020 by making All-NBA Teams in both 2017–18 and 2018–19; he would later meet another supermax criterion by being named the 2019 MVP. The Charlotte Hornets did not offer Walker a supermax deal, instead sending him to the Boston Celtics in a sign-and-trade deal in the 2019 offseason. The first player to sign a supermax contract was Stephen Curry, who agreed to a new five-year DVPE deal with the Warriors, worth $201 million, that runs through the 2021–22 season. Curry signed the contract once the NBA's free agency moratorium ended on July 6, 2017. Shortly thereafter, James Harden agreed on a DVPE with the Rockets. At the time of signing, his current contract had two years remaining with total pay of $59 million; the extension will add another $170 million over four seasons, ending in 2022–23. The next supermax signing was that of John Wall, who agreed later in July to a four- year, $170 million extension that will start in 2019–20. In late September, Russell Westbrook became the fourth and final supermax signing of the 2017 offseason, signing a five-year, $205 million extension that started in 2018–19. The most recent supermax signing was that of Damian Lillard, who agreed to a four-year, $196 million extension with the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2019 offseason. The extension starts in 2020–21 and includes a player option for 2024–25. The cap also includes a provision to close a potential loophole that would provide incentives for teams to skirt the cap by signing an older player to a long-term deal that would not end until after the team expects the player to retire. Cap analyst Larry Coon outlined how this potential loophole would work:For example, suppose the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception is $9 million. With 5% raises, a three-year contract would total $28.35 million. But if they added a fourth year to the contract, the salary would total $38.7 million. If the player retires after three seasons and continues drawing his salary for the additional season, then he effectively will be paid $38.7 million for three years' work. In essence, they are giving the player a three-year contract with additional deferred compensation. To address this issue, CBAs since at least the 1990s have included what is now called the "over-38 rule", under which certain contracts that extend past the player's 38th birthday are presumed to cover seasons following the player's expected retirement. The age threshold that triggered this rule was originally set at 35, changed to 36 in the 1999 CBA, and changed again to 38 in the 2017 CBA. The salary for any years that come after the player's 38th birthday is presumed to be deferred compensation, and is shifted for cap purposes to the under-38 seasons of the deal, with the over-38 year(s) being referred to as "zero years" in the CBA. If the player continues to play under the deal (proving the presumption of retirement wrong), the salary that had originally been treated as deferred is distributed evenly over the remaining years of the contract, starting with the second season before the zero years. This rule had been a larger issue before the 2011 CBA, which limited the maximum contract length to 5 years. While the threshold age was changed in the 2017 CBA, the mechanics of the rule remained the same. Notably, several members of the union's executive committee at the time the 2017 CBA was negotiated were older players who were seen as potential major beneficiaries of a change to an over-38 rule. For example, the change to an over-38 rule gave union president Chris Paul, scheduled to become a free agent after the 2016–17 season, a potential gain of nearly $50 million over the life of his next contract. Similarly, executive committee members LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, who could opt out of their current contracts after the same season, had the potential for similar gains with this change. Many NBA contracts are structured with options for either the player or the team. An option simply gives the party that controls the option the right to extend the contract for one more season at a salary no less than the prior year's amount. There are two types of free agency under the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement: Unrestricted and Restricted. Rather than spending salaries on teams like the MLB, the NBA has a policy that strictly prohibits it using the salary cap in that fashion. An unrestricted free agent is free to sign with any team that they choose to. A restricted free agent is subject to his current team's Right of First Refusal, meaning that the player can be signed to an offer sheet by another team, but his current club reserves the right to match the offer and keep the player. An offer sheet is a contract offer of at least two years made by another team to a restricted free agent. The player's current club has three days to match the offer or they lose the player to the new team; the CBA prior to 2011 allowed seven days. For first-round draft picks, restricted free agency is only allowed after a team exercises its option for a fourth year, and the team makes a Qualifying Offer at the Rookie-scale amount after the fourth year is completed. For any other player to be a restricted free agent, he must be at most a three-year NBA veteran, and his team must have made a Qualifying Offer for either 125% of his previous season's salary or the minimum salary plus $200,000, whichever offer is higher. Teams are limited in what they can offer an unrestricted free agent with two years or less experience. The maximum first-year salary in an offer sheet is the mid-level exception. The second-year salary can be raised a maximum of 4.5%. The third year salary is limited to the maximum a team has available in their salary cap. The salary in the fourth season may increase (or decrease) by up to 4.1% of the salary in the third season. The offer sheet can only increase in the third season if it provides the highest salary allowed in the first two seasons, the contract is fully guaranteed, and it contains no bonuses. A player's original team can use the Early Bird exception or their Mid-Level exception to re-sign the player. If the raise in the third season is greater than 4.5% of the first year, the offering team must be able to fit the average of the entire contract under their cap. Through the 2016–17 season, the accounting was different for the player's original team, where the player's salary for a given year—not the contract's average—was counted against the cap. In some cases, the offering team could exploit a loophole to create what is referred to as a poison pill for the player's original team, potentially forcing the original team to pay the luxury tax by the third season, as the Houston Rockets did in order to sign Jeremy Lin and Ömer Aşık away from the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, respectively. This could discourage them from matching the offer sheet. The 2017 CBA changed the accounting rules for the player's original team in this scenario. If the original team matches, and has enough cap space to absorb the average annual salary of the offer, it can choose to take cap hits of either the actual contract payouts or the average of the contract in each season. Before the 2005 CBA, the original team could only use an exception to re-sign a player who had been drafted in the first round. The 2005 CBA allowed teams to use exceptions on non-first-round picks, with the extension named the "Gilbert Arenas Rule". In 2003, Gilbert Arenas, who had been a second-round pick in 2001, signed a six-year, $60 million contract with the Washington Wizards after his original team, the Golden State Warriors, were unable to match the offer since they were over the salary cap. Players on a team's season-ending roster remain under contract with their respective team until the start of the new league year on July 1. From 6 pm Eastern Time on June 30 and through the first few days of July, teams may begin negotiating with free agents, but trades cannot be made and most free agents cannot be signed; this is known as the "moratorium period". Contracts that are allowed during this period are limited to: Rookie scale contracts to first round draft picks., A second round draft pick can accept a required tender, which is a one-year contract that teams are required to offer in order to retain their rights to the player., A restricted free agent can accept a qualifying offer from his previous team., A restricted free agent finishing the fourth season of his rookie scale contract can accept a maximum qualifying offer. The actual amount is not determined until the end of the moratorium., Teams may sign players to contracts of one or two years for the minimum salary., Teams may sign players to two-way contracts, convert a two-way contract to a standard NBA contract, or convert a standard NBA contract with an Exhibit 10 bonus to a two-way contract During the moratorium, teams are restricted from commenting on deals. Teams and players can reach verbal agreements, but they are not binding. Contracts can be signed once the moratorium ends. In 2015, DeAndre Jordan had reached a verbal agreement to sign with the Dallas Mavericks, but changed his mind at the end of the moratorium and re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. A year later, the moratorium period was shortened from 10 to 5 days in what was unofficially called the "DeAndre Jordan Rule". The change was intended to discourage parties from backing out of their agreements. The end of a free agent's contract does not remove him from a team's cap calculations. During the free agency period (from July 1 until the player signs with a team, or the free agent's former team renounces its rights), each free agent carries a specified salary cap charge for his last team, most often called a "cap hold". Normally, the cap hold can be no more than a player's maximum salary, or less than his minimum salary, based on years of service. The only exception is for free agents who made the minimum salary in the previous season; if the league reimbursed the team for a portion of his salary in the last season of his contract, the reimbursement is not counted in the cap hold. Apart from these restrictions, the cap hold varies based on the status of the free agent and his salary in the previous season: Bird free agent:, If not coming off a rookie scale contract, and salary was at or above the estimated average salary, 150% of previous salary., If not coming off a rookie scale contract, and salary was below the estimated average salary, 190% of previous salary., If coming off the fourth season of a rookie scale contract, and salary was at or above the estimated average salary, 250% of previous salary., If coming off the fourth season of a rookie scale contract, and salary was below the estimated average salary, 300% of previous salary., If coming off the third season of a rookie scale contract, the maximum amount that the team can pay under the Bird exception., Early Bird:, If coming off the second season of a rookie scale contract, the maximum amount that the team can pay under the Bird exception., Otherwise, 130% of previous salary., Non-Bird: 120% of previous salary. The 2017 CBA increases some cap holds from those found in the 2011 CBA as follows: Unsigned first-round draft picks: 120% of rookie scale (up from 100%), Bird free agent (as of the 2018–19 season):, If coming off the fourth season of a rookie scale contract, and salary was at or above the estimated average salary, 250% of previous salary (up from 200%)., If coming off the fourth season of a rookie scale contract, and salary was below the estimated average salary, 300% of previous salary (up from 250%). When a team is willing to sign an upcoming free agent, but the player's current team wants something in return, it might be in the best interest of both clubs to execute a sign-and-trade deal. This occurs when one team signs one of its free agents and immediately trades that player to another team. A sign-and-trade is beneficial to both the player and the teams; the player receives a bigger contract than he might ordinarily get from a team that he would like to play for, while the trading club gets something in return for a free agent, and the recipient of the trade gets the player they desire. Sign- and-trades are a reality in the NBA because of the CBA's rules: unlike baseball, where teams losing free agents are compensated with draft picks or cash, NBA teams that lose free agents receive no compensation. When a team initiates a sign-and-trade agreement, it must trade the signed player immediately; teams cannot renege on the arrangement and keep the player for themselves, using the other team's financial situation to leverage the signee into a more favorable deal for themselves. Also, the contract signed before the trade must be for at least 3 years, with the first year guaranteed. Because of the contract length requirement, the signing team cannot use an exception that cannot be used to offer a contract of 3 or more years. Since the 2011 CBA, the signed player must have been on the roster of his previous team at the end of the last regular season. Previous agreements allowed teams to sign-and-trade any player to whom they held Bird rights, which do not automatically disappear with a player's retirement—for example, in July 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers still held Bird rights to John Salley, who had not played since . In the , two teams used sign-and-trades on players who had been out of the league. The Dallas Mavericks signed Keith Van Horn out of retirement as part of a package to acquire Jason Kidd, and the Lakers did the same with Aaron McKie to facilitate their deal for Pau Gasol. The 2011 CBA put further restrictions on sign-and-trades, with these restrictions maintained in the 2017 CBA. Since the 2013–14 season, the payroll of the receiving team cannot exceed the so-called "apron" (as of 2017–18 set at $6 million above the tax line) as a result of the trade, and a team that has used the taxpayers' MLE cannot receive a player in a sign-and-trade in that season. Additionally, the apron becomes a hard salary cap for the first season after the signing. Teams above the apron before the trade cannot receive a player unless the trade leaves the team below the apron. Teams below the salary cap may trade without regard to salary, as long as they don't end up more than $100,000 above the cap following a trade., Teams above the cap (or teams below the cap but would end up more than $100,000 over the cap following a trade) cannot acquire more than 125% plus $100,000 of the salary they trade away. Under the 2011 CBA, teams that remain below the luxury tax threshold even after the trade can acquire the lesser of 150% plus $100,000, or 100% plus $5 million, of the salary they trade away. There is no lower limit—teams may divest themselves of as much salary as they wish (or can convince another team to take on) in a trade., No free agent signed in the offseason can be traded until December 15 of that year or until three months have passed (whichever comes later), a rule that prevents teams from signing free agents with the intent of using them strictly as trade fodder. For draft picks this moratorium lasts 30 days., If teams acquire a player in a trade, they are allowed to trade that player straight-up for another individual player immediately. However, if teams wish to package that player with another and make a trade, they must wait 60 days before doing so. The tight salary-matching rules of the 2005 CBA often required what NBA cap analyst Larry Coon called "trade ballast"—extra players added to a deal solely for salary matching, who would typically be waived by their new teams. Under that CBA, such players were restricted from rejoining their original teams for 30 days during the season or 20 days in the offseason. This led to what Coon called "wink-wink deals where players are traded with the full expectation of returning later." A notable example of such a deal occurred in the 2009–10 season, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers included Zydrunas Ilgauskas in their trade with the Washington Wizards for Antawn Jamison. Ilgauskas was waived a week later without ever appearing in a game for the Wizards, and re-signed with Cleveland after the 30-day waiting period passed. Since the 2011 CBA, a player acquired in a trade and waived by his new team cannot re-sign with his original team until one year after the trade or July 1 after the expiration of his contract, whichever is sooner. Certain players in the first few months of a new contract are subject to base year compensation (BYC). The intent of BYC is to prevent teams from re-signing players to salaries specifically targeted to match other salaries in a trade (in other words, salary should be based on basketball value, not trade value). A BYC player's trade value as outgoing salary is 50% of his new salary, or his previous salary, whichever is greater. BYC applies only to players who re-sign with their previous team and receive a raise greater than 20%. It also applies only when (and as long as) the team is over the salary cap. Since the 2011 CBA, players subject to BYC cannot be traded before January 15 except in a sign-and-trade, and BYC is only applied to outgoing salary in sign-and-trade deals. NBA teams can release a player to the waiver wire, where he can stay for 48 hours (during the regular season). While he is on waivers, other teams may claim him, for his existing salary. If he is not claimed, he is said to have "cleared waivers", and is treated like any free agent, able to sign with any team (with the special restriction noted above for players who were traded and then waived). Players waived after March 1 are not eligible to be on a team's playoff roster. The deadline was March 23 during the lockout-shortened 2011–12 season. Released/waived players with guaranteed contracts continue to be included in their former team's payroll. Players whose contracts are guaranteed are included in team salary in the amount they made while they were with the team. Players on non-guaranteed "summer contracts" are not included in team salary unless they make the regular season roster. If another team signs a released player who had a guaranteed contract (as long as the player has cleared waivers), the player's original team is allowed to reduce the amount of money they still owe the player (and lower their team payroll) by the right of set- off. This is true if the player signs with any professional team—it does not even have to be an NBA team. The amount the original team gets to set off is limited to one-half the difference between the player's new salary and a pro- rated share of the minimum salary for a one-year veteran (if the player is a rookie, then the rookie minimum is used instead). Both the 2005 and 2011 CBAs contained a so-called "stretch" provision regarding payment of guaranteed money to waived players and its effect on the salary cap; the 2011 provisions were kept in the 2017 CBA. Under the 2005 CBA, players and teams could alter the schedule of payments to waived players by mutual agreement. The remaining guaranteed salary was equally spread across the remaining years of the player's contract. The 2011 CBA dramatically changed this regime. While contracts signed under the 2005 CBA remained under the original scheme, different rules apply to contracts signed since the 2011 CBA went into effect. Today, when a team waives a player, it can spread the remaining guaranteed salary (and its accompanying cap hit) over twice the remaining length of the contract, plus one year. According to Coon, "if a team has an underperforming player with one season remaining at $12 million, the team can waive him and stretch his salary across three seasons at $4 million per season." The NBA Amnesty Clause provided franchises a means of escaping a contractual obligation to a player whose performance falls far short of the extremely large salary they initially agreed to pay him. Under the 2005 CBA, one player could be waived prior to the start of the 2005–06 season and not count toward the luxury tax. Unlike the 2011 CBA, the player still counted under the salary cap. The 2005 amnesty provision was derisively named the "Allan Houston Rule", but his team, the New York Knicks, actually didn't use the measure on Houston—they instead applied it to Jerome Williams because Allan Houston later retired for medical reasons the same season. Jerome Williams would retire from the NBA just two days after being under the amnesty clause for the Knicks that season. Under the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), each franchise is allowed to waive one player prior to the start of any season between the 2011–12 and 2015–16 seasons. The remaining salary still contractually owed will not be included in the salary cap or luxury tax totals of the team terminating his employment. Only players signed prior to the 2011–12 season can be "amnestied." The clause can be exercised during the seven days following the NBA's July moratorium period on player transactions. The clause's provisions allow a rival team to claim an amnestied player at a significantly (often, dramatically) reduced salary; the waiving team only has to pay the player the remaining balance. The team with the highest bid acquires the player. If unclaimed, the player becomes a free agent. Teams over the salary cap can only acquire an amnestied player if he becomes a free agent and the offer would be limited to the veteran's minimum contract. Note NBA Salary Cap FAQ by Larry Coon A luxury tax in professional sports is a surcharge put on the aggregate payroll of a team to the extent to which it exceeds a predetermined guideline level set by the league. The ostensible purpose of this "tax" is to prevent teams in major markets with high incomes from signing almost all of the more talented players and hence destroying the competitive balance necessary for a sport to maintain fan interest. The money derived from the "tax" is either divided among the teams that play in the smaller markets, presumably to allow them to have more revenue to devote toward the contracts of high-quality players, or in the case of Major League Baseball, used by the league for other pre-defined purposes. In North America, Major League Baseball has implemented the luxury tax system. The National Basketball Association also has a luxury tax provision; its utility is somewhat limited by the fact that the league also has a salary cap provision. The "hard" salary cap of the National Football League and the National Hockey League has prevented any need for a luxury tax arrangement. In the Big 4 North American sports leagues (Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL)), there are three different methods employed to limit individual teams payroll: hard salary cap, soft salary cap with luxury tax, and luxury tax. A hard salary cap is where the league sets a maximum amount of money allowed for player salaries, and no team can exceed that limit. A soft salary cap has a set limit to player salaries, but there are several major exceptions that allow teams to exceed the salary cap. For example, in the case of the NBA, teams can exceed the salary cap when keeping players that are already on the team. A luxury tax system does not have a limit to how much money can be spent on player salaries. However, there is a tax levied on money spent above a threshold set by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the players union and the owners. For every dollar a team spends above the tax threshold, they must also pay some fraction to the league. This system is used to discourage teams from greatly exceeding the tax threshold, with the goal of ensuring parity between large and small market teams. As explained by Fangraphs: "Technically called the 'Competitive Balance Tax', the Luxury Tax is the punishment that large market teams get for spending too much money. While MLB does not have a set salary cap, the luxury tax charges teams with high payrolls a considerable amount of money, giving teams ample reason to want to keep their payrolls below that level." The threshold level for the luxury tax will be $189MM in 2014 (up from $178MM from 2011-2013) and will remain at $189MM through 2016. From 2012 through 2016, teams who exceed the threshold for the first time must pay 17.5% of the amount they are over, 30% for the second consecutive year over, 40% for the third consecutive year over, and 50% for four or more consecutive years over the cap. Only eight teams have ever exceeded the luxury tax threshold: the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs for the first time in 2016 and the Washington Nationals for the first time in 2018. Only the Red Sox, Dodgers and Yankees have exceeded it more than once. The LA Dodgers have exceeded it four times. Boston has exceeded it six times. New York has exceeded it fourteen times, or, every year since it has been in enforcement. In aggregate, the Yankees have paid out some $325.00 MM, 73.78% of the total fines assessed since the luxury tax began. In 2016 a record six teams were issued the luxury tax by the MLB. The Los Angeles Dodgers ($31.8 million), the New York Yankees ($27.4 million), the Boston Red Sox ($4.5 million), the Detroit Tigers ($4 million), the San Francisco Giants ($3.4 million) and the Chicago Cubs ($2.96 million). In 2017 the same six teams from 2016 were issued the luxury tax by the MLB. Against the $195 million threshold + $13 million for player benefits, payrolls for the Los Angeles Dodgers ($244 million), New York Yankees ($209.3 million ), Boston Red Sox ($187.9 million), Detroit Tigers ($190.4 million), San Francisco Giants ($186.4 million) and Chicago Cubs ($199.5 million) were in excess. This was the 15th straight year the New York Yankees paid the luxury tax. In 2018 only two teams met the luxury tax by the MLB: The Boston Red ($9.4 million) and The Washington Nationals ($1.2 million). Several teams came just under the $197 million tax threshold: The San Francisco Giants ($196.66 million), The Chicago Cubs ($183.9 million), Houston Astros ($182.4 million), Los Angeles Dodgers ($181.99 million) and New York Yankees ($178.8 million). The luxury tax is separate from revenue sharing, which is a system to balance out the income distribution between large and small market teams by dividing money from merchandise sales and media contracts. The money generated from the luxury tax is not distributed to the rest of the league, as is the case with the NBA, but rather is used for other purposes. The first $2,375,400 and 50% of the remaining total are used to fund player benefits, 25% goes to the Industry Growth Fund, and the remaining 25% is used to defray teams' funding obligations from player benefits. The NBA utilizes a soft salary cap, meaning there is a salary cap but there are a variety of exceptions that allow teams to exceed that cap. For example, teams can re-sign players already on the team to an amount up to the maximum salary allowed by the league for up to five years regardless of where their payroll is relative to the cap. This provision is known as the "Larry Bird" exception, named after the former Boston Celtics player who was retained by that team until his retirement under the provisions of this rule. The result is that the majority of teams are over the cap at any given time. In addition to the soft cap, the NBA utilizes a luxury tax system that is applied if the team payroll exceeds a separate threshold higher than the salary cap. These teams pay a penalty for each dollar their team salary exceeds the tax level. From 2002 to 2013, if a team exceeded the luxury tax threshold, they must pay one dollar to the league for every dollar that they are over the limit. For the 2013-14 season and onward, teams paid an incremental rate based on their team salary. They also have to pay a repeat offender rate, which is an additional dollar for every dollar over. For 2014-15 teams pay the repeater rate if they also were taxpayers in all of the previous three seasons. For 2015-16 and all subsequent seasons, teams pay the repeater rate if they were taxpayers in at least three of the four previous seasons. The table of rates is shown below. The resulting total is then distributed to the remaining teams that are under the tax threshold. There was no luxury tax implemented in the 2004-2005 season due to insufficient basketball-related income. The Canadian Football League has a luxury tax. Penalties for teams that breach the salary cap regulations are: The National Football League (NFL) and the National Hockey League (NHL) both have hard salary caps, making it unnecessary to utilize the luxury tax. Several other leagues in the United States and abroad use salary caps, but the luxury tax is uncommon.

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The following fictional characters are staff members and denizens of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books written by J. K. Rowling. The following are notable teachers and staff members who do not have their own articles or who are not listed in other articles. Argus Filch is the caretaker of Hogwarts. While he is not an evil character, he is ill-tempered, which makes him unpopular with the student body, and occasionally causes tension or exasperation with teachers and other staff. His knowledge of the secrets and short-cuts of the castle is almost unparalleled, except perhaps by the users of the Marauder's Map (the Weasley twins, Harry, Ron and Hermione), and Voldemort himself. He tends to favor almost sadistically harsh punishments, and gleefully allies himself with Umbridge when she prescribes such punishments on students. He has an obsessive dislike of mud, animate toys, and all other things that might interfere with his desire for an immaculately clean and orderly Hogwarts. He is also portrayed as having a constant antagonism towards Peeves the poltergeist and often tells Dumbledore that Peeves should be thrown out of Hogwarts. He also likes to wander Hogwarts corridors at night, presumably in the hope of catching a student out of bed. Filch is revealed to be a Squib in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry accidentally discovers that he is trying to teach himself basic magic from a Kwikspell correspondence course. Nonetheless, Filch is at least able to use wizarding devices that have their own innate magic, such as the Secrecy Sensor used in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It is hinted that his dislike of students may stem from his disappointment and jealousy at not being able to do magic. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book, when the school starts preparing itself for the Battle of Hogwarts, Filch is seen yelling that students are out of bed. He is later seen overseeing the evacuation of younger students. Filch has a cat named Mrs Norris to whom he has a particular and possessive attachment. She acts as a hallway monitor or spy for Filch. If she observes students engaging in suspicious activity or out of bed after curfew, she finds Filch and he arrives in seconds. She has been known to follow Hagrid everywhere he goes in the school, apparently under Filch's orders. According to J.K. Rowling, there is nothing particularly magical about Mrs Norris, other than her being "just an intelligent (and unpleasant) cat." It's the ambition of many Hogwarts students to "give her a good kick". In the Chamber of Secrets incident, Mrs Norris is temporarily petrified by the Basilisk, which causes Filch extreme distress. David Bradley portrays Filch in the film series. Mrs Norris was played by three Maine Coon cats named Maximus, Alanis, and Cornilusa. Filius Flitwick is the Charms Master at Hogwarts and the head of Ravenclaw house. He is a very short, dwarf-like man. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he uses his magical skills to help decorate the Great Hall for Christmas. He is also one of the teachers who cast spells to guard the Philosopher's Stone by putting charms on a hundred keys so they can fly, making it difficult to find the key to the door leading to the next chamber. During Harry's second year, Flitwick helps Professor Sinistra carry a petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley to the hospital wing. He teaches the front doors to recognise a picture of Sirius after his second break-in in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and to instantly lock down if he tries to break in. He helps patrol the perimeter of the maze for the third task of the Triwizard Tournament held in Harry's fourth year. He eventually removes most of the swamp that is created within the school by Fred and George in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, though he previously leaves the swamp untouched to annoy Umbridge. He does however, choose to leave a small patch of it behind, because he thinks it is "a good bit of magic" and a tribute to the Weasley twins. Near the end of Half-Blood Prince, Flitwick is sent by Professor McGonagall to ask Professor Snape to come to the aid of the Order of the Phoenix against the intruding Death Eaters. He collapses after requesting Snape's help at the battle. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Flitwick insists that Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem is lost, and he is described by Harry (along with Dumbledore) as having been a "model student" who supposedly never entered the Room of Hidden Things, and so it never occurred to him that the diadem could be hidden there. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, Flitwick helps to chase Severus Snape out of the Hogwarts castle alongside professors McGonagall and Sprout, and to put protective charms around the castle to hinder Voldemort and his oncoming Death Eaters, and later fights the intruders in the battle, battling Corban Yaxley and later defeating Dolohov. In the film adaptations, Flitwick is portrayed by Warwick Davis. Rowling said: "I must admit, I was taken aback when I saw the film Flitwick, who looks very much like a goblin/elf (I’ve never actually asked the film-makers precisely what he is), because the Flitwick in my imagination simply looks like a very small old man." However, Rowling mentions on her official website that Flitwick is human, with "a dash of goblin ancestry." His on-screen appearance changes noticeably in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he takes on a more human and less elf-like look, with slicked-down dark hair and moustache. According to Davis, the moustachioed character was originally not supposed to be Flitwick; Flitwick was absent from the script for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but "the producer" (presumably David Heyman) added the new character (as the conductor of the school choir and orchestra, credited as "Choir Master") so that Davis could still appear in the film. Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell preferred the new look, "and from that moment, the character became known as 'Flitwick'." Flitwick was born on 17 October, but the year of his birth is never mentioned in the books or the films. Gilderoy Lockhart is a popular author and wizarding celebrity who has written many books about his adventures encountering dark creatures. In Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart is appointed as Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor. He is unpopular with most of the staff, particularly Professor Snape. However, he is greatly admired by many others, particularly witches (including Hermione and the Weasley mother Molly Weasley) who find him attractive. Harry dislikes Lockhart for a number of reasons: his arrogance, his belief that Harry flew to Hogwarts in a car to seek further attention, his penchant for handing out signed photos of himself, and the trouble he has with simple magic such as healing Harry's broken arm (he accidentally removes all of Harry's arm bones instead). Lockhart is exposed as a charlatan and a coward when he attempts to avoid entering the Chamber of Secrets by revealing to Harry and Ron that he never performed the amazing feats documented in his books, instead passing off the experiences of other witches and wizards as his own and erasing their memories to prevent them from revealing the truth. He attempts to cast a Memory Charm on Harry and Ron using Ron's damaged wand, but the spell backfires and leaves him with near-total amnesia. In Order of the Phoenix, Harry comes across Lockhart in St Mungo's while visiting the Weasley father Arthur Weasley at Christmas. Lockhart has not recovered any of his memories, but is childishly proud of being able to write in "joined-up letters". He still enjoys signing autographs and continues to receive fan mail, although he has no idea why. For his part, Harry feels a slight twinge of guilt for Lockhart's amnesia, but he consoles himself with the fact that it was Lockhart's own fault. Lockhart never fully recovers, despite all efforts to cure him, and remains in a long-term care ward of St. Mungo's. Rowling has said Lockhart is the only character she has ever based on a real-life person. Lockhart was inspired by an unrevealed acquaintance who was "even more objectionable than his fictional counterpart" and "used to tell whopping great fibs about his past life, all of them designed to demonstrate what a wonderful, brave and brilliant person he was." Kenneth Branagh portrayed Lockhart in the film version of Chamber of Secrets. In a scene after the end credits, his latest book is on sale in Diagon Alley; titled Who Am I?, it displays a picture of him humming distractedly to himself and wearing a straitjacket. Minerva McGonagall is deputy Headmistress, head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration professor, and later Headmistress at Hogwarts. She is first introduced in the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, when she meets Dumbledore at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey (the home of Harry's aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley). McGonagall is described as a tall, rather severe-looking woman, with black hair typically drawn into a tight bun. She wears emerald green robes, a pointed hat, and always has a very prim expression. She speaks with a slight Scottish accent. She is, according to Rowling, a sprightly 70-year-old. McGonagall wears square spectacles that match the markings around the eyes of her Animagus form of a British Shorthair silver tabby cat; she has the distinction of being the first Animagus introduced in the series and being one of the few registered Animagi of the century, though she is rarely seen using the ability. Harry's immediate impression of her is of someone who is not to be crossed. She has a fondness for tartan, and her handkerchief, at least one hat, dressing gown, and dress robes are patterned with it. In the films, McGonagall often wears a Scottish brooch of a specific Scots style set with Cairngorm citrines and Scottish agate. In the first book, after seeing Harry fly during his very first time on a broom, she recommends him to fill the position of Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and sends him a broom, even though first-year students are normally prohibited from playing the sport or owning brooms. Despite the fact that she can often be heard to caution Lee Jordan's biased remarks while commentating on Hogwart's Quidditch matches, it is often indirectly revealed that McGonagall herself is an avid Quidditch fan, resulting in a few occasions of her dropping her usual demeanour. Furthermore, although a rigorous disciplinarian, she often assists Harry indirectly with activities that are not strictly within the rules of Hogwarts; for example, she allows Harry and his friends to use the Transfiguration classroom to practice for tasks in the Triwizard Tournament. She promises Harry she would do everything in her power to help him to achieve his goal of becoming an auror, and she keeps her promise. Despite her stern front, McGonagall is shown to have good intentions at heart and has been known to display a range of emotions, which can often be a shock to her colleagues and students. It is revealed in Order of the Phoenix that McGonagall is a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She and Dolores Umbridge seem to have a mutual dislike for each other, as Umbridge continuously usurps more and more power from the staff and from Dumbledore and McGonagall in particular. McGonagall quietly resists, vowing to assist Harry's lukewarm desire to become an auror primarily to spite Umbridge, and ignoring and even quietly aiding Peeves and the students in their destructive pranks. When McGonagall attempts to stop Umbridge and her fellow Ministry cronies from unjustly taking Hagrid away by force, she is hit by four stunning spells without warning, before she can draw her wand, but Hagrid manages to escape due to his giant heritage. In an unconscious state, she is rushed to St Mungo's, where she recovers for a while. McGonagall returns to the school towards the end of the book, though she temporarily uses a walking stick. After the death of Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince, she becomes the acting Headmistress of Hogwarts. However, in the series finale, she does not become headmistress at the start of term as expected; Snape is appointed by the new Minister for Magic Thicknesse, who is actually under the Imperius Curse and acting for Voldemort. Death eater Alecto Carrow replaces McGonagall as deputy headmistress. Despite the many changes, she is retained as Transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor House. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, she goes to the Ravenclaw tower and finds Alecto stunned by Luna and Amycus Carrow searching for Harry. She is surprised when Amycus tells her Voldemort warned them Harry would try to break into the Ravenclaw Tower, proudly telling him Harry has no business on the Ravenclaw Tower, for Harry is in her House, Gryffindor. When Amycus suggests blaming the students to compensate for his sister's state, McGonagall immediately intervenes. In response, Amycus spits in her face. Harry, who is present and hidden under his invisibility cloak, reveals himself and uses the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus. Harry then informs McGonagall that Voldemort is on his way and after tying up both the Carrows and placing them in a net, she sends three Patronuses – which manifest as a cat – to warn the other three Heads of House. When on her way to meet the Heads of House, she meets Snape, who questions her about Harry's whereabouts. Not realising that Snape is a re-doubled agent acting for the good side and not knowing that he has important information for Harry, she attacks him, engaging in a fierce duel. With help from Professors Sprout and Flitwick, she succeeds in driving Snape away. McGonagall then takes charge of the school again and proceeds to secure it against Voldemort to ensure Harry can fulfil his mission from Dumbledore. She also organises the evacuation of the school's under-age students to ensure their safety. She then leads the remaining students, the staff of Hogwarts, and members of the Order of the Phoenix in the fight against Voldemort. She is seen during the battle with a large gash on her cheek and commanding a herd of charmed desks to charge at Death Eaters. When Harry has been apparently killed, she screams, causing Bellatrix Lestrange to laugh. Finally, McGonagall ends up duelling Voldemort alongside Kingsley Shacklebolt and Professor Slughorn. As is confirmed in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, McGonagall becomes Headmistress of Hogwarts after the Battle of Hogwarts and Snape's death; however, in an interview Rowling said McGonagall would be retired by the time of the Deathly Hallows epilogue (19 years after the main events of Deathly Hallows), as she is "getting on in years". McGonagall is played by Dame Maggie Smith in the film adaptations. Smith has described her role as "Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat". Given that her role becomes progressively smaller as the series goes on, she notes that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is her favourite. Smith appeared in all the films of the series except for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, which does not take place in Hogwarts. Rowling has stated that she always pictured Smith portraying McGonagall, and claimed the actress to be at the top of her list. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 during the filming of The Half-Blood Prince. She is portrayed by Fiona Glascott in a cameo in . Rowling named the character after the poet (and tragedian) William McGonagall, whose name she liked. Her first name, Minerva, comes from the Roman goddess of wisdom. Madam Poppy Pomfrey is the sole magical Healer of the Hogwarts hospital wing. She is loyal, highly skilled, non-inquisitive and tight-lipped about her patients, and very strict regarding the rules of her infirmary. Harry ends up under her care quite often. In Philosopher's Stone, he spends three days unconscious in the hospital wing after the confrontation with Professor Quirrell. In Chamber of Secrets, he spends one painful night regrowing bones in his arm, after Gilderoy Lockhart vanishes them, much to Pomfrey's vexation. In Prisoner of Azkaban, she tends to Harry twice; once after the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff and once after the Shrieking Shack incident. She speaks approvingly of Lupin's prescription of chocolate to alleviate the effects of a dementor's presence on students, commenting that Hogwarts has "finally got a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies". In Goblet of Fire, she treats Harry twice; once for a dragon strike and once after the confrontation with Voldemort. In Half-Blood Prince, she tends to Harry after his skull is cracked by a Bludger in a Quidditch match. Others who end up under her care expose more of her personality. In Chamber of Secrets, Hermione ends up in the hospital wing for a month after a mishap with the Polyjuice Potion leaves her half-feline. Pomfrey is careful to keep this a secret. In Order of the Phoenix, after Umbridge's henchmen stun McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey says she would resign in protest were she not afraid of what would become of the students without her presence. In Half-Blood Prince, she attempts to heal Bill of his scars from Greyback's attack without much success, and bursts into tears when she hears of Dumbledore's death. In Deathly Hallows, she and Filch oversee the evacuation of Hogwarts before the battle. She is later seen tending to the injured fighters. Gemma Jones appeared as Madam Pomfrey in the film adaptations of Chamber of Secrets, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Quirinus Quirrell is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts during Harry's first year and secretly a follower of Voldemort. Prior to his employment at Hogwarts, he is said by Hagrid to have had a "brilliant mind", and was a fine teacher while studying from books; some time before Harry's arrival at Hogwarts, "he took a year off to get some first-hand experience". Rowling stated in a live web chat on 30 July 2007 that Quirrell had worked at Hogwarts as Muggle Studies teacher for a certain length of time, before taking the cursed Defence Against the Dark Arts position in the same year that Harry joined. There were rumours that he encountered vampires in the Black Forest and one in Romania, and he apparently had "a nasty bit of trouble with a hag". After that, he was 'never the same' – upon his return, he appears perpetually nervous and has developed a stutter and nervous tics and Hagrid was able to say even before the beginning of the autumn term that he was "scared of the students, scared of his own subject". Quirrell's attire includes a new purple turban which he claims to have received as a reward from an African prince for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Fred and George constantly joke that the turban was full of garlic to ward away vampires and in one part they even enchant snowballs to hit it. According to JK Rowling, Quirrell taught Muggle Studies before Harry studied at Hogwarts, which explains why he was a teacher before but at the same time only a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for one year. Harry first meets Quirrell at the Leaky Cauldron, while being escorted by Hagrid to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies. Quirrell is next seen at Hogwarts conversing with Snape at the start-of-term banquet, and then regularly while teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. During the school's Halloween banquet, Quirrell appears in the Great Hall to warn staff and students of a troll in the dungeons and then he faints, so he can freely make his way to the third-floor corridor where the Stone is hidden. Snape who, apparently, already suspected Quirrell was up to something, goes to the third floor in order to stop him. In later novels, the readers learn that Dumbledore had told Snape to keep an eye on the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Quirrell is unable to get to the Stone, but in the process, Snape is bitten by Fluffy. When Harry and his friends see that Snape has been bitten, they begin to suspect Snape is after the Stone for himself. While playing Quidditch, Harry is almost thrown off his broom by some sort of curse and he, Ron, and Hermione believe it is Snape who is responsible. They begin to suspect that Snape is trying to steal the Stone hidden in a secret chamber in Hogwarts; however, when Harry finally arrives in the chamber, he discovers that it is not Snape, but Quirrell, who is the real villain. During his European travels, Quirrell discovered the barely-alive Voldemort, who had been in hiding since his failed bid to kill Harry as an infant. Quirrell became attracted to Voldemort's offers of power, and returned to Britain with the Dark Lord. Quirrell addresses and refers to Voldemort by that name, rather than "The Dark Lord" as other Death Eaters do. Initially, Voldemort allowed Quirrell to act autonomously – Quirrell was able to shake hands with Harry in the Leaky Cauldron, and was not wearing the turban, meaning that Voldemort was not possessing him (though this changes in the film version, where Quirrell wears the turban at the Leaky Cauldron and refuses to shake Harry's hand). Voldemort first used Quirrell in a plan to steal the Philosopher's Stone from its vault in Gringotts Bank, where it had been deposited for safekeeping by Dumbledore. But Dumbledore had already sent Hagrid on a mission to retrieve the Stone, which he did while he and Harry were shopping in Diagon Alley, after they met with Quirrell in the Leaky Cauldron. Voldemort, as punishment for Quirrell's failure to secure the Stone from Gringotts, decided to keep a closer watch on his new servant. He took possession of Quirrell's body, which caused his face to appear on the back of Quirrell's bald head. To conceal this, Quirrell took to wearing the turban. To keep Voldemort alive, Quirrell had to kill unicorns in the Forbidden Forest, drinking their blood to provide temporary life-sustaining powers for Voldemort. Quirrell then reveals that he was the one who let in the troll and attempted to throw Harry off his broom while Snape muttered a counter curse. During the climax of the story, as Harry and Quirrell try to recover the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, Voldemort reveals himself on the back of Quirrell's head, formerly concealed by the turban, and speaks directly to Harry, threatening to kill him if he does not assist Voldemort in recovering it. After Harry refuses, Quirrell tries to take the Stone by force. Voldemort orders Quirrell to attack Harry, who holds off Quirrell long enough for aid in the form of Dumbledore to arrive, at which point Voldemort flees, in his non-physical form. Voldemort's departure, as well as the agony suffered by him because of his contact with Harry, who continues to be protected by the love of his mother and the spell that was cast by her sacrificing her life to save Harry, causes Quirrell to die, hence Dumbledore's comment that Voldemort is as merciless to his followers as to his enemies. Before he dies, Quirrell tells Harry of the rivalry between his father, the late James Potter, and Snape: "Didn't you know? Snape went to school with your father. They loathed each other." The film version's climax ends a little differently: As Quirrell attacks him, Harry's blood protection, which was provided by his mother's sacrifice of her own life to save him, enables Harry to kill Quirrell himself. Harry discovers that when he comes into direct contact with Quirrell, it immediately produces a burning effect. In the final attack, Harry lays his hands on Quirrell, who burns into crumbling ash. The spirit form of Voldemort renders Harry unconscious before making his escape. Though Quirrel's first name was never mentioned in the novels, the character is given the first name "Quirinus" in the official Harry Potter Trading Card Game. British actor Ian Hart portrayed Quirrell in the film adaptation of the book. Horace Slughorn is the long-serving Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin House since at least the 1940s, until his retirement after the 1981–82 school year. Following his retirement and the resurgence of Voldemort, Slughorn goes into hiding, concealing all knowledge of his whereabouts from both sides in the growing conflict in the wizarding world. However, after moving Snape to Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dumbledore locates Slughorn and uses Harry as incentive to convince him to return to teaching Potions. Slughorn is described as preferring to be a "back-seat driver", obtaining things he desires by using his contacts, particularly students whom he has invited into the "Slug Club", a group of students favoured by Slughorn, based either on their connections to important people (a type of cronyism) or on his belief that they have talents that will make them important and famous themselves when they leave school (meritocracy). He is one of the first Slytherin characters to defy the house's stereotype and being portrayed in a somewhat positive light: while he is self- serving and not above bending rules, he lacks the near-amorality and underhandedness that had, until that point, been a hallmark of the house. He does not resent blood status in general, and admits a pleasurable surprise when he comes upon a talented Muggle-born, such as Hermione or, years before, Harry's mother Lily Potter, one of his all-time favourite pupils. Also, Slughorn notably displays not pride, but shame at having helped a young Tom Marvolo Riddle perform some of his most noted and impressive feats of magic, as Riddle had questioned Slughorn about Horcruxes. However, students he deems unimportant he ignores, as though they were not there. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry is invited to the first meeting of the Slug Club held on the Hogwarts Express. Slughorn sets less-stringent entry criteria for Advanced Potions than his predecessor, lowering the required grade from a perfect O (Outstanding) to the above-average E (Exceeds Expectations). This last-minute change enables Harry and Ron to take Potions at NEWT level. However, since Harry had not expected to be allowed to join the course, he has none of the necessary materials, and Slughorn lends him an old textbook until Harry can procure his own. Later, Harry does buy a new copy of Advanced Potion-Making from Flourish and Blotts, but switches the covers and gives back the new book. During his first class, Slughorn offers a small amount of Felix Felicis to the student who brews the best cauldron of the Draught of Living Death. Harry wins with the help of handwritten notes in the borrowed textbook, which had once belonged to Snape, unbeknownst to him. When Ron falls victim to a high- strength love potion, Slughorn administers an antidote, but then nearly kills him with a drink of poisoned mead, not knowing that the bottle had been planted by Draco Malfoy in an attempt to kill Dumbledore. Harry later uses the Felix Felicis to help retrieve a memory from Slughorn that details the conversation between the professor and Riddle about Horcruxes as well as the possibility of creating more than one Horcrux. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Slughorn briefly appears with other teachers assembling to fight Death Eaters. As Snape is now Headmaster, Slughorn has again assumed the post of Head of Slytherin. Though he is initially hesitant to join in the Battle of Hogwarts and is assumed to have evacuated with his house, he returns to the fray later on. It is revealed that he has not fled, but has recruited a large number of reinforcements to fight for Hogwarts. He then summons up the courage to duel Voldemort, alongside McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Slughorn is played by Jim Broadbent in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Pomona Sprout is Professor of Herbology and the Head of Hufflepuff House. She is described as a dumpy little witch with flyaway grey hair who wears a patched, frayed hat and shabby robes, often covered in dirt due to the time she spends tending plants in the Hogwarts greenhouses. Sprout is introduced in Philosopher's Stone, but she plays no active role until Chamber of Secrets, in which she teaches her second year students to work with Mandrake plants. She is responsible for raising the Mandrakes to full maturity, at which point their juice is used to revive the petrified victims of the basilisk. Sprout subsequently appears in Goblet of Fire in which, as the Hufflepuff Head of House, she comforts Amos Diggory and his wife after the death of their son, Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory, whom she knew well. In Order of the Phoenix, Sprout is a non-vocal supporter of Harry's story about Voldemort's resurrection. Like many teachers at Hogwarts, she detests Umbridge's presence and does her best to disobey her. After the raid of Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince, Sprout is a staunch advocate of keeping Hogwarts open. She also supports the suggestion that Dumbledore should be laid to rest at Hogwarts. Sprout attends Dumbledore's funeral, where she appears cleaner than she has ever been seen before. In Deathly Hallows, she chases Snape away from Hogwarts with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. Informed that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are coming to besiege Hogwarts, she uses her knowledge of magical plants by improvising offensive botany, and, with the help of several students, throws Mandrakes, Snargaluff pods, and Venomous Tentaculas off the castle walls at the approaching Death Eaters. The epilogue of Deathly Hallows reveals that Neville has become the new Herbology teacher at Hogwarts. The circumstances of Sprout's departure from the job are not revealed. Sprout was portrayed by Miriam Margolyes in the film adaptation of Chamber of Secrets and Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Sybill Patricia Trelawney is the Divination teacher. She is the great-great- granddaughter of the celebrated Seer, Cassandra Trelawney, and has inherited some of her ancestor's talent. Trelawney is described as a slight woman resembling an insect, draped in a large spangled shawl and many gaudy bangles and rings. She speaks in a whispy voice and wears thick glasses, which cause her eyes to appear greatly magnified. Her odd classroom in the North Tower of Hogwarts is a cross between "someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop"; it can only be reached by climbing to the top of the stairs and then up a ladder through a trapdoor set in the ceiling. This dim, heavily scented, and "stiflingly" warm room often affects students' wakefulness. Professor Trelawney first appears in the third book of the series, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione start divination lessons. The friends generally believe Professor Trelawney is a fraud. However, Gryffindor students Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown are very fond of and impressed by her. According to Professor McGonagall, her credibility as a Seer is undermined by her habit of erroneously predicting, each year, the death of one of her students, she uses it as a greeting for her class. Her more profound predictions seem only to happen when she is in a trance and unaware of what she is saying, with no memory of it afterward. However, almost all her predictions were later shown to be true in the books even if she was not in a trance. Prior to the events of the Harry Potter books, Professor Trelawney falls into a prophetic trance while in an interview with Dumbledore at the Hog's Head, making a prophecy about the birth of a wizard "with the power to vanquish" the dark lord, Voldemort. This prophecy was partly overheard by Snape, who relayed what he heard to Voldemort. This led Voldemort to attack the Potter family, believing that Harry was the child named. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it reveals that Serveus Snape has had a crush on Lily Evans since their young age and he still does. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Trelawney prophesies to Harry about the events of the book's climax. In Order of the Phoenix, Professor Trelawney is first put on probation by Umbridge, and later fired. However, Professor Trelawney continues to reside in Hogwarts castle due to an order by Dumbledore, who believes that she would be in danger outside Hogwarts due to the prophecy she made during her interview. Dumbledore later reveals that the prophecy is why he keeps her employed as a Divination teacher. Professor Trelawney returns to teaching in Half-Blood Prince, but has to share classes with Firenze, as he was cast out by his fellow centaurs when he agreed to replace Professor Trelawney after she was fired, which she thinks is an outrage. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she is seen aiding in the Battle of Hogwarts by magically accelerating her crystal balls at Death Eaters. She uses one of these crystal balls to defend an injured Lavender against the attack of werewolf Fenrir Greyback. In the film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, she is seen covering someone's body, with the aid of Padma Patil. In the British editions of the books, her name is consistently spelled as "Sybill". In the American editions, from her first appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban through Order of the Phoenix, her name is spelled as "Sibyll". However, in the American edition of Half-Blood Prince, it is re-spelled as "Sybill", matching the UK edition. Professor Trelawney is portrayed by Emma Thompson in the Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, and Deathly Hallows Part 2. Hogwarts houses at least twenty ghosts, but when people in the novels speak of the ghosts at Hogwarts they usually refer to one of the four resident ghosts of the Hogwarts houses: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (or, as the students refer to him, Nearly Headless Nick), the almost beheaded ghost of Gryffindor house; the Bloody Baron, who is the ghost of Slytherin house; the jovial Fat Friar, who is the ghost of Hufflepuff house; and the Grey Lady, who in life was Helena Ravenclaw, the ghost of Ravenclaw house. These ghosts seem to act as something like advisers and aides to the students; Nick frequently helps Harry during moments of uncertainty or crisis. Despite animosity between the houses, their respective ghosts get along well with each other. Nearly Headless Nick is respectful of the Bloody Baron and claims that he cannot imagine starting a fight with him, while the Fat Friar pleads on behalf of Peeves the Poltergeist to allow him to come to the welcome feasts despite his past wrongdoings. During The Deathly Hallows, Nick is protective of Helena and only reluctantly tells Harry how to find her. The Bloody Baron is the Slytherin House ghost. He is the only person besides Dumbledore and Fred and George Weasley who can exert any control over the poltergeist Peeves; Peeves is terrified of him for some unknown reason, referring to him as "Your Bloodiness" and "Mr Baron". The Baron's nickname comes from the fact that he is covered with blood, which appears silvery on his ghostly form. When Nearly Headless Nick is asked in the first book why the Baron is so bloody, Nick delicately comments that "he has never asked". However, this is explained in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Helena Ravenclaw (the Grey Lady) tells Harry that the Baron had been in love with her when the two were alive, and when she ran off with her mother's diadem, Rowena Ravenclaw sent the Baron after her, knowing he would not stop until Helena was found. When Helena refused to return with him, however, the Baron killed her in a fit of rage, and then, in remorse, killed himself with the same weapon. He has thus haunted Hogwarts ever since, wearing his ghostly chains as a form of penance. Terence Bayler portrayed the Baron in the first film. In contrast to his book counterpart, the Baron is mirthful in the film, playfully swiping through the Sorting feast with his sword, much to the amusement of those within his house. The Fat Friar is the Hufflepuff House ghost. He is a jolly man and very forgiving, frequently suggesting that Peeves be given another chance, or forgiven for any mishaps. Simon Fisher-Becker appeared as the Fat Friar in the film adaptation of Philosopher's Stone. The Grey Lady is the Ravenclaw House ghost. According to a letter written by Rowling to Nina Young, the actress who played the Grey Lady in the first film, she is "a highly intellectual young lady ... She never found true love as she never found a man up to her standards". Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reveals that the Grey Lady is Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, making her the only house ghost known to be related to one of the Hogwarts founders. She informs Harry that she stole the Diadem of Ravenclaw from her mother, in an attempt to become smarter than her, and then went into hiding in Albania. It was a dying Rowena Ravenclaw's wish to see her daughter again, and so she sent for the Bloody Baron to look for her, knowing that he would not rest until he brought her back, partly because he was in love with her. However, she refused to come with the Baron and, in a moment of blind rage, he killed her with a single stab-wound to the chest. Overcome with remorse, the Bloody Baron killed himself using the same weapon in turn and wears chains as penitence, "as he should", the Grey Lady says. The diadem remained in the hollow of a tree in an Albanian forest until Tom Riddle managed to charm the story out of the Grey Lady. Riddle, who had been seeking historically significant objects to make into Horcruxes, later retrieved the diadem from Albania and hid it in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts while visiting the castle years later. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nina Young played the Grey Lady, and in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, she was played by Kelly Macdonald. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington KG, often referred to as Nearly Headless Nick, Nick, or Sir Nicholas, is the Gryffindor House ghost who in life was sentenced to death by beheading after a teeth-straightening spell went awry on Lady Grieve. Unfortunately, the executioner's axe was blunt and Nick's head was still attached to his neck by a thin strip of skin after 45 chops. Harry becomes friends with Nick when he attends his "deathday" party (the 500th anniversary of the event) in a Hogwarts dungeon. Nick's death date (31 October 1492) had the distinction of having served as the basis for the entire chronology of the Harry Potter stories, until the timeline was confirmed by James and Lily's headstone in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. His greatest wish is to become a member of the Headless Hunt, as mentioned in the second book. However, he is excluded due to the fact that he is not actually headless ("he is nearly headless") and would never be completely able to participate in the activities (such as "Head Polo"). In Chamber of Secrets, Nick is a victim of the Basilisk that Ginny Weasley unleashes under the influence of Tom Riddle. The stare of the Basilisk is lethal to anyone who looks it directly in the eye. All of its living victims meet its gaze indirectly, either from a reflection or by seeing it through something else, and are only petrified rather than killed. Nick is the only one to look directly at the Basilisk, but he too is petrified since he is a ghost and cannot die again. Nick also protected Hufflepuff student Justin Finch- Fletchley from death after Justin saw the basilisk's eyes through Nick's transparent body, thus only petrifying him as well. The character appears again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry has been looking for comfort upon Sirius' death, hoping he can see him later as a ghost. Nick explains that only witches and wizards who fear death and refuse to go on can become ghosts, dashing Harry's hope of communicating with Sirius. He appears briefly in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry asks Nick to bring him to the Grey Lady. The character was portrayed in the film series by John Cleese, and only appears in the first two films. Hogwarts was founded a millennium ago (the exact date unknown) by "four of the greatest witches and wizards of the age": Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. The founders served as Hogwarts' first teachers, and each of the Hogwarts houses is named after one of the founders. Godric Gryffindor was one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was good friends with Salazar Slytherin but they had conflicting ideas as Salazar believed no muggle-borns should be accepted into Hogwarts. "Godric Gryffindor was the most accomplished dueller of his time, an enlightened fighter against Muggle-discrimination and the first owner of the celebrated Sorting Hat." His known relics are a goblin-made sword adorned with rubies also known as "The Sword of Gryffindor" and the Sorting Hat. The two items share a particular bond: whenever a Gryffindor student is in a time of need, the sword will present itself within the Sorting Hat. Gryffindor is said to have praised courage, determination and strength of heart above all other qualities. He also was the most accepting of allowing Muggle-borns into the school. Helga Hufflepuff came from a broad valley. The Sorting Hat describes her as "good Hufflepuff" or "sweet Hufflepuff". She favoured loyalty, honesty, and dedication. In Goblet of Fire, she is said to have considered "hard workers almost always most worthy of admission". Elsewhere, she is described as taking "all the rest" of the students after selection by her colleagues. She was a good friend of Rowena Ravenclaw; their friendship is used to emphasise the failed friendship between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. "One of the four celebrated Founders of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff was particularly famous for her dexterity at food-related Charms. Many recipes traditionally served at Hogwarts feasts originated with Hufflepuff." Her wizard card, penned by Rowling, describes her as having "brought people from different walks of life together to help build Hogwarts", and being "loved for her charming ways". According to an interview between Rowling and staff from The Leaky Cauldron, Hufflepuff introduced house-elves to Hogwarts, where she offered them refuge. Both the famous wizard card and the illustration on Rowling's website depict her as a plump woman with red hair. One relic of Hufflepuff, a small golden cup emblazoned with her symbol of a badger, is passed down to her distant descendant, Hepzibah Smith. This cup is stolen by Riddle (later Voldemort) and made into a Horcrux. The Hufflepuff Cup was destroyed by Hermione who stabbed it with a basilisk fang in Deathly Hallows. Rowena Ravenclaw was a witch noted for her cleverness and creativity, and was described by Xenophilius Lovegood as beautiful. The Sorting Hat introduces her as "Fair Ravenclaw, from glen", suggesting she was from Scotland. Ravenclaw devised the ever-changing floor plans and moving staircases in the Hogwarts castle, and coined the proverb "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Ravenclaw is described by the Sorting Hat as having selected students according to intelligence and wisdom. "Rowena Ravenclaw was the most brilliant witch of her time, though legend has it that a broken heart—cause unknown—contributed to her early demise." It is revealed in the Deathly Hallows that the broken heart contributing to her untimely death was most likely the loss of her daughter, Helena Ravenclaw, who is, in fact, the Ravenclaw House Ghost (nicknamed The Grey Lady), and the lost diadem, the very relic to which Ravenclaw's astounding wisdom was attributed. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry learns that an artefact of Ravenclaw's became a Horcrux: her lost diadem, which granted enhanced wisdom to its wearer. The Ravenclaw Diadem is destroyed near the end of the book as a result of exposure to Fiendfyre summoned by Vincent Crabbe, who is killed in the process while trying to control the fire. Salazar Slytherin is described as power-hungry by the Sorting Hat, and was known as "shrewd Slytherin from fen". Salazar Slytherin was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pureblood supremacy." Slytherin is the only founder whose physical appearance is ever described in any detail; his statue in the Chamber of Secrets depicts a man "ancient and monkey-like, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his sweeping robes." According to Dumbledore, the qualities that Slytherin prized in his handpicked students included his own rare ability to speak Parseltongue, resourcefulness, and determination. He also selected his students according to cunning, ambition, and blood purity. Slytherin's first name is a reference to the mid-20th-century Portuguese dictator's surname — Rowling's 1990-1993 stay in Portugal (where memory and legacy are present long after the dictatorship era) inspired this name choice. Slytherin's background is first discussed by Professor Binns in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (and by Professor McGonagall in the film version and Professor Flitwick in the computer game). He describes the founding of the school and the schism which developed between Slytherin and the other founders, and he mentions that the castle was founded far from Muggles because, at that time, common people feared magic and persecuted suspected wizards and witches. Slytherin wanted magical learning restricted to all-magical families, as he believed Muggle-born students to be untrustworthy and he disliked teaching such students. According to ancient legend, Slytherin was responsible for the construction of the Chamber of Secrets. This chamber contained a magical creature, the Basilisk, susceptible to control by the Heir of Slytherin, and left there to purge the school of all Muggle-born students. This occurred shortly before infighting among the four founders broke out and resulted in Slytherin's departure. Salazar Slytherin's locket, passed down to his family, was turned into a Horcrux by his descendant Voldemort and destroyed by Ron Weasley using the Sword of Gryffindor in Deathly Hallows. In June 2016, J. K. Rowling revealed on Pottermore that Slytherin's wand contained a fragment of basilisk horn, and was taught by its creator to "sleep" when instructed, which meant that it could place others who possessed the wand in a sleep from which they could only be awakened by the cries of the person's children. This secret was handed down through the centuries to each member of Slytherin's family who possessed it. By the 1600s it belonged to the Irish witch Gormlaith Gaunt, though in about 1620 it was stolen by her then-17-year-old niece Isolt Sayre, who fled to Massachusetts in the United States, where she founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She buried the wand outside the school grounds, and within a year, an unknown species of snakewood tree grew from the burial spot. It resisted all attempts to prune or kill it, but after several years the leaves were found to contain powerful medicinal properties. The Harry Potter Lexicon's page on the Hogwarts Staff, Hogwarts Project - Hogwarts Teachers Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a 2009 fantasy film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on J. K. Rowling's 2005 novel of the same name. The film, which is the sixth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, was written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman and David Barron. The story follows Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts as he receives a mysterious textbook, falls in love, and attempts to retrieve a memory that holds the key to Lord Voldemort's downfall. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Filming began on 24 September 2007, leading to the film's worldwide cinematic release on 15 July 2009, one day short of the fourth anniversary of the corresponding novel's release. With an estimated budget of $250 million, it is the 15th most expensive film ever made and the most expensive film in the Harry Potter film series. The film was simultaneously released in regular cinemas and IMAX 3D everywhere except North America, where its IMAX release was delayed for two weeks. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered in London on 7 July 2009 and was released theatrically worldwide on 15 July. The film was a major commercial success, breaking the record for the biggest single-day worldwide gross. In five days the film made $394 million, breaking the record for highest five-day worldwide gross. With a total gross of $934 million, it became the 8th-highest-grossing film of all time and 2009's second-highest-grossing film (behind Avatar). It is the fifth-highest-grossing film in the franchise. The film received positive reviews, with praise for Yates's direction and the performances, Delbonnel's cinematography, musical score, and "emotionally satisfying" story. The film was nominated at the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and the 63rd British Academy Film Awards for Best Special Visual Effects and Best Production Design. Lord Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the wizarding and Muggle worlds, kidnapping wand-maker Garrick Ollivander from Diagon Alley and destroying the Millennium Bridge. The Malfoy family is disgraced when Lucius is apprehended and sent to Azkaban for his involvement with the Death Eaters. Voldemort instead chooses Draco to carry out a secret mission at Hogwarts. Draco's mother Narcissa and aunt Bellatrix Lestrange seek help from Severus Snape, who claims to have been acting as a mole within the Order of the Phoenix all along. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa to protect Draco and fulfill the assignment if he fails. Harry Potter, now 16 years old, accompanies Albus Dumbledore from Surbiton to the village of Budleigh Babberton to visit former Potions professor Horace Slughorn. Slughorn, who has been in hiding, agrees to return to teach at Hogwarts. Dumbledore then takes Harry to The Burrow, where Harry reunites with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The three visit Fred and George Weasley's new joke shop at Diagon Alley and see Draco entering Knockturn Alley with a group of Death Eaters including Fenrir Greyback. Harry believes Voldemort has made Draco a Death Eater, but Ron and Hermione are sceptical. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry hides in the Slytherin carriage using his Invisibility Cloak, but is spotted and petrified by Malfoy. Harry is found and saved by Luna Lovegood. At Hogwarts, Harry and Ron borrow textbooks for Slughorn's Potions class, and Harry is stuck with a copy that turns out to be filled with helpful notes and spells left by the "Half-Blood Prince". Harry uses the book to excel in the class and impresses Slughorn, winning a Liquid Luck potion. Ron becomes Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and forms a romantic relationship with Lavender Brown, upsetting Hermione. Harry consoles Hermione and admits that he now has feelings for Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley. Harry spends the Christmas holidays with the Weasleys. On Christmas Eve, Harry discusses his suspicions about Draco to the Order of the Phoenix. His suspicions are dismissed, but Arthur Weasley later tells Harry privately that the Malfoys may have been interested in a Vanishing Cabinet. Bellatrix and Greyback attack and burn down the Burrow, drawing Harry into a battle. He saves Ginny before the Order arrive and fight off the Death Eaters. At Hogwarts, Dumbledore reveals to Harry that Slughorn possesses a memory of Voldemort that Dumbledore desperately needs. He asks Harry to confront Slughorn and retrieve the real memory, after being given an altered version that made it appear as though Slughorn did not know anything. Harry is unable to convince Slughorn. After Ron accidentally ingests a love potion intended for Harry, Harry cures him with Slughorn's help. The trio celebrate with mead that Slughorn had intended to gift to Dumbledore. The mead poisons Ron, and Harry is forced to save his life after Slughorn hesitates. Ron murmurs Hermione's name while recovering in the infirmary, causing Lavender to end their relationship. Harry confronts Draco about the mead and a cursed necklace, and the two duel. Harry uses a curse from the Half-Blood Prince's potion book to severely injure Malfoy, who is rescued and healed by Snape. Fearing the book may be filled with more Dark Magic, Ginny and Harry hide it in the Room of Requirement and share their first kiss. Harry decides to use his Liquid Luck potion to convince Slughorn to give up the memory Dumbledore needs. Harry views the memory with Dumbledore and learns that Voldemort wanted information for creating Horcruxes, magical objects that could contain pieces of a wizard's soul and make them immortal. Dumbledore concludes that Voldemort successfully divided his soul into seven pieces by creating six Horcruxes, two of which have already been destroyed: Tom Riddle's diary by Harry and Marvolo Gaunt's ring by him. The two travel to a seaside cave where Harry aids Dumbledore in drinking a potion that hides another Horcrux, Slytherin's locket. A weakened Dumbledore defends them from Inferi and apparates back to Hogwarts. Bellatrix, Greyback, and other Death Eaters enter Hogwarts with Draco's help through the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement that Draco managed to connect to the one he had been working on in Knockturn Alley. Dumbledore instructs Harry to talk to Snape and no one else. Draco arrives in the Astronomy Tower and disarms Dumbledore revealing that he has been chosen by Voldemort to kill the headmaster. Harry is hiding below. Snape arrives, and casts the killing curse on Dumbledore when Draco is unable to bring himself to do it, killing the Headmaster. He later overpowers Harry and reveals himself as the Half-Blood Prince before escaping with the Death Eaters. Harry returns to Hogwarts, where the students and staff mourn Dumbledore's death. He later reveals to Ron and Hermione that the locket Horcrux was a fake. The locket contains a message from "R.A.B.", stating that he has stolen the real Horcrux with the intent of destroying it. As they decide to forgo their final year at Hogwarts Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to track down the remaining Horcruxes together. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, a 16-year-old British wizard, who now enters his sixth year at Hogwarts., Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, one of Harry's two best friends., Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, one of Harry's two best friends., Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort's principal Death Eaters and Draco Malfoy's aunt., Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn, the newly appointed Potions master who held the position before., Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts., Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick, the Charms master and head of Ravenclaw., Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival and recipient of Voldemort's secret mission., Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts., Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, the former Potions master, current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of Slytherin., Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, the Hogwarts Transfiguration teacher, deputy headmistress and head of Gryffindor., Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew, the Death Eater who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort. Pettigrew has no lines in this film, but appears as a servant at Snape's house., David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, a member of the Order of the Phoenix and Harry's ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher., Julie Walters as Molly Weasley, the Weasley matriarch and a mother figure to Harry. Before David Yates was officially chosen to direct the film, many directors had expressed an interest in taking the helm. Alfonso Cuarón, the director of the third film, stated he "would love to have the opportunity" to return. Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell declined a spot to direct the fifth film, and was not approached for this one. Guillermo del Toro turned down the chance to direct the film in order to direct . Terry Gilliam was Rowling's personal choice to direct Philosopher's Stone. When asked whether he would consider directing a later film, Gilliam said, "Warner Bros. had their chance the first time around, and they blew it." In an interview with Dark Horizons, Yates said that "I was still working on Order of the Phoenix when they asked me to do Half-Blood Prince. So they were really delighted with the material that they were seeing while we were in post-production, and the conversations happened before the movie was released, because I had to start pre-production on it while Order of the Phoenix was being promoted. It was just something they see in the work that they really liked, and responded to." Yates described Half- Blood Prince as being "a cross between the chills of Prisoner of Azkaban and the fantastical adventure of Goblet of Fire." Emma Watson considered not returning for the film, but eventually decided that, "the pluses outweighed the minuses," and could not bear to see anyone else play Hermione. Composer Nicholas Hooper returned from the last film; he included a reworking of John Williams's "Hedwig's Theme", which has recurred in all scores. Also maintained were costume designer Jany Temime, visual effects supervisor Tim Burke, creature and make-up effects designer Nick Dudman, and special effects supervisor John Richardson from the third film. Yates and Heyman have noted that some of the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows influenced the script of Half-Blood Prince. Christian Coulson, who played the young Tom Riddle in Chamber of Secrets, expressed an interest in returning in the role for flashback sequences; Yates responded that Coulson was too old, nearing 30, to be playing the role. Jamie Campbell Bower, who appeared in , previously noted that he had his "fingers crossed" he would be cast as a young Riddle. (Bower was, however, later cast as the teenage Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.) Thomas James Longley was the original choice to take on the role but Riddle was ultimately played by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as a child and Frank Dillane as a teenager. Helen McCrory appears as Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother and younger sister of Bellatrix. McCrory was originally cast as Bellatrix in Order of the Phoenix, but had to drop out due to pregnancy. Naomi Watts was previously reported as having accepted the role, only for it to be denied by her agency. Both Clémence Poésy, who had played Fleur Delacour, and Chris Rankin, who had played Percy Weasley, were interested in returning, but did not appear in the film. After Bill Nighy expressed an interest in appearing, Yates confirmed that Nighy would be his first choice for the role of Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour's character was ultimately cut from the film, but Nighy appeared in his role in Deathly Hallows. Stuart Craig, the production designer of the first five films, stayed on to design all the sets in Half-Blood Prince. Several new sets are introduced, including Tom Riddle's Orphanage, Astronomy Tower and the Cave. Craig noted that the film used several CGI sets, noticeably the interior of the Cave where Harry and Dumbledore both go to hunt Horcruxes. The exterior of the cave scene was filmed at the Cliffs of Moher in the west of Ireland, the only location to be filmed outside of the United Kingdom throughout the film series. The interior of the cave is made up of geometric crystal formations. Craig noted "Apart from the point at which Harry and Dumbledore first arrive and the island formation on which everything inside the cave happens, the set is entirely virtual, designed in the computer. We'd had our first totally virtual set on the last film, so we approached this one with a bit more confidence." Before filming began, there was belief that filming might move from the UK, where all previous films were shot. The crew also scouted around Cape Wrath in Scotland, for use in the cave scene. Filming returned to Glen Coe and Glenfinnan, both which have appeared in the previous films, to preserve the continuity of the landscape. Following a week of rehearsals, principal photography began on 24 September 2007 and ended on 17 May 2008. Though Radcliffe, Gambon and Broadbent started shooting in late September 2007, some other cast members started much later: Grint did not begin until November 2007, Watson did not begin until December 2007, Rickman until January 2008, and Bonham Carter until February 2008. On the weekend of 6 October 2007, the crew shot scenes involving the Hogwarts Express in the misty and dewy environment of Fort William, Scotland. A series of night scenes were filmed in the village of Lacock and the cloisters at Lacock Abbey for three nights starting 25 October 2007. Filming took place from 5 pm to 5 am daily, and residents of the street were asked to black out their windows with dark blinds. On set reports indicated that the main scene filmed was Harry and Dumbledore's visit to Slughorn's house. Further filming took place in Surbiton railway station in October 2007, Gloucester Cathedral, where the first and second films were shot, in February 2008, and at the Millennium Bridge in London in March 2008. Due to cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel's use of de-focussing and soft wipes in the digital grade, Warner Bros. asked director David Yates to add more colours to the film. Yates didn't want to lose the "very European look" of the film, but after retouching the picture, he said, "It's not what you wanted, but we're happy with it." After five minutes of watching the film, the studio were pleased with the changes. In an interview with Total Film, Yates said that "the choice of angles, the extreme close-ups, [and] the pacing of the scenes" made the film "incredibly rich". The palette and lighting was heavily inspired by the Dutch painter Rembrandt. Half-Blood Prince is the only film in the series to be nominated for the Best Cinematography accolade at the Academy Awards. One of the major challenges for Delbonnel was lighting the film. In an interview with the Academy, he said, "Some of the sets are there since the very first Potter. How could I light them in a different way? This question brought another one based on the series itself… I thought it would be interesting to have those very intimate stories amidst this very dark mood. As if the school was a dark character. That's when I suggested to go for this (again) dark moody variations of greys. Fortunately David Yates, and the producers liked the idea." In reference to the cave scene Delbonnel said, "I wanted to have some kind of 'dynamism' with the light. I thought it could be interesting and more dramatic if the light was floating, circling above the characters faces: sometimes lighting them, sometimes hiding them in a very random and unpredictable way." Tim Burke and Tim Alexander were the visual effects supervisors for the film. Tim Alexander said that completing the Inferi-attack scene took several months. He said, "It's certainly much bolder and scarier than we imagined that they'd ever go in a 'Potter' movie. Director David Yates was cautious of not making this into a zombie movie, so we were constantly trying to figure out how not to make these dead people coming up look like zombies. A lot of it came down to their movement – they don't move fast, but they don't move really slow or groan and moan. We ended up going with a very realistic style." He also noted that Inferi are skinnier than zombies, waterlogged and grey. About Dumbledore's ring of fire, he noted that the effect would look as if someone sprayed propane and then lit it. He added, "We did a lot of research on molten volcanoes, which have a lot of heat going on but no actual flames, and collected a bunch of other references, including flares that burn underwater, and showed them to the Potter folks." The visual effects team emulated these six fire parameters: heat ripples, smoke, buoyancy, viscosity, opacity, and brightness. Since the whole fire scene was very time consuming, computer graphics artist Chris Horvath spent eight months finding a faster way to conjure flames. The opening scenes of the Death Eaters' attack on Diagon Alley and London was created by Double Negative, led by VFX Supervisor Paul Franklin. Double Negative spent six months surveying and documenting the environment around the River Thames and Trafalgar Square to create the swooping views of the city. Double Negative also contributed the Pensieve sequences, developing complex directed fluid simulations to realise the swirling world of memory and the past. The film's score was composed by Nicholas Hooper, who also composed the music for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The soundtrack was released on an Audio CD format on 14 July 2009, a day before the film was released in cinemas. The album debuted at number twenty-nine on the Billboard 200 chart, thus making it the highest-charting soundtrack among all the six movie soundtracks released. It was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. While at the middle of the series in length, the film Half-Blood Prince did add or change events in the literary canon. The book begins with a scene involving the Muggle Prime Minister. Yates and his crew debated over this scene, as well as the character Rufus Scrimgeour, but gave up the beginning of the movie to events described but not seen in the book. Yates thought it would give the audience a feel for what the Death Eaters were doing if they showed the collapse of the Millennium Bridge rather than simply describe it (as was done with the Brockdale Bridge in the book). As with Goblet of Fire, the Dursleys were cut, which Steve Kloves did to "break the pattern". Further background of Tom Riddle was removed, such as the Gaunts because they felt it more important to concentrate on Riddle as a young boy, and an additional action scene at the Burrow was added to keep with the tone of the franchise. Yates felt that they needed "an injection of jeopardy and danger" and that without it there was too much comedy and lightness. A small battle scene at Hogwarts which happened during the end of the book was cut; Heyman commented that it was removed to "[avoid] repetition" with the forthcoming adaptation of the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore's funeral was removed as it was believed it did not fit with the rest of the film. Warner Bros. has spent an estimated $155 million to market and distribute the film. The special-edition two-disc DVD for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix contained two sneak peeks of the film, while the US edition included an additional clip. A 15-second teaser for the film was shown alongside the IMAX release of The Dark Knight. The first full-length US teaser trailer was released on 29 July on AOL's Moviefone website. An international teaser was released on 26 October and another teaser trailer was released. The US theatrical trailer was released on 14 November. Another trailer was screened on the Japanese TV station Fuji TV during a screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on 18 January 2009. Scenes from the film were aired during ABC Family's Harry Potter marathon which took place 5–7 December 2008. On 5 February 2009, the first three promotional teaser posters were released, featuring Dumbledore and Harry. On 5 March and 16 April 2009, new trailers were released by Warner Bros. Warner Bros and MSN ran an online Order of the Phoenix quiz, with the prize being a walk-on part in the Half-Blood Prince. As with the previous films, EA Games produced a video game based on the film. On 10 March 2009, it was announced that there would be a video game soundtrack, which was released on 17 March 2009. On 27 March six character posters were released: Harry, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Draco and Professor Snape. An English version of the international trailer and a Japanese version of the international trailer were released online 10 April. On 8 May, CW Channel aired a 30-second TV spot, which focused on the romantic side of the film. On 20 May, first clip from the film was released through The Ellen DeGeneres Shows official website, showing love-struck Ron. Another clip of the film, showing Dumbledore visiting Tom Riddle's Orphanage was released on 31 May 2009, at MTV Awards. The film was released in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand, India, Brazil, Spain and Mexico on 15 July 2009. It was originally set to be released on 21 November 2008, but was pushed back by eight months to 17 July, despite being completed. Warner Bros. executive Alan F. Horn noted that the move was meant "to guarantee the studio a major summer blockbuster in 2009," with other films being delayed due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. The box-office success of summer WB films Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Dark Knight also motivated the decision. An unnamed rival studio executive told Entertainment Weekly that the move was to "stop next year's profits from looking seriously underwhelming after the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight," as "they don't need the money this year anymore." Dan Fellman, WB head of distribution, said that the studio had considered the date change for three to four weeks prior to the announcement, but gave it serious consideration a week before they came to their final decision. Three months before its release in July, the date was again changed by 2 days from 17 to 15 July, so it could open on a Wednesday like most tentpole summer movies. The date change was met with a heavily negative reaction by Harry Potter fans, as the Los Angeles Times noted: "Petitions were circulating, rumors were flying and angry screeds were being posted on Internet sites within minutes of the Thursday announcement." The move was mocked by Entertainment Weekly which had Half-Blood Prince on the cover on its "Fall Preview Issue". Despite each being owned by Time Warner Inc., EW was unaware of the change until it was publicly announced by WB and noted that readers would now be in possession of a "Dewey Defeats Truman collectible". Several days after the announcement, Horn released a statement in response to the "large amount of disappointment" expressed by fans of the series. Following the date change, Half-Blood Princes release slot was taken by Summit Entertainment's Twilight and Walt Disney Pictures' Bolt. The sixth film was simultaneously released in regular cinemas and IMAX 3D everywhere but the United States, due to a conflicting agreement in which was given a four-week window by itself in IMAX in that country. Therefore, the IMAX 3D version of the film was released on 29 July 2009 there. The film's opening sequence featuring the destruction of the Millennium Bridge was in 3D. The film had been chosen to be screened at the 2008 Royal Film Performance on 17 November, but was not shown. Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund chief executive Peter Hore noted he was "very disappointed" with Warner Bros' decision. Advance ticket sales on Fandango.com for Half-Blood Prince surpassed advance ticket sales for Transformers 2 at the same point in sale cycles. It is also in MovieTickets.com's top 25 advance sellers of all time. Running 153 minutes (2 hours 33 minutes and 19 seconds) long, Half-Blood Prince is the third-longest film in the series, behind Chamber of Secrets (161 minutes) and Goblet of Fire (157 minutes). Like the previous films, a 1-disc and 2-disc special edition for the film was released on Blu-ray with a Digital Copy and DVD on 7 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, and 8 December 2009 in the United States. The Blu-ray and DVD includes an 11-minute, 38-second feature on the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter mini theme park which opened on 18 June 2010 at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. Also included are deleted scenes comprising 8 scenes with a running length of 6 minutes and 31 seconds, and a sneak peek of the next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010). The Blu- ray and DVD released in India, the Philippines, South Africa, Czech Republic and Israel on 16 November 2009, making them the first countries to get the Half Blood Prince DVD release before the UK and the US. The release date for Australia and New Zealand was 18 November and for Brazil and Chile, 19 November. The Blu-ray and two-disc DVD editions in North America includes a digital copy of the film. In the United Kingdom, the DVD release became the fastest-selling DVD of the year with an estimated 840,000 copies of the film sold in a few hours. In the US, the DVD made a strong debut at number one in both the DVD and Blu-ray markets widely beating out any competition with sales of 4,199,622 copies. Worldwide DVD and Blu-ray sales of the film show that it is the fastest-selling film of 2009. On 14 June 2011, an Ultimate Edition was released simultaneously with the Ultimate Edition of the Order of the Phoenix film on both Blu-ray and DVD, containing new bonus features, documentaries and collectables. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince broke the then-record for biggest midnight showings, making $22.8 million in 3,000 cinemas; bested this with $26.3 million. Half-Blood Prince opened in the same Wednesday slot that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did in 2007, which grossed $12 million in midnight runs, on its way to $139.7 million in its five-day debut in the US. The film's box office run was over on 17 December 2009. The film opened in 4,325 cinemas (rising to 4,455 three weeks later, becoming the largest number of cinemas until surpassed it with the 4,468 cinemas) and grossed $58.2 million on its opening day at the top of the United States and Canadian box office, the third-highest Wednesday opening of all time behind and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It is also the nineteenth-highest single-day gross of all time and the third-highest for a film in the Harry Potter franchise behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2s $91.1 million and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, which made $61.1 million. It earned an additional $46 million overseas for a worldwide total of $104 million, breaking the record for highest single-day worldwide gross, previously held by The Dark Knight. By 20 July, the film had taken in $158.7 million in the US and $236 million from 85 other markets, for a worldwide tally of $394.7 million. This broke the record for biggest-ever worldwide five-day opening, surpassing Spider-Man 3s $381 million; this makes the film the fastest to reach the $350 million mark in worldwide box office of all time. In the US, it surpassed all of its predecessors by a wide margin, achieving the sixth- largest-ever five-day opening in that country. The film held this record for two years until it was topped by Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($483.2 million). In the UK, the film grossed £19.75 million (equivalent to about $38.13 million), the highest opening for both the series and releases of 2009. At the end of the film's US and Canadian box office run the total ticket sales of the film were $302 million, making it the third most successful film in the franchise, after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as well as the third-highest-grossing film of 2009 in these regions behind Avatar and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. As with all of the previous films in the franchise, Half-Blood Prince proved to be extremely successful globally with an estimated non-US total gross of $632.5 million, totalling approximately $934.4 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2009, behind Avatar. It is the fifth-highest- grossing film in the franchise, behind Philosopher's Stone, both parts of Deathly Hallows, and Order of the Phoenix. In South Africa the film opened with the number one position grossing $789,176, it maintained a number one position during the second week, too, with a total of $242,336. In Australia, as in most of the world, the film broke records with a debut of $11,492,142 and opening at number one, maintaining a second week at number one with a total of $5,278,096 (down 54%), and grossed a total of $24,208,243. In France the film debuted at $20,541,239 from 949 cinemas. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 276 reviews, with an average rating of 7.12/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dark, thrilling, and occasionally quite funny, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is also visually stunning and emotionally satisfying." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". The film scored an 87 from professional critics at the Broadcast Film Critics Association; it is the first Harry Potter film to receive a Critic's Choice certificate. On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale. The first review of the film came three weeks before the official release. Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com ranked the film with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and called the film a "possible Oscar contender". He highly praised the performance of Sir Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman and Daniel Radcliffe. He commented, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a tour-de-force that combines style and substance, special effects and heart and most importantly great performances from all of the actors young and not-so-young". Another early review came from the UK tabloid The Sun, whose anonymous reviewer called the film "masterful" and "very emotional". The reviewer praised David Yates's directing and called Jim Broadbent's portrayal of Horace Slughorn "perfect". Devin Faraci of Chud.com called the film not only the best Harry Potter film yet, but also one of the best films of the year. Andrew Pulver of The Guardian wrote a positive review, and gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars rating. Todd McCarthy of the trade magazine Variety said that the film is "dazzlingly well made" and "less fanciful than the previous entries". He praised Alan Rickman's performance and he described Helena Bonham Carter as "mesmerising" and Jim Broadbent as a "grand eccentric old professor". BBC News's Tim Masters praised the film's cinematography, visual effects, production design, improved acting and darker plotline. The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt noted that the film's first half is "jerky and explosive", but in the second half, the film finds better footing. He adds, "Composer Nicholas Hooper, cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and designer Stuart Craig deliver a singularly muscular and vigorous chapter". Screen Daily called the film "[s]tunningly shot by Bruno Delbonnel in metallic hues leavened by buttery tones and the thumping beats of Nicholas Hooper's score bear little resemblance to the original and the overall effect is much less tween, much more grown-up". Chris Tilly of IGN UK commented on the length of the film, saying "while on occasion it drags, the 153-minute run-time never feels too long, thanks in no small part to the astonishing visuals and (largely) marvellous performances," and goes on to say, "This is by far the best-looking of the Potter films thus far," commending the "beautiful" Quidditch match and the "stunning" finale. However, Dave Golder of SFX magazine found some aspects of the film to be a disappointment, largely due to the large number of opportunities the director and screenwriter had sacrificed to devote "huge swathes of the film to subplots of Harry and his chums' teenage romances," but nevertheless found the film to be a large enjoyment, praising the performances of Jim Broadbent and Alan Rickman. David Stratton, of Margaret and David at the Movies, gave the film a 2.5 out of a possible 5 stars, remarking, "For non-readers [of the Harry Potter series] the films are now borderline incomprehensible", and that the film was "a little tedious" and "generally less interesting visually than its predecessors." He praised the cast, describing them as "consummate", adding Sir Michael Gambon "really makes Dumbledore an imposing character" and Jim Broadbent was "wonderful". Margaret Pomeranz, the co-host of the television show, gave the film 3 out of 5 stars. At the time of its release, Rowling stated that Half-Blood Prince was her "favourite one" of the six film adaptations. Radcliffe, however, was critical of his own performance in the film, stating in an interview in 2014 that he was "just not very good in it", and calling it "hard to watch". The film was nominated for BAFTA Awards in Production Design and Visual Effects, and was in the longlists for five other categories, including Best Supporting Actor for Alan Rickman. Bruno Delbonnel was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the 82nd Academy Awards. The film was also one of the final seven contenders for Best Visual Effects. for the film, for the film series The Ministry of Magic is the government of the Magical community of Britain in J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World, headed by an official entitled the Minister for Magic. The magical government in Britain is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; the Ministry makes its first proper appearance in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Throughout the books, it is regularly depicted as corrupt, elitist and completely incompetent, with its high-ranking officials blind to ominous events and unwilling to take action against threats to wizard society. Dolores Umbridge was placed at Hogwarts to see what was going on at the school and prevent the news that Voldemort was back from spreading. It reaches a zenith of corruption before being effectively taken over by Lord Voldemort. At the end of the final book, following Voldemort's death, Kingsley Shacklebolt takes over the ministry, changing it for the better. By the time of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hermione Granger is the Minister for Magic. Each new Muggle Prime Minister receives a visit from the Minister for Magic, who informs them of the existence of the wizarding world. The Minister explains that they will contact the Prime Minister only in circumstances in which the events of the wizarding world may affect Muggles. For example, the Minister has to inform the Prime Minister if dangerous magical artefacts or animals are to be brought into Britain. The Ministry keeps in touch with the British Prime Minister via a wizard's portrait in the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street. The portrait, which cannot be removed from the wall (because of a Permanent Sticking Charm in place), notifies the Prime Minister of the Minister for Magic's arrival and, after they have been notified, the Minister for Magic appears in their office via the fireplace which has specifically been hooked up to the floo network. The Ministers for Magic who appear in the Harry Potter series, such as Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour, tend to act in a somewhat patronising manner towards the Muggle Prime Minister. The Ministry government succeeded the earlier "Wizards' Council," the earliest-known form of government for the wizarding world of Harry Potter. According to Pottermore, it was formally established in 1707. In the Harry Potter books, the Ministry's employees appear to be a largely unelected body. The post of Minister itself, however, is stated to be an elected position. Who has the power to elect or dismiss ministers is never explained. Nevertheless, both the Minister and the Ministry as a whole are seen throughout the Harry Potter series to be highly sensitive to (and reliant on) wizard public opinion, which they attempt to influence via wizarding newspapers. In the books, employment with the Ministry can be obtained right after completion of a wizarding education, though different offices require different levels of education and sometimes specific exam results. Furthermore, the government gives the impression of (at various times) either incompetence or malice. It often appears woefully incompetent, to the point of being unable to detect or prevent an assault on the Department of Mysteries, apparently its most heavily guarded department. Due to lax security, a group of Hogwarts students, as well as Voldemort, a dozen Death Eaters, and the Order of the Phoenix, all of whom were wanted by the government, are able to enter the department on a whim and without provoking any response whatsoever, even signing in as a "rescue mission" without attracting attention. However, these events occur under Cornelius Fudge's reign, a Minister who is renowned in the books as incompetent. Fudge's resignation in the next book is a direct result of these events. In the books and films, the wizarding courts have displayed at times, a marked lack of interest in evidence for or against a suspect, even relying on personal prejudice to decide the outcome as quickly as possible. Not all of the accused are even given trials, as in the case of Sirius Black. In Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry is shown to be quite prepared to decree and enforce draconian laws without notice. At times, the Ministry can also seem uninterested in solving serious problems, choosing instead to ignore or cover up bad news. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Fudge takes a long time to respond to the attacks on Hogwarts. In the fourth and fifth instalments, Fudge refuses to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, despite mounting evidence. The Ministry even mounts a campaign to damage Harry Potter's credibility, an effort fuelled in part by Fudge's fear that Albus Dumbledore wants to forcibly remove him from his position. Eventually, the Ministry is forced to acknowledge the emergency and act on it. Fudge is subsequently removed from office for incompetence and replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour. When interviewed, Rowling stated that when Harry, Ron and Hermione work for the Ministry, they change it significantly, making it less corrupt. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is a combination of police and justice facilities. It is located on the second level of the Ministry of Magic. At the beginning of the series, it is headed by Amelia Bones, who is replaced by Pius Thicknesse after Voldemort murders her. Thicknesse is replaced by Yaxley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after Voldemort has Thicknesse appointed the puppet Minister for his regime. Bartemius Crouch Sr. once headed the department, prior to the first book. By the events of Cursed Child, Harry Potter has become its head. According to Rowling, this is the department that Hermione Granger joins, after the events of the seventh book, transferring from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where she began her post-Hogwarts career. The Ministry employs aurors to pursue and apprehend Dark wizards. According to Minerva McGonagall, the Auror Office takes in new recruits with a minimum of 5 N.E.W.T.s (with marks no lower than “Exceeds Expectations”). She suggests that Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology N.E.W.T.s are the most appropriate subjects for someone who aspires to gain admission to the training program. A potential recruit also has to pass "...a series of character and aptitude tests." Nymphadora Tonks mentions that the program's courses of study include "Concealment and Disguise" and "Stealth and Tracking", and that the training is hard to pass with high marks. Aurors in the Harry Potter series include Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, John Dawlish, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Rufus Scrimgeour, Gawain Robards, Hesphaestus Gore, Proudfoot, Savage, and Williamson. Harry himself later joins the department and according to a Rowling 2007 interview is eventually promoted to department head. During the First War against Voldemort aurors had authorisation to use the Unforgivable Curses on suspected Death Eaters: that is, they received licence to kill, coerce, and torture them. Many of the Dark criminals in the Harry Potter universe first duel with the aurors sent to arrest them, before finally giving up their freedom. Aurors also operate to protect high-profile targets such as Harry, Hogwarts, and the Muggle prime minister – in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix auror Kingsley Shacklebolt worked secretly in the Muggle Prime Minister's security detail. The Improper Use of Magic Office is responsible for investigating offences under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy. They regulate an under-age wizard's or witch's use of magic and prohibit wizards and witches from performing magic in the presence of Muggles or in a Muggle-inhabited area in the Harry Potter universe. An enchantment called "the Trace" is placed upon children and helps the department detect offences; it breaks when they reach the age of 17. However, Dumbledore explains to Harry that the Ministry cannot tell who exactly uses magic in a given area, only that it has been used. This can be seen as unfair to young witches and wizards who grew up in the muggle- world (such as muggle born wizards or those with one magical and one muggle- parent) as they are more likely to be caught using magic than those who grow up in the wizard world. Those living in the muggle-world generally have no contact with other witches or wizards away from school and the Ministry simply presumes that any magic performed where they are is an act of under-age wizardry, while at the same time presuming that any magic performed in a wizard home that has minors present was performed by those aged 17 and over. This means that minors living in the wizard world have a much greater chance of escaping punishment for the use of under-age magic. The Ministry has to rely on wizard and witch parents to enforce the ban on under-age magic within their homes. It is not known how or when the trace is placed upon a child, though it may be assumed that it begins either when the child begins to show magical talent or when they first go through the barrier to Platform 9¾. The Ministry seemingly ignores the trace during the school year as students at Hogwarts are expected to perform magic and are under the supervision of teachers. This 'blind eye' also seems to be extended to places such as Diagon Alley, Platform 9¾, the Hogwarts Express and the village of Hogsmeade (the only settlement in Britain inhabited solely by wizards and other magical beings) which is located close to Hogwarts and which 3rd year students and above can visit on weekends provided they have a signed permission slip from their parent or guardian. The Ministry also seems to turn a blind eye to the use of magic in the muggle-world when the child is under the age of 11 as their powers have generally not been developed enough to cause a problem, with a number of witches and wizards, including Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Lily Evans and Severus Snape all known to have performed some under-age magic while growing up in the muggle-world that went unpunished. After Harry's first minor violation—a Hover charm that was actually performed by Dobby the House- elf—he is merely warned. His second violation, blowing up Aunt Marge, is forgiven by Fudge because the Minister fears that Sirius Black is after Harry and feels that his safety after running away from the Dursleys takes precedence. After his third offence (creating a Patronus to protect himself and Dudley from two Dementors), the letter sent to him states that he is expelled from school, that representatives will arrive at his home to destroy his wand, and that he is required to appear at a disciplinary hearing, given that the offence occurred after he had already received one warning. Dumbledore reminds Fudge that the Ministry doesn't have the power to expel students from Hogwarts or confiscate wands without benefit of a hearing. At Harry's hearing, he is tried by the entire Wizengamot court and cleared of all charges upon Dumbledore's intervention. Such proceedings are highly unusual, however, for a simple case of underage magic; Harry was originally supposed to be interviewed solely by Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The only known worker at the office is Mafalda Hopkirk. The Wizengamot serves as the wizard high court of law. The word "Wizengamot" is a portmanteau created from the words "wizard", and "Witenagemot", which was a council of powerful people summoned to advise and appoint kings in Anglo- Saxon England. The word derives from the Old English for "meeting of wise men" (witan – wise man or counsellor / gemot – assembly) In Order of the Phoenix, about fifty people are present at Harry Potter's hearing, wearing plum- coloured robes embroidered with a silver "W" on the left-hand side of the chest. During the hearing, the Minister for Magic sits in the middle of the front row and conducts most of the interrogation, while Percy Weasley (the Junior Undersecretary), acts as stenographer. Other officials seen at the Wizengamot include the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Dumbledore has long – for about 50 years – held the position of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. He was removed at the beginning of the Order of the Phoenix novel and reinstated at the end. He remained in that post for one year, until his death at the end of Half- Blood Prince. Other offices include the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, which pursues day-to- day law offences; the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, headed by Perkins, and the job in which the reader first sees Arthur Weasley; and the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects Office, created by Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, into which Mr Weasley is promoted, to be its head. The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage in the world of Harry Potter. It is located on the third level of the Ministry of Magic and houses the following offices: The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad is a squad of wizards whose job it is to reverse "accidental magic." These accidents are normally caused by young witches and wizards who have not learned to control their magic. They may also be caused by older wizards out of control, or severe, unintentional effects of charms or spells, such as splinching (in Apparition when a wizard or witch is split with one part remaining at the point of origin, and the rest of the wizard at the destination). For instance, two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad were sent out in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book and movie when Harry Potter inflated Aunt Marge; they "deflated" her and erased her memory of the inflation (the memory modification done by Obliviators)., The Obliviator Headquarters. "Obliviator" is the designation for a Ministry of Magic employee who has the task of modifying the memory of a Muggle who witnesses incidents belonging to the Wizarding world. They are first called so in the sixth volume, although the practice is mentioned in the previous novels: any wizard can modify memories in the Harry Potter books by using the spell "Obliviate". In contrast to the incompetence displayed by the Ministry as a whole, the Obliviators appear to perform their task with a near-perfect success rate, keeping the Muggle world completely oblivious to the existence of the Wizarding World. They were sent out in the third book when after they deflated Aunt Marge, they erased her memory of the incident., The Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee explains any major magical accidents to the Muggles by creating a non-magical reason for the accident. For example, Peter Pettigrew killed twelve Muggle bystanders and tore apart the street (so as to reach the sewer pipe and escape) by means of an immense explosion curse during his altercation with Sirius Black. The massive and obvious damage and mortality was explained by the committee as due to a tragic accidental explosion of the gas main. As noted in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is divided into three divisions (the Beast Division, the Being Division, and the Spirit Division) and contains the Goblin Liaison Office and Centaur Liaison Office, though the centaurs, being isolationists, have never interacted with the office since its creation. Thus, "being sent to the Centaur Office" has become a euphemism at the Ministry for those about to be fired. For further detail on the distinctions between these divisions, see Regulation and classification of Magical creatures. It is also noted that Hermione began her post-Hogwarts career here before transferring to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in this office. It is located on the fourth level of the Ministry of Magic. The Department of International Magical Cooperation is an agency that attempts to get wizards from different countries to co-operate in wizarding actions both political and public. This department on the fifth level of the Ministry of Magic includes the headquarters of the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the British seats of the International Confederation of Wizards. The former head was Barty Crouch Sr., until his death. This is also where Percy Weasley began his Ministry career. This department is similar in function to the real-life Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, and various organs of the United Nations. Among the duties of the Department of International Magical Cooperation are: Work with magical governments of other countries, Set standards for trade, Create regulations for things like cauldron thickness, Work with Department of Magical Games and Sports on the Triwizard Tournament, International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats The Department of Magical Transportation is responsible for various aspects of magical transport. It is located on the sixth level of the Ministry of Magic and includes the following offices: the Floo Network Authority, responsible for setting up and maintaining the network, and distributing the greenish floo powder; the Broom Regulatory Control, that controls the traffic of broom travel; the Portkey Office, the regulation of Portkeys; and the Apparition Test Centre, that grants licences to witches and wizards so that they can apparate. The Department of Magical Games and Sports, seen as the most relaxed department (posters for favourite Quidditch teams are found tacked to the walls), deals with organising sports events like the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament. Ludo Bagman used to be the Head of Department here, but his gambling problem forced him to flee from Goblin creditors. The department is located on the seventh level of the Ministry of Magic, and includes the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office – other sports and games- related aspects of the Harry Potter world. The Department of Mysteries, located on Level Nine, is a department in the Ministry of Magic which studies particular enigmas (death, time, space, thought, and love) and stores copies of prophecies made in the Harry Potter universe. During Voldemort's discriminatory regime, he forces the department to lie and claim that Muggle-borns actually steal magic from Pure-bloods, making them "illegal magicals" and allowing their arrest. Because of the covert nature surrounding this particular branch of the Wizarding government, the Department of Mysteries can be likened to real-world intelligence agencies like the CIA or MI6 in that most of their operations are kept in total secrecy from the general wizard populace. However, the primary operations of the department seem to be more like those of scientists as they attempt to uncover the sources and rules that govern magic. The rooms at the Department each seem (although not spelled out directly) to refer to various mysteries of life. These rooms include: The Unspeakables are the group of wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries (their identities classified for security reasons). Known Unspeakables include Broderick Bode, Croaker, and Augustus Rookwood who is a Death Eater. The following characters are notable Ministry of Magic officials. Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks are listed under Order of the Phoenix. Yaxley is listed under Death Eaters. Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman is a retired professional Quidditch player, formerly a highly successful Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps and England's international team, whose good looks have gone a bit to seed; his nose is squashed in (apparently having been broken by a stray Bludger) and he is quite a bit thicker around the middle than he was in his Quidditch days. He was the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Rowling uses Dumbledore's Pensieve to reveal in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that Bagman was accused of being a Death Eater about thirteen years before the events of the fourth book because he had given information to recently discovered Death Eater Augustus Rookwood. It is stated that he had believed Rookwood, who was his father's friend, to be beyond suspicion, and that, consequently, he had thought that he was aiding the Ministry by passing the information on to him. Bagman loves gambling, which got him in financial trouble so severe that he pays some of his creditors (including Fred and George Weasley) with disappearing Leprechaun Gold, after they have gambled on the Quidditch World Cup. After the World Cup final, some goblins corner him in the woods outside the stadium and take all the gold he had on him, which is not enough to cover his debts. To clear his debts with the goblins, Bagman makes a bet on the Triwizard Tournament, of which he is one of the judges. He bets the goblins that Harry would win. He tries to help Harry over the course of the Tournament, giving him a perfect score in the First Task even though he is injured, and offering him advice. Harry and Cedric Diggory end up tying for first place in the tournament, and Bagman does not win the bet as the goblins argue that Bagman was betting Harry would win outright. Bagman runs away after the Third Task of the Tournament. Bagman's character was cut from the film adaptation of the fourth book. Some of Ludo's primary functions in the story were performed by Cornelius Fudge and Barty Crouch Sr., in the film adaptation. Bagman appears in the video game as a Quidditch announcer. Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Sr. was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement when Voldemort first came to power. Crouch was somewhat megalomaniacal and intensely preoccupied with presenting the appearance of respectability. Crouch was a narrow, inflexible man who stiffly followed the rules. Though he despised the Dark Arts, the lengths to which he was willing to go to disassociate with anything that might blemish his reputation led him to behave almost as cruelly as many on the Dark Side, and gave Aurors powers to kill rather than capture suspected Death Eaters who resisted arrest. He sent Sirius Black to the wizard prison Azkaban without a trial. Crouch appeared to be the favourite to become the next Minister for Magic until his son, Barty Crouch Jr., was caught with the Lestranges, Death Eaters who were assisting Voldemort's rise to power. Crouch gave his son a trial before sending him to Azkaban; however, according to Sirius, the trial was a sham, merely a public demonstration of how much he hated the boy. About a year after the trial, Crouch's terminally ill wife begged for her son's life to be saved, so Crouch abetted the two in trading appearances using Polyjuice Potion, and Mrs Crouch took her son's place in Azkaban. After the supposed death of his son in prison, public sympathy fell on Crouch Jr.; the wizarding world placed all the blame on Crouch Sr., accusing him of driving his son to join the Death Eaters because of his neglect of his family. After the scandal, Crouch lost much of his popularity and he was shunted sideways to a post as the head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation. Barty Crouch Sr. makes his first appearance in the series at the Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire. Crouch accuses Harry, Ron and Hermione of having conjured the Dark Mark, and when Winky is found to have Harry's wand, he angrily dismisses Winky, as the house-elf is supposed to look after his son, who is always under an Invisibility Cloak. Voldemort and his servant Peter Pettigrew show up at the Crouch family home and put Crouch Sr. under the Imperius Curse, freeing Crouch Jr from the Imperius Curse placed on him by his father and thus allowing him to rejoin Voldemort. Crouch continues to appear in public at first and is one of the five judges at the Triwizard Tournament. However, worried that Crouch will fight off the effects of The Imperius Curse, Voldemort later keeps him imprisoned within the house and has him communicate exclusively through supervised owl post. Later in the book, Crouch, who has escaped from his home, meets Harry and Viktor Krum in the Forbidden Forest and begs to see Dumbledore. However, Harry, while on his way to inform Dumbledore of the events, unwittingly alerts Crouch Jr., who is using the form of Mad-Eye Moody, to his father's presence. Crouch Jr. immediately goes to the forest, kills his own father, transfigures the body into a bone, and buries it on the Hogwarts grounds. Roger Lloyd-Pack appeared as Crouch in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. John Dawlish is an Auror. He is very capable and self-assured, and is described as a "tough-looking wizard" with "very short, wiry" grey hair. He leaves Hogwarts with Outstandings in all his N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test). However, it is a running joke of the books that in any appearance or mention of him, he is eventually hexed, usually due to a combination of far superior opponents and sheer bad luck. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dawlish accompanies Fudge to Hogwarts to confront Harry about the secret Dumbledore's Army meetings. Dawlish is knocked out along with Fudge, Umbridge, and Kingsley when Dumbledore, who takes all the blame for the Army on himself, escapes. A few weeks later, Dawlish is among the wizards who attempt to arrest Rubeus Hagrid when Umbridge sacks the gamekeeper. Still later, Dawlish arrives at the Ministry of Magic with Fudge after the battle at the Department of Mysteries is over. Fudge then sends him to attend to the captured Death Eaters. Dawlish appears again in Half-Blood Prince guarding Hogwarts after the commencement of the Second War. He is sent to follow Dumbledore when the Headmaster leaves school to search for Voldemort's Horcruxes, but is "regretfully" hexed by the Headmaster. He is Confunded by an Order member early on in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and gives Death Eater Corban Yaxley false information on Harry's removal from the Dursleys' home. Being Confunded, he is defeated by Dirk Cresswell, who escapes halfway on the way to Azkaban. Later, Dawlish is sent to arrest Augusta Longbottom. After a struggle, her defence places Dawlish in St Mungo's Hospital. Dawlish's first name is not revealed in the books or films. However, Rowling said in an interview with the podcast "PotterCast" that she named him John, owing to host John Noe's appreciation of the character. Dawlish was portrayed by Richard Leaf in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Cornelius Oswald Fudge is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom. He makes his first appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when he arrives at the school to take Hagrid to Azkaban, even though he does not firmly believe that Hagrid is guilty. He also removes Dumbledore as Headmaster when pressured by Lucius Malfoy who insisted that all the school governors had voted on it. However, it is not until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that Fudge meets Harry for the first time. Fudge does not press charges against Harry for accidentally inflating Aunt Marge, and advises him to be careful because an escaped convict is at large. When Fudge goes for a social drink at the Three Broomsticks pub, he inadvertently tells an unseen Harry that Sirius was James Potter's best friend and was believed to have betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. Fudge allowed the near-execution of Buckbeak to occur, once again intimidated by Lucius Malfoy. In this book, it is revealed that, before becoming Minister for Magic, he worked in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. His kindly relationship to Harry abruptly changes in Goblet of Fire. When Harry emerges from the Triwizard Tournament's third task after having seen the rebirth of Voldemort, Fudge refuses to believe it. He is worried about the fallout of announcing Voldemort's return, marking the end of the Wizarding world's years of peace, and the sudden outbreak of gloom and terror; hence he decides to merely ignore all of the evidence rather than accept the truth. J. K. Rowling has since stated that Fudge's behaviour mirrors that of Neville Chamberlain in the lead-up to World War II. In Order of the Phoenix, Fudge orchestrates a vicious smear campaign through the Daily Prophet to present Dumbledore as a senile old fool (even though he was constantly asking for Dumbledore's advice in his early days of being Minister for Magic) and Harry as an unstable, attention-seeking liar. He also passes a law allowing him to place Dolores Umbridge, his Senior Undersecretary, as a teacher at Hogwarts. He then appoints Umbridge as Hogwarts' "High Inquisitor", with the power to inspect and sack teachers, and ultimately Dumbledore's successor as Headmaster, which gives her (and by extension, Fudge himself) primary control of how Hogwarts is managed. Fudge is concerned that Dumbledore is a threat to his power and that he is planning to train the Hogwarts students to overthrow the Ministry. After Voldemort appears in the Ministry of Magic at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Fudge finally admits that Voldemort has returned, and is sacked in disgrace from his position of Minister for Magic after the wizarding community calls for his resignation and is replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour, though he stays on as an advisor in Half-Blood Prince. Before his resignation, he makes several attempts to have Dumbledore arrange a meeting between himself and Harry so that Harry can lie on Fudge's behalf and make it look as though the Ministry is winning the war, but Dumbledore refuses, knowing how ridiculous Harry would find the idea. Fudge is last mentioned in the series as one of the attendees at Dumbledore's funeral; his fate during Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry during the following year is unknown. Fudge was portrayed by Robert Hardy in the film series. Bertha Jorkins was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as James Potter and company. She was nosy with a good head for gossip, but also very absent- minded. She became a Ministry of Magic employee after leaving Hogwarts. In the summer before the events of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, she was killed by Voldemort. Rowling later revealed that her death was used to turn Nagini, Voldemort's snake, into a Horcrux. Some months before her murder, she accidentally discovered that Barty Crouch Jr., who supposedly died in Azkaban prison, was still alive and being hidden by his father. Barty Crouch Sr. silenced her with a powerful Memory Charm, which made her a little befuddled. Voldemort irreparably damaged her mentally and physically while breaking the Memory Charm, through which he gained information about the Triwizard Tournament and Crouch Jr.. During the duel between Harry and Voldemort in the graveyard at Little Hangleton, Bertha is one of the shadows that spills out from Voldemort's wand and helps Harry escape. She appears to be wiser after her death, and supports Harry during The Goblet of Fire so he can defeat Voldemort, her murderer. Rufus Scrimgeour serves as the Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until his death in the following book, succeeding Cornelius Fudge who was ousted by the wizarding community for his failure to announce the return of Voldemort, discrediting Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, and allowing Dolores Umbridge to become Headmistress of Hogwarts. He is described as looking like an old lion with tawny hair and bushy eyebrows, yellow eyes and wire-rimmed spectacles. Before being selected as minister, Scrimgeour headed the Auror Office of the Ministry and he is heavily battle-scarred from his years of service as an Auror, giving him an appearance of shrewd toughness. As minister, he visits the Muggle Prime Minister with Fudge, now an advisor, to inform him about recent wizarding events, crucial to internal security. Scrimgeour, however tough he looked, was no better than Fudge. He (and the rest of the Ministry) was more concerned about the Ministry's reputation than seeing the danger the Death Eaters and Voldemort posed to the wizarding world, so they tried to make it look like the Ministry was making progress by covering up breakouts from Azkaban and arresting random suspects like Stan Shunpike. He also sought to raise the wizarding population's morale by asking Harry, who has been labelled as the "Chosen One", to be seen visiting the Ministry, so that the public would believe that Harry supports the Ministry's actions against Voldemort. This becomes a source of contention between the Minister and Dumbledore, who does not support this idea. Harry also rejects the role, primarily because of his own antagonistic history with the Ministry, and because of the Ministry's treatment of Dumbledore and Stan Shunpike. Scrimgeour makes a short appearance, looking tired and grim due to the pressures of his position, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at The Burrow with Dumbledore's will; a final argument promptly breaks out between Harry and him. Scrimgeour is assassinated shortly after the visit when Death Eaters take over the Ministry. He is rumoured to have been tortured for Harry's whereabouts by Ministry officials, under the control of the Imperius Curse, before he is killed. Harry felt a "rush of gratitude" to hear that Scrimgeour, in his final act, attempted to protect Harry by refusing to disclose his location. With the Ministry in Death Eaters' hands, the official line for Scrimgeour's death is that he resigned. Bill Nighy played Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, in which he is portrayed as Welsh. Pius Thicknesse is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the start of the book, when he is placed under the Imperius Curse by Corban Yaxley, who uses his position to infiltrate the senior ranks of the Ministry. Thicknesse is described as a man with long hair and a beard, which are mostly black but tinged with some grey, along with a great overhanging forehead and glinting eyes. Harry's immediate impression is of "a crab looking out from beneath a rock." After the coup in which Scrimgeour is killed, the Ministry comes under the de facto control of Voldemort, who appoints Thicknesse as his puppet Minister. Thicknesse joins the ranks of the Death Eaters for the rest of the book and fights with them at the Battle of Hogwarts, where he duels against Percy Weasley (who Transfigures him into a sea urchin). Following the end of the battle, the Imperius Curse that was placed upon him is broken. Kingsley Shacklebolt replaces him as interim (later permanent) Minister for Magic. Not much is known about the "real" nature of Thicknesse, as he has been under the control of Yaxley for nearly the entire book. Guy Henry plays Thicknesse in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, in which he is depicted as a Death Eater even before Scrimgeour's death. In Part 2, Thicknesse is killed by Voldemort. Dolores Jane Umbridge was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher during Harry Potter's fifth year, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, and the main antagonist in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She is a short, squat woman described as resembling a large pale toad, with "short, curly, mouse-brown hair". She speaks with a quiet, childish, high-pitched voice, and loves kittens, chocolate cakes, biscuits, tea and other related paraphernalia, decorating her surroundings in the same manner. She has a tendency to speak to people she feels are her lessers in a very condescending tone, as if they are simpletons or very young children. Besides Voldemort, she is the only other character in the series to leave a lasting scar on Harry's body. Umbridge is first presented as an interrogator at Harry's trial for under-age use of magic in the opening chapters of Order of the Phoenix. It is later revealed that Umbridge had the Dementors attack Harry in an attempt to silence him from contradicting the Ministry's statement about Voldemort not returning from the dead. Umbridge is subsequently installed at Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor by order of the Ministry. Her teaching consists only of defensive magical theory, due to Fudge's paranoid fear that Dumbledore intends to use his students as an army to bring down the Ministry. She is soon appointed the first "High Inquisitor" of Hogwarts, in which she is given extraordinary powers over the students, teachers, and curriculum. She dismisses Sybill Trelawney as a teacher, though Dumbledore points out she cannot send her away from the school itself. Ultimately, she deposes Dumbledore after he 'confesses' to plotting against the Ministry to prevent Harry being expelled, and has herself installed as Headmistress by the Ministry. However the Headmaster's Office (the room itself) rejects her authority by sealing her out, meaning she has to continue to use her own office. She creates the "Inquisitorial Squad", which rewards its student members for reporting on others and sanctions them to act as enforcers of Umbridge's rules, including the ability to take points from the other students for the House Cup competition. All the members of the Inquisitorial Squad are Slytherins, with the exception of the squib Mr. Filch. Her authority is initially challenged by Fred and George, who leave Hogwarts after turning a corridor into a swamp and bombarding Umbridge with fireworks. She then faces trouble from the non-Slytherin student body and Peeves at every opportunity, with the teachers doing very little to stop them, even aiding Peeves and the students on occasion. Filch the Caretaker tries to help her, delighted at being given permission to whip students, but there is too much trouble for him to keep order. Towards the final chapters of Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge attacks Hagrid, but her attempt is thwarted partly due to Hagrid's half-giant heritage which grants relative immunity to spells. Hagrid escapes Hogwarts, and Minerva McGonagall is severely injured by Umbridge's followers and is sent to St. Mungo's hospital, clearing the way for Umbridge to assume complete control of the school. Umbridge's tenure at Hogwarts is characterized by cruelty and abusive punishments against students; she forces Harry Potter, Lee Jordan and other students to whom she gave detention to write lines using a blood quill, which cuts the same words written into its victims as they write. Umbridge even attempts to use Veritaserum and the Cruciatus Curse to extract information from students. By speaking derisively to a herd of centaurs, she provokes them and they abduct her. Umbridge is later rescued by Dumbledore, not visibly harmed but traumatized, and is eventually removed from Hogwarts due to the wizarding community pressuring Fudge for his resignation. She later makes a short appearance in Half-Blood Prince when she attends Dumbledore's funeral with an unconvincing expression of grief and Harry is disgusted to hear that Rufus Scrimgeour has continued to employ her at the Ministry of Magic. Umbridge plays a smaller role in Deathly Hallows as the head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission, and appears to have written a leaflet called "Mudbloods and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society", indicating her full support of Voldemort's regime, whether or not she knew the truth about who was running it. She somehow obtained Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye after his death, and uses it to spy on the other Ministry workers from her office. She has also taken Slytherin's locket as a bribe from Mundungus Fletcher after he stole it from 12 Grimmauld Place but was selling without a licence. She uses the trinket to solidify her pure-blood credentials, claiming the "S" on the locket stands for "Selwyn", rather than "Slytherin". Harry and his friends manage to penetrate the Ministry and steal the Horcrux back from Umbridge after stunning her during the trial of a muggle-born. Despite Harry being unable to conjure a Patronus while wearing the locket due to the malign presence of a piece of Voldemort's soul, Umbridge managed to do so. Rowling explains this is due to Dolores being a "very nasty piece of work", so that the evil object aids her instead of hindering her. Following Voldemort's demise, according to Rowling, Umbridge is arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned in Azkaban for her crimes against Muggle-borns. Novelist Stephen King, writing as a book reviewer for 11 July 2003 Entertainment Weekly, noted the success of any novel is due to a great villain, with Umbridge being the "greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter". IGN named Umbridge their sixteenth-best Harry Potter character in 2009. Imelda Staunton played Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Percy Ignatius Weasley is the third son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. In direct contrast to his younger (and older) brothers, he is a stickler for rules and often pompous due to his love of authority, though he does have good intentions at heart. When readers first meet Percy in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he is a Gryffindor prefect, and in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he becomes Head Boy, much to his mother's delight. In both these circumstances, he becomes physically attached to his badge, wanting to polish it and wear it even when out of school. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Percy secretly has a girlfriend – Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater. Academically a high-performing student, Percy received twelve OWLs and twelve NEWTs. When he finished school, this academic distinction plus his having served as Head Boy secured him a job in the Ministry in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His immediate supervisor is Barty Crouch Sr.; Percy somewhat idolises Mr Crouch, but Crouch never seems to remember Percy's name, calling him "Weatherby." When Crouch is ill, Percy replaces him as a judge in the second Triwizard Tournament task. He gave up his family time for a better position as an assistant to the Minister of Magic. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Percy is promoted to Junior Assistant to Minister Fudge. Since this is an unusually high-ranking position for someone of Percy's age to hold, Arthur suspects that Percy's promotion was not earned but instead given to him to allow the Ministry to better manipulate the Weasleys. Outraged and hurt by the suggestion, Percy violently argues with Arthur, resulting in Percy's subsequent alienation from his family. Although Harry notes he has always liked Percy "the least of Ron's brothers", he is still shocked to hear of this. When Percy learns Ron is made a prefect, he sends him a letter congratulating him for following in his footsteps, and unsuccessfully urges Ron to sever ties with Harry (claiming Harry is an extreme danger to Ron's prefect status), and to pay loyalty to Umbridge and the Ministry – going so far to refer to her as a "delightful woman," much to Harry's and Ron's disgust. Percy later makes an appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where he has apparently seen the error of his ways and pays an awkward visit to his family with new Minister Rufus Scrimgeour during the Christmas Holidays, although it is later revealed that this was engineered by Scrimgeour to speak to Harry alone. He later attends Dumbledore's funeral with Ministry officials, including Dolores Umbridge. In the climax of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Percy returns to his family and manages to make up with all of them, and eventually duels new Minister for Magic and Voldemort puppet Pius Thicknesse in the Battle of Hogwarts. While dueling Thicknesse, Percy announces that he is resigning, the first joke he has made in many years, much to Fred's delight. While dueling alongside Percy, his brother Fred Weasley is killed in an explosion, and Percy clings to the corpse and shields it from further damage. In the last part of the battle, he and his father work together to defeat Thicknesse. His final appearance is in the book's epilogue, at King's Cross Station, talking loudly about broom regulations. Percy is portrayed by Chris Rankin in the film series. In connection with her portrayal of the bureaucratised Ministry of Magic and the oppressive measures taken by the Ministry in the later books (like making attendance to Hogwarts compulsory and the "registration of Muggle-borns" with the Ministry), Rowling has been asked whether there is a parallel with Nazism. She replied that "It wasn't really exclusively that. I think you can see in the Ministry even before it's taken over, there are parallels to regimes we all know and love." Jennifer Barnett of People's Weekly World stated that the reader is drawn "into the politics of the wizarding world—the 'Educational Decrees' from the toad-like Ministry of Magic representative, the high-level connections of 'war criminals' from the last rise of Voldemort, the prejudice against 'mudbloods' and 'half-breeds,'" and suggested connections "to the world we live in, to the similarities and differences between the Fudge administration and the Bush administration." Julia Turner of Slate Magazine also interpreted Rowling's depiction of the ministration as criticism of the Bush and Blair administrations, suggesting the Ministry's security pamphlet recalls the Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System). University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton notes what he considers to be libertarian aspects of Harry Potter in his paper "Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy", published in the Michigan Law Review, stating that "Rowling's scathing portrait of government is surprisingly strident and effective. This is partly because her critique works on so many levels: the functions of government, the structure of government, and the bureaucrats who run the show. All three elements work together to depict a Ministry of Magic run by self-interested bureaucrats bent on increasing and protecting their power, often to the detriment of the public at large. In other words, Rowling creates a public-interest scholar's dream—or nightmare—government." One of the most influential Wizard rock bands is named Ministry of Magic after the government structure in the series. Ministry of Magic has made numerous performances, amongst the most notable of them taking place in Wrockstock. The HP-Lexicon talks about the various departments in The Ministry of Magic, Mugglenet page on The Ministry of Magic

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Let's Make a Deal (also known as LMAD) a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, the latter serving as its host for nearly 30 years. The format of Let's Make a Deal involves selected members of the studio audience, referred to as "traders," making deals with the host. In most cases, a trader will be offered something of value and given a choice of whether to keep it or exchange it for a different item. The program's defining game mechanism is that the other item is hidden from the trader until that choice is made. The trader thus does not know if he or she is getting something of greater value or a prize that is referred to as a "zonk," an item purposely chosen to be of little or no value to the trader. Let's Make a Deal is also known for audience members who dress up in outrageous or crazy costumes in order to increase their chances of being selected as a trader. The most recent edition of Let's Make a Deal has been airing on CBS since October 5, 2009, when it took over the spot on the network's daytime schedule vacated by the long running soap opera Guiding Light. Wayne Brady is the host of the current series, with Jonathan Mangum as his announcer/assistant. Tiffany Coyne is the current model, joining in 2010, with musician Cat Gray in 2011. Let's Make a Deal first aired on NBC in 1963 as part of its daytime schedule. The show moved to ABC in 1968, where it remained until 1976; and on two separate occasions the show was given a weekly nighttime spot on those networks. The first syndicated edition of Let's Make a Deal premiered in 1971. Distributed by ABC Films, and then by its successor Worldvision Enterprises once the fin-syn rules were enacted, the series ran until 1977 and aired weekly. A revival of the series based in Hall's native Canada was launched in 1980 and aired in syndication on American and Canadian stations for one season. This series was produced by Catalena Productions and distributed in America by Rhodes Productions, Catalena's partner company. In the fall of 1984, the series returned for a third run in syndication as The All-New Let's Make a Deal. Running for two seasons until 1986, this series was distributed by Telepictures. NBC revived Let's Make a Deal twice in a thirteen-year span. The first was a daytime series in 1990 that was the first to not be produced or hosted by Monty Hall. Instead, the show was a production of Ron Greenberg and Dick Clark, and featured Bob Hilton (best known for announcing other game shows) as host (although Hall would eventually return as host for special episodes). A primetime edition was launched in 2003 but drew poor ratings and was cancelled after three of its intended five episodes had aired. This version had reporter Billy Bush as host, and had a significantly larger budget. A partial remake called Big Deal, hosted by Mark DeCarlo, was broadcast on Fox in 1996. In 1998 and 1999, Buena Vista Television (now Disney–ABC Domestic Television) was in talks with Stone-Stanley (the producers of Big Deal) to create a revival hosted by Gordon Elliott, but it was never picked up. The show was one of several used as part of the summer series Gameshow Marathon on CBS in 2006, hosted by Ricki Lake. As noted above, CBS revived Let's Make a Deal in 2009. The revival premiered on October 5, 2009, and CBS airs the show daily at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in other time zones). Like the program that it replaced, the long-running soap opera Guiding Light, affiliates can choose to air it in either time slot; most affiliates, however, prefer the early slot in order to pair the two CBS daytime game shows together. From September 27, 2010 to October 1, 2010, Let's Make a Deal and The Price Is Right aired two episodes a day on an alternating week. CBS did this to fill a gap between the final episode of As the World Turns, which ended a fifty-four-year run on September 17, 2010, and the debut of The Talk. The double-run games aired at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Although the current version of the show debuted in September 2009, long after The Price Is Right (which made the switch in 2008, first with primetime episodes in February, then daytime in September) and the two Sony Pictures Television daytime dramas had made the switch to high definition, Let's Make a Deal was, along with Big Brother, one of only two programs across the five major networks that was still being actively produced in standard definition. For the start of production for its 2014–15 season in June 2014, Let's Make a Deal began being produced in high definition, with Big Brother 16 making the switch later in June. Let's Make a Deal was the last remaining CBS program to make the switch by air date, with the first HD episode airing on September 22, 2014. Monty Hall hosted the original daytime network series for its entire run (with the exception of a short time in early 1972 when Hall fell ill and early television pioneer Dennis James substituted in his stead); Hall also hosted its accompanying primetime and syndicated series as well as the two 1980s syndicated efforts, and he served as consultant for the current version until his death in 2017. Game show announcer Bob Hilton became the new host for the NBC 1990 series; however, due to low ratings, Hilton was fired from the show and in October 1990, Hall returned to the show (but was announced as "guest host") and remained as host until the series was canceled in January 1991. Access Hollywood host Billy Bush emceed the 2003 series, with Hall making a cameo appearance in one episode. Each Let's Make a Deal announcer also served as a de facto assistant host, as many times the announcer would be called upon to carry props across the trading floor. The original announcer for the series was Wendell Niles, who was replaced by Jay Stewart in 1964. Stewart remained with Let's Make a Deal until the end of the syndicated series in 1977. The 1980 Canadian-produced syndicated series was announced by Chuck Chandler. The 1984 syndicated series employed voice actor Brian Cummings in the announcer/assistant role for its first season, with disc jockey Dean Goss taking the position for the following season. The 1990 NBC revival series was announced by Dean Miuccio, with the 2003 edition featuring Vance DeGeneres in that role. The longest tenured prize model on Let's Make a Deal was Carol Merrill, who stayed with the series from its debut until 1977. The models on the 1980s series were Maggie Brown, Julie Hall (1980), Karen LaPierre, and Melanie Vincz (1984). For the 1990 series, the show featured Georgia Satelle and identical twins Elaine and Diane Klimaszewski, who later gained fame as the Coors Light Twins. Hall (2010 and 2013) and Merrill (2013) both appeared on the current Brady version, each making one-week appearances each. The 2013 celebration of the franchise's 50th anniversary was Hall's last official appearance on the show prior to his death, but Hall also appeared in 2017 CBS publicity shots with Brady as part of a CBS Daytime publicity photo celebrating the network's daytime ratings. When the current version debuted in 2009 at Las Vegas, Alison Fiori was the show's original model, lasting for much of the first season in Las Vegas before the show moved to Los Angeles. During the 2013-14 season, Danielle Demski was the show's model for most of the season while Tiffany Coyne was on maternity leave. The original daytime series was recorded at NBC Studios in Burbank, California and then at ABC Television Center in Los Angeles once the program switched networks in 1968. The weekly syndicated series also taped at ABC Television Center, doing so for its first five seasons. After ABC cancelled the daytime series in 1976, production of the syndicated series ceased there as well and the sixth and final season was recorded in the ballroom of the Las Vegas Hilton hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 1980 Canadian series taped at Panorama Studios in Vancouver, BC, which production company Catalena Productions used as its base of operations. The All-New Let's Make a Deal taped its first season of episodes in Burbank at NBC Studios, then moved to Hollywood Center Studios in Hollywood, California for the second and final season. The 1990 NBC daytime series was recorded at Disney-MGM Studios on the grounds of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The 2003 revival returned production to Burbank. The current edition of the series first originated from the Tropicana in Las Vegas. The show returned to Hollywood in 2010, first at Sunset Bronson Studios and later at Raleigh Studios. The show currently films at Saticoy Studios in Van Nuys, California. The theme music for the 1963-77 versions was composed by Sheldon Allman. The theme, along with all incidental music, was performed by an in-studio combo led by Ivan Ditmars, consisting of an electric organ, guitar, drums, and on the nighttime version, a harp. In some seasons of the nighttime show, the combo was further augmented by a horn section. The final season of the nighttime show taped in Las Vegas eliminated the in-studio band in favor of pre-recorded tracks, due to Ivan Ditmars' retirement. The 1984-86 version featured a brand new theme provided by Score Productions, although original composer Sheldon Allman returned as music director for the first season. Todd Thicke replaced Allman in that role for the second season. Both music directors utilized music from previous Hatos-Hall shows, such as Split Second, as incidental cues during the show. The 2009 revival features another new theme composed by Brian Teed. Since 2011, keyboardist Cat Grey has provided in-studio musical accompaniment. Each episode of Let's Make a Deal consists of several "deals" between the host and a member (or members, generally a married couple) of the audience, referred to as "traders." Audience members are picked at the host's whim as the show moves along, and couples are often selected to play together as traders. The deals are mini-games within the show that take several formats. In the simplest format, a trader is given a prize of medium value (such as a television set or a few hundred dollars in cash), and the host offers them the opportunity to trade for another prize. However, the offered prize is unknown. It might be concealed on the stage behind one of three curtains, or behind "boxes" onstage (large panels painted to look like boxes), within smaller boxes brought out to the audience, or occasionally in other formats. The initial prize given to the trader may also be concealed, such as in a box, wallet or purse, or the trader might be initially given a box, envelope or curtain. The format varies widely. Technically, traders are supposed to bring something to trade in, but this rule has seldom been enforced. On several occasions, a trader is actually asked to trade in an item such as their shoes or purse, only to receive the item back at the end of the deal as a "prize". On at least one occasion, the purse was taken backstage and a high-valued prize was placed inside of it. Prizes generally are either a legitimate prize, such as a trip, electronics, furniture, appliances, or a car. Certain contestants also win cash, or a junked booby prize called a "zonk" (e.g., live animals, large amounts of food, fake money, fake trips, junked cars, etc. or something outlandish such as a giant article of clothing, a room full of junked furniture, etc.). Sometimes zonks are legitimate prizes but of a low value (e.g., Matchbox cars, wheelbarrows, T-shirts, groceries, etc.). On rare occasions, a trader appears to get zonked, but the zonk is a cover-up for a legitimate prize. Also on rare occasions, a contestant who is zonked is given an opportunity to play for the Big Deal of the Day; usually, this happens only if there are very few or no big winners during the show. Though usually considered joke prizes, traders legally win the zonks. However, after the taping of the show, any trader who had been zonked is offered a consolation prize (currently $100) instead of having to take home the actual zonk. This is partly because some of the zonks are impractical or physically impossible to receive or deliver to the traders (such as live animals or the guy in an animal costume), or the props are owned by the studio. A disclaimer at the end of the credits of later 1970s episodes read "Some traders accept reasonable duplicates of zonk prizes." Starting in the 2012–13 season, CBS invited viewers to provide zonk ideas to producers. At the end of the season, the zonk declared the most creative was worth $2,500 to the winner, and other viewers' zonk ideas were also used. For every viewer-developed zonk, the host announced the viewer who provided the zonk. The contest has been continued throughout the past several seasons after its 2012 introduction. As the end credits of the show roll, it is typical for the host to ask random members of the studio audience to participate in fast deals. In the current Wayne Brady version, these are often referred to as "quickie deals", and are conducted by the host, announcer, and model each. CBS will post information on the show's Twitter address (@LetsMakeADeal) days before taping to encourage audience members to carry certain items in their pockets in order to win an additional $500 cash, when one of the hosts approaches them at the end of the show and asks to see such items. The deals are usually in the form of the following: Offering cash to a person for possessing a certain item., Paying a small cash amount for each instance of a certain item (coins, paperclips, etc.) that a person can produce., Offering cash for each instance of a particular digit in the serial number on a dollar bill, driver's license, etc., Offering to pay the last check in the person's checkbook, if they had one, up to a certain limit (usually $500 or $1,000)., Offering cash to one person if they can correctly guess how much the Big Deal of the Day was worth exactly, or the name of the contestant who played for it., Offering cash to one person if they can correctly choose which one of two photos appeared on the show's Instagram account., Offering cash to one person if they can correctly answer a question relating to their costume., Offering cash to one person if they can correctly guess how much money ($100, $200, or $300) was in the announcer's hand. Deals are often more complicated than the basic format described above. Additionally, some deals take the form of games of chance, and others in the form of pricing games. Choosing an envelope, purse, wallet, etc., which conceal dollar bills. One of them conceals a pre-announced value (usually $1 or $5), which awards a car or trip. The other envelopes contain a larger amount of money as a consolation prize. The trader must decide whether to keep their choice or trade. In some playings it is possible for more than one trader to win the grand prize., Making decisions for another person, such as a spouse or a series of unrelated traders. Sometimes after several offers, the teams are broken up to make an individual decision., Being presented with a large grocery item (e.g., a box of candy bars)—almost always containing a hidden cash amount—or a "claim check" at the start of the show. Throughout the show, the trader is given several chances to trade the item and/or give it to another trader in exchange for a different box or curtain. The final trader in possession of the item prior to the Big Deal is usually offered first choice of the three doors in exchange for giving up the item. The contents of the item are only revealed after the Big Deal is awarded (or prior to the Big Deal if the last trader with the item elected to choose one of the three doors). A variation included a cash box with at various points the host inserting packets of money inside, with the trader allowed to give it to another trader in exchange for a curtain or box. As with the above deal, the host revealed the contents only after the last trader with the box goes for the Big Deal (again, he/she is given first choice of the doors) or after the Big Deal segment and before the closing credits. A wide variety of chance-based games have been used on the show. Examples: Collecting a certain amount of money hidden inside wallets, envelopes, etc., or by pressing unlabeled buttons on a cash register, in order to reach a pre-stated "selling price" for a larger prize, such as a car, trip or larger amount of cash. Typically, there may also be one or more zonk items hidden which end the game immediately if found. In the cash register game, if the zonk button—the one that rings up "No Sale" – is found, the trader was offered a chance to find the second "No Sale" sign to win the grand prize, otherwise the trader won whatever amount was rang up, often double the amount. In the current CBS version, a board with thirteen cash amounts and two zonks is used., Choosing one from among several items (e.g., one of three keys that unlocks a safe, one of three diamond rings that is genuine, one of three eggs that is raw, etc.) in order to win money or a prize. Sometimes, two or perhaps all three of the items would pay off with the stated prize, especially if multiple traders played., Games involving a deck of cards in which a trader must find matching cards, draw cards that reach a cumulative total within a certain number of draws, draw a certain number of cards from a certain suit to win a designated prize (with one suit always designated as going toward a "zonk," which ends the game with nothing won), etc. to win a prize or additional money., Receiving clues about an unknown prize (such as a partial spelling of the prize or clues in the form or rap, rhyme, etc.) and deciding whether to take the unknown prize or a cash prize., Receiving money in the form of a long strip of bills dispensed one at a time from a machine. The trader can end the game at any time and keep the accumulated money, but he/she forfeits it if a blank sheet appears. Updated versions of the game involve an ATM. Depositing a card withdraws cash, but if the ATM displays "overdrawn" on the screen the trader loses everything., Being given a choice between a cash prize or one spin of a wheel that can award larger/smaller amounts, a zonk, or a car., Rolling dice to receive cash based upon the roll or achieving a cumulative score within a certain number of rolls to win a larger prize. Depending on the game, the trader is given the opportunity to stop the game at various points and take a "sure thing" deal or cash/prizes already accumulated or continue on and risk possibly losing. Other deals related to pricing merchandise are featured in order to win a larger prize or cash amounts. Sometimes traders are required to price individual items (either grocery products or smaller prizes generally valued less than $100) within a certain range to win successively larger prizes or a car. Other times traders must choose an item that a pre-announced price, order grocery items or small prizes from least to most expensive, or two items with prices that total a certain amount to win a larger prize. These games are not used on the CBS version because of their similarities to The Price is Right. On the CBS version, due to the similarities of the pricing game concept with The Price is Right, quiz games are used instead. These deals involve products in the form of when they were introduced to the market, general knowledge quizzes, currency exchange rates (at the time of taping), or knowledge of geography of trips to certain locales used as prizes. The Big Deal serves as the final segment of the show and offers a chance at a significantly larger prize for a lucky trader. Before the round, the value of the day's Big Deal is announced to the audience. The process for choosing traders was the same for every series through the 2003 NBC primetime series. Monty Hall (or his successors) would begin asking the day's traders, starting with the highest winner, if they wanted to give back what they had managed to win earlier in the show for a chance to choose one of three numbered doors on the stage. The process continued until two traders agreed to play, and the biggest winner of the two got first choice of Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3. The other trader then chose from the remaining two doors. Since the 2009 series, the Big Deal has been played with just one trader. Each of the doors conceals either a prize package of some sort, or a cash award hidden inside a prop such as "Monty's Piggy Bank" or the "Let's Make a Deal Vault." On occasion, a door containing an all-cash prize is opened before the traders make their choices, but the amount of the prize is not revealed. Most often, the value of the "Low" Door (the lowest-valued door) is less than the value of the player's original winnings, while the "Medium" Door's value is at least $1,000 more than the player's traded winnings. When the Big Deal is not behind the selected door, one of the non-Big Deal doors is opened first, then the chosen door, with the Big Deal revealed last. If the Big Deal door is selected, the other two doors are usually revealed first, although on rare occasions, the Big Deal door has been revealed second, after one of the other two doors (usually the "Medium" door) is revealed. The Big Deal prize is usually the most extravagant on each episode, and is often a car or a vacation with first-class accommodations. On occasion, the Big Deal consists of one of the all-cash prizes mentioned above; at other times, a cash bonus is added to the prizes in the Big Deal to bring the total up to the announced value. On other occasions, the Big Deal is revealed to include "Everything in the Big Deal", meaning the prizes behind all 3 doors are won if the player chose the Big Deal. The Big Deal is the one time in the show where a trader is guaranteed to not walk away with a Zonk. During the 1975–76 syndicated season, winners of the Big Deal were offered a chance to win the "Super Deal". At this point, Big Deals were limited to a range of $8,000 to $10,000. The trader could risk their Big Deal winnings on a shot at adding a $20,000 cash prize, which was hidden behind only one of three mini-doors onstage. The other two doors contained cash amounts of $1,000 or $2,000, however, the $1,000 value was later replaced with a "mystery" amount between $1,000 and $9,000. A trader who decided to play risked their Big Deal winnings and selected one of the mini-doors. If the $20,000 prize was behind the door, the trader kept the Big Deal and added the $20,000 prize, for a potential maximum total of $30,000. However, if a trader selected one of the other two doors, he or she forfeited the Big Deal prizes but kept the cash amount behind the door. The Super Deal was discontinued when the show permanently moved to Las Vegas for the final season (1976–77), and Big Deal values returned to the previous range of $10,000 to $15,000. From 2012 to 2016 of the Brady version, the Super Deal was offered as a limited event (usually for a week of shows promoted as "Super Deal Week") and was not played regularly. The show designated one or two weeks of episodes, typically airing during a special event (e.g., the 500th episode, 50th anniversary of franchise, etc.). In this version, the top cash prize was $50,000 while the other two cash prizes were $1,000 and $2,000. In addition, instead of using mini-doors, the cash amounts were hidden in three large colored envelopes of red, green, and purple, respectively referred by Brady as ruby, emerald, and sapphire. In the 2019 premiere week, a variant called “Trip-Tastic” was played. At three random points in the game, Tiffany will show the dealer a golden ticket. This ticket allows them to play Trip-Tastic. This round is played like this: the three envelopes, ruby, emerald, and sapphire, are now attached to a map of the Earth. The first ticket holder makes a choice. Then, the second chooses between the remaining 2, leaving one envelope for the last ticket holder. After that, Wayne will reveal the envelope holding $500. Then he opens another envelope. The one that has the ticket, wins not one, not two but three trips. The others leave with $500 and $1,000, respectively. For season premiere weeks in 2015 and 2016 of the Brady version, Big Deal of the Day winners had an opportunity to win every non-zonk, non-cash prize from that day's episode as a "Mega-Deal". Prior to the start of the Big Deal, the contestant picked both a Big Deal curtain and one of seven Mega Deal cards (reduced by one for each day that the Mega Deal was not won that week). Unlike the Super Deal, the contestant does not risk their winnings in the Mega Deal. Only if the contestant won the Big Deal would the contestant's card be revealed. If the card was the Mega Deal, they won every non-zonk, non-cash prize on the show that day. Regardless, at the end of the Big Deal, whichever door was chosen was the contestant's to keep. The week of May 9, 2016 was designated Mash-Up Week. During each of the five broadcast days, Deal and The Price Is Right each featured one game from the other's lineup. The games were slightly modified to reflect the nature of the shows on which they were played; those on TPIR required contestants to price items, while those on Deal used random draws and the offer of cash/prize deals to stop a game early. Upon the original Let's Make a Deals debut, journalist Charles Witbeck was skeptical of the show's chances of success, noting that the previous four NBC programs to compete with CBS's Password had failed. Some critics described the show as "mindless" and "demeaning to traders and audiences alike". By 1974, however, the show had spent more than a decade at or near the top of daytime ratings, and became the highest-rated syndicated primetime program. It was so popular that, when Hall moved the Let's Make a Deal to ABC because of a contract dispute, doing so greatly damaged NBC's daytime ratings and greatly improved ABC's. The show held the world's record for the longest waiting list for tickets in show-business history; there were 350 seats available for each show, and a wait time of two to three years after requesting a ticket. In 2001, Let's Make a Deal was ranked as #18 on TV Guides list of "The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time". In 2006, GSN aired a series of specials counting down its own list of the "50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time", on which Let's Make a Deal was #7. In 2014, the American series won a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for "30,000 Reasons to Love Me", composed by Cat Gray and sung by Wayne Brady. ABC Daytime: A clip from the ABC daytime premiere was used on Monty Hall's "Biography", which aired during Game Show Week on A&E.; Another episode from 1969 was found, which features a gaffe that Hall himself rated as his most embarrassing moment on Let's Make a Deal – at the end of the show, he attempted to make a deal with a woman carrying a baby's bottle. Noting that it had a removable rubber nipple, he offered the woman $100 if she could show him another nipple (she didn't). Episodes substitute-hosted by Dennis James exist in his personal library; a portion of one such episode is widely circulated as part of a pitch film for James's version of The Price Is Right., ABC Nighttime/1971–77 Syndicated: Episodes have been seen on GSN in the past. The CBN Cable Network reran the syndicated series in the 1980s and its successor, The Family Channel, from June 7, 1993 to March 29, 1996., The 1980-81 version continued to air in reruns on Canada's Global Television Network through the late 1980s., The 1984–86 syndicated version has been seen on GSN in the past. Reruns previously aired on the USA Network from December 29, 1986 to December 30, 1988 and The Family Channel from August 30, 1993 to March 29, 1996. Buzzr began airing episodes from 1985 on June 1, 2016; this version of LMAD was returned on September 30th, 2019. GameTV in Canada aired 40 episodes of this version starting in July 2018 as part of their Gameshow RETRO block until it was dropped in October 2018., The 1990s NBC version has not been seen since its cancellation., The 2003 NBC prime time version only aired three of the five episodes produced, with no rebroadcasts since. RTL Group holds international (and as of February 2009, American) rights to the show, and has licensed the show to 22 countries. * The 1980–81 version aired in both the U.S. and Canada. In 1964, Milton Bradley released a home version of Let's Make a Deal featuring gameplay somewhat different from the television show. In 1974, Ideal Toys released an updated version of the game featuring Hall on the box cover, which was also given to all traders on the syndicated version in the 1974–75 season. An electronic tabletop version by Tiger Electronics was released in 1998. In the late summer of 2006, an interactive DVD version of Let's Make a Deal was released by Imagination Games, which also features classic clips from the Monty Hall years of the show. In 2010, Pressman Toy Corporation released an updated version of the box game, with gameplay more similar to the 1974 version, featuring Brady on the box cover. Various U.S. lotteries have included instant lottery tickets based on Let's Make a Deal. In 1999, the website BuyBidWin.com licensed the rights to Let's Make a Deal as it launched a website featuring Monty Hall. In 1999, Shuffle Master teamed up with Bally's to do a video slot machine game based on the show with the voice and likeness of Monty Hall. In 2004, IGT (International Gaming Technology) did a new video slot game based on the show still featuring Monty Hall. In 2004, the now defunct website GameShow24.com was going to release a beta game based on Let's Make a Deal. In 2012, a Facebook game based on the Wayne Brady version was released by RealNetwork's GameHouse. In 2013, Aristocrat Technology did an all-new video slot machine game based on the Wayne Brady version. The Monty Hall Problem, also called the Monty Hall paradox, is a veridical paradox because the result appears impossible but is demonstrably true. The Monty Hall problem, in its usual interpretation, is mathematically equivalent to the earlier Three Prisoners problem, and both bear some similarity to the much older Bertrand's box paradox. The problem examines the counterintuitive effect of switching one's choice of doors, one of which hides a "prize". The problem has been analyzed many times, in books, articles and online. In an interview with The New York Times reporter John Tierney in 1991, Hall gave an explanation of the solution to that problem, stating that he played on the psychology of the trader, and why the solution did not apply to the case of the actual show. Official website, CBS's website for the show, CBC Television Archives profile of Monty Hall with behind-the-scenes footage of Let's Make a Deal (1970), "Geh Aufs Ganze!" the 1992–2003 (German version) of "Let's Make A Deal" courtesy of Grundy Light Entertainment, description of "Geh Aufs Ganze!" (Original website), Official site of Super Deal 2 Milyar (2010) via internet archive, Article about the 2004 Spain version, Monty Hall interview on TVParty.com Robert William Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a retired American television game show host. He is known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. He is also known for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1974. Born in Darrington, Washington, to modest circumstances, Barker enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. He worked part-time in radio while he attended college. In 1950, he moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. From there, he hosted various game shows, and the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants from 1967 to 1987, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving host of these pageants. He began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. When his wife Dorothy Jo died, he became an advocate for animal rights and of animal-rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, he retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. Barker was born on December 12, 1923, in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. The U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885–1940, list Barker as an official member of the Sioux tribe. His mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra ( Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a school teacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through the state of Washington. Barker is 1/8 Sioux. Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri, on a basketball scholarship. He was a member of the Epsilon Beta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity at Drury. On the outbreak of World War II, Barker served in the United States Navy as a fighter pilot. However, the war ended before he was assigned to a seagoing squadron. After the war, he returned to Drury to finish his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics. While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first "media job", at KTTS-FM Radio, in Springfield. He and his wife left Springfield and moved to Lake Worth, Florida, and he was news editor and announcer at nearby WWPG 1340 AM in Palm Beach (now WPBR in Lantana). In 1950, Barker moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years from Burbank. He was hosting an audience-participation radio show on KNX (AM) in Los Angeles when game show producer Ralph Edwards happened to be listening and liked Barker's voice and style. Barker started hosting Truth or Consequences on December 31, 1956, and continued with the program until 1974. In 1971, Barker was tapped to host a pilot for NBC entitled Simon Says, which required him to interact with a giant computer called "Simon" in Let's Make A Deal-style "trades". The pilot was produced by Wesley J. Cox of DUNDAS Productions, and its theme was "The Savers" (the theme used on The Joker's Wild, which has led some to believe that Cox or DUNDAS was an alias for Jack Barry or Dan Enright, since Joker used the theme in its original 1968 pilot). There is at least one (somewhat low-quality) clip of the pilot on the video sharing website YouTube. In early 1972, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman began shopping a modernized revival of The Price Is Right to stations, with Dennis James as host. CBS expressed interest in the series, on one condition: instead of James, Barker would be installed as host. After some initial resistance, Barker instead offered to host another upcoming CBS game show, Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild (which had difficulty finding a host and was scheduled to debut the same day as Price) to allow James to host Price, but CBS rejected this proposal. On September 4, 1972, Barker began hosting the CBS revival of The Price Is Right. On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did then: renounced hair dye and began wearing his hair gray, which was its natural color by that time. On October 31, 2006, Barker made his announcement that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. He taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15. After his retirement, Barker made three return appearances to The Price is Right. He first appeared on the episode that aired on April 16, 2009 to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. He appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show. Barker made another guest appearance on the show to celebrate his 90th birthday celebration, which aired on December 12, 2013. He announced a contestant for the first time ever on the show, along with one showcase. Barker also made a surprise appearance on April 1, 2015, for an April Fools' Day switch where he took Drew's place at the show's intro. He hosted the first one bid and pricing game of that day before handing the hosting duties back to Drew. On September 16, 1999, Barker was in Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress regarding HR 2929: the Captive Elephant Accident Prevention Act, the proposed legislation that would ban elephants from traveling shows (i.e., circuses). While preparing for the presentation, Barker experienced what he called "clumsiness" in his right hand. He was admitted to George Washington University Hospital and diagnosed with a partially blocked left carotid artery. Barker underwent carotid endarterectomy to remove the blockage. The procedure went well enough that he was able to return to work within the month. Three years later, Barker had two additional health crises after taping the 30th-season finale of The Price is Right. While lying in the sun on May 30, 2002, he experienced a stroke and was hospitalized; six weeks later, on July 11, Barker underwent prostate surgery. Both hospitalizations occurred at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Both surgeries were successful. Barker has had several mild bouts with skin cancer, a result of his frequent tanning. He consults a dermatologist regularly to make sure any cancers are caught and removed before they spread; they do not currently pose a threat to his life. During a televised interview, Barker told viewers, "I urge anyone who has spent some time in the sun, whether you're doing it now or not, go to a dermatologist once a year." On October 20, 2015, two police officers passing Barker's Los Angeles-area home saw him trip and fall on a sidewalk. They called an ambulance that brought him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he received stitches for an injured forehead and was released; he also hurt his left knee. Barker slipped and hit his head at home on June 19, 2017. His maid drove him to the emergency room, where he was checked and released. His representative said it was not as serious as his earlier fall. In October and November 2018, he was rushed to the hospital for severe back pain. In 1994, former model Dian Parkinson filed a lawsuit against Barker alleging sexual harassment following a three-year affair while working on The Price Is Right. Parkinson, who alleged that she was extorted by threats of firing, later dropped her lawsuit, claiming the stress from the ordeal was damaging her health. In 1995, model Holly Hallstrom left The Price Is Right and later filed suit against Barker for wrongful termination and malicious persecution claiming Barker had launched a media attack against her, allegedly stating that she was disruptive to the working atmosphere of the show. Barker dropped his case, but Hallstrom did not, finally ending in settlement in 2005. In October 2007, Deborah Curling, a CBS employee assigned to The Price Is Right, filed a lawsuit against CBS, Bob Barker and The Price Is Right producers, claiming that she was forced to quit her job after testifying against Barker in a wrongful-termination lawsuit brought by a previous show producer. Curling claimed that she was demoted to an "intolerable work environment" backstage which caused her to leave the job. Curling, who is black, also alleged that the show's producers, including Barker, created a hostile work environment in which black employees and contestants were discriminated against. A few months later, Barker was removed from the lawsuit, and in September 2009, the lawsuit was dismissed. Curling's attorney stated that he planned to appeal the dismissal of the lawsuit. In January 2012, the California Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. Barker began ending some episodes (later every episode) of The Price Is Right with the phrase: "This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered." After Barker retired, Drew Carey continued his signature sign-off advocating neutering. Fellow game-show hosts Jack Barry and Bert Convy eventually followed Barker's lead in promoting animal rights on the air. Barker hosted the Miss USA/Universe Pageants from 1967 to 1987. In 1987, he requested the removal of fur prizes and stepped down as host when those in charge of the pageant refused. Barker's DJ&T; Foundation, founded in 1994 and named after his late wife and mother, has contributed millions of dollars for animal neutering programs and to fund animal rescue and park facilities all over the United States. He worked closely with Betty White as an advocate for animal rights. However, in 2009, reports indicated that Barker threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because White would be attending. The reason for the conflict, according to the report, was over the proper treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about Mark Goodson. In 2004, Barker donated $1 million to Columbia University School of Law to support the study of animal rights. Barker also supported United Activists for Animal Rights, and together with the group, publicly accused several media projects and the American Humane Association of animal mistreatment or the condoning of animal mistreatment, a tactic which resulted in a major lawsuit against him and the group, accusing him of spurious allegations. In June 2009, Barker wrote Chief Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians asking that their reservation's bear exhibit be closed. On July 28, 2009, he visited the reservation and saw one of the three zoos, calling the bears' living situation "inhumane". PETA set up the visit after Barker heard from U.S. Representative Bill Young, (R) Florida, whose wife had been "appalled" by what she saw. Annette Tarnowski, the tribe's attorney general, said a federal inspector had found nothing wrong in May 2009 at two of the zoos, and that the tribe had dealt with the few violations at the third. Hicks made no promises and threatened to ban PETA if they made more trouble. In January 2010, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced that it had secretly purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean using $5,000,000 provided by Barker. The ship was then named the MY Bob Barker, and its existence was first revealed when it helped discover the location of the Japanese whaling fleet. In 2010, Barker began funding the cost of a helicopter, named the Nancy Burnet (after the president of United Activists for Animal Rights); the helicopter accompanies the society's fleet. In March 2010, PETA announced that it received a $2.5 million donation from Barker to help establish a new office called the Bob Barker Building in Los Angeles. PETA officially opened the Bob Barker Building on Sunset Boulevard in 2012. The Grand Opening was attended by Christian Serratos, Stephanie Pratt, Moby, Kate del Castillo, Sasha Grey, Renee Olstead, Fivel Stewart, Diane Warren, and Allisyn Ashley Arm. In 1996, Barker played himself in the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore. In one scene, Barker beats up Gilmore after an altercation arising from their teaming up in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament. In 2007, during a CBS prime-time special commemorating Barker's career, the fight scene from Happy Gilmore was shown, after which, Sandler made a surprise appearance on stage to read a poem paying tribute to Barker. In 2015, during Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show for autism, Barker and Sandler reunited for a video featuring the two of them in follow-up fight at the hospital, which ends with both of them dying and going to heaven., Barker was a semi-regular panelist on the game shows Tattletales (with wife Dorothy Jo) and Match Game. Barker sat in Richard Dawson's former place during the first week of Dawson's permanent absence from Match Game., Barker co-hosted CBS' coverage of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, California for several years during the 1970s and 1980s., In the 1970s, he was the host of the annual/biennial Pillsbury Bake-Off (the bake-off occurred every two years starting in 1976). In 1978, he was the first host to have a male category champ., He appeared on Bonanza, playing a character named Mort in the 1960 episode "Denver McKee"., He has appeared on various talk shows such as: Dinah!, Larry King Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, Crook & Chase, Donny & Marie, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Wayne Brady Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson., Barker also made cameo appearances on The Nanny and The Bold and the Beautiful in 2002 and 2014., About one year after retirement, Barker appeared in a public service announcement promoting the transition to digital television in the United States. The advertisement was produced under the first proposed date of February 16, 2009 for the transition., On September 7, 2009, Barker was a special guest host for WWE Raw (called "The Price is Raw") in Rosemont, Illinois., Barker agreed to be a rotating guest co-host on The Huckabee Show, a daily TV talk show hosted by Mike Huckabee. Barker first appeared on the show July 29, 2010., Barker appeared in a commercial for State Farm Insurance's "Magic Jingle" campaign, where he made "a new car!" appear for a woman whose previous car was totaled by a giant concrete cylinder., Barker filmed a TV advertisement endorsing David Jolly, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the special election in his Congressional district., Barker voiced the character Bob Barnacle, a snail business owner on the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. 19-time Emmy Award winner, five Outstanding Game Show awards as host/executive producer of The Price is Right, "Bob Barker Studio" at CBS Television City named in his honor., Television Hall of Fame (class of 2004)., Time Magazine's Greatest Game Show Host of All-Time, NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame (class of 2008)., GSN Lifetime Achievement Award Bob Barker has written his autobiography, assisted by former L.A. Times book review editor Digby Diehl, titled Priceless Memories. It was published on April 6, 2009, and features stories from his early life as well as stories and experiences in the 50 years of his television career. It was also then reported that Barker would appear on The Price Is Right to promote his book. His initial appearance was scheduled for the March 2, 2009, taping. However, the taping was postponed until March 25, due to host Drew Carey's bout with pneumonia. The episode aired on April 16, during which Barker appeared during the Showcases to promote the book. Bob Barker at Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht (Hunt for Millions) produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases (or, in some versions, boxes), each containing randomly assigned sums of money. The player claims (or is assigned) one case or a box at the start of the game, without its contents being revealed. The contestant then chooses the other cases or boxes, one at a time, to be immediately opened and removed from play. Throughout the game, the player is offered an amount of money or prizes to quit, being asked the titular question, "Deal or no deal?" If the contestant rejects every deal and eliminates all the other cases or boxes, the player keeps the money that was in the original case or box. Thus, the contestant "wins" depending on whether the player should have taken one of the deals or should have held onto the original case or box until the very end. The gameplay of the show differs from country to country. In some countries, there is a preliminary contest in which the studio audience is whittled down to one final contender by several trivia question rounds, this final contender then proceeds to the main game. There are also some versions with the number of players equal to the number of cases, each player receives one case. Via a short trivia round or a random selection, one player is selected to be the contestant for the main game with his case. In other countries, there is only one preselected contestant who will play the main game without any preliminary contest. The main game revolves around the opening of a set of numbered briefcases, each of which contains a different prize (cash or otherwise). The contents (i.e., the values) of all of the cases are known at the start of the game, but the specific location of any prize is unknown. The contestant claims (or is assigned) a case to begin the game. The case's value is not revealed until the conclusion of the game. The contestant then begins choosing cases that are to be removed from play. The amount inside each chosen case is immediately revealed; by process of elimination, the amount revealed cannot be inside the case the contestant initially claimed (or was assigned). Throughout the game, after a predecided number of cases have been opened, the "Banker" offers the contestant an amount of money and/or prizes to quit the game; the offer is based roughly on the amounts remaining in play and the contestant's demeanor, so the bank tries to 'buy' the contestant's case for a lower price than what's inside the case. The player then answers the titular question, choosing: "Deal", accepting the offer presented and ending the game, or, "No Deal", rejecting the offer and continuing the game. This process of removing cases and receiving offers continues, until either the player accepts an offer to 'deal', or all offers have been rejected and the values of all unchosen cases are revealed. Should a player end the game by taking a deal, a pseudo-game is continued from that point to see how much the player could have won by remaining in the game. Depending on subsequent choices and offers, it is determined whether or not the contestant made a "good deal", i.e. won more than if the game were allowed to continue. Since the range of possible values is known at the start of each game, how much the banker offers at any given point changes based on what values have been eliminated (i.e. the offer increases if lower values are eliminated and decreases if upper values are eliminated). To promote suspense and lengthen games, the banker's offer is usually less than the expected value dictated by probability theory, particularly early in the game. Generally, the offers early in the game are very low relative to the values still in play, but near the end of the game approach (or even exceed) the average of the remaining values. Only a few people have ever won the top prize on any version of the show (see table below). For a contestant to win the top prize the player would have to select the case containing the top prize and reject every offer the banker makes during the game. The chances of a player selecting the top prize are 4–5% depending on how many amounts are in the game. The first German version "Die Chance deines Lebens" hosted by Kai Pflaume did not have the case game as the final round (they played a trivia game instead), however this was the show the original "Deal or No Deal" version (the Dutch "Miljoenenjacht" hosted by Linda de Mol) was actually based on. Miljoenenjacht started in November 2000 and introduced the case game in December 2002 after a 15-month hiatus of the show. Véronique Landry is the only model to appear on more than one version of the show, on both the French and English Canadian versions. Howie Mandel, Héctor Sandarti, and Linda de Mol each have hosted multiple versions of the show: Mandel, with the American English and Canadian English versions, Sandarti with both the American Spanish and Mexican Spanish versions, and de Mol with both the Netherlands Dutch and German (in 2004) versions of the show. In the UK version Deal Or No Deal helped relaunch Noel Edmonds's career. All amounts below the prizes are their equivalents in United States dollars at the time of their win. At the other end of the spectrum, in the UK edition broadcast on 7 December 2009, a contestant named Corinne opened her box to reveal (and thus win) 1p, having turned down first an offer of £88,000 and then an offer to swap boxes, which would have given her the top £250,000 prize. A similar event occurred on the U.S. version on August 25, 2008, where contestant Koshka Blackburn won $5,000 which was in her case after turning down the banker's offer of $530,000 and then the option to switch cases, which would've made her the first $1,000,000 winner. Also in the U.S. on September 22, 2006, Michelle Falco kept in $750,000 and $1,000,000 in play all the way to the end, she turned down the biggest offer of $880,000 and refused to switch her case, in her case was $750,000. She also would have been the first $1,000,000 winner had she switched cases. And again, in the U.S. on October 22, 2008, contestant Richie Bell won $1 which was in his case after rejecting the final offer of $416,000 and the option to switch cases, which would've made him the second $1,000,000 winner. Richie also won an additional $10,000 after completing the "Banker's Challenge" minigame, thus making his total winnings $10,001. Had he had switched, he would have won $1,010,000. Many other contestants around the world would have won the top prize if they had swapped their box/case. The game show has attracted attention from mathematicians, statisticians, and economists as a natural decision-making experiment. In 2008 a team of economists analyzed the decisions of people appearing in Dutch, German and U.S. episodes and found, among other things, that contestants are less risk- averse or even risk-seeking when they saw their expected winnings drop. They went so far as to say that the show, “almost appears to be an economics experiment rather than a TV show.” They found that contestants behave similarly in different versions of the show, despite large differences in the amounts at stake; amounts appear to be evaluated in relative terms, for example in proportion to the initial average, and not in terms of their absolute monetary value. The research received a great deal of media attention, appearing on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and being featured on National Public Radio. This work was built upon by de Roos and Sarafidis, who analysed the Australian version of the show and determined that the risk-taking behaviour of a number of contestants would be inconsistent within each game (i.e. their aversion to risk would change), depending on the state of play and relative risk aversion of their confidant on the show. Australian Deal or No Deal contestants are selected "on the basis of being 'outgoing', but there is no screening of contestants on the basis of their risk preferences". It is thought that other versions may screen contestants for being amicable to risk-taking behaviour. Despite its air of originality and huge international success—there are more than 60 versions worldwide—there have been, in fact, numerous antecedents to the current run of shows. The first was the It's in the Bag, a New Zealand radio game show invented by Selwyn Toogood which began in the 1950s and which ran for decades after it was later adapted for television (1970s–90s). The show popularized the catch- phrases, "By hokey," and "What will it be, customers--the money or the bag?" in New Zealand. Similarly, in the 1950s, the UK TV show Take Your Pick offered contestants the choice of taking a money offer or risking opening a box. Later, in the 1980s, The Bong Game, a radio call-in show created by UK's Capital FM, tested contestants by offering them increasing returns in tandem with increasing risk. Another long-running game show, Let's Make a Deal, involved contestants deciding whether or not to take offers based on what may or may not be behind a curtain/door or inside a box. Let's Make a Deal ran in the U.S. for nearly three decades from 1963 to 1991, during which time Monty Hall was the program's "Big Dealer," and has recently been revived with Wayne Brady as the Big Dealer. Also in the U.S., in the 1970s and 1980s, was a game show called Treasure Hunt, hosted by Geoff Edwards and produced by Chuck Barris's company, which featured a similar concept to Deal or No Deal. The show featured contestants selecting a treasure chest or box with surprises inside in the hope of winning large prizes or a cash jackpot. Both game shows, however, also featured worthless or nearly-worthless joke prizes, which Let's Make a Deal called "zonks" and which Treasure Hunt called "klunks." Deal or No Deal does not feature such joke prizes in the US version but does in many international versions. Finally, from 1997 to 2003, Win Ben Stein's Money pitted contestants against an in-house adversary. There are several theories concerning the algorithm that “The Bank” uses to determine the appropriate bank offer. This is a secret held by the various publishers around the world, however a number of people have approximated the algorithm with various levels of accuracy. It is a common understanding that the Bank does not know the contents of the briefcase, and therefore the Monty Hall Problem does not apply to the probability calculations. Statistical studies of the US version of the show were undertaken by Daniel Shifflet in 2011, and showed a linear regression of bank offers against expected value. In summary, Shifflet found that the bank would offer a percentage of the expected value (EV) of the remaining cases, and this percentage increased linearly from approximately 37% of EV at the first offer to approximately 84% of EV at the seventh offer. This version of the program also allowed players to ‘hypothetically’ play out the remainder of the game from the point where they accepted the bank's offer, and Shiffler noted that the hypothetical bank offers were significantly higher than real bank offers at equivalent points in the game. Keep in mind, that this is for the syndicated 30-minute version of the show. Innovative Concepts in Entertainment developed and currently sells an arcade redemption adaptation of the show, replacing prize money with redemption tickets., The U.K. version of Deal or No Deal was converted into a mobile game by Gameloft and featured the same rules and format as the TV show. The game was so well-received that versions of it were developed for other countries as well. Its international success landed it on the top-sellers list., Almost all major formats of the game were converted into games for various gaming consoles, the PC, Macromedia Flash, and even a dedicated handheld made in China., Various online gambling and gaming sites have adapted the Deal or No Deal concept for their games. The Deal or No Deal television game show, based on the original Dutch Miljoenenjacht (Hunt for Millions), was introduced to the world by Endemol. The popular format, which requires the contestant to choose from 26 boxes or cases to reveal cash values, grew in popularity and eventually made its way into the online gambling industry as a result of the 2009 partnership between Playtech's Virtue Fusion and Endemol Games. Online Bingo licensees of Virtue Fusion, previously acquired by Playtech, introduced DOND themed 75-ball and 90-ball rooms in addition to a slot game based on the game show, scratch cards and the launch of a new bingo brand named after the game show, Deal or No Deal Bingo. Online gamblers experience the show's concept when securing a Full House win in the themed bingo rooms. The winner or winners enter a round of negotiations with the banker where they must make the ultimate decision, Deal or No Deal. The sense of community, often embraced by bingo players, is called upon as they assist the winner in determining the best option by commenting in the room's chat section. The Community Jackpot is divided among the Full House winner (50%) and all game participants (50%). In February 2016, Playtech announced the renewal of its licensing agreement with Endemol UK, which will see the availability of DOND licensed online products continue for an additional three years. Under this contract, Playtech is granted exclusive rights to deliver these themed games to the UK market. The range of DOND games are available at Virtue Fusion powered bingo brands such as bet365, Gala Bingo, Ladbrokes, Mecca Bingo and William Hill. For articles for each of the national editions of the show, see Deal or No Deal (disambiguation), List of television show franchises Officially licensed game of Deal or No Deal (UK Version), NBC game, Official Italian Affari Tuoi (Deal or No Deal) website, Official United Kingdom Deal Or No Deal website, Official Quebec Le Banquier (Deal or No Deal) website, Official German Deal Or No Deal website, Official U.S. Deal or No Deal version website, Deal or No Deal global fansite

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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the first director of this agency, succeeded by James McEntee following Fechner's death. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that provided manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Through the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a wage of $30 () per month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families). The American public made the CCC the most popular of all the New Deal programs. Sources written at the time claimed an individual's enrollment in the CCC led to improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The CCC also led to a greater public awareness and appreciation of the outdoors and the nation's natural resources, and the continued need for a carefully planned, comprehensive national program for the protection and development of natural resources. The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans. Approximately 15,000 Native Americans participated in the program, helping them weather the Great Depression. By 1942, with World War II and the draft in operation, the need for work relief declined, and Congress voted to close the program. As governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had run a similar program on a much smaller scale. Long interested in conservation, as president, he proposed to Congress a full-scale national program on March 21, 1933: He promised this law would provide 250,000 young men with meals, housing, workwear, and medical care for working in the national forests and other government properties. The Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act was introduced to Congress the same day and enacted by voice vote on March 31. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6101 on April 5, 1933, which established the CCC organization and appointed a director, Robert Fechner, a former labor union official who served until 1939. The organization and administration of the CCC was a new experiment in operations for a federal government agency. The order indicated that the program was to be supervised jointly by four government departments: Labor, which recruited the young men, War, which operated the camps, and Agriculture and Interior, which organized and supervised the work projects. A CCC Advisory Council was composed of a representative from each of the supervising departments. In addition, the Office of Education and Veterans Administration participated in the program. To end the opposition from labor unions (which wanted no training programs started when so many of their men were unemployed) Roosevelt chose Robert Fechner, vice president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, as director of the corps. William Green, head of the American Federation of Labor, was taken to the first camp to demonstrate that there would be no job training involved beyond simple manual labor. Reserve officers from the U.S. Army were in charge of the camps, but there was no military training. General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the program but said that the number of Army officers and soldiers assigned to the camps was affecting the readiness of the Regular Army. But the Army also found numerous benefits in the program. When the draft began in 1940, the policy was to make CCC alumni corporals and sergeants. The CCC also provided command experience to Organized Reserve Corps officers. George Marshall had "embraced" the CCC, unlike many of his brother officers. Through the CCC, the Regular Army could assess the leadership performance of both Regular and Reserve officers. The CCC provided lessons which the Army used in developing its wartime and mobilization plans for training camps. An implicit goal of the CCC was to restore morale in an era of 25% unemployment for all men and much higher rates for poorly educated teenagers. Jeffrey Suzik argues in "'Building Better Men': The CCC Boy and the Changing Social Ideal of Manliness" that the CCC provided work, pay, and an ideology of robust outdoor manhood to counter the Depression's effeminacy, as well as cash to help the family budget. Through a regime of heavy manual labor, civic and political education, and an all-male living and working environment, the CCC tried to build "better men" who would be economically independent and not effete. By 1939 there was a shift from the athletic manual worker to the highly trained citizen soldier ready for the war. The legislation and mobilization of the program occurred quite rapidly. Roosevelt made his request to Congress on March 21, 1933; the legislation was submitted to Congress the same day; Congress passed it by voice vote on March 31; Roosevelt signed it the same day, then issued an executive order on April 5 creating the agency, appointing its director (Fechner), and assigning War Department corps area commanders to begin enrollment. The first CCC enrollee was selected April 8, and subsequent lists of unemployed men were supplied by state and local welfare and relief agencies for immediate enrollment. On April 17, the first camp, NF-1, Camp Roosevelt, was established at George Washington National Forest near Luray, Virginia. On June 18, the first of 161 soil erosion control camps was opened, in Clayton, Alabama. By July 1, 1933 there were 1,463 working camps with 250,000 junior enrollees (18–25 years of age); 28,000 veterans; 14,000 American Indians; and 25,000 adults in the Locally Men (LEM) program. The typical CCC enrollee was a U.S. citizen, unmarried, unemployed male, 18–25 years of age. Normally his family was on local relief. Each enrollee volunteered and, upon passing a physical exam and/or a period of conditioning, was required to serve a minimum six-month period, with the option to serve as many as four periods, or up to two years, if employment outside the Corps was not possible. Enrollees worked 40 hours per week over five days, sometimes including Saturdays if poor weather dictated. In return they received $30 per month () with a compulsory allotment of $22–25 (about ) sent to a family dependent, as well as housing, food, clothing, and medical care. Following the second Bonus Army march on Washington D.C., President Roosevelt amended the CCC program on May 11, 1933, to include work opportunities for veterans. Veteran qualifications differed from the junior enrollee; one needed to be certified by the Veterans Administration by an application. They could be any age, and married or single as long as they were in need of work. Veterans were generally assigned to entire veteran camps. Enrollees were eligible for the following "rated" positions to help with camp administration: senior leader, mess steward, storekeeper and two cooks; assistant leader, company clerk, assistant educational advisor and three second cooks. These men received additional pay ranging from $36 to $45 per month depending on their rating. Each CCC camp was located in the area of particular conservation work to be performed and organized around a complement of up to 200 civilian enrollees in a designated numbered "company" unit. The CCC camp was a temporary community in itself, structured to have barracks (initially Army tents) for 50 enrollees each, officer/technical staff quarters, medical dispensary, mess hall, recreation hall, educational building, lavatory and showers, technical/administrative offices, tool room/blacksmith shop and motor pool garages. The company organization of each camp had a dual-authority supervisory staff: firstly, Department of War personnel or Reserve officers (until July 1, 1939), a "company commander" and junior officer, who were responsible for overall camp operation, logistics, education and training; and secondly, ten to fourteen technical service civilians, including a camp "superintendent" and "foreman", employed by either the Departments of Interior or Agriculture, responsible for the particular fieldwork. Also included in camp operation were several non-technical supervisor LEMs, who provided knowledge of the work at hand, "lay of the land," and paternal guidance for inexperienced enrollees. Enrollees were organized into work detail units called "sections" of 25 men each, according to the barracks they resided in. Each section had an enrollee " senior leader" and "assistant leader" who were accountable for the men at work and in the barracks. The CCC performed 300 types of work projects within ten approved general classifications: 1. Structural improvements: bridges, fire lookout towers, service buildings 2. Transportation: truck trails, minor roads, foot trails and airport landing fields 3. Erosion control: check dams, terracing, and vegetable covering 4. Flood control: irrigation, drainage, dams, ditching, channel work, riprapping 5. Forest culture: planting trees and shrubs, timber stand improvement, seed collection, nursery work 6. Forest protection: fire prevention, fire pre-suppression, firefighting, insect and disease control 7. Landscape and recreation: public camp and picnic ground development, lake and pond site clearing and development 8. Range: stock driveways, elimination of predatory animals 9. Wildlife: stream improvement, fish stocking, food and cover planting 10. Miscellaneous: emergency work, surveys, mosquito control The responses to this seven-month experimental conservation program were enthusiastic. On October 1, 1933, Director Fechner was directed to arrange for the second period of enrollment. By January 1934, 300,000 men were enrolled. In July 1934, this cap was increased by 50,000 to include men from Midwest states that had been affected by drought. The temporary tent camps had also developed to include wooden barracks. An education program had been established, emphasizing job training and literacy. Approximately 55% of enrollees were from rural communities, a majority of which were non-farm; 45% came from urban areas. Level of education for the enrollee averaged 3% illiterate; 38% had less than eight years of school; 48% did not complete high school; and 11% were high school graduates. At the time of entry, 70% of enrollees were malnourished and poorly clothed. Few had work experience beyond occasional odd jobs. Peace was maintained by the threat of "dishonorable discharge". "This is a training station; we're going to leave morally and physically fit to lick 'Old Man Depression,'" boasted the newsletter, Happy Days, of a North Carolina camp. Because of the power of the Solid South white Democrats in Congress, who insisted on racial segregation, the New Deal programs were racially segregated; blacks and whites rarely worked alongside each other. At this time, all the states of the South had passed legislation imposing racial segregation and, since the turn of the century, laws and constitutional provisions that disenfranchised most blacks; they were excluded from formal politics. Because of discrimination by white officials at the local and state levels, blacks in the South did not receive as many benefits as whites from New Deal programs. In the first few weeks of operation, CCC camps in the North were integrated. By July 1935, however, all the camps in the United States were segregated. Enrollment peaked at the end of 1935, when there were 500,000 men located in 2,600 camps in operation in all states and received equal pay and housing. Black leaders lobbied to secure leadership roles. Adult white men held the major leadership roles in all the camps. Director Fechner refused to appoint black adults to any supervisory positions except that of education director in the all-black camps. The CCC operated a separate division for members of federally recognized tribes: the Indian Emergency Conservation Work (IECW or CCC-ID). Native men from reservations worked on roads, bridges, clinics, shelters, and other public works near their reservations. Although they were organized as groups classified as camps, no permanent camps were established for Native Americans. Instead, organized groups moved with their families from project to project and were provided with an additional rental allowance in their pay. The CCC often provided the only paid work, as many reservations were in remote rural areas. Enrollees had to be between the ages of 17 and 35. During 1933, about half the male heads of households on the Sioux reservations in South Dakota were employed by the CCC-ID. With grants from the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Indian Division built schools and conducted an extensive road- building program in and around many reservations to improve infrastructure. The mission was to reduce erosion and improve the value of Indian lands. Crews built dams of many types on creeks, then sowed grass on the eroded areas from which the damming materials had been taken. They built roads and planted shelter-belts on federal lands. The steady income helped participants regain self-respect, and many used the funds to improve their lives. John Collier, the federal Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Daniel Murphy, the director of the CCC-ID, both based the program on Indian self-rule and the restoration of tribal lands, governments, and cultures. The next year, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which ended allotments and helped preserve tribal lands, and encouraged tribes to re-establish self-government. Collier said of the CCC-Indian Division, "no previous undertaking in Indian Service has so largely been the Indians' own undertaking". Education programs also trained participants in gardening, stock raising, safety, native arts, and some academic subjects. IECW differed from other CCC activities in that it explicitly trained men in skills to be carpenters, truck drivers, radio operators, mechanics, surveyors, and technicians. With the passage of the National Defense Vocational Training Act of 1941, enrollees began participating in defense-oriented training. The government paid for the classes and after individuals completed courses and passed a competency test, guaranteed automatic employment in the defense work. A total of 85,000 Native Americans were enrolled in this training. This proved valuable social capital for the 24,000 alumni who later served in the military and the 40,000 who left the reservations for city jobs supporting the war effort. Responding to favorable public opinion to alleviate unemployment, Congress approved the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, on April 8, 1935, which included continued funding for the CCC program through March 31, 1937. The age limit was expanded to 18-28 to include more men. From April 1, 1935 to March 31, 1936 was the period of greatest activity and work accomplished by the CCC program. Enrollment had peaked at 505,782 in about 2,900 camps by August 31, 1935, followed by a reduction to 350,000 enrollees in 2,019 camps by June 30, 1936. During this period the public response to the CCC program was overwhelmingly popular. A Gallup poll of April 18, 1936, asked: "Are you in favor of the CCC camps?"; 82% of respondents said yes, including 92% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans. On June 28, 1937, the Civilian Conservation Corps was legally established and transferred from its original designation as the Emergency Conservation Work program. Funding was extended for three more years by Public Law No. 163, 75th Congress, effective July 1, 1937. Congress changed the age limits to 17–23 years old and changed the requirement that enrollees be on relief to "not regularly in attendance at school, or possessing full-time employment." The 1937 law mandated the inclusion of vocational and academic training for a minimum of 10 hours per week. Students in school were allowed to enroll during summer vacation. During this period, the CCC forces contributed to disaster relief following 1937 floods in New York, Vermont, and the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, and response and clean-up after the 1938 hurricane in New England. In 1939 Congress ended the independent status of the CCC, transferring it to the control of the Federal Security Agency. The National Youth Administration, U.S. Employment Service, the Office of Education, and the Works Progress Administration also had some responsibilities. About 5,000 Reserve officers for the camps were affected, as they were transferred to federal Civil Service, and military ranks and titles were eliminated. Despite the loss of overt military leadership in the camps by July 1940, with war underway in Europe and Asia, the government directed an increasing number of CCC projects on resources for national defense. It developed infrastructure for military training facilities and forest protection. By 1940 the CCC was no longer wholly a relief agency, was rapidly losing its non-military character, and it was becoming a system for work-training, as its ranks had become increasingly younger, with little experience. Although the CCC was probably the most popular New Deal program, it never was authorized as a permanent agency. The program was reduced in scale as the Depression waned and employment opportunities improved. After conscription began in 1940, fewer eligible young men were available. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Roosevelt administration directed all federal programs to emphasize the war effort. Most CCC work, except for wildland firefighting, was shifted onto U.S. military bases to help with construction. The CCC disbanded one year earlier than planned, as the 77th United States Congress ceased funding it. Operations were formally concluded at the end of the federal fiscal year on June 30, 1942. The end of the CCC program and closing of the camps involved arrangements to leave the incomplete work projects in the best possible state, the separation of about 1,800 appointed employees, the transfer of CCC property to the War and Navy Departments and other agencies, and the preparation of final accountability records. Liquidation of the CCC was ordered by Congress by the Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act (56 Stat. 569) on July 2, 1942; and virtually completed on June 30, 1943. Liquidation appropriations for the CCC continued through April 20, 1948. Some former CCC sites in good condition were reactivated from 1941 to 1947 as Civilian Public Service camps where conscientious objectors performed "work of national importance" as an alternative to military service. Other camps were used to hold Japanese, German and Italian Americans interned under the Western Defense Command's Enemy Alien Control Program, as well as Axis prisoners of war. Most of the Japanese American internment camps were built by the people held there. After the CCC disbanded, the federal agencies responsible for public lands organized their own seasonal fire crews, modeled after the CCC. These have performed a firefighting function formerly done by the CCC and provided the same sort of outdoor work experience for young people. Approximately 47 young men have died while in this line of duty. Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Vogel State Park, Blairsville, Georgia, Colossal Cave Mountain Park, Vail, Arizona, Conservation Corps State Museum at Camp San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, California, |Civilian Conservation Corps Museum and Memorial at Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama, Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy, Edinburg, Virginia, Civillan Conservation Corps Museum, Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Florida Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Highlands Hammock State Park, Sebring, Florida, Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at DeSoto State Park, Fort Payne, Alabama, Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Koke's State Park, Waimea, Kauai County, Hawaii, National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii, Iowa Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Backbone State Park, Strawberry Point, Iowa, Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area, Ninety Six, South Carolina, Lou and Helen Adams Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Parker Dam State Park, Huston Township, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania., Masker Museum at Promised Land State Park, Greentown, Pennsylvania, North East States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Camp Conner, Stafford, Connecticut, New York State Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Gilbert Lake State Park, New Lisbon, New York, Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Pocahontas State Park, Chesterfield, Virginia, West Virginia CCC Museum, Harrison County, West Virginia, James F. Justin Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Roscommon, Michigan, Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Guernsey State Park, Guernsey, Wyoming, Bear Brook State Park Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Historic District, Allenstown, New Hampshire, Starved Rock State Park (CCC Section in the visitors' center) Oglesby, IL Alvin C. York, a project superintendent, Hubert D. Humphreys, historian, Ralph Hauenstein. Army officer in charge of camp, Borden Deal, enrollee, Stanley Makowski, enrollee, Henry Gurke, enrollee, Raymond Burr, enrollee, actor, Archie Moore, enrollee, the Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, Robert Mitchum, enrollee, actor, Edward R. Roybal, enrollee, politician, Chuck Yeager, enrollee, test pilot, Stan Musial, enrollee, professional baseball player, Walter Matthau, enrollee, actor, Dan White, enrollee, American actor in vaudeville, theater, radio, film and television, Red Schoendienst, enrollee, baseball player/manager, Conrad L. Wirth, U.S. administrator, National Park Service supervisor of CCC Program, Aldo Leopold, former technical forester, ecologist, environmentalist,, David "Stringbean" Akeman, enrollee, country music singer, Archie Green, enrollee, folklorist In several cities where CCC workers worked, statues were erected to commemorate them. Pride of the Bowery (1940), the fourth movie in the East Side Kid series, is a movie about friendship, trouble, and boxing at a CCC camp., The American Experience PBS series showcased documentaries on American history; it portrayed the life in Civilian Conservation Corps in 2009, in the first episode of Season 22., Jeanette Ingold's novel Hitch (2012) is a young adult book about a teenager in the CCC. The CCC program was never officially terminated. Congress provided funding for closing the remaining camps in 1942 with the equipment being reallocated. It became a model for conservation programs that were implemented in the period after World War II. Present-day corps are national, state, and local programs that engage primarily youth and young adults (ages 16–25) in community service, training, and educational activities. The nation's approximately 113 corps programs operate in 41 states and the District of Columbia. During 2004, they enrolled more than 23,000 young people. The Corps Network, known originally as the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC), works to expand and enhance corps-type programs throughout the country. The Corps Network began in 1985 when the nation's first 24 Corps directors banded together to secure an advocate at the federal level and a repository of information on how best to start and manage a corps. Early financial assistance from the Ford, Hewlett and Mott Foundations was critical to establishing the association. Another similar program is the National Civilian Community Corps, part of the AmeriCorps program, a team-based national service program in which young adults ages 18–24 spend 10 months working for non-profit and government organizations. The CCC program became a model for the creation of team-based national service youth conservation programs such as the Student Conservation Association (SCA). The SCA, founded in 1959, is a nonprofit organization that offers conservation internships and summer trail crew opportunities to more than 4,000 people each year. The SCA mission is to build a new generation of conservation managers by inspiring lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities by engaging high school and college-age volunteers in hands-on service to the land. SCA program is active nationwide in the USA, including national and state parks, forests, wildlife refuges, seashores and historic sites. SCA National Headquarters is located in Charlestown, New Hampshire, with regional offices across the country. In 1976, Governor of California Jerry Brown established the California Conservation Corps. This program had many similar characteristics - residential centers, high expectations for participation, and emphasis on hard work on public lands. Young adults from different backgrounds were recruited for a term of one year. Corps members attended a training session called the Corpsmember Orientation Motivation Education and Training (COMET) program before being assigned to one of the various centers. Project work is also similar to the original CCC of the 1930s - work on public forests, state and federal parks. Established in 1995, Environmental Corps, now Texas Conservation Corps (TxCC), is an American YouthWorks program which allows youth, ages 17 to 28, to contribute to the restoration and preservation of parks and public lands in Texas. The only conservation corps in Texas, TxcC is a nonprofit corporation based in Austin, Texas, which serves the entire state. Their work ranges from disaster relief to trail building to habitat restoration. TxCC has done projects in national, state, and city parks. The Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) is a non-profit organization with a mission to equip young people with the skills and values to be vigorous citizens who improve their communities and environment. Collectively, MCC crews contribute more than 90,000 work hours each year. The MCC was established in 1991 by Montana's Human Resource Development Councils in Billings, Bozeman and Kalispell. Originally, it was a summer program for disadvantaged youth, although it has grown into an AmeriCorps-sponsored non- profit organization with six regional offices that serve Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. All regions also offer Montana YES (Youth Engaged in Service) summer programs for teenagers who are 14 to 17 years old. The Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) is a sub-agency of the Washington State Department of Ecology. It employs men and women 18 to 25 years old in a program to protect and enhance Washington's natural resources. WCC is a part of the AmeriCorps program. Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa provides environmental stewardship and service-learning opportunities to youth and young adults while accomplishing conservation, natural resource management projects and emergency response work through its Young Adult Program and the Summer Youth Program. These programs emphasize the development of job and life skills by conservation and community service work. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) is a non-profit, youth service and education organization that hires Corps Members, aged 16–24, to work on high- priority conservation projects in Vermont. Through these work projects, Corps Members develop a strong work ethic, strengthen their leadership skills, and learn how to take personal responsibility for their actions. VYCC Crews work at VT State Parks, U.S. Forest Service Campgrounds, in local communities, and throughout the state's backcountry. The VYCC has also given aid to a similar program in North Carolina, which is currently in its infancy. The Youth Conservation Corps is a youth conservation program present in federal lands around the country. The program gives youth aged 13-17 the opportunity to participate in conservation projects in a team setting. YCC programs are available in land managed by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Projects can last up to 10 weeks and typically run over the summer. Some YCC programs are residential, meaning the participants are given housing on the land they work on. Projects may necessitate youth to camp in backcountry settings in order to work on trails or campsites. Most require youth to commute daily or house youth for only a few days a week. Youth are typically paid for their work. YCC programs contribute to the maintenance of public lands and instill a value for hard work and the outdoors in those who participate. Conservation Legacy is a non-profit employment, job training, and education organization with locations across the United States including Arizona Conservation Corps in Tucson and Flagstaff, Arizona; Southwest Conservation Corps in Durango and Salida, Colorado; and Southeast Conservation Corps in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Conservation Legacy also operates an AmeriCorps VISTA team serving to improve the environment and economies of historic mining communities in the American West and Appalachia. Conservation Legacy also hosts the Environmental Stewards Program - providing internships with federal, state, municipal and NGO land management agencies nationwide. Conservation Legacy formed as a merger of the Southwest Youth Corps, San Luis Valley Youth Corps, The Youth Corps of Southern Arizona, and Coconino Rural Environmental Corps. Conservation Legacy engages young adults ages 14 to 26 and U.S. military veterans of all ages in personal and professional development experiences involving conservation projects on public lands. Corp members live, work, and learn in teams of six to eight for terms of service ranging from 3 months to 1 year. The Sea Ranger Service is a social enterprise, based in Netherlands, that has taken its inspiration from the Civilian Conservation Corps in running a permanent youth training program, supported by veterans, to manage ocean areas and carry out underwater landscape restoration. Unemployed youths are trained up as Sea Rangers during a bootcamp and subsequently offered full-time employment to manage and regenerate Marine Protected Areas and aid ocean conservation. The Sea Ranger Service works in close cooperation with the Dutch government and national maritime authorities. National Youth Administration, New Deal, Works Progress Administration Rabideau CCC Camp, She-She-She Camps, Camp Petenwell, Table Rock Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Site, Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Koke'e State Park, Bear Brook State Park Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Historic District, Camp San Luis Obispo, Camp Robertstown Georgia Alexander, Benjamin F. The New Deal’s Forest Army: How the Civilian Conservation Corps Worked. (2018) online review, American Youth Commission. Youth and the Future: The General Report of the American Youth Commission (1942), Bass, Melissa. The Politics and Civics of National Service: Lessons from the Civilian Conservation Corps, Vista, and AmeriCorps (Brookings Institution Press, 2013), Brandimarte, Cynthia, and Angela Reed Brown. Texas State Parks and the CCC: The Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (2013), Clancy, Patrick. "Conserving the Youth: the Civilian Conservation Corps Experience in the Shenandoah National Park" The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Volume: 105. Issue: 4. 1997. p. 439ff. online, Colen, Olen Jr. The African-American Experience in the Civilian Conservation Corps (1999), Heller, Charles E. "The US Army, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Leadership for World War II, 1933—1942." Armed Forces & Society (2010) 36#3 pp: 439-453., Helms, Douglas. "The Civilian Conservation Corps: Demonstrating the Value of Soil Conservation," Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 40 (March–April 1985): 184-188 online, Hendrickson Jr.; Kenneth E. "Replenishing the Soil and the Soul of Texas: The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Lone Star State as an Example of State-Federal Work Relief during the Great Depression" The Historian, Vol. 65, 2003, Hill, Edwin G. In the Shadow of the Mountain: The Spirit of the CCC. (1990)., Holland, Kenneth, and Frank Ernest Hill. Youth in the CCC (1938) detailed description of all major activities, Jolley, Harley E. "That Magnificent Army of Youth and Peace": The Civilian Conservation Corps in North Carolina, 1933-1942 (Raleigh: Office of Archives and History, 2007) 167pp., Leighninger, Robert D., Jr. Long-Range Public Investment: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal (2007), providing a context for American public works programs, and detailing major agencies of the New Deal: CCC, PWA, CWA, WPA, and TVA., Maher, Neil M. Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (2008). excerpt and text search, Mielnik, Tara Mitchell. New Deal, New Landscape: The Civilian Conservation Corps and South Carolina's State Parks (University of South Carolina Press; 2011) 201 pages; CCC built 16 state parks in SC between 1933 and 1942., Otis, Alison T., William D. Honey, Thomas C. Hogg, and Kimberly K. Lakin The Forest Service and The Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933–42 (United States Forest Service FS-395, August 1986) online, Paige, John C. The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933–1942: An Administrative History. (National Park Service, 1985) online, Pasquill, Jr., Robert. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933-1942: A Great and Lasting Good (University of Alabama Press, 2008) 242 pp, with cd of oral interviews, Patel, Kiran Klaus. Soldiers of Labor. Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, (2005), . online review, (pb 2009) Online free to borrow, Salmond John A. The Civilian Conservation Corps 1933–1942: a New Deal case study. (1967), the scholarly history of the entire CCC complete text online, Salmond, John A. "The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Negro," The Journal of American History, Vol. 52, No. 1. (Jun. 1965), pp. 75–88. in JSTOR, Sherraden, Michael W. "Military Participation in a Youth Employment Program: The Civilian Conservation Corps," Armed Forces and Society, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 227–245, April 1981, pp. 227–245; available online from SAGE Publications, Sommer, Barbara W. Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota (2008)., Sommer, Barbara W. "' We Had This Opportunity': African Americans and the Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota" in The State We're In: Reflections on Minnesota History, Annette Atkins and Deborah L. Millers, eds. (2010) pp 134–157., Steely, James W. "Parks for Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal" (1999), detailing the interaction of local, state and federal agencies in organizing and guiding CCC work., Waller, Robert A. "The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Emergence of South Carolina's State Park System, 1933–1942*South Carolina Historical Magazine Volume: 104#2 2003, p. 101ff., Wilson, James; "Community, Civility, and Citizenship: Theatre and Indoctrination in the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s" Theatre History Studies, Vol. 23, 2003, pp. 77–92 Gower, Calvin W. "The CCC Indian Division: Aid for Depressed Americans, 1933–1942," Minnesota History 43 (Spring 1972) 7-12, Parman, Donald L. The Navajos and the New Deal (1969), Parman, Donald L. "The Indian and the CCC," Pacific Historical Review 40 (February 1971): p. 54ff. CCC, "The Civilian Conservation Corps, What It Is and What It Does" (June 1940) Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Legacy A merged non-profit foundation of the former National Association of CCC Alumni (NACCCA) and the Camp Roosevelt CCC Legacy Foundation, National Archives & Records Administration: Records of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), The Corps Network (formerly known as NASCC), Wecantakeit.org, grassroots non-profit to reestablish the USCCC, based in St Petersburg, FL, Bandelier National Monument Virtual Museum Exhibit and Lesson Plans, from National Park Service, Life in the Civilian Conservation Corps Primary Source Adventure, a lesson plan hosted by CCC in Texas, Top 10 New Deal Programs, James F Justin Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, Online CCC Biographies Stories Photographs, and Documents, LeRoy, Congerville sites of CCC camps - Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois newspaper), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): The Arcadia Veteran bulletins from the Rhode Island State Archives CCC in Idaho Video produced by Idaho Public Television, CCC History in Massachusetts, Rosentreter, Roger L. "Roosevelt's Tree Army: Michigan's Civilian Conservation Corps", with photographs, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, "Civilian Conservation Corps", A New Deal for Texas Parks - interactive web album of CCC activities in Texas, CCC camps map, a guide to projects in Washington State, with rare photographs. Great Depression in Washington State Project, Guide to the Webster M. Pidgeon Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) papers from the Rhode Island State Archives, Built To Last: The Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota PelMar Publishing Henderson, James D. Lost in the Woods–The Legacy of CCC Camp Pelican], (2009). Images of the Civilian Conservation Corps on the Oregon State University Archives Flickr Commons page., CNY Heritage Digital Library, featuring images of Civilian Conservation Corps members constructing Green Lakes State Park in Central New York (1929–1948). "The Great Depression, Displaced Mountaineers in Shenandoah National Park, and the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)", on YouTube, Youth Jobs Program (CCC) During Great Depression, The March of Time, President Visits Foresters (CCC), Roosevelt 1933/08/14, newsreel, Recreation Resources, 1935, West Virginia, available through NARA (National Archives and Records Administration), A Nationwide System of Parks 1939, NARA, Alabama Highlands 1937 Alabama State Parks, NARA, Down Mobile Way, 1935 Alabama State Parks, NARA, The Cradle of the Father of Waters, 1938 Minnesota State Parks, Lake Itasca State Park, NARA, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1936, NARA, Land of the Giants, 1935 California, NARA, The East Side Kids (Pride of the Bowery, 1941), Leo Gorcey - Bobby Jordan, American Experience: The Civilian Conservation Corps, PBS American Experience, 2009 Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry No. 2 is a historic Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) quarry site located near Pickens, Pickens County, South Carolina. The site is associated with the CCC construction of Table Rock State Park between 1935 and 1941. It is one of four quarry sites used for materials in the construction of park structures and facilities at the park. Located on the property is a concrete spring house built by CCC workers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. In 1932 one of every four American men aged 15–24 worked only part-time. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) South Dakota was created to solve two of the nation's ills: unemployment and deteriorating national resources. In South Dakota the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided work for 23,709 enrollees and veterans, 4,554 Indians, and 2834 supervisory and office personnel. It distributed $6,200,000 in allotment checks to South Dakota families. CCC camps were located across South Dakota but the major concentration was in the Black Hills. Dams, roads, fences, bridges, signage, campgrounds and the list of achievements is a long one. Several of the men that worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps in South Dakota mentioned working at or near Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Some of these men worked for Gutzon Borglum before or after CCC service. One of the most recognizable CCC projects in South Dakota is the stone structure atop one of the highest elevations from the Rockies to the Alps of Europe. Harney Peak Lookout was built by CCC members of Camp Doran. 7,000 surface stones; 15,000 hollow tiles; 200 T of sand; 32,800 lb of cement; 500 bricks; 500 pieces—reinforced steel, angle iron, etc.; 300 poles, averaging 25 ft in length; 20 kegs of nails; 1,000 ft steel cable; 1,300 lb of steel wire; 800 ft railroad track. All the bottom level floors were built of reinforced concrete. The outer walls are 30 in thick at the base and lined with hollow tiles. The tower roof was topped with sheet copper and grounded by copper cables. The rock used for outer walls and walkways was obtained from French Creek (HPT). The dam for the reservoir which built in 1935 (by CCs) impounded 5,000 gal of water. The pumphouse and the steps to the tower were added in 1938.

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Since her debut in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman has appeared in a number of formats besides comic books. Genres include animated television shows, direct-to-DVD animated films, video games, the 1970s live action television series, Wonder Woman, the 2014 CGI theatrical release, The Lego Movie, and the live-action DCEU films, (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), and Justice League (2017). She will appear in Wonder Woman 1984, which will be released in 2020. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 American superhero film and the second installment of the DC Extended Universe. It is also the first live action theatrical film to feature Wonder Woman as well as her secret identity, Diana Prince. In late 2013, Zack Snyder cast Gal Gadot in the role over Élodie Yung and Olga Kurylenko. Some fans initially reacted to this choice by criticizing Gadot's appearance. Snyder would later comment on his decision to cast Gadot, stating that hetested a bunch of actresses, as you can imagine. But the thing with Gal is that she's strong, she's beautiful, and she's a kind person, which is interesting, but fierce at the same time. It's that combination of being fierce but kind at the same time that we were looking for. Gadot described Diana as having "the heart of a human so she can be emotional, she's curious, she's compassionate, she loves people. And then she has the powers of a goddess. She's all for good, she fights for good." She also said that Diana has "many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she's a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence". Gadot underwent a diet and training regimen, practiced different martial arts and gained 17 pounds of muscle for the role. Gadot was previously offered a different role (as a villain) in Man of Steel, which she declined because she was pregnant at the time; this allowed her to later be cast as Wonder Woman in the film's follow- up. Gadot signed a three-picture deal. She was only paid a base salary of $300,000 for the movie itself. Gadot reprised the role in 2017's Wonder Woman, the fourth installment in the DC Extended Universe and Wonder Woman's first theatrical solo film. The film is directed by Patty Jenkins, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, from a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder, and Jason Fuchs, and co-stars Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, and Elena Anaya. Jenkins' role as director makes her the first female director of a studio superhero movie. Set in 1918, the film tells the story of Princess Diana, who grows up on the Amazon island of Themyscira. After American pilot Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes offshore of the island and is rescued by Diana, he tells her about the ongoing World War. She then leaves her home in order to end the conflict, becoming Wonder Woman in the process. Development for the film began in 1996, with Jenkins signing on to direct in 2015. Principal photography began on November 21, 2015, with filming taking place in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy before wrapping up on May 9, 2016, the 123rd birthday of the creator, William Moulton Marston. Additional filming took place in November 2016. Wonder Woman premiered in Shanghai on May 15, 2017, and was released in the United States on June 2, 2017, in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D. It received largely positive reviews, with critics praising the direction, performances, action sequences and musical score. The film set records for the biggest domestic opening for a female director ($103.3 million), the biggest opening for a female-led comic book film, the highest grossing female-directed live-action film and the highest-grossing superhero origin story domestically. It has grossed over $812 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2017. Months after the events of and inspired by Superman's sacrifice for humanity, Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team of metahumans consisting of Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg to face the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons who are on the hunt for three Mother Boxes on Earth (in Themyscira, Atlantis and Victor Stone himself). By June 2017, Geoff Johns and Patty Jenkins had begun work on the story treatment for a Wonder Woman sequel. By July, Johns announced that he is working on the script for the film. That same month, the sequel was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con. By August, Jenkins was in final negotiations to return as director, officially signing the deal a month later, with confirmation that Gadot will be returning as the title character. By September, Jenkins brought on David Callaham to pen the script with her and Johns. The film is reported to take place in the Cold War. Patty Jenkins reported online, that the film will be another great love story with a new love interest being cast. Pre-production began in early December, 2017, according to director Patty Jenkins, with filming scheduled to start in June 2018, under the working title, "Magic Hour." Production will be returning to Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in the United Kingdom. By February 2018, Kristen Wiig had entered early negotiations to portray the film's primary antagonist, Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah. Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released in North America on June 5, 2020. The title Wonder Woman refers to both the 1974 television film and its 1975-1979 spin-off television series. The 1974 television film, directed by Vincent McEveety and starring Cathy Lee Crosby, was a pilot for an intended television series being considered by ABC. Ratings were described as "respectable but not exactly wondrous," and ABC did not pick up the pilot. Instead, Warner Brothers and ABC developed a different Wonder Woman television concept that fit the more traditional presentation of the character as created by William Moulton Marston, turning away from the 1968–72 era that had influenced the pilot. , which premiered in 1975, starred Lynda Carter and eventually led to the Wonder Woman TV series. Crosby would later claim that she was offered the chance to reprise the role in that series. Wonder Woman is mentioned in Smalliville episodes "Warrior" and "Fortune", and later appears in season eleven comics. In "Warrior", Lois goes to a comic book convention and wears a costume highly similar to Wonder Woman's. She also clarifies that the outfit is supposed to represent an Amazon princess. Warrior Angel's emblem seems similar to Wonder Woman's logo. In "Fortune", Chloe mentions how she encountered other heroes while she was away and she mentioned how she encountered "a wondrous woman who's gonna throw you for a loop". A vision in "Hourglass" shows a brief glimpse of Wonder Woman's tiara. Her bracelets can also be seen on a skeleton (presumably Wonder Woman's). Diana Prince is mentioned in The Flash episode "Welcome to Earth-2". Kate mentioned Wonder Woman in the Batwoman episode "The Rabbit Hole". Who's Afraid of Diana Prince: A proposed 1967 television series, that only resulted in the production of a short pilot. The success of the Batman television series led Batman producer William Dozier to commission a pilot script by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel. Batman writer Stanley Ralph Ross was then asked to perform a re-write, after Hart and Siegel's script was deemed unsuitable. A portion of the pilot, under five minutes in length, was filmed by Greenway Productions, the company behind the Batman show under the title Who's Afraid of Diana Prince? The piece starred Ellie Wood Walker (Robert Walker Jr.'s wife) as Diana Prince, Linda Harrison as Diana's Wonder Woman alter ego and Maudie Prickett as Diana's mother. In the proposed series Diana Prince (not Wonder Woman) would have been the focus of the comedy. Diana, an awkward and rather plain young woman, lives with her mother close to a United States Air Force base. Much of the film consists of her mother berating Diana about not having a boyfriend. When her mother leaves the room, Diana changes into her Wonder Woman costume and admires her reflection in a mirror. What she sees is not Diana Prince, but rather a sexy super-heroic figure (played by Linda Harrison) who proceeds to preen and pose as the song "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" plays on the soundtrack. The pilot ends with Diana climbing out a window and flying away, indicating that, despite her apparent delusions regarding her alter ego, she does have some super powers. This pilot episode was never broadcast and the project was abandoned., Wonder Woman: Reports surfaced in October 2010 that Warner Bros. Television was teaming with writer-producer David E. Kelley to pitch a new Wonder Woman television series to networks. The major networks all turned down the series, but NBC, the final network to initially pass on the project, announced that they had ordered a pilot on January 21, 2011. In February 2011, Jeffrey Reiner was hired to direct the pilot. A few days later, it was announced that Adrianne Palicki was selected to play the title role. Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that the costume was causing a divide, with many exclaiming it was "too trashy and too bad porn-y". Warner Bros. later changed the costume, replacing the blue boots and rubbery pants, due to fan criticism. But in the episode "Gorilla My Dreams" of Kelley's show Harry's Law, Erica Durance (best known as Lois Lane from the television series Smallville) as Annie Bilson, wears the original costume now with red boots. Elizabeth Hurley and Tracie Thoms were also cast as villain Veronica Cale and Diana's personal assistant, Etta Candy, respectively. Pedro Pascal was cast as Ed Indelicato, Wonder Woman's liaison to the police department and Cary Elwes as Henry Detmer, who runs the day-to-day operations of Diana's company. Actor Justin Bruening was cast to play Steve Trevor. The plot was "a reinvention of the iconic DC Comic in which Wonder Womanaka Diana Themyscirais a vigilante crime fighter in L.A., but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman, trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life." After watching the pilot, television critic Alan Sepinwall described it as "embarrassing ... [I]t was all I had feared, and more". Writing about the show for Flickering Myth in 2017, Neil Calloway said "it has its moments ... [B]ut it was probably dated in 2011 ... We didn't really lose anything by it not being commissioned into a series." On May 12, 2011, NBC announced that it would not be picking the project up for a series., Amazon: In 2012, The CW, Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics announced that they were developing a new origin story for Wonder Woman called Amazon. In early 2013, the network pushed the pilot back until the 2014/15 season. On May 16, 2013, The CW announced that the show was still in development, with a new script by Aron Eli Coleite, replacing Allan Heinberg, who wrote the previous script for the planned pilot. However, in July 2013 The Flash, by Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg was fast-tracked instead. Pedowitz confirmed that "Amazon is on pause (as) the script is not exactly what we wanted, and with an iconic character like Wonder Woman, we have to get it right." In January 2014, Pedowitz told The Hollywood Reporter that the project was no longer in development: "We did not go forward with it [...] it all depends on the script. We were very careful with Arrow, and we're being very careful with Flash [...] these are iconic characters, so we're going to be very careful with Wonder Woman. You only get one shot before you get bit." In August 2017, Pedowitz confirmed that the CW had "no plans to redevelop Amazon at this point" due to the success of the 2017 feature film. Cobie Smulders provides the voice for Wonder Woman in The Lego Movie, a 2014 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film written for the screen and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by them and Dan and Kevin Hageman. While the film features a few live-action scenes, it is primarily an animated film. Wonder Woman reappeared briefly as a non-speaking character in follow-up The Lego Batman Movie (2017) and also makes a brief appearance in (2019) with Smulders reprising her role. Rica Matsumoto provides the voice for Wonder Woman in DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon. Halsey provides the voice for Wonder Woman in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. (2008) - voiced by Lucy Lawless, the star of ., Wonder Woman (2009) - voiced by Keri Russell. This film is loosely based on George Pérez's reboot of the character, specifically the "Gods and Mortals" arc that started the character's second volume in 1987., (2010) - voiced by Vanessa Marshall., (2010) - voiced by Susan Eisenberg, who had previously voiced her in the DCAU. The film is based on the Superman/Batman: The Supergirl from Krypton storyline., (2012) - voiced by Susan Eisenberg., (2013) - voiced by Laura Bailey., (2013) - voiced by Vanessa Marshall., (2014) - voiced by Grey DeLisle., (2014) - voiced by Michelle Monaghan. Her outfit is designed to resemble her outfit in the New 52., (2015) - voiced by Rosario Dawson., (2015) - voiced by Kari Wahlgren., (2015) - voiced by Tamara Taylor., Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016) - voiced by Rosario Dawson., Justice League Dark (2017) - voiced by Rosario Dawson. It was released on Digital HD on January 24, 2017, and on DVD on February 7, 2017., Despite not appearing in , Wonder Woman was mentioned in a conversation between Scandal Savage and Knockout., The Death of Superman (2018) - voiced by Rosario Dawson. In the movie, it has been hinted that she and Superman broke up some time ago even though they are still close friends., Reign of The Supermen (2019) - voiced by Rosario Dawson., \- again voiced by Rosario Dawson. Wonder Woman's first appearance on television was as a guest in an episode of The Brady Kids cartoon series in 1972, entitled "It's All Greek to Me" (voiced by Jane Webb). The Brady kids meet Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and together they find themselves accidentally transported back to the time of the Ancient Olympic Games. The kids plan to compete in the marathon and beat the Greek athletes to qualify for the race. Wonder Woman convinces the kids to disqualify themselves, explaining that if they win the race they will change the course of history. (Wonder Girl had already appeared in a series of Teen Titans cartoon shorts which was part of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure cartoon show in 1967.) Filmation was planning a "Wonder Woman" pilot among other DC related projects. Wonder Woman appeared in Super Friends, Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning animated series. She was originally voiced by Shannon Farnon and later by Connie Caulfield in , followed by B.J. Ward in . Wonder Woman guest starred in the Superman episode, "Superman and Wonder Woman versus the Sorceress of Time" wherein she and Superman battle a sorceress named Cyrene. BJ Ward lent her voice to the female antagonistic character in this episode. Her appearance is notable for being the first and, until her DC animated universe incarnation, only Post-Crisis animated version of Wonder Woman. Besides possessing the power of flight and no longer having either an invisible plane or high-heel boots, she had wavy hair more in line with George Pérez’s Post-Crisis interpretation of her. Like in the Super Friends series, her back was fully exposed. In 1992, Mattel planned a line of toys for girls with Wonder Woman leading a new cast of four female characters. Two had been previously established: Dolphin in 1968 and Ice in 1988. The other two were new characters invented for the series. Solara had sun-based fire powers while Starlily had earth- based plant powers. "Wonder Woman and the Star Riders" had the subtitle "Sparkling super heroines!" They were to be pitted against the villainess Purrsia (who has animal control abilities) and her mount, Panthera. An announcement for an accompanying animated series was made during the 1993 Toy Fair, however a pilot was never produced beyond character designs and storyboards. A few test samples for the toy line were developed, as well as a short comic book story which would have been packaged with the figures. A mini comic was distributed as a breakfast cereal premium. Artwork has since been published in Les Daniels' 2000 book, Wonder Woman: The Complete History. The cancelled toy designs were recycled as part of the Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic toy line. All the Star Riders ride winged horses, and Wonder Woman herself rides a winged unicorn named Nightshine. DC Animated Universe (DCAU) refers to the shared universe centered on a group of animated television series based on DC Comics, produced by Warner Bros. Animation from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s; beginning with in 1992 and ending with Justice League Unlimited in 2006. Some parts of the associated media franchise including direct-to-video feature films and shorts, comic books, video games and other multimedia adaptations are also included in the continuity. Justice League was the first chance to add Wonder Woman (voiced by Susan Eisenberg) to the DCAU, as the rights had been previously tied up in possible movies and television series. To introduce her into a universe already populated by long-experienced heroes like Batman and Superman, Bruce Timm and his team took a cue from George Pérez's newcomer-to-man's-world Post-Crisis interpretation. This Diana started off completely innocent and ignorant of man's world. As with the Pérez version, she neither keeps a secret identity nor has an invisible plane (although in the Justice League Unlimited first- season episode "For the Man Who Has Everything", she unveils the plane). Also in this series, her traditional bullet proof bracelet cuffs became bullet proof vambraces (i.e., forearm armor). However, perhaps as a nod to her Pre- Crisis appearance, she has straight hair and high-heeled boots suggestive of her old Super Friends incarnation. Also, her lasso did not compel truthfulness until the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Balance" in which Hippolyta activated her true power. Her initial personality consisted of a strict adherence to Amazonian dogma (prompting some of her teammates, especially the more brash and headstrong Hawkgirl, to react to her attitude by calling her "Princess" somewhat disdainfully). Noticeable though is the effect of Man's World on Diana. Her first appearances are marked by her reflexively acting off of Amazonian ideology (in "Fury", she questions how necessary men really are), but as time passes, she becomes more interested in men (in particular, Batman, with whom she has a flirtatious and possibly romantic relationship) and experiences the emotional excesses of man's world, as compared to the Amazons (who are portrayed as somewhat stoic if not emotionally stunted). Batman's affections for Wonder Woman, however, are somewhat confirmed in the Unlimited episode "This Little Piggy", where he admits his feelings to Zatanna when requesting her help in changing Diana back (she was turned into a pig by Circe). Batman's and Wonder Woman's mutual feelings are implicated in the JLA episode "The Brave and the Bold", when Wonder Woman manages to stop a missile crashing into Gorilla City. When the weight of the missile head crushes her, Batman rushes to the site and attempts to clear the rubble while everyone else is too stunned by Wonder Woman's possible death to help. However, Wonder Woman is found unhurt, and when she sees Batman's gloves covered in dirt in his attempt to save her, she kisses him on the cheek. Batman and Wonder Woman share a kiss in the Justice League season finale "Starcrossed" (they kissed in order to hide their faces from Thanagarian patrol). In the episode "Kid's Stuff", Wonder Woman, in her eight-year-old form (voiced by Dakota Fanning), also flirts liberally with the young Batman, who acts as miniature version of his adult self, either ignoring or being embarrassed by her advances. She finds joy but also discovers a temper that frequently needs to be checked by her teammates ("Hereafter", "Hawk and Dove", "Eclipsed", etc.). Later episodes dealt directly with her temper and Diana's eventual mastery of it. She since adopted the role of ambassador of the Amazons at her mother's request ("To Another Shore"), bringing another Post-Crisis trait to the DCAU. While Wonder Woman's origin in the DCAU is not detailed, in the episode "The Balance", it is revealed that she indeed was a clay statue sculpted by Hippolyta and somehow brought to life. In the same episode, Hades says that he helped Hippolyta sculpt the clay statue that would eventually become Diana, making him feel almost like a father to her, but was banished before she was brought to life. That claim, however, was never substantiated (when Hawkgirl points out she could use the lasso on him, Diana says it doesn't matter). It was revealed that the Wonder Woman armor was originally made by the god Hephaestus for her mother, Queen Hippolyta, not Diana. However, in episodes, again like "The Balance", it was insinuated and implied that the armor was eventually made for her purposes and use. She had stolen her armor to use once Hippolyta forbade her to enter the outside world. Later in the series it is revealed that Diana did not know that the armor had additional abilities, which could be activated by pressing the star on the tiara. Steve Trevor made an appearance in the first season's three-part finale, "The Savage Time", when the League time-travels back to World War II in order to stop Vandal Savage changing history. In this story, Steve is an agent of the OSS, whom Diana falls in love with. They are separated when Diana goes to stop Savage's invasion of America and returns to the present day. In the episode's conclusion, she visits her friend, now a very old man, at a retirement community. Wonder Woman's eventual fate is unknown, but Kobra mentions that she is still alive during the time of Batman Beyond. She was originally supposed to appear in the Batman Beyond episode "The Call", which featured a future Justice League. However, rights issues precluded the possibility and her cameo was instead taken by Big Barda. She returns in the Justice League Beyond 2.0 comic, which is set some years after the conclusion of the Batman Beyond series. Her powers are almost the same as her comics counterpart, including flight and super strength, lending Wonder Woman the ability to hold out against Superman in a fight, while both were hallucinating. She has a weakness to pierce wounds as shown by Devil Ray's poisonous dart harming her. In "Grudge Match", she is able to singlehandedly defeat Vixen, Hawkgirl, Huntress and Black Canary in a no-holds barred fight. In the Comedy Central animated series South Park, Wonder Woman plays a prominent role in the Imaginationland Trilogy, in which she is depicted as a member of the Council of Nine, consisting of the nine most revered of all imaginary characters. She along with Aslan, Gandalf, Glinda, Jesus, Luke Skywalker, Morpheus, Popeye and Zeus teach Butters to control his power of imagination to help defend their land against all the evil imaginary creatures created. In , Wonder Woman makes a non-speaking cameo as a member of the Justice League in the episode "Sidekicks Assemble". She is only shown from behind and is not identified by name. At San Diego Comic-Con 2010's Batman: The Brave and the Bold panel, it was confirmed that Wonder Woman would appear in an upcoming episode of the show. Wonder Woman appears in the opening segment of the 2011 episode "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!" rescuing Steve Trevor from Baroness Paula Von Gunther. Her appearance is accompanied by an arrangement of the classic 1970s Wonder Woman theme song. She was voiced by Vicki Lewis, who also voiced Star Sapphire in the same episode. She subsequently appears in "Triumvirate of Terror!", where she teams up with Batman and Superman to fight the combined threat of Cheetah, Lex Luthor and the Joker. Wonder Woman appears in the motion comic, voiced by Wendee Lee. Wonder Woman appears in the animated series Young Justice, voiced by Maggie Q. At New York Comic Con 2010, it was confirmed that there are no longer any restrictions involving DC characters appearing in animation, thus making it possible for Wonder Woman to be used. Wonder Woman appears in the pilot episode, "Independence Day", where she and the rest of the Justice League arrive at Cadmus Labs following its destruction. She is shown having a conversation with Superman about the fate of the newly discovered Superboy, though her words are not audible to the audience. She makes her first speaking appearance in the episode "Agendas," where she chastises Batman for recruiting Robin at such a young age and tries to have Captain Marvel thrown out of the League for lying about his age. Alongside the rest of the League, she is brainwashed by Vandal Savage's Starro spores in the closing moments of "Usual Suspects." In the season one finale, "Auld Acquaintance", she battles the members of Young Justice at Savage's behest before being trapped in an impenetrable force-field created by Rocket. She is presumably freed from Savage's control along with the rest of the League. In Young Justice: Invasion, Wonder Woman has taken on Cassie Sandsmark as her sidekick. She leaves Earth along with several other Leaguers in the episode "Alienated," in order to stand trial for crimes the team committed while under Savage's control. In , Wonder Woman has become co-chair of the League alongside Aqualad, the new Aquaman, and is currently leading a group of Leaguers in space seeking to redeem the League's reputation against the forces of the Apokolips and the Light. She secretly keeps in contact with Batman, Nightwing, Oracle, Miss Martian and Aquaman, who are coordinating several teams in secret, and thus fears they are crossing the line. For a sketch on the Mad series, when their fellow heroes feel under- appreciated, they appeal to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman about being called "Super Friends." Wonder Woman appears in one of the DC Nation Shorts on Cartoon Network, voiced by Susan Eisenberg. Wonder Woman appears in the animated television special Lego Batman: Be- Leaguered, voiced by Grey DeLisle (reprising the role from JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time). Wonder Woman appears as one of the three lead characters in Justice League Action, voiced by former The Young and the Restless co-star Rachel Kimsey. This incarnation has started dating Superman in the episode Repulse but the two decide to keep it secret from the other members of the Justice League. Wonder Woman appears in the DC Super Hero Girls TV series, voiced again by Grey Griffin. In this version, she is 317 years old and has sneaked away from the Amazons' island home of Themyscira in order to fulfill her dream of protecting the mortal world. Upon reaching the city of Metropolis, she learns to pass herself off as a typical high school student with help from the other main characters. Wonder Woman appears in the Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? episode "The Scooby of a Thousand Faces" with Rachel Kimsey reprising her role from Justice League Action. She teams up with Mystery Inc. when they are in Greece and contend with a Minotaur attacking a museum which Wonder Woman thinks is a real Minotaur that was sent by Hades. A running gag has Mystery Inc. trying to prove that the Minotaur is a fake. While Wonder Woman does train Daphne and Velma, she leaves Shaggy and Fred out of the training. Scooby-Doo takes a liking to her. Eventually, Wonder Woman was able to train Shaggy and Fred when it comes to trapping the Minotaur. When the Minotaur was trapped, Mystery Inc. unmasks it to be the museum curator. Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth breaks the Minotaur costume as the curator states that he was after the Golden Head of Apollo so that he can sell it and retire. After the curator is handed over to the police, Wonder Woman heads back to Themyscira as she encourages Mystery Inc. to continue their mystery-solving activities. Wonder Woman appears in the DC Universe animated series, Harley Quinn, voiced again by Vanessa Marshall. In "So You Need A Crew?", she appears on the news battling Doctor Psycho, and is stunned, along with everybody else, when Psycho calls her the "C-word". Wonder Woman appeared in the 1995 fighting game Justice League Task Force, released for the Super NES and Genesis, as well as in several Game Boy Advance games based on the Justice League animated series., She is a featured playable character in the video game Justice League Heroes (voiced by Courtenay Taylor) with two unlockable costumes., Wonder Woman is a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, where she is voiced by Tara Platt., She appears in DC Universe Online. Originally voiced by Gina Torres, currently voiced by Susan Eisenberg., She appears in LittleBigPlanet 2, voiced by Jules de Jongh., She appears in Scribblenauts Unmasked., Wonder Woman appears in Infinite Crisis, voiced by Vanessa Marshall., Wonder Woman appears as a playable character in DC Unchained., Wonder Woman was a playable hero in mobile MOBA game that released by Tencent Games, Arena of Valor. She appears in , voiced by Laura Bailey., Wonder Woman appears as a playable character in , with Laura Bailey reprising her role. She is one of the main story characters. If the player chooses to activate her flying ability, the theme song from the Wonder Woman television series will play until she lands., She is a playable character in Lego Dimensions, voiced by Laura Bailey., Wonder Woman will appear as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, this time, voiced by Susan Eisenberg, reprising her role from Justice League. Wonder Woman appears as a playable fighter in , with Susan Eisenberg reprising her role. The storyline sees Wonder Woman travelling to an alternate reality with the rest of the Justice League where they must defeat most of their evil counterparts. Wonder Woman's counterpart supports the tyrannical Superman's regime and is in a relationship with him (though it is evidently one-sided, as he still loves his deceased wife Lois). In the game, she has alternate costumes based on her appearances in Flashpoint, , the New 52, Ame-Comi girls, and issue #600 of the Wonder Woman comics., Wonder Woman returns as a playable character in NetherRealm Studios' Injustice 2 and is voiced once again by Susan Eisenberg. This version is still allied with the Regime and Superman, and tries to convince Supergirl (who assisted her in breaking out of prison) to join their cause, but fails after Supergirl learns that the Regime shows no mercy towards criminals. In her single player ending, Wonder Woman takes Brainiac's head, gaining the public favor needed to restore the Regime to power. She plans to make Batman and his comrades pay for toppling the Regime, then take her revenge on the Themyscirans for betraying her. An alternate version of her Flashpoint counterpart appears in Green Arrow's ending as a member of the Multiverse Justice League. She has a gear set in the game based on the Wonder Woman film. Music about or that references Wonder Woman: 2007: "Wonder Woman" by Trey Songz, 2011: "Wonder Woman" by Sarah Lichtenberg featuring Ashley Carroll, 2017: "Wonder Woman" by JoJo, 2018: "Wonder Woman" by Kacey Musgraves, 2018: "Wonder Woman" by Davido May 1, 1944 - December 1, 1945 there was a daily comic strip, written by Wonder Woman creator Charles Moulton and drawn by H. G. Peter. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate. The complete strip is available in a collection published by IDW., DC Super Hero Girls, web series, voiced by Grey DeLisle. Wonder Woman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is a founding member of the Justice League. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in October 1941 with her first feature in Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. In her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, her official title is Princess Diana of Themyscira. When blending into the society outside of her homeland, she sometimes adopts her civilian identity Diana Prince. Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance. Marston's comics featured his ideas on DISC theory, and the character drew a great deal of inspiration from early feminists, and especially from birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger; in particular, her piece "Woman and the New Race". Wonder Woman's origin story relates that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and was given a life to live as an Amazon, along with superhuman powers as gifts by the Greek gods. In recent years, DC changed her background with the retcon that she is the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, jointly raised by her mother and her aunts Antiope and Menalippe. The character has changed in depiction over the decades, including briefly losing her powers entirely in the late 1960s; by the 1980s, artist George Perez gave her an athletic look and emphasized her Amazonian heritage. She possesses an arsenal of advanced technology, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in older stories, a range of devices based on Amazon technology. Wonder Woman's character was created during World War II; the character in the story was initially depicted fighting Axis military forces as well as an assortment of colorful supervillains, although over time her stories came to place greater emphasis on characters, deities, and monsters from Greek mythology. Many stories depicted Wonder Woman rescuing herself from bondage, which defeated the "damsels in distress" trope that was common in comics during the 1940s. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon, including classic villains such as Ares, Cheetah, Doctor Poison, Circe, Doctor Psycho, and Giganta, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale and the First Born. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960). The character is a well- known figure in popular culture that has been adapted to various media. October 21 is Wonder Woman Day, commemorating the release of her first appearance in All Star Comics #8 (with the exception of 2017 which held the day on June 3 to tie in with the release of the film of the same name). Wonder Woman has been featured in various media from radio to television and film, and appears in merchandise sold around the world, such as apparel, toys, dolls, jewelry, and video games. Shannon Farnon, Susan Eisenberg, Maggie Q, Lucy Lawless, Keri Russell, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Cobie Smulders, and Halsey among others, have provided the character's voice for animated adaptations. Wonder Woman has been depicted in both film and television by Cathy Lee Crosby, Lynda Carter, and in the DC Extended Universe films by Gal Gadot. Modern historians divide the 20th-century history of American superhero comics into "ages," The Golden Age being the first. In an October 25, 1940, interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium. This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics. At that time, Marston wanted to create his own new superhero; Marston's wife and fellow psychologist Elizabeth suggested to him that it should be a woman: Marston introduced the idea to Gaines. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman. Marston also drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship. Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (cover date Dec/Jan 1941/1942, released in October 1941), scripted by Marston. Marston was the creator of a systolic- blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph (lie detector). Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest than men in certain situations and could work more efficiently. Marston designed Wonder Woman to be an allegory for the ideal love leader; the kind of women who he believed should run society. "Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world", Marston wrote. In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote: Marston was an outspoken feminist, swinger, and firm believer in the superiority of women. He described bondage and submission as a "respectable and noble practice". Marston wrote in a weakness for Wonder Woman, which was attached to a fictional stipulation that he dubbed "Aphrodite's Law", that made the chaining of her "Bracelets of Submission" together by a man take away her Amazonian super strength. Wonder Woman often ended up in chains before inevitably breaking free. This not only represented Marston's affinity for bondage, but women's subjugation, which he roundly rejected. However, not everything about his creation was explicitly explained in any one source, which caused confusion among writers and fans for many years. Initially, Wonder Woman was an Amazon champion who wins the right to return Steve Trevora United States intelligence officer whose plane had crashed on the Amazons' isolated island homelandto "Man's World" and to fight crime and the evil of the Nazis. During this period, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society of America as the team's secretary. During the Silver Age, under writer Robert Kanigher, Wonder Woman's origin was revamped, along with other characters'. The new origin story increased the character's Hellenic and mythological roots: receiving the blessing of each deity in her crib, Diana is destined to become as "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, strong as Hercules, and swift as Hermes." At the end of the 1960s, under the guidance of Mike Sekowsky, Wonder Woman surrendered her powers in order to remain in Man's World rather than accompany her fellow Amazons to another dimension. Wonder Woman begins using the alias Diana Prince and opens a mod boutique. She acquires a Chinese mentor named I Ching, who teaches Diana martial arts and weapons skills. Using her fighting skill instead of her powers, Diana engaged in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology. This phase of her story was directly influenced by the British spy thriller The Avengers and Diana Rigg's portrayal of Emma Peel. In the early 1970s the character returned to her superhero roots in the Justice League of America and to the World War II era in her own title. This, however, was ultimately due to the popularity of the TV series at the time also having Wonder Woman set in the WWII era, and was shifted back to the 1970s era once the TV show did the same. With a new decade arriving, DC president Jenette Kahn ordered a revamp in Wonder Woman's appearance. Artist Milton Glaser, who also designed the "bullet" logo adopted by DC in 1977, created a stylized "WW" emblem that evoked and replaced the eagle in her bodice and debuted in 1982. The emblem in turn was incorporated by studio letterer Todd Klein onto the monthly title's logo, which lasted for a year and a half before being replaced by a version from Glaser's studio. With sales of the title continuing to decline in 1985 (despite an unpublished revamp that was solicited), the series was canceled and ended in issue #329 (February 1986) written by Gerry Conway, depicting Steve Trevor's marriage to Wonder Woman. The Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover of 1986 was designed and written with the purpose of streamlining most of DC's characters into one more-focused continuity and reinventing them for a new era, thus Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor were declared to come from the Earth-Two dimension, and along with all of their exploits, were erased from history, so that a new Wonder Woman character, story and timeline could take priority. Following the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths series, George Pérez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter rewrote the character's origin story, depicting Wonder Woman as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Pérez incorporated a variety of deities and concepts from Greek mythology in Wonder Woman's stories and origin. His rendition of the character acted as the foundation for the modern Wonder Woman stories, as he expanded upon the widely accepted origin of Diana being birthed out of clay. The relaunch was a critical and commercial success. In August 2010 (issue #600), J. Michael Straczynski took over the series' writing duties and introduced Wonder Woman to an alternate timeline created by the Gods in which Paradise Island had been destroyed and the Amazons scattered around the world. In this timeline, Diana is an orphan raised in New York. The entire world has forgotten Wonder Woman's existence and the main story of this run was of Diana trying to restore reality even though she does not properly remember it herself. A trio of Death Goddesses called The Morrigan acted as the main enemy of Wonder Woman. In this run, Wonder Woman wears a new costume designed by Jim Lee. Straczynski determined the plot and continued writing duties until Wonder Woman #605; writer Phil Hester then continued his run, which ultimately concluded in Wonder Woman #614. In 2011's The New 52, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of publications to attract a new generation of readers, and thus released volume 4 of the Wonder Woman comic book title. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang were assigned writing and art duties respectively and revamped the character's history considerably. In this new continuity, Wonder Woman wears a costume similar to her original Marston costume, utilizes a sword and shield, and has a completely new origin. No longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods, she is, instead, a demi-goddess and the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Azzarello and Chiang's revamp of the character was critically acclaimed, but highly divisive among longtime fans of the character. In 2016, DC Comics once again relaunched all of its publications as part of the "DC Rebirth" continuity reboot, and the new fifth volume of Wonder Woman was released bi- monthly with writer Greg Rucka. This fifth volume of Wonder Woman is part of the "DC Universe", the current continuity established after Rebirth. Initially, the new series does not use a regular storyline that exists between each issue; instead two separate storylines share the book, with an installment of one story published every other issue, and those of the other storyline published in between those. This practice began with the storyline "The Lies" for the odd numbered issues, and "Year One" for the even numbered issues. The new storyline as presented in these issues effectively retcons the events from the previous New 52 series. "The Lies" storyline reveals that a number of events from the previous Wonder Woman series in which Diana was made the Queen of the Amazons and the God of War, was in fact all an illusion created by a mysterious villain, and she had never once been back to Themyscira ever since she left, nor is she capable of returning there. The "Year One" story is presented as an all-new origin story for Diana, which reveals how she received her powers from the Olympian Gods, which was intended to bring her back to her classical DC roots. Wonder Woman appears in DC Rebirth with a revised look, which includes a red cape and light armor fittings. Along with her lasso and bracelets, she now regularly utilizes her sword and shield. Wonder Woman: Rebirth artist Liam Sharp described the new armor as a utilitarian piece which allows her to move more freely. Starting from Issue 26, the series returned to a regular storyline between each issue. In 2018, DC Comics announced that Ms. Marvel creator G. Willow Wilson will be the new writer on the Wonder Woman ongoing series. Wilson will begin her run on Wonder Woman in November, with the first story arc titled, "The Just War." The "Diana Prince" identity has been part of Wonder Woman's history since her comics debut in 1941. In the early Golden Age stories, Wonder Woman served as a military secretary during World War II, using Prince as her cover. Later occupations Wonder Woman performed as Prince included translator at the United Nations, Air Force captain and ambassador, and in the '70s TV series, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman used Prince to serve as an agent of the Inter-Agency Defense Command. In the DC Extended Universe, Prince works as curator for the Department of Antiquities at the extremely prestigious Louvre Museum and is held in very high esteem by the curator of the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities. Her tremendously long life span, accumulation of immense amount of knowledge and exceptional perceptiveness makes Diana Prince the wisest and most emotionally-intelligent member of the Justice League. During Marston's run, Diana Prince was the name of an army nurse whom Wonder Woman met. The nurse wanted to meet with her fiancé, who was transferred to South America, but was unable to arrange for money to do so. As Wonder Woman needed a secret identity to look after Steve (who was admitted to the same army hospital in which Diana Prince worked), and because both of them looked alike, Wonder Woman gave the nurse money to go to her fiancé in exchange for the nurse's credentials and took Diana Prince as her alias. She started to work as an army nurse and later as an Air Force secretary. The identity of Diana Prince was especially prominent in a series published in the early 1970s, in which she fought crime only under the Prince alias and without her mystic powers. To support herself, she ran a mod clothing boutique. The Diana Prince alias also played an important role after the events of Infinite Crisis. Wonder Woman was broadcast worldwide killing a villain named Maxwell Lord, as he was mind controlling Superman into killing Batman. When Wonder Woman caught him in her lasso, demanding to know how to stop Superman, Maxwell revealed that the only way to stop him was to kill Lord, so as a last resort Diana snapped his neck. To recover from the trauma of killing another person, the Amazon went into a self-imposed exile for one year. On her return to public life, Diana realized that her life as a full-time celebrity superhero and ambassador had kept her removed from humanity. Because of this she assumed the persona of Diana Prince and became an agent at the Department of Metahuman Affairs. During a later battle with the witch Circe, a spell was placed on Diana leaving her powerless when not in the guise of Wonder Woman. The New 52 universe does not have a "Diana Prince" identity as stated in an interview by series writer Brian Azzarello. However, when she and Superman began dating, for her civilian identity she used the Diana Prince alias whenever she was around Clark Kent; such as when she introduced herself to Lois Lane at Lois's housewarming party under that name. The DC Rebirth universe has not featured the Diana Prince identity as much in favor of Wonder Woman going by Diana of Themyscira in her downtime. Princess Diana commands respect both as Wonder Woman and Diana Prince; her epithetical title – The Amazon Princess – illustrates the dichotomy of her character. She is a powerful, strong-willed character who does not back down from a fight or a challenge. Yet, she is a diplomat who strongly "favors the pen", and a lover of peace who would never seek to fight or escalate a conflict. She's simultaneously both the most fierce and most nurturing member of the Justice League; and her political connections as a United Nations Honorary Ambassador and the ambassador of a warrior nation makes her an invaluable addition to the team. With her powerful abilities, centuries of training and experience at handling threats that range from petty crime to threats that are of a magical or supernatural nature, Diana is capable of competing with nearly any hero or villain. Many writers have depicted Diana in different personalities and tone; between both of her diametric extremes; that of a worldly warrior, a highly compassionate and calm ambassador, and sometimes also as a naive and innocent person, depending on the writer. What has remained constant, and is a mainstay of the character, is her nurturing humanity: her overwhelming belief in love, empathy, compassion, and having a strong conscience. This trait had been the reason for her induction into the Star Sapphires. Writer Gail Simone was applauded for her portrayal of Wonder Woman during her run on the series, with comic book reviewer Dan Phillips of IGN noting that "she's molded Diana into a very relatable and sympathetic character." Actress Gal Gadot described Wonder Woman as "an idealist. Experienced, super-confident. Open and sincere even in the midst of a gruesome, bloody conflict. Having many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she's a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence". In the Golden Age, Wonder Woman adhered to an Amazon code of helping any in need, even misogynistic people, and never accepting a reward for saving someone; while conversely, the modern version of the character has been shown to perform lethal and fatal actions when left with no other alternative, exemplified in the killing of Maxwell Lord in order to save Superman's life. The New 52 version of the character has been portrayed to be a younger, more headstrong, loving, fierce and willful person. Brian Azzarello stated in a video interview with DC Comics that they're building a very "confident", "impulsive" and "good-hearted" character in her. He referred to her trait of feeling compassion as both her strength and weakness. A distinctive trait of her characterization is a group of signature mythological exclamations, beginning with "Great Aphrodite!", followed by "Great Hera!", "Merciful Minerva!", and "Suffering Sappho!', some of which were contributed by Elizabeth Holloway Marston. Diana, after her death, was granted divinity as the Goddess of Truth by her gods for such faithful devotion. During her brief time as a god of Olympus, Diana was replaced in the role of Wonder Woman by her mother, Queen Hippolyta. Unlike Diana receiving the title of Wonder Woman in honor, Hippolyta's role as Wonder Woman was meant to be a punishment for her betrayal in Artemis' death as well as for unintentionally killing her own daughter. However, Hippolyta eventually grew to enjoy the freedom and adventure the title came with. Whereas Diana used the Lasso of Truth as her primary weapon, Hippolyta favored a broad sword. John Byrne, the writer that introduced the concept of Hippolyta as the first Wonder Woman, has explained his intentions in a post in his message board: I thought George's one "mistake" in rebooting Wonder Woman was making her only 25 years old when she left Paradise Island. I preferred the idea of a Diana who was thousands of years old (as, if I recall correctly, she was in the TV series). From that angle, I would have liked to have seen Diana having been Wonder Woman in WW2, and be returning to our world in the reboot. Not having that option, I took the next best course, and had Hippolyta fill that role. As Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta immediately got involved in a time travel mission back to the 1940s with Jay Garrick. After this mission, she elected to join the Justice Society of America and remained in that era for eight years, where her teammates nicknamed her "Polly". During that time she had a relationship with Ted Grant. Hippolyta also made visits into the past to see her godchild Lyta, daughter of Hippolyta's protege Helena, the Golden Age Fury. These visits happened yearly from young Lyta's perspective and also accounted for Hippolyta's participation in the JSA/JLA team ups. When she returned from the past, Hippolyta took Diana's place in the JLA as well. Artemis of Bana-Mighdall briefly served as Wonder Woman during Hippolyta's trials for a new Wonder Woman. Orana, a character similar to Artemis, defeated Diana in a new contest and became Wonder Woman in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity. Orana was killed during her first mission. Others who have donned the Wonder Woman persona include Nubia, Cassandra Sandsmark, and Donna Troy. In her debut in All Star Comics #8, Diana was a member of a tribe of women called the Amazons, native to Paradise Islanda secluded island set in the middle of a vast ocean. Captain Steve Trevor's plane crashes on the island and he is found alive but unconscious by Diana and fellow Amazon, and friend, Mala. Diana has him nursed back to health and falls in love with him. A competition is held amongst all the Amazons by Diana's mother, the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta, in order to determine who is the most worthy of all the women; Hippolyta charges the winner with the responsibility of delivering Captain Steve Trevor back to Man's World and to fight for justice. Hippolyta forbids Diana from entering the competition, but she takes part nonetheless, wearing a mask to conceal her identity. She wins the competition and reveals herself, surprising Hippolyta, who ultimately accepts, and must give in to, Diana's wish to go to Man's World. She then is awarded a special uniform made by her mother for her new role as Wonder Woman and safely returns Steve Trevor to his home country. Coming to America for the first time, Wonder Woman comes upon a wailing army nurse. Inquiring about her state, she finds that the nurse wanted to leave for South America with her fiancé but was unable due to shortage of money. As both of them looked identical and Wonder Woman needed a job and a valid identity to look after Steve (who was admitted in the same army hospital), she gives her the money she had earned earlier to help her go to her fiancé in exchange for her credentials. The nurse reveals her name as Diana Prince, and thus, Wonder Woman's secret identity was created, and she began working as a nurse in the army. Wonder Woman then took part in a variety of adventures, mostly side by side with Trevor. Her most common foes during this period would be Nazi forces led by a German baroness named Paula von Gunther, occasionally evil deities/demigods such as Mars and the Duke of Deception, and then colorful villains like Hypnota, Doctor Psycho, and Cheetah. In the Silver Age, Wonder Woman's history received several changes. Her earlier origin, which had significant ties to World War II, was changed and her powers were shown to be the product of the gods' blessings, corresponding to her epithet, "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Hermes". The concepts of Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot were also introduced during this period. Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #179 (Nov. 1969) showed Wonder Woman giving up her powers and returning her costume and title to her mother, in order to continue staying in Man's World. The reason behind this was that all the Amazons were shifting to another dimension, but Diana was unable to accompany them as she needed to stay behind to help Steve, who had been wrongly convicted. Thus, she no longer held the title of Wonder Woman and after meeting and training under a blind martial arts mentor I-Ching, Diana resumed crime fighting as the powerless Diana Prince. She ran a mod-boutique as a business and dressed in a series of jumpsuits while fighting crime. During this period, Samuel R. Delany took over scripting duties with issue #202. Delany was initially supposed to write a six-issue story arc, which would culminate in a battle over an abortion clinic, but Delany was removed reportedly due to criticism from Gloria Steinem, who, not knowing the content of the issues Delany was writing, was upset that Wonder Woman had lost her powers and was no longer wearing her traditional costume. In Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #204, Diana's powers and costume were returned to her and she is once again reinstated as Wonder Woman. I-Ching is killed by a crazy sniper in the same issue. Later, Diana meets her sister Nubia, who is Hippolyta's daughter fashioned out of dark clay (hence Nubia's dark complexion). Nubia claimed to be the "Wonder Woman of The Floating Island", and she challenges Diana to a duel which ends in a draw. Returning to her home, Nubia would have further adventures involving Diana. The last issue of Volume 1 showed Diana and Steve Trevor announce their love for each other and their subsequent marriage. The events of Crisis on Infinite Earths greatly changed and altered the history of the DC Universe. Wonder Woman's history and origin were considerably revamped by the event. Wonder Woman was now an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira (the new name for Paradise Island) to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Various deities and concepts from Greek mythology were blended and incorporated into Wonder Woman's stories and origin. Diana was formed out of clay of the shores of Themyscira by Hippolyta, who wished for a child; the clay figure was then brought to life by the Greek deities. The Gods then blessed and granted her unique powers and abilitiesbeauty from Aphrodite, strength from Demeter, wisdom from Athena, speed and flight from Hermes, Eyes of the Hunter and unity with beasts from Artemis and sisterhood with fire and the ability to discern the truth from Hestia. Due to the reboot, Diana's operating methods were made distinctive from Superman and Batman's with her willingness to use deadly force when she judges it necessary. In addition, her previous history and her marriage to Steve Trevor were erased. Trevor was introduced as a man much older than Diana who would later on marry Etta Candy. Instead, Perez created Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis, a Greek-American scholar and her teenage daughter whom Diana would live with when she was in Man's world and would be major supporting characters in the series for years. Starting in Wonder Woman vol. 2 #51, the Amazons, who had revealed their presence to the world in Wonder Woman vol. 2 #50, are blamed for a series of murders and for the theft of various artifacts. The Amazons are then taken into custody, Queen Hippolyta is nowhere to be found and Steve Trevor is forced by General Yedziniak to attack Themyscira. These events lead to the "War of the Gods" occurring. The culprit of the murders, thefts and the framing of the Amazons is revealed to be the witch Circe, who "kills" Diana by reverting her form back into the clay she was born from. Later, Wonder Woman is brought back to life and together with Donna Troy, battles Circe and ultimately defeats her. Circe would later return by unknown means. When Hippolyta and the other Amazons were trapped in a demonic dimension, she started receiving visions about the death of Wonder Woman. Fearing her daughter's death, Hippolyta created a false claim that Diana was not worthy of continuing her role as Wonder Woman, and arranged for a contest to determine who would be the new Wonder Woman, thus protecting Diana from her supposed fate. The participants of the final round were Diana and Artemis, and with the help of some mystic manipulation by Hippolyta, Artemis won the contest. Thus, Diana was forced to hand over her title and costume to Artemis, who became the new Wonder Woman and Diana started fighting crime in an alternate costume. Artemis later died in battle with the White Magicianthus, Hippolyta's vision of a dying Wonder Woman did come true, albeit not of Diana as Wonder Woman. Diana once again became Wonder Woman, a request made by Artemis in her last seconds. Artemis would later return as Requiem. Prior to Artemis' death, Hippolyta would admit to her daughter about her own part in Artemis' death, which strained their relationship as Diana was unable to forgive her mother for sending another Amazon to her death knowingly for the sake of saving her own daughter. The demon Neron engaged Diana in battle and managed to kill her. The Olympian Gods granted Diana divinity and the role of the Goddess of Truth who started to reside in Olympus; her mother Hippolyta then assumed the role of Wonder Woman and wore her own different incarnation of the costume. In Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #136, Diana was banished from Olympus due to interfering in earthly matters (as Diana was unable to simply watch over people's misery on Earth). She immediately returned to her duties as Wonder Woman, but ran into conflicts with her mother over her true place and role as Hippolyta seemed accustomed to her life in America. Their fight remained unsolved, as Hippolyta died during an intergalactic war. Themyscira was destroyed during the war, but was restored and reformed as a collection of floating islands. Circe later resurrected Hippolyta in Wonder Woman Vol 3 #8. One of the events that led to Infinite Crisis was of Wonder Woman killing the villain Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #219. Maxwell Lord was mind- controlling Superman, who as a result was near to killing Batman. Wonder Woman tried to stop Superman, Lord (who was unable to mind control her) made Superman see her as his enemy Doomsday trying to kill Lois Lane. Superman then attacked Wonder Woman, and a vicious battle ensued. Buying herself time by slicing Superman's throat with her tiara, Wonder Woman caught Lord in her Lasso of Truth and demanded to know how to stop his control over Superman. As the lasso forced the wearer to speak only the truth, Lord told her that the only way to stop him was to kill him. Left with no choice, Wonder Woman snapped Lord's neck and ended his control over Superman. Unknown to her, the entire scene was broadcast live around every channel in the world by Brother Eye. The viewers were not aware of the entire situation, and saw only Wonder Woman murdering a Justice League associate. Wonder Woman's actions put her at odds with Batman and Superman, as they saw Wonder Woman as a cold-blooded killer, despite the fact that she saved their lives. At the end of Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman temporarily retires from her costumed identity. Diana, once again using the alias Diana Prince, joins the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Donna Troy becomes the new Wonder Woman and is captured by Diana's enemies. Diana then goes on a mission to rescue her sister, battling Circe and Hercules. Diana defeats the villains, freeing Donna and takes up the role of Wonder Woman again. Circe places a spell on Diana, which renders Diana into a normal, powerless human being when in the role of Diana Prince; her powers come to her only when she is in the role of Wonder Woman. "The Circle" The storyline "The Circle" was focused on the revelation of a failed assassination attempt on Diana when she was a baby, by four rogue Amazons. These AmazonsMyrto, Charis, Philomela and Alkyone, collectively referred to as The Circlewere Hippolyta's personal guards and were extremely loyal and devoted to her. However, when Hippolyta decided to raise a daughter, The Circle was horrified and considered the baby ill-fate, one who would ruin their entire race. Thus, after Diana was sculpted out of clay and brought to life, The Circle decided to assassinate the baby. Their attempt was foiled however, and the four Amazons were imprisoned. After years, the Circle escaped their prisons with the help of Captain Nazi, and decided to accomplish their previously failed mission and kill Diana. Diana defeated Myrto, Charis, Philomela and then approached Alkyone, who runs off and succumbs to her death by falling into the ocean. The other three Amazons return to their prisons. Issue #600 introduced Wonder Woman to an alternate timeline created by the Gods in which Themyscira had been destroyed and the Amazons scattered around the world. In this timeline, Diana is an orphan raised in New York who is learning to cope with her powers. The entire world has forgotten Wonder Woman's existence and the main story of this run was of Diana trying to restore reality even though she does not properly remember it herself. Diana has no memories of her prior adventures as Wonder Woman, recollecting her memories in bits and pieces and receiving different abilities and resources (such as the power of flight and her lasso) during the progression of her adventure. A trio of Death Goddesses called The Morrigan acted as Wonder Woman's main enemies. Diana ultimately defeats the evil goddesses and returns everything back to normal. In September 2011, DC Comics relaunched its entire publication line in an initiative called The New 52. Among the major changes to the character, Wonder Woman now appears wearing a new costume similar to her older one, and has a completely new origin. In this new timeline, Wonder Woman is no longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods. Rather, she is the demigoddess daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus: King of the Greek Gods. Her original origin is revealed as a cover story to explain Diana's birth as a means to protect her from Hera's wrath. Currently, Diana has taken on the role and title as the new "God of War". The Greek messenger god, Hermes, entrusts Wonder Woman with the protection of Zola, a young woman, who is pregnant with Zeus's child, from Hera, seething with jealousy and determined to kill the child. With the appearance of a bizarre, new, chalk-white enemy, the goddess Strife (a reimagined version of Eris, the goddess of discord who had battled Wonder Woman in post-Crisis continuity), Wonder Woman discovers she, herself, is the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus, who, after a violent clash, became lovers. Hippolyta revealed Diana's earlier origin story to be a lie, spread amongst the Amazons to protect Diana from the wrath of Hera, who is known for hunting and killing several illegitimate offspring of Zeus. The first of these half-mortal siblings to reveal himself to Wonder Woman was her older half-brother, Lennox Sandsmark, who could transform himself into living, marble-like stone and, before his death, was revealed to be the father of Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark). His killer, the First Born, the eldest progeny of Zeus, would become Wonder Woman's first major super-villain of the New 52. The story then focuses on Wonder Woman's quest to rescue Zola from Hades, who had abducted her and taken her to Hell at the end of the sixth issue of the series. The male children of the Amazons are introduced and Diana learns about the birth of her "brothers"the Amazons used to infrequently invade ships coming near their island and force themselves on the sailors, before killing them. After nine months, the birth of the resulting female children was highly celebrated and they were inducted into the ranks of the Amazons while the male children were rejected. In order to save the male children from being drowned to death by the Amazons, Hephaestus traded weapons to the Amazons in exchange for them. After saving Zola from Hades, Wonder Woman tries to protect her further from Apollo, as it is prophesied that one of Zeus' children will be his downfall whom Apollo considers to be Zola's child. Wonder Woman receives the power of flight by one of Hermes' feathers piercing her thigh and Zola's baby is stolen by Hermes at the end and given to Demeter. The issue's last page shows a dark and mysterious man rising from the snow, taking a helmet and disappearing. This man is later revealed to be Zeus' first son, known only as First Born, who seeks to rule over Olympus and the rest of the world, and take Diana as his bride. A stand-alone #0 issue was released in September which explored Diana's childhood and her tutelage under Ares, the God of War, now known most often as simply 'War'. The issue was narrated in the style of a typical Silver Age comic book and saw Diana in her childhood years. The main plot of the issue was Diana training under War as he thought of her being an extraordinary girl with immense potential. The issue ultimately concluded with Diana learning and experiencing the importance of mercy, which she first learned when War showed it to her during their sparring. This later translated into her refusal to kill the Minotaura task given to her by War; however, this show of mercy makes her a failure in War's eyes, which was actually his fault since he inadvertently "taught" her mercy and affection as his protege. Later in the series, Wonder Woman is forced to kill War during a conflict with her evil half-brother, Zeus' son First Born, and herself becomes the God of War. After the Amazons are restored, she rules over them both as a warrior queen and God of War, as the ongoing conflict with First Born escalates. At the end of Azzarello's run, as part of a final conflict, Wonder Woman kills First Born, while Zeke is revealed to have been Zeus' plan for resurrection, with Zola revealed to have been a mortal shell for the goddess Athena, who gave birth to Zeus just as he once did to her. Wonder Woman pleads with Athena not to allow the Zola personality, whom she has grown to love as a friend, die with Athena's awakening. Athena leaves the site in animal form, leaving a stunned and confused Zola behind with Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman appears as one of the lead characters in the Justice League title written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee that was launched in 2011 as part of The New 52. In August 2012, she and Superman shared a kiss in Justice League Vol 2 #12, which has since developed into a romantic relationship. DC launched a Superman/Wonder Woman series that debuted in late 2013, which focuses both the threats they face together, and on their romance as a "Power Couple". After the events of "Convergence", Wonder Woman would don a new costume. She would also face Donna Troy, who is now reimagined as a villainous doppelgänger created by a vengeful Amazon elder, not only to physically defeat Wonder Woman but also to outmaneuver her in Themyscirian politics. The New 52 version of Earth 2 was introduced in Earth 2 #1 (2012). In that issue, the Earth 2 Wonder Woman is introduced via flashback. She, along with Superman and Batman, are depicted dying in battle with forces from Apokolips five years in the past. This Wonder Woman worshiped the deities of Roman mythology as opposed to the Greek; the Roman gods perish as a result of the conflict. An earlier version of the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, prior to the Apokoliptian invasion, is seen in the comic book Batman/Superman, where she is seen riding a pegasus. In Earth 2 #8 (2013), Wonder Woman's adult daughter, Fury, is introduced. She is loyal to the Apokoliptian Steppenwolf. In 2016, DC Comics implemented DC Rebirth, a relaunch of its entire line of comic books. Following the events of the Darkseid War, Wonder Woman is told by the dying Myrina Black that on the night of Diana's birth, Hippolyta gave birth to a twin child. This child was revealed to be male, known as Jason, and is said to be incredibly powerful. Wonder Woman makes it her mission to find him. At the same time, she finds the truth behind her origin and history is now cluttered, as she remembers two versions: the pre-Flashpoint one, and the New 52 rendition. She cannot locate Themiscyra or her fellow Amazons and the Lasso of Truth does not work for her anymore. The "Year One" storyline retells Diana's origin growing up on Themyscira. She lives an idyllic life and harbors interest for the outside world, and the first connection to it comes in the form of Steve Trevor, who crashes on the island and is the sole survivor. A contest is held to determine which Amazon is the best candidate to take Steve home, with Diana volunteering despite knowing the cost to leave the island is to never return. Diana wins the contest and departs with Steve. Once arriving in America, Diana is taken into custody by the government to discern her origins. She meets Etta Candy and Barbara Ann Minerva along the way. While incarcerated, Diana is visited by the gods in animal form and they bestow upon her powers of strength, speed, agility, durability, and flight. She discovers Ares, the god of war, is working to destroy humanity. Accepting her new role in Man's World, Diana, with the help of the gods in animal form, subdues Ares with the lasso. Now called Wonder Woman, Diana becomes one of the world's greatest heroes. The "Lies" story arc runs parallel with and explores Diana's search. No longer able to get into Mount Olympus, Diana tracks down Barbara Ann Minerva, the Cheetah, to get help. Cheetah agrees to help in exchange for Diana aiding her in killing the god Urzkartaga and ending Minerva's curse. The pair battle their way through Urzkartaga's minions, the Bouda, and defeat Andres Cadulo, a worshiper of Urzkartaga that planned to sacrifice Steve Trevor to the plant god. Once reverted to her human form, Minerva agreed to help Wonder Woman find her way back to Paradise Island. During this time, Wonder Woman reconnects with Steve. Minerva eventually realizes Paradise Island is an embodiment of emotion instead of a physical place, so Wonder Woman and Steve head out to find the island. They succeed and Wonder Woman is greeted by her mother and sisters, though Steve senses something is wrong. Wonder Woman comes to realize nothing is as she remembers and, upon using the Lasso of Truth, discovers everything she thought she knew was a lie: she never really returned to Themyscira after departing with Steve years earlier. The revelation shatters Diana's mind and she is left nearly insane. Veronica Cale, a businesswoman who has been desiring to find Themyscira and the leader of Godwatch, sends a military group called Poison after her, but Diana's state has left her vulnerable and oblivious to the danger she and Steve are in. Steve wards them off long enough for them to be rescued, and reluctantly places Diana in a mental hospital so she can get help. While there, she comes to grasp the reality she thought she knew was false, eventually coming out of her stupor and able to rejoin the others in tracking down Veronica Cale, who is trying to find Themyscira. In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock," Doctor Poison attended the meeting established by the Riddler and mentioned a rumor that Wonder Woman was forcefully dragged back to Themyscira by her fellow Amazons. Wonder Woman comes out of hiding to address the United Nations, hoping to defuse the metahuman arms race. However, the summit is interrupted by Black Adam, the Creeper, and Giganta, who take advantage of the absence of most of Earth's superheroes to attack the UN at the time when the superheroes were confronting Doctor Manhattan on Mars. Diana is depicted as a masterful athlete, acrobat, fighter and strategist, trained and experienced in many ancient and modern forms of armed and unarmed combat, including exclusive Amazonian martial arts. With her godlike abilities of incalculable superhuman strength, nigh-invulnerability, speed, flight, healing factor and semi-immortality, Diana’s fighting prowess is enhanced. In some versions, her mother trained her, as Wonder Girl, for a future career as Wonder Woman. From the beginning, she is portrayed as highly skilled in using her Amazon bracelets to stop bullets and in wielding her golden lasso. Batman once called her the "best melee fighter in the world". The modern version of the character is known to use lethal force when she deems it necessary. In the New 52 continuity, her superior combat skills are the result of her Amazon training, as well as receiving further training from Ares, the God of War, himself, since as early as her childhood. The Golden Age Wonder Woman also had knowledge in psychology, as did her Amazon sisters. The Golden Age Wonder Woman had strength that was comparable to the Golden Age Superman. Wonder Woman was capable of bench pressing 15,000 pounds even before she had received her bracelets, and later hoisted a 50,000 pound boulder above her head to inspire Amazons facing the test. Even when her super strength was temporarily nullified, she still had enough mortal strength of an Amazon to break down a prison door to save Steve Trevor. In one of her earliest appearances, she is shown running easily at , and later jumps from a building and lands on the balls of her feet. She was able to heal faster than a normal human being due to her birthright consumption of water from Paradise Island's Fountain of Eternal Youth. Her strength would be removed in accordance with "Aphrodite's Law" if she allowed her bracelets to be bound or chained by a male. She also had an array of mental and psychic abilities, as corresponding to Marston's interest in parapsychology and metaphysics. Such an array included ESP, astral projection, telepathy (with or without the Mental Radio), mental control over the electricity in her body, the Amazonian ability to turn brain energy into muscle power, etc. Wonder Woman first became immune to electric shocks after having her spirit stripped from her atoms by Dr. Psycho's Electro Atomizer; it was also discovered that she was unable to send a mental radio message without her body. Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #105 revealed that Diana was formed from clay by the Queen of the Amazons, given life and power by four of the Greek and Roman gods (otherwise known as the Olympian deities) as gifts, corresponding to her renowned epithet: "Beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes, and stronger than Hercules", making her the strongest of the Amazons. Wonder Woman's Amazon training gave her limited telepathy, profound scientific knowledge, and the ability to speak every languageeven caveman and Martian languages. Between 1966 and 1967, new powers were added, such as super breath. In the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, Wonder Woman was able to further increase her strength. In times of great need, removing her bracelets would temporarily augment her power tenfold, but cause her to go berserk in the process. These powers received changes after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the Post-Crisis universe, Wonder Woman receives her super powers as a blessing from Olympian deities just like the Silver Age version before, but with changes to some of her powers: Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, blessed Diana with strength drawn from the Earth spirit Gaea, making her one of the physically strongest heroes in the DC Universe and the strongest female hero in the DC Universe. This strength has allowed her to easily overwhelm Superman and Supergirl. She has also held her own against Darkseid. Her strength has no measurable limits and she can break the Chronus Scepter, which is universal in its destructive power. However, now Diana is the daughter of Zeus, king of the Greek Gods, so it is unclear as to how much of her power and strength is a direct result of her divine heritage. Her connection to the earth allows her to heal at an accelerated rate so long as she is in contact with the planet. In rare cases where she has been gravely injured, Diana showed the ability to physically merge with the earth, causing whatever injuries or poisons to be expelled from her body; such an act is considered sacred, and can only be used in extreme cases., Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, granted Diana great wisdom, intelligence, and military prowess. Athena's gift has enabled Diana to master over a dozen languages (including those of alien origin), multiple complex crafts, sciences and philosophies, as well as leadership, military strategy, and armed and unarmed combat. More recently, Athena bound her own eyesight to Diana's, granting her increased empathy., Artemis, goddess of the hunt, animals, and the Moon, graced Diana with the Eyes of the Hunter and unity with beasts, meaning Diana can communicate with all animals, including dinosaurs. The Eyes of the Hunter ability gives Diana a full range of enhanced senses, including telescopic vision and super hearing., Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, granted Diana sisterhood with fire. This power has been shown to control the "Fires of Truth", which Diana wields through her lasso, making anyone bound by it unable to lie. This ability also grants her resistance to both normal and supernatural fire., Hermes, the messenger god of speed, granted Diana superhuman speed and the ability to fly. She is capable of flying at speeds approaching half the speed of light. She can react quickly enough to deflect bullets, lasers, and other projectiles with her virtually impenetrable bracelets. After the 2011 relaunch of the character, Wonder Woman does not naturally possess the power of flight. She gains it once she is hit by a feather thrown by Hermes., Aphrodite, goddess of love, bestowed Diana with stunning beauty, as well as a kind heart. While not completely invulnerable, she is highly resistant to great amounts of concussive force and extreme temperatures and surpass even Superman in this regard. She is completely immune to his heat vision, virtually any damage, or even the core of the sun. However, edged weapons or projectiles applied with sufficient force are able to pierce her skin. Due to her divine origins, Diana can resist many forms of magical manipulation. She is able to astrally project herself into various lands of myth. Her physical body reacts to whatever happens to her on the mythical astral plane, leaving her body cut, bruised, or sometimes strengthened once her mind and body are reunited. She can apparently leave the planet through meditation and did this once to rescue Artemis while she was in Hell. After the 2011 relaunch, Diana gained new powers. These new abilities, which included superhuman speed, durability, immortality, accelerated healing, and even flight came in addition to her previous attributed Olympian strength. She is now considered to be stronger than Hercules. In addition to her weaponry, Diana's bracelets can now create a thunderous explosion or expel lightning when she clashes them together. Diana can also manipulate lightning and create weapons out of lightning bolts. These new abilities are attributed to being the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Her powers are now considered nearly unmeasurable if she goes without her Bracelets of Submission, which keep her demigod powers in check. She uses these powers in battle against the goddess Artemis and quickly renders her unconscious with ease with a series of carefully positioned counterattacks. While using her godly powers, her outfit and accoutrements lit up and her eyes glowed like her father's. After becoming the God of War in the pages of Wonder Woman, Diana inherits Ares's divine abilities. Diana has not exhibited her full powers as War, but is seen in Superman/Wonder Woman #8 to slip easily into telepathic rapport with a soldier, explaining "I am War. I know all soldiers, and they know me." Following the Rebirth retcon, the "Year One" storyline explains that while put in a cell after coming to Man's World, Diana was visited by the Greek gods in animal form. Each gave her powers that would reveal themselves when she needed them to. She first displays strength when she accidentally rips the bars off her cell door when visited by Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, and Barbara Ann Minerva. Later on a trip to the mall, she discovers super speed, great durability, and the power of flight while fighting off a terrorist attack. Wonder Woman is also immortal and doesn't age beyond prime. DC Comics ended the Rebirth branding in December 2017, opting to include everything under a larger "DC Universe" banner and naming. The continuity established by Rebirth continues across DC's comic book titles, including volume five of Wonder Woman. Diana is an incredible scientist and physician in addition to her athleticism. She has an arsenal of powerful god-forged gear at her disposal, but her signature equipment are her indestructible bracelets and the Lasso of Truth. Wonder Woman's outfit has varied over time, although almost all of her outfit incarnations have retained some form of red chestplate, blue subligaculum, golden tiara, bracelets, and her signature five-pointed star symbols. When Wonder Woman was first introduced, she wore a heavily patriotic skirt and red top which incorporated an American eagle and elements of the United States flag, reflecting the comic's origins during World War II. Later artists introduced what would become Wonder Woman's classic ensemble, adding an armored plate to her top whose design recalls a letter W and revealing blue short shorts, whose precise length varied from artist to artist. Other artists have experimented with different looks for Wonder Woman over the years, including an all-white mod jumpsuit, a biker outfit, a variation of her mainstream depiction featuring leather pants and a jacket, and a number of armoured battlesuits. Contemporary artists have attempted to emphasise Wonder Woman's traditional outfit as a red armored top with a blue gladiator skirt. Wonder Woman's outfit design was originally rooted in American symbolism and iconography, which included her signature star symbols, a golden eagle on her chest, crimson red bustier, white belt, and a dark blue star spangled skirt/culotte. She also had a pair of red glowing magnetic earrings which allowed her to receive messages from Queen Desira of the planet Venus. At the time of her debut, Wonder Woman sported a red top with a golden eagle emblem, a white belt, blue star-spangled culottes, and red and golden go-go boots. She originally wore a skirt; however according to Elizabeth Martson, "It was too hard to draw and would have been over her head most of the time." This outfit was entirely based on the American flag, because Wonder Woman was purely an American icon as she debuted during World War II. Later in 1942, Wonder Woman's outfit received a slight changethe culottes were converted entirely into skin-tight shorts and she wore sandals. While earlier most of her back was exposed, during the imposition of the Comics Code Authority in the mid-1950s, Wonder Woman's outfit was rectified to make her back substantially covered, in order to comply with the Authority's rule of minimum exposure. During Mike Sekowsky's run in the late 1960s, Diana surrendered her powers and started using her own skills to fight crime. She wore a series of jumpsuits as her attire; the most popular of these was a white one. After Sekowsky's run ended in the early 1970s, Diana's roots were reverted to her old mythological ones and she wore a more modernized version of her original outfit, a predecessor to her "bathing suit" outfit. Later, in 1976, her glowing white belt was turned into a yellow one. For Series 3, artist Terry Dodson redrew her outfit as a strapless swimsuit. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, George Pérez rebooted the character in 1987. She wore an outfit similar to her 1970s one, but now with a larger glowing golden belt. This outfit continued until William Messner-Loebs' run, which had Diana pass on the role of Wonder Woman to Artemis. No longer Wonder Woman, Diana sported a new black biker-girl outfit designed by artist Mike Deodato Jr. After John Byrne took over writing and art duties, he redesigned the Wonder Woman outfit (Diana was reinstated as Wonder Woman at the end of Loebs' run) and joined the emblem and belt together. Her outfit did not receive any prominent change until after the 2005–2006 Infinite Crisis storyline. Similar to her chestplate, her glowing belt was also shaped into a "W". This outfit continued until issue #600J. Michael Straczynski's run of Wonder Woman's altered timeline changed her outfit drastically. Her outfit was redesigned by Jim Lee and included a redesigned emblem, a golden and red top, black pants, and a later discontinued blue-black jacket. It was later retconned by Gail Simone that Wonder Woman's outfit design had Amazonian roots. During a flashback in Vol. 3, Hippolyta is shown issuing orders to have a garment created for Diana, taking inspiration from the skies on the night Diana was born; a red hunter's moon and a field of stars against deep blue, and the eagle breastplate being a symbol of Athena's avian representations. Another major outfit change for Wonder Woman came about as part of DC Comics' 2011 relaunch of its entire line of publications, The New 52. The character's original one-piece outfit was restored, although the color combination of red and blue was changed to dark red and blue-black. Her chest-plate, belt and tiara were also changed from gold to a platinum or sterling silver color. Along with her sword, she now also utilizes a shield. She wears many accessories such as arm and neck jewelry styled as the "WW" motif. Her outfit is no longer made of fabric, as it now resembles a type of light, flexible body armor. Her boots are now a very dark blue rather than red. The design previously included black trousers, but they were removed and the one-piece look was restored during the time of publication. After the events of the 2015 storyline Convergence, Diana gets a new armored suit with the classic armor and tiara returning. Following the 2016 DC Rebirth continuity relaunch, Wonder Woman's outfit was redesigned to resemble the one worn in the film . This outfit is a red bustier with a gold eagle, a blue leather skirt with gold edges with two stars, and knee-high red boots with gold knee guards and accents. Her tiara once again is gold with a red star. She occasionally wears a red cape with a gold clasp and edges. She continues to wear this updated outfit in DC Universe, the continuity established after Rebirth. Her tiara's signature star symbol is now an eight pointed starburst. According to designer Lindy Hemming and director Patty Jenkins, every design decision made for Themyscira came down to the same question: "How would I want to live that's badass?" "To me, they shouldn't be dressed in armor like men. It should be different. It should be authentic and real ... and appealing to women." When asked about the decision to give the Amazons heeled sandals, Jenkins explained that they also have flats for fighting, adding "It's total wish- fulfillment ... I, as a woman, want Wonder Woman to be sexy, hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time ... the same way men want Superman to have ridiculously huge pecs and an impractically big body. That makes them feel like the hero they want to be. And my hero, in my head, has really long legs." This corresponds to the original intent by William Moulton Marston, who wanted his character to be alluringly feminine. The Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age portrayals of Wonder Woman showed her using a silent and invisible plane that could be controlled by mental command and fly at speeds up to . Its appearance has varied over time; originally it had a propeller, while later it was drawn as a jet aircraft resembling a stealth aircraft. The Invisible Plane was originally a necessity because Wonder Woman could not fly until the Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote the character's history. She grew increasingly powerful during and after the Silver Age, acquiring the power to ride wind currents and imitate flight over short distances. Created by Diana herself, the Invisible Plane appeared in the very first comic stories, including All-Star Comics #8, where it is shown as being able to fly at over and to send out rainbow rays that penetrate the mist around Paradise Island, as well as landing stealthily and having a built-in radio. Wonder Woman is seen storing the plane in a barn at an abandoned farm near Washington, D.C., where she goes as Lt. Prince and changes clothes in some of the earliest tales. In a story published shortly after, the plane flies at a second. Shortly thereafter, Wonder Woman is shown being able to summon it with her tiara, have it hover by the War Department, and extend from it a rope ladder with which she could board it. She uses the plane to fly into outer space, and frequently transports Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls, Steve Trevor, and others. During the 1950s, the plane becomes a jet, and is often shown swooping over Lt. Prince's office; she strips out of her uniform at super speed and bounds to the plane. Though the plane was depicted as semi- transparent for the reader's convenience, in-story dialogue indicated that it actually was completely invisible, or at least able to become so as the need arose. Wonder Woman continued to use the Invisible Plane for super speed, outer space, and multi-dimensional transport up until the unpowered era of Diana Prince. When Wonder Woman resumed superpowered, costumed operations in 1973, she continued to use the jet as before, but did glide on air currents for short distances. At one point, Aphrodite granted the plane the power to fly faster than the speed of light for any interstellar voyages her champion might undertake. Thanks to tinkering by gremlins, the Plane even developed intelligence and the power to talk. The plane proved a good friend, eager to help his "mistress" and her loved ones in any way possible. It got along especially well with Steve Trevor. Diana's bulletproof bracelets were formed from the remnants of Athena's legendary shield, the Aegis, to be awarded to her champion. The shield was made from the indestructible hide of the great she-goat, Amalthea, who suckled Zeus as an infant. These forearm guards have thus far proven NIGH- indestructible (the Omega Beams of Grail have proven able to shatter them), and are able to absorb the impact of incoming attacks, allowing Wonder Woman to deflect automatic weapon fire and energy blasts. Diana can slam the bracelets together to create a wave of concussive force capable of making strong beings like Superman's ears bleed. Recently, she gained the ability to channel Zeus's lightning through her bracelets as well. Zeus explained to her that this power had been contained within the bracelets since their creation, because they were once part of the Aegis, and that he had only recently unlocked it for her use. After the 2011 relaunch of the character, it was revealed that Diana was the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta and that the bracelets are able to keep the powers she had inherited from Zeus in check. In addition, Hephaestus has modified the bracelets to allow Wonder Woman the sorcerous ability to manifest a sword of grayish metal from each bracelet. Each sword, marked with a red star, takes shape from a flash of lightning, and when Wonder Woman is done with them, the swords disappear, supposedly, back into her bracelets. As such, she has produced other weapons from the bracelets in this way such as a bow that fires explosive arrows, spears and energy bolts among others. The inspiration to give Diana bracelets came from the pair of bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, creator William Moulton Marston's research assistant and lover. "Wonder Woman and her sister Amazons have to wear heavy bracelets to remind them of what happens to a girl when she lets a man conquer her," quoted Marston in a 1942 interview. "The Amazons once surrendered to the charm of some handsom Greeks and what a mess they got themselves into. The Greeks put them in chains of the Hitler type, beat them, and made them work like horses in the fields. Aphrodite, goddess of love, finally freed these unhappy girls. But she laid down the rule ("Aphrodite's Law") that they must never surrender to a man for any reason. I know of no better advice to give modern day women than this rule that Aphrodite gave the Amazon girls." The Lasso of Truth, or Lasso of Hestia, was forged by Hephaestus from the golden girdle of Gaea. The original form of the Lasso in the Golden Age was called the Magic Lasso of Aphrodite. It compels all beings who come into contact with it to tell the absolute truth and is virtually indestructible; in Identity Crisis, Green Arrow mistakenly describes it as "the only lie detector designed by Zeus." The only times it has been broken were when Wonder Woman herself refused to accept the truth revealed by the lasso, such as when she confronted Rama Khan of Jarhanpur, and by Bizarro in Matt Wagner's non- canonical . During the Golden Age, the original form of the Lasso had the power to force anyone caught to obey any command given them, even overriding the mind control of others; this was effective enough to defeat strong-willed beings like Captain Marvel. Diana wields the Lasso with great precision and accuracy and can use it as a whip or noose. During the Golden Age, Wonder Woman possessed a Purple Ray capable of healing even a fatal gunshot wound to the brain. She invented the ray herself in order to heal Steve Trevor from injuries he sustained when his plane was shot down and he was left adrift in the sea for days. After the storyline Crisis on Infinite Earths, the creation of the Purple Ray was attributed to the Baroness Paula von Gunther. Diana occasionally uses additional weaponry in formal battle, such as ceremonial golden armour with golden wings, pteruges, chestplate, and golden helmet in the shape of an eagle's head. She possesses a magical sword forged by Hephaestus that is sharp enough to cut the electrons off an atom. As early as the 1950s, Wonder Woman's tiara has also been used as a razor-edged throwing weapon, returning to her like a boomerang. The tiara allows Wonder Woman to be invulnerable from telepathic attacks, as well as allowing her to telepathically contact people such as the Amazons back on Themyscira using the power of the red star ruby in its center. As a temporary inductee into the Star Sapphires, Wonder Woman gained access to the violet power ring of love. This ring allowed her to alter her costume at will, create solid-light energy constructs, and reveal a person's true love to them. She was able to combine the energy with her lasso to enhance its ability. She also possessed a Mental Radio that could let her receive messages from those in need. Since her comic book debut in December 1941, Wonder Woman has appeared in a number of adaptations. These formats include television shows, video games, and films. Wonder Woman has made multiple appearances in television, including the 1974 made-for-television film Wonder Woman, and most notably Hanna-Barbera's long- running animated series Super Friends as well as the 1970s live-action show Wonder Woman. The character has been featured in direct-to-DVD animated films and CGI theatrical releases, such as The Lego Movie (2014). Within the live-action DC Extended Universe films, Wonder Woman debuted in (2016) and was featured as the main character in Wonder Woman (2017). In November 2017, she appeared in the DCEU release Justice League. The 2017 film, Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, tells the story of the polyamorous relationship between William Moulton Marston, his wife and fellow psychologist Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their lover Olive Byrne; the invention of the lie detector, and how they inspired the creation of the Wonder Woman comic. Although created to be a positive role-model and a strong female character for girls and boys, Wonder Woman has had to deal with the misogyny that was commonplace in comic book industry for decades. For example, Wonder Woman was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. This roster included the original Flash and Green Lantern. Wonder Woman was an experienced leader and easily the most powerful of them all, yet was rendered a secretary. This would also be accompanied with her losing her powers or getting captured on most Justice League adventures. During the '50s and '60s, comic writers regularly made Wonder Woman lovesick over Steve Trevor, a Major in the United States Army. Stories frequently featured Wonder Woman hoping or imagining what it would be like to marry Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman was named the 20th greatest comic book character by Empire magazine. She was ranked sixth in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. In May 2011, Wonder Woman placed fifth on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time. Not all reaction to Wonder Woman has been positive. In the controversial Seduction of the Innocent, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham claimed Wonder Woman's strength and independence made her a lesbian in a condemning way. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, founder of Ms. magazine, was responsible for the return of Wonder Woman's original abilities. Offended that the most famous female superhero had been depowered into a boyfriend-obsessed damsel in distress, Steinem placed Wonder Woman (in costume) on the cover of the first issue of Ms. (1972) – Warner Communications, DC Comics' owner, was an investor – which also contained an appreciative essay about the character. Wonder Woman's powers and traditional costume were restored in issue #204 (January–February 1973). In 1972, just months after the groundbreaking US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, science fiction author Samuel R. Delany had planned a story for Ms. that culminated in a plainclothes Wonder Woman protecting an abortion clinic. However, Steinem disapproved of Wonder Woman being out of costume, and the controversial story line never happened. The original significance of Wonder Woman had the intentions of influencing many women of all ages, displaying the physical and mental strengths, values, and ethical attributes that not only men acquire. "Wonder Woman symbolizes many of the values of the women's culture that feminists are now trying to introduce into the mainstream: strength and self-reliance for women; sisterhood and mutual support among women; peacefulness and esteem for human life; a diminishment both of 'masculine' aggression and of the belief that violence is the only way of solving conflicts," Steinem wrote at the time. Carolyn Cocca has stated that Wonder Woman possesses a "duality of character" due to the character possessing both feminine and masculine qualities in her physical abilities and attitude, which Cocca felt made her more appealing to a wide audience. Wonder Woman's first female editor, Karen Berger, claimed that, "Wonder Woman [is] a great role model to young women, but also contains many elements that appeal to males as well. Wonder Woman crosses the gender line.". Berger worked with George Pérez on the new issues of Wonder Woman starting in 1987, and the new Diana "works with friends and allies to teach lessons of peace and equality." The origin of Wonder Woman and the psychological reasoning behind why William Morton Marston created her in the way he did illustrated Marston's educational, ethical, and moral values. "William Marston intended her to be a feminist character, showing young boys the illimitable possibilities of a woman who could be considered just as strong as the famed Superman." Gladys L. Knight explains the impact and influences that superheroes have on us in society ranging from the 1870s until the present day. Marc DiPaolo introduces us to Wonder Woman's creator and history and he demonstrates how she is a "WWII veteran, a feminist icon, and a sex symbol" all throughout her "career". Wonder Woman stars in multiple films and is most commonly known for her red, white and blue one piece, and her tall, sexy assertiveness. What many people don't know is that she is a big part of history in the comic and superhero world because of how her character influences real life people of all ages, sexes, ethnicities, and races. "Marston created the comic book character Wonder Woman to be both strong and sexy, as a means of encouraging woman to emulate her unapologetic assertiveness." Charlotte Howell notes in her essay titled "'Tricky' Connotations: Wonder Woman as DC's Brand Disruptor" that Wonder Woman is, "inherently disruptive to masculine superhero franchise branding because, according to her creator William Moulton Marston, she was intended to be 'psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, [he] believe[d], should rule the world.'" Continuing her legacy as an influential feminist icon, in 2015 Wonder Woman became the first superhero to officiate a same-sex wedding in a comic series. On October 21, 2016, the United Nations controversially named Wonder Woman a UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in a ceremony attended by Under-Secretary- General for Communications and Public Information Cristina Gallach and by actors Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot. The character was dropped from the role two months later after a petition against the appointment stated Wonder Woman was "not culturally...sensitive" and it was "alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualized image". After the release of the 2017 film Wonder Woman, many bloggers noted what they felt made Wonder Woman a feminist icon in the film. Zoe Williams for The Guardian said, "Yes, she is sort of naked a lot of the time, but this isn't objectification so much as a cultural reset: having thighs, actual thighs you can kick things with, not thighs that look like arms, is a feminist act. The whole Diana myth, women safeguarding the world from male violence not with nurture but with better violence, is a feminist act. Casting Robin Wright as Wonder Woman's aunt, re-imagining the battle-axe as a battler with an axe, is a feminist act. A female German chemist trying to destroy humans (in the shape of Dr Poison, a proto-Mengele before Nazism existed) might be the most feminist act of all." Alyssa Rosenberg for The Washington Post said, "...None of these experiences crushed me, of course, but I do wonder what it might have been like if they hadn't happened.The power of Wonder Woman, and one of the things that gives Jenkins's adaptation of the character such a lift, is in the answer to that question. Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) doesn't have any idea what women and men are — or aren't — supposed to do. Even when she does encounter other people's ideas about gender roles, she doesn't automatically accept them, and she never lets anyone stop her. And the movie goes a step further and argues that it's not merely little girls all over the world who stand to gain if they can grow up free of the distorting influence of misogyny: a world like that would be liberating and wonderful for men in lots of ways, too." Emma Gray for HuffPost said, "When it comes to pop culture, we speak often about representation; the simple yet often unfulfilled idea that it matters to see someone like you fill a variety of imagined roles on screen. After awhile, these conversations almost begin to feel obvious. We know that it's good to see women and people of color and disabled people and trans people and queer people in the same numbers and variety of roles that white, cisgender, straight men have long been afforded. But what these discussions often lose is the emotional impact of finally seeing something you may have never even realized you were missing. For many women viewers, "Wonder Woman" filled a hole they didn't know they had." Gloria Steinem, editor for Ms. magazine and a major supporter of Wonder Woman, stated "...[Marston] had invented Wonder Woman as a heroine for little girls, and also as a conscious alternative to the violence of comic books for boys." Badower described a near-international incident (involving an unnamed Russian general rolling dozens of tanks and munitions through a shady mountain pass) as an outstanding example for standing up to bullies. "She ends up deflecting a bullet back and disarming the general," he says, adding that "she doesn't actually do anything violent in the story. I just think that Wonder Woman is smarter than that." Nick Pumphrey stated that Wonder Woman stands as a non- violent beacon of hope and inspiration for women and men. Grant Morrison stated "I sat down and I thought, 'I don't want to do this warrior woman thing.' I can understand why they're doing it, I get all that, but that's not what [Wonder Woman creator] William Marston wanted, that's not what he wanted at all! His original concept for Wonder Woman was an answer to comics that he thought were filled with images of blood-curdling masculinity, and you see the latest shots of Gal Gadot in the costume, and it's all sword and shield and her snarling at the camera. Marston's Diana was a doctor, a healer, a scientist." Paquette detailed the changes he made to Wonder Woman's costume, stating that he removed the iconic American flag theme and instead incorporated a Greek influence: "The animal associated to Aphrodite is a dove so instead of an eagle on [Wonder Woman's] breastplate, it will be more of a dove. It's not the American eagle, it's the Aphrodite dove. Stuff that creates [the letter] W is by accident, so it's not like she already has a letter of the alphabet on her [costume]. In the end I've created a structure so it feels inevitable for Wonder Woman to look the way she does." William Marston's earliest works were notorious for containing subversive "bondage and sapphic-undertones" subtext. Among Wonder Women's infamous catchphrases, "Suffering Sappho", was a direct reference to lesbianism. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent referred to her as the "lesbian counterpart to Batman" (whom he also identified as a homosexual). After Marston's death in 1947, DC Comics downplayed her sexuality and feminist origin. Wonder Women, without Marston's creative direction, become more "traditional" superhero fare; the lesbian relationships and sexual imagery disappeared from the "Wonder Woman" comic, along with Wonder Woman's super powers. During the Comics Code Authority-decades since, Wonder Woman's subversiveness had been gradually stripped away; subsequent comic book writers and artists either didn't know what do with her or barely hinted at Wonder Woman's erotic legacy. But under the new 1987 re-boot of the title, under the editorship of Karen Berger, and with the writing and art of George Perez at the helm of the book, the same-sex appreciation by Wonder Woman and the Amazons was more than hinted-at and this was established quickly in the new run of the title. Upon her first sight of supporting character Vanessa Kapatelis (in issue #3), she is shown smiling upwards at Kapatelis, thinking to herself "I've never seen another woman quite like her...she's so young...so vulnerable...so beautiful..." Three years later, in the very first issue (#38) of a new decade, there is a story-line presenting a cultural exchange between appointed leaders from 'Man's World', who are the first mortals to visit Themyscira in this continuity, and the Amazons of Themyscira, in Themyscira, itself. The guest Unitarian minister, Reverend Cantwell, asks the Amazon Mnemosyne "..."Don't you miss the sharing God intended for the sexes?" to which Mnemosyne replied "Some do. They have sworn themselves to Artemis, the virgin hunter, and Athena, the chaste warrior. Others choose the way of Narcissus. But most of us find satisfaction in each other -- three thousand years can be a long time, reverend.". Probably more than at any other time in the then nearly fifty-year history of the character, the Amazons were explicitly and unequivocally defined, in general, as lesbian. Additionally, Kevin Mayer, brother of the major supporting character Myndi Mayer, was openly gay and this was treated sympathetically. By this time, DC Comics was a Warner Brothers-owned company, and had been for over 20 years. Wonder Woman is suggested as being queer or bisexual, as she and another Amazon, Io, had reciprocal feelings for each other. Grant Morrison's 2016 comic , which exists parallel to the current DC comics Rebirth canon, Diana is depicted being kissed on her right cheek by a blonde woman who has put her left arm around Diana. In 2016, "Issue #48" of Sensation Comics, featured Wonder Woman officiating a same-sex wedding, drawn by Australian illustrator Jason Badower. "My country is all women. To us, it's not 'gay' marriage. It's just marriage", she states to Superman. Inspired by the 2015 June Supreme Court ruling that established marriage equality in all 50 United States, Badower says DC Comics was "fantastic" about his idea for the issue. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, he said his editor "Was like 'great, I love it! Let's do it.' It was almost anticlimactic." "Diana's mother, the queen, at the very least authorized or in some cases officiated these weddings," Badower says. "It just seems more like a royal duty Diana would take on, that she would do for people that would appreciate it." Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot reacted positively to Diana's rebooted orientation, and agreed her sexuality was impacted by growing up in the women-only Themyscira. Gadot stated that Wonder Woman feels she need not be "labelled sexually", and is "just herself". "She's a woman who loves people for who they are. She can be bisexual. She loves people for their hearts." Coming from a society that was only populated by women, "'lesbian' in [the world's] eyes may have been 'straight' for them." "Her culture is completely free from the shackles of heteronormativity in the first place so she wouldn't even have any 'concept' of gender roles in sex." Wonder Woman's advocacy for women rights and gay rights was taken a step further in September 2016, when comic book writer Greg Rucka announced that she is canonically bisexual, according to her rebooted Rebirth origin. Rucka stated, "...nobody at DC Comics has ever said, [Wonder Woman] gotta be straight. Nobody. Ever. They've never blinked at this." Rucka stated that in his opinion, she "has to be" queer and has "obviously" had same-sex relationships on an island surrounded by beautiful women. This follows the way Wonder Woman was written in the alternate continuity or non-canon Earth One by Grant Morrison, and fellow Wonder Woman writer Gail Simone staunchly supported Rucka's statement. Surprised at the amount of backlash from her fanbase, Rucka responded to "haters" that consensual sex with women is just as important to Wonder Woman as the Truth is to Superman. Wonder Woman's signature weapon was her Lasso of Truth; consequently, much of her crime-fighting powers came from bondage, and her only exploitable weakness was, essentially, bondage. Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette had teamed up to work on Wonder Woman: Earth One. Paquette confirmed that he and Morrison would be bringing back the bondage theme that was popular in Wonder Woman comics during the 1940s. However, he stated that Morrison was looking for a way to not only modernize it, but to use the bondage theme as a form of female empowerment. Paquette acknowledged that Wonder Woman has become more than just a beloved character, she is a symbol for feminism. "By bringing in sex and, yes, bondage, it reasserts [William Moulton Marston's core] idea that it is okay for women to have a healthy sexual appetite." Paquette elaborated more on this by pointing out the blatant double standards in comics when it comes to sex: "Could Wonder Woman really ever have a healthy and active sex life without it becoming political fodder for Fox News? And what of women and girls who want to be like her? Do we truly think they wouldn't be labeled sluts? I have my doubts." Wonder Woman's sexual and bondage themes in her earliest days were not without purpose, however. Her creator, William Moulton Marston, theorized that human relationships could be broken down into dominance, submission, inducement and compliance roles which were embedded into our psyche. Because males were, more often than not, dominant in societies, Marston believed that "Women as a sex, are many times better equipped to assume emotional leadership than are males." Marston wanted to convey his progressive ideals, through his use of bondage imagery, that women are not only capable of leadership roles, but should be in charge of society. Although Marston had good intentions with these themes, in Wonder Woman's early appearances, the bondage elements were controversial, as they were often seen to overly fetishize women in power rather than promote such women. Noah Berlatsky criticized this imagery in Wonder Woman's earliest days noting that "the comics take sensual pleasure in women’s disempowerment." Despite having the mixed messages of this imagery, Marston fiercely believed that women would soon rule the earth and meant to showcase his predictions through sexual themes in his stories. He was an open feminist while studying at Harvard where he once said "Girls are also human beings, a point often overlooked!" Jacob M. Held (ed.), Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique, Wiley-Blackwell, 2017., Brown, Matthew J. "Love Slaves and Wonder Women: Radical Feminism and Social Reform in the Psychology of William Moulton Marston", (Uncopyrighted manuscript) (2016): pp 1–39., Lepore, Jill. The Secret History of Wonder Woman, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014,, Bunn, Geoffrey C. "The Lie Detector, Wonder Woman and Liberty:The Life and Works of William Moulton Marston,", History of the Human Sciences, 10 (1997): pp 91–119., Daniels, Les, and Chip Kidd. Wonder Woman: A Complete History. (Chronicle Books, 2000);, Jett, Brett. "Who Is Wonder Woman?"," (Manuscript) (2009): pp 1-101., Rosenberg, Robin S. [/ "Wonder Woman: Compassionate Warrior for Peace"], (Article) (2013): pp 1–35. DC Comics: Wonder Woman, Amazon Archives Wonder Woman 1984 (also marketed as WW84: Wonder Woman) is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Wonder Woman. It is the sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman and the ninth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is being directed by Patty Jenkins from a script she wrote with Geoff Johns and David Callaham, and a story by Johns and Jenkins, and stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, alongside Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen in supporting roles. It will be the fourth live-action theatrical film featuring the title character, following (2016), Wonder Woman, and Justice League (2017); it will also be the second full-length feature film centered around the character. The film follows Diana as she faces Maxwell Lord and Cheetah in 1984. Discussion of a sequel began shortly after the release of the first film in June 2017, and the decision to proceed was confirmed the following month. Principal photography began on June 13, 2018 with filming taking place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England, as well as the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia in the United States, London and Duxford in England, Tenerife and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, and Almería in Andalusia, Spain and finished on December 22, 2018 after a six-month shoot. Additional filming took place in July 2019. Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and IMAX 3D on June 5, 2020. In 1984, Diana Prince comes into conflict with two formidable foes: Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah, while reuniting with her past love Steve Trevor. Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman: An immortal demigoddess, Amazon princess, and warrior. Diana is the daughter of Hippolyta the Amazonian Queen of Themyscira, and the King of the Olympian Gods, Zeus., Chris Pine as Steve Trevor: An American pilot, and the love interest of Diana, who had presumably died during the events of the first film., Kristen Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah: An archaeologist who befriends Diana, before becoming imbued with cheetah-like abilities., Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord: A media business man and entrepreneur who is famous for TV infomercials., Robin Wright as Antiope: Hippolyta's deceased sister, general of the Amazon army, and Diana's aunt., Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta: The queen of Themyscira and Diana's mother. Additionally, Natasha Rothwell, Ravi Patel, Gabriella Wilde, Kristoffer Polaha and Amr Waked have been cast in undisclosed roles. Gal Gadot, who had originally signed for three feature films with Wonder Woman being her second, had extended her contract beyond that. The director of the first film, Patty Jenkins, who was initially signed for only one film, had expressed interest in returning to direct the sequel. In June 2017, during an interview with Variety, comic book writer Geoff Johns revealed that he and Jenkins had started writing the treatment for a Wonder Woman sequel and that he had a "cool idea for the second one". While speaking in a Q&A; at Women in Film screening of the film, Jenkins confirmed she would indeed direct the sequel. However, Jenkins later tweeted that "it wasn't a confirmation. Just talking about ideas and hopes". On July 22, 2017, at San Diego Comic-Con, the studio officially announced a sequel would be produced, with Jenkins returning as director; its title was listed as Wonder Woman 2. In September 2017, it was officially confirmed that Jenkins would be directing the sequel. On September 13, 2017, it was reported that The Expendables writer David Callaham would join the film to write the script along with Jenkins and Johns, who were already working on it for several months. On February 28, 2018, it was reported that the film would be shot with IMAX film cameras in select action sequences. By late May 2018, long-time DCEU producer Zack Snyder confirmed on social media platform Vero that he, along with his wife Deborah Snyder, would serve as producers on the Wonder Woman sequel. On June 13, 2018, the title of the film was announced to be Wonder Woman 1984. A source close to Jenkins described it as a stand-alone film "in the same way that Indiana Jones or [James] Bond films are, instead of one continuous story that requires many installments." Pre-production officially began by early December 2017 in the United Kingdom. That same month, director Patty Jenkins stated that the film would be another great love story. In April 2018, the film was confirmed to be set in the 1980s. The next month, production designer Aline Bonetto (Amélie, Wonder Woman) was announced to be returning for the sequel, as well as Academy Award winner Lindy Hemming, also returning as costume designer. In September 2017, Gal Gadot was confirmed to return as the title character. On February 28, 2018, it was reported that Kristen Wiig was in talks with the studio to play Cheetah, the main villain of the film, with director Patty Jenkins confirming her casting the next month. By March 28, Pedro Pascal, who played Ed Indelicato in the pilot of the canceled 2011 Wonder Woman television adaptation, was cast in an undisclosed key role, later revealed to be Maxwell Lord. On June 13, Jenkins confirmed the addition of Chris Pine as Steve Trevor through Twitter. On July 24, 2018, Natasha Rothwell was announced to be cast in an undisclosed role. A few days later, on July 27, Ravi Patel and Gabriella Wilde also joined the film, with their roles being kept under wraps as well. By late August, Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright were confirmed to reprise their roles as Hippolyta and Antiope in a flashback sequence. In November 2018, Kristoffer Polaha revealed that he has a role in the film. Principal photography began on June 13, 2018, under the working title Magic Hour. Filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England, and at a number of locations around the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia in the United States, including the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia and Georgetown during June and July 2018, with scenes shot in Alexandria from June 18 through July 14. Filming occurred outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., during mid-June. Other filming locations around D.C. included the Penn Quarter neighborhood, McPherson Square, the DAR Constitution Hall near the White House, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian), and the Lincoln Memorial. By mid-July, production in the United States was completed and moved to England. In August, filming on location took place in several places around London, including St. Andrew's Place, Regent's Park and the Royal College of Physicians. Between September and October 2018, production also took place at Almería, in Andalusia, southern Spain, as well as Fuerteventura and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. From September 5 to 11, filming occurred at the Alcazaba of Almería fortified complex and the Wall of Jayran in Almería. Production moved to Fuerteventura from September 13 through September 26, with the Corralejo Dunes National Park, Parque Holandés, El Jablito, La Oliva and the Jandía Natural Park as filming locations. Filming in Tenerife began during the last week of September, lasting two weeks at various different locations on the island. Production went back to England in October, with shooting on location taking place at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, and Hyde Park and the Savoy Hotel in Central London. By the end of the month, filming occurred at Torrington Square, adjacent to Birkbeck, University of London. By mid-November 2018, Pedro Pascal finished filming his scenes. Principal photography was completed on December 22, 2018, after a six-month shoot. Additional photography began on July 28, 2019, in London at Warner Bros. Studios. Richard Pearson will serve as the editor for Wonder Woman 1984. John Moffatt (Harry Potter and Life) will serve as the overall visual effects supervisor for the film. Double Negative (DNEG), Framestore and Method Studios will provide the visual effects for the film. Alexis Wajsbrot is serving as the visual effects supervisor for Framestore. In December 2019, Jenkins revealed work on the film was complete in six months in advance. On August 22, 2018, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for Wonder Woman 1984, replacing Rupert Gregson-Williams who scored the first film. Zimmer previously scored Man of Steel and , the first and second films in the DC Extended Universe. Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX 3D on June 5, 2020. It was previously set for December 13, 2019, and then moved to November 1, 2019, before settling on its mid-2020 release date. Like the previous film, Wonder Woman 1984 will not be shown in several Arab and Muslim nations due to Gadot's past as an Israeli soldier and the enforcement of the Israeli boycott. On June 22, 2018, it was reported that Gal Gadot would be attending Warner Bros' DC presentation at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2018, and some footage from the film would be shown to promote it. Director Patty Jenkins and actors Gadot and Chris Pine attended the Wonder Woman 1984 panel at SDCC on July 21, 2018, where a short clip of the film was shown. New footage was shown during CinemaCon 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a first look at Kristen Wiig in the film. In June 2019, Warner Bros. screened an extended look to European exhibitors at CineEurope in Barcelona, Spain. A teaser poster debuted on June 5, 2019, one year ahead of the film's release date. In October 2019, it was announced that the film's first trailer would debut during Comic Con Experience CCXP 2019 on December 8, with Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins attending the event in São Paulo, Brazil. By the end of the month, WarnerMedia Entertainment debuted new footage from the film during the HBO Max presentation to the press. The first trailer debuted on December 8, at the 2019’s Comic Con Experience (CCXP), with the show being livestreamed on Twitter around the world in real time. The same day, character posters for Wonder Woman, Maxwell Lord, Barbara Ann Minerva and Steve Trevor were released. In January 2019, after principal photography on Wonder Woman 1984 was completed, director and co-writer Patty Jenkins announced that the plot for a third Wonder Woman film is currently mapped out. The filmmaker stated that the plot of the next installment would take place during the modern-day. By December 2019, Jenkins expressed that the wait between the second and third film will be longer than the time it took to release the first sequel. In December 2019, director Patty Jenkins announced that a Wonder Woman spin- off film is in development, with the story focusing on the Amazons of Themyscira. Jenkins is attached as executive producer.

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The 1966 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 30 July 1966 to determine the winner of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth FIFA World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany, with England winning 4–2 after extra time to claim the Jules Rimet Trophy. It was the first - and to date only - time that the England team has hosted or won the World Cup. The match is remembered for England's – as of 2018 – only World Cup and major international title, Geoff Hurst's hat-trick – the first and as of 2018 only one ever scored in a FIFA World Cup Final – and the controversial third goal awarded to England by referee Gottfried Dienst and linesman Tofiq Bahramov. The England team became known as the "wingless wonders", on account of their then-unconventional narrow attacking formation, described at the time as a 4–4–2. In addition to an attendance of 96,924 at the stadium, the British television audience peaked at 32.3 million viewers, making it the United Kingdom's most-watched television event ever. Both teams were strong throughout the tournament. Each won two and drew one of their three matches in the group stages. England did not concede a goal until their semi-final against Portugal. England, managed by Alf Ramsey and captained by Bobby Moore, won the toss and elected to kick off. After 12 minutes, Sigfried Held sent a cross into the English penalty area which Ray Wilson misheaded to Helmut Haller, who got his shot on target. Jack Charlton and goalkeeper Gordon Banks failed to deal with the shot which went in making it 1–0 to West Germany. In the 18th minute, Wolfgang Overath conceded a free kick, which Moore took immediately, floating a cross into the West German area, where Geoff Hurst rose unchallenged and levelled the scores with a downward glancing header. The teams were level at half-time, and after 77 minutes England won a corner. Alan Ball delivered the ball to Geoff Hurst whose deflected shot from the edge of the area found Martin Peters. He produced the final shot, beating the West German keeper from eight yards to make the score 2–1 to England. Germany pressed for an equaliser in the closing moments, and in the 89th minute Jack Charlton conceded a free kick for climbing on Uwe Seeler as they both went up for a header. The kick was taken by Lothar Emmerich, who struck it into George Cohen in the wall; the rebound fell to Held, who shot across the face of goal and into the body of Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. The ball deflected across the England six-yard box, wrong-footing the England defence and allowing Wolfgang Weber to level the score at 2–2 and force the match into extra time. Banks protested that the ball had struck Schnellinger on the arm, and reiterated the claim in his 2002 autobiography, but replays showed that it actually struck Schnellinger on the back. England pressed forward and created several chances. In particular, with five minutes gone, Bobby Charlton struck the post and sent another shot just wide. With 11 minutes of extra time gone, Alan Ball put in a cross and Geoff Hurst swivelled and shot from close range. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and was cleared. The referee Gottfried Dienst was uncertain if it had been a goal and consulted his linesman, Tofiq Bahramov from Azerbaijan in the USSR, who indicated that it was, and the Swiss referee awarded the goal to the home team. The crowd and the audience of 400 million television viewers were left arguing whether the goal should have been given or not. The crossbar is now on display in the Wembley Stadium. England's third goal has remained controversial ever since the match. According to the Laws of the Game the definition of a goal is when "the whole of the ball passes over the goal line". English supporters cited the good position of the linesman and the statement of Roger Hunt, the nearest England player to the ball, who claimed it was a goal and that was why he wheeled away in celebration rather than attempting to tap the rebounding ball in. Modern studies using film analysis and computer simulation have shown that the whole ball never crossed the line – only 97% did. Both Duncan Gillies of the Visual Information Processing Group at Imperial College London and Ian Reid and Andrew Zisserman of the Department of Engineering Science at University of Oxford have stated that the ball would have needed to travel a further 2.5–6.0 cm to fully cross the line. Some Germans cited possible bias of the Soviet linesman, especially as the USSR had just been defeated in the semi-finals by West Germany. Bahramov later stated in his memoirs that he believed the ball had bounced back not from the crossbar but from the net, and that he was not able to observe the rest of the scene, so it did not matter where the ball hit the ground anyway. One minute before the end of play, the West Germans sent their defenders forward in a desperate attempt to score a last-minute equaliser. Winning the ball, Bobby Moore picked out the unmarked Geoff Hurst with a long pass, which Hurst carried forward while some spectators began streaming onto the field and Hurst scored moments later. Hurst later admitted that his blistering shot was as much intended to send the ball as far into the Wembley stands as possible should it miss, in order to kill time on the clock. The final goal gave rise to one of the most famous calls in English football history, when BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme described the situation as follows: One of the balls from the final is on display in the National Football Museum in Manchester. Match rules 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time if necessary, Replay if scores still level:, 19:30 BST, Tuesday, 2 August 1966, Wembley Stadium, London, No substitutions permitted One of the enduring images of the celebrations in Wembley immediately after the game was the picture of the captain Bobby Moore holding the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft, on the shoulders of Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson, together with Martin Peters. In recognition of Moore and other West Ham United players' contribution to the win, the club and Newham Borough Council jointly commissioned a statue of this scene. On 28 April 2003 Prince Andrew as president of The Football Association, duly unveiled the World Cup Sculpture (also called The Champions) in a prominent place near West Ham's ground, at the time, the Boleyn Ground, at the junction of Barking Road and Green Street. The -high bronze piece was sculpted by Philip Jackson and weighed 4 tonnes. The final is the most watched event ever on British television, as of July 2018, attracting 32.30 million viewers. In Germany, a goal resulting from a shot bouncing off the crossbar and hitting the line is called a Wembley-Tor (Wembley Goal) due to the controversial nature of Hurst's second goal. This goal has been parodied a large number of times. Some of the most notable include: England's third goal was referenced in a 2006 Adidas advertisement, where English midfielder Frank Lampard takes a shot at German keeper Oliver Kahn, and a similar event happens. On 27 June 2010 at that year's World Cup a similar goal by Lampard was wrongly disallowed (TV replays showed the ball landing past the goal line before bouncing away) which would have levelled the second-round game against Germany 2–2 (Germany won 4–1)., Kenneth Wolstenholme's commentary on the third goal that bounced on the line, "It's a goal!" was used (along with the sound of breaking glass) in the tape-looped coda of an early version of The Beatles song "Glass Onion", available on the album Anthology 3. In August 1966 a special 4d stamp marked was issued by the Royal Mail to celebrate the victory and which soared in value to up to 15 shillings each on the back of public enthusiasm for the victory before falling back in value when the public realised it was not rare. The 1991 BBC miniseries Sleepers, about a pair of deep-cover KGB agents placed in England in the mid-1960s and then forgotten includes a subplot about an archive film of the match recorded by Soviet agents and then placed in archives. A KGB officer who sees the film in the early 1990s is excited to discover it includes footage of the disputed goal and attempts to sell it to a contact at a television network (pointedly described as not the BBC). Sleepers is coy about what the film depicts and in the course of the story, the film is destroyed. Marking the 50th anniversary of England's World Cup victory in July 2016, ITV broadcast 1966 – A Nation Remembers, which was narrated by the actor Terence Stamp who attended every England game at the tournament. The World Cup win features in the song "Three Lions" (known by its chorus "Football's Coming Home"), the unofficial anthem of the England football team. England's win in the final also helped fans to create the "Two World Wars and One World Cup" chant. The players and staff of England's winning squad who did not get medals in 1966 received them on 10 June 2009 after a ceremony at 10 Downing Street in London. Initially, only the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the match received medals, but FIFA later awarded medals to every non-playing squad and staff member from every World Cup-winning country from 1930 to 1974. England–Germany football rivalry, Ghost goal The England national football team has competed at the FIFA World Cup since 1950. The FIFA World Cup is the premier competitive international football tournament, first played in 1930, whose finals stage has been held every four years since, except 1942 and 1946, due to the Second World War. The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the finals. The current format of the finals involves thirty-two teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 Final. England did not enter the competition until 1950, but have entered all eighteen subsequent tournaments. They have failed to qualify for the finals on three occasions, 1974 (West Germany), 1978 (Argentina) and 1994 (United States), and have failed to advance from the group stages on three occasions; at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the 1958 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Their best ever performance is winning the Cup in the 1966 tournament held in England, whilst they also finished in fourth place in 1990, in Italy, and in 2018 in Russia. Other than that, the team have reached the quarter-finals on nine occasions, the latest of which were at the 2002 (South Korea/Japan) and the 2006 (Germany). England's first qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup doubled as the 1950 British Home Championship. The series kicked off for England on 15 October 1949 at Ninian Park, Cardiff, against Wales. Stan Mortensen gave England the lead after twenty two minutes, and just seven minutes later, Jackie Milburn doubled the lead. This was the first goal of Milburn's hat trick, which left England 4–0 up with 20 minutes to play. Mal Griffiths scored a consolation goal for Wales ten minutes from time, but England held on for a comfortable victory. A month later, England welcomed Ireland to Maine Road, and it began well for the home side as Jack Rowley scored inside six minutes. England were already 6–0 up, thanks to Jack Froggatt, two for Stan Pearson, Stan Mortensen and a second from Rowley, by the time Ireland struck back through Samuel Smyth after 55 minutes. Rowley added a third and a fourth to his tally in the three minutes following Smyth's goal, however, leaving the score at 8–1 at the hour mark. The frantic scoring rate calmed down after that, with only one apiece before the final whistle, with Stan Pearson completing his brace for England's ninth, and Bobby Brennan scoring for Ireland. It was not until May 1950 that England travelled to Hampden Park to face Scotland, who were also undefeated after their games against Ireland and Wales. With the top two from the group qualifying, both teams were guaranteed progression to the finals, and the game was solely for the honour of winning the British Home Championship, and the seeding advantage to be enjoyed upon reaching Brazil. A solitary goal from Roy Bentley gave England the victory, the title and the top spot in the group. England were seeded in pot one for the finals, which meant they were the favourites to progress from Group 2, which also contained Spain, Chile and the United States. England's campaign kicked off against Chile in Rio de Janeiro, and, as was expected, England cruised to a 2–0 victory, courtesy of goals from Stan Mortensen and Wilf Mannion. Their troubles began four days later when they faced the Americans in Belo Horizonte in what has become one of the most famous matches of all time. Joe Gaetjens scored the only goal of the match to give the United States an unlikely victory, which has gone down as one of the World Cup's greatest upsets. A myth arose that the English newspapers were so confident of an English victory that when the result was telegrammed back, they assumed a misprint and printed the score as 10–1 in England's favour. However, this has proven to be untrue. This left England in a sticky situation prior to their final match, against Spain in Rio. They needed to win, and for Chile to beat the United States to stand any chance of going through, and even then they would need the goal averages to fall in their favour. As it turned out, no such calculations were necessary, despite Chile's victory, as Spain's Zarra scored the only goal of the game, eliminating England from the competition. As with their first World Cup, England's qualifying for the 1954 edition also constituted the 1953–54 British Home Championship. They played Wales at Ninian Park as their first match once again, and the 4–1 result was the same. However, unlike four years earlier, it was the home side that went into the lead, after twenty two minutes through Ivor Allchurch. Despite being 1–0 down at half time, England scored four within eight minutes of the restart; two each for Dennis Wilshaw and Nat Lofthouse. Goodison Park was the venue for England's home clash against Ireland, who were newly renamed Northern Ireland. Harold Hassall got England off to a good start with a goal after just ten minutes. Eddie McMorran put the Irish back on terms just before the hour mark, but Hassall completed his brace six minutes later. Lofthouse completed a comfortable 3–1 win for England. With the top two in the group qualifying for the finals, the final game between England and Scotland, at Hampden Park, settled nothing except the placings within the group, despite Scotland having dropped a point with a 3–3 draw at home to Wales. Allan Brown put the home side ahead after just seven minutes, but it was all square again thanks to Ivor Broadis just four minutes later. Johnny Nicholls gave England the lead for the first time just after half time, and they began to extend a lead after Ronnie Allen's 68th-minute goal. Jimmy Mullen made the game all but certain seven minutes from time, and although Willie Ormond scored a consolation for Scotland with just 1 minute to play, England topped the competition for the second time in a row. England were drawn in Group 4 for the finals, with hosts Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. In an odd twist, unique to the 1954 tournament, England and Italy, as the two seeded teams in the group, did not have to play each other. Equally, Switzerland and Belgium did not have to play each other. England's first game in Switzerland was against Belgium in Basel, and they suffered a shock as Léopold Anoul put the Belgians into the lead after just five minutes. Ivor Broadis put the favourites back on terms just over twenty minutes later, and although Nat Lofthouse gave England the lead 10 minutes later, it was proving to be tougher than they had expected against the Belgians. Broadis scored his second just after the hour, but Henri Coppens hit back four minutes later to keep Belgium in the game at only 3–2 down. Anoul completed his brace another four minutes after that to level the scores again. In another oddity peculiar to this World Cup, drawn matches in the group stage would go to extra time, and as such the teams played on with the score at 3–3. Just one minute into the added period, Lofthouse added a fourth for England and they seemed to have won it, but Jimmy Dickinson scored an own goal three minutes later to put the score back at 4–4. It stayed this way until the extra period was up, and as penalty shoot-outs were yet to be invented and replays were not used in the group, the match was recorded as a draw. England's second and final group game was against the hosts in Bern. This proved to be an easier game for the Three Lions, and they scored one goal in each half (from Jimmy Mullen and Dennis Wilshaw respectively) to give them a comfortable win of 2–0. As Switzerland (against England), Italy (against Switzerland) and Belgium (against Italy) had all lost one game, England progressed as group winners, along with Switzerland, who won a play-off against Italy. England faced the winners of group three and defending champions Uruguay in the quarter-finals. Carlos Borges gave the South Americans the lead inside 5 minutes, but Lofthouse put England back on terms ten minutes later. England were clearly struggling, but held on until just before half time, when Obdulio Varela gave the lead back Uruguay. Juan Alberto Schiaffino doubled the lead just after the break, but Tom Finney kept England's foot in the door with his sixty seventh-minute goal. However, it was all over after Javier Ambrois restored the two-goal lead with twelve minutes to play. The score remained at 4–2, and England were eliminated from the cup. For the first time, England had to play against countries other than the Home Nations to reach the Finals in Sweden. They were drawn against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark. In the qualifying round, England won three out of the four games and drew the other. Four months before the World Cup, Roger Byrne, Duncan Edwards, David Pegg and Tommy Taylor all lost their lives in the Munich air disaster while playing for Manchester United. At the finals, which is the only tournament to have seen all Home Nations take part, the Home Nations were all drawn in different groups. England were drawn against the Soviet Union (2–2), Brazil (0–0) and Austria (2–2), who finished third in the 1954 World Cup. At the end of the group stage, Soviet Union and England each had three points, and had scored four goals and conceded four goals. This meant there was a play-off to decide the second-placed team in the group, the winner to qualify. England lost the play-off 1–0 and were thus knocked out. The only consolation for England was that they were the only team to play the eventual winners Brazil and not lose. The third World Cup which took place in South America, saw England qualify from the group, which contained Portugal and Luxembourg, defeating Luxembourg on both occasions, and defeating Portugal at home, and drawing in Lisbon. At the finals, England were drawn in a group with Hungary, Argentina and Bulgaria. England defeated Argentina 3-1, thanks to goals from Ron Flowers, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves, before playing out a goalless draw with Bulgaria, and a 2–1 defeat to Hungary. England finished in second place behind Hungary and played the winners of group 3, defending champions Brazil, in the quarter-finals. Brazil scored first through Garrincha, before an equaliser for Gerry Hitchens before half time. However, second-half goals from Garrincha and Vavá meant Brazil won the game 3–1, and eliminated England from the competition. This defeat was manager Walter Winterbottom's last game in charge. Winterbottom had led England to four World Cup Finals. From May 1963, Alf Ramsey became the manager of England. In the 1966 World Cup Finals, England used their home advantage and, under Ramsey, won their first, and only, World Cup title. England played all their games at Wembley Stadium in London, which became the last time that the hosts were granted this privilege. England did not concede a goal in any of their first four matches at the tournament, starting with a 0–0 draw in the opening game against former champions Uruguay, followed by 2–0 wins over France and Mexico to see them finish top of their group and qualify for the quarter- finals. There they faced Argentina, in a very fierce game that saw Argentinian Antonio Rattín sent off by German referee Rudolf Kreitlein. Geoff Hurst scored the only goal of the game, and only his second in international football, to give England the win and a place in the semi-finals, where they faced Portugal. Two goals from Bobby Charlton gave England the lead going into the final 10 minutes of the match, before Eusebio scored from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute, the first goal England had conceded in the tournament. The final pitted England against West Germany, who took the lead in the 12th minute through Helmut Haller. Hurst equalised six minutes later, before Martin Peters gave England the lead with 12 minutes left to play; however, in the 89th minute, Wolfgang Weber levelled the scores again to take the match to extra time. In the additional period, Hurst scored twice more, the first crashing down off the crossbar before being given by linesman Tofiq Bahramov, who controversially deemed the ball to have entirely crossed the line. Hurst's three goals made him the first player to score a hat-trick in a FIFA World Cup final, a feat that (as of 2018) has not been matched since. 1970 saw the first World Cup finals take place in North America and England qualified automatically for the tournament by winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup. England were drawn in a group with Romania, former world champions Brazil and Czechoslovakia. Each of the matches only saw one goal, with England defeating Romania and Czechoslovakia, and losing to Brazil, progressing them to the quarter-final second in their group. The quarter-final saw a repeat of the 1966 final, with England playing West Germany. England were hampered by the fact that first-choice goalkeeper Gordon Banks was ill, and Peter Bonetti played instead. England led 2–0 with goals by Alan Mullery and Martin Peters, but in the 70th minute, Franz Beckenbauer pulled one goal back for West Germany. After Beckenbauer's goal, Ramsey substituted Bobby Charlton, who overtook Billy Wright as England's most capped player ever, with caps totalling 106. Uwe Seeler equalised for the Germans in the eighty first minute, thereby taking the game into extra time. During extra time, Gerd Müller scored the winning goal for West Germany which saw the German side win 3–2. This turned out to be Charlton's last game for England. For the first time, England did not qualify for a World Cup. In a group with Olympic champions Poland and Wales, England could not overtake Poland. After only drawing at home to Wales 1–1 and losing the first leg 2–0 to Poland, meant that England had to beat Poland at home, whilst Poland only needed to draw. Poland managed to withstand England's attacks in the first half, who had Martin Peters playing for them. Poland took the lead in the 57th minute with a goal from Jan Domarski. England equalised six minutes later, with a penalty converted by Allan Clarke. England were unable to score any more goals with goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski keeping England at bay. Brian Clough had previously called Tomaszewski a "clown". The commentator of the game then said "it's all over". Poland took this good form to the finals and ended in third place. After failing to qualify, Alf Ramsey resigned from his post and after a time, where Ramsey and his predecessor had lasted a total of 29 years, no manager was able to last in the job for longer than eight years. This ended when Bobby Robson became England manager. England also did not qualify for the fourth World Cup which took place in South America. This time, England were denied by Italy, who had scored three more goals than England after both teams finished on the same points. Goals scored dictated who qualified after the head-to-head record between the two sides finished the same, following a 2–0 home win for each team. The lower- ranked teams in the group were Finland and Luxembourg, but the size of the wins against them proved to be decisive. Nevertheless, Ron Greenwood was given a second chance in charge of England, after taking the role in 1977. 1982 saw the first time where the European Qualifying Rounds were divided into groups of five teams, where the top two teams qualify for the World Cup. Greenwood used his second chance and took England to Spain by finishing second behind Hungary and above Romania, Switzerland and Norway. At the finals, England won all three group games for the first time, defeating France 3-1, with a brace from Bryan Robson, before beating Czechoslovakia 2–0, with a Jozef Barmos own goal, and World Cup newcomers Kuwait 1–0, thanks to a Trevor Francis goal. The next round saw a second group stage consisting of three teams, a first time event at the World Cup. England drew with West Germany 0–0 and after the Germans beat Spain 2–1, England then had to beat Spain with a two-goal difference to progress to the next round. England, however, only managed a 0–0 draw against the Spanish. England remained unbeaten at the end of the tournament. After the World Cup, Ron Greenwood's time as England manager ended, and he was replaced by Bobby Robson. 1986 saw the second World Cup to take place in Mexico. England qualified for Mexico 1986 by winning four games and drawing four times against Northern Ireland, who qualified in second place, Romania, Finland and Turkey. In Mexico, England lost their opening game to Portugal 1–0 and could only manage a goalless draw against Morocco. The final group game, however, saw England beat Poland 3–0, which is one of the three highest scores for England at the World Cup, with Gary Lineker scoring a hat-trick. This result took England to second place and finished behind Morocco. England then also beat Paraguay 3–0 in the Round of 16. In the quarter-finals, England renewed their rivalry with Argentina in a game that has become notorious for the Argentina goals, both scored by Diego Maradona. Maradona's first goal, known as the Hand of God, was illegal and should not have counted, as he used his hand to punch the ball into the net. However, the referee missed this infringement, and ruled that the goal should stand. Maradona then made the score 2-0, famously dribbling from inside Argentina's half and around several English players before scoring. Gary Lineker pulled back the score to 2-1, but England ran out of time to equalise, and were eliminated. Nevertheless, Lineker finished with the Golden Boot by scoring six goals and thereby becoming England's first Golden Boot winner. By winning three and drawing three, England qualified for Italia '90, the second World Cup to be held in Italy, scoring ten goals and conceding none. England were unbeaten through qualification, winning three games, and drawing the remaining three, but still finished second to Sweden, whom they drew with twice. England profited from Romania's 3–1 win over Denmark, who, had they won, would have qualified as the third-best second-placed team. West Germany and England were able to qualify for Italia '90 as the best second-placed teams in the groups with four teams. Because a few years previously saw English hooligans at European competition matches, England were forced to play their group games on Sardinia and Sicily. In group F, was the European champions Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Egypt and England. After opening the tournament with a 1–1 draw against Ireland and a 0–0 draw against the Dutch, England then beat Egypt 1–0. This was Egypt's first appearance since the 1934 World Cup. England won the group with four points. In the next round, England had to play Belgium. The game went to extra time, and in the hundredth and nineteenth minute, David Platt scored the winning goal. England also had to play extra time against Cameroon in the quarter-finals. Cameroon were the first African team to have reached the quarter-finals. England opened the scoring through David Platt, but Cameroon quickly turned around the game to lead 2-1. Lineker subsequently won and scored a penalty in the 83rd minute to ensure the game went to extra time. He then scored a second penalty, to see England reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, England met West Germany. There was no separating the two teams after 90 minutes, which made England the first team to have played extra time in three successive World Cup games. There was also no separating the two teams after extra time, thereby taking the game to penalties. Although English goalkeeper Peter Shilton dived the right way for every penalty, he was unable to save any. German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner, having failed to save any of England's first three penalties, saved England's fourth penalty, taken by Stuart Pearce. Olaf Thon then scored for Germany, meaning that England's Chris Waddle would have to score his fifth penalty and hope that Shilton saved the Germans' fifth penalty. However, Waddle's penalty missed completely, going high over the crossbar, thereby resulting in England's being knocked out of the competition. The third-place playoff between England and Italy saw England lose their only game of the tournament in normal time. Even though this was England's best finish since the 1966 World Cup, Bobby Robson's time as England manager had come to an end. For the 1994 World Cup in the United States, under the leadership of new manager Graham Taylor, England surprisingly did not qualify for the tournament. In a group with six teams, England lost to Norway and the Netherlands, finishing third above Poland, Turkey and San Marino. England went into their final game with San Marino knowing they would need a seven-goal victory and for Poland to beat the Netherlands in the other match in order to qualify. In the game against San Marino, Davide Gualtieri scored against England after nine seconds, taking the lead for the outsiders. England went on to win 7–1, which was too small a goal margin. Additionally, despite the half- time score between the Poles and the Dutch being 1-1, the Dutch went on to win 3-1, meaning that however many goals England scored, they could still not qualify. Taylor's tenure in charge ended and he was replaced by Terry Venables, who was dismissed after England lost the semi-final of Euro 1996, hosted in England. After missing out on the World Cup in 1994, England, managed by Glenn Hoddle, qualified for the World Cup in France. England were drawn in Group 2 of UEFA qualifying with Italy, Poland, Georgia and Moldova. England beat Poland, Georgia and Moldova both home and away, but a home defeat to Italy in their fourth match meant they went into the final qualifier at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome just a point ahead of the Azzurri and only needing a draw to qualify automatically; defeat would see them have to navigate a play-off to secure qualification. The match finished as a goalless draw and England finished top of the group. At the finals in France, England played in Group G. England defeated Tunisia 2–0 in the first game, with goals from Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes. Their second match saw England lose 2–1 to Romania; despite an 81st- minute equaliser from Michael Owen, Dan Petrescu scored a winner shortly before injury time. In their final group game, England defeated Colombia 2–0 in the decisive match, thanks to goals from midfielders Darren Anderton and David Beckham. England finished second in Group G, which saw them qualify for the last 16 phase, and play the winner of 1998 FIFA World Cup Group H, Argentina. In a fiery game containing six yellow cards and two penalties, David Beckham was controversially sent off in the 47th minute for what many felt was at most a yellow card offence, knocking over Diego Simeone. Gabriel Batistuta opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the fifth minute of the game, before an equaliser also from the spot by Alan Shearer four minutes later. England took the lead through Owen, in the 16th minute. Argentina drew level through Javier Zanetti in injury time of the first half. The game finished 2-2, and, as neither team were able to find a winner in extra time, penalties were needed to decide the team that qualified to the next round. While David Seaman did save one penalty, Argentine goalkeeper Carlos Roa managed to save two, including the vital one from David Batty, thereby knocking England out of the World Cup. Beckham subsequently received death threats and was sent bullets in the post. In 2002 the World Cup took place in Asia for the first time. England, under its first ever foreign manager in Swedish Sven-Göran Eriksson, were able to qualify for the tournament. England were drawn in Group 9, alongside Germany, Finland, Greece and Albania. In the last ever game in the original Wembley Stadium, (which closed after the match) England played Germany, losing 1–0, the only goal scored by Dietmar Hamann. The match was the last under the management of Kevin Keegan, who resigned at the end of the match, and was replaced by Eriksson. By beating Germany 5–1 in Munich, England's qualifying campaign was revitalised, and they qualified automatically, by drawing 2–2 with Greece. Germany, who could only draw 0–0 with Finland, had to play a play-off game against Ukraine, with England qualifying ahead winning the group. In Japan, England had to play against Eriksson's homeland, Sweden, and both settled out for a 1–1 draw. England and Beckham gained a measure of revenge for their previous 1998 defeat in defeating Argentina 1-0, thanks to a Beckham penalty. However, England could only manage a disappointing 0-0 draw against Nigeria, meaning that although they were able to qualify for the second round, where they played Denmark, they qualified as runners up, which meant that they would meet favourites Brazil in the quarter-finals if they qualified. England played Denmark in the round of 16 defeating Denmark 3–0, thanks to goals from Micheal Owen, Rio Ferdinand, and Emile Heskey. England played four-time World Cup winners and 1998 runners-up Brazil in the quarter- finals. Despite leading through a Michael Owen goal, a mistake by David Seaman saw England lose 2–1, and Brazil won their fourth World Cup match against England, and went on to win the tournament. England were drawn into Group 6 of European qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. The group featured other home nations in Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as Poland (who had eliminated England the last time the World Cup took place in Germany), Azerbaijan and Austria. England won eight of the 10 games, and qualified as group winners, in front of Portugal, despite drawing to Austria in Vienna, and losing to Northern Ireland in Belfast. In Germany, however, England were less convincing. England played in Group B, alongside Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Sweden. England started with a 1–0 win against Paraguay; which was won due to a 3rd minute own goal. The second game against first time qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago saw England have to wait until the 83rd minute for England to take the lead, with Peter Crouch opened the scoring with a goal many felt was illegal, and the second goal of the game coming in added time from Steven Gerrard. The last group game saw England play against Sweden, where an eventual 2-2 draw saw them qualify for the next round as group winners, thereby avoiding playing hosts Germany. In the last 16 stage, a free kick from David Beckham saw England win 1–0 against Ecuador and reach the quarter-finals, where they faced Portugal. The game finished goalless, and England once again were knocked out on penalties and Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo became the first goalkeeper to save three penalties in a penalty shoot-out. Ricardo saved from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and Jamie Carragher; the only England player who converted his penalty was Owen Hargreaves. Portugal won the shoot-out 3-1, despite misses from Petit and Hugo Viana. This game was also Erickson's final match as England manager. Qualification for the first African World Cup went successfully for new England manager Fabio Capello, after previous manager Steve McClaren was unable to secure qualification to the Euro 2008. By winning nine times and only losing to Ukraine, England qualified ahead of Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. England's group was seen as a favourable one, containing comparatively much weaker teams. However, England opened up their campaign with a 1–1 draw against the United States, thanks to a major error by goalkeeper Robert Green. They then drew 0–0 against Algeria and were booed off the field by their own fans, drawing the ire of striker Wayne Rooney. England eventually qualified for the next round by beating Slovenia 1–0, but only qualified as runners up to the United States, thereby meaning they would draw favourites Germany. In the second round match, Germany took the lead after 20 minutes after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer played the ball down the pitch to Miroslav Klose, who opened the scoring. The score became 2–0 to Germany after 32 minutes. Shortly after, England defender Matthew Upson scored a header. Later, Frank Lampard had a shot at goal which was disallowed despite crossing the line; which was confirmed on replays. Neuer admitted subsequently he knew the ball had crossed the line, but decided to deceive the referee. The German media reported it was "revenge for Wembley", while the English media criticised FIFA's refusal to implement goal-line technology. Ironically, despite his earlier opposition to goal-line technology, Sepp Blatter said that it should be introduced after a Ukrainian goal against England at UEFA Euro 2012 was ruled out. As England tried to equalise, Germany used this to their advantage and scored two more goals. This became Germany's biggest win against England in a World Cup, winning 4-1. Under Roy Hodgson, who replaced Fabio Capello after Euro 2012 after a disagreement between Capello and The FA, England qualified for the second World Cup to be held in Brazil. Ukraine were again one of the opponents in the qualifying rounds. The other opponents included Montenegro, Poland, Moldova and San Marino. After winning six games and drawing four, England qualified unbeaten. The draw for the finals saw England have to play against Italy and Uruguay, both former world champions, which meant that it was the first ever time three World Champions were drawn in the same group, along with Costa Rica. England lost to Italy and Uruguay, and were thus knocked out after two games. The final match against Costa Rica finished as a goalless draw. This performance was statistically their worst ever performance at a World Cup, ending up with just one point after two losses to Uruguay and Italy and a goalless draw with Costa Rica in the dead rubber match, their lowest points total in the group stage of a world cup. England played in UEFA Group F in qualification for the 2018 World Cup, in a group of six with Slovakia, Slovenia, Scotland, Lithuania and Malta, with only the winner of the group guaranteed qualification. England went into the qualification process under manager Sam Allardyce, only for Allardyce to leave the post after just one game due to controversy regarding discussing breaking FIFA rules. Under Allardyce's replacement, Gareth Southgate, England went undefeated throughout qualification, winning eight matches out of 10, drawing with Slovenia 0–0 in Ljubljana, and drawing 2–2 with Scotland in Glasgow thanks to a 90th-minute equaliser from Harry Kane. This was the third successive major tournament that England were undefeated, having been undefeated in 2014 World Cup, and Euro 2016 qualifying. Under Gareth Southgate, the England team began their tournament in group G against Tunisia. The game started well for England with a goal from Harry Kane in the 11th minute. Tunisia equalised through Sassi from the penalty spot in the 35th minute following a foul by Kyle Walker. Some controversy followed as various potential offences against Harry Kane, inside the penalty area were ignored by the referee and no VAR checks were carried out. England persevered and scored a second goal in the 91st minute, again by Harry Kane, resulting in a 2–1 victory. In the second group stage match, England surpassed their record for goals scored in a World Cup match by beating Panama 6-1. Jesse Lingard scored the third goal, John Stones scored the first and fourth goals and Harry Kane scored a hat-trick with the second, fifth and sixth goals. In the final group stage match, England narrowly lost 1-0 to Belgium. Adnan Januzaj scored the sole goal of the game; but with both teams having fielded reserve teams, with England specifically making nine changes. Before the game, media outlets stated that a loss could potentially become beneficial, as the winner would be in the half of the draw with four of the top seven sides in the world. The result meant Belgium topped the group and England finished second, setting up a last 16 clash with Group H winners Colombia. England played their last 16 match in the Otkritie Arena, Moscow, with the same team as against Tunisia. Harry Kane scored his sixth goal of the tournament, and the third penalty, after once again being fouled in the box from a corner, similarly as against Panama. The score remained at 1-0, until stoppage time, where a header from Yerry Mina beat Jordan Pickford in goal to bring the game to extra time. Neither team managed to score in extra time, and the match went to penalties, which England won 4-3. As well as being the first knockout match England had won at a major tournament since 2006 (last defeating Ecuador in the last 16); it was the first time England won a World Cup penalty shoot-out. The match was notable for the heated atmosphere the game was played in, with a total of eight yellow cards being shown in the match. England played against Sweden in their quarter-final at Cosmos Arena, Samara on 7 July 2018. They won the match 2–0, with defender Harry Maguire scoring his first England goal, a header scored from a corner, and Dele Alli a second header from close range. This would send them through to their third World Cup semi-final and their first since 1990, and third overall. The team played Croatia in the semi-final, resulting in a 2–1 loss after extra time. England would later finish fourth in the competition, the best result since 1990. England would lose again to Belgium in the third place play-off, thanks to goals from Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard, despite an Eric Dier shot being cleared off the line by Toby Alderweireld. The tournament would see England score nine goals from set- pieces – the most by a team in a single World Cup tournament since 1966. Historically, very few English World Cup squad members were playing for a club in a foreign league at the time of their selection to the national squad. Team Awards World Champions 1966, FIFA Fair Play Trophy 1990, FIFA Fair Play Trophy 1998 (shared) Individual Awards Golden Ball 1966: Bobby Charlton, Silver Ball 1966: Bobby Moore, Golden Boot 1986: Gary Lineker, Golden Boot 2018: Harry Kane, Bronze Boot 1966: Geoff Hurst, Golden Glove 1966: Gordon Banks, Best Young Player Award 1998: Michael Owen Team Records Most penalty shoot-outs lost: 3 (shared with Italy and Spain), Biggest World Cup victory: 6-1 vs Panama, 2018 Group Stage Individual Records Only hattrick in a final: Geoff Hurst (1966 v West Germany), Oldest captain: Peter Shilton (age 40 years and 292 days, 1990 v Italy), Most clean sheets: Peter Shilton (10, 1982-1990) (shared with Fabien Barthez) Four FIFA World Cup finals were officiated by English referees, more than by any other football association. The first Englishman to officiate a final, George Reader, is also the oldest World Cup referee to date, as he was 53 years and 236 days old at the 1950 decisive match between Uruguay and Brazil. The other final referees are William Ling (1954), Jack Taylor (1974) and Howard Webb (2010). Arthur Ellis, who was a linesman at the 1950 final, is part of an elite group of referees who has been called up for three consecutive World Cups (1950–1958). The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. The winners are awarded the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil who, according to a popular legend, invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game. Four countries have won the trophy; New Zealand and South Africa three times, Australia twice, and England once. South Africa are the current champions, having defeated England in the final of the 2019 tournament in Japan. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the inaugural tournament in 1987, however since 1999 twenty teams have taken part. Japan hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup and France will host the next in 2023. On 21 August 2019, World Rugby announced that gender designations would be removed from the titles of the men's and women's World Cups. Accordingly, all future World Cups for men and women will officially bear the "Rugby World Cup" name. The first tournament to be affected by the new policy will be the next women's tournament to be held in New Zealand in 2021, which will officially be titled as "Rugby World Cup 2021". Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament. The inaugural World Cup in 1987, did not involve any qualifying process; instead, the 16 places were automatically filled by seven eligible International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby) member nations, and the rest by invitation. In 2003 and 2007, the qualifying format allowed for eight of the twenty available positions to be filled by automatic qualification, as the eight quarter-finalists of the previous tournament enter its successor. The remaining twelve positions were filled by continental qualifying tournaments. Positions were filled by three teams from the Americas, one from Asia, one from Africa, three from Europe and two from Oceania. Another two places were allocated for repechage. The first repechage place was determined by a match between the runners-up from the Africa and Europe qualifying tournaments, with that winner then playing the Americas runner-up to determine the place. The second repechage position was determined between the runners-up from the Asia and Oceania qualifiers. The current format allows for 12 of the 20 available positions to be filled by automatic qualification, as the teams who finish third or better in the group (pool) stages of the previous tournament enter its successor (where they will be seeded). The qualification system for the remaining eight places is region-based, with a total eight teams allocated for Europe, five for Oceania, three for the Americas, two for Africa, and one for Asia. The last place is determined by an intercontinental play-off. The 2015 tournament involved twenty nations competing over six weeks. There were two stages, a pool and a knockout. Nations were divided into four pools, A through to D, of five nations each. The teams were seeded before the start of the tournament, with the seedings taken from the World Rankings in December 2012. The four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D. The next four highest-ranked teams were then drawn into pools A to D, followed by the next four. The remaining positions in each pool were filled by the qualifiers. Nations play four pool games, playing their respective pool members once each. A bonus points system is used during pool play. If two or more teams are level on points, a system of criteria is used to determine the higher ranked; the sixth and final criterion decides the higher rank through the official World Rankings. The winner and runner-up of each pool enter the knockout stage. The knockout stage consists of quarter- and semi-finals, and then the final. The winner of each pool is placed against a runner-up of a different pool in a quarter-final. The winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals, and the respective winners proceed to the final. Losers of the semi-finals contest for third place, called the 'Bronze Final'. If a match in the knockout stages ends in a draw, the winner is determined through extra time. If that fails, the match goes into sudden death and the next team to score any points is the winner. As a last resort, a kicking competition is used. Prior to the Rugby World Cup, there was no truly global rugby union competition, but there were a number of other tournaments. One of the oldest is the annual Six Nations Championship, which started in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship, a tournament between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It expanded to the Five Nations in 1910, when France joined the tournament. France did not participate from 1931 to 1939, during which period it reverted to a Home Nations championship. In 2000, Italy joined the competition, which became the Six Nations. Rugby union was also played at the Summer Olympic Games, first appearing at the 1900 Paris games and subsequently at London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924. France won the first gold medal, then Australasia, with the last two being won by the United States. However rugby union ceased to be on Olympic program after 1924. The idea of a Rugby World Cup had been suggested on numerous occasions going back to the 1950s, but met with opposition from most unions in the IRFB. The idea resurfaced several times in the early 1980s, with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU; now known as Rugby Australia) in 1983, and the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU; now known as New Zealand Rugby) in 1984 independently proposing the establishment of a world cup. A proposal was again put to the IRFB in 1985 and this time successfully passed 10–6. The delegates from Australia, France, New Zealand and South Africa all voted for the proposal, and the delegates from Ireland and Scotland against; the English and Welsh delegates were split, with one from each country for and one against. The inaugural tournament, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was held in May and June 1987, with sixteen nations taking part. New Zealand became the first-ever champions, defeating France 29–9 in the final. The subsequent 1991 tournament was hosted by England, with matches played throughout Britain, Ireland and France. This tournament saw the introduction of a qualifying tournament; eight places were allocated to the quarter-finalists from 1987, and the remaining eight decided by a thirty-five nation qualifying tournament. Australia won the second tournament, defeating England 12–6 in the final. In 1992, eight years after their last official series, South Africa hosted New Zealand in a one-off test match. The resumption of international rugby in South Africa came after the dismantling of the apartheid system, and was only done with permission of the African National Congress. With their return to test rugby, South Africa were selected to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After upsetting Australia in the opening match, South Africa continued to advance through the tournament until they met New Zealand in the final. After a tense final that went into extra time, South Africa emerged 15–12 winners, with then President Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey, presenting the trophy to South Africa's captain, Francois Pienaar. The tournament in 1999 was hosted by Wales with matches also being held throughout the rest of the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. The tournament included a repechage system, alongside specific regional qualifying places, and an increase from sixteen to twenty participating nations. Australia claimed their second title, defeating France in the final. The 2003 event was hosted by Australia, although it was originally intended to be held jointly with New Zealand. England emerged as champions defeating Australia in extra time. England's win was unique in that it broke the southern hemisphere's dominance in the event. Such was the celebration of England's victory that an estimated 750,000 people gathered in central London to greet the team, making the day the largest sporting celebration of its kind ever in the United Kingdom. The 2007 competition was hosted by France, with matches also being held in Wales and Scotland. South Africa claimed their second title by defeating defending champions England 15–6. The 2011 tournament was awarded to New Zealand in November 2005, ahead of bids from Japan and South Africa. The All Blacks reclaimed their place atop the rugby world with a narrow 8–7 win over France in the 2011 final. In the 2015 edition of tournament, hosted by England, New Zealand once again won the final, this time against established rivals, Australia. In doing so, they became the first team in World Cup history to win three titles, as well as the first to successfully defend a title. It was also New Zealand's first title victory on foreign soil. The 2019 World Cup, hosted by Japan, saw South Africa claim their third trophy to match New Zealand for the most Rugby World Cup titles. South Africa defeated England 32–12 in the final. The Webb Ellis Cup is the prize presented to winners of the Rugby World Cup, named after William Webb Ellis. The trophy is also referred to simply as the Rugby World Cup. The trophy was chosen in 1987 as an appropriate cup for use in the competition, and was created in 1906 by Garrard's Crown Jewellers. The trophy is restored after each game by fellow Royal Warrant holder Thomas Lyte. The words 'The International Rugby Football Board' and 'The Webb Ellis Cup' are engraved on the face of the cup. It stands thirty-eight centimetres high and is silver gilded in gold, and supported by two cast scroll handles, one with the head of a satyr, and the other a head of a nymph. In Australia the trophy is colloquially known as "Bill" — a reference to William Webb Ellis. Tournaments are organised by Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL), which is itself owned by World Rugby. The selection of host is decided by a vote of World Rugby Council members. The voting procedure is managed by a team of independent auditors, and the voting kept secret. The allocation of a tournament to a host nation is now made five or six years prior to the commencement of the event, for example New Zealand were awarded the 2011 event in late 2005. The tournament has been hosted by multiple nations. For example, the 1987 tournament was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. World Rugby requires that the hosts must have a venue with a capacity of at least 60,000 spectators for the final. Host nations sometimes construct or upgrade stadia in preparation for the World Cup, such as Millennium Stadium – purpose built for the 1999 tournament – and Eden Park, upgraded for 2011. The first country outside of the traditional rugby nations of SANZAAR or the Six Nations to be awarded the hosting rights was 2019 host Japan. France will host the 2023 tournament. Organizers of the Rugby World Cup, as well as the Global Sports Impact, state that the Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world, behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, although other sources question whether this is accurate. Reports emanating from World Rugby and its business partners have frequently touted the tournament's media growth, with cumulative worldwide television audiences of 300 million for the inaugural 1987 tournament, 1.75 billion in 1991, 2.67 billion in 1995, 3 billion in 1999, 3.5 billion in 2003, and 4 billion in 2007. The 4 billion figure was widely dismissed as the global audience for television is estimated to be about 4.2 billion. However, independent reviews have called into question the methodology of those growth estimates, pointing to factual inconsistencies. The event's supposed drawing power outside of a handful of rugby strongholds was also downplayed significantly, with an estimated 97 percent of the 33 million average audience produced by the 2007 final coming from Australasia, South Africa, the British Isles and France. Other sports have been accused of exaggerating their television reach over the years; such claims are not exclusive to the Rugby World Cup. While the event's global popularity remains a matter of dispute, high interest in traditional rugby nations is well documented. The 2003 final, between Australia and England, became the most watched rugby union match in the history of Australian television. †Typhoon Hagibis caused 3 group stage matches to be cancelled. As a result, only 45 of the scheduled 48 matches were played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Notes: The host union keeps revenue from gate receipts. World Rugby, through RWCL, receive revenue from sources including broadcasting rights, sponsorship and tournament fees. Twenty-five nations have participated at the Rugby World Cup (excluding qualifying tournaments). The only nations to host and win a tournament are New Zealand (1987 and 2011) and South Africa (1995). The performance of other host nations includes England (1991 final hosts) and Australia (2003 hosts) both finishing runners-up, while France (2007 hosts) finished fourth, and Wales (1999 hosts) and Japan (2019 hosts) reached the quarter-finals. Wales became the first host nation to be eliminated at the pool stages in 1991 while England became the first solo host nation to be eliminated at the pool stages in 2015. Of the twenty-five nations that have participated in at least one tournament, eleven of them have never missed a tournament. South Africa was excluded from the first two tournaments due to a sporting boycott during the apartheid era. The record for most points overall is held by English player Jonny Wilkinson, who scored 277 during his World Cup career. New Zealand All Black Grant Fox holds the record for most points in one competition, with 126 in 1987; Jason Leonard of England holds the record for most World Cup matches: 22 between 1991 and 2003. All Black Simon Culhane holds the record for most points in a match by one player, 45, as well as the record for most conversions in a match, 20. All Black Marc Ellis holds the record for most tries in a match, six, which he scored against Japan in 1995. New Zealand All Black Jonah Lomu is the youngest player to appear in a final – aged 20 years and 43 days at the 1995 Final. Lomu (playing in two tournaments) and South African Bryan Habana (playing in three tournaments) share the record for most total World Cup tournament tries, both scoring 15. Lomu (in 1999) and Habana (in 2007) also share the record, along with All Black Julian Savea (in 2015), for most tries in a tournament, with 8 each. South Africa's Jannie de Beer kicked five drop- goals against England in 1999 – an individual record for a single World Cup match. The record for most penalties in a match is 8, held by Australian Matt Burke, Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada, Scotland's Gavin Hastings and France's Thierry Lacroix, with Quesada also holding the record for most penalties in a tournament, with 31. The most points scored in a game is 145, by the All Blacks against Japan in 1995, while the widest winning margin is 142, held by Australia in a match against Namibia in 2003. A total of 16 players have been sent off (red carded) in the tournament. Welsh lock Huw Richards was the first, while playing against New Zealand in 1987. No player has been red carded more than once. Rugby World Cup (women's), Rugby World Cup Sevens – men's and women's tournaments held simultaneously at a single site Davies, Gerald (2004). The History of the Rugby World Cup Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ., Farr-Jones, Nick, (2003). Story of the Rugby World Cup, Australian Post Corporation. . – official site, World Rugby

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF), is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world while periodically depending on World Bank for its resources. Formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. , the fund had XDR 477 billion (about US$667 billion). Through the fund and other activities such as the gathering of statistics and analysis, surveillance of its members' economies, and the demand for particular policies, the IMF works to improve the economies of its member countries. The organization's objectives stated in the Articles of Agreement are: to promote international monetary co-operation, international trade, high employment, exchange-rate stability, sustainable economic growth, and making resources available to member countries in financial difficulty. IMF funds come from two major sources: quotas and loans. Quotas, which are pooled funds of member nations, generate most IMF funds. The size of a member's quota depends on its economic and financial importance in the world. Nations with larger economic importance have larger quotas. The quotas are increased periodically as a means of boosting the IMF's resources. The current Managing Director (MD) and Chairwoman of the International Monetary Fund is Bulgarian Economist Kristalina Georgieva, who has held the post since 1 October 2019. Gita Gopinath was appointed as Chief Economist of IMF from 1 October 2018. She received her PhD in economics from Princeton University. Prior to her IMF appointment she was economic adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala, India. According to the IMF itself, it works to foster global growth and economic stability by providing policy advice and financing the members by working with developing nations helps them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty. The rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. Such market imperfections, together with balance-of-payments financing, provide the justification for official financing, without which many countries could only correct large external payment imbalances through measures with adverse economic consequences. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing. Upon the founding of the IMF, its three primary functions were: to oversee the fixed exchange rate arrangements between countries, thus helping national governments manage their exchange rates and allowing these governments to prioritize economic growth, and to provide short-term capital to aid the balance of payments. This assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the international economy after the Great Depression and World War II. As well, to provide capital investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMF's role was fundamentally altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy. The IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. A particular concern of the IMF was to prevent financial crisis, such as those in Mexico 1982, Brazil in 1987, East Asia in 1997–98 and Russia in 1998, from spreading and threatening the entire global financial and currency system. The challenge was to promote and implement policy that reduced the frequency of crises among the emerging market countries, especially the middle-income countries which are vulnerable to massive capital outflows. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates, their function became one of surveillance of the overall macroeconomic performance of member countries. Their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, which was established in the 1950s. Low-income countries can borrow on concessional terms, which means there is a period of time with no interest rates, through the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), the Standby Credit Facility (SCF) and the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). Nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements (SBA), the Flexible Credit Line (FCL), the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL), and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs. The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international co-operation. Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in the early 1970s, surveillance has evolved largely by way of changes in procedures rather than through the adoption of new obligations. The responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members' policies. The Fund typically analyses the appropriateness of each member country's economic and financial policies for achieving orderly economic growth, and assesses the consequences of these policies for other countries and for the global economy. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) endorsed the guidelines for the dissemination standards and they were split into two tiers: The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and subsequent amendments were published in a revised Guide to the General Data Dissemination System. The system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategic Papers. The primary objective of the GDDS is to encourage member countries to build a framework to improve data quality and statistical capacity building to evaluate statistical needs, set priorities in improving the timeliness, transparency, reliability and accessibility of financial and economic data. Some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. Some entities that are not themselves IMF members also contribute statistical data to the systems: Palestinian Authority – GDDS, Hong Kong – SDDS, Macau – GDDS, EU institutions:, the European Central Bank for the Eurozone – SDDS, Eurostat for the whole EU – SDDS, thus providing data from Cyprus (not using any DDSystem on its own) and Malta (using only GDDS on its own) IMF conditionality is a set of policies or conditions that the IMF requires in exchange for financial resources. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform. If the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision and later incorporated into the Articles of Agreement. Conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment. Stemming primarily from the work of Jacques Polak, the theoretical underpinning of conditionality was the "monetary approach to the balance of payments". Some of the conditions for structural adjustment can include: Cutting expenditures or raising revenues, also known as austerity., Focusing economic output on direct export and resource extraction,, Devaluation of currencies,, Trade liberalisation, or lifting import and export restrictions,, Increasing the stability of investment (by supplementing foreign direct investment with the opening of domestic stock markets),, Balancing budgets and not overspending,, Removing price controls and state subsidies,, Privatization, or divestiture of all or part of state-owned enterprises,, Enhancing the rights of foreign investors vis-a-vis national laws,, Improving governance and fighting corruption. These conditions are known as the Washington Consensus. These loan conditions ensure that the borrowing country will be able to repay the IMF and that the country will not attempt to solve their balance-of- payment problems in a way that would negatively impact the international economy. The incentive problem of moral hazard—when economic agents maximise their own utility to the detriment of others because they do not bear the full consequences of their actions—is mitigated through conditions rather than providing collateral; countries in need of IMF loans do not generally possess internationally valuable collateral anyway. Conditionality also reassures the IMF that the funds lent to them will be used for the purposes defined by the Articles of Agreement and provides safeguards that country will be able to rectify its macroeconomic and structural imbalances. In the judgment of the IMF, the adoption by the member of certain corrective measures or policies will allow it to repay the IMF, thereby ensuring that the resources will be available to support other members. , borrowing countries have had a very good track record for repaying credit extended under the IMF's regular lending facilities with full interest over the duration of the loan. This indicates that IMF lending does not impose a burden on creditor countries, as lending countries receive market-rate interest on most of their quota subscription, plus any of their own-currency subscriptions that are loaned out by the IMF, plus all of the reserve assets that they provide the IMF. The IMF was originally laid out as a part of the Bretton Woods system exchange agreement in 1944. During the Great Depression, countries sharply raised barriers to trade in an attempt to improve their failing economies. This led to the devaluation of national currencies and a decline in world trade. This breakdown in international monetary co-operation created a need for oversight. The representatives of 45 governments met at the Bretton Woods Conference in the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in the United States, to discuss a framework for postwar international economic co-operation and how to rebuild Europe. There were two views on the role the IMF should assume as a global economic institution. American delegate Harry Dexter White foresaw an IMF that functioned more like a bank, making sure that borrowing states could repay their debts on time. Most of White's plan was incorporated into the final acts adopted at Bretton Woods. British economist John Maynard Keynes, on the other hand, imagined that the IMF would be a cooperative fund upon which member states could draw to maintain economic activity and employment through periodic crises. This view suggested an IMF that helped governments and to act as the United States government had during the New Deal to the great recession of the 1930s. The IMF formally came into existence on 27 December 1945, when the first 29 countries ratified its Articles of Agreement. By the end of 1946 the IMF had grown to 39 members. On 1 March 1947, the IMF began its financial operations, and on 8 May France became the first country to borrow from it. The IMF was one of the key organisations of the international economic system; its design allowed the system to balance the rebuilding of international capitalism with the maximisation of national economic sovereignty and human welfare, also known as embedded liberalism. The IMF's influence in the global economy steadily increased as it accumulated more members. The increase reflected in particular the attainment of political independence by many African countries and more recently the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union because most countries in the Soviet sphere of influence did not join the IMF. The Bretton Woods exchange rate system prevailed until 1971, when the United States government suspended the convertibility of the US$ (and dollar reserves held by other governments) into gold. This is known as the Nixon Shock. The changes to the IMF articles of agreement reflecting these changes were ratified by the 1976 Jamaica Accords. Later in the 1970s, large commercial banks began lending to states because they were awash in cash deposited by oil exporters. The lending of the so-called money center banks led to the IMF changing its role in the 1980s after a world recession provoked a crisis that brought the IMF back into global financial governance. The IMF provided two major lending packages in the early 2000s to Argentina (during the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression) and Uruguay (after the 2002 Uruguay banking crisis). However, by the mid-2000s, IMF lending was at its lowest share of world GDP since the 1970s. In May 2010, the IMF participated, in 3:11 proportion, in the first Greek bailout that totalled €110 billion, to address the great accumulation of public debt, caused by continuing large public sector deficits. As part of the bailout, the Greek government agreed to adopt austerity measures that would reduce the deficit from 11% in 2009 to "well below 3%" in 2014. The bailout did not include debt restructuring measures such as a haircut, to the chagrin of the Swiss, Brazilian, Indian, Russian, and Argentinian Directors of the IMF, with the Greek authorities themselves (at the time, PM George Papandreou and Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou) ruling out a haircut. A second bailout package of more than €100 billion was agreed over the course of a few months from October 2011, during which time Papandreou was forced from office. The so-called Troika, of which the IMF is part, are joint managers of this programme, which was approved by the Executive Directors of the IMF on 15 March 2012 for XDR 23.8 billion and saw private bondholders take a haircut of upwards of 50%. In the interval between May 2010 and February 2012 the private banks of Holland, France and Germany reduced exposure to Greek debt from €122 billion to €66 billion. , the largest borrowers from the IMF in order were Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, and Ukraine. On 25 March 2013, a €10 billion international bailout of Cyprus was agreed by the Troika, at the cost to the Cypriots of its agreement: to close the country's second-largest bank; to impose a one-time bank deposit levy on Bank of Cyprus uninsured deposits. No insured deposit of €100k or less were to be affected under the terms of a novel bail-in scheme. The topic of sovereign debt restructuring was taken up by the IMF in April 2013 for the first time since 2005, in a report entitled "Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Recent Developments and Implications for the Fund's Legal and Policy Framework". The paper, which was discussed by the board on 20 May, summarised the recent experiences in Greece, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Jamaica. An explanatory interview with Deputy Director Hugh Bredenkamp was published a few days later, as was a deconstruction by Matina Stevis of the Wall Street Journal. In the October 2013 Fiscal Monitor publication, the IMF suggested that a capital levy capable of reducing Euro-area government debt ratios to "end-2007 levels" would require a very high tax rate of about 10%. The Fiscal Affairs department of the IMF, headed at the time by Acting Director Sanjeev Gupta, produced a January 2014 report entitled "Fiscal Policy and Income Inequality" that stated that "Some taxes levied on wealth, especially on immovable property, are also an option for economies seeking more progressive taxation ... Property taxes are equitable and efficient, but underutilized in many economies ... There is considerable scope to exploit this tax more fully, both as a revenue source and as a redistributive instrument." At the end of March 2014, the IMF secured an $18 billion bailout fund for the provisional government of Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Not all member countries of the IMF are sovereign states, and therefore not all "member countries" of the IMF are members of the United Nations. Amidst "member countries" of the IMF that are not member states of the UN are non- sovereign areas with special jurisdictions that are officially under the sovereignty of full UN member states, such as Aruba, Curaçao, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as Kosovo. The corporate members appoint ex-officio voting members, who are listed below. All members of the IMF are also International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) members and vice versa. Former members are Cuba (which left in 1964), and the Republic of China (Taiwan), which was ejected from the UN in 1980 after losing the support of then United States President Jimmy Carter and was replaced by the People's Republic of China. However, "Taiwan Province of China" is still listed in the official IMF indices. Apart from Cuba, the other UN states that do not belong to the IMF are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and North Korea. The former Czechoslovakia was expelled in 1954 for "failing to provide required data" and was readmitted in 1990, after the Velvet Revolution. Poland withdrew in 1950—allegedly pressured by the Soviet Union—but returned in 1986. Any country may apply to be a part of the IMF. Post-IMF formation, in the early postwar period, rules for IMF membership were left relatively loose. Members needed to make periodic membership payments towards their quota, to refrain from currency restrictions unless granted IMF permission, to abide by the Code of Conduct in the IMF Articles of Agreement, and to provide national economic information. However, stricter rules were imposed on governments that applied to the IMF for funding. The countries that joined the IMF between 1945 and 1971 agreed to keep their exchange rates secured at rates that could be adjusted only to correct a "fundamental disequilibrium" in the balance of payments, and only with the IMF's agreement. Member countries of the IMF have access to information on the economic policies of all member countries, the opportunity to influence other members' economic policies, technical assistance in banking, fiscal affairs, and exchange matters, financial support in times of payment difficulties, and increased opportunities for trade and investment. The Board of Governors consists of one governor and one alternate governor for each member country. Each member country appoints its two governors. The Board normally meets once a year and is responsible for electing or appointing executive directors to the Executive Board. While the Board of Governors is officially responsible for approving quota increases, special drawing right allocations, the admittance of new members, compulsory withdrawal of members, and amendments to the Articles of Agreement and By-Laws, in practice it has delegated most of its powers to the IMF's Executive Board. The Board of Governors is advised by the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Development Committee. The International Monetary and Financial Committee has 24 members and monitors developments in global liquidity and the transfer of resources to developing countries. The Development Committee has 25 members and advises on critical development issues and on financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries. They also advise on trade and environmental issues. The Board of Governors reports directly to the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva. 24 Executive Directors make up the Executive Board. The Executive Directors represent all 189 member countries in a geographically based roster. Countries with large economies have their own Executive Director, but most countries are grouped in constituencies representing four or more countries. Following the 2008 Amendment on Voice and Participation which came into effect in March 2011, seven countries each appoint an Executive Director: the United States, Japan, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia. The remaining 17 Directors represent constituencies consisting of 2 to 23 countries. This Board usually meets several times each week. The Board membership and constituency is scheduled for periodic review every eight years. The IMF is led by a managing director, who is head of the staff and serves as Chairman of the Executive Board. The managing director is assisted by a First Deputy managing director and three other Deputy Managing Directors. Historically the IMF's managing director has been European and the president of the World Bank has been from the United States. However, this standard is increasingly being questioned and competition for these two posts may soon open up to include other qualified candidates from any part of the world. In August, 2019, the International Monetary Fund has removed the aged limit which is 65 or over for its managing director position. In 2011 the world's largest developing countries, the BRIC nations, issued a statement declaring that the tradition of appointing a European as managing director undermined the legitimacy of the IMF and called for the appointment to be merit-based. Previous managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in connection with charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel room attendant and resigned on 18 May. The charges were later dropped. On 28 June 2011 Christine Lagarde was confirmed as managing director of the IMF for a five-year term starting on 5 July 2011. She was re-elected by consensus for a second five- year term, starting 5 July 2016, being the only candidate nominated for the post of Managing Director. Voting power in the IMF is based on a quota system. Each member has a number of basic votes (each member's number of basic votes equals 5.502% of the total votes), plus one additional vote for each special drawing right (SDR) of 100,000 of a member country's quota. The special drawing right is the unit of account of the IMF and represents a claim to currency. It is based on a basket of key international currencies. The basic votes generate a slight bias in favour of small countries, but the additional votes determined by SDR outweigh this bias. Changes in the voting shares require approval by a super-majority of 85% of voting power. In December 2015, the United States Congress adopted a legislation authorising the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms. As a result, all 188 members' quotas will increase from a total of about XDR 238.5 billion to about XDR 477 billion, while the quota shares and voting power of the IMF's poorest member countries will be protected., more than 6 percent of quota shares will shift to dynamic emerging market and developing countries and also from over-represented to under-represented members., four emerging market countries (Brazil, China, India, and Russia) will be among the ten largest members of the IMF. Other top 10 members are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy. The IMF's quota system was created to raise funds for loans. Each IMF member country is assigned a quota, or contribution, that reflects the country's relative size in the global economy. Each member's quota also determines its relative voting power. Thus, financial contributions from member governments are linked to voting power in the organisation. This system follows the logic of a shareholder-controlled organisation: wealthy countries have more say in the making and revision of rules. Since decision making at the IMF reflects each member's relative economic position in the world, wealthier countries that provide more money to the IMF have more influence than poorer members that contribute less; nonetheless, the IMF focuses on redistribution. Quotas are normally reviewed every five years and can be increased when deemed necessary by the Board of Governors. IMF voting shares are relatively inflexible: countries that grow economically have tended to become under- represented as their voting power lags behind. Currently, reforming the representation of developing countries within the IMF has been suggested. These countries' economies represent a large portion of the global economic system but this is not reflected in the IMF's decision making process through the nature of the quota system. Joseph Stiglitz argues, "There is a need to provide more effective voice and representation for developing countries, which now represent a much larger portion of world economic activity since 1944, when the IMF was created." In 2008, a number of quota reforms were passed including shifting 6% of quota shares to dynamic emerging markets and developing countries. The IMF's membership is divided along income lines: certain countries provide the financial resources while others use these resources. Both developed country "creditors" and developing country "borrowers" are members of the IMF. The developed countries provide the financial resources but rarely enter into IMF loan agreements; they are the creditors. Conversely, the developing countries use the lending services but contribute little to the pool of money available to lend because their quotas are smaller; they are the borrowers. Thus, tension is created around governance issues because these two groups, creditors and borrowers, have fundamentally different interests. The criticism is that the system of voting power distribution through a quota system institutionalises borrower subordination and creditor dominance. The resulting division of the IMF's membership into borrowers and non-borrowers has increased the controversy around conditionality because the borrowers are interested in increasing loan access while creditors want to maintain reassurance that the loans will be repaid. A recent source revealed that the average overall use of IMF credit per decade increased, in real terms, by 21% between the 1970s and 1980s, and increased again by just over 22% from the 1980s to the 1991–2005 period. Another study has suggested that since 1950 the continent of Africa alone has received $300 billion from the IMF, the World Bank, and affiliate institutions. A study by Bumba Mukherjee found that developing democratic countries benefit more from IMF programs than developing autocratic countries because policy-making, and the process of deciding where loaned money is used, is more transparent within a democracy. One study done by Randall Stone found that although earlier studies found little impact of IMF programs on balance of payments, more recent studies using more sophisticated methods and larger samples "usually found IMF programs improved the balance of payments". The Exceptional Access Framework was created in 2003 when John B. Taylor was Under Secretary of the US Treasury for International Affairs. The new Framework became fully operational in February 2003 and it was applied in the subsequent decisions on Argentina and Brazil. Its purpose was to place some sensible rules and limits on the way the IMF makes loans to support governments with debt problem—especially in emerging markets—and thereby move away from the bailout mentality of the 1990s. Such a reform was essential for ending the crisis atmosphere that then existed in emerging markets. The reform was closely related to, and put in place nearly simultaneously with, the actions of several emerging market countries to place collective action clauses in their bond contracts. In 2010, the framework was abandoned so the IMF could make loans to Greece in an unsustainable and political situation. The topic of sovereign debt restructuring was taken up by IMF staff in April 2013 for the first time since 2005, in a report entitled "Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Recent Developments and Implications for the Fund's Legal and Policy Framework". The paper, which was discussed by the board on 20 May, summarised the recent experiences in Greece, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize and Jamaica. An explanatory interview with Deputy Director Hugh Bredenkamp was published a few days later, as was a deconstruction by Matina Stevis of the Wall Street Journal. The staff was directed to formulate an updated policy, which was accomplished on 22 May 2014 with a report entitled "The Fund's Lending Framework and Sovereign Debt: Preliminary Considerations", and taken up by the Executive Board on 13 June. The staff proposed that "in circumstances where a (Sovereign) member has lost market access and debt is considered sustainable ... the IMF would be able to provide Exceptional Access on the basis of a debt operation that involves an extension of maturities", which was labelled a "reprofiling operation". These reprofiling operations would "generally be less costly to the debtor and creditors—and thus to the system overall—relative to either an upfront debt reduction operation or a bail-out that is followed by debt reduction ... (and) would be envisaged only when both (a) a member has lost market access and (b) debt is assessed to be sustainable, but not with high probability ... Creditors will only agree if they understand that such an amendment is necessary to avoid a worse outcome: namely, a default and/or an operation involving debt reduction ... Collective action clauses, which now exist in most—but not all—bonds, would be relied upon to address collective action problems." Globalization encompasses three institutions: global financial markets and transnational companies, national governments linked to each other in economic and military alliances led by the United States, and rising "global governments" such as World Trade Organization (WTO), IMF, and World Bank. Charles Derber argues in his book People Before Profit, "These interacting institutions create a new global power system where sovereignty is globalized, taking power and constitutional authority away from nations and giving it to global markets and international bodies". Titus Alexander argues that this system institutionalises global inequality between western countries and the Majority World in a form of global apartheid, in which the IMF is a key pillar. The establishment of globalised economic institutions has been both a symptom of and a stimulus for globalisation. The development of the World Bank, the IMF regional development banks such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and multilateral trade institutions such as the WTO signals a move away from the dominance of the state as the primary actor analysed in international affairs. Globalization has thus been transformative in terms of a reconceptualising of state sovereignty. Following United States President Bill Clinton's administration's aggressive financial deregulation campaign in the 1990s, globalisation leaders overturned long standing restrictions by governments that limited foreign ownership of their banks, deregulated currency exchange, and eliminated restrictions on how quickly money could be withdrawn by foreign investors. An IMF report from May 2015 estimated that the world's governments directly and indirectly subsidise fossil fuel companies with $5.3tn (£3.4tn) a year. The measurement accounts for the unpaid costs that polluters impose on governments by the burning of coal, oil, and gas. The projected impacts of fossil fuel subsidies on populations—air pollution, health problems, floods, droughts, and storms driven by climate change—account for over half of the reported global expenditure. Overseas Development Institute (ODI) research undertaken in 1980 included criticisms of the IMF which support the analysis that it is a pillar of what activist Titus Alexander calls global apartheid. Developed countries were seen to have a more dominant role and control over less developed countries (LDCs)., The Fund worked on the incorrect assumption that all payments disequilibria were caused domestically. The Group of 24 (G-24), on behalf of LDC members, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) complained that the IMF did not distinguish sufficiently between disequilibria with predominantly external as opposed to internal causes. This criticism was voiced in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis. Then LDCs found themselves with payments deficits due to adverse changes in their terms of trade, with the Fund prescribing stabilisation programmes similar to those suggested for deficits caused by government over-spending. Faced with long-term, externally generated disequilibria, the G-24 argued for more time for LDCs to adjust their economies., Some IMF policies may be anti-developmental; the report said that deflationary effects of IMF programmes quickly led to losses of output and employment in economies where incomes were low and unemployment was high. Moreover, the burden of the deflation is disproportionately borne by the poor., The IMF's initial policies were based in theory and influenced by differing opinions and departmental rivalries. Critics suggest that its intentions to implement these policies in countries with widely varying economic circumstances were misinformed and lacked economic rationale. ODI conclusions were that the IMF's very nature of promoting market-oriented approaches attracted unavoidable criticism. On the other hand, the IMF could serve as a scapegoat while allowing governments to blame international bankers. The ODI conceded that the IMF was insensitive to political aspirations of LDCs, while its policy conditions were inflexible. Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001, which some believe to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions—which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security—and privatisation of strategically vital national resources. Others attribute the crisis to Argentina's misdesigned fiscal federalism, which caused subnational spending to increase rapidly. The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems. The current—as of early 2006—trend toward moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures has been ascribed to this crisis. In 2006, a senior ActionAid policy analyst Akanksha Marphatia stated that IMF policies in Africa undermine any possibility of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to imposed restrictions that prevent spending on important sectors, such as education and health. In an interview (2008-05-19), the former Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu claimed that "Since 2005, IMF is constantly making mistakes when it appreciates the country's economic performances". Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, who claimed that debt-ridden African states were ceding sovereignty to the IMF and the World Bank, famously asked, "Who elected the IMF to be the ministry of finance for every country in the world?" Former chief economist of IMF and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan who predicted Financial crisis of 2007–08 criticised IMF for remaining a sideline player to the developed world. He criticised IMF for praising the monetary policies of the US, which he believed were wreaking havoc in emerging markets. He had been critical of the ultra-loose money policies of the Western nations and IMF. Countries such as Zambia have not received proper aid with long-lasting effects, leading to concern from economists. Since 2005, Zambia (as well as 29 other African countries) did receive debt write-offs, which helped with the country's medical and education funds. However, Zambia returned to a debt of over half its GDP in less than a decade. American economist William Easterly, sceptical of the IMF's methods, had initially warned that "debt relief would simply encourage more reckless borrowing by crooked governments unless it was accompanied by reforms to speed up economic growth and improve governance," according to The Economist. The IMF has been criticised for being "out of touch" with local economic conditions, cultures, and environments in the countries they are requiring policy reform. The economic advice the IMF gives might not always take into consideration the difference between what spending means on paper and how it is felt by citizens. Countries charge that with excessive conditionality, they do not "own" the programs and the links are broken between a recipient country's people, its government, and the goals being pursued by the IMF. Jeffrey Sachs argues that the IMF's "usual prescription is 'budgetary belt tightening to countries who are much too poor to own belts'". Sachs wrote that the IMF's role as a generalist institution specialising in macroeconomic issues needs reform. Conditionality has also been criticised because a country can pledge collateral of "acceptable assets" to obtain waivers—if one assumes that all countries are able to provide "acceptable collateral". One view is that conditionality undermines domestic political institutions. The recipient governments are sacrificing policy autonomy in exchange for funds, which can lead to public resentment of the local leadership for accepting and enforcing the IMF conditions. Political instability can result from more leadership turnover as political leaders are replaced in electoral backlashes. IMF conditions are often criticised for reducing government services, thus increasing unemployment. Another criticism is that IMF programs are only designed to address poor governance, excessive government spending, excessive government intervention in markets, and too much state ownership. This assumes that this narrow range of issues represents the only possible problems; everything is standardised and differing contexts are ignored. A country may also be compelled to accept conditions it would not normally accept had they not been in a financial crisis in need of assistance. On top of that, regardless of what methodologies and data sets used, it comes to same the conclusion of exacerbating income inequality. With Gini coefficient, it became clear that countries with IMF programs face increased income inequality. It is claimed that conditionalities retard social stability and hence inhibit the stated goals of the IMF, while Structural Adjustment Programs lead to an increase in poverty in recipient countries. The IMF sometimes advocates "austerity programmes", cutting public spending and increasing taxes even when the economy is weak, to bring budgets closer to a balance, thus reducing budget deficits. Countries are often advised to lower their corporate tax rate. In Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz, former chief economist and senior vice-president at the World Bank, criticises these policies. He argues that by converting to a more monetarist approach, the purpose of the fund is no longer valid, as it was designed to provide funds for countries to carry out Keynesian reflations, and that the IMF "was not participating in a conspiracy, but it was reflecting the interests and ideology of the Western financial community." Stiglitz concludes, "Modern high-tech warfare is designed to remove physical contact: dropping bombs from 50,000 feet ensures that one does not 'feel' what one does. Modern economic management is similar: from one's luxury hotel, one can callously impose policies about which one would think twice if one knew the people whose lives one was destroying." The researchers Eric Toussaint and Damien Millet argue that the IMF 's policies amount to a new form of colonization that does not need a military presence: International politics play an important role in IMF decision making. The clout of member states is roughly proportional to its contribution to IMF finances. The United States has the greatest number of votes and therefore wields the most influence. Domestic politics often come into play, with politicians in developing countries using conditionality to gain leverage over the opposition to influence policy. The IMF is only one of many international organisations, and it is a generalist institution that deals only with macroeconomic issues; its core areas of concern in developing countries are very narrow. One proposed reform is a movement towards close partnership with other specialist agencies such as UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Jeffrey Sachs argues in The End of Poverty that the IMF and the World Bank have "the brightest economists and the lead in advising poor countries on how to break out of poverty, but the problem is development economics". Development economics needs the reform, not the IMF. He also notes that IMF loan conditions should be paired with other reforms—e.g., trade reform in developed nations, debt cancellation, and increased financial assistance for investments in basic infrastructure. IMF loan conditions cannot stand alone and produce change; they need to be partnered with other reforms or other conditions as applicable. The scholarly consensus is that IMF decision-making is not simply technocratic, but also guided by political and economic concerns. The United States is the IMF's most powerful member, and its influence reaches even into decision-making concerning individual loan agreements. The United States has historically been openly opposed to losing what Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew described in 2015 as its "leadership role" at the IMF, and the United States' "ability to shape international norms and practices". Reforms to give more powers to emerging economies were agreed by the G20 in 2010. The reforms could not pass, however, until they were ratified by the US Congress, since 85% of the Fund's voting power was required for the reforms to take effect, and the Americans held more than 16% of voting power at the time. After repeated criticism, the United States finally ratified the voting reforms at the end of 2015. The OECD countries maintained their overwhelming majority of voting share, and the United States in particular retained its share at over 16%. The criticism of the US-and-Europe-dominated IMF has led to what some consider 'disenfranchising the world' from the governance of the IMF. Raúl Prebisch, the founding secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), wrote that one of "the conspicuous deficiencies of the general economic theory, from the point of view of the periphery, is its false sense of universality." The role of the Bretton Woods institutions has been controversial since the late Cold War, because of claims that the IMF policy makers supported military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations, but also other anti-communist and Communist regimes (such as Mobutu's Zaire and Ceaușescu's Romania, respectively). Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to human rights, and labour rights. The controversy has helped spark the anti-globalization movement. An example of IMF's support for a dictatorship was its ongoing support for Mobutu's rule in Zaire, although its own envoy, Erwin Blumenthal, provided a sobering report about the entrenched corruption and embezzlement and the inability of the country to pay back any loans. Arguments in favour of the IMF say that economic stability is a precursor to democracy; however, critics highlight various examples in which democratised countries fell after receiving IMF loans. A 2017 study found no evidence of IMF lending programs undermining democracy in borrowing countries. To the contrary, it found "evidence for modest but definitively positive conditional differences in the democracy scores of participating and non- participating countries." A number of civil society organisations have criticised the IMF's policies for their impact on access to food, particularly in developing countries. In October 2008, former United States president Bill Clinton delivered a speech to the United Nations on World Food Day, criticising the World Bank and IMF for their policies on food and agriculture: The FPIF remarked that there is a recurring pattern: "the destabilization of peasant producers by a one-two punch of IMF-World Bank structural adjustment programs that gutted government investment in the countryside followed by the massive influx of subsidized U.S. and European Union agricultural imports after the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture pried open markets." A 2009 study concluded that the strict conditions resulted in thousands of deaths in Eastern Europe by tuberculosis as public health care had to be weakened. In the 21 countries to which the IMF had given loans, tuberculosis deaths rose by 16.6%. In 2009, a book by Rick Rowden titled The Deadly Ideas of Neoliberalism: How the IMF has Undermined Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS, claimed that the IMF's monetarist approach towards prioritising price stability (low inflation) and fiscal restraint (low budget deficits) was unnecessarily restrictive and has prevented developing countries from scaling up long-term investment in public health infrastructure. The book claimed the consequences have been chronically underfunded public health systems, leading to demoralising working conditions that have fuelled a "brain drain" of medical personnel, all of which has undermined public health and the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries. In 2016, the IMF's research department published a report titled "Neoliberalism: Oversold?" which, while praising some aspects of the "neoliberal agenda," claims that the organisation has been "overselling" fiscal austerity policies and financial deregulation, which they claim has exacerbated both financial crises and economic inequality around the world. IMF policies have been repeatedly criticised for making it difficult for indebted countries to say no to environmentally harmful projects that nevertheless generate revenues such as oil, coal, and forest-destroying lumber and agriculture projects. Ecuador, for example, had to defy IMF advice repeatedly to pursue the protection of its rainforests, though paradoxically this need was cited in the IMF argument to provide support to Ecuador. The IMF acknowledged this paradox in the 2010 report that proposed the IMF Green Fund, a mechanism to issue special drawing rights directly to pay for climate harm prevention and potentially other ecological protection as pursued generally by other environmental finance. While the response to these moves was generally positive possibly because ecological protection and energy and infrastructure transformation are more politically neutral than pressures to change social policy. Some experts voiced concern that the IMF was not representative, and that the IMF proposals to generate only US$200 billion a year by 2020 with the SDRs as seed funds, did not go far enough to undo the general incentive to pursue destructive projects inherent in the world commodity trading and banking systems—criticisms often levelled at the World Trade Organization and large global banking institutions. In the context of the European debt crisis, some observers noted that Spain and California, two troubled economies within Europe and the United States, and also Germany, the primary and politically most fragile supporter of a euro currency bailout would benefit from IMF recognition of their leadership in green technology, and directly from Green Fund-generated demand for their exports, which could also improve their credit ratings. IMF supports women's empowerment and promotes their rights in countries with a significant gender gap. Both Christine Lagarde and her two predecessors Strauss-Kahn and Rato have been investigated by the authorities and have either faced trial or are scheduled to go on trial for a variety of offences. Lagarde had been accused of giving preferential treatment to businessman-turned-politician Bernard Tapie as he pursued a legal challenge against the French government. At the time, Lagarde was the French economic minister. Within hours of her conviction, in which she escaped any punishment, the fund's 24-member executive board put to rest any speculation that she might have to resign, praising her "outstanding leadership" and the "wide respect" she commands around the world. Rato was arrested on 16 April 2015 for alleged fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. On 23 February 2017, the Audiencia Nacional found Rato guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment. In September 2018, the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Spain. In March 2011, the Ministers of Economy and Finance of the African Union proposed to establish an African Monetary Fund. At the 6th BRICS summit in July 2014 the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) announced the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) with an initial size of US$100 billion, a framework to provide liquidity through currency swaps in response to actual or potential short-term balance-of-payments pressures. In 2014, the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was established. Life and Debt, a documentary film, deals with the IMF's policies' influence on Jamaica and its economy from a critical point of view. Debtocracy, a 2011 independent Greek documentary film, also criticises the IMF. Portuguese musician 's 1982 album is inspired by the IMF's intervention in Portugal through monitored stabilisation programs in 1977–78. In the 2015 film, Our Brand Is Crisis, the IMF is mentioned as a point of political contention, where the Bolivian population fears its electoral interference. BRICS Development Bank, Bank for International Settlements, Conditionality, Globalization, Group of Thirty, Group of Ten (economics), International financial institutions, List of IMF people, Smithsonian Agreement, World Bank residual model deVries, Margaret Garritsen. The IMF in a Changing World, 1945–85, International Monetary Fund, 1986., James, H. International Monetary Cooperation since Bretton Woods, Oxford, 1996., Joicey, N. and Pickford, S. "The International Monetary Fund and Global Economic Cooperation" in Nicholas Bayne and Stephen Woolcock, The New Economic Diplomacy: Decision-Making and Negotiation in International Relations, (Ashgate Publishing, 2011)., Keynes, J.M. The Collected Writings, Vol. XXVI. Activities 1941–1946: Shaping the Post-War World: Bretton Woods and Reparations, Cambridge, 1980., Moschella, M. Governing Risk: The IMF and Global Financial Crises (Palgrave Macmillan; 2010)., Skidelsky, R. John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain, London, 2000., Truman, E. Strengthening IMF Surveillance: A Comprehensive Proposal, Policy Brief 10–29, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2010., Weiss, Martin A. The International Monetary Fund. (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 24 May 2018)., Woods, N. The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and Their Borrowers, Ithaca, 2006 IMF Publications page, World Economic Outlook – quarterly staff periodical, recurrent Regional Economic Reports – published annually, biennial Global Financial Stability Report, Staff Discussion Notes – publication as and when desired, Fiscal Monitor publication as and when desired, Finance and Development – quarterly academic journal, IFIWatchNet (Web resource for analysis and commentary critical of the IMF and similar institutions), "IMF-Supported Macroeconomic Policies and the World Recession: A Look at Forty-One Borrowing Countries", from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, October 2009, "Proceedings and Documents of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, July 1–22, 1944", "IMF's Effect on Third World Countries" from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives, "IMF and Ukraine found a compromise" The World Bank () is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of poorer countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group. The World Bank's most recent stated goal is the reduction of poverty. As of November 2018, the largest recipients of World Bank loans were India ($859 million in 2018) and China ($370 million in 2018), through loans from IBRD. The World Bank Group is an extended family of five international organizations, and the parent organization of the World Bank, the collective name given to the first two listed organizations, the IBRD and the IDA: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other. Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations. The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries which were unable to obtain loans commercially. The Bank may also make loans and demand policy reforms from recipients. In its early years the Bank made a slow start for two reasons: it was underfunded, and there were leadership struggles between the US Executive Director and the President of the organization. When the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non- European countries. Until 1968, its loans were earmarked for the construction of infrastructure works, such as seaports, highway systems, and power plants, that would generate enough income to enable a borrower country to repay the loan. In 1960, the International Development Association was formed (as opposed to a UN fund named SUNFED), providing soft loans to developing countries. Before 1974, the reconstruction and development loans provided by the World Bank were relatively small. The Bank's staff were aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria. The first country to receive a World Bank loan was France. The Bank's president at the time, John McCloy, chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile. The loan was for US$250 million, half the amount requested, and it came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a balanced budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored the use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States State Department told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed. The French government complied and removed the Communist coalition government - the so-called tripartite. Within hours, the loan to France was approved. From 1974 to 1980 the bank concentrated on meeting the basic needs of people in the developing world. The size and number of loans to borrowers was greatly increased, as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and other sectors. These changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara, who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of the northern banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the global bond market to increase the capital available to the bank. One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rapid rise of Third World debt. From 1976 to 1980, developing world debt rose at an average annual rate of 20%. The World Bank Administrative Tribunal was established in 1980, to decide on disputes between the World Bank Group and its staff where allegation of non-observance of contracts of employment or terms of appointment had not been honored. McNamara was succeeded by US President Jimmy Carter's nominee, Alden W. Clausen, in 1980. Clausen replaced many members of McNamara's staff and crafted a different mission emphasis. His 1982 decision to replace the bank's Chief Economist, Hollis B. Chenery, with Anne Krueger was an example of this new focus. Krueger was known for her criticism of development funding and for describing Third World governments as "rent-seeking states". During the 1980s the bank emphasized lending to service Third-World debt, and structural adjustment policies designed to streamline the economies of developing nations. UNICEF reported in the late 1980s that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank had been responsible for "reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children in Asia, Latin America, and Africa". Beginning in 1989, in response to harsh criticism from many groups, the bank began including environmental groups and NGOs in its loans to mitigate the past effects of its development policies that had prompted the criticism. It also formed an implementing agency, in accordance with the Montreal Protocols, to stop ozone-depletion damage to the Earth's atmosphere by phasing out the use of 95% of ozone-depleting chemicals, with a target date of 2015. Since then, in accordance with its so-called "Six Strategic Themes", the bank has put various additional policies into effect to preserve the environment while promoting development. For example, in 1991 the bank announced that to protect against deforestation, especially in the Amazon, it would not finance any commercial logging or infrastructure projects that harm the environment. In order to promote global public goods, the World Bank tries to control communicable disease such as malaria, delivering vaccines to several parts of the world and joining combat forces. In 2000 the bank announced a "war on AIDS" and in 2011 the Bank joined the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership. Traditionally, based on a tacit understanding between the United States and Europe, the president of the World Bank has always been selected from candidates nominated by the United States. In 2012, for the first time, two non-US citizens were nominated. On 23 March 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the Bank. Jim Yong Kim was elected on 27 April 2012 and re- elected for a second five-year term in 2017. He announced that he will resign effective 1 February 2019. He was replaced on an interim basis by World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva. Various developments had brought the Millennium Development Goals targets for 2015 within reach in some cases. For the goals to be realized, six criteria must be met: stronger and more inclusive growth in Africa and fragile states, more effort in health and education, integration of the development and environment agendas, more as well as better aid, movement on trade negotiations, and stronger and more focused support from multilateral institutions like the World Bank. 1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger: From 1990 through 2004 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell from almost a third to less than a fifth. Although results vary widely within regions and countries, the trend indicates that the world as a whole can meet the goal of halving the percentage of people living in poverty. Africa's poverty, however, is expected to rise, and most of the 36 countries where 90% of the world's undernourished children live are in Africa. Less than a quarter of countries are on track for achieving the goal of halving under-nutrition. 2. Achieve Universal Primary Education: The percentage of children in school in developing countries increased from 80% in 1991 to 88% in 2005. Still, about 72 million children of primary school age, 57% of them girls, were not being educated . 3. Promote Gender Equality: The tide is turning slowly for women in the labor market, yet far more women than men- worldwide more than 60% – are contributing but unpaid family workers. The World Bank Group Gender Action Plan was created to advance women's economic empowerment and promote shared growth. 4. Reduce Child Mortality: There is some improvement in survival rates globally; accelerated improvements are needed most urgently in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 10 million-plus children under five died in 2005; most of their deaths were from preventable causes. 5. Improve Maternal Health: Almost all of the half million women who die during pregnancy or childbirth every year live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. There are numerous causes of maternal death that require a variety of health care interventions to be made widely accessible. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases: Annual numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS deaths have fallen, but the number of people living with HIV continues to grow. In the eight worst-hit southern African countries, prevalence is above 15 percent. Treatment has increased globally, but still meets only 30 percent of needs (with wide variations across countries). AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa (1.6 million deaths in 2007). There are 300 to 500 million cases of malaria each year, leading to more than 1 million deaths. Nearly all the cases and more than 95 percent of the deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. 7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability: Deforestation remains a critical problem, particularly in regions of biological diversity, which continues to decline. Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing faster than energy technology advancement. 8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development: Donor countries have renewed their commitment. Donors have to fulfill their pledges to match the current rate of core program development. Emphasis is being placed on the Bank Group's collaboration with multilateral and local partners to quicken progress toward the MDGs' realization. To make sure that World Bank-financed operations do not compromise these goals but instead add to their realisation, environmental, social and legal safeguards were defined. However, these safeguards have not been implemented entirely yet. At the World Bank's annual meeting in Tokyo 2012 a review of these safeguards has been initiated, which was welcomed by several civil society organisations. The President of the Bank is the president of the entire World Bank Group. The president is responsible for chairing meetings of the Boards of Directors and for overall management of the Bank. Traditionally, the President of the Bank has always been a US citizen nominated by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank (the managing director of the International Monetary Fund having always been a European). The nominee is subject to confirmation by the Board of Executive Directors, to serve for a five-year, renewable term. While most World Bank presidents have had banking experience, some have not. The vice presidents of the Bank are its principal managers, in charge of regions, sectors, networks and functions. There are two Executive Vice presidents, three Senior Vice presidents, and 24 Vice presidents. The Boards of Directors consist of the World Bank Group President and 25 Executive Directors. The President is the presiding officer, and ordinarily has no vote except a deciding vote in case of an equal division. The Executive Directors as individuals cannot exercise any power nor commit or represent the Bank unless specifically authorized by the Boards to do so. With the term beginning 1 November 2010, the number of Executive Directors increased by one, to 25. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 189 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 173 members. Each member state of IBRD should also be a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within the Bank (such as IDA). In 2010 voting powers at the World Bank were revised to increase the voice of developing countries, notably China. The countries with most voting power are now the United States (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), the United Kingdom (3.75%), France (3.75%), India (2.91%), Russia (2.77%), Saudi Arabia (2.77%) and Italy (2.64%). Under the changes, known as 'Voice Reform – Phase 2', countries other than China that saw significant gains included South Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Singapore, Greece, Brazil, India, and Spain. Most developed countries' voting power was reduced, along with a few developing countries such as Nigeria. The voting powers of the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia were unchanged. The changes were brought about with the goal of making voting more universal in regards to standards, rule-based with objective indicators, and transparent among other things. Now, developing countries have an increased voice in the "Pool Model", backed especially by Europe. Additionally, voting power is based on economic size in addition to International Development Association contributions. The following table shows the subscriptions of the top 20 member countries of the World Bank by voting power in the following World Bank institutions as of December 2014 or March 2015: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Development Association (IDA), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Member countries are allocated votes at the time of membership and subsequently for additional subscriptions to capital (one vote for each share of capital stock held by the member). For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's assistance plans are based on poverty reduction strategies; by combining an analysis of local groups with an analysis of the country's financial and economic situation the World Bank develops a plan pertaining to the country in question. The government then identifies the country's priorities and targets for the reduction of poverty, and the World Bank instigates its aid efforts correspondingly. Forty-five countries pledged US$25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA), which distributes the loans to eighty poorer countries. Wealthier nations sometimes fund their own aid projects, including those for diseases. Robert B. Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, said when the loans were announced on 15 December 2007, that IDA money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on". World Bank organizes the Development Marketplace Awards, a grant program that surfaces and funds development projects with potential for development impact that are scalable and/or replicable. The grant beneficiaries are social enterprises with projects that aim to deliver social and public services to groups with lowest incomes. The World Bank has been assigned temporary management responsibility of the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), focused on making renewable energy cost- competitive with coal-fired power as quickly as possible, but this may not continue after UN's Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009, because of the Bank's continued investment in coal-fired power plants. (In December 2017, Kim announced the World Bank would no longer finance fossil fuel development.) Together with the World Health Organization, the World Bank administers the International Health Partnership (IHP+). IHP+ is a group of partners committed to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Partners work together to put international principles for aid effectiveness and development cooperation into practice in the health sector. IHP+ mobilizes national governments, development agencies, civil society and others to support a single, country-led national health strategy in a well- coordinated way. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in 2012 that: The World Bank doubled its aid for climate change adaptation from $2.3bn (£1.47bn) in 2011 to $4.6bn in 2012. The planet is now 0.8 °C warmer than in pre-industrial times. It says that 2 °C warming will be reached in 20 to 30 years. In December 2017, Kim announced the World Bank would no longer finance fossil fuel development. However, a 2019 article by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that the World Bank continues "to finance oil and gas exploration, pipelines and refineries," that "these fossil fuel investments make up a greater share of the bank’s current energy lending portfolio than renewable projects," and that the Bank "has yet to meaningfully shift away from fossil fuels." EU finance ministers joined civil sector groups, including Extinction Rebellion, in November 2019 in calling for an end to World Bank funding of fossil fuels. 1. Global Food Security Program: Launched in April 2010, six countries alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged $925 million for food security. To date, the program has helped eight countries, promoting agriculture, research, trade in agriculture, etc. 2. Launched Global Food Crisis Response Program: Given grants to approximately 40 nations for seeds, etc. for improving productivity. 3. In process of increasing its yearly spending for agriculture to $6–8 billion from earlier $4 billion. 4. Runs several nutrition program across the world, e.g., vitamin A doses for children, school meals, etc. The World Bank Institute (WBI) was a "global connector of knowledge, learning and innovation for poverty reduction". It aimed to inspire change agents and prepare them with essential tools that can help achieve development results. WBI had four major strategies to approach development problems: innovation for development, knowledge exchange, leadership and coalition building, and structured learning. World Bank Institute (WBI) was formerly known as Economic Development Institute (EDI), established on 11 March 1955 with the support of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. The purpose of the institute was to serve as provide an open place where senior officials from developing countries could discuss development policies and programs. Over the years, EDI grew significantly and in 2000, the Institute was renamed as the World Bank Institute. Sanjay Pradhan is the past Vice President of the World Bank Institute. As of 2019, World Bank Institute functions have been mostly encapsulated by a new unit Global Operations Knowledge Management Unit (GOKMU), which is now responsible for knowledge management and learning across the Bank. The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) is a partnership of over 120 learning centers (GDLN Affiliates) in nearly 80 countries around the world. GDLN Affiliates collaborate in holding events that connect people across countries and regions for learning and dialogue on development issues. GDLN clients are typically NGOs, government, private sector and development agencies who find that they work better together on subregional, regional or global development issues using the facilities and tools offered by GDLN Affiliates. Clients also benefit from the ability of Affiliates to help them choose and apply these tools effectively, and to tap development practitioners and experts worldwide. GDLN Affiliates facilitate around 1000 videoconference- based activities a year on behalf of their clients, reaching some 90,000 people worldwide. Most of these activities bring together participants in two or more countries over a series of sessions. A majority of GDLN activities are organized by small government agencies and NGOs. The GDLN in the East Asia and Pacific region has experienced rapid growth and Distance Learning Centers now operate, or are planned in 20 countries: Australia, Mongolia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, Timor Leste, Fiji, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and New Zealand. With over 180 Distance Learning Centers, it is the largest development learning network in the Asia and Pacific region. The Secretariat Office of GDLN Asia Pacific is located in the Center of Academic Resources of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. GDLN Asia Pacific was launched at the GDLN's East Asia and Pacific regional meeting held in Bangkok from 22 to 24 May 2006. Its vision is to become "the premier network exchanging ideas, experience and know-how across the Asia Pacific Region". GDLN Asia Pacific is a separate entity to The World Bank. It has endorsed its own Charter and Business Plan and, in accordance with the Charter, a GDLN Asia Pacific Governing Committee has been appointed. The committee comprises China (2), Australia (1), Thailand (1), The World Bank (1) and finally, a nominee of the Government of Japan (1). The organization is currently hosted by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, founding member of the GDLN Asia Pacific. The Governing Committee has determined that the most appropriate legal status for the GDLN AP in Thailand is a "Foundation". The World Bank is currently engaging a solicitor in Thailand to process all documentation in order to obtain this legal status. GDLN Asia Pacific is built on the principle of shared resources among partners engaged in a common task, and this is visible in the organizational structures that exist, as the network evolves. Physical space for its headquarters is provided by the host of the GDLN Centre in Thailand – Chulalongkorn University; Technical expertise and some infrastructure is provided by the Tokyo Development Learning Centre (TDLC); Fiduciary services are provided by Australian National University (ANU) Until the GDLN Asia Pacific is established as a legal entity tin Thailand, ANU, has offered to assist the governing committee, by providing a means of managing the inflow and outflow of funds and of reporting on them. This admittedly results in some complexity in contracting arrangements, which need to be worked out on a case by case basis and depends to some extent on the legal requirements of the countries involved. A Justice Sector Peer-Assisted Learning (JUSTPAL) Network was launched in April 2011 by the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Department of the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region. The JUSTPAL objective is to provide an online and offline platform for justice professionals to exchange knowledge, good practices and peer-driven improvements to justice systems and thereby support countries to improve their justice sector performance, quality of justice and service delivery to citizens and businesses. The JUSTPAL Network includes representatives of judiciaries, ministries of justice, prosecutors, anti-corruption agencies and other justice-related entities from across the globe. The Network currently has active members from more than 50 countries. To facilitate fruitful exchange of reform experiences and sharing of applicable good practices, the JUSTPAL Network has organized its activities under (currently) five Communities of Practice (COPs): (i) Budgeting for the Justice Sector; (ii) Information Systems for Justice Services; (iii) Justice Sector Physical Infrastructure; (iv) Court Management and Administration; and (v) Prosecution and Anti-Corruption Agencies. As a guideline to the World Bank's operations in any particular country, a Country Assistance Strategy is produced in cooperation with the local government and any interested stakeholders and may rely on analytical work performed by the Bank or other parties. Clean Air Initiative (CAI) is a World Bank initiative to advance innovative ways to improve air quality in cities through partnerships in selected regions of the world by sharing knowledge and experiences. It includes electric vehicles. Initiatives like this help address and tackle pollution-related diseases. Based on an agreement between the United Nations and the World Bank in 1981, Development Business became the official source for World Bank Procurement Notices, Contract Awards, and Project Approvals. In 1998, the agreement was re-negotiated, and included in this agreement was a joint venture to create an electronic version of the publication via the World Wide Web. Today, Development Business is the primary publication for all major multilateral development banks, United Nations agencies, and several national governments, many of whom have made the publication of their tenders and contracts in Development Business a mandatory requirement. The World Bank or the World Bank Group is also a sitting observer in the United Nations Development Group. The World Bank collects and processes large amounts of data and generates them on the basis of economic models. These data and models have gradually been made available to the public in a way that encourages reuse, whereas the recent publications describing them are available as open access under a Creative Commons Attribution License, for which the bank received the SPARC Innovator 2012 award. The World Bank also endorses the Principles for Digital Development. The following table lists the top 15 DAC 5 Digit Sectors to which the World Bank has committed funding, as recorded by it in its International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) publications. The World Bank states on the IATI Registry website that the amounts "will cover 100% of IBRD and IDA development flows" but will not cover other development flows. The World Bank hosts the Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) as an official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. The World Bank's repository is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org. The World Bank has long been criticized by non-governmental organizations, such as the indigenous rights group Survival International, and academics, including Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig Von Mises, and its former Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz. Henry Hazlitt argued that the World Bank along with the monetary system it was designed within would promote world inflation and "a world in which international trade is State-dominated" when they were being advocated. Stiglitz argued that the so-called free market reform policies that the Bank advocates are often harmful to economic development if implemented badly, too quickly ("shock therapy"), in the wrong sequence or in weak, uncompetitive economies. Similarly, Carmine Guerriero notices that these reforms have introduced in developing countries regulatory institutions typical of the common law legal tradition because allegedly more efficient according to the legal origins theory. The latter however has been fiercely criticized since it does not take into account that the legal institutions transplanted during the European colonization have been then reformed. This issue makes the legal origins theory's inference unreliable and the World Bank reforms detrimental. One of the most common criticisms of the World Bank has been the way in which it is governed. While the World Bank represents 188 countries, it is run by a small number of economically powerful countries. These countries (which also provide most of the institution's funding) choose the leadership and senior management of the World Bank, and their interests dominate the bank. Titus Alexander argues that the unequal voting power of western countries and the World Bank's role in developing countries makes it similar to the South African Development Bank under apartheid, and therefore a pillar of global apartheid. In the 1990s, the World Bank and the IMF forged the Washington Consensus, policies that included deregulation and liberalization of markets, privatization and the downscaling of government. Though the Washington Consensus was conceived as a policy that would best promote development, it was criticized for ignoring equity, employment and how reforms like privatization were carried out. Joseph Stiglitz argued that the Washington Consensus placed too much emphasis on the growth of GDP, and not enough on the permanence of growth or on whether growth contributed to better living standards. The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report criticized the World Bank and other international financial institutions for focusing too much "on issuing loans rather than on achieving concrete development results within a finite period of time" and called on the institution to "strengthen anti-corruption efforts". James Ferguson has argued that the main effect of many development projects carried out by the World Bank and similar organizations is not the alleviation of poverty. Instead the projects often serve to expand the exercise of bureaucratic state power. Through his case-studies of development projects in Thaba-Tseka he shows that the World Bank's characterization of the economic conditions in Lesotho was flawed, and the Bank ignored the political and cultural character of the state in crafting their projects. As a result, the projects failed to help the poor, but succeeded in expanding the government bureaucracy. Criticism of the World Bank and other organizations often takes the form of protesting, such as the World Bank Oslo 2002 Protests, the 2007 October Rebellion, and the 1999 Battle of Seattle. Such demonstrations have occurred all over the world, even among the Brazilian Kayapo people. Another source of criticism has been the tradition of having an American head the bank, implemented because the United States provides the majority of World Bank funding. "When economists from the World Bank visit poor countries to dispense cash and advice", observed The Economist in 2012, "they routinely tell governments to reject cronyism and fill each important job with the best candidate available. It is good advice. The World Bank should take it." Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American, is the most recently appointed president of the World Bank. The effect of structural adjustment policies on poor countries has been one of the most significant criticisms of the World Bank. The 1979 energy crisis plunged many countries into economic crisis. The World Bank responded with structural adjustment loans, which distributed aid to struggling countries while enforcing policy changes in order to reduce inflation and fiscal imbalance. Some of these policies included encouraging production, investment and labour-intensive manufacturing, changing real exchange rates and altering the distribution of government resources. Structural adjustment policies were most effective in countries with an institutional framework that allowed these policies to be implemented easily. For some countries, particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa, economic growth regressed and inflation worsened. The alleviation of poverty was not a goal of structural adjustment loans, and the circumstances of the poor often worsened, due to a reduction in social spending and an increase in the price of food, as subsidies were lifted. By the late 1980s, international organizations began to admit that structural adjustment policies were worsening life for the world's poor. The World Bank changed structural adjustment loans, allowing for social spending to be maintained, and encouraging a slower change to policies such as transfer of subsidies and price rises. In 1999, the World Bank and the IMF introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approach to replace structural adjustment loans. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approach has been interpreted as an extension of structural adjustment policies as it continues to reinforce and legitimize global inequities. Neither approach has addressed the inherent flaws within the global economy that contribute to economic and social inequities within developing countries. Some critics, most prominently the author Naomi Klein, are of the opinion that the World Bank Group's loans and aid have unfair conditions attached to them that reflect the interests, financial power and political doctrines (notably the Washington Consensus) of the Bank and, by extension, the countries that are most influential within it. Among other allegations, Klein says the Group's credibility was damaged "when it forced school fees on students in Ghana in exchange for a loan; when it demanded that Tanzania privatise its water system; when it made telecom privatisation a condition of aid for Hurricane Mitch; when it demanded labour 'flexibility' in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami; when it pushed for eliminating food subsidies in post-invasion Iraq". The World Bank requires sovereign immunity from countries it deals with. Sovereign immunity waives a holder from all legal liability for their actions. It is proposed that this immunity from responsibility is a "shield which The World Bank wants to resort to, for escaping accountability and security by the people". As the United States has veto power, it can prevent the World Bank from taking action against its interests. World Bank favored PricewaterhouseCoopers as a consultant in a bid for privatizing the water distribution in Delhi, India. BRICS Development Bank, Clean Energy for Development Investment Framework, Democracy Ranking, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), International Finance Corporation, Russia-World Bank relations Ascher, W. "New development approaches and the adaptability of international agencies: the case of the World Bank" International Organization 1983. 37, 415–439., Bazbauers, Adrian Robert. The World Bank and Transferring Development (Springer, 2018)., Bergsen, H., Lunde, L., Dinosaurs or Dynamos? The United Nations and the World Bank at the Turn of the Century. (Earthscan, London, 1999)., Bilbert, C., and C. Vines, eds. The World Bank: Structures and Policies (Cambridge UP, 2000), Brown, Michael Barratt. Africa's choices: after thirty years of the World Bank (Routledge, 2019)., Davis, Gloria. A history of the social development network in The World Bank, 1973-2003 (The World Bank, 2004)., Heldt, Eugénia C., and Henning Schmidtke. "Explaining coherence in international regime complexes: How the World Bank shapes the field of multilateral development finance." Review of International Political Economy (2019): 1-27. online, Heyneman, Stephen P. "The history and problems in the making of education policy at the World Bank, 1960–2000." International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 315–337 online, Hurni, Bettina S. The Lending Policy Of The World Bank In The 1970s (1980), Mason, Edward S., and Robert E. Asher. The world bank since Bretton Woods (Brookings Institution Press, 2010)., Pereira, João Márcio Mendes. "The World Bank as a political, intellectual, and financial actor (1944-1994)." "Relaciones Internacionales 26.52 (2017): online in English, Pereira, João Márcio Mendes. "Assaulting Poverty: Politics and Economic Doctrine in the History of the World Bank (1944-2014)." Revista De História 174 (2016): 235-265. online, Polak, Jacques J., and James M. Boughton. "The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund: A Changing Relationship." in Economic Theory and Financial Policy (Routledge, 2016) pp. 92-146., Salda, Anne C. M., ed. Historical dictionary of the World Bank (1997), Woods, Ngaire. The globalizers: the IMF, the World Bank, and their borrowers (Cornell UP, 2014)., World Bank. A Guide to the World Bank (2nd ed. 2007) online IBRD main page, IDA main page The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states. The chief features of the Bretton Woods system were an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained its external exchange rates within 1 percent by tying its currency to gold and the ability of the IMF to bridge temporary imbalances of payments. Also, there was a need to address the lack of cooperation among other countries and to prevent competitive devaluation of the currencies as well. Preparing to rebuild the international economic system while World War II was still raging, 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, also known as the Bretton Woods Conference. The delegates deliberated during 1–22 July 1944, and signed the Bretton Woods agreement on its final day. Setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, these accords established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which today is part of the World Bank Group. The United States, which controlled two thirds of the world's gold, insisted that the Bretton Woods system rest on both gold and the US dollar. Soviet representatives attended the conference but later declined to ratify the final agreements, charging that the institutions they had created were "branches of Wall Street". These organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement. On 15 August 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively bringing the Bretton Woods system to an end and rendering the dollar a fiat currency. At the same time, many fixed currencies (such as the pound sterling) also became free-floating. The political basis for the Bretton Woods system was in the confluence of two key conditions: the shared experiences of two World Wars, with the sense that failure to deal with economic problems after the first war had led to the second; and the concentration of power in a small number of states. There was a high level of agreement among the powerful nations that failure to coordinate exchange rates during the interwar period had exacerbated political tensions. This facilitated the decisions reached by the Bretton Woods Conference. Furthermore, all the participating governments at Bretton Woods agreed that the monetary chaos of the interwar period had yielded several valuable lessons. The experience of World War II was fresh in the minds of public officials. The planners at Bretton Woods hoped to avoid a repeat of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, which had created enough economic and political tension to lead to WWII. After World War I, Britain owed the U.S. substantial sums, which Britain could not repay because it had used the funds to support allies such as France during the War; the Allies could not pay back Britain, so Britain could not pay back the U.S. The solution at Versailles for the French, British, and Americans seemed to entail ultimately charging Germany for the debts. If the demands on Germany were unrealistic, then it was unrealistic for France to pay back Britain, and for Britain to pay back the US. Thus, many "assets" on bank balance sheets internationally were actually unrecoverable loans, which culminated in the 1931 banking crisis. Intransigent insistence by creditor nations for the repayment of Allied war debts and reparations, combined with an inclination to isolationism, led to a breakdown of the international financial system and a worldwide economic depression. The so-called "beggar thy neighbor" policies that emerged as the crisis continued saw some trading nations using currency devaluations in an attempt to increase their competitiveness (i.e. raise exports and lower imports), though recent research suggests this de facto inflationary policy probably offset some of the contractionary forces in world price levels (see Eichengreen "How to Prevent a Currency War"). In the 1920s, international flows of speculative financial capital increased, leading to extremes in balance of payments situations in various European countries and the US. In the 1930s, world markets never broke through the barriers and restrictions on international trade and investment volume – barriers haphazardly constructed, nationally motivated and imposed. The various anarchic and often autarkic protectionist and neo-mercantilist national policies – often mutually inconsistent – that emerged over the first half of the decade worked inconsistently and self- defeatingly to promote national import substitution, increase national exports, divert foreign investment and trade flows, and even prevent certain categories of cross-border trade and investment outright. Global central bankers attempted to manage the situation by meeting with each other, but their understanding of the situation as well as difficulties in communicating internationally, hindered their abilities. The lesson was that simply having responsible, hard-working central bankers was not enough. Britain in the 1930s had an exclusionary trade bloc with nations of the British Empire known as the "Sterling Area". If Britain imported more than it exported to nations such as South Africa, South African recipients of pounds sterling tended to put them into London banks. This meant that though Britain was running a trade deficit, it had a financial account surplus, and payments balanced. Increasingly, Britain's positive balance of payments required keeping the wealth of Empire nations in British banks. One incentive for, say, South African holders of rand to park their wealth in London and to keep the money in Sterling, was a strongly valued pound sterling. Unfortunately, as Britain deindustrialized in the 1920s, the way out of the trade deficit was to devalue the currency. But Britain couldn't devalue, or the Empire surplus would leave its banking system. Nazi Germany also worked with a bloc of controlled nations by 1940. Germany forced trading partners with a surplus to spend that surplus importing products from Germany. Thus, Britain survived by keeping Sterling nation surpluses in its banking system, and Germany survived by forcing trading partners to purchase its own products. The U.S. was concerned that a sudden drop-off in war spending might return the nation to unemployment levels of the 1930s, and so wanted Sterling nations and everyone in Europe to be able to import from the US, hence the U.S. supported free trade and international convertibility of currencies into gold or dollars. When many of the same experts who observed the 1930s became the architects of a new, unified, post-war system at Bretton Woods, their guiding principles became "no more beggar thy neighbor" and "control flows of speculative financial capital". Preventing a repetition of this process of competitive devaluations was desired, but in a way that would not force debtor nations to contract their industrial bases by keeping interest rates at a level high enough to attract foreign bank deposits. John Maynard Keynes, wary of repeating the Great Depression, was behind Britain's proposal that surplus nations be forced by a "use-it-or-lose-it" mechanism, to either import from debtor nations, build factories in debtor nations or donate to debtor nations. The U.S. opposed Keynes' plan, and a senior official at the U.S. Treasury, Harry Dexter White, rejected Keynes' proposals, in favor of an International Monetary Fund with enough resources to counteract destabilizing flows of speculative finance. However, unlike the modern IMF, White's proposed fund would have counteracted dangerous speculative flows automatically, with no political strings attached—i.e., no IMF conditionality. According to economic historian Brad Delong, on almost every point where he was overruled by the Americans, Keynes was later proved correct by events. Today these key 1930s events look different to scholars of the era (see the work of Barry Eichengreen Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939 and How to Prevent a Currency War); in particular, devaluations today are viewed with more nuance. Ben Bernanke's opinion on the subject follows: ... [T]he proximate cause of the world depression was a structurally flawed and poorly managed international gold standard. ... For a variety of reasons, including a desire of the Federal Reserve to curb the U.S. stock market boom, monetary policy in several major countries turned contractionary in the late 1920s—a contraction that was transmitted worldwide by the gold standard. What was initially a mild deflationary process began to snowball when the banking and currency crises of 1931 instigated an international "scramble for gold". Sterilization of gold inflows by surplus countries [the U.S. and France], substitution of gold for foreign exchange reserves, and runs on commercial banks all led to increases in the gold backing of money, and consequently to sharp unintended declines in national money supplies. Monetary contractions in turn were strongly associated with falling prices, output and employment. Effective international cooperation could in principle have permitted a worldwide monetary expansion despite gold standard constraints, but disputes over World War I reparations and war debts, and the insularity and inexperience of the Federal Reserve, among other factors, prevented this outcome. As a result, individual countries were able to escape the deflationary vortex only by unilaterally abandoning the gold standard and re- establishing domestic monetary stability, a process that dragged on in a halting and uncoordinated manner until France and the other Gold Bloc countries finally left gold in 1936. —Great Depression, B. Bernanke In 1944 at Bretton Woods, as a result of the collective conventional wisdom of the time, representatives from all the leading allied nations collectively favored a regulated system of fixed exchange rates, indirectly disciplined by a US dollar tied to gold—a system that relied on a regulated market economy with tight controls on the values of currencies. Flows of speculative international finance were curtailed by shunting them through and limiting them via central banks. This meant that international flows of investment went into foreign direct investment (FDI)—i.e., construction of factories overseas, rather than international currency manipulation or bond markets. Although the national experts disagreed to some degree on the specific implementation of this system, all agreed on the need for tight controls. Also based on experience of the inter-war years, U.S. planners developed a concept of economic security—that a liberal international economic system would enhance the possibilities of postwar peace. One of those who saw such a security link was Cordell Hull, the United States Secretary of State from 1933 to 1944. Hull believed that the fundamental causes of the two world wars lay in economic discrimination and trade warfare. Specifically, he had in mind the trade and exchange controls (bilateral arrangements) of Nazi Germany and the imperial preference system practiced by Britain, by which members or former members of the British Empire were accorded special trade status, itself provoked by German, French, and American protectionist policies. Hull argued The developed countries also agreed that the liberal international economic system required governmental intervention. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, public management of the economy had emerged as a primary activity of governments in the developed states. Employment, stability, and growth were now important subjects of public policy. In turn, the role of government in the national economy had become associated with the assumption by the state of the responsibility for assuring its citizens of a degree of economic well- being. The system of economic protection for at-risk citizens sometimes called the welfare state grew out of the Great Depression, which created a popular demand for governmental intervention in the economy, and out of the theoretical contributions of the Keynesian school of economics, which asserted the need for governmental intervention to counter market imperfections. However, increased government intervention in domestic economy brought with it isolationist sentiment that had a profoundly negative effect on international economics. The priority of national goals, independent national action in the interwar period, and the failure to perceive that those national goals could not be realized without some form of international collaboration—all resulted in "beggar-thy-neighbor" policies such as high tariffs, competitive devaluations that contributed to the breakdown of the gold-based international monetary system, domestic political instability, and international war. The lesson learned was, as the principal architect of the Bretton Woods system New Dealer Harry Dexter White put it: To ensure economic stability and political peace, states agreed to cooperate to closely regulate the production of their currencies to maintain fixed exchange rates between countries with the aim of more easily facilitating international trade. This was the foundation of the U.S. vision of postwar world free trade, which also involved lowering tariffs and, among other things, maintaining a balance of trade via fixed exchange rates that would be favorable to the capitalist system. Thus, the more developed market economies agreed with the U.S. vision of post-war international economic management, which intended to create and maintain an effective international monetary system and foster the reduction of barriers to trade and capital flows. In a sense, the new international monetary system was a return to a system similar to the pre-war gold standard, only using U.S. dollars as the world's new reserve currency until international trade reallocated the world's gold supply. Thus, the new system would be devoid (initially) of governments meddling with their currency supply as they had during the years of economic turmoil preceding WWII. Instead, governments would closely police the production of their currencies and ensure that they would not artificially manipulate their price levels. If anything, Bretton Woods was a return to a time devoid of increased governmental intervention in economies and currency systems. The Atlantic Charter, drafted during U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's August 1941 meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on a ship in the North Atlantic, was the most notable precursor to the Bretton Woods Conference. Like Woodrow Wilson before him, whose "Fourteen Points" had outlined U.S. aims in the aftermath of the First World War, Roosevelt set forth a range of ambitious goals for the postwar world even before the U.S. had entered the Second World War. The Atlantic Charter affirmed the right of all nations to equal access to trade and raw materials. Moreover, the charter called for freedom of the seas (a principal U.S. foreign policy aim since France and Britain had first threatened U.S. shipping in the 1790s), the disarmament of aggressors, and the "establishment of a wider and more permanent system of general security". As the war drew to a close, the Bretton Woods conference was the culmination of some two and a half years of planning for postwar reconstruction by the Treasuries of the U.S. and the UK. U.S. representatives studied with their British counterparts the reconstitution of what had been lacking between the two world wars: a system of international payments that would let nations trade without fear of sudden currency depreciation or wild exchange rate fluctuations—ailments that had nearly paralyzed world capitalism during the Great Depression. Without a strong European market for U.S. goods and services, most policymakers believed, the U.S. economy would be unable to sustain the prosperity it had achieved during the war. In addition, U.S. unions had only grudgingly accepted government- imposed restraints on their demands during the war, but they were willing to wait no longer, particularly as inflation cut into the existing wage scales with painful force. (By the end of 1945, there had already been major strikes in the automobile, electrical, and steel industries.) In early 1945 Bernard Baruch described the spirit of Bretton Woods as: if we can "stop subsidization of labor and sweated competition in the export markets," as well as prevent rebuilding of war machines, "...oh boy, oh boy, what long term prosperity we will have." The United States [c]ould therefore use its position of influence to reopen and control the [rules of the] world economy, so as to give unhindered access to all nations' markets and materials. United States allies—economically exhausted by the war—needed U.S. assistance to rebuild their domestic production and to finance their international trade; indeed, they needed it to survive. Before the war, the French and the British realized that they could no longer compete with U.S. industries in an open marketplace. During the 1930s, the British created their own economic bloc to shut out U.S. goods. Churchill did not believe that he could surrender that protection after the war, so he watered down the Atlantic Charter's "free access" clause before agreeing to it. Yet U.S. officials were determined to open their access to the British empire. The combined value of British and U.S. trade was well over half of all the world's trade in goods. For the U.S. to open global markets, it first had to split the British (trade) empire. While Britain had economically dominated the 19th century, U.S. officials intended the second half of the 20th to be under U.S. hegemony. A Senior Official of the Bank of England commented: A devastated Britain had little choice. Two world wars had destroyed the country's principal industries that paid for the importation of half of the nation's food and nearly all its raw materials except coal. The British had no choice but to ask for aid. Not until the United States signed an agreement on 6 December 1945 to grant Britain aid of $4.4 billion did the British Parliament ratify the Bretton Woods Agreements (which occurred later in December 1945). For nearly two centuries, French and U.S. interests had clashed in both the Old World and the New World. During the war, French mistrust of the United States was embodied by General Charles de Gaulle, president of the French provisional government. De Gaulle bitterly fought U.S. officials as he tried to maintain his country's colonies and diplomatic freedom of action. In turn, U.S. officials saw de Gaulle as a political extremist. But in 1945 de Gaulle—the leading voice of French nationalism—was forced to grudgingly ask the U.S. for a billion-dollar loan. Most of the request was granted; in return France promised to curtail government subsidies and currency manipulation that had given its exporters advantages in the world market. Free trade relied on the free convertibility of currencies. Negotiators at the Bretton Woods conference, fresh from what they perceived as a disastrous experience with floating rates in the 1930s, concluded that major monetary fluctuations could stall the free flow of trade. The new economic system required an accepted vehicle for investment, trade, and payments. Unlike national economies, however, the international economy lacks a central government that can issue currency and manage its use. In the past this problem had been solved through the gold standard, but the architects of Bretton Woods did not consider this option feasible for the postwar political economy. Instead, they set up a system of fixed exchange rates managed by a series of newly created international institutions using the U.S. dollar (which was a gold standard currency for central banks) as a reserve currency. In the 19th and early 20th centuries gold played a key role in international monetary transactions. The gold standard was used to back currencies; the international value of currency was determined by its fixed relationship to gold; gold was used to settle international accounts. The gold standard maintained fixed exchange rates that were seen as desirable because they reduced the risk when trading with other countries. Imbalances in international trade were theoretically rectified automatically by the gold standard. A country with a deficit would have depleted gold reserves and would thus have to reduce its money supply. The resulting fall in demand would reduce imports and the lowering of prices would boost exports; thus the deficit would be rectified. Any country experiencing inflation would lose gold and therefore would have a decrease in the amount of money available to spend. This decrease in the amount of money would act to reduce the inflationary pressure. Supplementing the use of gold in this period was the British pound. Based on the dominant British economy, the pound became a reserve, transaction, and intervention currency. But the pound was not up to the challenge of serving as the primary world currency, given the weakness of the British economy after the Second World War. The architects of Bretton Woods had conceived of a system wherein exchange rate stability was a prime goal. Yet, in an era of more activist economic policy, governments did not seriously consider permanently fixed rates on the model of the classical gold standard of the 19th century. Gold production was not even sufficient to meet the demands of growing international trade and investment. Further, a sizable share of the world's known gold reserves were located in the Soviet Union, which would later emerge as a Cold War rival to the United States and Western Europe. The only currency strong enough to meet the rising demands for international currency transactions was the U.S. dollar. The strength of the U.S. economy, the fixed relationship of the dollar to gold ($35 an ounce), and the commitment of the U.S. government to convert dollars into gold at that price made the dollar as good as gold. In fact, the dollar was even better than gold: it earned interest and it was more flexible than gold. The rules of Bretton Woods, set forth in the articles of agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), provided for a system of fixed exchange rates. The rules further sought to encourage an open system by committing members to the convertibility of their respective currencies into other currencies and to free trade. What emerged was the "pegged rate" currency regime. Members were required to establish a parity of their national currencies in terms of the reserve currency (a "peg") and to maintain exchange rates within plus or minus 1% of parity (a "band") by intervening in their foreign exchange markets (that is, buying or selling foreign money). In theory, the reserve currency would be the bancor (a World Currency Unit that was never implemented), suggested by John Maynard Keynes; however, the United States objected and their request was granted, making the "reserve currency" the U.S. dollar. This meant that other countries would peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, and—once convertibility was restored—would buy and sell U.S. dollars to keep market exchange rates within plus or minus 1% of parity. Thus, the U.S. dollar took over the role that gold had played under the gold standard in the international financial system. Meanwhile, to bolster confidence in the dollar, the U.S. agreed separately to link the dollar to gold at the rate of $35 per ounce. At this rate, foreign governments and central banks could exchange dollars for gold. Bretton Woods established a system of payments based on the dollar, which defined all currencies in relation to the dollar, itself convertible into gold, and above all, "as good as gold" for trade. U.S. currency was now effectively the world currency, the standard to which every other currency was pegged. As the world's key currency, most international transactions were denominated in U.S. dollars. The U.S. dollar was the currency with the most purchasing power and it was the only currency that was backed by gold. Additionally, all European nations that had been involved in World War II were highly in debt and transferred large amounts of gold into the United States, a fact that contributed to the supremacy of the United States. Thus, the U.S. dollar was strongly appreciated in the rest of the world and therefore became the key currency of the Bretton Woods system. Member countries could only change their par value by more than 10% with IMF approval, which was contingent on IMF determination that its balance of payments was in a "fundamental disequilibrium". The formal definition of fundamental disequilibrium was never determined, leading to uncertainty of approvals and attempts to repeatedly devalue by less than 10% instead. Any country that changed without approval or after being denied was then denied access to the IMF. The Bretton Woods Conference led to the establishment of the IMF and the IBRD (now the World Bank), which still remain powerful forces in the world economy as of the 2010s. A major point of common ground at the Conference was the goal to avoid a recurrence of the closed markets and economic warfare that had characterized the 1930s. Thus, negotiators at Bretton Woods also agreed that there was a need for an institutional forum for international cooperation on monetary matters. Already in 1944 the British economist John Maynard Keynes emphasized "the importance of rule-based regimes to stabilize business expectations"—something he accepted in the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. Currency troubles in the interwar years, it was felt, had been greatly exacerbated by the absence of any established procedure or machinery for intergovernmental consultation. As a result of the establishment of agreed upon structures and rules of international economic interaction, conflict over economic issues was minimized, and the significance of the economic aspect of international relations seemed to recede. Officially established on 27 December 1945, when the 29 participating countries at the conference of Bretton Woods signed its Articles of Agreement, the IMF was to be the keeper of the rules and the main instrument of public international management. The Fund commenced its financial operations on 1 March 1947. IMF approval was necessary for any change in exchange rates in excess of 10%. It advised countries on policies affecting the monetary system and lent reserve currencies to nations that had incurred balance of payment debts. The big question at the Bretton Woods conference with respect to the institution that would emerge as the IMF was the issue of future access to international liquidity and whether that source should be akin to a world central bank able to create new reserves at will or a more limited borrowing mechanism. Although attended by 44 nations, discussions at the conference were dominated by two rival plans developed by the United States and Britain. Writing to the British Treasury, Keynes, who took the lead at the Conference, did not want many countries. He believed that those from the colonies and semi-colonies had "nothing to contribute and will merely encumber the ground." As the chief international economist at the U.S. Treasury in 1942–44, Harry Dexter White drafted the U.S. blueprint for international access to liquidity, which competed with the plan drafted for the British Treasury by Keynes. Overall, White's scheme tended to favor incentives designed to create price stability within the world's economies, while Keynes wanted a system that encouraged economic growth. The "collective agreement was an enormous international undertaking" that took two years prior of the conference to prepare for—it consisted of numerous bilateral and multilateral meetings to reach common ground on what policies would make up the Bretton Woods system. At the time, gaps between the White and Keynes plans seemed enormous. White basically wanted a fund to reverse destabilizing flows of financial capital automatically. White proposed a new monetary institution called the Stabilization Fund that "would be funded with a finite pool of national currencies and gold… that would effectively limit the supply of reserve credit". Keynes wanted incentives for the U.S. to help Britain and the rest of Europe rebuild after WWII. Outlining the difficulty of creating a system that every nation could accept in his speech at the closing plenary session of the Bretton Woods conference on 22 July 1944, Keynes stated: Keynes' proposals would have established a world reserve currency (which he thought might be called "bancor") administered by a central bank vested with the possibility of creating money and with the authority to take actions on a much larger scale. In the case of balance of payments imbalances, Keynes recommended that both debtors and creditors should change their policies. As outlined by Keynes, countries with payment surpluses should increase their imports from the deficit countries, build factories in debtor nations, or donate to them—and thereby create a foreign trade equilibrium. Thus, Keynes was sensitive to the problem that placing too much of the burden on the deficit country would be deflationary. But the United States, as a likely creditor nation, and eager to take on the role of the world's economic powerhouse, used White's plan but targeted many of Keynes's concerns. White saw a role for global intervention in an imbalance only when it was caused by currency speculation. Although a compromise was reached on some points, because of the overwhelming economic and military power of the United States the participants at Bretton Woods largely agreed on White's plan. What emerged largely reflected U.S. preferences: a system of subscriptions and quotas embedded in the IMF, which itself was to be no more than a fixed pool of national currencies and gold subscribed by each country, as opposed to a world central bank capable of creating money. The Fund was charged with managing various nations' trade deficits so that they would not produce currency devaluations that would trigger a decline in imports. The IMF is provided with a fund composed of contributions from member countries in gold and their own currencies. The original quotas were to total $8.8 billion. When joining the IMF, members are assigned "quotas" that reflect their relative economic power—and, as a sort of credit deposit, are obliged to pay a "subscription" of an amount commensurate with the quota. They pay the subscription as 25% in gold or currency convertible into gold (effectively the dollar, which at the founding, was the only currency then still directly gold convertible for central banks) and 75% in their own currency. Quota subscriptions form the largest source of money at the IMF's disposal. The IMF set out to use this money to grant loans to member countries with financial difficulties. Each member is then entitled to withdraw 25% of its quota immediately in case of payment problems. If this sum should be insufficient, each nation in the system is also able to request loans for foreign currency. In the event of a deficit in the current account, Fund members, when short of reserves, would be able to borrow foreign currency in amounts determined by the size of its quota. In other words, the higher the country's contribution was, the higher the sum of money it could borrow from the IMF. Members were required to pay back debts within a period of 18 months to five years. In turn, the IMF embarked on setting up rules and procedures to keep a country from going too deeply into debt year after year. The Fund would exercise "surveillance" over other economies for the U.S. Treasury in return for its loans to prop up national currencies. IMF loans were not comparable to loans issued by a conventional credit institution. Instead, they were effectively a chance to purchase a foreign currency with gold or the member's national currency. The U.S.-backed IMF plan sought to end restrictions on the transfer of goods and services from one country to another, eliminate currency blocs, and lift currency exchange controls. The IMF was designed to advance credits to countries with balance of payments deficits. Short-run balance of payment difficulties would be overcome by IMF loans, which would facilitate stable currency exchange rates. This flexibility meant a member state would not have to induce a depression to cut its national income down to such a low level that its imports would finally fall within its means. Thus, countries were to be spared the need to resort to the classical medicine of deflating themselves into drastic unemployment when faced with chronic balance of payments deficits. Before the Second World War, European nations—particularly Britain—often resorted to this. The IMF sought to provide for occasional discontinuous exchange-rate adjustments (changing a member's par value) by international agreement. Member nations were permitted to adjust their currency exchange rate by 1%. This tended to restore equilibrium in their trade by expanding their exports and contracting imports. This would be allowed only if there was a fundamental disequilibrium. A decrease in the value of a country's money was called a devaluation, while an increase in the value of the country's money was called a revaluation. It was envisioned that these changes in exchange rates would be quite rare. However, the concept of fundamental disequilibrium, though key to the operation of the par value system, was never defined in detail. Never before had international monetary cooperation been attempted on a permanent institutional basis. Even more groundbreaking was the decision to allocate voting rights among governments, not on a one-state one-vote basis, but rather in proportion to quotas. Since the United States was contributing the most, U.S. leadership was the key. Under the system of weighted voting, the United States exerted a preponderant influence on the IMF. The United States held one-third of all IMF quotas at the outset, enough on its own to veto all changes to the IMF Charter. In addition, the IMF was based in Washington, D.C., and staffed mainly by U.S. economists. It regularly exchanged personnel with the U.S. Treasury. When the IMF began operations in 1946, President Harry S. Truman named White as its first U.S. Executive Director. Since no Deputy Managing Director post had yet been created, White served occasionally as Acting Managing Director and generally played a highly influential role during the IMF's first year. The agreement made no provisions to create international reserves. It assumed new gold production would be sufficient. In the event of structural disequilibria, it expected that there would be national solutions, for example, an adjustment in the value of the currency or an improvement by other means of a country's competitive position. The IMF was left with few means, however, to encourage such national solutions. Economists and other planners recognized in 1944 that the new system could only commence after a return to normality following the disruption of World War II. It was expected that after a brief transition period of no more than five years, the international economy would recover and the system would enter into operation. To promote growth of world trade and finance postwar reconstruction of Europe, the planners at Bretton Woods created another institution, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is one of five agencies that make up the World Bank Group, and is perhaps now the most important agency [of the World Bank Group]. The IBRD had an authorized capitalization of $10 billion and was expected to make loans of its own funds to underwrite private loans and to issue securities to raise new funds to make possible a speedy postwar recovery. The IBRD was to be a specialized agency of the United Nations, charged with making loans for economic development purposes. The Bretton Woods arrangements were largely adhered to and ratified by the participating governments. It was expected that national monetary reserves, supplemented with necessary IMF credits, would finance any temporary balance of payments disequilibria. But this did not prove sufficient to get Europe out of its conundrum. Postwar world capitalism suffered from a huge dollar shortage. The United States was running huge balance of trade surpluses, and the U.S. reserves were immense and growing. It was necessary to reverse this flow. Even though all nations wanted to buy U.S. exports, dollars had to leave the United States and become available for international use so they could do so. In other words, the United States would have to reverse the imbalances in global wealth by running a balance of trade deficit, financed by an outflow of U.S. reserves to other nations (a U.S. financial account deficit). The U.S. could run a financial deficit by either importing from, building plants in, or donating to foreign nations. Recall that speculative investment was discouraged by the Bretton Woods agreement. Importing from other nations was not appealing in the 1950s, because U.S. technology was cutting edge at the time. So, multinational corporations and global aid that originated from the U.S. burgeoned. The modest credit facilities of the IMF were clearly insufficient to deal with Western Europe's huge balance of payments deficits. The problem was further aggravated by the reaffirmation by the IMF Board of Governors in the provision in the Bretton Woods Articles of Agreement that the IMF could make loans only for current account deficits and not for capital and reconstruction purposes. Only the United States contribution of $570 million was actually available for IBRD lending. In addition, because the only available market for IBRD bonds was the conservative Wall Street banking market, the IBRD was forced to adopt a conservative lending policy, granting loans only when repayment was assured. Given these problems, by 1947 the IMF and the IBRD themselves were admitting that they could not deal with the international monetary system's economic problems. The United States set up the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) to provide large-scale financial and economic aid for rebuilding Europe largely through grants rather than loans. Countries belonging to the Soviet bloc, e.g., Poland were invited to receive the grants, but were given a favorable agreement with the Soviet Union's COMECON. In a speech at Harvard University on 5 June 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall stated: From 1947 until 1958, the U.S. deliberately encouraged an outflow of dollars, and, from 1950 on, the United States ran a balance of payments deficit with the intent of providing liquidity for the international economy. Dollars flowed out through various U.S. aid programs: the Truman Doctrine entailing aid to the pro-U.S. Greek and Turkish regimes, which were struggling to suppress communist revolution, aid to various pro-U.S. regimes in the Third World, and most important, the Marshall Plan. From 1948 to 1954 the United States provided 16 Western European countries $17 billion in grants. To encourage long-term adjustment, the United States promoted European and Japanese trade competitiveness. Policies for economic controls on the defeated former Axis countries were scrapped. Aid to Europe and Japan was designed to rebuild productivity and export capacity. In the long run it was expected that such European and Japanese recovery would benefit the United States by widening markets for U.S. exports, and providing locations for U.S. capital expansion. In 1945, Roosevelt and Churchill prepared the postwar era by negotiating with Joseph Stalin at Yalta about respective zones of influence; this same year Germany was divided into four occupation zones (Soviet, American, British, and French). Roosevelt and Henry Morgenthau insisted that the Big Four (United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China) participate in the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, but their goal was frustrated when the Soviet Union would not join the IMF. In the past, the reasons why the Soviet Union chose not to subscribe to the articles by December 1945 have been the subject of speculation. But since the release of relevant Soviet archives, it is now clear that the Soviet calculation was based on the behavior of the parties that had actually expressed their assent to the Bretton Woods Agreements. The extended debates about ratification that had taken place both in the UK and the U.S. were read in Moscow as evidence of the quick disintegration of the wartime alliance. Facing the Soviet Union, whose power had also strengthened and whose territorial influence had expanded, the U.S. assumed the role of leader of the capitalist camp. The rise of the postwar U.S. as the world's leading industrial, monetary, and military power was rooted in the fact that the mainland U.S. was untouched by the war, in the instability of the national states in postwar Europe, and the wartime devastation of the Soviet and European economies. Despite the economic effort imposed by such a policy, being at the center of the international market gave the U.S. unprecedented freedom of action in pursuing its foreign affairs goals. A trade surplus made it easier to keep armies abroad and to invest outside the U.S., and because other nations could not sustain foreign deployments, the U.S. had the power to decide why, when and how to intervene in global crises. The dollar continued to function as a compass to guide the health of the world economy, and exporting to the U.S. became the primary economic goal of developing or redeveloping economies. This arrangement came to be referred to as the Pax Americana, in analogy to the Pax Britannica of the late 19th century and the Pax Romana of the first. (See Globalism) After the end of World War II, the U.S. held $26 billion in gold reserves, of an estimated total of $40 billion (approx 65%). As world trade increased rapidly through the 1950s, the size of the gold base increased by only a few percentage points. In 1950, the U.S. balance of payments swung negative. The first U.S. response to the crisis was in the late 1950s when the Eisenhower administration placed import quotas on oil and other restrictions on trade outflows. More drastic measures were proposed, but not acted upon. However, with a mounting recession that began in 1958, this response alone was not sustainable. In 1960, with Kennedy's election, a decade-long effort to maintain the Bretton Woods System at the $35/ounce price begun. The design of the Bretton Woods System was that nations could only enforce gold convertibility on the anchor currency—the United States dollar. Gold convertibility enforcement was not required, but instead, allowed. Nations could forgo converting dollars to gold, and instead hold dollars. Rather than full convertibility, it provided a fixed price for sales between central banks. However, there was still an open gold market. For the Bretton Woods system to remain workable, it would either have to alter the peg of the dollar to gold, or it would have to maintain the free market price for gold near the $35 per ounce official price. The greater the gap between free market gold prices and central bank gold prices, the greater the temptation to deal with internal economic issues by buying gold at the Bretton Woods price and selling it on the open market. In 1960 Robert Triffin, Belgian American economist, noticed that holding dollars was more valuable than gold because constant U.S. balance of payments deficits helped to keep the system liquid and fuel economic growth. What would later come to be known as Triffin's Dilemma was predicted when Triffin noted that if the U.S. failed to keep running deficits the system would lose its liquidity, not be able to keep up with the world's economic growth, and, thus, bring the system to a halt. But incurring such payment deficits also meant that, over time, the deficits would erode confidence in the dollar as the reserve currency created instability. The first effort was the creation of the London Gold Pool on 1 November 1961 between eight nations. The theory behind the pool was that spikes in the free market price of gold, set by the morning gold fix in London, could be controlled by having a pool of gold to sell on the open market, that would then be recovered when the price of gold dropped. Gold's price spiked in response to events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and other smaller events, to as high as $40/ounce. The Kennedy administration drafted a radical change of the tax system to spur more production capacity and thus encourage exports. This culminated with the 1963 tax cut program, designed to maintain the $35 peg. In 1967, there was an attack on the pound and a run on gold in the sterling area, and on 18 November 1967, the British government was forced to devalue the pound. U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson was faced with a brutal choice, either institute protectionist measures, including travel taxes, export subsidies and slashing the budget—or accept the risk of a "run on gold" and the dollar. From Johnson's perspective: "The world supply of gold is insufficient to make the present system workable—particularly as the use of the dollar as a reserve currency is essential to create the required international liquidity to sustain world trade and growth." He believed that the priorities of the United States were correct, and, although there were internal tensions in the Western alliance, that turning away from open trade would be more costly, economically and politically, than it was worth: "Our role of world leadership in a political and military sense is the only reason for our current embarrassment in an economic sense on the one hand and on the other the correction of the economic embarrassment under present monetary systems will result in an untenable position economically for our allies." While West Germany agreed not to purchase gold from the U.S., and agreed to hold dollars instead, the pressure on both the dollar and the pound sterling continued. In January 1968 Johnson imposed a series of measures designed to end gold outflow, and to increase U.S. exports. This was unsuccessful, however, as in mid-March 1968 a dollar run on gold ensued through the free market in London, the London Gold Pool was dissolved first by the institution of ad hoc UK bank holidays at the request of the U.S. government. This was followed by a full closure of the London gold market, also at the request of the U.S. government, until a series of meetings were held that attempted to rescue or reform the existing system. All attempts to maintain the peg collapsed in November 1968, and a new policy program attempted to convert the Bretton Woods system into an enforcement mechanism of floating the gold peg, which would be set by either fiat policy or by a restriction to honor foreign accounts. The collapse of the gold pool and the refusal of the pool members to trade gold with private entities—on 18 March, 1968 the Congress of the United States repealed the 25% requirement of gold backing of the dollar—as well as the U.S. pledge to suspend gold sales to governments that trade in the private markets, led to the expansion of the private markets for international gold trade, in which the price of gold rose much higher than the official dollar price. U.S. gold reserves remained depleted due to the actions of some nations, notably France, which continued to build up their own gold reserves. In the 1960s and 1970s, important structural changes eventually led to the breakdown of international monetary management. One change was the development of a high level of monetary interdependence. The stage was set for monetary interdependence by the return to convertibility of the Western European currencies at the end of 1958 and of the Japanese yen in 1964. Convertibility facilitated the vast expansion of international financial transactions, which deepened monetary interdependence. Another aspect of the internationalization of banking has been the emergence of international banking consortia. Since 1964 various banks had formed international syndicates, and by 1971 over three quarters of the world's largest banks had become shareholders in such syndicates. Multinational banks can and do make huge international transfers of capital not only for investment purposes but also for hedging and speculating against exchange rate fluctuations. These new forms of monetary interdependence made possible huge capital flows. During the Bretton Woods era, countries were reluctant to alter exchange rates formally even in cases of structural disequilibria. Because such changes had a direct impact on certain domestic economic groups, they came to be seen as political risks for leaders. As a result, official exchange rates often became unrealistic in market terms, providing a virtually risk- free temptation for speculators. They could move from a weak to a strong currency hoping to reap profits when a revaluation occurred. If, however, monetary authorities managed to avoid revaluation, they could return to other currencies with no loss. The combination of risk-free speculation with the availability of huge sums was highly destabilizing. A second structural change that undermined monetary management was the decline of U.S. hegemony. The U.S. was no longer the dominant economic power it had been for more than two decades. By the mid-1960s, the E.E.C. and Japan had become international economic powers in their own right. With total reserves exceeding those of the U.S., higher levels of growth and trade, and per capita income approaching that of the U.S., Europe and Japan were narrowing the gap between themselves and the United States. The shift toward a more pluralistic distribution of economic power led to increasing dissatisfaction with the privileged role of the U.S. dollar as the international currency. As in effect the world's central banker, the U.S., through its deficit, determined the level of international liquidity. In an increasingly interdependent world, U.S. policy greatly influenced economic conditions in Europe and Japan. In addition, as long as other countries were willing to hold dollars, the U.S. could carry out massive foreign expenditures for political purposes—military activities and foreign aid—without the threat of balance-of-payments constraints. Dissatisfaction with the political implications of the dollar system was increased by détente between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviet military threat had been an important force in cementing the U.S.-led monetary system. The U.S. political and security umbrella helped make American economic domination palatable for Europe and Japan, which had been economically exhausted by the war. As gross domestic production grew in European countries, trade grew. When common security tensions lessened, this loosened the transatlantic dependence on defence concerns, and allowed latent economic tensions to surface. Reinforcing the relative decline in U.S. power and the dissatisfaction of Europe and Japan with the system was the continuing decline of the dollar—the foundation that had underpinned the post-1945 global trading system. The Vietnam War and the refusal of the administration of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to pay for it and its Great Society programs through taxation resulted in an increased dollar outflow to pay for the military expenditures and rampant inflation, which led to the deterioration of the U.S. balance of trade position. In the late 1960s, the dollar was overvalued with its current trading position, while the German Mark and the yen were undervalued; and, naturally, the Germans and the Japanese had no desire to revalue and thereby make their exports more expensive, whereas the U.S. sought to maintain its international credibility by avoiding devaluation. Meanwhile, the pressure on government reserves was intensified by the new international currency markets, with their vast pools of speculative capital moving around in search of quick profits. In contrast, upon the creation of Bretton Woods, with the U.S. producing half of the world's manufactured goods and holding half its reserves, the twin burdens of international management and the Cold War were possible to meet at first. Throughout the 1950s Washington sustained a balance of payments deficit to finance loans, aid, and troops for allied regimes. But during the 1960s the costs of doing so became less tolerable. By 1970 the U.S. held under 16% of international reserves. Adjustment to these changed realities was impeded by the U.S. commitment to fixed exchange rates and by the U.S. obligation to convert dollars into gold on demand. By 1968, the attempt to defend the dollar at a fixed peg of $35/ounce, the policy of the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations, had become increasingly untenable. Gold outflows from the U.S. accelerated, and despite gaining assurances from Germany and other nations to hold gold, the unbalanced fiscal spending of the Johnson administration had transformed the dollar shortage of the 1940s and 1950s into a dollar glut by the 1960s. In 1967, the IMF agreed in Rio de Janeiro to replace the tranche division set up in 1946. Special drawing rights (SDRs) were set as equal to one U.S. dollar, but were not usable for transactions other than between banks and the IMF. Nations were required to accept holding SDRs equal to three times their allotment, and interest would be charged, or credited, to each nation based on their SDR holding. The original interest rate was 1.5%. The intent of the SDR system was to prevent nations from buying pegged gold and selling it at the higher free market price, and give nations a reason to hold dollars by crediting interest, at the same time setting a clear limit to the amount of dollars that could be held. A negative balance of payments, growing public debt incurred by the Vietnam War and Great Society programs, and monetary inflation by the Federal Reserve caused the dollar to become increasingly overvalued. The drain on U.S. gold reserves culminated with the London Gold Pool collapse in March 1968. By 1970, the U.S. had seen its gold coverage deteriorate from 55% to 22%. This, in the view of neoclassical economists, represented the point where holders of the dollar had lost faith in the ability of the U.S. to cut budget and trade deficits. In 1971 more and more dollars were being printed in Washington, then being pumped overseas, to pay for government expenditure on the military and social programs. In the first six months of 1971, assets for $22 billion fled the U.S. In response, on 15 August 1971, Nixon issued pursuant to the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, unilaterally imposing 90-day wage and price controls, a 10% import surcharge, and most importantly "closed the gold window", making the dollar inconvertible to gold directly, except on the open market. Unusually, this decision was made without consulting members of the international monetary system or even his own State Department, and was soon dubbed the Nixon Shock. The August shock was followed by efforts under U.S. leadership to reform the international monetary system. Throughout the fall (autumn) of 1971, a series of multilateral and bilateral negotiations between the Group of Ten countries took place, seeking to redesign the exchange rate regime. Meeting in December 1971 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the Group of Ten signed the Smithsonian Agreement. The U.S. pledged to peg the dollar at $38/ounce with 2.25% trading bands, and other countries agreed to appreciate their currencies versus the dollar. The group also planned to balance the world financial system using special drawing rights alone. The agreement failed to encourage discipline by the Federal Reserve or the United States government. The Federal Reserve was concerned about an increase in the domestic unemployment rate due to the devaluation of the dollar. In attempt to undermine the efforts of the Smithsonian Agreement, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in pursuit of a previously established domestic policy objective of full national employment. With the Smithsonian Agreement, member countries anticipated return flow of dollars to the U.S, but the reduced interest rates within the United States caused dollars to continue to flow out of the U.S. and into foreign central banks. The inflow of dollars into foreign banks continued the monetization process of the dollar overseas, defeating the aims of the Smithsonian Agreement. As a result, the dollar price in the gold free market continued to cause pressure on its official rate; soon after a 10% devaluation was announced in February 1973, Japan and the EEC countries decided to let their currencies float. This proved to be the beginning of the collapse of the Bretton Woods System. The end of Bretton Woods was formally ratified by the Jamaica Accords in 1976. By the early 1980s, all industrialised nations were using floating currencies. Dooley, Folkerts-Landau and Garber have referred to the monetary system of today as Bretton Woods II. They argue that in the early 2000s the international system is composed of a core issuing the dominant international currency, and a periphery. The periphery is committed to export-led growth based on the maintenance of an undervalued exchange rate. In the 1960s, the core was the United States and the periphery was Europe and Japan. This old periphery has since graduated, and the new periphery is Asia. The core remains the same, the United States. The argument is that a system of pegged currencies—in which the periphery exports capital to the core, which serves an intermediary financial role—is both stable and desirable, although this notion is controversial. In the wake of the Global financial crisis of 2008, some policymakers, such as Chase and others have called for a new international monetary system that some of them also dub Bretton Woods II. On the other side, this crisis has revived the debate about Bretton Woods II. On 26 September 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "we must rethink the financial system from scratch, as at Bretton Woods." On 24–25 September 2009 U.S. President Obama hosted the G20 in Pittsburgh. A realignment of currency exchange rates was proposed. This meeting's policy outcome could be known as the Pittsburgh Agreement of 2009, where deficit nations may devalue their currencies and surplus nations may revalue theirs upward. In March 2010, Prime Minister Papandreou of Greece wrote an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune, in which he said, "Democratic governments worldwide must establish a new global financial architecture, as bold in its own way as Bretton Woods, as bold as the creation of the European Community and European Monetary Union. And we need it fast." In interviews coinciding with his meeting with President Obama, he indicated that Obama would raise the issue of new regulations for the international financial markets at the next G20 meetings in June and November 2010. Over the course of the crisis, the IMF progressively relaxed its stance on "free- market" principles such as its guidance against using capital controls. In 2011, the IMF's managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn stated that boosting employment and equity "must be placed at the heart" of the IMF's policy agenda. The World Bank indicated a switch towards greater emphases on job creation. Dates are those when the rate was introduced; "*" indicates floating rate supplied by IMF Note: GDP for 2012 is $4.525 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $3.123 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $2.323 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $2.253 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $1.834 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $1.409 trillion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $709.5 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $419.6 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $362.4 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $280.8 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $208.5 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2012 is $198.1 billion U.S. dollars Note: GDP for 2014 is $339.5 billion U.S. dollars Bretton Woods Committee, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Monetary hegemony and Dedollarisation, Neoliberalism, Post-war economic boom, Washington Consensus General: List of international trade topics, Foreign exchange reserves Van Dormael, A.; Bretton Woods : birth of a monetary system; London MacMillan 1978, Michael D. Bordo and Barry Eichengreen; A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform; 1993, Harold James; International Monetary Cooperation Since Bretton Woods; Oxford University Press, USA 1996, Benn Steil: ; Princeton University Press, 2013 Donald Markwell, John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 2006, International Financial Stability (PDF) by Michael Dooley, PhD, David Folkerts-Landau and Peter Garber, Deutsche Bank (October 2005), "Bretton Woods System", prepared for the Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy by Dr. B. Cohen, Dollar Hegemony by Henry C.K. Liu, Proceedings and Documents of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, 1–22 July 1944, Documents relating to the Bretton Woods Conference and Bretton Woods Agreement Act, on FRASER

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The history of mobile phones covers mobile communication devices that connect wirelessly to the public switched telephone network. While the transmission of speech by radio has a long history, the first devices that were wireless, mobile, and also capable of connecting to the standard telephone network are much more recent. The fit such devices were barely portable compared to today's compact hand-held devices, and their use was clumsy. Along with the process of developing a more portable technology, and a better interconnections system, drastic changes have taken place in both the networking of wireless communication and the prevalence of its use, with smartphones becoming common globally and a growing proportion of Internet access now done via mobile broadband. In 1908, a Professor Albert Jahnke and the Oakland Transcontinental Aerial Telephone and Power Company claimed to have developed a wireless telephone. They were accused of fraud and the charge was then dropped, but they do not seem to have proceeded with production. Beginning in 1918, the German railroad system tested wireless telephony on military trains between Berlin and Zossen. In 1924, public trials started with telephone connection on trains between Berlin and Hamburg. In 1925, the company was founded to supply train telephony equipment and, in 1926, telephone service in trains of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the German mail service on the route between Hamburg and Berlin was approved and offered to first-class travelers. Fiction anticipated the development of real world mobile telephones. In 1906, the English caricaturist Lewis Baumer published a cartoon in Punch magazine entitled "Forecasts for 1907" in which he showed a man and a woman in London's Hyde Park each separately engaged in gambling and dating on wireless telephony equipment. Then, in 1926, the artist Karl Arnold created a visionary cartoon about the use of mobile phones in the street, in the picture "wireless telephony", published in the German satirical magazine Simplicissimus. The Second World War made military use of radio telephony links. Hand-held radio transceivers have been available since the 1940s. Mobile telephones for automobiles became available from some telephone companies in the 1940s. Early devices were bulky, consumed large amounts of power, and the network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. Modern cellular networks allow automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data communications. In the United States, engineers from Bell Labs began work on a system to allow mobile users to place and receive telephone calls from automobiles, leading to the inauguration of mobile service on June 17, 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after, AT&T; offered Mobile Telephone Service. A wide range of mostly incompatible mobile telephone services offered limited coverage area and only a few available channels in urban areas. As calls were transmitted as unencrypted analog signals, they could be eavesdropped on by anyone with radio equipment that could receive those frequencies. The introduction of cellular technology, which allowed re-use of frequencies many times in small adjacent areas covered by relatively low-powered transmitters, made widespread adoption of mobile telephones economically feasible. In the USSR, Leonid Kupriyanovich, an engineer from Moscow, in 1957-1961 developed and presented a number of experimental pocket-sized communications radio. The weight of one model, presented in 1961, was only 70 g and could fit on a palm. However, in the USSR the decision at first to develop the system of the automobile "Altai" phone was made. In 1965, the Bulgarian company "Radioelektronika" presented a mobile automatic phone combined with a base station at the Inforga-65 international exhibition in Moscow. Solutions of this phone were based on a system developed by Leonid Kupriyanovich. One base station, connected to one telephone wire line, could serve up to 15 customers. The advances in mobile telephony can be traced in successive generations from the early "0G" services like MTS and its successor Improved Mobile Telephone Service, to first-generation (1G) analog cellular network, second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, third- generation (3G) broadband data services to the state-of-the-art, fourth- generation (4G) native-IP networks. The development of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) large-scale integration (LSI) technology, information theory and cellular networking led to the development of affordable mobile communications. There was a rapid growth of wireless telecommunications towards the end of the 20th century, primarily due to the introduction of digital signal processing in wireless communications, driven by the development of low-cost, very large-scale integration (VLSI) RF CMOS (radio-frequency complementary MOS) technology. The development of cell phone technology was enabled by advances in MOSFET (metal-oxide-silicon field- effect transistor) semiconductor device fabrication. The MOSFET (MOS transistor), invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, is the basic building block of modern cell phones. MOSFET scaling, where MOS transistors get smaller with decreasing power consumption, enabled very large- scale integration (VLSI) technology, with MOS transistor counts in integrated circuit chips increasing at an exponential pace, as predicted by Moore's law. Continuous MOSFET scaling eventually made it possible to build portable cell phones. A typical modern smartphone is built from billions of tiny MOSFETs as of 2019, used in integrated circuits such as microprocessors and memory chips, as power devices, and as thin-film transistors (TFTs) in mobile displays. Advances in MOSFET power electronic technology also enabled the development of digital wireless mobile networks, which are essential to modern cell phones. The wide adoption of power MOSFET, LDMOS (lateral diffused MOS) and RF CMOS (radio frequency CMOS) devices led to the development and proliferation of digital wireless mobile networks by the 1990s, with further advances in MOSFET technology leading to increasing bandwidth during the 2000s. Most of the essential elements of wireless mobile networks are built from MOSFETs, including the mobile transceivers, base station modules, routers, RF power amplifiers, telecommunication circuits, RF circuits, and radio transceivers, in networks such as 2G, 3G, and 4G. Another important enabling factor was the lithium-ion battery, which became indispensable as an energy source for cell phones. The lithium-ion battery was invented by John Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino in the 1980s, and commercialized by Sony and Asahi Kasei in 1991. In 1949, AT&T; commercialized Mobile Telephone Service. From its start in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1946, AT&T; introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about each week. Calls were set up manually by an operator and the user had to depress a button on the handset to talk and release the button to listen. The call subscriber equipment weighed about Subscriber growth and revenue generation were hampered by the constraints of the technology. Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time. Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing US$15 per month, plus $0.30–0.40 per local call, equivalent to (in 2012 US dollars) about $176 per month and $3.50–4.75 per call. In the UK, there was also a vehicle-based system called "Post Office Radiophone Service," which was launched around the city of Manchester in 1959, and although it required callers to speak to an operator, it was possible to be put through to any subscriber in Great Britain. The service was extended to London in 1965 and other major cities in 1972. AT&T; introduced the first major improvement to mobile telephony in 1965, giving the improved service the obvious name of Improved Mobile Telephone Service. IMTS used additional radio channels, allowing more simultaneous calls in a given geographic area, introduced customer dialing, eliminating manual call setup by an operator, and reduced the size and weight of the subscriber equipment. Despite the capacity improvement offered by IMTS, demand outstripped capacity. In agreement with state regulatory agencies, AT&T; limited the service to just system wide. In New York City, for example, shared just 12 radio channels and typically had to wait 30 minutes to place a call. Radio Common Carrier or RCC was a service introduced in the 1960s by independent telephone companies to compete against AT&T;'s IMTS. RCC systems used paired UHF 454/459 MHz and VHF 152/158 MHz frequencies near those used by IMTS. RCC based services were provided until the 1980s when cellular AMPS systems made RCC equipment obsolete. Some RCC systems were designed to allow customers of adjacent carriers to use their facilities, but equipment used by RCCs did not allow the equivalent of modern "roaming" because technical standards were not uniform. For example, the phone of an Omaha, Nebraska–based RCC service would not be likely to work in Phoenix, Arizona. Roaming was not encouraged, in part, because there was no centralized industry billing database for RCCs. Signaling formats were not standardized. For example, some systems used two-tone sequential paging to alert a mobile of an incoming call. Other systems used DTMF. Some used Secode 2805, which transmitted an interrupted 2805 Hz tone (similar to IMTS signaling) to alert mobiles of an offered call. Some radio equipment used with RCC systems was half-duplex, push-to-talk LOMO equipment such as Motorola hand-helds or RCA 700-series conventional two-way radios. Other vehicular equipment had telephone handsets and rotary dials or pushbutton pads, and operated full duplex like a conventional wired telephone. A few users had full-duplex briefcase telephones (radically advanced for their day) At the end of RCC's existence, industry associations were working on a technical standard that would have allowed roaming, and some mobile users had multiple decoders to enable operation with more than one of the common signaling formats (600/1500, 2805, and Reach). Manual operation was often a fallback for RCC roamers. In 1969 Penn Central Railroad equipped commuter trains along the New York- Washington route with special pay phones that allowed passengers to place telephone calls while the train was moving. The system re-used six frequencies in the 450 MHz band in nine sites. In the UK, Channel Islands and elsewhere the "Rabbit" phone system was briefly used, being a hybrid of "cell" base stations and handsets. One major limitation was that you had to be less than 300 feet (closer with buildings) from a base due to power limitations on a portable device. With modern technology a similar variant is being considered for Apple's new 4G "smart watch" so they can be used in large events in a broadly similar way to a femtocell. In Europe, several mutually incompatible mobile radio services were developed. In 1966 Norway had a system called OLT which was manually controlled. Finland's ARP, launched in 1971, was also manual as was the Swedish MTD. All were replaced by the automatic NMT, (Nordic Mobile Telephone) system in the early 1980s. In July 1971 Readycall was introduced in London by Burndept after obtaining a special concession to break the Post Office monopoly to allow selective calling to mobiles of calls from the public telephone system. This system was available to the public for a subscription of £16 month. A year later the service was extended to two other UK towns. West Germany had a network called A-Netz launched in 1952 as the country's first public commercial mobile phone network. In 1972 this was displaced by B-Netz which connected calls automatically. In December 1947, Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young, Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for mobile phones in vehicles. At this stage, the technology to implement these ideas did not exist, nor had the frequencies been allocated. Two decades would pass before Richard H. Frenkiel, Joel S. Engel and Philip T. Porter of Bell Labs expanded the early proposals into a much more detailed system plan. It was Porter who first proposed that the cell towers use the now-familiar directional antennas to reduce interference and increase channel reuse (see picture at right) Porter also invented the dial- then-send method used by all cell phones to reduce wasted channel time. In all these early examples, a mobile phone had to stay within the coverage area serviced by one base station throughout the phone call, i.e. there was no continuity of service as the phones moved through several cell areas. The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff, as well as a number of other concepts that formed the basis of modern cell phone technology, were described in the late 1960s, in papers by Frenkiel and Porter. In 1970 Amos E. Joel, Jr., a Bell Labs engineer, invented a "three-sided trunk circuit" to aid in the "call handoff" process from one cell to another. His patent contained an early description of the Bell Labs cellular concept, but as switching systems became faster, such a circuit became unnecessary and was never implemented in a system. A cellular telephone switching plan was described by Fluhr and Nussbaum in 1973, and a cellular telephone data signaling system was described in 1977 by Hachenburg et al. The first fully automated mobile phone system for vehicles was launched in Sweden in 1956. Named MTA (Mobiltelefonisystem A), it allowed calls to be made and received in the car using a rotary dial. The car phone could also be paged. Calls from the car were direct dial, whereas incoming calls required an operator to locate the nearest base station to the car. It was developed by Sture Laurén and other engineers at Televerket network operator. Ericsson provided the switchboard while Svenska Radioaktiebolaget (SRA) and Marconi provided the telephones and base station equipment. MTA phones consisted of vacuum tubes and relays, and weighed . In 1962, an upgraded version called Mobile System B (MTB) was introduced. This was a push-button telephone, and used transistors and DTMF signaling to improve its operational reliability. In 1971 the MTD version was launched, opening for several different brands of equipment and gaining commercial success. The network remained open until 1983 and still had 600 customers when it closed. In 1958 development began on a similar system for motorists in the USSR. The "Altay" national civil mobile phone service was based on Soviet MRT-1327 standard. The main developers of the Altay system were the Voronezh Science Research Institute of Communications (VNIIS) and the State Specialized Project Institute (GSPI). In 1963 the service started in Moscow, and by 1970 was deployed in 30 cities across the USSR. Versions of the Altay system are still in use today as a trunking system in some parts of Russia. In 1959 a private telephone company in Brewster, Kansas, USA, the S&T; Telephone Company, (still in business today) with the use of Motorola Radio Telephone equipment and a private tower facility, offered to the public mobile telephone services in that local area of NW Kansas. This system was a direct dial up service through their local switchboard, and was installed in many private vehicles including grain combines, trucks, and automobiles. For some as yet unknown reason, the system, after being placed online and operated for a very brief time period, was shut down. The management of the company was immediately changed, and the fully operable system and related equipment was immediately dismantled in early 1960, not to be seen again. In 1966, Bulgaria presented the pocket mobile automatic phone RAT-0,5 combined with a base station RATZ-10 (RATC-10) on Interorgtechnika-66 international exhibition. One base station, connected to one telephone wire line, could serve up to six customers ("Radio" magazine, 2, 1967; "Novosti dnya" newsreel, 37, 1966). One of the first successful public commercial mobile phone networks was the ARP network in Finland, launched in 1971. Posthumously, ARP is sometimes viewed as a zero generation (0G) cellular network, being slightly above previous proprietary and limited coverage networks. Prior to 1973, mobile telephony was limited to phones installed in cars and other vehicles. Motorola was the first company to produce a handheld mobile phone. On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, made the first mobile telephone call from handheld subscriber equipment, placing a call to Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, his rival. The prototype handheld phone used by Dr. Cooper weighed and measured . The prototype offered a talk time of just 30 minutes and took 10 hours to re-charge. John F. Mitchell, Motorola's chief of portable communication products and Cooper's boss in 1973, played a key role in advancing the development of handheld mobile telephone equipment. Mitchell failed to push Motorola into developing wireless communication products that would be small enough to use anywhere and participated in the design of the cellular phone. Newer technology has been developed and rolled out in a series of waves or generations. The "generation" terminology only became widely used when 3G was launched, but is now used retroactively when referring to the earlier systems. First automatic analog cellular systems deployed were NTT's system first used in Tokyo in 1979, later spreading to the whole of Japan, and NMT in the Nordic countries in 1981. The first analog cellular system widely deployed in North America was the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was commercially introduced in the Americas in 13 October 1983, Israel in 1986, and Australia in 1987. AMPS was a pioneering technology that helped drive mass market usage of cellular technology, but it had several serious issues by modern standards. It was unencrypted and easily vulnerable to eavesdropping via a scanner; it was susceptible to cell phone "cloning" and it used a Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) scheme and required significant amounts of wireless spectrum to support. On 6 March 1983, the DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone launched on the first US 1G network by Ameritech. It cost $100M to develop, and took over a decade to reach the market. The phone had a talk time of just thirty- five minutes and took ten hours to charge. Consumer demand was strong despite the battery life, weight, and low talk time, and waiting lists were in the thousands. Many of the iconic early commercial cell phones such as the Motorola DynaTAC Analog AMPS were eventually superseded by Digital AMPS (D-AMPS) in 1990, and AMPS service was shut down by most North American carriers by 2008. In February 1986 Australia launched its Cellular Telephone System by Telecom Australia. Peter Reedman was the first Telecom Customer to be connected on 6 January 1986 along with five other subscribers as test customers prior to the official launch date of 28 February. In the 1990s, the 'second generation' mobile phone systems emerged. Two systems competed for supremacy in the global market: the European developed GSM standard and the U.S. developed CDMA standard. These differed from the previous generation by using digital instead of analog transmission, and also fast out-of-band phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of 2G was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones. In 1991 the first GSM network (Radiolinja) launched in Finland. In general the frequencies used by 2G systems in Europe were higher than those in America, though with some overlap. For example, the 900 MHz frequency range was used for both 1G and 2G systems in Europe, so the 1G systems were rapidly closed down to make space for the 2G systems. In America the IS-54 standard was deployed in the same band as AMPS and displaced some of the existing analog channels. In 1993, IBM Simon was introduced. This was possibly the world's first smartphone. It was a mobile phone, pager, fax machine, and PDA all rolled into one. It included a calendar, address book, clock, calculator, notepad, email, and a touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard. The IBM Simon had a stylus, used to tap the touch screen. It featured predictive typing that would guess the next characters as you tapped. It had applications, or at least a way to deliver more features by plugging a PCMCIA memory card into the phone. Coinciding with the introduction of 2G systems was a trend away from the larger "brick" phones toward tiny hand-held devices. This change was possible not only through technological improvements such as more advanced batteries and more energy-efficient electronics, but also because of the higher density of cell sites to accommodate increasing usage. The latter meant that the average distance transmission from phone to the base station shortened, leading to increased battery life while on the move. The second generation introduced a new variant of communication called SMS or text messaging. It was initially available only on GSM networks but spread eventually on all digital networks. The first machine-generated SMS message was sent in the UK on 3 December 1992 followed in 1993 by the first person-to-person SMS sent in Finland. The advent of prepaid services in the late 1990s soon made SMS the communication method of choice among the young, a trend which spread across all ages. 2G also introduced the ability to access media content on mobile phones. In 1998 the first downloadable content sold to mobile phones was the ring tone, launched by Finland's Radiolinja (now Elisa). Advertising on the mobile phone first appeared in Finland when a free daily SMS news headline service was launched in 2000, sponsored by advertising. Mobile payments were trialed in 1998 in Finland and Sweden where a mobile phone was used to pay for a Coca-Cola vending machine and car parking. Commercial launches followed in 1999 in Norway. The first commercial payment system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999 simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart. The first full internet service on mobile phones was introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999. As the use of 2G phones became more widespread and people began to use mobile phones in their daily lives, it became clear that demand for data (such as access to browse the internet) was growing. Further, experience from fixed broadband services showed there would also be an ever-increasing demand for greater data speeds. The 2G technology was nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work on the next generation of technology known as 3G. The main technological difference that distinguishes 3G technology from 2G technology is the use of packet switching rather than circuit switching for data transmission. In addition, the standardization process focused on requirements more than technology (2 Mbit/s maximum data rate indoors, 384 kbit/s outdoors, for example). Inevitably this led to many competing standards with different contenders pushing their own technologies, and the vision of a single unified worldwide standard looked far from reality. The standard 2G CDMA networks became 3G compliant with the adoption of Revision A to EV-DO, which made several additions to the protocol while retaining backwards compatibility: Introduction of several new forward link data rates that increase the maximum burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s, Protocols that would decrease connection establishment time, Ability for more than one mobile to share the same time slot, Introduction of QoS flags All these were put in place to allow for low latency, low bit rate communications such as VoIP. The first pre-commercial trial network with 3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in the Tokyo region in May 2001. NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial 3G network on 1 October 2001, using the WCDMA technology. In 2002 the first 3G networks on the rival CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology were launched by SK Telecom and KTF in South Korea, and Monet in the US. Monet has since gone bankrupt. By the end of 2002, the second WCDMA network was launched in Japan by Vodafone KK (now Softbank). European launches of 3G were in Italy and the UK by Three/Hutchison group, on WCDMA. 2003 saw a further eight commercial launches of 3G, six more on WCDMA and two more on the EV-DO standard. During the development of 3G systems, 2.5G systems such as CDMA2000 1x and GPRS were developed as extensions to existing 2G networks. These provide some of the features of 3G without fulfilling the promised high data rates or full range of multimedia services. CDMA2000-1X delivers theoretical maximum data speeds of up to 307 kbit/s. Just beyond these is the EDGE system which in theory covers the requirements for 3G system, but is so narrowly above these that any practical system would be sure to fall short. The high connection speeds of 3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry: for the first time, media streaming of radio (and even television) content to 3G handsets became possible, with companies such as RealNetworks and Disney among the early pioneers in this type of offering. In the mid-2000s, an evolution of 3G technology began to be implemented, namely High- Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. By the end of 2007, there were 295 million subscribers on 3G networks worldwide, which reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base. About two thirds of these were on the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV-DO standard. The 3G telecoms services generated over $120 billion of revenues during 2007 and at many markets the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. In Japan and South Korea the market no longer supplies phones of the second generation. Although mobile phones had long had the ability to access data networks such as the Internet, it was not until the widespread availability of good quality 3G coverage in the mid-2000s (decade) that specialized devices appeared to access the mobile web. The first such devices, known as "dongles", plugged directly into a computer through the USB port. Another new class of device appeared subsequently, the so-called "compact wireless router" such as the Novatel MiFi, which makes 3G Internet connectivity available to multiple computers simultaneously over Wi-Fi, rather than just to a single computer via a USB plug-in. Such devices became especially popular for use with laptop computers due to the added portability they bestow. Consequently, some computer manufacturers started to embed the mobile data function directly into the laptop so a dongle or MiFi wasn't needed. Instead, the SIM card could be inserted directly into the device itself to access the mobile data services. Such 3G-capable laptops became commonly known as "netbooks". Other types of data-aware devices followed in the netbook's footsteps. By the beginning of 2010, E-readers, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Nook from Barnes & Noble, had already become available with embedded wireless Internet, and Apple had announced plans for embedded wireless Internet on its iPad tablet devices later that year. By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming media. Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th- generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard (offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera. One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically from 3G was in its elimination of circuit switching, instead employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming audio media, using packet switching over Internet, LAN or WAN networks via VoIP. Before a universal charger standard was agreed upon in the late 2000s users needed an adapter which was often proprietary by brand or manufacturer to charge their battery. Later, mobile phones from major brands typically used a USB cable with a mini or micro-USB or, since the mid-2010s, USB-C interface. Apple's iPhone is the sole major brand to retain its own interface (30-pin dock connector replaced by Lightning in 2012). , all new mobile phones applying for a license in China are required to use a USB port as a power port for battery charging. This was the first standard to use the convention of shorting D+ and D−. In September 2007, the Open Mobile Terminal Platform group (a forum of mobile network operators and manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG) announced that its members had agreed on Micro-USB as the future common connector for mobile devices. The GSM Association (GSMA) followed suit on 17 February 2009, and on 22 April 2009, this was further endorsed by the CTIA – The Wireless Association, with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announcing on 22 October 2009 that it had also embraced the Universal Charging Solution as its "energy-efficient one-charger- fits-all new mobile phone solution," and added: "Based on the Micro-USB interface, UCS chargers will also include a 4-star or higher efficiency rating—up to three times more energy-efficient than an unrated charger." In June 2009, many of the world's largest mobile phone manufacturers signed an EC-sponsored Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreeing to make most data- enabled mobile phones marketed in the European Union compatible with a common External Power Supply (common EPS). The EU's common EPS specification (EN 62684:2010) references the USB Battery Charging Specification and is similar to the GSMA/OMTP and Chinese charging solutions. In January 2011, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) released its version of the (EU's) common EPS standard as IEC 62684:2011. As well as the now-common cellular phone, there is also the very different approach of connecting directly from the handset to an Earth-orbiting satellite. Such mobile phones can be used in remote areas out of reach of wired networks or where construction of a cellular network is uneconomic. The Inmarsat system is the oldest, originally developed in 1979 for safety of life at sea, and uses a series of satellites in geostationary orbits to cover the majority of the globe. Several smaller operators use the same approach with just one or two satellites to provide a regional service. An alternative approach is to use a series of low Earth orbit satellites much closer to Earth. This is the basis of the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phone services. The Mobile Revolution, Autopatch, History of the prepaid mobile phone, History of the telephone, List of best-selling mobile phones, Personal Communications Service PCS, Pager, Babylonokia, Subscriber identity module The history of the iPhone began with a request from Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs to the company's engineers, asking them to investigate the use of touchscreen devices and tablet computers (which later came to fruition with the iPad). Many have noted the device's similarities to Apple's previous touch-screen portable device, the Newton MessagePad. Like the MessagePad, the iPhone is nearly all screen. Its form factor is credited to Apple's Chief Design Officer, Jonathan Ive. The iPhone beta was created in 2004 to test the commands of the Apple team, and while technically may have first iPhone ever created, it was never released to the public, so this beta was not considered the true first iPhone. After some trial and error, the first iPhone was officially launched and made accessible to the public in 2007, and this iPhone and was advertised noticeably at the Macworld of that same year. In this first release, the iPhone was accessible in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, Italy and South Africa. Jobs expressed his belief that tablet PCs and traditional PDAs were not good choices as high- demand markets for Apple to enter, despite receiving many requests for Apple to create another PDA. He believed that cell phones were going to become important devices for portable information access, and that mobile phones needed to have excellent synchronization software. At that time, instead of focusing on a follow-up to their Newton PDA, Jobs had Apple focus on the iPod. Jobs also had Apple develop the iTunes software, which can be used to synchronize content with iPod devices. iTunes was released in January 2001. On September 7, 2005, Apple and Motorola released the ROKR E1, the first mobile phone to use iTunes. Jobs was unhappy with the ROKR, feeling that having to compromise with a non-Apple designer (Motorola) prevented Apple from designing the phone they wanted to make. The iPhone that was launched in 2004 was a starting point for Apple to learn more about the phone's capabilities before the public. In September 2006, Apple discontinued support for the ROKR, and released a version of iTunes that included references to an as-yet unknown mobile phone that could display pictures and video. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone at the Macworld convention, receiving substantial media attention. Jobs announced that the first iPhone would be released later that year. On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone was released. On June 11, 2007, Apple announced at the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference that the iPhone would support third-party applications using the Safari engine. Third parties would be able to create Web 2.0 applications, which users could access via the Internet. Such applications appeared even before the release of the iPhone; the first of these, called OneTrip, was a program meant to keep track of users' shopping lists. On June 29, 2007, Apple released version 7.3 of iTunes to coincide with the release of iPhone. This release contains support for iPhone service activation and syncing. According to The Wall Street Journal, the iPhone is manufactured in the Shenzhen factory of the Taiwanese company Hon Hai (also known as Foxconn). Also, according to recent news, Apple will shortly begin outsourcing the manufacturing of iPhones. The first-generation iPhone is commonly retroactively referred to as the "iPhone 2G" due to only supporting 2G mobile data. This name was, however, never used by Apple. When Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007, it was sold only with AT&T; (formerly Cingular) contracts in the United States. After 18 months of negotiations, Steve Jobs reached an agreement with the wireless division of AT&T; to be the iPhone's exclusive carrier. Consumers were unable to use any other carrier without unlocking their device. Apple retained control of the design, manufacturing and marketing of the iPhone. Since some customers were jailbreaking their iPhones to leave their network, AT&T; began charging them a $175 early-termination fee for leaving before the end of their contract. Questions arose about the legality of Apple's arrangement after the iPhone was released. Two class-action lawsuits were filed against the company in October 2007: one in Federal court and the other in state court. According to the suits, Apple's exclusive agreement with AT&T; violated antitrust law. The state-court suit, filed by the law office of Damian R. Fernandez on behalf of California resident Timothy P. Smith, sought an injunction barring Apple from selling iPhones with a software lock and $200 million in damages. In Smith v. Apple Inc., the plaintiffs said that Apple failed to disclose to purchasers its five-year agreement with AT&T; when they bought iPhones with a two-year contract and cited the Sherman Act's prohibition of monopolies. The second case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff, Paul Holman, filed a complaint against Apple and AT&T; Mobility that he could not switch carriers or change SIM cards without losing iPhone improvements to which he was entitled. Holman also cited a Sherman Act violation by the defendants. On July 8, 2010, the case was affirmed for class certification. On December 9 the court ordered a stay on the case, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in AT&T; v. Concepcion (disputed whether the state's basic standards of fairness were met by a clause in AT&T;'s contract limiting complaint resolution to arbitration). On April 27, 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that AT&T; met the state's fairness standards. In 2017, Apple was sued after they admitted to slowing down older phone models. The plaintiffs, Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas, filed the lawsuit when their iPhone 7s were slowed down after an update. The plaintiffs were entitled to compensation due to the interferences and the economic damages they suffered. The first advertisement for iPhone, titled "Hello", aired during the 79th Academy Awards on February 25, 2007, on American Broadcasting Company (ABC). On June 4, 2007, Apple released four advertisements announcing that iPhone would be released on June 26, 2007. On July 1, 2007, it was reported that Apple paid at least US$1 million to Michael Kovatch for the codice_1 domain name, previously owned by Kovatch since 1995. The URL now redirects to Apple's iPhone page. On June 28, 2007, during an address to Apple employees, Steve Jobs announced that all full-time Apple employees and those part-time employees who had been with the company for at least one year would receive a free iPhone. Employees received their phones in July after the initial demand for iPhones subsided. Initially priced at $499 () and $599 () for the 4GB models and 8GB models respectively, the iPhone went on sale on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00pm local time to prepare for the 6:00pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. In the US and some other countries, iPhones could be acquired only with a credit card, preventing completely anonymous purchases of iPhones. At the time, there was no way to opt out of the bundled AT&T; data plan. At first, iPhones could not be added to an AT&T; Business account, and any existing business account discounts could not be applied to an iPhone AT&T; account. AT&T; changed these restrictions in late January 2008. The Associated Press also reported in 2007 that some users were unable to activate their phones because, according to AT&T;, "[a] high volume of activation requests [was] taxing the company's computer servers." On October 29, 2007, the Usenet newsgroup misc.phone.mobile.iphone was created. Early estimates by technology analysts estimated sales of between 250,000 and 700,000 iPhones in the first weekend alone, with strong sales continuing after the initial weekend. As part of their quarterly earnings announcement, AT&T; reported that 146,000 iPhones were activated in the first weekend. Though this figure does not include units that were purchased for resale on eBay or otherwise not activated until after the opening weekend, it is still less than most initial estimates. It is also estimated that 95% of the units sold are the 8GB model. Stories of unexpected billing issues began to circulate in blogs and the technical press a little more than a month after iPhone's heavily advertised and anticipated release. The 300-page iPhone bill in a box received by iJustine on Saturday, August 11, 2007 became the subject of a viral video, posted by the following Monday, which quickly became an Internet meme. This video clip brought the voluminous bills to the attention of the mass media. Ten days later, after the video had been viewed more than 3 million times on the Internet, and had received international news coverage, AT&T; sent iPhone users a text message outlining changes in its billing practices. On September 5, 2007, the 4GB model was discontinued, and the 8GB model price was cut by a third, from US$599 to US$399. Those who had purchased an iPhone in the 14-day period before the September 5, 2007 announcement were eligible for a US$200 "price protection" rebate from Apple or AT&T.; However, it was widely reported that some who bought between the June 29, 2007 launch and the August 22, 2007 price protection kick-in date complained that this was a larger-than-normal price drop for such a relatively short period and accused Apple of unfair pricing. In response to customer complaints, on September 6, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote in an open letter to iPhone customers that everyone who purchased an iPhone at the higher price "and who is not receiving a rebate or other consideration", would receive a US$100 credit to be redeemed towards the purchase of any product sold in Apple's retail or online stores. With the July 11, 2008 release of the iPhone 3G, Apple and AT&T; changed the US pricing model from the previous generation. Following the de facto model for mobile phone service in the United States, AT&T; would subsidize a sizable portion of the upfront cost for the iPhone 3G, followed by charging moderately higher monthly fees over a minimum two-year contract. On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced during a media event that it had reached an agreement with Apple and would begin selling a CDMA iPhone 4. The Verizon iPhone went on sale on February 10, 2011. During Apple's official unveiling of iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011, it was announced that Sprint would begin carrying the reconfigured CDMA iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in the US on October 14. Cricket Wireless announced on May 31, 2012 that it would become the first prepaid carrier in the US to offer iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, beginning June 22, 2012. A week later, Virgin Mobile USA became the second American prepaid carrier to offer iPhone 4 and 4S, announcing plans to release the phones on June 29, 2012. T-Mobile USA's inability to provide iPhone to customers raised its subscription churn rate, decreased the percentage of lucrative postpaid customers, and contributed to parent Deutsche Telekom's decision to sell it to AT&T; in March 2011, although AT&T; canceled the deal in December 2011 because of antitrust concerns. T-Mobile began offering iPhone on April 12, 2013. On November 9, 2007, the iPhone was officially launched As in the case of the previous launch in the US, customers lined up as much as a day in advance to obtain the much-anticipated phone. Apple occasionally produced a limited number of 4GB iPhones for German and UK markets, but they never reached end customers and were used as in-store demo units. Later most of the units were disposed of. The initial operating model of locking iPhone owners to one selected carrier has been controversial in Europe. In Germany, Vodafone, an operator competing with the operator that Apple had locked German iPhone sales to (Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile division), claiming that the arrangement was against German law. On November 20, 2007, an interim court order resulted in sales of locked iPhones in Germany being temporarily stopped. The iPhone launch in France a few weeks later through the operator Orange faced the same legal issues. Other countries that the same problems for the business model revolving around the sale of locked iPhones include Belgium, Italy, Finland, and Brazil. On December 1, 2007, Tušmobil, started selling "unlocked" iPhones without an official contract with Apple. The offer caused confusion between Apple Europe, local media, and local Apple representatives. On May 6, 2008, Telecom Italia announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in Italy by the end of 2008. It was estimated that it would probably be the second generation iPhone with 3G-UMTS capability. On May 27, 2008, TeliaSonera released a press release stating that it would start selling iPhones in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia during 2008. On June 4, 2008, Movistar announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in Spain beginning on July 11, 2008. On August 22, 2008, Estonian mobile operator EMT started selling iPhones. On August 22, 2008, Vodafone Greece released iPhones in the Greek market. On September 26, 2008, Omnitel released iPhones in Lithuania. On November 7, 2008, T-Mobile released iPhones in Croatia. On September 29, 2010, Elisa released the iPhone 4 in Finland. SingTel (in Singapore) and Globe Telecom (in the Philippines) were the first two carriers to launch the iPhone in Southeast Asia. Both carriers launched the iPhone 3G in August 2008. On March 20, 2009, Telkomsel In the same month, Maxis and DiGi launched the iPhone 3G in Malaysia. In October 2011, StarHub launched the iPhone in Singapore. Smart Communications followed suit in December 2011 by launching the iPhone 4S in the Philippines. The iPhone 3G was released in Australia on July 11, 2008. was sold in Auckland, New Zealand to 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell at 12:01 am NZST. There was criticism from some New Zealand customers when Vodafone announced pricing for the iPhone 3G, as Vodafone was the only network to offer this generation of iPhone. The first-generation iPhone was available for sale in New Zealand only through parallel import stores soon after it went on sale in the US. The original models available for sale in New Zealand were unlocked for use on the Vodafone network and could be used with any plan, including pre-paid plans. Subsequent launches of iPhone models in New Zealand have typically been a few weeks after the worldwide release. On November 8, 2011, Telecom announced that they would offer the iPhone 4S on their network, along with earlier models (the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4). After months of high anticipation, the first iPhone to be released in Canada was the iPhone 3G. Rogers Wireless began offering 8 GB and 16 GB models on July 11, 2008. Facing a public backlash, Rogers dropped the price of its service plan from CA$100 to CA$30 per month. The iPhone 3GS, with the new iPhone OS 3 operating system, was released in Canada by Rogers Wireless on June 19, 2009. Users who signed up for a 3-year agreement with could choose between a 16 GB device for CA$199 and a 32 GB device for CA$299. On May 6, 2008, Vodafone announced that they had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey. Subsequent announcements confirmed that Apple was moving away from exclusive one-carrier deals. Soon after Vodafone's announcement, On June 4, 2008, SoftBank Mobile released a press release stating that it would start selling iPhone in Japan during 2008. Russia's second largest mobile operator, Beeline, announced on August 28, 2008 that they signed a contract with Apple to sell iPhone on the Russian market by late 2008. The deal was rumoured to be non-exclusive, according to unofficial statements made by MTS and MegaFon. MTS and MegaFon belong to the "Russian Big Three", and were expected to release the iPhone 3G at the same time as Beeline. As predicted, MegaFon issued a press release regarding the iPhone 3G release on September 2, 2008. On November 14, 2008, Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil started selling the iPhone 3G in Egypt. iPhone 3G is priced at EG£3,800 and EG£4,600 for the 8 GB and 16 GB models respectively. Customers must also sign up for one of to use the phone. On September 28, 2009, Orange announced that they were going to become the second operator of the iPhone in the UK, indicating that an exclusive deal that O2 had established with Apple in 2007 had ended. Orange later announced that the iPhone would be released on November 10, with pricing plans starting from £29.36 on contract and £440 for On the following day, Vodafone UK announced that they would be selling the iPhone by early 2010, becoming the third UK network and Vodafone's 11th country to offer the iPhone. There had been ongoing speculation in the United States that Apple might offer a CDMA-compatible iPhone for Verizon Wireless. This speculation increased on October 6, 2010, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple would begin producing a CDMA-compatible iPhone, with such a model going on sale in early 2011. On January 8, 2011, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Verizon Wireless would, on January 11, 2011, officially announce the launch of a CDMA- based iPhone for use on their network. The date in which the Verizon iPhone would go on sale was unknown, though the two most recent iPhone releases were made available within weeks of their launch announcement. Verizon confirmed the announcement on January 11, with an on-sale date of February 10. On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced that they would start carrying a CDMA version of Apple's iPhone 4 during February 2011. Existing Verizon Wireless customers could pre-order iPhone on February 3. Pricing for the iPhone 4 was $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB. The Verizon iPhone 5 released on Friday, September 19, in the United States; The international release of iPhone has been staggered over several months. Today, the iPhone is available in most countries. Each iPhone normally prevents access to its media player and web features unless it has been activated as a phone through AT&T; or O2. On July 3, 2007, Jon Lech Johansen reported on his blog that he had successfully bypassed this requirement and unlocked iPhone's other features with jailbreaking. He published the software and offsets for others to use. On August 14, 2007, Gizmodo reported verification of a method to bypass iPhone's SIM lock, allowing the phone to work freely with carriers other than AT&T.; This method requires usage of a Turbo SIM card, costing approximately US$80; the method essentially tricks iPhone into believing that it is operating on the AT&T; network, even when it is connected natively (not in roaming mode) to another carrier. Australian Personal Computer later published a ten-step guide to unlocking iPhone, using the Turbo SIM method. In mid-August, UniquePhones announced an unlocking service for iPhone, only to retract the service the following week after receiving a phone call from a lawyer representing AT&T.; On August 24, 2007, George Hotz, a 17-year-old hacker from Glen Rock, New Jersey, broke the lock that ties iPhone to AT&T;'s wireless network. He confirmed that he unlocked the phone and was using it on T-Mobile's network. The hack opened up a realm of possibilities for overseas customers because iPhone was only sold in the United States at the time. By unlocking it, Hotz opened up the phone to phone networks across the world. Hotz posted the hack on his blog. The process is complicated and requires both disassembling iPhone and executing software commands on a personal computer. Hotz, along with four others across the world, reportedly spent about 500 hours unlocking the phone. Also on August 24, 2007, Engadget reported, by way of photos and a video clip, that they were called by the "iPhoneSimFree" team, who offered to show Engadget a demonstration of unlocking iPhone using a software-only method. Unlike Hotz's hardware hack, the code in this hack was not made available to the general public. Sales of the unlock started on September 10. These sales occurred through several resellers who were able to order "keys" from iPhoneSimFree, then pass the "keys" to customers, allowing the customers to use the software. On September 11, after one day of sales, the iPhone Dev Team announced that they had created a working "software unlock", and released it to the public for free. Utilizing requires some technical knowledge, although a simpler, GUI-based version was under construction. AnySim and iUnlock Reloaded, two free, GUI-based unlocking programs, have since been made available. On September 24, 2007 Apple issued a warning that future updates could render unlocked iPhones unusable. On September 27, 2007, owners of unlocked iPhones who took advantage of the version 1.1.1 update through iTunes reported that the update rendered the device virtually inoperable. There were also reports that the update even affected some iPhones that were not unlocked, and Engadget found that the firmware update had "bricked" unhacked iPhones as well. The firmware update relocks iPhones, but on October 11 iPhoneSIMFree announced that they had hacked the 1.1.1 iPhone update, not only unlocking them but also unbricking those iPhones which were bricked by the update. On October 16, 2007, the iPhone Dev Team released AnySIM 1.1, the free utility that unlocks iPhones. The updated version works on firmware version 1.1.1, but doesn't fix baseband problems caused by updating an unlocked 1.0.2 phone up to 1.1.1. On October 23, 2007, the iPhone Elite Dev-Team released Revirginizing Tool to rebuild the lock table in the seczone area to repair the damage done by the original anySIM 1.0x unlockers so unlocked 1.0.2 iPhones can upgrade to 1.1.1 without bricking iPhone. The tool is unbricking the previously bricked iPhones. On November 21, 2007, T-Mobile announced that due to litigation commenced against them by their competitor Vodafone, which resulted in a preliminary injunction preventing T-Mobile from locking the SIM card to T-Mobile in Germany, it will sell the phone "unlocked" and will offer iPhone without a T-Mobile contract for €999 (US$1,478) at its shops to customers in Germany until the court renders a decision. By the end of November, Apple released another version of iPhone firmware, 1.1.2. This version does not have many new features but breaks unlocks. During Macworld '08, on January 15, Apple released the fifth version of iPhone firmware, 1.1.3; this version repairs loopholes used by "iPhone Hackers." The firmware, however, had been compromised prior to release and new security measures were quickly bypassed. On February 8, 2008, Geohot released the first full software unlock for the 1.1.2 & 1.1.3 OTB iPhones. Timeline of Apple Inc. products Smartphones are a class of mobile phones and of multi-purpose mobile computing devices. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which facilitate wider software, internet (including web browsing over mobile broadband), and multimedia functionality (including music, video, cameras, and gaming), alongside core phone functions such as voice calls and text messaging. Smartphones typically contain a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, include various sensors that can be leveraged by their software (such as a magnetometer, proximity sensors, barometer, gyroscope, or accelerometer), and support wireless communications protocols (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or satellite navigation). Early smartphones were marketed primarily towards the enterprise market, attempting to bridge the functionality of standalone personal digital assistant (PDA) devices with support for cellular telephony, but were limited by their bulky form, short battery life, slow analog cellular networks, and the immaturity of wireless data services. These issues were eventually resolved with the exponential scaling and miniaturization of MOS transistors down to sub-micron levels (Moore's law), the improved lithium-ion battery, faster digital mobile data networks (Edholm's law), and more mature software platforms that allowed mobile device ecosystems to develop independently of data providers. In the 2000s, NTT DoCoMo's i-mode platform, BlackBerry, Nokia's Symbian platform, and Windows Mobile began to gain market traction, with models often featuring QWERTY keyboards or resistive touchscreen input, and emphasizing access to push email and wireless internet. Since the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007, the majority of smartphones have featured thin, slate-like form factors, with large, capacitive screens with support for multi-touch gestures rather than physical keyboards, and offer the ability for users to download or purchase additional applications from a centralized store, and use cloud storage and synchronization, virtual assistants, as well as mobile payment services. Improved hardware and faster wireless communication (due to standards such as LTE) have bolstered the growth of the smartphone industry. In the third quarter of 2012, one billion smartphones were in use worldwide. Global smartphone sales surpassed the sales figures for feature phones in early 2013. The development of the smartphone was enabled by several key technological advances. The exponential scaling and miniaturization of MOSFETs (MOS transistors) down to sub-micron levels during the 1990s2000s (as predicted by Moore's law) made it possible to build portable smart devices such as smartphones, as well as enabling the transistion from analog to faster digital wireless mobile networks (leading to Edholm's law). Other important enabling factors include the lithium-ion battery, an indispensable energy source enabling long battery life, invented in the 1980s and commercialized in 1991, and the development of more mature software platforms that allowed mobile device ecosystems to develop independently of data providers. In the early 1990s, IBM engineer Frank Canova realised that chip-and-wireless technology was becoming small enough to use in handheld devices. The first commercially available device that could be properly referred to as a "smartphone" began as a prototype called "Angler" developed by Canova in 1992 while at IBM and demonstrated in November of that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. In addition to placing and receiving cellular calls, the touchscreen-equipped Simon could send and receive faxes and emails. It included an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, and notepad, as well as other visionary mobile applications such as maps, stock reports and news. The IBM Simon was manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric, which integrated features from its own wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellular radio technologies. It featured a liquid-crystal display (LCD) and PC Card support. The Simon was commercially unsuccessful, particularly due to its bulky form factor and limited battery life, using NiCad batteries rather than the nickel–metal hydride batteries commonly used in mobile phones in the 1990s, or lithium-ion batteries used in modern smartphones. The term "smart phone" or "smartphone" was not coined until a year after the introduction of the Simon, appearing in print as early as 1995, describing AT&T;'s PhoneWriter Communicator. Beginning in the mid-late 1990s, many people who had mobile phones carried a separate dedicated PDA device, running early versions of operating systems such as Palm OS, Newton OS, Symbian or Windows CE/Pocket PC. These operating systems would later evolve into early mobile operating systems. Most of the "smartphones" in this era were hybrid devices that combined these existing familiar PDA OSes with basic phone hardware. The results were devices that were bulkier than either dedicated mobile phones or PDAs, but allowed a limited amount of cellular Internet access. PDA and mobile phone manufacturers competed in reducing the size of devices. The bulk of these smartphones combined with their high cost and expensive data plans, plus other drawbacks such as expansion limitations and decreased battery life compared to separate standalone devices, generally limited their popularity to "early adopters" and business users who needed portable connectivity. In March 1996, Hewlett- Packard released the OmniGo 700LX, a modified HP 200LX palmtop PC with a Nokia 2110 mobile phone piggybacked onto it and ROM-based software to support it. It had a 640×200 resolution CGA compatible four-shade gray-scale LCD screen and could be used to place and receive calls, and to create and receive text messages, emails and faxes. It was also 100% DOS 5.0 compatible, allowing it to run thousands of existing software titles, including early versions of Windows. In August 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000 Communicator, a digital cellular PDA based on the Nokia 2110 with an integrated system based on the PEN/GEOS 3.0 operating system from Geoworks. The two components were attached by a hinge in what became known as a clamshell design, with the display above and a physical QWERTY keyboard below. The PDA provided e-mail; calendar, address book, calculator and notebook applications; text-based Web browsing; and could send and receive faxes. When closed, the device could be used as a digital cellular telephone. In June 1999 Qualcomm released the "pdQ Smartphone", a CDMA digital PCS smartphone with an integrated Palm PDA and Internet connectivity. Subsequent landmark devices included: The Ericsson R380 (December 2000) by Ericsson Mobile Communications, the first phone running the operating system later named Symbian (it ran EPOC Release 5, which was renamed Symbian OS at Release 6). It had PDA functionality and limited Web browsing on a resistive touchscreen utilizing a stylus. While it was marketed as a "smartphone", users could not install their own software on the device., The Kyocera 6035 (February 2001), a dual-nature device with a separate Palm OS PDA operating system and CDMA mobile phone firmware. It supported limited Web browsing with the PDA software treating the phone hardware as an attached modem., The Nokia 9210 Communicator (June 2001), the first phone running Symbian (Release 6) with Nokia's Series 80 platform (v1.0). This was the first Symbian phone platform allowing the installation of additional applications. Like the Nokia 9000 Communicator it's a large clamshell device with a full physical QWERTY keyboard inside., Handspring's Treo 180 (2002), the first smartphone that fully integrated the Palm OS on a GSM mobile phone having telephony, SMS messaging and Internet access built into the OS. The 180 model had a thumb-type keyboard and the 180g version had a Graffiti handwriting recognition area, instead. In 1999, Japanese wireless provider NTT DoCoMo launched i-mode, a new mobile internet platform which provided data transmission speeds up to 9.6 kilobits per second, and access web services available through the platform such as online shopping. NTT DoCoMo's i-mode used cHTML, a language which restricted some aspects of traditional HTML in favor of increasing data speed for the devices. Limited functionality, small screens and limited bandwidth allowed for phones to use the slower data speeds available. The rise of i-mode helped NTT DoCoMo accumulate an estimated 40 million subscribers by the end of 2001, and ranked first in market capitalization in Japan and second globally. Japanese cell phones increasingly diverged from global standards and trends to offer other forms of advanced services and smartphone-like functionality that were specifically tailored to the Japanese market, such as mobile payments and shopping, near-field communication (NFC) allowing mobile wallet functionality to replace smart cards for transit fares, loyalty cards, identity cards, event tickets, coupons, money transfer, etc., downloadable content like musical ringtones, games, and comics, and 1seg mobile television. Phones built by Japanese manufacturers used custom firmware, however, and didn't yet feature standardized mobile operating systems designed to cater to third-party application development, so their software and ecosystems were akin to very advanced feature phones. As with other feature phones, additional software and services required partnerships and deals with providers. The degree of integration between phones and carriers, unique phone features, non- standardized platforms, and tailoring to Japanese culture made it difficult for Japanese manufacturers to export their phones, especially when demand was so high in Japan that the companies didn't feel the need to look elsewhere for additional profits. The rise of 3G technology in other markets and non- Japanese phones with powerful standardized smartphone operating systems, app stores, and advanced wireless network capabilities allowed non-Japanese phone manufacturers to finally break in to the Japanese market, gradually adopting Japanese phone features like emojis, mobile payments, NFC, etc. and spreading them to the rest of the world. Phones that made effective use of any significant data connectivity were still rare outside Japan until the introduction of the Danger Hiptop in 2002, which saw moderate success among U.S. consumers as the T-Mobile Sidekick. Later, in the mid-2000s, business users in the U.S. started to adopt devices based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile, and then BlackBerry smartphones from Research In Motion. American users popularized the term "CrackBerry" in 2006 due to the BlackBerry's addictive nature. In the U.S., the high cost of data plans and relative rarity of devices with Wi-Fi capabilities that could avoid cellular data network usage kept adoption of smartphones mainly to business professionals and "early adopters." Outside the U.S. and Japan, Nokia was seeing success with its smartphones based on Symbian, originally developed by Psion for their personal organisers, and it was the most popular smartphone OS in Europe during the middle to late 2000s. Initially, Nokia's Symbian smartphones were focused on business with the Eseries, similar to Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices at the time. From 2006 onwards, Nokia started producing consumer-focused smartphones, popularized by the entertainment- focused Nseries. Until 2010, Symbian was the world's most widely used smartphone operating system. The touchscreen PDA-derived nature of adapted operating systems like Palm OS, the "Pocket PC" versions of what was later Windows Mobile, and the UIQ interface that was originally designed for pen-based PDAs on Symbian OS devices resulted in some early smartphones having stylus-based interfaces. These allowed for virtual keyboards and/or handwriting input, thus also allowing easy entry of Asian characters. By the mid-2000s, the majority of smartphones had a physical QWERTY keyboard. Most used a "keyboard bar" form factor, like the BlackBerry line, Windows Mobile smartphones, Palm Treos, and some of the Nokia Eseries. A few hid their full physical QWERTY keyboard in a sliding form factor, like the Danger Hiptop line. Some even had only a numeric keypad using T9 text input, like the Nokia Nseries and other models in the Nokia Eseries. Resistive touchscreens with stylus-based interfaces could still be found on a few smartphones, like the Palm Treos, which had dropped their handwriting input after a few early models that were available in versions with Graffiti instead of a keyboard. The late 2000s and early 2010s saw a shift in smartphone interfaces away from devices with physical keyboards and keypads to ones with large finger-operated capacitive touchscreens. The first phone of any kind with a large capacitive touchscreen was the LG Prada, announced by LG in December 2006. This was a fashionable feature phone created in collaboration with Italian luxury designer Prada with a 3" 240x400 pixel screen. In January 2007, Apple Computer introduced the iPhone. It had a 3.5" capacitive touchscreen with twice the common resolution of most smartphone screens at the time, and introduced multi-touch to phones, which allowed gestures such as "pinching" to zoom in or out on photos, maps, and web pages. The iPhone was notable as being the first device of its kind targeted at the mass market to abandon the use of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical of contemporary smartphones, instead using a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction. The iPhone's operating system was also a shift away from previous ones that were adapted from PDAs and feature phones, to one powerful enough to avoid using a limited, stripped down web browser requiring pages specially formatted using technologies such as WML, cHTML, or XHTML that previous phones supported and instead run a version of Apple's Safari browser that could easily render full websites not specifically designed for phones. Later Apple shipped a software update that gave the iPhone a built-in on-device App Store allowing direct wireless downloads of third-party software. This kind of centralized App Store and free developer tools quickly became the new main paradigm for all smartphone platforms for software development, distribution, discovery, installation, and payment, in place of expensive developer tools that required official approval to use and a dependence on third-party sources providing applications for multiple platforms. The advantages of a design with software powerful enough to support advanced applications and a large capacitive touchscreen affected the development of another smartphone OS platform, Android, with a more BlackBerry-like prototype device scrapped in favor of a touchscreen device with a slide-out physical keyboard, as Google's engineers thought at the time that a touchscreen could not completely replace a physical keyboard and buttons. Android is based around a modified Linux kernel, again providing more power than mobile operating systems adapted from PDAs and feature phones. The first Android device, the HTC Dream, was released in September 2008, with both a 3.2" capacitive touchscreen and a hardware keyboard that was revealed when the user slid the screen open. By 2010 the majority of Android phones were touchscreen-only. The iPhone and later touchscreen-only Android devices together popularized the smartphone form factor based on a large capacitive touchscreen as the sole means of interaction, and led to the decline of earlier, keyboard- and keypad-focused platforms. Other smartphone manufacturers soon started projects to replace their existing operating systems with new ones that could support touch interfaces on larger screens and web browsers that could render full web pages. Microsoft, for instance, discontinued Windows Mobile and started a new touchscreen-oriented OS from scratch, called Windows Phone. Nokia abandoned Symbian and partnered with Microsoft to use Windows Phone on its smartphones. Palm replaced their Palm OS with webOS. BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion and known for phones with a full qwerty keyboard below the screen, made a new platform for touchscreen phones based on QNX, BlackBerry 10. By the mid-2010s, almost all smartphones were touchscreen-only and had discarded legacy mobile operating systems for more recently developed ones that were more capable. The first commercial camera phone was the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, released in Japan in May 1999. It was called a "mobile videophone" at the time, and had a 110,000-pixel front-facing camera. It could send up to two images per second over Japan's Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) cellular network, and store up to 20 JPEG digital images, which could be sent over e-mail. The first mass-market camera phone was the J-SH04, a Sharp J-Phone model sold in Japan in November 2000. It could instantly transmit pictures via cell phone telecommunication. By the mid-2000s, higher-end cell phones commonly had integrated digital cameras. In 2003 camera phones outsold stand- alone digital cameras, and in 2006 they outsold film and digital stand-alone cameras. Five billion camera phones were sold in five years, and by 2007 more than half of the installed base of all mobile phones were camera phones. Sales of separate cameras peaked in 2008. Many early smartphones didn't have cameras at all, and earlier models that had them had low performance and insufficient image and video quality that could not compete with budget pocket cameras and fullfill user's needs. By the beginning of the 2010s almost all smartphones had an integrated digital camera. The decline in sales of stand-alone cameras accelerated due to the increasing use of smartphones with rapidly improving camera technology for casual photography, easier image manipulation, and abilities to directly share photos through the use of apps and web-based services. By 2011, cell phones with integrated cameras were selling hundreds of millions per year. In 2015, digital camera sales were 35.395 million units or only less than a third of digital camera sales numbers at their peak and also slightly less than film camera sold number at their peak. Contributing to the rise in popularity of smartphones being used over dedicated cameras for photography, smaller pocket cameras have difficulty producing bokeh in images, but nowadays, some smartphones have dual-lens cameras that reproduce the bokeh effect easily, and can even rearrange the level of bokeh after shooting. This works by capturing multiple images with different focus settings, then combining the background of the main image with a macro focus shot. In 2007 the Nokia N95 was notable as a smartphone that had a 5.0 Megapixel (MP) camera, when most others had cameras with around 3 MP or less than 2 MP. Some specialized feature phones like the LG Viewty, Samsung SGH-G800, and Sony Ericsson K850i, all released later that year, also had 5.0 MP cameras. By 2010 5.0 MP cameras were common; a few smartphones had 8.0 MP cameras and the Nokia N8, Sony Ericsson Satio, and Samsung M8910 Pixon12 feature phone had 12 MP. In 2009 the Samsung Omnia HD was the first phone with 720p video recording. A 14-megapixel smartphone with 3x optical zoom was announced in late 2010. In 2012 Nokia announced the Nokia 808 PureView, featuring a 41-megapixel 1/1.2-inch sensor and a high-resolution f/2.4 Zeiss all-aspherical one-group lens. 1080p video recording on a smartphone was achieved in 2011, and 2160p (4K) video recording in 2013. In 2016 Apple introduced the iPhone 7 Plus, one of the phones to popularize a dual camera setup. The iPhone 7 Plus included a main 12 MP camera along with a 12 MP telephoto camera which allowed for 2x optical zoom and Portrait Mode (simulated Bokeh). In early 2018 Huawei released a new flagship phone, the Huawei P20 Pro, with one of the first triple camera lens setups. In late 2018, Samsung released a new mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy A9 (2018) with the world's first quad camera setup. The Nokia 9 PureView was released in 2019 featuring a penta-lens camera system. In 2019, Oppo demonstrated an under-display selfie camera, made possible by the use of an OLED display that had a cutout underneath it, allowing the display to be transparent where the camera is located. This technique is already used for placing proximity and optical fingerprint sensors under the display. The smartphone on which it was demonstrated had no physical buttons, (using capacitive buttons instead), no SIM slot (using eSIM as a replacement), no microSD card slot, no headphone jack, no USB-C, and no speaker or earpiece grilles, relying exclusively on internal storage, wireless charging, 5G, WiFi, and Bluetooth. In the early 2010s, larger smartphones with screen sizes of at least 5.5 inches diagonal, dubbed "phablets", began to achieve popularity, with the 2011 Samsung Galaxy Note series gaining notably wide adoption. In 2013, Huawei launched the Huawei Mate series, sporting a 6.1-inch HD (1280x720) IPS+ LCD display, which was considered to be quite large at the time. Some companies began to release smartphones in 2013 incorporating flexible displays to create curved form factors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex. By 2014, 1440p displays began to appear on high-end smartphones. In 2015, Sony released the Xperia Z5 Premium, featuring a 4K resolution display, although only images and videos could actually be rendered at that resolution (all other software was shown at 1080p). New trends for smartphone displays began to emerge in 2017, with both LG and Samsung releasing flagship smartphones (LG G6 and Galaxy S8), utilizing displays with taller aspect ratios than the common ratio, and a high screen-to-body ratio, also known as "bezel-less design". These designs allow the display to have a larger diagonal measurement, but with a slimmer width than 16:9 displays with an equivalent screen size. Another trend popularized in 2017 was having a display that contained a tab- like cut-out at the top-centre—colloquially known as a "notch"—to contain the front-facing camera, and sometimes other sensors typically located along the top bezel of a device. This was introduced for the first time in 2016, by the LG V10. These designs allow for "edge-to-edge" displays that take up nearly the entire height of the device, with little to no bezel along the top, and sometimes a minimal bottom bezel as well. This design characteristic appeared almost simultaneously on the Sharp Aquos S2 and the Essential Phone, which featured circular tabs for their cameras, followed just a month later by the iPhone X, which used a wider tab to contain a camera and facial scanning system. Smartphones with foldable displays were theorized as possible once manufacturing costs and production processes were feasible. In November 2018, the startup company Royole unveiled the first commercially available foldable smartphone, the Royole FlexPai. Also that month, Samsung presented a prototype phone featuring an "Infinity Flex Display" at its developers conference, with a smaller, outer display on its "cover", and a larger, tablet-sized display when opened. Samsung stated that it also had to develop a new polymer material to coat the display as opposed to glass. Early examples of foldable phones from other manufacturers became the subject of rumors in early 2019; Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Fold, based on the previously-demonstrated prototype, in February 2019 for an originally-scheduled release in late-April. In 2019, 4.7-inches to 5.5 inches became the industry standard size, with most companies abandoning smaller, under 4.7-inch displays. The first smartphone with a fingerprint reader was the Motorola Atrix 4G in 2011. In September 2013, the iPhone 5S was unveiled as the first smartphone on a major U.S. carrier since the Atrix to feature this technology. Once again, the iPhone popularized this concept. In 2012, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S3 (GT-i9300) with retrofittable wireless charging, pop-up video playback, 4G-LTE variant (GT-i9305) quad-core processor. In 2013, Fairphone launched its first "socially ethical" smartphone at the London Design Festival to address concerns regarding the sourcing of materials in the manufacturing followed by Shiftphone in 2015. In late 2013, QSAlpha commenced production of a smartphone designed entirely around security, encryption and identity protection. In October 2013, Motorola Mobility announced Project Ara, a concept for a modular smartphone platform that would allow users to customize and upgrade their phones with add-on modules that attached magnetically to a frame. Ara was retained by Google following its sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, but was shelved in 2016. That year, LG and Motorola both unveiled smartphones featuring a limited form of modularity for accessories; the LG G5 allowed accessories to be installed via the removal of its battery compartment, while the Moto Z utilizes accessories attached magnetically to the rear of the device. Microsoft, expanding upon the concept of Motorola's short-lived "Webtop", unveiled functionality for its Windows 10 operating system for phones that allows supported devices to be docked for use with a PC-styled desktop environment. Samsung and LG used to be the “last standing” manufacturers to offer flagship devices with user-replaceable batteries. But in 2015, Samsung succumbed to the minimalism trend set by Apple, introducing the Galaxy S6 with a non-user- replaceable battery. In addition, Samsung was criticised for pruning long- standing features such as MHL, MicroUSB 3.0, water resistance and MicroSD card support, of which the latter two came back in 2016 with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. As of 2015, the global median for smartphone ownership was 43%. Statista forecast that 2.87 billion people would own smartphones in 2020. Major technologies that began to trend in 2016 included a focus on virtual reality and augmented reality experiences catered towards smartphones, the newly introduced USB-C connector, and improving LTE technologies. In 2018, the first smartphones featuring fingerprint readers embedded within OLED displays were announced, followed in 2019 by an implementation using an ultrasonic sensor on the Samsung Galaxy S10. In 2019, major smartphone have more than one camera, fully waterproof, enhanced privacy protection, have some sort of unlocking using facial recognition or fingerpriting. A typical smartphone contains a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, which in turn contain billions of tiny MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). A typical smartphone contains the following MOS IC chips. Application processor (CMOS system-on-a-chip), Flash memory (floating-gate MOS memory), Cellular modem (baseband RF CMOS), RF transceiver (RF CMOS), Phone camera image sensor (CMOS image sensor), Power management integrated circuit (power MOSFETs), Display driver (LCD or LED driver), Wireless communication chips (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS receiver), Sound chip (audio codec and power amplifier), Gyroscope, Capacitive touchscreen controller (ASIC and DSP), RF power amplifier (LDMOS), A hardware notification LED on some phones Smartphones have central processing units (CPUs), similar to those in computers, but optimised to operate in low power environments. In smartphones, the CPU is typically integrated in a CMOS (complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) system-on-a-chip (SoC) application processor. The performance of mobile CPU depends not only on the clock rate (generally given in multiples of hertz) but also on the memory hierarchy. Because of these challenges, the performance of mobile phone CPUs is often more appropriately given by scores derived from various standardized tests to measure the real effective performance in commonly used applications. One of the main characteristics of smartphones is the screen. Depending on the device's design, the screen fills most or nearly all of the space on a device's front surface. Many smartphone displays have an aspect ratio of , but taller aspect ratios became more common in 2017. Screen sizes are measured in diagonal inches. Phones with screens larger than 5.2 inches are often called "phablets". Smartphones with screens over 4.5 inches in size are commonly difficult to use with only a single hand, since most thumbs cannot reach the entire screen surface; they may need to be shifted around in the hand, held in one hand and manipulated by the other, or used in place with both hands. Due to design advances, some modern smartphones with large screen sizes and "edge- to-edge" designs have compact builds that improve their ergonomics, while the shift to taller aspect ratios have resulted in phones that have larger screen sizes whilst maintaining the ergonomics associated with smaller 16:9 displays. Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are the most common. Some displays are integrated with pressure- sensitive digitizers, such as those developed by Wacom and Samsung, and Apple's Force Touch system. Some audio quality enhancing features, such as Voice over LTE and HD Voice have appeared and are often available on newer smartphones. Sound quality can remain a problem due to the design of the phone, the quality of the cellular network and compression algorithms used in long distance calls. Audio quality can be improved using a VoIP application over WiFi. Cellphones have small speakers so that the user can use a speakerphone feature and talk to a person on the phone without holding it to their ear. The small speakers can also be used to listen to digital audio files of music or speech or watch videos with an audio component, without holding the phone close to the ear. A smartphone typically uses a lithium-ion battery. By the end of 2017, smartphone battery life has become generally adequate; however, earlier smartphone battery life was poor due to the weak batteries that could not handle the significant power requirements of the smartphones' computer systems and color screens. Smartphone users purchase additional chargers for use outside the home, at work, and in cars and by buying portable external "battery packs". External battery packs include generic models which are connected to the smartphone with a cable, and custom-made models that "piggyback" onto a smartphone's case. In 2016, Samsung had to recall millions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to an explosive battery issue. For consumer convenience, wireless charging stations have been introduced in some hotels, bars, and other public spaces. Cameras have become standard features of smartphones. As of 2019 phone cameras are now a highly competitive area of differentiation between models, with advertising campaigns commonly based on a focus on the quality or capabilities of a device's main cameras. Typically smartphones have at least one main rear- facing camera and a lower-resolution front-facing camera for "selfies" and video chat. Owing to the limited depth available in smartphones for image sensors and optics, rear-facing cameras are often housed in a "bump" that's thicker than the rest of the phone. Since increasingly thin mobile phones have more abundant horizontal space than the depth that is necessary and used in dedicated cameras for better lenses, there's additionally a trend for phone manufacturers to include multiple cameras, with each optimized for a different purpose (telephoto, wide angle, etc.). Images are usually saved in the JPEG file format; some high-end phones also have RAW image capability. Modern advanced smartphones have cameras with optical image stabilisation (OIS), larger sensors, bright lenses, and even optical zoom plus RAW images. HDR, "Bokeh mode" with multi lenses and multi-shot night modes are now also familiar. Many new smartphone camera features are being enabled via computational photography image processing and multiple specialized lenses rather than larger sensors and lenses, due to the constrained space available inside phones that are being made as slim as possible. A wide range of accessories are sold for smartphones, including cases, screen protectors, power charging cables, wireless power stations, USB On-The-Go adapters (for connecting USB drives and or, in some cases, a HDMI cable to an external monitor), add-on batteries, headphones, combined headphone- microphones (which, for example, allow a person to privately conduct calls on the device without holding it to the ear), and Bluetooth-enabled powered speakers that enable users to listen to media from their smartphones wirelessly. Cases range from relatively inexpensive rubber or soft plastic cases which provide moderate protection from bumps and good protection from scratches to more expensive, heavy-duty cases that combine a rubber padding with a hard outer shell. Some cases have a "book"-like form, with a cover that the user opens to use the device; when the cover is closed, it protects the screen. Some "book"-like cases have additional pockets for credit cards, thus enabling people to use them as wallets. Accessories include products sold by the manufacturer of the smartphone and compatible products made by other manufacturers. A mobile operating system (or mobile OS) is an operating system for phones, tablets, smartwatches, or other mobile devices. Mobile operating systems combine features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use; usually including, and most of the following considered essential in modern mobile systems; a touchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Protected Access, Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System (GPS) mobile navigation, video- and single-frame picture cameras, speech recognition, voice recorder, music player, near field communication, and infrared blaster. By Q1 2018, over 383 million smartphones were sold with 85.9 percent running Android, 14.1 percent running iOS and a negligible number of smartphones running other OSes. Android alone is more popular than the popular desktop operating system Windows, and in general smartphone use (even without tablets) exceeds desktop use. Mobile devices with mobile communications abilities (e.g., smartphones) contain two mobile operating systemsthe main user-facing software platform is supplemented by a second low-level proprietary real-time operating system which operates the radio and other hardware. Research has shown that these low-level systems may contain a range of security vulnerabilities permitting malicious base stations to gain high levels of control over the mobile device. A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone. The term "app" is a short-form of the term "software application". The introduction of Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch in July 2008 popularized manufacturer-hosted online distribution for third-party applications (software and computer programs) focused on a single platform. There are a huge variety of apps, including video games, music products and business tools. Up until that point, smartphone application distribution depended on third-party sources providing applications for multiple platforms, such as GetJar, Handango, Handmark, and PocketGear. Following the success of the App Store, other smartphone manufacturers launched application stores, such as Google's Android Market (later renamed to the Google Play Store) and RIM's BlackBerry App World and Android-related app stores like F-Droid. In February 2014, 93% of mobile developers were targeting smartphones first for mobile app development. Since 1996, smartphone shipments have had positive growth. In November 2011, 27% of all photographs created were taken with camera-equipped smartphones. In September 2012, a study concluded that 4 out of 5 smartphone owners use the device to shop online. Global smartphone sales surpassed the sales figures for feature phones in early 2013. Worldwide shipments of smartphones topped 1 billion units in 2013, up 38% from 2012's 725 million, while comprising a 55% share of the mobile phone market in 2013, up from 42% in 2012. In 2013, smartphone sales began to decline for the first time. In Q1 2016 for the first time the shipments dropped by 3 percent year on year. The situation was caused by the maturing China market. A report by NPD shows that fewer than 10% of US citizens have bought $1,000+ smartphones, as they are too expensive for most people, without introducing particularly innovative features, and amid Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi introducing products with similar feature sets for lower prices. In 2019, smartphone sales declined by 3.2%, the largest in smartphone history, while China and India were credited with driving most smartphone sales worldwide. It is predicted that widespread adoption of 5G will help drive new smartphone sales. In 2011, Samsung had the highest shipment market share worldwide, followed by Apple. In 2013, Samsung had 31.3% market share, a slight increase from 30.3% in 2012, while Apple was at 15.3%, a decrease from 18.7% in 2012. Huawei, LG and Lenovo were at about 5% each, significantly better than 2012 figures, while others had about 40%, the same as the previous years figure. Only Apple lost market share, although their shipment volume still increased by 12.9%; the rest had significant increases in shipment volumes of 36–92%. In Q1 2014, Samsung had a 31% share and Apple had 16%. In Q4 2014, Apple had a 20.4% share and Samsung had 19.9%. In Q2 2016, Samsung had a 22.3% share and Apple had 12.9%. In Q1 2017, IDC reported that Samsung was first placed, with 80 million units, followed by Apple with 50.8 million, Huawei with 34.6 million, Oppo with 25.5 million and Vivo with 22.7 million. Samsung's mobile business is half the size of Apple's, by revenue. Apple business increased very rapidly in the years 2013 to 2017. Realme, a brand owned by Oppo, is the fastest-growing phone brand worldwide since Q2 2019. In China, Huawei and Honor, a brand owned by Huawei, have 46% of market share combined and posted 66% annual growth as of 2019, amid growing Chinese nationalism. In 2019, Samsung had a 74% market share in 5G smartphones while 5G smartphones had 1% of market share in China. Research has shown that iPhones are commonly associated with wealth, and that the average iPhone user has 40% more annual income than the average Android user. Women are more likely than men to own an iPhone. TrendForce predicts that foldable phones will start to become popular in 2021. In many countries, mobile phones are used to provide mobile banking services, which may include the ability to transfer cash payments by secure SMS text message. Kenya's M-PESA mobile banking service, for example, allows customers of the mobile phone operator Safaricom to hold cash balances which are recorded on their SIM cards. Cash can be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country and can be transferred electronically from person to person and used to pay bills to companies. Branchless banking has been successful in South Africa and the Philippines. A pilot project in Bali was launched in 2011 by the International Finance Corporation and an Indonesian bank, Bank Mandiri. Another application of mobile banking technology is Zidisha, a US-based nonprofit micro-lending platform that allows residents of developing countries to raise small business loans from Web users worldwide. Zidisha uses mobile banking for loan disbursements and repayments, transferring funds from lenders in the United States to borrowers in rural Africa who have mobile phones and can use the Internet. Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually, the idea spread and in 1999, the Philippines launched the country's first commercial mobile payments systems with mobile operators Globe and Smart. Some mobile phones can make mobile payments via direct mobile billing schemes, or through contactless payments if the phone and the point of sale support near field communication (NFC). Enabling contactless payments through NFC-equipped mobile phones requires the co-operation of manufacturers, network operators, and retail merchants. Some apps allows for sending and receiving facsimile (Fax), over a smartphone, including facsimile data (composed of raster bi-level graphics) generated directly and digitally from document and image file formats. The rise in popularity of touchscreen smartphones and mobile apps distributed via app stores along with rapidly advancing network, mobile processor, and storage technologies led to a convergence where separate mobile phones, organizers, and portable media players were replaced by a smartphone as the single device most people carried. Advances in digital camera sensors and on- device image processing software more gradually led to smartphones replacing simpler cameras for photographs and video recording. The built-in GPS capabilities and mapping apps on smartphones largely replaced stand-alone satellite navigation devices, and paper maps became less common. Mobile gaming on smartphones greatly grew in popularity, allowing many people to use them in place of handheld game consoles, and some companies tried creating game console/phone hybrids based on phone hardware and software. People frequently have chosen not to get fixed-line telephone service in favor of smartphones. Music streaming apps and services have grown rapidly in popularity, serving the same use as listening to music stations on a terrestrial or satellite radio. Streaming video services are easily accessed via smartphone apps and can be used in place of watching television. People have often stopped wearing wristwatches in favor of checking the time on their smartphones, and many use the clock features on their phones in place of alarm clocks. Additionally, in many lesser technologically developed regions smartphones are people's first and only means of Internet access due to their portability, with personal computers being relatively uncommon outside of business use. The cameras on smartphones can be used to photograph documents and send them via email or messaging in place of using fax (facsimile) machines. Payment apps and services on smartphones allow people to make less use of wallets, purses, credit and debit cards, and cash. Mobile banking apps can allow people to deposit checks simply by photographing them, eliminating the need to take the physical check to an ATM or teller. Guide book apps can take the place of paper travel and restaurant/business guides, museum brochures, and dedicated audio guide equipment. In 2012, University of Southern California study found that unprotected adolescent sexual activity was more common among owners of smartphones. A study conducted by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI) Lighting Research Center (LRC) concluded that smartphones, or any backlit devices, can seriously affect sleep cycles. Some persons might become psychologically attached to smartphones resulting in anxiety when separated from the devices. A "smombie" (a combination of "smartphone" and "zombie") is a walking person using a smartphone and not paying attention as they walk, possibly risking an accident in the process, an increasing social phenomenon. The issue of slow- moving smartphone users led to the temporary creation of a "mobile lane" for walking in Chongqing, China. The issue of distracted smartphone users led the city of Augsburg, Germany to embed pedestrian traffic lights in the pavement. Mobile phone use while driving—including calling, text messaging, playing media, web browsing, gaming, using mapping apps or operating other phone features—is common but controversial, since it is widely considered dangerous due to what is known as distracted driving. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. In September 2010, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 995 people were killed by drivers distracted by phones. In March 2011 a US insurance company, State Farm Insurance, announced the results of a study which showed 19% of drivers surveyed accessed the Internet on a smartphone while driving. Many jurisdictions prohibit the use of mobile phones while driving. In Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore, both handheld and hands-free calling on a mobile phone (which uses a speakerphone) is banned. In other countries including the UK and France and in many US states, only the use of calling on handheld phones is banned, while hands-free use is permitted. A 2011 study reported that over 90% of college students surveyed text (initiate, reply or read) while driving. The scientific literature on the danger of driving while sending a text message from a mobile phone, or texting while driving, is limited. A simulation study at the University of Utah found a sixfold increase in distraction-related accidents when texting. Due to the complexity of smartphones that began to grow more after, this has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials when attempting to distinguish one usage from another in drivers using their devices. This is more apparent in countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage, rather than those which ban handheld use only, as officials cannot easily tell which function of the phone is being used simply by looking at the driver. This can lead to drivers being stopped for using their device illegally for a call when, in fact, they were using the device legally, for example, when using the phone's incorporated controls for car stereo, GPS or satnav. A 2010 study reviewed the incidence of phone use while cycling and its effects on behavior and safety. In 2013 a national survey in the US reported the number of drivers who reported using their phones to access the Internet while driving had risen to nearly one of four. A study conducted by the University of Vienna examined approaches for reducing inappropriate and problematic use of mobile phones, such as using phones while driving. Accidents involving a driver being distracted by being in a call on a phone have begun to be prosecuted as negligence similar to speeding. In the United Kingdom, from 27 February 2007, motorists who are caught using a handheld phone while driving will have three penalty points added to their license in addition to the fine of £60. This increase was introduced to try to stem the increase in drivers ignoring the law. Japan prohibits all use of phones while driving, including use of hands-free devices. New Zealand has banned handheld phone use since 1 November 2009. Many states in the United States have banned text messaging on phones while driving. Illinois became the 17th American state to enforce this law. As of July 2010, 30 states had banned texting while driving, with Kentucky becoming the most recent addition on July 15. Public Health Law Research maintains a list of distracted driving laws in the United States. This database of laws provides a comprehensive view of the provisions of laws that restrict the use of mobile devices while driving for all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1992, when first law was passed through December 1, 2010. The dataset contains information on 22 dichotomous, continuous or categorical variables including, for example, activities regulated (e.g., texting versus talking, hands-free versus handheld calls, web browsing, gaming), targeted populations, and exemptions. A "patent war" between Samsung and Apple started when the latter claimed that the original Galaxy S Android phone copied the interfaceand possibly the hardwareof Apple's iOS for the iPhone 3GS. There was also smartphone patents licensing and litigation involving Sony Mobile, Google, Apple Inc., Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Huawei and ZTE, among others. The conflict is part of the wider "patent wars" between multinational technology and software corporations. To secure and increase market share, companies granted a patent can sue to prevent competitors from using the methods the patent covers. Since the 2010s the number of lawsuits, counter-suits, and trade complaints based on patents and designs in the market for smartphones, and devices based on smartphone OSes such as Android and iOS, has increased significantly. Initial suits, countersuits, rulings, license agreements, and other major events began in 2009 as the smartphone market stated to grow more rapidly by 2012. With the rise in number of mobile medical apps in the market place, government regulatory agencies raised concerns on the safety of the use of such applications. These concerns were transformed into regulation initiatives worldwide with the aim of safeguarding users from untrusted medical advice. Smartphone malware is easily distributed through an insecure app store. Often, malware is hidden in pirated versions of legitimate apps, which are then distributed through third-party app stores. Malware risk also comes from what is known as an "update attack", where a legitimate application is later changed to include a malware component, which users then install when they are notified that the app has been updated. As well, one out of three robberies in 2012 in the United States involved the theft of a mobile phone. An online petition has urged smartphone makers to install kill switches in their devices. In 2014, Apple's "Find my iPhone" and Google's "Android Device Manager" can locate, disable, and wipe the data from phones that have been lost or stolen. With BlackBerry Protect in OS version 10.3.2, devices can be rendered unrecoverable to even BlackBerry's own Operating System recovery tools if incorrectly authenticated or dissociated from their account. Leaked documents published by WikiLeaks, codenamed Vault 7 and dated from 2013–2016, detail the capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare, including the ability to compromise the operating systems of most smartphones (including iOS and Android). Guidelines for mobile device security were issued by NIST and many other organizations. For conducting a private, in-person meeting, at least one site recommends that the user switch the smartphone off and disconnect the battery. Using smartphones late at night can disturb sleep, due to the blue light and brightly lit screen, which affects melatonin levels and sleep cycles. In an effort to alleviate these issues, "Night Mode" functionality to change the color temperature of a screen to a warmer hue based on the time of day to reduce the amount of blue light generated became available through several apps for Android and the f.lux software for jailbroken iPhones. iOS 9.3 integrated a similar, system-level feature known as "Night Shift." Several Android device manufacturers bypassed Google’s initial reluctance to make Night Mode a standard feature in Android and included software for it on their hardware under varying names, before Android Oreo added it to the OS for compatible devices. It has also been theorized that for some users, addiction to use of their phones, especially before they go to bed, can result in "ego depletion." Many people also use their phones as alarm clocks, which can also lead to loss of sleep. Comparison of smartphones, E-reader, Lists of mobile computers, List of mobile software distribution platforms, Media Transfer Protocol, Mobile Internet device, Portable media player, Second screen, Smartphone kill switch, Smartphone zombie

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The 2014 Women's Hockey World Cup was the 13th edition of the Women's Hockey World Cup field hockey tournament. It was held from 31 May to 14 June 2014 at the Kyocera Stadion in The Hague, Netherlands. simultaneously with the men's tournament. It was the third time that the Netherlands hosted the Women's World Cup after 1986 and 1998. The Netherlands won the tournament for a seventh time after defeating Australia 2–0 in the final. Defending champions Argentina won the third place match by defeating the United States 2–1. The host was announced on 11 November 2010 during the FIH Congress and Forum in Montreux, Switzerland after FIH received bids from The Hague and London. Each of the continental champions from five confederations and the host nation receive an automatic berth. In addition to the six highest placed teams at the Semifinals of the 2012–13 FIH Hockey World League not already qualified, the following twelve teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, competed in this tournament. 18 umpires were appointed by the FIH for this tournament. Claire Adenot (FRA), Amy Baxter (USA), Karen Bennett (NZL), Frances Block (ENG), Caroline Brunekreef (NED), Laurine Delforge (BEL), Elena Eskina (RUS), Amy Hassick (USA), Soledad Iparraguirre (ARG), Michelle Joubert (RSA), Kang Hyun-young (KOR), Michelle Meister (GER), Miao Lin (CHN), Irene Presenqui (ARG), Lisa Roach (AUS), Chieko Soma (JPN), Wendy Stewart (CAN), Melissa Trivic (AUS) All times are Central European Summer Time () 7 goals 1. Maartje Paumen 6 goals 2. Anna Flanagan 5 goals Kim Lammers, Anita Punt, Kelsey Kolojejchick 4 goals Silvina D'Elía, Peng Yang 3 goals Luciana Aymar, Carla Rebecchi, Stephanie De Groof, Kelly Jonker, Krystal Forgesson, Cheon Eun-bi, Katie Reinprecht 2 goals Noel Barrionuevo, Delfina Merino, Jodie Kenny, Jill Boon, Emilie Sinia, Liang Meiyu, Kristina Hillmann, Hannah Krüger, Marie Mävers, Akane Shibata, Naomi van As, Ellen Hoog, Kayla Whitelock, Dirkie Chamberlain, Pietie Coetzee, Shelley Russell, Cheon Seul-ki, Kim Jong-eun, Park Mi-hyun, Lauren Crandall, Rachel Dawson, Caroline Nichols, Katie O'Donnell, Kathleen Sharkey 1 goal Emily Hurtz, Emily Smith, Kellie White, Barbara Nelen, Alix Gerniers, Manon Simons, Wang Na, Wang Mengyu, Wu Mengrong, Sophie Bray, Alex Danson, Susie Gilbert, Hannah Macleod, Kate Richardson-Walsh, Susannah Townsend, Nicola White, Tina Bachmann, Julia Müller, Hazuki Nagai, Yuri Nagai, Ayaka Nishimura, Shiho Sakai, Shihori Oikawa, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Roos Drost, Marloes Keetels, Xan de Waard, Sophie Cocks, Katie Glynn, Tarryn Bright, Marsha Cox, Sulette Damons, Kelly Madsen, Kathleen Taylor, Han Hye-lyoung, Kim Da-rae, Kim Ok-ju, Paige Selenski, Michelle Vittese The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in 1950, and the fifth time that it was held in South America. Many fans and pundits alike also consider this edition of the World Cup to be one of the greatest ever held. 31 national teams advanced through qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament (with Bosnia and Herzegovina as only debutant). A total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, as well as vanishing spray for free kicks. FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries. Every World Cup-winning team since the first tournament in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay – qualified for this tournament. Spain, the title holders, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals. Host nation Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. In the final, Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 to win the tournament and secure the country's fourth world title, the first after the German reunification in 1990, when as West Germany they also beat Argentina in the World Cup final. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the Americas, and this result marked the third consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010. In March 2003, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South America for the first time since 1978, in line with its then-active policy of rotating the right to host the World Cup among different confederations. With the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa, it would be the second consecutive World Cup outside Europe, which was a first for the tournament. It was also second in the Southern Hemisphere. Only Brazil and Colombia formally declared their candidacy but, after the withdrawal of the latter from the process, Brazil was officially elected as host nation unopposed on 30 October 2007. Following qualification matches played between June 2011 and November 2013, the following 32 teams – shown with their last pre-tournament FIFA world ranking – qualified for the final tournament. Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the 2010 World Cup. Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only team with no previous appearance at the World Cup finals. Colombia qualified for the World Cup after 16 years of absence, while the 2018 World Cup hosts Russia and Belgium returned after 12 years. Paraguay failed to qualify for the first time since 1994. This was also the first World Cup for 32 years that did not feature a representative from the Nordic countries. The highest ranked team not to qualify was Ukraine (ranked 16th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Australia (ranked 62nd). AFC (4) (62), (43), (46), (57) CAF (5) (22), (56), (37), (23), (44) OFC (0) None qualified CONCACAF (4) (28), (33), (20), (13) CONMEBOL (6) (5), (3) (hosts), (14), (8), (26), (7) UEFA (13) (15), (11), (21), (18), (10), (17), (2), (12), (9), (4), (19), (1), (6) The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight groups. In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots with the seven highest-ranked teams joining host nation Brazil in the seeded pot. As with the previous tournaments, FIFA aimed to create groups which maximised geographic separation and therefore the unseeded teams were arranged into pots based on geographic considerations. The draw took place on 6 December 2013 at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia, during which the teams were drawn by various past World Cup- winning players. Under the draw procedure, one randomly drawn team – Italy – was firstly relocated from Pot 4 to Pot 2 to create four equal pots of eight teams. In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, with two assistant referees, from all six football confederations for the tournament. On 14 January 2014, the FIFA Referees Committee appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 countries for the tournament. Yuichi Nishimura from Japan acted as referee in the opening match whereas Nicola Rizzoli from Italy acted as referee in the final. As with the 2010 tournament, each team's squad consists of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than 10 days before the start of the tournament. Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game. During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team are available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player is not serving a suspension). 12 venues (seven new and five renovated) in twelve cities were selected for the tournament. The venues covered all the main regions of Brazil and created more evenly distributed hosting than the 1950 finals in Brazil. Consequently, the tournament required long-distance travel for teams. During the World Cup, Brazilian cities were also home to the participating teams at 32 separate base camps, as well as staging official fan fests where supporters could view the games. The most used stadiums were the Maracana and Brasilia, which hosted seven matches each. The least-used venues were in Cuiaba, Manaus, Natal and Curitiba, which hosted four matches each; as the four smallest stadiums in use at the tournament, they did not host any knockout round matches. Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. On 31 January 2014, FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team, having earlier circulated a brochure of 84 prospective locations. Most teams opted to stay in the Southeast Region of Brazil, with only eight teams choosing other regions; five teams (Croatia, Germany, Ghana, Greece and Switzerland) opted to stay in the Northeast Region and three teams (Ecuador, South Korea and Spain) opted to stay in the South Region. None opted to stay in the North Region or the Central-West Region. For a third consecutive World Cup tournament, FIFA staged FIFA Fan Fests in each of the 12 host cities throughout the competition. Prominent examples were the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, which already held a Fan Fest in 2010, and São Paulo's Vale do Anhangabaú. The first official event took place on Iracema Beach, in Fortaleza, on 8 June 2014. To avoid ghost goals the 2014 World Cup introduced goal-line technology following successful trials at among others 2013 Confederations Cup. The chosen Goal Control system featured 14 high speed cameras, 7 directed to each of the goals. Data were sent to the central image-processing centre, where a virtual representation of the ball was output on a widescreen to confirm the goal. The referee was equipped with a watch which vibrated and displayed a signal upon a goal. France's second goal in their group game against Honduras was the first time goal-line technology was needed to confirm that a goal should be given. Following successful trials, FIFA approved the use of vanishing spray by the referees for the first time at a World Cup Finals. The water-based spray, which disappears within minutes of application, can be used to mark a ten-yard line for the defending team during a free kick and also to draw where the ball is to be placed for a free kick. The Adidas Brazuca was the official match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and was supplied by Forward Sports of Sialkot, Pakistan. Adidas created a new design of ball after criticisms of the Adidas Jabulani used in the previous World Cup. The number of panels was reduced to six, with the panels being thermally bonded. This created a ball with increased consistency and aerodynamics compared to its predecessor. Furthermore, Adidas underwent an extensive testing process lasting more than two years to produce a ball that would meet the approval of football professionals. Because of the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues, cooling breaks for the players were introduced. Breaks could take place at the referee's discretion after the 30th minute of each half if the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature exceeded . The first cooling break in a World Cup play took place during the 32nd minute of the match between the Netherlands and Mexico in the round of 16. At the start of the match, FIFA listed the temperature at with 68% humidity. The biological passport was introduced in the FIFA World Cup starting in 2014. Blood and urine samples from all players before the competition, and from two players per team per match, are analysed by the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses. FIFA reported that 91.5% of the players taking part in the tournament were tested before the start of the competition and none tested positive. However, FIFA was criticised for how it conducted doping tests. The first round, or group stage, was a competition between the 32 teams divided among eight groups of four, where each group engaged in a round-robin tournament within itself. The two highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage. Teams were awarded three points for a win and one for a draw. When comparing teams in a group over-all result came before head-to- head. In the knockout stage there were four rounds (round of 16, quarter- finals, semi-finals, and the final), with each eliminating the losers. The two semi-final losers competed in a third place play-off. For any match in the knockout stage, a draw after 90 minutes of regulation time was followed by two 15 minute periods of extra time to determine a winner. If the teams were still tied, a penalty shoot-out was held to determine a winner. The match schedule was announced on 20 October 2011 with the kick-off times being confirmed on 27 September 2012; after the final draw, the kick-off times of seven matches were adjusted by FIFA. The competition was organised so that teams that played each other in the group stage could not meet again during the knockout phase until the final (or the 3rd place match). The group stage began on 12 June, with the host nation competing in the opening game as has been the format since the 2006 tournament. The opening game was preceded by an opening ceremony that began at 15:15 local time. On 12 June 2014, the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup began with the opening ceremony at Arena de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. The event saw 660 dancers take to the stadium and perform in a ceremony which celebrated the nature of the country and its love of football. Following the dancers native singer Claudia Leitte emerged on centre stage to perform for the crowd. She was later joined by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull, and American singer Jennifer Lopez to perform the tournament's official song "We Are One (Ole Ola)" which had been released as an official single on 8 April 2014. Following the ceremony, the opening match was played, which saw the hosts come from behind to beat Croatia 3-1. The group stage of the cup took place in Brazil from 12 June 2014 to 26 June 2014: each team played three games. The group stage was notable for a scarcity of draws and a large number of goals. The first drawn (and goalless) match did not occur until the 13th match of the tournament, between Iran and Nigeria: a drought longer than any World Cup since 1930. The group stage produced a total of 136 goals (an average of 2.83 goals per match), nine fewer than were scored during the entire 2010 tournament. This is the largest number of goals in the group stage since the 32-team system was implemented in 1998 and the largest average in a group stage since 1958. World Cup holders Spain were eliminated after only two games, the quickest exit for the defending champions since Italy's from the 1950 tournament. Spain also became the fourth nation to be eliminated in the first round while holding the World Cup crown, the first one being Italy in 1950 (and again in 2010), Brazil in 1966, and France in 2002. Scores after extra time are indicated by (aet), and penalty shoot-outs are indicated by (pen.). For the first time since the introduction of a round of 16 after the group stage in 1986, all the group winners advanced into the quarter-finals. They included four teams from UEFA, three from CONMEBOL, and one from CONCACAF. Of the eight matches, five required extra-time, and two of these required penalty shoot-outs; this was the first time penalty shoot-outs occurred in more than one game in a round of 16. The goal average per game in the round of 16 was 2.25, a drop of 0.58 goals per game from the group stage. The eight teams to win in the round of 16 included four former champions (Brazil, Germany, Argentina and France), a three-time runner-up (Netherlands), and two first- time quarter-finalists (Colombia and Costa Rica). Belgium reached the quarter- finals for the first time since 1986. All times listed below are at local time () With a 1–0 victory over France, Germany set a World Cup record with four consecutive semi-final appearances. Brazil beat Colombia 2–1, but Brazil's Neymar was injured and missed the rest of the competition. Argentina reached the final four for the first time since 1990 after a 1–0 win over Belgium. The Netherlands reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive tournament, after overcoming Costa Rica in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time, with goalkeeper Tim Krul having been substituted on for the shoot-out and saving two penalties. Germany qualified for the final for the eighth time with a historic 7–1 win over Brazil – the biggest defeat in Brazilian football since 1920. Miroslav Klose's goal in this match was his 16th throughout all World Cups, breaking the record he had previously shared with Ronaldo. Klose set another record by becoming the first player to appear in four World Cup semi-finals. Argentina reached their first final since 1990, and the fifth overall after overcoming the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time. The Netherlands defeated Brazil 3–0 to secure third place, the first for the Dutch team in their history. Overall, Brazil conceded 14 goals in the tournament; this was the most by a team at any single World Cup since 1986, and the most by a host nation in history, although their fourth-place finish still represented Brazil's best result in a World Cup since their last win in 2002. The final featured Germany against Argentina for a record third time after 1986 and 1990. This marked the first time that teams from the same continent had won three consecutive World Cups (following Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010). It was also the first time that a European nation had won the World Cup in the Americas. On aggregate Europe then had 11 victories, compared to South America's 9 victories. In total, 171 goals were scored by a record 121 players, with five credited as own goals. Goals scored from penalty shoot-outs are not counted. The most notable disciplinary case was that of Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez, who was suspended for nine international matches and banned from taking part in any football-related activity (including entering any stadium) for four months, following a biting incident on Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. He was also fined CHF100,000. After an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Suárez was later allowed to participate in training and friendly matches with new club Barcelona. The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: Technical Study Group The members of the Technical Study Group, the committee that decided which players won the awards, were led by FIFA's head of the Technical Division Jean-Paul Brigger and featured: Gérard Houllier, Raul Arias, Gabriel Calderón, Ricki Herbert, Abdel Moneim Hussein Kwok Ka Ming, Ioan Lupescu, Ginés Meléndez, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Sunday Oliseh Mixu Paatelainen, Jaime Rodríguez, Theodore Whitmore There were changes to the voting procedure for awards for the 2014 edition: while in 2010 accredited media were allowed to vote for the Golden Ball award, in 2014 only the Technical Study Group could select the outcome. As was the case during the 2010 edition, FIFA did not release an official All- Star Team, but instead invited users of FIFA.com to elect their Dream Team. Castrol, the official sponsor of the tournament, released a team of the tournament based on their Castrol Performance Index, which evaluates player performances through statistical data. The team consisted of the players leading each position, with midfielder Toni Kroos ranked as the overall leader. Lionel Messi, the Golden Ball recipient, finished fifth among forwards and was thus not included in the team. The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as US$576 million (including payments of $70 million to domestic clubs and $100 million as player insurances), a 37 percent increase from the amount allocated in the 2010 tournament. Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants received $1.5 million for preparation costs. At the tournament, the prize money was distributed as follows: $8 million – To each team eliminated at the group stage (16 teams), $9 million – To each team eliminated in the round of 16 (8 teams), $14 million – To each team eliminated in the quarter-finals (4 teams), $20 million – Fourth placed team, $22 million – Third placed team, $25 million – Runner-up, $35 million – Winner Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Costs of the tournament totalled $11.6 billion, making it the most expensive World Cup to date, until surpassed by 2018 FIFA World Cup which cost an estimated $14.2 billion. FIFA was expected to spend US$2 billion on staging the finals, with its greatest single expense being the US$576 million prize money pot. Although organisers originally estimated costs of US$1.1 billion, a reported US$3.6 billion was ultimately spent on stadium works. Five of the chosen host cities had brand new venues built specifically for the World Cup, while the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha in the capital Brasília was demolished and rebuilt, with the remaining six being extensively renovated. An additional R$3 billion (US$1.3 billion, €960 million, £780 million at June 2014 rates) was earmarked by the Brazilian government for investment in infrastructure works and projects for use during the 2014 World Cup and beyond. However, the failed completion of many of the proposed works provoked discontent among some Brazilians. The Brazilian government pledged US$900 million to be invested into security forces and that the tournament would be "one of the most protected sports events in history." The marketing of the 2014 FIFA World Cup included sale of tickets, support from sponsors and promotion through events that utilise the symbols and songs of the tournament. Popular merchandise included items featuring the official mascot as well as an official video game that has been developed by EA Sports. The official song of the tournament was "We Are One (Ole Ola)" with vocals from Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte. As a partner of the German Football Association, the German airline Lufthansa renamed itself "Fanhansa" on some of its planes that flew the German national team, media representatives and football fans to Brazil. The sponsors of the 2014 World Cup are divided into three categories: FIFA Partners, FIFA World Cup Sponsors and National Supporters. For a fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals, the coverage was provided by HBS (Host Broadcast Services), a subsidiary of Infront Sports & Media. Sony was selected as the official equipment provider and built 12 bespoke high definition production 40-foot-long containers, one for each tournament venue, to house the extensive amount of equipment required. Each match utilised 37 standard camera plans, including Aerial and Cablecam, two Ultramotion cameras and dedicated cameras for interviews. The official tournament film, as well as three matches, will be filmed with ultra high definition technology (4K resolution), following a successful trial at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. The broadcasting rights – covering television, radio, internet and mobile coverage – for the tournament were sold to media companies in each individual territory either directly by FIFA, or through licensed companies or organisations such as the European Broadcasting Union, Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana, International Media Content, Dentsu and RS International Broadcasting & Sports Management. The sale of these rights accounted for an estimated 60% of FIFA's income from staging a World Cup. The International Broadcast Centre was situated at the Riocentro in the Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro. Worldwide, several games qualified as the most-watched sporting events in their country in 2014, including 42.9 million people in Brazil for the opening game between Brazil and Croatia, the 34.1 million in Japan who saw their team play Ivory Coast, and 34.7 million in Germany who saw their national team win the World Cup against Argentina, while the 24.7 million viewers during the game between the US and Portugal is joint with the 2010 final as the most-watched football game in the United States. According to FIFA, over 1 billion people tuned in worldwide to watch the final between Germany and Argentina. The 2014 FIFA World Cup generated various controversies, including demonstrations, some of which took place even before the tournament started. Furthermore, there were various issues with safety, including eight deaths of workers and a fire during construction, breaches into stadiums, an unstable makeshift staircase at the Maracanã Stadium, a monorail collapse, and the collapse of an unfinished overpass in Belo Horizonte. The houses of thousands of families living in Rio de Janeiro’s slums were cleared for redevelopments for the World Cup in spite of protests and resistance. Favela do Metrô, near the Maracanã Stadium, was completely destroyed as a result, having previously housed 700 families in 2010. Prior to the opening ceremony of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup staged in Brazil, demonstrations took place outside the venue, organised by people unhappy with the amount of public money spent to enable the hosting of the FIFA World Cup. Both the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were heavily booed as they were announced to give their speeches at the 2013 tournament's opening, which resulted in FIFA announcing that the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony would not feature any speeches. Further protests took place during the Confederations Cup as well as prior to and during the World Cup. At the Group B match between Spain and Chile, around 100 Chilean supporters who had gathered outside Maracanã Stadium forced their way into the stadium and caused damage to the media centre. Military police reported that 85 Chileans were detained during the events, while others reached the stands. Earlier, about 20 Argentinians made a similar breach during Argentina's Group F game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same stadium. On 3 July 2014, an overpass under construction in Belo Horizonte as part of the World Cup infrastructure projects collapsed onto a busy carriageway below, leaving two people dead and 22 others injured. During the tournament, FIFA received significant criticism for the way head injuries are handled during matches. Two incidents in particular attracted the most attention. First, in a group stage match, after Uruguayan defender Álvaro Pereira received a blow to the head, he lay unconscious. The Uruguayan doctor signaled for the player to be substituted, but he returned to the match. The incident drew criticism from the professional players' union FIFPro, and from Michel D'Hooghe, a member of the FIFA executive board and chairman of its medical committee. Second, in the Final, German midfielder Christoph Kramer received a blow to the head from a collision in the 14th minute, but returned to the match before collapsing in the 31st minute. During that time, Kramer was disoriented and confused, and asked the referee Nicola Rizzoli whether the match he was playing in was the World Cup Final. 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil ™, FIFA.com, 2014 FIFA World Cup at UEFA.com, Official Brazil government website, Regulations – 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, FIFA Technical Report, RSSSF Archive of finals The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by a qualification process, in which the other 207 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter- confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process. Bhutan, Brunei, Guam and Mauritania did not enter, and South Sudan joined FIFA after the qualification process started and therefore could not take part. The qualification process consisted of 820 matches, reduced from 828 after the late withdrawals of the Bahamas and Mauritius. The first qualification match, between Montserrat and Belize, was played on 15 June 2011, and the Belizean striker Deon McCaulay scored the first goal in qualification. Qualification ended on 20 November 2013, when Uruguay eliminated Jordan to become the final qualifier for the World Cup. Twenty-three of FIFA's 24 top-ranked countries eventually qualified. 12 of the 32 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 2018 finals: Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Ivory Coast, Netherlands and United States. The FIFA Executive Committee decided to approve the change of date for the preliminary draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was held six months earlier than in the past, to allow the confederations to begin their qualifying competitions in good time. The draw was held on 30 July 2011 at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The distribution by confederation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup is: AFC (Asia): 4 or 5 places, CAF (Africa): 5 places, CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 3 or 4 places, CONMEBOL (South America): 4 or 5 places (+ Brazil qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 5 or 6 places), OFC (Oceania): 0 or 1 place(s), UEFA (Europe): 13 places UEFA and CAF have a guaranteed number of places, whereas the number of qualifiers from other confederations is dependent on play-offs between AFC's fifth-placed team and CONMEBOL's fifth-placed team, and between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team and OFC's first-placed team. A draw determined the pairings between the four teams involved. After the first round of 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the round of 16 was as follows: AFC (Asia): 0% (0 of 4 places), CAF (Africa): 40% (2 of 5 places), CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 75% (3 of 4 places), CONMEBOL (South America): 83% (5 of 6 places), OFC (Oceania): n/a (0 of 0 places), UEFA (Europe): 46% (6 of 13 places) For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations. If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by: 1. goal difference in all group matches 2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches 3. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams 4. goal difference in matches between the tied teams 5. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams 6. greater number of away goals scored in matches between the tied teams if only two teams are tied If teams are still equal then a single play-off at a neutral venue will be played. If scores are level after 90 minutes in the play-off, then two 15-minutes periods of extra time and (if required) a penalty shoot-out would determine the winner. For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a home-and- away knockout format, the team that has the higher aggregate score over the two legs progresses to the next round. In the event that aggregate scores finish level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs progresses. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen- minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team qualifies by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out. Qualification began with two sets of two-leg knockout qualification rounds – the first held on 29 June and 2 July and 3 July 2011 and the second on 23 and 28 July – reducing the number of teams in the main draw to 20. The draw for the first two rounds of qualifiers was held in Kuala Lumpur on 30 March 2011. As in the 2010 format, the third stage consisted of 5 groups of 4 teams (with matches held between September 2011 and February 2012) with the top 2 in each group advancing to 2 groups of 5 that played a further group stage during 2012. The top two teams in each group qualified for the 2014 World Cup directly, while the two third-placed teams engaged in a play-off tie for a chance to qualify via a further inter-confederation qualifying tie against a team from CONMEBOL. The qualification process began with 43 national teams (out of 46 AFC members; Bhutan, Brunei and Guam did not enter) vying for four and a half spots. 4 nations have qualified: Japan, Australia, Iran and Korea Republic. Jordan beat Uzbekistan in round 5 and played Uruguay, the fifth- placed team from CONMEBOL, for the right to qualify, where they were eliminated. 52 out of the 53 national associations affiliated to CAF entered the qualifying tournament to determine the continent's five slots for the next World Cup (only Mauritania failed to enter, while South Sudan joined FIFA after the start of qualifying). Qualification began with a first round of 12 two-legged knockout ties, which were held between 11 and 16 November 2011. The ties involved the 24 lowest-ranked teams according to FIFA world rankings. The 12 winners joined the remaining 28 CAF entrants in the second round, which consisted of 10 groups of four. The winners of each group – held between June 2012 and September 2013 – advanced to a third round of 5 two-legged knockout ties. The five winners of these ties – held in October and November 2013 – advanced to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals. In May 2010, the CONCACAF Executive Committee announced a possible change in its qualifying format for the 2014 World Cup, which would start with a preliminary knockout stage followed by three group phases. However, these proposals were abandoned. CONCACAF once again used a six-team final stage (known colloquially as "the Hexagonal"). The ten lowest-ranked nations played two-legged ties, with the five winners joining the nations ranked 7–25 in Round 2. There were six groups of four teams, with the six group winners joining the nations ranked 1–6 in Round 3. There were three groups of four teams and the top two teams in each group advanced to Round 4. These six nations formed one group, with the top three teams qualifying and Mexico, the fourth-placed team, advancing to the inter-continental play-off against New Zealand, the top team from the OFC. A total of 35 national teams began the qualification process vying for three and a half spots. 31 nations were eliminated and the Bahamas withdrew (because their stadium was not completed in time for the competition). As Brazil has already qualified as host, the remaining nine CONMEBOL teams took part in a double round-robin group, playing each other twice (home and away) using the same schedule as previous qualification tournaments (each team had a bye on the date they would normally be scheduled to play Brazil). The top four teams qualified automatically, whereas Uruguay, the fifth-placed team, proceeded to the inter-confederational play-off against Jordan, the fifth placed team from Asia. The four lowest-ranked nations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga) competed in the first round of qualifying: a single round-robin tournament in Apia, Samoa, from 22–26 November 2011. The winners of the group, Samoa, joined the remaining 7 OFC teams in the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, which also doubled as the second qualifying round. The four semi-finalists of the OFC Nations Cup advanced to the third round, which consisted of a double round-robin held on a home-and-away basis between 7 September 2012 and 26 March 2013. New Zealand, as the winners of the third round, proceeded to the inter-confederation play-off against Mexico, the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF, where they were eliminated by a strong Mexico side who beat them 9–3 over two legs. The European qualification games started in September 2012, after Euro 2012. All 53 national associations affiliated with UEFA took part in the qualification process. In round one, teams competed in eight groups of six teams and a single group of five teams. The nine group winners qualified, while the eight best runners-up – ranked according to all their games except for games against the sixth-placed team in their group – entered into the play-offs for the four remaining spots. The Second Round was contested by the top eight runners-up. The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zürich, Switzerland, on 21 October. October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams were seeded. The matches were played on 15 and 19 November 2013. There were two scheduled inter-confederation playoffs to determine the final two qualification spots to the finals. The first legs were played on 13 November 2013, and the second legs were played on 20 November 2013. There were 2,286 goals scored over 816 games, for an average of 2.80 goals per game. 11 goals Deon McCaulay, Robin van Persie, Luis Suárez 10 goals Peter Byers, Lionel Messi, Edin Džeko, Oribe Peralta, Blas Pérez 9 goals Gonzalo Higuaín, Radamel Falcao, Jerry Bengtson 8 goals Vedad Ibišević, Álvaro Saborío, Mesut Özil, Shinji Okazaki, Georges Gope-Fenepej, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Clint Dempsey 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil matches and results at FIFA.com, Live Preliminary Draw

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The vice president of the United States is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also an officer in the legislative branch, as president of the Senate. In this capacity, the vice president is empowered to preside over Senate deliberations, but may not vote except to cast a tie-breaking vote. The vice president also presides over joint sessions of Congress. The vice president is indirectly elected together with the president to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College. Section2 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, created a mechanism for intra-term vice presidential succession, establishing that vice presidential vacancies will be filled by the president and confirmed by both houses of Congress. Prior to 1967, in the event a vice president succeeded to the presidency, died, or resigned from office, the vice presidency remained vacant until the next presidential and vice presidential terms began. The vice president is also a statutory member of the National Security Council, and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The Office of the Vice President assists and organises the vice president's official functions. The role of the vice presidency has changed dramatically since the office was created during the 1787 constitutional Convention. Especially over the past 100 years, the vice presidency has evolved into a position of domestic and foreign policy political power, and is now widely seen as an integral part of a president's administration. As the vice president's role within the executive branch has expanded, his role within the legislative branch has contracted; for example, he presides over the Senate only infrequently. The Constitution does not expressly assign the vice presidency to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars about which branch of government the office belongs to: 1) the executive branch; 2) the legislative branch; 3) both; or 4) neither. The modern view of the vice president as an officer of the executive branch (isolated almost totally from the legislative branch) is due in large part to the assignment of executive authority to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence is the 48th and current vice president of the United States. He assumed office on January 20, 2017. No mention of an office of vice president was made at the 1787 Constitutional Convention until near the end, when an 11-member committee on "Leftover Business" proposed a method of electing the chief executive (president). Delegates had previously considered the selection of the Senate's presiding officer, deciding that "The Senate shall choose its own President," and had agreed that this official would be designated the executive's immediate successor. They had also considered the mode of election of the executive but had not reached consensus. This all changed on September 4, when the committee recommended that the nation's chief executive be elected by an Electoral College, with each state having a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that state's allocation of representatives and senators. The proposed presidential election process called for each state to choose members of the electoral college, who would use their discretion to select the candidates they individually viewed as best qualified. Recognizing that loyalty to one's individual state outweighed loyalty to the new federation, the Constitution's framers assumed individual electors would be inclined to choose a candidate from their own state (a so-called "favorite son" candidate) over one from another state. So they created the office of vice president and required the electors to vote for two candidates, at least one of whom must be from outside the elector's state, believing that the second vote would be cast for a candidate of national character. Additionally, to guard against the possibility that electors might strategically waste their second votes, it was specified that the first runner-up would become vice president. The resultant method of electing the president and vice president, spelled out in , allocated to each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of its Senate and House of Representatives membership. Each elector was allowed to vote for two people for president (rather than for both president and vice president), but could not differentiate between their first and second choice for the presidency. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided it was an absolute majority of the whole number of electors) would be president, while the individual who received the next largest number of votes became vice president. If there were a tie for first or for second place, or if no one won a majority of votes, the president and vice president would be selected by means of contingent elections protocols stated in the clause. The emergence of political parties and nationally coordinated election campaigns during the 1790s (which the Constitution's framers had not contemplated) soon frustrated this original plan. In the election of 1796, Federalist John Adams won the presidency, but his bitter rival, Democratic- Republican Thomas Jefferson came second and became vice president. Thus, the president and vice president were from opposing parties; and Jefferson used the vice presidency to frustrate the president's policies. Then, four years later, in the election of 1800, Jefferson, and fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes. In the contingent election that followed, Jefferson finally won on the 36th ballot, and Burr became vice president. Afterward, the system was overhauled through the Twelfth Amendment in time to be used in the 1804 election. Although delegates approved establishing the office, with both its executive and senatorial functions, not many understood the office, and so they gave the vice president few duties and little power. Only a few states had an analogous position. Among those that did, New York's constitution provided that, "The lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the Senate, and, upon an equal division, have a casting voice in their decisions, but not vote on any other occasion." As a result, the vice presidency originally had authority in only a few areas. The present-day power of the office flows primarily from delegations from the president and Congress, as well as through constitutional amendments. confers upon the vice president the title president of the Senate and authorizes him to preside over Senate meetings. In this capacity, the vice president is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices, and precedent. The first two vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom gained the office by virtue of being runners-up in presidential contests, presided regularly over Senate proceedings and did much to shape the role of Senate president. Several 19th-century vice presidents—such as George Dallas, Levi Morton, and Garret Hobart—followed their example and led effectively, while others were rarely present. With this position comes the authority to cast a tie-breaking vote. In practice, the number of times vice presidents have exercised this right has varied greatly. John C. Calhoun holds the record at 31 votes, followed closely by John Adams with 29. During his first year in office (through January 24, 2018), Mike Pence cast eight tie-breaking votes; his predecessor, Joe Biden, did not cast any during his eight years in office. As the framers of the Constitution anticipated that the vice president would not always be available to fulfill this responsibility, the Constitution provides that the Senate may elect a president pro tempore (or "president for a time") in order to maintain the proper ordering of the legislative process. In practice, since the early 20th century, the president of the Senate rarely presides, nor does the President pro tempore. Instead, the president pro tempore regularly delegates the task to other Senate members. Rule XIX, which governs debate, does not authorize the vice president to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate (and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the United States) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting vice president. Thus, Time magazine wrote in 1925, during the tenure of Vice President Charles G. Dawes, "once in four years the Vice President can make a little speech, and then he is done. For four years he then has to sit in the seat of the silent, attending to speeches ponderous or otherwise, of deliberation or humor." As president of the Senate he may also preside over most of the impeachment trials of federal officers. However, whenever the president of the United States is on trial, the Constitution requires that the Chief Justice of the United States must preside. This stipulation was designed to avoid the possible conflict of interest in having the vice president preside over the trial for the removal of the one official standing between him and the presidency. In contrast, it is not stipulated which federal official presides when the vice president is tried; thus leaving it unclear whether an impeached vice president could, as President of the Senate, preside at his or her own impeachment trial. The Constitution is silent on the issue. The Twelfth Amendment provides that the vice president, in his capacity as president of the Senate, also presides over counting and presentation of the votes of the Electoral College. This process occurs during a joint session of Congress held, as prescribed by federal statute, on January6 of the year following the presidential election. It will next take place following the 2020 presidential election, on January 6, 2021 (unless Congress sets a different date by law). In this capacity, four vice presidents have been able to announce their own election to the presidency: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, and George H. W. Bush. Conversely, John C. Breckinridge, in 1861, Richard Nixon, in 1961, and Al Gore, in 2001, all had to announce their opponent's election. In 1969, Vice President Hubert Humphrey would have done so as well, following his 1968 loss to Richard Nixon; however, on the date of the Congressional joint session, Humphrey was in Norway attending the funeral of Trygve Lie, the first elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. The president pro tempore presided in his absence. On February 8, 1933, Vice President Charles Curtis announced the election of his successor, House Speaker John Nance Garner, while Garner was seated next to him on the House . stipulates that the vice president takes over the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability. Even so, it does not clearly state whether the vice president became President of the United States or simply acted as president in a case of succession. Debate records from the 1787 Constitutional Convention, along with various participants' later writings on the subject, show that the framers of the Constitution intended that the vice president would temporarily exercise the powers and duties of the office in the event of a president's death, disability or removal, but not actually become President of the United States in their own right. This understanding was first tested in 1841, following the death of President William Henry Harrison, only days into his term. Harrison's vice president, John Tyler, asserted that he had succeeded to the office of president, not just to its powers and duties. He took the presidential oath of office, and declined to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President". Although some in Congress denounced Tyler's claim as a violation of the Constitution, he adhered to his position. Tyler's view ultimately prevailed when the Senate and House voted to acknowledge him as president, setting a momentous precedent for an orderly transfer of presidential power following a president's death, one made explicit by Section1 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967. In total, nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term. In addition to Tyler, they are Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford. Even after the precedent regarding presidential succession following a president's death was set, there remained ambiguity in the Article II succession clause regarding a disabled president, including what constituted an "inability", who determined the existence of an inability, and if a vice president became president for the rest of the presidential term in the case of an inability or became merely "acting President". During the 19th and first half of the 20th century several presidents experienced periods of severe illness, physical disability or injury, some lasting for weeks or months. During these times, even though the nation needed effective presidential leadership, no vice president wanted to seem like a usurper, and so power was never transferred. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower openly addressed his health issues and made it a point to enter into an agreement with Vice President Richard Nixon that provided for Nixon to act on his behalf in the event that Eisenhower became unable to provide effective presidential leadership (Nixon did informally assume some of the president's duties for several weeks on each of three occasions when Eisenhower was ill), discussions began in Congress about clearing up the Constitution's ambiguity on the subject. Sections 3 and 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment provide for situations where the president is temporarily unable to lead, such as if the president has a surgical procedure, becomes seriously ill or injured, or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers or duties of the presidency. Section3 deals with self-declared incapacity, and Section4 addresses incapacity declared by the joint action of the vice president and of a majority of the Cabinet. While Section4 has never been invoked, Section3 has been invoked on three occasions by two presidents. President Ronald Reagan did so once, on July 13, 1985, before undergoing surgeryVice President George H. W. Bush was acting president for approximately eight hours. President George W. Bush did so twice, on June 29, 2002, and July 21, 2007, prior to undergoing medical procedures, which were done under sedationVice President Dick Cheney was acting president for approximately two hours on each occasion. The extent of any informal roles and functions of the vice president depend on the specific relationship between the president and the vice president, but often include tasks such as drafter and spokesperson for the administration's policies, adviser to the president, and being a symbol of American concern or support. The influence of the vice president in this role depends almost entirely on the characteristics of the particular administration. Dick Cheney, for instance, was widely regarded as one of President George W. Bush's closest confidants. Al Gore was an important adviser to President Bill Clinton on matters of foreign policy and the environment. Under the American system of government the president is both head of state and head of government, and the ceremonial duties of the former position are often delegated to the vice president. The vice president will on occasion represent the president and the U.S. government at state funerals abroad, or at various events in the United States. This often is the most visible role of the vice president. The vice president may also meet with other heads of state at times when the administration wishes to demonstrate concern or support but cannot send the president personally. To be Constitutionally eligible to serve as the nation's vice president, a person must, according to the Twelfth Amendment, meet the eligibility requirements to become president (which are stated in ). Thus, to serve as vice president, an individual must: be a natural-born U.S. citizen;, be at least 35 years old;, be a resident in the U.S. for at least 14 years. A person who meets the above qualifications is still disqualified from holding the office of vice president under the following conditions: Under , upon conviction in impeachment cases, the Senate has the option of disqualifying convicted individuals from holding federal office, including that of vice president;, Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, no person who has sworn an oath to support the Constitution, who has later gone to war against the United States, or given aid and comfort to the nation's enemies can serve in a state or federal office—including as vice president. This disqualification, originally aimed at former supporters of the Confederacy, may be removed by a two-thirds vote of each house of the Congress. Though the vice president does not need to have any political experience, most major-party vice presidential nominees are current or former United States senators or representatives, with the occasional nominee being a current or former governor, a high-ranking military officer, or a holder of a major post within the Executive Department. The vice presidential candidates of the major national political parties are formally selected by each party's quadrennial nominating convention, following the selection of the party's presidential candidate. The official process is identical to the one by which the presidential candidates are chosen, with delegates placing the names of candidates into nomination, followed by a ballot in which candidates must receive a majority to secure the party's nomination. In practice, the presidential nominee has considerable influence on the decision, and in the 20th century it became customary for that person to select a preferred running mate, who is then nominated and accepted by the convention. In recent years, with the presidential nomination usually being a foregone conclusion as the result of the primary process, the selection of a vice presidential candidate is often announced prior to the actual balloting for the presidential candidate, and sometimes before the beginning of the convention itself. The first presidential aspirant to announce his selection for vice president before the beginning of the convention was Ronald Reagan who, prior to the 1976 Republican National Convention announced that Richard Schweiker would be his running mate. Reagan's supporters then sought to amend the convention rules so that Gerald R. Ford would be required to name his vice presidential running mate in advance as well. The proposal was defeated, and Reagan did not receive the nomination in 1976. Often, the presidential nominee will name a vice presidential candidate who will bring geographic or ideological balance to the ticket or appeal to a particular constituency. The vice presidential candidate might also be chosen on the basis of traits the presidential candidate is perceived to lack, or on the basis of name recognition. To foster party unity, popular runners-up in the presidential nomination process are commonly considered. While this selection process may enhance the chances of success for a national ticket, in the past it often insured that the vice presidential nominee represented regions, constituencies, or ideologies at odds with those of the presidential candidate. As a result, vice presidents were often excluded from the policy-making process of the new administration. Many times their relationships with the president and his staff were aloof, non-existent, or even adversarial. The ultimate goal of vice presidential candidate selection is to help and not hurt the party's chances of getting elected; nonetheless, several vice presidential selections have been controversial. In 1984, Democratic nominee Walter Mondale's groundbreaking choice of Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate (the first woman in U.S. history nominated for vice president by a major political party), became a drag on the ticket due to repeated questions about her husband's finances. A selection whose positive traits make the presidential candidate look less favorable in comparison or which can cause the presidential candidate's judgment to be questioned often backfire, such as in 1988 when Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis chose experienced Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen; Bentsen was considered a more seasoned statesman in federal politics and somewhat overshadowed Dukakis. Questions about Dan Quayle's experience were raised in the 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush, but the Bush–Quayle ticket still won handily. James Stockdale, the choice of third- party candidate Ross Perot in 1992, was seen as unqualified by many and Stockdale had little preparation for the vice presidential debate, but the Perot–Stockdale ticket still won about 19% of the vote. In 2008, Republican John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate over his primary rivals and/or campaign surrogates such as Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge. This surprise move would, it was hoped, draw women voters disappointed by Hillary Clinton's defeat in the Democratic presidential primaries into the McCain camp. Palin's selection soon came to be seen as a negative for McCain, due to her several controversies during her gubernatorial tenure which were highlighted by the press, and her feuding with McCain campaign chairman Steve Schmidt. This perception continued to grow throughout the campaign, especially after her interviews with Katie Couric led to concerns about her fitness for the presidency. Historically, vice presidential candidates were chosen to provide geographic and ideological balance to a presidential ticket, widening a presidential candidate's appeal to voters from outside his regional base or wing of the party. Candidates from electoral-vote rich states were usually preferred. However, in 1992, moderate Democrat Bill Clinton (of Arkansas) chose moderate Democrat Al Gore (of Tennessee) as his running mate. Despite the two candidates' near-identical ideological and regional backgrounds, Gore's extensive experience in national affairs enhanced the appeal of a ticket headed by Clinton, whose political career had been spent entirely at the local and state levels of government. In 2000, George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney of Wyoming, a reliably Republican state with only three electoral votes, and in 2008, Barack Obama mirrored Bush's strategy when he chose Joe Biden of Delaware, a reliably Democratic state, likewise one with only three electoral votes. Both Cheney and Biden were chosen for their experience in national politics (experience lacked by both Bush and Obama) rather than the ideological balance or electoral vote advantage they would provide. Prior to the 2000 election, both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney lived in and voted in Texas. While nothing in the Constitution prohibits a presidential candidate and his or her running mate being from the same state, the "inhabitant clause" of the Twelfth Amendment does mandate that every presidential elector must cast a ballot for at least one candidate who is not from their own state. To avoid creating a potential problem for Texas' electors, Cheney changed his residency back to Wyoming prior to the campaign. The first presidential candidate to choose his vice presidential candidate was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. The last not to name a vice presidential choice, leaving the matter up to the convention, was Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. The convention chose Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver over Massachusetts Senator (and later president) John F. Kennedy. At the tumultuous 1972 Democratic convention, presidential nominee George McGovern selected Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, but numerous other candidates were either nominated from the floor or received votes during the balloting. Eagleton nevertheless received a majority of the votes and the nomination, though he later resigned from the ticket, resulting in Sargent Shriver becoming McGovern's final running mate; both lost to the Nixon–Agnew ticket by a wide margin, carrying only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. In cases where the presidential nomination is still in doubt as the convention approaches, the campaigns for the two positions may become intertwined. In 1976, Ronald Reagan, who was trailing President Gerald R. Ford in the presidential delegate count, announced prior to the Republican National Convention that, if nominated, he would select Senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate. This move backfired to a degree, as Schweiker's relatively liberal voting record alienated many of the more conservative delegates who were considering a challenge to party delegate selection rules to improve Reagan's chances. In the end, Ford narrowly won the presidential nomination and Reagan's selection of Schweiker became moot. In the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries which pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Clinton suggested a Clinton–Obama ticket with Obama in the vice president slot as it would be "unstoppable" against the presumptive Republican nominee. Obama rejected the offer outright saying "I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States of America" while noting "With all due respect. I won twice as many states as Senator Clinton. I've won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton. So, I don't know how somebody who's in second place is offering vice presidency to the person who's in first place." Obama said the nomination process would have to be a choice between himself and Clinton, saying "I don't want anybody here thinking that 'Somehow, maybe I can get both,'" by nominating Clinton and assuming he would be her running mate. Some suggested that it was a ploy by the Clinton campaign to denigrate Obama as less qualified for the presidency. Later, when Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee, former president Jimmy Carter cautioned against Clinton being picked for the vice president slot on the ticket, saying "I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made. That would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates," citing opinion polls showing 50% of US voters with a negative view of Hillary Clinton. The vice president is elected indirectly by the voters of each state and the District of Columbia through the Electoral College, a body of electors formed every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president to concurrent four-year terms. Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation in both houses of Congress. Additionally, the Twenty-third Amendment provides that the District of Columbia is entitled to the number it would have if it were a state, but in no case more than that of the least populous state. Currently, all states and D.C. select their electors based on a popular election held on Election Day. In all but two states, the party whose presidential-vice presidential ticket receives a plurality of popular votes in the state has its entire slate of elector nominees chosen as the state's electors. Maine and Nebraska deviate from this practice, awarding two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner in each congressional district. On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, about six weeks after the election, the electors convene in their respective states (and in Washington D.C.) to vote for president and, on a separate ballot, for vice president. The certified results are opened and counted during a joint session of Congress, held in the first week of January. A candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes for vice president (currently 270 of 538) is declared the winner. If no candidate has a majority, the Senate must meet to elect a vice president using a contingent election procedure in which senators, casting votes individually, choose between the two candidates who received the most electoral votes for vice president. For a candidate to win the contingent election, he or she must receive votes from an absolute majority of senators (currently 51 of 100). There has been only one vice presidential contingent election since the process was created by the Twelfth Amendment. It occurred on February 8, 1837, after no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes cast for vice president in the 1836 election. By a 33–17 vote, Richard M. Johnson (Martin Van Buren's running mate) was elected the nation's ninth vice president over Francis Granger. Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the vice president's term of office begins at noon on January 20, as does the president's. The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date, known as Inauguration Day, were the second terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner in 1937. Previously, Inauguration Day was on March 4. As a result of the date change, both men's first terms (1933–37) were short of four years by days. Also in 1937, the vice president's swearing-in ceremony was held on the Inaugural platform on the Capitol's east front immediately before the president's swearing in. Up until then, most vice presidents took the oath of office in the Senate chamber, prior to the president's swearing-in ceremony. Although the Constitution contains the specific wording of the presidential oath, it contains only a general requirement, in Article VI, that the vice president and other government officers shall take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. The current form, which has been used since 1884 reads: The term of office for both the vice president and the president is four years. While the Twenty-Second Amendment sets a limit on the number of times an individual can be elected to the presidency (two), there is no such limitation on the office of vice president, meaning an eligible person could hold the office as long as voters continued to vote for electors who in turn would reelect the person to the office; one could even serve under different presidents. This has happened twice: George Clinton (1805–1812) served under both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; and John C. Calhoun (1825–1832) served under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Additionally, neither the Constitution's eligibility provisions nor the Twenty-second Amendment's presidential term limit explicitly disqualify a twice-elected president from serving as vice president. As of the 2016 election cycle however, no former president has tested the amendment's legal restrictions or meaning by running for the vice presidency. of the Constitution allows for the removal of federal officials, including the vice president, from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." No vice president has ever been impeached. The vice president's salary is $235,100. The salary was set by the 1989 Government Salary Reform Act, which also provides an automatic cost of living adjustment for federal employees. The vice president does not automatically receive a pension based on that office, but instead receives the same pension as other members of Congress based on his position as president of the Senate. The vice president must serve a minimum of two years to qualify for a pension. The home of the vice president was only designated in 1974, when Congress established Number One Observatory Circle as the official temporary residence of the vice president of the United States. In 1966 Congress, concerned about safety and security and mindful of the increasing responsibilities of the office, allotted monies ($75,000) to fund construction of a residence for the vice president, but implementation stalled and after eight years the decision was revised, and One Observatory Circle was then designated for the vice president. Up until the change, vice presidents lived in homes, apartments, or hotels, and were compensated more like cabinet members and members of Congress, receiving only a housing allowance. The three-story Queen Anne style mansion was built in 1893 on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., to serve as residence for the superintendent of the Observatory. In 1923, the residence was reassigned to be the home of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), which it was until it was turned over to the office of the vice president fifty years later. In addition to the nine vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency intra- term (four of whom subsequently won election to a full term), five became president after serving one or more full terms as vice president, namely: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Richard Nixon, and George H. W. Bush. Of these, all but Nixon went directly from one office to the other. In recent decades, the vice presidency has frequently been used as a platform to launch bids for the presidency. The transition of the office to its modern stature occurred primarily as a result of Franklin Roosevelt's 1940 nomination, when he captured the ability to nominate his running mate instead of leaving the nomination to the convention. Prior to that, party bosses often used the vice presidential nomination as a consolation prize for the party's minority faction. A further factor potentially contributing to the rise in prestige of the office was the adoption of presidential preference primaries in the early 20th century. By adopting primary voting, the field of candidates for vice president was expanded by both the increased quantity and quality of presidential candidates successful in some primaries, yet who ultimately failed to capture the presidential nomination at the convention. Of the thirteen presidential elections from 1956 to 2004, nine featured the incumbent president; the other four (1960, 1968, 1988, 2000) all featured the incumbent vice president. Former vice presidents also ran in 1984 (Walter Mondale) and in 1968 (Richard Nixon, against the incumbent vice president, Hubert Humphrey). The presidential election of 2008 was the first since 1928 that saw neither an incumbent president nor an incumbent or former vice president take part in any primary or general election for the presidency on a major party ticket. Nixon is the only vice president to have been elected president while not an incumbent, as well as the only person elected twice to the presidency and twice to the vice presidency. Prior to the ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967, no constitutional provision existed for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency. As a result, when one occurred, the office was left vacant until filled through the next ensuing election and inauguration. Between 1812 and 1965, the vice presidency was vacant on sixteen occasions, as a result of seven deaths, one resignation, and eight cases of the vice president succeeding to the presidency. With the vacancy that followed the succession of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963, the nation had been without a vice president for a cumulative total of 37 years. Section 2 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment provides that, "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." This procedure has been implemented twice since the amendment came into force: the first instance occurred in 1973 following the October 10 resignation of Spiro Agnew, when Gerald Ford was nominated by President Richard Nixon and confirmed by Congress. The second occurred 10 months later on August 9, 1974, on Ford's accession to the presidency upon Nixon's resignation, when Nelson Rockefeller was nominated by President Ford and confirmed by Congress. Had it not been for this new constitutional mechanism, the vice presidency would have remained vacant after Agnew's resignation; the Speaker of the House, Carl Albert, would have become Acting President when Nixon resigned under the terms of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. For much of its existence, the office of vice president was seen as little more than a minor position. John Adams, the first vice president, was the first of many frustrated by the "complete insignificance" of the office. To his wife Abigail Adams wrote, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man... or his imagination contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and met the common fate." John Nance Garner, who served as vice president from 1933 to 1941 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, claimed that the vice presidency "isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss." Harry Truman, who also served as vice president under Roosevelt, said that the office was as "useful as a cow's fifth teat." Thomas R. Marshall, the 28th vice president, lamented: "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected Vice President of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again." His successor, Calvin Coolidge, was so obscure that Major League Baseball sent him free passes that misspelled his name, and a fire marshal failed to recognize him when Coolidge's Washington residence was evacuated. When the Whig Party asked Daniel Webster to run for the vice presidency on Zachary Taylor's ticket, he replied "I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin." This was the second time Webster declined the office, which William Henry Harrison had first offered to him. Ironically, both the presidents making the offer to Webster died in office, meaning the three-time candidate would have become president had he accepted either. Since presidents rarely die in office, however, the better preparation for the presidency was considered to be the office of Secretary of State, in which Webster served under Harrison, Tyler, and later, Taylor's successor, Fillmore. In the first hundred years of the United States' existence no fewer than seven proposals to abolish the office of vice president were advanced. The first such constitutional amendment was presented by Samuel W. Dana in 1800; it was defeated by a vote of 27 to 85 in the United States House of Representatives. The second, introduced by United States Senator James Hillhouse in 1808, was also defeated. During the late-1860s and 1870s, five additional amendments were proposed. One advocate, James Mitchell Ashley, opined that the office of vice president was "superfluous" and dangerous. Garret Hobart, the first vice president under William McKinley, was one of the very few vice presidents at this time who played an important role in the administration. A close confidant and adviser of the president, Hobart was called "Assistant President." However, until 1919, vice presidents were not included in meetings of the President's Cabinet. This precedent was broken by President Woodrow Wilson when he asked Thomas R. Marshall to preside over Cabinet meetings while Wilson was in France negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. President Warren G. Harding also invited his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, to meetings. The next vice president, Charles G. Dawes, did not seek to attend Cabinet meetings under President Coolidge, declaring that "the precedent might prove injurious to the country." Vice President Charles Curtis was also precluded from attending by President Herbert Hoover. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt raised the stature of the office by renewing the practice of inviting the vice president to cabinet meetings, which every president since has maintained. Roosevelt's first vice president, John Nance Garner, broke with him over the "court-packing" issue, early in his second term, and became Roosevelt's leading critic. At the start of that term, on January 20, 1937, Garner had been the first vice president to be sworn into office on the Capitol steps in the same ceremony with the president; a tradition that continues. Prior to that time, vice presidents were traditionally inaugurated at a separate ceremony in the Senate chamber. Gerald R. Ford and Nelson A. Rockefeller, who were each appointed to the office under the terms of the 25th amendment, were inaugurated in the House and Senate chambers respectively. Henry Wallace, Roosevelt's vice president during his third term (1941–1945), was given major responsibilities during World War II. However, after numerous policy disputes between Wallace and other Roosevelt Administration and Democratic Party officials, he was denied renomination to office at the 1944 Democratic National Convention. Harry Truman was selected instead. During his day vice presidency, Truman was not informed about any war or post-war plans, including the Manhattan Project, leading Truman to remark, wryly, that the job of the vice president was to "go to weddings and funerals". As a result of this experience, Truman, after succeeding to the presidency upon Roosevelt's death, recognized the need to keep the vice president informed on national security issues. Congress made the vice president one of four statutory members of the National Security Council in 1949. The stature of the vice presidency grew again while Richard Nixon was in office (1953–1961). He attracted the attention of the media and the Republican party, when Dwight Eisenhower authorized him to preside at Cabinet meetings in his absence. Nixon was also the first vice president to formally assume temporary control of the executive branch, which he did after Eisenhower suffered a heart attack on September 24, 1955, ileitis in June 1956, and a stroke in November 1957. Until 1961, vice presidents had their offices on Capitol Hill, a formal office in the Capitol itself and a working office in the Russell Senate Office Building. Lyndon B. Johnson was the first vice president to be given an office in the White House complex, in the Old Executive Office Building. The former Navy Secretary's office in the OEOB has since been designated the "Ceremonial Office of the Vice President" and is today used for formal events and press interviews. President Jimmy Carter was the first president to give his vice president, Walter Mondale, an office in the West Wing of the White House, which all vice presidents have since retained. Because of their function as Presidents of the Senate, vice presidents still maintain offices and staff members on Capitol Hill. Though Walter Mondale's tenure was the beginning of the modern day power of the vice presidency, the tenure of Dick Cheney saw a rapid growth in the office of the vice president. Vice President Cheney held a tremendous amount of power and frequently made policy decisions on his own, without the knowledge of the president. During the 2008 presidential campaign, both vice presidential candidates, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, stated the office had expanded too much under Cheney's tenure; both said they would reduce the role to simply being an adviser to the president. This rapid growth has led to calls for abolition of the vice presidency from various constitutional scholars and political commentators such as: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Matthew Yglesias, and Bruce Ackerman. There are currently (since November 30, 2018) five living former vice presidents. In order of service they are: Since 1977, former presidents and vice presidents who are elected or re-elected to the Senate are entitled to the largely honorific position of Deputy President pro tempore. To date, the only former vice president to have held this title is Hubert Humphrey. Also, under the terms of an 1886 Senate resolution, all former vice presidents are entitled to a portrait bust in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol, commemorating their service as presidents of the Senate. Dick Cheney is the most recent former vice president to be so honored. Unlike former presidents, whose pension is fixed at the same rate, regardless of their time in office, former vice presidents receive their retirement income based on their role as president of the Senate. Additionally, since 2008, each former vice president and his immediate family is entitled (under the "Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008") to Secret Service protection for up to six months after leaving office, and again temporarily at any time thereafter if warranted. White House website for Vice President Mike Pence, Vice-President Elect Chester Arthur on Expectations of VP Shapell Manuscript Foundation, A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 In the 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sought the Democratic Party's nomination in a field of six major candidates and was the runner up with 46% of the pledged delegates behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who won the contest with 54%. Sanders, the junior United States Senator and former Representative from Vermont, began with an informal announcement on April 30, 2015, and a formal announcement that he planned to seek the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States on May 26, 2015, in Burlington, Vermont. Sanders had been considered a potential candidate for president since at least September 2014. Though he had previously run as an independent, he routinely caucused with the Democratic Party, as many of his views align with Democrats. Running as a Democrat made it easier to participate in debates and get his name on state ballots. Sanders's chief competitor for the nomination was Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state. Sanders drew large crowds to his speaking events and his populist, socialist, and social democratic politics won him particular support among Americans under 40. He performed strongly with white voters, but consistently trailed Clinton by 30 or more percentage points among black voters; polls showed a close race among Hispanic voters. Sanders focused on income and wealth inequality, which he argued is eroding the American middle class, and on campaign finance reform. Unlike most other major presidential candidates, Sanders eschewed an unlimited super PAC, instead choosing to receive most of his funding from direct individual campaign donations. In September 2015, The New York Times reported that the campaign had received one million individual donations, becoming the first in 2015 to reach that threshold. Sanders raised $20,000,000 in the month of January 2016, $5,000,000 more than Clinton during the same time period, with an average donation of $27. Sanders frequently mentioned this $27 figure on the campaign trail as proof of his grassroots support. Following the final primary election (the District of Columbia's, on June 14), Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee. Sanders did not then endorse Clinton, but said he would work with her to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump. On June 16, Sanders gave a live online speech to his supporters, saying, "The political revolution continues". On July 12, Sanders officially endorsed Clinton at a unity rally with her in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On July 22, 2016, various emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the governing body of the Democratic Party, were leaked and published, revealing apparent bias against the Sanders campaign on the part of the Committee and its chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz subsequently resigned as DNC chair and was replaced by Donna Brazile, who was also implicated in the leaks and apologized to Sanders and his supporters. In the Democratic National Convention roll-call vote on July 26, 2016, Sanders received 1,865 votes (39% of the vote), which consisted of 1,848 pledged delegates won in primary and caucus contests (46% of the total) and 17 superdelegates (4%). After the roll call, Sanders put forward a motion to formally nominate Clinton, which passed by voice vote. Regardless of its end result, the Sanders campaign is still considered one of the most pivotal moments in recent Democratic politics, as it ushered in an unprecedentedly fervent wave of small-dollar campaign finance, grassroots infrastructure, and progressive activism that shifted the party and country's political discourse further left. Sanders's previous political successes were in Vermont. He has been politically active nearly his entire adult life. While in college, Sanders protested against police brutality, led a weeks-long sit-in against housing segregation, and worked as an organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1963, he travelled to Washington D.C. to attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As mayor of Burlington, Sanders played a prominent role in building support in Vermont for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988. In a November 2013 interview, Sanders laid out several reasons for mounting his own presidential run, including global warming (current climate change), economic inequality, frustration with the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, and the importance of maintaining public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. In a March 6, 2014, interview with The Nation, Sanders stated that he was "prepared to run for President of the United States" in 2016, but did not officially announce a campaign. When pressed on the issue, Sanders said he was discussing the possibility with people around the country, but felt that it was premature to make an announcement. After the 2014 congressional elections, Sanders continued to discuss running for president. On April 28, 2015, Vermont Public Radio reported that Sanders would announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on April 30. In an interview with USA Today on April 29, Sanders stated that he was "running in this election to win," and launched a campaign website, effectively beginning his run. Sanders said he was motivated to enter the race by what he termed "obscene levels" of income disparity, and the campaign finance system. On May 26, 2015, Sanders officially announced his candidacy at Burlington's Waterfront Park. The 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates occurred among candidates in the campaign for the party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced in May 2015 that there would be six debates. In February 2016, Clinton's and Sanders's campaigns agreed in principle to holding four more, for a total of ten. Critics alleged that the small number of debates and the schedule, with four of the ten on Saturday or Sunday nights, were part of the DNC's deliberate attempt to protect the front-runner, Hillary Clinton. Clinton dropped out of the tenth debate, scheduled to take place just prior to the California elections, citing a need to devote her time making direct contact with voters in California. A spokesperson from FOX, the television network that was to air the debate, said, "Naturally, Fox News is disappointed that Secretary Clinton has declined our debate invitation, especially given that the race is still contested and she had previously agreed to a final debate before the California primary." Sanders responded, "I am disappointed but not surprised by Secretary Clinton's unwillingness to debate before the largest and most important primary in the presidential nominating process." In a preview of his campaign, Sanders told the Associated Press on April 29, 2015, that he would release "very specific proposals" to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, offer free higher education at public universities, and pass a single‑payer Medicare-for-All healthcare system. He also noted his support for substantial regulation of Wall Street and his opposition to the NAFTA and CAFTA trade agreements and to the Keystone XL pipeline. He made the cornerstone of his campaign the reversal of what he calls the "obscene levels" of income and wealth inequality that have eroded the middle class over the last 40 years. On November 1, 2015, Sanders released his first campaign ad. Sanders said his campaign would focus on what he considered "real family values". "The right has claimed the mantle of 'family values' for far too long. When my Republican colleagues use the term they’re usually talking about things like opposition to contraception, denying a woman’s right to choose, opposition to gay rights, and support for abstinence-only education," Sanders said. His "real family values" included paid sick time, paid vacations, and access to paid family leave. On abortion rights, he remarked that “ are saying to every woman in America, that she cannot control her own bod. I disagree. Let’s say it loud and clear: Women control their bodies—not the government”. Sanders stated that he would run a positive campaign with "serious debates on serious issues" and that he had "never run a negative political ad in life". Sanders said that if he were elected president, his cabinet "would not be dominated by representatives of Wall Street". He cited Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and Robert Reich as potential cabinet members. In December 2015, the Democratic National Committee suspended the Sanders campaign's access to its voter data after a staffer viewed data from Hillary Clinton's campaign during a firewall failure. The staffer denied accessing the data but the DNC confirmed it and Sanders apologized. The Sanders campaign criticized the DNC's reaction as excessive and threatened possible legal action unless the Committee restored its access. The campaign claimed it had warned the DNC about glitches in the voter file program months before. On December 18, 2015, the campaign filed a lawsuit, stating the Committee had unfairly suspended its access. The DNC and the Sanders campaign struck a deal the same day that restored the campaign's access to voter data. Addressing the platform of the front-running Republican candidate Donald Trump in an appearance on Face the Nation on December 27, Sanders said that “any of Trump’s supporters are working-class people and they’re angry, and they’re angry because they’re working longer hours for lower wages, they’re angry because their jobs have left this country and gone to China or other low-wage countries, they’re angry because they can’t afford to send their kids to college so they can’t retire with dignity”. Sanders said that while he believed these are legitimate fears, Trump had “converted them into anger against Mexicans, anger against Muslims” rather than facing the real issue the American people need to confront, “the greed of corporate America”. Sanders also noted that Trump wanted more tax breaks for the wealthy and was opposed to an increase in the minimum wage. Sanders was frequently questioned on the controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of an unauthorized and unsecured private e-mail server for her correspondence as Secretary of State, and he consistently refused to use the allegations of wrongdoing in his campaign message. In late May, when it was reported that a State Department inspector general contradicted Clinton's claims of no wrongdoing, Sanders was asked about it by Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. He replied, "Well, again, you know, these are areas that I have stayed away from. There is a process, people will draw their conclusions from the inspector general report." Sanders went on to say, "I want to break up the Wall Street banks. She doesn't. I want to raise the minimum wage to fifteen bucks an hour. She wants $12 an hour. I voted against the War in Iraq. She voted for the War in Iraq. I believe we should ban fracking. She does not. I believe we should have a tax on carbon and deal aggressively with climate change. That is not her position. Those are some of the issues that I am campaigning on." Unlike the majority of other presidential candidates, Sanders did not pursue funding through a Super PAC, instead focusing on small, individual donations. Saying, "We now have a political situation where billionaires are ... able to buy elections and candidates", Sanders called for an overturn of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: "To equate the ability of billionaires to buy elections with 'freedom of speech' is totally absurd. The Supreme Court is paving the way toward an oligarchic form of society in which a handful of billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson will control our political process." Sanders raised over $1,500,000 in the first 24 hours after he announced his presidential campaign on April 30, 2015. This was greater than the amount raised by any of the Republican candidates in the first 24 hours after their respective announcements. By May 5, Sanders's campaign had received approximately 75,000 contributions and had raised $3,000,000. Required reports to the Federal Election Commission in July 2015 showed a total of $15,200,000 in donations to the Sanders campaign with an average donation of $31. On September 30, the New York Times reported that Sanders had raised $26,000,000 over the preceding three months, just short of Hillary Clinton's total of $28,000,000. But Clinton had held ten times as many campaign donor events as Sanders with many contributions of $2,700, the maximum amount allowed, while Sanders's contributions had mostly been under $200. Sanders raised $20,000,000 in the month of January 2016, $5,000,000 more than Clinton during the same time period, with an average donation of $27. Sanders frequently mentioned this $27 figure on the campaign trail as proof of his grassroots support, and even ran a television commercial on the subject. He also outraised Clinton in February 2016, pulling in $43.5 million to her $30 million. During March, Sanders raised $44 million from a donor base roughly twice as large as Clinton's. April donations were significantly lower, totaling $25.8 million. In April 2016, campaign finance watchdogs and Sanders supporters expressed concerns about the Hillary Victory Fund, which Clinton supporters represented as a fundraising committee composed of Clinton's presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and 32 state party committees. The setup allowed Clinton to bypass donation limits and to solicit checks of $350,000 or more from supporters. According to Politico, "the Hillary Victory Fund appears to be pushing the bounds of joint fundraising in its online advertising campaign, which has included many ads urging readers to “Stop Trump” or to support Clinton." In April, a Sanders campaign lawyer sent an open letter to the DNC that alleged that "the victory fund was essentially a pass-through to allow Clinton to benefit from contributions that far exceed the amount that her campaign could legally accept." In a news release accompanying the letter, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said “it is unprecedented for the DNC to allow a joint committee to be exploited to the benefit of one candidate in the midst of a contested nominating contest.” Following the nomination of Clinton in June, Sanders thanked his campaign volunteers, saying, "Let me also thank the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in every state in our country who worked so hard on our campaign and the millions of our contributors who showed the world that we could run a successful national campaign based on small individual contributions – 2 1/2 million of them." Sanders's fundraising efforts have been seen as highly innovative in relying on online communication with voters and proving that a modern candidate can win presidential primaries without the support of Super PACs and big donors. A superdelegate is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically, not elected by voters in a primary or caucus. Superdelegates include distinguished party leaders and elected officials, including all Democratic members of the House and Senate and sitting Democratic governors. Other superdelegates are chosen during the primary season. Democratic superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination. As of May, the Democratic Party Superdelegates overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton. On Face the Nation, John Dickerson asked Sanders whether the Democratic system was "rigged". Sanders replied, "I wouldn't use the word 'rigged' [...] but what is really dumb is that you have closed primaries, like in New York State, where three million people who are Democrats or Republicans could not participate, where you have a situation where over 400 superdelegates came on board Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race, eight months before the first vote was cast." Sanders went on to say that in the states in which he had won landslide victories he believed that the superdelegates "should listen to the people in those states and vote for the candidate chosen by the people." Sanders often drew large crowds, with many filled to capacity and some with additional supporters outside who could not fit in the venue but still wanted to attend. Early in his campaign, the media favorably compared his rallies' attendance to Hillary Clinton's. Events scheduled by his campaign were drawing "overflow crowds" around the country. Sanders drew more than 700 supporters to a mid-June event in Iowa, which the Wall Street Journal noted was "the same number who went to a Hillary Clinton event on Sunday that featured a buffet table and a live band." After an estimated 3,000 people attended an event in Minneapolis, Sanders said he was "Stunned. Stunned. I mean I had to fight my way to get into the room. Standing room only. Minneapolis was literally beyond belief." Beginning in June, crowds at Sanders's events became much larger than those of any other presidential candidate who had announced up to that point. At a June 20 appearance in Denver, Sanders drew an estimated 5,000 supporters at a routine campaign stop, equaling the size of the crowd at Hillary Clinton's campaign launch speech in New York City the previous weekend. On July 1, a crowd of at least 10,000 came to see Sanders in Madison, Wisconsin, nearly twice the size of the biggest crowd of his main primary challenger, Hillary Clinton. A Sanders campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 3, drew over 2,500 supporters. To date, this was the largest audience for any 2016 presidential candidate in Iowa. Sanders drew a crowd of over 11,000 on July 18 in Phoenix, Arizona. At that time this had been the largest crowd of any 2016 candidate, of any party. On a three-day West Coast tour in August, Black Lives Matter activists interrupted an event in Seattle. The activists removed Sanders from the podium and Sanders looked on as they spoke. The campaign eventually shut down the event. On the following day Sanders spoke to a crowd of 28,000 supporters at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, and on August 10 more than 27,000 people showed up for his rally in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. On September 14, 2015, Sanders spoke at Liberty University, a highly Republican-influenced college, during their Convocation. In September, Sanders made three speeches in New Hampshire on Labor Day, during his first campaign swing since the launch of his political group, Our Revolution. In these, he attempted to convince the progressives who had backed him into backing Clinton. In doing so, he faced down vociferous objections from audience members who still supported third-party candidates such as Jill Stein, and those who objected to Clinton as their party's nominee. Nationwide, Sanders had considerable support among white and liberal-leaning Democrats but considerably less among nonwhite and moderate or conservative Democrats. An April 2015 report by The New York Times suggested that "nly about a quarter of Democratic‑leaners hold the consistently liberal views that would potentially put them to the left of Mrs. Clinton". A June 2015 New York Times report said, "in an poll this week, 95 percent of nonwhite Democratic voters said they could see themselves supporting Mrs. Clinton for the nomination in the primary. Only about one-quarter of respondents said they could see themselves voting for Mr. Sanders". Two August 2015 polls showed Sanders leading Clinton by seven points in New Hampshire. Both the RealClearPolitics polling average and The Huffington Post Pollster average for the New Hampshire Democratic primary showed Sanders leading Clinton by about 3.5 percent on August 28, 2015. On November 20, an online NBC News poll showed that Sanders's national support continued to grow. A poll that surveyed 5,755 adults nationwide showed Sanders was the preferred candidate of 33% of Democratic and independent voters, still trailing Clinton by 16 points. Sanders continued to show a strong lead among young voters and trailed Clinton by only three points among white voters. According to a national Quinnipiac University poll on December 2, Sanders polled ahead of the top four Republican candidates in a general election matchup. In weeks preceding the Democratic primaries, Sanders was leading in New Hampshire by 50% to Clinton's 46% and behind Clinton in Iowa, 48% to 45%. A Quinnipiac University poll released on January 12, 2016, showed Sanders leading in Iowa by 49 percent to Clinton's 44 percent. Sanders narrowly lost the 2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses by 0.25% of the vote. He won the New Hampshire Democratic primary on February 9, 2016 by 22.4% of the vote (60.4% to Hillary Clinton's 38.0%), receiving strong support from voters who considered it important to nominate a candidate who is "honest and trustworthy". This made him the first self-described democratic socialist and first non-Christian to win a major party's U.S. presidential primary. In his home state of Vermont, Sanders received 86.1% of the vote, denying Clinton any delegates. He also won "landslide" victories in Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. On March 8, Sanders pulled off an upset in the Michigan Democratic primary, where polls had favored Clinton by significant margins. Of the 78% of pledged delegates allocated in primaries and caucuses by May 10, 2016, Clinton had won 54% to Sanders's 46%. Of the 715 unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who voted in the convention in July, Clinton had received endorsements from 505 (71%), Sanders 41 (6%). At the Nevada Democratic State Convention in May, Sanders delegates were outraged by changes to and interpretations of rules that resulted in denial of the credentials of almost 60 Sanders backers, with the result that Sanders, instead of edging Clinton out in delegates to the national convention, came in second. Angry Sanders backers shouted down keynote speaker Barbara Boxer, a Clinton supporter. It was widely reported that some shoving, and throwing of chairs and other objects, ensued before Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Roberta Lange ended the convention early, but no actual evidence of chair- throwing ever emerged. After the convention was adjourned, casino security guards and local police were called to remove Sanders supporters who refused to leave the casino ballroom. Lange received death threats to herself and her family online and by telephone after "Sanders supporters posted Lange's home and business addresses, email and cell phone number online." Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said, "We do not condone violence or encourage violence or even threats of violence", and denied that the campaign had a role "in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about." The Nevada Democratic Party wrote to the Democratic National Committee accusing Sanders supporters of a "penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting." Sanders responded, "Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals," but added that his supporters had not been treated with "fairness and respect." In April 2017, the New York Observer reported that DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had "used the nationally reported Nevada Convention to attack Sanders supporters, spreading a falsehood that they were throwing chairs. Wasserman Schultz never apologized or rescinded her comments." Sanders supporters organized various demonstrations in support of his campaign. They are known to have participated in large numbers in the Donald Trump Chicago rally protest and the Democracy Spring protests. On April 3, a large number of Sanders supporters protested in front of CNN Headquarters in Los Angeles, demonstrating against the amount of airtime Sanders received in comparison to other candidates. The campaign began to buy advertising in November 2015 when it spent $2million on television ads. In the last two weeks of December and the first week of January, the Sanders campaign spent $4.7million on TV ads, outspending the Clinton campaign. Prior to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, the campaign launched the advertisement "America". The campaign staff included people with deep political campaign experience and people new to campaign organizing. Campaign manager Jeff Weaver started in politics on Sanders's 1986 gubernatorial campaign. Claire Sandberg was the Director of Digital Organizing. She worked with senior advisers Becky Bond and Zack Exley to run distributed operations leveraging volunteers where the campaign did not yet have paid staff. On April 14, 2016, Sanders fired the campaign's national Jewish outreach coordinator, Simone Zimmerman, after it was discovered that she had used foul language to describe the Prime Minister of Israel and Hillary Clinton on Facebook. The hiring of Zimmerman, who has a history of opposition to Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, had been widely criticized by Jewish groups. In January 2019, The New York Times reported that allegations of sexual harassment, demeaning treatment and pay disparities pertaining to women in the campaign were being circulated by email. Sanders attributed any such misdeeds to members of his staff, claiming that he was not only unaware of them but had instituted new protocols for addressing such issues. Jeff Weaver, Sanders's campaign manager in 2016, acknowledged the existence of problems and expressed a desire to do better in any future campaign. Sanders extended an apology on CNN to "any woman who feels like she was not treated appropriately". Sanders's campaign committee issued a statement thanking the campaign workers for raising the concerns, and pointing at new policies in the 2018 Senate re- election campaign, already implemented prior to the events from 2016 coming to light. Former staffers sought a meeting to address the events, and in response, Sanders met with them in mid-January. The meeting was facilitated by three female leaders in workplace and employment matters. They stated that it was part of "a process to create practical ways for improving the campaign’s culture," and were hoping other campaigns would also take note. There was widespread support of Sanders's vision of a "political revolution", but others believed his vision was unrealistic or overly left-wing. Speaking on Meet the Press on January 24, conservative political commentator David Brooks commented on earlier interviews of Clinton and Sanders, "If I didn't know anything about the race until I saw these back-to-back interviews today, I would think, wow, Sanders really has honed his message, and he's captured both authenticity and joy, and Hillary Clinton hasn't honed her message." Filling in for Sanders at a campaign event in Iowa, Cornel West "electrified" the crowd, opening his speech by saying, "What a blessing it is to be here with all of my brothers and sisters of all colors here in central Iowa! Brother Bernie and I come from a great tradition, the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Einstein; the tradition of Helen Keller and Ella Baker; the tradition of John Dewey—who is the founder of pragmatism, but he was a democratic socialist, too. The point is that, you see, democratic socialism is not some kind of alien element. It’s organic and indigenous in the history of this nation." After polls showed Clinton leading by a wide margin in the March 8 Michigan primary, Sanders won in what has been called "one of the greatest upsets in modern political history," drawing comment from political pundits. ABC News wrote, "Bernie Sanders' win in Michigan will go down as the stunner of the election cycle to date, handing his campaign a fresh rationale and new evidence of his rival's vulnerabilities at a critical time in the race. Sanders’ win will raise new questions about the presumed strength and dominance of Hillary Clinton's campaign. (It will also raise questions about the reliability of state-level polling)." Sanders said of the victory, "what we have done is created the kind of momentum that we need to win." On April 1, 2016, Sanders was interviewed by the New York Daily News editorial board. Dylan Byers of CNN politics wrote that the interview "showed him having difficulty clearly answering some questions about both foreign and domestic policy". In response to the criticism from the press, Tad Devine, the senior adviser for the Sanders campaign, told CNN, "I understand when you go to New York you're going to get hit by the tabloids, that's what the primaries are about". The Clinton campaign seized on what they considered a poor performance by Sanders, and sent the interview transcript to millions of its backers in a fundraising email, arguing that Sanders hadn't thought through how he would accomplish his biggest goals. But Peter Eavis of The New York Times wrote that "Bernie Sanders probably knows more about breaking up banks than his critics give him credit for" and that "taken as a whole, Mr. Sanders’s answers seem to make sense." An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted May 15 through 19 found Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a "dead heat" within the poll's margin of error. But the same poll found that if Sanders were the Democratic nominee, 53% of voters would support him to 39% for Trump. Clinton and Trump were the least popular likely candidates in the poll's history. Sanders received a 43% positive, 36% negative rating. On June 6, 2016, the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including both pledged and unpledged delegates (superdelegates), to secure the nomination. On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning the California and New Jersey primaries. After the final primary election, the District of Columbia's on June 14, Sanders met with Clinton and congratulated her on her successful campaign. On June 16, Sanders gave a speech broadcast live online to his supporters, saying: I look forward in the coming weeks to continue discussion between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history, and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda. I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party, so that it becomes a party of working people and young people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors, a party that has the guts to take on Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, the fossil fuel industry and the other powerful special interests that dominate so much of our political and economic life. After the speech, the head of National Nurses United, the first national union to back Sanders, said, "What we know about Bernie is that he will be there. He’s always been there as a fighter in the Senate, but that he will continue to be there for us. But most importantly, his message was, we have to be there, we have to build a movement, we have to fight." In July, in an effort to win Sanders's endorsement and his supporters' approval, Clinton endorsed several new policies he had advocated for, including plans to eliminate tuition at public colleges and universities and to increase spending for community health centers. On July 12, Sanders endorsed Clinton, saying in a prepared statement: I am proud of the campaign we ran here in New Hampshire and across the country. Our campaign won the primaries and caucuses in 22 states, and when the roll call at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia is announced it will show that we won almost 1,900 delegates. That is a lot of delegates, far more than almost anyone thought we could win. But it is not enough to win the nomination. Secretary Clinton goes into the convention with 389 more pledged delegates than we have and a lot more super delegates. Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process, and I congratulate her for that. She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States. On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released over 20,000 DNC emails, some of which appeared to show DNC officials favoring Clinton over Sanders during the primary. Among other things, one high-ranking DNC official discussed the possibility of making Sanders's irreligious tendencies a campaign issue in southern states, and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz referred to campaign manager Jeff Weaver as "an ASS" and "a damn liar" and repeatedly called into question Sanders's party loyalty. Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chair after the leak, replaced by Donna Brazile, and the Democratic National Committee apologized to Sanders. Speaking on CNN, Sanders responded to the email leak: "it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates — to be fair and even-minded. But again, we discussed this many, many months ago, on this show, so what is revealed now is not a shock to me." In October 2016, WikiLeaks released emails from Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta showing that Donna Brazile, who was working as a DNC Vice Chair, had given Clinton staff information on the questions to be asked at an upcoming CNN town-hall meeting. Brazile has denied that she was showing favoritism. After the election, the U.S. intelligence community and the Special Counsel investigation assessed that the email leaks were part of a larger interference campaign by the Russian government to cause political instability in the United States and to damage the Hillary Clinton campaign by bolstering the candidacies of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Jill Stein. Sanders received a three-minute standing ovation when he rose to speak at the Democratic National Convention on July 25. He thanked and congratulated his campaign workers and spoke of his work with the Democratic Platform Committee, saying, "there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party...Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency – and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen." The first night of the Democratic National Convention was frequently disrupted with booing and chanting by a segment of Sanders's campaign workers termed the "Bernie or Bust" contingent. Even Sanders was booed when he said, "We must vote for Hillary Clinton." The comedian Sarah Silverman, who had campaigned for Sanders but pledged support for Clinton at the convention, said, "Can I just say: To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous." A July 25 report by the Pew Research Center tracing Democratic voters’ support for candidates from March 2015 to June 2016 indicated that 90% of Democratic voters who had consistently supported Sanders said they would support Clinton in the general election. After Sanders lost the primary to Clinton, Jill Stein of the Green Party offered to let Sanders run on the Green ticket, but he did not respond to her offer. On October 28, 2016, Sanders was declared an eligible write-in candidate for president in California, with Tulsi Gabbard as his vice- presidential running mate. For write-in candidates' votes to be counted in California, the candidate must be certified, which "only requires that 55 'electors' sign on to declare a person a write-in candidate, not that the person consent". On November 8, as Trump defeated Clinton in the general election, Sanders received almost 6% of the vote in Vermont, despite not being a candidate. This was the highest share of a statewide presidential vote for a write-in draft campaign in American history. He also received more votes in Vermont than Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and Jill Stein, the Green candidate, combined. Nationwide, it was possible to vote for Sanders as a write-in candidate in 12 states, and exact totals of write-in votes for Sanders were published in three states: California, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In those three states, Sanders received 111,850 write-in votes, approximately 15% of the write-in vote nationwide and 0.08% of the vote overall. On December 19, the day that the Electoral College convened in state capitols around the country, Sanders received one electoral vote for president, from David Mulinix, a faithless elector in Hawaii who also voted for Senator Elizabeth Warren for vice president. This was the first electoral vote ever cast for a Jewish American for president in United States electoral history. Two other faithless electors, David Bright in Maine and Muhammad Abdurrahman in Minnesota, attempted to cast their electoral votes for Sanders, but their votes were invalidated by their states' faithless elector laws. Bright subsequently switched his vote to Clinton as pledged, while Abdurrahman was replaced by another elector who voted for Clinton as pledged. Sanders was one of five people who received electoral votes from faithless electors in the 2016 election; the other four were former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (who received three electoral votes), Native American activist Faith Spotted Eagle, former United States Representative and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, and Governor John Kasich of Ohio. The seven faithless electoral votes for president were the most in history, with the exception of the 63 electors who did not vote for their pledged candidate, Horace Greeley, in 1872 (Greeley had died between election day and the convening of the Electoral College). Some Sanders supporters raised concerns that publications such as The New York Times minimized coverage of his campaign in favor of other candidates', especially Trump's and Clinton's. A December 2015 report found that the three major networksCBS, NBC, and ABChad spent 234minutes reporting on Republican candidate Donald Trump and 10minutes on Sanders, despite their similar polling results. The report noted that ABC World News Tonight had spent 81minutes on Trump and less than 1minute on Sanders during 2015. On April 3, 2016, hundreds of Sanders supporters protested CNN's coverage of the presidential elections at CNN headquarters. Calling themselves "Occupy CNN", they claimed that major media networks had intentionally minimized Sanders's airtime in favor of candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In May 2016, MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski called on Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the DNC, to step down over the DNC's bias against the Sanders campaign. The July 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak revealed that Wasserman Schultz was angry about the media's negative coverage of her actions, and that she emailed Chuck Todd on May 18 to say that such coverage of her "must stop". Describing the coverage as the "LAST straw", she ordered the DNC's communications director to call MSNBC president Phil Griffin to demand an apology from Brzezinski. Sanders used social media to help his campaign gain momentum. His campaign utilized Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr and Reddit. Sanders gained a large online grassroots following, with supporters rallying support on Twitter under the hashtag #FeelTheBern. The Sanders campaign was also known for the intense social media activity of some of his backers. Some online activists who enthusiastically promoted Sanders and criticized Clinton supporters were pejoratively called Bernie Bros, insinuating they were sexist in their critique of Clinton. Sanders gained tens of thousands of followers on Twitter during and after his debate appearances. Although Twitter followers are only one metric of success, this led USA Today to speculate that he had won the October debate. Saturday Night Live (SNL) highlighted Sanders in its October 17, 2015, cold open with comedian Larry David portraying him in a parody of the first Democratic Primary Presidential debate, which had aired four days earlier on CNN. David returned to the show for the first time in 30 years to portray Sanders. His impression of Sanders, widely received favorably on Twitter, had him waving his arms and saying: "I'm going to dial it right up to a ten: We're doomed! We need a revolution! We've got millions of people in the streets. We gotta do something and we gotta do it now". When shown a clip of David's impression of him by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, Sanders responded: "I think we'll use Larry at our next rally. He does me better than I do." David portrayed Sanders again on SNL's November 7, 2015, cold open, a parody of a Democratic candidates' forum hosted by Rachel Maddow that had aired on MSNBC earlier that week. Although he did not win the official award, in December 2015 Sanders won the readers' poll for Time magazine's 2015 Person of the Year with 10% of vote. Sanders's campaign generated many Internet memes. A Facebook group called Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash was created to help spread information and comedic entertainment about Sanders. As of March 20, 2016, the group had nearly 420,000 members. Sanders's campaign also inspired an online dating service, Bernie Singles. Founded by Arizona State University political science sophomore student Colten Caudle and co-owner David Boni on February 17, 2016, Bernie Singles became a trending topic on Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. On February 5, 2016, members of the Facebook group "Bernie Sanders Dank Tinder Convos" (BSDTC) (a spin-off of Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash) were reportedly being banned from dating and social discovery mobile application Tinder for promoting Sanders's presidential campaign. BSDTC members would send messages to other Tinder users promoting Sanders and imploring them to vote for him. In response, many BSDTC members' profiles would either become locked or deleted after being flagged for posting spam or being bots. Tinder spokeswoman Rosette Pambakian stated in an email, "We wholeheartedly support people sharing their political views on Tinder, but we don't allow spamming. So feel free to spread the Bern, just don't spam." "Bernie or Bust" refers to the intention of some of Sanders's supporters not to vote for Hillary Clinton if she won the Democratic nomination, but rather to write in Sanders, vote for a third-party candidate such as Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, or not to vote at all. The movement stemmed from distrust of the Democratic Party establishment and the party's primary system. The party was accused of bias in Clinton's favor beginning around December 2015, culminating in leaked emails just before the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Sanders repeatedly said he would vote for Clinton in the general election in order to avoid a "disastrous" Trump presidency and encouraged his supporters to do the same. The Bernie or Bust movement is often cited as one of the contributing factors in Hillary Clinton's loss in the general election via the spoiler effect. Other media commentators have disagreed, pointing to how surveys estimated that 6–12% of Sanders voters voted for Trump in the general election, while in 2008, 24–25% of Clinton supporters voted for John McCain. The movement experienced controversy when, at the Democratic National Convention, comedian Sarah Silverman urged other Sanders supporters to back Hillary Clinton and remarked that Bernie or Bust people were "being ridiculous." Among the organizations that worked to elect Sanders without any formal affiliation with his campaign was People for Bernie, an online group that grew out of the Occupy movement and was active in sending protesters to shut down Donald Trump rallies. Veterans for Bernie Sanders, also known as "Vets for Bernie," was the first national grassroots association of military veterans ever to organize on behalf of a presidential candidate. VFB mobilized veterans in all 50 states to attend Sanders events, including a veterans' rally in Gettysburg. The group has been credited with developing innovative "social media content based around endorsements from individual veterans." In April 2015, the grassroots group College Students for Bernie was created by college students from universities from across the country. The group served as an outlet and a resource for college students to take an active role in the 2016 election by campaigning for Sanders and fighting for progressive causes. The organization had over 260 chapters established at various universities and colleges in the United States. A popular subreddit with over 200,000 subscribers, /r/SandersForPresident was an organizing forum that mobilized resources for the campaign. As one of the first places Sanders announced his campaign, it was connected through Grassroots For Sanders, the campaign's digital arm. It was created on December 6, 2013, about 17 months before Sanders announced his candidacy, by Aidan King, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, and David Fredrick, co- creator of Grassroots For Sanders. King eventually became the Sanders campaign's social media coordinator. Although the Sanders campaign did not control the subreddit, it communicated with its moderators. Kenneth Pennington, the Sanders campaign's digital director, told media company Mic that "We work closely with those in leadership roles on the subreddit to make sure that the large audience on Reddit knows exactly how to get involved in the campaign and spread the senator's message". Generally speaking, Bernie Sanders's views have been described as being to the political left of those of competitor Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama. A cornerstone of Sanders's campaign was to fight the decreasing income of the middle class and the increase of wealth inequality: In July 2015 Sanders introduced legislation that would incrementally increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2020. On November 10, 2015, Sanders joined striking Senate cafeteria workers at a "Fight for $15" rally in Washington DC and voiced support for the movement. Sanders supported repeal of some tax deductions that benefit hedge funds and corporations, and would have raised taxes on capital gains and the wealthiest two percent of Americans, using some of the added revenues to lower the taxes of the middle and lower classes. Reporting that offshore tax havens have allowed America's largest corporations to avoid taxes on more than $1 trillion in profits, Sanders also introduced legislation to end offshore banking. He believed the American government should invest the resulting revenue in America's small businesses and in aid for working people. On May 6, 2015, Sanders introduced legislation to break up "too big to fail" financial institutions. With three of the four banks that were bailed out during the 2007–08 Global Financial Crisis now larger than they were then, Sanders believed that "no single financial institution should have holdings so extensive that its failure would send the world economy into crisis. If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist." Sanders introduced amendments to Senate bills that promote the creation of millions of middle-class jobs by investing in infrastructure, paid for by closing loopholes in the corporate and international tax system. He also supported legislation that would make it easier for workers to join or form a union. Sanders's campaign website also recognized the plight of the long-term unemployed, citing that “he real unemployment rate is much higher than the ‘official’ figure typically reported in the newspapers”. Sanders opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, which he called "a continuation of other disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA [and] CAFTA." In 2014, Sanders wrote that "the TPP is much more than a 'free trade' agreement. It is part of a global race to the bottom to boost the profits of large corporations and Wall Street by outsourcing jobs; undercutting worker rights; dismantling labor, environmental, health, food safety and financial laws; and allowing corporations to challenge our laws in international tribunals rather than our own court system". Sanders proposed these reforms of the Fed: "Banking industry executives must no longer be allowed to serve on the Fed’s boards...The Fed should charge (banks) a fee that would be used to provide direct loans to small businesses...As a condition of receiving financial assistance from the Fed, large banks must commit to increasing lending to creditworthy small businesses and consumers." Sanders became a prominent supporter of laws requiring companies to provide their workers parental leave, sick leave, and vacation time, arguing that such laws have been adopted by almost every developed country, and that there are significant disparities among the types of workers who have access to paid sick and paid vacation time. Sanders's Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act (S.1564) would have mandated that companies provide 10 days of paid vacation for employees who have worked for them for at least one year. He cosponsored a Senate bill that would give mothers and fathers 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a baby. Sanders also cosponsored a bill that would guarantee workers at least seven paid sick days per year for short-term illness, routine medical care, or to care for a sick family member. Sanders considered global warming a serious problem. Along with Senator Barbara Boxer, Sanders introduced the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 on January 15, 2007. In a July 26, 2012 speech on the Senate floor, Sanders addressed claims made by Senator Jim Inhofe: "The bottom line is when Senator Inhofe says global warming is a hoax, he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of climate scientists." He was Climate Hawks Vote's top- rated senator on climate leadership in the 113th Congress. Sanders was a staunch supporter of a universal health care system, and said, "if you are serious about real healthcare reform, the only way to go is single‑payer". He advocated lowering the cost of drugs that are high because they remain under patent for years; some drugs that cost thousands of dollars per year in the U.S. are available for hundreds, or less, in countries where they can be obtained as generics. As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, Sanders introduced legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act, which supports Meals on Wheels and other programs for seniors. Sanders believed that supporting seniors "is not only the right thing to do, it is the financially smart thing to do", because it decreases expensive hospitalizations and allows seniors to remain in their homes. NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Sanders a 100% score on his pro-choice voting record. Sanders supported the public funding of elections and supported both versions of the DISCLOSE Act, legislation would have made campaign finances more transparent, and would have banned U.S. corporations controlled by foreign interests from making political expenditures. He was outspoken in calling for an overturn of Citizens United, a 2010 Supreme Court decision that overturned McCain-Feingold restrictions on political spending by corporations and unions, as it deemed such restrictions a violation of the First Amendment. Saying that he believed that the Citizens United decision is "one of the Supreme Court's worst decisions ever" and that it has allowed big money to "deflect attention from the real issues" facing voters, he proposed a constitutional amendment to undo the ruling. "We now have a political situation where billionaires are... able to buy elections and candidates", he said. Sanders supported Israel's right to exist and supported a two-state solution. In July 2014, Sanders formed part of the "unanimous consent" on the Senate Resolution in support of Operation Protective Edge, a military operation Israel launched on July 8, 2014. Sanders said that Israel must have a right to live in peace and security. He compared himself to the first Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. When asked about the Palestinian situation, Sanders consistently said that the Palestinians have a right to a state, while Israel has a right to security. A statement published on his Senate website read in part: "Sanders believes the Israeli attacks that killed hundreds of innocent peopleincluding many women and childrenin bombings of civilian neighborhoods and UN controlled schools, hospitals, and refugee camps were disproportionate, and the widespread killing of civilians is completely unacceptable. Israel's actions took an enormous human toll, and appeared to strengthen support for Hamas and may well be sowing the seeds for even more hatred, war and destruction in future years." Sanders was critical of U.S. government global surveillance policies. He voted against the USA PATRIOT Act and all of its renewals and the USA Freedom Act and has characterized the National Security Agency as "out of control." He frequently criticized warrantless wiretapping and the collection of the phone, email, library, and internet browsing records of American citizens without due process: Sanders strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and voted against the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. In a 2002 speech, he said, "I am opposed to giving the President a blank check to launch a unilateral invasion and occupation of Iraq" and "I will vote against this resolution. One, I have not heard any estimates of how many young American men and women might die in such a war or how many tens of thousands of women and children in Iraq might also be killed. As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause. War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the first. Second, I am deeply concerned about the precedent that a unilateral invasion of Iraq could establish in terms of international law and the role of the United Nations." Sanders called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) "a barbaric organization" and "a growing threat", but did not believe that the U.S. should lead the fight against it, saying, "the United States should be supportive, along with other countries, but we cannot and we should not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East—the Muslim countries themselves must lead the effort". Drawing figures from an OECD report that ranks the U.S. 33rd out of 36 nations in reading literacy, 27th in mathematical literacy, 22nd in science literacy, and 18th overall in secondary education, Sanders said, "In a society with our resources, it is unconscionable to that we do not properly invest in our children from the very first stages of their lives". He has introduced legislation to provide child care and early education to all children six weeks old through kindergarten. Sanders said "the Foundations for Success Act would provide preschool children with a full range of services, leading to success in school and critical support for hard-pressed families nationwide." Sanders was an advocate of making college more affordable. He spoke out against the high interest rates on federal student loans, noting that in the next ten years, the federal government will profit by as much as $127 billion from them. He also criticized President Obama for signing legislation that temporarily froze student loan interest rates in exchange for allowing the rates to reach historic highs over the next two years. Sanders believed tax reform was the solution, and developed a plan to bring matching grants from the federal and state governments to cut tuition at public universities by more than half. He criticized both Republicans and Democrats for failing to institute reforms that will stop predatory lending practices in the student loan market. Sanders was in favor of public funding for college students. He believed that "we live in a highly competitive global economy and, if our economy is to be strong, we need the best-educated work force in the world." He further maintained that many developed nations in Western Europe have long taken this approach to higher education. Sanders expected his plan to meet strong opposition from the Republican Party, but said it was ultimately "the American people" who would determine its failure or success. On May 19, 2015, Sanders introduced the College for All Act (S.1373), which would have used a Robin Hood tax of 50 cents on every "$100 of stock trades on stock sales" to fund tuition at four-year public colleges and universities for students who meet admission standards. In addition, the Robin Hood tax would have included a .5% speculation fee to be charged on investment houses, hedge funds, and other stock trades, while a .1% fee would be charged on bonds, and a .005% fee on derivatives. Sanders was a civil rights organizer at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, and has a 100% rating from the NAACP for his civil rights voting record. In 1988, Sanders worked for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign saying: "Jesse Jackson uniquely and alone has shown the courage to tackle the most important and basic issues facing working class Americans, poor people, elderly people, environmentalists, peace activists, women, and America's minorities." As part of his 2016 presidential platform, Sanders called for an end to “the four central types of violence waged against black and brown Americans: physical, political, legal and economic.” Speaking on these issues, Sanders said: In 2007, Sanders helped kill a bill introducing comprehensive immigration reform, arguing that its guest-worker program would depress wages for American workers. Sanders voted for the comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013, saying, "It does not make a lot of sense to me to bring hundreds of thousands of [foreign] workers into this country to work for minimum wage and compete with American kids." Sanders opposed guest worker programs and was also skeptical about skilled immigrant (H-1B) visas, saying, "Last year, the top 10 employers of H-1B guest workers were all offshore outsourcing companies. These firms are responsible for shipping large numbers of American information technology jobs to India and other countries." He believes a path to citizenship should be created for new immigrants. During the campaign, Sanders expressed opposition to "open borders", telling Vox's Ezra Klein that it was a "Koch brothers proposal". Sanders has supported full equality for gay Americans since at least 1972. Sanders long supported LGBT rights, voting against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act when he was in the House of Representatives, and his home state of Vermont was the first to legalize same-sex unions in 2000, and gay marriage in 2009, both of which Sanders actively supported. Following the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015, Sanders said: "For far too long our justice system has marginalized the gay community, and I am very glad the court caught up to the American people." Sanders supports banning semi-automatic weapons and closing a loophole that allows buyers to skirt regulations when making a purchase at a gun show. He is also in favor of instant background checks for gun owners, although he previously opposed the Brady Act, which provided for federal background checks. In the House of Representatives, Sanders voted for the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union, Sanders said, "If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer." Sanders has said, "we have millions of people who are gun owners in this country—99.9% of those people obey the law. I want to see real, serious debate and action on guns, but it is not going to take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides. I think I can bring us to the middle." Sanders also dismissed the idea that gun control measures could have prevented the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, saying "if you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don't think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen." Sanders has called for reforms to sentencing guidelines, drug policy, and use of force policies within police departments. Noting that there are more people incarcerated in the U.S. than any country in the world at an annual cost to taxpayers of $70 billion, Sanders argues that the money would be better spent on education and jobs. He has spoken out against police brutality and the uneven rates of arrest of African-Americans and other minorities, saying: "From Ferguson to Baltimore and across this nation, too many African-Americans and other minorities find themselves subjected to a system that treats citizens who have not committed crimes as if they were criminals and that is unacceptable." Following the release of footage depicting the arrest of African American Sandra Bland for a minor traffic violation, Sanders strongly condemned the “totally outrageous police behavior” shown in the video, stating that: “This video highlights once again why we need real police reform. People should not die for a minor traffic infraction. This type of police abuse has become an all-too-common occurrence for people of color and it must stop." Speaking on Face the Nation on December 27, Sanders said that “he way was yanked out of that car and the way she was treated by that police officer is not something I think would have happened to the average middle class white woman”. Sanders has also spoken out against the privatization of prisons throughout the United States, stating: On September 17, 2015, Sanders introduced the "Justice Is Not for Sale" Act, which prohibits the United States government at federal, state and local levels from contracting with private firms to provide and/or operate detention facilities within two years. He noted that "We cannot fix our criminal justice system if corporations are allowed to profit from mass incarceration." Sanders has been a strong opponent of the death penalty throughout his political career. On October 28, 2015, Sanders expressed his support for the federal legalization of marijuana by way of its removal from the Controlled Substances Act, removing it from the list of dangerous substances outlawed by the federal government. This would clear the way for it to be fully legalized at the state level unimpeded by the federal government. Sanders is also in favor of the regulated sale and taxation of marijuana at the state level in a similar manner to alcohol and tobacco. Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, Justice Democrats, Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign Page text.‹ref›Medicare for All, additional text.‹/ref› Page text.‹ref›, additional text.‹/ref› Bernie Sanders (Video 59:43; C-SPAN; March 9, 2015; National Press Club)., Bernie Sanders at Liberty University with Q&A;, September 14, 2015 In the United States, a Presidential Succession Act is a federal statute establishing the presidential line of succession. of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact such a statute: Congress has enacted a Presidential Succession Act on three occasions: 1792 (), 1886 (), and 1947 (). The 1947 Act was last revised in 2006. Although none of these succession acts have ever been invoked, an invocation was a distinct possibility on several occasions. However, the future likelihood that a person in the line of succession beyond the vice president will be called upon to be acting president has diminished greatly due to the Twenty-fifth Amendment's provision for filling vice presidential vacancies. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution authorizes Congress to declare who should act as president if both the president and vice president died or were otherwise unavailable to serve during their terms of office. Legislation to establish such a line of succession was introduced December 1790, in the House of Representatives of the 1st Congress. When brought up for discussion the following month, the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House were proposed; the Secretary of State and the chief justice of the Supreme Court were as well. Lawmakers failed, however, to reach consensus on who should be the statutory successor. Naming the Secretary of State was unacceptable to most Federalists, as they did not want the office's current occupant, Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the growing anti- administration opposition that would become the Democratic-Republican Party, placed so close to the presidency. Constitutional and policy objections were raised to naming the President pro tempore or the Speaker, as it was assumed the individual would retain their office and seat in Congress while temporarily performing duties of the presidency; similar separation of powers concerns were also raised regarding the Chief Justice. The matter was raised again when the 2nd Congress convened later in 1791. On November 30, the Senate approved legislation titled."An act relative to the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and declaring the officer who shall act as President in case of vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President," which was sent to the House for concurrence. It contained a provision naming the president pro tempore of the Senate, or, if that office were vacant, the speaker of the House of Representatives as acting president if a vacancy arose in both the presidency and vice presidency. Various representatives, including a number of the Constitution's framers, criticized the arrangement as being contrary to their intent. As a result, after a contentious debate, the February 15, 1792, House-passed bill struck out of the president pro tempore and speaker and inserted the secretary of state in their place. The Senate rejected the House change a few days later, and the House relented. The bill became law on March 1, 1792, with the signature of President George Washington. The Presidential Succession Act of 1792, sections 9 and 10 of the larger act relative to the election of the president and vice president (), provided that the president pro tempore of the Senate would be first in line for the presidency should the offices of the president and the vice president both be vacant at the same time. The speaker of the House was second in line. Section 9 provided that the statutory successor would serve in an acting capacity until a new president could be elected. If such a double vacancy occurred, Section 10 directed the secretary of state to notify the governor of each state of the vacancies and of the special election to fill them. This special election would take place no fewer than two months later. The persons elected president and vice president in such a special election would have served a full four-year term beginning on March 4 of the next year; no such election ever took place. While the succession provisions of the 1792 Act were never invoked, there were ten instances when the vice presidency was vacant: April 20, 1812March 4, 1813 () following the death of George Clinton, November 23, 1814March 4, 1817 () following the death of Elbridge Gerry, December 28, 1832March 4, 1833 () following the resignation of John C. Calhoun, April 4, 1841March 4, 1845 () following the accession of John Tyler to the presidency, July 9, 1850March 4, 1853 () following the accession of Millard Fillmore to the presidency, April 18, 1853March 4, 1857 () following the death of William R. King, April 15, 1865March 4, 1869 () following the accession of Andrew Johnson to the presidency, November 22, 1875March 4, 1877 () following the death of Henry Wilson, September 19, 1881March 4, 1885 () following the accession of Chester A. Arthur to the presidency, November 25, 1885March 4, 1889 () following the death of Thomas A. Hendricks In each case, had the president died, resigned, been removed from office or been disabled during one of these vacancies, the president pro tempore of the Senate would have become the acting president. Such a double vacancy nearly occurred on three occasions: In 1844, President John Tyler narrowly missed being one of the several people killed when a gun on newly built exploded during a ceremonial cruise. Had Tyler died, President pro tempore Willie Person Mangum would have become Acting President., In 1865, the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln planned, but failed, to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward as well. Had Johnson been killed, President pro tempore Lafayette S. Foster would have become Acting President., In 1868, after President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives, the Senate came one vote short of removing him from office; had Johnson been removed, President pro tempore Benjamin Wade would have become Acting President. As a consequence of the sometimes lengthy vacancies in the office of vice president, the person serving as president pro tempore of the Senate garnered heightened importance, for although he did not assume the vice presidency, he was then next in line for the presidency. Several who served during these vacancies were referred to informally as "Acting Vice President." The death of President James A. Garfield in 1881, after his lengthy incapacity, followed in 1885 by the death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, forced Congress to address the inadequacies of the 1792 Succession Act. When Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency following Garfield's death, there was no vice president, no president pro tempore of the Senate, and no speaker of the House of Representatives. President Grover Cleveland faced the same situation following Hendricks's death. Twice within the span of four years it happened that there would have been no one to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency if it again became necessary to do so. A bill to transfer the succession from congressional officers to members of the Cabinet was introduced in the Senate by George Hoar in 1882. It was passed by the Senate the following year but failed in the House. Hoar laid out several reasons why the succession statute need to be changed. Among them, that the four-year term of a president elected in a special election might be out of sync with the congressional election cycle, resulting in "confusion and trouble." He also pointed out the negative constitutional and practical implications of having the president pro tempore and the speaker in the line of succession. To buttress this argument, he pointed out that since the federal government began operations 96 years earlier in 1789, six secretaries of state had gone on to be elected president, serving in that office for 36 of those 96 years. Reintroduced shortly after the death of Vice President Hendricks, Senator Hoar's bill was passed by the Senate after vigorous debate, in December 1885, and by the House one month later. It became law on January 19, 1886, with President Cleveland's signature. The Presidential Succession Act of 1886 () substituted the Cabinet secretaries—listed in the order in which their department was created—for the President pro tempore and Speaker in the line of succession. It provided that in case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the President and Vice President, such officer would "act as President until the disability of the President or Vice- President is removed or a President shall be elected." It mandated that If Congress were not then in session or due to meet within twenty days, the acting president was to call a special session of Congress, giving no less than twenty days' notice. It also stipulated that for a member of the Cabinet to act as president, he had to have been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and be eligible to the office of president and not under impeachment. This last provision replaced the 1792 provision for a double- vacancy special election; it was a loophole left for Congress to call such an election if that course seemed appropriate. While it never became necessary to invoke the 1886 Act, the vice presidency was vacant at the time of its adoption, and would become vacant five more times during the 61 years that it was in effect: November 21, 1899March 4, 1901 () following the death of Garret Hobart., September 14, 1901March 4, 1905 () following the accession of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency., October 30, 1912March 4, 1913 () following the death of James S. Sherman., August 2, 1923March 4, 1925 () following the accession of Calvin Coolidge to the presidency., April 12, 1945January 20, 1949 () following the accession of Harry S. Truman to the presidency. Had the incumbent president died, resigned, been removed from office or been disabled during one of these vacancies, the secretary of state would have become the acting president. Although such circumstances never arose, President Woodrow Wilson apparently drew up a plan whereby, given the turmoil of World War I, if his Republican opponent Charles Evans Hughes had won the 1916 election, then Wilson would have dismissed the secretary of state, Robert Lansing, and recess-appointed Hughes to the post. Soon thereafter, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall and then Wilson himself would have resigned, thus allowing President-elect Hughes to serve as acting president until his March 4, 1917, inauguration. Wilson's narrow victory over Hughes rendered the plan moot. Also of note is that 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie and vice presidential nominee Charles L. McNary both died in 1944 (October 8, and February 25, respectively); the first, and to date only time both members of a major-party presidential ticket died during the term for which they sought election. Had they been elected, Willkie's death would have resulted in the secretary of state becoming acting president for the remainder of the term ending on January 20, 1945. In June 1945, two months after becoming president upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's death, Harry S. Truman sent a message to Congress urging the revision of the Presidential Succession Act of 1886. He recommended that the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate be restored to and given priority in the presidential line of succession over members of the Cabinet. The arrangement reflected Truman's belief that the president should not have the power to appoint to office "the person who would be my immediate successor in the event of my own death or inability to act," and that the presidency should, whenever possible, "be filled by an elective officer." Cabinet officials are appointed by the president, whereas the speaker and the president pro tempore are elected officials. He also recommended that a provision be made for election of a new president and vice president should vacancies in both of those offices occur more than three months before the midterm congressional elections. A bill incorporating the president's proposal was introduced in the House on June 25, 1945 by Hatton W. Sumners and approved—minus the special election provision—four days later by a wide margin. The measure was forwarded to the Senate, which took no action on it during the balance of the 79th Congress. Truman renewed his request in 1947, when the 80th Congress convened following the 1946 midterm elections. Early in 1947, Senator Kenneth S. Wherry introduced a bill in the Senate which, like the previous 1945 version, put the speaker and the president pro tempore second and third in the succession order respectively, and contained no provision for a special election. After considerable debate the measure was approved on June 27, 1947, by a vote of 50 to 35. Forwarded to the House, the legislation engendered little debate, and was passed on July 10 by a vote of 365 to 11. President Truman signed the bill into law on July 18. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 () restored the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate to the line of succession—in reverse order from their positions in the 1792 act—and placed them ahead of the members of the Cabinet, who are positioned once more in the order of the establishment of their department: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Attorney General, Postmaster General, Secretary of the Navy, and Secretary of the Interior. Three Cabinet secretaries were added to the lineup, reflecting the creation of three Cabinet-level departments post-1886: Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Labor. The act stipulates, that in order for either the speaker or the president pro tempore to become acting president, he or she must meet the requirements for presidential eligibility, and must, prior to acting as president, resign from office, including from Congress. Like the 1886 act, this statute specifies that only Cabinet members who are constitutionally eligible to the office of president, and not under impeachment by the House at the time the powers and duties of the presidency devolve upon them, may become the acting president. However, unlike the 1886 act, this statute mandates that any Cabinet officer who accedes to the powers and duties of the presidency resign their Cabinet post. It also contains a clause stipulating that any Cabinet officer acting as president may be "bumped" from office (supplanted) by a qualified individual higher up the line of succession, a provision not contained in either of the earlier succession acts. The 1886 and 1947 acts diverge in one other way. The 1886 act describes "such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the offices therein named" as being eligible to serve as Acting President, whereas the 1947 act describes "officers appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate" as being eligible. The less explicit 1947 language raises the question of whether acting secretaries are in the line of succession. The nonpartisan Continuity of Government Commission, in a 2009 report, said "[r]ead literally, this means that the current act allows for acting secretaries to be in the line of succession as long as they are confirmed by the Senate for a post (even for example, the second or third in command within a department)." Although a case for their inclusion can be made, it is not clear whether acting secretaries are indeed in the line of succession. The 1947 act established that a person who becomes an acting president under the act will earn the same compensation given to the President. Additionally, based on authority granted by Section 3 of the Twentieth Amendment, the act applies to situations where the president-elect, alone or together with the vice president-elect, fails to meet the qualifications for the office of President. Based on that same authority, the act also applies to situations in which there is neither a president-elect nor a vice president-elect on Inauguration Day. The 1947 act has been modified by a series of incidental amendments to reflect the creation of new federal departments. Less than 2 weeks after the Act was enacted, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 into law. This statute (in part) merged the Department of War (renamed as the Department of the Army) and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (renamed Department of Defense in 1949), headed by the secretary of defense. It also included a provision substituting Secretary of Defense for Secretary of War in the line of succession and striking the secretary of the Navy out. In 1965, two positions were added behind the secretary of laborthe secretary of health, education, and welfare, and the secretary of housing and urban development; a third, the secretary of transportation was added the following year. In 1970 and 1977, respectively, the postmaster general was removed, as a result of the Postal Reorganization Act, and the secretary of energy was inserted at the end of the list. In 1979, when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was divided by the Department of Education Organization Act, its secretary was replaced in the order of succession by the secretary of health and human services, and the new secretary of education was added in the last position. In 1988 and 2006, respectively, the secretary of veterans affairs and then the secretary of homeland security were added, becoming the 16th and 17th statutory successors (beyond the vice president) to the powers and duties of the presidency. When the latter department was created in 2002, the act creating it did not contain a provision adding the new department's secretary into the line of presidential succession. Secretaries of newly-created cabinet-level departments are not automatically included, but must be specifically incorporated. Companion bills to include the secretary of homeland security (SHS) in the line of succession were introduced in the 108th Congress (in 2003) and again in the 109th (in 2005) by Senator Mike DeWine and Representative Tom Davis. Both bills strayed from tradition, however, by proposing to place the SHS in the line of succession directly after the attorney general (rather than at the end of the line). Proponents of placing the SHS high in the order of succession (eighth overall, as opposed to eighteenth) argued that, given the department's many responsibilities in the areas of security and national preparedness, the officer responsible for disaster relief and security, could be expected to possess the relevant knowledge and expertise to capably function acting as president following a catastrophic event; the same could not be said of every cabinet secretary. Referred to committee, no action was taken on these proposals. The matter remained unresolved until March 2006, when the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act added the secretary of homeland security to the presidential line of succession. While it has not become necessary to invoke the 1947 Act, the vice presidency was vacant at the time of its adoption, and has been vacant three more times since: November 22, 1963January 20, 1965 () following Lyndon B. Johnson succeeding to the presidency, October 10, 1973December 6, 1973 () following Spiro Agnew resigning the vice presidency, August 9, 1974December 19, 1974 () following Gerald Ford succeeding to the presidency Had the president died, resigned, been removed from office or been disabled during one of these vacancies the speaker of the House would have become acting president. The nation faced the prospect of such a double-vacancy in the autumn of 1973. With the future of Richard Nixon's presidency in doubt on account of the Watergate scandal, and with the vice presidency vacant following Spiro Agnew's resignation, there was a possibility that Speaker of the House Carl Albert might become acting president. Recourse in this case to the 1947 Act was not necessary, because , ratified only six years earlier, established a mechanism for filling an intra-term vice presidential vacancy. As a result, rather than Carl Albert becoming acting president when Richard Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald Ford became president on that date. The Twenty-fifth Amendment also established a procedure for responding to presidential disabilities whereby a vice president could assume the powers and duties of the presidency as acting president; two presidents have, on three occasions, followed this procedure to declare temporary disability: July 13, 1985Ronald Reagan, before undergoing surgery; George H. W. Bush was acting president for approximately eight hours., June 29, 2002 and July 21, 2007George W. Bush, prior to undergoing medical procedures, which were done under sedation; Dick Cheney was acting president for approximately two hours on each occasion. During the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Secret Service carried out its plan for ensuring the continuity of government, which in part called for gathering up persons in the presidential line of succession and taking them to a secure location, to guarantee that at least one officer in the line of succession would survive the attacks. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and several other congressional leaders went; President pro tempore of the Senate Robert Byrd did not, choosing instead to be taken to his Capitol Hill home. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta went into an underground bunker at the White House; a few Cabinet members were out of the country that day. There is a long history, dating back to the Cold War era, of keeping a designated successor away from events at which numerous high ranking federal officers—including the president, vice president, congressional leaders, and Cabinet members—will be gathered. This is done to ensure that there is always someone available to assume the reins of government if all the other officers are killed at the event. For example, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue was the Cabinet member so designated when President Donald Trump delivered his 2018 State of the Union Address. Perdue was taken to a secure location several hours beforehand, and remained there throughout the event. Although any cabinet secretary could be selected, the person appointed has usually come from one of the newer departments low in the line of succession. The person chosen must also meet the constitutional requirements to serve as president. The 1947 act has been widely criticized over the years as unconstitutional. Akhil Amar, who is a legal scholar in constitutional law, has called it "a disastrous statute, an accident waiting to happen". There are two main areas of concern. There are concerns regarding the constitutionality of having members of Congress in the line of succession. The Constitution's Succession Clause——specifies that only an "Officer" may be designated as a Presidential successor. Constitutional scholars from James Madison to the present day have argued that the term "Officer" refers to an "Officer of the United States," a term of art that excludes members of Congress. During a September 2003 joint hearing Before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Rules and Administration and Committee on the Judiciary, M. Miller Baker said: In Is the Presidential Succession Law Constitutional?, Akhil Amar and Vikram Amar refer to the Incompatibility Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 2)—which bars officials in the federal government's executive branch from simultaneously serving in either the U.S. House or Senate—as evidence that members of the Congress cannot be in the Presidential line of succession. The Act is also controversial because it provides that an officer who is acting as president due to the disability or failure to qualify of an officer higher in the order of succession does so only until the other officer's disability or disqualification is removed. If happens, the previously entitled officer can "bump" the person then acting as president. During testimony in 2004 before the a U.S. House subcommittee, Akhil Reed Amar stated that this provision violates "the Succession Clause, which says that an officer named by Congress shall 'act as President ... until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.'" In its 2009 report, the Continuity of Government Commission argued that as well as going against the language of the Constitution, bumping violates the doctrine of separation of powers by undermining the independence of the executive from the Congress: On a practical level, it is argued that this provision could result in there being multiple legitimate presidents in a short period of time during a national crisis and weaken the public legitimacy of successors. In a January 2011 Roll Call Op-ed, Congressman Brad Sherman wrote, Presidential Succession: Perspectives, Contemporary Analysis, and 110th Congress Proposed Legislation. October 3, 2008. Thomas H. Neale. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, Presidential Succession and Inability: Before and After the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. John D. Feerick (2011). Fordham Law Review. 79 (3): 907–949., Fools, Drunkards, & Presidential Succession

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Steffy Forrester is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. Introduced by Bradley Bell, she is currently portrayed by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood. Steffy and her twin sister Phoebe (MacKenzie Mauzy) were born onscreen as the daughters of supercouple Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss, later Thorsten Kaye) and Taylor Hayes (Hunter Tylo) during the episode airing on September 21, 1999. For the character's first five-year period, she appeared as a minor. In 2005, Steffy was rapidly aged to a teenager, and in 2008 she appeared as an adult when Wood took over the role. Wood portrayed the role continuously until 2013, when she decided to leave her regular capacity with the series; following a series of guest appearances, Wood returned as a series regular in 2015. Steffy has suffered many losses throughout her life, which according to Wood is the reason for her deep-seated issues and puzzling storylines. Wood has also described the character as a "rich bitch". While characterized as being provocative and strong-willed, Steffy is emotionally starved on the inside due to her father's neglect. The character is known for her relationships with the Spencer men: Bill Spencer, Jr. (Don Diamont), Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) and Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks) as well as animosities towards the Logan family, particularly her mother's rival Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) and her own arch-rival Hope Logan (Kimberly Matula, later Annika Noelle). For several years, Steffy's storyline revolved around a love triangle with Hope and Liam. Soaps In Depth called Steffy the soap opera genre's "resident diva", while journalist Michael Logan referred to her as a "maddeningly complicated sexbomb". Wood's performance in the role has been met with favorable reception from audiences and critics, having garnered her two consecutive nominations for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2012 and 2013 and her third for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018. In 2019, she won her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. From 1999 to 2003, Steffy and Phoebe were portrayed by various sets of identical twin child actors. Cameryn McNabb took over the role in 2003. From January to March 2004, Jordan Mella played Steffy. In April 2004, both roles were recast with Keaton and Kylie Rae Tyndall, and Steffy was rapidly aged. Kylie portrayed the role of Steffy until April 2005, when the role was recast with Addison Hoover, whose twin sister Alex Hoover took over the role of Phoebe. The Hoover twins were downgraded to recurring status in November 2005, and eventually left the program. In June 2006, former Guiding Light actress MacKenzie Mauzy took over the role of Phoebe upon the character's return, while Steffy was written out of the series. Steffy was absent from the soap opera until June 4, 2008, when Canadian actress Jacqueline MacInnes Wood took over the part. With the casting of Wood, Phoebe and Steffy were retconned as fraternal twins. A month after Wood's arrival, Mauzy announced her exit from the show and Phoebe was killed off. Wood finds filming on the show very quick; saying, "On the daily [show] we can shoot up to 90 pages, that’s 8 to 12 episodes, in 4 days with sometimes no rehearsal! In films, you shoot 100 pages in 4 months." In 2010, it was announced that Wood would take a brief break from the program to film the fifth installment in the Final Destination film series, Final Destination 5. Wood recorded several scenes in advance of her planned absence. In May 2012, when The Bold and the Beautiful was shooting Hope and Liam's wedding on location in Italy, Wood performed her own stunts in a drowning scene. Wood learned about her Daytime Emmy nomination just before filming a scene in the Adriatic sea, stating, "I was just about to shoot a scene in the Adriatic sea in Italy. The water was only 54 degrees! [Executive Producer/Head Writer] Brad Bell came up to me and said, "How does it feel to be Emmy nominated?" In May 2013, news broke that Wood had opted not to renew her contract with the show to take another break. According to Soaps In Depth, "[The producers] threw a lot of money at her to get her to stay, but she thought it was the right time to go". A representative for the show stated, "[Wood] is taking short a break, as she has done in the past, from B&B.; She remains as the character of 'Steffy Forrester' and is continuing to tape, currently with episodes airing through July 2013 and then beyond". It was later announced that Wood had decided to remain with the series on a recurring basis with episodes airing on July 4 to 12 and September 30 and October 1. After making sporadic appearances, Wood was then announced to be returning for several episodes from December 12 to 20, 2013. Last appearing on the credits in February 2014, it was confirmed in October 2014 that she would not be returning on a more permanent basis, stating: "Unfortunately we weren't on the same page contractually/scheduling etc (...) These things happen in this industry and I hope all my fans can understand that. I am a huge supporter of [executive producer/headwriter] Brad Bell and the entire cast and crew." Wood was also removed from the soap opera's opening credits. On December 4, 2014, Soap Opera Digest broke exclusive news that Wood would be returning to the series. At press time, Wood was scheduled for a "handful" of episodes, which began airing on January 30, 2015. Wood revealed that she agreed to return to the show after Bell had personally sent her a text message. Of her status with the series, the actress said "if the timing is right, I'll always come back". In April 2015, Wood confirmed that she signed a contract deal with the series and would return in the role of Steffy. She made her on-screen return on May 26, 2015. Wood said: "When I left the show [in 2013], it wasn't a real goodbye", and mentioned that "Brad sent me a text with an idea for a storyline. We both got really excited about it and that was it. I was ready to go." Jamey Giddens of the soap opera website Daytime Confidential characterized Steffy as "bitch-nasty", while Wood has described her as strong-willed and a vixen. The program's website said that Steffy is a "stunning fashionista" and a "provocative trendsetter", and added that "when it comes to Steffy Forrester, things are never as they seem. On the surface she’s sexy, stylish, clever, and together but below the surface, Ridge and Taylor's only surviving daughter is emotionally starved and slowly learning how to love and be loved". By 2011, Wood described Steffy as a "rich bitch" and stated, "I love playing her and developing her character. She is so different from me. It's rather cathartic, and it allows my alter ego to come out on The Bold and The Beautiful set five days a week." CBS Soaps In Depth characterized Steffy as the soap opera's "resident diva". When asked if Steffy was "a little bit nuts", Wood said: "yes, she's a mess. But a very strong mess." Steffy is named after her paternal grandmother Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery), with Wood affirming: "She's always thinking. There's a reason she was named for her grandmother, Stephanie. There's always a tactic, always a strategy." Steffy and her brother Thomas have always dreamed of their parents Ridge (Ronn Moss) and Taylor (Hunter Tylo) reuniting. In 2009, the siblings manipulate their parents to get them back together in marriage. The storyline, inspired by The Parent Trap (1961), sees Steffy and Thomas tamper with SMS text messages between Ridge and his former love, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) to make Brooke believe that Ridge had dumped her, so she will not interrupt his reunion with Taylor. However, Brooke crashes the wedding after the marriage becomes official. Wood said that she is sometimes puzzled when reading Steffy's scripts, but connects her present storyline to the character's past. She said: "I just think back to all the things Steffy has been through. She has a lot of deep seeded [sic] issues. That is where I think it stems from with her father leaving her, losing her sister, her mom sleeping with her sister’s boyfriend, etc. There are just so many traumatic things! Explaining her reaction to Steffy killing her cousin Alexandria Forrester (Ashlyn Pearce) in self-defense, Wood stated in August 2015: "When I first heard about it, I was in major shock, of course. Then I started thinking about how everything bad happens to Steffy and that it makes sense that she's a murderer now. It's kind of perfect, really." A big storyline occurred for the character in 2008, when Phoebe is killed after the car her boyfriend Rick Forrester (Kyle Lowder) was driving crashes. Her death left Steffy "despondent and nearly suicidal". Wood recalled filming the storyline as being tough: "Being a newbie, I was up most of the night trying to memorize all those monologues." Speaking of emotional scenes where Steffy visited her sister's body in the morgue, the actress noted "She was so tiny and innocent, and to see this beautiful young girl in the morgue, I had to keep my emotions in check. It was challenging. It was such a sad story." Months later, Steffy becomes romantically involved with Rick, who was also previously in a relationship with her mother, Taylor. Reflecting on her initial reaction to the storyline, Wood revealed "Sometimes when you read a script, you're like, 'How am I going [to] do this? How is Steffy going to fall in love with Rick after he had sex with her sister and their mom?'" She also noted that "I had to play that my fraternal twin is gone, and maybe I am doing this to live her life as well as have fun. She had to fill that void, and she could not talk to anyone. She lost a part of herself. I have to stress that to the viewers." Wood was "completely shocked" with the speed at which the couple were moving, and said that the romance happened through Phoebe's death because of Steffy's raw feelings. However, she still felt that Steffy was in love with Rick and wanted to give herself to him. Lowder said the couple came together at the "height of their emotions when Phoebe died". While describing the romance as "complete honesty and no games", Wood said Steffy felt if she was close to Rick she could be close to Phoebe. From 2010 to 2013, Steffy competes with her arch-rival Hope Logan (Kimberly Matula) for Liam Spencer's (Scott Clifton) affections. Steffy had previously pined for Hope's first love, Oliver (Zack Conroy). The Hope/Steffy rivalry follows in the tradition of the animosity between Taylor and Hope's mother Brooke, who fight over Ridge in a love triangle that spans three decades. The show's head writer Bradley Bell said, "Hope's presence at Forrester Creations, as well as in Brooke and Ridge's home, sparks an intense competition between Hope and her step-sister Steffy as well as creates new conflict between long- time rivals Brooke and Taylor as each woman is determined to protect her own daughter." Wood has stated that Steffy refuses to give Liam up because of everything she has been through and lost. She said, "It’s hard for her to say goodbye and hard for her to leave ... She wants somebody there but she is very broken inside." After years of uncertainty, in which Liam is involved with Hope and Steffy, married to Steffy twice, never legally married to Hope, Steffy becomes pregnant with his child in 2013. Wood was shocked, and said that Steffy is a "wild child" who likes to go to nightclubs and ride motorcycles, but "everything just stops" with her pregnancy. Initially, Steffy does not tell Liam about the baby because she sees him in bed with Hope, and leaves for Paris. Liam discovers the truth and he marries Steffy at the Forrester Mansion. Just before discovering Steffy is carrying his child, Liam nearly marries Hope in a "room service elopement" scheme arranged by Brooke; an ambush that was described as "evil" by Daytime Confidential. Wood felt that Steffy is more mature and level-headed as a result of her pregnancy. Steffy later loses the child in a motorbike accident, and becomes unconscious. The miscarriage leaves Steffy devastated and she decides to leave town, ending her marriage to Liam. Wood noted that "Steffy was so set on she really messed this up" and noticed that Liam still had feelings for Hope. Speaking of the miscarriage and the end of Liam and Steffy's marriage, Wood explained: "She is obviously trying a reason to get out of it. In her heart and soul, she wants to be with him. She felt he was her soulmate, but with everything that has happened, she feels it was her fault and she can't change that. She should never have gotten on that motorcycle and he told her not to. There have been so many things that happened that it opens her eyes to the possibility that maybe he should be with Hope." Upon Steffy's brief return to the show in 2015, she realizes that she still loves Liam, despite believing that these feelings were gone. Wood explained "They lost a child together, so they’ll always have that emotional connection." Despite liking the fact that Steffy "speaks up" and "fights for love", Wood said that she wanted "to see someone come in and sweep her off her feet and take that pain away", not wanting her to fight for "a man that flip flops". However, Liam is involved with Steffy's cousin Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer) and Steffy does not win him back. Wood noted that "in Steffy's mind, Ivy is just some new woman in town and Liam is fair game. He and Ivy have no history." Eventually Liam breaks up with Ivy and after Steffy's marriage to Wyatt breaks down, Steffy and Liam rekindle their love and romance and they marry each other again for the third time. Following the birth of their first child, Thomas Forrester, Dr. Taylor Forrestermarried to Ridgebecomes pregnant with twins. Throughout the pregnancy, Taylor suffers with tuberculosis, although she delivers the children without medication. Steffy and Phoebe Forrester are born on September 21, 1999, as Taylor almost dies. Steffy is named after her grandmother, Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery). In February 2001, a family trip to Saint Thomaswhere Ridge and Taylor renew their vowsends in devastation when two- year-old Steffy supposedly falls overboard during a storm and is presumed dead. However, Steffy has been kidnapped by Ridge's unstable ex-girlfriend Morgan DeWitt (Sarah Buxton)who was previously obsessed with having a child with him and Steffy is confined her to the walls of Morgan's home. Months after Steffy's supposed death, Taylor visits Morgan and discovers that Steffy is alive. Morgan then takes Taylor and Steffy hostage, but they are saved by Ridge. Morgan tries to flee but is arrested. The next year, Taylor is supposedly killed after being shot by another unstable resident, Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown), while trying to save Ridge's former love Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) from being shot. Much to Thomas, Phoebe and Steffy's dismay, Ridge marries Brooke months later. The children have difficulty accepting Brooke as their stepmother. In 2005, Taylor is found alive and she returns to her marriage to Ridge, having missed much of Steffy's childhood. In 2006, Steffy leaves town for boarding school in England after Taylor and Ridge divorce. In 2008, a graduated Steffy returns to Los Angeles and begins working for the family fashion house, Forrester Creations. She briefly dates Marcus Walton (Texas Battle), and discovers that he is the son of Brooke's sister, Donna Logan (Jennifer Gareis). Phoebe is killed in a car accident after the car she was driving with her boyfriend Rick swerves off the road. Steffy mourns the loss of Phoebe and begins a romance with Rick to feel closer to Phoebe. Her family are horrified and eventually break up the relationship. When businessman Bill Spencer, Jr. (Don Diamont) takes over Forrester Creations, Steffy attempts to seduce him, (who is married to Katie Logan (Heather Tom), (Brooke's sister) in order to win the company back for the Forresters in February 2010, ensuring that the Logan sisters have been excluded as owners. Steffy takes an interest in Oliver (Zack Conroy)who is dating Brooke's daughter, Hope Logan (Kimberly Matula), but Oliver rejects her. At a pool party, Brooke has sex with Oliver, believing he was Ridge and he believing she was Hope. At Hope's graduation party, a tape supposedly narrated by Steffy appears to expose this scandal. After Ridge consequently fires Steffy from Forrester Creations, Taylor compensates by signing over her 25% shares to Steffy. However, it is soon revealed that Steffy's narration was manipulated by computer expert Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), who is Bill's son. Steffy forgives Liam and later develops feelings for him, but he begins a romance with Hope who will not have sex with him until marriage. Steffy travels to Paris for an extended business trip. In 2011, Steffy returns from Paris and seeks a relationship with Bill. When Bill nearly drives Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) to her death at a cliff, Steffywho saves Amberkeeps this a secret. Katie demands Bill to see a therapist (Taylor). He later has an emotional affair with Steffy and vows to leave Katie for her, which ends when Katie has a heart attack after learning of it. Steffy slips in her bathtub, nearly drowning herself, but she is saved by Liam, now Hope's fiancé. This reignites her feelings for him. While Hope neglects Liam emotionally during their wedding preparations, Steffy is there for him. Hope watches Steffy and Liam kissing, and dumps him. Liam instantly proposes to Steffy; they travel to Aspen, Colorado days later and marry, despite Hope trying to stop the wedding. Liam, however, cannot choose between Hope and Steffy, ultimately deciding to be with Hope after finding out that Bill had manipulated him into staying with Steffy. Liam files for divorce in 2012, but still in love with him, Steffy refuses to sign the papers. She eventually signs the papers, freeing Liam to marry Hope. However, Liam still has feelings for Steffy, prompting him to tear up the annulment papers and kiss her. Despite this, Liam and Steffy eventually divorce. Shortly thereafter, Liam believes Hope has left him on their wedding day in Italy. He declares his love for Steffy, but Hope soon tells him of the misunderstanding. Liam and Hope unofficially marry in Italy only to realize the marriage is invalid. Before Hope and Liam's official legal wedding in the United States, Steffy spends a night on the town with Liam. Hope finds out and leaves Liam. Steffy and Liam are reunited, and she soon finds she is pregnant in early 2013. However, she keeps it to herself when she sees Hope and Liam kissing. Liam finds out about the pregnancy and recommits himself to Steffy, but shortly after their wedding she who loses the baby in a motorbike accident. Steffy then learns that her accident has left her infertile. Devastated, Steffy decides to divorce Liam and relocate to Paris. She returns to Los Angeles several months later for a brief visit, informing Liam that her infertility issues have been corrected, hoping that it could mean a second chance for them. Despite this, Liam insists that he is obligated to Hope, and Steffy leaves town again. After another short visit to Los Angeles in February 2015, Steffy returns months later to help Ridge take over Forrester Creations by overthrowing Rick. She becomes president of the company and rekindles her romance with Liam, ending his relationship with her cousin, Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer). Steffy's cousin, Aly (Ashlyn Pearce), resents Steffy, attributed to the fact that Taylor had accidentally killed her mother, Darla (Schae Harrison), years ago in car accident. An unstable Aly attempts to kill Steffy on PCH, resulting in Steffy killing Aly with a tire iron in self- defense. However, Ivy recorded a video of the accident on her phone, not seeing the rock Steffy killed Aly with. Ivy gets involved with Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks) and Ivy blackmails Steffy with the video, calling the accident a murder. Ivy decides to delete the video after Steffy tries to convince Wyatt to delete it. Thomas tells Steffy that he made out with Ivy while Wyatt was on a business trip. Steffy confronts Ivy and convinces her to tell Wyatt but tells Wyatt before Ivy has a chance. Wyatt breaks up with her and Ivy is angry at Steffy and confronts her in front of a broken electrical panel, resulting in an altercation in which Ivy gets electrocuted. Ivy survives and files a restraining order against Steffy while Wyatt resumes his relationship with Ivy. Ivy realized she never got over Liam and convinces Liam to give them another chance if she drops the restraining order. Quinn overhears Ivy telling Liam she loves him and exposes this in front of Steffy and Liam while Wyatt is proposing to Ivy. Wyatt breaks up with Ivy and she packs her bags for Australia. On top of the staircase, Steffy confronts Ivy and she tumbles down. Liam is angry at Steffy and breaks up with her. Liam hits his head on the plane with Ivy, while Wyatt comforts Steffy. Liam disappears (he was really kidnapped by Quinn after having passed out due to concussion symptoms he acquired by hitting his head while on a plane and passing out in the parking lot of Forrester Creations and losing his memory as a result) and Wyatt tells her that Liam must have once again let her down. He shows her how to have fun by surfing on the beach and even buys her a motorcycle, which she hasn't driven since her miscarriage. The two fall in love and eventually get married on the beach. Steffy's marriage to Wyatt eventually breaks down due to their differing opinions about Quinn and they separate while Steffy contemplates divorcing Wyatt. She eventually rekindles her love and relationship with Liam, Liam proposes to Steffy and she accepts, and after Steffy's divorce from Wyatt was finalized, Steffy & Liam got married in Sydney; Australia. Their marriage is going swell until Bill decides to burn down the Spectra building, to build a skyscraper in its place. Unbeknownst to Bill, Liam and his new friend, Sally Spectra, were still in the building. Liam and Sally shared a kiss, thinking they were going to die. Steffy has been empathetic towards Bill after everyone turned against him. Liam decides to be honest and tells Steffy, upsetting her. Steffy leaves for the guest house, where Bill accompanies her, only to comfort and seduce her. Afterwards Steffy and Bill have sex. Steffy realizes she's pregnant and has a paternity test to find out Liam's the father. Liam is thrilled to find out the news but discovers the paternity test laying around. Steffy explains what happens and Liam is infuriated with both Bill and Steffy. He tries to divorces her, but tells Steffy he’ll be around for the baby. Steffy's arch rival Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) returns to L.A and confronts her about her affair with Bill. Hope helps Steffy to try to win Liam back by being a confidant to him and her. Throughout her pregnancy Steffy tries to win Liam back and not have him divorce her. Also Steffy deals with Bill meddling in Liam and her's marriage. Hope and Steffy's rivalry ignites again when Hope starts to fall in love with Liam again, and tries to get him to leave STeffy. Liam decides to give Steffy a second chance by sending her white roses and a note as a sign of forgiveness. However Liam divorces Steffy when Wyatt tells him that Steffy and Bill are still having an affair, unaware that Bill manipulated Wyatt into thinking Steffy betrayed Liam again. When Bill visits Steffy, he tries to convince her that they belonged together, but Steffy demands Bill to leave. After Steffy slams the door on Bill, she falls and goes into labor. Steffy gives birth to a girl whom she named after Liam’s late mother and is engaged to Liam. However despite being the mother of his child and emotionally invested in him, she calls off their engagement when she catches Hope and Liam kissing backstage at Forester, and almost marries Bill when he propositioned her to marry him. Steffy realizes her worth, and ultimately chooses herself. Bill as a sign of good gesture, signs over his 12% of FC to Steffy. Afterwards Steffy returns to Forrester to announce that she is the now a majority shareholder of FC. When Liam arrives at Forester's Steffy tells him that she did not marry Bill, but she will not be with Liam because of Steffy realizing that Liam will never choose between her and Hope and she's decided to focus on her daughter, Kelly and work. She will not repeat the cycle that her mother did with Ridge and Brooke. Steffy gives Hope her blessing to marry Liam as she wants him to be happy, and wants to set an example to Kelly. Steffy invites her mother, Taylor, to move in with her despite Hope's wishes for her to leave town after finding out she allegedly shot Bill Spencer. Steffy tries to convince Hope that Taylor would never hurt their daughters. Hope decides she doesn't want her baby to grow up with her sister Kelly if Taylor is part of the family. Steffy decides to adopt a baby so Kelly can have a sibling close in age just like she did before Phoebe died. Steffy unknowingly adopts Hope's baby, Beth, after Dr. Buckingham switched her with a stillborn to pay off a gambling debt. Steffy names the baby girl Phoebe in honor of her sister. Steffy and Liam decide it would be good for Phoebe to grow up with Liam as a father figure. When Steffy's nephew Douglas visits, he tells her, Liam and Hope that Phoebe is Beth (Hope and Liam's daughter) and that he heard his dad, Thomas say that Beth was alive. Steffy and Hope thinks that Douglas is confused, but Liam would not let it go. Steffy tells Liam that Beth is gone and that her baby is Phoebe. After Steffy returns with Kelly from a doctors appointment, Liam and Hope break the news to her that Flo, who was the supposed birth mother confessed that Phoebe is Beth and that she is not the birth mother. Also they fill Steffy in on Dr Buckingham switching Beth with a stillborn baby, and that he sold Beth to Steffy because of his gambling debt. However Liam and Hope tells Steffy that Taylor was not involved in the illegal adoption, and that she wanted to give Steffy a daughter by paying Reese a lot of money. Unaware that Taylor gave Reese the money for his gambling debt. Liam reveals who knows about Beth being alive including Thomas. Steffy at first refuses to give up Beth because she had bonded with her and loves her, but after realizing that Beth is Hopes daughter (even though there is no proof) and that Hope never got the chance to be Beth's mother, Steffy gives Beth back to Hope. After Liam, Brooke, and Hope leave with Beth, Steffy collapses in Ridges arms crying over the loss of Phoebe. Shortly thereafter, Steffy hears that Thomas was in the hospital due to being pushed off the edge of her cliff house by Brooke. Steffy then confronts Thomas at the hospital. Steffy informs Thomas that she will never forgive him and will never see Kelly, or her ever again. Wood's performance of Steffy has received acclaim, and she has become a fan favorite. On-Air On-Soaps said Wood had the "unique challenge" of making the despised character into a more complex and well-rounded one, who fans were rooting for, while also praising her as "one of the hardest working younger actresses in daytime today". Writing for Canyon News in July 2009, Tommy Garrett applauded Wood for making the role "believable" and noted that fans have "readily accepted her as the surviving twin of Ridge and Taylor's", saying: "Stepping into a role that has been played by more than one actress would be a very daunting task for a lesser actress. But Jacqueline has embraced the role and made it her own." Garrett enjoys Wood playing a story in which she is "shocked to learn things". While criticizing the material written for the character as being "often repetitive and silly", Sara Bibel of Xfinity opined in June 2012 that Wood is a "charismatic actress" who rises above the script to "deliver consistently interesting performances". In July 2012, Soaps In Depth commended Wood's performance, observing that "While her sexiness is a given, Wood has a way of bringing a cool, copacetic attitude to her scenes", while praising her ability to infuse "both melancholy and mirth" in her performance. In March 2015, Michael Logan of TV Insider called Steffy "that maddeningly complicated sexbomb". Canyon News called Rick and Steffy's relationship "tumultuous" and a "fun ride" for viewers. When Steffy began pursuing Bill Spencer, Jr. in 2011, despite his marriage to Katie Logan, Jemmah Kelly of TV Soap remarked: "Whoever coined the phrase 'there ain't no rest for the wicked', must have had The Bold and the Beautiful's Steffy Forrester in mind", writing that "nothing is off limits for this scheming beauty". When Steffy became pregnant in 2013, Garrett said that while he "loved seeing Jacquie play a vixen, it's equally a fascinating and entertaining watching her as a heroine". He noted that Steffy still had "that edge", and Wood is a "creative genius, an actress who just seems to get better with time". Regan Cellura of Daytime Confidential criticized the motorcycle crash plot in which Steffy miscarries her baby, writing "I'm sorry, but whose idea was it for a pregnant lady to ride a motorcycle?" and "I can't even muster up a little snark other than I can't stand baby killers". Daytime Confidential hailed the rivalry between Hope and Steffy as the show's "Next Generation" version of Brooke and Taylor. Prior to the introduction of Liam, TV Soap wrote: "After 23 years of being the main love triangle on The Bold and The Beautiful, it looks like the Brooke/Ridge/Taylor saga is being pushed into the background by three new players – Steffy, Oliver and Hope", and noted that "diehard" fans of the show had begun recognizing the trio of Steffy, Oliver and Hope as "the new Brooke, Ridge and Taylor". TV Week called Steffy, Liam and Hope "one of Bolds classic love triangles". However, Michael Logan, writing for TV Guide, observed in 2012 that the trio's saga was "heavily" played and had "taken over the show". In February 2013, "#Steffy" became a trending topic on Twitter during the scene where Steffy stopped Hope and Liam's impromptu wedding to reveal her pregnancy. Wood's performance earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2012 and 2013. For the 2012 Daytime Emmy Awards, Wood submitted the scenes in which Steffy is informed of the end of her affair with Bill. A 2013 Daytime Confidential poll entitled "Who should win Outstanding Younger Actress?" saw Wood rank ahead of fellow daytime actresses Hunter King (The Young and the Restless), Kristen Alderson and Lindsey Morgan (General Hospital), with readers favoring her as the likely winner of the award. For the 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards, Wood submitted the scenes where Steffy surprises Liam by presenting him with signed annulment papers. Michael Logan listed Wood as his predicted winner in the Outstanding Younger Actress category for that year, writing: "Wood is startlingly versatile and in supreme command as Steffy hands over the signed annulment papers to her husband Liam. There are surprises galore, including a wondrously off-key, Bob Hope-inspired rendition of "Thanks for the Memory," and Wood is at once raw, goofy, sexy. luminous, profound and so very memorable. I may be fairly crummy at my Emmy predictions but this I'm dead certain about: Wood is going to be a major star." Steffy Forrester at SoapCentral.com, The Bold and The Beautiful – Steffy Forrester Wyatt Spencer is a fictional character from the original CBS Daytime soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful, portrayed by Darin Brooks. Created and introduced by executive producer Bradley Bell in 2013, Wyatt is the previously unknown oldest son of Bill Spencer, Jr. (Don Diamont) and Quinn Fuller (Rena Sofer). In addition to expanding the Spencer family, Wyatt immediately becomes a rival for his half-brother, Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), for their father's affections and the affections of Liam's longtime love, Hope Logan (Kim Matula). Wyatt is raised by his single mother, Quinn, and becomes accustomed to doing anything to survive. However, it is his relationship with Hope that helps him change for the better. Despite Wyatt trying to live the best life he can, those around him, specifically Liam, consistently throw his past in his face and accuse him of being bad for Hope and bad for businesses. Wyatt and Liam's rivalry continues when he gets involved with Liam's exes, Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer) and Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), and he also gets involved with his father's ex-wife, Katie Logan (Heather Tom). On May 15, 2013, Michael Logan of TV Guide exclusively announced that Darin Brooks, known for his Emmy winning portrayal of Max Brady on Days of Our Lives had joined the cast in the newly created role of Wyatt. Brooks filmed his first scenes on May 8, 2013, with his first airdate slated for June 21. Ironically, Brooks's first airdate coincided with the anniversary of his first appearance on Days of our Lives. Brooks revealed told Soap Opera Digest about how he got the job. "It happened super-quick," said Brooks of his casting. He continued, "On Monday, my manager called and said, 'We've got a chemistry test for BOLD.' On Wednesday, I went in, met people; it was great. They called afterward and asked me to come back on Friday to chemistry read with somebody else. I went in and did that, and by about noon on Friday, they were like, 'Okay, let's do this." Brooks also revealed that he was in talks to reprise his role of Max on Days of our Lives but said, "the timing just didn't work out." However, when it comes to Bold, Brooks said, "The opportunity presented itself." Brooks also met with executive producer, Brad Bell before, and previously worked with supervising producer, Ed Scott during his tenure at Days. Brooks tested opposite Kim Matula who played Hope, for his first chemistry read. The second test was with Scott Clifton, who played Liam. A representative for the series described Wyatt as "clever and mysterious." Wyatt is the kind of man "who will stand up for himself" Brooks revealed. "He's a badass" Brooks stated to TV Guide. "He's a take-charge, powerful kind of guy," Brooks said of the character in an interview with CBS Soaps In Depth. "He's strong, he stubborn, and he's ready for anything," Brooks continued. Brooks also described Wyatt as a "charmer." According to Brooks, it is Wyatt's charming personality that makes his such a good business man. However, Wyatt's has a "dangerous charm." In an interview with On-Air On-Soaps, Brooks said, " Wyatt is the type of guy who goes after what he feels, and he doesn’t care!" In this way, he is very much like his father, Bill Spencer (Don Diamont). Wyatt has that "bad boy-ness" in him. According to Brooks, Wyatt can also be a "nice good-natured guy." When compared to the heroic Max on Days, Brooks described Wyatt as being "more of a playboy." Wyatt is a very "strong stubborn character," and he is willing to "take on any challenge -- or he'll at least try to." Brooks compared the character to many of Jack Nicholson's role where he plays a villain, but "he's so likeable. You hate him, but you love him." The character's introduction came on the heels of the announcement that Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who played Steffy Forrester had decided not to renew her contract and would depart from the series (she later agreed to sign on recurringly). Wood's departure would take away from the show's major romantic triangle featuring the characters of Hope (Kim Matula), Liam (Scott Clifton) and Steffy. Brooks had quite a few meetings with Brad Bell before he booked the role of Wyatt which led the actor to believe that the producers were trying to figure out "how and where" to fit the character into the canvas. Bell told Brooks that they would figure out the character as the storyline unfolded. Brooks himself suggested that Wyatt be a bit of "bad boy," and Bell "took it and ran with it." Bell crafted a back-story for the character and presented it to Brooks. Brooks said of the character's introduction, "We are sort of piecing it all together as it is unraveling." "As the story unfolds, he moves into that whole fashion-industry world and you'll find out his connection to everything" Brooks said to Michael Logan. Just five days after it was announced that Brooks had joined the cast, it was also announced that Rena Sofer, known for her portrayal of Lois Cerullo on General Hospital was cast in the role of Wyatt's mother, Quinn Fuller. According to Brooks, Wyatt's world is "rocked" by the revelation of his paternity. At the time, Wyatt has just "poured his heart and soul into pursuing Hope," only for her to reject him for Liam. What hurts the most is that Quinn lied to him about his father. Wyatt views the situation as "We've been struggling as hard as we can to get our jewelry business off the ground and you've been keeping a billionaire from my life? This is crazy!" He sees the revelation as a potentially good thing. However, when Wyatt learns that Bill gave Quinn money to get an abortion, "He's torn between his lying mother and a father who didn't want him in the first place." Had these secrets come out over a period of time, Wyatt may have been able to take them in stride, but because everything comes out at once, Wyatt is left feeling like, "Nobody wants me. My parents are heartless liars. I'm related to a wishy-washy guy, and my girl doesn't want me." Though Wyatt initially comes off as a nice guy, Wyatt's reaction to being Bill's son "keeps people guessing what is he going to do next?" Though Wyatt is able to overlook Bill not wanting him, he clashes with Bill again when after learning he has "abandoned" his youngest son Will with estranged wife, Katie Logan (Heather Tom). According to Brooks, "Wyatt is disappointed to see his new family already coming apart." Wyatt may have gotten "overly excited" about the idea of a family. And because he sees so much of himself in Bill, it scares him to see what Bill is doing to his other family. Though Bill puts distance between himself and his son for Wyatt's judgement. Of the storyline, Brooks said that Wyatt experiences so many emotions that he doesn't know how to react "so he is lashing out." Brooks said, " Wyatt has always wanted love from his father, and he feels after all this lost time, he wants to prove himself and be loved." Wyatt immediately becomes a rival for his brother, Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) for the affections of Hope Logan (Kim Matula). Brooks said Wyatt's introduction sends Liam "reeling with the realization that Hope's heart, may not, in fact, be perpetually on hold for him!" Wyatt does not shy away from the challenge of battling Liam for Hope's affection. Of Wyatt's competitive nature with his brother Liam, Brooks said, "[Wyatt] has always wanted a love from a brother, but he finds it fun competition for him right now in trying to get the girl! So it’s kind of power and love at the same time." According to Brooks, challenging Liam is Wyatt's attempt at testing the "boundaries" to "see if Liam is a worthy adversary." Wyatt relishes in "getting under Liam's skin," Brooks said of Wyatt convincing Hope to accompany him to Mexico. Besides Hope, Bill seeing so much of himself in Wyatt, also causes tension between the brothers. While Bill considers some of Liam's behavior to be "un- Spencer like," but when he meets Wyatt, according to Don Diamont, Bill thinks, "Hey, look at this kid, he's great! Built in my own image!" Hope and Wyatt's business relationship serves as a catalyst to advance their personal relationship and Liam is very much threatened. Wyatt enjoys to pulling Liam's strings and "[giving] him a run for his money." According to Brooks, Wyatt continues "turning the knife," in an effort to get a reaction from Liam. Brooks said, that there would always be "some kind of sibling rivalry between [Wyatt and Liam] and fighting for someone's affection, whether it's their dad's affection or Hope's affection." Though they are both generally nice guys, Liam's at times comes off as a pushover and "Wyatt's hoping that [Liam] does step up to make it a challenge." With tensions high after the paternity revelation, Wyatt thinks he can help Liam by showing him some "tough love" and forcing him to be a "stronger person." In a joint interview with Soap Opera Digest, Brooks and Clifton discussed Wyatt and Liam's dynamic as the feuding brothers. According to Brooks, regardless of any kind of "animosity and jealousy" between the brothers, there is an "underlying love that anybody would have if they were an only sibling and now they have somebody." When asked to describe the relationship, Clifton said jokingly, "Liam no like Wyatt." He continued, "I would say layered, dialectical, and in some ways paradoxical." Brooks said, "Obviously competitive, jealous, but there's also a huge need for a brother's love that they've never had, for both of them." Wyatt is immediately "smitten" with Hope explained Brooks. Wyatt has no problem challenging Liam for Hope's affections nor is he put off by her complicated romantic past. Hope initially rejects Wyatt's advances because she is engaged to Liam, but she enjoys the fact that he only has eyes for her, while Liam is consistently torn between her and her stepsister, Steffy Forrester. Later, Kim Matula commented that Hope is "super intrigued by this Wyatt guy," so the moment she finds an out with Liam, she takes it. The partnership between Forrester Creations and Quinn Artisan forces the duo to spend more time together and allows them to get closer. According to Brooks, Wyatt legitimately adores Hope. The actor revealed that he intentionally tried to portray the best in Wyatt when he is with Hope. Hope is the only person besides his mother that Wyatt seems to be completely "genuine" with. Despite claiming he doesn't have an ulterior motive, Wyatt views their business trip to Mexico to see the Hope Diamond as his chance to finally win Hope's affections. The diamond is a "Romancing the Stone-type of thing, where [Hope and Wyatt] go off to a foreign land in search of this diamond. It's sexy and it's Latin and it's great," Brooks said of the duo's Mexican adventure. Hope sees the mysterious Wyatt taking a solar shower, and takes his picture. However, he catches her and a chase ensues which leads to her falling and hitting her head. Wyatt is immediately taken with Hope even going so far as to kiss her to wake her up. Wyatt finds Hope's cell phone and returns it to her in Los Angeles where she invites him to accompany her to a 4 July party. Hope's estranged ex, Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) is unsettled when he finds them together at the party. They share another kiss as Hope spots his sword necklace, which is identical to Liam and his father, Bill (Don Diamont)'s. Thanks to Hope's machinations, Wyatt discovers that Bill is his long lost father and that his mother, Quinn (Rena Sofer) actually designed the original sword necklace. Angry about Quinn's lies, Wyatt moves in with Liam and Bill. However, Wyatt continues pursuing Hope and kisses her again which leads to Liam hitting him. Liam wants to put Wyatt out of the house, but Bill convinces them to try and work through there differences. But when Wyatt berates Bill about abandoning his wife, Katie (Heather Tom) and youngest son, Will, after his affair with Katie's sister and Hope's mother, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), Bill kicks him out of the house anyway. Wyatt reconciles with Quinn and moves back in with her. However, Brooke comes to Bill's defense and explains the extenuating circumstances allowing Wyatt to soften toward Bill. However, Hope decides to use Quinn Artisan as the jewelry designer to tie to her fashion line, Hope For the Future and Wyatt continues pursuing Hope. Liam feels threatened and tries to convince Hope to cancel the deal, but Hope decides against it. In October 2013 at Quinn's encouragement, Wyatt takes Hope to Mexico to see the Hope Diamond as he plans to integrate the diamond into the jewelry line. Wyatt tries to get Hope to leave Liam, and be with him, but she refuses. Hope calls off her engagement to Liam after she receives an e-mail with Liam's romantic video of his life with Steffy. Quinn admits to sending the video, and Wyatt eventually comes clean about his mother's interference, and she forgives him for keeping the secret. To impress Hope, Wyatt stages a jewelry heist and manages to disarm actual jewel thieves. Liam convinces Hope that they should get married and pressures her into severing all ties with Wyatt. Abiding by Hope's wishes, Wyatt says goodbye to Hope on her the day of her wedding to Liam as he plans to go to Hawaii. He is however shocked when Hope leaves Liam at the altar after seeing him with Steffy again and travels to Hawaii with him. Liam follows soon after and reveals that Quinn set them up and convinced Steffy to return from Paris after finding out that she can now conceive again but Hope decided to start a relationship with Wyatt putting Liam in her past. However, their happiness is short lived when Liam reveals that Wyatt took the Hope Diamond and it almost ends their relationship but Hope forgave Wyatt and they reunite. Hope then has a pregnancy scare and after months of exclusively dating Wyatt, Liam persuaded Hope to share equal time and make a final decision on who she wants to be with. Wyatt reluctantly agrees. When Ridge goes missing in Abu Dhabi, everyone starts blaming Quinn for it because she send Ridge a selfie email of her and Bill. During a heated argument between Liam and Quinn at Forrester, he calls her a manipulative bitch, Wyatt enters and punches Liam for calling his mother that. Hope realises what happened and becomes upset at Wyatt for punching Liam and leaves with Liam. She feels guilty for bringing Quinn and Wyatt into the company, so she chooses to be with Liam and they kiss. Liam later proposes to Hope, who accepts. Wyatt and Quinn are fired, but later Deacon and Wyatt learn of Quinn's plan to murder Liam. Wyatt saves his brother, and Quinn decides to check herself into a mental health facility, while Liam decides not to press charges. Liam and Wyatt decide to have a brotherly relationship, and at his urging, Hope rehires Wyatt, who will be working with the newly arrived Ivy Forrester. But then, Wyatt learns Ricardo Montemayor died and willed the Hope for the Future Diamond to him. Shocked but saddened by Ricardo's demise, Wyatt uses this opportunity to win Hope back by gifting her with the diamond. He then throws a big press conference, announcing Ricardo's death and his will, and gifts the diamond publicly to Hope, who accepts, much to Liam's chagrin. Wyatt soon learns his mother is back in LA and keeps it a secret. Quinn tells Wyatt she is better and is an outpatient. He warns her to stay away from Liam, and not involve herself in his love life. Soon, Wyatt gets a call from the Mexican police saying they want to interview him about Ricardo's death. Wyatt asks his mom if she killed Ricardo, but she denies it. Later, Wyatt, Rick and Hope all travel to Paris for a photoshoot promoting the diamond. Hope tells Wyatt that Liam will meet her in Paris to marry her after the photoshoot and she will be forced to return the diamond. Wyatt tries to convince her to dump Liam and come back to him, to no avail. Wyatt tells his mother about his troubles, and warns her to stay away from Liam. However, unknown to him, Quinn follows Ivy and Liam to Paris and sabotages Liam's plans to marry Hope by pushing Ivy into the River Seine, forcing Liam to save her. Hope believes Liam decided not to show up, since they argued about Wyatt and the diamond before the photoshoot. Devastated, she accompanies Wyatt on the Spencer jet to Monte Carlo to be on Bill's yacht. Wyatt tells her that Liam has always failed her, but he never will. He then proposes to Hope on the yacht with the HFTF diamond. Hope, realizing that Wyatt is the man she has really wanted all along and that Liam was just a fantasy for her, marries him on the yacht. Liam later finds out from Bill, and is devastated. Hope finds out about Quinn pushing Ivy into the Seine which resulted in Liam being late to meet her. Hope almost ends the marriage to reunite with Liam but finds out she is pregnant with Wyatt's baby. Hope then demands that Wyatt keep Quinn away from her and the baby in future but during a confrontation with Quinn, Hope falls down the steps at the Logan Mansion and has a miscarriage. Blaming Wyatt for not keeping his mother away from her, Hope leaves LA to join her mother in Milan, Italy. Wyatt follows Hope and off screen tries to reconcile with his wife. However, after a period of time Wyatt returns to LA and files for divorce, mutually ending the marriage. Wyatt returns to work at Forrester Creations but after a confrontation with the CEO who is also his former brother in-law, Rick Forrester, Wyatt briefly resigns only to get his job back at Bill and Liam's demand, who are trying to get Rick out of the company and take it over. Wyatt than has a brief relationship with Nicole Avant, who is the younger sister of Maya Avant. The relationship ends when Nicole finds out that Wyatt was only using her to find out what Maya's secret was in order to get her boyfriend, Rick out as CEO. Wyatt than has an attraction toward Steffy Forrester, Liam's ex-wife and they kiss. However nothing comes of it when it is clear that Steffy isn't over Liam. Eventually, Liam chooses Steffy over Ivy, and Ivy and Wyatt enter into a relationship on the rebound, sleeping together and having strong feelings. But Ivy ultimately cheats on Wyatt, kissing Thomas. Wyatt decides to forgive her, but later overhears her admit that she still loves Liam. Wyatt breaks up with her, and she unsuccessfully tries to get back with Liam, only to be rejected and returns to Australia. Later, Liam disappears (he was really kidnapped by Quinn and lost his memory), and Wyatt comforts Steffy, telling her that Liam must have once again let her down. He shows her how to have fun by surfing on the beach and even buys her a motorcycle, which she hasn't driven since her miscarriage. The two fall in love and eventually get married on the beach. The two then get matching wedding band tattoos to symbolise their love for each other. Wyatt began making Steffy the face of Spencer Publications' social media, and promised her that Quinn would no longer be a problem for them. However, Wyatt soon discovers that Quinn had begun an affair with Steffy's grandfather, Eric Forrester. Quinn and Eric were married in September 2016, and Wyatt stood by Steffy and the rest of the Forrester family in boycotting the wedding. Wyatt supports Quinn when she is appointed interim CEO while Eric recovers from a brain aneurysm, caused by an argument he was having with his family over the wedding boycott. During this time, Ridge and Steffy lied to Quinn and the rest if the Forrester family by claiming that Ridge had Eric's power of attorney, when in fact Quinn had it. Ridge's attempt to regain control of Forrester Creations failed and Wyatt told Quinn about Steffy and Ridge's lie. When Steffy finds out that Wyatt had betrayed her trust and that their marriage was based on the lie of Liam's disappearance, Steffy filed for divorce, and returned to Liam. A few weeks before the divorce was due to be finalised, Quinn suggested to Eric that Steffy should be made CEO of Forrester Creations, to which he agrees. Wyatt and Steffy realise that this was part of Quinn's scheme to reunite them, and Wyatt agreed to fast-track the divorce as a result. Wyatt and Steffy both have their wedding band tattoos removed after the finalisation of the divorce, and Wyatt leaves his position at Forrester Creations to return to Spencer Publications. Wyatt did not attend Steffy and Liam's wedding in Australia. When Katie stepped in Wyatt's old PR position at Forrester Creations, Wyatt decided to help her and together they created a fashion event focusing on swimwear to be held during the Forrester/Spectra fashion duel in Monte Carlo. Excited over the success of the show, Katie and Wyatt kissed repeatedly, but Katie was dubious about exploring things with him because of their connections to Bill and Quinn. Katie and Wyatt decided to keep their newfound relationship a secret and to have a no-strings attached relationship. Over time, Katie and Wyatt's relationship is discovered by Eric, Quinn, Brooke, Ridge and Liam. When Wyatt saw Katie kissing Thorne Forrester (Ingo Rademacher), he broke off their no-strings attached relationship and let Katie go. In the time of their separation, Wyatt understood his true feelings for Katie and he proposed to her. Wyatt and Katie got engaged and they prepared themselves to tell the truth to Bill. Bill reacts with anger to the news, threatening Wyatt and Katie to break off the engagement or else he will remove all of Wyatt's family privileges as well as sue for full custody of Will, believing no judge would side with them since Wyatt is engaged to his half-brother's mother. "The Bold and the Beautiful just added a little more star power to its cast" said Daytime Confidential in response to the casting announcement. "Liam is gonna crap" said Michael Logan in response to the character coming in between Liam and Hope. Michael Fairman said "Wowza!" in response to the casting and applauded the series for "finally" expanding the triangle. "Well, it’s about freaking time!" said Kambra Clifford in response to the decision to give Hope a love interest besides Liam. According to Brooks, the reaction to Wyatt on social media was initially very mixed. However, his co-star Scott Clifton said the support for Wyatt was very overwhelming due to Liam's checkered past with Hope. TV Source Magazine described Brooks's introduction as "memorable." Dan J. Kroll described Wyatt's first appearance as "eye-opening." Luke Kerr said the series "isn’t wasting a moment" getting Brooks to strip, in reference to Wyatt being naked in his first scene. CBS Soaps In Depth said of the character's introduction: "Most men would get slapped for going around planting unsolicited kisses on a girl who is adamantly engaged to someone else, but somehow, Wyatt manages to not only pull it off but also melt our hearts in the process." ABC Soaps In Depth listed Wyatt in their "Best & Worst of 2013" list as the "Coolest Cat." Of the character, the magazine said, "we can't help being charmed by Liam's new sibling Wyatt. Although the guy's cockiness easily could have come off as obnoxious, portrayer Darin Brooks instead had us eating out of the palm of his hand!" When asked to compare Brooks to Wyatt, Scott Clifton said much like his portrayer, Wyatt has a certain "ease" when he comes into a new environment. "They're very comfortable and it makes you very comfortable around them. Darin brings a lot of that to Wyatt. Wyatt doesn't walk around worried about how people are going to perceive him. That's a cool quality that I wish I had more of, actually." However, Clifton said "The arrogance" in Wyatt is what sets Brooks apart from his character. Michael Fairman said that Wyatt's vow to never interfere in a marriage makes him "a bit more redeemable." Michael Fairman of On-Air On-Soaps described the character of Wyatt as "defiant and confident" and said the character's introduction as a "breath of fresh air into the Liam/Hope relationship." In their "Best and Worst of 2013" list, On-Air On-Soaps listed the character of Wyatt as the "Best New Character, Male." Thomas Forrester is a fictional character from The Bold and the Beautiful, an American soap opera on the CBS network. Created and introduced by Bradley Bell, the role has been portrayed by multiple child actors. In 2004, the role was rapidly aged with actor Drew Tyler Bell, who remained in the role until 2010. That same year, Adam Gregory was in the role, and remained through his exit in 2014. The following year, Pierson Fodé was cast in the role. Fodé departed the role in September 2017; he returned for a one-month guest stint from March to April 2018. In February 2019, it was announced that Matthew Atkinson had been cast in the role; he debuted on March 15, 2019. For his portrayal of Thomas, Bell earned a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. Thomas is the son of supercouple Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss, later Thorsten Kaye) and Taylor Hayes (Hunter Tylo). He had two twin sisters, Phoebe (MacKenzie Mauzy) and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and a half-brother, R. J. Forrester (Anthony Turpel) from his father's marriage to Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang). Between 1998 and 2001, the character of Thomas was played by various child actors. From January 15, 2002 to August 4, 2003 (on a recurring basis), child actor Patrick Dorn was the first non-twin child actors duo to play Thomas. From 2004 to 2005, Drew Tyler Bell began playing Thomas on a contract. He shifted to a recurring character from 2005 to 2009, and was on contract from 2009 to 2010. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series in 2008. In 2010, it was announced that Bell had been dropped from the part, and that Adam Gregory was to take over the role. In December 2013, following Gregory's decreased screen time and removal from the opening credits, fans began to speculate that Gregory was let go from the series. Gregory and a rep for the series confirmed he was dropped to recurring to pursue other acting jobs. A rep for the series confirmed, "Adam is recurring. [...] And, he has more scenes to tape later this week." In May 2015, it was confirmed that Gregory was no longer in the role, and a casting call seeking a "handsome, tall, Caucasian man in his 20s with a great physique" to play Thomas was released. In June 2015, it was announced that Pierson Fodé would join the cast in the role of Thomas. Fodé made his debut on July 27, 2015. On September 7, 2017, Soap Opera Digest announced that Fodé would depart the role of Thomas. He last appeared on September 13, 2017. On the evening of February 16, 2018, it was announced that Fodé would reprise his portrayal of Thomas for a short-term storyline; he'll begin making appearances on March 9 until April 5, 2018. On February 11, 2019, it was announced that Matthew Atkinson had been cast in the role, and made his first appearance on March 15, 2019. Speaking on his casting, Atkinson told Soap Opera Digest: "It was actually a long time coming. I remember this role coming around a few years ago. When it came around this time, [having worked at Y&R;], I knew everyone there. I had met Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] before, and I couldn't say no … There's something very comforting now about being back in the same building." The character is described "As the extremely attractive and charming heir of Forrester Creations" and "this wide-eyed prodigy is a visionary and famed designer in the making, fully aware that the eyes of the fashion world, as well as every single girl in town, are fixated on his every move". There was brief speculation that the character was going gay; however this was never a storyline. Bell has stated that this new Thomas will become an exact replica of how his father Ridge Forrester was when he was a young playboy at the beginning of the show. When Dr. Taylor Hayes, Thomas' mother, discovered the pregnancy, she attempted to tell Ridge Forrester (his father) in a joyous mood. However once she saw him being seduced by Brooke Logan once again she nearly lost the baby due to stress. So that Ridge could be happy with Brooke, Taylor told everyone (and Brooke was in on this lie as well) that Thorne Forrester, Ridge's brother, was the father. Shortly after Thomas's birth Taylor saw the unmistakable bond between Ridge and her baby and realized that Ridge wasn't in love at the time to Brooke, so she confessed to Ridge that he was the father. She explained the reasons she went along with the deception. Furious with Brooke, Ridge was overjoyed and declared his love for Taylor and proposed to her and they were then married. Shortly after Thomas, Taylor and Ridge had twins, Steffy and Phoebe At long last, Taylor and Ridge had the child they had always wanted. Thomas' childhood was far from easy, at a young age his sister Steffy was thought to be dead, however was kidnapped. Also, his mother, Taylor was presumed dead in 2002 after being shot by Sheila Carter defending Brooke. After Taylor's death, Brooke took over as parent for the children and married Ridge. Thomas and Brooke end up in a plane crash when they go to promote the Taboo line overseas. They end up stranded, their bodies washed ashore. The whole family are extremely worried, and go on an agonizing search across the seas for them. Brooke eats poisonous berries on the island after she and Thomas have gone two to three days without food and gives some to him. It caused them to have weird dreams and imagine themselves in an odd alternate world. Ridge comes to the rescue of Brooke and his son. Both Thomas and Brooke wonder what happened on the Island, as they experienced strange feelings after eating the berries (they are both under the impression that they could have had sexual relations). Stephanie (always wanting to get rid of Brooke from the family) tells Thomas to lie to everyone and say that he and Brooke had sex on the island, so that Ridge would leave Brooke for Taylor. As Taylor and Ridge are about to get married, Stephanie and Thomas reveal the whole truth (which was eating Thomas alive). Thomas' girlfriend Dayzee (who encouraged him to tell the truth, knowing about the scandal) left him after that. The whole family find it hard to forgive him, but Taylor does and blames Stephanie for the incident. Ridge and Brooke don't forgive Thomas for this, and move him to the Shipping Department of Forrester Creations. Thomas later begins a relationship with Hope Logan (his adoptive step-sister). She was previously in a relationship with Liam Spencer who is now married to his younger sister Steffy. They share a kiss and begin to date, and he proposes to Hope in Mexico where she briefly accepts by saying 'its too soon now, but maybe someday it will happen.' After Hope finds out that Thomas had been encouraged to date her by Steffy to keep Hope away from Liam, Hope breaks up with Thomas, leaving him hurt because he genuinely wanted to be with Hope. Thomas meets the new designer at Forrester Creations, Caroline Spencer, whom Brooke had hired to set her up with Rick. However, Thomas catches Caroline's attention, and they go out on a date. They even kiss while they dance. Thomas and Caroline grow closer, and when she introduces him to her mother Karen, and Karen's partner Danielle, Thomas is at first surprised by Caroline's family situation but accepts it and supports it, which Caroline appreciates and they continue their relationship. Thomas and Caroline begin to get serious, even though Rick is interested in Caroline and intends to steal her away from Thomas. The relationship intensifies as they both spend more time together. However, Caroline is soon jealous of Thomas' ex-girlfriend Hope, who suddenly (thanks to Rick) is single. The chemistry between Hope and Thomas stirs up trouble for Caroline and Thomas' relationship, and Rick takes advantage by fueling Caroline's jealousy of Hope. Thomas' mother Taylor begins an affair with Eric and uses this to get Eric to make Thomas Vice President. Rick is angered by this but Eric orders Rick to include Thomas on everything at Forrester Creations and to work with him despite their differences. Rick begins spending most of his time at Dayzee's with Maya. The first quarter numbers come in and they are terrible due to Rick's ideas. Rick is not present at the meeting and Thomas uses this to convince Eric to support Thomas' idea of going into new trends but during his presentation Brooke comes out in her lingerie and convinces Eric to relaunch the highly successful Brooke's Bedroom, which he does much to the dismay of Thomas, Steffy, and Taylor. Thomas was said to have joined Steffy, Taylor and Ridge in Paris during fall 2013. Thomas (Pierson Fodé) returns in July 2015 to attend his cousin Aly's (Ashlyn Pearce) funeral and decides to stick around to support Steffy who is riddled with guilt being responsible for Aly's death. He wants to rejoin the design team at Forrester Creations but Ridge accuses him of not putting his all into his designs and wanting a handout because he is a Forrester. Meanwhile, Thomas questions Caroline's relationship with Ridge because of the dramatic age difference. Despite this, he continues to offer Caroline friendship. It all comes to a head when, after Ridge breaks up with Caroline, he comforts her and they sleep together; he is unaware that she has taken anxiety pills before drinking. Ridge then quickly calls Caroline back and they marry. Thomas then becomes a confidante of Steffy during her war against Ivy. Caroline learns she is pregnant, and is at first joyful, before Ridge tells her he had a vasectomy in Paris. Realizing that the baby must be Thomas', she tells Ridge about their night together, but defends him, refusing to believe he had taken advantage of her. Ridge, angry at what Thomas has done, including a fight over an affair Thomas had with an intern which led to a fight where Thomas punched him, forces Thomas to return to Paris, leaving Forrester employees baffled. He tells Caroline the baby is his and they decide to raise it together as theirs. He later returns after Caroline convinces Ridge to stop acting angry to keep Thomas from being suspicious about the baby. He does question the baby's lineage, but accepts Caroline's claim of Ridge. Afterwards, Ridge continues to make Thomas suspicious. Thomas turns his attentions to fighting the Spencers and pursues Ivy believing her to be someone his dad can't disapprove of. Her resolve slowly breaks following an incident at Pam's Halloween party where Thomas saves her from a falling light. During a thunder storm where only the two of them are in the Forrester Mansion, they begin an affair while Wyatt, her boyfriend at the time, is out of town on business. Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) returns to Los Angeles with his son Douglas in 2019, following the sudden death of Caroline. He sets his sights on Hope as a potential replacement mother for Douglas, noting the rapport they share with each other. He eventually finds out that Hope's daughter, Beth, is still alive and threatens everyone with knowledge of this to secrecy to prevent her from going back to Liam, resulting in him killing Emma Barber (Nia Sioux) by running her off the road when she flees to confess the truth to Hope. Thomas is able to persuade Hope to get married, all the while keeping the secret that her infant daughter Beth is still alive. When the truth finally comes out, Thomas goes into hiding and Hope pursues an annulment of their marriage. After learning that Hope has gone to the beach house, Thomas surprises her there and tries to apologize for what he has done. As Hope is trying to get away from Thomas, Brooke arrives and sees Hope struggling to break free from Thomas. Brooke comes between the two and pushes Thomas away, causing him to fall over the cliff. He is rushed to the hospital in a coma, but eventually regains consciousness. When Ridge confronts him about all that he has done, Thomas tearfully confesses and begs for forgiveness.

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Dennis Rickman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nigel Harman. He entered the show on 14 April 2003 and became one of the show's central protagonists up until his last appearance in the episode broadcast on 30 December 2005, when the character was fatally stabbed at the start of the New Year Fireworks. He first appeared as a member of the Watts family who had a difficult past and rough childhood, though his identity was unknown for almost thirty years. Dennis' story arc commenced with the character murdering his mob boss Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett), the crime kingpin of Albert Square whom Dennis discovered is responsible for the apparent death of his infamous father - Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). Following Den's return in 29 September 2003, Dennis established a longstanding conflict with his father up until Den was ultimately killed off on the show's twentieth anniversary episode dated on 18 February 2005; Dennis later discovered his father's fate on 29 August 2005, the same day he finally married his adopted sister Sharon (Letitia Dean) after they managed to repair their once-forbidden romance. During his time on the show, Dennis repeatedly clashed with Sharon's ex-boyfriend Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden); formed a mutual friendship with Dalton's representative Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs); bonded with his half- sister Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Alice Johnson); embarked on a relationship with his siblings' close friend Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan); developed a warm compaionship with local gossip Dot Cotton (June Brown); and temporarily became enemies with Phil's brother Grant (Ross Kemp), who previously married Sharon, until the pair worked together to help the Mitchell family bring Sharon's stepmother Chrissie (Tracy Ann Oberman) to justice for killing Den and framing Phil's sister Sam (Kim Medcalf) for his murder. Towards the end of 2005, Dennis got embroiled in a feud with Andy's murderer and gangland successor Johnny Allen (Billy Murray) - which came to an unfortunate end when Dennis attacked Johnny for threatening Sharon and killing Andy, an act which prompted Johnny to arrange his henchman Danny Moon (Jake Maskall) to kill Dennis in revenge; Dennis was later stabbed on that night and he consequently died in Sharon's arms. Nearly three months after the character's death, Dennis became the posthumous catalyst for the Get Johnny Week storyline in which Phil and Grant - known as "The Mitchell Brothers" - sought to help Sharon avenge his death by bringing Johnny to justice; in the end, Dennis death is avenged when his killer Danny was shot dead by his brother Jake (Joel Beckett) while Johnny was forced by his daughter Ruby (Louisa Lytton) to surrender himself to the police after she discovered that her father is responsible for Dennis' murder - the result of which later caused Johnny to die of a fatal heart attack following his life imprisonment sentence for Dennis' murder. Sharon later gave birth to her and Dennis' son, Denny, and in early January 2014 eventually learned the truth about Dennis' death from Phil. Dennis quickly became established as the show’s leading man and a "soap sex-symbol", with Harman noted for his "dark good looks" and "fantastic" physique. In 2003, Harman won the "Best Newcomer" award at the National Television Awards, and for two years straight (in 2004 and 2005) won both "Best Actor" and "Sexiest Male" categories at the British Soap Awards and Inside Soap Awards. Dennis Rickman makes his first appearance in handcuffs on April 2003, as he is on day release from prison to attend his mother's funeral. It soon transpires that he was the product of a fling between his teenaged mother Paula, and her adult ex-lover Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). The discovery of his existence comes after Sharon discovers that she has a brother through her adoptive father Den Watts and another woman during the 1970s. Sharon was aware that her brother was called Dennis Rickman and that he too grew up in Walford. Charlie Slater (Derek Martin) informs her that there was a Mr Rickman who lived locally and worked as a taxi driver, but he and his wife had both died and their daughter was living alone in their house. Sharon soon locates the house but discovers that Paula has died. It is gradually revealed that he was neglected as a child by his mother and abused by a succession of her boyfriends, and spent some time living in a children's home. Den was unaware that he had a son, and by the time Dennis meets Den's daughters Sharon and Vicki, 14 years have passed since Den disappeared and supposedly died as a result of a shooting on a canal towpath. His introduction as a full-time character on 1 May 2003 is marked by a fight with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), in which he floors Phil with a single punch. This launches a rivalry with Phil which continues when Phil reneged on an agreement to meet Dennis for a fight at Phil's garage by summoning several of his friends, who give Dennis a severe beating when Phil walks out. Dennis infuriates Phil by seducing his sister Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), his wife-to-be Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny) (who is a former flame of Dennis's) and his daughter's nanny, Joanne Ryan (Tara Lynne O'Neill). Dennis sees East End gangland lord Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett) as a father figure as he worked for him since his teens, collecting debts amongst other things, and his prison stint is due to working for Jack. After Dennis's release, Jack orders Phil to kill Dennis after he becomes independent of him. However, Dennis ends up killing Jack in a shooting next to a railway line, but not before Jack reveals that Den survived the 1989 shooting, and that the body found in the canal a year later was in fact that of another local gangster who had been murdered on Dalton's orders for failing to kill Den. Dennis later tracks down Den's former mistress Jan Hammond (Jane How) and finds out that Den fled to Spain. He flies out to Spain and finds the address where Den is now believed to be living, but lacks the courage to knock on the door and find out. He later reveals all too Sharon, but she refuses to believe that her father is still alive. The rivalry with Phil is concluded by Dennis's father Den when he returns from Spain in September 2003, confirming the theory which Dennis had uncovered a few weeks earlier. Den and Dennis trick Phil into committing an armed robbery at a local factory. They then abscond with the escape ladder and most of the cash, though Den leaves Phil with a few stolen notes and a gun to incriminate him. The feud brings Dennis closer to his father. After killing Jack Dalton, Dennis remains friends with Dalton's second-in-command, Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), and is left the bookmakers in Andy's will after his death at the hands of Johnny Allen (Billy Murray) in February 2005. Dennis has a passionate fling with Den's adopted daughter Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) on the eve of Den's return but finds himself rejected when Den replaces him. They resume their affair in secret but Den cannot accept a relationship between his children and plots to split them up. Den taunts Dennis with the insinuation that someone had sexually abused him while he was in a children's home, successfully provoking Dennis into accidentally hitting Sharon. A guilt-ridden Den later apologises and explains his reasons for not wanting his son and daughter together, because he wants both of them in his life and he cannot have that if they are sleeping together. Den then tries to explain to Dennis that his feelings for Sharon are simply misguided due to the abuse he suffered as a child, which leaves Dennis confused and he decides to break up with Sharon in order to have a proper father-son relationship. Despite Sharon's heartache, the family reform their strong bond, including the introduction of Den's new wife Chrissie Watts (Tracy Ann Oberman), who follows him back to England from Spain a few months later. Dennis moves in with Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) but cannot reciprocate her love and Sharon seduces him again. They continue their affair in secret behind Zoe and Den's backs, and they become sick of sneaking around and they plan to leave on Christmas Day. Den, however, had spotted them kissing on Christmas Eve. When they announce that they are in love and going to America together on Christmas Day, Zoe announces that she is pregnant. Dennis does not want to be an absent father to the baby, so Sharon leaves without him. He stays with Zoe but refuses to sleep with her. She is desperate to get pregnant for real and resorts to sleeping with Den. Dennis eventually began to feel love for Zoe and looked forward to a life with her and the baby. However, when Dennis catches her and Den in bed and discovers she was never pregnant at all, he leaves but not before informing Chrissie about her and Den. Dennis and Sharon return as a couple, after several months away, and demand to see Den. Dennis is unconvinced by Chrissie's story that Den has left her for another woman but drops the matter to spare Sharon's feelings. Dennis and Sharon go on to marry, and following this, they learn that Sam Mitchell had exhumed their father's body from his grave in the cellar of The Queen Victoria public house. Den was murdered by Chrissie in February 2005 after she, Zoe and Sam confronted him about his manipulation of lies regarding the three of them (Den had tricked Sam into selling him The Queen Vic). Chrissie had also lured Sharon back to overhear Den's confessions so that Den would lose the one person in his life that he truly loved. Den attacked Chrissie and Zoe hit Den with a doorstop to stop him. Den then grabbed Chrissie who delivered a fatal blow, leaving Zoe to believe she had killed him. The three women then buried his body in the basement. Dennis and Sharon, with the help of Phil and Grant Mitchell, soon bring Chrissie to justice and sell The Queen Vic back to the Mitchells, apparently concluding the Watts/Mitchell feud. Dennis later visits Den's grave and tearfully mourns the father he never had. On Christmas Day 2005, Sharon is admitted to hospital with suspected food poisoning, but finds out she is pregnant, despite the previous belief that she was infertile. After Dennis interferes with Johnny Allen and his treatment of his daughter Ruby, Johnny attacks Sharon but upon finding out she's pregnant, he relents and tells Sharon that if her and Dennis are gone by midnight on New Year's Eve, he would not kill Dennis. After much insistence from Sharon, they prepare to leave on New Year's Eve to start a new life in the United States. Sharon does not tell Dennis that Johnny has threatened to kill him, but she confides in Phil, who then uses Dennis as a weapon against Johnny, who is also an enemy of his. Phil tells Dennis about Johnny threatening Sharon and also that Johnny had murdered Andy. Although Dennis knows what Phil's doing, he takes the bait anyway and beats Johnny to the brink of death. Johnny begs for help as he thinks he will die, so Dennis tosses him a mobile phone and says if he can reach it, he will live. Johnny is able to reach the phone and instead of calling for medical assistance, he contacts a henchman to murder Dennis as revenge for his beating. After cleaning his hands of Johnny's blood, Dennis makes his way towards the Albert Square Gardens where the locals are setting up fireworks, to meet Sharon. As they lock eyes, Dennis is stabbed by a mysterious passer-by and collapses, dying in Sharon's arms. His last words are "we did it" in reference to their unborn son who was born six months later and named Dennis in honor of his father. It is later revealed that Dennis was stabbed by Johnny's henchman Danny Moon (Jake Maskall) on the night of his murder. Towards the end of March 2006, Phil and Grant confront Johnny in their bid to get justice for Sharon by avenging Dennis' death. The brothers are nearly killed when Johnny captures the two and orders Danny to kill them, but Phil and Grant are saved when Danny is shot dead by his brother Jake (Joel Beckett) - who merely attempted to stop Danny, thus partly avenging Dennis in the process. As Phil and Grant used this opportunity to race back to Johnny's house, Ruby learns that her father is responsible for Dennis' murder and calls the police on Johnny - threatening to disown him unless he turns himself in. Johnny ultimately relents at his daughter's urging and he is later sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Andy and ordering the murder of Dennis, along with his other nefarious activities; seven months later, Johnny dies of a heart attack whilst attempting to order the death of Ruby's boyfriend Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky) upon discovering his plan to extract their assets - the result of which ultimately avenges Dennis' death. In October 2012, Phil's enemy Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman) mentions that Dennis was murdered, not knowing that Sharon's six-year-old son Dennis Rickman Jr (Harry Hickles/Bleu Landau) overheard him. Dennis is upset after learning the truth of his father's death, as he was told by Sharon that his father was a helicopter pilot and died while saving others. Sharon admits to Dennis Jr that she lied to protect him, and although he is angry, he eventually forgives her. In January 2014, Phil finally confessed to Sharon that he played a part in Dennis's death - having goaded him into attacking the man who went on to order his death; as Phil's conflict with Johnny ultimately led to Dennis being murdered. Sharon is furious, but then goes to visit Dennis' grave for the last time. She then reveals that she needs to leave Dennis in her past, as Phil is now her future. Dennis Rickman was created by the show's producers as the hardman successor to the character of Steve Owen, who had bowed out during the previous year. It was also part of a move to bring the Watts family back to the forefront of EastEnders, with the re-introduction of Vicki Fowler occurring at the beginning of 2003, and the highly anticipated return of Den Watts in September. Executive producer Louise Berridge was also keen to rectify what she felt was a gender imbalance in the cast, commenting after his arrival that Dennis had "provided a surge of testosterone in a show that was rather female- heavy since the arrival of the Slaters." Harman was working as a lorry driver for supermarket chain Sainsbury when he was cast in the role of Dennis Rickman: "They said: 'You've got the job.' I was sitting there in my Sainsbury's fleece, with Mrs Bloggs's groceries in the back, and I just laughed my arse off." However, Harman revealed in a 2003 interview that he actually auditioned for a character called "Tim", and had no idea that he was set to join the Watts family as the unknown son of the soap's most "iconic" figure, Den Watts. Part of Harman's appeal lay in his dark good looks and appealing physicality. EastEnders executive producer Louise Berridge noted: "We cast Nigel for his tremendous acting ability and his screen presence, but there's no question he's also a very sexy young man." In an interview with The Independent in 2003 he commented on his character's status as a sex symbol: "It's Dennis, not me... I am a bit embarrassed... I don't get off on it. I walk into the living-room in the morning in my jogging pants, with my hair all over the place, and my flatmates say: 'So, you're supposed to be one of the sexiest men in the country?' And I go: 'I know. I don't get it either.'" Dennis is characterized by his roguish manner, a "bad boy" cast in the mould of a "young Dirty Den". Harman described his character as "a bit of a rough diamond" but with "a sensitive side". During his time on the show, Dennis often butted heads with various alpha-males, including hardman Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and crime boss Johnny Allen (Billy Murray), but was friends with mobster Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) and developed a warm relationship with local gossip, Dot Cotton (June Brown). Dennis Rickman was described in a 2004 article as the show's "bad boy pin-up character". The representation of Dennis as "smouldering thug" was apparent from his first appearance in Walford, when he hit resident top dog Phil Mitchell. In an interview with the Daily Mirror Harman declared, "He is a total bastard and if I met him in real life, I'd be bloody scared. [But] that's why he's such a brilliant part." According to the official EastEnders website, "Dennis may well be able to turn on the charm with the ladies, but he has a certain sinister edge." List of EastEnders characters (2003), List of soap opera villains The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the UK BBC soap opera EastEnders in 2005, by order of first appearance. Johnny Allen, played by Billy Murray, first appears in January 2005, and is the father of Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton). An old East End gangster, Johnny established himself as Walford's crime kingpin upon killing fellow mob boss Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) and later ordering the death of his friend Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman). He also has relationship with Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery). He soon becomes central to the Get Johnny Week storyline, in which Grant and Phil Mitchell (Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden) confront Johnny over his role in Dennis' death. The storyline ends with Johnny - at his daughter's urging - handing himself to the police to confess to his life of crime, including his role in the murders of both Andy and Dennis. Nearly seven months later, Johnny ultimately meets his downfall when he learns that Ruby's boyfriend Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky) attempts to extracts their assets; after failing to warn him off, Johnny dies of a heart attack whilst attempting to arrange for Sean to be killed. The Reverend George Stevens, played by Michael Keating, is a recurring character who is the vicar in Walford. His first appearance was in the episode originally broadcast on 10 January 2005, being introduced by executive producer Kathleen Hutchison, and he has appeared in at least one episode every year until 2014, when he does not appear at all throughout the year. He returns in April 2015 until his exit on 28 September 2017 when he retires. He first appears to discuss Freddie Mitchell's christening with his mother Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth) in 2005. Following this, he appears to discuss Den (Leslie Grantham) and Chrissie Watts' (Tracy-Ann Oberman) vow renewals, and conducts the funerals of Neil and Sue Miller, Nana Moon (Hilda Braid), Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) and Frank Butcher (Mike Reid). Stevens occasionally visits Dot Branning (June Brown) to discuss her faith, including following the death of her friend Pauline and Dot's struggle when she takes on the responsibility of caring for a refugee baby. In December 2008, he returns, after Dot donates a substantial amount of money to have the church roof repaired. He feels it is his need to investigate whether Dot has donated from her own life savings but she does not want to make a fuss. In March 2009, he arranges plans for Peggy Mitchell's (Barbara Windsor) wedding to Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb), and also conducts Amy Mitchell's christening in April and May 2009. In January 2010, he performs Archie's funeral. Stevens is also seen in March, conducting Bradley Branning's (Charlie Clements) funeral. In September, he meets Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison) and Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) to talk about a christening for Heather's baby son George, and is confused about Heather and Minty's relationship. The next week he conducts the christening. In October 2010, Max Branning (Jake Wood) arranges for him to visit his sister Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) following the death of her son, Billie Jackson (Devon Anderson), but Carol gets angry as Billie was not religious. In October 2011, he conducts a funeral of a local man, but Dot's sister, Rose (Polly Perkins), who works in the doctor's surgery, fears she mistakenly killed the man by misplacing his test results. Stevens tells her the patient died of a bee sting, and a relieved Rose then flirts with him, much to the chagrin of Dot. A few days later, Dot reveals Rose's colourful past to Stevens. However, he is intrigued, and he and Rose share a drink at The Queen Victoria public house, as he wants to know more about her life. At a church social event, the pair become closer, resulting in Stevens asking for Dot's blessing to date Rose. He, Dot and Rose later attend a Mayoral banquet, and on their return to Walford, they announce that the Olympic torch for the 2012 Summer Olympics will be passing through Walford. When Stevens visits Rose to invite her out, he finds that she has spent the night with Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker). In January 2012, he conducts Pat Evans's (Pam St. Clement) funeral. On Maundy Thursday, he performs the rite of washing feet on Dot and comforts her following the death of Heather. In May 2012, he speaks to Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd) about their upcoming wedding, as Janine has decided on a church wedding for them. Michael tells Stevens that Janine is Jewish and has had three previous husbands, and Janine decides against the church wedding as a result. In June he conducts the christening at the hospital of Michael and Janine's daughter Scarlett. In April 2013, Stevens visits Dot to ask why she has not attended Mass on Easter Sunday. Her friend Fatboy (Ricky Norwood) tells Stevens that Dot is about to lose her home, so Stevens convinces her that she has not sinned in the eyes of God. He conducts Michael's funeral in November 2013. He appoints Dot as Church Warden and gets her to raise funds to fix the church roof. He appears on Christmas Eve to conduct a carol service. Stevens conducts the funeral of Jim Branning (John Bardon) in April 2015. He first discusses the arrangements with Carol and Max is rude to Stevens and tries to get him to leave. Carol sends Max away and Stevens is sympathetic. When Stevens asks who will be reading the eulogy at the funeral, Carol tells him that they will not be having one. At the funeral, Stevens is pleased to see Dot, who has been granted day release from prison in order to attend. Stevens is shocked and outraged during the funeral when Max delivers a damning eulogy about his father, and tries to get him to stop but Max ignores him. In July 2016, Stevens conducts Peggy's funeral. In December 2016, Stevens appears when a nativity play is held at the church, which Lily Branning and Amy perform in. Stevens greets Lily's mother Stacey Fowler (Lacey Turner) and stepfather Martin Fowler (James Bye) as they arrive at the church to watch the performance. Stevens later speaks to Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) after he discovers her sitting alone in the Square gardens, depressed. She tells him that she feels like she is a bad mother to Amy and has let her down all her life. Stevens reassures Roxy that strong people can bear to hurt themselves for the good of others. In January 2017, Stevens conducts the joint funeral of Roxy and her sister Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack). In September 2017, he retires and moves to Australia to live with his daughter and is replaced by Irene Mills (Melanie Kilburn). Amanda Parry, played by Sarah Preston, is a friend of Chrissie Watts (Tracy- Ann Oberman), first appearing in the show just before Chrissie and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) are set to renew their wedding vows. She is aware of Den's nefarious behaviour and dubious associates, and sympathises with Chrissie over Den's affair with Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan). She plots with Chrissie to get revenge on Den, and looks into Den's financial affairs, finding a secret bank account Den has opened for Zoe, who is pregnant with his child. Chrissie is enraged, but Amanda convinces Chrissie to take a longer view so as to get as much out of Den as possible. She prepares legal papers to put Chrissie's name on the deed of The Queen Victoria public house, and Chrissie persuades Den to eventually sign (as a wedding renewal present) thereby making Chrissie co- owner of the pub. Amanda leaves after the vow-renewal ceremony, urging Chrissie not to go soft on Den. A few months later, after Den's death, Chrissie is desperate to get full control of the pub (to sell it) and asks Amanda for help. Amanda returns to Walford, at which time Chrissie tells her that Den has run off with another woman and is in hiding again. Amanda wants to track him down, but Chrissie convinces her that it will take a long time to find him, and that she cannot stand to live in The Queen Victoria any longer, as Den's children Sharon and Dennis (Letitia Dean and Nigel Harman) have returned. Amanda is aware of the way Den placed Sharon above all others (including Chrissie), and is resentful of her presence. Chrissie forges Den's signature on papers that give her full control of the pub, getting Amanda, after much hesitancy, to sign as a witness. Amanda then leaves Walford, taking the papers to lodge at court and Chrissie puts the pub up for sale. Tina Stewart is played by Charlotte Avery. Tina is the girlfriend of Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). She was previously his mistress for 10 years, and supported him when his wife and older daughter were killed in a house fire. After making peace with Johnny's daughter Ruby (Louisa Lytton), Tina finally moves in with Johnny, where they seem to enjoy some measure of domestic tranquility between crises. She feels uncomfortable when Johnny hires an attractive barmaid, Amy (Nina Fry), for his nightclub Scarlet, and Ruby later finds him kissing Amy, leading to her telling Tina about the whole incident. Johnny openly admits to having a fling and shocks Tina with his attitude by trying to brush it off as though it is nothing, telling Tina to forget it. Tina eventually learns what Johnny is really like upon discovering his nefarious activities, and leaves Albert Square for good. Ruby Allen, played by Louisa Lytton, is the daughter of Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). Ruby arrives in Walford after being at boarding school, and so she does not know her father well. However Johnny's criminal activities and violent habits soon become apparent to Ruby, and it horrifies her. However Johnny is equally as horrified in Ruby's choice of boyfriends; firstly Juley Smith (Joseph Kpobie) and then Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky). Sean is the brother of Ruby's best friend, Stacey (Lacey Turner), but Ruby and Stacey have a tempestuous friendship, and often argue. Margaret Wilson, played by Janet Amsden, is the adoptive grandmother of Sonia (Natalie Cassidy) and Martin Fowler's (James Alexandrou) daughter, Rebecca Miller, and mother of Rebecca's adoptive mother, Sue Miller (Sadie Shimmin/Victoria Willing). When Sue, along with her husband Neil (Robin Sneller) were killed in a car crash in 2005 Margaret became the parental guardian of Rebecca. Margaret is first seen when Sonia visits her (under the name "Pamela") to see Rebecca. Margaret discovers that Sonia is Rebecca's biological mother, but after initially being hostile, she allows Sonia, along with Martin and Martin's mother Pauline (Wendy Richard) to continue to visit Rebecca. On 15 December 2005, Margaret admits that she is getting tired so she lets Pauline, Martin and Sonia look after Rebecca for Christmas 2005. On 1 May 2006, Margaret visits Sonia to tell her she wants her and Martin to be Rebecca's legal guardians. Just days later, she is disgusted with Sonia, as she discovers that Sonia has left Martin and lied about being together. Sonia later visits Margaret, who is almost convinced to allow Sonia back into Rebecca's life, until Sonia tells Margaret she is in a relationship with another woman, Naomi Julien (Petra Letang). The next day, Martin visits Margaret and convinces her that Rebecca would be more secure with him and Pauline. On 1 June 2006, Martin receives a phone call to say Margaret has died. Margaret's funeral is on Monday 12 June 2006. Michael Rawlins, played by Melvyn Hayes, is a driving instructor who tries to teach Dot Branning (June Brown) how to drive. After a few lessons Michael makes a pass on Dot which she quickly rejects, and she decides to stop taking any more driving lessons from Michael. Michael then threatens to tell Dot's husband Jim (John Bardon) about what had happened, but Dot calls his bluff. Then Michael tells her that he can recommend her to another driving instructor if she wants to continue taking lessons, and then leaves. He has not been seen since. Patricia "Trisha" Taylor, played by Cathy Murphy, is the mother of Leo Taylor (Philip Dowling) and is married to Ray Taylor (Dorian Lough), who abuses her. Trisha is first seen when Demi Miller (Shana Swash) and her family moves briefly back to estate where the Taylors live. The Millers and the Taylors do not like each other, yet Demi and Leo have a daughter together, Aleesha (Freya and Phoebe Coltman-West). However Trisha soon shows an interest in her granddaughter, and accompanies Leo to Aleesha's christening, only to be dragged out of the church by Ray. When Trisha and Ray plan to move away to Scotland with Leo, he runs away with Demi and Aleesha. Trisha joins the Millers in trying to find the runaways, but Leo takes a heroin overdose just before they find them, and dies later in hospital. Murphy previously appeared in EastEnders in 1991 playing the character of Lorna. After playing Trisha Taylor in 2005, she returned to the series in 2010 playing a third character, Julie Perkins. Naomi Julien, played by Petra Letang, first arrives in Albert Square as Sonia Fowler's (Natalie Cassidy) nurse friend. Naomi develops romantic feelings for Sonia, and eventually they become a couple, with Sonia leaving her husband Martin (James Alexandrou). However Sonia soon prioritises her daughter Rebecca over Naomi, and they split up. Naomi joins Dr. May Wright (Amanda Drew) working at Albert Square's surgery, however May's personal problems soon start affecting Naomi negatively. Joe Macer, played by Ray Brooks, meets Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) at a salsa dance club, and they become friends. Joe falls in love with Pauline and pursues her. They marry in February 2006, however when Joe's old friend Bert Atkinson (Dave Hill) arrives, Joe has to admit his criminal past to Pauline. As time progresses, Pauline's erratic and devious behaviour causes the couple to split with terrible consequences. Dawn Swann, played by Kara Tointon, is the sister of Mickey Miller (Joe Swash) and daughter of Rosie Miller (Gerry Cowper). Dawn is first seen in France when she reacquaints Mickey with their father, Mike Swann (Mark Wingett). She moves to Walford after Mike's property scam fails, and lives with Rosie and her family. Dawn meets Rob Minter (Stuart Laing) and they begin dating, but Rob ends their relationship when his wife, May (Amanda Drew), wants to give their marriage another chance. Dawn discovers she is pregnant with Rob's child, and plans to have an abortion. However May, who is unable to conceive, has other ideas. Dawn later has a relationship with Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves). Michael "Mike" Swann is played by Mark Wingett. Mike is the ex-husband of Rosie Miller (Gerry Cowper), and father of Mickey and Dawn (Joe Swash and Kara Tointon). Mike deserted his family when Dawn was six and Mickey was three. Dawn tracked her father down and went to live with him in France years later. She invites Mickey to visit, not telling him about Mike. Mickey takes Gus Smith (Mohammed George), Juley Smith (Joseph Kpobie), Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves) and Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) with him. Mike exposes Juley as a conman, as he is one himself. He cons Minty out of his life savings and then flees. He feels guilty and returns the money to Mickey, and sends Dawn back to Walford with Mickey, then drives away on the lookout for his next scam. He arrives in Walford on Christmas Day 2005, following the illness of his mother Nora Swann (Pamela Cundell). He is then persuaded to stay at the Millers' house by Dawn after he reveals he is penniless and has nowhere to stay. Keith Miller (David Spinx) doesn't like that Mike is staying and constantly tries to get him out. Mike stays on the Miller's sofa, where Darren (Charlie G. Hawkins) has hidden a large sum of money he has found. Mike discovers the money and steals it, suggesting to Keith that he buys a new sofa as the old one is in poor condition. The old sofa is then burnt on a bonfire and the family believe the money has been destroyed. Mike eventually finds a job as a manager of Johnny Allen's (Billy Murray) nightclub Scarlet. After spending some time with Rosie, he admits he wants to get back together with her. Rosie too starts to realise her feelings for Mike have returned. Mike tells her to leave Keith behind and go with him and take her children Darren and Demi (Shana Swash) with her too, but Rosie backs out and Mike leaves the Square on his own, once again abandoning his son and daughter. After his mother dies, Mike returns and gets Dawn involved in a scam to get Nora's money. Nora has left £5,000 to Rosie, but Mike gets Dawn to pose as Rosie to get the money from Nora's carer. Mike had told Dawn that he is going to start a new life in Spain for himself and Rosie, but in reality, he has only booked a one-way ticket to Spain for himself. Dawn, Rosie and Mickey discover this just before he is about to leave, but Rosie gives the money to Mike anyway, on the condition that he never comes back. Amy, played by Nina Fry, first appears in late October 2005 as a barmaid in Johnny Allen's (Billy Murray) nightclub, Scarlet. Amy then has an affair with Johnny without his partner Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery) knowing. When Johnny leaves Albert Square and the new manager, Mike Swann (Mark Wingett) has fled, Amy becomes manager of the club. She last appears in January 2006, when Stacey Slater's (Lacey Turner) drink in the club is laced with illegal drugs by Deano Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), and she and Stacey have a fight. Richmal "Ritchie" Scott, played by Sian Webber, is Phil Mitchell's (Steve McFadden) solicitor, taking the place of Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett). Ritchie is first seen when she visits Phil's mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) and gives her information and advice about Phil's upcoming trial for armed robbery. In November 2005, Ritchie gives Phil advice about his sister Sam's (Kim Medcalf) arrest for the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), and in April 2006 advises him on his custody battle for his son, Ben (Charlie Jones), with Ben's older half brother Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), following their mother Kathy's (Gillian Taylforth) supposed death. In 2006, she works alongside Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson), who meets with Phil when Ritchie isn't available. Phil re-hires Ritchie in January 2007 to represent Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) when she is arrested for the murder of her ex-mother- in-law, Pauline (Wendy Richard). Ritchie appears again in January 2008 when Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) has recorded evidence that Phil supplied Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels) with stolen cut-and-shut cars that led to Kevin's death. In September 2009, upon the return of Sam (now Danniella Westbrook), she advises the Mitchells that Sam faces five and a half years in prison for perverting the course of justice, failure to surrender and travelling on a false passport. In June 2010 she visits Phil to talk about Ben's upcoming court case for assaulting Jordan Johnson (Michael-Joel David Stuart) and suggests that Jordan could change his story to say Ben was provoked. When Ben is due to attend Crown Court, Ritchie tells Phil that, based on a recent, similar case, Ben could get six weeks' custody. However, Phil is angry with Ritchie when Ben is sentenced to 10 months. In December 2011, Phil re-hires Ritchie when he is arrested for the murder of Kevin Wicks after Denise Fox (Diane Parish) hands in a copy of Jack's recording. She returns soon after to warn Phil to flee the country as the police are coming to arrest him. Although she does not know why, it is for the murder of Stella Crawford. In March 2012, Phil's partner Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) confronts Ritchie because Phil is going to plead guilty to the manslaughter of Stella. Ritchie informs Shirley that Phil was attacked in prison. After Ian reveals to the police that Ben had lied about Stella's murder, Ritchie informs Shirley of Phil's release from prison. In April 2012, she represents Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) when he is arrested on suspicion of the murder of Heather Trott (Cheryl Fergison) after he is found in possession of a large amount of money, which the police suspect he stole from her before she died, though this is not true. Ritchie convinces Phil to tell the police that he loaned the money to Billy and he is later released on bail. In August 2012, Ben (now Joshua Pascoe) confesses to Heather's murder. Ben refuses to let Ritchie represent him, which angers Phil. She is present when Phil's family are interviewed, and later informs Phil that Ben could face a minimum of 10 years in prison. Ritchie returns, in March 2014, when she sorts out the contract for Phil and Sharon Rickman's (Letitia Dean) new bar, The Albert. She advises Phil to watch Sharon carefully as she had tried to take full control of the bar without Phil's knowledge. In May 2014, Phil asks Ritchie to contact Ben in prison to convince him to see Phil and grant him a visiting order, but Ritchie tells Phil that Ben had been released from prison the previous month. In July, Ritchie gives Billy legal advice when he is accused of involvement in the murder of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) (see Who Killed Lucy Beale?). She leaves when Phil advises him to implicate Lucy's twin brother Peter Beale (Ben Hardy) to draw attention away from himself. Ritchie is present when Billy gives his statement to the police and it is revealed that she knows the lead investigating officer, DI Samantha Keeble (Alison Newman). Billy ignores the advice and tells the truth and Ritchie tells him that he has implicated himself as a prime suspect in the investigation. In August, Ritchie appears in an online clip, representing Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) whilst he is questioned by Keeble in connection with a robbery. The following day, Ritchie visits Phil and Sharon and explains that the robbery Jay is suspected of was committed the night Lucy was killed. She also reveals that there was another boy present during the robbery who matches Ben's description. Phil later meets Ritchie outside the police station and she reveals that she has found out the address of the witness who identified Jay and Phil tells her to visit him, whilst he gives Jay an alibi. In January 2015, Ritchie appears when Phil is charged with attempting to murder his cousin Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) by cutting the breaks on her car. Ritchie informs Phil's family of the charges against him and tells Sharon that Phil wants her to visit him in prison. The following day, Ritchie refuses to help the Mitchells further as she hasn't been paid and offers to pass Phil's case files to another solicitor, which angers Sharon who accuses Ritchie of being disloyal. Two weeks later, Sharon contacts Ritchie and convinces her to take on Phil's case again after promising to come up with the money Ritchie is owed. In April, Phil meets up with Ritchie after stealing her client book from her office. He threatens to reveal her criminal clients if she does not clear the Mitchell's debt with her. Ritchie reluctantly agrees to Phil's demands and he gives her the client book back. Phil then hires her to represent Dot Branning (June Brown) when she is accused of murdering her son Nick Cotton (John Altman), and she also helps Phil track down Sharon's birth father. She also gives Phil information about Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood). In July 2015, Ritchie represents Ben (now Harry Reid) when he is arrested for Lucy's murder. She barges into the police station and interrupts a video identity parade Keeble and DCI Jill Marsden (Sophie Stanton) are holding with a witness. Ritchie is furious with Marsden and berates her for her methods, accusing her of bending the rules. She then advises Ben to remain silent during his interview, which she sits in on. She later updates Phil on Ben's situation and he thanks her, causing Ritchie to remind him to pay her on time. Marsden asks Ritchie to wait in the interview room whilst she and Keeble review some new evidence. Ritchie then calls Phil from the police station and gives him another update on Ben's situation. Ritchie is annoyed at being kept waiting by Marsden and nearly overhears her telling DS Cameron Bryant (Glen Wallace) that she used to be a stripper to pay her fees for law school. Later in the week, Ritchie reveals that Ben will still be held in custody for mugging Lucy and that the police will be wanting to question Jay over the mugging too, causing Jay to flee. Ritchie sits in on Marsden's interview of Ben over Lucy's mugging. When Marsden goads Ben and reduces him to tears, Ritchie orders her to terminate the interview and release Ben, threatening to report her to her superior officer if she does not. In November, Ritchie helps Sharon seize control of Phil's assets by power of attorney after his drinking spirals out of control and she signs them over to Sharon and Ben. In March 2016, Ben and Ronnie contact Ritchie when they attempt to seize control of Phil's businesses as he continues to behave erratically, and Phil throws them out of his house when he discovers what they are planning. Ritchie tells Ronnie that there is nothing she can do and Phil shouts at her as she gets in her car to leave. After Phil destroys the car lot with a digger and is arrested, Ritchie brings him home from the police station the following day. In April, Ritche reappears when Jay is arrested for having a relationship with an underage girl. Ritchie refuses to represent him, but advises him to speak to the duty solicitor and informs the Mitchells that Jay is being charged with possession of indecent images of a child. In May, Sharon hires Ritchie to represent Bobby Beale (Eliot Carrington) after he is arrested for assaulting his adoptive mother Jane Beale (Laurie Brett). Ritchie advises Bobby not to comment during his police interview but Bobby ignores this. After the interview, Ritchie leaves the room, and DS Howard South (Paul Stocker) then informs her that Bobby has confessed to Lucy's murder. Ritchie then sits in when the police interview Bobby about Lucy's death. The following week, Ritchie is present when Bobby is charged with unlawful killing, and is annoyed when he is refused bail. Ritchie then visits Jane and Ian at the hospital, where Jane is recovering, and advises them to convince Bobby to plead not guilty, to give her time to build up a convincing defence case before the trial. Ritchie visits Ian and Jane at the hospital again on the day of Bobby's sentencing. She tells them that as Bobby had pleaded guilty there is a chance that he could return home if the judge sentences him to a non-custodial youth rehabilitation order. Ritchie later attends Bobby's sentencing and mitigates for him, but despite her best efforts, Bobby is sentenced to three years youth custody. The following day she informs Ian of Bobby's progress in prison and tells him that Bobby is doing well as it is different to an adult prison. Ritchie also suggests appealing against Bobby's sentence, and offers to argue that he could be rehabilitated more at home. She then tells Ian that the choice is Bobby's but then tells Sharon and Kathy (who is actually alive) that Bobby may choose to stay in prison and serve his sentence. In October, Ritchie visits Phil in hospital, where he is suffering from liver failure, and helps him amend his will, leaving everything to his daughter Louise (Tilly Keeper). After Sharon objects, Phil calls Ritchie back to the hospital and gets her to change the will to include Ben and Sharon's son Dennis Rickman (Bleu Landau). Ritchie returns in September 2018 to help the Carters free Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) from prison after he is accused of shooting Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ). Sid appears in the 11 November 2005 Normandy/Remembrance Day episode, both in the flashbacks, played by Zac McGuire, and in the present day action, played by Trevor Peacock. In the flashbacks, Sid joins the army aged 16, lying about his age (he pretended to be 18) to become a "hero". He is consoled by William Moon (Dickon Tolson) before going into battle, which he survives, but William does not. Sixty one years later, on 11 November 2005, Sid meets William's grandson, Alfie Moon (Shane Ritchie), trying to force-feed his sick grandmother and William's widow, Victoria (Hilda Braid), in a Normandy restaurant. When Alfie leaves the restaurant, Sid follows him to shout at him, but they soon start talking, both being unaware of their connection to William. Honey Mitchell, played by Emma Barton, is employed by Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) as a "honey trap" to see if her husband Patrick (Rudolph Walker) is willing to commit adultery. During the set up Honey meets Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick). They soon become attracted to each other, and finally become a couple in December 2005. Honey becomes pregnant by Billy, and gives birth to a girl, Janet, on their wedding day in September 2006. Honey and Billy have a second child, Will Mitchell, November 2007. However Billy's lies and deceptions ultimately lead to Honey leaving Billy in September 2008. Nora Swann, played by Pamela Cundell, appears in five episodes between December 2005 and February 2006. She is introduced as the ill mother of Mike Swann (Mark Wingett). She first appears when Mike's former wife and daughter, Rosie Miller (Gerry Cowper) and Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon), visit her in hospital. She gets on well with Rosie and Dawn but doesn't appear to get on well with Mike. Her illness is the reason Mike comes to Walford and stays with the Millers. She dies on 16 February 2006 of pneumonia with Rosie at her side. Johnny Allen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Billy Murray. Johnny appeared on the show from 4 January 2005 until 20 October 2006, serving as the show's primary antagonist throughout that time. Hailed as one of the show’s biggest villains to date, Johnny was an old East End gangland figure who terrorized several other characters from Albert Square and went to extreme lengths in order to gain the upper hand over his rivals - most notably against the "Mitchell Brothers" that consist of the square's local hardman Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and his younger brother Grant (Ross Kemp). The character's story arc began with Johnny usurping fellow mob boss Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) from his position as the square's reigning crime kingpin, which ultimately leads Andy to try and swindle £750,000 from Johnny in his requested "job"; however, this fails after Johnny intercepts his plan — thanks to Andy's bodyguard Eddie (Daren Elliott Holmes) — and he ends up killing Andy by throwing him off a motorway bridge. Soon afterwards, Johnny proceeded to establish an unlikely friendship with his old acquaintance Pat Harris (Pam St Clement); exile his henchman Danny Moon (Jake Maskall) from Walford in retribution for Danny burning down his house; become enemies with Phil and Grant's mother, Peggy (Barbara Windsor), after she turns his daughter Ruby (Louisa Lytton) against him; destroy his own relationship with former mistress Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery); hire Peggy's nephew Billy (Perry Fenwick) to become Danny's replacement until he later fires him for conspiring with his family; develop a conflict with Ruby's best-friend, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), over the way how their rebellious friendship strains his daughter's education; blackmail Danny's brother Jake (Joel Beckett) with the discovery that his girlfriend Chrissie Watts (Tracy Ann Oberman) murdered her estranged husband Den (Leslie Grantham) and framed Peggy's daughter Sam (Kim Medcalf) for the crime; constantly harass Ruby's boyfriend Juley Smith (Joseph Kpobie) upon learning that he is the reason she lost her virginity to him; and arrange for local ex-career criminal Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) to be fatally stabbed on New Year's Eve 2005 after being attacked by the latter in retaliation for threatening his adopted sister-turned-recent wife Sharon (Letitia Dean). Towards the end of March 2006, Johnny was central to the titular "Get Johnny Week" scenario — in which Phil and Grant, who were both Sharon's ex-lovers, sought to avenge her loss and Dennis' murder by bringing Johnny to justice. The storyline culminates with Johnny surrendering himself to the police at Ruby's request, although not before it is revealed that Danny had killed Dennis on Johnny's orders — shortly before Danny is then killed by Jake at the story's climax. In October 2006, nearly seven months after being sentenced to life imprisonment for his criminal activities, the character's story arc ended with Johnny being axed from the programme. His last appearance was screened during Ruby's eighteen birthday, wherein Johnny sought to organize the death of Stacey's brother Sean (Robert Kazinsky) after finding out that he has been forging a relationship with Ruby to extract control of her welfare and family assets; however, this failed when Johnny ends up having a fatal heart attack and he dies in hospital off-screen. Johnny Allen makes his first appearance on 4th January 2005 when he arrives in Walford, a fictionalized borough in East London, to confront his henchmen Jake Moon (Joel Beckett) and his brother Danny (Jake Maskall) for having a problem with his package job; namely to deliver a duffel bag of money to one of his "mates" in Walford's residential community, Albert Square. When Johnny inspects the bag that Jake and Danny had, he uncovers hidden cocaine and — sensing the problem behind his plan — orders the brothers to remain in the square under further notice. He arranges for the two to stay with their cousin Alfie (Shane Richie), and later has them work for their enemy and the square's gangland kingpin: Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs). As he quickly helps the Moon brothers with their problems, Johnny begins to expand his business in Walford; he buys the nightclub Angie's Den, which he renames "Scarlet" in honor of his deceased daughter, and the Ferreira family's flat — where he later moves into the house with his younger daughter, Ruby (Louisa Lytton). It is at this point where Johnny begins to usurp control of Andy's criminal reign, such as constantly getting Andy to make arrangements on his behalf and ensuring that he is employing both Jake and Danny under his specific terms. This continues when Johnny learns that Andy has arranged for Jake and Danny's grandmother, Nana (Hilda Braid), to be mugged and ends up confronting both Andy and the Moon Brothers over their feud. Whilst doing so, Johnny witnesses local shopkeeper Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) confronting Andy over the alleged disappearance of his adopted son Paul (Gary Beadle) — whom Andy claims to have left the square on Christmas Day 2004. Deducing that Andy had Paul killed, Johnny arranges for his body to be uncovered and Patrick learns the truth about his son's fate and Andy's role within his death. In doing so, Johnny further deteriorates Andy's public image from the community and proceeds to establish support from many of the Walford residents - including Patrick and his wife Yolande (Angela Wynter). In February 2005, tensions continue to rise between Johnny and Andy when the pair have another meeting with Jake. Claiming that he is retiring for his criminal life, Johnny authorizes Andy and Jake to work together on a package deal for him; Jake will oversee Andy be given a case containing £750,000 worth in cash, which Andy will then deliver to Johnny on the opening night of his nightclub Scarlet. However, Jake later requests Johnny be pulled out of the deal after being attacked in a fight; Johnny agrees, and tells Andy that he will have to do the job on his own. Andy takes the news badly, up to the point where he publicly insults his estranged wife Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) and employee Pat Evans (Pam St Clement) — whom Johnny was once acquainted with, years ago — in The Queen Victoria public house. This prompts Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), the pub's landlord and Johnny's old friend, to throw out Andy and his bodyguard Eddie (Daren Elliott Holmes) — with Johnny's help. Andy, outraged with his humiliation, vows to get revenge on Johnny and hatches a plan to take his £750,000 in their upcoming transaction and flee Walford with the money. He tricks Danny into aiding him with his plan, under the guise that Danny can prove himself to Johnny after Andy tricks him into believing that Johnny favors Jake and that his brother values him to be weak. On the night that Johnny's nightclub opens, Andy succeeds with his plan and betrays Danny by ditching him on the street. Just as Andy is about to flee Walford, Eddie stops the car and claims he needs to go to the bathroom. In reality, Eddie betrays Andy by informing Johnny of his plan. In response, Johnny has Jake intercept Andy and has him come out of the car for "a conversation". Realizing too late that Eddie betrayed him, Andy obliges and talks with Johnny as they walk on a motorway bridge. The conversation seemingly ends with the pair going separate ways, as Johnny offers Andy a handshake before giving him "one final tip". In that moment, Johnny - after telling Andy "enjoy your flight" — suddenly throws him off the motorway bridge, killing Andy on impact. As the police arrive on the scene, Johnny orders Eddie to leave before he and Jake return to the square. The next morning, Andy's death becomes public knowledge — though the police depict his demise to be suicide. While the Moon brothers are unnerved with Andy's death, Johnny remains calm and later attends Andy's funeral with Pat; even though she had earlier accused Johnny of murdering Andy. Following Andy's murder, Johnny employs the Moon brothers to work for him at Scarlet. He soon fires them, after Jake and Danny buy stolen alcohol to use in Scarlet, which Johnny is quick to discover. After Johnny steals Danny's idea for a salsa night at the club, Danny goes to Johnny's house in a drunken state and sets it on fire. Johnny hunts down Danny and plans to kill him, kidnapping Jake in the process as he tries to save Danny. Driving the Moon brothers into the woods, Johnny locks Jake in the car and takes Danny with him for execution. Johnny prepares to kill Danny when Jake, who escaped from the car, intervenes and stops them. Johnny initially considers killing the pair, but ultimately orders them to leave Albert Square and never return. While Danny appears to have left the Square for good, Jake later returns in Walford to help Alfie with his troubles and Johnny allows him to stay — going so far as to hire him as his doorman and bodyguard, amid building up his criminal empire. When Johnny's former mistress Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery) arrives in to Walford to recommence their relationship, Ruby becomes upset after discovering this. Over time, Ruby eventually accepts Tina and they settle their time with Johnny as a family. But Johnny soon tires of Tina, and cheats on her with Amy (Nina Fry) — one of the barmaids working at Scarlet. When Tina discovers this, she walks out on Johnny and leaves the Square for good. After putting in an offer for The Queen Victoria pub, he sparks a conflict between him and Sam's mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor) — whose offer he outbids. It is soon revealed that there is history between the two; her deceased husband Eric had worked for Johnny, many years earlier, and they shared an earlier connection with boxing. Generally, Johnny had mistreated Eric — who would end up abusing Peggy as a result; Peggy subsequently blamed Johnny for being the reason why Eric took his frustrations out on her. Peggy also has knowledge of Johnny's past crimes, such as cutting the fingers off the hand of a prostitute and brutally beating up his old friend Dougie Collins (David Simeon) for a slight misspelling on a birthday cake. She soon exposes this in front of the residents, upon encountering Johnny in the pub. Peggy goes on to describe Johnny's character as a thief and that he has extorted people, before proceeding to accuse him of being a murderer — which is later proven to be correct, even though Peggy is amongst the residents left unaware of Andy's fate. Ruby walks into the pub as the story unravels, and soon begins to learn of her father's true past — including that he may be to blame for the deaths of her mother and sister. Johnny's feud with Peggy continues as she appears to turn his daughter against him. After failing to warn Peggy off by threatening her amid slamming the door on her hand, Johnny later arranges for Peggy to be mugged. Before leaving Walford, Tina learns about Johnny's plan and warns Peggy — who leaves the house. She is nearly attacked until her sons Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) arrive to save her with their cousin Billy (Perry Fenwick), who himself has been working for Johnny at Scarlett prior to Peggy's return. The Mitchell brothers later confront Johnny, to warn him to stay away from Peggy, but Johnny is unfazed by their threat and declares war on the Mitchell family. In November, Johnny notices that the CCTV system at Scarlet has recorded a conversation between Den's widow Chrissie (Tracy Ann Oberman) and Jake himself. She confesses to Jake that she had been the one who had murdered Den, which occurred on the same night Johnny killed Andy. But by the time Den's body has been found at the Queen Victoria pub, Sam is accused of the crime and held in custody. As Grant and Billy work with Peggy in getting Sam exonerated, Phil begins a conflict with Johnny as he continues warning him to stay away from his mother. In order to provoke the Mitchells, Johnny deliberately lets them know about the tape and later threatens to kill Grant — prompting him and Phil to confront Johnny at the same moment where Jake seeks help in fleeing the country with Chrissie; she and Jake have formed a relationship, following Den's murder. When Johnny calls the Mitchell brothers pathetic like their father, they fight and Johnny is left battered. He brandishes a gun and threatens to kill them, but relents in letting them leave with the tape when Ruby walks in and reconciles with her father. She then urges Johnny to inform Phil that his former stepson Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) is buying The Queen Victoria in his favor, which allows the Mitchells to intercept both Ian and Chrissie. While Phil and Grant work together to prevent Ian from buying the pub, Sam is released when the police catch up with Chrissie and arrest her for murdering Den — thus undoing Johnny's plan altogether; Chrissie is later sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty, leaving Jake devastated. In December, Johnny continues to clash with Phil and later makes an enemy with local hardman Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) — who is Den's illegitimate son and is married to his adopted daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean). This is further impacted when Phil pays Johnny's waiter Juley Smith (Joseph Kpobie) to have a relationship with Ruby and then dump her, much to Johnny's annoyance. On Christmas Day, Johnny insults the residents during a party — causing Dennis to throw him out and taunt Johnny on the street. Outraged that Dennis has humiliated him, Johnny responds by attempting to have Sharon leave Walford with Dennis by midnight on New Year's Eve. When Sharon refuses to oblige to his demands, Johnny throttles her and threatens to have Dennis killed if she does not relent. This leads Sharon to tell Dennis that she wishes to leave the country and start anew. While Dennis agrees with her plan, Phil learns about Johnny threatening Sharon and informs Dennis about this. This provokes Dennis into confronting Johnny, particularly when Phil reveals to Dennis that Johnny killed Andy — who was Dennis' only friend at the time prior to Johnny's arrival. Johnny, confronted by Dennis, offers to get him a drink and claims that Phil is lying about what happened to both Andy and Sharon. As he does so, however, Dennis attacks Johnny and leaves him unconscious, moments before the New Year fireworks descend onto the Square. Just as it appears that Dennis and Sharon will reunite amid the celebrations, he is fatally stabbed by a hooded passer-by and dies in Sharon's arms — much to her anguish. At Dennis' funeral, Sharon lashes out at Johnny when he appears to offer his condolences. She later informs Phil that Johnny killed Dennis, and Phil swears revenge on Johnny more than ever. After Dennis' funeral, Johnny soon leaves Walford with Ruby on 19 January 2006. Towards the end of March 2006, Phil tracks down Johnny in the Essex countryside. Phil convinces Grant to help confront him at his new mansion, where the former intends to bring Johnny to justice for Dennis' murder — as he had promised to Sharon. Reluctant at first, Grant agrees and the Mitchell brothers set off to Johnny's mansion. They chase Johnny down to his office, where Ruby walks out on her father after discovering that he had been withholding alcohol in his safe — even though he claimed to have got rid of them. As Ruby leaves, Grant goes to calm her down while Phil uses this opportunity to come face-to-face with Johnny. They talk and Johnny admits to having Dennis killed, prompting Phil to attack him until Grant stops his brother. Johnny flees, and the Mitchell brothers pursue him until they end up at a scrapyard, where Johnny captures Phil and Grant at gunpoint. It is at this point that it transpires Johnny had ordered Danny to kill Dennis, and that Danny has been working at Johnny's mansion since then. When Jake learns about his brother working for Johnny, he arrives at the mansion to take him home — trying to convince him that Johnny is just using him for dirty work. However, Danny refuses to leave the mansion and even ignores Jake when his brother reminds him about the time Johnny originally planned to kill them. The pair end up in a fight when Danny reveals to Jake that he killed Dennis on Johnny's orders, and Jake attacks him in response; the fight ends with Danny, after being punched by Jake whilst holding him at gunpoint, knocking his brother unconscious. Johnny later orders Danny to execute Phil and Grant, but Jake intervenes and shoots Danny — killing him, despite the fact that Jake had merely tried to shoot Danny in the leg or arm to stop him from killing the Mitchell brothers. As Jake buries Danny's body and the Mitchell brothers rush back to the mansion, Ruby uncovers Danny's phone and learns the truth about Dennis' murder. She calls the police on her father, and urges him to turn himself in — threatening to change her name and disown Johnny otherwise. After learning from Ruby that it is the second anniversary of when her mother and sister were killed, Johnny obliges and is arrested; he is later sentenced to life imprisonment after confessing to all of his crimes, including the murders of Andy and Dennis. In October 2006, Johnny is contacted by Jake — who shares his concerns to him about Ruby's new relationship with Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky), the brother of her best- friend Stacey (Lacey Turner). This prompts Johnny to arrange for Sean to visit him, where his attempts to threaten Sean in ending his relationship with Ruby are rebuffed — with Sean taunting Johnny at the hint that his plan with dating Ruby is to assert control of her assets. Johnny lashes out at Sean, but is forced back into his cell. Humiliated and angry, Johnny desperately attempts to phone Jake in a bid to have Sean killed. Unfortunately, he suffers a heart attack from stress just as he begins to dial. Believing that Jake is on the phone, Johnny proceeds to whisper "Jake... kill him for me" before falling unconscious. Johnny's cellmate hears his last words and mistakenly believes that Jake is the one he wants killed, leading to Jake being confronted by a stranger and presumably killed while leaving Walford. Elsewhere, Johnny is rushed to hospital and he dies before Ruby can visit him — leaving her heartbroken. She later arranges for her father's funeral at the end of October that year. Johnny and his casting was announced on 25 October 2004. Billy Murray was cast as the role. The character was said to be "The boss of the bad boys, pure big league. He will make Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) look like small fry with his bold dealings". Speaking of his casting, Murray stated "It's great that I'm going to be part of one of the best shows on television. I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into the role". The character made his debut appearance on 4 January 2005, and was later revealed via Digital Spy that his daughter Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) and girlfriend Tina Stewart (Charlotte Avery) were also set to join the show. "Get Johnny Week" is a week-long storyline which was first screened in late March 2006. The storyline focuses on Johnny after he retires from his life of crime and reunited the Mitchell brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp). The week finishes with Johnny's daughter, Ruby, persuading him to hand himself in to the police for the murder of Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman). Johnny gives in to his daughter's wish, and is then imprisoned for the murders of Dennis and Andy. However, the episodes were not well-received with viewers, and producer Kate Harwood received criticism for the storyline. Murray opted to leave the soap in August 2005, just eight months after his first appearance. Speaking of his departure, Murray stated that the decision to leave had been agreed with executive producer Kate Harwood. He went on to explain; "I sat down recently with the boss and we decided it would be much better for Johnny to go out with a bang than to hang around the Square for years, ageing gracefully." Thus, Murray departed after "Get Johnny Week" when his character is imprisoned. Johnny is not seen until October 2006, when Ruby's new boyfriend Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky) visits him in prison to taunt him. Furious, Johnny tries to arrange Sean's murder with Jake Moon (Joel Beckett). He fails and dies of a heart attack soon after. List of EastEnders characters (2005)", List of soap opera villains, "Get Johnny Week", List of fictional crime bosses

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Black people have been portrayed in comics since the medium's beginning, with their portrayals often the subject of controversy. The integration of black characters in mainstream and superhero comics has endured various obstacles and challenges. Critics have noted that black men and women have often been portrayed as jungle or ghetto stereotypes, and have often been portrayed as sidekicks as opposed to primary characters. Cartoonist Lee Falk's adventure comic strip Mandrake the Magician featured the African supporting character Lothar from its 1934 debut. He was a former "Prince of the Seven Nations", a federation of jungle tribes, but passed on the chance to become king and instead followed Mandrake on his world travels, fighting crime. Initially an illiterate exotic garbed in animal skins, he provided the muscle to complement Mandrake's brain on their adventures. Lothar was modernized in 1965 to dress in suits and speak standard English. All-Negro Comics (June 1947) was a 15-cent omnibus written and drawn solely by African- American writers and artists. The feature starred characters that included the Lion Man, a young African scientist sent by the United Nations to oversee a massive uranium deposit at the African Gold Coast, whose main enemy was Doctor Blut Sangro. Lion Man was meant to inspire black people's pride in their African heritage. The series Powerman, designed as an educational tool, was published in 1975 by Bardon Press Features of London, England, for distribution in Nigeria. The series was written by Don Avenall (aka Donne Avenell) and Norman Worker, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland. In 1988, Acme Press republished the series in the UK for the first time, to capitalize on the popularity of the artists, both of whose careers had since taken off. Acme changed Powerman's name to Powerbolt, to avoid confusion with the character Luke Cage, published by Marvel Comics. Powerman, who was super strong and could fly, appeared in stories rendered in a simple style reminiscent of Fawcett Comics' Golden Age Captain Marvel. His only apparent weakness was snakebite. In the larger framework of UNESCO’s General History of Africa project (2012–2015), a series of open source comic books was used to support the creation of strong and positive African women role models; it was called The Women in African History e-learning platform. For the production of the comics stories available on the platform, UNESCO commissioned illustrators from France, Madagascar, Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the United States. This project aimed to highlight illustration and graphic arts in Africa and constituted a springboard for the young artists involved: Y. Sanders (U.S.A.) — illustrator of the comic strip on Sojourner Truth, Sleeping Pop (Madagascar) — illustrator of the comic strip on Gisèle Rabesahala, Alaba Onajin (Nigeria) — illustrator of the comic strips on Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and Taytu Betul, Eric Muthoga (Kenya) — illustrator of the comic strip on Wangari Maathai, Pat Masioni (Congo) — illustrator of the comic strips on Nzinga Mbandi and the Women Soldiers of Dahomey, Yann Degruel (France) — Illustrator of the comic strips on Yennega and the Mulatto Solitude All-Negro Comics #1, published out of Philadelphia in mid-1947, was the first known comics magazine written and drawn solely by African-American writers and artists. In describing lead feature "Ace Harlem," Time magazine wrote, "The villains were a couple of zoot-suited, jive-talking Negro muggers, whose presence in anyone else's comics might have brought up complaints of racial 'distortion.' Since it was all in the family, [publisher Orrin C. Evans] thought no Negro readers would mind." The protagonist of "Ace Harlem," however, was a highly capable African-American police detective. In the 1950s the portrayal of a black man in a position of authority and a discussion of racism in a comic was at the centre of a battle between Entertaining Comics editor William Gaines and the Comics Code Authority, which had been set up in 1954 to self regulate the content of US comics amid fears they were a corrupting influence on youth. Gaines fought frequently with the CCA in an attempt to keep his magazines free from censorship. The particular example noted by comics historian Digby Diehl, Gaines threatened Judge Charles Murphy, the Comics Code Administrator, with a lawsuit when Murphy ordered EC to alter the science-fiction story "Judgment Day", in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (Feb. 1956). The story, by writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando, was a reprint from the pre-Code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye For an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres but was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being black." The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, one of which has fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut decides that due to the robots' bigotry, the Galactic Republic should not admit the planet. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing himself to be a black man. Murphy demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the black astronaut had to be removed. As Diehl recounted in Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives: Feldstein, interviewed for the book Tales of Terror: The EC Companion, reiterated his recollection of Murphy making the request: Although the story would eventually be reprinted uncensored, the incident caused Gaines to abandon comic books and concentrate on Mad magazine, which was EC's only profitable title. In the late 1940s, Parents Magazine Press published two issues of Negro Heroes, which reprinted stories about such historical figures as Joe Louis, George Washington Carver, Paul Robeson, and Charles L. Thomas. In 1950 Fawcett Comics produced three issues of Negro Romance, which was notable for its eschewing of African-American stereotypes, telling stories interchangeable with those told about white characters. Fawcett also published short-lived ongoing titles featuring Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story was a 16-page comic book about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott published in 1957 by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR USA). Although ignored by the mainstream comics industry, The Montgomery Story was widely distributed among civil rights groups, churches, and schools. It helped inspire nonviolent protest movements around the Southern United States, and later in Latin America, South Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Over 50 years after its initial publication, the comic inspired the best-selling, award-winning March trilogy by Georgia Congressman John Lewis. The final issue of Classics Illustrated, published in 1969, featured "Negro Americans: The Early Years," with biographical sketches of Crispus Attucks, black Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers, Benjamin Banneker & Phillis Wheatley, James Beckwourth, the Buffalo Soldiers, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Elijah McCoy, Garrett Morgan, Granville Woods, Matthew Henson, and Dr. Daniel Hale Williams; as well as stories about the Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Fitzgerald Publishing Co. produced the Golden Legacy line of 16 educational black history comic books from 1966 to 1976. In many ways modeled after Classics Illustrated, Golden Legacy produced biographies of such notable figures as Harriet Tubman, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Banneker, Matthew Henson, Alexandre Dumas, Frederick Douglass, Robert Smalls, Joseph Cinqué, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Alexander Pushkin, Lewis Howard Latimer, and Granville Woods. Golden Legacy was the brainchild of African American accountant Bertram Fitzgerald, who also wrote seven of the volumes. Many of the other contributors to the Golden Legacy series were also black, including Joan Bacchus and Tom Feelings. Other notable contributors included Don Perlin and Tony Tallarico. Lobo was a fictional Western comic book hero who was the medium's first African-American character to headline his own series. He starred in Dell Comics' little-known two-issue series Lobo (Dec. 1965 & Sept. 1966), was created and written by D. J. Arneson. In 1970, Larry Fuller's black superhero Ebon appeared in one issue of his own comic, published by the underground comix publisher San Francisco Comic Book Company. Ebon was a bad fit with the largely white, adult audiences of underground comix, and didn’t meet with much success. In the 1940s, the only black character to appear in Timely Comics (predecessor to Marvel) was literally named "White-Wash" and looked like a young white boy in black face rather than an actual African American character. The character starred in Timely's Young Allies, a book about a "kid gang" who, led by Captain America's sidekick Bucky Barnes and the Human Torch's sidekick Toro, battle the Nazi menace. While Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor Atlas Comics had published the African tribal-chief feature "Waku, Prince of the Bantu"—the first known mainstream comic-book feature with a Black star, albeit not African-American. Waku was one of four regular features in each issue of the omnibus title, Jungle Tales (Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1955). Two early Westernized, non-stereotyped African-American supporting characters in comic books are World War II soldier Jackie Johnson, who integrated the squad, Easy Company, when introduced as the title character of the story "Eyes for a Blind Gunner" in DC Comics' Our Army at War #113 (Dec. 1961) by writer Bob Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert; Marvel Comics' first African-American supporting character, World War II soldier Gabe Jones, of an integrated squad in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963). The character of African-American scientist Bill Foster appeared in The Avengers #32 (Sep. 1966) to #35, and again in #41, #54 and #75. The Amazing Spider-Man introduced the African-American supporting characters Joe Robertson, editor of a major newspaper, in 1967; his son Randy in 1968, and Hobie Brown (The Prowler) in 1969. The first black superhero in mainstream American comic books is Marvel's the Black Panther, an African who first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). He was originally conceived by Jack Kirby as a character named "Coal Tiger". This was followed by the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics, the Falcon, introduced in Captain America #117 (Sept. 1969). Following Kirby's Black Racer, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became the avatar of death for DC's New Gods (New Gods #3, July 1971), DC introduced John Stewart, an architect who becomes Hal Jordan's new backup Green Lantern in Green Lantern #87 (Jan. 1972). By resisting a suggestion to name the character Lincoln Washington (a stereotypical slave name), artist Neal Adams struck a blow for diversity at DC. There would be no black hero starring in his or her own mainstream comic title until Marvel's Luke Cage debuted in his own title, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, in June 1972. Following this, Black Panther took over the title Jungle Action from issue #5, beginning with a reprint of the Panther-centric story from The Avengers #62 followed by a new, critically acclaimed series written by Don McGregor with art by pencilers Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, and Billy Graham, in #6-24 (Sept. 1973 - Nov. 1976). Meanwhile, Luke Cage's title saw supporting character Bill Foster become Black Goliath in April 1975, and the following month saw the debut of Marvel's first major African female character, the superhero Storm of the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). DC Comics' first black superhero to star in his own series was Black Lightning. He debuted in his self-titled series in April 1977. He was Jefferson Pierce, an Olympic athlete turned inner-city school teacher. Created by Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, he toted a voltage-generating belt and a white mask. DC's young superhero team the Teen Titans saw supporting character Mal Duncan, who first appeared in Teen Titans #26 in 1970, become the superhero Guardian in Teen Titans #44 (Nov. 1976). He was quickly joined by DC's first female African-American superhero, Bumblebee (appearing from Teen Titans #46 as Karen Beecher, and from #48, June 1977, as Bumblebee). Three years later, the formation of the New Teen Titans would see the introduction of Victor Stone as the superhero Cyborg (DC Comics Presents #26, Oct. 1980). Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, Cyborg would later have his own title and has more recently been a member of the Justice League. The earliest black character to appear in his own (American) comic strip was Pore Li'l' Mose (1900) by Richard F. Outcault. In Frank King's Bobby Make- Believe the African-American housemaid Rachel made her debut, whom he would later reintroduce in his more famous comic strip Gasoline Alley. While Rachel was a stereotypical Mammy archetype character she was still portrayed as an intelligent and self-assured character with just as much backstory as all the other (white) characters. Back in the day, The Chicago Defender and New York Amsterdam News, which aimed at African-American readers, both praised her as positive rolemodel for the black population. Ken Kling's comic strip Joe and Asbestos (1924-1925) featured a black sidekick named Asbestos. The first black character to be incorporated into a syndicated comic strip was Lothar who appeared in Mandrake the Magician in the 1930s. He was Mandrake's sidekick: the circus strongman, who wore a Tarzan-style costume, was drawn in the Sambo- style of the time (see below) and was poor, and uneducated. Since the introduction of Lothar, Black characters have received a variety of treatments in comics, not all of them positive. William H. Foster III, associate professor of English at Naugatuck Valley Community College said, "they were comic foils, ignorant natives or brutal savages or cannibals". Writer-artist Will Eisner was sometimes criticized for his depiction of Ebony White, the young African American sidekick of Eisner's 1940s and 1950s character The Spirit. Eisner later admitted to consciously stereotyping the character, but said he tried to do so with "responsibility", and argued that "at the time humor consisted in our society of bad English and physical difference in identity". The character developed beyond the stereotype as the series progressed, and Eisner also introduced black characters (such as the plain- speaking Detective Grey) who defied popular stereotypes. In a 1966 New York Herald Tribune feature by his former office manager-turned-journalist, Marilyn Mercer wrote, "Ebony never drew criticism from Negro groups (in fact, Eisner was commended by some for using him), perhaps because, although his speech pattern was early Minstrel Show, he himself derived from another literary tradition: he was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Penrod, with a touch of Horatio Alger hero, and color didn't really come into it". Early graphic art of various kinds often depicted black characters in a stylized fashion, emphasizing certain physical features to form a recognizable racial caricature of black faces. These features often included long unkempt hair, broad noses, enormous, red-tinted lips, dark skin and ragged clothing reminiscent of those worn by African American slaves. These characters were also depicted as speaking accented English. In the early 20th century United States, these kinds of representations were seen frequently in newspaper comic strips and political cartoons, as well as in later comic magazines, and were also present in early cartoons by Disney and Looney Tunes. In comics, nameless black bystanders (see right) and even some notable heroes and villains were developed in this style, including Ebony White (see above), and Steamboat, valet of Billy Batson. In erotic comics, blacks are at times portrayed as hypersexual, and accompanying physical features such as a macrophallic penis in black men. Robert Crumb's underground comix character Angelfood McSpade, introduced in 1967, embodied all of these qualities. Crumb intended the character to be critical of the racist stereotype itself and assumed that the young liberal hippie/intellectual audience who read his work were not racists, and that they would understand his intentions for the character. Nonetheless, in the face of accusations of racism and sexism, Crumb retired the character after 1971. In the late-1960s and throughout the 1970s, several African-American heroes were created in the vein of Blaxploitation-era movie protagonists, and seemed to be a direct response to the notable Black Nationalist movement. These predominantly male heroes were often martial artists, came from the ghetto, and were politically motivated. Examples of such Blaxploitation characters include Luke Cage, Bronze Tiger, Black Lightning, and the female detective Misty Knight. The Falcon stars in one infamous story arc in the Captain America series, in which he is portrayed as a street hustler before being "rescued" by Captain America. Inspired by Blaxploitation esthetics, Real Deal Magazine was an independent comic book title published in the 1990s. One of the rare contemporary African-American-created and published comics, Real Deal depicted Los Angeles underworld life with deadpan visceral humor and gross-out violence (termed "Urban Terror" by the creators). Very few Black female characters were present in superhero comics before the Civil Rights Movement. Afterwards, several notable Black female characters began to appear. One of the most notable Black female character in comics appeared in the Bronze Age of Comic Books: Storm (Ororo Munroe) of the X-Men is introduced as being worshiped as an African goddess; Professor Xavier quickly reveals her to be a mutant who possesses the power to control the weather. Later it is revealed that her parents were killed when she was very young, and she grew up as a thief on the streets of Cairo. Storm would eventually succeed Cyclops as the team leader of the X-Men. In the 1980s, the new Captain Marvel, aka Monica Rambeau, had the power to become any form of energy on the electromagnetic scale. This Captain Marvel would join the Avengers in their battle against the Masters of Evil. In 1991, Captain Confederacy became one of the first female black superheroes to have her own series, published by Marvel's Epic Comics imprint. There are those who have criticized black superheroines for being one-dimensional and perpetuating several stereotypes, including that of the mythical superwoman and the hyper- emotional, overly aggressive Black woman. Milestone Media was a company founded in 1993 by African-American artists and writers Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle. The company's focus was to make multi-ethnic characters the stars of their monthly titles. Although Milestone comics were published through DC Comics, they did not take place in the DC Universe. The Milestone characters existed in a separate continuity that did not fall under DC Comics' direct editorial control (but DC still retained right of refusal to publish). Milestone had several advantages in its publishing efforts: the company received press coverage from non-comics related magazines and television, its books were distributed and marketed by DC Comics, the comics industry had experienced remarkable increases in sales in preceding years, Milestone featured the work of several well-known and critically acclaimed creators, and it had the potential to appeal to an audience that was not being targeted by other publishers. Milestone provided the opportunity for many emerging talents who had been passed over by larger established companies, launching the careers of many comic industry professionals; among them are John Paul Leon, Christopher Sotomayor, Christopher Williams (aka ChrisCross), Shawn Martinbrough, Tommy Lee Edwards, Jason Scott Jones (aka J.Scott.J), Prentis Rollins, J.H. Williams III, Humberto Ramos, John Rozum, Eric Battle, Joseph Illidge, Madeleine Blaustein, Jamal Igle, Chris Batista, and Harvey Richards. In 2000, Christopher Priest wrote a new Black Panther series. One of the highlights of Priest's run was his storyline "Enemy of the State". The Panther becomes a symbol of a larger African American community dealing with white supremacist violence. Priest even spoofs the old comics convention of bringing in black characters as an exotic supporting cast for the white superheroes with the Avengers appearing in the title. The gist of the most recent Black Panther series is that focuses on the African nation that T'Challa leads., In 2006, Ororo married fellow African superhero the Black Panther. Collaborating writer Eric Jerome Dickey explained that it was a move to explicitly target the female and African American audience. Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was highly supportive of this marriage, stating it was the Marvel Comics equivalent of the marriage of "Lady Diana and Prince Charles," and he expected both characters to emerge strengthened., Kansas cartoonist Alonzo Washington is the creator of Omega Man, a self-published title about a socially conscious African-American comic book superhero who concentrates on positive, ethical values. Part of the focus includes addressing school shootings and youth violence that is affecting America. The focus was executed as a free web comic published on the official Omega Man website. As a public service, Washington's comics came with trading cards each with an image of a missing child. Washington would see stories of missing black children in the local press but didn't see them nationally. "Instead of just complain about it, I wanted to do something to change that and also raise the issue." said Washington., Marvel Comics published the 2004 series . It recounted the untold story of the second Captain America, an African American who endured brutal tests that echoed the real-life Tuskegee syphilis experiments that were conducted starting in the 1930s on a group of American men who were black and poor., In November 2005, Nelson Mandela announced that the comic book A Son of the Eastern Cape would provide an illustrated history of Mandela's formative years, starting with his birth. The opening panels show Mandela as a swaddled baby in his parents' arms in their mud hut in the village of Mwezo, near Qunu in the Eastern Cape. The book was scheduled to consist of 26 volumes, written and illustrated by Nic Buchanan, and to be translated into South Africa's 10 other official languages. A teacher's guide was also to be created., In 2005, Marvel Comics mounted a high-profile relaunch of a title starring their marquee black hero, the Black Panther. The series debuted in February – Black History Month – and landed at No. 27 spot on the monthly bestselling comics list., In 2006, DC Comics unveiled a new generation of heroes that were minorities. As part of a larger shake-up of the DC Universe, tying into stories such as 52, "One Year Later" and Countdown to Final Crisis, DC introduced an African American version of Firestorm. African characters in comics, List of black superheroes, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, List of black animated characters, List of African-American firsts Daathrekh.com, The Milestone Rave - lists details of 264 Milestone comics issues, The Official website of Dwayne McDuffie, co-owner of Milestone Media., Milestone: Finally, I was there - an article detailing Christopher Priest's role in the creation of Dakotaverse and his involvement with Milestone in general., Milestone retrospective at Museum of Black Superheroes, Milestone Character profiles at Museum of Black Superheroes, Omega Man comic on Anti-Gang Violence, Africomics, the Black Science Fiction Portal Black Lightning is an American superhero television drama series, developed by Salim Akil, that premiered on The CW on January 16, 2018. It is based on the character of the same name, created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, featured in publications of DC Comics. Cress Williams stars as the titular character alongside China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams, Marvin Jones III, Damon Gupton, James Remar, and Jordan Calloway. The series sees the retired Black Lightning return to his life as a superhero and follows the effects of his vigilante activity on his professional and family life. Originally in development at Fox, the project was given a pilot production commitment in September 2016. In February 2017, Fox passed on the project and The CW subsequently picked it up with an order for a new pilot script. The CW officially ordered Black Lightning to series in May 2017. The first season premiered on January 16, 2018 and ran for 13 episodes. In April 2018, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on October 9, 2018 and ran for 16 episodes. In January 2019, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on October 7, 2019 and is set to run for 16 episodes. The season features the series' first tie-ins with the network's other DC Comics television series, known collectively as the Arrowverse, leading into Williams' appearance as Black Lightning in their "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event, which results in the series' setting retroactively established as part of the Arrowverse's new continuity. In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season. High school principal Jefferson Pierce, who retired from his superhero persona Black Lightning nine years ago after seeing the effects it had on his family, is forced to become a vigilante again when the rise of the local gang called The 100 led by Tobias Whale leads to increased crime and corruption in his community of Freeland. Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning: The principal of a charter school and, secretly, a retired superhero with the ability to harness and manipulate electricity. He returns to fighting crime as Black Lightning after his daughters are kidnapped by a local gang. Jefferson is later demoted to a teacher from his role as principal of Garfield High School as a result of his double life as a metahuman vigilante. Kaden Washington Lewis portrays a young Jefferson Pierce. China Anne McClain as Jennifer Pierce / Lightning: Jefferson's younger daughter, "an independent, outspoken scholar-athlete with a wild streak of her own" who is a student at Garfield High. It is later revealed that she also possesses powers of electrical manipulation, but unlike her father, Jennifer's cells can additionally generate pure electricity. She initially struggles with the revelation of her abilities and her family's superhero legacy, but after undergoing metahuman therapy to stabilize her powers and emotions, Jennifer eventually joins her father and sister as the vigilante Lightning. Fallyn Brown portrays a young Jennifer Pierce. Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce / Thunder / Blackbird: Jefferson's "passionate and quick-witted" elder daughter who is in medical school and teaches part-time at Garfield High. Also a metahuman, Anissa has the ability to manipulate her density with her breathing, endowing herself with superhuman strength and durability. She can also create powerful shockwaves and has an accelerated healing factor. Anissa later becomes the superhero Thunder and joins her father as his partner in fighting crime. Discussing her character becoming the first black lesbian superhero on television, Williams said, "I'm just really grateful to tell the story for young lesbians — and black lesbians in particular. My hope is that when you watch Anissa, a young lesbian is inspired to walk boldly as who she is and to love herself and to love herself exactly how she looks." Christine Adams as Lynn Stewart: A neuroscientist focusing on metahuman studies and Jefferson's ex-wife who also serves as his love interest. Initially the only family member who knows about his life as Black Lightning, Lynn felt that Jefferson's first stint at vigilantism had become an addiction and, out of concern for their family's safety, she divorced him amicably. The mother of Anissa and Jennifer, Lynn is "not one to be trifled with when it comes to family." Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tobias Whale: An African-American man with albinism and Black Lightning's nemesis. A former politician who rose through the ranks of local government through corrupt and illegal means, Tobias was eventually brought down by the reporting of Alvin Pierce, Jefferson's father. After killing Alvin, Tobias went into hiding and became the leader of The 100, Freeland's most feared gang. Tobias uses a serum to obtain near immortality, allowing him to age at an incredibly slow rate, and gifting him with super strength. Damon Gupton as Bill Henderson: A veteran inspector and the highest-ranking detective on the force who later becomes deputy chief of the Freeland Police Department. His role in the community puts him at odds with Black Lightning, but they soon become unlikely allies. Henderson eventually discovers that his lifelong friend Jefferson Pierce and the vigilante Black Lightning are one and the same, resulting in their relationship becoming strained. James Remar as Peter Gambi: Jefferson's oldest friend who became a father figure and mentor to him following his father's death. Gambi makes the Pierce family's super suits, which are housed in the secret headquarters under Gambi's tailor shop. It is revealed that Gambi arrived in Freeland 30 years ago as Peter Esposito, an employee of the A.S.A., the government entity that inadvertently created metahumans. Gambi leaked the information of the agency's misdeeds to Alvin Pierce, resulting in his murder. Jordan Calloway as Khalil Payne / Painkiller (season 2–present; recurring, season 1): A student at Garfield High and Jennifer's love interest who encourages her against her more rebellious tendencies. He is an All-American track star with dreams of going to the Olympics until a stray bullet severs his spine. In exchange for loyalty, Khalil accepts Tobias' offer of being able to walk again and becomes Painkiller, Tobias' right-hand-man. He receives cybernetic enhancements that make him meta-strong and able to generate an anesthetic from his body that causes temporary paralysis when delivered through darts. Khalil comes to regret his alliance with Tobias, but while attempting to get out of it, he is apparently murdered by the crime boss. Khalil later reappears inside one of the A.S.A.'s metahuman pods. In September 2016, after going through several incarnations and various stages of development for over a year, Mara Brock Akil, her husband Salim Akil, and perennial Warner Bros. Television producer Greg Berlanti began pitching Black Lightning to television networks. The Akils wrote the script while serving as executive producers alongside Berlanti and his frequent collaborator Sarah Schechter. A week later, the project landed at Fox with a pilot production commitment. In February 2017, Fox opted to not go forward with the pilot, deciding that it was "not a good fit into its already crowded genre drama space" and the project was subsequently shopped to other networks. As the home to several of Berlanti's other television ventures, The CW emerged as the network that was likely to realize the series. The following day, The CW officially ordered a pilot for Black Lightning. The original pilot script that had been written for Fox was discarded and instead, a short presentation was shot ahead of the network's final decisions regarding pickup orders. The CW officially ordered Black Lightning to series on May 10, 2017 with Salim Akil to serve as showrunner. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on October 9, 2018. On January 31, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on October 7, 2019. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth season. In order to have an "authentic black voice" for its setting and characters, Black Lightning utilizes a predominantly African-American writing staff. Salim Akil shared that the writers are not all African-American but "have either lived this life or know someone who has." In writing the first season, showrunner Akil stated that he was most inspired by the original run of Black Lightning comic books and that Black Lightning being a black father who defies the "deadbeat stereotype" was part of the reason for the Akils wanting to tell his story. He described Jefferson and his family as "the Obamas of the superhero world" and compared the duality of Jefferson Pierce and his alter ego Black Lightning to the duality of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. As a character-driven family drama, Black Lightning does not follow a villain of the week format in order to better explore the characters, especially the villains. The Akils also indicated that the writers would not be treating LGBTQ representation as a "special issue" but that such characters would be included and depicted "the way anyone would be included in life." Salim Akil noted that topics such as the Black Lives Matter movement and other issues concerning race relations and police brutality would be addressed, but stressed that, "This is an American story, this is not a black story. We're going to be culturally specific, but universal in our themes so everyone can see themselves in these stories." The showrunner likened the narrative of the first season to the real story of the Tuskegee experiment. The second season is organized into smaller arcs known as "books" to mimic the style of the comic book source material, with "consequences" being the theme of the season's first book. Specifically, Salim Akil said that the season would "deal with the consequences of having discovered the pod children; the consequences of Green Light hitting the streets; and the consequences of Jefferson's daughters discovering they have powers." Furthering the season's objective to "give a nod to comic books in a stronger way," the season introduces more metahumans, though showrunner Akil commented, "I don't want to introduce too many villains. I want us to settle in now that we know everyone [...] so now we can really tell some grounded stories about our villains, our heroes, the people in Freeland." He said that there would additionally be "other forces in Freeland and outside of Freeland" that would come into play as sources of conflict. Lead actor Cress Williams described the season as "harder hitting and a little bit darker" than the series' debut outing. On the relevant social issues that the season would address, Akil stated, "I wanted to talk about black people and therapy. We don't believe in that shit, but we're the number one people who need it." Meanwhile, Nafessa Williams shared that her character would continue to embrace her powers, elaborating that Anissa now "feels confident navigating the superhero world without her father, and she feels fully confident and able to do it on her own." The third season's narrative begins approximately a month and a half after the season two finale. Cress Williams shared that the season would see the world of the series "getting bigger" in terms of its setting and characters. Salim Akil stated that, while everyday life in Freeland would still be a focus of the season, "we want our stories to talk about concerns not just for black folk but for people in general. We'll cover mental health and addiction issues that affect the whole country." Discussing Jennifer's ongoing struggle to control her newly- discovered abilities, actress China Anne McClain noted that, "When the season starts, we see that Jennifer is getting more powerful, stronger, and she's also getting more emotional. We can expect a combination of all three of those this season." Akil additionally disclosed that Jennifer being stronger than both her father and her sister on account of her unique ability to generate her own electricity would also raise the issue of who is ultimately in control amongst the three. Meanwhile, Nafessa Williams said of her character Anissa's journey, "Season one was about her understanding and discovering her powers, in season two she is kind of starting to perfect them and trust herself. Season three, [...] her ways of doing things and her mindset is different from her father's." Furthermore, Williams teased that Jefferson would be making "a really big sacrifice" this season that would reveal "a little bit more of his angrier side" and "[propel] him at the beginning of the season." On February 24, 2017, Cress Williams was announced in the lead role of Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning. On March 2, China Anne McClain and Nafessa Williams were cast as Jefferson's daughters, Jennifer Pierce and Anissa Pierce, respectively. Later that same month on March 10, it was reported that Christine Adams has been cast as Lynn Stewart, Jefferson's ex-wife. At the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International on July 22, it was revealed that James Remar and Damon Gupton had joined the main cast as Jefferson's oldest friend Peter Gambi and unlikely ally Inspector William "Bill" Henderson, respectively. On August 10, rapper Marvin "Krondon" Jones III was added as a series regular, landing the role of main antagonist Tobias Whale. At the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21, it was announced that Jordan Calloway had been promoted to a series regular for the second season after previously recurring during the first season as Khalil Payne / Painkiller. On September 26, 2017, it was announced that Kyanna Simone Simpson would recur as Kiesha, Henderson's daughter and Jennifer's best friend. On October 5, it was reported that Jill Scott had booked a recurring role as the villainous Lady Eve. Later that month on October 12, Edwina Findley also joined the cast in a recurring capacity as Tori Whale, Tobias' younger sister. Chantal Thuy was added to the recurring cast as Grace Choi that same month on October 30, though she ultimately appeared in only two episodes of the series' first season. On January 16, 2018, it was revealed that Skye P. Marshall had been cast in a recurring role as Kara Fowdy, the vice principal of Garfield High School. On August 8, 2018, it was reported that Myles Truitt would play Issa Williams during the second season in a recurring capacity. On September 5, Sofia Vassilieva was announced in the role of Looker, based on the DC Comics character of the same name. On September 21, it was reported that Kearran Giovanni would recur as Cutter, a British mercenary. On October 4, it was revealed that Erika Alexander had booked a three-episode recurring role as Jennifer's telepathic therapist, Perenna, though she ultimately appeared in a total of eight episodes. Robert Townsend and Bill Duke were added as recurring characters Dr. Napier Frank and Agent Percy Odell, respectively, on October 9. On November 13, RJ Cyler was cast in the recurring role of "gangly and awkward tech genius" Todd Green. On January 21, 2019, it was announced that Hosea Chanchez had been cast to recur as Marcus Bishop / Shakedown. On October 10, 2019, it was announced that Wayne Brady would recur during the third season as Tyson Sykes / Gravedigger, a World War II-era "super soldier" and American- turned-Markovian asset. On January 19, 2020, Gupton revealed that he had been let go from the series and that the third season would be his last as a series regular. Black Lightning's costume was designed by Laura Jean Shannon. While the suit's design is meant to invoke protection from the character's vulnerabilities such as his age, and bullets in particular, Salim Akil stated that there were "a lot of iterations" of the Black Lightning costume, and that "at one point I had covered his face and his eyes, but what was more important to me was the emotion, and you need to see that. You need to see his eyes when his daughters have a gun pointed at them." A number of journalists noted similarities between the first superhero costume donned by Anissa Pierce, featuring a pink, purple, and blue color scheme with gold and black accents and a blonde wig, and the Thunder costume of the 2003 Outsiders comic book run. Shannon also designed the final Thunder costume, which was made from a sculpted armor material in order to stretch to the performer's comfort and serves as an homage to the most recent costume worn by Thunder in the comic books. The second season introduces the first official superhero costume for Jennifer Pierce as she takes on the moniker "Lightning" from the comic book source material. The costume echoes that of Anissa Pierce, in that it is a black body suit covered in yellow plating. However, the Lightning costume also features lightning-inspired designs. The third season features a new suit design for Jefferson Pierce as Black Lightning. In place of the previous suit's glowing blue and gold bolts across the chest, a textured gold design with blue and black weaving is featured throughout the torso, arms, and gloves. The mask is also slightly redesigned with dark red-tinted lenses. As Anissa Pierce officially takes on the name "Blackbird" as a second secret identity, she also receives a new costume for the alter-ego that consists of a black hood and a mask that covers the lower half of her face. Filming for the series takes place in Decatur, Georgia and the surrounding Atlanta area. The short presentation that was given to The CW was filmed in March 2017, with production for the series officially commencing on September 7, 2017. Filming for the first season concluded on March 3, 2018. Production for the second season returned to Atlanta beginning on June 26, 2018. The back lot used during filming was the same one used by The CW's previous Atlanta- based television series, The Vampire Diaries. Filming for the second season concluded on January 10, 2019. Production for the third season began on July 9, 2019. A week was carved out of the season's production for Williams to film his scenes for the Arrowverse crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in Vancouver, British Columbia. Filming for the third season concluded on January 20, 2020. Kurt Farquhar composes the score for the series and Kier Lehman, the music supervisor for Black Lightning, selects the series' featured songs along with the Akils. The rapper Godholly, who is the son of showrunner Akil, has provided original music for the series, including tracks such as "Black Lightning" from the main title sequence. Black Lightning began airing on The CW in the United States on January 16, 2018 during the 2017–18 television season. The first season, consisting of 13 episodes, ran until April 17, 2018. The second season premiered on The CW in the United States on October 9, 2018. In November, it was announced that the series would move to airing on Mondays for the second half of the season after previously airing on Tuesdays since its debut. The 16th and final episode of the second season aired on March 18, 2019. The third season premiered on October 7, 2019. The 16th and final episode of the third season will air on March 9, 2020. Having acquired the international distribution and streaming rights for Black Lightning, Netflix aired new episodes of the first two seasons weekly in regions outside of the United States, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, most of mainland Europe, and South America. However, following the expiration of the deal between the streamer and the network, the third season will be added to Netflix internationally at a later date. In the United States, the first season was released on Netflix in its entirety a week after the season finale aired on The CW. The second season was similarly released in its entirety on Netflix in the United States two weeks after the season finale aired on The CW. The third season will be released in its entirety on Netflix in the United States in 2020, after the season finale airs on The CW. The complete first season of Black Lightning was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Warner Home Entertainment in Region 1 on June 26, 2018, in Region 2 on January 28, 2019, and in Region 4 in 2018. The set also features extra content including the series' 2017 San Diego Comic-Con panel, new featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. The complete second season was made available as a manufacture-on-demand DVD through the Warner Archive Collection on October 8, 2019. On March 29, 2017, The CW released the first promotional image of Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce in his official Black Lightning superhero costume. On May 18, the first trailer for the series was released. The main cast that were confirmed at the time, as well as executive producers Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil attended the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International on July 22 to promote the season. On December 12, The CW released key art for the series in the form of the season's first promotional poster featuring Williams, China Anne McClain, and Nafessa Williams as their characters. On January 4, 2018, The CW and Warner Bros Television released the first look at Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce in her official Thunder superhero costume. On March 25, the producers and writers of the season attended the 2018 WonderCon and screened the episode "Sins of the Father: The Book of Redemption" at their panel ahead of its official debut on The CW. The main cast of the second season as well as the Akils attended San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21 to promote the season. The first trailer of the season was released on September 6. On December 13, The CW released the first promotional image of China Anne McClain as Jennifer Pierce in her official Lightning superhero costume. Several of the main cast members of the third season attended San Diego Comic-Con International on July 20, 2019 to promote the season. The first trailer of the season was released on September 24. The series premiere of Black Lightning debuted to strong numbers on The CW, according to Nielsen overnight data. Airing in the 9:00pm time slot, Black Lightnings pilot episode drew 2.3 million viewers in the United States and a 0.8 rating in the key demographic of adults 18-49. It retained all of its lead-in in the key demographic and more than 90% in total viewers from The Flash. It was The CW's highest rated original series premiere in two years since the launch of Legends of Tomorrow in 2016. Black Lightnings second season debuted to series lows in viewers 18-49. The second season premiere drew 1.2 million viewers and a 0.4 rating, down from its first season premiere, average, and finale, as well as from the premiere of Legends of Tomorrow in the time slot the previous fall. In viewers 18-34, however, Black Lightning improved by 10% from its freshman finale and was even with the debut of Legends of Tomorrow from the previous season. With an 0.3 rating and 0.9 million viewers, the third season premiere of Black Lightning was down more than 20% across the board from the previous season's finale. Black Lightning has received generally positive reviews from professional critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 95% approval rating. The first season debuted to critical acclaim. The season is "certified fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes and holds a 96% approval rating, with an average rating of 8.35/10, based on 50 reviews. The website's critic consensus reads: "Black Lightning doesn't reinvent superhero TV, but it does give the genre a necessary jolt with real-world plots, scary new villains, and a star-making performance from Cress Williams." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 79 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" from 25 critics. The second season received generally positive reviews from professional critics. The season holds a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.41/10, based on 10 reviews. The website's critic consensus reads: "Faced with the responsibility of aiding Freeland through trying times, the Pierce family takes Black Lightning back by storm." The third season has also received generally positive reviews from professional critics. The season holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.92/10, based on 6 reviews. Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, Dana Schwartz gave the series premiere an "A-" grade, writing, "The Pierce family dynamic is so compelling that even if Jefferson Pierce had no powers beyond great motivational speeches, this show would be a worthwhile watch. Black Lightning balances humor with all-too-necessary social commentary [...] to make a refreshing addition to the superhero TV pantheon." Reviewing the first two episodes of the season, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter commended the series for its "solid action scenes, bass-pumping soundtrack, stylish treatment of Black Lightning's sizzling powers and character pragmatism." He praised the series' ability to "stand alone in welcome ways" and described the premiere episode as "smart and relevant and full of an attitude that's all its own." Reviewing the first four episodes of the series, The Atlantics Pilot Viruet wrote, "There's an authenticity to the series—it's neither too pulpy nor too preachy—that's heightened by the strong performances from its predominantly black cast, particularly from [Cress] Williams, who anchors the show's many conflicts." Nafessa Williams' portrayal of Anissa Pierce, Black Lightning's eldest daughter who becomes the superhero Thunder, also drew attention and praise from critics. As the first black lesbian superhero on television, critics applauded the character's social activism and action scenes, as well as for being a "complex" and "fully realized" character outside of her superhero identity. Reviewing for The A.V. Club, Kyle Fowle gave the finale an "A" grade, writing that the episode was "tonally bold, easily moving between being funny and politically poignant," while also setting up "plenty of intrigue" for next season. Fowle concluded that the episode was a "confident, compelling, moving end to a season that boasted all those same qualities throughout." Jesse Schedeen of IGN noted that the series' reduced episode count, focus on older superheroes and social issues, limited cast, and preservation of the main villain at the end of the season positively distinguished the series from other superhero programming. The A.V. Clubs Fowle gave the second season premiere an "A-" grade, adding, "One of the reasons the first season was so compelling was that the show made the political personal. That's once again evident here, as there's a wonderful sense of the larger community throughout the premiere." Kayti Burt of Den of Geek! gave the episode a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. She explained, "There's a lack of thematic cohesiveness in this season premiere that is probably a result of trying to reintroduce so many characters and storylines at once, but the energy and potential for a strong second season is definitely there. Black Lightning continues to be one of the best, most important shows on television." In her review for Collider, Allison Keene gave the season's early storylines 4 stars out of 5, writing, "Black Lightning is not without its own flaws, including occasionally disjointed or abrupt storytelling, but its clear desire to educate and inspire through compelling family drama continues to make it a show of consequence." Burt and Syfy Wire contributor Stephanie Williams praised the season for its efforts to de-stigmatize mental health care, especially for black women. Burt called Jennifer's therapy storyline "a powerful, vital representation of mental health issues—not only within the superhero genre, but anywhere on TV." Again reviewing for The A.V. Club, Fowle gave the season finale a "C+" grade. He named Jennifer's journey as "undoubtedly" the best part of the season, but felt that the second season as a whole "struggled to reach the heights of its first season" and that "storylines were introduced with full force before petering out, [...] stumbling towards lackluster conclusions." Dan Ashby of Cultured Vultures gave the whole season a rating of 7.5 out of 10, writing, "Season two of Black Lightning has some interesting storylines, a number of good fight scenes, a catchy soundtrack, and some important messages. Unfortunately, it all seems slightly uncoordinated and messy in its execution." In a more positive account from Entertainment Weekly, Christian Holub gave the season finale a "B" grade, adding, "Season 2's penultimate installment was all over the place, but tonight's season finale did a good job of bringing enough of the threads together that I'm now satisfied to wait for season 3." Reviewing the third season premiere for Entertainment Weekly, Holub gave the episode a "B+" grade, writing, "Black Lightning has been able to do a really good job of showcasing real-life racial dynamics and structural inequities through its comic-flavored storytelling. And in season 3, the show is aiming directly at our real-life crisis of family separation and putting kids in cages. [...] After a bit of a sophomore slump, I'm excited to see where Black Lightning goes from here." Nicole Hill of Den of Geek! assigned the premiere episode a rating of 4 out of 5. She opined that, "Black Lightning does a good job of playing with these different concepts of power and showing how they interact, overlap, and cancel each other out. [...] I hope this season maintains focus and doesn't find itself branching out too far away from its central conflicts. If the following episodes consistently operate at this level, this will be an exciting season to watch." The A.V. Clubs Fowle gave the premiere a "B+" grade and added that, "The first episode of the third season is just as politically charged as previous episodes, but this time around things feel more relevant, more attuned to this specific time and place. Black Lightning has nodded towards real life events before, but this premiere, centered around kids being rounded up, separated from their families, and locked in detention camps with no idea of when they'll get out or what they did wrong, feels particularly pointed." Tai Gooden of Syfy Wire wrote, "The usage of religion, specifically Christianity, in Black Lighting strikes a fascinating balance between the science-centered A.S.A. organization and the fantasy element of metahumans whose powers essentially make them gods among men." Gooden pointed out that the each episode title contains religious references, particularly the second season's multi-episode chapters named after themes frequently explored in religious texts, such as consequences, blood, and rebellion. Additionally, she highlighted the role of Reverend Holt in the series, whose sermons "are often interspersed with scenes that either complement or counteract a character's current struggle with faith and making the right decisions." She compared Khalil's arc to that of one who has lost their faith, and likened Tobias to a Devil that offers temptations. "The primary characters and community members tackle their personal and collective plights with bold protests, prayers, vigilante justice, and rogue missions, all of which are threaded together through overt and subtle religious references." Several journalists drew parallels between some of the series's storylines, particularly those involving police brutality and institutional racism, and events that have taken place in real life. Christina Radish of Collider and Charles Pulliam- Moore of io9 felt that the character Issa Williams, a black teen who is held in a fatal chokehold by police as bystanders record the incident and plead for his life, was "reminiscent" of the 2014 death of Eric Garner. Pulliam-Moore also noted that, "The families of Freeland who are fighting to get their children back [from government custody] clearly call to mind all of the undocumented children who've been separated from their families, are being held in detention centers, and may very well never see their loved ones again." Additionally, Entertainment Weeklys Christian Holub compared Anissa's Robin Hood-esque crime-fighting philosophy and alternative costume, a black hoodie and mouth cover, to the philosophies and costumes of Antifa members. While applauding Jennifer's therapy arc and the series's portrayal of mental health care, Kayti Burt of Den of Geek! cited the scene in the second season premiere episode in which Jefferson brushes off Lynn's suggestion that he should see a therapist as an example of double standards regarding age and gender. She commented, "The depiction of Jennifer's mental health treatment is so important, but, as a teen girl, Jennifer is allowed a degree of emotional vulnerability that adult men are not." Burt felt that this apparent point of hypocrisy intentionally served as a subject for the story to reflect upon. She said, "Black Lightning isn't ignorant to the many reasons for avoiding shows of emotional vulnerability, of the potential consequences of asking for help in a world that so often equates emotional vulnerability with weakness. It just also chooses to tell the other side of that story: the potential consequences of not acknowledging and actively working on your emotional and mental health issues." In January 2017, when the series was still in development at Fox, executive producer Greg Berlanti stated that Black Lightning would not crossover with his other DC Comics television properties on The CW, nor would it exist in their shared universe, known as the Arrowverse. Despite Black Lightnings move to The CW, the network's president Mark Pedowitz said in May 2017 that the series "at this time, is not part of the Arrowverse. It is a separate situation." Showrunners Salim Akil later clarified that they were not ruling out eventual crossovers, but wanted to establish the series and its own world first. In August 2017, Pedowitz added, "If [the showrunners] wish to bring it in, that is their call. We had a long discussion with the studio, Mara, Salim, and myself. We were fine with them making it separate from the Arrowverse, they have a different point of view. If they end up wanting to go that way, that will be their decision." Salim Akil explained that the first season's references to the DC Comics characters Vixen and Supergirl, who are also featured in the Arrowverse, were simply a "fun" way "to tease the fans" and stressed that Black Lightning exists on a separate Earth from the Arrowverse series, such as Earth-1 from Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow and Earth-38 from Supergirl. Additionally, he stated that any future crossover would involve the heroes of the other series visiting the Earth that is associated with Black Lightning. Discussing a potential Black Lightning crossover with the Arrowverse in July 2019, Cress Williams revealed that "there's been lots of talk [...] nothing official, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised." Two weeks later in August, Williams confirmed reports that Black Lightning would be involved in the Arrowverse's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event. By the end of the event, the multiverse was rebooted and Earth-Prime was formed, which saw Black Lightnings Earth merged with the former Earth-1 and Earth-38, creating a universe where all of The CW series exist together. Jefferson also becomes a member of a league of heroes consisting of Barry Allen / The Flash, Kara Zor-El / Kara Danvers / Supergirl, Sara Lance / White Canary, Kate Kane / Batwoman, J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter, and Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman, as well as a seat for the late Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, who sacrificed himself in order to reboot the mutliverse. Static is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, a creation of Milestone Comics founders Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle was initially written by McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III and illustrated by John Paul Leon. Static's first appearance was made in Static #1 (June 1993) in the Modern Age of Comic Books. Virgil Ovid Hawkins is a member of a fictional subspecies of humans with superhuman abilities known as metahumans. Not born with his powers, Hawkins' abilities develop after an incident exposes him to a radioactive chemical. This event renders him capable of electromagnetic control and generation. The character drew much inspiration and was in fact designed to represent a modern-era Spider-Man archetype. After the closing of Milestone Comics, Static was incorporated into the DC Universe and became a member of the Teen Titans. A common misconception is that Hawkins is the son of fellow DC Comics superhero Black Lightning, who debuted much earlier and possesses electrical abilities. Black Lightning addresses the coincidence once in a Justice League narrative. Static has made numerous appearances in other forms of media. The character has been featured in various animated series including Static Shock, a version of the storyline made slightly more suitable for a younger audience. Static has been featured in animated films and video games as well. An African-American teenager, Static was a key character of Milestone Comics, an independently-owned imprint of DC Comics with a greater representation of minority heroes. Dwayne McDuffie has stated that the creation of Static was a group effort. Originally developed for Marvel Comics, Static would become a main staple of the Milestone line. Much of the inspiration for Static came from Marvel's Spider-Man. When initially creating the first five characters for Milestone Comics, it was decided that Static would be created as a teenage hero who was a contemporary version of Spider-Man. Static's civilian identity, Virgil Hawkins, was named after Virgil D. Hawkins, a black man who was denied entrance to the University of Florida's law school due to his race in 1949. Milestone ceased publishing comics in 1997, but Static was saved from obscurity by the WB animated series Static Shock, which aired for four seasons and led to the 2001 comic book miniseries Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool. The 2009 trade paperback of this series was nominated for a Glyph Comics Award for Best Reprint Collection. McDuffie described the character: "Like any other awkward 15-year-old, Virgil Hawkins worries about pocket money, getting beaten up, and drugs. But recently, he's had even more on his mind: stuff like his powers, his secret identity, and drugs. Because, when innocents are in danger, and Virgil can slip away from class, the geeky youth becomes Static, the dashing, adventurous superhero!" The character was introduced in one of the first four titles of comic books published by Milestone in 1993, founded by Derek T. Dingle, Denys Cowan, Dwayne McDuffie, and Michael Davis. His early adventures were written by Robert L. Washington III and McDuffie, and penciled by John Paul Leon. Virgil Hawkins was fifteen years old when he became Static. In the comics, Virgil's family consists of his father, Robert, who works at Paris Island Hospital; his mother, Jean; and his sister, Sharon. Virgil attends Ernest Hemingway High School in the city of Dakota with his friends: Frieda Goren, Richard "Rick" Stone, Larry Wade, Chuck, Felix, and Daisy Watkins. In the guise of Static, Virgil eventually rescues "Rick Stone" from danger. Not unlike Spider-Man, the character has a propensity for witty banter and humor, especially when engaged with opponents. In addition, Virgil utilizes his knowledge of science and pop culture in various battles and scenarios as Static. A self-professed geek, Virgil is portrayed as avid comic book and video game fan, something that was retained for his animated incarnation. In the comics, Virgil regularly visits the local comic store, in addition to creating fan comics with his friends, and participates in HeroClix-style and other role-playing games. In addition, he has been shown to be an avid video gamer at several points in both his series and the Teen Titans. In the 2001 miniseries, Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool, it is shown that at that point in time, Virgil is into collecting Pokémon cards and he likes Pikachu (the flagship Pokémon of the franchise and a fellow user of electricity). In an interview with former Teen Titans writer Geoff Johns, he expressed interest in having Static as part of the team, stating, "I really wanted Static on the team, but there’s so much red tape there that every time I requested it DC said 'not yet' and so I never got to have him" and later stating he had plans for the character since Teen Titans #1 (vol. 3). Any obstructions were eventually resolved and Static appeared in the Terror Titans, with his Milestone continuity folded in the mainstream New Earth continuity. At the San Diego Comic-Con 2008, it was announced that Static would be joining the mainstream DC Universe where he would be added to the Teen Titans. Static made his first canonical DC Universe appearance in Terror Titans #4, battling Rose Wilson in the final round of the Dark Side Club Tournament. In June 2010, DC Comics announced that Static would be receiving his own series in 2011. The series was to be written by Felicia Henderson and drawn by Scott McDaniel, but was cancelled before the first issue could be released following the death of Static's creator, Dwayne McDuffie. However, a one-shot entitled Static Shock Special was released in June 2011, written by Henderson and drawn by Denys Cowan. Batwoman artist JH Williams III provided the one-shot's cover. A new series featuring Static titled Static Shock was launched in September 2011 as part of DC's relaunch after the Flashpoint event. The book is written by John Rozum and drawn by Scott McDaniel, who also co-writes. As part of an effort to better integrate Static into the mainstream DCU, the title takes place in New York City rather than Dakota. Doused with an experimental chemical in a gang war he was caught up in, high school student Virgil Ovid Hawkins gains a variety of electromagnetic powers and becomes a costumed crusader against crime. Like most teenaged heroes in the Spider-Man mold, he is often overwhelmed by the combined responsibilities of his career as a superhero and typical adolescent problems. A resident of the city of Dakota, Virgil first gained his electromagnetic powers at a huge showdown between the gangs of the city, when he hoped to get revenge on a gang member who had been bullying him. The authorities arrive and release tear gas with what they believe to be a harmless radioactive marker so that any gang members would not escape arrest. The cops do not know the marker had been further spiked with an experimental mutagen called Quantum Juice (Q-Juice). This event ultimately came to be known as the so-called "Big Bang." Those who were exposed came to be referred to as "bang babies" because the Big Bang was their metahuman birth. When the agency behind the experiment tried to capture him, he fights back, discovering that he has gained the ability to generate, manipulate, and control electromagnetism. Virgil names himself "Static" and, armed with his wits and powers, became a superhero. For the most part, Virgil keeps his secret from his family, but his friend, Frieda Goren, learns his identity when he attempts to protect her from becoming a prize in a small skirmish between gangs. Virgil has friends like Rick Stone & Larry Wade, he also has a romantic interest in his other friend Frieda Goren but she was already involved with Larry Wade. He also has feelings for a girl named Daisy Watkins, but his 'responsibilities' as Static interfere with their dates too many times and Daisy calls their relationship off. In Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool, Virgil is involved with a girl named Madison, but Frieda ends up fighting with her over him. Static has had confrontations with numerous bang babies and other super powered adversaries: Hotstreak, Tarmack, Holocaust, Commando X, Puff, Coil, Snakefingers, Rift, The Swarm, Dr. Kilgore, Rubberband Man, Brat-atat-tat, Prometheus, Run, Jump & Burn, Boom Box, Powerfist, LaserJet, etc. Other Bang-Babies that Static has encountered include Virus, D-Struct and Hyacinth. In the mini-series Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool it is revealed that Virgil has given up his superhero career as Static. He enjoys his time being a civilian again but sometimes misses being a superhero as his friend and confidant Frieda gets him to begrudgingly admit. He eventually returns after being persuaded by many fellow heroes including Blitzen and Hardware for one final battle. After the battle, with a man named John Tower who is revealed to have been the first and greatest superhero in the Milestone Universe, Virgil decides to return to his career as Static. But as he informs Frieda it likely won't be on a full-time basis as it was before. Later in the comic line, Static is aided by allies: the Shadow Cabinet, the Blood Syndicate, and DCPD officer Captain Summers, who has a big interest in police cases involving Bang-Babies. Static teams up with Page, the sidekick to Kobalt, in order to stop a maddened Bang-Baby who had become half-fly. Static takes a moment to scold Page, who, in his opinion, seems more concerned with making excuses over their initial meet up than what was more important, stopping the danger. Static ends up joining the unofficial group called Heroes. Multiple superheroes come together to protect the town of Iberia from a dam break. Many innocent citizens perish, but the heroes are still recognized for their efforts in saving the survivors and doing what they could. Static appears among the group, quips "You started the X-Men without me", and talks his way onto the team. Minutes later, the Shadow Cabinet, now corrupt, sends a death squad after a few of his newfound friends. Following the death of Darkseid (as chronicled in Final Crisis), the space- time continuum was torn asunder, threatening the existence of both the Dakotaverse and the mainstream DC universe. The being known as Dharma was able to use energies that he harnessed from Rift (upon that being's defeat in Worlds Collide) to merge the two universes, creating an entirely new continuity. Only Dharma, Icon, and Superman are aware that Dakota and its inhabitants ever existed in a parallel universe. In the buildup to the Final Crisis, the cosmic tyrant Darkseid hires the Terror Titans to capture Static, along with a number of the other Bang Babies in Dakota for use in the metahuman deathmatches in the Dark Side Club. During his tenure in captivity, Virgil is subjected to the Anti-Life Equation and entered into the tournaments, where he presumably kills a number of combatants. He quickly becomes the champion, and reigns undefeated for a time, though in the end, he proves hard to control. To Clock King's displeasure, he has to be restricted to the lower-levels where he is kept locked up and heavily sedated. In an attempt to entice Rose Wilson and make a profit, Clock King releases Static and sets him against Rose in the ring. In the ring, the two have an intense fight where Static's lightning-fast attacks are able to injure Rose, even despite her precognition. After a drawn-out fight, Static emerges the winner, but briefly breaks free of control before being sedated once more. Static is eventually freed by Rose (albeit off panel) and takes his revenge against his former captors, electrocuting Lashina and her cohorts as they try to escape. He also briefly duels with fellow electricity-wielder Dreadbolt, defeating and binding him in metal along with the other Terror Titans. In his final appearance he's seen joining up with Miss Martian and Aquagirl, planning their next move. After the Crisis has ended, Static and the other Dark Side Club survivors arrive at Titans Tower in order to rest. Wonder Girl, the current leader of the team, offers all of the young heroes spots on the team roster, but most of them, including Terra and Zachary Zatara, decline. While exploring the Tower, Virgil strikes up a chemistry with Aquagirl, a teenaged superheroine who was briefly a member of the team during 52. During a conversation with Virgil, she claims that she enjoyed her time with the team, and wishes to join up again, a statement that influences his decision to do the same. He also playfully insults Kid Devil and Jaime Reyes after they attempt to talk to him, mocking Kid Devil over his recent loss of his abilities. He claims that he was abducted by the Terror Titans months beforehand, and realizes that his family must believe him to be dead. Believing he has no place to go for the time being, Static decides to become a Titan and live at the Tower until he can get his life together. Later, when crazed former-Titan Jericho (in the guise of Cyborg) takes control of the Tower and its systems in an attempt to kill the team, Static thwarts him by releasing a high-energy charge overloading the entire Tower, as well as Cyborg's body, saving the rest of the team in the process. During a trip to the piers in order to relax, the Titans face off with the supervillain team known as the Fearsome Five, after they kidnap Wonder Girl and hold her hostage on Alcatraz Island. In the ensuing battle, Static defeats the villain known as Rumble by tricking him into moving into a pool of water, thus amplifying the effects of his electric attacks. In the aftermath of the battle, Virgil attends Kid Devil's funeral after he is killed saving the city from a nuclear explosion. When former Titan Raven shows up at Titans Tower injured and unconscious, Static assists Justice Society of America member Dr. Mid-Nite in helping treat her, using his abilities to sedate Raven when a demon emerges from her body. In a 2009 storyline it was recently revealed that prior to his abduction, Static teamed with Justice League member Black Lightning in order to stop former Blood Syndicate member Holocaust, who had tried to kill the superhero while he was acting as the keynote speaker at Ernest Hemingway High's senior graduation. Virgil finally decides to see his family again after learning that a deadly virus has been infecting citizens of Dakota, including Sharon. After returning home, Virgil reunites with his family as well as Frieda, and learns that his girlfriend Madison has left him during his absence. He discovers that whoever created the virus is also selling limited supplies of the vaccine, and attacks the lab where it is being made. Upon breaking into the facility, Static is surprised and knocked out by Holocaust. After refusing to help Holocaust in his pursuits, Static is imprisoned in a specialized containment unit alongside Aquagirl, Wonder Girl, and Bombshell. Holocaust informs the heroes that he plans to kill them and weaponize their abilities in order to sell them, but is ambushed by the rest of the Titans before this can happen. Holocaust easily defeats them, only to be confronted by Cyborg, who has recruited former Titans Kid Flash and Superboy. The three are able to hold off Holocaust long enough for Virgil and the others to escape, and ultimately the combined might of all ten Teen Titans is enough to defeat the villain once and for all. After this, Virgil reconciles with Frieda and tells her that he has tricked his family into believing that he has taken part in a lengthy quantum physics fellowship, thus giving him an excuse to live in San Francisco with the rest of the Titans. He also makes one last attempt to win back Madison, but she silently rejects him. After this, Virgil and the other Titans decide to head home, now with Superboy and Kid Flash as members again. After a mission to another dimension to rescue Raven, Virgil returns home to find that he no longer has his powers. Furious and scared over his situation, as well as his inability to help Miss Martian awaken from her coma, Virgil attempts to leave the Tower and return to Dakota. He is stopped by Cyborg, who tells Virgil that he will be of no help to anyone back home without his abilities, and tells him that he has arranged for Virgil to be taken to Cadmus Labs to find a way to get his powers back. Superboy offers to travel to Cadmus in order to support his friend, but Virgil tells him that the Titans need him now. Following a farewell breakfast, Static leaves for Cadmus, with Wonder Girl assuring him that he will always have a place on the team. During the events of Flashpoint, Barry Allen accidentally alters history after a battle with Professor Zoom. In the newly created reality, Static is shown back in-costume with his powers restored. Following the reality-warping events of the 2011 Flashpoint storyline, Virgil and his family leave Dakota for New York after an unspecified tragic incident that, among other things, left his sister Sharon as two separate, identical entities. The vigilante Hardware gives Virgil a new costume and modified flying disk, which enables the two to remain in contact despite living in different cities. Hardware also gives him an internship at S.T.A.R. Labs as an after school job. During his first major battle, Static defeats the villain Sunspot and earns the attention of a criminal syndicate known as the Slate Gang. Static Shock was cancelled as of issue 8 as part of DC's "Second Wave" of The New 52 titles and replaced by an alternative title. In Teen Titans, it is revealed that Virgil designed the cape and wing apparatus of Red Robin's costume while at S.T.A.R. Later, while recuperating at S.T.A.R. Labs from a previous battle, the Titans seek Virgil's help in curing Kid Flash, whose cells Virgil discovers are rapidly deteriorating as a result of an alteration of his powers. Virgil provides Kid Flash with a new costume (based on a personal sketch for a variant of the Flash's costume) containing materials that realign his molecules while stabilizing his powers, saving Kid Flash in the process. Static's powers allow him to control electromagnetic phenomena, in particular allowing him to manifest, manipulate both electrical and magnetic energy- Static's powers are best described as superconductor electromagnetism. Static's powers center around electromagnetism, making him part of the Earth's electromagnetic field as well as capable of generating and storing his own electromagnetic energy. He can choose to keep the electromagnetic energy that he currently holds in his body by controlling the current and voltage for whenever he wants to use it. Static's body can generate raw electromagnetic energy, which he can control at will for various purposes. Such uses commonly include magnetizing objects, electrocuting opponents, levitating objects (such as manhole-covers or his self-built metal saucer for use in flight) and people, restraining or adhering people/objects to various surfaces in the form of "static cling", generating "taser punches and kicks" with effects similar to a stun gun and at times enough power to send opponents flying during close combat (once even punching a huge bang-baby made of molten magma through a brick wall), various electromagnetic displays as well as electromagnetic nets or cages, blinding flashes, generating thrown ball lightning, producing electromagnetic pulses, and generating electromagnetic force fields to shield himself from attacks, even stopping bullets in mid-air. In the comic book series, Static has displayed the ability to manipulate subatomic particles, in particular electrons. In at least one instance, he has used this ability as an offensive attack to easily knockout a villain with the villain's own electrons. He can also dab and electrocute nearby enemies. As well as releasing surges of electromagnetic energy, which he can do from any part of his body, Static can also drain sources of electricity, such as power lines, batteries and fuse boxes to recharge/replenish his own energy supply. He has also displayed the ability to regenerate his powers after being completely drained by energy-draining villains. Whenever Static has used his powers to a high degree, or experience any other such large energy-drain, he will also experience a sudden, acute sense of fatigue, as his electromagnetic powers are tied into his own bioelectric energy levels. In the episode "Aftershock", in the 1st season of the animated series, an analysis of his blood shows that Static's electrolytes/blood-salt levels are higher-than-normal, highlighting that Static needs higher blood-salt levels to support the use of his powers, but the higher sodium levels seem to have no effect on his health. Static can also sense and feel-out sources of electromagnetic energy, able to tell if a seemingly abandoned area is actually hot or not. Static can use his powers to hear radio waves and tap into phone lines, including listening in on the police broadband and music stations, as well as making calls, and is also able to use his powers to mimic the uses of electronic devices such as a CD player (in "Aftershock", he also called himself a "human CD player, (even got Surround sound"), and is even able to use his powers to use an ordinary trashcan cover simultaneously as a shotgun microphone and a loudspeaker. It is notable that Static has more of a distinctive advantage in cities than anywhere-else, as shown in the events of "Aftershock", as even in a park, surrounded by trees, Static could make use of the metal pipelines under the ground with his magnetic powers. In both the animated series and comic book, he is shown using his powers to mimic that of a blowtorch allowing him to cut and weld metal together. In the animated series, Static's powers grant him resistance or immunity to forms of mind control, since the human brain is an electromagnetic organ. In "Attack of the Living Brain Puppets", Static is immune to Madelyn Spaulding's ability to hear the thoughts of others and exert control over their actions, (as speculated by Richie,) Static's greater bioelectric field shields him and his brainwaves from any attempts at reading his mind and asserting control over him, as also seen in the second part of "A League of Their Own", when one of Brainiac's mind-controlling devices shorts out shortly after being placed on Static. This trait has also been adapted into the comic book mythos; in Terror Titans, Static is shown to have resistance to Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation, coming back to his senses. Following the events of "Flashpoint", Static is given a new flying disk that now contains a holographic interface and is capable of collapsing into separate pieces or re-configuring into various forms for various uses and applications. In addition to allowing Static to remain in contact with Hardware, the disk also displays charts and other information relevant to the mission at hand. Virgil has also begun using a three-piece detachable bō staff both activated by and used in conjunction with his powers for use in close- ranged fighting. Static's body has been shown to automatically heal itself, even from what would otherwise be lethal wounds, when drawing in large amounts of energy from a nearby energy source. Tim Drake has stated that Virgil's understanding of molecular structure rivals the Flash's. Virgil Hawkins is a highly gifted student with a particular interest in the sciences. He is a talented inventor and a natural strategist. Virgil also possesses an almost fanboyish knowledge of comic books, role playing games, pop culture, and science fiction. Static's primary weaknesses are insulators, as his powers have little or no effect on them; as shown in his battle with Rubberband Man. Wood seems to be the one he has the most difficulty with, as it cannot be electromagnetically manipulated, levitated or damaged. In the animated series, he has a vulnerability to water which (as water is a conductor of electricity) if he gets taken and drenched by surprise, shorts out his powers until he can dry off and replenish them. However, he can fly in the rain without short- circuiting. This weakness only applies in the animated series as Static has never shown a weakness to water in the comics and has even used it to his advantage. In the animated series, Vergil did use his powers a few times for advantages like the water bang baby aqua, as he blasted the wet floor full of electricity, knocking a few of his enemies out. He has also hit the ocean to stop boats. Static appears as a major character in the 2010 limited series Milestone Forever, a project designed to detail the final fates of the Milestone launch characters prior to being assimilated into DC's continuity. In Static's tale, the reader first learns that Virgil is attending his ten year high school reunion, and has given up his life of crime-fighting and is now pursuing a career in medicine. Rick (now going by his television moniker of "Richie") is also now working as a director in Los Angeles, and is open about his homosexuality. Without warning, Hotstreak (recently released from prison and now calling himself Firewheel), attacks the reunion, claiming that he now realizes that Static must have been one of his old classmates. Virgil briefly takes up the Static mantle again for one last fight with his old nemesis, and eventually defeats him. During this time, it is also revealed that Sharon is now married and pregnant, and that Robert has died. Rocket is implied to have taken over as the new Icon. The story then skips ahead another ten years to show that Virgil is now married to Frieda and has two children, Larry and Sadie (both of whom have inherited his electrical abilities), and now works as a doctor. The story ends with the couple reflecting on their life, and Virgil playfully asking Frieda if she wants him to return to his role as Static. She simply smiles and tells him "absolutely not", and the two passionately kiss. Static has a number of supporting characters in his from best friends Rick Stone, Larry Wade and Frieda Goren to sometime love interest Daisy Watkins, and so on. There is a framed copy of Static #1 on Will and Carlton's wall in the pool house. Static was developed into the lead of his own animated series with some changes in the material, generally to make the character more suitable for a younger and wider audience, but still with a focus on contemporary relevance. In the series' first two seasons, Static's outfit was a Blue coat with yellow inner lining and stripes on his coat sleeves, a white shirt with his trademark black lightning bolt symbol, black pants with a white mask, and yellow goggles. By season three, his wardrobe is mostly black and blue with some gold/yellow highlights, and the yellow goggles are replaced with dark blue shades; this wardrobe later appears in his Teen Titans comics appearance. His future-self wears a similar, but slightly darker tone-wise, scheme. In the animated series, Virgil Hawkins (voiced by Phil LaMarr) is a fourteen-year-old honors student at Dakota Union High School who gains his powers by a mutagenic gas explosion, dubbed "the Big Bang" by the media, which grants numerous residents of Dakota superpowers; those affected are likewise dubbed "Bang Babies". Virgil lives with his widowed father Robert Hawkins, a social worker and the head of the Freeman Community Center, and his sister Sharon Hawkins, a university student and hospital volunteer. His mother Jean Hawkins died a few years prior, the victim of a stray bullet while she worked as a paramedic during a riot; her death causes Virgil to develop an intense fear/hatred of guns. In "Static in Africa", it is revealed (or at least hinted at) that Virgil and his family are all of Ghana ancestry (although no relatives are mentioned). Static idolize other positive black superheroes in his world, such as Soul Power, Anansi the Spider (who befriends Virgil and calls him "his hero" as well), and particularly the Green Lantern John Stewart. Over the course of the series, Static teams up with many DC heroes including Batman and Robin, Batman's future successor Terry McGinnis, the Justice League, and even Superman himself. The episode "Future Shock" reveals that by the time of Batman Beyond, Static is considered one of the world's greatest heroes; he also has a son who is hinted to be a hero as well. A grown Static appears in the episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time, Warped" voiced again by Phil LaMarr. He is still an active member by the age of sixty-five, to which Green Lantern stated that the last time he had met him, he was "too young to drive". Static appears to have aged little in the forty years between the time when he was fourteen. Although Batman states that Static in his time is at least fifty, he appears to be in perfect health when he is finally shown. In the ten years, the only change seems to be that his hair has finally grayed. Static explains that this was due to advanced medical science in the future. During a battle against the Jokerz, Static accidentally fell into a random time portal, which is undone when time is repaired. When everything's back to normal after the time warp is fixed, Static is still alive in the future. It is also shown that his flying disk now deploys in halves out from beneath his boots. Virgil Hawkins is voiced by Bryton James. He first appears in the Invasion episode "Beneath" as one of the teens abducted by the Reach. He has his first speaking role in the series on the episode "Cornered", where Virgil tells Black Canary about the experiments the Reach had put him through. He unknowingly displays his manifested electrical powers when a bunch of paper clips ended up stuck together by his electrostatic abilities. In the episode "Runaways", he and his fellow abductees (based on the various ethnic heroes from Super Friends, with Static taking the place of Black Vulcan) run away from Star Labs when they grow sick of the constant testing. He and the other runaways are stopped by Blue Beetle and help him to battle Red Volcano, saving the scientists and staff. When Blue Beetle ignores the potential harm he is causing during the battle and tries to forcibly take them with him, Virgil and the others escape. The group then are met by Lex Luthor who recruits them. In the episode "The Hunt", Virgil and his friends destroy everything in sight relating to the Reach until Luthor convinces them to rescue the members of the Team from Warworld (which is now under the Reach's control), using a Father Box to get there and track down Superboy. Once on board, they are attacked by the Reach's enforcers and Black Beetle, who causes them trouble until Arsenal intervenes and frees Mongul, triggering a fight between him and Black Beetle. After the Team is rescued, Nightwing offers a place on the Team for the runaways, but they refuse when he kicks Arsenal off the Team despite him saving their lives and they leave. Arsenal then tells the group that Luthor was using them and the abductees break ties with Luthor and leave with Arsenal. In "Endgame", Virgil and Black Lightning take down the Magnetic Field Disruptor in Dakota City. Impressed, Black Lightning tells him if he ever needs a mentor, he should let him know. After the battle, Wonder Girl and Robin welcome Virgil, now going by the name "Static", to the team. He does not wear his costume in this show, however his street clothes resemble those of his Teen Titans costume, but in the episode "Endgame" he is shown with his circled lightning logo on his T-shirt briefly on the Watchtower. In this version, when Static flies on a disc, his electricity is shown to be directed towards the ground, presumably caused by the grounding effect. In the , two years have passed with Virgil under the wing of Black Lightning, who has helped him further develop and perfect his power over electromagnetism. He is later concerned when Jeff admitted that he resigned and hoped that Virgil could find a mentor who was not damaged. He joined Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Miss Martian on a mission on New Genesis, in "Away Mission". Eventually, in "Illusion of Control", he expressed his desire to find a girlfriend since many of his teammates, and even enemies like Devastation and Psimon, were an item. In "First Impression", he becomes a member of the Outsiders alongside Geo-Force, the second Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and their leader Beast Boy. Virgil has a non-speaking cameo in . He can be seen sitting behind Billy Batson during Victor Stone's football game. His appearance is similar to that of his Young Justice counterpart. This is the character's first appearance in a DC film., On August 30, 2017, when asked on his Twitter account if the character could have a feature film set in the DC animated universe as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, producer James Tucker responded that there's interest in Static on the studio, but that there have yet to be plans to make one. In May 2003, Midway Games announced the production of a platformer Static Shock video game for the Game Boy Advance. While the game was displayed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, it was later cancelled., Static appears in DC Universe Online. He is seen as part of the Lightning Strikes DLC, fighting alongside other Titans. Static is a bounty for those on the villain campaign and is sighted in the west of the Temple of Crime. He wears his dark colored Teen Titans costume in this game., Static is a downloadable playable character in the mobile version of ., Static was set to appear as a playable character in Injustice 2 and even had his design finished for the game, but was cut from the game for unknown reasons. Official DC Universe profile, Get to Know! Static - DC Universe, Static at International Hero, Static at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017., Unofficial Guide to DC Comics entry, Titans Tower biography, WB Static Shock Static Shock WB Homepage, Static Shock Animated Series Synopsis Page on TV.com about Static Shock

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The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair with a controversial history held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II. It usually begins the last Friday in September and ends 24 days later. The fair claims to boast an annual attendance of over 2 million visitors through ticket scanning. The State Fair of Texas is considered one of the best in America as well as Dallas's signature event although it has a long and troubled history. The State Fair of Texas's opening day ceremonies are highlighted by the annual Friday parade rolling through downtown Dallas. In 2019, the parade moved to Fair Park. The fair also has a nightly parade called the Starlight Parade and a nightly light show called Illumination Sensation around the park's esplanade. However, the start of the fair tends to be viewed by the residential neighbors in a negative light since the benefits are not seen to trickle down to them. In fact, the blight created by the fair is so severe it depresses the real estate value of neighboring homes, which are already in a depressed neighborhood. In addition, nearby businesses lose money while the fair is in session. Traditionally, the centerpiece of the fair has been the annual college football game between Oklahoma and Texas, nicknamed the Red River Rivalry (historically known as both the "OU-Texas Game" or "Texas-OU Game") and played in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park. Also, the State Fair Classic, featuring Grambling State University and Prairie View A&M; University, is played at the Cotton Bowl during the fair. In 2010, Baylor and Texas Tech played their game during the fair for the first time. During the opening weekend of the 2013 fair, Army and Louisiana Tech played in the only Heart of Dallas Classic at the Cotton Bowl; it was abandoned thereafter. The Texas State Fair Football Showdown took place on the third weekend of the 2018 and 2019 fair and featured Southern and Texas Southern. In 2020, the Southern versus Texas Southern game is set to move to Arlington, Texas. The State Fair of Texas is the only fair in the US to include a full auto show, dating back to 1913. However, the Texas Museum of Automotive History was forced to pull out as a tenant who blames the fair for forcing it to close down during the annual event. The State Fair used to feature "Birds of the World" where several birds flew overhead. It was removed from the Fair lineup in 2014 and returned in 2019. The Texas Skyway is a gondola ride which only operates 24 days a year transports visitors around the fairgrounds. Its construction cost 5 million dollars. There is also a BMX bike show as well as dog and pig races. For children, puppet shows, Children's Medical Center Barnyard, and Story Time also take place inside the fair. In recent years, the fair has emphasized its reputation as an event featuring unique, albeit high-fat foods. It has been known for years for Fletcher's brand corny dogs even as a lawsuit was filed for the right to sell them outside of the fair. Recent years have seen the introduction of new unusual deep-fried items, including deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried Twinkies, deep-fried s'mores, deep-fried pork ribs, fried cheesecake; deep-fried butter, fried avocados, deep-fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches, and most recently a batter-based fried Coke. New foods in 2008 included chicken fried bacon and fried banana splits. For the 2012 fair, the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas added the deep-fried Samoa cookie in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts of the US in 2012 and the Girl Scout 100th Anniversary Experience at the Texas Hall of State at the fair in the same year. People travel all across the world to attend the unique State Fair of Texas including former talk show host, Oprah. In 2019, the fair introduced a Buffalo chicken chimichanga. Originally what was known as the State Fair of Texas was held in Houston from 1870 through 1879. In its modern incarnation, the State Fair of Texas was charted as a private corporation by local businessmen. It was an immediate success and attracted thousands of people. However, in 1904 a series of events led to a financial crisis and not enough income was available to keep the fair running. Therefore, the businessmen sold it to the city of Dallas with the agreement that 24 days during the fall would be set aside annually for the fair and exhibition. On February 10, 1942, a five-alarm blaze "raged unchecked for an hour in the automobile building at the State Fair park" causing damage estimated at several hundred thousand dollars. One fireman was hospitalized after being overcome with smoke and a half dozen others were given treatment at the scene. "Roy Rupard, secretary of the State Fair association, said the loss was covered by insurance." Big Tex, a tall cowboy statue, has been its symbol since his introduction in 1952. In 1953, Big Tex's jaw was hinged, so that he appears to "speak" the announcements that promote fair events. After a fire on October 19, 2012 destroyed the original Big Tex, he was rebuilt and reintroduced for the 2013 fair. Big Tex is claimed to be the world's tallest cowboy. Its Texas Star Ferris wheel was the largest in North America when it debuted in October 1985, just months before the Texas Sesquicentennial. It has since been dwarfed by Ferris wheels in Las Vegas and Orlando. In addition, the fair once had a “Colored People’s Day,” “Ku Klux Klan Day” and, as recently as the 1980s, a day dedicated to the Confederacy. In the 1960s, the fair looked at market research showing that many white fairgoers were frightened by seeing black people on their way into the fair leading to an aggressive eminent domain campaign to buy nearby homes to convert the land into parking lots. DART's Fair Park Station and MLK Jr. Station opened in 2009 to serve Fair Park and the State Fair. In addition to regular service on the Green Line, the Red Line and Blue Line also run "special event" trains to Fair Park Station for major fair events. In 2017, Foundation for Community Empowerment commissioned a major report laying a major portion of blame against how the State Fair of Texas has hindered development at and around Fair Park. In 1955, Juanita Craft organized a protest of the State Fair of Texas against its policy of admitting blacks only on "Negro Achievement Day." The State Fair in 1966 commissioned a report on the redevelopment of the fair, which concluded that the land around Fair Park should be `bought up and turned into a paved, lighted, fenced parking lot" that would `eliminate the problem from sight'. "If the poor Negroes in their shacks cannot be seen, all the guilt feelings…will disappear, or at least be removed from primary consideration". The State Fair came on fire in October 2014 for spending over $5,000,000 on attorneys fees to two insiders. Despite a $30,000,000 investment in Summer Adventures, the event was shuttered after just one season. In August 2015, the State Fair was sanctioned more than $75,000 for filing a SLAPP suit against a lawyer who had requested financial documents from the State Fair. On August 2, 2016, the Dallas Court of Appeals reversed in its entirety the judgment against the State Fair of Texas, holding that the trial court erred in, among other things, finding that the State Fair's lawsuit was a SLAPP suit. The State Fair of Texas opened its gates for the first time on October 26, 1886. Approximately 14,000 people attend the opening day., On November 7, 1886, the fair closes and attracted over 100,000 people for the very first year., The State Fair of Texas has a history of racial discrimination dating back to the 1880s. The first designated day for African-Americans to attend the fair was held in 1889 and was called "Colored People's Day." Educator Norman Washington Harllee organized exhibits and planned events and speakers including Booker T. Washington in 1900. In 1910, "Colored People's Day" was discontinued and reappeared in 1936 as "Negro Achievement Day" set to coincide with the Texas Centennial Exposition. Contrary to the fact that African-Americans weren't allowed to participate in entertainment or eat at restaurants and concession stands on other days during the run, fair officials touted "Negro Achievement Day" as a way to recognize the accomplishments and progress of the Negro race in Texas and the United States. The Hall of Negro Life was the only building demolished after the Texas Centennial ended., In 1913, the fair introduces the first Automobile building which was filled with 175 vehicles for fairgoers to see., The fair was canceled in 1918 due to the US Army taking control of Fair Park to establish an aviation boot camp known as Camp Dick., In 1921, Boston College beats Baylor at the first game ever played between teams from the southwest and northeast., In 1921, Texas and Vanderbilt start a series which is played here every year from 1921 to 1928 with the exception of 1924., In 1923, the fair hosted Ku Klux Klan day. Thousands of new Klan members were sworn in at the fairgrounds. More than 150,000 people were at the fair that day., In 1925, the first State Fair Classic is played., In 1929, TX-OU play their Red River Rivalry here for the first time., In 1930, construction of a new Fair Park Stadium (now known as the Cotton Bowl) begins., In 1932, TX-OU play their Red River Rivalry for the first time at the new Fair Park Stadium., In 1937, the first Cotton Bowl Classic is played in Fair Park., Big Tex makes his first appearance in 1952., In 1955, a seat filled with members of the Memphis High School marching band broke free from the top of a 92-foot Sky Wheel, killing a 15-year-old girl., In 1956 the Trailblazer monorail began operation at Fair Park from 1956 to 1964. It was the first commercially operated monorail system in the United States., Elvis Presley performs in the Cotton Bowl during the fair in 1956. In 1960, the Dallas Texans (AFL) and the Dallas Cowboys (NFL) play their first season in the Cotton Bowl., In 1964 the monorail closed and was replaced by the Swiss Sky Ride, a 64 car aerial ride that traveled over a 3,800 foot path (the longest ever built)., In 1966, the State Fair commissioned a report on the redevelopment of the fair, which concluded that the land around Fair Park should be `bought up and turned into a paved, lighted, fenced parking lot" that would `eliminate the problem from sight'. "If the poor Negroes in their shacks cannot be seen, all the guilt feelings…will disappear, or at least be removed from primary consideration"., In 1979, a Sky Ride accident occurred during the last day of the fair, prompting the removal of the attraction., In 1983, an eighteen-year-old boy was killed and several bystanders were injured when a gondola fell off the Enterprise (ride)., In 1985 the Texas Star opens as the largest ferris wheel in North America., In 1989, The Comet Roller Coaster, a Fair Park landmark since 1947, is torn down., Following the 2001 September 11 attacks, Dallas police and State Fair officials announce the implementation of new security measures during the annual event., In 2005, the Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich is introduced to the fair. In 2007 the Texas Skyway aerial ride opens in Fair Park., In 2010, the 8000 ft Greenhouse on the Midway is built to house 1000 hanging baskets, beehives, and Farmer Mike the Pumpkin Carver., Fairgoers spent more than $37 million in 2010 which broke the fair's record., On November 14, 2011 – State Fair of Texas filed its 2010 IRS Form 990 Tax Return., On October 19, 2012, Big Tex caught on fire, burning it down to the skeletal frame, with only the right arm remaining., On November 15, 2012 – State Fair of Texas filed its 2011 IRS Form 990 Tax Return., In 2013:, The State Fair opened a brand new attraction – a 500-foot observation tower called "Top o' Texas Tower" – as part of a renovation of part of the Midway called "Summer Adventures at Fair Park." The "Tower" now operates only 24 days a year, despite a construction cost of over $11,000,000., The State Fair also operated Summer Adventures in Fair Park, a beach-themed amusement park from May to August 2013., Despite a $30,000,000 investment in Summer Adventures, the event was shuttered after just one season., Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer wrote, "The sudden collapse of a $30 million venture has to be some kind of red flag, some indication that it's time to re-examine the whole thing.", A new Big Tex statue was unveiled the day before the fair opened., On November 12, 2013 – State Fair of Texas filed its 2012 IRS Form 990 Tax Return., In 2014:, In September 2014, a blue ribbon task force appointed by Mayor Mike Rawlings submitted a report on the rejuvenation of Fair Park. The Mayor's Task Force plan envisions a public-private partnership led by a non profit organization to be charged with over arching powers to control the revitalization of Fair Park, including the State Fair of Texas. Architect/City planner Antonio Di Mambro, with international experience in infrastructure planning and neighborhood revitalization, encouraged the Mayor to use the Task Force report as a building block for constructive dialogue with residents, stakeholders and the neighborhoods around Fair Park. Following the presentation of the Task Force Plan, Mayor Mike Rawlings said, "I felt passion by all the council and park board members that they want Fair Park to be all it can be and they're interested in taking this big challenge on"., October – State Fair comes under fire for spending over $5,000,000 on attorneys fees to two insiders., November 7, 2014 -State Fair of Texas filed its 2013 IRS Form 990 Tax Return, indicating a loss of over $2,000,000 for the reporting period., In 2015:, In March 2015, the State Fair pushed back on any notion of tightening up the footprint of its current operation. Dallas Morning News reporter Robert Wilonsky called the State Fair's response "rather dramatic" The article also quoted Stephen Page of the closed Texas Museum of Automotive History from 2012 as saying, "The City's requirement that tenants vacate the majority of the buildings in Fair Park during the State Fair is the principal reason for Fair Park's ongoing decline." Wilonsky also quoted a ‘prominent member of the Mayor's Task Force’ as suggesting privately "that the State Fair's presence at Fair Park also needs to be greatly reduced.", In May 2015, the Park and Recreation Board voted unanimously to recommend and approve the Mayor's Task Force Plan and recommended that underground parking structures be built rather than as initially recommended by the Task Force., In August 2015, the State Fair was sanctioned more than $75,000 for filing a SLAPP suit against a lawyer who had requested financial documents from the State Fair. On August 2, 2016, the Dallas Court of Appeals reversed in its entirety the judgment against the State Fair of Texas, holding that the trial court erred in, among other things, finding that the State Fair's lawsuit was a SLAPP suit.., On September 9, 2017, Charlie Daniels performed and played his famous song The Devil Went Down to Georgia., On September 5, 2019, the State Fair of Texas was ordered by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas to compensate Riggs & Ray, P.C. for its appeal of the August 2, 2016 ruling. The economics, finances and management of the State Fair of Texas is a matter of public concern and study. The five main areas of concern are: What is the annual attendance of the fair?, What economic impact does the fair have on people and businesses in the surrounding area?, How much money does the State Fair provide for the benefit of improvements at Fair Park and elsewhere, State fair staff compensation levels, Audits Staff of the State Fair have traditionally reported that attendance at the fair runs in the vicinity each year of between 3 and 3.5 million people. These figures were disputed in an April 2016 study published by Tom Kelly, Ph.D, a professor of Economics at Baylor University and the Director of Baylor University Center for Business and Economic Research, along with Bennet Hickok, an Economics student at Baylor. The Kelly/Hickok report argues that the attendance at the fair is about 1.5-1.7 million visitors a year, or about half of what state fair staff reported it to be. According to the 2017 State Fair of Texas Annual Report, the Fair attracted a total of 2,250,433 attendees during the 2017 event with roughly 93,000 daily guests. The total annual reported attendance for 2018 dropped to 2,049,119 with a net operating revenue loss of $3,199,044 for the year. The 2016 Kelly/Hickok study found that the State Fair generates around $50 million for the area economy. This is in contrast to the figure of $600 million in impact that the State Fair itself has traditionally reported. The State Fair has a lease with Fair Park, the terms of which require that any profit or excess revenue it generates be spent "for the development and enhancement of Fair Park and the Fair". In May 2016, the State Fair released a list of capital projects for the past 10 years, detailing how the fair had spent their excess revenue. According to media reports, 90% of excess revenue was spent on projects that solely benefited the State Fair. A survey of Fair Park revealed out of the 277 acres available, 200 are covered in asphalt or concrete, compared to 10 acres of green space. In 2014, Errol McKoy, the former President of the State Fair of Texas, received $1.425 million in compensation.. Excessive executive compensation is a constant and major complaint of the fair. On May 13, 2016, the City of Dallas Auditor, Craig Kinton, released an audit regarding Fair Park Business Partners, which included the State Fair of Texas. The audit concluded the City of Dallas had no way to ensure the State Fair was adequately investing in Fair Park, per the terms of the contract between the City of Dallas and State Fair. A Fair To Remember (documentary), Fair Park, Hall of State, Heart of Dallas Classic, State Fair Classic Local guide to State Fair of Texas events, Neighborsgo.com: Photos submitted by Fairgoers The South Texas State Fair is an annual regional state fair held in Beaumont, Texas. The fair features a livestock show, a commercial exhibition, and a carnival Midway. Food concessions are a major attraction of the fair. Reflecting Beaumont's location in Southeast Texas, normal carnival foods can be found alongside barbecue, Tex-Mex, and Cajun foods (often including fried alligator). , the South Texas State Fair had an attendance of over 500,000 people, second in the state to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. The fair is held annually in late March to early April. The South Texas State Fair traces its roots to the first confirmable fair in Beaumont, held in 1907. With the exception of cancellations in 2005 and 2008 because of Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike respectively, the fair has continued every year since. It was first known as the Beaumont Fair, then the Southeast Texas State Fair, and in 1921 just the South Texas State Fair. In 1942, operation of the fair was transferred to the YMBL (Young Men's Business League), a local non-profit civic improvement organization. While other state fairs, including the larger State Fair of Texas, were closed for the duration of World War II, the South Texas State Fair continued as the "YMBL Victory Fair". The YMBL states that this was in part on request from the US military as an attempt to improve morale of soldiers stationed in and near the Beaumont area. After the war, the fair continued. In 2004, the South Texas State Fair moved from the Beaumont Fairgrounds on the east side of the city to Ford Park on I-10 on the west side. The 2005 fair was cancelled due to the extensive damage that Hurricane Rita inflicted on the region; It returned in 2006. Due to Hurricane Ike and the hurricane relief staging centered in Ford Park, the 2008 fair was canceled. The fair resumed in March 2009, marking a permanent schedule change from fall to spring. Reasons stated for the change included better weather, lack of competition from football, and a better fit for midway ride provider Bill Hames Shows. Young Men's Business League The Texas Centennial Exposition was a world's fair presented June 6 - November 29, 1936, at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. A celebration of the 100th anniversary of Texas's independence from Mexico in 1836, it also celebrated Texas and Western American culture. More than 50 buildings were constructed for the exposition, and many remain today as notable examples of Art Deco architecture. Attracting more than six million people including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the exposition was credited with buffering Dallas from the Great Depression. The Texas Centennial Exposition was held at Fair Park in Dallas, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Texas's independence from Mexico in 1836. It was also a celebration of Texas and Western culture. Three Texas cities — Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio — competed to host the exposition, with Dallas receiving the nod from the Texas Centennial Commission because it offered the largest cash commitment ($7,791,000), the existing facilities of the State Fair of Texas, and a strong group of leaders. George Dahl was director general of a group of architects who designed the more than 50 buildings constructed for the exposition at Fair Park, a landscaped expanse then comprising 178 acres. Some 30 of the structures remain, representing one of the largest intact groupings of world's fair buildings and open spaces remaining in the United States. Chief among these buildings is the Texas Hall of State, which was not completed until after the opening of the exposition. The Texas Centennial Exposition was held at Fair Park in Dallas, June 6 - November 29, 1936. The event attracted 6,353,827 visitors, and cost around $25 million. The exposition was credited for buffering Dallas from the Great Depression, creating over 10,000 jobs and giving a $50 million boost to the local economy. The Cavalcade of Texas, a historical pageant covering four centuries of Texas history, was one of the most popular attractions at the Exposition. The Hall of Negro Life was another popular attraction and is believed to be the first recognition of African-American culture at a world's fair. The Texas Centennial Olympics, held in the Cotton Bowl, hosted the first integrated public athletic competition in the history of the South. Universal produced a newsreel of preparations for the Centennial beauty pageant, which shows models attempting to fit into life-sized cutouts of the Texas Centennial Committee's concept of the "perfect figure." The celebrated Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth, adapted and directed by Orson Welles with an all-black cast, was featured August 13–23 in the new band shell and 5,000-seat open-air amphitheatre. The production was one of the most talked-about features of the exposition and drew large, enthusiastic audiences. For many it was their first opportunity to see a professional dramatic performance by African American actors. Integrated seating was a unique experience for theatergoers in Dallas. President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the exposition in a widely publicized event on June 12. Gene Autry's film The Big Show was filmed on location and shows many of the buildings and events of the event. The Centennial Exposition required a massive publicity effort, but the promotion department was stymied by a lack of photographs. Never before had the state been photographed for advertising purposes. The Centennial Exposition hired Polly Smith to travel the state and tell the story of Texas through photos. After a successful five-month run, the Texas Centennial Exposition was closed. The exhibits changed and reopened the following year as the Greater Texas & Pan-American Exposition. The Fair Park Texas Centennial Buildings were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In October 2010, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., opened an exhibition titled Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s. This exhibition, which was available for view until September 2011, prominently featured the Texas Centennial Exposition. Fair Park, Hall of State, History of Dallas, Texas (1930-1945) Videos of archival film footage of the Texas Centennial Exposition at the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, Photos of the Texas Centennial Exposition hosted by the Portal to Texas History., "Light and Color Magic at Texas Exposition" Popular Mechanics, December 1935 — pp. 846–847.

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The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains high concentration of ozone (O) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere. The ozone layer contains less than 10 parts per million of ozone, while the average ozone concentration in Earth's atmosphere as a whole is about 0.3 parts per million. The ozone layer is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere, from approximately above Earth, although its thickness varies seasonally and geographically. The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson. Measurements of the sun showed that the radiation sent out from its surface and reaching the ground on Earth is usually consistent with the spectrum of a black body with a temperature in the range of 5,500–6,000 K (5,227 to 5,727 °C), except that there was no radiation below a wavelength of about 310 nm at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. It was deduced that the missing radiation was being absorbed by something in the atmosphere. Eventually the spectrum of the missing radiation was matched to only one known chemical, ozone. Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson, who developed a simple spectrophotometer (the Dobsonmeter) that could be used to measure stratospheric ozone from the ground. Between 1928 and 1958, Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations, which continue to operate to this day. The "Dobson unit", a convenient measure of the amount of ozone overhead, is named in his honor. The ozone layer absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the Sun's medium-frequency ultraviolet light (from about 200 nm to 315 nm wavelength), which otherwise would potentially damage exposed life forms near the surface. In 1976, atmospheric research revealed that the ozone layer was being depleted by chemicals released by industry, mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Concerns that increased UV radiation due to ozone depletion threatened life on Earth, including increased skin cancer in humans and other ecological problems, led to bans on the chemicals, and the latest evidence is that ozone depletion has slowed or stopped. The United Nations General Assembly has designated September 16 as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. Venus also has a thin ozone layer at an altitude of 100 kilometers from the planet's surface. The photochemical mechanisms that give rise to the ozone layer were discovered by the British physicist Sydney Chapman in 1930. Ozone in the Earth's stratosphere is created by ultraviolet light striking ordinary oxygen molecules containing two oxygen atoms (O), splitting them into individual oxygen atoms (atomic oxygen); the atomic oxygen then combines with unbroken O to create ozone, O. The ozone molecule is unstable (although, in the stratosphere, long-lived) and when ultraviolet light hits ozone it splits into a molecule of O and an individual atom of oxygen, a continuing process called the ozone-oxygen cycle. Chemically, this can be described as: About 90 percent of the ozone in the atmosphere is contained in the stratosphere. Ozone concentrations are greatest between about , where they range from about 2 to 8 parts per million. If all of the ozone were compressed to the pressure of the air at sea level, it would be only thick. Although the concentration of the ozone in the ozone layer is very small, it is vitally important to life because it absorbs biologically harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation coming from the sun. Extremely short or vacuum UV (10–100 nm) is screened out by nitrogen. UV radiation capable of penetrating nitrogen is divided into three categories, based on its wavelength; these are referred to as UV-A (400–315 nm), UV-B (315–280 nm), and UV-C (280–100 nm). UV-C, which is very harmful to all living things, is entirely screened out by a combination of dioxygen (< 200 nm) and ozone (> about 200 nm) by around altitude. UV-B radiation can be harmful to the skin and is the main cause of sunburn; excessive exposure can also cause cataracts, immune system suppression, and genetic damage, resulting in problems such as skin cancer. The ozone layer (which absorbs from about 200 nm to 310 nm with a maximal absorption at about 250 nm) is very effective at screening out UV-B; for radiation with a wavelength of 290 nm, the intensity at the top of the atmosphere is 350 million times stronger than at the Earth's surface. Nevertheless, some UV-B, particularly at its longest wavelengths, reaches the surface, and is important for the skin's production of vitamin D. Ozone is transparent to most UV-A, so most of this longer-wavelength UV radiation reaches the surface, and it constitutes most of the UV reaching the Earth. This type of UV radiation is significantly less harmful to DNA, although it may still potentially cause physical damage, premature aging of the skin, indirect genetic damage, and skin cancer. The thickness of the ozone layer varies worldwide and is generally thinner near the equator and thicker near the poles. Thickness refers to how much ozone is in a column over a given area and varies from season to season. The reasons for these variations are due to atmospheric circulation patterns and solar intensity. The majority of ozone is produced over the tropics and is transported towards the poles by stratospheric wind patterns. In the northern hemisphere these patterns, known as the Brewer-Dobson circulation, make the ozone layer thickest in the spring and thinnest in the fall. When ozone in produced by solar UV radiation in the tropics, it is done so by circulation lifting ozone-poor air out of the troposphere and into the stratosphere where the sun photolyzes oxygen molecules and turns them into ozone. Then, the ozone-rich air is carried to higher latitudes and drops into lower layers of the atmosphere. Research has found that the ozone levels in the United States are highest in the spring months of April and May and lowest in October. While the total amount of ozone increases moving from the tropics to higher latitudes, the concentrations are greater in high northern latitudes than in high southern latitudes, due to the ozone hole phenomenon. The highest amounts of ozone are found over the Arctic during the spring months of March and April, but the Antarctic has their lowest amounts of ozone during their summer months of September and October, The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts, including nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (NO), hydroxyl (OH), atomic chlorine (Cl), and atomic bromine (Br). While there are natural sources for all of these species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine increased markedly in recent decades because of the release of large quantities of man-made organohalogen compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and bromofluorocarbons. These highly stable compounds are capable of surviving the rise to the stratosphere, where Cl and Br radicals are liberated by the action of ultraviolet light. Each radical is then free to initiate and catalyze a chain reaction capable of breaking down over 100,000 ozone molecules. By 2009, nitrous oxide was the largest ozone-depleting substance (ODS) emitted through human activities. The breakdown of ozone in the stratosphere results in reduced absorption of ultraviolet radiation. Consequently, unabsorbed and dangerous ultraviolet radiation is able to reach the Earth's surface at a higher intensity. Ozone levels have dropped by a worldwide average of about 4 percent since the late 1970s. For approximately 5 percent of the Earth's surface, around the north and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been seen, and are described as "ozone holes". The discovery of the annual depletion of ozone above the Antarctic was first announced by Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, in a paper which appeared in Nature on May 16, 1985. To support successful regulation attempts, the ozone case was communicated to lay persons "with easy-to-understand bridging metaphors derived from the popular culture" and related to "immediate risks with everyday relevance". The specific metaphors used in the discussion (ozone shield, ozone hole) proved quite useful and, compared to global climate change, the ozone case was much more seen as a "hot issue" and imminent risk. Lay people were cautious about a depletion of the ozone layer and the risks of skin cancer. In 1978, the United States, Canada and Norway enacted bans on CFC-containing aerosol sprays that damage the ozone layer. The European Community rejected an analogous proposal to do the same. In the U.S., chlorofluorocarbons continued to be used in other applications, such as refrigeration and industrial cleaning, until after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985. After negotiation of an international treaty (the Montreal Protocol), CFC production was capped at 1986 levels with commitments to long-term reductions. This allowed for a ten- year phase-in for developing countries (identified in Article 5 of the protocol). Since that time, the treaty was amended to ban CFC production after 1995 in the developed countries, and later in developing countries. Today, all of the world's 197 countries have signed the treaty. Beginning January 1, 1996, only recycled and stockpiled CFCs were available for use in developed countries like the US. This production phaseout was possible because of efforts to ensure that there would be substitute chemicals and technologies for all ODS uses. On August 2, 2003, scientists announced that the global depletion of the ozone layer may be slowing down because of the international regulation of ozone-depleting substances. In a study organized by the American Geophysical Union, three satellites and three ground stations confirmed that the upper-atmosphere ozone-depletion rate slowed down significantly during the previous decade. Some breakdown can be expected to continue because of ODSs used by nations which have not banned them, and because of gases which are already in the stratosphere. Some ODSs, including CFCs, have very long atmospheric lifetimes, ranging from 50 to over 100 years. It has been estimated that the ozone layer will recover to 1980 levels near the middle of the 21st century. A gradual trend toward "healing" was reported in 2016. Compounds containing C–H bonds (such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs) have been designed to replace CFCs in certain applications. These replacement compounds are more reactive and less likely to survive long enough in the atmosphere to reach the stratosphere where they could affect the ozone layer. While being less damaging than CFCs, HCFCs can have a negative impact on the ozone layer, so they are also being phased out. These in turn are being replaced by hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and other compounds that do not destroy stratospheric ozone at all. The residual effects of CFCs accumulating within the atmosphere lead to a concentration gradient between the atmosphere and the ocean. This organohalogen compound is able to dissolve into the ocean's surface waters and is able to act as a time-dependent tracer. This tracer helps scientists study ocean circulation by tracing biological, physical and chemical pathways As ozone in the atmosphere prevents most energetic ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface of the Earth, astronomical data in these wavelengths have to be gathered from satellites orbiting above the atmosphere and ozone layer. Most of the light from young hot stars is in the ultraviolet and so study of these wavelengths is important for studying the origins of galaxies. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer, GALEX, is an orbiting ultraviolet space telescope launched on April 28, 2003, which operated until early 2012. United Nations Environment Programme, Short-lived climate pollutants Science Andersen, S. O. (2015). "Lessons from the Stratospheric Ozone Layer Protection for Climate". Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences., United Nations Environment Programme (2010). Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion and its Interactions with Climate Change: 2010 Assessment. Nairobi: UNEP., Velders, G. J.M., Fahey D. W., Daniel, J. S., McFarland, M. and Andersen, S.O (2009). "The Large Contribution of Projected HFC Emissions to Future Climate Forcing". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 10949-10954. Policy Zaelke, D., and Borgford-Parnell, N. (2015). "The Importance of Phasing Down Hydrofluorocarbons and Other Short-lived Climate Pollutants". Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences., Xu, Y., Zaelke, D., Velders, G. J.M., & Ramanathan, V., (2013). "The Role of HFCs in Mitigating 21st Century Climate Change". Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics., Molina, M., Zaelke, D., Sarma, M. K., Andersen, S.O., Ramanathan, V., and Kaniaru, D. (2009). "Reducing Abrupt Climate Change Risk Using the Montreal Protocol and Other Regulatory Actions to Complement Cuts in CO2 Emissions". The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS 106:20616-20621., Anderson, S. O., Sarma, M. K., and Taddonio, K. (2007). "Technology Transfer for the Ozone Layer: Lessons for Climate Change". London: Earthscan., (Ambassador Benedick was the Chief U.S. Negotiator at the meetings that resulted in the Montreal Protocol.), Chasek, P. S., David L. Downie, and Brown J. W. (2013). Global Environmental Politics, 6th Edition, Boulder: Westview Press, 2013., Parson, E. (2003). Protecting the Ozone Layer: Science and Strategy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stratospheric ozone: an electronic textbook, Ozone Layer Info, The CAMS stratospheric ozone service delivers maps, datasets and validation reports about the past and current state of the ozone layer. The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, commonly known as air, that surrounds the planet Earth and is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for liquid water to exist on the Earth's surface, absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night (the diurnal temperature variation). By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere. Air composition, temperature, and atmospheric pressure vary with altitude, and air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and breathing of terrestrial animals is found only in Earth's troposphere and in artificial atmospheres. The atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15 kg, three quarters of which is within about of the surface. The atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing altitude, with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. The Kármán line, at , or 1.57% of Earth's radius, is often used as the border between the atmosphere and outer space. Atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry of spacecraft at an altitude of around . Several layers can be distinguished in the atmosphere, based on characteristics such as temperature and composition. The study of Earth's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science (aerology). Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann. The three major constituents of Earth's atmosphere are nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. Water vapor accounts for roughly 0.25% of the atmosphere by mass. The concentration of water vapor (a greenhouse gas) varies significantly from around 10 ppm by volume in the coldest portions of the atmosphere to as much as 5% by volume in hot, humid air masses, and concentrations of other atmospheric gases are typically quoted in terms of dry air (without water vapor). The remaining gases are often referred to as trace gases, among which are the greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Besides argon, already mentioned, other noble gases, neon, helium, krypton, and xenon are also present. Filtered air includes trace amounts of many other chemical compounds. Many substances of natural origin may be present in locally and seasonally variable small amounts as aerosols in an unfiltered air sample, including dust of mineral and organic composition, pollen and spores, sea spray, and volcanic ash. Various industrial pollutants also may be present as gases or aerosols, such as chlorine (elemental or in compounds), fluorine compounds and elemental mercury vapor. Sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide (SO) may be derived from natural sources or from industrial air pollution. The average molecular weight of dry air, which can be used to calculate densities or to convert between mole fraction and mass fraction, is about 28.946 or 28.96 g/mol. This is decreased when the air is humid. The relative concentration of gases remains constant until about . In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However, temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude, and may remain relatively constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see the temperature section, below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile, or lapse rate, is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the exosphere, the atmosphere has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. From highest to lowest, the five main layers are: Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km (440 to 6,200 miles), Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km (50 to 440 miles), Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km (31 to 50 miles), Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles), Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to 7 miles) The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (i.e. the upper limit of the atmosphere). It extends from the exobase, which is located at the top of the thermosphere at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level, to about 10,000 km (6,200 mi; 33,000,000 ft) where it merges into the solar wind. This layer is mainly composed of extremely low densities of hydrogen, helium and several heavier molecules including nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide closer to the exobase. The atoms and molecules are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of kilometers without colliding with one another. Thus, the exosphere no longer behaves like a gas, and the particles constantly escape into space. These free-moving particles follow ballistic trajectories and may migrate in and out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind. The exosphere is located too far above Earth for any meteorological phenomena to be possible. However, the aurora borealis and aurora australis sometimes occur in the lower part of the exosphere, where they overlap into the thermosphere. The exosphere contains most of the satellites orbiting Earth. The thermosphere is the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from the mesopause (which separates it from the mesosphere) at an altitude of about up to the thermopause at an altitude range of . The height of the thermopause varies considerably due to changes in solar activity. Because the thermopause lies at the lower boundary of the exosphere, it is also referred to as the exobase. The lower part of the thermosphere, from above Earth's surface, contains the ionosphere. The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height. Unlike the stratosphere beneath it, wherein a temperature inversion is due to the absorption of radiation by ozone, the inversion in the thermosphere occurs due to the extremely low density of its molecules. The temperature of this layer can rise as high as , though the gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in the usual sense is not very meaningful. The air is so rarefied that an individual molecule (of oxygen, for example) travels an average of between collisions with other molecules. Although the thermosphere has a high proportion of molecules with high energy, it would not feel hot to a human in direct contact, because its density is too low to conduct a significant amount of energy to or from the skin. This layer is completely cloudless and free of water vapor. However, non- hydrometeorological phenomena such as the aurora borealis and aurora australis are occasionally seen in the thermosphere. The International Space Station orbits in this layer, between . The mesosphere is the third highest layer of Earth's atmosphere, occupying the region above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. It extends from the stratopause at an altitude of about to the mesopause at above sea level. Temperatures drop with increasing altitude to the mesopause that marks the top of this middle layer of the atmosphere. It is the coldest place on Earth and has an average temperature around . Just below the mesopause, the air is so cold that even the very scarce water vapor at this altitude can be sublimated into polar-mesospheric noctilucent clouds. These are the highest clouds in the atmosphere and may be visible to the naked eye if sunlight reflects off them about an hour or two after sunset or a similar length of time before sunrise. They are most readily visible when the Sun is around 4 to 16 degrees below the horizon. Lightning-induced discharges known as transient luminous events (TLEs) occasionally form in the mesosphere above tropospheric thunderclouds. The mesosphere is also the layer where most meteors burn up upon atmospheric entrance. It is too high above Earth to be accessible to jet-powered aircraft and balloons, and too low to permit orbital spacecraft. The mesosphere is mainly accessed by sounding rockets and rocket-powered aircraft. The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It lies above the troposphere and is separated from it by the tropopause. This layer extends from the top of the troposphere at roughly above Earth's surface to the stratopause at an altitude of about . The atmospheric pressure at the top of the stratosphere is roughly 1/1000 the pressure at sea level. It contains the ozone layer, which is the part of Earth's atmosphere that contains relatively high concentrations of that gas. The stratosphere defines a layer in which temperatures rise with increasing altitude. This rise in temperature is caused by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from the Sun by the ozone layer, which restricts turbulence and mixing. Although the temperature may be at the tropopause, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be near 0 °C. The stratospheric temperature profile creates very stable atmospheric conditions, so the stratosphere lacks the weather- producing air turbulence that is so prevalent in the troposphere. Consequently, the stratosphere is almost completely free of clouds and other forms of weather. However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface to an average height of about , although this altitude varies from about at the geographic poles to at the Equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked in most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of relatively warm air above a colder one), and in others by a zone which is isothermal with height. Although variations do occur, the temperature usually declines with increasing altitude in the troposphere because the troposphere is mostly heated through energy transfer from the surface. Thus, the lowest part of the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface) is typically the warmest section of the troposphere. This promotes vertical mixing (hence, the origin of its name in the Greek word τρόπος, tropos, meaning "turn"). The troposphere contains roughly 80% of the mass of Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere is denser than all its overlying atmospheric layers because a larger atmospheric weight sits on top of the troposphere and causes it to be most severely compressed. Fifty percent of the total mass of the atmosphere is located in the lower of the troposphere. Nearly all atmospheric water vapor or moisture is found in the troposphere, so it is the layer where most of Earth's weather takes place. It has basically all the weather-associated cloud genus types generated by active wind circulation, although very tall cumulonimbus thunder clouds can penetrate the tropopause from below and rise into the lower part of the stratosphere. Most conventional aviation activity takes place in the troposphere, and it is the only layer that can be accessed by propeller-driven aircraft. Within the five principal layers above, that are largely determined by temperature, several secondary layers may be distinguished by other properties: The ozone layer is contained within the stratosphere. In this layer ozone concentrations are about 2 to 8 parts per million, which is much higher than in the lower atmosphere but still very small compared to the main components of the atmosphere. It is mainly located in the lower portion of the stratosphere from about , though the thickness varies seasonally and geographically. About 90% of the ozone in Earth's atmosphere is contained in the stratosphere., The ionosphere is a region of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. It is responsible for auroras. During daytime hours, it stretches from and includes the mesosphere, thermosphere, and parts of the exosphere. However, ionization in the mesosphere largely ceases during the night, so auroras are normally seen only in the thermosphere and lower exosphere. The ionosphere forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because it influences, for example, radio propagation on Earth., The homosphere and heterosphere are defined by whether the atmospheric gases are well mixed. The surface-based homosphere includes the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and the lowest part of the thermosphere, where the chemical composition of the atmosphere does not depend on molecular weight because the gases are mixed by turbulence. This relatively homogeneous layer ends at the turbopause found at about , the very edge of space itself as accepted by the FAI, which places it about above the mesopause., The planetary boundary layer is the part of the troposphere that is closest to Earth's surface and is directly affected by it, mainly through turbulent diffusion. During the day the planetary boundary layer usually is well-mixed, whereas at night it becomes stably stratified with weak or intermittent mixing. The depth of the planetary boundary layer ranges from as little as about on clear, calm nights to or more during the afternoon in dry regions. The average temperature of the atmosphere at Earth's surface is or , depending on the reference. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is defined by the International Standard Atmosphere as . This is sometimes referred to as a unit of standard atmospheres (atm). Total atmospheric mass is 5.1480×10 kg (1.135×10 lb), about 2.5% less than would be inferred from the average sea level pressure and Earth's area of 51007.2 megahectares, this portion being displaced by Earth's mountainous terrain. Atmospheric pressure is the total weight of the air above unit area at the point where the pressure is measured. Thus air pressure varies with location and weather. If the entire mass of the atmosphere had a uniform density equal to sea level density (about 1.2 kg per m) from sea level upwards, it would terminate abruptly at an altitude of . It actually decreases exponentially with altitude, dropping by half every or by a factor of 1/e every , the average scale height of the atmosphere below . However, the atmosphere is more accurately modeled with a customized equation for each layer that takes gradients of temperature, molecular composition, solar radiation and gravity into account. In summary, the mass of Earth's atmosphere is distributed approximately as follows: 50% is below ., 90% is below ., 99.99997% is below , the Kármán line. By international convention, this marks the beginning of space where human travelers are considered astronauts. By comparison, the summit of Mt. Everest is at ; commercial airliners typically cruise between where the thinner air improves fuel economy; weather balloons reach and above; and the highest X-15 flight in 1963 reached . Even above the Kármán line, significant atmospheric effects such as auroras still occur. Meteors begin to glow in this region, though the larger ones may not burn up until they penetrate more deeply. The various layers of Earth's ionosphere, important to HF radio propagation, begin below 100 km and extend beyond 500 km. By comparison, the International Space Station and Space Shuttle typically orbit at 350–400 km, within the F-layer of the ionosphere where they encounter enough atmospheric drag to require reboosts every few months. Depending on solar activity, satellites can experience noticeable atmospheric drag at altitudes as high as 700–800 km. The division of the atmosphere into layers mostly by reference to temperature is discussed above. Temperature decreases with altitude starting at sea level, but variations in this trend begin above 11 km, where the temperature stabilizes through a large vertical distance through the rest of the troposphere. In the stratosphere, starting above about 20 km, the temperature increases with height, due to heating within the ozone layer caused by capture of significant ultraviolet radiation from the Sun by the dioxygen and ozone gas in this region. Still another region of increasing temperature with altitude occurs at very high altitudes, in the aptly-named thermosphere above 90 km. Because in an ideal gas of constant composition the speed of sound depends only on temperature and not on the gas pressure or density, the speed of sound in the atmosphere with altitude takes on the form of the complicated temperature profile (see illustration to the right), and does not mirror altitudinal changes in density or pressure. The density of air at sea level is about 1.2 kg/m (1.2 g/L, 0.0012 g/cm). Density is not measured directly but is calculated from measurements of temperature, pressure and humidity using the equation of state for air (a form of the ideal gas law). Atmospheric density decreases as the altitude increases. This variation can be approximately modeled using the barometric formula. More sophisticated models are used to predict orbital decay of satellites. The average mass of the atmosphere is about 5 quadrillion (5) tonnes or 1/1,200,000 the mass of Earth. According to the American National Center for Atmospheric Research, "The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480 kg with an annual range due to water vapor of 1.2 or 1.5 kg, depending on whether surface pressure or water vapor data are used; somewhat smaller than the previous estimate. The mean mass of water vapor is estimated as 1.27 kg and the dry air mass as 5.1352 ±0.0003 kg." Solar radiation (or sunlight) is the energy Earth receives from the Sun. Earth also emits radiation back into space, but at longer wavelengths that we cannot see. Part of the incoming and emitted radiation is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere. In May 2017, glints of light, seen as twinkling from an orbiting satellite a million miles away, were found to be reflected light from ice crystals in the atmosphere. When light passes through Earth's atmosphere, photons interact with it through scattering. If the light does not interact with the atmosphere, it is called direct radiation and is what you see if you were to look directly at the Sun. Indirect radiation is light that has been scattered in the atmosphere. For example, on an overcast day when you cannot see your shadow there is no direct radiation reaching you, it has all been scattered. As another example, due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, shorter (blue) wavelengths scatter more easily than longer (red) wavelengths. This is why the sky looks blue; you are seeing scattered blue light. This is also why sunsets are red. Because the Sun is close to the horizon, the Sun's rays pass through more atmosphere than normal to reach your eye. Much of the blue light has been scattered out, leaving the red light in a sunset. Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of radiation. For example, O and O absorb almost all wavelengths shorter than 300 nanometers. Water (HO) absorbs many wavelengths above 700 nm. When a molecule absorbs a photon, it increases the energy of the molecule. This heats the atmosphere, but the atmosphere also cools by emitting radiation, as discussed below. The combined absorption spectra of the gases in the atmosphere leave "windows" of low opacity, allowing the transmission of only certain bands of light. The optical window runs from around 300 nm (ultraviolet-C) up into the range humans can see, the visible spectrum (commonly called light), at roughly 400–700 nm and continues to the infrared to around 1100 nm. There are also infrared and radio windows that transmit some infrared and radio waves at longer wavelengths. For example, the radio window runs from about one centimeter to about eleven-meter waves. Emission is the opposite of absorption, it is when an object emits radiation. Objects tend to emit amounts and wavelengths of radiation depending on their "black body" emission curves, therefore hotter objects tend to emit more radiation, with shorter wavelengths. Colder objects emit less radiation, with longer wavelengths. For example, the Sun is approximately , its radiation peaks near 500 nm, and is visible to the human eye. Earth is approximately , so its radiation peaks near 10,000 nm, and is much too long to be visible to humans. Because of its temperature, the atmosphere emits infrared radiation. For example, on clear nights Earth's surface cools down faster than on cloudy nights. This is because clouds (HO) are strong absorbers and emitters of infrared radiation. This is also why it becomes colder at night at higher elevations. The greenhouse effect is directly related to this absorption and emission effect. Some gases in the atmosphere absorb and emit infrared radiation, but do not interact with sunlight in the visible spectrum. Common examples of these are and HO. The refractive index of air is close to, but just greater than 1. Systematic variations in refractive index can lead to the bending of light rays over long optical paths. One example is that, under some circumstances, observers onboard ships can see other vessels just over the horizon because light is refracted in the same direction as the curvature of Earth's surface. The refractive index of air depends on temperature, giving rise to refraction effects when the temperature gradient is large. An example of such effects is the mirage. Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air through the troposphere, and the means (with ocean circulation) by which heat is distributed around Earth. The large-scale structure of the atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the basic structure remains fairly constant because it is determined by Earth's rotation rate and the difference in solar radiation between the equator and poles. The first atmosphere consisted of gases in the solar nebula, primarily hydrogen. There were probably simple hydrides such as those now found in the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), notably water vapor, methane and ammonia. Outgassing from volcanism, supplemented by gases produced during the late heavy bombardment of Earth by huge asteroids, produced the next atmosphere, consisting largely of nitrogen plus carbon dioxide and inert gases. A major part of carbon-dioxide emissions dissolved in water and reacted with metals such as calcium and magnesium during weathering of crustal rocks to form carbonates that were deposited as sediments. Water-related sediments have been found that date from as early as 3.8 billion years ago. About 3.4 billion years ago, nitrogen formed the major part of the then stable "second atmosphere". The influence of life has to be taken into account rather soon in the history of the atmosphere, because hints of early life-forms appear as early as 3.5 billion years ago. How Earth at that time maintained a climate warm enough for liquid water and life, if the early Sun put out 30% lower solar radiance than today, is a puzzle known as the "faint young Sun paradox". The geological record however shows a continuous relatively warm surface during the complete early temperature record of Earth – with the exception of one cold glacial phase about 2.4 billion years ago. In the late Archean Eon an oxygen-containing atmosphere began to develop, apparently produced by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria (see Great Oxygenation Event), which have been found as stromatolite fossils from 2.7 billion years ago. The early basic carbon isotopy (isotope ratio proportions) strongly suggests conditions similar to the current, and that the fundamental features of the carbon cycle became established as early as 4 billion years ago. Ancient sediments in the Gabon dating from between about 2.15 and 2.08 billion years ago provide a record of Earth's dynamic oxygenation evolution. These fluctuations in oxygenation were likely driven by the Lomagundi carbon isotope excursion. The constant re-arrangement of continents by plate tectonics influences the long-term evolution of the atmosphere by transferring carbon dioxide to and from large continental carbonate stores. Free oxygen did not exist in the atmosphere until about 2.4 billion years ago during the Great Oxygenation Event and its appearance is indicated by the end of the banded iron formations. Before this time, any oxygen produced by photosynthesis was consumed by oxidation of reduced materials, notably iron. Molecules of free oxygen did not start to accumulate in the atmosphere until the rate of production of oxygen began to exceed the availability of reducing materials that removed oxygen. This point signifies a shift from a reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere. O showed major variations until reaching a steady state of more than 15% by the end of the Precambrian. The following time span from 541 million years ago to the present day is the Phanerozoic Eon, during the earliest period of which, the Cambrian, oxygen-requiring metazoan life forms began to appear. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere has fluctuated over the last 600 million years, reaching a peak of about 30% around 280 million years ago, significantly higher than today's 21%. Two main processes govern changes in the atmosphere: Plants using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen, and then plants using some oxygen at night by the process of photorespiration with the remainder of the oxygen being used to breakdown adjacent organic material. Breakdown of pyrite and volcanic eruptions release sulfur into the atmosphere, which oxidizes and hence reduces the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, volcanic eruptions also release carbon dioxide, which plants can convert to oxygen. The exact cause of the variation of the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is not known. Periods with much oxygen in the atmosphere are associated with rapid development of animals. Today's atmosphere contains 21% oxygen, which is great enough for this rapid development of animals. Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulate matter or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to organisms. Stratospheric ozone depletion is caused by air pollution, chiefly from chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances. The scientific consensus is that the anthropogenic greenhouse gases currently accumulating in the atmosphere are the main cause of global warming. On October 19, 2015, NASA started a website containing daily images of the full sunlit side of Earth on http://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/. The images are taken from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and show Earth as it rotates during a day. Aerial perspective, Air (classical element), Air glow, Airshed, Atmosphere (on atmospheres in general), Atmospheric dispersion modeling, Atmospheric electricity, Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility (ARM) (in the U.S.), Atmospheric stratification, Biosphere, Climate system, Earth's energy budget, Compressed air, COSPAR international reference atmosphere (CIRA), Environmental impact of aviation, Global dimming, Historical temperature record, Hydrosphere, Hypermobility (travel), Kyoto Protocol, Leaching (agriculture), Lithosphere, Reference atmospheric model, Standard Dry Air, U.S. Standard Atmosphere, Warm period Interactive global map of current atmospheric and ocean surface conditions. The tropopause is the boundary in the Earth's atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. It is a thermodynamic gradient stratification layer, marking the end of troposphere. It lies, on average, at above equatorial regions, and about over the polar regions. Going upward from the surface, it is the point where air ceases to cool with height, and becomes almost completely dry. More formally, the tropopause is the region of the atmosphere where the environmental lapse rate changes from positive, as it behaves in the troposphere, to the stratospheric negative one. Following is the exact definition used by the World Meteorological Organization: The tropopause as defined above renders as a first-order discontinuity surface, that is, temperature as a function of height varies continuously through the atmosphere but the temperature gradient does not. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere; it is located right above the planetary boundary layer, and is the layer in which most weather phenomena take place. The troposphere contains the boundary layer, and ranges in height from an average of at the poles, to at the Equator. In the absence of inversions and not considering moisture, the temperature lapse rate for this layer is 6.5 °C per kilometer, on average, according to the U.S. Standard Atmosphere. A measurement of both the tropospheric and the stratospheric lapse rates helps identifying the location of the tropopause, since temperature increases with height in the stratosphere, and hence the lapse rate becomes negative. The tropopause location coincides with the lowest point at which the lapse rate falls below a prescribed threshold. Since the tropopause responds to the average temperature of the entire layer that lies underneath it, it is at its peak levels over the Equator, and reaches minimum heights over the poles. On account of this, the coolest layer in the atmosphere lies at about 17 km over the equator. Due to the variation in starting height, the tropopause extremes are referred to as the equatorial tropopause and the polar tropopause. Given that the lapse rate is not a conservative quantity when the tropopause is considered for stratosphere- troposphere exchanges studies, there exists an alternative definition named dynamic tropopause. It is formed with the aid of potential vorticity, which is defined as the product of the isentropic density, i.e. the density that arises from using potential temperature as the vertical coordinate, and the absolute vorticity, given that this quantity attains quite different values for the troposphere and the stratosphere. Instead of using the vertical temperature gradient as the defining variable, the dynamic tropopause surface is expressed in potential vorticity units (PVU). Given that the absolute vorticity is positive in the Northern Hemisphere and negative in the Southern Hemisphere, the threshold value should be taken as positive north of the Equator and negative south of it. Theoretically, to define a global tropopause in this way, the two surfaces arising from the positive and negative thresholds need to be matched near the equator using another type of surface such as a constant potential temperature surface. Nevertheless, the dynamic tropopause is useless at equatorial latitudes because the isentropes are almost vertical. For the extratropical tropopause in the Northern Hemisphere the WMO established a value of 1.5 PVU, but greater values ranging between 2 and 3.5 PVU have been traditionally used. It is also possible to define the tropopause in terms of chemical composition. For example, the lower stratosphere has much higher ozone concentrations than the upper troposphere, but much lower water vapor concentrations, so appropriate cutoffs can be used. The tropopause is not a "hard" boundary. Vigorous thunderstorms, for example, particularly those of tropical origin, will overshoot into the lower stratosphere and undergo a brief (hour-order or less) low-frequency vertical oscillation. Such oscillation sets up a low-frequency atmospheric gravity wave capable of affecting both atmospheric and oceanic currents in the region. Most commercial aircraft are flown in the lower stratosphere, just above the tropopause, where clouds are usually absent, as are significant weather perturbations. Jet stream, Maximum parcel level The height of the tropopause

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The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May 2003 when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the "End of major combat operations", after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of several successive transitional governments leading up to the first Iraqi parliamentary election in January 2005. U.S. military forces later remained in Iraq until the withdrawal in 2011. The U.S.-led coalition sent 177,194 troops into Iraq during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 1 May 2003. About 130,000 arrived from the U.S. alone, with about 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers, and 194 Polish soldiers. 36 other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops assembled in Kuwait by 18 February. The coalition forces also received support from the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition aimed "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Others place a much greater emphasis on the impact of the September 11 attacks, on the role this played in changing U.S. strategic calculations, and the rise of the freedom agenda. According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq's failure to take a "final opportunity" to disarm itself of alleged nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that U.S. and British officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace. In a January 2003 CBS poll, 64% of Americans had approved of military action against Iraq; however, 63% wanted Bush to find a diplomatic solution rather than go to war, and 62% believed the threat of terrorism directed against the U.S. would increase due to war. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some long-standing U.S. allies, including the governments of France, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that invading that country was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC's 12 February 2003 report. About 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were discovered during the Iraq War, but these had been built and abandoned earlier in Saddam Hussein's rule before the 1991 Gulf War. The discoveries of these chemical weapons did not support the government's invasion rationale. On 15 February 2003, a month before the invasion, there were worldwide protests against the Iraq War, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which the Guinness Book of Records listed as the largest ever anti-war rally. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. The invasion was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003. The following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Province from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command-and-control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi Army to secure the northern part of the country. The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and the coalition occupied Baghdad on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi Army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack on and capture of Tikrit on 15 April. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations: this ended the invasion period and began the period of military occupation. Hostilities of the Gulf War were suspended on 28 February 1991, with a cease- fire negotiated between the UN Coalition and Iraq. The U.S. and its allies tried to keep Saddam in check with military actions such as Operation Southern Watch, which was conducted by Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) with the mission of monitoring and controlling airspace south of the 32nd Parallel (extended to the 33rd Parallel in 1996) as well as using economic sanctions. It was revealed that a biological weapons (BW) program in Iraq had begun in the early 1980s with help from the U.S. and Europe in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1972. Details of the BW program—along with a chemical weapons program—surfaced in the wake of the Gulf War (1990–91) following investigations conducted by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) which had been charged with the post-war disarmament of Saddam's Iraq. The investigation concluded that there was no evidence the program had continued after the war. The U.S. and its allies then maintained a policy of "containment" towards Iraq. This policy involved numerous economic sanctions by the UN Security Council; the enforcement of Iraqi no-fly zones declared by the U.S. and the UK to protect the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and Shias in the south from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government; and ongoing inspections. Iraqi military helicopters and planes regularly contested the no-fly zones. In October 1998, removing the Iraqi government became official U.S. foreign policy with enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act. Enacted following the expulsion of UN weapons inspectors the preceding August (after some had been accused of spying for the U.S.), the act provided $97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." This legislation contrasted with the terms set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, which focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of regime change. One month after the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act, the U.S. and UK launched a bombardment campaign of Iraq called Operation Desert Fox. The campaign's express rationale was to hamper Saddam Hussein's government's ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, but U.S. intelligence personnel also hoped it would help weaken Saddam's grip on power. With the election of George W. Bush as president in 2000, the U.S. moved towards a more aggressive policy toward Iraq. The Republican Party's campaign platform in the 2000 election called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act as "a starting point" in a plan to "remove" Saddam. After leaving the George W. Bush administration, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said that an attack on Iraq had been planned since Bush's inauguration, and that the first United States National Security Council meeting involved discussion of an invasion. O'Neill later backtracked, saying that these discussions were part of a continuation of foreign policy first put into place by the Clinton administration. Despite the Bush administration's stated interest in liberating Iraq, little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the 11 September attacks. For example, the administration prepared Operation Desert Badger to respond aggressively if any Air Force pilot was shot down while flying over Iraq, but this did not happen. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dismissed National Security Agency (NSA) intercept data available by midday of the 11th that pointed to al-Qaeda's culpability, and by mid- afternoon ordered the Pentagon to prepare plans for attacking Iraq. According to aides who were with him in the National Military Command Center on that day, Rumsfeld asked for: "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam Hussein at same time. Not only Osama bin Laden." A written by Rumsfeld in November 2001 considers an Iraq war. The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been widely questioned, as there was no cooperation between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Shortly after 11 September 2001 (on 20 September), Bush addressed a joint session of Congress (simulcast live to the world), and announced his new "War on Terror". This announcement was accompanied by the doctrine of "pre-emptive" military action, later termed the Bush Doctrine. Allegations of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda were made by some U.S. Government officials who asserted that a highly secretive relationship existed between Saddam and the radical Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of meetings reportedly involving the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). Some Bush advisers favored an immediate invasion of Iraq, while others advocated building an international coalition and obtaining United Nations authorization. Bush eventually decided to seek UN authorization, while still reserving the option of invading without it. While there had been some earlier talk of action against Iraq, the Bush administration waited until September 2002 to call for action, with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card saying, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." Bush began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in his 12 September 2002 address to the UN Security Council. Key U.S. allies in NATO, such as the United Kingdom, agreed with the U.S. actions, while France and Germany were critical of plans to invade Iraq, arguing instead for continued diplomacy and weapons inspections. After considerable debate, the UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution, UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised "serious consequences" for non-compliance. Security Council members France and Russia made clear that they did not consider these consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government. Both the U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, and the UK ambassador, Jeremy Greenstock, publicly confirmed this reading of the resolution, assuring that Resolution 1441 provided no "automaticity" or "hidden triggers" for an invasion without further consultation of the Security Council. Resolution 1441 gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" and set up inspections by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Saddam accepted the resolution on 13 November and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. As of February 2003, the IAEA "found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq"; the IAEA concluded that certain items which could have been used in nuclear enrichment centrifuges, such as aluminum tubes, were in fact intended for other uses. UNMOVIC "did not find evidence of the continuation or resumption of programs of weapons of mass destruction" or significant quantities of proscribed items. UNMOVIC did supervise the destruction of a small number of empty chemical rocket warheads, 50 liters of mustard gas that had been declared by Iraq and sealed by UNSCOM in 1998, and laboratory quantities of a mustard gas precursor, along with about 50 Al-Samoud missiles of a design that Iraq stated did not exceed the permitted 150 km range, but which had travelled up to 183 km in tests. Shortly before the invasion, UNMOVIC stated that it would take "months" to verify Iraqi compliance with resolution 1441. In October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the "Iraq Resolution". The resolution authorized the President to "use any means necessary" against Iraq. Americans polled in January 2003 widely favored further diplomacy over an invasion. Later that year, however, Americans began to agree with Bush's plan. The U.S. government engaged in an elaborate domestic public relations campaign to market the war to its citizens. Americans overwhelmingly believed Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction: 85% said so, even though the inspectors had not uncovered those weapons. Of those who thought Iraq had weapons sequestered somewhere, about half responded that said weapons would not be found in combat. By February 2003, 64% of Americans supported taking military action to remove Saddam from power. The Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division (SAD) teams, consisting of the paramilitary operations officers and 10th Special Forces Group soldiers, were the first U.S. forces to enter Iraq, in July 2002, before the main invasion. Once on the ground, they prepared for the subsequent arrival of U.S. Army Special Forces to organize the Kurdish Peshmerga. This joint team (called the Northern Iraq Liaison Element (NILE)) combined to defeat Ansar al-Islam, a group with ties to al-Qaeda, in Iraqi Kurdistan. This battle was for control of the territory that was occupied by Ansar al-Islam. It was carried out by Paramilitary Operations Officers from SAD and the Army's 10th Special Forces Group. This battle resulted in the defeat of Ansar and the capture of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat. Sargat was the only facility of its type discovered in the Iraq war. SAD teams also conducted missions behind enemy lines to identify leadership targets. These missions led to the initial air strikes against Saddam and his generals. Although the strike against Saddam was unsuccessful in killing him, it effectively ended his ability to command and control his forces. Strikes against Iraq's generals were more successful and significantly degraded the Iraqi command's ability to react to, and maneuver against, the U.S.-led invasion force. SAD operations officers were also successful in convincing key Iraqi Army officers into surrendering their units once the fighting started. NATO member Turkey refused to allow the U.S. forces across its territory into northern Iraq. Therefore, joint SAD and Army Special forces teams and the Pershmerga constituted the entire Northern force against the Iraqi army. They managed to keep the northern divisions in place rather than allowing them to aid their colleagues against the U.S.-led coalition force coming from the south. Four of these CIA officers were awarded the Intelligence Star for their actions. In the 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush said "we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs". On 5 February 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations General Assembly, continuing U.S. efforts to gain UN authorization for an invasion. His presentation to the UN Security Council, which contained a computer generated image of a "mobile biological weapons laboratory". However, this information was based on claims of Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball", an Iraqi emigrant living in Germany who later admitted that his claims had been false. Powell also presented evidence alleging Iraq had ties to al-Qaeda. As a follow-up to Powell's presentation, the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Japan, and Spain proposed a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, but NATO members like Canada, France, and Germany, together with Russia, strongly urged continued diplomacy. Facing a losing vote as well as a likely veto from France and Russia, the US, UK, Poland, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution. Opposition to the invasion coalesced in the worldwide 15 February 2003 anti-war protest that attracted between six and ten million people in more than 800 cities, the largest such protest in human history according to the Guinness Book of World Records. On 20 March 2003, Spanish Prime Minister, José María Aznar, UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, President of the United States George W. Bush, and Prime Minister of Portugal, José Manuel Durão Barroso as host, met in the Azores, to discuss the invasion of Iraq, and Spain's potential involvement in the war, as well as the beginning of the invasion. This encounter was extremely controversial in Spain, even now remaining a very sensitive point for the Aznar government. Almost a year later, Madrid suffered the worst terrorist attack in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing, motivated by Spain's decision to participate in the Iraq war, prompting some Spaniards to accuse the Prime Minister of being responsible. In March 2003, the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, Spain, Denmark, and Italy began preparing for the invasion of Iraq, with a host of public relations and military moves. In his 17 March 2003 address to the nation, Bush demanded that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline. But the U.S. began the bombing of Iraq on the day before the deadline expired. On 18 March 2003, the bombing of Iraq by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Spain, Italy and Denmark began. Unlike the first Gulf War, this war had no explicit UN authorisation. The UK House of Commons held a debate on going to war on 18 March 2003 where the government motion was approved 412 to 149. The vote was a key moment in the history of the Blair administration, as the number of government MPs who rebelled against the vote was the greatest since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Three government ministers resigned in protest at the war, John Denham, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, and the then Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook. In a passionate speech to the House of Commons after his resignation, he said, "What has come to trouble me is the suspicion that if the 'hanging chads' of Florida had gone the other way and Al Gore had been elected, we would not now be about to commit British troops to action in Iraq." During the debate, it was stated that the Attorney General had advised that the war was legal under previous UN Resolutions. In December 2002, a representative of the head of Iraqi Intelligence, the General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, contacted former Central Intelligence Agency Counterterrorism Department head Vincent Cannistraro stating that Saddam "knew there was a campaign to link him to 11 September and prove he had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)." Cannistraro further added that "the Iraqis were prepared to satisfy these concerns. I reported the conversation to senior levels of the state department and I was told to stand aside and they would handle it." Cannistraro stated that the offers made were all "killed" by the George W. Bush administration because they allowed Saddam to remain in power, an outcome viewed as unacceptable. It has been suggested that Saddam Hussein was prepared to go into exile if allowed to keep US$1 billion. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's national security advisor, Osama El-Baz, sent a message to the U.S. State Department that the Iraqis wanted to discuss the accusations that the country had weapons of mass destruction and ties with Al-Qaeda. Iraq also attempted to reach the U.S. through the Syrian, French, German, and Russian intelligence services. In January 2003, Lebanese-American Imad Hage met with Michael Maloof of the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Special Plans. Hage, a resident of Beirut, had been recruited by the department to assist in the War on Terror. He reported that Mohammed Nassif, a close aide to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, had expressed frustrations about the difficulties of Syria contacting the United States, and had attempted to use him as an intermediary. Maloof arranged for Hage to meet with civilian Richard Perle, then head of the Defense Policy Board. In January 2003, Hage met with the chief of Iraqi intelligence's foreign operations, Hassan al-Obeidi. Obeidi told Hage that Baghdad did not understand why they were being targeted, and that they had no WMDs. He then made the offer for Washington to send in 2000 FBI agents to confirm this. He additionally offered petroleum concessions, but stopped short of having Saddam give up power, instead suggesting that elections could be held in two years. Later, Obeidi suggested that Hage travel to Baghdad for talks; he accepted. Later that month, Hage met with General Habbush and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. He was offered top priority to U.S. firms in oil and mining rights, UN- supervised elections, U.S. inspections (with up to 5,000 inspectors), to have al-Qaeda agent Abdul Rahman Yasin (in Iraqi custody since 1994) handed over as a sign of good faith, and to give "full support for any U.S. plan" in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. They also wished to meet with high-ranking U.S. officials. On 19 February, Hage faxed Maloof his report of the trip. Maloof reports having brought the proposal to Jaymie Duran. The Pentagon denies that either Wolfowitz or Rumsfeld, Duran's bosses, were aware of the plan. On 21 February, Maloof informed Duran in an email that Richard Perle wished to meet with Hage and the Iraqis if the Pentagon would clear it. Duran responded "Mike, working this. Keep this close hold." On 7 March, Perle met with Hage in Knightsbridge, and stated that he wanted to pursue the matter further with people in Washington (both have acknowledged the meeting). A few days later, he informed Hage that Washington refused to let him meet with Habbush to discuss the offer (Hage stated that Perle's response was "that the consensus in Washington was it was a no-go"). Perle told The Times, "The message was 'Tell them that we will see them in Baghdad.′" George Bush, speaking in October 2002, said that "The stated policy of the United States is regime change. ... However, if Saddam were to meet all the conditions of the United Nations, the conditions that I have described very clearly in terms that everybody can understand, that in itself will signal the regime has changed". Citing reports from certain intelligence sources, Bush stated on 6 March 2003 that he believed that Saddam was not complying with UN Resolution 1441. In September 2002, Tony Blair stated, in an answer to a parliamentary question, that "Regime change in Iraq would be a wonderful thing. That is not the purpose of our action; our purpose is to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction..." In November of that year, Blair further stated that, "So far as our objective, it is disarmament, not régime change – that is our objective. Now I happen to believe the regime of Saddam is a very brutal and repressive regime, I think it does enormous damage to the Iraqi people ... so I have got no doubt Saddam is very bad for Iraq, but on the other hand I have got no doubt either that the purpose of our challenge from the United Nations is disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, it is not regime change." At a press conference on 31 January 2003, Bush again reiterated that the single trigger for the invasion would be Iraq's failure to disarm, "Saddam Hussein must understand that if he does not disarm, for the sake of peace, we, along with others, will go disarm Saddam Hussein." As late as 25 February 2003, it was still the official line that the only cause of invasion would be a failure to disarm. As Blair made clear in a statement to the House of Commons, "I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully." Additional justifications used at various times included Iraqi violation of UN resolutions, the Iraqi government's repression of its citizens, and Iraqi violations of the 1991 cease-fire. The main allegations were: that Saddam possessed or was attempting to produce weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam Hussein had used in places such as Halabja, possessed, and made efforts to acquire, particularly considering two previous attacks on Baghdad nuclear weapons production facilities by both Iran and Israel which were alleged to have postponed weapons development progress; and, further, that he had ties to terrorists, specifically al-Qaeda. While it never made an explicit connection between Iraq and the 11 September attacks, the George W. Bush administration repeatedly insinuated a link, thereby creating a false impression for the U.S. public. Grand jury testimony from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trials cited numerous direct linkages from the bombers to Baghdad and Department 13 of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in that initial attack marking the second anniversary to vindicate the surrender of Iraqi armed forces in Operation Desert Storm. For example, The Washington Post has noted that, Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland, observed in March 2003 that "The administration has succeeded in creating a sense that there is some connection [between 11 Sept. and Saddam Hussein]". This was following a The New York Times/CBS poll that showed 45% of Americans believing Saddam Hussein was "personally involved" in the 11 September atrocities. As the Christian Science Monitor observed at the time, while "Sources knowledgeable about U.S. intelligence say there is no evidence that Saddam played a role in the 11 Sept. attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda. ... the White House appears to be encouraging this false impression, as it seeks to maintain American support for a possible war against Iraq and demonstrate seriousness of purpose to Saddam's regime." The CSM went on to report that, while polling data collected "right after 11 Sept. 2001" showed that only 3 percent mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein, by January 2003 attitudes "had been transformed" with a Knight Ridder poll showing that 44% of Americans believed "most" or "some" of the 11 September hijackers were Iraqi citizens. According to General Tommy Franks, the objectives of the invasion were, "First, end the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to identify, isolate and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Third, to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from that country. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self- government." The BBC has also noted that, while President Bush "never directly accused the former Iraqi leader of having a hand in the attacks on New York and Washington", he "repeatedly associated the two in keynote addresses delivered since 11 September", adding that "Senior members of his administration have similarly conflated the two." For instance, the BBC report quotes Colin Powell in February 2003, stating that "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases. And we know that after September 11, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America." The same BBC report also noted the results of a recent opinion poll, which suggested that "70% of Americans believe the Iraqi leader was personally involved in the attacks." Also in September 2003, The Boston Globe reported that "Vice President Dick Cheney, anxious to defend the White House foreign policy amid ongoing violence in Iraq, stunned intelligence analysts and even members of his own administration this week by failing to dismiss a widely discredited claim: that Saddam Hussein might have played a role in the 11 Sept. attacks." A year later, presidential candidate John Kerry alleged that Cheney was continuing "to intentionally mislead the American public by drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 in an attempt to make the invasion of Iraq part of the global war on terror." Throughout 2002, the Bush administration insisted that removing Saddam from power to restore international peace and security was a major goal. The principal stated justifications for this policy of "regime change" were that Iraq's continuing production of weapons of mass destruction and known ties to terrorist organizations, as well as Iraq's continued violations of UN Security Council resolutions, amounted to a threat to the U.S. and the world community. The Bush administration's overall rationale for the invasion of Iraq was presented in detail by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council on 5 February 2003. In summary, he stated, Since the invasion, the U.S. government statements concerning Iraqi weapons programs and links to al-Qaeda have been discredited, though chemical weapons were found in Iraq during the occupation period. While the debate of whether Iraq intended to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons in the future remains open, no WMDs have been found in Iraq since the invasion despite comprehensive inspections lasting more than 18 months. In Cairo, on 24 February 2001, Colin Powell had predicted as much, saying, "[Saddam] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours." Similarly, assertions of operational links between the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda have largely been discredited by the intelligence community, and Secretary Powell himself later admitted he had no proof. In September 2002, the Bush administration said attempts by Iraq to acquire thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes pointed to a clandestine program to make enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. Powell, in his address to the UN Security Council just before the war, referred to the aluminum tubes. A report released by the Institute for Science and International Security in 2002, however, reported that it was highly unlikely that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium. Powell later admitted he had presented an inaccurate case to the United Nations on Iraqi weapons, based on sourcing that was wrong and in some cases "deliberately misleading." The Bush administration asserted that the Saddam government had sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger. On 7 March 2003, the U.S. submitted intelligence documents as evidence to the International Atomic Energy Agency. These documents were dismissed by the IAEA as forgeries, with the concurrence in that judgment of outside experts. At the time, a US official stated that the evidence was submitted to the IAEA without knowledge of its provenance and characterized any mistakes as "more likely due to incompetence not malice". In October 2002, a few days before the US Senate vote on the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, about 75 senators were told in closed session that the Iraqi government had the means of delivering biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drones that could be launched from ships off the US' Atlantic coast to attack US eastern seaboard cities. Colin Powell suggested in his presentation to the United Nations that UAVs were transported out of Iraq and could be launched against the United States. In fact, Iraq had no offensive UAV fleet or any capability of putting UAVs on ships. Iraq's UAV fleet consisted of less than a handful of outdated Czech training drones. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community whether the CIA's conclusions about Iraq's UAV fleet were accurate. The US Air Force agency denied outright that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability. As evidence supporting U.S. and British charges about Iraqi Weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism weakened, some supporters of the invasion have increasingly shifted their justification to the human rights violations of the Saddam government. Leading human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have argued, however, that they believe human rights concerns were never a central justification for the invasion, nor do they believe that military intervention was justifiable on humanitarian grounds, most significantly because "the killing in Iraq at the time was not of the exceptional nature that would justify such intervention." The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was passed by Congress with Republicans voting 98% in favor in the Senate, and 97% in favor in the House. Democrats supported the joint resolution 58% and 39% in the Senate and House respectively. The resolution asserts the authorization by the Constitution of the United States and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism. Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement. The resolution "supported" and "encouraged" diplomatic efforts by President George W. Bush to "strictly enforce through the U.N. Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq" and "obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion, and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq." The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq." The legality of the invasion of Iraq under international law has been challenged since its inception on a number of fronts, and several prominent supporters of the invasion in all the invading nations have publicly and privately cast doubt on its legality. It has been argued by US and British governments that the invasion was fully legal because authorization was implied by the United Nations Security Council. International legal experts, including the International Commission of Jurists, a group of 31 leading Canadian law professors, and the U.S.-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, have denounced this rationale. On Thursday 20 November 2003, an article published in the Guardian alleged that Richard Perle, a senior member of the administration's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, conceded that the invasion was illegal but still justified. The United Nations Security Council has passed nearly 60 resolutions on Iraq and Kuwait since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The most relevant to this issue is Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990. It authorizes "member states co-operating with the Government of Kuwait ... to use all necessary means" to (1) implement Security Council Resolution 660 and other resolutions calling for the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwaiti territory and (2) "restore international peace and security in the area." Resolution 678 has not been rescinded or nullified by succeeding resolutions and Iraq was not alleged after 1991 to invade Kuwait or to threaten do so. Resolution 1441 was most prominent during the run up to the war and formed the main backdrop for Secretary of State Colin Powell's address to the Security Council one month before the invasion. According to an independent commission of inquiry set up by the government of the Netherlands, UN resolution 1441 "cannot reasonably be interpreted (as the Dutch government did) as authorising individual member states to use military force to compel Iraq to comply with the Security Council's resolutions." Accordingly, the Dutch commission concluded that the 2003 invasion violated international law. At the same time, Bush Administration officials advanced a parallel legal argument using the earlier resolutions, which authorized force in response to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Under this reasoning, by failing to disarm and submit to weapons inspections, Iraq was in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 660 and 678, and the U.S. could legally compel Iraq's compliance through military means. Critics and proponents of the legal rationale based on the U.N. resolutions argue that the legal right to determine how to enforce its resolutions lies with the Security Council alone, not with individual nations. In February 2006, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the lead prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, reported that he had received 240 separate communications regarding the legality of the war, many of which concerned British participation in the invasion. In a letter addressed to the complainants, Mr. Moreno Ocampo explained that he could only consider issues related to conduct during the war and not to its underlying legality as a possible crime of aggression because no provision had yet been adopted which "defines the crime and sets out the conditions under which the Court may exercise jurisdiction with respect to it." In a March 2007 interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Moreno Ocampo encouraged Iraq to sign up with the court so that it could bring cases related to alleged war crimes. United States Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich held a press conference on the evening of 24 April 2007, revealing US House Resolution 333 and the three articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. He charged Cheney with manipulating the evidence of Iraq's weapons program, deceiving the nation about Iraq's connection to al-Qaeda, and threatening aggression against Iran in violation of the United Nations Charter. The United Kingdom military operation was named Operation Telic. In November 2002, President George W. Bush, visiting Europe for a NATO summit, declared that, "should Iraqi President Saddam Hussein choose not to disarm, the United States will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him." Thereafter, the Bush administration briefly used the term Coalition of the Willing to refer to the countries who supported, militarily or verbally, the military action in Iraq and subsequent military presence in post-invasion Iraq since 2003. The original list prepared in March 2003 included 49 members. Of those 49, only six besides the U.S. contributed troops to the invasion force (the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark), and 33 provided some number of troops to support the occupation after the invasion was complete. Six members have no military, meaning that they withheld troops completely. A U.S. Central Command, Combined Forces Air Component Commander report, indicated that, as of 30 April 2003, there were a total of 466,985 U.S. personnel deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This included; Ground forces element: 336,797 personnel U.S. Army, 233,342, U.S. Army Reserve, 10,683, Army National Guard, 8,866, U.S. Marines, 74,405, U.S. Marine Reserve, 9,501 Air forces element: 64,246 personnel U.S. Air Force, 54,955, U.S. Air Force Reserve, 2,084, Air National Guard, 7,207 Naval forces element: 63,352 personnel U.S. Navy, 61,296, including 681 members of the U.S. Coast Guard), U.S. Navy Reserve, 2,056 Approximately 148,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from the special forces unit GROM were sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters, estimated to number upwards of 70,000. In the latter stages of the invasion, 620 troops of the Iraqi National Congress opposition group were deployed to southern Iraq. Plans for opening a second front in the north were severely hampered when Turkey refused the use of its territory for such purposes. In response to Turkey's decision, the United States dropped several thousand paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade into northern Iraq, a number significantly less than the 15,000-strong 4th Infantry Division that the U.S. originally planned to use for opening the northern front. CIA Special Activities Division (SAD) Paramilitary teams entered Iraq in July 2002 before the 2003 invasion. Once on the ground they prepared for the subsequent arrival of US military forces. SAD teams then combined with U.S. Army Special Forces to organize the Kurdish Peshmerga. This joint team combined to defeat Ansar al-Islam, an ally of Al Qaida, in a battle in the northeast corner of Iraq. The U.S. side was carried out by Paramilitary Officers from SAD and the Army's 10th Special Forces Group. SAD teams also conducted high-risk special reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines to identify senior leadership targets. These missions led to the initial strikes against Saddam Hussein and his key generals. Although the initial strikes against Saddam were unsuccessful in killing the dictator or his generals, they were successful in effectively ending the ability to command and control Iraqi forces. Other strikes against key generals were successful and significantly degraded the command's ability to react to and maneuver against the U.S.-led invasion force coming from the south. SAD operations officers were also successful in convincing key Iraqi army officers to surrender their units once the fighting started and/or not to oppose the invasion force. NATO member Turkey refused to allow its territory to be used for the invasion. As a result, the SAD/SOG and U.S. Army Special Forces joint teams and the Kurdish Peshmerga constituted the entire northern force against government forces during the invasion. Their efforts kept the 5th Corps of the Iraqi army in place to defend against the Kurds rather than moving to contest the coalition force. According to General Tommy Franks, April Fool, an American officer working undercover as a diplomat, was approached by an Iraqi intelligence agent. April Fool then sold to the Iraqi false "top secret" invasion plans provided by Franks' team. This deception misled the Iraqi military into deploying major forces in northern and western Iraq in anticipation of attacks by way of Turkey or Jordan, which never took place. This greatly reduced the defensive capacity in the rest of Iraq and facilitated the actual attacks via Kuwait and the Persian Gulf in the southeast. The number of personnel in the Iraqi military before the war was uncertain, but it was believed to have been poorly equipped. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the Iraqi armed forces to number 538,000 (Iraqi Army 375,000, Iraqi Navy 2,000, Iraqi Air Force 20,000 and air defense 17,000), the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam 44,000, Republican Guard 80,000 and reserves 650,000. Another estimate numbers the Army and Republican Guard at between 280,000 and 350,000 and 50,000 to 80,000, respectively, and the paramilitary between 20,000 and 40,000. There were an estimated thirteen infantry divisions, ten mechanized and armored divisions, as well as some special forces units. The Iraqi Air Force and Navy played a negligible role in the conflict. During the invasion, foreign volunteers traveled to Iraq from Syria and took part in the fighting, usually under the command of the Fedayeen Saddam. It is not known for certain how many foreign fighters fought in Iraq in 2003, however, intelligence officers of the U.S. First Marine Division estimated that 50% of all Iraqi combatants in central Iraq were foreigners. In addition, the Kurdish Islamist militant group Ansar al-Islam controlled a small section of northern Iraq in an area outside of Saddam Hussein's control. Ansar al-Islam had been fighting against secular Kurdish forces since 2001. At the time of the invasion they fielded about 600 to 800 fighters. Ansar al- Islam was led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who would later become an important leader in the Iraqi insurgency. Ansar al-Islam was driven out of Iraq in late March by a joint American-Kurdish force during Operation Viking Hammer. Since the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. and UK had been engaged in attacks on Iraqi air defenses while enforcing Iraqi no-fly zones. These zones, and the attacks to enforce them, were described as illegal by the former UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine. Other countries, notably Russia and China, also condemned the zones as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. In mid-2002, the U.S. began more carefully selecting targets in the southern part of the country to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. A change in enforcement tactics was acknowledged at the time, but it was not made public that this was part of a plan known as Operation Southern Focus. The amount of ordnance dropped on Iraqi positions by Coalition aircraft in 2001 and 2002 was less than in 1999 and 2000 which was during the Clinton administration. This information has been used to attempt to refute the theory that the Bush administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq before coming to office and that the bombing during 2001 and 2002 was laying the groundwork for the eventual invasion in 2003. However, information obtained by the UK Liberal Democrats showed that the UK dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001. The tonnage of UK bombs dropped increased from 0 in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 7 and 14 tons per month in May–August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September – before the U.S. Congress' 11 October authorization of the invasion. The 5 September attacks included a 100+ aircraft attack on the main air defense site in western Iraq. According to an editorial in New Statesman this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shias, it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected." Tommy Franks, who commanded the invasion of Iraq, has since admitted that the bombing was designed to "degrade" Iraqi air defences in the same way as the air attacks that began the 1991 Gulf War. These "spikes of activity" were, in the words of then British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, designed to 'put pressure on the Iraqi regime' or, as The Times reported, to "provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war". In this respect, as provocations designed to start a war, leaked British Foreign Office legal advice concluded that such attacks were illegal under international law. Another attempt at provoking the war was mentioned in a leaked memo from a meeting between George W. Bush and Tony Blair on 31 January 2003 at which Bush allegedly told Blair that "The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach." On 17 March 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave the country, along with his sons Uday and Qusay, or face war. On the night of 17 March 2003, the majority of B and D squadron British 22nd SAS Regiment, who were designated as Task Force 14, crossed the border from Jordan to conduct a ground assault on a suspected chemical munitions site at a water-treatment plant in the city of al-Qa'im. It had been reported that the site might have been a SCUD missile launch site or a depot; an SAS officer was quoted by author Mark Nicol as saying "it was a location where missiles had been fired at Israel in the past, and a site of strategic importance for WMD material." The 60 members of D squadron, along with their 'Pinkie' DPVs (the last time the vehicles were used before their retirement), was flown 120 km into Iraq in 6 MH-47Ds in 3 waves. Following their insertion, D squadron established a patrol laager at a remote location outside al-Qa'im and awaited the arrival of B squadron, who had driven overland from Jordan. Their approach to the plant was compromised, and a firefight developed which ended in one 'pinkie' having to be abandoned and destroyed, repeated attempts to assault the plant were halted, leading the SAS to call in an air strike which silenced the opposition. In the early morning of 19 March 2003, U.S. forces abandoned the plan for initial, non-nuclear decapitation strikes against 55 top Iraqi officials, in light of reports that Saddam Hussein was visiting his sons, Uday and Qusay, at Dora Farms, within the al-Dora farming community on the outskirts of Baghdad. At approximately 05:30 UTC, two F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters from the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron dropped four enhanced, satellite-guided 2,000-pound GBU-27 'Bunker Busters' on the compound. Complementing the aerial bombardment were nearly 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from at least four ships, including the , credited with the first to strike, , and two submarines in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. One bomb missed the compound entirely and the other three missed their target, landing on the other side of the wall of the palace compound. Saddam Hussein was not present, nor were any members of the Iraqi leadership. The attack killed one civilian and injured fourteen others, including four men, nine women and one child. Later investigation revealed that Saddam Hussein had not visited the farm since 1995. On 19 March 2003 at 21:00, the first strike of the operation was carried out by members of the 160th SOAR: a flight of MH-60L DAPs (Direct Action Penetrators) and four 'Black Swarm' flights – each consisting of a pair of AH-6M Little Birds and a FLIR equipped MH-6M to identify targets for the AH-6s (each Black swarm flight was assigned a pair of A-10As) engaged Iraqi visual observation posts along the southern and western borders of Iraq. In the space of seven hours, more than 70 sites were destroyed, effectively depriving the Iraqi military of any early warning of the coming invasion. As the sites were eliminated, the first heliborne SOF teams launched from H-5 airbase in Jordan, including vehicle-mounted patrols from the British and Australian components who were transported by the MH-47Ds of the 160th SOAR. Ground elements of Task Force Dagger, Task Force 20, Task force 14, and Task Force 64 breached the sand berms along the Iraqi border with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait in the early morning hours and drove into Iraq. Unofficially, the British, Australians, and Task Force 20 had been in Iraq weeks prior. On 20 March 2003 at approximately 02:30 UTC or about 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline, at 05:33 local time, explosions were heard in Baghdad. Special operations commandos from the CIA's Special Activities Division from the Northern Iraq Liaison Element infiltrated throughout Iraq and called in the early air strikes. At 03:15 UTC, or 10:15 pm EST, George W. Bush announced that he had ordered an attack against "selected targets of military importance" in Iraq. When this word was given, the troops on standby crossed the border into Iraq. Before the invasion, many observers had expected a longer campaign of aerial bombing before any ground action, taking as examples the 1991 Persian Gulf War or the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. In practice, U.S. plans envisioned simultaneous air and ground assaults to incapacitate the Iraqi forces quickly (see Shock and awe), attempting to bypass Iraqi military units and cities in most cases. The assumption was that superior mobility and coordination of Coalition forces would allow them to attack the heart of the Iraqi command structure and destroy it in a short time, and that this would minimize civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. It was expected that the elimination of the leadership would lead to the collapse of the Iraqi Forces and the government, and that much of the population would support the invaders once the government had been weakened. Occupation of cities and attacks on peripheral military units were viewed as undesirable distractions. Following Turkey's decision to deny any official use of its territory, the Coalition was forced to modify the planned simultaneous attack from north and south. Special Operations forces from the CIA and U.S. Army managed to build and lead the Kurdish Peshmerga into an effective force and assault for the North. The primary bases for the invasion were in Kuwait and other Persian Gulf nations. One result of this was that one of the divisions intended for the invasion was forced to relocate and was unable to take part in the invasion until well into the war. Many observers felt that the Coalition devoted sufficient numbers of troops to the invasion, but too many were withdrawn after it ended, and that the failure to occupy cities put them at a major disadvantage in achieving security and order throughout the country when local support failed to meet expectations. The invasion was swift, leading to the collapse of the Iraqi government and the military of Iraq in about three weeks. The oil infrastructure of Iraq was rapidly seized and secured with limited damage in that time. Securing the oil infrastructure was considered of great importance. In the first Gulf War, while retreating from Kuwait, the Iraqi army had set many oil wells on fire and had dumped oil into the Gulf waters; this was to disguise troop movements and to distract Coalition forces. Before the 2003 invasion, Iraqi forces had mined some 400 oil wells around Basra and the Al-Faw peninsula with explosives. Coalition troops launched an air and amphibious assault on the Al-Faw peninsula during the closing hours of 19 March to secure the oil fields there; the amphibious assault was supported by warships of the Royal Navy, Polish Navy, and Royal Australian Navy. In the meantime, Royal Air Force Tornados from 9 and 617 Squadrons attacked the radar defence systems protecting Baghdad, but lost a Tornado on 22 March along with the pilot and navigator (Flight Lieutenant Kevin Main and Flight Lieutenant Dave Williams), shot down by an American Patriot missile as they returned to their airbase in Kuwait. On 1 April, an F-14 from USS Kitty Hawk crashed in southern Iraq reportedly due to engine failure, and a S-3B Viking plunged off the deck of the USS Constellation after a malfunction and an AV-8B Harrier jump jet went into the Gulf while it was trying to land on the USS Nassau. British 3 Commando Brigade, with the United States Marine Corps' 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM attached, attacked the port of Umm Qasr. There they met with heavy resistance by Iraqi troops. A total of 14 Coalition troops and 30–40 Iraqi troops were killed, and 450 Iraqis taken prisoner. The British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade also secured the oil fields in southern Iraq in places like Rumaila while the Polish commandos captured offshore oil platforms near the port, preventing their destruction. Despite the rapid advance of the invasion forces, some 44 oil wells were destroyed and set ablaze by Iraqi explosives or by incidental fire. However, the wells were quickly capped and the fires put out, preventing the ecological damage and loss of oil production capacity that had occurred at the end of the Gulf War. In keeping with the rapid advance plan, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through the eastern marshland. During the first week of the war, Iraqi forces fired a Scud missile at the American Battlefield Update Assessment center in Camp Doha, Kuwait. The missile was intercepted and shot down by a Patriot missile seconds before hitting the complex. Subsequently, two A-10 Warthogs attacked the missile launcher. Initially, the 1st Marine Division (United States) fought through the Rumaila oil fields, and moved north to Nasiriyah—a moderate-sized, Shi'ite-dominated city with important strategic significance as a major road junction and its proximity to nearby Talil Airfield. It was also situated near a number of strategically important bridges over the Euphrates River. The city was defended by a mix of regular Iraqi army units, Ba'ath loyalists, and Fedayeen from both Iraq and abroad. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around the airfield and bypassed the city to the west. On 23 March, a convoy from the 3rd Infantry Division, including the female American soldiers Jessica Lynch, Shoshana Johnson, and Lori Piestewa, was ambushed after taking a wrong turn into the city. Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed, and seven, including Lynch and Piestewa, were captured. Piestewa died of wounds shortly after capture, while the remaining five prisoners of war were later rescued. Piestewa, who was from Tuba City, Arizona, and an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe, was believed to have been the first Native American woman killed in combat in a foreign war. On the same day, U.S. Marines from the Second Marine Division entered Nasiriyah in force, facing heavy resistance as they moved to secure two major bridges in the city. Several Marines were killed during a firefight with Fedayeen in the urban fighting. At the Saddam Canal, another 18 Marines were killed in heavy fighting with Iraqi soldiers. An Air Force A-10 was involved in a case of friendly fire that resulted in the death of six Marines when it accidentally attacked an American amphibious vehicle. Two other vehicles were destroyed when a barrage of RPG and small arms fire killed most of the Marines inside. A Marine from Marine Air Control Group 28 was killed by enemy fire, and two Marine engineers drowned in the Saddam Canal. The bridges were secured and the Second Marine division set up a perimeter around the city. On the evening of 24 March, the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, which was attached to Regimental Combat Team One (RCT-1), pushed through Nasiriyah and established a perimeter 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north of the city. Iraqi reinforcements from Kut launched several counterattacks. The Marines managed to repel them using indirect fire and close air support. The last Iraqi attack was beaten off at dawn. The battalion estimated that 200–300 Iraqi soldiers were killed, without a single U.S. casualty. Nasiriyah was declared secure, but attacks by Iraqi Fedayeen continued. These attacks were uncoordinated, and resulted in firefights in which large numbers of Fedayeen were killed. Because of Nasiriyah's strategic position as a road junction, significant gridlock occurred as U.S. forces moving north converged on the city's surrounding highways. With the Nasiriyah and Talil Airfields secured, Coalition forces gained an important logistical center in southern Iraq and established FOB/EAF Jalibah, some outside of Nasiriyah. Additional troops and supplies were soon brought through this forward operating base. The 101st Airborne Division continued its attack north in support of the 3rd Infantry Division. By 28 March, a severe sand storm slowed the Coalition advance as the 3rd Infantry Division halted its northward drive halfway between Najaf and Karbala. Air operations by helicopters, poised to bring reinforcements from the 101st Airborne, were blocked for three days. There was particularly heavy fighting in and around the bridge near the town of Kufl. Another fierce battle was at Najaf, where U.S. airborne and armored units with British air support fought an intense battle with Iraqi Regulars, Republican Guard units, and paramilitary forces. It started with U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships setting out on a mission to attack Republican Guard armored units; while flying low the Apaches came under heavy anti-aircraft, small arms, and RPG fire which heavily damaged many helicopters and shot one down, frustrating the attack. They attacked again successfully on 26 March, this time after a pre-mission artillery barrage and with support from F/A-18 Hornet jets, with no gunships lost. The 1st Brigade Combat Team's air defense battery moved in and after heavy fighting with entrenched Iraqi Fedayeen seized a strategic bridge in Najaf, known as "Objective Jenkins". They then came under fierce counterattacks by Iraqi forces and Fedayeen, who failed to dislodge U.S. forces from their positions. After 36 hours of combat at the bridge at Najaf, the Iraqis were defeated, and the key bridge was secured, isolating Najaf from the north. The 101st Airborne Division on 29 March, supported by a battalion from the 1st Armored Division, attacked Iraqi forces in the southern part of the city, near the Imam Ali Mosque and captured Najaf's airfield. Four Americans were killed by a suicide bomber. On 31 March the 101st made a reconnaissance-in-force into Najaf. On 1 April elements of the 70th Armored Regiment launched a "Thunder Run", an armored thrust through Najaf's city center, and after several days of heavy fighting and with air support were able to defeat the Iraqi forces, securing the city by 4 April. The Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr was the first British obstacle. A joint Polish-British-American force ran into unexpectedly stiff resistance, and it took several days to clear the Iraqi forces out. Farther north, the British 7 Armoured Brigade ("The Desert Rats"), fought their way into Iraq's second- largest city, Basra, on 6 April, coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen, while 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment cleared the 'old quarter' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles. Entering Basra was achieved after two weeks of fierce fighting, including a tank battle when the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks on 27 March. A few members of D Squadron, British SAS, were deployed to southern Iraq to support the coalition advance on Basra, the team conducted forward route reconnaissance and infiltrated the city and brought in strikes on the Ba'athist loyalist leadership. Elements of 1 (UK) Armoured Division began to advance north towards U.S. positions around Al Amarah on 9 April. Pre-existing electrical and water shortages continued throughout the conflict and looting began as Iraqi forces collapsed. While Coalition forces began working with local Iraqi Police to enforce order, a joint team composed of Royal Engineers and the Royal Logistic Corps of the British Army rapidly set up and repaired dockyard facilities to allow humanitarian aid to begin to arrive from ships arriving in the port city of Umm Qasr. After a rapid initial advance, the first major pause occurred near Karbala. There, U.S. Army elements met resistance from Iraqi troops defending cities and key bridges along the Euphrates River. These forces threatened to interdict supply routes as American forces moved north. Eventually, troops from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army secured the cities of Najaf and Karbala to prevent any Iraqi counterattacks on the 3rd Infantry Division's lines of communication as the division pressed its advance toward Baghdad. A total of 11 British soldiers were killed, while 395–515 Iraqi soldiers, irregulars, and Fedayeen were killed. The Karbala Gap was a 20–25-mile wide strip of land with the Euphrates River to the east and Lake Razazah to the west. This strip of land was recognized by Iraqi commanders as a key approach to Baghdad, and was defended by some of the best units of the Iraqi Republican Guard. The Iraqi high command had originally positioned two Republican Guard divisions blocking the Karbala Gap. Here these forces suffered heavy Coalition air attacks. However, the Coalition had since the beginning of March been conducting a strategic deception operation to convince the Iraqis that the U.S. 4th Infantry Division would be mounting a major assault into northern Iraq from Turkey. This deception plan worked, and on 2 April Saddam's son Qusay Hussein declared that the American invasion from the south was a feint and ordered troops to be re-deployed from the Karbala front to the north of Baghdad. Lt. Gen. Raad al-Hamdani, who was in command of the Karbala region, protested this and argued that unless reinforcements were rushed to the Karbala gap immediately to prevent a breach, U.S. forces would reach Baghdad within 48 hours, but his suggestions fell on deaf ears. American troops rushed through the gap and reached the Euphrates River at the town of Musayib. At Musayib, U.S. troops crossed the Euphrates in boats and seized the vital al-Kaed bridge across the Euphrates after Iraqi demolitions teams had failed to destroy it in time. The 10th Armored Brigade from the Medina Division and the 22nd Armored Brigade from the Nebuchadnezzar Division, supported by artillery, launched night attacks against the U.S. bridgehead at Musayib. The attack was repulsed using tank fire and massed artillery rockets, destroying or disabling every Iraqi tank in the assault. The next morning, Coalition aircraft and helicopters fired on the Republican Guard units, destroying many more vehicles as well as communications infrastructure. The Republican Guard units broke under the massive firepower and the U.S. forces poured through the gap and onward to Baghdad. B Squadron, Delta Force (known as "Wolverines,") accompanied by several Air Force Special Tactics teams, a Delta intelligence and Target Acquisition, several military working dog teams and two Iraqi—American interpreters, was the first US SOF unit to enter western Iraq, crossing the border from Ar'ar in 15 customised Pinzgauer 6x6 Special Operations Vehicles and several armed Toyota Hilux pick up trucks. As part of Task Force 20, their formal role was to conduct selected high-priority SSE on suspected chemical weapon facilities before heading for the Haditha Dam complex. Along the way, Delta supported the seizure of H-3 Air Base and also conducted numerous deception operations to confuse the Iraqis as to the disposition of Coalition forces in west. On 18 March 2003, B and D Squadrons of the British 22nd SAS Regiment had now infiltrated Iraq in full strength (D Squadron by air and B Squadron by ground) along with 1 Squadron Australian SASR and headed for H-2 and H-3 Air Base. They set up observation posts and called in airstrikes that defeated the Iraqi defenders, the combined British and Australian Squadrons took H-2 virtually unopposed, H-3 was secured on 25 March with the assistance of members of Delta Force and by Green Beret ODAs from Bravo company, 1st Battalion 5th SFG; a company of Rangers and Royal Marines from 45 Commando flew from Jordan to the bases and the base was handed over to them. The SAS teams moved to the next objective – the intersection of the two main highways linking Baghdad with Syria and Jordan, where both squadrons were involved in conducting interdictions of fleeing Iraqi leadership targets heading for Syria. Previously, 16 (Air) Troop of D squadron conducted mounted reconnaissance of an Iraqi army facility near the Syrian border, followed by a harassing attack on the site, two other troops had conducted mobile ambushes on Iraqi units in the area, although they themselves were being hunted by a large Fedayeen Saddam unit mounted in 'technicals.' In northern Iraq in early March, a small reconnaissance team from M Squadron of the British Special Boat Service mounted on Honda ATVs inserted into Iraq from Jordan, its first mission was to conduct reconnaissance of an Iraqi air base at al-Sahara. The team was compromised by an anti-special forces Fedayeen unit and barely escaped thanks to a U.S. F-15E that flew air cover for the team and the bravery of an RAF Chinook that extracted the team under the Fedayeen's 'noses'. A second larger SBS operation was launched by M Squadron in full strength in a mix of land rovers and ATVs into northern Iraq from H-2 airbase, the objective was to locate, make contact and take the surrender of the Iraqi 5th Army Corps somewhere past Tikrit and to survey and mark viable temporary landing zones for follow-on forces. However the Squadron was compromised by a goat herder; the SBS drove for several days whilst unknown to them anti-special forces Fedayeen units followed them. At an overnight position near Mosul, the Fedayeen ambushed the Squadron with DShK heavy machine guns and RPGs, the SBS returned fire and began taking fire from a T-72, the Squadron scattered and escaped the well-constructed trap. A number of Land Rovers became bogged down in a nearby wadi, so they mined the vehicles and abandoned them – though several did not detonate and were captured and exhibited on Iraqi television. The SBS was now in three distinct groups: one with several operational Land Rovers was being pursued by the Iraqi hunter force, a second mainly equipped with ATVs was hunkered down and trying to arrange extraction, the third with just 2 operators on an ATV raced for the Syrian border. The first group tried to call in coalition strike aircraft but the aircraft couldn't identify friendly forces because the SBS were not equipped with infra-red strobes – although their vehicles did have Blue Force Tracker units, they eventually made it to an emergency rendezvous point and were extracted by a RAF Chinook. The second group was also extracted by an RAF Chinook and the third group made it to Syria and was held there until their release was negotiated, there were no SBS casualties. In the early hours of 21 March 2003, as part of Operation Viking Hammer, a total of 64 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck the Ansar al-Islam camp and the surrounding sites, the terrorists group – numbering around 700 – had inhabited a valley near Halabja Iraqi Kurdistan, along with a small Kurdish splinter faction; they had prepared a number of defensive positions including anti- aircraft machine guns and maintained a facility, that US intelligence suspected, at which chemical and biological agents may have been developed and stored for future terrorist attacks. Viking Hammer was set to begin on 21 March, however the ground component of the operation was set back several days owing to the issues around infiltrating the majority of the 3rd Battalion 10th SFG into Iraq. The Islamic Group of Kurdistan surrendered after having suffered 100 men killed in the 21 March strikes. On 28 March 2003, the ground element of Operation Viking Hammer was finally launched with a six-pronged advance, each prong was composed of several ODAs from 3rd Battalion, 10th SFG and upwards of 1,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. The main advance set off towards Sargat – the location of the suspected chemical and biological weapons site; the force was soon pinned down by DShK heavy machine gun fire from the surrounding hills. A pair of US Navy F/A-18s responded to an urgent CAS request from the force and dropped two 500lb JDAMs on the Ansar al-Islam machine gun nests and strafed the positions with 20mm cannon before departing due to being low on fuel. The advance began again only to be halted once more by fire from prepared DShK and PKM machine gun nests, Green Berets from ODA 081 deployed a Mk 19 grenade launcher from the back of a Toyota Tacoma and suppressed the gun positions allowing the Peshmerga to assault and wipe out the terrorists. After capturing the town of Gulp, the force continued onto the village of Sargat; the village was heavily defended by fortified fighting positions mounting DShKs and mortars along with several BM-21 Grad. Unable to call in airstrikes due to the close proximity of the Peshmerga, a Green Beret sergeant used a dismounted M2 HMG to suppress the entrenched terrorists, his actions allowed the Peshmerga to bring forward their own 82mm Mortars and Grads which forced the Ansar al-Islam fighters to retreat. Task Force Viking advanced to secure the Daramar Gorge – which was surrounded by caves in the rock walls – the Peshmerga were again engaged by small arms fire and RPGs which it and the ODAs returned fire with heavy weapons, however it became obvious that they couldn't advance any further without air support. To dislodge the terrorists, the Combat Controllers attached to the ODAs vectored in US Navy F/A-18s which dropped six 500 lb JDAMs that shut down any further resistance. During the night, four AC-130 gunships maintained the pressure on the retreating Ansar al-Islam terrorists as they pulled back toward the Iranian border; the next day, Task Force Viking seized the high ground and pushed down through the valley – surrounding and killing small pockets of remnants from Ansar al-Islam. With their objectives completed 3rd Battalion and their Peshmerga returned to the green line to assist the push on Kirkuk and Mosul. A specialist SSE team was brought in to document the find at Sargat, the team recovered traces of several chemicals including Ricin along with stocks of NBC protective suits, atropine injectors and Arabic manuals on chemical weapons and IED construction. Estimates of Ansar al-Islam dead number over 300, many of them foreign fighters, whilst only 22 Peshmerga fighters were killed. On 21 March, ODA 554 of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion 5th SFG crossed the border with the United States Marines to support the seizure of the Rumaylah oilfields which was later secured by UK forces; half the team later drove to the outskirts of Basra and successfully picked up four Iraqi oil industry technicians who had been recruited by the CIA to assist in safeguarding the oilfields from destruction, they later rejoined the other half of the team and fought roving bands of Fedayeen. The ODAs next mission was to work with a CIA- recruited Sheikh and assist British forces in identifying targets around Basra. The ODA soon established an informant network, they eventually assisted the British in rounding up some 170 Fedayeen in the city; they were eventually replaced by members of G Squadron 22nd SAS Regiment. Also In the North, the 10th Special Forces Group (10th SFG) and CIA paramilitary officers from their Special Activities Division had the mission of aiding the Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, de facto rulers of Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991, and employing them against the 13 Iraqi Divisions located near Kirkuk and Mosul. Turkey had officially prohibited any Coalition troops from using their bases or airspace, so lead elements of the 10th SFG had to make a detour infiltration; their flight was supposed to take four hours but instead took ten. On 22 March 2003, the majority of 2nd and 3rd Battalions 10th SFG, from Task Force Viking flew from their forward staging area in Constanta, Romania to a location near Irbil aboard six MC-130H Combat Talons, several were engaged by Iraqi air defences on the flight into northern Iraq (one was sufficiently damaged enough that it was forced to make an emergency landing at Incirlik Air Base). The initial lift had deployed a total of 19 Green Beret ODAs and four ODBs into Northern Iraq. Hours after the first of such flights, Turkey did allow the use of its air space and the rest of the 10th SFG infiltrated in. The preliminary mission was to destroy the base of the Kurdish terrorist group Ansar al-Islam, believed to be linked to al-Qaeda. Concurrent and follow-on missions involved attacking and fixing Iraqi forces in the north, thus preventing their deployment to the southern front and the main effort of the invasion. Eventually Task Force Viking would number 51 ODAs and ODBs alongside some 60,000 Kurdish Peshmerga militia of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). On 26 March 2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade augmented the invasion's northern front by parachuting into northern Iraq onto Bashur Airfield, controlled at the time by elements of 10th SFG and Kurdish peshmerga. The fall of Kirkuk on 10 April 2003 to the 10th SFG, CIA Paramilitary Teams and Kurdish peshmerga precipitated the 173rd's planned assault, preventing the unit's involvement in combat against Iraqi forces during the invasion. Following the Battle of Haditha Dam, Delta Force handed the dam over to the Rangers and headed north to conduct ambushes along the highway above Tikrit, tying up Iraqi forces in the region and attempting to capture fleeing high-value targets trying to escape to Syria. On 2 April, Delta were engaged by half a dozen armed technicals from the same anti-special forces Fedayeen that had previously fought the SBS, two Delta operators were wounded (one serious), the squadron requested an urgent aero medical evacuation and immediate close-air support as a company of truck-borne Iraqi reinforcements arrived. Two MH-60K Blackhawks carrying a para jumper medical team and two MH-60L DAPs of the 160th SOAR responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their casualties to an emergency HLZ and they were medevaced to H-1 escorted by a pair of A-10As, however Master Sergeant George Fernandez died. The DAPs stayed on station and continued to engage the Iraqis, destroying a truck carrying a mortar and several infantry squads, whilst Delta snipers killed Iraqi infantryman firing on the DAPs, another pair of A-10As arrived and dropped airburst 500 lb bombs within 20m of Delta positions and killed a large number of Iraqi infantry gathering in a wadi. The DAPs engaged spotted several Iraqi units and engaged them until they were dangerously low on fuel. Task Force Viking launched an operation to seize the town of Ayn Sifni, the town was strategically important because it straddles the main highway into Mosul, once the town fell, it would be clear for the coalition to advance on Mosul. ODAs from the 3rd and 10th SFG called in airstrikes on the Iraqi garrisons in and around the town, causing many of the Iraqi conscripts to flee, by 5 April 2003, there appeared to be only two Iraqi platoons left in the town. On 6 April, ODAs 051, 055 and 056 assaulted the town – ODAs 055 and 056 provided fire support along with Peshmerga heavy weapons teams, whilst ODA 51 made the actual assault on the town. As ODA 51 cautiously advanced on the village, it came under intense fire – the two platoons of Iraqis turned out to be closer to battalion strength and equipped with heavy weapons like 82mm mortars, antiaircraft guns and an artillery piece. After 4 hours of F/A-18 airstrikes and constant heavy weapons fire from ODA 055 and 056, the assault force entered Ayn Sifni; soon afterwards, Iraqi infantry counterattacked, supported by several mortars, attempting to retake the town, but it was beaten back by ODA 51 and the Kurds. On 6 April 2003, ODA 391 and ODA 392 from the 3rd SFG and ODA 044 from 10th SFG with about 150 Kurdish fighters were the main force involved in the Battle of Debecka Pass. On 9 April, nine ODAs from FOB 103 encircled Kirkuk after fierce fighting to capture the ridges overlooking the approaches to the city, the earlier capture of the nearby city of Tuz had largely broken the will of the Iraqi Army and only the Fedayeen remained in Kirkuk, the first ODA units entered the city the next day, a week later the 173rd Airborne took over responsibility for the city, after some minor skirmishes the Fedayeen fled. Staging out of MSS Grizzly, Delta mounted operations to interdict Ba'ath Party HVTs on Highway 1 (Highway 2 and 4 in western Iraq had been secured by British SAS and Australian SAS teams), on 9 April, the combined team seized an airfield near Tikrit. The successful occupation of Kirkuk came as a result of approximately two weeks of fighting that included the Battle of the Green Line (the unofficial border of the Kurdish autonomous zone) and the subsequent Battle of Kani Domlan Ridge (the ridgeline running northwest to southeast of Kirkuk), the latter fought exclusively by 3rd Battalion, 10th SFG and Kurdish peshmerga against the Iraqi 1st Corps. The 173rd Brigade would eventually take responsibility for Kirkuk days later, becoming involved in the counterinsurgency fight and remain there until redeploying a year later. On 11 April an advanced element from FOB 102 numbering no more than 30 Green Berets advanced into Mosul, the advanced had followed several days of heavy airstrikes on three Iraqi divisions defending Mosul; on 13 April, 3rd Battalion 3rd SFG and a battalion from the 10th Mountain Division were ordered to Mosul to relieve the 10th SFG and their Peshmerga allies. Further reinforcing operations in Northern Iraq, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), serving as Landing Force Sixth Fleet, deployed in April to Erbil and subsequently Mosul via Marine KC-130 flights. The 26 MEU (SOC) maintained security of the Mosul airfield and surrounding area until relief by the 101st Airborne Division. The Battle of Haditha Dam occurred on 24 March 2003, Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, conducted a combat parachute drop onto H-1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in the west. Delta Force recce operators drove through Iraqi lines around the Haditha Dam on customised ATVs, marking targets for Coalition airstrikes resulting in the eventual destruction of a large number of Iraqi armoured vehicles and antiaircraft systems. Delta's reconnaissance of the dam indicated that a larger force would be needed to seize it, so a request was made and approved for a second Delta squadron from Fort Bragg to be dispatched with a further Ranger battalion, along with M1A1 Abrams tanks from C Company, 2nd Battalion 70th Armor. C-17 flew the company from Talil to H-1 and then to MSS (Mission Support Site) Grizzly – a desert strip established by Delta Force located between Haditha and Tikrit; C Squadron, Delta Force was flown directly to MSS Grizzly. On 1 April, C squadron, Delta Force and 3/75th Ranger Regiment conducted a night-time ground assault in their Pinzgauers and GMVs against the Haditha Dam complex. Three platoons of Rangers seized the dams' administrative buildings with little initial opposition, while a pair of AH-6M Six Guns orbited overhead, soon after daybreak, a Ranger sniper shot and killed 3 Iraqis carrying RPGs on the western side of the dam and Rangers on the eastern side engaged a truck carrying infantry, which led to an hour-long contract. South of the dam, another Ranger platoon was securing the dam's power station and electricity transformer against sabotage, another platoon was occupied establishing blocking positions on the main road into the dam complex. The blocking positions came under the sporadic mortar fire, resulting in the AH-6Ms flying multiple gun runs to silence the mortar positions, another mortar team, firing from a small island was engaged and silenced by a Ranger Javelin team. For five days, Iraqi forces continued to harass the Rangers at the dam, principally with episodic artillery and mortar fire along with several infantry counterattacks against the blocking positions; the HIMARS rocket system saw its first combat deployment at the dam – firing counter- battery missions, 3 Rangers were killed on 3 April by a VBIED at the blocking positions, the car was driven by a pregnant Iraqi woman acting distressed and asking for water. Rangers captured an Iraqi forward observer dressed as a civilian after sinking his kayak with .50cal fire, the observer had maps of the Rangers positions. Intelligence indicated that chemical and biological weapons stocks may have been located at a complex known as al Qadisiyah Research Centre along the shore of the al Qadisiyah reservoir among government and residential buildings, on the evening of 26 March, a DEVGRU assault element supported by B Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment assaulted the complex (codenamed Objective Beaver). Whilst the first of four MH-60Ks inserted the Rangers into their blocking positions, it was engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building, an AH-6M spotted the muzzle flashes and fired a 2.75inch rocket into the location silencing the small arms fire, the second MH-60K was also struck by small arms fire but its door gunner suppressed it. A-10As engaged nearby electricity transformers successfully blacking out the area, but it resulted in a series of explosions and a resulting fire at the stations that dramatically lit the sky – pinpointing the orbiting helicopters for enemy gunmen. Small arms fire increased as the final two MH-60Ks inserted their blocking teams, one Ranger was wounded, the two pairs of AH-6Ms and MH-60L DAPs supporting the mission continued to suppress targets as the four MH-47Es carrying the DEVGRU main assault force inserted under heavy enemy small arms fire whilst DEVGRU sniper teams aboard a pair of MH-6Ms engaged numerous gunmen and vehicles, one Nightstalker crew was wounded as the MH-47Es lifted off. The SEALs conducted a hasty SSE while the Ranger blocking positions received and returned fire, the AH-6Ms and the aerial snipers continued to engage enemy gunmen whilst the DAPs pushed further out to ensure no reinforcements approached – engaging and destroying numerous Fedayeen armed technicals. The SSE took longer than expected owing to the size and maze-like structure of the building, the mission completed after 45 minutes, later tests of the material recovered by DEVGRU showed no evidence of chemical or biological weapons at the Objective Beaver. Bravo and Charlie companies of 1st Battalion 5th SFG crossed the Kuwait border at H-Hour with ODA 531 using breaching demolition charges to clear a path through the sand berms. Charlie company's seven ODAs in 35 vehicles took the southeastern operation box of the western desert heading towards the towns of Nukyab, Habbariya and Mudyasis, ODA's 534 and 532 split off to head for the area surrounding Nukyab searching for mobile SCUB-B TEL launch sites. ODA 532 also inserted a mobile weather station that provided planners with vital real time weather updates of the battle space. Bravo company set out for the central town of Ar Rutba and H-3 Air Base with six ODAs and a support ODB (Operational Detachment Bravo). ODAs 523 and 524 searched a suspected Scud-B storage facility while ODAs 521 and 525 were tasked with clearing several abandoned airfields, with no sign of Scud launchers, ODA 525 deployed a Special Reconnaissance team to conduct pattern of life surveillance on the town of Ar Rutba. A two-man team called in a pair of nearby F-16C Fighting Falcons to destroy an Iraqi Army radio direction-finding facility they had identified. A second reconnaissance team from ODA 525 deployed to cover the two highways leading to Ar Rutbah, however as the team was compromised by roving Bedouins who informed the Iraqi Army garrison at Ar Rutbah of the teams presence and location, armed Iraqi technicals crewed by the Fedayeen drove out to search for them, so the Green Berets mounted their GMVs, left their hide and found a position to ambush the Fedayeen, under the weight of fire the Fedayeen retreated. ODA 525 attempted to link up with the two-man reconnaissance team and extract it to safety but large numbers of Iraqi vehicles began driving out of the town to them, the ODAs called in immediate air support. While waiting, the reconnaissance team and Target Acquisition Marines fired on the Fedayeen leaders with their suppressed MK12 sniper rifle and contacted ODA 521 (who were clearing suspects east of the town) and they reinforced ODA 525. Within minutes, F-16Cs arrived and engaged the Fedayeen vehicles, another Fedayeen convoy attempted to outflank ODA 525 but ran into the guns of ODA 524, after 4 hours of constant and punishing airstrikes on the encircling Fedayeen, eight GMVs of ODA 521 and 525 managed to extract the exposed reconnaissance team under the cover of a B-1B strategic bomber, the vehicles withdrew to ODB 520s staging area south of Ar Rutbah. Over 100 Fedayeen fighters were killed and four armed technicals were destroyed. To the west ODA 523 reinforced ODA 524, but ran into a pair of armed technicals on the highway, both were destroyed by the GMVs, the Green Berets ceased fire when a civilian station wagon full of Iraqi children drove into the middle of the firefight. ODA 522 also identified two Fedayeen armed technicals proceeding down the highway toward ODA 523, they set an ambush for them, destroying the vehicles and killing 15 Fedayeen. The strategic intent of the US Army Special Forces ODAs had been to shutdown the main supply routes and deny access around Ar Rutbah and the strategically important H-3 airbase, which was defended by a battalion of Iraqi troops and significant numbers of mobile and static anti aircraft guns. On 24 March 2003, the surrounding ODAs supported by Task Force 7 (British Special Air Service) and Task Force 64 (Australian Special Air Service Regiment) called in constant 24 hours of precision airstrikes on H-3 using SOFLAM target designators, the aerial bombardment forced the Iraqi military vehicles to leave the base and headed towards Baghdad. ODA 521 over watching the highway they were travelling on ambushed the convoy destroying a truck mounted ZU-23, the convoy was thrown into disarray, a sandstorm prevented the ODA calling in airstrikes and the convoy scattered into the desert. Bravo company 5th SFG and the coalition SOF secured the airfield, finding a Roland surface-to-air missile system, around 80 assorted anti aircraft cannon guns including ZSU-23-4 Shilka, SA-7 grail handheld SAMs and an enormous amount of ammunition. H-3 was established as an Advanced Operating Base for Bravo company, with supplies delivered by C-130s and MH-47Es; ODA 581 vehicle checkpoint managed to capture the Iraqi general in command of H-3 as he was trying to escape in civilian attire, he was secured and flown by an unmarked CIA SAD Air Branch Little Brid on 28 March for further interrogation. Additionally, ODA 523 discovered what may have been chemical weapons samples in a laboratory on the grounds of H-3. Bravo company turned its attention to Ar Rutbah, signals intercepts by SOT-A (Support Operations Team – Alpha) and an informer network among the Bedouins as well as inhabitants of the town indicated that around 800 Fedayeen remained in the town; Fedayeen patrols from the town were engaged by surrounding Green Berets and captured. ODAs guided in precision airstrikes on Fedayeen anti aircraft guns on the outskirts of the town and on top of the airstrikes, they also struck large groups of Fedayeen militia with Javelin missiles. On 9 April, nine ODAs secured the main roads into the town an commenced a day of near continuous final airstrikes from fix-wing aircraft and Apache helicopters. Civilians from the town approached the Green Berets asking them to stop the bombing, the Green Berets struck a deal with the civilians and they entered the town the next day. A B-52 and 2 F-16Cs flew show of force flights over the town as the Green Berets entered, the Fedayeen blended in with the population. Within days, the Green Berets helped the town to elect a mayor and set up markets, get sixty percent of the electricity grid working and repair water supplies. ODA 521 and 525 continued to operate in the region, stopping several trucks carrying foreign fighters, they disarmed them, took their details and warned them not to come back before sending them to Syria; in late May, the teams were replaced by the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment. The 2nd Battalion of the U.S. 5th Special Forces Group, United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets) conducted reconnaissance in the cities of Basra, Karbala and various other locations. After Sargat was taken, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 10th SFG and CIA paramilitary officers along with their Kurdish allies pushed south towards Tikrit and the surrounding towns of Northern Iraq. Previously, during the Battle of the Green Line, Bravo Company, 3/10 with their Kurdish allies pushed back, destroyed, or routed the 13th Iraqi Infantry Division. The same company took Tikrit. Iraq was the largest deployment of the U.S. Special Forces since Vietnam. ODA 563 worked in support of the US Marines around Al Diwaniyah with local Sheikhs and their militias supported by AV-8Bs and F/A-18s; managing to capture the city of Qwam al Hamza. The following day ODA 563, their local Sheikh and his militia and a small Force Recon team captured the bridge leading to Diwaniyah and the militia attacked Iraqi positions over the bridge, forcing the Iraqi army and Fedayeen to flee toward Baghdad whilst being harassed by Marine Corps aircraft. Private first class Jessica Lynch of the 507th Maintenance Company was seriously injured and captured after her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. Initial intelligence that led to her rescue was provided by an informant who approached ODA 553 when it was working in Nasiriyah, the intelligence was passed on and Task Force 20 planned a rescue mission. Launching from the recently captured airfield at Talil, the rescue force consisted of 290 Rangers from 1st and 2nd battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, around 60 SEALs from DEVGRU along with Para Rescue Jumpers and Combat Controllers from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron conventional Marines from Task Force Tarawa then currently fighting through the city and aviators from the Army, Marines and Air Force. The plan called for Task Force Tarawa to conduct a deception mission by seizing the bridges across the Euphrates to draw attention away from the hospital Lynch was held at, an airstrike by US Marine AV-8 Harriers would be conducted against one of the bridges to confuse the opposition further and US Marine AH-1W Cobras were tasked to fly over the area to conceal the sound of incoming SOF helicopters. Air cover as provided by an AC-130 Spectre and a Marine EA-6 Prowler to jam any enemy SAM systems that might be present. With the deception mission underway, the SEAL and select Ranger elements would be inserted by MH-60K Blackhawks and four MH-6 Little Birds, supported by four AH-6 attack helicopters and two MH-60L DAPs, the other Rangers would be flown in by Marine CH-46s and CH-53 transport helicopters to establish a cordon around the hospital grounds. The main assault force of SEALs would arrive by a ground convoy of AGMS Pandur forearmed vehicles and GMV trucks whilst the hostage rescue element landed directly on the objective in MH-6 Little Birds. At 0100 on 1 April 2003, the Marines commenced their deception mission, CIA elements cut the city's power as the helicopters approached their objective, the AH-6s led the way, behind them the MH-6s dropped off Task Force 20 sniper teams at strategic locations around and on the hospital. The DAPs and the AH-6s covered the MH-60Ks as they dropped off assault teams on the hospital roof and another by the front door, the ground assault convoy arrived and the assaulters raced inside and onto the second floor where Lynch was located. 13 minutes later, a MH-60K touched down near the hospital entrance with a team of PJs and SOAR medics on board and transported Lynch to Talil where it rendezvoused with a standby medical flight and then onto Kuwait and finally the United States. The Hospital was devoid of any Fedayeen, although evidence suggested they were using it as a base; the Ranger blocking teams experienced some sporadic direct fire, the SEALs and the Rangers eventually recovered the remains of eight members of Lynch's unit that had been killed or died of their wounds. Task Force 20 carried out the first successful US POW rescue mission since World War II. Three weeks into the invasion, U.S.-led Coalition forces moved into Baghdad. Units of the Iraqi Special Republican Guard led the defence of the city. The rest of the defenders were a mixture of Republican Guard units, regular army units, Fedayeen Saddam, and non-Iraqi Arab volunteers. Initial plans were for Coalition units to surround the city and gradually move in, forcing Iraqi armor and ground units to cluster into a central pocket in the city, and then attack with air and artillery forces. This plan soon became unnecessary, as an initial engagement of armored units south of the city saw most of the Republican Guard's assets destroyed and routes in the southern outskirts of the city occupied. On 5 April, Task Force 1–64 Armor of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division executed a raid, later called the "Thunder Run", to test remaining Iraqi defenses, with 29 tanks and 14 Bradley armored fighting vehicles advancing to the Baghdad airport. They met significant resistance, but were successful in reaching the airport, and eventually secured it after heavy fighting. The next day, another brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division attacked into downtown Baghdad and occupied one of the palaces of Saddam Hussein in fierce fighting. U.S. Marines also faced heavy shelling from Iraqi artillery as they attempted to cross a river bridge, but the river crossing was successful. The Iraqis managed to inflict some casualties on the U.S. forces near the airport from defensive positions but suffered severe casualties from air bombardment. Within hours of the palace seizure and with television coverage of this spreading through Iraq, U.S. forces ordered Iraqi forces within Baghdad to surrender, or the city would face a full-scale assault. Iraqi government officials had either disappeared or had conceded defeat, and on 9 April 2003, Baghdad was formally occupied by Coalition forces. Much of Baghdad remained unsecured however, and fighting continued within the city and its outskirts well into the period of occupation. Saddam had vanished, and his whereabouts were unknown. On 10 April, a rumor emerged that Saddam Hussein and his top aides were in a mosque complex in the Al Az'Amiyah District of Baghdad. Three companies of Marines were sent to capture him and came under heavy fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and assault rifles. One Marine was killed and 20 were wounded, but neither Saddam or any of his top aides were found. U.S. forces supported by mortars, artillery, and aircraft continued to attack Iraqi forces still loyal to Saddam Hussein and non-Iraqi Arab volunteers. U.S. aircraft flying in support were met with Iraqi anti-aircraft fire. On 12 April, by late afternoon, all fighting had ceased. A total of 34 American soldiers and 2,320 Iraqi fighters were killed. Many Iraqis celebrated the downfall of Saddam by vandalizing the many portraits and statues of him together with other pieces of his cult of personality. One widely publicized event was the dramatic toppling of a large statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Firdos Square. This attracted considerable media coverage at the time. As the British Daily Mirror reported, As Staff Sergeant Brian Plesich reported in On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, The fall of Baghdad saw the outbreak of regional, sectarian violence throughout the country, as Iraqi tribes and cities began to fight each other over old grudges. The Iraqi cities of Al-Kut and Nasiriyah launched attacks on each other immediately following the fall of Baghdad to establish dominance in the new country, and the U.S.-led Coalition quickly found themselves embroiled in a potential civil war. U.S.-led Coalition forces ordered the cities to cease hostilities immediately, explaining that Baghdad would remain the capital of the new Iraqi government. Nasiriyah responded favorably and quickly backed down; however, Al-Kut placed snipers on the main roadways into town, with orders that invading forces were not to enter the city. After several minor skirmishes, the snipers were removed, but tensions and violence between regional, city, tribal, and familial groups continued. U.S. General Tommy Franks assumed control of Iraq as the supreme commander of the coalition occupation forces. Shortly after the sudden collapse of the defense of Baghdad, rumors were circulating in Iraq and elsewhere that there had been a deal struck (a "safqua") wherein the U.S.-led Coalition had bribed key members of the Iraqi military elite and/or the Ba'ath party itself to stand down. In May 2003, General Franks retired, and confirmed in an interview with Defense Week that the U.S.-led Coalition had paid Iraqi military leaders to defect. The extent of the defections and their effect on the war are unclear. U.S.-led Coalition troops promptly began searching for the key members of Saddam Hussein's government. These individuals were identified by a variety of means, most famously through sets of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. Later during the military occupation period after the invasion, on 22 July 2003 during a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and men from Task Force 20, Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, and one of his grandsons were killed in a massive fire-fight. Saddam Hussein himself was captured on 13 December 2003 by the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121 during Operation Red Dawn. U.S. special forces had also been involved in the extreme south of Iraq, attempting to occupy key roads to Syria and airbases. In one case two armored platoons were used to convince Iraqi leadership that an entire armored battalion was entrenched in the west of Iraq. On 15 April, U.S. forces took control of Tikrit, the last major outpost in central Iraq, with an attack led by the Marines' Task Force Tripoli. About a week later the Marines were relieved in place by the Army's 4th Infantry Division. Coalition aircraft flew over 41,000 sorties, of which over 9,000 were tanker sorties. On 1 May 2003, Bush landed on the aircraft carrier , in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq war. Bush's landing was criticized by opponents as an unnecessarily theatrical and expensive stunt. Clearly visible in the background was a banner stating "Mission Accomplished." The banner, made by White House staff and supplied by request of the United States Navy, was criticized as premature. The White House subsequently released a statement that the sign and Bush's visit referred to the initial invasion of Iraq and disputing the charge of theatrics. The speech itself noted: "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous." Post- invasion Iraq was marked by a long and violent conflict between U.S.-led forces and Iraqi insurgents. Members of the Coalition included Australia: 2,000 invasion, [Poland]: 200 invasion—2,500 peak, Spain: 1,300 invasion United Kingdom: 46,000 invasion, United States: 150,000 to 250,000 invasion. Other members of the coalition were Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Tonga, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. At least 15 other countries participated covertly. Australia contributed approximately 2,000 Australian Defence Force personnel, including a special forces task group, three warships and 14 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. On 16 April 2003, Australian special operations forces captured the undefended Al Asad Airbase west of Baghdad. The base would later become the second largest Coalition facility post-invasion. The Battle of Umm Qasr was the first military confrontation in the Iraq War, with its objective the capture of the port. Polish GROM troops supported the amphibious assault on Umm Qasr with the British 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines, and the US 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. After the waterway was de-mined by a Detachment from HM-14 and Naval Special Clearance Team ONE of the U.S. Navy and reopened, Umm Qasr played an important role in the shipment of humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians. British troops, in what was codenamed Operation (or Op) TELIC participated in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The 1st Armoured Division was deployed to the Persian Gulf and commanded British forces in the area, securing areas in southern Iraq, including the city of Basra during the invasion. A total of 46,000 troops of all the British services were committed to the operation at its start, including some 5,000 Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors and 4,000 Royal Marines, 26,000 British Army soldiers, and 8,100 Royal Air Force airmen. The British special forces deployment was codenamed Operation Row and were known as Task Force 7 under Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-West (Task Force Dagger). The U.S.-led Coalition forces toppled the government and captured the key cities of a large nation in only 21 days. The invasion did require a large army build-up like the 1991 Gulf War, but many did not see combat and many were withdrawn after the invasion ended. This proved to be short-sighted, however, due to the requirement for a much larger force to combat the irregular Iraqi forces in the Iraqi insurgency. General Eric Shinseki, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, recommended "several hundred thousand" troops be used to maintain post-war order, but then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld—and especially his deputy, civilian Paul Wolfowitz—strongly disagreed. General Abizaid later said General Shinseki had been right. The Iraqi army, armed mainly with older Soviet and Eastern European built equipment, was overall ill-equipped in comparison to the American and British forces. Attacks on U.S. supply routes by Fedayeen militiamen were repulsed. The Iraqis' artillery proved largely ineffective, and they were unable to mobilize their air force to attempt a defense. The Iraqi T-72 tanks, the most powerful armored vehicles in the Iraqi army, were both outdated and ill-maintained, and when they were mobilized they were rapidly destroyed, thanks in part to the Coalition air supremacy. The U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Naval Aviation, and British Royal Air Force operated with impunity throughout the country, pinpointing heavily defended resistance targets and destroying them before ground troops arrived. The main battle tanks of the U.S. and UK forces, the U.S. M1 Abrams and British Challenger 2, functioned well in the rapid advance across the country. Despite the many RPG attacks by irregular Iraqi forces, few U.S. and UK tanks were lost, and no tank crew-members were killed by hostile fire, although nearly 40 M1 Abrams were damaged in the attacks. The only tank loss sustained by the British Army was a Challenger 2 of the Queen's Royal Lancers that was hit by another Challenger 2, killing two crew members. The Iraqi army suffered from poor morale, even amongst the elite Republican Guard. Entire units disbanded into the crowds upon the approach of invading troops, or actually sought out U.S. and UK forces to surrender to. Many Iraqi commanding officers were bribed by the CIA or coerced into surrendering. The leadership of the Iraqi army was incompetent – reports state that Qusay Hussein, charged with the defense of Baghdad, dramatically shifted the positions of the two main divisions protecting Baghdad several times in the days before the arrival of U.S. forces, and as a result the units were confused, and further demoralized when U.S. forces attacked. The invasion force did not see the entire Iraqi military thrown against it; U.S. and UK units had orders to move to and seize objective target points rather than seek to engage Iraqi units. This resulted in most regular Iraqi military units emerging from the war without having been engaged, and fully intact, especially in southern Iraq. It is assumed that most units disintegrated to return to their homes. According to the declassified Pentagon report, "The largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq's military forces was the continued interference by Saddam." The report, designed to help U.S. officials understand in hindsight how Saddam and his military commanders prepared for and fought the invasion, paints a picture of an Iraqi government blind to the threat it faced, hampered by Saddam's inept military leadership and deceived by its own propaganda and inability to believe an invasion was imminent without further Iraqi provocation. According to the BBC, the report portrays Saddam Hussein as "chronically out of touch with reality – preoccupied with the prevention of domestic unrest and with the threat posed by Iran." Estimates on the number of casualties during the invasion in Iraq vary widely. Estimates on civilian casualties are more variable than those for military personnel. According to Iraq Body Count, a group that relies on press reports, NGO-based reports and official figures to measure civilian casualties, approximately 7,500 civilians were killed during the invasion phase. The Project on Defense Alternatives study estimated that 3,200–4,300 civilians died during the invasion. Fedayeen Saddam militia, Republican Guard and Iraqi security forces were reported to have executed Iraqi soldiers who tried to surrender on multiple occasions, as well as threatening the families of those who refused to fight. One such incident was directly observed during the Battle of Debecka Pass. Many incidents of Fedayeen fighters using human shields were reported from various towns in Iraq. Iraqi Republican Guard units were also reported to be using human shields. Some reports indicate that the Fedayeen used ambulances to deliver messages and transport fighters into combat. On 31 March, Fedayeen in a Red Crescent-marked ambulance attacked American soldiers outside of Nasiriyah, wounding three. During the Battle of Basra, British forces of the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) reported that on 28 March, Fedayeen forces opened fire on thousands of civilian refugees fleeing the city. After the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company during the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March, the bodies of several U.S. soldiers who had been killed in the ambush were shown on Iraqi television. Some of these soldiers had visible gunshot wounds to head, leading to speculation that they had been executed. Except for Sgt. Donald Walters, no evidence has since surfaced to support this scenario and it is generally accepted that the soldiers were killed in action. Five live prisoners of war were also interviewed on the air, a violation of the Third Geneva Convention. Sergeant Walters was initially reported to have been killed in the ambush after killing several Fedayeen before running out of ammunition. However, an eyewitness later reported that he had seen Walters being guarded by several Fedayeen in front of a building. Forensics work later found Walters' blood in front of the building and blood spatter suggesting he died from two gunshot wounds to the back at close range. This led the Army to conclude that Walters had been executed after being captured, and he was posthumously awarded the Prisoner of War Medal in 2004. It was alleged in the authorized biography of Pfc. Jessica Lynch that she was raped by her captors after her capture, based on medical reports and the pattern of her injuries, though this is not supported by Ms Lynch. Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, who later helped American forces rescue Lynch, stated that he saw an Iraqi Colonel slap Lynch while she was in her hospital bed. The staff at the hospital where Lynch was held later denied both stories, saying that Lynch was well cared for. While Lynch suffers from amnesia due to her injuries, Lynch herself has denied any mistreatment whilst in captivity. Also on 23 March, a British Army engineering unit made a wrong turn near the town of Az Zubayr, which was still held by Iraqi forces. The unit was ambushed and Sapper Luke Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth became separated from the rest. Both were captured and executed by Iraqi irregular forces. In 2006, a video of Allsopp lying on the ground surrounded by Iraqi irregular forces was discovered. During the Battle of Nasiriyah, there was an incident where Iraqi irregulars feigned surrender to approach an American unit securing a bridge. After getting close to the soldiers, the Iraqis suddenly opened fire, killing 10 soldiers and wounding 40. In response, American forces reinforced security procedures for dealing with prisoners of war. Marine Sergeant Fernando Padilla-Ramirez was reported missing from his supply unit after an ambush north of Nasiriyah on 28 March. His body was later dragged through the streets of Ash-Shatrah and hung in the town square, and later taken down and buried by sympathetic locals. The corpse was discovered by U.S. forces on 10 April. Massive looting took place in the days following the 2003 invasion. According to U.S. officials, the "reality of the situation on the ground" was that hospitals, water plants, and ministries with vital intelligence needed security more than other sites. There were only enough U.S. troops on the ground to guard a certain number of the many sites that ideally needed protection, and so, apparently, some "hard choices" were made. It was reported that the National Museum of Iraq was among the looted sites. The FBI was soon called into Iraq to track down the stolen items. It was found that the initial allegations of looting of substantial portions of the collection were heavily exaggerated. Initial reports asserted a near-total looting of the museum, estimated at upwards of 170,000 inventory lots, or about 501,000 pieces. The more recent estimate places the number of stolen pieces at around 15,000, and about 10,000 of them probably were taken in an "inside job" before U.S. troops arrived, according to Bogdanos. Over 5,000 looted items have since been recovered. An assertion that U.S. forces did not guard the museum because they were guarding the Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Interior is disputed by investigator Colonel Matthew Bogdanos in his 2005 book Thieves of Baghdad. Bogdanos notes that the Ministry of Oil building was bombed, but the museum complex, which took some fire, was not bombed. He also writes that Saddam Hussein's troops set up sniper's nests inside and on top of the museum, and nevertheless U.S. Marines and soldiers stayed close enough to prevent wholesale looting. More serious for the post-war state of Iraq was the looting of cached weaponry and ordnance which fueled the subsequent insurgency. As many as 250,000 tons of explosives were unaccounted for by October 2004. Disputes within the US Defense Department led to delays in the post-invasion assessment and protection of Iraqi nuclear facilities. Tuwaitha, the Iraqi site most scrutinized by UN inspectors since 1991, was left unguarded and was looted. Zainab Bahrani, professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, reported that a helicopter landing pad was constructed in the heart of the ancient city of Babylon, and "removed layers of archeological earth from the site. The daily flights of the helicopters rattle the ancient walls and the winds created by their rotors blast sand against the fragile bricks. When my colleague at the site, Maryam Moussa, and I asked military personnel in charge that the helipad be shut down, the response was that it had to remain open for security reasons, for the safety of the troops." Bahrani also reported that in the summer of 2004, "the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the Temple of Ninmah, both sixth century BC, collapsed as a result of the movement of helicopters." Electrical power is scarce in post-war Iraq, Bahrani reported, and some fragile artifacts, including the Ottoman Archive, would not survive the loss of refrigeration. The U.S. invasion of Iraq was the most widely and closely reported war in military history. Television network coverage was largely pro-war and viewers were six times more likely to see a pro-war source as one who was anti-war. The New York Times ran a number of articles describing Saddam Hussein's attempts to build weapons of mass destruction. The 8 September 2002 article titled "U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" would be discredited, leading The New York Times to issue a public statement admitting it was not as rigorous as it should have been. At the start of the war in March 2003, as many as 775 reporters and photographers were traveling as embedded journalists. These reporters signed contracts with the military that limited what they were allowed to report on. When asked why the military decided to embed journalists with the troops, Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps replied, "Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment." In 2003, a study released by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting stated the network news disproportionately focused on pro-war sources and left out many anti-war sources. According to the study, 64% of total sources were in favor of the Iraq War while total anti-war sources made up 10% of the media (only 3% of US sources were anti-war). The study looked only at 6 American news networks after 20 March for three weeks. The study stated that "viewers were more than six times as likely to see a pro-war source as one who was anti-war; with U.S. guests alone, the ratio increases to 25 to 1." A September 2003 poll revealed that seventy percent of Americans believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/11. 80% of Fox News viewers were found to hold at least one such belief about the invasion, compared to 23% of PBS viewers. Ted Turner, founder of CNN, charged that Rupert Murdoch was using Fox News to advocate an invasion. Critics have argued that this statistic is indicative of misleading coverage by the U.S. media since viewers in other countries were less likely to have these beliefs. A post-2008 election poll by FactCheck.org found that 48% of Americans believe Saddam played a role in the 9/11 attacks, the group concluded that "voters, once deceived, tend to stay that way despite all evidence." Independent media also played a prominent role in covering the invasion. The Indymedia network, among many other independent networks including many journalists from the invading countries, provided reports on the Iraq war. In the United States Democracy Now, hosted by Amy Goodman has been critical of the reasons for the 2003 invasion and the alleged crimes committed by the U.S. authorities in Iraq. The Israeli Military Censor have released gag orders to Fresh and Rotter news platforms preventing them releasing any information about events and action related to the invasion. On the other side, among media not opposing to the invasion, The Economist stated in an article on the matter that "the normal diplomatic tools—sanctions, persuasion, pressure, UN resolutions—have all been tried, during 12 deadly but failed years" then giving a mild conditional support to the war stating that "if Mr Hussein refuses to disarm, it would be right to go to war". Australian war artist George Gittoes collected independent interviews with soldiers while producing his documentary Soundtrack To War. The war in Iraq provided the first time in history that military on the front lines were able to provide direct, uncensored reportage themselves, thanks to blogging software and the reach of the internet. Dozens of such reporting sites, known as soldier blogs or milblogs, were started during the war. These blogs were more often than not largely pro-war and stated various reasons why the soldiers and Marines felt they were doing the right thing. International coverage of the war differed from coverage in the U.S. in a number of ways. The Arab-language news channel Al Jazeera and the German satellite channel Deutsche Welle featured almost twice as much information on the political background of the war. Al Jazeera also showed scenes of civilian casualties which were rarely seen in the U.S. media. Opponents of the military intervention in Iraq have attacked the decision to invade Iraq along a number of lines, including the human cost of war, calling into question the evidence used to justify the war, arguing for continued diplomacy, challenging the war's legality, suggesting that the U.S. had other more pressing security priorities, (i.e., Afghanistan and North Korea) and predicting that the war would destabilize the Middle East region. In 2010, an independent commission of inquiry set up by the government of the Netherlands, maintained that UN resolution 1441 "cannot reasonably be interpreted (as the Dutch government did) as authorising individual member states to use military force to compel Iraq to comply with the Security Council's resolutions." Accordingly, the Dutch commission concluded that the invasion violated international law. The central U.S. justification for launching the war was that Saddam Hussein's alleged development of nuclear and biological weapons and purported ties to al-Qaeda made his regime a "grave and growing" threat to the United States and the world community. During the lead-up to the war and the aftermath of the invasion, critics cast doubt on the evidence supporting this rationale. Concerning Iraq's weapons programs, prominent critics included Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector who argued in 2002 that inspections had eliminated the nuclear and chemical weapons programs, and that evidence of their reconstitution would "have been eminently detectable by intelligence services ..." Although it is popularly believed that Saddam Hussein had forced the IAEA weapons inspectors to leave Iraq, they were in fact withdrawn at the request of the US, in advance of Operation Desert Fox, the 1998 American bombing campaign. After the build-up of U.S. troops in neighboring states, Saddam welcomed them back and promised complete cooperation with their demands. Experienced IAEA inspection teams were already back in Iraq and had made some interim reports on its search for various forms of WMD. American diplomat Joseph C. Wilson investigated the contention that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Niger and reported that the contention had no substance. Similarly, alleged links between Iraq and al-Qaeda were called into question during the lead-up to the war, and were discredited by a 21 October 2004 report from U.S. Senator Carl Levin, which was later corroborated by an April 2006 report from the Defense Department's inspector general. These reports further alleged that Bush Administration officials, particularly former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith, manipulated evidence to support links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. One of the main questions in the lead-up to the war was whether the United Nations Security Council would authorize military intervention in Iraq. It became increasingly clear that U.N. authorization would require significant further weapons inspections. Many criticized their effort as unwise, immoral, and illegal. Robin Cook, then the leader of the United Kingdom House of Commons and a former foreign secretary, resigned from Tony Blair's cabinet in protest over the UK's decision to invade without the authorization of a U.N. resolution. Cook said at the time that: "In principle I believe it is wrong to embark on military action without broad international support. In practice I believe it is against Britain's interests to create a precedent for unilateral military action." In addition, senior government legal advisor Elizabeth Wilmshurst resigned, stating her legal opinion that an invasion would be illegal. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview with the BBC in September 2004, "[F]rom our point of view and from the Charter point of view [the war] was illegal." This drew immediate criticism from the United States and was immediately played down. His annual report to the General Assembly for 2003 included no more than the statement: "Following the end of major hostilities which resulted in the occupation of Iraq..." A similar report from the Security Council was similarly terse in its reference to the event: "Following the cessation of hostilities in Iraq in April 2003 ..." The United Nations Security Council has passed nearly 60 resolutions on Iraq and Kuwait since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The most relevant to this issue is Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990. It authorizes "member states co-operating with the Government of Kuwait... to use all necessary means" to (1) implement Security Council Resolution 660 and other resolutions calling for the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwaiti territory and (2) "restore international peace and security in the area." Criticisms about the evidence used to justify the war notwithstanding, many opponents of military intervention objected, saying that a diplomatic solution would be preferable, and that war should be reserved as a truly last resort. This position was exemplified by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who responded to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's 5 February 2003 presentation to the U.N Security Council by saying that: "Given the choice between military intervention and an inspections regime that is inadequate because of a failure to cooperate on Iraq's part, we must choose the decisive reinforcement of the means of inspections." In response to Donald Rumsfeld's reference to European countries that did not support the invasion of Iraq as 'Old Europe', Dominique de Villepin ended his speech with words that would later come to embody the French-German political, economic, and military alliance throughout the beginning of the 21st Century: "This message comes to you today from an old country, France, from a continent like mine, Europe, that has known wars, occupation and barbarity. (...) Faithful to its values, it wishes resolutely to act with all the members of the international community. It believes in our ability to build together a better world." The direct opposition between diplomatic solution and military intervention involving France and the United States which was personified by Chirac versus Bush and later Powell versus de Villepin, became a milestone in the Franco- American relations. Anti-French propaganda exploiting the classic Francophobic clichés immediately ensued in the United States and the United Kingdom. A call for a boycott on French wine was launched in the United States and the New York Post covered on the 1944 "Sacrifice" of the GIs that France had forgotten. It was followed a week later, on 20 February, by the British newspaper The Sun publishing a special issue entitled "Chirac is a worm" and including ad hominem attacks such as "Jacques Chirac has become the shame of Europe". Actually both newspapers expressed the opinion of their owner, U.S. billionaire Rupert Murdoch, a military intervention supporter and a George W. Bush partisan as argued by Roy Greenslade in The Guardian published on 17 February. Both supporters and opponents of the Iraq War widely viewed it within the context of a post–11 September world, where the U.S. has sought to make terrorism the defining international security paradigm. Bush often described the Iraq War as a "central front in the war on terror". Some critics of the war, particularly within the U.S. military community, argued pointedly against the conflation of Iraq and the war on terror, and criticized Bush for losing focus on the more important objective of fighting al-Qaeda. As Marine Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's former top operations officer, wrote in a 2006 Time article, "I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat—al-Qaeda." Critics within this vein have further argued that containment would have been an effective strategy for the Saddam government, and that the top U.S. priorities in the Middle East should be encouraging a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, working for the moderation of Iran, and solidifying gains made in Afghanistan and Central Asia. In an October 2002 speech, Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of Central Command for U.S. forces in the Middle East and State Department's envoy to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, called Iraq "maybe six or seven," in terms of U.S. Middle East priorities, adding that "the affordability line may be drawn around five." However, while commander of CENTCOM, Zinni held a very different opinion concerning the threat posed by Iraq. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2000, Zinni said: "Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region. This is primarily due to its large conventional military force, pursuit of WMD, oppressive treatment of Iraqi citizens, refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), persistent threats to enforcement of the No Fly Zones (NFZ), and continued efforts to violate UN Security Council sanctions through oil smuggling." However, it is important to note that Zinni specifically referred to "the Persian Gulf region" in his Senate testimony, which is a significantly smaller region of the world than the "Middle East", which he referred to in 2007. Besides arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region. Prominent among such critics was Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to George H. W. Bush. In a 15 August 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "Don't attack Saddam", Scowcroft wrote that, "Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region ... there would be an explosion of outrage against us ... the results could well destabilize Arab regimes", and, "could even swell the ranks of the terrorists." In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized for his 'mistakes' over Iraq War and admitted there were 'elements of truth' to the view that the invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS. As pointed out by Hayder al-Khoei, the Iraq was already "destined for chaos" before 2003: In a March 2003 Gallup poll, the day after the invasion, 76% of Americans supported the military action against Iraq. In a March 2003 YouGov poll, 54% of Britons had approved of military action against Iraq. This campaign featured a variety of new terminology, much of it initially coined by the U.S. government or military. The military official name for the invasion was Operation Iraqi Freedom. Also notable was the usage "death squads" to refer to Fedayeen paramilitary forces. Members of the Saddam Hussein government were called by disparaging nicknames – e.g., "Chemical Ali" (Ali Hassan al-Majid), "Baghdad Bob" or "Comical Ali" (Muhammed Saeed al- Sahaf), and "Mrs. Anthrax" or "Chemical Sally" (Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash). Terminology introduced or popularized during the war include: "Axis of evil", originally used by Bush during a State of the Union address on 29 January 2002 to refer to the countries of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea., "Coalition of the willing", a term that originated in the Clinton era (e.g., interview, Clinton, ABC, 8 June 1994), and used by the Bush Administration for the countries contributing troops in the invasion, of which the U.S. and UK were the primary members., "Decapitating the regime", a euphemism for killing Saddam Hussein., "Embedding", United States practice of assigning civilian journalists to U.S. military units., "Freedom fries", a euphemism for French fries invented to protest the non-participation of France, "Mother of all bombs", a bomb developed and produced to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Its name echoes Saddam's phrase "Mother of all battles" to describe the first Gulf War., "Old Europe", Rumsfeld's term for European governments not supporting the war: "You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe.", "Regime change", a euphemism for overthrowing a government., "Shock and Awe", the strategy of reducing an enemy's will to fight through displays of overwhelming force. Many slogans and terms coined came to be used by Bush's political opponents, or those opposed to the war. For example, in April 2003 John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the presidential election, said at a campaign rally: "What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States." Other war critics use the name "Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)" to subtly convey their belief with respect to the cause of the war, such as the song "Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)" by David Rovics, a popular folk protest singer. Governmental positions on the Iraq War prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Investment in post-invasion Iraq, Occupation of Iraq timeline, Protests against the Iraq War, Popular opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq Intrigues: Iraq disarmament crisis, The UN Security Council and the Iraq war Lists: List of people associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, List of aviation accidents and incidents during the Iraq War, List of wars and disasters by death toll General: Carter Doctrine, Democracy in the Middle East, Jus ad bellum, Petrodollar Allen, Mike and Juliet Eilperin. Monday, 26 August 2002. Page A01 The Washington Post "Bush Aides Say Iraq War Needs No Hill Vote". Accessed on 2008-05-21., CNN.com/Inside Politics (2002-10-11). "Senate approves Iraq war resolution". Accessed on 6 June 2005., Office of U.S. Representative Ron Paul (2002). "Paul Calls for Congressional Declaration of War with Iraq". Accessed on 6 June 2005., Wright, Steven. The United States and Persian Gulf Security: The Foundations of the War on Terror. Ithaca Press: 2007. . "The Gulf in 2003" Gulf States Newsletter, complete 2003 PDF archive, The Three Trillion Dollar War by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes, Shadow Warriors by Kenneth R. Timmerman. Three Rivers Press. 2008. (Paperback edition), Spring 2007 Dissent, "Exporting Democracy: Lessons from Iraq," a symposium featuring Paul Berman, Mitchell Cohen, Seyla Benhabib and others., Google Print*Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces by Linda Robinson, Heavy Metal a Tank Company's Battle to Baghdad by Captain Jason Conroy and Ron Martz, Cobra II : The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy by Steven Metz., The Iraq War by Williamson Murray and Robert H. Scales, Jr., The Iraq War by John Keegan, Hans Köchler, The Iraq Crisis and the United Nations. Power Politics vs. the International Rule of Law. Studies in International Relations, XXVIII. Vienna: I.P.O., 2004, , Google Print, Bibliography: The Second U.S.–Iraq War (2003–) by Edwin Moise, Based on analysis submitted to the Iraq Inquiry. See: Jones, Brian (2009) 'Dossier demolished', Iraq Digest www.iraqinquirydigest.org/?p=5355 H.J.Res. 114 U.S. Senate results to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq., Chronology of invasion., Occupation of Iraq Timeline at the History Commons, War in Iraq: Day by Day Guide, Frontline: "The Dark Side" PBS documentary on Dick Cheney's remaking of the Executive and infighting leading up to the war in Iraq, 1999 Desert Crossing War Game to Plan Invasion of Iraq and to Unseat Saddam Hussein The invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 was a two-day operation conducted by Iraq against the neighboring State of Kuwait, which resulted in the seven- month-long Iraqi occupation of the country. This invasion and Iraq's subsequent refusal to withdraw from Kuwait by a deadline mandated by the United Nations led to military intervention by a United Nations-authorized coalition of forces led by the United States. These events came to be known as the first Gulf War and resulted in the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait and the Iraqis setting 600 Kuwaiti oil wells on fire during their retreat. In early 1990 Iraq was accusing Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum through slant drilling, although some Iraqi sources indicated Saddam Hussein's decision to attack Kuwait was made a few months before the actual invasion. Some feel there were several reasons for the Iraqi move, including Iraq's inability to pay the more than US$14 billion that it had borrowed to finance the Iran–Iraq War, and Kuwaiti high petroleum production levels which kept revenues down for Iraq. The invasion started on 2 August 1990, and within two days most of the Kuwait Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard or fell back to neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Iraq set up a puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait" to rule over Kuwait and then annexed it outright, when Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq. When the Iran–Iraq War broke out, Kuwait initially stayed neutral and also tried mediating between Iran and Iraq. In 1982, Kuwait along with other Arab states of the Persian Gulf supported Iraq in order to curb the Iranian Revolutionary government. In 1982–1983, Kuwait began sending significant financial loans to Iraq. Kuwait's large-scale economic assistance to Iraq often triggered hostile Iranian actions against Kuwait. Iran repeatedly targeted Kuwaiti oil tankers in 1984 and fired weapons at Kuwaiti security personnel stationed on Bubiyan island in 1988. During the Iran–Iraq War, Kuwait functioned as Iraq's major port once Basra was shut down by the fighting. However, after the war ended, the friendly relations between the two neighbouring Arab countries turned sour for several economic and diplomatic reasons that culminated in an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. By the time the Iran–Iraq War ended, Iraq was not in a financial position to repay the 14 billion USD it borrowed from Kuwait to finance its war and requested that Kuwait forgive the debt. Iraq argued that the war had prevented the rise of Iranian hegemony in Kuwait. However, Kuwait's reluctance to pardon the debt strained the relationship between the two countries. In late 1989, several official meetings were held between the Kuwaiti and Iraqi leaders, but they were unable to break the deadlock between the two. In 1988 Iraq's Oil Minister, Issam al-Chalabi, stressed a further reduction in the crude oil production quota of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members so as to end the 1980s oil glut. Chalabi argued that higher oil prices would help Iraq increase its revenues and pay back its US$60 billion debt. However, given its large downstream petroleum industry, Kuwait was less concerned about the prices of crude oil and in 1989, Kuwait requested OPEC to increase the country's total oil production ceiling by 50% to 1.35 million bpd. Throughout much of the 1980s, Kuwait's oil production was considerably above its mandatory OPEC quota and this had prevented a further increase in crude oil prices. A lack of consensus among OPEC members undermined Iraq's efforts to end the oil glut and consequently prevented the recovery of its war-crippled economy. According to former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, "every US$1 drop in the price of a barrel of oil caused a US$1 billion drop in Iraq's annual revenues triggering an acute financial crisis in Baghdad". It was estimated that between 1985 and 1989, Iraq lost US$14 billion a year due to Kuwait's oil price strategy. Kuwait's refusal to decrease its oil production was viewed by Iraq as an act of aggression against it. The increasingly tense relations between Iraq and Kuwait were further aggravated when Iraq alleged that Kuwait was slant-drilling across the international border into Iraq's Rumaila field. The dispute over Rumaila field started in 1960 when an Arab League declaration marked the Iraq–Kuwait border 2 miles north of the southernmost tip of the Rumaila field. During the Iran–Iraq War, Iraqi oil drilling operations in Rumaila declined while Kuwait's operations increased. In 1989, Iraq accused Kuwait of using "advanced drilling techniques" to exploit oil from its share of the Rumaila field. Iraq estimated that US$2.4 billion worth of Iraqi oil was "stolen" by Kuwait and demanded compensation. Kuwait dismissed the accusations as a false Iraqi ploy to justify military action against it. Several foreign firms working in the Rumaila field also dismissed Iraq's slant-drilling claims as a "smokescreen to disguise Iraq's more ambitious intentions". On 25 July 1990, only a few days before the Iraqi invasion, OPEC officials said that Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had agreed to a proposal to limit daily oil output to 1.5 million barrels, thus potentially settling differences over oil policy between Kuwait and Iraq. At the time of the settlement, more than 100,000 Iraqi troops were deployed along the Iraq–Kuwait border, and American officials expressed little indication of decline in tensions despite the OPEC settlement. Many westerners believed that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was largely motivated by its desire to take control over the latter's vast oil reserves. The Iraqi government justified its invasion by claiming that Kuwait was a natural part of Iraq carved off as a result of British imperialism. After signing the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, the United Kingdom planned to split Kuwait from the Ottoman territories into a separate sheikhdom, but this agreement was never ratified. The Iraqi government also argued that the Kuwaiti Emir was a highly unpopular figure among the Kuwaiti populace. By overthrowing the Emir, Iraq claimed that it granted Kuwaitis greater economic and political freedom. Kuwait had been loosely under the authority of the Ottoman vilâyet of Basra, and although its ruling dynasty, the Al Sabah family, had concluded a protectorate agreement in 1899 that assigned responsibility for its foreign affairs to Britain, it did not make any attempt to secede from the Ottoman Empire. For this reason, its borders with the rest of Basra province were never clearly defined or mutually agreed. On 25 July 1990, April Glaspie, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, asked the Iraqi high command to explain the military preparations in progress, including the massing of Iraqi troops near the border. The American ambassador declared to her Iraqi interlocutor that Washington, "inspired by the friendship and not by confrontation, does not have an opinion" on the disagreement between Kuwait and Iraq, stating "we have no opinion on the Arab–Arab conflicts". Glaspie also indicated to Saddam Hussein that the United States did not intend "to start an economic war against Iraq". These statements may have caused Saddam to believe he had received a diplomatic green light from the United States to invade Kuwait. This exchange only became public knowledge in 2011, following a WikiLeaks release of a cable, sent by the US embassy in Iraq, following on from Ms Glaspie's meeting with Saddam Hussein. In addition, one week before the invasion, the Assistant Secretary of State, John Kelly, told the US congress that the US had no treaty obligations to defend Kuwait. According to Richard E. Rubenstein, Glaspie was later asked by British journalists why she had said that, her response was "we didn't think he would go that far" meaning invade and annex the whole country. Although no follow-up question was asked, it can be inferred that what the U.S. government thought in July 1990 was that Saddam Hussein was only interested in pressuring Kuwait into debt forgiveness and to lower oil production. On 2 August 1990 at 2:00 am, local time, Iraq launched an invasion of Kuwait with four elite Iraqi Republican Guard divisions (1st Hammurabi Armoured Division, 2nd al-Medinah al-Munawera Armoured Division, 3rd Tawakalna ala- Allah Mechanized Infantry Division and 4th Nebuchadnezzar Motorized Infantry Division) and Iraqi Army special forces units equivalent to a full division. The main thrust was conducted by the commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to attack Kuwait City (see Battle of Dasman Palace), while the other divisions seized the airports and two airbases. In support of these units, the Iraqi Army deployed a squadron of Mil Mi-25 helicopter gunships, several units of Mi-8 and Mi-17 transport helicopters, as well as a squadron of Bell 412 helicopters. The foremost mission of the helicopter units was to transport and support Iraqi commandos into Kuwait City, and subsequently to support the advance of ground troops. The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) had at least two squadrons of Sukhoi Su-22, one of Su-25, one of Mirage F1 and two of MiG-23 fighter-bombers. The main task of the IQAF was to establish air superiority through limited air strikes against two main air bases of the Kuwaiti Air Force, whose aircraft consisted mainly of Mirage F1s and Douglas (T)A-4KU Skyhawks. Meanwhile, certain targets in the capital of Kuwait City were bombed by Iraqi aircraft. Despite months of Iraqi sabre-rattling, Kuwait did not have its forces on alert and was caught unaware. The first indication of the Iraqi ground advance was from a radar-equipped aerostat that detected an Iraqi armour column moving south. Kuwaiti air, ground, and naval forces resisted, but were vastly outnumbered. In central Kuwait, the 35th Armoured Brigade deployed approximately a battalion of Chieftain tanks, BMPs, and an artillery battery against the Iraqis and fought delaying actions near Al Jahra (see Battle of the Bridges), west of Kuwait City. In the south, the 15th Armoured Brigade moved immediately to evacuate its forces to Saudi Arabia. Of the small Kuwaiti Navy, two missile boats were able to evade capture or destruction. Kuwait Air Force aircraft were scrambled, but approximately 20% were lost or captured. An air battle with the Iraqi helicopter airborne forces was fought over Kuwait City, inflicting heavy losses on the Iraqi elite troops , and a few combat sorties were flown against Iraqi ground forces. The remaining 80% were then evacuated to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, some aircraft even taking off from the highways adjacent to the bases as the runways were overrun. While these aircraft were not used in support of the subsequent Gulf War, the "Free Kuwait Air Force" assisted Saudi Arabia in patrolling the southern border with Yemen, which was considered a threat by the Saudi Arabians because of Yemen–Iraq ties. Iraqi troops attacked Dasman Palace, the Royal Residence, resulting in the Battle of Dasman Palace. The Kuwaiti Emiri Guard, supported by local police and Chieftain tanks and a Platoon of Saladin armoured cars managed to repel an airborne assault by Iraqi special forces, but the Palace fell after a landing by Iraqi marines (Dasman Palace is located on the coast). The Kuwaiti National Guard, as well as additional Emiri Guards arrived, but the palace remained occupied, and Republican Guard tanks rolled into Kuwait City after several hours of heavy fighting. The Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had already fled into the Saudi Arabian desert. His younger half brother, Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, was shot and killed by invading Iraqi forces as he attempted to defend Dasman Palace after which his body was placed in front of a tank and run over, according to an Iraqi soldier who was present and deserted after the assault. Towards the end of the first day of the invasion, only pockets of resistance were left in the country. By 3 August, the last military units were desperately fighting delaying actions at choke points and other defensible positions throughout the country until out of ammunition or overrun by Iraqi forces. Ali al-Salem Air Base of the Kuwaiti Air Force was the only base still unoccupied on 3 August, and Kuwaiti aircraft flew resupply missions from Saudi Arabia throughout the day in an effort to mount a defense. However, by nightfall, Ali al-Salem Air Base had been overrun by Iraqi forces. From then on it was only a matter of time until all units of the Kuwaiti Military were forced to retreat or be overrun. Kuwaitis founded a local armed resistance movement following the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Most of the Kuwaitis who were arrested, tortured, and executed during the occupation were civilians. The Kuwaiti resistance's casualty rate far exceeded that of the coalition military forces and Western hostages. The resistance predominantly consisted of ordinary citizens who lacked any form of training and supervision. At first, Iraqi forces did not use violent tactics. Iraqi soldiers instructed Kuwaitis to replace their Kuwaiti license plates with Iraqi ones, and also set up an extensive system of security checkpoints to patrol the Kuwaiti population. Within a few weeks of the invasion, however, Kuwaitis began participating in mass actions of nonviolent resistance. People stayed home from work and school en masse. Kuwaitis also began printing informational pamphlets about the invasion from their home computers and printers and distributed the pamphlets to neighbors and friends. After that wave of nonviolent resistance, the Iraqi military turned to repression in order to maintain control over Kuwait. 400,000 Kuwaiti citizens left the country after the invasion, and a network of safe houses was established for those who remained and joined the resistance. Pamphlets with anti-war slogans were printed and the resistance provided hiding places and false identification cards for Kuwaitis who were sought by the Iraqi secret police. Resistance cells held secret meetings at mosques. Kuwaiti women like Asrar al-Qabandi, a prominent female resistance leader, staged street protests and carried signs with slogans like "Free Kuwait: Stop the Atrocities Now." Iraqi police searched the homes of those suspected of hiding foreigners or covertly smuggling money to the resistance movement. Money that was smuggled to the resistance was often used to bribe Iraqi soldiers to look the other way. Resistance tactics included car bombs and sniper attacks that caused a considerable number of Iraqi casualties. By August 1990, the resistance movement was receiving support from the U.S. government in the form of intelligence, materials, and other types of covert assistance. Both the CIA and the U.S. Green Berets were involved. The U.S. government, however, would neither confirm nor deny its support of the resistance on record. On the topic of the resistance, President Bush stated, "... in a broad way I support the Kuwaiti underground. I support anybody that can add a hand in restoring legitimacy there to Kuwait and to getting the Iraqis out of Kuwait." Operation Desert Storm, which included U.S. forces, also aided the resistance movement out of its base in Taif, Saudi Arabia. The Kuwaiti government went into exile in Taif and supported the resistance movement from there. The exiled Kuwaiti government explicitly supported the resistance and commented on its strategies. Although Iraqi forces curtailed almost all forms of communication within and outside the country, the resistance movement managed to smuggle satellite phones across the Saudi Arabian border in order to establish a line of communication with the exiled Kuwaiti government in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Kuwaitis also printed informational pamphlets and distributed them to other citizens. This was especially important because the flow of information was severely restricted in Kuwait during the occupation; radio channels played transmissions from Baghdad and many Kuwaiti TV channels were shut down. A resistance newspaper titled Sumoud al-Sha'ab (Steadfastness of the People) was printed and circulated in secret. Informational pamphlets became one of the only sources of news from the outside world. Foreigners and Kuwaitis of different genders and classes participated in the resistance, breaking down Kuwait’s traditional social barriers. Ahmed ar-Rahmi, a lieutenant colonel in the Kuwaiti army, stated, "In Kuwait, everyone from children to old men resisted. There were no Kuwaiti puppets which Iraq could use to form a Government." In October 1990, Iraqi officials cracked down on the resistance by executing hundreds of people it suspected were involved in the movement as well as conducting raids and searches of individual households. After the crackdown, the resistance began to target Iraqi military bases in order to reduce retaliation against Kuwaiti civilians. In October 1990, the Iraqi government opened the borders of Kuwait and allowed anyone to exit. This resulted in an exodus of both Kuwaitis and foreigners, which weakened the resistance movement. Another crackdown occurred in January and February 1991. Iraqi forces publicly executed suspected members of the Kuwaiti resistance. Kuwaitis were kidnapped, their corpses later deposited in front of their family homes. The bodies of executed Kuwaiti resistance members showed evidence of different kinds of torture, including beating, electrical shocking, and fingernail removal. Some 5,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait were arrested for their activities in support of the resistance, and Palestinian support was enough to cause Iraqi officials to threaten Palestinian leaders. Some Palestinians, however, supported Saddam’s regime because of sympathies with the Ba’ath party’s pugnacious anti-Israel stance. Palestinian members of the resistance sometimes disagreed with resistance tactics such as the boycott of government offices and commercial activity. The Kuwaiti resistance movement was suspicious of this Palestinian ambivalence, and in the weeks after Iraqi forces withdrew, the Kuwaiti government cracked down on Palestinians suspected of sympathizing with the Saddam regime. Iraqi forces also arrested over two thousand Kuwaitis suspected of helping the resistance and imprisoned them in Iraq. Many of those arrests were made during the Iraqi retreat from Kuwait in February 1991. Hundreds escaped from prisons in southern Iraq after the retreat and over one thousand were repatriated by the Iraqi government, but hundreds remain missing. The fate of 605 Kuwaitis arrested during the occupation remained unknown until 2009, when the remains of 236 of them were identified. Initially, Iraq claimed it had recorded the arrests of only 126 of the 605 missing Kuwaitis. The names of 369 other missing Kuwaitis are stored in files maintained by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Seven of those missing Kuwaitis are women and nearly 24 are under the age of 16. Iraq has made little effort to address the hundreds of missing Kuwaitis, despite trying to mend diplomatic relations with Kuwait in other ways. The resistance was a grass roots movement and leadership was organized horizontally, although Sheik Salem Sabah was cited as the "nominal head of the resistance movement." Yahya F. Al-Sumait, Kuwait’s housing minister, said in October 1990 that the resistance movement helped undermine the occupation’s legitimacy and dispel the idea that Iraq invaded in order to assist with a popular uprising against the Kuwaiti government. The movement also protected Americans, British and other foreigners trapped in Kuwait during the occupation. Some have cited the resistance movement as part of the foundation for a more robust civil society in Kuwait after the occupation. At the Al Qurain Martyrs Museum, Kuwait remembers its citizens slain during the resistance to Iraqi occupation. The families of those martyrs received material benefits from the Kuwaiti government such as cars, homes, and funding for trips to Mecca for the hajj. Since most accounts of the liberation of Kuwait focus on U.S.-led coalition forces, part of Kuwait’s goal in memorializing the resistance is to emphasize Kuwaiti citizens’ role in liberating their own country. After the Iraqi victory, Saddam Hussein installed Alaa Hussein Ali as the Prime Minister of the "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" and Ali Hassan al-Majid as the de facto governor of Kuwait. The exiled Kuwaiti royal family and other former government officials began an international campaign to persuade other countries to pressure Iraq to vacate Kuwait. The UN Security Council passed 12 resolutions demanding immediate withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, but to no avail. Following the events of the Iraq–Kuwait war, about half of the Kuwaiti population, including 400,000 Kuwaitis and several thousand foreign nationals, fled the country. The Indian government evacuated over 170,000 overseas Indians by flying almost 488 flights over 59 days. During the 7-month occupation, the forces of Saddam Hussein looted Kuwait's vast wealth and there were also reports of violations of human rights. A 2005 study revealed that the Iraqi occupation had a long-term adverse impact on the health of the Kuwaiti populace. After Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait and Saddam Hussein deposed the Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Sabah, he installed Ali Hassan al-Majid as the new governor of Kuwait. The Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait was unanimously condemned by all major world powers. Even countries traditionally considered to be close Iraqi allies, such as France and India, called for immediate withdrawal of all Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Several countries, including the Soviet Union and China, placed arms embargoes on Iraq. NATO members were particularly critical of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and by late 1990, the United States had issued an ultimatum to Iraq to withdraw its forces from Kuwait by 15 January 1991 or face war. On January 15 1991,UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm. On 3 August 1990, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 660 condemning the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanding that Iraq unconditionally withdraw all forces deployed in Kuwait. After a series of failed negotiations between major world powers and Iraq, the United States-led coalition forces launched a massive military assault on Iraq and Iraqi forces stationed in Kuwait in mid-January 1991. By 16 January, Allied aircraft were targeting several Iraqi military sites and the Iraqi Air Force was destroyed. Hostilities continued until late February and on 25 February, Kuwait was officially liberated from Iraq. On 15 March 1991, the Emir of Kuwait returned to the country after spending more than 8 months in exile. During the Iraqi occupation, about 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians were killed and more than 300,000 residents fled the country. In December 2002, Saddam Hussein apologized for the invasion shortly before being deposed in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Two years later, the Palestinian leadership also apologized for its wartime support of Saddam. In 1990, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a longtime ally of Saddam Hussein, backed Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. After Iraq lost the Gulf War, Yemenis were deported en masse from Kuwait by the restored government. The US military continue a strong presence adding 4,000 troops in February 2015 alone. There is also a very strong US civilian presence with an estimated 18,000 American children in Kuwait being taught by 625 US teachers. Operation Desert Storm, Airlift — A Bollywood film based on the Indian evacuation right after the invasion., United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 Aftermath photographs taken by a Kuwaiti journalist in 1991 Significant opposition to the Iraq War occurred worldwide, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, and smaller contingents from other nations, and throughout the subsequent occupation. People and groups opposing the war include the governments of many nations which did not take part in the invasion, and significant sections of the populace in those that did. Rationales for opposition include the belief that the war is illegal according to the United Nations Charter, or would contribute to instability both within Iraq and the wider Middle East. Critics have also questioned the validity of the war's stated objectives, such as a supposed link between the country's Ba'athist government and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and its possession of weapons of mass destruction "certified" by the Niger uranium forgeries. The latter was claimed by the United States during the run-up to the war, but no such weapons have since been found. Within the United States, popular opinion on the war has varied significantly with time. Although there was significant opposition to the idea in the months preceding the attack, polls taken during the invasion showed that a majority of US citizens supported their government's action. However, public opinion had shifted by 2004 to a majority believing that the invasion was a mistake, and has remained so since then. There has also been significant criticism of the war from US politicians and national security and military personnel, including generals who served in the war and have since spoken out against its handling. Worldwide, the war and occupation have been officially condemned by 54 countries and the heads of many major religions. Popular anti-war feeling is strong in these and other countries, including the US' allies in the conflict, and many have experienced huge protests totalling millions of participants. The opposition to the war manifested itself most visibly in a series of worldwide protests against the Iraq War during February 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq starting on March 20, 2003. Noam Chomsky said: Critics of the invasion claimed that it would lead to the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians and soldiers as well as Coalition soldiers, and that it would moreover damage peace and stability throughout the region and the world. Another oft-stated reason for opposition is the Westphalian concept that foreign governments should never possess a right to intervene in another sovereign nation's internal affairs (including terrorism or any other non- international affair). Giorgio Agamben, the Italian philosopher, has also offered a critique of the logic of preemptive war. Others did accept a limited right for military intervention in foreign countries, but nevertheless opposed the invasion on the basis that it was conducted without United Nations' approval and was hence a violation of international law. According to this position, adherence by the United States and the other great powers to the UN Charter and to other international treaties is a legal obligation; exercising military power in violation of the UN Charter undermines the rule of law and is illegal vigilantism on an international scale. There was also skepticism of U.S. claims that Iraq's secular government had any links to Al-Qaeda, the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group considered responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Some expressed puzzlement that the United States would consider military action against Iraq and not against North Korea, which claimed it already had nuclear weapons and had announced that it was willing to contemplate war with the United States. This criticism intensified when North Korea reportedly conducted a nuclear weapons test on October 9, 2006. There was also criticism of Coalition policy by those who did not believe that military actions would help to fight terror, with some believing that it would actually help Al- Qaeda's recruitment efforts; others believed that the war and immediate post- war period would lead to a greatly increased risk that weapons of mass destruction would fall into the wrong hands (including Al-Qaeda). Both inside and outside of the U.S., some argued that the Bush Administration's rationale for war was to gain control over Iraqi natural resources (primarily petroleum). These critics felt that the war would not help to reduce the threat of WMD proliferation, and that the real reason for the war was to secure control over the Iraqi oil fields at a time when US links with Saudi Arabia were seen to be at risk. "No blood for oil" was a popular protest cry prior to the invasion in March 2003. Administration officials denied these charges, and scholar Jeff Colgan writes that "there is still no consensus on the degree to which oil played a role" in the Iraq War. Some opponents of the war also believed that there would be no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and thus there was little reason for an invasion. Prominent among these was Scott Ritter, a former U.S. military intelligence officer and then a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, and who in 1998 had been hawkish enough toward Iraq as to be admonished by U.S. Senator Joe Biden, "The decision of whether or not the country should go to war is slightly above your pay grade." Investigations after the invasion failed to produce evidence of WMDs in Iraq (apart from a very small number of degraded chemical weapons shells located after the Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988). Generally, however, very few opponents of the Iraq invasion publicly expressed doubt as to whether the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. During the occupation, some opponents accused President Bush of being indifferent to the suffering caused by the invasion. In 2006 for example he opined that when the history of Iraq is written the period would "look like just a comma", prompting criticism that he took the more than 2,700 US troop deaths lightly. The Iraq War has met with considerable popular opposition in the United States, beginning during the planning stages and continuing through the invasion subsequent occupation of Iraq. The months leading up to the war saw protests across the United States, the largest of which, held on February 15, 2003 involved about 300,000 to 400,000 protesters in New York City, with smaller numbers protesting in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and other cities. Consistent with the anti-war sentiment of the protests, in the months leading up to the Iraq War, American public opinion heavily favored a diplomatic solution over immediate military intervention. A January 2003 CBS News/New York Times poll found that 63% of Americans wanted President Bush to find a diplomatic solution to the Iraq situation, compared with 31% who favored immediate military intervention. That poll also found, however, that if diplomacy failed, support for military action to remove Saddam Hussein was above 60 percent. Days before the March 20 invasion, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll found support for the war was related to UN approval. Nearly six in 10 said they were ready for such an invasion "in the next week or two." But that support dropped off if the U.N. backing was not first obtained. If the U.N. Security Council were to reject a resolution paving the way for military action, only 54% of Americans favored a U.S. invasion. And if the Bush administration did not seek a final Security Council vote, support for a war dropped to 47%. Immediately after the 2003 invasion most polls within the United States showed a substantial majority of Americans supporting war, but that trend began to shift less than a year after the war began. Beginning in December 2004, polls have consistently shown that a majority thinks the invasion was a mistake. As of 2006, opinion on what the U.S. should do in Iraq is split, with a slight majority generally favoring setting a timetable for withdrawal, but against withdrawing immediately. However, in this area responses vary widely with the exact wording of the question. Since the invasion of Iraq, one of the most visible leaders of popular opposition in the U.S. has been Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan, a soldier killed in Iraq. Sheehan's role as an anti-war leader began with her camping out near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and continued with a nationwide tour and trips to Europe and South America. Several prominent members of the military and national security communities, particularly those who favor a more realist approach to international relations, have been critical of both the decision to invade Iraq and the prosecution of the War. On July 28, 2002, less than eight months before the invasion of Iraq, the Washington Post reported that "many senior U.S. military officers" including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff opposed an invasion on the grounds that the policy of containment was working. A few days later, Gen. Joseph P. Hoar (Ret.) warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the invasion was risky and perhaps unnecessary. Morton Halperin, a foreign policy expert with the Council on Foreign Relations and Center for American Progress warned that an invasion would increase the terrorist threat. In a 2002 book, Scott Ritter, a Nuclear Weapons Inspector in Iraq from 1991–98, argued against an invasion and expressed doubts about the Bush Administration's claims that Saddam Hussein had a WMD capability. He later accused the Bush administration of deliberately misleading the public. I think [The Bush Administration] has stated that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, and that's as simple as they want to keep it. They don't want to get into the nitty-gritty things such as if you bury a Scud missile to hide it from detection, there is a little thing called corrosion. Where do you hide the fuel, how do you make this stuff up, how do you align it. Because when you disassemble it, there is a process called re-alignment. There is a factory involved in that. And then you have to test launch it to make sure that the alignment works, and that's detectable, and they haven't done that. There is a lot of common sense things that go into consideration of whether or not Iraq has a operational weapons of mass destruction capability. Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Adviser to President George H.W. Bush was an early critic. He wrote an August 15, 2002 editorial in The Wall Street Journal entitled "Don't attack Saddam," arguing that the war would distract from the broader fight against terrorism and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which should be the U.S.'s highest priority in the Middle East. The next month, Gen. Hugh Shelton, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed that war in Iraq would distract from the War on Terrorism. Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of Central Command for U.S. forces in the Middle East and State Department's envoy to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, echoed many of Scowcroft's concerns in an October 2002 speech at the Middle East Institute. In a follow-up interview with Salon, Zinni said he was "not convinced we need to do this now," arguing that deposing Saddam Hussein was only the sixth or seventh top priority in the Middle East, behind the Middle East peace process, reforming Iran, our commitments in Afghanistan, and several others. By January 19, 2003, Time magazine reported that "as many as 1 in 3 senior officers questions the wisdom of a preemptive war with Iraq." On February 13, 2003 Ambassador Joseph Wilson, former chargé d'affaires in Baghdad, resigned from the Foreign Service and publicly questioned the need for another war in Iraq. After the War started, he wrote an editorial in the New York Times titled What I Didn't Find in Africa that claimed to discredit a Bush Administration claim that Iraq had attempted to procure uranium from Niger. John Brady Kiesling, another career diplomat with similar reservations, resigned in a public letter in the New York Times on February 27. He was followed on March 10 by John H. Brown, a career diplomat with 22 years of service, and on March 19 by Mary Ann Wright, a diplomat with 15 years of service in the State Department following a military career of 29 years. The war started the next day. Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski (Ret.) was political/military desk officer at the Defense Department's office for Near East South Asia (NESA) in the months before the war. In December 2003 she began to write an anonymous column that described the disrupting influence of the Office of Special Plans on the analysis that led to the decision to go to war. On June 16, 2004 twenty seven former senior U.S. diplomats and military commanders called Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change issued a statement against the war. The group included: William J. Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Ronald Reagan, Joseph Hoar, former Commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, H. Allen Holmes, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Donald McHenry, former Ambassador to the United Nations, Merrill McPeak, former Air Force Chief of Staff, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a member of the National Security Council under Reagan and former Ambassador to the Soviet Union, John Reinhardt, former Director of the United States Information Agency, Ronald I. Spiers, Under Secretary General of the United Nations for Political Affairs and a former Ambassador, Stansfield Turner, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Richard Clarke, former chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council for both the latter part of the Clinton Administration and early part of the George W. Bush Administration, criticized the Iraq War along similar lines in his 2004 book Against All Enemies and during his testimony before the 9/11 Commission. In addition to diverting funds from the fight against al-Qaeda, Clarke argued that the invasion of Iraq would actually bolster the efforts of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic radicals, who had long predicted that the U.S. planned to invade an oil-rich Middle Eastern country. Similar arguments were made in a May 2004 interview and an August 2005 article by Lt. Gen. William Odom, former Director of the National Security Agency. In April 2006, six prominent retired generals publicly criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the war, and called for his resignation. The group included two generals who commanded troops in Iraq: Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack, Jr. (Ret.) and Maj. Gen. John Batiste (Ret.). One of the generals, Lieut. Gen. Greg Newbold (Ret.), who served as the Pentagon's top operations officer during the months leading up to the invasion, also published an article that month in Time Magazine entitled "Why Iraq Was a Mistake." On September 12, 2007, two retired U.S. Army generals, Lt. Gen. Robert Gard and Brig. Gen. John Johns, joined former Sen. Gary Hart in publishing a statement calling for withdrawal from Iraq. Robert Gard is the Senior Military Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, John Johns is on the board of directors for the Council for a Livable World, and Gary Hart is the Council's chairman. In October 2007, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, called the 2007 "surge" a "flawed strategy", and suggested that the political leadership in the US would have been court martialed for their actions, had they been military personnel. There have been several individual refusals to ship (e.g., Pablo Paredes, and 1st Lt. Ehren Watada) or to carry out missions (e.g. 343rd Quartermasters). Soon after the war began, 67% of surveyed US soldiers in Iraq told Stars and Stripes that the invasion was worthwhile, though half described their units' morale as "low." A Zogby poll in March 2006 found that 72% of US soldiers in Iraq said the war should be ended within a year, and a quarter said that all troops should be withdrawn immediately. Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) was formed in 2004 to help antiwar soldiers network and seek solidarity from one another. IVAW held a Winter Soldier event, from March 13 through March 16, 2008, in which U.S. veterans spoke of their experiences during the Iraq War. The Pacifica Radio network broadcast the proceedings live, and streaming audio and video of the event is also available. John Bonifaz filed a suit on behalf of 12 Congress members and various military families to try to stop the Iraq War. Using the example of GI resistance coffee housed during the Vietnam War some Iraq War veterans have founded anti-war coffeehouses near military bases to act as resources for soldiers opposed to the Iraq War. Two examples are Under the Hood Café near Fort Hood and Coffee Strong near Joint Base Lewis–McChord. Opinion in the U.S. Congress leading up to the Iraq War generally favored a diplomatic solution, while supporting military intervention should diplomacy fail. The October 11, 2002 resolution that authorized President Bush to use force in Iraq passed the Senate by a vote of 77 to 23, and the House by 296 to 133. Leading opponents of the resolution included Senators Russ Feingold and Edward Kennedy. As the war progressed and the insurgency began to develop into what many believe is a civil war in Iraq, Congressional support for the Iraq campaign began to wane. A flashpoint came on November 17, 2005, when Representative John Murtha, a Vietnam combat veteran who voted to authorize the war and is widely regarded as an ardent supporter of the military, introduced a resolution calling for U.S. forces in Iraq to be "redeployed at the earliest practicable date" to stand as a quick-reaction force in U.S. bases in neighboring countries such as Kuwait. Since the introduction of the Murtha resolution, many members of Congress, particularly in the Democratic Party, have rallied around the strategy of a phased troop withdrawal. In the 2007 Congressional session, critics of the war have sought to tie additional war appropriations to a specific timetable for withdrawal. On March 23, 2007, the House of Representatives passed an Iraq spending bill that requires that troops begin withdrawing in March 2008 and that most US forces be out of Iraq by August 31, 2008. Congressional critics of the war have also opposed President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 U.S. soldiers to Iraq. On January 10, 2007, Senator Dick Durbin gave the Democratic response to this plan by saying: "We have given the Iraqis so much. ... Now, in the fourth year of this war, it is time for the Iraqis to stand and defend their own nation." The Iraq War was the defining issue of the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. All of the Republican candidates and most of the Democratic candidates supported the war, although most of the Democrats also criticized the war's prosecution. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President in 2004, voted to authorize the invasion, and said during his campaign that he stood by his vote. He also argued during the campaign that "the way he (President Bush) went to war was a mistake." In the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, candidates Representatives Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, Senators Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Bernie Sanders and Mike Gravel were some of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq War. Ron Paul said that "The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. This war has cost more than 3,000 American lives, thousands of seriously wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars." Barack Obama (who went on to win the election) was not a senator at the time of the voting of the Iraq War Resolution, but had repeatedly voiced his disapproval of it both before and during his senatorship, saying at an anti war rally in Chicago on October 2, 2002: "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." He also spoke of the "undetermined length ... undetermined cost, [and] undetermined consequences" which even a successful war would bring. Dodd voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, but Dodd has since become an opponent of the war. Dodd has said the Iraq War has been waged "for all the wrong reasons" and that it is eroding both the nation's security and its moral leadership. Benjamin B. Ferencz has suggested in an interview given on August 25, 2006, that not only Saddam Hussein should be tried, but also George W. Bush because the Iraq War had been begun by the U.S. without permission by the UN Security Council. Benjamin B. Ferencz wrote the foreword for Michael Haas's book, George W. Bush, War Criminal?: The Bush Administration's Liability for 269 War Crimes. Around the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation of Iraq, polling data indicated that opposition to military action against Iraq was widespread in Europe. 'Anti-Bush' and anti-war sentiments were reflected in many western European countries, generally with the populace less sympathetic to the U.S. stance even when the government in a given country (e.g. the United Kingdom, or Italy) aligned themselves with the U.S. position. Opinion polls showed the population was against the war, with opposition as high as 90% in Spain and Italy, and also widespread in Eastern Europe. Some suggested that the reason for the EU's negative view of the war are Europe's economic interests in the region. However, the electorates of France and Germany were strongly opposed to the war and it would have been difficult for their governments to fail to reflect these views. After the first UN resolution, the US and the UK pushed for a second resolution authorizing an invasion. The French and German governments, amongst others, took the position that the UN inspection process should be allowed to be completed. France's then-Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin received loud applause for his speech against the Iraq War at the United Nations on February 14, 2003. Neither of these countries have sent troops to Iraq. However, despite popular opinion in their countries, the governments of Italy and Spain supported the war politically and militarily, although Spain ceased to do so after the election of a Socialist government in 2004. In the United Kingdom, both the governing Labour Party and the official opposition Conservative Party were in favour of the invasion. The Liberal Democrats insisted on a U.N. resolution; they opposed the war as a result. Outside parliament, anti-war sentiment was more widespread: the February 15, 2003 protest in London attracted between 750,000 and 2,000,000 supporters from various walks of life. Prominent politicians and other individuals expressing anti-war views included: Ken Clarke Charles Kennedy, Menzies Campbell, Tony Benn, George Galloway, Chris Martin, Damon Albarn, Ms. Dynamite, and Bianca Jagger. Two prominent Labour politicians resigned from their positions in opposition to the war. Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook resigned from the Cabinet two days before the start of the invasion on 17 March. In a statement giving his reasons for resigning he said: Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules. Yet tonight the international partnerships most important to us are weakened: the European Union is divided; the Security Council is in stalemate. Those are heavy casualties of a war in which a shot has yet to be fired." and "The reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading partner—not NATO, not the European Union and, now, not the Security Council." Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short supported the government's resolution in the House of Commons and remained in the Cabinet for two months but eventually resigned on 12 May. Deputy FCO Legal Adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst resigned on 20 March 2003, three days after Lord Goldsmith's final advice to the British government reversed her legal opinion (in Lord Goldsmith's first secret memo 10 days earlier) that the invasion was illegal without a second United Nations Security Council Resolution to SCR 678. Opinion polls showed that the population of nearly all countries opposed a war without UN mandate, and that the view of the United States as a danger to world peace had significantly increased. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the war as illegal, saying in a September 2004 interview that it was "not in conformity with the Security Council." Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the invasion "disrespects the United Nations" and failed to take world opinion into account. Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, called the US's attitude five months before the invasion a "threat to world peace". He said they were sending a message that "if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries"; a message which "must be condemned in the strongest terms." On September 13, 2002, US Catholic bishops signed a letter to President Bush stating that any "preemptive, unilateral use of military force to overthrow the government of Iraq" could not be justified at the time. They came to this position by evaluating whether an attack against Iraq would satisfy the criteria for a just war as defined by Catholic theology. US civil-rights leader the Reverend Jesse Jackson condemned the planned invasion, saying in February 2003 that it was not too late to stop the war and that people "must march until there is a declaration of peace and reconciliation." The Vatican also spoke out against war in Iraq. Archbishop Renato Raffaele Martino, a former U.N. envoy and current prefect of the Council for Justice and Peace, told reporters that war against Iraq was a preventive war and constituted a "war of aggression", and thus did not constitute a just war. The foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, expressed concerns that a war in Iraq would inflame anti-Christian feelings in the Islamic world. On February 8, 2003, Pope John Paul II said "we should never resign ourselves, almost as if war is inevitable." He spoke out again on March 22, 2003, shortly after the invasion began, saying that violence and arms "can never resolve the problems of man." Both the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and his successor, Rowan Williams, spoke out against war with Iraq. The executive committee of the World Council of Churches, an organization representing churches with a combined membership of between 350 million and 450 million Christians from over 100 countries, issued a statement in opposition to war with Iraq, stating that "War against Iraq would be immoral, unwise, and in breach of the principles of the United Nations Charter." Jim Wallis of Sojourners Magazine has argued that, among both evangelical Christians and Catholics, "most major church bodies around the world" opposed the war. Raëlians also protested the war, organizing demonstrations in which they held signs saying "NO WAR ... ET wants Peace, too!" Across the world popular opposition to the Iraq war has led to thousands of protests since 2002, against the invasion of Iraq. They were held in many cities worldwide, often co-ordinated to occur simultaneously worldwide. After the simultaneous demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, the largest in total turnout, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion. As the war drew nearer, other groups held candlelight vigils and students walked out of school. The February 15, 2003, worldwide protests drew millions of people across the world. It is generally estimated that over 3 million people marched in Rome, between one and two million in London, more than 600,000 in Madrid, 300,000 in Berlin, as well as in Damascus, Paris, New York, Oslo, Stockholm, Brussels, Johannesburg, Montreal—more than 600 cities in all, worldwide. This demonstration was listed in the 2004 Guinness World Records as the largest mass protest movement in history. There has been a debate among those opposed to the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in developed countries about how to relate to forces within Iraq. It is possible that Iraq paid the US in dinars for their efforts in the war. Prior to the invasion, while it was common to accuse opponents of providing objective, if not intentional, support to Saddam, none of the major antiwar organizations declared any support for him, however limited. After the invasion and the toppling of Saddam's regime, some who had opposed it now supported continuing U.S. occupation, arguing that the U.S.'s intervention had given it an obligation to stabilize the country. However, those who remained opposed to the U.S. presence had to determine their approach to the developing armed insurgency and peaceful opposition to the occupation carried out by groups like the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI). The most virulent divide has been about whether to support the insurgency. Of the major Western antiwar organizations, United for Peace and Justice has never supported the insurgency, but Act Now to Stop War and End Racism and the Stop the War Coalition have a more ambivalent stance on this subject. Of the smaller groups which participate in these coalitions, none support suicide bombings of Iraqi civilians, but some support violence against coalition soldiers. At a 2004 conference in Japan, Eric Ruder, of the U.S.-based International Socialist Organization, presented a case for supporting the guerrillas. Citing the primarily decentralized and domestic nature of the insurgency, the fact that a clear majority of attacks are directed against U.S. and British forces, and he also claimed there was widespread Iraqi support for violent insurgency, Ruder argues that the insurgents' cause and methods are, on the whole, just and deserve support. He claims that the Iraqi right to self-determination precludes Western opponents of the occupation placing conditions on their support of the Iraqi resistance, and argues that "If the Iraqi resistance drives the U.S. out of Iraq, it would be a major setback for Bush's agenda and the agenda of the U.S. imperialism. This would be a tremendous victory for our side—making it much more difficult for the U.S. to choose a new target in the Middle East or elsewhere in trying to impose its will." Sato Kazuyoshi, President of the Japanese Movement for Democratic Socialism, argues otherwise. Reporting on the discussion at the 2004 conference, he writes that, "We cannot support, nor extend our solidarity to, them on the grounds that their strategy excludes many Iraqi citizens—above all, women—and do great harm on the civilians, and will bring the Iraqi future society under an Islamic dictatorship." He cites in turn Mahmood Ketabchi of the WCPI, who criticizes Iraqi guerrilla groups for Baathist and Islamist connections, and attacks Ruder's view as a "Left Nationalism" which ignores divisions within Iraq. Countering the response that the best way to ensure that progressive forces, not reactionary ones, dominate post-occupation Iraq would be for progressives to take the lead in fighting the occupation, Ketabchi argues that this is not possible due to the present situation in Iraq. Nevertheless, he claims, "We do not have to choose between the US and Iraqi reactionary forces. Opposition to the US is not a progressive stand per se. What matters is the kind of future that this opposition represents and objectives it pursues." A third alternative is represented by what Kazuyoshi calls the "Civil Resistance." See also Governments' positions pre-2003 invasion of Iraq for pre-war positions. The 55 following countries and unions have protested formally and officially the prosecution of this war. They oppose the Iraq War in principle, citing in some cases that they believe it is illegal, and in others that it required a United Nations mandate. African Union, (except Kuwait) "The option of war can appear initially to be the most rapid. But let us not forget that after winning the war, peace must be built." – Dominique de Villepin, French Foreign Minister, at the United Nations Security Council on February 14, 2003, "To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a positive thing. But it also provoked reactions, such as the mobilization in a number of countries, of men and women of Islam, which has made the world more dangerous." – French President Jacques Chirac, November 17, 2004, "Make no mistake about it, the ultimate aim that the Bush and Blair regimes have embarked upon is nothing less than 'universal or world domination.' Iraq is merely a stepping stone along the way."– David Comissiong (Barbadian Politician), "Iraq was not involved in 9-11, Iraq was not a terrorist state. But now that we have decimated the country, the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in and they have created more terrorism by going to an Islamic country, devastating the country and killing innocent people in that country." – Cindy Sheehan (American anti-war activist), Interview with CBS News' Mark Knoller, upon her arrival in Crawford, Texas on August 6, 2005 Japanese history textbook controversies, 2003 invasion of Iraq, Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Popular opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq, Canada and Iraq War resisters, Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism, Criticisms of the War on Terrorism, Families of the Fallen for Change, Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, Human shield action to Iraq, International public opinion on the war in Afghanistan, List of Iraq War resisters, List of peace activists, List of anti-war organizations, Opposition to the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), Opposition to the Vietnam War, Post–September 11 anti-war movement, Protests against the Iraq War, 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations, Protests against the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), Strategic reset, United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War, Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, World oil market chronology from 2003, March 20, 2010 anti-war protest Anti war dot com, Anti-War Committee (U.S.), Arms Against War, Human Shields, Stop the war coalition, Not One More! - Take the Pledge for Peace, Women Against Military Madness (U.S.), Council for a Livable World, JustWarTheory.com a non-profit resource for academic studies and commentary, Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight January 9, 2003, The Guardian (UK), About.com: Iraq War vote in 2002 - Complete Listing of 156 Congress Members Who Voted NAY

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Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772. Although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time, Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first. The name nitrogène was suggested by French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790, when it was found that nitrogen was present in nitric acid and nitrates. Antoine Lavoisier suggested instead the name azote, from the Greek ἀζωτικός "no life", as it is an asphyxiant gas; this name is instead used in many languages, such as French, Russian, Romanian and Turkish, and appears in the English names of some nitrogen compounds such as hydrazine, azides and azo compounds. Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. The name comes from the Greek πνίγειν "to choke", directly referencing nitrogen's asphyxiating properties. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dinitrogen, a colourless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula N. Dinitrogen forms about 78% of Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element. Nitrogen occurs in all organisms, primarily in amino acids (and thus proteins), in the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and in the energy transfer molecule adenosine triphosphate. The human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass, the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. The nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element from the air, into the biosphere and organic compounds, then back into the atmosphere. Many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates (propellants and explosives), and cyanides, contain nitrogen. The extremely strong triple bond in elemental nitrogen (N≡N), the second strongest bond in any diatomic molecule after carbon monoxide (CO), dominates nitrogen chemistry. This causes difficulty for both organisms and industry in converting N into useful compounds, but at the same time means that burning, exploding, or decomposing nitrogen compounds to form nitrogen gas releases large amounts of often useful energy. Synthetically produced ammonia and nitrates are key industrial fertilisers, and fertiliser nitrates are key pollutants in the eutrophication of water systems. Apart from its use in fertilisers and energy-stores, nitrogen is a constituent of organic compounds as diverse as Kevlar used in high-strength fabric and cyanoacrylate used in superglue. Nitrogen is a constituent of every major pharmacological drug class, including antibiotics. Many drugs are mimics or prodrugs of natural nitrogen-containing signal molecules: for example, the organic nitrates nitroglycerin and nitroprusside control blood pressure by metabolizing into nitric oxide. Many notable nitrogen-containing drugs, such as the natural caffeine and morphine or the synthetic amphetamines, act on receptors of animal neurotransmitters. Nitrogen compounds have a very long history, ammonium chloride having been known to Herodotus. They were well known by the Middle Ages. Alchemists knew nitric acid as aqua fortis (strong water), as well as other nitrogen compounds such as ammonium salts and nitrate salts. The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids was known as aqua regia (royal water), celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold, the king of metals. The discovery of nitrogen is attributed to the Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air. Though he did not recognise it as an entirely different chemical substance, he clearly distinguished it from Joseph Black's "fixed air", or carbon dioxide. The fact that there was a component of air that does not support combustion was clear to Rutherford, although he was not aware that it was an element. Nitrogen was also studied at about the same time by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Henry Cavendish, and Joseph Priestley, who referred to it as burnt air or phlogisticated air. Nitrogen gas was inert enough that Antoine Lavoisier referred to it as "mephitic air" or azote, from the Greek word (azotikos), "no life". In an atmosphere of pure nitrogen, animals died and flames were extinguished. Though Lavoisier's name was not accepted in English, since it was pointed out that almost all gases (indeed, with the sole exception of oxygen) are mephitic, it is used in many languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Albanian, Turkish, etc.; the German Stickstoff similarly refers to the same characteristic, viz. ersticken "to choke or suffocate") and still remains in English in the common names of many nitrogen compounds, such as hydrazine and compounds of the azide ion. Finally, it led to the name "pnictogens" for the group headed by nitrogen, from the Greek πνίγειν "to choke". The English word nitrogen (1794) entered the language from the French nitrogène, coined in 1790 by French chemist Jean- Antoine Chaptal (1756–1832), from the French nitre (potassium nitrate, also called saltpeter) and the French suffix -gène, "producing", from the Greek -γενής (-genes, "begotten"). Chaptal's meaning was that nitrogen is the essential part of nitric acid, which in turn was produced from nitre. In earlier times, niter had been confused with Egyptian "natron" (sodium carbonate) – called νίτρον (nitron) in Greek – which, despite the name, contained no nitrate. The earliest military, industrial, and agricultural applications of nitrogen compounds used saltpeter (sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate), most notably in gunpowder, and later as fertiliser. In 1910, Lord Rayleigh discovered that an electrical discharge in nitrogen gas produced "active nitrogen", a monatomic allotrope of nitrogen. The "whirling cloud of brilliant yellow light" produced by his apparatus reacted with mercury to produce explosive mercury nitride. For a long time, sources of nitrogen compounds were limited. Natural sources originated either from biology or deposits of nitrates produced by atmospheric reactions. Nitrogen fixation by industrial processes like the Frank–Caro process (1895–1899) and Haber–Bosch process (1908–1913) eased this shortage of nitrogen compounds, to the extent that half of global food production (see Applications) now relies on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. At the same time, use of the Ostwald process (1902) to produce nitrates from industrial nitrogen fixation allowed the large-scale industrial production of nitrates as feedstock in the manufacture of explosives in the World Wars of the 20th century. A nitrogen atom has seven electrons. In the ground state, they are arranged in the electron configuration 1s2s2p2p2p. It therefore has five valence electrons in the 2s and 2p orbitals, three of which (the p-electrons) are unpaired. It has one of the highest electronegativities among the elements (3.04 on the Pauling scale), exceeded only by chlorine (3.16), oxygen (3.44), and fluorine (3.98). Following periodic trends, its single-bond covalent radius of 71 pm is smaller than those of boron (84 pm) and carbon (76 pm), while it is larger than those of oxygen (66 pm) and fluorine (57 pm). The nitride anion, N, is much larger at 146 pm, similar to that of the oxide (O: 140 pm) and fluoride (F: 133 pm) anions. The first three ionisation energies of nitrogen are 1.402, 2.856, and 4.577 MJ·mol, and the sum of the fourth and fifth is 16.920 MJ·mol. Due to these very high figures, nitrogen has no simple cationic chemistry. The lack of radial nodes in the 2p subshell is directly responsible for many of the anomalous properties of the first row of the p-block, especially in nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine. The 2p subshell is very small and has a very similar radius to the 2s shell, facilitating orbital hybridisation. It also results in very large electrostatic forces of attraction between the nucleus and the valence electrons in the 2s and 2p shells, resulting in very high electronegativities. Hypervalency is almost unknown in the 2p elements for the same reason, because the high electronegativity makes it difficult for a small nitrogen atom to be a central atom in an electron-rich three-center four- electron bond since it would tend to attract the electrons strongly to itself. Thus, despite nitrogen's position at the head of group 15 in the periodic table, its chemistry shows huge differences from that of its heavier congeners phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Nitrogen may be usefully compared to its horizontal neighbours carbon and oxygen as well as its vertical neighbours in the pnictogen column, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Although each period 2 element from lithium to oxygen shows some similarities to the period 3 element in the next group (from magnesium to chlorine; these are known as diagonal relationships), their degree drops off abruptly past the boron–silicon pair. The similarities of nitrogen to sulfur are mostly limited to sulfur nitride ring compounds when both elements are the only ones present. While it does not share the proclivity of carbon for catenation, nitrogen chains composed of eight atoms (PhN=N–N(Ph)–N=N–N(Ph)–N=NPh) and more are obtainable. Like carbon, nitrogen tends to form ionic or metallic compounds with metals. Nitrogen forms an extensive series of nitrides with carbon, including those with chain-, graphitic-, and fullerenic-like structures. It resembles oxygen with its high electronegativity and concomitant capability for hydrogen bonding and the ability to form coordination complexes by donating its lone pairs of electrons. There are some parallels between the chemistry of ammonia NH and water HO. For example, the capacity of both compounds to be pronated to give NH and H0 or deprotonated to give NH and OH, with all of these able to be isolated in solid compounds. The high electronegativity of nitrogen is (partly) misleading. Nitrogen has a negative electron affinity, which means that energy is required to add an electron to it. This is because nitrogen has three p-orbitals each occupied with one electron. An incoming electron will experience significant repulsion from the electrons in these orbitals. This does not happen with carbon, which has one unoccupied p sub shell. Nor does it occur with oxygen, since the increased nuclear charge is sufficient to overcome inter-electron repulsion effects. Nitrogen shares with both its horizontal neighbours a preference for forming multiple bonds, typically with carbon, oxygen, or other nitrogen atoms, through p–p interactions. Thus, for example, nitrogen occurs as diatomic molecules and therefore has very much lower melting (−210 °C) and boiling points (−196 °C) than the rest of its group, as the N molecules are only held together by weak van der Waals interactions and there are very few electrons available to create significant instantaneous dipoles. This is not possible for its vertical neighbours; thus, the nitrogen oxides, nitrites, nitrates, nitro-, nitroso-, azo-, and diazo- compounds, azides, cyanates, thiocyanates, and imino-derivatives find no echo with phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, or bismuth. By the same token, however, the complexity of the phosphorus oxoacids finds no echo with nitrogen. Setting aside their differences, nitrogen and phosphorus form an extensive series of compounds with one another; these have chain, ring, and cage structures. Nitrogen has two stable isotopes: N and N. The first is much more common, making up 99.634% of natural nitrogen, and the second (which is slightly heavier) makes up the remaining 0.366%. This leads to an atomic weight of around 14.007 u. Both of these stable isotopes are produced in the CNO cycle in stars, but N is more common as its neutron capture is the rate-limiting step. N is one of the five stable odd–odd nuclides (a nuclide having an odd number of protons and neutrons); the other four are H, Li, B, and Ta. The relative abundance of N and N is practically constant in the atmosphere but can vary elsewhere, due to natural isotopic fractionation from biological redox reactions and the evaporation of natural ammonia or nitric acid. Biologically mediated reactions (e.g., assimilation, nitrification, and denitrification) strongly control nitrogen dynamics in the soil. These reactions typically result in N enrichment of the substrate and depletion of the product. The heavy isotope N was first discovered by S. M. Naudé in 1929, soon after heavy isotopes of the neighbouring elements oxygen and carbon were discovered. It presents one of the lowest thermal neutron capture cross- sections of all isotopes. It is frequently used in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to determine the structures of nitrogen-containing molecules, due to its fractional nuclear spin of one-half, which offers advantages for NMR such as narrower line width. N, though also theoretically usable, has an integer nuclear spin of one and thus has a quadrupole moment that leads to wider and less useful spectra. N NMR nevertheless has complications not encountered in the more common H and C NMR spectroscopy. The low natural abundance of N (0.36%) significantly reduces sensitivity, a problem which is only exacerbated by its low gyromagnetic ratio, (only 10.14% that of H). As a result, the signal-to-noise ratio for H is about 300 times as much as that for N at the same magnetic field strength. This may be somewhat alleviated by isotopic enrichment of N by chemical exchange or fractional distillation. N-enriched compounds have the advantage that under standard conditions, they do not undergo chemical exchange of their nitrogen atoms with atmospheric nitrogen, unlike compounds with labelled hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes that must be kept away from the atmosphere. The N:N ratio is commonly used in stable isotope analysis in the fields of geochemistry, hydrology, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, where it is called δN. Of the ten other isotopes produced synthetically, ranging from N to N, N has a half-life of ten minutes and the remaining isotopes have half-lives on the order of seconds (N and N) or even milliseconds. No other nitrogen isotopes are possible as they would fall outside the nuclear drip lines, leaking out a proton or neutron. Given the half-life difference, N is the most important nitrogen radioisotope, being relatively long-lived enough to use in positron emission tomography (PET), although its half-life is still short and thus it must be produced at the venue of the PET, for example in a cyclotron via proton bombardment of O producing N and an alpha particle. The radioisotope N is the dominant radionuclide in the coolant of pressurised water reactors or boiling water reactors during normal operation, and thus it is a sensitive and immediate indicator of leaks from the primary coolant system to the secondary steam cycle, and is the primary means of detection for such leaks. It is produced from O (in water) via an (n,p) reaction in which the O atom captures a neutron and expels a proton. It has a short half-life of about 7.1 s, but during its decay back to O produces high-energy gamma radiation (5 to 7 MeV). Because of this, access to the primary coolant piping in a pressurised water reactor must be restricted during reactor power operation. Atomic nitrogen, also known as active nitrogen, is highly reactive, being a triradical with three unpaired electrons. Free nitrogen atoms easily react with most elements to form nitrides, and even when two free nitrogen atoms collide to produce an excited N molecule, they may release so much energy on collision with even such stable molecules as carbon dioxide and water to cause homolytic fission into radicals such as CO and O or OH and H. Atomic nitrogen is prepared by passing an electric discharge through nitrogen gas at 0.1–2 mmHg, which produces atomic nitrogen along with a peach-yellow emission that fades slowly as an afterglow for several minutes even after the discharge terminates. Given the great reactivity of atomic nitrogen, elemental nitrogen usually occurs as molecular N, dinitrogen. This molecule is a colourless, odourless, and tasteless diamagnetic gas at standard conditions: it melts at −210 °C and boils at −196 °C. Dinitrogen is mostly unreactive at room temperature, but it will nevertheless react with lithium metal and some transition metal complexes. This is due to its bonding, which is unique among the diatomic elements at standard conditions in that it has an N≡N triple bond. Triple bonds have short bond lengths (in this case, 109.76 pm) and high dissociation energies (in this case, 945.41 kJ/mol), and are thus very strong, explaining dinitrogen's chemical inertness. There are some theoretical indications that other nitrogen oligomers and polymers may be possible. If they could be synthesised, they may have potential applications as materials with a very high energy density, that could be used as powerful propellants or explosives. This is because they should all decompose to dinitrogen, whose N≡N triple bond (bond energy 946 kJ⋅mol) is much stronger than those of the N=N double bond (418 kJ⋅mol) or the N–N single bond (160 kJ⋅mol): indeed, the triple bond has more than thrice the energy of the single bond. (The opposite is true for the heavier pnictogens, which prefer polyatomic allotropes.) A great disadvantage is that most neutral polynitrogens are not expected to have a large barrier towards decomposition, and that the few exceptions would be even more challenging to synthesise than the long-sought but still unknown tetrahedrane. This stands in contrast to the well-characterised cationic and anionic polynitrogens azide (), pentazenium (), and pentazolide (cyclic aromatic ). Under extremely high pressures (1.1 million atm) and high temperatures (2000 K), as produced in a diamond anvil cell, nitrogen polymerises into the single-bonded cubic gauche crystal structure. This structure is similar to that of diamond, and both have extremely strong covalent bonds, resulting in its nickname "nitrogen diamond". At atmospheric pressure, molecular nitrogen condenses (liquefies) at 77 K (−195.79 °C) and freezes at 63 K (−210.01 °C) into the beta hexagonal close-packed crystal allotropic form. Below 35.4 K (−237.6 °C) nitrogen assumes the cubic crystal allotropic form (called the alpha phase). Liquid nitrogen, a colourless fluid resembling water in appearance, but with 80.8% of the density (the density of liquid nitrogen at its boiling point is 0.808 g/mL), is a common cryogen. Solid nitrogen has many crystalline modifications. It forms a significant dynamic surface coverage on Pluto and outer moons of the Solar System such as Triton. Even at the low temperatures of solid nitrogen it is fairly volatile and can sublime to form an atmosphere, or condense back into nitrogen frost. It is very weak and flows in the form of glaciers and on Triton geysers of nitrogen gas come from the polar ice cap region. The first example of a dinitrogen complex to be discovered was [Ru(NH)(N)] (see figure at right), and soon many other such complexes were discovered. These complexes, in which a nitrogen molecule donates at least one lone pair of electrons to a central metal cation, illustrate how N might bind to the metal(s) in nitrogenase and the catalyst for the Haber process: these processes involving dinitrogen activation are vitally important in biology and in the production of fertilisers. Dinitrogen is able to coordinate to metals in five different ways. The more well-characterised ways are the end-on M←N≡N (η) and M←N≡N→M (μ, bis-η), in which the lone pairs on the nitrogen atoms are donated to the metal cation. The less well-characterised ways involve dinitrogen donating electron pairs from the triple bond, either as a bridging ligand to two metal cations (μ, bis-η) or to just one (η). The fifth and unique method involves triple-coordination as a bridging ligand, donating all three electron pairs from the triple bond (μ-N). A few complexes feature multiple N ligands and some feature N bonded in multiple ways. Since N is isoelectronic with carbon monoxide (CO) and acetylene (CH), the bonding in dinitrogen complexes is closely allied to that in carbonyl compounds, although N is a weaker σ-donor and π-acceptor than CO. Theoretical studies show that σ donation is a more important factor allowing the formation of the M–N bond than π back-donation, which mostly only weakens the N–N bond, and end-on (η) donation is more readily accomplished than side-on (η) donation. Today, dinitrogen complexes are known for almost all the transition metals, accounting for several hundred compounds. They are normally prepared by three methods: 1. Replacing labile ligands such as HO, H, or CO directly by nitrogen: these are often reversible reactions that proceed at mild conditions. 2. Reducing metal complexes in the presence of a suitable coligand in excess under nitrogen gas. A common choice include replacing chloride ligands by dimethylphenylphosphine (PMePh) to make up for the smaller number of nitrogen ligands attached than the original chlorine ligands. 3. Converting a ligand with N–N bonds, such as hydrazine or azide, directly into a dinitrogen ligand. Occasionally the N≡N bond may be formed directly within a metal complex, for example by directly reacting coordinated ammonia (NH) with nitrous acid (HNO), but this is not generally applicable. Most dinitrogen complexes have colours within the range white-yellow-orange-red-brown; a few exceptions are known, such as the blue [{Ti(η-CH)}-(N)]. Nitrogen bonds to almost all the elements in the periodic table except the first three noble gases, helium, neon, and argon, and some of the very short- lived elements after bismuth, creating an immense variety of binary compounds with varying properties and applications. Many binary compounds are known: with the exception of the nitrogen hydrides, oxides, and fluorides, these are typically called nitrides. Many stoichiometric phases are usually present for most elements (e.g. MnN, MnN, MnN, MnN, MnN, and MnN for 9.2 < x < 25.3). They may be classified as "salt-like" (mostly ionic), covalent, "diamond-like", and metallic (or interstitial), although this classification has limitations generally stemming from the continuity of bonding types instead of the discrete and separate types that it implies. They are normally prepared by directly reacting a metal with nitrogen or ammonia (sometimes after heating), or by thermal decomposition of metal amides: Many variants on these processes are possible.The most ionic of these nitrides are those of the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals, LiN (Na, K, Rb, and Cs do not form stable nitrides for steric reasons) and MN (M = Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba). These can formally be thought of as salts of the N anion, although charge separation is not actually complete even for these highly electropositive elements. However, the alkali metal azides NaN and KN, featuring the linear anion, are well-known, as are Sr(N) and Ba(N). Azides of the B-subgroup metals (those in groups 11 through 16) are much less ionic, have more complicated structures, and detonate readily when shocked. Many covalent binary nitrides are known. Examples include cyanogen ((CN)), triphosphorus pentanitride (PN), disulfur dinitride (SN), and tetrasulfur tetranitride (SN). The essentially covalent silicon nitride (SiN) and germanium nitride (GeN) are also known: silicon nitride in particular would make a promising ceramic if not for the difficulty of working with and sintering it. In particular, the group 13 nitrides, most of which are promising semiconductors, are isoelectronic with graphite, diamond, and silicon carbide and have similar structures: their bonding changes from covalent to partially ionic to metallic as the group is descended. In particular, since the B–N unit is isoelectronic to C–C, and carbon is essentially intermediate in size between boron and nitrogen, much of organic chemistry finds an echo in boron–nitrogen chemistry, such as in borazine ("inorganic benzene"). Nevertheless, the analogy is not exact due to the ease of nucleophilic attack at boron due to its deficiency in electrons, which is not possible in a wholly carbon-containing ring. The largest category of nitrides are the interstitial nitrides of formulae MN, MN, and MN (although variable composition is perfectly possible), where the small nitrogen atoms are positioned in the gaps in a metallic cubic or hexagonal close-packed lattice. They are opaque, very hard, and chemically inert, melting only at very high temperatures (generally over 2500 °C). They have a metallic lustre and conduct electricity as do metals. They hydrolyse only very slowly to give ammonia or nitrogen. The nitride anion (N) is the strongest π donor known amongst ligands (the second-strongest is O). Nitrido complexes are generally made by thermal decomposition of azides or by deprotonating ammonia, and they usually involve a terminal {≡N} group. The linear azide anion (), being isoelectronic with nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and cyanate, forms many coordination complexes. Further catenation is rare, although (isoelectronic with carbonate and nitrate) is known. Industrially, ammonia (NH) is the most important compound of nitrogen and is prepared in larger amounts than any other compound, because it contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilisers. It is a colourless alkaline gas with a characteristic pungent smell. The presence of hydrogen bonding has very significant effects on ammonia, conferring on it its high melting (−78 °C) and boiling (−33 °C) points. As a liquid, it is a very good solvent with a high heat of vaporisation (enabling it to be used in vacuum flasks), that also has a low viscosity and electrical conductivity and high dielectric constant, and is less dense than water. However, the hydrogen bonding in NH is weaker than that in HO due to the lower electronegativity of nitrogen compared to oxygen and the presence of only one lone pair in NH rather than two in HO. It is a weak base in aqueous solution (pK 4.74); its conjugate acid is ammonium, . It can also act as an extremely weak acid, losing a proton to produce the amide anion, . It thus undergoes self-dissociation, similar to water, to produce ammonium and amide. Ammonia burns in air or oxygen, though not readily, to produce nitrogen gas; it burns in fluorine with a greenish-yellow flame to give nitrogen trifluoride. Reactions with the other nonmetals are very complex and tend to lead to a mixture of products. Ammonia reacts on heating with metals to give nitrides. Many other binary nitrogen hydrides are known, but the most important are hydrazine (NH) and hydrogen azide (HN). Although it is not a nitrogen hydride, hydroxylamine (NHOH) is similar in properties and structure to ammonia and hydrazine as well. Hydrazine is a fuming, colourless liquid that smells similarly to ammonia. Its physical properties are very similar to those of water (melting point 2.0 °C, boiling point 113.5 °C, density 1.00 g/cm). Despite it being an endothermic compound, it is kinetically stable. It burns quickly and completely in air very exothermically to give nitrogen and water vapour. It is a very useful and versatile reducing agent and is a weaker base than ammonia. It is also commonly used as a rocket fuel. Hydrazine is generally made by reaction of ammonia with alkaline sodium hypochlorite in the presence of gelatin or glue: (The attacks by hydroxide and ammonia may be reversed, thus passing through the intermediate NHCl instead.) The reason for adding gelatin is that it removes metal ions such as Cu that catalyses the destruction of hydrazine by reaction with monochloramine (NHCl) to produce ammonium chloride and nitrogen. Hydrogen azide (HN) was first produced in 1890 by the oxidation of aqueous hydrazine by nitrous acid. It is very explosive and even dilute solutions can be dangerous. It has a disagreeable and irritating smell and is a potentially lethal (but not cumulative) poison. It may be considered the conjugate acid of the azide anion, and is similarly analogous to the hydrohalic acids. All four simple nitrogen trihalides are known. A few mixed halides and hydrohalides are known, but are mostly unstable and uninteresting: examples include NClF, NClF, NBrF, NFH, NClH, and NClH. Five nitrogen fluorides are known. Nitrogen trifluoride (NF, first prepared in 1928) is a colourless and odourless gas that is thermodynamically stable, and most readily produced by the electrolysis of molten ammonium fluoride dissolved in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. Like carbon tetrafluoride, it is not at all reactive and is stable in water or dilute aqueous acids or alkalis. Only when heated does it act as a fluorinating agent, and it reacts with copper, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth on contact at high temperatures to give tetrafluorohydrazine (NF). The cations and are also known (the latter from reacting tetrafluorohydrazine with strong fluoride-acceptors such as arsenic pentafluoride), as is ONF, which has aroused interest due to the short N–O distance implying partial double bonding and the highly polar and long N–F bond. Tetrafluorohydrazine, unlike hydrazine itself, can dissociate at room temperature and above to give the radical NF•. Fluorine azide (FN) is very explosive and thermally unstable. Dinitrogen difluoride (NF) exists as thermally interconvertible cis and trans isomers, and was first found as a product of the thermal decomposition of FN. Nitrogen trichloride (NCl) is a dense, volatile, and explosive liquid whose physical properties are similar to those of carbon tetrachloride, although one difference is that NCl is easily hydrolysed by water while CCl is not. It was first synthesised in 1811 by Pierre Louis Dulong, who lost three fingers and an eye to its explosive tendencies. As a dilute gas it is less dangerous and is thus used industrially to bleach and sterilise flour. Nitrogen tribromide (NBr), first prepared in 1975, is a deep red, temperature-sensitive, volatile solid that is explosive even at −100 °C. Nitrogen triiodide (NI) is still more unstable and was only prepared in 1990. Its adduct with ammonia, which was known earlier, is very shock-sensitive: it can be set off by the touch of a feather, shifting air currents, or even alpha particles. For this reason, small amounts of nitrogen triiodide are sometimes synthesised as a demonstration to high school chemistry students or as an act of "chemical magic". Chlorine azide (ClN) and bromine azide (BrN) are extremely sensitive and explosive. Two series of nitrogen oxohalides are known: the nitrosyl halides (XNO) and the nitryl halides (XNO). The first are very reactive gases that can be made by directly halogenating nitrous oxide. Nitrosyl fluoride (NOF) is colourless and a vigorous fluorinating agent. Nitrosyl chloride (NOCl) behaves in much the same way and has often been used as an ionising solvent. Nitrosyl bromide (NOBr) is red. The reactions of the nitryl halides are mostly similar: nitryl fluoride (FNO) and nitryl chloride (ClNO) are likewise reactive gases and vigorous halogenating agents. Nitrogen forms nine molecular oxides, some of which were the first gases to be identified: NO (nitrous oxide), NO (nitric oxide), NO (dinitrogen trioxide), NO (nitrogen dioxide), NO (dinitrogen tetroxide), NO (dinitrogen pentoxide), NO (nitrosylazide), and N(NO) (trinitramide). All are thermally unstable towards decomposition to their elements. One other possible oxide that has not yet been synthesised is oxatetrazole (NO), an aromatic ring. Nitrous oxide (NO), better known as laughing gas, is made by thermal decomposition of molten ammonium nitrate at 250 °C. This is a redox reaction and thus nitric oxide and nitrogen are also produced as byproducts. It is mostly used as a propellant and aerating agent for sprayed canned whipped cream, and was formerly commonly used as an anaesthetic. Despite appearances, it cannot be considered to be the anhydride of hyponitrous acid (HNO) because that acid is not produced by the dissolution of nitrous oxide in water. It is rather unreactive (not reacting with the halogens, the alkali metals, or ozone at room temperature, although reactivity increases upon heating) and has the unsymmetrical structure N–N–O (N≡NO↔N=N=O): above 600 °C it dissociates by breaking the weaker N–O bond. Nitric oxide (NO) is the simplest stable molecule with an odd number of electrons. In mammals, including humans, it is an important cellular signaling molecule involved in many physiological and pathological processes. It is formed by catalytic oxidation of ammonia. It is a colourless paramagnetic gas that, being thermodynamically unstable, decomposes to nitrogen and oxygen gas at 1100–1200 °C. Its bonding is similar to that in nitrogen, but one extra electron is added to a π* antibonding orbital and thus the bond order has been reduced to approximately 2.5; hence dimerisation to O=N–N=O is unfavourable except below the boiling point (where the cis isomer is more stable) because it does not actually increase the total bond order and because the unpaired electron is delocalised across the NO molecule, granting it stability. There is also evidence for the asymmetric red dimer O=N–O=N when nitric oxide is condensed with polar molecules. It reacts with oxygen to give brown nitrogen dioxide and with halogens to give nitrosyl halides. It also reacts with transition metal compounds to give nitrosyl complexes, most of which are deeply coloured. Blue dinitrogen trioxide (NO) is only available as a solid because it rapidly dissociates above its melting point to give nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide (NO), and dinitrogen tetroxide (NO). The latter two compounds are somewhat difficult to study individually because of the equilibrium between them, although sometimes dinitrogen tetroxide can react by heterolytic fission to nitrosonium and nitrate in a medium with high dielectric constant. Nitrogen dioxide is an acrid, corrosive brown gas. Both compounds may be easily prepared by decomposing a dry metal nitrate. Both react with water to form nitric acid. Dinitrogen tetroxide is very useful for the preparation of anhydrous metal nitrates and nitrato complexes, and it became the storable oxidiser of choice for many rockets in both the United States and USSR by the late 1950s. This is because it is a hypergolic propellant in combination with a hydrazine-based rocket fuel and can be easily stored since it is liquid at room temperature. The thermally unstable and very reactive dinitrogen pentoxide (NO) is the anhydride of nitric acid, and can be made from it by dehydration with phosphorus pentoxide. It is of interest for the preparation of explosives. It is a deliquescent, colourless crystalline solid that is sensitive to light. In the solid state it is ionic with structure [NO][NO]; as a gas and in solution it is molecular ON–O–NO. Hydration to nitric acid comes readily, as does analogous reaction with hydrogen peroxide giving peroxonitric acid (HOONO). It is a violent oxidising agent. Gaseous dinitrogen pentoxide decomposes as follows: Many nitrogen oxoacids are known, though most of them are unstable as pure compounds and are known only as aqueous solution or as salts. Hyponitrous acid (HNO) is a weak diprotic acid with the structure HON=NOH (pK 6.9, pK 11.6). Acidic solutions are quite stable but above pH 4 base-catalysed decomposition occurs via [HONNO] to nitrous oxide and the hydroxide anion. Hyponitrites (involving the anion) are stable to reducing agents and more commonly act as reducing agents themselves. They are an intermediate step in the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite, which occurs in the nitrogen cycle. Hyponitrite can act as a bridging or chelating bidentate ligand. Nitrous acid (HNO) is not known as a pure compound, but is a common component in gaseous equilibria and is an important aqueous reagent: its aqueous solutions may be made from acidifying cool aqueous nitrite (, bent) solutions, although already at room temperature disproportionation to nitrate and nitric oxide is significant. It is a weak acid with pK 3.35 at 18 °C. They may be titrimetrically analysed by their oxidation to nitrate by permanganate. They are readily reduced to nitrous oxide and nitric oxide by sulfur dioxide, to hyponitrous acid with tin(II), and to ammonia with hydrogen sulfide. Salts of hydrazinium react with nitrous acid to produce azides which further react to give nitrous oxide and nitrogen. Sodium nitrite is mildly toxic in concentrations above 100 mg/kg, but small amounts are often used to cure meat and as a preservative to avoid bacterial spoilage. It is also used to synthesise hydroxylamine and to diazotise primary aromatic amines as follows: Nitrite is also a common ligand that can coordinate in five ways. The most common are nitro (bonded from the nitrogen) and nitrito (bonded from an oxygen). Nitro-nitrito isomerism is common, where the nitrito form is usually less stable. Nitric acid (HNO) is by far the most important and the most stable of the nitrogen oxoacids. It is one of the three most used acids (the other two being sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid) and was first discovered by the alchemists in the 13th century. It is made by catalytic oxidation of ammonia to nitric oxide, which is oxidised to nitrogen dioxide, and then dissolved in water to give concentrated nitric acid. In the United States of America, over seven million tonnes of nitric acid are produced every year, most of which is used for nitrate production for fertilisers and explosives, among other uses. Anhydrous nitric acid may be made by distilling concentrated nitric acid with phosphorus pentoxide at low pressure in glass apparatus in the dark. It can only be made in the solid state, because upon melting it spontaneously decomposes to nitrogen dioxide, and liquid nitric acid undergoes self-ionisation to a larger extent than any other covalent liquid as follows: Two hydrates, HNO·HO and HNO·3HO, are known that can be crystallised. It is a strong acid and concentrated solutions are strong oxidising agents, though gold, platinum, rhodium, and iridium are immune to attack. A 3:1 mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, called aqua regia, is still stronger and successfully dissolves gold and platinum, because free chlorine and nitrosyl chloride are formed and chloride anions can form strong complexes. In concentrated sulfuric acid, nitric acid is protonated to form nitronium, which can act as an electrophile for aromatic nitration: The thermal stabilities of nitrates (involving the trigonal planar anion) depends on the basicity of the metal, and so do the products of decomposition (thermolysis), which can vary between the nitrite (for example, sodium), the oxide (potassium and lead), or even the metal itself (silver) depending on their relative stabilities. Nitrate is also a common ligand with many modes of coordination. Finally, although orthonitric acid (HNO), which would be analogous to orthophosphoric acid, does not exist, the tetrahedral orthonitrate anion is known in its sodium and potassium salts: These white crystalline salts are very sensitive to water vapour and carbon dioxide in the air: Despite its limited chemistry, the orthonitrate anion is interesting from a structural point of view due to its regular tetrahedral shape and the short N–O bond lengths, implying significant polar character to the bonding. Nitrogen is one of the most important elements in organic chemistry. Many organic functional groups involve a carbon–nitrogen bond, such as amides (RCONR), amines (RN), imines (RC(=NR)R), imides (RCO)NR, azides (RN), azo compounds (RNR), cyanates and isocyanates (ROCN or RCNO), nitrates (RONO), nitriles and isonitriles (RCN or RNC), nitrites (RONO), nitro compounds (RNO), nitroso compounds (RNO), oximes (RCR=NOH), and pyridine derivatives. C–N bonds are strongly polarised towards nitrogen. In these compounds, nitrogen is usually trivalent (though it can be tetravalent in quaternary ammonium salts, RN), with a lone pair that can confer basicity on the compound by being coordinated to a proton. This may be offset by other factors: for example, amides are not basic because the lone pair is delocalised into a double bond (though they may act as acids at very low pH, being protonated at the oxygen), and pyrrole is not acidic because the lone pair is delocalised as part of an aromatic ring. The amount of nitrogen in a chemical substance can be determined by the Kjeldahl method. In particular, nitrogen is an essential component of nucleic acids, amino acids and thus proteins, and the energy- carrying molecule adenosine triphosphate and is thus vital to all life on Earth. Nitrogen is the most common pure element in the earth, making up 78.1% of the entire volume of the atmosphere. Despite this, it is not very abundant in Earth's crust, making up only 19 parts per million of this, on par with niobium, gallium, and lithium. The only important nitrogen minerals are nitre (potassium nitrate, saltpetre) and sodanitre (sodium nitrate, Chilean saltpetre). However, these have not been an important source of nitrates since the 1920s, when the industrial synthesis of ammonia and nitric acid became common. Nitrogen compounds constantly interchange between the atmosphere and living organisms. Nitrogen must first be processed, or "fixed", into a plant- usable form, usually ammonia. Some nitrogen fixation is done by lightning strikes producing the nitrogen oxides, but most is done by diazotrophic bacteria through enzymes known as nitrogenases (although today industrial nitrogen fixation to ammonia is also significant). When the ammonia is taken up by plants, it is used to synthesise proteins. These plants are then digested by animals who use the nitrogen compounds to synthesise their own proteins and excrete nitrogen–bearing waste. Finally, these organisms die and decompose, undergoing bacterial and environmental oxidation and denitrification, returning free dinitrogen to the atmosphere. Industrial nitrogen fixation by the Haber process is mostly used as fertiliser, although excess nitrogen–bearing waste, when leached, leads to eutrophication of freshwater and the creation of marine dead zones, as nitrogen-driven bacterial growth depletes water oxygen to the point that all higher organisms die. Furthermore, nitrous oxide, which is produced during denitrification, attacks the atmospheric ozone layer. Many saltwater fish manufacture large amounts of trimethylamine oxide to protect them from the high osmotic effects of their environment; conversion of this compound to dimethylamine is responsible for the early odour in unfresh saltwater fish. In animals, free radical nitric oxide (derived from an amino acid), serves as an important regulatory molecule for circulation. Nitric oxide's rapid reaction with water in animals results in production of its metabolite nitrite. Animal metabolism of nitrogen in proteins, in general, results in excretion of urea, while animal metabolism of nucleic acids results in excretion of urea and uric acid. The characteristic odour of animal flesh decay is caused by the creation of long-chain, nitrogen- containing amines, such as putrescine and cadaverine, which are breakdown products of the amino acids ornithine and lysine, respectively, in decaying proteins. Nitrogen gas is an industrial gas produced by the fractional distillation of liquid air, or by mechanical means using gaseous air (pressurised reverse osmosis membrane or pressure swing adsorption). Nitrogen gas generators using membranes or pressure swing adsorption (PSA) are typically more cost and energy efficient than bulk delivered nitrogen. Commercial nitrogen is often a byproduct of air-processing for industrial concentration of oxygen for steelmaking and other purposes. When supplied compressed in cylinders it is often called OFN (oxygen-free nitrogen). Commercial-grade nitrogen already contains at most 20 ppm oxygen, and specially purified grades containing at most 2 ppm oxygen and 10 ppm argon are also available. In a chemical laboratory, it is prepared by treating an aqueous solution of ammonium chloride with sodium nitrite. Small amounts of the impurities NO and HNO are also formed in this reaction. The impurities can be removed by passing the gas through aqueous sulfuric acid containing potassium dichromate. Very pure nitrogen can be prepared by the thermal decomposition of barium azide or sodium azide. The applications of nitrogen compounds are naturally extremely widely varied due to the huge size of this class: hence, only applications of pure nitrogen itself will be considered here. Two-thirds of nitrogen produced by industry is sold as the gas and the remaining one-third as the liquid. The gas is mostly used as an inert atmosphere whenever the oxygen in the air would pose a fire, explosion, or oxidising hazard. Some examples include: As a modified atmosphere, pure or mixed with carbon dioxide, to nitrogenate and preserve the freshness of packaged or bulk foods (by delaying rancidity and other forms of oxidative damage). Pure nitrogen as food additive is labeled in the European Union with the E number E941., In incandescent light bulbs as an inexpensive alternative to argon., In inmate execution as an alternative to lethal injection., In fire suppression systems for Information technology (IT) equipment., In the manufacture of stainless steel., In the case-hardening of steel by nitriding., In some aircraft fuel systems to reduce fire hazard (see inerting system)., To inflate race car and aircraft tires, reducing the problems of inconsistent expansion and contraction caused by moisture and oxygen in natural air. Nitrogen is commonly used during sample preparation in chemical analysis. It is used to concentrate and reduce the volume of liquid samples. Directing a pressurised stream of nitrogen gas perpendicular to the surface of the liquid causes the solvent to evaporate while leaving the solute(s) and un-evaporated solvent behind. Nitrogen can be used as a replacement, or in combination with, carbon dioxide to pressurise kegs of some beers, particularly stouts and British ales, due to the smaller bubbles it produces, which makes the dispensed beer smoother and headier. A pressure-sensitive nitrogen capsule known commonly as a "widget" allows nitrogen-charged beers to be packaged in cans and bottles. Nitrogen tanks are also replacing carbon dioxide as the main power source for paintball guns. Nitrogen must be kept at higher pressure than CO, making N tanks heavier and more expensive. Nitrogen gas has become the inert gas of choice for inert gas asphyxiation, and is under consideration as a replacement for lethal injection in Oklahoma. Nitrogen gas, formed from the decomposition of sodium azide, is used for the inflation of airbags. Liquid nitrogen is a cryogenic liquid. When insulated in proper containers such as Dewar flasks, it can be transported without much evaporative loss. Like dry ice, the main use of liquid nitrogen is as a refrigerant. Among other things, it is used in the cryopreservation of blood, reproductive cells (sperm and egg), and other biological samples and materials. It is used in the clinical setting in cryotherapy to remove cysts and warts on the skin. It is used in cold traps for certain laboratory equipment and to cool infrared detectors or X-ray detectors. It has also been used to cool central processing units and other devices in computers that are overclocked, and that produce more heat than during normal operation. Other uses include freeze-grinding and machining materials that are soft or rubbery at room temperature, shrink- fitting and assembling engineering components, and more generally to attain very low temperatures whenever necessary (around −200 °C). Because of its low cost, liquid nitrogen is also often used when such low temperatures are not strictly necessary, such as refrigeration of food, freeze-branding livestock, freezing pipes to halt flow when valves are not present, and consolidating unstable soil by freezing whenever excavation is going on underneath. Liquid nitrogen is extensively used in vacuum pump systems. Although nitrogen is non-toxic, when released into an enclosed space it can displace oxygen, and therefore presents an asphyxiation hazard. This may happen with few warning symptoms, since the human carotid body is a relatively poor and slow low-oxygen (hypoxia) sensing system. An example occurred shortly before the launch of the first Space Shuttle mission on March 19, 1981, when two technicians died from asphyxiation after they walked into a space located in the Shuttle's Mobile Launcher Platform that was pressurised with pure nitrogen as a precaution against fire. When inhaled at high partial pressures (more than about 4 bar, encountered at depths below about 30 m in scuba diving), nitrogen is an anesthetic agent, causing nitrogen narcosis, a temporary state of mental impairment similar to nitrous oxide intoxication. Nitrogen dissolves in the blood and body fats. Rapid decompression (as when divers ascend too quickly or astronauts decompress too quickly from cabin pressure to spacesuit pressure) can lead to a potentially fatal condition called decompression sickness (formerly known as caisson sickness or the bends), when nitrogen bubbles form in the bloodstream, nerves, joints, and other sensitive or vital areas. Bubbles from other "inert" gases (gases other than carbon dioxide and oxygen) cause the same effects, so replacement of nitrogen in breathing gases may prevent nitrogen narcosis, but does not prevent decompression sickness. As a cryogenic liquid, liquid nitrogen can be dangerous by causing cold burns on contact, although the Leidenfrost effect provides protection for very short exposure (about one second). Ingestion of liquid nitrogen can cause severe internal damage. For example, in 2012, a young woman in England had to have her stomach removed after ingesting a cocktail made with liquid nitrogen. Because the liquid-to-gas expansion ratio of nitrogen is 1:694 at 20 °C, a tremendous amount of force can be generated if liquid nitrogen is rapidly vaporised in an enclosed space. In an incident on January 12, 2006 at Texas A&M; University, the pressure-relief devices of a tank of liquid nitrogen were malfunctioning and later sealed. As a result of the subsequent pressure buildup, the tank failed catastrophically. The force of the explosion was sufficient to propel the tank through the ceiling immediately above it, shatter a reinforced concrete beam immediately below it, and blow the walls of the laboratory 0.1–0.2 m off their foundations. Liquid nitrogen readily evaporates to form gaseous nitrogen, and hence the precautions associated with gaseous nitrogen also apply to liquid nitrogen. For example, oxygen sensors are sometimes used as a safety precaution when working with liquid nitrogen to alert workers of gas spills into a confined space. Vessels containing liquid nitrogen can condense oxygen from air. The liquid in such a vessel becomes increasingly enriched in oxygen (boiling point −183 °C, higher than that of nitrogen) as the nitrogen evaporates, and can cause violent oxidation of organic material. Reactive nitrogen species Etymology of Nitrogen, Nitrogen at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham), Nitrogen podcast from the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry World Argon (Ar) has 26 known isotopes, from Ar to Ar and 1 isomer (Ar), of which three are stable (Ar, Ar, and Ar). On the Earth, Ar makes up 99.6% of natural argon. The longest-lived radioactive isotopes are Ar with a half-life of 269 years, Ar with a half-life of 32.9 years, and Ar with a half-life of 35.04 days. All other isotopes have half-lives of less than two hours, and most less than one minute. The least stable is Ar with a half-life of approximately seconds. The naturally occurring K, with a half-life of 1.248 years, decays to stable Ar by electron capture (10.72%) and by positron emission (0.001%), and also transforms to stable Ca via beta decay (89.28%). These properties and ratios are used to determine the age of rocks through potassium–argon dating. Despite the trapping of Ar in many rocks, it can be released by melting, grinding, and diffusion. Almost all of the argon in the Earth's atmosphere is the product of K decay, since 99.6% of Earth atmospheric argon is Ar, whereas in the Sun and presumably in primordial star-forming clouds, argon consists of < 15% Ar and mostly (85%) Ar. Similarly, the ratio of the three isotopes Ar:Ar:Ar in the atmospheres of the outer planets is measured to be 8400:1600:1. In the Earth's atmosphere, radioactive Ar (half-life 269 years) is made by cosmic ray activity, primarily from Ar. In the subsurface environment, it is also produced through neutron capture by K or alpha emission by calcium. The content of Ar in natural argon is measured to be of (8.0±0.6)×10 g/g, or (1.01±0.08) Bq/kg of Ar. The content of Ar (half-life 33 years) in the Earth's atmosphere is lower than 6×10 parts per part of Ar. Many endeavors require argon depleted in the cosmogenic isotopes, known as depleted argon. In December 2013, Ar, in the form of argon hydride, was found in cosmic dust associated with the Crab Nebula supernova. This was the first time a noble molecule was detected in outer space. Radioactive Ar is a synthetic radionuclide that is created from the neutron capture by Ca followed by an alpha particle emission as a result of subsurface nuclear explosions. It has a half-life of 35 days. Argon isotopes data from The Berkeley Laboratory Isotopes Project's Narcosis while diving (also known as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while diving at depth. It is caused by the anesthetic effect of certain gases at high pressure. The Greek word ναρκωσις (narcosis) is derived from narke, "temporary decline or loss of senses and movement, numbness", a term used by Homer and Hippocrates. Narcosis produces a state similar to drunkenness (alcohol intoxication), or nitrous oxide inhalation. It can occur during shallow dives, but does not usually become noticeable at depths less than . Except for helium and probably neon, all gases that can be breathed have a narcotic effect, although widely varying in degree. The effect is consistently greater for gases with a higher lipid solubility, and there is good evidence that the two properties are mechanistically related. As depth increases, the mental impairment may become hazardous. Divers can learn to cope with some of the effects of narcosis, but it is impossible to develop a tolerance. Narcosis affects all divers, although susceptibility varies widely among individuals and from dive to dive. Narcosis may be completely reversed in a few minutes by ascending to a shallower depth, with no long-term effects. Thus narcosis while diving in open water rarely develops into a serious problem as long as the divers are aware of its symptoms, and are able to ascend to manage it. Diving much beyond is generally considered outside the scope of recreational diving. In order to dive at greater depths, as narcosis and oxygen toxicity become critical risk factors, specialist training is required in the use of various helium-containing gas mixtures such as trimix or heliox. These mixtures prevent narcosis by replacing some or all of the breathing gas with non-narcotic helium. Narcosis results from breathing gases under elevated pressure, and may be classified by the principal gas involved. The noble gases, except helium and probably neon, as well as nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen cause a decrement in mental function, but their effect on psychomotor function (processes affecting the coordination of sensory or cognitive processes and motor activity) varies widely. The effect of carbon dioxide is a consistent diminution of mental and psychomotor function. The noble gases argon, krypton, and xenon are more narcotic than nitrogen at a given pressure, and xenon has so much anesthetic activity that it is a usable anesthetic at 80% concentration and normal atmospheric pressure. Xenon has historically been too expensive to be used very much in practice, but it has been successfully used for surgical operations, and xenon anesthesia systems are still being proposed and designed. Due to its perception-altering effects, the onset of narcosis may be hard to recognize. At its most benign, narcosis results in relief of anxiety – a feeling of tranquility and mastery of the environment. These effects are essentially identical to various concentrations of nitrous oxide. They also resemble (though not as closely) the effects of alcohol or cannabis and the familiar benzodiazepine drugs such as diazepam and alprazolam. Such effects are not harmful unless they cause some immediate danger to go unrecognized and unaddressed. Once stabilized, the effects generally remain the same at a given depth, only worsening if the diver ventures deeper. The most dangerous aspects of narcosis are the impairment of judgement, multi-tasking and coordination, and the loss of decision-making ability and focus. Other effects include vertigo and visual or auditory disturbances. The syndrome may cause exhilaration, giddiness, extreme anxiety, depression, or paranoia, depending on the individual diver and the diver's medical or personal history. When more serious, the diver may feel overconfident, disregarding normal safe diving practices. Slowed mental activity, as indicated by increased reaction time and increased errors in cognitive function, are effects which increase the risk of a diver mismanaging an incident. Narcosis reduces both the perception of cold discomfort and shivering and thereby affects the production of body heat and consequently allows a faster drop in the core temperature in cold water, with reduced awareness of the developing problem. The relation of depth to narcosis is sometimes informally known as "Martini's law", the idea that narcosis results in the feeling of one martini for every below depth. Professional divers use such a calculation only as a rough guide to give new divers a metaphor, comparing a situation they may be more familiar with. Reported signs and symptoms are summarized against typical depths in meters and feet of sea water in the following table, closely adapted from Deeper into Diving by Lippman and Mitchell: The cause of narcosis is related to the increased solubility of gases in body tissues, as a result of the elevated pressures at depth (Henry's law). Modern theories have suggested that inert gases dissolving in the lipid bilayer of cell membranes cause narcosis. More recently, researchers have been looking at neurotransmitter receptor protein mechanisms as a possible cause of narcosis. The breathing gas mix entering the diver's lungs will have the same pressure as the surrounding water, known as the ambient pressure. After any change of depth, the pressure of gases in the blood passing through the brain catches up with ambient pressure within a minute or two, which results in a delayed narcotic effect after descending to a new depth. Rapid compression potentiates narcosis owing to carbon dioxide retention. A divers' cognition may be affected on dives as shallow as , but the changes are not usually noticeable. There is no reliable method to predict the depth at which narcosis becomes noticeable, or the severity of the effect on an individual diver, as it may vary from dive to dive even on the same day. Significant impairment due to narcosis is an increasing risk below depths of about , corresponding to an ambient pressure of about . Most sport scuba training organizations recommend depths of no more than because of the risk of narcosis. When breathing air at depths of – an ambient pressure of about – narcosis in most divers leads to hallucinations, loss of memory, and unconsciousness. A number of divers have died in attempts to set air depth records below . Because of these incidents, Guinness World Records no longer reports on this figure. Narcosis has been compared with altitude sickness regarding its variability of onset (though not its symptoms); its effects depend on many factors, with variations between individuals. Thermal cold, stress, heavy work, fatigue, and carbon dioxide retention all increase the risk and severity of narcosis. Carbon dioxide has a high narcotic potential and also causes increased blood flow to the brain, increasing the effects of other gases. Increased risk of narcosis results from increasing the amount of carbon dioxide retained through heavy exercise, shallow or skip breathing, or because of poor gas exchange in the lungs. Narcosis is known to be additive to even minimal alcohol intoxication, and also to the effects of other drugs such as cannabis (which is more likely than alcohol to have effects that last into a day of abstinence from use). Other sedative and analgesic drugs, such as opiate narcotics and benzodiazepines, add to narcosis. The precise mechanism is not well understood, but it appears to be the direct effect of gas dissolving into nerve membranes and causing temporary disruption in nerve transmissions. While the effect was first observed with air, other gases including argon, krypton and hydrogen cause very similar effects at higher than atmospheric pressure. Some of these effects may be due to antagonism at NMDA receptors and potentiation of GABA receptors, similar to the mechanism of nonpolar anesthetics such diethyl ether or ethylene. However, their reproduction by the very chemically inactive gas argon makes them unlikely to be a strictly chemical bonding to receptors in the usual sense of a chemical bond. An indirect physical effect – such as a change in membrane volume – would therefore be needed to affect the ligand-gated ion channels of nerve cells. Trudell et al. have suggested non-chemical binding due to the attractive van der Waals force between proteins and inert gases. Similar to the mechanism of ethanol's effect, the increase of gas dissolved in nerve cell membranes may cause altered ion permeability properties of the neural cells' lipid bilayers. The partial pressure of a gas required to cause a measured degree of impairment correlates well with the lipid solubility of the gas: the greater the solubility, the less partial pressure is needed. An early theory, the Meyer-Overton hypothesis, suggested that narcosis happens when the gas penetrates the lipids of the brain's nerve cells, causing direct mechanical interference with the transmission of signals from one nerve cell to another. More recently, specific types of chemically gated receptors in nerve cells have been identified as being involved with anesthesia and narcosis. However, the basic and most general underlying idea, that nerve transmission is altered in many diffuse areas of the brain as a result of gas molecules dissolved in the nerve cells' fatty membranes, remains largely unchallenged. The management of narcosis is simply to ascend to shallower depths; the effects then disappear within minutes. In the event of complications or other conditions being present, ascending is always the correct initial response. Should problems remain, then it is necessary to abort the dive. The decompression schedule can still be followed unless other conditions require emergency assistance. The symptoms of narcosis may be caused by other factors during a dive: ear problems causing disorientation or nausea; early signs of oxygen toxicity causing visual disturbances; or hypothermia causing rapid breathing and shivering. Nevertheless, the presence of any of these symptoms should imply narcosis. Alleviation of the effects upon ascending to a shallower depth will confirm the diagnosis. Given the setting, other likely conditions do not produce reversible effects. In the rare event of misdiagnosis when another condition is causing the symptoms, the initial management – ascending closer to the surface – is still essential. The most straightforward way to avoid nitrogen narcosis is for a diver to limit the depth of dives. Since narcosis becomes more severe as depth increases, a diver keeping to shallower depths can avoid serious narcosis. Most recreational dive schools will only certify basic divers to depths of , and at these depths narcosis does not present a significant risk. Further training is normally required for certification up to on air, and this training should include a discussion of narcosis, its effects, and cure. Some diver training agencies offer specialized training to prepare recreational divers to go to depths of , often consisting of further theory and some practice in deep dives under close supervision. Scuba organizations that train for diving beyond recreational depths, may forbid diving with gases that cause too much narcosis at depth in the average diver, and strongly encourage the use of other breathing gas mixes containing helium in place of some or all of the nitrogen in air – such as trimix and heliox – because helium has no narcotic effect. The use of these gases forms part of technical diving and requires further training and certification. While the individual diver cannot predict exactly at what depth the onset of narcosis will occur on a given day, the first symptoms of narcosis for any given diver are often more predictable and personal. For example, one diver may have trouble with eye focus (close accommodation for middle-aged divers), another may experience feelings of euphoria, and another feelings of claustrophobia. Some divers report that they have hearing changes, and that the sound their exhaled bubbles make becomes different. Specialist training may help divers to identify these personal onset signs, which may then be used as a signal to ascend to avoid the narcosis, although severe narcosis may interfere with the judgement necessary to take preventive action. Deep dives should be made only after a gradual training to test the individual diver's sensitivity to increasing depths, with careful supervision and logging of reactions. Scientific evidence does not show that a diver can train to overcome any measure of narcosis at a given depth or become tolerant of it. Equivalent narcotic depth (END) is a commonly used way of expressing the narcotic effect of different breathing gases. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Diving Manual now states that oxygen and nitrogen should be considered equally narcotic. Standard tables, based on relative lipid solubilities, list conversion factors for narcotic effect of other gases. For example, hydrogen at a given pressure has a narcotic effect equivalent to nitrogen at 0.55 times that pressure, so in principle it should be usable at more than twice the depth. Argon, however, has 2.33 times the narcotic effect of nitrogen, and is a poor choice as a breathing gas for diving (it is used as a drysuit inflation gas, owing to its low thermal conductivity). Some gases have other dangerous effects when breathed at pressure; for example, high-pressure oxygen can lead to oxygen toxicity. Although helium is the least intoxicating of the breathing gases, at greater depths it can cause high pressure nervous syndrome, a still mysterious but apparently unrelated phenomenon. Inert gas narcosis is only one factor influencing the choice of gas mixture; the risks of decompression sickness and oxygen toxicity, cost, and other factors are also important. Because of similar and additive effects, divers should avoid sedating medications and drugs, such as cannabis and alcohol before any dive. A hangover, combined with the reduced physical capacity that goes with it, makes nitrogen narcosis more likely. Experts recommend total abstinence from alcohol for at least 12 hours before diving, and longer for other drugs. Abstinence time needed for cannabis is unknown, but owing to the much longer half-life of the active agent of this drug in the body, it is likely to be longer than for alcohol. Narcosis is potentially one of the most dangerous conditions to affect the scuba diver below about . Except for occasional amnesia of events at depth, the effects of narcosis are entirely removed on ascent and therefore pose no problem in themselves, even for repeated, chronic or acute exposure. Nevertheless, the severity of narcosis is unpredictable and it can be fatal while diving, as the result of illogical behavior in a dangerous environment. Tests have shown that all divers are affected by nitrogen narcosis, though some experience lesser effects than others. Even though it is possible that some divers can manage better than others because of learning to cope with the subjective impairment, the underlying behavioral effects remain. These effects are particularly dangerous because a diver may feel they are not experiencing narcosis, yet still be affected by it. French researcher Victor T. Junod was the first to describe symptoms of narcosis in 1834, noting "the functions of the brain are activated, imagination is lively, thoughts have a peculiar charm and, in some persons, symptoms of intoxication are present." Junod suggested that narcosis resulted from pressure causing increased blood flow and hence stimulating nerve centers. Walter Moxon (1836–1886), a prominent Victorian physician, hypothesized in 1881 that pressure forced blood to inaccessible parts of the body and the stagnant blood then resulted in emotional changes. The first report of anesthetic potency being related to lipid solubility was published by Hans H. Meyer in 1899, entitled Zur Theorie der Alkoholnarkose. Two years later a similar theory was published independently by Charles Ernest Overton. What became known as the Meyer-Overton Hypothesis may be illustrated by a graph comparing narcotic potency with solubility in oil. In 1939, Albert R. Behnke and O. D. Yarborough demonstrated that gases other than nitrogen also could cause narcosis. For an inert gas the narcotic potency was found to be proportional to its lipid solubility. As hydrogen has only 0.55 the solubility of nitrogen, deep diving experiments using hydrox were conducted by Arne Zetterström between 1943 and 1945. Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1953 famously described it as "l’ivresse des grandes profondeurs" or the "rapture of the deep". Further research into the possible mechanisms of narcosis by anesthetic action led to the "minimum alveolar concentration" concept in 1965. This measures the relative concentration of different gases required to prevent motor response in 50% of subjects in response to stimulus, and shows similar results for anesthetic potency as the measurements of lipid solubility. The (NOAA) Diving Manual was revised to recommend treating oxygen as if it were as narcotic as nitrogen, following research by Christian J. Lambertsen et al. in 1977 and 1978. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Scientific body, publications about nitrogen narcosis., Rubicon Research Repository Searchable repository of Diving and Environmental Physiology Research., Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC) UK charity dedicated to treatment of diving diseases., ScubaDoc's overview of marijuana and diving., ScubaDoc's overview of alcohol and diving.

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The 2010 United States House of Representatives elections were held November 2, 2010 as part of the 2010 midterm elections during President Barack Obama's first term in office. Voters of the 50 U.S. states chose 435 U.S. Representatives. Also, voters of the U.S. territories, commonwealths, and the District of Columbia chose their non-voting delegates. U.S. Senate elections and various state and local elections were held on the same date. Republicans regained control of the chamber they had lost in the 2006 midterm elections, picking up a net total of 63 seats and erasing the gains Democrats made in 2006 and 2008. Although the sitting U.S. President's party usually loses seats in a midterm election, the 2010 election resulted in the highest losses by a party in a House midterm election since 1938, and the largest House swing since 1948. Republicans made their largest gain in House seats since 1938. The heavy Democratic Party losses in 2010 were attributed to anger at President Obama, opposition to the Affordable Care Act, large budget deficits and the weak economy. Following the 2006 elections, Democrats took control of the House as well as the Senate. In the 2008 elections, which coincided with Democrat Barack Obama's victory over Republican John McCain for the presidency, Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers. Of the 435 congressional districts, 242 were carried by Obama, while 193 voted for McCain. Of the districts Obama won, 34 elected a Republican to the House, while 49 of the districts McCain won elected a Democrat. The Republicans' 63-seat pickup in the House to take control of that chamber, as well as their gain of six Senate seats, signified a dramatic rollback of recent Democratic gains. In the election, Republicans won their greatest number of House seats since 1946. This has been attributed to the continued economic recession, as well as President Obama's controversial stimulus and health care reform bills. Republicans also took control of 29 of the 50 state governorships and gained 690 seats in state legislatures, to hold their greatest number since the 1928 elections. Republicans also made historic gains in state legislatures, adding more than 675 state legislative seats, by far surpassing their state-legislative gains in 1994. Republicans gained control of dozens of state legislative chambers, and took control of "seven more legislatures outright than they did after 1994 and the most since 1952." Republicans picked up control of the Alabama Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction; control of the North Carolina Senate for the first time since 1870; and control of the Minnesota Senate for the first time since the state returned to partisan elections in 1974. The Great Lakes region, which until then had recently favored the Democratic Party, went strongly Republican. In California and the Pacific Northwest, however, the Democrats retained the upper hand. The biggest change in 2010 occurred in the Southeastern United States, which had previously been roughly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans for everything except for president. Just one white Democrat from the Deep South won reelection to the US House in 2010. Prior to 2010, many white conservative southerners had voted Republican for president, but Democratic for other offices. Sources: House Clerk – Statistics of the Congressional Election, 2010 Source: CNN exit poll Thirty-seven incumbents retired. Seventeen incumbent Democrats retired. : Artur Davis: To run for Governor of Alabama., : Marion Berry: Retired due to health concerns., : Vic Snyder: Retired to spend more time with family., : Diane Watson: Retired; "It should be a seat inherited by someone who can represent everyone in this district.", : Kendrick Meek: To run for U.S. Senator., : Brad Ellsworth: To run for U.S. Senator., : Dennis Moore: Retired; "Time for a new generation of leadership.", : Charlie Melançon: To run for U.S. Senator., : Bill Delahunt: Retired; "Life is about change. I think it's healthy. It's time.", : Bart Stupak: Retired; "I've accomplished what I want to do.", : Paul Hodes: To run for U.S. Senator., : Joe Sestak: To run for U.S. Senator., : Patrick J. Kennedy: Retired to "[take] a new direction.", : Bart Gordon: Retired; "…it's time for a new chapter.", : John S. Tanner: Retired; decided 20 years was long enough., : Brian Baird: Retired, to pursue other options., : Dave Obey: Retired; "But even more frankly, I am bone tired." Media reports indicated Obey's future plans included joining a DC lobbying firm run by former Representative Dick Gephardt. Twenty incumbent Republicans retired. : John Boozman: To run for U.S. Senator., : John Shadegg: Retired to pursue other interests., : George Radanovich: Retired to put family obligations first., : Mike Castle: To run for U.S. Senator., : Ginny Brown-Waite: Retired due to health issues., : Adam Putnam: To run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture., : Lincoln Díaz-Balart: Retired to return to law practice., : Mario Díaz-Balart: To run for Florida's 21st district, held by his brother Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who had announced plans to return to law practice., : John Linder: Retired., : Mark Kirk: To run for U.S. Senator., : Steve Buyer: Retired due to wife's illness, : Jerry Moran: To run for U.S. Senator., : Todd Tiahrt: To run for U.S. Senator., : Pete Hoekstra: To run for Governor of Michigan., : Vern Ehlers: Retired., : Roy Blunt: To run for U.S. Senator., : Mary Fallin: To run for Governor of Oklahoma., : Henry E. Brown Jr.: Retired to spend more time with his family., : Gresham Barrett: To run for Governor of South Carolina., : Zach Wamp: To run for Governor of Tennessee. There were nine Democrats who survived reelection in the 1994 Republican Revolution, but were defeated this year. Two Democrats lost renomination. One seat remained Democratic, and the other seat was taken by a Republican. : Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost to Hansen Clarke, : Alan Mollohan lost to Mike Oliverio, but Oliverio lost in the general election to Republican David McKinley Two Republicans lost renomination. Both seats remained Republican. : Parker Griffith (first elected in 2008 as a Democrat; switched parties in 2009) lost to Mo Brooks, : Bob Inglis lost to Trey Gowdy Fifty-four incumbents lost re-election; almost all of them were Democrats. 52 Democrats lost re-election. , Bobby Bright lost to Martha Roby, , Ann Kirkpatrick lost to Paul Gosar, , Harry Mitchell lost to David Schweikert, , John Salazar lost to Scott Tipton, , Betsy Markey lost to Cory Gardner, , Allen Boyd lost to Steve Southerland, , Alan Grayson lost to Daniel Webster, , Ron Klein lost to Allen West, , Suzanne Kosmas lost to Sandy Adams, , Jim Marshall lost to Austin Scott, , Walt Minnick lost to Raúl Labrador, , Melissa Bean lost to Joe Walsh, , Debbie Halvorson lost to Adam Kinzinger, , Bill Foster lost to Randy Hultgren, , Phil Hare lost to Bobby Schilling, , Baron Hill (originally elected in 1998) lost to Todd Young, , Frank Kratovil lost to Andrew P. Harris, , Mark Schauer lost to Tim Walberg, , Jim Oberstar lost to Chip Cravaack, , Travis Childers lost to Alan Nunnelee, , Gene Taylor lost to Steven Palazzo, , Ike Skelton lost to Vicky Hartzler, , Dina Titus lost to Joe Heck, , Carol Shea-Porter lost to Frank Guinta, , John Adler lost to Jon Runyan, , Harry Teague lost to Steve Pearce, , Michael McMahon lost to Michael Grimm, , John Hall lost to Nan Hayworth, , Scott Murphy lost to Chris Gibson, , Mike Arcuri lost to Richard L. Hanna, , Dan Maffei lost to Ann Marie Buerkle, , Bob Etheridge lost to Renee Ellmers, , Earl Pomeroy lost to Rick Berg, , Steve Driehaus lost to Steve Chabot, , Charlie Wilson lost to Bill Johnson, , Mary Jo Kilroy lost to Steve Stivers, , John Boccieri lost to Jim Renacci, , Zack Space lost to Bob Gibbs, , Kathy Dahlkemper lost to Mike Kelly, , Patrick Murphy lost to Mike Fitzpatrick, , Chris Carney lost to Tom Marino, , Paul E. Kanjorski lost to Lou Barletta, , John Spratt lost to Mick Mulvaney, , Stephanie Herseth Sandlin lost to Kristi Noem, , Lincoln Davis lost to Scott DesJarlais, , Chet Edwards lost to Bill Flores, , Ciro Rodriguez (originally elected in 1996) lost to Quico Canseco, , Solomon P. Ortiz lost to Blake Farenthold, , Glenn Nye lost to Scott Rigell, , Tom Perriello lost to Robert Hurt, , Rick Boucher lost to Morgan Griffith, , Steve Kagen lost to Reid Ribble Two Republicans lost re-election. , Charles Djou lost to Colleen Hanabusa, , Joseph Cao lost to Cedric Richmond Fourteen open seats, held by Democrats, were won by Republicans. One open seat, held by a Republican, was won by a Democrat. These were predictions of the outcome of the 2010 United States House of Representatives elections. RealClearPolitics., As of November 2, 2010, RCP projected the Republicans would take 224 seats, the Democrats would take 167, and 44 races were toss-ups., Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight (New York Times), As of November 2, 2010, Nate Silver's prediction model projected the Republicans would win (on average) 232.2 seats, and the Democrats would win 202.8., Patrick Ishmael, Hot Air.com, Ishmael predicted on October 31, 2010, that Republicans would win a net of 63 seats, +/- 3 seats. Rasmussen Reports cited Ishmael's calls in its election preview. The week before, Ishmael predicted a net Republican pickup of 62–65 seats., Crystal Ball, As of November 1, 2010, Larry Sabato predicted, "If the election were held today: + 55 Republican House seats"., Charlie Cook, On October 26, 2010, The Cook Political Report raised its House forecast to "a Democratic net loss of 48 to 60 seats, with higher losses possible.", In a February 2010 interview with National Journal, he said that "it's very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don't lose the House. It's very hard.", Rasmussen Reports, On November 1, 2010, Scott Rasmussen predicted the Democrats "will likely lose 55 or more seats in the House.", Rothenberg Political Report., On October 28, 2010, Rothenberg Political Report predicted "Likely Republican gain of 55–65 seats, with gains at or above 70 seats possible.", In April 2010, Stuart Rothenberg wrote on his blog that "…the atmospherics remain strongly behind the GOP, and major Republican House gains are extremely likely" and that "it's clear that the battleground is almost entirely on Democratic soil. Obviously, control of the House is at risk.", Congressional Quarterly., In October 2010, Congressional Quarterly projected the Democrats would take 195 seats, the Republicans 199, and they considered 41 races too close to call., In July 2010, Congressional Quarterly projected the Democrats would take 205 seats, the Republicans 190, and they considered 40 races too close to call. The following table contains the final ratings of the competitiveness of selected races according to noted political analysts. Races which were considered safe for the incumbent's party are not included. Incumbents who did not run for re-election have parentheses around their name. Democrat Eric Massa resigned on March 8, 2010. A special election for the remainder of his term in the 111th Congress was held on the same day as the general election, which Reed won. The House of Representatives includes five Delegates from the District of Columbia and outlying territories elected to two-year terms and one Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico elected to a four-year term (for which the last election was held in 2008, so the seat was not up for reelection in 2010). These delegates are not allowed to vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. 2010 United States elections, 2010 United States gubernatorial elections, 2010 United States Senate elections, 111th United States Congress, 112th United States Congress Abramson, Paul R. John H Aldrich and David W Rohde, Change and Continuity in the 2008 and 2010 Elections (2011), Bullock, Charles S., III et al. Key States, High Stakes: Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Elections (2011) excerpt and text search Candidates for U.S. Congress at Project Vote Smart, U.S. House of Representatives from OurCampaigns.com, Congressional Races in 2010 from Open Secrets (campaign contributions), 2010 National Congressional Ballot from Pollster.com, Election 2010: House of Representatives Election from Rasmussen Reports, Battle for the House from Real Clear Politics, House Races in 2010 from CQ Politics, A Look at 2010 Congressional Races at C-SPAN, ongoing video blog The 2006 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 in the middle of Republican President George W. Bush's second term. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1994 elections. In the Senate, Democrats won a net gain of six seats to take a narrow majority in that chamber. Democrats picked up 31 seats in the House of Representatives, and after the election Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. In the gubernatorial elections, Democrats won a net gain of six seats. Nationwide, Republicans failed to win any congressional or gubernatorial seat that was held by a Democrat going into the election. Reasons for the Democratic Party takeover include the decline of the public image of George W. Bush, the dissatisfaction of his administration's handling of both Hurricane Katrina and the War in Iraq, the beginning of the collapse of the United States housing bubble, Bush's legislative defeat regarding Social Security Privatization, the Republican-controlled Congress's unprecedented and unpopular involvement in the Terri Schiavo case and a series of scandals in 2006 involving Republican politicians. In March 2003, President George W. Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, a state which the Bush administration claimed was linked to the September 11 attacks in 2001, and claimed was producing weapons of mass destruction. That May, just two months after the initial invasion, Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. In the following months, insurgents began resisting the American occupation. Additionally, religious tensions between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims, tensions which had been suppressed under the grip of the Hussein regime, began to result in violence. By the end of 2003, despite the war being initially popular, the post-war occupation was losing support from the American public. A November 2003 Gallup poll showed that Bush's job approval rating had fallen to 50% from a high of 71% at the outset of the war. The next year, Bush won reelection over Democratic nominee Senator John Kerry with less than 51% of the popular vote and 286 electoral votes (only 16 votes ahead of the 270 votes needed.), the smallest winning margin for an incumbent president since Woodrow Wilson in the 1916 Presidential Election. It was, however, the first time since 1988 that a winner garnered a popular majority. Terrorism and the war in Iraq dominated the election, with domestic issues taking a secondary role. Bush began his second term with a continuation of the occupation and a push to overhaul Social Security with his privatization plan. Both policies proved unpopular, and violence in Iraq continued to increase. Compounding the unpopularity of the war was that no weapons of mass destruction were found. August 2005 was the last time any major public opinion poll recorded majority approval of Bush's job. Negative perceptions of Bush following the slow governmental response to Hurricane Katrina further weighed on his popularity. Simultaneously, the Republican- controlled 109th Congress's popularity was declining as well. A series of notable congressional scandals also took place in Washington, D.C., including the ongoing Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as well as the Mark Foley scandal and the Cunningham scandal, both in October 2006. Throughout 2006, sectarian violence was ongoing in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq; many claimed that the conflict was evolving into a civil war. President Bush's job approval rarely rose above 40%. Perceptions of Congress and Republicans in general remained highly negative. Additionally, the Congress had a smaller than average list of major accomplishments (considering that the Party in charge of both the House and Senate also had control of the White House) and was not in session for a larger than average number of days, allowing Democrats and others to characterize it as a "Do-Nothing" congress and blame the Republican leadership for the lack of progress. The Democratic Party won a majority of the state governorships and the U.S. House and Senate seats each for the first time since 1994, an election-year commonly known as the "Republican Revolution." For the first time since the creation of the Republican party in 1854, no Republican captured any House, Senate, or Gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat. Democrats took a 233–202 advantage in the House of Representatives, and achieved a 49–49 tie in the United States Senate. The Senate figure is sometimes quoted in the media as 51-49, which includes two members who ran as independent candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, who promised to caucus with the Democrats. The final Senate result was decided when Democrat Jim Webb was declared the winner in Virginia against incumbent George Allen, as reported by the Associated Press. On November 9, 2006, Allen and fellow Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana both conceded defeat, ceding effective control of the Senate to the Democrats. The election made Nancy Pelosi (D-California) the first-ever female, first-ever Italian-American, and first-ever Californian Speaker of the House and Harry Reid (D-Nevada) the first Mormon Senate Majority Leader. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) became the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) became the first Buddhists in a United States governing body. Although seven states banned recognition of same-sex marriage, Arizona became the first state to reject such a ballot initiative. South Dakota rejected a ban on abortion under almost any circumstances, which was intended to overturn federal constitutional abortion-rights nationwide by setting up a strong test case that proponents hoped would lead to the overruling of Roe v. Wade. Some of the Republican House and Senate seats lost by the Republicans belonged to members of the Republican Revolution of 1994. Senators Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Representatives Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, John Hostettler of Indiana, Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota, and J. D. Hayworth of Arizona all won previously Democratic seats in 1994 elections and were defeated in 2006. Representative Sue Kelly of New York, also first elected in 1994, was defeated as well. The Democrats also won back the Kansas 2nd and Ohio 18th, both of which they had lost in 1994. The Democratic Party also claimed a majority of state governorships in the 2006 elections, gaining control of Republican-held governorships in New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arkansas, Maryland and Ohio, to give the party a 28–22 advantage in governorships. Scandals, including the Mark Foley congressional page scandal, the Jack Abramoff scandal, and various allegations of marital infidelity and abuse doomed certain candidates, especially incumbents in PA-10 and NY-20, which hosted one of the most negative campaigns in the country. Virginia Senator George Allen, a potential Republican 2008 Presidential candidate, saw his chances for reelection disappear when he was caught on video using a racial slur to describe a young Indian-American who worked for his opponent's campaign. Democrats won control of Congress for the first time since the 1994 election, which is commonly known as the "Republican Revolution." For the first time since the creation of the Republican party in 1854, no Republican captured any House, Senate, or Gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat. The 33 seats in the United States Senate Class 1 were up for election. The Democrats gained six Senate seats by defeating Republican Senators in the states of Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. Including Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, two independents who caucused with the Democrats, Democrats won a 51-to-49 majority in the Senate. All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. The Democrats won the national popular vote by a margin of eight percentage points and gained thirty-one seats from the Republicans. The election made Nancy Pelosi (D-California) the first-ever female, first-ever Italian-American, and first-ever Californian Speaker of the House Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) became the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) became the first Buddhists in a United States governing body. Of the 50 United States governors, 36 were up for election. Twenty two of those contested seats were held by Republicans, and the remaining 14 were held by Democrats. Of the 36 state governorships up for election, ten were open due to retirement, term limits, or primary loss. Democrats won open Republican- held seats in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Arkansas and Colorado, in addition to defeating incumbent Bob Ehrlich in Maryland and holding their sole open seat in Iowa. As a result of the 2006 gubernatorial elections, there are now 28 Democratic governors and 22 Republican governors, a reversal of the numbers held by the respective parties prior to the elections. Additionally, governorships were up for election in the U.S. territories of Guam, held by a Republican, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the Democratic governor was retiring. In each location, the incumbent party maintained control of the governorship. Nearly all state legislatures were up for election. Prior to the general elections, with the exception of the nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, 21 legislatures were controlled by Republicans, 19 by Democrats, and nine were split legislatures (where each house is controlled by a different party). As a result of the 2006 elections, 23 legislatures were carried by Democrats, 17 by Republicans, and 9 legislatures were split. In all, Republicans lost, and Democrats gained, more than 300 state legislative seats. Democrats gained control of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the Minnesota Legislature, the Iowa General Assembly and the New Hampshire General Court. In New Hampshire's case, both houses of the legislature flipped from the Republicans to the Democrats. The Republicans, meanwhile, did not gain control of any state legislature. Instead, state Republicans lost their majorities in the Wisconsin Senate, the Michigan House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and the Indiana House of Representatives, turning those legislatures into split bodies. Conversely, Republicans gained control of 2 state houses – the Montana House of Representatives changed from a 50–50 split to a 50-49-1 split, with the lone Constitution Party representative voting for Republican control of that body. Also, the election produced a 26–26 split in the Mississippi Senate, previously under a Democratic majority, with the tie- breaking vote coming from Republican Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck. Democrats gained or retained control of the state legislatures and governorships of 15 states, thus creating unified government in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia, although the governorship of Louisiana reverted to the Republicans with the October 2007 election of Bobby Jindal. Republicans now control ten state governments, these being, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. Democrats won a veto-proof supermajority in both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly, with Democrats holding a commanding 131–56 majority. The most dramatic change in party control occurred with the New Hampshire General Court, where Republicans held a 92-seat majority in the lower House and an eight-seat majority in the upper Senate prior to the election. By the end of the evening, Republicans were down 81 seats in the House and five in the Senate, giving control of the General Court to the Democrats. This coincided with the landslide reelection of Democratic Governor John Lynch, the takeover of both of New Hampshire's U.S. House seats by Democrats, and New Hampshire's unique Executive Council gaining a Democratic majority. Third parties received largely mixed results in the 2006 elections. In the Maine House of Representatives, Green State Representative John Eder was narrowly defeated by Democratic rival Jon Hinck in a bitterly contested campaign over Portland's 118th District. Eder's loss deprived the U.S. Green movement's highest elected position in any state office. In the Vermont House of Representatives, the Vermont Progressive Party successfully maintained its six seats within the chamber. The Vermont Progressive Party has in recent years become one of the most consistently successful third parties in the U.S. to be elected to higher office. In Illinois, out of seemingly dissatisfaction of both the candidacies of Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich and Republican candidate Judy Baar Topinka resulted in 10% of the electorate voting for the Green Party candidate Rich Whitney, an accomplishment by all means considering Whitney did not campaign on television or radio. In Montana, Rick Jore made history becoming the first candidate of the right-wing Constitution Party to be elected to a state legislature, elected to the 12th District in the Montana House of Representatives. Jore initially won in 2004 by three votes, only to see the courts throw out enough ballots to give the Democrat the victory. In the 2006 elections, Jore won convincingly, garnering 56.2% of the vote. However, the Montana Constitution Party is no longer chartered under the national party, denying the United States Constitution Party the claim of holding a higher office. Neither the Libertarian nor the Reform Parties gained any state legislative seats. Voters weighed in on various ballot initiatives. These included: In a hotly contested referendum that inspired a widely publicized feud between conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and actor Michael J. Fox, Missouri voters narrowly passed an initiative to allow funding for embryonic stem cell research. The presence of the referendum on the ballot may also have aided Democrat Claire McCaskill in her victory over incumbent senator Jim Talent, who had opposed the measure., An amendment to the Missouri Constitution that would have levied a Tobacco Tax was defeated 51 to 48., Raising the minimum wage, which passed in all six states with such referenda (AZ, CO, MO, MT, NV, OH), In Washington an initiative to repeal the estate tax failed. State constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage are passed in seven out of eight states: Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, with Arizona voting against the proposition that would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, the first state in the nation to do so. The measures in Colorado and Tennessee bans same-sex marriage only, while Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions and Virginia bans granting any benefits whatsoever to same-sex couples., Colorado voters narrowly rejected an amendment to establish domestic partnerships by a margin of 53% to 47%., Legalizing cannabis, failing in both states with such referenda for use for unconditional reasons (Colorado, Nevada) as well as for medical use only (South Dakota), Restricting affirmative action, passing in Michigan, Requiring parental notification before an abortion for minors, failing in both states with such referenda (California, Oregon), Banning nearly all abortions, including those for victims of rape and incest, which failed in South Dakota, Instant-runoff voting, which passed in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, A referendum to ease restrictions on wine sales in Massachusetts, which failed., Rhode Island voters approved a constitutional amendment to reextend the franchise to former criminals following their release, effectively enfranchising individuals on parole or probation., In California, voters endorsed a $37 billion package of bonds (Propositions 1A through 1E) to pay for transportation projects, housing, levee repairs and other infrastructure—said to be the largest program of its kind in U.S. history. Numerous other elections for local, city, and county public offices were held. An unusual local election occurred in South Dakota; Marie Steichen was elected to Jerauld County Commissioner, despite the fact that she died two months before the election. Her name was never replaced on the ballot, and voters who chose her were aware of her death. In Richmond, California, a city of more than 100,000 residents, the Green Party challenger, City Councilperson Gayle McLaughlin, unseated Democratic incumbent Irma Anderson and will now become the first Green Party Mayor of a city of that size. Two candidates in Nevada's branch of the Constitution Party, called the Independent American Party (Nevada), were also elected to office. Jackie Berg was elected Eureka County Clerk with 54.1% of the vote, easily topping Republican and Libertarian opposition. Also, Cel Ochoa will be the new Constable in Searchlight, Nevada by virtue of winning 54.93% of the vote to defeat her Republican rival. Another Nevada Independent Party member, Bill Wilkerson, was elected to the Elko, Nevada, School Board, in a non-partisan race. In Missoula County, Montana, residents passed a measure to encourage the County Sheriff's Department to make marijuana enforcement a last priority. In Dallas County, Texas, Democrats regained control in 41 out of 42 contested GOP judgeships, as well as the district attorney's office and the county judge's seat. Beginning just after George W. Bush's reelection, political analysts point to a number of factors and events that led to the eventual Republican defeat in 2006. It is generally agreed that the single most important issue during the 2006 election was the war in Iraq, and more specifically President Bush's handling of it and the overall public weariness over it. Public opinion polling conducted during the days just before the election and the weeks just after it showed that the war in Iraq was considered the most important election issue by the largest segment of the public. Exit polling showed that relatively large majorities of voters both fell into the category of disapproving of the war or expressing the desire to withdraw troops in some type of capacity. Both brackets broke extremely heavily for Democrats. The issue of the war seemed to play a large part in the nationalization of the election, a departure from previous midterm elections, which tended to be about local, district-centric issues. The effect of this was a general nationwide advantage for Democrats, who were not seen as being as tied to the war as Republicans, led by George Bush, were. President Bush himself, seen as the leader and face of the Republican party, was a large factor in the 2006 election. Exit polls showed that a large block of the electorate had voted for Democrats or for third parties specifically because of personal opposition to or dislike for Bush. The size of the segment that said it had voted specifically to support Bush was not as large. Opposition to Bush was based on a number of factors, these not limited to opposition to his Social Security privatization plan, the slow response of his administration to Hurricane Katrina, his perceived inaction in the face of and association with rising gas prices, and as mentioned above, his continued commitment to the war. Congressional approval, which had been slightly negative since before the 2004 election, began a steady drop beginning in March 2005. Congress's unprecedented and unpopular involvement in the Terri Schiavo controversy is often pointed to as the catalyst for this drop. Congressional scandals, such as the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the sentencing of Duke Cunningham to over eight years in prison, the indictment of then House majority leader Tom DeLay, the corruption of William J. Jefferson and Bob Ney, the misconduct of Cynthia McKinney, and the Mark Foley scandal all continued to pull down congressional popularity. In the months leading up to the election, congressional approval ratings flirted with all-time historical lows. Because congress was controlled by Republicans, this high disapproval affected Republicans much more negatively than it did Democrats. Democrats were successful in portraying the congress as a lazy, greedy, egotistical and inefficient "Do-Nothing Congress.", which they contrasted with their "New Direction for America" campaign. Indeed, the congress had been in session much less than previous ones had (including those under Republican control), and numerous public opinion polls showed that large majorities believed that the congress had accomplished less than normal. This too, took a toll on Republicans (as the leaders of the government). The listed scandals were all dwarfed by the highly publicised Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September and rapidly metastasized to include the House Republican leadership. Florida Representative Mark Foley, who ironically headed the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, was found to have been making sexually lewd and highly inappropriate contacts online with male congressional pages, and it was soon found that members of the Republican leadership knew in some capacity of Foley's advances, yet took little action. The scandal allowed Democrats to adopt corruption as a campaign issue, and exit polls on election day showed that corruption remained an important issue, one that Democrats held an advantage on. In addition, many (at the time and after the fact) cited the scandal as an event that sealed the fate of the Republican congress. After the election, top Republican strategist Karl Rove specifically named the Foley scandal as the cause of the Republicans' loss of congress. The result was that on election day, many congressional seats had been touched by Republican scandals and were easier to pick up for Democrats than under normal conditions. These include but are not limited to the Montana Senate, Virginia Senate, CA-11, PA-07, PA-10, TX-22, OH-18, FL-16 and NY-20 races. Almost all of the gains made by Democrats came from large gains among independents, not Republicans. Democrats, Republicans, and independents all accounted for proportions of the electorate similar to what they did in 2004. Democrats and Republicans voted nearly as loyally for their parties in 2006 as they did in 2004, but independents exhibited a large swing towards Democrats. In 2004, independents split 49-46, slightly in favor of Democrats, but in 2006 they voted 57–39 for Democrats, a fifteen-point swing and the largest margin among independents for Democrats since the 1986 elections. There were scattered reports of problems at polling places across the country as new electronic voting systems were introduced in many states. The problems ranged from voter and election official confusion about how to use new voting machines to apparent political dirty tricks designed to keep certain voters from casting their votes to inclement voter suppressing turnout. Some reported problems: Millions of allegedly harassing and deceptive "robo-calls" were reported or placed in at least 53 house districts. The vast majority of the calls were reported to begin with the message "Hello, I'm calling with information about (Democratic candidate)" and continue with a negative message concerning the candidate. Regulatory statements concerning the sponsor of the message (usually the NRCC) allegedly did not come until after the message, instead of before, as the FCC mandates. Citizens reported receiving calls several times an hour and as late as 2:30 AM, and many held the mistaken belief that the calls were from Democratic campaigns., Massive undervoting in several Florida counties, likely caused by bad ballot design. An analysis from the Orlando Sentinel claims the undervoting swung an election to the GOP in Florida's 13th congressional district. Democratic candidate Christine Jennings brings a lawsuit to court., In Gateway, Arkansas, an 80% turnout was recorded, including two towns where the number of votes surpassed the estimated number of voters from the previous year's census., Waldenberg, Arkansas mayoral candidate, Randy Wooten, gets no votes despite claiming he voted for himself and "at least eight or nine people who said they voted for [him].", In the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, officials could not print reports to verify that voting machines were secure and did not already have votes in them., Voting-machine problems kept polls open until 9:00 PM, an hour later than scheduled, in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania., A man in Allentown, Pennsylvania smashed an electronic voting machine with a paperweight. The votes were recovered., In a small town in Oklahoma, a power outage in a polling station was caused by a squirrel gnawing on a power cable., Officials and experts reported electronic voting machine malfunctions in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida., A bomb threat at East High School caused a voting shutdown in Madison, Wisconsin., A Kentucky poll worker was charged with choking a voter., Vandals chained the main door and broke keys into the locks of New Jersey Republican candidate for Senate Tom Kean Jr.'s headquarters. Accusations have been made towards Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez, but they deny any involvement in the situation., Disabled voters were asked by election officials in Bonneville County, Idaho to use punch card ballots., Irregularities with Diebold and other voting machines have been reported in the early elections., The Chicago Board of Elections has been running a Web site that has allowed, by a simple programming hack, the exposure of personal information of a million registered voters (fixed on October 21, 2006)., Reports from Virginia:, FBI looking into possible Virginia voter intimidation., Calls that voting will lead to arrest., Telling voters that their polling location has changed., Fliers in Buckingham county say "Skip the election", Voting machine problems., On Election day November 7, talk show host Laura Ingraham prompted listeners (audio) to jam the Democratic Voter Protection hotline where voting problems were to be reported, reminiscent of the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal., In Maryland, some voters were given sample ballots by Republican supporters that incorrectly listed Republicans Robert Ehrlich and Michael Steele as Democrats., Electronic voting machine problems in Kane County, Illinois kept the polls open until 8:30pm CST, an hour and a half later than scheduled., In western Washington, flooding from heavy rainfall interfered with the elections., In Denver, Colorado, the computer system containing the voter registration rolls slowed down and crashed on several occasions during the day causing lines that were over two hours long at some vote centers. Some vote centers ran out of provisional ballots, and sample ballots had to be used instead., Also in Denver, 44,000 absentee ballots were misprinted with the "yes" and "no" positions on a ballot issue reversed. Also, the bar code designating the ballot style was misprinted, requiring the ballots to be hand sorted which delayed results by over a week. The problem is blamed on ballot misprints by Sequoia Voting Systems. Some ballots had to be hand-copied onto other ballots before they could be counted. Many political analysts concluded that the results of the election were based around President George W. Bush's policies in the War in Iraq and corruption in Congress. At a press conference given to address the election results, President Bush called the cumulative results of the election a "thumpin'" by the Democrats. Democrats have promised an agenda that includes withdrawing from the war in Iraq, raising the minimum wage, implementing all of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, eliminating subsidies for oil companies, restricting lobbyists, repealing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, lowering interest rates on college loans, expanding stem-cell research, investigating political appointees for actions taken during and leading to the war in Iraq, allowing current tax cuts to expire, and negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices. They planned to legislate these issues within their first 100 legislative hours of power in January 2007. According to Brian Wright, president of Democrasource, LLC (an Ohio-based national political consulting group), "There's no question, the administration and Iraq set the tone for this year. This new balance of power can be a true catalyst to get the country back on track." Prior to the election in July 2006 Democrats unveiled a six-point plan they promised to enact if elected with congressional majorities. The plan was billed the "Six for 06 agenda" and officially called "A New Direction For America" and compared to the 1994 Republican "Contract with America". The six- points of the plan include: "honest leadership and open government, real security, energy independence, economic prosperity and educational excellence, a healthcare system that works for everyone, and retirement security". Real security, In regards to "real security" they propose a "phased redeployment" of U.S. forces from Iraq, doubling the size of U.S. military special forces to capture Osama Bin Laden and destroy terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, and implementing the 9/11 Commission proposals to secure the national borders of the United States and screen every container arriving at U.S. ports., Economic prosperity and educational excellence, Democratic plans for economic prosperity include ending the congressional pay raise until the federal minimum wage is raised and withholding tax breaks from U.S. companies that outsource jobs to foreign countries. Within education they plan to cut college loan rates, expand federal grants, and ensure that funds used for college tuition are not taxed., Energy independence, The Democratic plan for achieving an end to American dependence on foreign countries for oil consists of repealing tax incentives given to oil companies, higher penalties for price gouging gasoline products, increasing tax incentives and funding for the research and development of technologies intended to improve fuel-efficiency and creating viable alternative fuel supplies such as biofuels. With apparent reference to the impact of the Iraq war policy, in a press conference held on November 8, Bush talked about the election and announced the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Bush stated, "I know there's a lot of speculation on what the election means for the battle we're waging in Iraq. I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there." Prior to the election, Bush had stated that he intended to keep Rumsfeld on as Secretary of Defense until the end of his Presidency. However, Bush then went on to add Rumsfeld's resignation was not due to the Democratic victories on November 8. Rumsfeld's job reportedly had been on the line for several months prior to the election, and the decision for him to stay until after the election, if he was going to be let go at all, was also reportedly made several months earlier. All this led to his resignation. On the same day, then Speaker of the House, Representative Dennis Hastert of the 14th Congressional District of Illinois, said he would not seek the Minority Leader position for the 110th Congress. In the aftermath of the election The Weekly Standard published a number of articles highly critical of how the Republican Party had managed the United States Congress. It called the electoral defeat for the G.O.P. "only a little short" of "devastating" saying the "party of reform ... didn't reform anything" and warned that the Democratic Party has expanded its "geographical sphere of Democratic power" to formerly Republican-held states such as Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while it solidified former swing states like Illinois as Democratic strongholds. In the New England region, popular Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was defeated, despite having approval ratings near 60% and Republicans now only control a single district, the CT-04 seat held by Chris Shays, out of 22 congressional districts. The Democrats also became the clear majority in the Mid Atlantic region as well. Two Republican incumbent Congressmen were defeated in New York state and the Democrats picked up a Republican open seat, all from Republican regions upstate, and four Republican Congressmen were defeated in Pennsylvania. Democrats picked up seats in all Northeastern state legislatures holding elections, except Rhode Island, which remained unchanged (and Democrats clearly in the majority), winning a supermajority in both the Connecticut House and Senate, and winning both houses of the New Hampshire legislature for the first time since 1874. Democrats kept both vulnerable Senate seats in Maryland and New Jersey, winning them by wider margins than predicted, and they won the heavily contested Senate seats in Missouri and Virginia. The Democratic expansion into Indiana, Virginia and Ohio has "seriously diminished the chances for future Republican success" it claimed. The paper, which has been described as the "quasi-official organ of the Bush Administration" also stated that more people would have to "bendover" to get anywhere in a political office and has called on Republicans to move to the center for the sake of the party's future viability saying "conservatives won't want to hear this, but the Republican who maneuvered his way into the most impressive victory ... won ... after moving to the center" and that "the South is not enough space to build a national governing majority". The government of the People's Republic of China is said to be nervous about the effect a Democrat-led Congress might have on its exports to the United States market and the possible controversy that could result because of the country's human rights record. Nancy Pelosi, who became the Speaker of the House, is a noted critic of Chinese policy. Concerns likely to be raised include the undervalued Chinese currency, blamed by some for the recent losses in the American manufacturing industry, and issues such as internet censorship, piracy, limited market access within China itself for companies based in the U.S., and religious freedom. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu stated that she hoped the United States would play a "constructive role" in maintaining "sound, healthy and stable relations between China and the U.S.". Belgian Minister of Defence André Flahaut expressed his approval of Rumsfeld's resignation. He said Rumsfeld was "obstinate", and he hoped that the elections would bring upon a change in the United States' foreign policy., Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he hoped that President Bush and the newly elected Congress could find common ground and resolve issues regarding the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. Rasmussen also said Denmark would keep its troops in Iraq and neither the election nor the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld would change government foreign policies., France's Minister of Defence Michele Alliot-Marie said that her American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, had "taken the consequences" of an election in which voters punished the government over the war in Iraq. The former Socialist Prime Minister of France, Laurent Fabius, was quoted as saying, ""A lot of Americans have realised that Mr. Bush has lied to them.", The German Foreign Office's coordinator for German-American cooperation, Karsten D. Voigt, said that he believed that the Democrat-controlled Congress will be more cooperative with the world, but he expects that Europeans will have to carry more influence on such foreign issues of importance, such as the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and the nuclear weapon programs of North Korea and Iran. Voigt further stated that Europe needed to develop a stronger relationship with the United States, especially with newly elected Congressional politicians. Voigt went on to say that doing so would help "better convey European positions on major international issues and make concerted efforts to find constructive political solutions for the future.", Labour Party Member of Parliament John McDonnell, a critic of United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, said, "the message of the American people is clear – there needs to be a major change of direction in Iraq. Just as in Britain, people in the U.S. feel that they have been ill advised, misled and ignored." McDonnell, who became the first Labour Party MP to announce that he would stand for leadership in 2007, also said, "These election results have not only damaged Bush, they mean that Blair is now totally isolated in the international community.", Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi, believed that it was Bush's Iraq policy that had led to the complete turnover in the elections. He said that Bush would "have to negotiate with the opposition on all issues.", The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party responded to the elections stating that they hoped the elections "would help to change the course of U.S. foreign policy." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran. "This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world", Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday. "Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation." "The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration", the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying., In a letter to the American people released on Wednesday, November 29, 2006, via Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote: Jacobson, Gary C. A Divider, Not a Uniter: George W. Bush and the American People: The 2006 Election and Beyond (Longman Publishing Group, 2008) E-voting state by state: What you need to know, Computerworld, 1 November 2006, Election coverage on the Tavis Smiley show, U.S. Midterm Election News Coverage – Comprehensive news coverage of all election campaigns and candidates, BSRS Newsservice Coverage of US Midterm Elections – Humorous coverage of the all national and statewide races in the 2006 midterm elections, United States Election 2006 Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's first term. Republicans ended unified Democratic control of Congress and the presidency by winning a majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans picked up seven Senate seats (including a special election held in January 2010) but failed to gain a majority in the chamber. In the House of Representatives, Republicans won a net gain of 63 seats, the largest shift in seats since the 1948 elections. In state elections, Republicans won a net gain of six gubernatorial seats and flipped control of twenty state legislative chambers, giving them a substantial advantage in the redistricting that occurred following the 2010 United States Census. Candidates and voters in 2010 focused on national economic conditions and the economic policies of the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats. Attention was paid to public anger over the Wall Street bailout signed into law by President George W. Bush in late 2008. Voters were also motivated for and against the sweeping reforms of the health care system enacted by Democrats in 2010, as well as concerns over tax rates and record deficits. At the time of the election, unemployment was over 9%, and had not declined significantly since Barack Obama had become President. Further eroding public trust in Congress were a series of scandals that saw Democratic Representatives Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, as well as Republican Senator John Ensign, all accused of unethical and/or illegal conduct in the months leading up to the 2010 election. The fiscally-focused and quasi- libertarian Tea Party movement was a vocal force in mobilizing voters for Republican candidates nationwide. Their widespread exposure in the media contributed to the election's focus on economic, rather than social, issues. In the opinion of Fox News political analyst Dick Morris, a "fundamental change" occurred in which social issues did not dominate Republican activism in 2010, because "economic and fiscal issues prevail. The Tea Party has made the Republican Party safe for libertarians." Immigration reform had become an important issue in 2010, particularly following the passage of Arizona Senate Bill 1070, officially known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The Act greatly enhanced the power of Arizona's law enforcement agencies to investigate the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants and to enforce state and national immigration laws. The Act also required immigrants to carry their immigration documentation on their person at all times. Its passage by a Republican-led legislature and its subsequent and very public signing by Jan Brewer, the Republican Governor of Arizona, ignited protests across the Southwest and galvanized political opinion among both pro-immigration Latino groups and Tea Party activists, many of whom supported stronger measures to stem illegal immigration. The passage of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also contributed to the low approval ratings of Congress, particularly Democrats, in the months leading up to the election. Many Republicans ran on a promise to repeal the law, and beat incumbent Democratic opponents who had voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. On January 19, 2010, a special election was also held for the Class I seat in Massachusetts, as a result of the death of incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy. Republican Scott Brown won the seat. The 34 seats in the United States Senate Class III were up for election. In addition, the Class I/II seats held by appointed Senators Ted Kaufman of Delaware, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Carte Goodwin of West Virginia were contested in special elections on the same day. Republicans picked up six seats, but Democrats retained a majority in the Senate. All 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Additionally, elections were held to select the delegates for the District of Columbia and four of the five U.S. territories. The only seat in the House not up for election was that of the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, who serves a four-year term and faced election in 2012. Republicans won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 6.8 points and picked up 63 seats, taking control of the chamber for the first time since the 2006 elections. This represented the largest single-election shift in House seats since the 1948 elections and the largest midterm election shift since the 1938 elections. 37 state and two territory United States governors were up for election. Republicans picked up a net of six state governorships; Democrats won control of five governorships previously controlled by Republicans, but Republicans took 11 governorships. In many states where the following positions are elected offices, voters elected state executive branch offices (including Lieutenant Governors (though some will be voted for on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee), Secretary of state, state Treasurer, state Auditor, state Attorney General, state Superintendent of Education, Commissioners of Insurance, Agriculture or, Labor, etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats on state Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts). All states except Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia held elections for their state legislatures. Republicans made substantial gains in state legislatures across the nation. Twenty chambers flipped from Democratic to Republican control, giving Republicans full control of eleven state legislatures and control of one chamber in Colorado, Iowa and New York. Additionally, Republicans gained enough seats in the Oregon House to produce a 30-30 party split, pushing Democrats into a power-sharing agreement that resulted in the election of two "co-speakers" (one from each party) to lead the chamber. Republicans gained a total of 680 seats in state legislative races, breaking the previous record of 628 flipped seats set by Democrats in the post-Watergate elections of 1974. Six states saw both chambers switch from Democrat to Republican majorities: Alabama (where the Republicans won a majority for the first time in 136 years), Maine (for the first time since 1964), Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina (for the first time since 1896), and Wisconsin. In addition, by picking up the lower chambers in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Montana and Pennsylvania, Republicans gained control of both chambers in an additional five states. Further, Republicans picked up one chamber from Democrats in Colorado, Iowa, and New York to split control in those states. They expanded majorities in both chambers in Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The massive Republican victories in legislative races would be widely expected to have a major impact on the redrawing of Congressional districts for the 2012 election cycle. One of the few bright spots for Democrats was retaining their majorities in both the California and Illinois legislatures. Note: Prior to the 2010 election, the 100 seats in the Montana House of Representatives were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but the Democratic Party controlled the chamber by virtue of holding the governor's office. On November 2, 2010, various cities, counties, school boards, and special districts (in the United States) witnessed elections. Some elections were high-profile. Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: The voters of Luzerne County adopted a home rule charter by a margin of 51,413 to 41,639. This move abolished the previous county board of commissioners. The following year (in 2011), the first general election for the new assembly was held. The first council members were sworn in on January 2, 2012. High-profile mayoral elections are listed below: Honolulu, Hawaii: Incumbent mayor Mufi Hannemann resigned on July 20, 2010, to run for Governor of Hawaii. The city's Managing Director Kirk Caldwell served as acting mayor until Peter Carlisle was elected in a special election on September 18., Louisville, Kentucky: Incumbent mayor Jerry Abramson declined to run for a third consecutive term in order to run for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 2011. Greg Fischer was elected as the successor., New Orleans, Louisiana: Incumbent mayor Ray Nagin was term-limited out of office. Mitch Landrieu was elected as the new mayor on February 6., Washington, D.C: Incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty was defeated in the Democratic primary by Vincent C. Gray, who then went on to win the general election. Approximately 82.5 million people voted. Turnout increased relative to the last U.S. midterm elections without any significant shift in voters' political identification. Bold indicates a change in control. Note that not all states held gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2010. Abramson, Paul et al. Change and Continuity in the 2008 and 2010 Elections (2011), Bullock, Charles S., et al. Key States, High Stakes: Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Elections (2011), Jacobson, Gary C. "The Republican resurgence in 2010." Political Science Quarterly (2011) 126#1 pp: 27-52. online, Sabato, Larry. Who Got in the Booth? A Look Back at the 2010 Elections (2011) 2010 Midterm Election Debates on C-SPAN, Wesleyan Media Project: 2010 Political Advertising Analysis at Wesleyan University National newspapers Elections 2010 at The New York Times, Campaign 2010 at The Washington Post National radio Election 2010 at NPR National TV 2010 Election at ABC News, Campaign 2010 on C-SPAN, Campaign 2010 at CBS News, Election Center at CNN, Elections at Fox News, Decision 2010 at MSNBC

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National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, and Donald Sutherland. The film is about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the authority of the dean of Faber College. The film was produced by Matty Simmons of National Lampoon and Ivan Reitman for Universal Pictures. It was inspired by stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon. The stories were based on Ramis's experience in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis, Miller's Alpha Delta Phi experiences at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and producer Reitman's at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Of the younger lead actors, only the 28-year-old Belushi was an established star, but even he had not yet appeared in a film, having gained fame mainly from his television appearances on Saturday Night Live, which was starting its third season in autumn 1977. Several of the actors who were cast as college students, including Hulce, Karen Allen, and Kevin Bacon, were just beginning their film careers, although Matheson had appeared as one of the vigilante cops in the second Dirty Harry film, Magnum Force, and had voiced the title character in Jonny Quest. Upon its initial release, Animal House received generally mixed reviews from critics, but Time and Roger Ebert proclaimed it one of the year's best. Filmed for only $2.8 million, it garnered an estimated gross of more than $142 million in the form of theatrical rentals and home video, not including merchandising, making it the highest grossing comedy film of its time. The film, along with 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie, also directed by Landis, was largely responsible for defining and launching the gross out film genre, which became one of Hollywood's staples. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed Animal House "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was No. 1 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". It was No. 36 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list of the 100 best American comedies. In 2008, Empire magazine selected it as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time." In 1962, Faber College freshmen Lawrence "Larry" Kroger and Kent Dorfman seek to join a fraternity. Finding themselves out of place at the prestigious Omega Theta Pi house's party, they visit the slovenly Delta Tau Chi house next door, where Kent is a "legacy": he cannot be rejected, because his older brother Fred was a member. John "Bluto" Blutarsky welcomes them (claiming they "need the dues"), and they meet other Deltas, including motorcyclist Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day, chapter president Robert Hoover, ladies' man Eric "Otter" Stratton, and Otter's best friend Donald "Boon" Schoenstein, whose girlfriend Katy is constantly pressuring him to stop drinking with the Deltas and do something with his life. Larry and Kent are invited to pledge and given the fraternity names "Pinto" and "Flounder" respectively, by Bluto, Delta's sergeant-at-arms. College Dean Vernon Wormer wants to remove the Deltas, who are already on probation, so he invokes his emergency authority and places the fraternity on "double-secret probation" due to various campus conduct violations and their abysmal academic standing. He directs the clean-cut, smug Omega president Greg Marmalard to find a way for him to remove the Deltas from campus. Various incidents further increase the Dean's and the Omegas' animosity toward the Deltas, including the prank-related accidental death of a horse belonging to Omega member and Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadet commander Douglas C. Neidermeyer and Otter flirting with Marmalard's girlfriend Mandy. Bluto and D-Day steal the answers to an upcoming test from the trash, not realizing that the Omegas have switched papers for the exam. The Deltas fail the exam, and their grade-point averages fall so low that Wormer tells them he needs only one more incident to revoke their charter. To cheer themselves up, the Deltas organize a toga party and bring in Otis Day and the Knights to provide live music. Wormer's wife, Marion attends at Otter's invitation and has sex with him. Pinto hooks up with Clorette, a cashier he meets at the supermarket. They make out, but do not have sex because she passes out drunk. Pinto takes her home in a shopping cart and learns that she is the mayor's daughter. Outraged by his wife's escapades and the mayor's threat of personal violence, Wormer organizes a court hearing and revokes Delta's charter. To take their minds off their troubles, Otter, Boon, Flounder, and Pinto go on a road trip. Otter picks up four young women from Emily Dickinson College as dates for himself and his Delta brothers by posing as Frank Lymon, the fiancé of a college student who died in a recent explosion. They stop at a roadhouse bar where Day's band is performing, not realizing it has an exclusively African-American clientele. A couple of hulking patrons intimidate the Deltas and they quickly leave, smashing up Flounder's brother's car in their haste and leaving their dates behind. Marmalard and other Omegas lure Otter to a motel and beat him up after Mandy's best friend Babs tells him that Mandy and Otter are having an affair. (Babs does this because she wants Marmalard for herself; although it is true that Otter has slept with Mandy, they are in fact no longer seeing each other, and during his earlier attempts at flirting with her, Mandy in fact shocked Otter by telling him "it wasn't that great.") The Deltas' midterm grades are so poor that an ecstatic Wormer expels them all, having already notified their local draft boards that they are now eligible for military service. The news shocks Flounder so badly that he vomits on Wormer. The Deltas are despondent, but Bluto rallies them with an impassioned, if historically inaccurate, speech ("Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"). They decide to get revenge on Wormer, the Omegas, and the college. D-Day converts Flounder's brother's damaged car into an armored vehicle and they hide it inside a cake- shaped breakaway float and sneak into the annual homecoming parade. As they wreak havoc on the event, the futures of several of the student main characters are revealed using freeze-frame labels. Most of the Deltas become respectable professionals (with Bluto marrying Mandy and becoming a senator), while the Omegas suffer less fortunate outcomes. John Belushi as John "Bluto" Blutarsky, Tim Matheson as Eric "Otter" Stratton, Peter Riegert as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein, Tom Hulce as Lawrence "Pinto" Kroger, Stephen Furst as Kent "Flounder" Dorfman, Bruce McGill as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day, James Widdoes as Robert Hoover, Douglas Kenney as "Stork", James Daughton as Gregory "Greg" Marmalard, Mark Metcalf as Douglas C. Neidermeyer, Kevin Bacon as Chip Diller, John Vernon as Dean Vernon Wormer, Verna Bloom as Marion Wormer, Donald Sutherland as Professor Dave Jennings, Karen Allen as Katy, Sarah Holcomb as Clorette DePasto, DeWayne Jessie as Otis Day, Mary Louise Weller as Mandy Pepperidge, Martha Smith as Barbara Sue "Babs" Jansen, Cesare Danova as Mayor Carmine DePasto Animal House was the first film produced by National Lampoon, the most popular humor magazine on college campuses in the mid-1970s. The periodical specialized in satirizing politics and popular culture. Many of the magazine's writers were recent college graduates, hence its appeal to students all over the country. Doug Kenney was a Lampoon writer and the magazine's first editor- in-chief. He graduated from Harvard University in 1969 and had a college experience closer to the Omegas in the film (he had been president of the university's elite Spee Club). Kenney was responsible for the first appearances of three characters that would appear in the film, Larry Kroger, Mandy Pepperidge, and Vernon Wormer. They made their debut in 1973's National Lampoon's High School Yearbook, a satire of a Middle America 1964 high school yearbook. Kroger's and Pepperidge's characters in the yearbook were effectively the same as their characters in the movie, whereas Vernon Wormer was a P. E. and civics teacher as well as an athletic coach in the yearbook. However, Kenney felt that fellow Lampoon writer Chris Miller was the magazine's expert on the college experience. Faced with an impending deadline, Miller submitted a chapter from his then-abandoned memoirs entitled "The Night of the Seven Fires" about pledging experiences from his fraternity days in Alpha Delta (associated with the national Alpha Delta Phi during Miller's undergraduate years, the fraternity subsequently disassociated itself from the national organization and is now called Alpha Delta) at the Ivy League's Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. The antics of his fellow fraternities, coupled with experiences like that of a road trip to University of Wisconsin-Madison and its Delta Chi Fraternity, became the inspiration for the Delta Tau Chis of Animal House and many characters in the film (and their nicknames) were based on Miller's fraternity brothers. Filmmaker Ivan Reitman had just finished producing David Cronenberg's first film, Shivers, and called the magazine's publisher Matty Simmons about making movies under the Lampoon banner. Reitman had put together The National Lampoon Show in New York City featuring several future Saturday Night Live cast members, including John Belushi. When most of the Lampoon group moved on to SNL except for Harold Ramis, Reitman approached him with an idea to make a film together using some skits from the Lampoon Show. Kenney met Lampoon writer Ramis at the suggestion of Simmons. Ramis drew from his own fraternity experiences as a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis and was working on a film treatment about college called "Freshman Year", but the magazine's editors were not happy with it. Kenney and Ramis started working on a new film treatment together, positing Charles Manson in a high school, calling it Laser Orgy Girls. Simmons was cool to this idea so they changed the setting to a "northeastern college ... Ivy League kind of school". Kenney was a fan of Miller's fraternity stories and suggested using them as a basis for a movie. Kenney, Miller and Ramis began brainstorming ideas. They saw the film's 1962 setting as "the last innocent year ... of America", and the homecoming parade that ends the film as occurring on November 21, 1963, the day before President Kennedy's assassination. They agreed that Belushi should star in it and Ramis wrote the part of Bluto specifically for the comedian, having been friends with him while at Chicago's The Second City. The writers were new to screenwriting, so their film treatment ran to 110-pages; the average was 15 pages. Reitman and Simmons pitched it to various Hollywood studios. Simmons met with Ned Tanen, an executive at Universal Studios. He was encouraged by younger executives Sean Daniel and Thom Mount who were more receptive to the Lampoon type of humor; Mount had discovered the "Seven Fires" film treatment as Tanen's assistant, while investigating projects left by a fired studio executive. Tanen hated the idea. Ramis remembers, "We went further than I think Universal expected or wanted. I think they were shocked and appalled. Chris' fraternity had virtually been a vomiting cult. And we had a lot of scenes that were almost orgies of vomit ... We didn't back off anything". As the writers created more drafts of the screenplay (nine in total), the studio gradually became more receptive to the project, especially Mount, who championed it. The studio green-lighted the film and set the budget at a modest $3 million. Simmons remembers, "They just figured, 'Screw it, it's a silly little movie, and we'll make a couple of bucks if we're lucky—let them do whatever they want.' Initially, Reitman had wanted to direct but had made only one film, Cannibal Girls, for $5,000. The film's producers approached Richard Lester and Bob Rafelson before considering John Landis, who got the director job based on his work on The Kentucky Fried Movie. That film's script and continuity supervisor was the girlfriend of Sean Daniel, an assistant to Mount. Daniel saw Landis' movie and recommended him. Landis then met with Mount, Reitman and Simmons and got the job. Landis remembers, "When I was given the script, it was the funniest thing I had ever read up to that time. But it was really offensive. There was a great deal of projectile vomiting and rape and all these things". Landis claims his big contribution to the film was that there "had to be good guys and bad guys. There can’t just be bad guys, so there became a good fraternity and bad fraternity". There was also friction between Landis and the writers early on because Landis was a high-school dropout from Hollywood and they were college graduates from the East Coast. Ramis remembers, "He sort of referred immediately to Animal House as 'my movie.' We'd been living with it for two years and we hated that". According to Landis, he drew inspiration from classic Hollywood comedies featuring the likes of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and the Marx Brothers. The initial cast was to feature Chevy Chase as Otter, Bill Murray as Boon, Brian Doyle-Murray as Hoover, Dan Aykroyd as D-Day, and John Belushi as Bluto, but only Belushi was interested. Chase turned the film down to do Foul Play; Landis, who wanted to cast unknown dramatic actors such as Bacon and Allen (the first film for both) instead of famous comedians, takes credit for subtly discouraging Chase by describing the cast as an "ensemble". Landis has also stated that he was not interested in directing a "Saturday Night Live movie" and that unknowns would be the better choice. The character of D-Day was based on Aykroyd, who was a motorcycle aficionado. Aykroyd was offered the part, but he was already committed to Saturday Night Live. Belushi, who had worked on The National Lampoon Radio Hour before Saturday Night Live, was also committed to SNL, but spent Monday through Wednesday making the film and then flying back to New York to do the show on Thursday through Saturday. Ramis originally wrote the role of Boon for himself, but Landis felt that he looked too old for the part and Riegert was cast instead. Landis did offer Ramis a smaller part, but he declined. Landis met with Jack Webb to play Dean Wormer and Kim Novak to play his wife. Webb reportedly turned down the role because of concerns over his clean-cut image, but later said he didn't find the script funny; he was replaced by John Vernon who Landis cast after seeing him in The Outlaw Josey Wales. Belushi initially received only $35,000 for Animal House, but was paid a bonus after the film became a hit. Landis also met with Meat Loaf in case Belushi turned down the role of Bluto. Landis worked with Belushi on his character, who "hardly had any dialogue"; they decided that Bluto was a cross between Harpo Marx and the Cookie Monster. Belushi said he developed his ability to communicate without talking because his grandmother spoke little English. Belushi was considered a supporting actor and Universal wanted another star. Landis had been a crew member on Kelly's Heroes and had become friends with actor Donald Sutherland, sometimes babysitting his son Kiefer. He had also just worked with him on Kentucky Fried Movie. Landis asked Sutherland, one of the biggest stars of the early 1970s, to be in the film. For two days of work, Sutherland declined the initial offer of $20,000 plus "points" (a percentage of the gross or net income). Universal then offered him his day rate of $25,000 or 2% of the film's gross. Sutherland took the guaranteed fee, assuming that the film would not be very successful; although this made him the highest-paid member of the cast (Neidemeyer's horse, Junior, and John Belushi each received $40,000), the decision cost Sutherland what he estimates as around $14 million. The star's participation, however, was crucial; Landis later said "It was Donald Sutherland who essentially got the film made." "Pinto" was screenwriter Chris Miller's nickname at his Dartmouth fraternity. DeWayne Jessie adopted the "Otis Day" name in his private life and continued touring with the band. The filmmakers' next problem was finding a college that would let them shoot the film on their campus. They submitted the script to a number of colleges and universities but "nobody wanted this movie" due to the script; according to Landis, "I couldn't find 'the look'. Every place that had 'the look' said, 'no thank you.'" The University of Missouri (Columbia, Missouri) was scheduled to be the college where filming was to be held, for example, but the president (Herbert W. Schooling) refused permission to film there after reading the script. The president of the University of Oregon in Eugene, William Beaty Boyd, had been a senior administrator at the University of California in Berkeley in 1966 when his campus was considered for a location of the film The Graduate. After he consulted with other senior administrative colleagues who advised him to turn it down due to the lack of artistic merit, the college campus scenes set at Berkeley were shot at USC in Los Angeles. The film went on to become a classic, and Boyd was determined not to make the same mistake twice when the producers inquired about filming at Oregon. After consulting with student government leaders and officers of the Pan Hellenic Council, the Director of University Relations advised the president that the script, although raunchy and often tasteless, was a very funny spoof of college life. Boyd even allowed the filmmakers to use his office as Dean Wormer's. The actual house depicted as the Delta House was originally a residence in Eugene, the Dr. A.W. Patterson House. Around 1959, it was acquired by the Psi Deuteron chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and was their chapter house until 1967, when the chapter was closed due to low membership. The house was sold and slid into disrepair, with the spacious porch removed and the lawn graveled over. At the time of the shooting, the Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Nu fraternity houses sat next to the old Phi Sigma Kappa house, on the 700 block of East 11th Avenue. The interior of the Phi Kappa Psi house and the Sigma Nu house were used for many of the interior scenes, but the individual rooms were filmed on a soundstage. The Patterson house was demolished in 1986, and the site () is now occupied by Northwest Christian University's school of Education and Counseling. A large boulder placed to the west of the parking entrance displays a bronze plaque commemorating the Delta House location. The concluding parade scene was filmed on Main Street in downtown Cottage Grove, about south of Eugene via Interstate 5. Filming commenced in the autumn of 1977, and Landis brought the actors who played the Deltas up five days early in order to bond. Staying at the Rodeway Inn motel in adjacent Springfield, they moved an old piano from the lobby into McGill's room, which became known as "party central." James Widdoes ("Hoover") remembers, "It was like freshman orientation. There was a lot of getting to know each other and calling each other by our character names." This tactic encouraged the actors playing the Deltas to separate themselves from the actors playing the Omegas, helping generate authentic animosity between them on camera. Belushi and his wife Judy rented a house in south Eugene in order to keep him away from alcohol and drugs; she remained in Oregon while he commuted to New York City for Saturday Night Live. Although the cast members were warned against mixing with the college students, one night, some girls invited several of the cast members to a fraternity party; assuming the invitation had been made with the knowledge of the fraternity, the actors arrived and were greeted with open hostility. It was obvious the group was not welcome, and as they were leaving, Widdoes threw a cup of beer at a group of drunk football players and a fight "like a scene from the movie" broke out. Tim Matheson, Bruce McGill, Peter Riegert, and Widdoes narrowly escaped, with McGill suffering a black eye and Widdoes getting several teeth knocked out. Other than Belushi's opening yell, the food fight was filmed in one shot, with the actors encouraged to fight for real. Flounder's groceries handling in the supermarket was another single shot; Furst deftly caught the many items Landis and Matheson threw at him, amazing the director. By filming the long courtroom scene in one day Landis won a bet with Reitman. The film's budget was so small that during the 32 days of shooting in Eugene, mostly in November, Landis had no trailer or office and could not watch dailies for three weeks. His wife Deborah Nadoolman purchased most of the costumes at local thrift stores, and she and Judy Belushi made the party togas. Landis and Bruce McGill staged a scene for reporters visiting the set where the director pretended to be angry at the actor for being difficult on the set. Landis grabbed a breakaway pitcher and smashed it over McGill's head. He fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious. The reporters were completely fooled, and when Landis asked McGill to get up, he refused to move. Black extras had to be bused in from Portland for the segment at the Dexter Lake Club () due to their scarcity around Eugene. More seriously, the segment alarmed Tanen and other studio executives, who perceived it as racist and warned that "'black people in America are going to rip the seats out of theaters if you leave that scene in the movie.'" Richard Pryor's approval helped retain the segment in the film. The studio became more enthusiastic about the film when Reitman showed executives and sales managers of various regions in the country a 10-minute production reel that was put together in two days. The reaction was positive and the studio sent 20 copies out to exhibitors. The first preview screening for Animal House was held in Denver four months before it opened nationwide. The crowd loved it and the filmmakers realized they had a potential hit on their hands. The original cut of the movie was a lengthy 175 minutes and more than an hour was dropped; the deleted scenes included: a John Landis cameo as a cafeteria dishwasher who tries to stop Bluto from eating all the food. Landis is dragged across a table and thrown to the floor by Bluto who then says "You don't fuck with the eagles unless you know how to fly.", a scene where Boon and Hoover tell Pinto the tales of legendary Delta House frat brothers from years before who had names like Tarantula, Bulldozer, Giraffe, and his girlfriend, Gross Kay., two different deleted scenes with Otter and a couple of his girlfriends (one played by Sunny Johnson—listed in the credits as "Otter's Co-Ed" although her scene was deleted—and the other played by location scout Katherine Wilson, whose deleted scene can be seen in the theatrical trailer)., an extended version of the scene where Bluto pours mustard on himself and starts singing "I am the Mustard Man.", a sequence showing expelled Deltas going through a medical screening after having to register for the draft, during which the double-jointed D-Day rotates his feet backwards (this scene was removed a few months after release due to many young men hurting themselves while trying to emulate the stunt). The soundtrack is a mix of rock and roll and rhythm and blues with the original score created by film composer Elmer Bernstein, who had been a Landis family friend since John Landis was a child. Bernstein was easily persuaded to score the film, but was not sure what to make of it. Similar to his preferring dramatic actors for the comedy, Landis asked Bernstein to score it as though it were serious. He adapted the "Faber College Theme" from the Academic Festival Overture by Brahms, and said that the film opened yet another door in his diverse career, to scoring comedies. The soundtrack was released as a vinyl album in 1978, and then as a CD in 1998. In the late 2000s, the very first song on the soundtrack, the "Faber College Theme", came to prominence due to its purported resemblance to the Bosnian national anthem. Soundtrack album listing Additional music in the film "Theme from A Summer Place", composed by Max Steiner; performed by Percy Faith and his Orchestra, "Who's Sorry Now?", written by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby; performed by Connie Francis, "The Washington Post March", composed by John Philip Sousa, "Tammy", by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans At the time of its release, Animal House received mixed reviews from critics but several immediately recognized its appeal, and it has since been recognized as one of the best films of 1978. The film holds a 91% positive rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Its consensus states "The talents of director John Landis and Saturday Night Live's irrepressible John Belushi conspired to create a rambunctious, subversive college comedy that continues to resonate." Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four and wrote, "It's anarchic, messy, and filled with energy. It assaults us. Part of the movie's impact comes from its sheer level of manic energy. ... But the movie's better made (and better acted) than we might at first realize. It takes skill to create this sort of comic pitch, and the movie's filled with characters that are sketched a little more absorbingly than they had to be, and acted with perception". Ebert later placed the film on his 10 best list of 1978, the only National Lampoon film to have received this honor. In his review for Time, Frank Rich wrote, "At its best it perfectly expresses the fears and loathings of kids who came of age in the late '60s; at its worst Animal House revels in abject silliness. The hilarious highs easily compensate for the puerile lows". Gary Arnold wrote in his review for The Washington Post, "Belushi also controls a wicked array of conspiratorial expressions with the audience. ... He can seem irresistibly funny in repose or invest minor slapstick opportunities with a streak of genius". David Ansen wrote in Newsweek, "But if Animal House lacks the inspired tastelessness of the Lampoon's High School Yearbook Parody, this is still low humor of a high order". Robert Martin wrote in The Globe and Mail, "It is so gross and tasteless you feel you should be disgusted but it's hard to be offended by something that is so sidesplittingly funny". Time magazine proclaimed Animal House one of the year's best. When the film was released, Landis, Widdoes and Allen went on a national promotional tour. Universal Pictures spent about $4.5 million promoting the film at selected college campuses and helped students organize their own toga parties. One such party at the University of Maryland attracted some 2,000 people, while students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison tried for a crowd of 10,000 people and a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Thanks to the film, toga parties became one of the favorite college campus happenings during 1978 and 1979. In 2000, the American Film Institute placed the film on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked #36. Then in 2005, AFI ranked John "Bluto" Blutarsky's quote "Toga! Toga!" at #82 on its list of 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, with the quotes "Over? Did you say "over?" Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no!" and "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son" being nominated. In its opening weekend, Animal House grossed $276,538 in 12 theaters in New York before expanding to 500 theaters. It grossed $120.1 million in North America and went on to achieve a domestic lifetime gross of $141.6 million. It was the highest grossing comedy of all time until the release of Ghostbusters (which was also written by Ramis and produced by Reitman) and the seventh highest-grossing film of the 1970s. Adjusted for inflation, it is the 68th highest-grossing film in North America. The film inspired a short-lived half-hour ABC television sitcom, Delta House, in which Vernon reprised his role as the long-suffering, malevolent Dean Wormer. The series also included Furst as Flounder, McGill as D-Day, and Widdoes as Hoover. The pilot episode was written by the film's screenwriters, Kenney, Miller, and Ramis. Michelle Pfeiffer made her acting debut in the series (playing a new character, "Bombshell"), and Peter Fox was cast as Otter. Belushi's character from the film, John "Bluto" Blutarsky, is in the Army, but his brother, Blotto, played by Josh Mostel, transfers to Faber to carry on Bluto's tradition. Jim Belushi was asked to play the role of Blotto, but declined. Animal House inspired Co-Ed Fever, another sitcom but without the involvement of the film's producers or cast. Set in a dorm of the formerly all-female Baxter College, the pilot of Co-Ed Fever was aired by CBS on February 4, 1979, but the network canceled the series before airing any more episodes. NBC also had its Animal House-inspired sitcom, Brothers and Sisters, in which three members of Crandall College's Pi Nu fraternity interact with members of the Gamma Iota sorority. Like ABC's Delta House, Brothers and Sisters lasted only three months. The film's writers planned a film sequel set in 1967 (the so-called "Summer of Love"), in which the Deltas have a reunion for Pinto's marriage in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. The only Delta to have become a hippie is Flounder, who is now called Pisces. Later, Chris Miller and John Weidman, another Lampoon writer, created a treatment for this screenplay, but Universal rejected it because the sequel to American Graffiti, which contained some hippie-1967 sequences, had not done well. When John Belushi died, the idea was indefinitely shelved. A second attempt at a sequel was made in 1982 with producer Matty Simmons co-authoring a script which saw some of the Deltas returning to Faber College five years after the events of the film. The project got no further than a first draft script dated May 6, 1982. The 2003 "Double Secret Probation Edition" DVD included a short film, Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update, a mockumentary purporting that the original film had been a documentary and Landis was catching up with some of the cast (played by their original actors). It was never shown theatrically. It shows the main Animal House characters 30 years on, following Landis to cities all over America in search of the former Deltas, Omegas, and Dean Wormer, and describes the various locales and professions the characters have settled into: Donald Schoenstein – Film editor, New York City. Currently in his third marriage to Katy. He has a son named Otis., Babs Jansen – Tour guide, Universal Studios Hollywood. She mentions to Landis that she is organizing an upcoming Faber reunion, and seems to be successful at her job., Marion Wormer – Seemingly unemployed in Chicago. She tells Landis of how her husband Vernon accepted the blame for the parade debacle, and was subsequently fired, leading to their divorce. She becomes progressively more tipsy throughout the interview, eventually falling off her chair., Kent Dorfman – Executive director, Encounter Groups of Cleveland, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. He recalls trying to diet during the 1970s with a special program requiring him to shoot up the urine of pregnant women., Robert Hoover – Assistant district attorney, Baltimore, Maryland. Hoover tells the tale of how he quit being a public defender after he realized many of his clients were insane. He also boasts of how his legal advice was sought during the O.J. Simpson murder case., Chip Diller – Landis receives a letter from Diller, who is currently serving as a missionary in Africa. He recalls how he was prevented from going to Vietnam as his father was a prime donor to several right-wing political campaigns. When he learned of Doug Neidermeyer's fragging in Vietnam, he fell into alcoholism and despair. When he began seeing Jesus in his food, he became a born-again Christian and fell into his current profession as minister and missionary., Dean Vernon Wormer – Wormer is seen at a nursing home in Florida, under the watchful eye of a male nurse. He appears to be senile, not recognizing Landis at first (calling him "Larry"), and not remembering his tenure as Dean of Faber. When Landis mentions the Deltas, Wormer erupts into a violent, profanity-laced tirade against the boys who cost him his job. He lashes out against the nurse and then physically attacks Landis, knocking out the camera in the process., Eric Stratton – Gynecologist, Beverly Hills, California. Otter is depicted as still being the affable, suave gentleman he was in his college days. He remarks that gynecology has been very enjoyable for him and that he has straightened up a bit since leaving Faber. An attractive, blonde patient in her underwear then tells Otter she's ready for her examination. Otter politely cuts the interview off and goes into the exam room., Daniel Simpson Day – Landis remarks in a voiceover that D-Day has been the hardest to track down for the documentary, saying that rumors have flown around, with his whereabouts ranging from a Buddhist monastery in Nepal to the Yukon Territory. Landis eventually approaches a house in Modesto, California, where a man opens the door by a crack and claims, in a Hispanic accent, "I don't know no D-Day person! I don't know him!" He slams the door in Landis' face and then bursts out of the garage in a car. He pulls out onto the street to the strains of the William Tell Overture, gives a manic laugh exactly like D-Day's, and speeds off., John Blutarsky – In a final voice-over a shot of the White House, Landis remarks that the viewers all know what happened to Bluto and Mandy Pepperidge: they became the President of the United States and First Lady of the United States. Since its initial release, the film has garnered an estimated $141 million in domestic total gross sales, not including merchandising. Animal House was released on videodisc in 1979. It was released on VHS in 1980, 1983, 1988, and 1990. In 1992, it was released in a 2- pack VHS set that included The Blues Brothers. It was first released on DVD in February 1998 in a "bare bones" full screen presentation. A 20th anniversary widescreen Collector's Edition DVD and a coinciding THX special edition VHS and a widescreen Signature Collection Laserdisc was released later that year, with a 45-minute documentary titled "The Yearbook — An Animal House Reunion" by producer J.M. Kenny, with production notes, theatrical trailer, and new interviews with director Landis, writers Harold Ramis and Chris Miller, composer Elmer Bernstein, and stars Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Stephen Furst, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Bruce McGill, James Widdoes, Peter Riegert, Mark Metcalf and Kevin Bacon. In 2000, the collector's edition DVD was packaged along with The Blues Brothers and 1941 in a John Belushi 3-pack box set. The "Double Secret Probation Edition" DVD released in 2003 features cast members reprising their respective roles in a "Where Are They Now?" mockumentary, which posited the original film as a documentary. One major change shown in this mockumentary from the epilogue of the original film is that Bluto went on from his career in the U.S. Senate to become the President of the United States, with a voiceover on a shot of the north portico of the White House, since by then Belushi had died. This DVD also includes "Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes", a subtitle trivia track, the making of documentary from the Collector's Edition, MxPx "Shout" music video, a theatrical trailer, production notes, and cast and filmmakers biographies. In August 2006, the film was released on an HD DVD/DVD combo disc, which featured the film in a 1080p high-definition format on one side, and a standard-definition format on the opposite side. Along with the film Unleashed, Animal House was one of Universal's first two HD/DVD combo releases, but was later discontinued in 2008 after Universal decided to switch to the Blu-ray optical disc format following the conclusion of the high- definition optical disc format war. It became available on Blu-ray optical disc in July 28, 2011. Animal House was a great box office success despite its limited production costs and started an industry trend, inspiring other comedies such as Porky's, the Police Academy films, the American Pie films, Up the Academy (made by their rival magazine company: MAD), and Old School among others. Belushi became the most successful male comedy star in the world until his 1982 death; Bacon also became a star, and he, Matheson, and Allen are among those who have had lengthy acting careers. Reitman, Landis, and Ramis became successful filmmakers; Landis' use of dramatic actors and soundtrack to make the comedy believable became the traditional approach for film comedies. On the left-wing and counterculture side, the film included references to topical political matters like President Harry S. Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Richard Nixon, the Vietnam war, and the civil rights movement. Precursors of this counterculture subversive humor in film were two non-"college movies", M*A*S*H, a 1970 satirical dark comedy, and The Kentucky Fried Movie, a 1977 formless comedy consisting of a series of sketches (which was also directed by Landis). In 2012 Universal Pictures Stage Productions announced it was developing a stage musical version of the movie. Barenaked Ladies were originally announced to write the score, but they were replaced by composer David Yazbek. Casey Nicholaw will direct; author Michael Mitnick is also reportedly involved. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Animal House is first on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film No. 36 on 100 Years... 100 Laughs, a list of the 100 best American comedies. In 2006, Miller wrote a more comprehensive memoir of his experiences in Dartmouth's AD house in a book entitled, The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie, in which Miller recounts hijinks that were considered too risqué for the movie. In 2008, Empire magazine selected Animal House as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. The film was also selected by The New York Times as one of The 1000 Best Movies Ever Made. Rick Meyerowitz, the illustrator who drew the Animal House poster. Hoover, Eric (2008) "'Animal House' at 30: O Bluto, Where Art Thou?", Chronicle of Higher Education, v55 n2 pA1 Sep 2008, Daniel P. Franklin (2006) Politics and film: the political culture of film in the United States, pp. 133–4, Krista M. Tucciarone (2007) "Cinematic College: 'National Lampoon's Animal House' Teaches Theories of Student Development", in Journal of College Student Development Delta House is an American sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House. The series aired from January 18 to April 21, 1979 on ABC. Cast members reprising their roles from Animal House included John Vernon (Dean Wormer), Stephen Furst (Flounder), Bruce McGill (D-Day), and James Widdoes (Hoover). Priscilla Lauris, who played Dean Wormer's secretary in the movie, also returned to reprise her role, and her character was given a name (Miss Leonard). Josh Mostel was cast as Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky, brother of Bluto, the character played in the film by John Belushi. Despite Bluto's absence (it is revealed in the pilot episode that he had been drafted into the US Army), the scriptwriters made running references to his character throughout the series. In one episode, Blotto announced that he'd received a letter from his brother Bluto, prompting a Delta brother to respond "I didn't know Bluto could write," and another Delta brother to riposte, "I didn't know Blotto could read!" Delta House also served as an early vehicle for Michelle Pfeiffer, who played "The Bombshell". She appeared in all of the episodes, with the exception of the pilot. She referred to the show as good exposure and a foot in the door. The series didn't last, but she was noticed by a lot of Hollywood executives and her career picked up and she became a star soon after. Because of television Standards and Practices, most of the raunchy humor, sexual references, and foul language featured in Animal House didn't survive the transition to TV. As a result, Delta House suffered in comparison. That it aired during the so-called "family hour" (8:00 PM on Saturday nights) led to even more watering down. In addition, the other two broadcast networks rushed onto the airwaves their own sitcoms that were "inspired" by Animal House: NBC's Brothers and Sisters and CBS' Co-Ed Fever. Delta House initially did well in the ratings. However, executive producers Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman's constant fights with ABC over content led the network to cancel the show after 13 episodes. The theme song was written by Jim Steinman to lyrics written by Lampoon editors Tony Hendra and Sean Kelly. Steinman later reworked the melody into the song "Dead Ringer for Love", made famous by Meat Loaf and Cher from the album Dead Ringer, and a portion of the lyrics into the song "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" from the movie Streets of Fire (incidentally, Meat Loaf had been an alternate choice for the role of Bluto in Animal House had John Belushi dropped out). In the episode "Campus Fair", the song "Pizza Man" was performed during a beauty pageant talent showcase. It was taken from National Lampoon's Off-Broadway sketch revue Lemmings, a send-up of the Woodstock Festival where it was originally sung by actress Alice Playten. John Vernon . . . Dean Vernon Wormer, the corrupt dean of Faber College and main nemesis of the Delta Fraternity., Stephen Furst . . . Kent "Flounder" Dorfman, an overweight and dim-witted freshman member of the Delta House., Bruce McGill . . . Daniel Simpson Day a.k.a. "D-Day," a motorcycle-riding member of the Delta House., James Widdoes . . . Robert Hoover, the straight-laced president of the Delta House., Josh Mostel . . . Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky, a transfer student and newest member of the Delta House who takes after his older brother, John "Bluto" Blutarsky., Richard Seer . . . Larry "Pinto" Kroger, a freshman member of the Delta House and close friend of Flounder. The role was originally played by Thomas Hulce in the feature film Animal House., Peter Fox . . . Eric "Otter" Stratton, a charismatic ladies man and member of the Delta House. The role was originally played by Tim Matheson in Animal House., Gary Cookson . . . Douglas C. Neidermeyer, the sergeant-at-arms of the rival Omega House. The role was originally played by Mark Metcalf in Animal House., Susanna Dalton . . . Mandy Pepperidge, a cheerleader and ally of the Omega House. The role was originally played by Mary Louise Weller in Animal House., Wendy Goldman . . . Muffy Jones, a friend of the Deltas and girlfriend of Pinto., Brian Patrick Clarke . . . Greg Marmalard, the president of the rival Omega House. The role was originally played by James Daughton in Animal House., Lee Wilkof . . . A.S. Einswine, a member of the Delta House who deals in fabricated term papers and other shady businesses on behalf of the Deltas., Peter Kastner . . . Prof. Dave Jennings, a professor at Faber. The role was originally played by Donald Sutherland in Animal House., Michelle Pfeiffer . . . The Bombshell, an attractive anthropology student and friend of the Deltas. "Mars University" is episode eleven of the first season of Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1999. This episode was written by J. Stewart Burns and directed by Bret Haaland. The Planet Express crew's latest mission is to deliver a crate to Professor Farnsworth's office at Mars University. While touring the campus, Bender comes across a chapter of his old fraternity, Epsilon Rho Rho (Err). The nerdy fraternity brothers beg Bender for his help in the art of being cool, as "even has better parties than us!" Fry finds out that his 20th century college dropout status is equivalent to only a 31st-century high school dropout. Knowing this, he vows to enroll, and drop out all over again. In a scene straight from Animal House, Bender and the Robot House boys climb a ladder to peek in a girls' dorm window (in reality, they only try to see one of the girls' computers as it malfunctions, which to Bender and the nerd-bots is a turn-on). A risque mishap happens when Bender's extendable eyes causes them to fall. The accident crushes Snooty House's servants' quarters and presumably the servants themselves. Fry gets a room in the financial aid dorm, and finds his roommate Günter is an intelligent monkey wearing an undersized hat. The Professor enters, and reveals that Günter was the content of the crate, and that the electronium hat is the source of Günter's intelligence. Bender and the Robot House members get called before Dean Vernon, who places them on dodecatuple secret probation and have to run out after Fatbot eats the Dean's model ship. At the parents' reception, Fry humiliates Günter by releasing Günter's unintelligent, feral parents from their cage. Later, Günter expresses his unhappiness at his current life. At the 20th century history exam, the stress finally becomes too much for him, and he tosses the hat aside, jumps out the window, and flees into the Martian jungle. While Fry, Leela, and the Professor head off into the jungle to find Günter, Robot House enters the fraternity raft regatta in a bid to lift their probation status. When Günter is found, the Professor offers him the hat, and Fry offers him a banana. Before Günter can decide, Robot House speeds past with Bender on water skis. The boat's wake drags the humans into the river and towards a waterfall. Günter puts the hat on and rescues them, but falls off a cliff. The Planet Express Crew believe him to be dead, and go to "gather him up". They find however, that the hat broke his fall, and is now only working at half- capacity. Günter announces that he likes the new reduced-capacity hat, and that he has decided to transfer to business school, to the horror of Professor Farnsworth. Robot House wins the regatta, and a parade in their honor is held, led by an unhappy Dean Vernon. The episode ends with a party at Robot House, and an epilogue shown in the style of Animal House and American Graffiti where captions explain that Fry successfully dropped out of college and returned to Planet Express, Günter went to business school to get his MBA and became The FOX Network's latest CEO, Fat-Bot caught a virus in Tijuana and had to be rebooted, Leela went on a date with Dean Vernon (and Vernon never called her again), and with his task done, Bender stole everything of value from Robot House and ran off. In a review of the episode, Space.com criticized Futurama for the disconnectedness of the episodes and the lack of a large recurring cast and questioned the time spent in developing Günter's character when it is unlikely that he will return as a major character. The episode itself was praised for its references to classic frat films such as Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds though the reference to Lite-Brite was found to be lacking. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, stating, "Even with a plot as fundamentally absurd as this one, the writers still manage to find some authenticity. That makes a for a good half-hour of television, even if it’s not one I have a lot to say about." In 2006 IGN ranked this episode as number 21 in their list of the top 25 Futurama episodes. The episode was initially ranked higher in the list, particularly for its many references to Animal House and its appeal to fans of the film, it was eventually moved to 21st place and replaced by episodes with better storytelling. Much of the plot references scenes from Animal House and "Good Will Hunting". When Professor Farnsworth is lecturing on the effects of quantum neutrino fields, the blackboard behind him displays an explanation of "Superdupersymmetric String Theory" and a diagram explaining "Witten's Dog". Witten's Dog, named after Ed Witten, is a parody of the classic Schroedinger's Cat paradox. Astrophysicist David Schiminovich created both the equations and the diagram, based on "an equation that constrains the mass density of neutrinos in the universe". Mars University at TV.com, Mars University at the Internet Movie Database, Mars University at TVSquad.com, at .

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The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Capitals are owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, headed by Ted Leonsis. From 1974 to 1997 the Capitals played their home games at the Capital Centre, in Landover, Maryland (a suburb in the Washington metropolitan area). In 1997 the team moved to the arena now called Capital One Arena, their present home arena in Washington, D.C. The Capitals were founded in as an expansion franchise, alongside the Kansas City Scouts. Since purchasing the team in 1999, Leonsis revitalized the franchise by drafting star players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and Braden Holtby. The 2009–10 Capitals won the franchise's first Presidents' Trophy for being the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. They won it a second time in 2015–16, and did so for a third time the following season in 2016–17. In addition to twelve division titles and three Presidents' Trophies, the Capitals have reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 and 2018, winning in the latter. The Capitals have retired the use of four numbers in honor of four players. In addition, the team holds an association with a number of individuals inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Capitals are presently affiliated with two minor league teams, the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, and the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. Along with the Kansas City Scouts, the Capitals joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1974–75 season (although the city of Washington was awarded a franchise on July 8, 1972). The team was owned by Abe Pollin (also owner of the National Basketball Association's Washington Bullets/Wizards). Pollin had built the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Maryland to house both the Bullets (who formerly played in Baltimore) and the Capitals. His first act as owner was to hire Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt as general manager. With a combined 30 teams between the NHL and the World Hockey Association (WHA), the available talent was stretched thin. The Capitals had few players with professional experience and were at a disadvantage against the long-standing teams that were stocked with veteran players. Like the other three teams who joined the league during the WHA era—the Scouts (later the Colorado Rockies and now the New Jersey Devils), Atlanta Flames (now playing in Calgary), and New York Islanders—the Capitals did not factor the survival of the rival league into their plans. The Capitals' inaugural season was dreadful, even by expansion standards. They finished with far and away the worst record in the league at 8–67–5; their 21 points were half that of their expansion brethren, the Scouts. The eight wins are the fewest for an NHL team playing at least 70 games, and the .131 winning percentage is still the worst in NHL history. They also set records for most road losses (39 out of 40), most consecutive road losses (37), and most consecutive losses (17). Head coach Jim Anderson said, "I'd rather find out my wife was cheating on me than keep losing like this. At least I could tell my wife to cut it out." Schmidt himself had to take over the coaching reins late in the season. In 1975–76, Washington went 25 straight games without a win and allowed 394 goals en route to another horrendous record: 11–59–10 (32 points). In the middle of the season, Schmidt was replaced as general manager by Max McNab and as head coach by Tom McVie. For the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s, the Capitals alternated between dreadful seasons and finishing only a few points out of the Stanley Cup playoffs; in 1980 and 1981, for instance, they were in playoff contention until the last day of the season. The one bright spot during these years of futility was that many of McNab's draft picks (e.g., Rick Green, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner, Bengt Gustafsson, Gaetan Duchesne, and Bobby Carpenter) would impact the team for years to come, either as important members of the roster or as crucial pieces in major trades. Pollin stuck it out through the Capitals' first decade, even though they were usually barely competitive. This stood in contrast to the Scouts; they were forced to move to Denver after only two years because their original owners did not have the resources or patience to withstand the struggles of an expansion team. By the summer of 1982, however, there was serious talk of the team moving out of the U.S. capital, and a "Save the Caps" campaign was underway. Then, two significant events took place to revive the franchise. First, the team hired David Poile as general manager. Second, as his first move, Poile pulled off one of the largest trades in franchise history on September 9, 1982, when he dealt longtime regulars Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Rod Langway (named captain only a few weeks later), Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. This move turned the franchise around, as Langway's solid defense helped the team to dramatically reduce its goals-against, and the explosive goal-scoring of Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter fueled the offensive attack. Another significant move was the drafting of defenseman Scott Stevens during the 1982 NHL Entry Draft (the pick was made by interim general manager Roger Crozier, prior to Poile's hiring). The result was a 29-point jump, a third- place finish in the powerful Patrick Division, and the team's first playoff appearance in 1983. Although they were eliminated by the three-time-defending (and eventual) Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders (three games to one), the Caps' dramatic turnaround ended any talk of the club leaving Washington. The Capitals would make the playoffs for each of the next 14 years in a row, becoming known for starting slow before catching fire in January and February. However, regular-season success did not carry into the playoffs. Despite a continuous march of stars like Gartner, Carpenter, Langway, Gustafsson, Stevens, Mike Ridley, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Larry Murphy, and Kevin Hatcher, Washington was knocked out in either the first or second round seven years in a row. In 1985–86, for instance, the Caps finished with 107 points and won 50 games for the first time in franchise history, good enough for the third-best record in the NHL. They defeated the Islanders in the first round but were eliminated in the second round by the New York Rangers. The 1986–87 season brought even more heartbreak, with a loss to the Islanders in the Patrick Division Semi-final. This series was capped off by the classic Easter Epic game, which ended at 1:56 am on Easter Sunday 1987. The Capitals had thoroughly dominated most of the game, outshooting the Islanders 75–52, but lost in overtime when goaltender Bob Mason was beaten on a Pat LaFontaine shot from the blue line. For the 1989 playoff push, Gartner and Murphy were traded to the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Ciccarelli and defenseman Bob Rouse. However, the goaltending once again faltered and they were eliminated in the first round by the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals finally made the Wales Conference Finals in 1990, but went down in a four-game sweep at the hands of the first-place Boston Bruins. From 1991 to 1996, the Capitals would lose in either the first or the second round of the playoffs. They would eliminate the Rangers in the first round but lost the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991. In 1992 and 1993, they would lose in the first round to the Penguins and the Islanders, respectively. In 1994, they won their first round series against the Penguins but lost in the second round to the Rangers. In 1995 and 1996, they lost in the first round both times to the Penguins. They would miss the playoffs in 1997, but they came close to winning their first Stanley Cup one year later. Then in 1998, as the Caps opened MCI Center, Peter Bondra's 52 goals led the team, veterans Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau and Adam Oates returned to old form, and Olaf Kolzig had a solid .920 save percentage as the Caps got past the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres (the latter on a dramatic overtime win in game six on a goal by Joe Juneau) en route to the team's first Stanley Cup finals appearance. The Capitals won six overtime games, three in each of their series against the Bruins and Sabres. However, the team was outmatched by the defending champions, the Detroit Red Wings, who won in a four-game sweep. That same season, Oates, Phil Housley and Hunter all scored their 1,000th career point, the only time in NHL history that one team had three players reach that same milestone in a single season. After their 1998 championship run, the Capitals finished the 1998–99 season with a record of 31-45-6 and failed to qualify for the playoffs. During the season, the team was sold to a group headed by AOL executive Ted Leonsis. The Capitals went on to win back-to-back Southeast Division titles in 2000 and 2001, yet both years lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Penguins. After the 2000–01 season, Adam Oates demanded a trade but management refused and stripped him of his team captaincy. In the summer of 2001, the Capitals landed five-time Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromir Jagr, by trading three young prospects to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jagr was signed to the largest contract ever in NHL history – $77 million over seven years at an average salary of $11 million per year (over $134,000 per game), with an option for an eighth year. However, after Adam Oates was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Capitals failed to defend their division title and missed the playoffs in 2002 despite a winning record. Still, the 2001–02 season marked the highest attendance in franchise history, drawing in 710,990 fans and 17,341 per game. Before the 2002–03 season, the Caps made more roster changes, including the signing of highly regarded Robert Lang as a free agent, a linemate of Jagr's from Pittsburgh. Washington returned to the playoffs in 2003, but disappointed fans again by losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning after starting off with a two-game lead in the best-of-seven first-round series. The series is well-remembered for the three-overtime Game 6 at the then–MCI Center. At the time it was the longest game in the building's history and was eventually decided by a power-play goal by Tampa Bay. In the 2003–04 season, the Caps unloaded much of their high-priced talent – not just a cost-cutting spree, but also an acknowledgment that their attempt to build a contender with high- priced veteran talent had failed. Jagr had never lived up to expectations during his time with the Capitals, failing to finish among the league's top scorers or make the post-season All-Star Team. The Caps tried to trade Jagr, but as only one year was left on the existing NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) before it expired, few teams were willing to risk $11 million on an underperforming player. In 2004, Jagr was finally sent to the New York Rangers in exchange for Anson Carter and an agreement that Washington would pay approximately $4 million per year of Jagr's salary, with Jagr himself agreeing to defer (with interest) $1 million per year for the remainder of his contract to allow the trade to go ahead. This was quickly followed by Peter Bondra departing for the Ottawa Senators. Not long after, Robert Lang was sent to the Detroit Red Wings, as well as Sergei Gonchar to the Boston Bruins. The Lang trade marked the first time in the history of the NHL that the league's leading scorer was traded in the middle of the season. The Capitals ended the year 23–46–10–3, tied for the second-worst record, along with the Chicago Blackhawks. In the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, the Capitals won the Draft Lottery, moving ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who held the NHL's worst record, and selected Alexander Ovechkin first overall. During the NHL labor dispute of 2004–05, which cost the NHL its entire season, Ovechkin stayed in Russia, playing for Dynamo Moscow. Several other Capitals played part or all of the lost season in Europe, including Olaf Kolzig, Brendan Witt, Jeff Halpern, and Alexander Semin. The Capitals' 2005 off-season consisted of making D.C.-area native Halpern the team's captain, signing Andrew Cassels, Ben Clymer, Mathieu Biron and Jamie Heward, and acquiring Chris Clark and Jeff Friesen via trade. The Capitals finished the 2005–06 season in the cellar of the Southeastern Division again, with a 29–41–12 campaign, earning 12 more points than the 2003–04 season, good for 27th out of the 30 NHL teams. The team, however, played close in every game, playing in 42 one-goal games, although losing two- thirds of those games. Ovechkin's rookie season exceeded the hype, as he led all 2005–06 NHL rookies in goals, points, power-play goals and shots. He finished third overall in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals, and his 425 shots not only led the league, but also set an NHL rookie record and was the fourth-highest total in NHL history. Ovechkin's rookie point total was the second-best in Capitals history, and his goal total was tied for third in franchise history. Ovechkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy, beating out Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Many longtime Capitals had career years, with Dainius Zubrus netting 57 points, Halpern having a career-best 33 assists, Matt Pettinger putting in a career-best 20-goal, 38-point effort and seven others on the relatively young team topping 20 points for the first time. Two notable landmarks were also hit by Capitals, as the team's longest tenured player, Olaf Kolzig, won his 250th game in goal, and Andrew Cassels became the 204th player to play 1,000 games, although he did not finish his season with Washington. A notable first was that Washington area native Jeff Halpern was named captain of his hometown Capitals. At the 2006 NHL trade deadline, on March 8, Brendan Witt was traded to the Nashville Predators. In the 2006 off-season, Halpern left the Capitals to join the Dallas Stars; Chris Clark subsequently became the Capitals' new captain. Richard Zedník returned to the Capitals in 2006–07 after a disappointing 16-goal, 14-assist season in 2005–06 with the Montreal Canadiens, but was later dealt at the trade deadline to the New York Islanders after a disappointing and injury plagued season. The Caps also signed former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear. Despite the transactions, however, the Capitals finished with the same point total (70) in 2006–07 as they did the year before, although they won one fewer game. Alexander Ovechkin was the Capitals' lone representative in the season's All-Star Game, with Washington's campaign also seeing the breakout of Alexander Semin, who notched 38 goals in only his second NHL season. The Capitals signed Swedish phenom Nicklas Backstrom, the fourth overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. They also signed 19-year-old Semyon Varlamov to a three-year entry-level contract. They then went on to fill needs at defense, signing puck-moving defenseman Tom Poti; right wing, by signing Viktor Kozlov; and center, by signing playmaker Michael Nylander. As a result of these signings, there was much more hope for the 2007–08 season and players were looking towards the playoffs. After starting the season 6–14–1, the Capitals fired head coach Glen Hanlon and replaced him with Hershey Bears head coach Bruce Boudreau on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. On January 10, 2008, the Capitals signed Ovechkin to an NHL-record $124 million contract extension at 13 years, the second-longest term of any contract in the NHL after New York Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro's 15-year contract. Despite the Capitals' young defense and injuries to key players such as Michael Nylander and Brian Pothier, Boudreau engineered a remarkable turnaround. Aided by key acquisitions at the trade deadline (Matt Cooke, Sergei Fedorov and Cristobal Huet), Ovechkin's NHL-leading 65 goals, and Mike Green's league defensemen- leading 18 goals, the Capitals won the Southeast Division title for the first time since the 2000–01 season, edging out the Carolina Hurricanes for the Division title on the final game of the season. Washington's remarkable end- of-season run included winning 11 of the final 12 regular season games. The Capitals became the first team in NHL history to make the playoffs after being ranked 14th or lower in their conference standings at the season's midpoint. For the post-season, the Capitals drew the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round and managed to force a Game 7 after being down three games to one in the series. However, they ultimately lost to the Flyers 3–2 in overtime. After the season concluded, Boudreau's efforts were rewarded with a long-term contract extension. The accolades for the team continued to grow after the end of the season. Alexander Ovechkin won the Art Ross Trophy, the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award, becoming the first player in NHL history to win all four awards in the same season. He also was the first player to win an MVP award in any major sport in the Washington, D.C., area since Joe Theismann won the National Football League (NFL) MVP award in 1983. Moreover, Ovechkin was also named an NHL First Team All-Star and became the first player since 1953 to be named as such in each of his first three years in the NHL. Nicklas Backstrom was a finalist for the Calder Trophy, but ended up second to the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, though Backstrom was nonetheless selected to the All-Star Rookie Team. In addition to player awards, head coach Bruce Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award for the NHL's coach of the year. Ovechkin and Mike Green were named to the Sporting News All-Star Team, with Ovechkin being the Sporting News Player of the Year. The 2008–09 season was highlighted by the play of Mike Green (who was the third of the Capitals' three first-round selections in Ovechkin's draft year) and Ovechkin. Green led all NHL defensemen in goals and points, also setting the record for the longest consecutive goal scoring streak by a defenseman with eight games. Ovechkin won his second Hart Trophy, his second Lester B. Pearson Award and his second Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. The Capitals finished the regular season with a record of 50–24–8 and a team-record 108 points, and they won their second consecutive Southeast Division championship. They then defeated the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2009 playoffs four games to three, overcoming a 3–1 deficit. The Capitals were then defeated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals in seven games. The Capitals finished the 2009–10 season regular season first in the NHL with 121 points, thereby winning the Presidents' Trophy. Ovechkin led the team in points with 109 and finished as the third-highest goal scorer, despite playing nine games fewer than the league leaders. Backstrom finished with 101 points, fourth most in the NHL. Once again, Mike Green led all defensemen in points, finishing with 76. The Capitals also dominated the plus-minus category, finishing with five players in the top six in the league. Despite having a top-ranked regular season, Washington were defeated by the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The 2010–11 season saw the Capitals repeat as the Southeast Division champions and as the top team in the Eastern Conference with 107 points. The season was highlighted by their participation in the 2011 NHL Winter Classic, where they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3–1 at Heinz Field. However, the Capitals' playoff disappointment continued. After again defeating the New York Rangers in five games in the first round, they were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. The Capitals started the 2011–12 season with a record of 7–0, but they only won five of their next 15 games. As a result, general manager George McPhee fired head coach Boudreau, hiring Capitals legend Dale Hunter as his replacement. By the end of the 2011–12 season, the team's top two goaltenders, Michal Neuvirth and Tomas Vokoun, were injured and the Capitals were required to lean on their goaltending prospect Braden Holtby to help the team into the 2012 playoffs. The Capitals made a strong push and finished with the seventh overall seed in East, draining the defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round. The Capitals shocked the NHL by defeating the heavily favored Bruins in seven games on an overtime goal by Joel Ward. Every game in the series was decided by a one-goal margin; previously, no single series in the Stanley Cup playoffs had ever gone as far as six or seven games while neither team ever held more than a one-goal lead. The Capitals then advanced to the second round to face the top-seeded New York Rangers. The series again went seven games, ending with a 2–1 Rangers victory at Madison Square Garden. Following the season's end, head coach Dale Hunter announced he would step down. Adam Oates was later named permanent head coach of the team. The lockout-shortened 2012–13 season saw the Capitals off to a rocky start, as they managed just two wins in their first ten games. The team rebounded to win the Southeast Division, thereby earning the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Unfortunately for Washington, the Capitals' playoff woes continued as they again fell to the Rangers in seven games. In the 2013–14 season, the Capitals started the season winning five of their first ten games. The Capitals struggled to stay in a playoff spot and ultimately missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006–07. On April 26, 2014, 15 days after the regular season ended, the Capitals announced they would not renew general manager George McPhee's contract and that they had fired head coach Adam Oates. On May 26, 2014, the Capitals announced the promotion of Brian MacLellan from director of player personnel to general manager and the hiring of Barry Trotz as the new head coach. In Alexander Ovechkin's 691st NHL game on November 4, 2014, he became the Capitals' all-time points leader during a game against the Calgary Flames, surpassing Peter Bondra. On January 1, 2015, the Washington Capitals defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3–2 in the annual NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The Capitals finished in a second-place tie with the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division during the 2014–15 season and held home ice advantage in the first-round playoff series between the two, as they had defeated the Islanders in the season series with two home wins and two road overtime losses (in comparison, the Islanders had two home wins, one road loss and one road shootout loss). The teams split the first four games of the series, with the Islanders winning the first and third games, and the Capitals winning the second and fourth games. After winning Game 5, the Capitals had a chance to clinch the series in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but the Islanders won Game 6 to send the series to a deciding Game 7 in Washington, which the Capitals would go on to win and defeat the Islanders, setting up a match-up against the top-seeded Rangers in the Second Round for the third time in four years. In the second round, all seven games were decided by a one-goal margin. The Capitals and the Rangers split the first two games (with Joel Ward scoring a game-winning buzzer beater goal for Washington in Game 1, coupled with a loss by Washington in Game 2) by a 2–1 margin. Braden Holtby would then post a 1–0 shutout in Game 3, with Jay Beagle scoring the game's only goal, which was then followed by another 2–1 victory in Game 4. After Washington held a 3–1 series lead, the Rangers would then cut the series lead to 3–2 after scoring the game-tying goal and the game-winning overtime goal in Game 5. The Rangers then tied the series with a 4–3 victory in Game 6 to force a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Both teams scored a goal during regulation time in Game 7, but the Capitals would lose the game and the series in overtime via a Derek Stepan goal. In the 2015–16 season, the Capitals finished in first place in the league with a record of 56–18–8 and 120 points. In the first round of the playoffs, they would face the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals won the first three games of the series and were looking for their first sweep in the playoffs of a best- of-seven series in franchise history. However, the Flyers would win the next two games to send the series to a sixth game in Philadelphia; the Capitals nevertheless won that series in six games to advance to the second round of the playoffs. In the second round, they faced the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time since 2009. After winning the first game of the series in Washington, the Capitals lost three straight games, and were in danger of elimination. Washington would stave off elimination with a win in Game 5, but they would lose the series in six games, with the Penguins going on to win the Stanley Cup. Ovechkin reached the 1,000-point milestone on January 11, 2017 with a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins 35 seconds into the first period of that game. Ovechkin is the 84th NHL player to reach the 1,000-point milestone, the fourth Russian-born player and the 37th player to reach the milestone while playing for one team throughout their NHL career. The Capitals won their second Presidents' Trophy in a row, becoming just the seventh team in NHL history to win back-to-back Presidents' Trophies. Ovechkin finished the 2016–17 regular season with 33 goals, leading the Capitals in goals for the twelfth straight season. In the 2017 playoffs, the Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games in the first round to set up a second consecutive showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. After falling behind 3–1 in the series, they battled back to force a game seven at home, where they were eliminated 2–0, and lost their series 4–3. After the 2017 playoffs, the Capitals were unable to retain a number of players, losing Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner, Justin Williams, and Daniel Winnik to free agency, and budding young defenseman Nate Schmidt to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. In addition, to get under the cap, the Capitals shipped Marcus Johansson to the New Jersey Devils. Despite a slow 5-6-1 start, which extended out to 10-9-1, the Capitals caught fire in December, going 10-2-2, and were able to clinch the Metropolitan Division for a third straight year on April 1. They qualified for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs for the 10th time in 11 years. In the playoffs, the Capitals were able to battle back from a 2–0 series deficit against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the 2018 playoffs, winning four straight and beating the Blue Jackets in six games. They faced the Penguins again in the second round, and this time, on May 7, 2018, they were able to beat the Penguins in the second round with an overtime goal on the road in Game 6 by Evgeny Kuznetsov. It marked the first time in 20 seasons that the Capitals made a Conference Final and the first time in 24 seasons that they had defeated the Penguins in a playoff series. The Capitals advanced to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals on May 23, after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games after a 4–0 rout at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The Capitals then faced the expansion Vegas Golden Knights and overcame them in five games, including a 4–3 win in the decisive game five at T-Mobile Arena after Lars Eller scored with about seven minutes to go. Not only was it the Capitals' first Stanley Cup win, but it was also the first championship for a Washington, D.C. team in one of the four major North American sports leagues (the NFL, the NHL, the NBA and MLB) since the Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 26 years beforehand in Super Bowl XXVI. On April 4, 2019, the Capitals clinched their fourth straight Metropolitan Division title and with that accomplishment, Washington became only the second organization in NHL history to win four consecutive division titles twice in their history (Boston Bruins from 1927 to 1928 to 1930–31 and again from 1975 to 1976 to 1978–79). The Capitals' previous streak was from the 2007–08 season to the 2010–11 season in the now defunct Southeast Division. In the 2019 playoffs, the Capitals efforts to repeat as champions ultimately fell short, as they were eliminated in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games. NBC Sports Washington (NBCSW) has carried Capitals games locally since its founding as Home Team Sports (HTS) in 1984. NBC Sports Washington was known as Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (CSN) from 2001 through 2017. NBCSW's commentators are Joe Beninati, Craig Laughlin, "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Alan May, and rinkside reporter Al Koken. The Capitals' flagship radio station is WJFK-FM (106.7 FM); commentators are John Walton and Ken Sabourin. The team's radio network consists of stations in Washington, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Mike Vogel has been covering the team online for the Washington Capitals on its website since the 1995-96 season, writing daily game stories and analysis. Vogel, who also participates in podcasts and in-stadium video presentations as well as guesting on various Washington DC radio and television programs, has been described as "the most interesting man in Caps media." WTOP-TV (channel 9) picked up television coverage for the Capitals' first three seasons, covering 15 road games in the 1974–75 season. Legendary sportscaster Warner Wolf was the commentator for the first season. Team radio broadcaster Ron Weber moved to the TV booth for telecasts in the second and third seasons. The Capitals moved to longtime home WDCA (channel 20) in the 1977–78 season. WDCA later split games with HTS/CSN upon its founding in 1984. The 1991–92 season illustrates a typical arrangement: WDCA showed 20 road games and any road playoff games, while HTS picked up 34 home games and any home playoff games, leaving 28 regular-season games not televised. After 19 seasons on WDCA, the Capitals moved their over-the-air broadcasts to WBDC (channel 50) for the 1995–96 season. All 82 games were televised for the first time in the 2001–02 season. The Capitals have not aired any games over-the-air locally since the end of the 2005–06 season. WTOP (1500 AM) was the Capitals' first radio home through the 1986–87 season. After nine years on WMAL (630 AM), the games returned to 1500 AM for the 1996–97 season. Ron Weber was the first announcer, and never missed a game through his retirement at the end of the 1996–97 season. WJFK-FM began airing postseason games during the 2008 playoffs. 1500 AM, since renamed WFED, remained the flagship station until 2012, when WJFK took over all coverage. WFED continues to broadcast games as a network affiliate. This is primarily to take advantage of its 50,000-watt clear-channel signal, which brings Capitals games to the entire eastern half of North America at night. Weber rejoined current announcers Walton and Sabourin for the first period of Game 4 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. WJFK-FM attracted controversy when it elected to drop the Capitals in the 2016–17 season, leaving the Capitals to air solely on WFED. However, WFED's signal is unusable in some portions of the Washington suburbs at night, since it is directed north-south to protect co-channel KSTP. The Washington Wizards also took priority over the Capitals on WFED in case of a conflict, leading to some games in which the only home broadcast was available via Internet streaming. The team responded to fan complaints by reaching a temporary deal in January 2017 to place the rest of its games on WWDC-HD2, which is available metro-wide to those with HD Radios and has a low-powered analog signal that covers the city itself. The Capitals reached a deal to return to WJFK-FM for the 2017–18 season. The Capitals took to the ice in red, white and blue jerseys featuring contrast-colored shoulders and stars on the chest and sleeves. The team originally had red, white, and blue pants options, but retired the white pants only after a few games in their first season, and the red ones at season's end. The blue pants would eventually become the only option used. Prior to the start of the 1995–96 season, in an attempt to modernize the look and improve merchandise sales, the team abandoned its traditional red, white and blue color scheme in favor of a blue, black, and bronze palette with an American bald eagle with five stars as its logo. The alternate logo depicted the Capitol building with crossed hockey sticks behind. For the 1997–98 season, the team unveiled a black alternate jersey, devoid of blue with bronze stripes on the ends of sleeves and at the waist. Prior to the 2000–01 season, the team retired its blue road jersey in favor of this, but still kept the white jersey for home games. The Capitals unveiled new uniforms on June 22, 2007, which coincided with the NHL Entry Draft and the new league-wide adaptation of the -designed uniform system for 2007–08. The change marked a return to the red, white and blue color scheme originally used from 1974 to 1995. The new primary logo is reminiscent of the original Capitals' logo, complete with a hockey stick formed by the letter "t"; it also includes a new feature not present in the original logo in the form of three stars representing DC, Maryland and Virginia. More simply, the stars are a reference to the flag of Washington, D.C., which is in turn based on the shield of George Washington's family coat of arms. The new alternate logo uses an eagle in the shape of a "W" with the silhouette of the United States Capitol building in the negative space below. For the 2011 NHL Winter Classic, the Capitals wore a white jersey honoring the franchise's past with the original logo. The jersey resembled the one the franchise wore from 1974 to 1995. Instead of wearing the combination of blue pants and white helmets the team used when it played at the Capital Centre, the Capitals chose red pants and helmets for the New Year's Day game. The Capitals wore the same jersey, minus the NHL Winter Classic patch, on February 1, 2011, to honor Hockey Hall of Fame winger Dino Ciccarelli. The Capitals announced on September 16, 2011, that they would wear a third jersey modeled after the Winter Classic jersey for 16 road games during the 2011–12 season. For the 2015 Winter Classic, which took place on New Year's Day at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., the Capitals wore a newly designed jersey intended to pay homage to hockey's outdoor roots. The primary color of the jersey was a vintage deep red. The addition of stripes on the shoulders, waist and legs brought in elements of Washington's professional hockey jerseys from the 1930s, predating the Capitals franchise's formation in the 1970s. A large "W" on the front of the jersey, topped with the common three stars, offset in blue to contrast the white "Capitals" word-mark. Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Capitals will wear their throwback red third jerseys, replacing the white Winter Classic thirds. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the NHL announced a new partnership with Adidas, and the Capitals unveiled new uniforms with minor changes. There were no third jerseys during that season, but the return of the program in the 2018–19 season saw the return of the Capitals' red throwback uniforms as their alternates. For the 2018 Stadium Series, the Capitals used newly-designed navy uniforms, honoring the fact that the game was held at the U.S. Naval Academy. The chest logo was based on the regular stylized "Capitals" logo, but shortened to "Caps", the nickname commonly used for the team. There were also features honoring various aspects of D.C., as well as the presence of a slightly altered W logo from the 2015 Winter Classic on the pants. This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Capitals. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Washington Capitals seasons Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime Losses/SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against Jim Anderson, 1974–1975, Red Sullivan, 1975, Milt Schmidt, 1975, Tom McVie, 1975–1978, Danny Belisle, 1978–1979, Gary Green, 1979–1981, Roger Crozier, 1981, Bryan Murray, 1981–1990, Terry Murray, 1990–1994, Jim Schoenfeld, 1994–1997, Ron Wilson, 1997–2002, Bruce Cassidy, 2002–2003, Glen Hanlon, 2003–2007, Bruce Boudreau, 2007–2011, Dale Hunter, 2011–2012, Adam Oates, 2012–2014, Barry Trotz, 2014–2018, Todd Reirden, 2018–present Doug Mohns, 1974–1975, Bill Clement, 1975–1976, Yvon Labre, 1976–1978, Guy Charron, 1978–1979, Ryan Walter, 1979–1982, Rod Langway, 1982–1993, Kevin Hatcher, 1993–1994, Dale Hunter, 1994–1999, Adam Oates, 1999–2001, Steve Konowalchuk and Brendan Witt, 2001–2002, Steve Konowalchuk, 2002–2003, Jeff Halpern, 2005–2006, Chris Clark, 2006–2009, Alexander Ovechkin, 2010–present Stanley Cup 2017–18 Presidents' Trophy 2009–10, 2015–16, 2016–17 Prince of Wales Trophy 1997–98, 2017–18 Conn Smythe Trophy Alexander Ovechkin: 2017–18 Hart Memorial Trophy Alexander Ovechkin: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2012–13 Lester B. Pearson/Ted Lindsay Award Alexander Ovechkin: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 Art Ross Trophy Alexander Ovechkin: 2007–08 Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy Alexander Ovechkin: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19 Calder Memorial Trophy Alexander Ovechkin: 2005–06 Frank J. Selke Trophy Doug Jarvis: 1983–84 James Norris Memorial Trophy Rod Langway: 1982–83, 1983–84 King Clancy Memorial Trophy Olaf Kolzig: 2005–06 Vezina Trophy Jim Carey: 1995–96, Olaf Kolzig: 1999–00, Braden Holtby: 2015–16 William M. Jennings Trophy Al Jensen and Pat Riggin: 1983–84, Braden Holtby: 2016–17 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy Jose Theodore: 2009–10 Jack Adams Award Bryan Murray: 1983–84, Bruce Boudreau: 2007–08, Barry Trotz: 2015–16 All-Rookie Team Scott Stevens: 1982–83, Jim Carey: 1994–95, Alexander Ovechkin: 2005–06, Nicklas Backstrom: 2007–08, John Carlson: 2010–11 NHL All-Star Team First Team All-Star Rod Langway: 1982–83, 1983–84, Scott Stevens: 1987–88, Jim Carey: 1995–96, Olaf Kolzig: 1999–2000, Alexander Ovechkin: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2018–19, Mike Green: 2008–09, 2009–10, Braden Holtby: 2015–16 Second Team All-Star Rod Langway: 1984–85, Larry Murphy: 1986–87, Al Iafrate: 1992–93, Sergei Gonchar: 2001–02, 2002–03, Alexander Ovechkin: 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, Braden Holtby: 2016–17, John Carlson: 2018–19 1974: Greg Joly (1st overall), 1975: Alex Forsyth (18th overall), 1976: Rick Green (1st overall) and Greg Carroll (15th overall), 1977: Robert Picard (3rd overall), 1978: Ryan Walter (2nd overall) and Tim Coulis (18th overall), 1979: Mike Gartner (4th overall), 1980: Darren Veitch (5th overall), 1981: Bob Carpenter (3rd overall), 1982: Scott Stevens (5th overall), 1983: None, 1984: Kevin Hatcher (17th overall), 1985: Yvon Corriveau (19th overall), 1986: Jeff Greenlaw (19th overall), 1987: None, 1988: Reggie Savage (15th overall), 1989: Olaf Kolzig (19th overall), 1990: John Slaney (9th overall), 1991: Pat Peake (14th overall) and Trevor Halverson (21st overall), 1992: Sergei Gonchar (14th overall), 1993: Brendan Witt (11th overall) and Jason Allison (17th overall), 1994: Nolan Baumgartner (10th overall) and Alexander Kharlamov (15th overall), 1995: Brad Church (17th overall) and Miika Elomo (23rd overall), 1996: Alexandre Volchkov (4th overall) and Jaroslav Svejkovsky (17th overall), 1997: Nick Boynton (9th overall), 1998: None, 1999: Kris Beech (7th overall), 2000: Brian Sutherby (26th overall), 2001: None, 2002: Steve Eminger (12th overall), Alexander Semin (13th overall), and Boyd Gordon (17th overall), 2003: Eric Fehr (18th overall), 2004: Alexander Ovechkin (1st overall), Jeff Schultz (27th overall), and Mike Green (29th overall), 2005: Sasha Pokulok (14th overall) and Joe Finley (27th overall), 2006: Nicklas Backstrom (4th overall) and Semyon Varlamov (23rd overall), 2007: Karl Alzner (5th overall), 2008: Anton Gustafsson (21st overall) and John Carlson (27th overall), 2009: Marcus Johansson (24th overall), 2010: Evgeny Kuznetsov (26th overall), 2011: None (pick traded to Chicago Blackhawks for Troy Brouwer), 2012: Filip Forsberg (11th overall) and Tom Wilson (16th overall), 2013: Andre Burakovsky (23rd overall), 2014: Jakub Vrana (13th overall), 2015: Ilya Samsonov (22nd overall), 2016: Lucas Johansen (28th overall), 2017: None, 2018: Alexander Alexeyev (31st overall), 2019: Connor McMichael (25th overall) The Washington Capitals hold an affiliation with a number of inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Eight inductees from the players category of the Hall of Fame are affiliated with the Capitals. In 2015, two former Capital players, Sergei Fedorov, and Phil Housley, were the latest Capitals players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, with five out of the eight (Gartner, Oates, Stevens, Langway, and Murphy) having played at least five seasons with the club. In addition to players, members of the local sports media that cover the Capitals, and the NHL, were honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2007, Dave Fay, a sports journalist for the Washington Times was a recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. In 2010, play-by-play radio broadcaster, Ron Weber, was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hall of Fame for his contributions to hockey broadcasting. Although not officially retired, the team has not issued Olaf Kölzig's number 37 since his retirement., The NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 for all its member teams at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game. These are the top-ten regular season point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. – current Capitals player Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game Capitals–Flyers rivalry, Capitals–Penguins rivalry, Capitals–Rangers rivalry, MedStar Capitals Iceplex, List of Washington Capitals general managers, Slapshot (mascot) Footnotes Citations The 1998 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1997–98 season, and the culmination of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Western Conference champion and defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals. It was the 105th year of the Stanley Cup being contested. The series was the Capitals' first appearance in a Stanley Cup Final since the franchise's inception in 1974. The Red Wings won the series for the second year in a row, four games to none. It was the Wings' ninth Stanley Cup, and the most recent time when a Finals concluded with a sweep (as of 2019). This was also the last time until that a Stanley Cup Finals ended after an NBA Finals in the same season had concluded. Detroit coach Scotty Bowman won his eighth Stanley Cup in that capacity (having previously done so with the Montreal Canadiens in , , , , and , the Pittsburgh Penguins in , and the Wings the previous year), tying him with former Canadiens coach Toe Blake for the record of most Cups won by a coach (which he would break when he helped the Red Wings win the 2002 Cup). Just six days after sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1997 Finals, Red Wings defenceman Vladimir Konstantinov and masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov sustained serious brain injuries when the limousine in which they were riding crashed. Viacheslav Fetisov was also in the limousine but was not seriously injured. The Red Wings subsequently dedicated their 1997–98 season to the two injured members and wore a patch on their jerseys bearing the players' initials. When the Red Wings were presented with the Stanley Cup, they wheeled Konstantinov onto the ice and placed the Cup in his lap. They also took him for a victory lap around the rink. Detroit advanced to the Finals by defeating the Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues, and Dallas Stars in six games each. Washington defeated the Boston Bruins 4–2, the Ottawa Senators 4–1, and the Buffalo Sabres 4–2. In this series, Capitals head coach Ron Wilson became the first person to head coach in both an Olympics and a Stanley Cup Final in the same year, having coached team USA at the Nagano Olympics. Peter Laviolette would join him in this feat in while with the Carolina Hurricanes during their championship season, having coached the American ice hockey team during the Torino Olympics. At home, Detroit took an early lead in the first period and scored two goals within two minutes and 14 seconds of each other. The Red Wings were able to hold off a Washington assault and take the first game of the series with a score of 2–1. It looked as if the Capitals would to tie the series with a 4–2 lead in the third period, but after a Detroit goal to make it 4–3, Capitals forward Esa Tikkanen had a shot midway through the third period that would have likely put Detroit away before the venue changed back to Washington's MCI Center, and also would have changed the entire dynamic of the series, but he missed the open net shot. Detroit then rallied late in the third period to tie the game and send it into overtime. Kris Draper scored with four minutes left in the first overtime to give the Red Wings a 5–4 victory and a 2–0 lead in the series. Detroit scored in the first 35 seconds to take an early lead which held up until the third period. The Capitals tied the game midway through the third period, but Sergei Fedorov scored to give the Wings a three games to none lead in the series. In game four, Detroit was dominant throughout to win the game by a score of 4–1 and sweep the series. When the Cup was awarded, Vladimir Konstantinov was brought onto the ice in his wheelchair and joined the celebration with his team. Bolded years under Final appearance indicates year won Stanley Cup. In Canada, the series was televised on CBC. In the United States, Fox broadcast game one while ESPN televised games two through four. Had the series extended, games five and seven would have been broadcast on Fox, and ESPN would have aired game six. Konstantinov's career ended in a car accident. The Red Wings still recognized him as part of the team and got permission from the league to have his name engraved., Wally Crossman was the oldest person engraved on the Stanley Cup at age 87., Detroit wanted to include a record 55 names on the Stanley Cup in 1997–98. Following that request, the NHL decided to limit the number of names to 52 to make sure all names fit on the Cup. Players who play in Stanley Cup Finals, or play at least 41 regular season games for the winning team, must be included on the Cup each year. Other players who do not officially qualify may also be included if requested by the team. There are no rules for which non-players must be included on the Stanley Cup, only a limit on total number of names going on the cup. No player who officially qualifies may be left off to include more non-players. Included on the team picture, but left off the Stanley Cup #34 Norm Maracle† (G – 4 games played), #21 Darryl Laplante† (D – played 2 games) did not qualify to win the Stanley Cup. Both players spent majority of the season of in the minors. Maracle played 66 games in goal for Adirondack while Darryl Laplante played 77 on defence., Art Mnatsusakanov†, Johnny Remejes†, Mike Vella† (Dressing Room Asst.) – all 5 members were awarded Stanley Cup Rings The following season, the Red Wings would reach the Western Conference Semifinals, only to be ousted by the Colorado Avalanche in six games. The Red Wings would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals until four years later, when they defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. The Washington Capitals, however, missed the playoffs the following year. The Capitals would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals until 20 years later, when they would win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history after defeating the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in five games. 1997–98 NHL season, List of Stanley Cup champions The 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) began on April 12, 2017, after the 2016–17 regular season and concluded on June 11, 2017, with the Pittsburgh Penguins defeating the Nashville Predators four games to two in the Finals to win the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year. The Washington Capitals made the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners for the second consecutive year with the most points (i.e. best record) during the regular season. The Detroit Red Wings failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 1989–90 season, ending the NHL's longest active playoff streak at 25 consecutive seasons; the streak was also tied for the third-longest streak in NHL history. The longest active playoff streak moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins with eleven consecutive appearances. The Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending a record-tying playoff drought for a team with ten years missed (the Florida Panthers also missed the playoffs between 2001 and 2011 inclusively). For the first time since 2006, both Alberta teams, the Oilers and the Calgary Flames, qualified for the postseason in the same year. For the first time since 2013, and the fourth time since 2002, all three Eastern Canadian teams (Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs) qualified for the playoffs. In all, five Canadian-based teams made the playoffs, matching 2004 and 2015, after a season in which none of the seven teams in Canada contended. Five Original Six teams made the playoffs, with only the previously mentioned Red Wings failing to make it. The first round saw eighteen overtime games, eclipsing the previous record of seventeen overtime games in the first round set in 2013. There were 27 total overtime games in these playoffs, one short of the record set in 1993. It was also the first time since 2001 that no first round series went the full seven games. For the eighth season in a row (and the twelfth time in the last fourteen seasons), a California-based team was in the Western Conference Final. This was the fourth year in which the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, along with two wild cards in each conference (for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference). The following teams qualified for the playoffs: 1. Montreal Canadiens, Atlantic Division champions – 103 points 2. Ottawa Senators – 98 points 3. Boston Bruins – 95 points (42 ) 1. Washington Capitals, Metropolitan Division champions, Eastern Conference regular season champions, Presidents' Trophy winners – 118 points 2. Pittsburgh Penguins – 111 points 3. Columbus Blue Jackets – 108 points 1. New York Rangers – 102 points 2. Toronto Maple Leafs – 95 points (39 ) 1. Chicago Blackhawks, Central Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions – 109 points 2. Minnesota Wild – 106 points 3. St. Louis Blues – 99 points 1. Anaheim Ducks, Pacific Division champions – 105 points 2. Edmonton Oilers – 103 points 3. San Jose Sharks – 99 points 1. Calgary Flames – 94 points (41 ) 2. Nashville Predators – 94 points (39 ) The Montreal Canadiens finished first in the Atlantic Division earning 103 points. The New York Rangers finished as the Eastern Conference's first wild- card, earning 102 points. This was the sixteenth playoff meeting between these two teams with New York winning eight of the fifteen previous series. They last met in the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, which New York won in six games. Montreal won all three games in this year's regular season series. The Rangers eliminated the Canadiens in six games. In the first game of the series, Tanner Glass and Michael Grabner scored the only goals of the games as the Rangers won the game 2–0 on Henrik Lundqvist's 31-save shutout. In game two, the Canadiens tied the game with 18 seconds left, then in overtime, Alexander Radulov pushed it past the Rangers' goaltender to give Montreal a 4–3 victory. Radulov continued his scoring into game three, getting a goal and an assist to help the Canadiens achieve a 3–1 victory. The Rangers ended a six-game home-losing streak after game four, winning 2–1 over the Canadiens to tie the series 2–2. Mika Zibanejad got the overtime-winner for the Rangers in game five after Chris Kreider deflected a pass off of Canadiens defenceman Alexei Emelin, landing towards the forward who put it past goaltender Carey Price in a 3–2 win. Mats Zuccarello scored twice in game six as the Rangers eliminated the Canadiens in a 3–1 victory to advance to the second round. The Ottawa Senators finished second in the Atlantic Division, earning 98 points. The Boston Bruins earned 95 points in the regular season to finish third in the Atlantic. This was the first playoff meeting between the contemporary Ottawa franchise and Boston, and the first Boston-Ottawa series since the 1927 Stanley Cup Finals. Ottawa won all four games in this year's regular season series. The Senators eliminated the Bruins in six games. In the first game, the Senators gained a 1–0 lead into the third on Bobby Ryan's goal in the second period, however, the Bruins scored twice in the final period with Brad Marchand having the final tally 2:33 before the game ended 2–1 for Boston. In game two, Ottawa came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period and won via Dion Phaneuf whose goal in overtime helped tie the series 1–1 after a 4–3 conquest. In game three, Ottawa had a three-goal lead with Mike Hoffman scoring twice, but the Bruins came back with three goals in the third period. In overtime, Bruins forward Riley Nash took a roughing penalty and on the ensuing power play, Bobby Ryan tipped in a pass from Kyle Turris ending the game 4–3 for the Senators. Bobby Ryan scored the only goal in game four, at the 5:49 mark of the third period, allowing the Senators to achieve a 3–1 series lead. Boston came back from an early 2–0 deficit in game five and the game would go to overtime. In double-overtime, Bruins rookie Sean Kuraly scored his second goal of the game, completing the comeback in a 3–2 feat. In game six, Clarke MacArthur scored the series-winning goal on the power play in overtime for Ottawa to advance to the second round. The Washington Capitals earned the Presidents' Trophy for the second consecutive year as the NHL's best regular season team this time with 118 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs finished as the Eastern Conference's second wild-card, earning 95 points. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Washington won two of the three games in this year's regular season series. This became only the third playoff series in NHL history in which five games were decided in overtime (the first being the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens and the second occurring in the 2012 Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Chicago Blackhawks). The Capitals defeated the Maple Leafs in six games. Although Toronto had a two-goal lead in the first ten minutes of the first game, Washington scored two goals, both from Justin Williams, and won the game 3–2 in overtime from Tom Wilson's goal. In game two, rookie Kasperi Kapanen scored twice including the game-winner in double-overtime leading the Maple Leafs to a 4–3 victory. Washington took two two-goal leads in game three; the first pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Auston Matthews, helped soften the lead with his first playoff goal, but after the Capitals got a 3–1 lead, the Maple Leafs scored twice to tie the game. Then in overtime, Tyler Bozak tipped a shot past the Capitals' goaltender to give the Leafs a 2–1 series lead. Game four was the only game of the series not to go into overtime; Tom Wilson and T. J. Oshie both scored two goals and Oshie's second goal proved to be the game-winner in a 5–4 victory after an attempted comeback by Toronto was thwarted. Game five featured the fourth overtime game of this series with Justin Williams scoring for Capitals in a 2–1, taking a 3–2 series lead in the process. In game six, the game went to overtime for the fifth time this series and at 6:31 of the first overtime period Marcus Johansson scored his second goal for the Capitals in a 2–1 victory and another trip to the second round. The Pittsburgh Penguins finished second in the Metropolitan Division earning 111 points. The Columbus Blue Jackets earned 108 points to finish third in the Metropolitan. This was the second playoff meeting between these teams; they last met in the 2014 Eastern Conference First Round, which Pittsburgh won in six games. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series. The Penguins defeated the Blue Jackets in five games. Before game one began, Matt Murray, the starting goaltender for the Penguins, injured himself during warm- ups forcing Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been demoted to the backup for the season, to start the game; his team would win the game 3–1, making 31 saves in the process. Sidney Crosby got a goal and two assists in game two as the Penguins defeated the Blue Jackets 4–1 and took a 2–0 series lead. In game three, Jake Guentzel scored a hat-trick, his third being the overtime-winner as the Penguins came back from a two-goal deficit and defeated the Blue Jackets 5–4 and take a 3–0 series lead. Columbus avoided a sweep in game four, scoring with five different players in a 5–4 victory; this was also the franchise's first playoff win in regulation. In game five, Bryan Rust scored twice, including the series-winner, and Fleury made 49 saves in a 5–2 win for the Penguins to advance to the second round. The Chicago Blackhawks finished first in the Central Division earning 109 points. The Nashville Predators finished as the Western Conference's second wild-card, earning 94 points. This was the third playoff meeting between these teams with Chicago winning both previous series. They last met in the 2015 Western Conference First Round, which Chicago won in six games. Chicago won four of the five games in this year's regular season series. The Predators defeated the Blackhawks in a four-game sweep; this was the first time in NHL playoff history that an eighth-seeded team swept a playoff series against the top seed in their conference. Viktor Arvidsson scored the only goal in game one as the Predators shut out the Blackhawks, stopping all 29 shots they faced. The Blackhawks remained scoreless after game two, instead being outscored 5–0 with Pekka Rinne not only stopping all 30 shots he faced, but also providing two assists. Chicago finally scored a goal in game three and they maintained a two-goal lead throughout the second period, but in the third period, Filip Forsberg scored twice for Nashville to tie the game and send it to overtime. In overtime, Nashville forward Kevin Fiala skated around Chicago goalie Corey Crawford and put the puck past the Chicago netminder to complete the comeback in a 3–2 victory giving them their first 3–0 series lead. In game four, Roman Josi scored twice in a 4–1 victory and Rinne made 30 saves for the Predators, who swept a playoff opponent for the first time in franchise history. The Minnesota Wild finished second in the Central Division earning 106 points. The St. Louis Blues earned 99 points to finish third in the Central. This was the second playoff meeting between these teams; their only previous meeting was the 2015 Western Conference First Round, which Minnesota won in six games. St. Louis won three of the five games in this year's regular season series. The Blues defeated the Wild in five games. St. Louis won the first game of the series 2–1 17:48 into overtime from Joel Edmundson's wrist shot after the Wild tied the game in the final minute of the game, Jake Allen made 51 saves in the process. In game two, Jaden Schwartz scored the game-winner with 2:27 left in the third period, giving the Blues another 2–1 victory over the Wild. The Wild continued to score only one goal in each game this series, losing the game nevertheless, this time 3–1 as Allen made 40 saves and the Blues took a 3–0 series lead. Devan Dubnyk kept the Wild alive in the series, stopping all 28 shots he faced in a 2–0 victory in game four. In game five, the Blues took a 3–1 lead in the third period only to see the Wild tie it up in the last ten minutes. However, in overtime, Magnus Paajarvi ended the game for St. Louis, defeating the Wild 4–3 to advance to the second round. The Anaheim Ducks finished first in the Pacific Division for the fifth consecutive year, this time earning 105 points. The Calgary Flames finished as the Western Conference's first wild-card, earning 94 points. This was the third playoff meeting between these teams with Anaheim winning both previous series. They last met in the 2015 Western Conference Second Round which Anaheim won in five games. Anaheim won four of the five games in this year's regular season series. Anaheim has also won 25 straight regular-season home games against Calgary. The Ducks defeated the Flames in a four-game sweep. In game one, both Ryan Getzlaf and Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist, the latter of whom had the game-winning goal in a 3–2 victory for the Ducks. Anaheim continued their home-dominance over Calgary defeating the Flames 3–2 with a goal and an assist by Getzlaf again. The Flames had a lead of 4–1 in game three, forcing Ducks goaltender John Gibson to be replaced by Jonathan Bernier. The Ducks came back in this game, scoring three times, in what would become the fourth overtime game of this night. Corey Perry then threw the puck towards the net and it bounced off both Calgary goaltender Brian Elliott and defenceman Michael Stone and into the net, to give the Ducks a 3–0 series lead. In game four, Gibson stopped 36 shots by the Flames, but allowed only one goal as the Ducks ended the series with a 3–1 win. The Edmonton Oilers finished second in the Pacific Division with 103 points. The San Jose Sharks earned 99 points in the regular season to finish third in the Pacific. Edmonton started a playoff series at home for the first time since the 1991 Campbell Conference Finals. This was the second playoff meeting between these teams; their only previous series was the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals, which Edmonton won in six games. Edmonton won three of the five games in this year's regular season series. The Oilers defeated the Sharks in six games. In Edmonton's first playoff game since 2006, the Oilers took a 2–0 lead in the first period, but the Sharks scored three goals over the second, third, and first overtime period winning the game 3–2 from Melker Karlsson's goal. The Oilers scored two shorthanded goals in game two as they blanked San Jose 2–0. The shutout streak continued in game three, as Zack Kassian scored the only goal for the Oilers and Cam Talbot stopped 23 shots. Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski scored two goals each and Martin Jones stopped all 23 shots as the Sharks blanked the Oilers 7–0 in game four to tie the series at two. The Sharks gained a 3–1 lead over the Oilers in game five, but both Mark Letestu and Oscar Klefbom scored to tie the game and send it to overtime. David Desharnais would end it at 18:15 of overtime to give the Oilers a 4–3 triumph and a 3–2 series lead. In game six, the Oilers scored twice in the second period, both on breakaways, and closed out the series with a 3–1 win. This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams; their only previous series was in the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which New York won in seven games. This was the second time under the current playoff format and the second year in a row in which a wild-card team had more points than its opponent during the regular season but did not have home ice advantage; the other time was the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders in last year's Eastern Conference Second Round. Ottawa won two of the three games in this year's regular season series. The Senators defeated the Rangers in six games. In the first game, goaltender Craig Anderson made 34 saves in a 2–1 victory for the Senators. The Rangers had leads of 3–1, 4–2, and 5–3 in game two only to have the Senators tie up the game on Jean-Gabriel Pageau's hat-trick goal with 1:02 remaining. In double-overtime, Pageau's fourth goal of the game gave the Senators a 6–5 win and a 2–0 series lead. In doing this, he became the first player to score four goals in a playoff game since Johan Franzen scored four goals for the Detroit Red Wings in Game 4 of their 2010 second round series against the San Jose Sharks. Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist in game three as the Rangers won the affair 4–1. The Rangers defeated the Senators 4–1 again in game four, tying the series 2–2; Oscar Lindberg scored twice in the victory. The Rangers got an early two-goal lead in game five, but the Senators came back scoring three goals in return. The Rangers regained the lead, but former Ranger Derick Brassard tied the game in the final minutes to send it to overtime. Kyle Turris ended the game 6:28 into overtime to give the Senators a 5–4 victory and a 3–2 series lead. In game six, Erik Karlsson netted the series-winning goal and added an assist for the Senators who advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time in ten years after a 4–2 victory. This was the tenth playoff meeting between these teams and the second consecutive in the second round. Pittsburgh has won eight of the nine previous series including last year's confrontation which ended in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series. The Penguins defeated the Capitals in seven games after they gave up a 3–1 series lead. In the final eight minutes of game one, Nick Bonino scored the game-winning goal as the Penguins once led 2–0 only to have Washington score twice to tie the game, then with 8:24 left in the third period Bonino gave the Penguins a 3–2 lead and thus the victory. Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel both scored twice for the Penguins in a 6–2 victory, gaining a 2–0 series lead as a result. The Capitals got an early 1–0 lead in game three, then a goal by Evgeny Kuznetsov put them up by two goals, however, in the final two minutes of the game, the Penguins tied the score 2–2. In overtime, Trevor Daley of the Penguins was penalized for holding and on the ensuing power play, Kevin Shattenkirk scored to give the Capitals a 3–2 victory. Pittsburgh lead 2–0 in game four only to have Washington tie the game, however, 2:49 after Nate Schmidt tied the game for Washington, Justin Schultz on the power play gave the Penguins a 3–2 lead and the victory. Washington scored three times in the third period of game five after being down one goal to win 4–2. Andre Burakovsky scored twice in game six, forcing a seventh game in Washington's 5–2 triumph. In game seven, Marc- Andre Fleury stopped all 29 shots and Bryan Rust scored the series-winning goal to defeat the Capitals 2–0 and advance to the Conference Finals for the second consecutive year. This was the first playoff meeting between these teams. Nashville won three of the five games in this year's regular season series. The Predators defeated the Blues in six games. The first game of the series had Nashville gain a 3–1 lead, St. Louis then scored twice in the third period to tie the game, but with 5:05 left in the third period, Vernon Fiddler gave the Predators 4–3 lead as well a 1–0 series lead. During the game, Kevin Fiala fractured his left leg after being checked by Robert Bortuzzo; Fiala would require a stretcher to get off the ice. In game two, Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice including the game- winner, tying the series 1–1 in a 3–2 triumph. The Predators continued their home-winning streak dating back to last year's first round winning game three, by a final score of 3–1 with Colton Sissons assisting twice, increasing the streak to seven home games. Nashville won their eighth consecutive playoff home game after game four, defeating the Blues 2–1 and Pekka Rinne making 32 saves. Jaden Schwartz broke a 1–1 tie in the third period of the fifth game and maintained the 2–1 lead to a victory. In game six, Ryan Johansen scored the series-winning goal in a 3–1 victory as the Predators moved onto the Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history after eighteen seasons in the league. This left the Columbus Blue Jackets as the only team that has never made it to the Conference Finals, after the Winnipeg Jets beat the Predators in the 2018 Western Conference Second Round to make it to the Conference Finals. This was the second playoff meeting between these teams; their only previous series was in the 2006 Western Conference Finals, which Edmonton won in five games. Edmonton won three of the five games in this year's regular season series. The Ducks defeated the Oilers in seven games. In the first game, Mark Letestu scored twice and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists as the Oilers, who once gained a 3–1 lead in the third period only to see the Ducks tie the game in less than three minutes, scored twice in the final five minutes to achieve a 5–3 lead and thus the victory. Goalie Cam Talbot stopped 39 shots and former-Duck Patrick Maroon scored the game-winning goal in game two for the Oilers' 2–1 victory. Anaheim took an early 3–0 lead in game three only to see the Oilers tie the game. The Ducks took the lead back in the second period with Chris Wagner's goal, then Jakob Silfverberg scored his second of the game and Ryan Kesler provided an insurance goal to close out the game 6–3. In game four, Ryan Getzlaf scored twice to take the lead for the Ducks after being down 2–0 in the game, then in 45 seconds into overtime, Silfverberg scored to give the Ducks the victory and the series tie. The Oilers gained a 3–0 lead in game five, but with 3:16 left in the game, the Ducks scored three times to tie the game becoming the first team to score three goals in that span of time left to tie the game. The comeback was complete at 6:57 of double-overtime when Corey Perry gave Ducks a 4–3 victory and a 3–2 series lead. The Oilers scored five times in the first period of game six and Draisaitl had a hat trick along with two assists to defeat the Ducks 7–1 and force a seventh game. In game seven, Nick Ritchie's goal proved to be the series-winner as the Ducks were able to win a series via seventh game for the first time since 2006 and advance to the Conference Finals with a 2–1 victory. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these teams with Pittsburgh winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Semifinals, which Pittsburgh won in five games. This was the second consecutive Conference Finals appearance for Pittsburgh who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning last year in seven games. Ottawa last went to the Conference Finals in 2007; they defeated the Buffalo Sabres in five games. Ottawa won two of the three games in this year's regular season series. The Penguins defeated the Senators in seven games. In game one, the Senators held onto a one-goal lead until Evgeni Malkin tied the game in the third period, but in overtime, Bobby Ryan scored to give Ottawa a 2–1 victory. The second game remained scoreless until Phil Kessel scored with 6:55 left in the game to give the Penguins a 1–0 lead and the victory; Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves in the process. In the first period of game three, the Senators scored four times including three in a span of 2:18 leading them into a 5–1 victory. In his first playoff game since his injury before the first game of the playoffs, goaltender Matt Murray made 24 saves and stopped a comeback from Ottawa in a 3–2 victory for Pittsburgh. Murray stopped all 26 shots and the Penguins routed the Senators 7–0 in game five to take a 3–2 series lead. Craig Anderson made 45 saves in game six, forcing a seventh game in a 2–1 victory. In game seven, Chris Kunitz of the Penguins and Mark Stone of the Senators started the scoring 20 seconds apart in the second period. After both Justin Schultz and Ryan Dzingel made the game 2–2, the match headed into overtime. In double- overtime, Kunitz scored his second of the game to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Finals for the second consecutive year. This was the second consecutive playoff meeting and the third overall between these teams with Nashville winning both previous series, including a seven- game win in last year's first round. This was Anaheim's fifth Conference Finals appearance. They last made the Conference Finals in 2015 where they were defeated in seven games by the Chicago Blackhawks. This was Nashville's first Conference Finals appearance in their 19-year history. Anaheim won two of the three games in this year's regular season series. The Predators defeated the Ducks in six games. The first game of the series went into overtime, and at 9:24 James Neal put the puck past the Ducks goaltender to take game one, 3–2. In game two, the Ducks rallied from an early-two-goal deficit to defeat the Predators 5–3 and Ryan Getzlaf assisted thrice in the victory. Nashville kept their home playoff win streak alive in game three, winning 2–1; after a pair of goals were disallowed due to goaltender interference, Roman Josi scored for the Predators with 2:43 left in the game. Although Nashville tied the game after being down by two goals in game four, Anaheim won the game on Corey Perry's goal 10:25 into overtime, tying the series 2–2 in a 3–2 victory. Pekka Rinne made 32 saves in game five for the Predators as Nashville took a 3–2 series lead in a 3–1 victory. In game six, Colton Sissons' hat trick goal was the series-winning goal in a 6–3 victory, putting the Nashville Predators in the Finals for the first time in their 19-year history. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Pittsburgh made their second consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance and their sixth overall; they won in the previous year defeating the San Jose Sharks in six games. Nashville made their first Finals appearance in their nineteenth season since entering the league in 1998–99. These teams split their two-game regular season series. These are the top ten skaters based on points. This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage, with at least 420 minutes played. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded. This marked the sixth postseason under NBC Sports' current 10-year contract for American television rights to the NHL. All national coverage of games aired on either NBCSN, the NBC broadcast network, NHL Network, USA Network, or CNBC. During the first round, excluding games exclusively broadcast on NBC, the regional rightsholders of each participating U.S. team produced local telecasts of their respective games; NBCUniversal held exclusive rights to all games from the second round onward. Unlike past seasons, the national broadcasts were no longer blacked out on television in the markets of participating teams, and could co-exist with the local broadcasts (however, NBC-provided streaming was still restricted in Boston and Pittsburgh). For first-round games involving Chicago, San Jose and Washington—teams whose regional rights are held by the co-owned NBC Sports Regional Networks—the national broadcasts shared the same video as the local broadcasts but overdubbed with national commentators. This was done so NBC would not have to bring additional equipment to these games to produce an entirely separate telecast for the national audience. In Canada, for the third postseason under Rogers Media's current 12-year contract, coverage was broadcast by Sportsnet networks and CBC Television under the Hockey Night in Canada brand, and streamed on Sportsnet Now, CBCSports.ca (for games televised by CBC), or the subscription service Rogers NHL GameCentre Live. French-language coverage was on TVA Sports. Rogers agreed not to schedule games on CBC for the first four Sunday nights of the playoffs, so that the network could broadcast , a documentary series it had commissioned as part of programming commemorating the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation. 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction adventure film based on Suzanne Collins' dystopian novel Catching Fire (2009), the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The film is the sequel to The Hunger Games (2012) and the second installment in The Hunger Games film series, produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, with co-production by Lionsgate Films and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment. Francis Lawrence directed the film, with a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt (credited as Michael deBruyn). Adding to the existing cast, the supporting cast was filled out with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Lynn Cohen, Jena Malone, and Amanda Plummer. Filming began on September 10, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia, before moving to Hawaii. The plot of Catching Fire takes place a few months after the previous installment; Katniss Everdeen and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark have returned home safely after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Throughout the story, Katniss senses that a rebellion against the oppressive Capitol is simmering throughout the districts. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire premiered in London on November 11, 2013 and was theatrically released on November 15, 2013, in Brazil; November 20 in Finland, Sweden, and Norway; November 21 in the United Kingdom; and November 22 in IMAX, in the United States. The film set records for the biggest November opening weekend and biggest three- and five-day Thanksgiving box-office totals, surpassing the first film's box office grosses. It ranks as the 22nd-highest-grossing film at the domestic box office and the highest- grossing film at the domestic box office of 2013, becoming the first 2-D film since The Dark Knight (2008) to top the yearly box office, as well as having a lead female top the box office since The Exorcist (1973). The film has grossed over $865 million worldwide and is the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2013 and the highest-grossing entry in The Hunger Games series. The film was followed by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, a two-part sequel and finale of the franchise: was released on November 21, 2014, in the United States, and on November 20, 2015. Catching Fire received positive reviews and is widely considered by critics to be an improvement over its predecessor, with the sentiment being that it's "a more-confident, more-polished movie"; praise also goes to Lawrence's performance as Katniss. It's the most critically acclaimed chapter in The Hunger Games series, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The film also received numerous nominations, with a nomination for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Action Film and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. For her performance, Lawrence was nominated a second time for the Empire Award for Best Actress as well as the Saturn Award and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award. The song "Atlas" was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Sometime after Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return to District 12 following their victory in the 74th Hunger Games, President Snow visits Katniss and explains that her actions in the Games have inspired uprisings. He orders her to use the upcoming Victory Tour to convince people that her actions were out of love and not defiance against the Capitol, warning her that her friends, family, and District 12 will otherwise suffer, but she is unsuccessful in doing so. During the tour, Katniss' mentor Haymitch Abernathy warns her that she and Peeta, as Victors like him, will now have to serve as mentors to future tributes and that their show of love will be forced to continue for the rest of lives. Peacekeepers enter District 12 to crack down on illegal activity, and Katniss's friend Gale is publicly whipped after attacking the Head Peacekeeper. However, Haymitch, Peeta and Katniss use their influence as Hunger Games victors to save Gale from being executed. This is broadcast on state television; in response, Snow decides that the Hunger Games victors have too much power and need to be eradicated. He announces that the upcoming Hunger Games - the 75th overall and the third Quarter Quell - will involve tributes selected from previous victors, allowing him to dispose of almost all of them. Katniss is devastated, knowing she will be forced to participate as she is the only living female Victor from District 12, and she immediately devotes herself to ensuring Peeta survives. On Reaping Day, Haymitch's name is drawn, but Peeta immediately volunteers to take his place. Haymitch reveals that the tributes are angry about being forced to return to the Games and will most likely attempt to stop it. For her pre-Games interview, Katniss wears a wedding dress, as ordered by Snow, but her stylist Cinna sets it to transform into a symbol of a mockingjay. Peeta announces that he and Katniss, who had previously announced their engagement during their Victory Tour in an unsuccessful attempt to quell the Districts, are expecting a child. The citizens then protest for the Games to be stopped to no avail. Just before Katniss enters the arena, Cinna is severely beaten by Peacekeepers in front of her as punishment for his tampering with her dress and then dragged away. In the Games, Katniss allies with District 4 tributes Finnick Odair and the elderly Mags, his mentor. When the arena's forcefield shocks Peeta, stopping his heart, Finnick revives him. The group is then forced to flee from a poisonous fog; when Peeta cannot go on, Mags sacrifices herself so that Finnick can help him. When mandrills attack, Peeta is saved by the unexpected sacrifice of a hiding tribute. The group escapes to the beach, where Finnick greets District 3's Wiress and Beetee and District 7's Johanna Mason. Wiress repeats the phrase "tick-tock", leading Katniss to realize that the arena is designed like a clock, with unchanging hazards each hour contained within their respective zones. Wiress's throat is slit by Gloss, one of the Careers. Gloss is then fatally shot by Katniss while Johanna kills his sister, Cashmere. Finnick is injured by another Career, and the Gamemakers spin the clock to disorient the tributes. Beetee suggests luring the rest of the Careers to the wet beach and electrocuting them, which was how he himself previously won the Games. The group separates to prepare the trap. When Brutus and Enobaria emerge, Johanna cuts the tracker out of Katniss' arm and flees. Katniss finds an unconscious Beetee. Unable to recover Peeta, and hearing a cannon (Peeta killing Brutus), Katniss almost kills Finnick, thinking he betrayed them, but he reminds her to remember who the real enemy is. Katniss attaches some wire to an arrow and shoots it into the arena's roof just as lightning strikes a nearby tree to which the wire is attached. The roof of the arena breaks and the lightning strike paralyzes Katniss and incapacitates Finnick. It also causes a power failure that brings down the dome and disables the security cameras, preventing the Capitol from observing the events. Katniss awakens in a hovercraft with an unconscious Beetee. She finds Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch Heavensbee, the new head Gamemaker, who reveals himself to be a rebel against Snow. Katniss learns they are bound for District 13, the headquarters of the rebellion, and that half the tributes were recruited to help Katniss escape, as she is the symbol of the growing rebellion. After further learning that Peeta and Johanna could not be rescued and are now captives in the Capitol, Katniss furiously attacks Haymitch for not keeping his promise to protect Peeta, but is quickly sedated. She awakens to find Gale by her side. He assures her that her family is safe, but also reveals that District 12 has been destroyed after Snow was made aware of the rebels' plot. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair, Jena Malone as Johanna Mason, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee Latier, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow, Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith, Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen, Lynn Cohen as Mags Flanagan, Amanda Plummer as Wiress, Meta Golding as Enobaria, Bruno Gunn as Brutus, Alan Ritchson as Gloss, Stephanie Leigh Schlund as Cashmere, Patrick St. Esprit as Romulus Thread, Paula Malcomson as Mrs Everdeen, Stef Dawson as Annie Cresta, Nelson Ascencio as Flavius, Bruce Bundy as Octavia Lionsgate announced that a film adaptation of Catching Fire would be released as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22, 2013, as a sequel to the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, with principal photography to take place in September 2012. Simon Beaufoy was hired to write the script for the film and wrote two drafts before leaving after Gary Ross, director of The Hunger Games decided not to direct the sequel. The shooting timeframe was co- ordinated between Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox, in order to allow time for Jennifer Lawrence to shoot , the sequel to Fox's , in January 2013. On April 10, 2012, it was announced that Gary Ross, director of The Hunger Games, would not return due to a 'tight' and 'fitted' schedule. Bennett Miller, Joe Cornish, Francis Lawrence and Juan Antonio Bayona were all being considered to direct the new film. On April 19, 2012, it was announced that Francis Lawrence was offered the director position for the film. Lionsgate officially announced Francis Lawrence as the director for Catching Fire on May 3, 2012. Two days later, it was reported that Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) was in talks to re-write the script for Catching Fire. On May 24, 2012, the film was renamed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Arndt was confirmed as the new writer of the script. Arndt was paid $400,000 a week for re-writing the script. According to sources, the adaptation needed to be done filming by December 2012 to fit Jennifer Lawrence's schedule. When lost its original director and shooting for the film was delayed till April 2013, Jennifer Lawrence was no longer needed to be filming in January 2013 and the shooting timeframe for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was extended to March (including several breaks due to the holidays and awards season). The film featured sequences filmed in the IMAX format. In July 2012, it was announced that Jena Malone would portray Johanna Mason, that Amanda Plummer would portray Wiress, and that Philip Seymour Hoffman would portray Plutarch Heavensbee. Following this, in August 2012, it was announced that Lynn Cohen had been cast as Mags. Alan Ritchson was cast as Gloss on August 9, Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair on August 22, and Jeffrey Wright as Beetee on September 7. Lawrence, Hutcherson and Hemsworth all dyed their hair for the movie once again. Lawrence went back into archery training in order to get in shape for the role while the supporting cast undertook training in preparation for the arena scenes. Production officially began on September 10, 2012, with shooting concluding for some of the cast on December 21, 2012. After the Christmas break, filming resumed for two weeks in mid January for some of the main cast and was placed on hold for awards season. Principal photography resumed and concluded in March 2013. Shooting first took place in and around metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia and then moved to Hawaii, to shoot the arena scenes. The cast and crew were on a busy schedule, working 14-hour days and six days a week. In an interview with MTV, Josh Hutcherson confirmed scenes in the film would use IMAX cameras by stating, "They're shooting, I think, all the stuff in the arena is going to be IMAX". Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth were in Ringwood, New Jersey shooting District 12 scenes involving snow for the beginning of the film on January 31 and February 1. Jennifer Lawrence confirmed that she would fly out to Hawaii on February 25, the day after she won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 85th Academy Awards to shoot for the final 9 days along with Claflin and Hutcherson. In late March, filming occurred in the Universal Studios backlot and was kept extremely secretive. Witnesses reported of towers and fences on set. None of the main cast were believed to have been on set. Reshoots were scheduled for April 13 in Atlanta. With the base camp set up at Executive Park off North Druid Hills Road, filming also occurred at the Goat Farm Arts Center. Francis Lawrence has estimated an hour of the film would be devoted to Arena scenes, and said that cameras would be mounted to avoid the shaky-cam look from the first film. In an IMAX featurette, Francis Lawrence also confirmed that scenes taking place in the Arena were shot on IMAX cameras to distinguish them from scenes external to the Arena. Approximately 50 minutes of the film's footage was shot in the IMAX format, through the use of three IMAX 15 perf/65mm film cameras. Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, gave pieces of McQueen's collection to costume designer Trish Summerville. Summerville collaborated with Indonesian designer Tex Saverio when designing Katniss' wedding dress for the Quarter Quell interviews. British singer Ed Sheeran recorded three songs for the soundtrack, but Lionsgate declined the offer. On May 14, 2013, Alexandra Patsavas was listed in the credits as music supervisor, replacing T Bone Burnett from the first film. Coldplay were announced as the first official artist to be featured on the Catching Fire soundtrack album, with the song "Atlas", released worldwide on September 6, 2013. Christina Aguilera announced that her song, "We Remain", would be part of the official soundtrack of the film. Other artists featured on the soundtrack include Of Monsters and Men with "Silhouettes", Sia featuring The Weeknd & Diplo with "Elastic Heart", The National with "Lean", The Weeknd with "Devil May Cry", Imagine Dragons with "Who We Are", Lorde with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", The Lumineers with "Gale Song", Ellie Goulding with "Mirror", Patti Smith with "Capitol Letter", Santigold with "Shooting Arrows at the Sky", Mikky Ekko with "Place for Us", Phantogram with "Lights", and Antony and the Johnsons with "Angel on Fire". In October 2012, composer James Newton Howard confirmed that he would return to score the film. The score album was released on November 25, 2013. All songs written and composed by James Newton Howard, except "We're a Team" (co- written by Coldplay band members: Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin.) On November 16, 2012, the first teaser trailer was released with and revealed the official logo and tagline for the film. Lionsgate announced a sweepstakes competition where 12 fans would have their name listed in the film's credits. On January 11, 2013, Entertainment Weekly released a 2013 Preview edition of their magazine, with the first look of Lawrence as Katniss and Claflin as Finnick on the cover as well as several stills showcasing scenes from the film. On February 22, both Hitfix and the official Facebook page debuted two viral posters of the Victory Tour featuring Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) and Josh Hutcherson (Peeta). On January 28, 2013, CapitolCouture.PN, a promotional site for the film's fashion and culture, opened and could only be unlocked with a passcode. Once in, a picture of a blue chair appeared and told readers to check back on March 4. On March 4, 2013, the site began to release portraits of the various characters. Alongside the announcement of the teaser trailer premiering at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, Lionsgate revealed a new website called TheHungerGamesExplorer. On April 10, the website was updated and fans had to tweet using the hashtag #HungerGamesExplorer to unlock new stills from the movie. A still could be unlocked every day leading up to April 14, 2013, the teaser trailer's release date. The teaser trailer thus debuted at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on April 14, presented by Liam Hemsworth, and the trailer was posted on TheHungerGamesExplorer and YouTube after the ceremony. "Beyond Fire" by T.T.L. was played as the trailer music. An exclusive new trailer debuted at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 20, 2013, also being released online on that day. Walmart released the first TV spot on their Facebook page on October 14, featuring Coldplay's song, "Atlas". On October 27, 2013, during the fifth inning of game 4 of the 2013 World Series, the final trailer was released. Three days later, on October 30, 2013, a new IMAX poster for the film debuted. The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square theater in London on November 11, 2013. The film was later released on November 22, 2013, in the United States in conventional and IMAX theaters. The film was also shown in the 4DX format in selected international territories. It features motion-enhanced seating, wind, water sprays, strobe lightning, and scent-based special effects. The film was released in 4,165 theaters in the US alone. The Blu-ray/DVD release date for the film in the US was March 7, 2014. The entire Hunger Games series was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on November 8, 2016. Actresses Lynn Cohen and Stephanie Leigh Schlund, who played Mags and Cashmere in the film, respectively, promoted the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film with an appearance at the March 7, 2014 midnight release of the product at the Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey. As of March 16, 2014, Catching Fire has sold 2,073,719 DVDs along with 2,186,430 Blu-ray discs for $35,565,263 and $43,832,928, respectively, totaling $79,398,191 of revenue within two weeks of release. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 89% based on reviews from 284 professional critics, with a rating average of 7.58/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Smart, smoothly directed, and enriched with a deeper exploration of the franchise's thought-provoking themes, Catching Fire proves a thoroughly compelling second installment in the Hunger Games series." It was the highest rated science fiction/fantasy movie of the year on the website. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 76 (indicating "generally favorable reviews") based on 49 reviews. According to polls conducted during the opening weekend by CinemaScore, the average grade audiences gave the film was an A, on an A+ to F scale. The Hollywood Reporter said that the film has received "generally positive reviews" and CNN reported that reviews were "overwhelmingly positive" but noted that "an overarching complaint" was that it "runs needlessly long ... and the screenplay and direction do occasionally fall short." Entertainment Weekly said the consensus was that the sequel is "a more-confident, more-polished movie that delves deeper into Panem's political conflict". It also reported, "Critics are impressed that [Lawrence] commits to Katniss just as much as she would a complex David O. Russell character." Writing for The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek praised Jennifer Lawrence's performance, writing that the actress is "both on fire and in the process of becoming, and it’s magnificent to watch." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3.5 stars out of four and said, "Pop-culture escapism can be thrilling when dished out by experts. Katniss is a character worth a handful of sequels. And Lawrence lights up the screen. You'll follow her anywhere." He also commended supporting actors Sam Claflin and Jena Malone. Reviewing on Roger Ebert's website, Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today awarded the film three out of four stars, praising the acting of Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer and Jena Malone and referring to the challenges of the arena as "visually intriguing." Wloszczyna writes: "...the one truly fresh invention—and the one that matters most—is Katniss herself. With each on-screen chapter, the poor girl from District 12 continues to fulfill her destiny as an inspiration and a rebel fighter." Ian Nathan of Empire gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and noted that it was even better than the first film. He praised director Lawrence for "taking a more muscular approach" and "sensibly downplaying" the love triangle, noting that "neither [Peeta nor Gale], quite frankly, are fit to lay a pinky on [Katniss'] quiver". One fault he did find was in Philip Seymour Hoffman's "surprisingly ineffective performance". A negative review came from Sophie Monks Kaufman of Little White Lies, who praised Lawrence's performance but criticized the "dilution of the ingredients that made The Hunger Games so gripping." She also found fault with the "lumbering" plot, the "hamminess" of President Snow and Plutarch Heavensbee and the "lackluster and unconvincing script culled from a dramatically difficult book". David Denby of The New Yorker argued that the premise "doesn't make a lot of sense". He praised the "impressive" first act and Jennifer Lawrence, for "project[ing] the kind of strength that Katharine Hepburn had when she was young." Denby found the second act "attenuated and rhythmless" and criticised the "incoherent" finale that "will send the audience scurrying back to the book to find out what’s supposed to be going on". The Hunger Games: Catching Fire earned $424,668,047 in North America and $440,343,699 in other countries for a worldwide total of $865,011,746. Worldwide, it is the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate and the fifth-highest-grossing 2013 film. Outside North America, it is the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate and the seventh-highest-grossing 2013 film. On its first weekend, it was only released in Brazil (November 15, 2013), where it grossed $2.4 million on its opening day and $5.26 million for the weekend. On the following Wednesday and Thursday, it opened in 42 more territories, bringing its total to $32 million in a week. The film opened in 63 other territories and earned $138.4 million during the weekend ($146.6 million including its first week in Brazil). Its three largest openings occurred in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($19.8 million), China ($13.0 million) and Germany ($12.9 million). In total earnings, its largest countries are the UK, Ireland and Malta ($55.5 million), Germany ($43.4 million) and Australia ($34.3 million). In North America, Catching Fire is the sixteenth-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate and the highest-grossing 2013 film. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 50 million tickets in the US. It became the first 2-D film since 2008's The Dark Knight, as well as the first film with a female lead since 1973's The Exorcist, to top the yearly box office. It is also the top-selling film in Fandango history, surpassing previous record-holder Avatar. The film earned $25.3 million during Thursday late-night showings. It topped the box office on its opening day with $71.0 million (including Thursday late-night showings), which is higher than its predecessor's opening-day gross ($67.3 million) and is also the seventh largest single-day and opening-day gross. During its opening weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire claimed first place with $158.1 million, opening higher than its predecessor ($152.5 million). This was the sixth-highest-grossing opening weekend, the second- highest-grossing opening weekend of 2013 and the highest-grossing opening weekend in November. It was in first place for two consecutive weekends. The film also broke the following records: the biggest Friday for a film in its second weekend, the largest three-day ($74.2 million) and largest five-day ($109.9 million) Thanksgiving gross. It achieved the fifth-highest-grossing opening week (Friday-to-Thursday), the third-highest non-opening Wednesday and the fourth-largest second weekend. In July 2012, Lionsgate announced that two films based on the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, were scheduled to be released. The first film, , was released on November 21, 2014 while the second film, , was released on November 20, 2015. Principal photography on the two-part film began on September 23, 2013, in Atlanta and concluded on June 20, 2014, in Berlin, Germany. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire at The Numbers The Hunger Games is a 2008 dystopian novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle royale to the death. The book received critical acclaim from major reviewers and authors. It was praised for its plot and character development. In writing The Hunger Games, Collins drew upon Greek mythology, Roman gladiatorial games, and contemporary reality television for thematic content. The novel won many awards, including the California Young Reader Medal, and was named one of Publishers Weeklys "Best Books of the Year" in 2008. The Hunger Games was first published in hardcover on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, featuring a cover designed by Tim O'Brien. It has since been released in paperback and also as an audiobook and ebook. After an initial print of 200,000, the book had sold 800,000 copies by February 2010. Since its release, The Hunger Games has been translated into 26 languages, and publishing rights have been sold in 38 territories. The novel is the first in The Hunger Games trilogy, followed by Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010). A film adaptation, directed by Gary Ross and co-written and co-produced by Collins herself, was released in 2012. Collins has said that the inspiration for The Hunger Games came from channel surfing on television. On one channel she observed people competing on a reality show and on another she saw footage of the invasion of Iraq. The two "began to blur in this very unsettling way" and the idea for the book was formed. The Greek myth of Theseus served as a major basis for the story, with Collins describing Katniss as a futuristic Theseus, and Roman gladiatorial games provided the framework. The sense of loss that Collins developed through her father's service in the Vietnam War was also an influence on the story, with Katniss having lost her father at age 11, five years before the story begins. Collins stated that the deaths of young characters and other "dark passages" were the most difficult parts of the book to write, but that she had accepted that passages such as these were necessary to the story. She considered the moments where Katniss reflects on happier moments in her past to be more enjoyable. In the nation of Panem, established in the remains of North America after an unknown apocalyptic event, the wealthy Capitol exploits the twelve surrounding districts for their natural resources and labour. District 12 is in the coal- rich region that was once Appalachia, while the Capitol is in the Rocky Mountains. As punishment for a past failed rebellion against the Capitol, which resulted in the obliteration of District 13, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the 12 remaining districts are selected by an annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, a contest in which the "tributes" must fight to the death in an outdoor arena until only one remains. The story is narrated by 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen from District 12, who volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in place of her 12-year- old sister, Primrose. The male tribute is Peeta Mellark, a former schoolmate of Katniss who once gave her bread from his family's bakery when her family was starving. In the days leading up to the Games in the Capitol, they are given advice by their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, the sole living District 12 victor of the Hunger Games; chaperone Effie Trinket; and various stylists to enhance their public perception to get potential sponsors, who will send potentially life-saving gifts during the Games. Katniss's stylist, Cinna, designed special costumes for Katniss and Peeta that set them apart from the tributes when introduced to the public. During their evaluation by the Gamemakers, Katniss unexpectedly gets the highest score among the others. Meanwhile, Rue, the petite 12-year-old girl tribute from District 11, follows Katniss and Peeta around during the training sessions. On the day before the games, in the televised interview with Caesar Flickerman, Peeta reveals his long-unrequited love for Katniss; she is initially shocked by this and believes this is a ploy to gain sponsors, but later accepts this as sincere. Haymitch then promotes their image as "star-crossed lovers". The Games begin, and nearly half the tributes are killed in the bloodbath at the start, fighting over the weapons and supplies throughout the arena. Katniss disregards Haymitch's earlier advice to flee immediately and nearly dies, but uses her well-practiced hunting and survival skills to hide in the woods. After a few days, an artificial fire drives Katniss toward the others. She is spotted and treed by the "Careers" tributes and Peeta, who seems to have allied with them. Rue, hiding in a nearby tree, silently alerts Katniss to a “tracker jacker” nest, which she sends it plummeting down, releasing the flying insects. Their venom kills one of the careers and drives the others away, but Katniss is stung and begins hallucinating. Peeta returns, but instead of killing her, tells her to run away. Katniss later forms an alliance with Rue, but Rue is fatally wounded by another tribute while Katniss destroys the careers' supplies. Katniss kills Rue's killer with an arrow, and accompanies Rue as she dies and spreads flowers over the body to show her defiance against the Capitol. In gratitude, Rue's district sends Katniss a loaf of bread. A rule change is announced, allowing the tributes from the same district to win as a pair. Katniss finds and nurses a wounded Peeta (who later revealed that he formed an alliance with the careers to protect Katniss), acting the part of a girl in love to gain gifts. When the Gamemakers send a delivery of what each contestant needs most, Katniss risks her life to obtain medicine for Peeta. She is intercepted by a career tribute Clove, who gloats over Rue's death and tries to kill Katniss, but is killed by Thresh, the male District 11 tribute, who spares Katniss for Rue's sake. The medicine saves Peeta's life, and they both spend time hunting and collecting food. Katniss and Peeta become the last two survivors, but the Gamemakers revoke the rule change to force one to kill the other for a dramatic finale. In defiance, Katniss prepares to consume the poisonous "nightlock" berries with Peeta. Realizing they intend to commit suicide so that there will not be a victor for the games, the Gamemakers declare Katniss and Peeta the victors. Although both of them receive a hero's welcome as a couple, Katniss is warned by Haymitch that the Capitol may take action against her for her defiance. Along the way back to District 12, Peeta is heartbroken to learn that Katniss' actions were part of a calculated ploy to gain sympathy. Katniss, however, is unsure of her own feelings and her future. In an interview with Collins, it was noted that the novel "tackles issues like severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war among others." The novel deals with the struggle for self-preservation that the people of Panem face in their districts and the Hunger Games in which they must participate. The citizens' starvation and their need for resources, both in and outside of the arena, create an atmosphere of helplessness that the main characters try to overcome in their fight for survival. Katniss needs to hunt to provide food for her family, resulting in the development of skills that are useful to her in the Games (such as her proficiency with the bow and arrow), and represents her rejection of the Capitol's rules in the face of life-threatening situations. On the subject of the Games' parallels with popular culture, Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly writes that the book "is an incisive satire of reality television shows", and that the character of Cinna "almost seems like a contestant on a fascist version of Project Runway, using Katniss' outfits as a vehicle to express potentially dangerous ideas." The choices the characters make and the strategies they use are often morally complex. The tributes build a personality they want the audience to see throughout the Games. Library journal Voice of Youth Advocates names the major themes of The Hunger Games as "government control, 'big brother', and personal independence." The trilogy's theme of power and downfall, similar to that of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, was pointed out by its publisher Scholastic. Laura Miller of The New Yorker finds the author's stated premise of the Games –an exercise in propaganda and a "humiliating as well as torturous [...] punishment" for a failed uprising against the Capitol many years earlier– to be unconvincing. "You don't demoralize and dehumanize a subject people by turning them into celebrities and coaching them on how to craft an appealing persona for a mass audience." But the story works much better if the theme is vicissitudes of high school and "the adolescent social experience". Miller writes: "The rules are arbitrary, unfathomable, and subject to sudden change. A brutal social hierarchy prevails, with the rich, the good-looking, and the athletic lording their advantages over everyone else. To survive you have to be totally fake. Adults don't seem to understand how high the stakes are; your whole life could be over, and they act like it's just some "phase"! Everyone's always watching you, scrutinizing your clothes or your friends and obsessing over whether you're having sex or taking drugs or getting good enough grades, but no one cares who you really are or how you really feel about anything." Donald Brake from The Washington Times and pastor Andy Langford state that the story has Christian themes, such as that of self-sacrifice, which is found in Katniss' substitution for her younger sister, analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus as a substitute for the atonement of sins. Brake, as well as another reviewer, Amy Simpson, both find that the story also revolves around the theme of hope, which is exemplified in the "incorruptible goodness of Katniss' sister, Primrose." Simpson also points to events similar to the Passion of Jesus; in the Games, "Christ figure" Peeta Mellark is stabbed after warning Katniss to flee for her life, and is then buried in the ground and placed in a cave for three days before emerging with a new lease on life. Further, she finds that the Christian image of the Bread of Life is used throughout The Hunger Games; in the story, Peeta gives Katniss a loaf of bread, saving the girl and her family from starvation. After writing the novel, Collins signed a six-figure deal for three books with Scholastic. First published as a hardcover in the United States on September 14, 2008, The Hunger Games had a first printing of 50,000 copies, which was bumped up twice to 200,000 copies. By February 2010, the book had sold 800,000 copies, and rights to the novel had been sold in 38 territories worldwide. A few months later, in July, the book was released in paperback. The Hunger Games entered the New York Times Best Seller list in November 2008, where it would feature for over 100 consecutive weeks. By the time the film adaptation of The Hunger Games was released in March 2012, the book had been on USA Todays best-sellers list for 135 consecutive weeks and has sold over 17.5 million copies. The novel is the first in The Hunger Games trilogy; it is followed by sequels Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010). In March 2012, during the time of The Hunger Games film's release, Scholastic reported 26 million Hunger Games trilogy books in print, including movie tie-in books. The Hunger Games (and its sequels) have sold exceptionally well in ebook format. Suzanne Collins is the first children's or young adult author to sell over one million Amazon Kindle ebooks, making her the sixth author to join the "Kindle Million Club". In March 2012, Amazon announced that Collins had become the best-selling Kindle ebook author of all time. An audiobook version of The Hunger Games was released in December 2008. Read by the actress Carolyn McCormick, it has a total running time of eleven hours and fourteen minutes. The magazine AudioFile said: "Carolyn McCormick gives a detailed and attentive narration. However, she may rely too much on the strength of the prose without providing the drama young adult listeners often enjoy." School Library Journal also praised the audiobook, stating that "McCormick ably voices the action- packed sequences and Katniss's every fear and strength shines through, along with her doomed growing attraction to one of her fellow Tributes." The Tim O'Brien-designed cover features a gold "mockingjay" – a fictional bird in The Hunger Games born by crossbreeding female mockingbirds and genetically engineered male "jabberjays" – with an arrow engraved in a circle. This is a depiction of the pin worn by Katniss into the arena, given to her by the District 12 mayor's daughter, Madge Undersee. The image matches the description of the pin that is given in the novel, except for the arrow: "It's as if someone fashioned a small golden bird and then attached a ring around it. The bird is connected to the ring only by its wing tips." The Hunger Games has received critical acclaim. In a review for The New York Times, John Green wrote that the novel was "brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced", and that "the considerable strength of the novel comes in Collins's convincingly detailed world-building and her memorably complex and fascinating heroine." However, he also noted that, while allegorically rich, the book sometimes does not realize the allegorical potential that the plot has to offer and that the writing "described the action and little else." Time magazine's review was also positive, stating that it "is a chilling, bloody and thoroughly horrifying book" and praising what it called the "hypnotic" quality of the violence. In Stephen King's review for Entertainment Weekly, he compared it to "shoot-it-if-it-moves videogames in the lobby of the local eightplex; you know it's not real, but you keep plugging in quarters anyway." However, he stated that there were "displays of authorial laziness that kids will accept more readily than adults" and that the love triangle was standard for the genre. He gave the book a B grade. Elizabeth Bird of School Library Journal praised the novel, saying it is "exciting, poignant, thoughtful, and breathtaking by turns", and called it one of the best books of 2008. Booklist also gave a positive review, praising the character violence and romance involved in the book. Kirkus Reviews gave a positive review, praising the action and world-building, but pointed out that "poor copyediting in the first printing will distract careful readers–a crying shame". Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, claims it is the "closest thing to a perfect adventure novel" he has ever read. Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series) endorsed the book on her website, saying, "I was so obsessed with this book ... The Hunger Games is amazing." The Hunger Games received many awards and honors. It was named one of Publishers Weekly "Best Books of the Year" in 2008 and a The New York Times "Notable Children's Book of 2008". It was the 2009 winner of the Golden Duck Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category. The Hunger Games was also a "2008 Cybil Winner" for fantasy and science-fiction books along with The Graveyard Book, one of School Library Journals "Best Books 2008", and a "Booklist Editors' Choice" in 2008. In 2011, the book won the California Young Reader Medal. In the 2012 edition of Scholastic's Parent and Child magazine, The Hunger Games was listed as the 33rd-best book for children, with the award for "Most Exciting Ending". The novel is one of the top 5 best selling Kindle books of all time. However, the novel has also been controversial with parents; it ranked in fifth place on the American Library Association's list of frequently challenged books for 2010, with "unsuited to age group" and "violence" being among the reasons cited. Similarities of The Hunger Games to Koushun Takami's 1999 novel Battle Royale have been noted. Collins stated that she "had never heard of that book or that author until my book was turned in. At that point, it was mentioned to me, and I asked my editor if I should read it. He said: 'No, I don't want that world in your head. Just continue with what you're doing'." Susan Dominus of The New York Times reports that "the parallels are striking enough that Collins's work has been savaged on the blogosphere as a baldfaced ripoff" of Battle Royale but argued that "there are enough possible sources for the plot line that the two authors might well have hit on the same basic setup independently." Stephen King noted that the reality TV "badlands" were similar to Battle Royale, as well as his own novels The Running Man and The Long Walk. The story has also been compared to the 1965 Italian cult film The 10th Victim by Elio Petri, based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim". In March 2009, Lions Gate Entertainment entered into a co-production agreement for The Hunger Games with Nina Jacobson's production company Color Force, which had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the novel a few weeks earlier. The studio, which had not made a profit for five years, raided the budgets of other productions and sold assets to secure a budget of $88,000,000 – one of its largest ever – for the film. Collins' agent Jason Dravis remarked that "they [Lionsgate] had everyone but the valet call us" to help secure the franchise. Intending the film to have a PG-13 rating, Collins adapted the novel for film herself, in collaboration with screenwriter Billy Ray and director Gary Ross. The screenplay remains extremely faithful to the original novel, with Ross saying he "felt the only way to make the film really successful was to be totally subjective" in its presentation of events, echoing Collins' use of first person present in the novel. Twenty-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to play Katniss Everdeen. Though Lawrence was four years older than the character when filming began, Collins felt the role demanded "a certain maturity and power" and said she would rather the actress be older than younger. She added that Lawrence was the "only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book" and that she had "every essential quality necessary to play Katniss." Lawrence, a fan of the books, took three days to accept the role, initially intimidated by the size of the production. Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth were later added to the cast, in the roles of Peeta and Gale, respectively. Production began in late spring 2011 and the film was released on March 23, 2012. The film's opening weekend brought in a non-sequel record $152.5 million (USD) in North America. , based on the second novel in the series, was released the following year on November 22, 2013. The Condemned, Crypteia, The Most Dangerous Game, "The Lottery" Suzanne Collins's official website, Scholastic Official Site The Hunger Games consists of four science fiction dystopian adventure films based on The Hunger Games trilogy of novels, by the American author Suzanne Collins. Distributed by Lionsgate and produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, it stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. Gary Ross directed the first film, while Francis Lawrence directed the next three films. The first three films set records at the box office. The Hunger Games (2012) set records for the opening day and the biggest opening weekend for a non-sequel film. (2013) set the record for biggest opening weekend of November. (2014) had the largest opening day and weekend of 2014. The films, including (2015), received a positive reception, with praise for the themes and messages, as well as Jennifer Lawrence's performance. The Hunger Games is the 21st-highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over US$2.97 billion worldwide. Following the release of Suzanne Collins's novel The Hunger Games, on September 14, 2008, Hollywood film studios began looking to adapt the book into film. In March 2009, Color Force, an independent studio founded by producer Nina Jacobson, bought the film rights to the book. She then sought out production company Lionsgate to help her produce the film. Collins was also attached to adapt the novel; she began the first draft after completing the third novel in the series, Mockingjay (2010). The search for a director began in 2010 with three directors in the running; David Slade, Sam Mendes, and Gary Ross. Ross was ultimately chosen to direct. By the time Collins had finished the script, Ross decided to go through the script with Collins and screenwriter Billy Ray. In October 2010, scripts were sent to the actors, and casting occurred between March and May 2011. The first role cast was of the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. As many as 30 actresses were in talks to play the part, with Jennifer Lawrence, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, and Chloë Grace Moretz being mentioned most. The role was given to Lawrence. The roles of Peeta Mellark, Katniss' fellow tribute, and Gale Hawthorne, her best friend, began casting later that month. Top contenders for Peeta included Josh Hutcherson, Alexander Ludwig (later cast as Cato), Hunter Parrish, Evan Peters, and Lucas Till. Contenders for Gale included Robbie Amell, Liam Hemsworth, David Henrie, and Drew Roy. On April 4, it was reported that Hemsworth had been cast as Gale, and Hutcherson had been cast as Peeta. Every year, in the ruins of what was once North America, the Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its 12 districts to send a teenage boy and girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, to compete in the Hunger Games: a nationally televised event in which 'tributes' fight each other within an arena, until one survivor remains. When Primrose Everdeen is 'reaped', her older sister Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her place to enter the games and is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts when she's pitted against highly trained tributes. Along with fellow District 12 victor Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen returns home safely after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Winning means that they must leave their loved ones behind and embark on a Victory Tour throughout the districts. Along the way Katniss senses a rebellion simmering - one that she and Peeta may have sparked - but the Capitol is still in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Hunger Games - the Quarter Quell - that could change Panem forever. Katniss Everdeen finds herself in District 13 after she destroys the games forever. Under the leadership of President Alma Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta, along with other victors and a nation moved by her courage. Realizing the stakes are no longer just for survival, Katniss Everdeen teams up with her closest friends and allies, including Peeta, Gale, and Finnick, for the ultimate mission. Together, they leave District 13 to liberate the citizens of war-torn Panem and assassinate President Snow. On August 8, 2017, Variety reported that Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has interest in having spinoffs made for The Hunger Games, and wants to create a writers room to explore the idea. When asked about the idea of Hunger Games spinoffs, Jennifer Lawrence said "I think it's too soon. They've got to let the body get cold, in my opinion." On June 17, 2019, Joe Drake, Chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, announced in an interview that the company is communicating and working closely with Suzanne Collins with regards to an adaptation of her upcoming prequel Hunger Games novel set to release on May 19, 2020, the premise based on the failed rebellion 74 years before The Hunger Games trilogy. He stated: On October 4, 2019, the title was revealed to be The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. List indicator(s) This table only includes characters which have appeared in more than one film in the series., A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film. Filming for the franchise began on May 23, 2011 and finished on June 20, 2014. Suzanne Collins and Louise Rosner acted as executive producers on the first two films. Other executive producers of the first film include Robin Bissell and Shantal Feghali. Co-producers are Diana Alvarez, Martin Cohen, Louis Phillips, Bryan Unkeless, and Aldric La'auli Porter. Color Force and Lionsgate collaborated on all four films. It was announced on November 1, 2012 that the studio had decided to split the final book, Mockingjay (2010), into two films: (2014) and (2015), much like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) and 2 (2011), and (2011) and (2012). Gary Ross directed the first film (The Hunger Games), and despite initially stating otherwise on April 10, 2012, Lionsgate announced that Ross would not return to direct the sequel. On April 19, 2012, it was confirmed that Francis Lawrence would direct the sequel instead, and on November 1, 2012, it was confirmed that he would return and direct the final two films in the series, based on the novel Mockingjay. Suzanne Collins began adapting the first book to film after she finished writing Mockingjay. Collins had experience in writing screenplays after writing Clifford's Puppy Days and other children's television shows. When Gary Ross was announced as director for the film in 2010, he began to work with Collins and veteran writer Billy Ray to bring the novel to life. After Francis Lawrence took over as director, he brought in Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt to write the script for Catching Fire. The final two films of the series were written by Danny Strong and Peter Craig. Once the three leads were cast, casting shifted to the other tributes. Jack Quaid was cast as Marvel, Leven Rambin as Glimmer, Amandla Stenberg as Rue, and Dayo Okeniyi as Thresh. Alexander Ludwig (who auditioned for Peeta) was cast as Cato, Isabelle Fuhrman (who auditioned for Katniss) as Clove, and Jacqueline Emerson as Foxface. Following the casting of tributes, the adult cast began to come together. Elizabeth Banks was cast as Effie Trinket, the District 12 escort. Woody Harrelson was cast as Haymitch Abernathy, District 12's mentor. Lenny Kravitz was cast as Cinna, Katniss' stylist. Wes Bentley was cast as game maker Seneca Crane. Stanley Tucci was cast as Caesar Flickerman, Panem's celebrity host. Donald Sutherland was cast as Coriolanus Snow, Panem's President. Willow Shields was cast as Primrose Everdeen, Katniss' younger sister. In July 2012, the cast for the second film was announced. Jena Malone would play Johanna Mason. Philip Seymour Hoffman would play Plutarch Heavensbee, Sam Claflin would play Finnick Odair. It was later announced that Jeffrey Wright was cast as Beetee, Alan Ritchson as Gloss, Lynn Cohen as Mags, and Amanda Plummer as Wiress. In August and September 2013, it was revealed that Stef Dawson would play Annie Cresta, Natalie Dormer would play Cressida, Evan Ross would play Messalla, and Julianne Moore would play President Alma Coin in the final two films. Principal photography for The Hunger Games began on May 24, 2011 and concluded on September 15, 2011. Principal photography for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire began on September 10, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia and concluded in April 2013. In November 2012, production moved to Hawaii to film the arena scenes. Filming took a Christmas break before filming resumed for two weeks in mid- January. In March 2013, the film went back to Hawaii for re-shoots. Atlanta was used for all the Capitol scenes, Hawaii for the arena scenes, and Oakland, New Jersey for District 12 scenes. Principal photography for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay began on September 23, 2013 and concluded on June 20, 2014. The majority of filming for the Mockingjay films was filmed in soundstages in a studio in Atlanta, until April 18, 2014. Production then moved to Paris, France, with filming beginning there on May 5, 2014. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrays Plutarch Heavensbee, died on February 2, 2014. At the time of his death, he had completed filming his scenes for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and had a week left of shooting for Part 2. Lionsgate released a statement stating that, since the majority of Hoffman's scenes were completed, the release date for Part 2 would not be affected. All the Hunger Games films finished first at the North American box office during both their opening and second weekend. In North America, The Hunger Games film series is the second highest-grossing film series based on young adult books, after the Harry Potter series, earning over $1.4 billion. Worldwide, it is the third highest-grossing film series based on young-adult books after the film series of Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga, respectively, having grossed over $2.9 billion. In North America, it is the eighth highest-grossing film franchise of all time. Worldwide, it is currently the 20th highest-grossing film franchise of all time. Each installment of the Hunger Games series received generally positive reviews from critics. The first two installments (notably the second) were critically acclaimed, while the last two films were met with generally positive responses from critics. All The Hunger Games films received a "Fresh Rating" (>60%) on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, with the first two films receiving a "Certified Rating" rating (>70%). Pdf.

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Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, originally released as Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, is a 1998 Japanese anime film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, the chief director of the Pokémon television series. It is the first theatrical release in the Pokémon franchise. It was first released in Japan on July 18, 1998. On July 8, 1999, a of the film aired on Japanese television. In addition to an added prologue, the updated version included new animation and CGI graphics. The English-language adaptation, produced by Nintendo and 4Kids Entertainment and licensed by Warner Bros., was released in North America on November 10, 1999. The events of the film take place during the first season of . The film primarily consists of three segments: Pikachu's Vacation, a 21-minute feature focusing on the series mascot Pikachu; Origin of Mewtwo, the 10-minute prologue added to the Complete Version of the film; and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the main 75-minute film feature. Overseas, the prologue can only be seen as a bonus short in DVD versions of . In Japan, Mewtwo Strikes Back was positively received, with praise directed at the film's emotional impact and exploration of ethical topics such as cloning and genetic modification. However, the English-language version received generally negative reviews from film critics, with much of the criticism pointed at the anti-violence message in a film about Pokémon. Despite the reviews, it was a box office success worldwide, topping the box office charts in its opening weekend, and eventually grossing at the worldwide box office. It also sold 10million home video units in the United States, including 4.2million VHS sales that earned in 2000. During the end credits of (2018), it was announced that a remake and a first full CGI, was set to release on the following year. In December 2018, the release date of the remake was revealed as July 12, 2019. The Pokémon of Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock are sent to spend a day at a theme park built for Pokémon. Pikachu, Togepi, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle cross paths with a group of bullies consisting of a Raichu, Cubone, Marill, and a Snubbull. The two groups compete against each other in sports, but it leads to Ash's Charizard getting its head stuck in a pipe. Pikachu, his friends, and the bullies work together and successfully free Charizard and rebuild the park, spending the rest of the day playing before parting ways when their trainers return. Scientist Dr. Fuji is hired by Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, to utilize his expertise in cloning in order to create a living weapon based on an eyelash from legendary Pokémon Mew. Fuji is revealed to be allying with Giovanni as a means to fund his side project: the resurrection of his deceased daughter Amber. In a laboratory, the weapon eventually gains sentience and is named Mewtwo. Mewtwo befriends the salvaged consciousness of Amber, named Ambertwo, as well as the clones of other Pokémon in the laboratory. However, Mewtwo is left deeply traumatized after Ambertwo and the rest of the clones decompose and die. In order to stabilize him, Fuji tranquilizes Mewtwo, causing him to forget the time he spent with his friends. After Mewtwo fully matures and awakens from a long slumber in a laboratory on New Island, he learns of his origin as Mew's clone from Dr. Fuji. Infuriated that Fuji and his colleagues see him as nothing more than an experiment, he unleashes his psychic powers and destroys the laboratory, killing Fuji and the rest of the scientists. Giovanni, witnessing the carnage afar, approaches and convinces Mewtwo to work with him to hone his powers. However, after Mewtwo learns of his purpose to be a weapon for Giovanni's benefit, he escapes back to New Island where he plots revenge against humanity. After Mewtwo rebuilds the laboratory and establishes base there, he invites several trainers with hologram messages to battle the world's greatest Pokémon trainer at New Island. Ash, Misty, and Brock receive a message and accept the invitation, but when they arrive at the port city, Old Shore Wharf, Mewtwo creates a storm, causing the boats on the wharf to be closed off for safety. As a result, Ash's group are picked up by Team Rocket disguised as Vikings on a boat. After the storm sinks their vessel in the middle of the ocean, Ash and his friends use their Pokémon instead to reach New Island. Escorted into the island's palace by the woman who appeared on the hologram, Ash and the other trainers who were able to reach the island encounter Mewtwo. The woman is revealed to be a brainwashed Nurse Joy after she is released from Mewtwo's mind control. After describing his plot to use the storm to wipe out humanity and Pokémon loyal to humans, Mewtwo challenges the trainers using cloned Pokémon coincidentally modeled after the deceased friends from his childhood. Meanwhile, Team Rocket also reach New Island and explore its inner sanctum with a Mew innocuously following them. After Mewtwo's clones effortlessly defeat the challengers' Pokémon, he confiscates them and expands his clone army. Ash chases after his captured Pikachu down the cloning lab, where Team Rocket's Meowth is also cloned. Ash destroys the cloning machine, frees the captured Pokémon, and leads them to confront Mewtwo and his clones. Mew then reveals itself and Mewtwo challenges it in order to prove his superiority. All of the Pokémon originals battle their clones save for a defiant Pikachu and Meowth, who makes peace with his own clone after realizing the senselessness of their fighting. Horrified at the pain and anguish felt on both sides of the battle, Ash puts himself in between a psychic blast caused by Mewtwo and Mew's fighting, leading to Ash to become petrified. Pikachu tries to revive Ash with its electricity but fails. However, the tears of the Pokémon, as per a legend mentioned earlier in the movie, are able to heal and revive Ash. Moved by Ash's sacrifice, Mewtwo realizes that he should not have to be judged by his origins but rather his choices in life. Departing with Mew and the clones, Mewtwo turns back time to just before the trainers leave Old Shore Wharf, and erases everyone's memories of the event. Back in Old Shore Wharf, the now-restored Nurse Joy has returned to reopen the Pokémon Center to shelter the trainers. The storm outside clears up, Ash spotting Mew flying through the clouds and tells his friends of how he saw another legendary Pokémon the day he left Pallet Town. Meanwhile, Team Rocket find themselves stranded on New Island but enjoy their time there. After the credits, a brief scene shows Mew flying towards the mountains. Kunihiko Yuyama directed the original Japanese version of the film, while Choji Yoshikawa and Takeshi Shudo served as producer and script writer respectively. The film wasn't produced by Pikachu Project. Shudo explained in his blog that Mewtwo being torn over his life purpose reflects the film's theme of existentialism. In the Japanese script, for instance, the moment Mewtwo realizes he has a right to be in the world just as much as any other living creature represents the central message of accepting one's existence. According to Shudo, certain episodes in the anime were intended to tie-in with the movie prior to its release in Japan and provide background behind the events in the film. However, the controversy surrounding the "Dennō Senshi Porygon" episode delayed the tie-in episodes, causing Shudo to expand the beginning of the movie and, thus, the length of the film. Norman J. Grossfeld, former president of 4Kids Productions, served as the film's producer for the English-language North American version. Grossfeld, Michael Haigney, and John Touhey wrote the English adaptation, and Haigney served as the English version's voice director. The English script was heavily edited from the original Japanese one; along with various content edits, Mewtwo was portrayed more maliciously because Grossfeld felt American audiences needed to see a "clearly evil" villain rather than a morally ambiguous one. As such, the existentialist themes seen in the Japanese version were significantly toned- down. The English version editors translated various Japanese texts, including those on signs and on buildings, into English. The Shogakukan Production Co. also altered various background from the original version of the film in order to enhance its presentation overseas. In the English dub, three Pokémon are referred to by the wrong name. Pidgeot was called Pidgeotto, Scyther was called Alakazam, and Sandslash was called Sandshrew. 4Kids said that they decided to leave the Alakazam and Sandshrew errors when they noticed it as something for the children watching to notice and because they felt it was plausible in context that Team Rocket could make a mistake. Grossfeld also had new music re-recorded for the film's release, citing that it "would better reflect what American kids would respond to". John Loeffler of Rave Music produced the English-language music and composed the film score with Ralph Schuckett. Loeffler also collaborated with John Lissauer and Manny Corallo to produce the English-language "Pikachu's Vacation" score. Grossfeld also revealed that the English version of the film "combines the visual sense of the best Japanese animation with the musical sensibility of Western pop culture". Toshihiro Ono, author of , created a manga version of the film. Asked by editors to draw Mewtwo's birth, he received the source material to base the manga off of in April 1998 and finished the manga in May. In July of that year, a five episode radio drama titled was broadcast over the five Sundays leading up to the premiere of the movie in Japan. Written by Takeshi Shudo, the drama delves into Mewtwo's origin prior to the start of the film. It also explores the leadership of Team Rocket under Madame Boss, Giovanni's mother, and the last known whereabouts of Miyamoto (ミヤモト), Jesse's mother. Due to its mature themes, it was never dubbed in English. The drama eventually served the basis for the Origin of Mewtwo prologue that would appear in the Complete Version of the film. Since the drama was conceived a few months after the manga, the events depicted in the drama do not match up with the events portrayed in the manga. Ono has even stated that "there's not much connection between the manga and the movie". In the United States, the first trailer was released in August 1999 and was shown before The Iron Giant and Mystery Men. The second trailer was released in the fall of 1999 and was attached to The Bachelor. In addition, select theaters gave away exclusive Pokémon trading cards, to capitalize on the success of the trading card game. The cards featured likenesses of Electabuzz, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Dragonite, and were dispensed in random order for each week it was in that particular theater. The subsequent releases of and featured a similar marketing campaign. For the March 2000 home video release of The First Movie, had TV, in-school, and internet ads with companies such as Clorox, Kraft and Zenith Electronics, a contest to win a trip to Japan, and a limited edition Mewtwo card (different from that used for the theatrical release) was packaged with the video. Burger King released toys with the purchase of any kid's meal to tie in with the movie. On December 11, 1999, 13-month-old Kira Murphy of North Carolina suffocated to death while playing with one of the Poké Ball containers in her crib. Her two older sisters (4 and 5 years old) watched helplessly. Their mother, who was in the shower at the time, arrived on the scene to find half of the toy stuck over Kira's mouth and nose. Just 12 days later it almost happened again in Kansas, though this time the child's father was close enough to react. On December 28, 1999, Burger King issued a recall of the toys; adults were urged to discard or return both pieces of the toy. If the pieces were returned, the customer would be given a small order of French fries in return. Nearly a month after the recall, one more child suffocated to death from the toys. Despite the final death, the recall was considered a success. The families of the deceased settled and were compensated with an undisclosed amount of money. The Japanese version of the film was initially distributed theatrically by Toho on July 18, 1998. That following year, the English-dub of film was produced by 4Kids Entertainment and licensed by Warner Bros. under the Kids' WB banner was released in the United States on November 10, 1999. The film was theatrically re-released exclusively at Cinemark Theatres in the United States on October 29 and November 1, 2016. The re-release included the Pikachu's Vacation short film from the original release and was intended to commemorate Pokémon's 20th anniversary. For TV syndication, the movie was digitally remastered for high definition and aired in TV Tokyo, as well as in other stations, beginning May 3, 2013. The remastered version also aired in Cartoon Network in the United States on January 4, 2014. The movie was released on March 21, 2000 in Region 1 format (USA/Canada) on both VHS and DVD. The original DVD release with the snap case contained numerous features deleted from later reprints, such as the origin prologue and most importantly, the Pikachu's Vacation short film. Other options, such as Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, were also removed, leaving only the 2.0 stereo mix available, among other features. The original VHS release sold 4.2million units and earned in the United States by the end of 2000. By 2007, the film had sold 10million units on home video in the United States. The film was included in the Blu-ray compilation titled Pikachu Movie Premium 1998-2010 in Japan on November 28, 2012. On February 9, 2016, Viz Media released a limited edition Blu-ray Steelbook containing the first three Pokémon films (Pokémon: The First Movie, and ), along with single releases on DVD. In accommodation with the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, a digitally remastered version of the film was released on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play on February 27. On October 2, 2018, the three-film Blu-ray set was re-released as a standard one-disc edition. Reviews of the original Japanese version have generally been positive, due to the film's emotional impact and exploration of ethical topics such as cloning and genetic modification. However, the philosophical themes were criticized being difficult to pick up on due to their complex presentation, especially for a film aimed at children. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 15% of critics have given the film's English adaptation a positive review based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Audiences other than children will find very little to entertain them." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Anime News Network review called the main feature "contradictory", stating that "the anti-violent message that is pretty much crammed down our throats works directly against the entire point of the franchise" and criticized Pikachu's Summer Vacation for being "incoherent, pointless and fluffy". Patrick Butters, of The Washington Times, accused Pokémon: The First Movie of taking ideas from other films such as Star Wars and being "just another cog in the mighty Nintendo machine". Michael Wood, of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, said that Pikachu's Summer Vacation "can only be described as a mind-numbingly tedious piece, with no discernible storyline and lots of trippy images and silly voices". Wood did note that the main feature had a "mildly intriguing premise", but said that the rest of the film "was like a martial arts movie without the thrills". In Japan, it was the second top-grossing domestic film of 1998, earning a distribution income of , and grossing a total of . In the U.S. box office, Pokémon: The First Movie was an instant commercial success, debuting at number one and earning $10.1 million on its Wednesday opening day. This day is commonly referred to as the "Pokéflu" because so many kids missed school to see the film. This was the biggest animated film opening for any film in the history of Warner Bros. During its first weekend, it grossed $31 million and went on to generate a total of $50.8 million since its Wednesday launch in 3,043 theaters, averaging to about $10,199 per venue over the three-day span. It also held the record for being the animated feature with the highest opening weekend in November, which would be broken two weeks later by Toy Story 2. Despite a 59.72% drop in its second weekend to $12.5 million, the film made $67.4 million within 12 days. It closed on February 27, 2000, earning $85.7 million in North America, and $77.9 million in other territories. It is the highest-grossing anime film in the United States and the fourth highest-grossing animated film based on a television show worldwide. It was also the highest-grossing film based on a video game at the time, until 2001's . Commercially, Takeshi Shudo states the film fared better overall in the U.S. than it did in its home country. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £11.7million at the box office. It is also the highest- grossing Japanese film in France and Germany, where it sold 2,224,432 and 3,222,452 box office admissions, respectively. In total, the film's worldwide box office gross was $172,744,662 (). Pokémon: The First Movie Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the first Pokémon film in the United States, It was released on November 10, 1999, on Compact Disc and Compact Cassette. "Don't Say You Love Me" by M2M was released as a single from the album. During the end credits of (2018), it was announced that a CGI remake was set to release on the following year. In December 2018, the release date of the remake was revealed as July 12, 2019. Pokémon fansite Serebii reported that the movie, titled Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION, will be directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Motonori Sakakibara. Pokémon 3: The Movie: Entei – Spell of the Unown is a 2000 Japanese anime film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama as the third film in the Pokémon franchise. The film stars the voices of Rica Matsumoto, Ikue Ōtani, Mayumi Iizuka, Yūji Ueda, Ikue Ōtani, Koichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara, Shin-ichiro Miki, Ai Kato, Masami Toyoshima, Akiko Yajima, and Naoto Takenaka. Like its predecessors, it is preceded by a short film, this one titled Pikachu & Pichu, which marks the debut of the mischievous Pichu Bros., who help Pikachu reunite with his trainer after being separated (without Ash even knowing, due to him preparing a party to celebrate the day Pikachu and he first met). This was also the first Pokémon film to premiere in an IMAX theater. The realistic crystallization and Unown created a 3D effect in the film. This was also the last Pokémon film to be released internationally by Warner Bros. until the release of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu in 2019. Pikachu and his friends are left on a skyscraper in Big City by their trainers, who go off to prepare an unknown surprise for the Pokémon. Pikachu meets the Pichu Brothers, saving the younger one from falling off an opposite building. A group of Murkrow chase Pikachu off a flagpole, and he uses a group of Hoppip to reach the other side, sending Meowth who is window-cleaning, flying into a billboard. The Pichu Bros. assist Pikachu to return to his friends but they end up going on a journey across the city to the Pichu Bros' playground. On the way, they get chased by a Houndour who they later encounter again. The angry Houndour chases the three around until he nearly knocks the playground over. Pikachu, the Pichu Bros., Houndour and their assortment of friends manage to save the playground. Pikachu realizes it is nearly six o'clock and he must return to his friends before Ash, his trainer, does. Pikachu and the Pichu Bros. use a tire to get to the building, sending Meowth flying again. The three arrive in the nick of time, the Pichu Brothers departing. Ash, Misty and Brock arrive and take the Pokémon into a room where a party has been laid out for them in celebration of the first anniversary of Ash and Pikachu's meeting. In the town of Greenfield, research scientist Professor Spencer Hale conducts research on the elusive Unown. He and his assistant, Skyler, discover a site of ruins, but Hale is sucked into the dimension of the Unown. His disappearance leaves his young daughter Molly alone, her mother having disappeared previously. Molly finds a box of tablets containing Unown images and begins assembling the letters, which summons the Unown themselves. The Unown use their powers to make Molly's wishes come true, transforming her manor house into a crystal-like palace which spreads across the town and cuts her off from the world. An illusionary Entei is created to represent Molly's father. Various people come to help sort out the Unown, including Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum (Ash's mother). Meanwhile, Ash and his friends meet and befriend a trainer named Lisa. They come into Greenfield in the process and agree to join in the rescue mission to save young Molly. However, Entei kidnaps Delia, following Molly's request for a mother as well. Entei's powers hypnotize Delia into thinking she is Molly's mother. Ash, Misty, Brock and their Pokémon head out to the mansion to save Delia, communicating with Oak and Skyler thanks to a PokéGear device given to them by Lisa. Team Rocket try investigating the mansion, but Entei blasts them into the depths of the mansion. Molly watches Ash's Bulbasaur and Chikorita in action through a television and falls asleep, imagining herself being a Pokémon Trainer. Seeing Ash on TV, Delia snaps out of her trance; however, Entei creates a dream version of Molly as an adult and takes her to battle the three. Molly first fights Brock, but Molly's dreamed-up Pokémon are stronger than his; Molly then has a more friendly fight against Misty in an underwater battle. Ash locates Molly and Delia, and implores Entei to return with his mother. Entei refuses, easily defeats Totodile and Cyndaquil, and tries killing Ash and Pikachu. Having witnessed the crisis on TV in Charicific Valley, Charizard rescues Ash and Pikachu. Entei engages Charizard in a duel and eventually tries to kill him. However, Molly thwarts Entei and tells him to stop fighting. Ash and his friends convince Molly to leave with them, Entei revealing he was created by the Unown to be her father. The Unown suddenly lose control of their powers and start to seal the group in the mansion. Ash, Pikachu, Charizard, Misty, Brock, Delia, Molly and Team Rocket escape down to the hall where the Unown are. Pikachu and Charizard attempt to break the forcefield protecting the Unown, but they are unsuccessful—until they are joined by Entei, combining their powers to destroy the shield with Molly's support. Entei sacrifices himself and the Unown return to their dimension, reversing all of their effects on the world and returning Hale to the ruins where he originally vanished. The group ventures outside, where Oak, Skyler, Lisa and others meet them. Team Rocket hides in the mansion upon seeing the police outside and declare that they will always have another opportunity to catch Pokémon. Charizard and Lisa depart from Ash's company, and Molly reunites with her father as well as with her long-lost mother. Pokémon 3: The Movie was released in Japanese theaters on July 8, 2000 by Toho. That following year, the English version was produced by Nintendo and 4Kids Entertainment and licensed by Warner Bros. under the Kids' WB banner, was released in North America on April 6, 2001. The events of the film take place during the third season of . Pokémon 3: The Movie was released on VHS and DVD on August 21, 2001. A limited edition Blu-ray Steelbook containing the first three Pokémon films was released on February 9, 2016, along with single releases on DVD (These are: , and Pokémon 3: The Movie). In accommodation with the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, a digitally remastered version of the film was released on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play on February 27, 2016. Like its predecessors, for the film's theatrical release, select theaters would give away exclusive Pokémon trading cards, to capitalize on the success of the trading card game. Pokémon 3: The Movie opened in theaters in Japan on July 8, 2000 with a 74 minute running time. The film grossed in Japan. The film was released in the United States on April 6, 2001, debuting at #4 on its opening weekend, earning $8,240,752 from 2,675 theaters, less than half as much as first-place finisher Spy Kids. The film proved less successful in the box office compared to previous films. During its 10-week box office run, Pokémon 3: The Movie made a significant profit-margin, grossing $17,052,128 in North America. The film grossed US$4,605,214 in five other countries, including US$2,736,100 in Germany, US$714,016 in the United Kingdom, US$549,902 in Australia, US$327,752 in Austria, and US$277,444 in Denmark. Combined, the film grossed overseas outside of Japan. In total, the film's gross was . The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 21% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 4.01/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Critics say that the third Pokemon movie has a better plot than its two predecessors. This is not enough, however, to recommend it to those not already fans of the franchise." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 22 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the third series and the movie, It was released on April 3, 2001 by Koch Records on Audio CD and Compact Cassette. Many of the songs were featured on the album Totally Pokémon but as that was not released outside of North America and Australia, this soundtrack encouraged European fans to own the music. In Australia, some copies of the CD were released with a bonus disc of the musical score album for Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (which was also released as a separate disc worldwide). The Japanese and English-language editions contained different tracks. Shinji Miyazaki wrote the original film score, while Ralph Schuckett composed the score for the International and Japanese DVD releases. The second track, "To Know the Unknown", was performed by girl-group Innosense. Tracks 13 to 15 were karaoke versions. The album also features two Pokémon videos, the Pokérap and a scene from the film, which are accessible upon insertion of the disc into a computer. In the episode, Ash Ketchum gets his Pokémon journey off to a rough start when he receives his first Pokémon, a reluctant Pikachu. After many failed attempts at capturing some Pokémon, Ash throws a rock at a Spearow, which gets angry and starts attacking him and Pikachu. Soon, an entire flock of Spearow start chasing them, and Pikachu is the only one able to step in and stop the flock. Nintendo, which publishes the Pokémon video games, asked for changes to be made to the English adaptation of the episode. Some graphic sequences involving punching were taken out, including one where Misty slaps Ash on the cheek. The script was translated by Paul Taylor. Veronica Taylor, who provided the English voice of Ash in this episode, said she enjoyed the script and recording Ash's lines. Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. Andrew Wood of The Plain Dealer praised the episode for staying true to the games, but thought it focused too much on the character Ash. A children's book adaptation of "Pokémon - I Choose You!" was released in July 1999, and the episode was released on Game Boy Advance Video in 2004. In 2017, a movie based on this episode, entitled was released. In the world of Pokémon, boys and girls at the age of 10 can get their official license to become Pokémon trainers, and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is about to receive his very first Pokémon from Professor Oak. On the morning of the day that he is supposed to get his first Pokémon, it is revealed that Ash has accidentally broken his alarm clock and oversleeps. When he wakes up, he runs in his pajamas to Professor Oak's laboratory where Ash runs into his rival and the Professor's grandson, Gary Oak. Gary proceeds to taunt Ash for arriving to the ceremony late and brags about having already received his first Pokémon. When Ash enters Professor Oak's lab to receive his Pokémon, he is told that all three starter Pokémon have already been taken. Ash pleads for any Pokémon and Oak replies that he still has one left. Ash does not care and receives the Pokémon, which turns out to be the electric-type Pokémon Pikachu. Ash thinks that it is cute, but it gives him an electric shock when he picks it up to hug it. Oak gives Ash a Pokédex and six Poké Balls before he heads out on his journey to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time. Ash soon comes to realize that the Pikachu refuses to go inside his Poké Ball and prefers his independence. As Ash carries the reluctant Pikachu, he hopes that they can be friends, but Pikachu acts aloof and openly shows his distrust of Ash. Just then, the two stumble upon a Pidgey in the wild and Ash unsuccessfully tries to catch it by throwing a Poké Ball. Ash uses his Pokédex and finds out that in order to catch a Pokémon, a trainer must first use their Pokémon to battle it, thereby weakening it, to be caught by a Poké Ball. With Pikachu being uncooperative, Ash tries to fight the Pidgey himself, but is easily beaten, which greatly amuses Pikachu. The Pidgey escapes and Ash finds a Rattata rummaging through his pack. He chases the Pokémon off as he hears cooing behind him. He turns to see several Pidgey gathered in the tall grass. Frustrated, Ash throws a rock at what he believes is the Pidgey. However, it turns out to be a Spearow, which starts attacking Pikachu and Ash. Pikachu shocks Spearow, and in the process alerts a whole flock. The angered Spearow flock gives chase and eventually catches up and attacks Pikachu. Ash quickly grabs Pikachu and dives down a waterfall in order to escape from the flock of Spearow, and the two are fished out down river by a young girl named Misty, who tells Ash to take the injured Pikachu to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City. Seeing the Spearow flock approaching, Ash escapes with Pikachu taking Misty's bike. Ash pedals furiously toward Viridian City, with the flock of Spearow following behind him. Ash loses control of the bike and wipes out, crashing down a hill. Realizing Pikachu's condition is critical, Ash pleads him to go inside his Poké Ball so that Ash can protect him from the approaching Spearow. Pikachu, after seeing how much Ash cares for it, performs a powerful Thunder attack which drives the Spearow away, but also destroys Misty's bike. As the rain-clouds part, a mysterious golden bird flies over a rainbow and Ash's Pokédex informs him that there is no current data on this Pokémon and that there are several yet to be identified. Ash carries Pikachu into Viridian City, and Pikachu licks Ash's cheek. "Pokémon - I Choose You!" was the first episode of the Pokémon anime to be made and aired in Japan. The episode was written by Shoji Yonemura, and directed by Masamitsu Hidaka. When the production staff started on the anime, they wanted a specific character to focus on. At first, Clefairy was intended to be Ash's starter. Due to a last-minute adjustment, Pikachu got the role because it was relatively popular compared with the other Pokémon and the staff thought that "potentially both boys and girls would like it". The episode was animated by Shogakukan in Japan, and it was aimed at elementary school students. Just before 4Kids Entertainment revealed that they were planning on producing an English adaptation dub of the anime in the United States, the episode "Dennō Senshi Porygon" caused controversy when it aired in Japan on December 16, 1997. In the episode, there was a scene with a huge explosion that flashed red and blue lights. At this point, viewers started to complain of blurred vision, headaches, dizziness, seizures, blindness, and lost consciousness. A total of 685 viewers were taken to hospitals by ambulances. Alfred R. Kahn, chief executive of 4Kids Entertainment, announced on January 1, 1998, that the anime would be edited for the American market. Many American parents worried about the safety of their children now that the anime would air in the United States, but Kahn said: "We're confident it won't be a problem. [...] We've taken the problem seriously and fixed it." Nintendo asked for changes to be made to the original Japanese show in the English adaptation. "We tried not to have violence or sexual discrimination or religious scenes in the United States," said Masakazu Kubo, executive producer of Shogakukan. Some graphic sequences involving punching were taken out, including one from "Pokémon, I Choose You!" where Misty slaps Ash on the cheek. The names of the characters and monsters were Westernized: Satoshi became Ash, and Shigeru became Gary, and the Pokémon were given descriptive names. For example, of the three starter Pokémon, Hitokage, a lizard with a ball of fire on its tail, became Charmander; Fushigidane, a dinosaur with a green garlic bulb on its back, became Bulbasaur; and Zenigame, a turtle who squirts water, became Squirtle. Veronica Taylor, who provided the voice of Ash in this episode and all episodes from season one to eight, said that recording Ash's lines for the episode was "really great" for her. "Playing a 10-year-old boy with that energy and excitement, and the battles that he's in, and his low, husky voice was really terrific," she said. Taylor explained the process of recording an episode in an interview with Animerica Magazine; first, the script is translated from Japanese into English, it is then adapted to fit the lip flap (movement of the mouth). Taylor said that she is the only one in the recording booth when she works, as they record each voice separately throughout each episode. Taylor added that she is often the first one to record so she has to imagine how the previous line would be said. "Luckily, I work with a great director who helps with the interpretation of the line, matching of the lip flap, and consistency of the voice," she said. The episode first aired in the United States on September 8, 1998. Since then, it has received mixed to positive reviews from television critics. Andrew Wood of The Plain Dealer had mixed feelings for the episode, stating the episode did a good job of setting up the world of Pokémon, and that it was faithful to the game. However, Wood thought it was "apparent" in this episode that without a traveling partner, "Ash just isn't all that interesting". Andrew Tei of Mania.com said that "one great thing about listening to early dubs is how the voice actors haven't completely gotten into their roles yet. Ash's and James' voices are much deeper than where they end up at." Louis Bedigian of GameZone believed the best moment of the episode to be the Pokémon battle on television at the beginning, stating that "the Pokémon battle side-to-side in black and white. Their movements are slow and appear to be turn-based. It emulates the game perfectly, then quickly transforms into a more realistic, full-color battle. Few game-based anime series incorporate the game elements so well." X-Entertainment considered the best part of the episode to be the moment when Ash spots the mysterious Ho-Oh, a Pokémon whose data was not included in the Pokédex at the time. A children's book adaptation of the episode was released in July 1999. It was published by Scholastic Corporation and written by Tracey West. The episode was released on VHS and DVD on November 24, 1998, and December 13, 1998, respectively as part of the first volume of Indigo League: "Pokémon: I Choose You Pikachu!" The release also included the following two episodes ("Pokémon: Emergency!", and "Ash Catches a Pokémon"). Nintendo announced on September 24, 2004, that two Game Boy Advance Video cartridges, featuring "classic" episodes from the early days of the Pokémon series, would hit stores on September 27 that year. The Pokémon episodes were packaged in two separate packs containing two episodes each, and the four episodes available were "Pokémon, I Choose You!", "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad", "Beach Blank-Out Blastoise", and "Go West Young Meowth", all from season one. In 2017, a Pokémon movie based on the first episode was released, titled Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You. "Pokémon, I Choose You!" at TV.com, "Pokémon, I Choose You!" at the Internet Movie Database

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This is a list of the longest team winning streaks or unbeaten streaks in Major League Baseball history. Streaks started at the end of one season are carried over into the following season. The lists below include streaks that consist entirely of regular-season games, streaks from the predecessor National Association (1871–1875), streaks of playoff games and World Series games, and streaks that include both regular-season and postseason games. The 1916 New York Giants hold the record for the longest winning streak in MLB history at 26. The Chicago Cubs franchise has won 21 games twice, once in 1880 (as the Chicago White Stockings) and once in 1935. The 2017 Cleveland Indians won 22 straight games, the longest winning streak in American League history. The longest winning streak consisting only of playoff games stands at 12 consecutive wins, by the 1927, 1928 and 1932 New York Yankees (who swept the World Series all three seasons) and tied by the 1998–99 Yankees. For streaks that have included both regular and postseason games, the 1970 and 1971 Baltimore Orioles hold the top two positions with 17 and 16 consecutive victories, respectively. Several entries in the table are denoted as including ties. In the early days of baseball, a game that was postponed due to weather or darkness was replayed from the beginning (instead of being resumed from that point), but all statistics from the game were counted. In official records, the game is unofficial but is listed as a tie. This list contains the top 30 streaks consisting entirely of regular-season games. This list contains only the top 10 streaks (including ties) consisting entirely of postseason games. This list contains only the top 10 streaks consisting entirely of World Series games. This list contains only the top 10 streaks that involve both regular season games and games which occurred in the postseason. This list contains only the top 10 streaks consisting entirely of postseason series. For the purpose of this list, one-game wild card matchups, such as the 2012 Cardinals' win, and the Giants' wild card wins in 2014 and 2016, are counted. List of Major League Baseball longest losing streaks, 1869-1870 Cincinnati Red Stockings, an 84-game winning streak including a 65-game perfect season., Moneyball, 2011 film based on the 2003 book. Baseball-Reference.com – Team Winning and Losing Streaks Analyzer, MLB.com – Longest winning streaks:A breakdown of the longest winning streaks in the history of every club The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League (AL) champion team and the National League (NL) champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy. As the series is played during the fall season in North America, it is sometimes referred to as the Fall Classic. Since 2017, it has been officially known as the World Series presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons. Prior to 1969, the team with the best regular-season win-loss record in each league automatically advanced to the World Series (barring a tie); since then each league has conducted a championship series (ALCS and NLCS) preceding the World Series to determine which teams will advance, while those series have in turn been preceded by division series (ALDS and NLDS) since 1995 and by wild card games in each league since 2012. The World Series has been contested 115 times as of 2019, with the AL winning 66 and the NL winning 49. Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, with the terms arranged through negotiation of the owners of the championship teams beforehand. The number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884 (Providence defeated New York three games to zero), to a high of fifteen in 1887 (Detroit beat St. Louis ten games to five). Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game. The series was promoted and referred to as "The Championship of the United States", "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short. In his book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. The 19th-century competitions are, however, not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball, as it considers 19th-century baseball to be a prologue to the modern baseball era. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on an equal basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903 and discuss the earlier contests separately. Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle- Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900. In 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy (in 1902, the top teams instead opted to compete in a football championship). After two years of bitter competition and player raiding, the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games after the 1903 season. These series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of them matched the two pennant winners, Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL and Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) of the AL; that one is known as the 1903 World Series played at Huntington Avenue Grounds. It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by five games to three, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with the support of the band of Royal Rooters. The Series brought much civic pride to Boston and proved the new American League could beat the Nationals. The 1904 Series, if it had been held, would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (Boston Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants). At that point there was no governing body for the World Series nor any requirement that a Series be played. Thus the Giants' owner John T. Brush refused to allow his team to participate in such an event, citing the "inferiority" of the upstart American League. John McGraw, the Giants' manager, even went so far as to say that his Giants were already "world champions" since they were the champions of the "only real major league". At the time of the announcement, their new cross-town rivals, the New York Highlanders (now the New York Yankees), were leading the AL, and the prospect of facing the Highlanders did not please Giants management. Boston won on the last day of the season, and the leagues had previously agreed to hold a World's Championship Series in 1904, but it was not binding, and Brush stuck to his original decision. In addition to political reasons, Brush also factually cited the lack of rules under which money would be split, where games would be played, and how they would be operated and staffed. During the winter of 1904–1905, however, feeling the sting of press criticism, Brush had a change of heart and proposed what came to be known as the "Brush Rules", under which the series were played subsequently. One rule was that player shares would come from a portion of the gate receipts for the first four games only. This was to discourage teams from fixing early games in order to prolong the series and make more money. Receipts for later games would be split among the two clubs and the National Commission, the governing body for the sport, which was able to cover much of its annual operating expense from World Series revenue. Most importantly, the now-official and compulsory World's Series matches were operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs. With the new rules in place and the National Commission in control, McGraw's Giants made it to the 1905 Series, and beat the Philadelphia Athletics four games to one. Since then the Series has been held every year except 1994, when it was canceled due to a players' strike. The list of postseason rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets persuaded others to adopt as a permanent rule the 2–3–2 pattern used in 1924. Prior to 1924, the pattern had been to alternate by game or to make another arrangement convenient to both clubs. The 2–3–2 pattern has been used ever since save for the 1943 and 1945 World Series, which followed a 3–4 pattern due to World War II travel restrictions; in 1944, the normal pattern was followed because both teams were based in the same home stadium. Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in professional baseball from the beginning; star pitcher Jim Devlin was banned for life in 1877, when the National League was just two years old. Baseball's gambling problems came to a head in 1919, when eight players of the Chicago White Sox were alleged to have conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. The Sox had won the Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, but first baseman Chick Gandil had other plans. Gandil, in collaboration with gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, approached his teammates and got six of them to agree to throw the Series: starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, shortstop Swede Risberg, left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, center fielder Happy Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Third baseman Buck Weaver knew of the fix but declined to participate, hitting .324 for the series from 11 hits and committing no errors in the field. The Sox, who were promised $100,000 for cooperating, proceeded to lose the Series in eight games, pitching poorly, hitting poorly and making many errors. Though he took the money, Jackson insisted to his death that he played to the best of his ability in the series (he was the best hitter in the series, including having hit the series' only home run, but had markedly worse numbers in the games the White Sox lost). During the Series, writer and humorist Ring Lardner had facetiously called the event the "World's Serious". The Series turned out to indeed have serious consequences for the sport. After rumors circulated for nearly a year, the players were suspended in September 1920. The "Black Sox" were acquitted in a criminal conspiracy trial. However, baseball in the meantime had established the office of Commissioner in an effort to protect the game's integrity, and the first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all of the players involved, including Weaver, for life. The White Sox would not win a World Series again until 2005. The events of the 1919 Series, segueing into the "live ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of several teams. The two most prolific World Series winners to date, the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs) went the rest of the 20th century without another World Series win. The Red Sox and White Sox finally won again in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Cubs had to wait over a century (until the 2016 season) for their next trophy. They did not appear in the Fall Classic from 1945 until 2016, the longest drought of any MLB club. The New York Yankees purchased Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox after the 1919 season, appeared in their first World Series two years later in 1921, and became frequent participants thereafter. The 1921 World Series was the first to be broadcast on radio. Over a period of 45 years from 1920 to 1964, the Yankees played in 29 World Series championships, winning 20. The team's dynasty reached its apex between 1949 and 1964, when the Yankees reached the World Series 14 times in 16 years, helped by an agreement with the Kansas City Athletics (after that team moved from Philadelphia during 1954–1955 offseason) whereby the teams made several deals advantageous to the Yankees (until ended by new Athletics' owner Charles O. Finley). During that span, the Yankees played in all World Series except 1954, and 1959, winning nine of them. From 1949 to 1953, the Yankees won the World Series five years in a row; from 1936–1939 the Yankees won four World Series Championships in a row. There are only two other occasions when a team has won at least three consecutive World Series: 1972 to 1974 by the Oakland Athletics, and 1998 to 2000 by the Yankees. In an 18-year span from 1947 to 1964, except for 1948 and 1959, the World Series was played in New York City, featuring at least one of the three teams located in New York at the time. The Dodgers and Giants moved to California after the 1957 season, leaving the Yankees as the lone team in the city until the Mets were enfranchised in 1962. In 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956, both teams in the World Series were from New York, with the Yankees playing against either the Dodgers or Giants. In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants took their long-time rivalry to the west coast, moving to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, bringing Major League Baseball west of St. Louis and Kansas City. The Dodgers were the first of the two clubs to contest a World Series on the west coast, defeating the Chicago White Sox in 1959. The 1962 Giants made the first California World Series appearance of that franchise, losing to the Yankees. The Dodgers made three World Series appearances in the 1960s: a 1963 win over the Yankees, a 1965 win over the Minnesota Twins and a 1966 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics relocated to Oakland and the following year 1969, the National League granted a franchise to San Diego as the San Diego Padres. The A's became a powerful dynasty, winning three consecutive World Series from 1972–1974. In 1974, the A's played the Dodgers in the first all-California World Series. The Padres have two World Series appearances (a 1984 loss to the Detroit Tigers, and a 1998 loss to the New York Yankees). The Dodgers won two more World Series in the 1980s (1981, 1988). The A's again went to three straight world series, from 1988–1990, winning once. 1988 and 1989 were all-California series as the A's lost to the Dodgers and beat the Giants, respectively. The Giants have been in four World Series' in the new millennium, losing in 2002 to the Anaheim Angels (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2005 to 2015), and winning in 2010 (Rangers), 2012 (Tigers), and 2014 (Royals). Prior to 1969, the National League and the American League each crowned its champion (the "pennant winner") based on the best win-loss record at the end of the regular season. A structured playoff series began in 1969, when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five League Championship Series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven. The National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS), since the expansion to best-of-seven, are always played in a 2–3–2 format: Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home-field advantage, and Games 3, 4, and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not. Night games were played in the major leagues beginning with the Cincinnati Reds in 1935, but the World Series remained a strictly daytime event for years thereafter. In the fifth and final game of the 1949 World Series, a Series game was finished under the lights for the first time due to encroaching darkness in the ninth inning. The first scheduled night World Series game was Game 4 of the 1971 World Series at Three Rivers Stadium. Afterward, World Series games were frequently scheduled at night, when television audiences were larger. Game 6 of the 1987 World Series was the last World Series game played in the daytime, indoors at the Metrodome in Minnesota. (The last World Series played outdoors during the day was the final game of the 1984 series in Detroit's Tiger Stadium.) During this seven-year period, only three teams won the World Series: the Oakland Athletics from 1972 to 1974, Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976, and New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978. This is the only time in World Series history in which three teams have won consecutive series in succession. This period was book-ended by World Championships for the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 1971 and 1979. However, the Baltimore Orioles made three consecutive World Series appearances: 1969 (losing to the "amazing" seven-year-old franchise New York Mets), 1970 (beating the Reds in their first World Series appearance of the decade), and 1971 (losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, as well their 1979 appearance, when they again lost to the Pirates), and the Los Angeles Dodgers' back-to-back World Series appearances in 1977 and 1978 (both losses to the New York Yankees), as well in 1974 losing against the cross-state rival Oakland Athletics. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is regarded by most as one of the greatest World Series games ever played. It found the Boston Red Sox winning in the 12th inning in Fenway Park, defeating the Cincinnati Reds to force a seventh and deciding game. The game is best remembered for its exciting lead changes, nail-biting turns of events, and a game-winning walk-off home run by Carlton Fisk, resulting in a 7–6 Red Sox victory. The National and American Leagues operated under essentially identical rules until 1973, when the American League adopted the designated hitter (DH) rule, allowing its teams to use another hitter to bat in place of the (usually) weak-hitting pitcher. The National League did not adopt the DH rule. This presented a problem for the World Series, whose two contestants would now be playing their regular-season games under different rules. From 1973 to 1975, the World Series did not include a DH. Starting in 1976, the World Series allowed for the use of a DH in even-numbered years only. (The Cincinnati Reds swept the 1976 Series in four games, using the same nine-man lineup in each contest. Dan Driessen was the Reds' DH during the series, thereby becoming the National League's first designated hitter.) Finally, in 1986, baseball adopted the current rule in which the DH is used for World Series games played in the AL champion's park but not the NL champion's. Thus, the DH rule's use or non- use can not affect the performance of the home team. The 1984 Detroit Tigers gained distinction as just the third team in major league history (after the 1927 New York Yankees and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers) to lead a season wire-to-wire, from opening day through their World Series victory. In the process, Tigers skipper Sparky Anderson became the first manager to win a World Series title in both leagues, having previously won in 1975 and 1976 with the Cincinnati Reds. The 1985 Kansas City Royals won the series four games to three over the St. Louis Cardinals. The key turning point of the series was a Kansas City win in Game Six aided by a controversial call by Don Denkinger at first base. Kansas City later won Game Seven 11-0 to take the series. The 1987 Minnesota Twins became the 1st team in the history of the World Series to win the championship by winning all 4 games they hosted when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. They repeated this 4 years later in 1991 when they defeated the Atlanta Braves. The 1988 World Series is remembered for the iconic home run by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kirk Gibson with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1. The Dodgers were huge underdogs against the 104-win Oakland Athletics, who had swept the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. Baseball's top relief pitcher, Dennis Eckersley, closed out all four games in the ALCS, and he appeared ready to do the same in Game 1 against a Dodgers team trailing 4–3 in the ninth. After getting the first two outs, Eckersley walked Mike Davis of the Dodgers, who were playing without Gibson, their best position player and the NL MVP. Gibson had injured himself in the NLCS and was expected to miss the entire World Series. Yet, despite not being able to walk without a noticeable limp, Gibson surprised all in attendance at Dodger Stadium (and all watching on TV) by pinch-hitting. After two quick strikes and then working the count full, Gibson hit a home run to right, inspiring iconic pronouncements by two legendary broadcasters calling the game, Vin Scully (on TV) and Jack Buck (on radio). On NBC, as Gibson limped around the bases, Scully famously exclaimed, "The impossible has happened!" and on radio, Buck equally famously exclaimed, "I don't believe what I just saw!" Gibson's home run set the tone for the series, as the Dodgers went on to beat the A's 4 games to 1. The severity of Gibson's injury prevented him from playing in any of the remaining games. When the 1989 World Series began, it was notable chiefly for being the first ever World Series matchup between the two San Francisco Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. Oakland won the first two games at home, and the two teams crossed the bridge to San Francisco to play Game 3 on Tuesday, October 17. ABC's broadcast of Game 3 began at 5 pm local time, approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch was scheduled. At 5:04, while broadcasters Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were narrating highlights and the teams were warming up, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred (having a surface- wave magnitude of 7.1 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, California). The earthquake caused substantial property and economic damage in the Bay Area and killed 63 people. Television viewers saw the video signal deteriorate and heard Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--" before the feed from Candlestick Park was lost. Fans filing into the stadium saw Candlestick sway visibly during the quake. Television coverage later resumed, using backup generators, with Michaels becoming a news reporter on the unfolding disaster. Approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed. Fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked out (although still sunlit) Candlestick. Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep. The 1991 World Series saw the Minnesota Twins defeating the Atlanta Braves four games to three to win the championship. ESPN selected it as the "Greatest of All Time" in their "World Series 100th Anniversary" countdown, with five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at- bat and three games going into extra innings. The series-deciding seventh game was a scoreless tie (0–0) through the regular nine innings, and went into extra innings; Minnesota won by a score of 1–0 in the 10th inning, after their starting pitcher, Jack Morris, pitched a complete 10 inning shutout 7th game. (Morris was named Most Valuable Player for the Series.) With 69 innings in total, the 1991 World Series shares the record for longest seven-game World Series ever, in terms of innings, with the 1924 World Series. World Series games were contested outside of the United States for the first time in 1992, with the Toronto Blue Jays defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games. The World Series returned to Canada in 1993, with the Blue Jays victorious again, this time against the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. No other Series has featured a team from outside of the United States. Toronto is the only expansion team to win successive World Series titles. The 1993 World Series was also notable for being only the second championship concluded by a walk-off home run and the first concluded by a come-from-behind homer, after Joe Carter's three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning sealed an 8–6 Toronto win in Game 6. The first Series to end with a homer was the 1960 World Series, when Bill Mazeroski hit a ninth-inning solo shot in Game 7 to win the championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1994, each league was restructured into three divisions, with the three division winners and the newly introduced wild card winner advancing to a best-of-five playoff round (the "division series"), the National League Division Series (NLDS) and American League Division Series (ALDS). The team with the best league record is matched against the wild card team, unless they are in the same division, in which case, the team with the second-best record plays against the wild card winner. The remaining two division winners are pitted against each other. The winners of the series in the first round advance to the best-of-seven NLCS and ALCS. Due to a players' strike, however, the NLDS and ALDS were not played until 1995. Beginning in 1998, home field advantage was given to the team with the better regular season record, with the exception that the Wild Card team cannot get home-field advantage. After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played every year until 1994 despite World War I, the global influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, the Great Depression of the 1930s, America's involvement in World War II, and even an earthquake in the host cities of the 1989 World Series. A breakdown in collective bargaining led to a strike in August 1994 and the eventual cancellation of the rest of the season, including the playoffs. As the labor talks began, baseball franchise owners demanded a salary cap in order to limit payrolls, the elimination of salary arbitration, and the right to retain free agent players by matching a competitor's best offer. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) refused to agree to limit payrolls, noting that the responsibility for high payrolls lay with those owners who were voluntarily offering contracts. One difficulty in reaching a settlement was the absence of a commissioner. When Fay Vincent was forced to resign in 1992, owners did not replace him, electing instead to make Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig acting commissioner. Thus, baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without a full-time commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920. The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on December 31, 1993, and baseball began the 1994 season without a new agreement. Owners and players negotiated as the season progressed, but owners refused to give up the idea of a salary cap and players refused to accept one. On August 12, 1994, the players went on strike. After a month passed with no progress in the labor talks, Selig canceled the rest of the 1994 season and the postseason on September 14. The World Series was not played for the first time in 90 years. The Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals, were the best team in baseball at the time of the stoppage, with a record of 74–40. The labor dispute lasted into the spring of 1995, with owners beginning spring training with replacement players. However, the MLBPA returned to work on April 2, 1995 after a federal judge, Sonia Sotomayor, ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices. The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series was played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two. The 2001 World Series was the first World Series to end in November, due to the week-long delay in the regular season after the September 11 attacks. Game 4 had begun on Oct. 31 but went into extra innings and ended early on the morning of Nov. 1, the first time the Series had been played in November. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter won the game with a 10th inning walk-off home run and was dubbed "Mr. November" by elements of the media echoing the media's designation of Reggie Jackson as "Mr. October" for his slugging achievements during the 1977 World Series. The Boston Red Sox broke their 86-year drought, known as the Curse of the Bambino, defeating the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS after losing the first three games, and then defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. With the 2006 World Series victory by the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa became the second manager to a win a World Series in both the American and National Leagues. Prior to 2003, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the NL and AL. After the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in a tie, MLB decided to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All-Star Game. Originally implemented as a two- year trial from 2003 to 2004, the practice was extended. The American League had won every All-Star Game since this change until 2010 and thus enjoyed home-field advantage from 2002, when it also had home-field advantage based on the alternating schedule, through 2009. From 2003 to 2010, the AL and NL had each won the World Series four times, but none of them had gone the full seven games. Since then, the 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 World Series have gone the full seven games. This rule was subject to debate, with various writers feeling that home-field advantage should be decided based on the regular season records of the participants, not on an exhibition game played several months earlier. Some writers especially questioned the integrity of this rule after the 2014 All-Star Game, when St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright suggested that he intentionally gave Derek Jeter some easy pitches to hit in the New York Yankees' shortstop's final All-Star appearance before he retired at the end of that season. As Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe wrote in July 2015 about the rule: However, within the last seven seasons, home-field advantage has not decided World Series games: Since 2014, the home team has not won the deciding game of a World Series. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 while failing to qualify to play in the postseason in the intervening seasons. The Texas Rangers were twice only one strike away from winning their first World Series title in 2011, but the St. Louis Cardinals' David Freese, the eventual Series MVP, drove in both the tying and winning runs late in Game 6 to force a Game 7. In 2013, the Boston Red Sox won their third World Series of the 2000s, this time at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918. The Kansas City Royals reached the World Series in 2014, which was their first appearance in the postseason since winning the series in 1985. At the time, it was the longest postseason drought in baseball. They lost in seven games to the Giants. The following season, the Royals finished with the American League's best record, and won a second consecutive American League pennant. They defeated the New York Mets in the World Series 4–1, capturing their first title in 30 years. The 2015 contest was the first time that two expansion clubs met for the Fall Classic. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year long drought without a World Series title by defeating the Cleveland Indians, rallying from a 3–1 Series deficit in the process. That extended Cleveland's World Series title drought to 68 years and counting – the Indians last won the Series in 1948 – now the longest title drought in the major leagues. Beginning in 2017, home field advantage in the World Series is awarded to the league champion team with the better regular season win-loss record. If both league champions have the same record, the tie-breaker is head-to-head record, and if that does not resolve it, the second tie-breaker is best divisional record. The Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series in 7 games against the Los Angeles Dodgers on November 1, 2017, winning their first World Series since their creation in 1962. The Boston Red Sox won the 2018 World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5 games for their fourth title since 2004. In 2019, the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in seven games. It was the first seven- game World Series in which the road team won every game. The Nationals achieved a couple of historical milestones: becoming the first team to win the World Series without winning a home gameand bringing the title back to the capital for the first time since 1924. Notes American League (AL) teams have won 66 of the 115 World Series played (57.3%). The New York Yankees have won the most titles in MLB with 27 total, accounting for 23.4% of all series played and 40.9% of the wins by American League teams. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 World Series, second-most among all 30 teams and most among National League franchises, accounting for 9.5% of all series played and 22.4% of the 49 National League victories. When the first modern World Series was played in 1903, there were eight teams in each league. These 16 franchises, all of which are still in existence, have each won at least two World Series titles. The number of teams was unchanged until 1961, with fourteen expansion teams joining MLB since then, all of which except the Seattle Mariners have appeared in at least one World Series. Of the 23 Series in which at least one expansion team has played, including two Series (2015 and 2019) in which both teams were expansion teams, expansion teams have won 11 of them, which is 47.8% of all series in which an expansion team played and 9.5% of all 115 series played since 1903. In 2015, the first World Series featuring only expansion teams was played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. This information is up to date through the present time: 1. Since their first championship in 1923, the New York Yankees have won two or more World Series titles in every decade except the 1980s and the 2010s, when they won none. They won at least one American League pennant in every decade from the 1920s until the 2000s; the streak ended in the 2010s. The Yankees are the only team in MLB to win more than three series in a row, winning in four consecutive seasons from 1936–1939, and an MLB record five consecutive seasons from 1949–1953. The Yankees also won three consecutive World Series from 1998–2000. The Oakland Athletics are the only other team to have won three straight titles, doing so from 1972–1974. 2. The New York Giants' four World Series appearances from 1921–1924 are the most consecutive appearances for any National League franchise. The Yankees are the only American League franchise to appear in four or more consecutive World Series, doing so from 1936–1939, 1949–1953, 1955–1958, 1960–1964, and 1998–2001. 3. The 1907–1908 Cubs, 1921–1922 Giants and the 1975–1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series. No National League team has ever won three consecutive World Series. 4. The 1907–1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911–1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series. 5. The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series championship drought of all time, with no titles between 1908 and 2016 (108 years). They also hold the longest ever pennant drought of all time, which stretched from 1945 to 2016 and ended with a 4–2 series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2016 NLCS. With the Cubs' subsequent victory in the 2016 World Series, the longest active World Series championship drought belongs coincidentally to their opponents in that series, the Cleveland Indians, who have not won a World Series since 1948. The Indians' drought is the second longest active championship drought among all four major professional sports leagues in North America (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL); only the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, who last won a league championship in 1947, when the team still operated as the Chicago Cardinals, have a longer active championship drought. The team with the longest active pennant drought among AL teams that have played in a World Series at least once is the Baltimore Orioles, who have not reached the World Series since their 1983 title. The team with the longest active pennant drought among NL teams (and overall) that have played in a World Series at least once is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have not played in a World Series since winning it in 1979. This also means that the Pirates hold the second longest active World Series title drought among all teams that have at least one Series and longest championship drought among NL teams that have won a Series. 6. Twenty-four of the 29 teams who have played in the World Series have won it at least once. The only exceptions are the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots), San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays), and Texas Rangers (formerly Washington Senators). The Padres and Rangers have both lost two World Series; the remaining teams have all lost one Series. As of 2019, every team that has appeared in at least three World Series has won at least one title. 7. Only one team has never played in the World Series: the American League's Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have competed in a League Championship Series three times. 8. The Boston Red Sox have the most World Series titles before their first World Series loss, winning the championship in their first five appearances—1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918—before losing the next series they played, in 1946. 9. The American League's Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993) and National League's Miami Marlins (1997 and 2003 as the Florida Marlins) hold the record for most appearances without ever losing a Series. Three other franchises have won their lone appearance: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks (2001) and Washington Nationals (2019) and the American League's Los Angeles Angels (2002 as the Anaheim Angels). 10. The Boston Red Sox have the longest active streak of World Series victories (four) since the last time they lost a series. They have won titles in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 after their last loss in 1986. 11. The Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds have the longest active World Series wins streak by National League teams, with each team having won 3 times since their last losses. Since their last defeat in 1927, the Pirates have won the Series in 1960, 1971 and 1979. After their loss in 2002, the Giants won the Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Finally, since their loss in 1972, the Reds have won the Series in 1975, 1976 and 1990. 12. The Yankees have the most World Series victories (eight) between World Series losses. After losing the 1926 World Series to the Cardinals, the Yankees won in their next eight appearances, (1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1941) before losing in 1942 to the Cardinals, who are the National League leader in this category, with four titles (1944, 1946, 1964, and 1967) between series losses in 1943 and 1968. 13. The Cubs and Dodgers are tied at seven apiece for most World Series losses between World Series victories. The Dodgers lost their first seven appearances in the Fall Classic in (1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953) before winning their first title in 1955. The Cubs' situation was the opposite: between winning their second and third titles (in 1908 and 2016), they lost in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945. The Cleveland Indians have four World Series losses (1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016) since their last crown in 1948, more than any other team in the American League. 14. The longest duration without back-to-back World Series champions is currently active at 19 years, from after the 2000 New York Yankees to the present. The previous record of 14 years (from 1979 through 1992) was broken when the Toronto Blue Jays won in 1992 and 1993. 15. The longest sequence of World Series in which each was won by a different franchise is 10, from 1978 through 1987. This streak was broken when the Dodgers, which had won in 1981, won again in 1988. 1. During the 1960s and 1970s, eight of the 11 World Series to go seven games saw Game 7 won by the road team: the road team won Game 7 in 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, and 1979, while the home team won Game 7 in 1960, 1964, and 1973. Since 1980, the home team has won Game 7 in nine of the thirteen World Series between 1980 and 2013 that went to seven games. The first nine series to go seven games since 1980 all saw the home team win Game 7 (1982 St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets, 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1997 Florida Marlins, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, 2002 Anaheim Angels, and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals) before the San Francisco Giants won game 7 on the road in 2014. The three World Series that have gone the full seven games since 2014 have also seen the road team win Game 7 (2016 Chicago Cubs, 2017 Houston Astros and 2019 Washington Nationals). 2. To date, only six teams have come back to win a World Series when facing elimination going into Game 5 of a best-of-seven contest: the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the reigning champion Washington Senators; the 1958 New York Yankees, who defeated the reigning champion Milwaukee Braves in a re-match of the 1957 World Series; the 1968 Detroit Tigers, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the Baltimore Orioles; the 1985 Kansas City Royals, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; and the 2016 Chicago Cubs, who defeated the Cleveland Indians. Only the Pirates have accomplished the feat twice. By contrast, only the St. Louis Cardinals have blown a 3 games to 1 lead twice (1968 and 1985). The 1958 Yankees, 1968 Tigers, 1979 Pirates, and 2016 Cubs all accomplished the feat by winning Games 6 & 7 on the road. 3. The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are the most recent team to win a World Series after losing the first two games on the road. The recent tendency of a team winning the first two games at home and then winning the Series suggests the theoretical advantage to gaining home-field advantage (which includes the first two games at home). 4. The Pittsburgh Pirates won all five of their World Series championships (1909, 1927, 1960, 1971, and 1979) in seven games. 5. The Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators won all three of their World Series championships (1924, 1987, and 1991) in seven games. 6. The Boston Red Sox have lost four World Series (1946, 1967, 1975, & 1986), all of which were in Series that went seven games. 7. There have been 19 World Series four-game (4–0) sweeps, the most recent of which occurred in 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers. Nine teams have swept a World Series at least once, the Yankees having done so most often (8 times). The Red Sox, Reds, and Giants have all done it twice. The Braves, Orioles, White Sox, Dodgers, and Athletics have each swept one Series. Six of these teams (all but the Orioles, Red Sox and White Sox) have also been swept 0–4 in at least one World Series. The Red Sox have the most World Series sweeps of any team that has never been swept in one, with two (2004 and 2007). The Reds and Yankees are the only teams to have swept each other (the Yankees swept the Reds in 1939, while the Reds swept the Yankees in 1976). The Giants are the only team to record World Series sweeps in two cities: New York (1954) and San Francisco (2012). The 1999 Yankees are the last team to date, and the only one since 1966, to sweep a World Series it began on the road. The 1963 Dodgers are the last National League team to date to sweep a World Series it began on the road. 8. The Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, and Yankees are the only teams to be swept in two World Series. The Athletics and Yankees are the only two of these with at least one World Series sweep to their credit, the other two being among nine teams overall that have never swept a World Series, but have been swept in one (the Tigers, Astros, Indians, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and Rockies being the others). 9. The Cubs in 1907 and the Giants in 1922 won 4 games to 0, but each of those Series' included a tied game and are not considered to be true sweeps. In 1907, the first game was the tie and the Cubs won four straight after that. In 1922, Game 2 was the tie. 10. The Cincinnati Reds were the only National League team to sweep any World Series between 1963 and 2012, sweeping their last two series appearances to date in 1976 and 1990. When added to their Game 7 victory in 1975, this means that the Reds have won their last 9 consecutive World Series games, the longest active winning streak in terms of consecutive World Series games won. The Reds are also to date the only team since the inception of the League Championship Series (LCS) in 1969 to sweep the entire postseason. The 1976 "Big Red Machine" swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League LCS in three games, and then swept the New York Yankees in the World Series in four games. The longest ever streak of consecutive World Series games won is 14 by the New York Yankees, who won four straight games to win the 1996 World Series after losing the first two games of that series, then swept their next two World Series appearances in 1998 and 1999, and then won the first two games of the 2000 World Series before losing the third game of that Series to the New York Mets. 11. The only team to have appeared in a World Series and have no wins in a World Series game is the Colorado Rockies, who were swept in their only appearance to date in 2007. 12. Nine World Series have ended with "walk-off" hits, i.e., that game and the Series ended when the home team won with a base hit in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings: 1924*, 1929, 1935, 1953, 1960*, 1991*, 1993, 1997*, and 2001*. Five of these (marked with a *) were in a deciding Game 7. In addition, the deciding Game 8 (one game had ended in a tie) of the 1912 World Series ended in a walk-off sacrifice fly. Two men have ended a World Series with a walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski in 1960 and Joe Carter in 1993. Mazeroski's was a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to win a championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates, while Carter's was a three-run shot in Game 6 that won a championship for the Toronto Blue Jays. 13. There has been one World Series that ended on a runner caught stealing. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees tried to steal second base with two outs and his team trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 3–2. Ruth was thrown out by Cardinals catcher Bob O'Farrell after Bob Meusel swung at and missed a pitch from Grover Cleveland Alexander. St. Louis second baseman Rogers Hornsby applied the tag on Ruth, who in his career was successful on 51% of his stolen base attempts. Ruth, Alexander, and Hornsby were later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 14. One World Series game has ended with a pick-off of a runner. Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals was picked off first base in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series by Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara. The score was 4–2 and rookie Wong was a pinch runner. 15. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the first and only pair of teams to have a World Series game be suspended because of weather, and not have it cancelled. Game 5 (in Philadelphia) was suspended on October 27, 2008 with a 2–2 score, and resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning two days later on October 29. The Phillies went on to win the game and clinch the series. 16. Both of the Minnesota Twins' World Series titles since relocating to the Twin Cities from Washington, D.C. (where they were the Washington Senators) were in seven-game series in which all games were won by the home team, in 1987 over the Cardinals and 1991 over the Atlanta Braves. This same scenario also occurred in 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees. In all three of those series, a pitcher was named World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP). In the 1987 World Series, Frank Viola was the MVP having pitched games 1, 4, and 7, and finishing with a 2–1 record. In 1991, Jack Morris achieved the same feat pitching games 1, 4, and 7 with a 2–0 record and a no decision in game 4, and winning MVP honors. However, Morris's MVP came on the heels of pitching 10 shutout innings in game 7. Finally, in 2001, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson took MVP honors by being the reason the Arizona Diamondbacks were in position to win the series. 17. The Washington Nationals' lone World Series appearance and victory came in the only seven-game World Series to date (2019) in which all seven games were won by the visiting team. Additionally, this is the only time that any of the three major North American professional sports leagues that use a best-of-seven series for their championship round (MLB's World Series, NBA's NBA Final, and the NHL's Stanley Cup Final) have had a championship series go seven games with all contests won by the road team. Prior to Game 7, the Series was already the first such instance of a World Series, NBA Final, or Stanley Cup Final in which the road team won the first six games. 18. There has only been one instance in World Series history where the Series MVP was selected from the losing team: Bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees. 19. The home team has not won a deciding game of a World Series since 2013. Road teams have currently won six straight World Series-clinching games. 20. The winning team has scored fewer runs (composite) on 22 occasions, six of these in six-game series: 1918, 1959, 1977, 1992, 1996, and 2003. Seven-game series winners were outscored in 1912, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1940, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1991, 1997, and 2002. An equal number of runs were scored by the teams in 1948 (6 games), 2016, and 2017. A five-game series winner has yet to be outscored, with the closest margin being two runs in 1915. The closest composite margin in a four-game sweep is six runs (1950 and 2005). When two teams share the same state or metropolitan area, fans often develop strong loyalties to one and antipathies towards the other, sometimes building on already-existing rivalries between cities or neighborhoods. Before the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the only opportunity for two teams playing in the same area but in different leagues to face each other in official competition would have been in a World Series. The first city to host an entire World Series was Chicago in 1906. The Chicago White Sox were known as "the Hitless Wonders" that year, with the worst team batting average in the American League. The Chicago Cubs had a winning percentage of .763, a record that still stands. But in an upset, the White Sox beat the Cubs four games to two. Fourteen "Subway Series" have been played entirely within New York City, all including the American League's New York Yankees. Thirteen of them matched the Yankees with either the New York Giants or the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. The initial instances occurred in 1921 and 1922, when the Giants beat the Yankees in consecutive World Series that were not technically "subway series" since the teams shared the Polo Grounds as their home ballpark. The Yankees finally beat the Giants the following year, their first in their brand-new Yankee Stadium, and won the two teams' three subsequent Fall Classic match-ups in 1936, 1937 and 1951. The Yankees faced Brooklyn seven times in October, winning their first five meetings in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, before losing to the Dodgers in 1955, Brooklyn's sole World Championship. The last Subway Series involving the original New York ballclubs came in 1956, when the Yankees again beat the Dodgers. The trio was separated in 1958 when the Dodgers and Giants moved to California (although the Yankees subsequently met and beat the now-San Francisco Giants in 1962, and played the now-Los Angeles Dodgers four times, losing to them in a four-game sweep in 1963, beating them back-to-back in 1977 and 1978 and losing to them in 1981). An all-New York Series did not recur until 2000, when the Yankees defeated the New York Mets in five games. The last World Series played entirely in one ballpark was the 1944 "Streetcar Series" between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. The Cardinals won in six games, all held in their shared home, Sportsman's Park. The 1989 World Series, sometimes called the "Bay Bridge Series" or the "BART Series" (after the connecting transit line), featured the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, teams that play just across San Francisco Bay from each other. The series is most remembered for the major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area just before game 3 was scheduled to begin. The quake caused significant damage to both communities and severed the Bay Bridge that connects them, forcing the postponement of the series. Play resumed ten days later, and the A's swept the Giants in four games. (The earthquake disruption of the Series almost completely overshadowed the fact that the 1989 Series represented a resumption after many decades of the October rivalry between the Giants and the A's dating back to the early years of the 20th Century, when the then-New York Giants had defeated the then- Philadelphia Athletics in 1905, and had lost to them in 1911 and again in 1913.) The Giants are the only team to have played in cross-town World Series in two cities, having faced the Yankees six times while located in New York, and the Athletics once while based in San Francisco. Two cross-town World Series match-ups were formerly possible but did not occur — the Boston Red Sox vs. the Boston Braves, and the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Philadelphia Athletics. (The Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and the Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955.) Currently there are four metropolitan areas that have two Major League Baseball teams — New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Of the four, only Los Angeles has not hosted a cross-town World Series. Such a contest would pit the Dodgers against the Angels. Below is a chronological list of World Series played between teams from the same metropolitan area, with the winning teams listed in boldface. The historic rivalry between Northern and Southern California added to the interest in the Oakland Athletics-Los Angeles Dodgers series in 1974 and 1988 and in the San Francisco Giants' series against the then-Anaheim Angels in 2002. Other than the St. Louis World Series of 1944, the only postseason tournament held entirely within Missouri was the I-70 Series in 1985 (named for the Interstate Highway connecting the two cities) between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, who won at home in the seventh game. Going into the 2020 season, there has never been an in-state World Series between the teams in Ohio (Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds), Florida (Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins), Texas (Texas Rangers and Houston Astros – who now both play in the American League since the Astros changed leagues in 2013, making any future joint World Series appearance an impossibility unless one of the teams switches leagues), or Pennsylvania (the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates have been traditional National League rivals going back to the late 19th Century). Neither the Phillies nor the Pirates ever faced the Athletics in October during the latter team's tenure in Philadelphia, through 1954. The Boston Red Sox never similarly faced the Braves while the latter team played in Boston through 1952. There also was never an all-Canada World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the former Montreal Expos, who never won a National League pennant when they played in that Canadian city from 1969 through 2004. The Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005 – raising the possibility of a potential future "I-95 World Series" between the National League team and the AL's Baltimore Orioles, who play just 50 miles to the north of Washington. Finally, the Los Angeles and/or Anaheim Angels have never faced off in October against either the Dodgers or against the San Diego Padres for bragging rights in Southern California, although all three of those teams have appeared in the World Series at various times. 1. The Braves are the only team to have both won and lost a World Series in three home cities (Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta). 2. The Athletics have had three home cities (Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland), but have appeared in the World Series (both winning and losing) while based in only two of them (Philadelphia and Oakland). 3. Three other teams have both won and lost the Fall Classic in two home cities: The Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), the Giants (New York and San Francisco), and the Twins (the Twin Cities and Washington, D.C., as the first Senators). 4. The Orioles are the only other team to have played in the World Series in two home cities (Baltimore and St. Louis, as the Browns), but all three of their titles (and three of their four losses) have come while based in Baltimore. At the time the first modern World Series began in 1903, each league had eight clubs, all of which survive today (although sometimes in a different city or with a new nickname), composing the "original sixteen". 1. Every original team has won at least two World Series titles. The Philadelphia Phillies (National League) were the last of the original teams to win their first Series, in . They were also the last to win at least two, with their second Series victory in . The Cubs were the first team to win the series twice, in 1907 and 1908. 2. The last original American League team to win its first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles (former St. Louis Browns, originally the Milwaukee Brewers), winning in . 3. The Orioles were also the last original team in the majors to make their first World Series appearance, as the St. Louis Browns in . Although they never won another American League pennant while in St. Louis, they have won three World Series in six appearances since moving to Baltimore. The St. Louis Cardinals were the last original National League team to appear in a modern World Series, in their championship victory. They have subsequently won more World Series than any other National League club: 11 championships through 2019. 4. The New York Yankees have defeated all eight original NL teams in a World Series. Conversely, they have lost at least one World Series to six of the original NL teams, never losing to the Chicago Cubs or the Philadelphia Phillies. The Boston Red Sox have played at least one Series against every original National League team except the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, with whom they shared a home city through 1952. 5. The St. Louis Cardinals are currently the only club of the National League's original eight that holds an overall Series lead over the Yankees, 3 to 2, taking that lead in 1964. The Giants won their first two Series over the Yankees (1921 and 1922), but the Yankees have faced the Giants five times since then and have won all five, taking the overall lead over the Giants in 1937. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Yankees have faced each other twice (1927 and 1960), with the Yankees winning in 1927 and the Pirates winning in 1960, making the two teams .500 against each other. 6. Since the two leagues expanded beyond eight teams apiece in 1961, the American League's Cleveland Indians are the only original team that has not won a World Series against the larger field of competitors. 7. Out of 115 Series, all but two have featured at least one of the original sixteen teams. The only exceptions are the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets and the 2019 World Series between the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) and the Houston Astros. 1. The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks won their first pennant and World Series in fewer seasons than any other expansion team (both attained in their 4th season). The 1997 World Series Champion Florida Marlins achieved these milestones in the second-fewest seasons (fifth season). The fastest AL expansion franchise to win a pennant was the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 (11th season) and the fastest AL expansion franchise to win a World Series was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 (16th season). 2. While the New York Mets (NL) were the first expansion team to win or appear in the World Series (doing both in 1969), the American League would have to wait until 1980 for its first expansion-team World Series appearance, and until 1985 for its first expansion-team win. Both were by the Kansas City Royals. The AL also had two expansion teams appear in the World Series (the Milwaukee Brewers being the second, in 1982) before the National League's second expansion team to appear—the San Diego Padres in 1984. 3. There have been two World Series in which both teams were expansion franchises. The first instance occurred in 2015 between the National League's New York Mets (who started play in 1962) and the American League's Kansas City Royals (who started play in 1969), with the Royals winning in five games. The second instance occurred in 2019 between the National League's Washington Nationals (started play in 1969 as the Montreal Expos; moved to Washington, D.C. and renamed the Nationals beginning in 2005) and the American League's Houston Astros (started play as the Colt .45s in 1962 as a member of the National League; renamed the Astros beginning in 1965 and began playing in the American League in 2013), with the Nationals winning in seven games. 4. In the first World Series to only have expansion teams, the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals were each the first expansion team in each respective league to appear in the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1980. Each team was also the first team in each respective league to win the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1985. Each team has the most appearances by an expansion team in each respective league in the World Series, with five for the Mets in 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, and 2015, and four for the Royals in 1980, 1985, 2014, and 2015. 5. 13 expansion teams have now played in at least one Series. As of the end of the 2019 edition, expansion teams were 11–12 in the 23 editions of the World Series to feature at least one expansion team, with four teams (the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins) each winning two. The then-Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Houston Astros, and the Washington Nationals had each won one Series by the end of the 2019 season. 6. The Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993), Miami Marlins (1997 and 2003 as the Florida Marlins), Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), the Los Angeles Angels (2002 as the Anaheim Angels) and the Washington Nationals (2019) have never lost a World Series appearance. 7. Five expansion teams have appeared in the World Series without ever winning a championship: twice for the Texas Rangers (formerly the second Washington Senators) and San Diego Padres, and once each for the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots), Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays). 8. One expansion team has not yet won a league pennant (and therefore has also not appeared in a World Series): the American League's Seattle Mariners. 1. The team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 54 times, or 48.21% (54 of 112) of the time. Three World Series have featured teams with identical regular season records (1949, 1958, 2013). 2. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only Canadian team ever to win a pennant or a World Series, doing both twice, in 1992 and 1993. 3. The Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one at home. 4. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Angels are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one on the road. 5. Three World Series have matched up the previous two champions, with the New York Yankees winning all three. The 1928 World Series was contested by the 1926 champion Cardinals and 1927 champion Yankees; the Yankees won the series 4–0. In 1943, the 1941 champion Yankees met the 1942 champion Cardinals, which the Yankees won 4–1. In the 1958 World Series, the 1956 champion Yankees faced the 1957 champion Milwaukee Braves; the Yankees won this series 4–3. 6. As the only two teams that have changed leagues, the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros are the only teams to have played in both the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS). The Brewers won their lone ALCS appearance in 1982 against the then-California Angels and lost both of their NLCS appearances, in 2011 against the St. Louis Cardinals and in 2018 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them 1–2 all time between both League Championship Series. The Astros, meanwhile, have a 3–4 all-time record between both League Championship Series, having gone 1–3 in four NLCS appearances (lost in 1980 to the Philadelphia Phillies, lost in 1986 to the New York Mets, lost in 2004 to the Cardinals, and won in 2005 versus the Cardinals) and 2–1 in three ALCS appearances (winning in 2017 and 2019 against the New York Yankees and losing to the Boston Red Sox in 2018). The Astros are the only team in MLB to appear in the World Series as a member of both the National League (2005) and the American League (2017 and 2019); they have gone 1-2 overall across three World Series appearances, going 0-1 as a member of the National League (lost to the Chicago White Sox in 2005) and 1-1 as a member of the American League (defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 and lost to the Washington Nationals in 2019). 7. Game 1 of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals was the longest game 1 in history at 5 hours and 9 minutes. 8. Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees holds the record for most World Series championships by a player with 10. Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees is second with 9. 9. Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel are tied for the most World Series titles by a manager with 7 apiece, all 14 of them with the Yankees. Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics to 5 World Series crowns. 10. The all-time World Series single-game attendance record is 92,706, set in Game 5 of the 1959 World Series at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers until Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. The Chicago White Sox defeated the Dodgers 1–0 in the record-setting game. Games 3 and 4 of that series also drew crowds in excess of 92,000. 11. Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers was the longest single game in series history at 7 hours and 20 minutes, which took longer than the entire 1939 World Series, with a cumulative duration of 7 hours and 5 minutes. 12. Two divisions - the American League Central and the National League East - have had all five of its teams have win at least one World Series. In the AL Central, the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins (formerly the original Washington Senators until 1960), and Chicago White Sox, have each won the World Series at least twice. In the NL East, the Atlanta Braves (formerly based in Boston until 1952 and in Milwaukee from 1953 until 1965, after which the team moved to Atlanta) have won 3 titles (won the 1914 World Series as the Boston Braves, the 1957 World Series as the Milwaukee Braves, and the 1995 World Series under their current identity), the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins (formerly the Florida Marlins), and the New York Mets have each won two titles, and the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos until 2004) have won one title. 13. The 2019 World Series was the first and only Postseason Series in the history of the Major North American Professional Sports Leagues (MLB, NBA, NHL) in which the home team lost all seven games, as no other Series had featured the home team losing the first six games prior. When the World Series was first broadcast on television in 1947, it was only televised to a few surrounding areas via coaxial inter-connected stations: New York City (WNBT); Philadelphia (WPTZ); Schenectady/Albany, New York (WRGB); Washington, D.C. (WNBW) and surrounding suburbs/environs. In , games in Boston were only seen in the Northeast. Meanwhile, games in Cleveland were only seen in the Midwest and Pittsburgh. The games were open to all channels with a network affiliation. In all, the 1948 World Series was televised to fans in seven Midwestern cities: Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Toledo. By , World Series games could be seen east of the Mississippi River. The games were open to all channels with a network affiliation. By , World Series games could be seen in most of the country, but not all. marked the first time that the World Series was televised coast to coast. Meanwhile, marked the first time that the World Series was televised in color. As part of a multiyear partnership that began in 2017, the internet television service YouTube TV became the presenting sponsor of the World Series. Despite its name, the World Series remains solely the championship of the major-league baseball teams in the United States and Canada, although MLB, its players, and North American media sometimes informally refer to World Series winners as "world champions of baseball". Some Americans, even those close to 'world champions' themselves, question whether the title is justified. The United States, Canada, and Mexico (Liga Méxicana de Béisbol, established 1925) were the only professional baseball countries until a few decades into the 20th century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s (after World War II). Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time. By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly skilled level in many countries. Reaching North America's high-salary major leagues is the goal of many of the best players around the world, which gives a strong international flavor to the Series. Many talented players from Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Rim, and elsewhere now play in the majors. One notable exception is Cuban citizens, because of the political tensions between the US and Cuba since 1959 (yet a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have still managed to defect to the United States over the past half-century to play in the American professional leagues). Japanese professional players also have a difficult time coming to the North American leagues. They become free agents only after nine years playing service in the NPB, although their Japanese teams may at any time "post" them for bids from MLB teams, which commonly happens at the player's request. Several tournaments feature teams composed only of players from one country, similar to national teams in other sports. The World Baseball Classic, sponsored by Major League Baseball and sanctioned by the sport's world governing body, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), uses a format similar to the FIFA World Cup to promote competition between nations every four years. The WBSC has since added the Premier12, a tournament also involving national teams; the first event was held in 2015, and is planned to be held every four years (in the middle of the World Baseball Classic cycle). The World Baseball Classic is held in March and the Premier12 is held in November, allowing both events to feature top-level players from all nations. The predecessor to the WBSC as the sport's international governing body, the International Baseball Federation, also sponsored a Baseball World Cup to crown a world champion. However, because the World Cup was held during the Northern Hemisphere summer, during the playing season of almost all top-level leagues, its teams did not feature the best talent from each nation. As a result, baseball fans paid little or no attention to the World Cup and generally disregarded its results. The Caribbean Series features competition among the league champions from Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela but unlike the FIFA Club World Cup, there is no club competition that features champions from all professional leagues across the world. AL pennant winners (1901–1968), AL Wild Card winners (since 1994), Americas Baseball Cup, Asia Series, Asian Baseball Championship, Baseball at the Asian Games, Baseball at the Central American and Caribbean Games, Baseball at the Pan American Games, Baseball at the Summer Olympics, Baseball World Cup, Caribbean Series, Chronicle-Telegraph Cup, College World Series, European Baseball Championship, European Champion Cup Final Four, European Cup (baseball), Home advantage, Intercontinental Cup (International Baseball Federation (IBAF)), Japan Series, Korean Series, Little League World Series, MLB division winners, MLB franchise postseason droughts, MLB postseason, MLB postseason teams, MLB rivalries, Negro World Series, NL pennant winners (1876–1968), NL Wild Card winners (since 1994), Temple Cup, Women's Baseball World Cup, World Baseball Classic, World Series broadcasters, World Series champions, World Series starting pitchers, World Series television ratings Ernest Lanigan, Baseball Cyclopedia, 1922, originally published by Baseball Magazine, available as a reprint from McFarland., Jordan A. Deutsch, Richard M. Cohen, David Neft, Roland T. Johnson, The Scrapbook History of Baseball, 1975, Bobbs-Merrill Company., Sporting News, Baseball Record Book and Baseball Guide, published annually since ca. 1941. Auf Der Mar, Nick. "World Series Fever Offers No Relief from Agony of Stadium Envy." The [Montreal] Gazette. October 30, 1991 (p. A2)., Dickey, Glenn. The History of the World Series Since 1903. New York: Stein and Day, 1984., Seymour, Harold. Baseball: The Early Years. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960. ., Sutherland, Norman. "Unhappy Start for Yankees." The [Glasgow] Herald. March 20, 1999 (p. 9)., Thorn, John et al. Total Baseball. Kingston, New York: Total Sports Publishing, 2000. (pp. 265–280)., Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Q & A on the News." October 29, 1999 (p. A2). Baseball Reference "postseason" page, listing every World Series, with links to play-by-play summaries of every game, Sporting News: History of the World Series, Baseball Almanac: World Series, List of World Series Winning Rosters, Coolest World Series teams ever, ESPN Classic – Who's #1?: Best World Series The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of two major league clubs based in New York City, the other being the National League's (NL) New York Mets. The Yankees began play in the season as the Baltimore Orioles (no relation to the modern Baltimore Orioles). In 1903, Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the franchise after it ceased operations and moved it to New York City, renaming the club the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders were officially renamed the New York Yankees in . The team is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, an LLC that is controlled by the family of the late George Steinbrenner, who purchased the team in 1973. Brian Cashman is the team's general manager, and Aaron Boone is the team's field manager. The team's home games were played at the original Yankee Stadium from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. In 1974 and 1975, the Yankees shared Shea Stadium with the Mets, in addition to the New York Jets and the New York Giants. In 2009, they moved into a new ballpark of the same name that was constructed adjacent to the previous facility, which was closed and demolished. The team is perennially among the leaders in MLB attendance. The Yankees are arguably the most successful professional sports team in the United States; they have won 19 American League East Division titles, 40 American League pennants, and 27 World Series championships, all of which are MLB records. The team has won more titles than any other franchise in the four major North American sports leagues. Forty-four Yankees players and 11 Yankees managers have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford. In pursuit of winning championships, the franchise has used a large payroll to attract talent, particularly during the Steinbrenner era. According to Forbes, the Yankees are the second-highest valued sports franchise in the United States and the second in the world, with an estimated value of approximately $4.6 billion. The team has garnered enormous popularity and a dedicated fanbase, as well as widespread enmity from fans of other MLB teams. The team's rivalry with the Boston Red Sox is one of the most well-known rivalries in North American sports. From 1903 to 2019, the Yankees' overall win-loss record is 10,378–7,840 (a winning percentage). In 1900, Ban Johnson, the president of a minor league known as the Western League (1894–1899), changed the Western League name to the American League (AL) and asked the National League to classify it as a major league. Johnson held that his league would operate in friendly terms with the National League, but the National league ridiculed the plan. Johnson declared official major league status for his league in 1901. Plans to add a team in New York City were blocked by the NL's New York Giants. A team was instead placed in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1901 named the Orioles. Between 1901 and 1903, many players and coaches on the Orioles roster jumped to the Giants. In January 1903, a "peace conference" was held between the two leagues to settle disputes and try to coexist. At the conference, Johnson requested that an AL team be put in New York, to play alongside the NL's Giants. It was put to a vote, and 15 of the 16 major league owners agreed on it. The Orioles' new owners, Frank J. Farrell and William S. Devery moved the team to New York in 1903. The team's new ballpark, Hilltop Park (formally known as "American League Park"), was constructed in one of Upper Manhattan's highest points—between 165th and 168th Streets. The team was named the New York Highlanders. Fans believed the name was chosen because of the team's elevated location in Upper Manhattan, or as a nod to team president Joseph Gordon's Scottish-Irish heritage (the Gordon Highlanders were a well known Scottish military unit). Initially, the team was commonly referred to as the New York Americans. The team was also referred to as the "Invaders" in the Evening Journal. New York Press Sports Editor Jim Price coined the unofficial nickname Yankees (or "Yanks") for the club as early as 1904, because it was easier to fit in headlines. The Highlanders finished second in the AL in 1904, 1906, and 1910. In 1904, they lost the deciding game to the Boston Americans, who later became the Boston Red Sox. That year, Highlander pitcher Jack Chesbro set the single- season wins record at 41. At this time there was no formal World Series agreement wherein the AL and NL winners would play each other. The original Polo Grounds burned down in 1911 and the Highlanders shared Hilltop Park with the Giants during a two-month renovation period. Later, from 1913 to 1922, the Highlanders shared the Polo Grounds with the Giants. While playing at the Polo Grounds, the name "Highlanders" fell into disuse among the press. In 1913 the team became officially known as the New York Yankees. By the middle of the decade, Yankees owners Farrell and Devery had become estranged and in need of money. At the start of 1915, they sold the team to Colonel Jacob Ruppert, a brewer, and Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston, a contractor-engineer. In the years around 1920, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Chicago White Sox had a détente. The trades between the three ball clubs antagonized Ban Johnson and garnered the teams the nickname "The Insurrectos". This détente paid off well for the Yankees as they increased their payroll. Most new players who later contributed to the team's success came from the Red Sox, whose owner, Harry Frazee, was trading them for large sums of money to finance his theatrical productions. Pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth was the most talented of all the acquisitions from Boston, and the outcome of that trade would haunt the Red Sox for the next 86 years, a span in which the team did not win a single World Series championship. This phenomenon eventually became known as the Curse of the Bambino as the failure of the Red Sox and the success of the Yankees seemed almost supernatural, and seemed to stem from that one trade. However, it was not until 1990 when Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe wrote a book with the same title that the curse was publicized. Ruth's multitude of home runs proved so popular that the Yankees began drawing more people than their National League counterpart, the Giants. In 1921 — the year after acquiring Ruth — the Yankees played in their first World Series. They competed against the Giants, and all eight games of the series were played in the Polo Grounds. After the 1922 season, the Yankees were told to move out of the Polo Grounds. Giants manager John McGraw was said to have commented that the Yankees should "move to some out-of-the-way place, like Queens", but they instead broke ground for a new ballpark in the Bronx, right across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds. In 1922, the Yankees returned to the World Series again and were dealt a second defeat at the hands of the Giants. Manager Miller Huggins and general manager Ed Barrow were important newcomers in this period. The hiring of Huggins by Ruppert in 1918 caused a rift between the owners that eventually led to Ruppert buying Huston out in 1923. In 1923, the Yankees moved to their new home, Yankee Stadium, which took 11 months to build and cost $2.5 million. The team announced that 99,200 fans showed up on Opening Day and 25,000 were turned away. In the first game at Yankee Stadium, Ruth hit a home run. The stadium was nicknamed "The House That Ruth Built", due mainly to the fact that Ruth had doubled Yankees' attendance, which helped the team pay for the new stadium. At the end of the season, the Yankees faced the Giants in the World Series for the third straight year and won their first championship. In the 1927 season, the Yankees featured a lineup that became known as "Murderers' Row", and some consider this team to be the best in the history of baseball (though similar claims have been made for other Yankee squads, notably those of 1939, 1961 and 1998). That season, the Yankees became the first team in baseball to occupy first place every day of the season, winning 110 games. The team also swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. Ruth's home run total of 60 in 1927 set a single-season home run record that stood until it was broken by Roger Maris in 1961, although Maris had eight additional games in which to break the record. Meanwhile, first baseman Lou Gehrig had his first big season, batting .373 with 47 home runs and 175 RBI, beating Ruth's single-season RBI mark (171 in 1921). The Yankees won the World Series again in 1928. In 1931, Joe McCarthy was hired as manager and brought the Yankees back to the top of the AL. They swept the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series, and brought the team's streak of consecutive World Series game wins to 12. This series was made famous by Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" in game three of the series at Wrigley Field, a fitting "swan song" to his illustrious World Series career. In 1935, Ruth left the Yankees to join the NL's Boston Braves, and he made his last major league baseball appearance on May 30 of that year. After Ruth left the Yankees following the 1934 season, Gehrig finally had a chance to take center stage, but it was only one year before a new star appeared, Joe DiMaggio. The team won an unprecedented four straight World Series titles from 1936 to 1939. For most of 1939, however, they had to do it without Gehrig, who took himself out of the lineup on May 2 and retired due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which was later known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" in his memory. The Yankees declared July 4, 1939 to be "Lou Gehrig Day", on which they retired his number 4, the first retired number in baseball. Gehrig made a famous speech in which he declared himself to be "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." He died two years later on June 2, 1941. The 1941 season was often described as the last year of the "Golden Era" before the United States entered World War II and other realities intervened. It was a thrilling year as America watched two major events unfold: Ted Williams of the Red Sox hitting for the elusive .400 batting average and Joe DiMaggio getting hits in consecutive ballgames. By the end of his hitting streak, DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games, the current major league record and one often deemed unbreakable. Two months after the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1941 World Series—the first of seven October meetings between the two crosstown rivals before the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles—the United States naval fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan, and many of their best players, including DiMaggio, entered the military during World War II. The Yankees still managed to pull out a win against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1943 World Series. In 1945 construction magnate Del Webb and partners Dan Topping and Larry MacPhail purchased the team from the Ruppert estate for $2.8 million; MacPhail was bought out in 1947. After a few slumping seasons, McCarthy was fired early in 1946. A few interim managers later, Bucky Harris took the job, righting the ship and taking the Yankees to a hard-fought series victory against the Dodgers. Despite finishing only three games behind the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 pennant race, Harris was relieved of his duties and replaced by Casey Stengel, who had a reputation of being a clown and managing bad teams. His tenure as Yankees' field manager, however, was marked with success. The "underdog" Yankees came from behind to catch and surprise a powerful Red Sox team on the last two days of the 1949 season, a face-off that fueled the beginning of the modern Yankees–Red Sox rivalry. By this time, however, DiMaggio's career was winding down, and the "Yankee Clipper" retired after the 1951 season. This year marked the arrival of the "Oklahoma Kid", Mickey Mantle, who was one of several new stars to fill the gap. Bettering the clubs managed by Joe McCarthy, the Yankees won the World Series five consecutive times from – under Stengel, which remains an MLB record. Led by players like center fielder Mickey Mantle, pitcher Whitey Ford, and catcher Yogi Berra, Stengel's teams won ten pennants and seven World Series titles in his 12 seasons as the Yankees manager. The title was the only one of those five championships not to be won against either the New York Giants or Brooklyn Dodgers; it was won in four straight games against the Whiz Kids of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1954, the Yankees won 103 games, but the Cleveland Indians took the pennant with a then-AL record 111 wins; 1954 was famously referred to as The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. In , the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the World Series, after five previous Series losses to them. The Yankees came back strong the next year. In Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, pitcher Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history, which remains the only perfect game in postseason play and the only postseason no-hitter until 2010. The Yankees lost the 1957 World Series to the Milwaukee Braves when Lew Burdette incredibly won three games for the Braves. Following the Series, the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers both left for San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. This left the Yankees as New York's only baseball team. In the 1958 World Series, the Yankees got their revenge against the Braves and became the second team to win the Series after being down 3–1. For the decade, the Yankees won six World Series championships (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958) and eight American League pennants (those six plus 1955 and 1957). Led by Mantle, Ford, Berra, Elston Howard (the Yankees' first African-American player), and the newly acquired Roger Maris, the Yankees entered the 1960s seeking to replicate their success of the 1950s. Arnold Johnson, owner of the Kansas City Athletics, was a longtime business associate of then-Yankees co-owners Del Webb and Dan Topping. Because of this "special relationship" with the Yankees, he traded young players to them in exchange for cash and aging veterans. Invariably, these trades ended up being heavily tilted in the Yankees' favor, leading to accusations that the Athletics were little more than a Yankees farm team at the major league level. Kansas City had been home to the Yankees' top farm team for almost 20 years before the Athletics moved there from Philadelphia in 1954. In 1960, Charles O. Finley purchased the Athletics and put an end to the trades. At that point, however, the Yankees had already strengthened their supply of future prospects, which included a young outfielder named Roger Maris. In 1960, Maris led the league in slugging percentage, RBI, and extra base hits. He finished second in home runs (one behind Mickey Mantle) and total bases, and won a Gold Glove, which garnered enough votes for the American League MVP award. The year 1961 was one of the most memorable in Yankees history. Mantle and Maris hit home runs at a fast pace and became known as the "M&M; Boys". Ultimately, a severe hip infection forced Mantle to leave the lineup. Maris continued though, and on October 1, the last day of the regular season, he hit home run number 61, surpassing Babe Ruth's single-season home run record of 60. However, MLB Commissioner Ford Frick (who, as it was discovered later, had ghostwritten for Babe Ruth during his career) decreed that since Maris had played in a 162-game season, and Ruth (in 1927) had played in a 154-game season, two separate records would be kept for 30 years, until MLB reversed course and Maris held the record alone. His record would be broken by Mark McGwire, who hit 70 home runs in 1998. Maris still holds the American League record. The Yankees won the pennant with a 109–53 record and went on to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in the 1961 World Series. The team finished the year with a record 240 home runs. In 1962, the sports scene in New York changed when the National League added an expansion team, the New York Mets, who played at the Giants' former home, the Polo Grounds, for two seasons while Shea Stadium was under construction in nearby Flushing, Queens. This restored New York as a city with more than one team, as it had been from the late 1800s until 1957. The Yankees won the 1962 World Series, their tenth in the past sixteen years, defeating the San Francisco Giants 4–3. It was the Yankees' last championship until 1977. The Yankees easily reached the 1963 World Series when they won the pennant by 10.5 games, but they scored only four runs in the series and were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers and their ace pitcher, Sandy Koufax. After the season, Yogi Berra, who had just retired from playing, took over managerial duties. The aging Yankees returned the next year for a fifth straight World Series, but were beaten 4–3 by the St. Louis Cardinals. It would be the Yankees' last World Series appearance until 1976. After the 1964 season, CBS purchased 80% of the Yankees from Topping and Webb for $11.2 million. With the new ownership, the team began to decline. The 1965 edition of the team posted a record of 77–85 — the Yankees' first losing record in 40 years. In 1966, the Yankees finished in last place in the AL for the first time since 1912. It also marked their first consecutive losing seasons since 1917 and 1918. They finished next-to-last in 1967. While their fortunes improved somewhat in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they only finished higher than fourth once during CBS' ownership, in 1970. The Yankees were not able to replace their aging superstars with promising young talent, as they had consistently done in the previous five decades. As early as the 1961–62 off-season, longtime fans noticed that the pipeline of talent had started to dry up. This was worsened by the introduction of the amateur draft that year, which meant that the Yankees could no longer sign any player they wanted. While the Yankees usually drafted fairly early during this period due to their lackluster records, Thurman Munson was the only pick who lived up to his billing. A group of investors, led by Cleveland-based shipbuilder George Steinbrenner (1930–2010), purchased the club from CBS in 1973, for $8.7 million. Mike Burke stayed on as president until he quit in April. Within a year, Steinbrenner bought out most of his other partners and became the team's principal owner, although Burke continued to hold a minority share into the 1980s. One of Steinbrenner's major goals was to renovate Yankee Stadium. It had greatly deteriorated by the late 1960s, and the surrounding neighborhood had gone south as well. CBS initially suggested renovations, but the team needed to play elsewhere, and the Mets refused to open their home, Shea Stadium, to the Yankees. A new stadium in the Meadowlands, across the Hudson River in New Jersey, was suggested (and was eventually built, as Giants Stadium, specifically for football). Finally, in mid-1972, Mayor John Lindsay stepped in. The city bought the stadium and began an extensive two-year renovation period. Since the city also owned Shea Stadium, the Mets were forced allow the Yankees to play two seasons there. The renovations modernized the look of the stadium, significantly altered the dimensions, and reconfigured some of the seating. In 1973, Steinbrenner started the rule as the only MLB-team with a personal appearance policy that includes being clean-shaven, with long hair slicked back or trimmed. This rule is still in effect today, and enforced by his sons after George's passing. After the 1974 season, Steinbrenner made a move that started the modern era of free agency, signing star pitcher Catfish Hunter away from Oakland. Midway through the 1975 season, the team hired former second baseman Billy Martin as manager. With Martin at the helm, the Yankees reached the 1976 World Series, but were swept by the Cincinnati Reds and their famed "Big Red Machine." After the 1976 campaign, Steinbrenner added star Oakland outfielder Reggie Jackson—who had spent 1976 with the Baltimore Orioles—to his roster. During spring training of 1977, Jackson alienated his teammates with controversial remarks about the Yankees captain, catcher Thurman Munson. He had bad blood with manager Billy Martin, who had managed the Detroit Tigers when Jackson's Athletics defeated them in the 1972 playoffs. Jackson, Martin, and Steinbrenner repeatedly feuded with each other throughout Jackson's 5-year contract. Martin was hired and fired by Steinbrenner five times over the next 13 years. This conflict, combined with the extremely rowdy Yankees fans of the late 1970s and the bad conditions of the Bronx, led to the Yankees organization and stadium being referred to as the "Bronx Zoo." Despite the turmoil, Jackson hit four home runs in 1977 World Series and earned the Series MVP Award, and the nickname "Mr. October." Throughout the late 1970s, the race for the pennant was often a close competition between the Yankees and the Red Sox. On July 14, 1978, the Yankees were games behind the Red Sox. In late July, Martin suspended Reggie Jackson for "defiance" after he bunted while Martin had the "swing" signal on. Upon Jackson's return, Martin made a famous statement against both Jackson and owner Steinbrenner: "They deserve each other. One's a born liar; the other's convicted." Martin was forced to resign the next day and was replaced by Bob Lemon. This came while the team was winning five games in a row and Boston was losing five in a row. The Yankees continued to win games, making up ground and by the time they met Boston for a pivotal four-game series at Fenway Park in early September. Going into the series, the Yankees were four games behind the Red Sox. The Yankees swept the Red Sox in what became known as the "Boston Massacre," winning the games 15–3, 13–2, 7–0, and 7–4. The third game was a shutout pitched by "Louisiana Lightning" Ron Guidry, who led the majors with nine shutouts, a 25–3 record, and a 1.74 ERA. On the last day of the season, the two clubs finished in a tie for first place in the AL East, and a tiebreaker game was held at Fenway Park. With Guidry pitching against former Yankee Mike Torrez, the Red Sox took an early 2–0 lead. In the seventh inning, light-hitting Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent drove a three-run home run over the Fenway Park's Green Monster, putting the Yankees up 3–2. Reggie Jackson's solo home run in the following inning sealed the eventual 5–4 win that gave the Yankees their one hundredth win of the season and their third straight AL East title. Guidry earned his 25th win of the season. After defeating the Kansas City Royals for the third consecutive year in the ALCS, the Yankees faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. They lost the first two games in Los Angeles, but won all three games at Yankee Stadium and Game 6 back in Los Angeles, winning their 22nd World Championship. Changes occurred during the 1979 season. Former Cy Young Award-winning closer Sparky Lyle was traded to the Texas Rangers for several players, including Dave Righetti. Tommy John was acquired from the Dodgers and Luis Tiant from the Red Sox to bolster the pitching staff. During the season, Bob Lemon was replaced by Billy Martin. The 1970s ended on a tragic note for the Yankees. On August 2, 1979, catcher Thurman Munson died when his private plane crashed while he was practicing touch-and-go landings. Four days later, the entire team flew out to Canton, Ohio, for the funeral, despite having a game later that day against the Orioles. Martin adamantly stated that the funeral was more important and that he did not care if they made it back in time. Bobby Murcer, a close friend of Munson's, was chosen to give the eulogy at his funeral. In a nationally televised and emotional game, Murcer used Munson's bat (which he gave to his fallen friend's wife after the game), and drove in all five of the team's runs in a dramatic 5–4 walk-off victory. Before the game, Munson's locker sat empty except for his catching gear, a sad reminder for his teammates. His locker, labeled with his number 15, has remained empty in the Yankees clubhouse as a memorial. When the Yankees moved across the street, Munson's locker was torn out and installed in the new Stadium's museum. The number 15 has been retired by the team. The 1980 season brought more changes. Billy Martin was fired once again and Dick Howser took his place. Chris Chambliss was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for catcher Rick Cerone. Reggie Jackson hit .300 for the only time in his career with 41 homers, and finished 2nd in the MVP voting to Kansas City's George Brett. The Yankees won 103 games and the AL East by three games over the Baltimore Orioles, but were swept by the Royals in the ALCS. After the season ended, the Yankees signed Dave Winfield to a 10-year contract. The team fired Howser and replaced him with Gene Michael. Under Michael, the Yankees led the AL East before a strike hit in June 1981. In the second half of the season, the Yankees struggled under Bob Lemon, who replaced Michael. Thanks to the split-season playoff format, the Yankees faced the second-half winner Milwaukee Brewers in the special 1981 American League Division Series. After defeating Milwaukee 3–2, they swept the Oakland Athletics in a three-game ALCS. In the World Series, the Yankees won the first two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the Dodgers fought back to win the next four games to claim the World Series title. Following the team's loss to the Dodgers in the 1981 World Series, the Yankees began their longest absence from the playoffs since 1921. Following the example set by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Big Red Machine, Steinbrenner announced his plan to transform the Yankees from the "Bronx Bombers" into the "Bronx Burners," increasing the Yankees' ability to win games based on speed and defense instead of "waiting around for a 3 run home run." As a first step towards this end, the Yankees signed Dave Collins from the Cincinnati Reds during the 1981 off-season. Collins was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1982 season in a deal that also included future All-Stars Fred McGriff and Mike Morgan. In return the Yankees got Dale Murray and Tom Dodd. The Yankees of the 1980s were led by All-Star first baseman Don Mattingly. In spite of accumulating the most total wins of any major league team, they failed to win a World Series (the 1980s were the first decade since the 1910s in which the Yankees did not win at least two Series) and had only two playoff appearances. Although they consistently had a powerful offense —Mattingly at various times was teammate to Dave Winfield (whom Mattingly battled for the AL batting title through most of the 1984 season), Rickey Henderson, Don Baylor, Ken Griffey, Sr., Mike Pagliarulo, Steve Sax, and Jesse Barfield, and the Yankees led MLB in runs scored for the decade — the Yankees teams of the 1980s lacked sufficient starting pitching to win a championship. After posting a 22–6 record in 1985, arm problems caught up with Guidry, and his performance declined over the next three years. Of the remaining mainstays of the Yankees' rotation, only Dave Righetti stood out, pitching a no-hitter on July 4, 1983, but he was moved to the bullpen the next year where he helped to define the closer role. Despite the Yankees' lack of pitching success during the 1980s, they had three of the premier pitchers of the early 1990s on their roster during these years in Al Leiter, Doug Drabek and José Rijo. All were mismanaged and dealt away before they could reach their full potential, with only Rijo returning much value – he was traded to the Oakland A's in the deal that brought Henderson to New York. The team came close to winning the AL East in 1985 and 1986, finishing second to the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, respectively, but fell to fourth place in 1987 and fifth in 1988, despite having mid-season leads in the AL East both years. By the end of the decade, the Yankees' offense declined. Henderson and Pagliarulo had departed by the middle of 1989, while back problems hampered both Winfield (who missed the entire 1989 season) and Mattingly (who missed almost the entire second half of 1990). Winfield's tenure with the team ended when he was dealt to the California Angels. From 1989 to 1992, the team had a losing record, spending significant money on free-agents and draft picks who did not live up to expectations. In 1990, the Yankees had the worst record in the American League, and their fourth last-place finish in franchise history. On July 1, 1990, pitcher Andy Hawkins became the first Yankee ever to lose despite throwing a no-hitter. Third baseman Mike Blowers committed an error, followed by two walks and an error by the left fielder Jim Leyritz with the bases loaded, scoring all three runners and the batter. The 4–0 loss to the Chicago White Sox was the largest margin of any no-hitter loss in the 20th century. Ironically, the Yankees (and Hawkins) were no-hit for six innings in a rain- shortened game against the White Sox 11 days later. During the 1990 season, Yankee fans started to chant "1918!" to taunt the Red Sox, reminding them of the last time they won a World Series one weekend the Red Sox were there in 1990. Each time the Red Sox were at Yankee Stadium afterward, chants of "1918!" echoed through the stadium. Yankee fans also taunted the Red Sox with signs saying "CURSE OF THE BAMBINO", pictures of Babe Ruth, and wearing "1918!" T-shirts each time they were at the stadium. The poor showings in the 1980s and early 1990s soon changed. Steinbrenner hired Howard Spira to uncover damaging information on Winfield and was subsequently suspended from day-to- day team operations by Commissioner Fay Vincent when the plot was revealed. This turn of events allowed management to implement a coherent acquisition/development program without owner interference. General Manager Gene Michael, along with manager Buck Showalter, shifted the club's emphasis from high-priced acquisitions to developing talent through the farm system. This new philosophy developed key players such as outfielder Bernie Williams, shortstop Derek Jeter, catcher Jorge Posada, and pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera. The first significant success came in 1994, when the Yankees had the best record in the AL, but the season was cut short by a players' strike. Because the Yankees were last in a postseason in a season cut short by a strike, the news media constantly reminded the Yankees about the parallels between these two Yankees teams, which included both teams having division leads taken away by strike. Throughout October, the media continued to speculate about what might have been if there had not been a strike, making references to the day's games in the post-season would have been played. A year later, the team qualified for the playoffs in the new wild card slot in the strike shortened 1995 season. In the memorable 1995 American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees won the first two games at home and lost the next three in Seattle. Although Mattingly batted .417 with a home run and six RBI in the only postseason series of his career, his back problems led him to retire after the 1995 season. Joe Torre had a mediocre run as a manager in the National League, and the choice was initially derided ("Clueless Joe" was a headline in the New York Daily News). However, his calm demeanor proved to be a good fit, and his tenure was the longest under George Steinbrenner's ownership. The 1996 season saw the rise of three Yankees who formed the core of the team for years to come: rookie shortstop Derek Jeter, second-year starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, and second-year pitcher Mariano Rivera, who served as setup man in 1996 before becoming closer in 1997. Aided by these young players, the Yankees won their first AL East title in 15 years. They defeated the Texas Rangers in the ALDS, and in ALCS beat the Baltimore Orioles 4–1, which included a notable fan interference by Jeffrey Maier that was called as a home run for the Yankees. In the World Series the team rebounded from an 0–2 series deficit and defeated the defending champion Atlanta Braves, ending an 18-year championship drought. Jeter was named Rookie of the Year. In 1997, the Yankees lost the 1997 ALDS to the Cleveland Indians 3–2. General manager Bob Watson stepped down and was replaced by assistant general manager Brian Cashman. The 1998 Yankees are widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest teams in baseball history, compiling a record of 114–48, a then–AL record for the most wins in a season. On May 17, 1998, David Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees went on to sweep the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Their 125 combined regular and postseason wins remains an MLB single-season record. On July 18, 1999, David Cone pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos. The ALCS was the Yankees' first postseason meeting with the rival Red Sox. The 1999 Yankees defeated the Red Sox 4–1 and swept the Braves in the 1999 World Series giving the 1998–99 Yankees a combined 22–3 record in the (including four series sweeps) in the six post-season series those years. In 2000, the Yankees faced the Mets in the first New York City Subway World Series in 44 years. The Yankees won the series in 5 games, but a loss in Game 3 snapped their streak of consecutive games won in World Series contests at 14, surpassing the club's previous record of 12 (in 1927, 1928, and 1932). The Yankees are the last MLB team to repeat as World Series champions and after the 2000 season they joined the Yankees teams of 1936–39 and 1949–53, as well as the 1972–74 Oakland Athletics as the only teams to win at least three consecutive World Series. In aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS, and the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS. By winning the pennant for a fourth straight year, the 1998–2001 Yankees joined the 1921–24 New York Giants, and the Yankees teams of 1936–39, 1949–53, 1955–58 and 1960–64 as the only teams to win at least four straight pennants. The Yankees won 11 consecutive postseason series in this 4-year period. In the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Yankees lost the series when Rivera uncharacteristically blew a save in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. Also, despite a very poor series overall, batting under .200, Derek Jeter got the nickname, "Mr. November", echoing comparisons to Reggie Jackson's "Mr. October", for his walk-off home run in Game 4, though it began October 31, as the game ended in the first minutes of November 1. In addition, the Yankees' home field in the aftermath of the attacks served as hosts of a memorial service titled "Prayer for America." A vastly revamped Yankees team finished the 2002 season with an AL best record of 103–58. The season was highlighted by Alfonso Soriano becoming the first second baseman ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season. In the ALDS the Yankees lost to the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels 3–1. In 2003, the Yankees again had the best league record (101–61), highlighted by Roger Clemens' 300th win and 4000th strikeout. In the ALCS, they defeated the Boston Red Sox in a dramatic seven game series, which featured a bench-clearing incident in Game 3 and a series-ending walk-off home run by Aaron Boone in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7. In the World Series the Yankees lost in 6 games to the Florida Marlins. In 2004, the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez, who moved to third base from his usual shortstop position to accommodate Jeter. In the ALCS, the Yankees met the Boston Red Sox again, and became the first team in professional baseball history, and only the third team in North American professional sports history, to lose a best-of-seven series after taking a 3–0 series lead. In 2005 Alex Rodriguez won the American League MVP award, becoming the first Yankee to win the award since Don Mattingly in 1985. The Yankees again won the AL East by virtue of a tiebreaker but lost the ALDS 3–2 to the Angels. The 2006 season was highlighted by a 5-game series sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway Park (sometimes referred to as the "Second Boston Massacre"), outscoring the Red Sox 49–26. Despite winning the AL East for the ninth consecutive year, the Yankees lost again in the ALDS, this time to the Detroit Tigers. After the ALDS was over, tragedy struck when pitcher Cory Lidle died when his plane crashed into a highrise apartment building in Manhattan. Along with Thurman Munson, Lidle was the second active Yankee to be killed in a private plane crash. On June 18, 2007, the Yankees broke new ground by signing the first two professional baseball players from the People's Republic of China to the MLB, and became the first team in MLB history to sign an advertising deal with a Chinese company. The Yankees' streak of nine straight AL East division titles ended in 2007, but they still reached the playoffs with the AL Wild Card. For the third year in a row, the team lost in the first round of the playoffs, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Yankees, 3–1, in the 2007 ALDS. After the series, Joe Torre declined a reduced-length and compensation contract offer from the Yankees and returned to the National League as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. After Torre's departure, the Yankees signed former catcher Joe Girardi to a three-year contract to manage the club. The 2008 season was the last season played at Yankee Stadium. To celebrate the final year and history of Yankee Stadium, the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played there. The final regular-season game at Yankee Stadium was played on September 21, 2008. After the game, Jeter addressed the crowd, thanking them for their support over the years, and urging them to "take the memories of this field, add them to the new memories that will come at the new Yankee Stadium and continue to pass them on from generation to generation." Despite multiple midseason roster moves, the team was hampered by injuries and missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons. During the off-season, the Yankees retooled their roster with several star free agent acquisitions, including CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A. J. Burnett. At the beginning of the 2009 season, the Yankees opened the new Yankee Stadium, located just a block north on River Avenue from their former home. The Yankees set a major league record by playing error-free ball for 18 consecutive games from May 14 to June 1, 2009. The Yankees finished first in the AL East. In the ALDS they swept the Minnesota Twins before defeating the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS, 4–2. They Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, in the World Series 4–2, their 27th World Series title. The 2010 season featured the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox being revived to start and end the season. The Yankees and the Red Sox started and finished the season against each other at Fenway Park. This was the first time since 1950 this had happened. In June, Joe Torre's Dodgers played games against the Yankees for the first time since he became manager of the Dodgers, with the Yankees taking two out of three games in the series. During the 2010 All-Star break, public address announcer Bob Sheppard and principal owner George Steinbrenner died. Eight days later, another longtime Yankee icon, former player and manager Ralph Houk, died. The Yankees won the American League Wild Card. They swept the Minnesota Twins in the 2010 American League Division Series, but lost to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS, 4–2. In a 22–9 win over the Oakland Athletics on August 25, 2011, the Yankees became the first team in Major League history to hit three grand slams in a single game. They were hit by Robinson Canó, Russell Martin, and Curtis Granderson. The Yankees won the AL East title, finishing with 97 wins and took home field throughout the AL postseason. However, they were defeated by the Tigers, 3–2, in the ALDS. In 2012, the Yankees again finished the season with the AL's best record at 95–67. In mid-July, the Yankees traded two prospects to the Seattle Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki. They faced the Orioles in the ALDS. In Game 3, Raúl Ibañez became the oldest player to hit two home runs in a game, the oldest to hit a walk-off home run, the first substitute position player in a postseason game to hit two home runs, and the first to hit two home runs in the 9th inning or later in a postseason game, in the Yankees' 3–2 win. The Yankees defeated the Orioles in five games. However, in the ALCS, the Yankees lost to the Tigers again, this time in a four-game sweep, which was compounded with a struggling offense and a season-ending injury to Derek Jeter. The 2013 season was riddled with injuries. Mark Teixeira strained his elbow during the World Baseball Classic prior to the start of the season and played only 15 games for the Yankees. Alex Rodriguez played only 44 games after a hip surgery, Jeter played only 17 games due to his ankle injury from the 2012 ALCS, and Curtis Granderson played only 61 games due to forearm and knuckle injuries. On April 12, 2013, the Yankees made their second triple play ever. It was scored as 4–6–5–6–5–3–4, the first triple play of its kind in baseball history. On September 25, the Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, which for the second time in the wild card era, eliminated them from playoff contention. They ended the season 85–77, finishing in 3rd place in the AL East. During the 2013–14 off-season, the Yankees signed Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Masahiro Tanaka, and Carlos Beltrán. Despite that, the Yankees missed the playoffs, finishing 2nd in the AL East with an 84–78 record. Rodriguez missed the entire season due to a 162-game suspension for his participation in the Biogenesis baseball scandal. One notable moment happened on September 25, 2014, when Jeter – playing his final home game – hit a walk-off single off pitcher Evan Meek to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in front of 48,613 fans who came to see the captain for the last time. Reliever Dellin Betances finished 3rd in voting for AL Rookie of the Year, while starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka finished 5th. The Yankees would return to the playoffs in 2015. In his return from suspension, Rodriguez hit 33 home runs, his most since 2008, and tied Hank Aaron's record of fifteen 30-home-run seasons. Teixeira hit 31 home runs before a hit-by-pitch ended his season in August. Rookie first baseman Greg Bird had an impressive showing in Teixeira's place, hitting 11 home runs in 46 games, while rookie starting pitcher Luis Severino went 5–3 with a 2.89 ERA in innings after getting called up in August. Closer Andrew Miller won the AL Reliever of the Year Award. The Yankees led the AL East for most of the year before being felled by a surging Toronto Blue Jays team, ending the season 87–75 and in 2nd place. They were defeated by the Houston Astros in the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. In the off-season, the Yankees traded for Cincinnati Reds' closer Aroldis Chapman after a domestic violence allegation lowered his value. Chapman was later suspended 30 games. The Yankees started the 2016 season with a record of 9–17. The resurgent 2015 experienced by Rodriguez and Teixeira did not carry over, as they batted .200 and .204 for the season, respectively. Bird was ruled out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Starting pitcher Michael Pineda struggled, going 6–12 with a 4.82 ERA, the 7th-highest in baseball. At the trade deadline, the Yankees stood at an uninspiring 52–52, and traded Chapman and Miller. On July 25, 2016, the Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for a group of players that included top shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres, and traded Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for prospects outfielder Clint Frazier and pitcher Justus Sheffield. In addition, the Yankees traded 39-year- old designated hitter Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers for minor league prospects. The Yankees' decision to be sellers, rather than buyers, at the trade deadline was unusual, given the Yankees' typical win-now approach. In discussing the midseason trades, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that the Yankees recognized the "need to look toward the future." In early August, both Teixeira and Rodriguez revealed their plans to retire by the season's end. Rodriguez played his final game on August 12, 2016. In his fourth-to-last game, Teixeira hit a walk-off grand slam against the Boston Red Sox, his 409th and last career home run. The Yankees called up Tyler Austin and outfielder Aaron Judge in August. They made their debuts on August 13, hitting back-to-back home runs in their first career at-bats. Catcher Gary Sánchez hit 20 home runs in 53 games, finishing 2nd in AL Rookie of the Year voting and setting the record at the time as the fastest to reach 20 career home runs. Sanchez, Judge and Austin, as well as the Yankees' prosperous farm system in general, became nicknamed the "Baby Bombers". After having traded Chapman to the Cubs during the 2016 season, the Yankees signed him as a free agent during the 2016–17 off-season; Chapman agreed to a five-year, $86 million contract, the most lucrative in history for a relief pitcher. In 2017, the Yankees finished the season with a record of 91–71. They finished second in the AL East behind the Boston Red Sox, but captured the first AL Wild Card spot. Judge and Sánchez combined for 85 home runs. Sanchez finished with 33, the most by a Yankees catcher in a single season. Judge led the American League with 52 home runs, breaking Mark McGwire's major league record for most home runs by a rookie in a single season (McGwire hit 49 in 1987). The Yankees starting pitching was led by ace Luis Severino, who rebounded from his last season to lead the Yankees' pitching staff. On July 1, Clint Frazier made his MLB debut where he went 2 for 4 with a home run. The Yankees sent Dellin Betances, Starlin Castro, Sánchez, Severino, and Judge to the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Judge won the 2017 Home Run Derby, making the Yankees the team with the most players in history to win a Home Run Derby. After the 2017 All-Star break, the Yankees made a series of moves to acquire third baseman Todd Frazier, former Yankees reliever David Robertson, reliever Tommy Kahnle, starter Sonny Gray, and starter Jaime Garcia. In the 2017 AL Wild Card Game the Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins to move on the ALDS. In the ALDS, the Yankees lost the first two games to the Cleveland Indians before winning the final three games and taking the series. They played the Houston Astros in the 2017 American League Championship Series and lost the series in seven games. In the 2017–18 off-season, the Yankees hired Aaron Boone to succeed Girardi as their new manager. The Yankees traded Starlin Castro and prospects Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers to the Miami Marlins for reigning National League Most Valuable Player Giancarlo Stanton. A right fielder who bats right-handed, Stanton hit 59 home runs and drove in 132 runs—both major league highs—in 2017; his contract was the largest player contract in the history of professional sports in North America at the time. The Yankees also traded third baseman Chase Headley and pitcher Bryan Mitchell to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Jabari Blash; following the move, Yankees GM Brian Cashman stated that the trade "create[d] payroll flexibility". On September 29, 2018 Gleyber Torres hit the Yankees 265th home run of the season which broke the record of the most home runs in a season, previously held by the 1997 Seattle Mariners. The Yankees ended the 2018 season with 267 home runs as well as a record of 100–62. In the 2018 playoffs, the Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card game, advancing to face the 108-win Red Sox in the ALDS. The Yankees fell to the Red Sox in the ALDS 3–1. In Game 3, the Yankees suffered their worst playoff defeat in team history, by a score of 16–1. On June 25, 2019, the Yankees broke the record for the most home runs in consecutive games against the Toronto Blue Jays. On September 27, the Yankees became the second team to reach 300 homers in a season, achieved by their ALDS opponent, the Minnesota Twins, a day earlier. The Yankees ended the 2019 season with a record of 103–59, winning the AL East division title for the first time since 2012. The Yankees have won a record 27 World Series in 40 appearances (which, since the first World Series in 1903, currently amounts to an average appearance every 2.7 seasons and a championship every 4.0 seasons); the St. Louis Cardinals are in second place with 11 World Series championships. The Yankees' number of World Series losses, 13, is also an MLB record. The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers are second in total World Series appearances with 20. The Yankees have faced the Dodgers 11 times, going 8–3. Among North American major sports, the Yankees' success is approached only by the 24 Stanley Cup championships of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. The Yankees have played in the World Series against every National League pennant winner except the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies. Through 2018, the Yankees have an all-time regular season winning percentage of .569 (a 10,275 – 7,781 record), the best of any team in baseball. On June 25, 2019, they set a new major league record for homering in 28 consecutive games, breaking the record set by the 2002 Texas Rangers. With the walk-off solo home run by DJ LeMahieu to win the game against the Oakland Athletics on August 31, 2019, the Yankees ended the month of August that year now holding a new record of 74 home runs hit in the month alone, a new record for the most home runs hit in a month by a single MLB team. The Yankees have won a record 27 World Series Championships. Their most recent one came when the new stadium opened in 2009; they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games under manager Joe Girardi. The "Yankees" name is often shortened to "the Yanks." Their most prominently used nickname is "the Bronx Bombers" or simply "the Bombers", a reference to their home and their prolific hitting. A less used nickname is "the Pinstripes", in reference to the iconic feature on their home uniforms. Critics often refer to the team and the organization as "the Evil Empire", a term applied to the Yankees by Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino in a 2002 interview with the New York Times. A term from the team's tumultuous late 1970s, "the Bronx Zoo", is sometimes used by detractors, as well as the "Damn Yankees", after the musical of the same name. Ironically, even many Yankees supporters refer to their team as the "Evil Empire" as a badge of honor and in fact enjoy having their team play the villain. With their recurring success since the 1920s, the Yankees have since been one of the most popular teams in the world, with their fan base coming from much further than the New York metropolitan area. The Yankees typically bring an upsurge in attendance at all or most of their various road-trip venues, drawing crowds of their own fans, as well as home-town fans whose interest is heightened when the Yankees come to town. The first 1 million-fan season was in 1920, when 1,289,422 fans attended Yankee games at the Polo Grounds. The first 2 million-fan season was in 1946, when 2,265,512 fans attended the games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have beaten the league average for home attendance 83 out of the last 87 years (only during 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994 did they not accomplish this). In the past seven years, the Yankees have drawn over three million fans each year, with an American League record-setting 4,090,696 in 2005, becoming only the third franchise in sports history to draw over four million in regular season attendance in their own ballpark. The Yankees were the league leaders in "road attendance" each year from 2001 through 2006. One famous fan was Freddy Schuman, popularly known as "Freddy Sez." For over 50 years, he came to the Yankees' home games with a baseball cap, a Yankees' jersey (which on the back bears his own name), and a cake pan with a shamrock painted on it, which was connected to a sign inscribed with words of encouragement for the home team. Schuman died on October 17, 2010, at the age of 85. To avoid unwanted publicity, Yankees players use aliases when registering for hotels. The Village Voice published a list of aliases used by Yankees players, and the contents were republished on The Smoking Gun. The "Bleacher Creatures" are a notorious group of season ticket holders who occupied Section 39 in the right field bleachers at the old Yankee Stadium and occupy Section 203 in the new one. They are known for their strict allegiance to the Yankees and are often merciless to opposing fans who sit in the section and cheer for the road team. They enjoy taunting the opposing team's right fielder with a series of chanting and slandering. The "creatures" got their nickname from New York Daily News columnist Filip "Flip" Bondy, who spent the 2004 season sitting in the section for research on his book about the group, Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium, published in 2005. In 2017, team management ordered the creation of a special cheer section within Section 104 for fans of Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, called "the Judge's Chambers". They were the second AL team to create a special cheering section, following the Seattle Mariners. The Judge's Chambers was added in response to his rise as one of the league's most popular young stars. The section's 18 seats are given to lucky ticketholders and their families, along with black judicial robes with the team logo on the front and Judge's 99 jersey number on the back; prior to the addition of the section, fans were wearing white wigs and judicial robes to games in support of Judge. Occasionally, community organizations, charities and Little League teams are given precedence when selecting participants. The seats, which are close to his position in right field, are surrounded by mahogany wood to emulate the appearance of the city's courthouses. The Yankees baseball club is formally owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, which owns the team's regional YES sports network. The club has claimed that it is operating under annual losses in excess of $47 million, but this figure is attributed only to the ballclub's finances and not to finances attributed to YES or Yankees Global Enterprises. The Yankees have become well known for a winning reputation on a global level. In 2007, they reached an agreement with the Chinese Baseball Association to allow coaches, scouts and trainers to work in China to promote baseball and judge talent. They are trying to do the same with the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. The Yankees and Yomiuri Giants currently have a close relationship and share ideas and strategies. The Yomiuri Shimbun daily newspaper has an ad on the left-field wall at Yankee Stadium, and other Japanese ads appear on the scrolling backstop advertising board. The Yankees are hoping that close ties with countries such as China and Japan will give them personal, in depth judgments of baseball talent. In 2008, the Yankees announced a joint venture with the Dallas Cowboys to form the basis for a partnership in running food and beverage, and other catering services to both teams' stadiums. In 2013, Forbes magazine ranked New York Yankees as the fourth most valuable sports team in the world, behind Real Madrid of La Liga, Manchester United of the Premier League and Barcelona of La Liga, a value of $2.3 billion. In 2017, Forbes magazine ranked the Yankees as the most valuable MLB team at $3.7 billion, up 9% from 2016, with the average MLB team worth $1.54 billion. In 2019, Forbes magazine ranked the Yankees as the most valuable MLB team at $4.6 billion, up 15% from 2018, which is currently the 2nd most valuable sports franchise only behind the Dallas Cowboys. With the long-term success of the franchise and a large Yankee fanbase, many fans of other teams have come to dislike the Yankees. The organization is sometimes referred to by detractors as "the Bronx Zoo" (echoing the title of Sparky Lyle's book) or "the Evil Empire." When the Yankees are on the road, it is common for the home fans to chant "Yankees Suck", and T-shirts, bumper stickers and other items have been sold with this phrase. Much of the animosity toward the team may derive from its high payroll (which was around $200 million at the start of the 2008 season, the highest of any American sports team). Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko noted, "Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax." The official fight song for the Yankees is "Here Come the Yankees", written in 1967 by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman. While it is not used as often, it is still heard frequently in instrumental form, most prominently in radio broadcasts, until 1990 it was played as the theme for television broadcasts in several versions. Another song strongly linked to the team is "New York, New York", which is played in the stadium after home games. The Frank Sinatra cover version is traditionally played after victories, and the Liza Minnelli original version after losses. However, due to a complaint from Minnelli, regardless of the result of the game played in the stadium it is the Sinatra version that is played to close it out. When the Yankees take the field before the start of every game, 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready For This" is played, with the fans usually clapping along. When the Yankees score a run at home, a short snippet of 2 Unlimited's "Workaholic" containing the bell chime of Westminster Quarters is played (whenever Aaron Judge scores a run the snippet is replaced by with "The Clang" tone by veteran composer Mike Post, used in the Law & Order franchise). A wide selection of songs are played regularly at the stadium, many of them live on the Stadium's Hammond organ. "God Bless America" has been played during the 7th inning stretch since September 11. The version typically played for many years since 2001 was an abbreviated version of Kate Smith's rendition. However, during many important games (including most play- off games) and on noteworthy days, it is sung live a Capella and includes a longer introduction, in 2019 the tradition of playing her version officially ended due to racial controversy involving Smith and the tune is now played live by the stadium organist during the stretch. During the 5th inning, the grounds crew, while performing their duties, dance to "Y.M.C.A.". "Cotton-Eyed Joe", once played during the 7th inning stretch, is now played in the 8th inning. On the DiamondVision screen, a man in farmer's garb is shown dancing in the stadium's control room, with the words "Cotton-Eyed Joey" at the bottom. The organist will sometimes play the "Zorba the Greek Theme", accompanied by clapping from the audience, to excite the crowd and encourage a rally. The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network was launched in 2002 and serves as the primary home of the New York Yankees. Michael Kay is the play- by-play announcer with Ken Singleton, David Cone, Al Leiter, John Flaherty, and Paul O'Neill working as commentators as part of a three-man, or occasionally two-man, booth. Bob Lorenz hosts the pre-game show and the post- game show with Jack Curry, and Meredith Marakovits and Nancy Newman are the on-site reporters. Some games are telecast on WPIX and formerly on WWOR-TV; those broadcasts are produced by YES. Radio broadcasts are on the Yankees Radio Network, the flagship station being WFAN 660 AM, with John Sterling as the play-by-play announcer and Suzyn Waldman providing the commentary, with Spanish-language broadcasts on WADO 1280 AM. The history of Yankee radio broadcasters is: WJZ 770 (1939–'40), WOR 710 (1942), WINS 1010 (1944–'57), WMGM 1050 (1958–'60), WCBS 880 (1961–'66), WHN 1050 (1967–'70), WMCA 570 (1971–'77), WINS 1010 (1978–'80), WABC 770 (1981–2001), WCBS 880 (2002–2013), WFAN 660 AM and WFAN-FM 101.9 (2014–present). Mel Allen was the team's lead announcer from 1948 to 1964. He was known as "The voice of the Yankees.", Russ Hodges had a brief stint with Mel Allen before he took over as the lead announcer with the New York Giants., Red Barber called Yankees games for 13 seasons (1954–1966)., Jerry Coleman called Yankees games from 1963 to 1970., Joe Garagiola called Yankees games from 1965 to 1967., Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto and Bill White teamed together in the 1970s and 1980s. Rizzuto, with 40 years in the broadcast booth, was the longest serving broadcaster in the history of the club. Messer and White each worked nearly two decades for the Yankees, with White notably moving on to become president of the National League in 1989. Bobby Murcer also called games for over twenty years, and continued with the YES Network until shortly before his death from brain cancer. The Yankees have retired 21 numbers for 23 individuals, the most in Major League Baseball. The retired numbers were displayed behind the old Yankee Stadium's left field fence and in front of the opposing team's bullpen, forming a little alley that connects Monument Park to the left field stands. When the franchise moved across the street to the new stadium, the numbers were incorporated into Monument Park that sits place in center field between both bullpens. The 21 numbers are placed on the wall in chronological order, beginning with Lou Gehrig's number 4. This was retired soon after Gehrig left baseball on July 4, 1939, the same day he gave his famous farewell speech. His was the first number retired in Major League Baseball history. Beneath the numbers are plaques with the names of the players and a descriptive paragraph. The number 42 was retired throughout Major League Baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1997, the 50th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier. The day was declared Jackie Robinson Day, and was later observed by all of baseball, with select players from every team wearing the number 42. Players who wore No. 42 at the time were allowed to continue to wear it until they left the team with which they played on April 15, 1997; Mariano Rivera was the last active player covered under that grandfather clause. While other teams placed the number 42 with the rest of their retired numbers, the Yankees did not do so at first. Ten years later, on April 17, 2007, the Yankees honored Robinson by mounting the logo of Jackie Robinson Day with a corresponding plaque alongside the rest of the retired numbers. Because the Yankees were finishing a roadtrip in Oakland on Jackie Robinson Day, the ceremony took place two days later. When the Yankees moved to the second Yankee Stadium, they replaced the Jackie Robinson Day logo with a number 42 that resembled the other retired numbers. Later on they replaced the number 42 so that it resembled the Dodger's style, and on September 22, 2013, a plaque was dedicated to Robinson in Monument Park. Also, the number 42 dedicated to Robinson was removed entirely and replaced with one for Mariano Rivera. In 1972, the number 8 was retired for two players on the same day, in honor of catcher Bill Dickey and his protege, catcher Yogi Berra. Berra inherited Dickey's number in 1948 after Dickey ended his playing career and became a coach. Billy Martin is the only Yankee to have his number retired as a player/manager combination. He wore number 1 as a player in the 1950s and as a manager in the 1970s and 1980s. The numbers 37 and 6, retired for Casey Stengel and Joe Torre respectively, are the only numbers retired by the Yankees for someone who served solely as manager of the team. Stengel managed the Yankees to ten pennants and seven world championships between 1949 and 1960, including a record five consecutive world championships from 1949 through 1953. Joe Torre managed the Yankees from 1996 to 2007, winning six pennants and four World Series championships. On May 14, 2017, the Yankees retired number 2 in honor of Derek Jeter. This leaves 0, which the Yankees have previously never issued, as the only single-digit number available for future Yankees. In 2019 the team signed Adam Ottavino and issued him the number 0, which he previously wore as a member of the Colorado Rockies. At least two Yankees numbers have not been formally retired, but have been kept out of circulation. The New York Yankees have not re-issued Paul O'Neill's #21 since he ended his career at the end of 2001, except for a brief period of a few days in 2008 when Morgan Ensberg and then LaTroy Hawkins wore #21, before fan complaints led Hawkins to change his number to #22 in April. Additionally, the Yankees have held Alex Rodriguez's #13 out of circulation since his retirement in 2016. The Yankees–Red Sox rivalry is one of the oldest, most famous, and fiercest rivalries in professional sports. For over 100 years, the Yankees and Boston Red Sox Yankees have been intense rivals. The rivalry is often termed "the best" and "greatest rivalry in all of sports." Games between the two teams are often broadcast on national television. The rivalry is sometimes so polarizing that it is often a heated subject, like religion or politics, in the Northeastern United States. Since the inception of the wild card team and an added Division Series, the rivals have met in the playoffs four times (with the Yankees winning the 1999 and 2003 American League Championship Series and the Red Sox winning in 2004 American League Championship Series and the 2018 American League Division Series) In addition, the teams have twice met in the last regular-season series of a season to decide the league title, in 1904 (when the Red Sox won) and 1949 (when the Yankees won). The teams also finished tied for first in 1978, when the Yankees won a high-profile tiebreaker game for the division title. The 1978 division race is memorable for the Red Sox having held a 14-game lead over the Yankees more than halfway through the season. Similarly, the 2004 ALCS is notable for the Yankees leading 3 games to 0 and ultimately losing the next four games and the series. The Red Sox comeback was the only time in MLB history that a team has come back from a 0–3 deficit to win a postseason series. The Subway Series is a series of games played between teams based in New York City. The term's historic usage has been in reference to World Series games played between New York teams. The Yankees have appeared in all Subway Series games as they have been the only American League team in the city, and have compiled an 11–3 record in the 14 championship Subway Series. Since 1997, the term Subway Series has also been applied to interleague play during the regular season between the Yankees and National League New York Mets. The Yankees are affiliated with the following minor league teams: The Yankees front office, as of 2019, included Hal Steinbrenner (Managing General Partner/Co-Chairperson), Randy Levine (President), Lonn A. Trost (Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel), and Brian Cashman (Senior Vice President, General Manager). List of World Series champions, List of New York Yankees managers New York Yankees: 40-Man Roster, New York Yankees: Manager and Coaches Baseball-Reference.com – year-by-year franchise index, Baseball Almanac, Sports E-Cyclopedia, Bronx Baseball Daily

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This is a list of presidents of the Russian Federation, a country that was formed in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. This list includes only those persons who were sworn into office as President of Russia following the ratification of the Russian Constitution, which took effect in 1993. For a longer, but less detailed list, go to List of heads of state of Russia. Boris Yeltsin came to power with a wave of high expectations. On 12 June 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after a series of economic and political crises in Russia in the 1990s. The Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. By the time he left office, Yeltsin had an approval rating of two percent by some estimates. Throughout his presidential terms and into his second term as Prime Minister, Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings amongst the Russian public. During his eight years in office, the economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase sixfold (72% in PPP), poverty cut more than half and average monthly salaries increase from $80 to $640, or by 150% in real rates. At the same time, his conduct in office has been questioned by domestic dissenters, as well as foreign governments and human rights organizations, for his handling of internal conflicts in Chechnya and Dagestan, his record on internal human rights and freedoms, his relations with former Soviet Republics, and his relations with the so-called oligarchs: Russian businessmen with a high degree of power and influence within both the Russian Government and economy. This was seen by the Kremlin as a series of anti-Russian propaganda attacks orchestrated by western opponents and exiled oligarchs. Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on 14 November 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held, for the second time, since 2000. On 10 December 2007, he was informally endorsed as a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia, and officially endorsed on 17 December 2007. Medvedev's candidacy was supported by former President Vladimir Putin and pro-presidential parties. A technocrat and political appointee, Medvedev - Putin's former Chief of Staff and one-time rival to Sergey Ivanov - had never held elective office before 2009. Medvedev chose Putin as his Prime Minister; in 2012, Putin ran for the Presidency, won, and appointed Medvedev as Prime Minister. Two presidents held other high federal offices after leaving the presidency. As of , there is only one living former de jure president and one former acting president. The most recent death of a former de jure president was that of Boris Yeltsin (1991–1999) on 23 April 2007, aged 76 and the most recent death of a former acting president was that of Viktor Chernomyrdin (1996) on 3 November 2010, aged 72. Mikhail Gorbachov, former President of the Soviet Union, is also living. The youngest person to assume the presidency was Dmitri Medvedev, who succeeded to the office at the age of 42 years. The oldest person to be elected to a first term was Boris Yeltsin, who became president at the age of 60 years. He is also the longest-lived president at the moment (died at the age of 76). The oldest living Russia presidents is Vladimir Putin (67 years old), except for Alexander Rutsky (72 years old), who was formally acting President during the 1993 coup. The youngest is Dmitry Medvedev (54 years old). President of Russia, List of heads of state of Russia, Politics of Russia, Government of Russia Central Bank of Russia, Energy Statistics for Russia – From the Energy Information Administration, Federative Council—Official site of the parliamentary upper house, Russian News Agency Ria Novosti The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the head of state of the Russian Federation, as well as the commander- in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. He holds the highest office in Russia. In 1991, the office was briefly known as the president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic () until 25 December 1991. According to the 1978 Russian Constitution, the president of Russia was head of the executive branch and headed the Council of Ministers of Russia. According to the current 1993 Constitution of Russia, the president of Russia is not a part of the Government of Russia, which exercises executive power. In all cases where the president of the Russian Federation is unable to fulfill his duties, they shall be temporarily delegated to the prime minister of Russia, who becomes acting president of Russia. The chairman of the Federation Council is the third important position after the president and the prime minister. In the case of incapacity of both the president and prime minister, the chairman of the upper house of parliament becomes acting head of state. The power includes execution of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal ministers, diplomatic, regulatory and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the State Duma and the Federation Council. The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, and to convene and adjourn the Federal Assembly under extraordinary circumstances. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation. The president is elected directly through a popular vote to a six-year term. The law prohibits anyone from ever being elected to the presidency for a third consecutive term. In all, three individuals have served four presidencies spanning six full terms. In May 2012, Vladimir Putin became the fourth president; he was re-elected in March 2018 and inaugurated in May to a six-year term. A candidate for office must be a citizen of the Russian Federation who is at least 35 years old and has "permanently resided" in Russia for at least 10 years. The Constitution of Russia limits the election of one person to the Presidency to two consecutive terms. Since the constitution contains no ruling on a total number of terms that a President may serve, a former president may seek re-election after sitting out one complete term. The election of the President is mainly regulated by the Presidential Election Law (PEL) and the Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights (BGL). The Federation Council calls the presidential elections. If it does not call a presidential election that is due, the Central Election Commission will call the presidential election. The Election Day is the second Sunday of the month and the presidential electoral constituency is the territory of the Russian Federation as a whole. Each faction in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidential elections. The minimum number of signatures for a presidential candidate fielded by a political party with no parliamentary representation is 100,000, down from 2 million before amendments to the law. Terms were extended from four to six years in 2008, during Dmitry Medvedev's administration. The President is elected in a two-round system every six years, with a two consecutive term limitation. If no candidate wins by an absolute majority in the first round, a second election round is held between two candidates with the most votes. The last presidential election was in 2018, and the next is in 2024. Inauguration of the President of Russia is conducted six years after the previous inauguration (since 2000, this 7 May). If the President was elected in early elections, he takes the oath, thirty days after the announcement of the results. Before executing the powers of the office, a president is constitutionally required to take the presidential oath: Vacancies in the office of President may arise under several possible circumstances: death, resignation and removal from office. In all cases when the President is unable to perform his duties, his powers are temporarily transferred to the Prime Minister until the new President takes office. After the oath of office has been taken by the elected president, these following insignia are handed over to the president. These devices are used to display the rank of his office and are used on special occasions. The first insignia that is issued is the chain of office with an emblem. The central emblem is the red cross of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", with arms in equal size, charged with the Russian coat of arms. On the reverse of the cross, the words "Benefit, Honor and Glory" appear in the form of a circle. A golden wreath is used to connect the cross with the rest of the chain. There are 17 "links" in the emblem, with nine consisting of the Russian coat of arms. The other eight consist of a rosette, also bearing the motto "Benefit, Honor and Glory." At the inauguration of Vladimir Putin, the emblem was placed on a red pillow, positioned on the left side of the podium. According to the Presidential website, the emblem is placed inside the Kremlin and is used only on certain occasions. The standard is a square version of the Russian flag, charged in the center with the Russian coat of arms. Golden fringe is added to the standard. Copies of the standard are used inside his office, at the Kremlin, other state agencies, and while the president is traveling in a vehicle inside Russia. A 2:3 ratio version of the flag is used when the President is at sea. This is the most used symbol to denote the presence of the Russian President. The President also has a special copy of the Russian Constitution that is used during the inauguration. This copy has a hard, red cover with gold lettering. An image of the Russian coat of arms appears in silver. The special copy is kept in the Presidential Library. These insignia and the procedure were established by the presidential decree 1138 from 5 August 1996, and modified by decree 832 from 6 May 2000. In the new decree the special copy of the Constitution was removed as the third symbol of the Russian Presidency; the other two symbols remained intact because they were and are regulated by separate decrees. Nonetheless, the special copy of the Constitution still exists and serves for inauguration purposes only without being officially presented as a symbol of the Russian Presidency. As the guarantor of the Constitution and the entire system of constitutional law, the President ensures that the constitutions, laws and regulations of the constituent territories of the Russian Federation be in full compliance with the country's Constitution and federal laws. The President is highly active in appointing top officials in the country. He nominates candidates for official state positions, who must ultimately be appointed based on parliamentary vote. The President submits nominations to the Federation Council, the upper house of the parliament, for judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court, as well as for Prosecutor General of Russia. A proposal to relieve the Prosecutor General of his duties must also be submitted to the Federation Council. The President submits to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, nominations for appointment to the office of the Chairman of the Central Bank, and likewise submits to the State Duma any proposal to relieve the Chairman of the Central Bank of his duties. Under the procedure stipulated by the Constitution, the President exercises his right to submit draft legislation, as well as the right to sign bills into law or to veto them. The President has the right to suspend laws and regulations issued by executive bodies of Russia's constituent territories if such laws and regulations contravene the Constitution, federal laws or international obligations of the Russian Federation, or violate human and civil rights and liberties, pending the resolution of the issue in an appropriate court. The President can issue by-laws by decree, so long as such decrees are not in contradiction with existing laws (both local and federal), Russia's international agreements or the Russian Constitution. The President is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, and to convene and adjourn either or both houses of the Federal Assembly under extraordinary circumstances. Other powers of the President in the sphere of legal activities and in his interaction with the Parliament include calling elections to the State Duma, dissolving the State Duma in certain cases, and calling referendum. Under the Constitution, the President is not empowered to determine the full range of short-, middle-, and long-term objectives and targets of domestic policy, but only its basic guidelines. In practice, he determines it with the Prime Minister and the Government of the Federation. They are to be implemented both by the President himself and by the Government of Russia within the bounds of their authority. The President’ fundamental positions on domestic policy issues are expressed in his written decisions regarding draft federal constitutional laws and draft federal laws, as well as his letters explaining the reasons for rejecting draft federal laws. Within the bounds of the authority granted to the head of state by the Constitution and other laws, the President also shapes the basic domestic policy guidelines by issuing legal regulations and through organizational and regulatory activity, such as issuing decrees and executive orders. Each year the President is required to make an Address to the Federal Assembly regarding the situation in the country and the internal and foreign policy of the state. The President is invested with extensive rights to implement the state's foreign policy. The President determines Russia's position in international affairs, alongside with the Prime Minister and the Government of the Federation, and represents the state in international relations, conducts negotiations and signs ratification documents. The President appoints and recalls diplomatic representatives of Russia to foreign states and international organizations. These appointments are preceded by consultations with the respective committees or commissions of the two houses of the Federal Assembly. The President signs international treaties. An important ceremonial role of the President is awarding state awards. State Awards of the Russian Federation are the highest form of official recognition given to individuals for service to the nation in the fields of defense, state-building, economics, science, culture, art, education, health care, public safety, rights advocacy and charity. The state awards of the Russian Federation include the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation as well as orders, medals, emblems and honorary titles. New state honors and awards can be established by the President, who also presents these honors to the recipients in an official ceremony. A Commission for State Honors, which works on a voluntary basis, helps the President to objectively assess potential recipients. The primary working President's residence is the Senate building (also known as 1st building) in the Moscow Kremlin complex. Also the President can use the Grand Kremlin Palace (used for official ceremonies and meetings). Earlier, the President also could use the so-called 14th Administrative Corpus Building (the reserve residence), but in 2016 it was demolished. Since 2000 the current home residence of the President is Novo-Ogaryovo (). It was planned that it would remain at the disposal of Vladimir Putin after his term ended, as Gorki-9 () (also called Barvikha (), but actually near it) had remained at the disposal of Boris Yeltsin after his retirement. Also, the President has several vacation residences outside of Moscow. Rus' (), Zavidovo, Tver Oblast, Congress Palace or Constantine Palace complex (), Strelna, Saint Petersburg, reconstructed for 300th Saint Petersburg anniversary, Bocharov Ruchey (, lit. Bocharov creek), Sochi, Shuyskaya Chupa () at a distance of 25 km from Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Dolgiye Borody () (also known as Uzhin ) at a distance of 20 km from Valday, Novgorod Oblast, Volzhskiy Utyos sanatorium (, lit. Cliff-upon-Volga) on Kuybyshev Reservoir shore, Tantal tourist centre (, lit. Tantalum) on Volga bank, at a distance of 25 km from Saratov, Sosny (, lit. pines) on Yenisei bank, near Krasnoyarsk, Angarskie hutora (, lit. Steadings of Angarsk) at a distance of 47 km from Irkutsk, Maly istok (, lit. The small headspring) inside Ekaterineburg forestry None of the Russian presidents to date have ever been a member of a political party while in office. In 2012, commenting on stepping down from the post of United Russia party leader, Vladimir Putin said "The constitution doesn’t forbid the president to be a member of any party, but in the spirit of how our political life has evolved, a president is first and foremost a consolidating figure for all the political forces of the country, for all citizens". National transport services for the Russian President and the Presidential state car are provided by the Special Purpose Garage (SPG). The SPG is a unit within the Federal Protective Service. Limousines, Aurus Senat – main car, Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Guard, Escort cars, Mercedes-Benz (including G-Class), Chevrolet, Honorary escort (motorcycles), BMW Air transport services for the President are provided by the airline company Rossiya Airlines. Airplanes for long-distance travel, Ilyushin Il-96-300PU (long-range) – main aircraft, Ilyushin Il-62M (long-range), Dassault Falcon 900 (long-range), Tupolev Tu-154 (medium-range), Yakovlev Yak-40 (short-range), Tupolev Tu-214PU, Helicopters, Mil Mi-8 The presidential aircraft uses the same colour scheme as standard Rossiya aircraft, except for the use of the Russian coat of arms or the Presidential Standard on the empennage instead of the flag of Russia. In the spring of 2013 a helipad was constructed in the Moscow Kremlin. According to the Chief of the Kremlin Property Agency construction of a helicopter pad for the President cost 200 million rubles (about $6.4 mln). The helipad is located in the Kremlin's Tainitsky Garden close to exterior walls. On 16 August 1995, President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree "On some social guarantees of persons holding public positions of the Russian Federation and the position of federal public servants." 15 June 1999 went to President Yeltsin's decree on amendments and additions to the previous decree. On 11 November 1999 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the implementation of the amended decree of 15 June 1999. On 31 December 1999, the day of the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, the president issued a decree "On guarantees of the Russian Federation President, stop exercising his powers, and his family," and the eponymous federal law was adopted by 25 January 2001. This law establishes the legal, social and other guarantees of the Russian Federation President, stops the execution of its powers in connection with the expiration of his term of office or in advance in the event of his resignation or permanent incapacity for health reasons to exercise the powers belonging to him and his family: President of Russia, ceased to carry out its mandate, regardless of age, is entitled to a monthly lifetime pay of 75% of the monthly remuneration of the President of Russia., In the case of the President's death his family members are entitled to a monthly allowance in the amount equal to six times the minimum old-age pension, established by the federal law on the day of his death., President of Russia, ceased to carry out its mandate, has immunity. He can not be held criminally or administratively liable for acts committed by them during the execution of the President's powers, as well as arrested, detained, interrogated and subjected to a personal search, if these actions are carried out in the course of proceedings relating to the execution of his powers as President. Beginning in 1999, all living former presidents were granted a pension, an office, and a staff. The pension has increased numerous times. Retired presidents receive a pension based on the salary of the government. All former presidents, their spouses, and their children until age 16 are protected by the Federal Protective Service until the president's death. A spouse who remarries or divorced from president is no longer eligible for Federal Protective Service protection. As of , there is only one living former president. The most recent death of a former president was that of Boris Yeltsin (1991–1999) on April 23, 2007, aged 76. In May 2008, the Federal law №68, "On centers of historical heritage of presidents of the Russian Federation ceased to carry out its powers", was adopted. According to this law, the objectives of the centers are the study and public presentation of historical heritage of presidents of Russia as an integral part of the modern history of Russia, the development of democratic institutions and the rule of law. The centers will be built for each former president of Russia. The first such center dedicated to Boris Yeltsin was opened in 2015 in Yekaterinburg. In the future the creation of presidential centers for Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev is also planned. Presidency of Boris Yeltsin, Presidency of Vladimir Putin, Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev List of Presidents of Russia, List of Russian presidential candidates, List of heads of state of Russia, List of leaders of Russia, Lifespan timeline of Presidents of Russia, First Lady of Russia, Prime Minister of Russia, President of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Russian presidential administration Attribution note: Material from the powers and duties section of this article was originally published by the website of the Office of the President of Russia. Official site of the President of Russia, ´Vladimir Putin will once again become Russia’s president´ – The Economist, 3 March 2012 Russian presidential elections determine who will serve as the President of Russia for the next six (formerly four from 1996 to 2012 and five from 1991 to 1996) years. Since the establishment of the position of the President of Russia in 1991, the presidential elections have taken place seven times: in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2018. The next presidential election is scheduled for March 2024. Russian presidential elections are governed by the Russian Constitution, the Federal law on basic guarantees of electoral rights and the right to participate in referendums of citizens of the Russian Federation and the Federal law on Presidential elections of the Russian Federation. The provisions of the electoral legislation were constantly evolving, but the foundations of the electoral system remained unchanged. Laws on elections of the President of Russia were adopted 4 times. From 1991 to 2003, before each election a new law was adopted: in 1991, in 1995, in 1999 and in 2003. Currently, there is a Federal law "on Presidential elections of the Russian Federation" #19-FZ from January 10, 2003, in the version from December 5, 2017. According to law, any citizen of Russia not younger than 35 years can be registered as the candidate for President of the Russian Federation, except persons: living in Russia less than 10 years;, recognized incapable by court or kept in places of deprivation of liberty by the sentence of the court;, sentenced to deprivation of liberty for committing grave and (or) particularly grave crimes and having on the day of voting not removed and outstanding previous conviction for the specified crime;, condemned to imprisonment for Commission of the serious crime which criminal record is removed or extinguished - before the expiration of 10 years from the date of removal or repayment of criminal record;, sentenced to imprisonment for committing a particularly serious crime, the conviction of which is withdrawn or repaid - before the expiration of 15 years from the date of removal or repayment of the criminal record;, convicted for committing extremist crimes under the Criminal Code of Russia and having on the day of voting not removed and outstanding previous conviction for the specified crime;, subjected to administrative punishment for Commission of the administrative offenses provided by articles 20.3 (propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi attributes or symbols, or attributes or symbols of extremist organizations, or other attributes or symbols, propaganda or public demonstration of which is prohibited by Federal law) and 20.29 (production and distribution of extremist materials) of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses if vote on the presidential elections takes place before the termination of term during which the person is considered to be subjected to administrative punishment;, concerning which the sentence of court on deprivation of its right to hold the state positions within a certain term came into force;, holding the position of President of the Russian Federation for the second consecutive term on the date of official publication of the decision on appointment of election of the President of the Russian Federation;, having citizenship of a foreign state or a residence permit or other document confirming the right to permanent residence of a citizen of the Russian Federation in the territory of a foreign state. From all candidates for President of Russia, only 3 were female candidates. These were Ella Pamfilova in 2000, Irina Hakamada in 2004 and Ksenia Sobchak in 2018. In addition, there were other women who ran for president, but for one reason or another were not registered. From all candidates, seven candidates participated in the elections more than once (of these, only two each time won the election, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin). The record for participation in the elections is Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who six times participated in the elections, from the first election in 1991 to 2018 (except 2004 election). Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Putin were candidates four times each. Aman Tuleyev and Grigory Yavlinsky — three times, while in 1996 Tuleyev withdrew his candidacy a few days before the election, and Yavlinsky also tried to run in 2012, but was rejected. Boris Yeltsin and Sergey Mironov — twice. Candidates can be nominated by a political party or run as independents. Political parties represented in the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) and/or in legislative (representative) bodies of state power in at least one-third of the constituent entities may nominate their candidate without collecting signatures. A candidate from a political party with no parliamentary representation must gather 100,000 signatures, down from 2 million before amendments to the law in 2012. An independent candidate must gather 300,000 signatures. The elections are held on the second Sunday of the month when the previous elections were held. If this day coincides with a day preceding a holiday day, or this Sunday falls on the week including a public holiday or Sunday is duly announced a work day, elections are called for the next Sunday. The president is elected by direct popular vote in a two-round majoritarian contest: if no candidate receives over 50% of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a run-off. The second (run-off) round is held exactly three weeks after the first. The second round shall appoint with the written consent of the candidate to participate in the second round. If, prior to the second round, one of the registered candidates to be voted on has withdrawn his candidacy or has left it for other reasons, his / her place shall, by the decision of the Central Election Commission, be transferred to the next registered candidate by the number of votes obtained. A new candidate shall be put to the vote if there is a written Declaration of consent to participate in the second round of elections. Such application must be submitted to them no later than the second day after the departure of the candidate who initially participated in the second round. In this case, the voting shall be held on the first Sunday after 14 days from the date of application. At the end of the second round, the candidate with a simple majority of votes is considered elected. The second round can be held and one candidate, if after the departure of the remaining candidates will be only one. At the same time, the candidate is considered elected if he has received at least 50 percent of the votes. The typical periods of the presidential election process are as follows, with the dates corresponding to the 2018 election: Since September 2016 (legislative election) – Public announcement of the intention to participate in the election., December 2017 – Federation Council appoints the election. This should occur in 90–100 days before election day. If the Federation Council does not appoint an election, the election shall be appointed by the Central Election Commission., December 2017 to January 2018 – Nominating conventions (including the conventions of the initiative groups for the nomination of independent candidates). Candidates file their Statement of Candidacy with the Central Election Commission., January to February 2018 – Collection of signatures for candidates from non-parliamentary parties and independent candidates., December 2017 to February 2018 – Registration of candidates., February and March, 2018 – Agitation in mass media (including debates)., March 17, 2018 – Day of silence (ban on any agitation)., March 18, 2018 – Election Day., April 7, 2018 – Day of silence (during the second round)., April 8, 2018 – Second round (if necessary)., May 7, 2018 – Inauguration Day. In December 2011 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications to ensure the surveillance procedures of voting and counting of votes in the presidential elections. According to the technical task set by the CEC, 91,400 election stations were covered by the video monitoring system. Two cameras were installed on each section. One passed the General plan, the second — directly to a ballot box. A total of 182,800 cameras were installed. Public access to election observation was carried out on a special web site. To view the videos of voting and counting votes, users must select the election stations from which they want to receive broadcasts on the day of voting. The video surveillance system is used in the 2018 election. So cameras are installed on 80% of election stations. In addition, the chambers were installed for the first time in the territorial election commissions, which carry out the counting of votes at the level of cities and districts. 1991 Russian presidential election, 1996 Russian presidential election, 2000 Russian presidential election, 2004 Russian presidential election, 2008 Russian presidential election, 2012 Russian presidential election, 2018 Russian presidential election, 2024 Russian presidential election Elections in Russia

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Charmed is an American fantasy drama television series developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, Jessica O'Toole, and Amy Rardin. It is a reboot of The WB series of the same name, created by Constance M. Burge, which originally aired from 1998 to 2006. Carter Covington served as showrunner for the first season, and was replaced by married duo Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro for the second season. Charmed premiered in the United States on October 14, 2018 on The CW. It follows the lives of three sisters—Macy (Madeleine Mantock), Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery)—who, after the death of their mother, discover they are The Charmed Ones, the most powerful trio of good witches, who are destined to protect innocent lives from demons and other dark forces. Each sister has an individual magical power, which is noticeably stronger when all three sisters work together as the "Power of Three" to defeat their enemies. The sisters are aided by a Whitelighter, Harry Greenwood (Rupert Evans), an advisor who protects and guides witches. In January 2019, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on October 11, 2019. In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a third season. Originally set in the fictional college town of Hilltowne, Michigan, the series begins with sisters Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie Vera (Sarah Jeffery) living with their mother Marisol (Valerie Cruz), who shortly afterward is attacked and killed by an unknown dark force. Three months later, Mel and Maggie discover that they have an older half-sister, Macy Vaughn (Madeleine Mantock), who was kept a secret by their mother for years but recently moved to Hilltowne to accept a new job at the local university. After the first time the sisters are under the same roof, they unexpectedly start exhibiting new magical abilities; the eldest Macy receives the power of telekinesis, middle sister Mel can freeze time, and the youngest Maggie can hear people's thoughts. Soon afterward, their Whitelighter—an advisor who protects and guides witches—Harry Greenwood (Rupert Evans) gathers all three sisters together and reveals to them that they are witches, as was their mother. Marisol had bound her daughters' powers when they were each born to protect them and let them live normal lives, but was in the process of unbinding their powers on the night she was murdered. The sisters ultimately accept their new destiny as The Charmed Ones, the most powerful trio of good witches who protect innocent lives from demons and other dark forces. The reboot changes several elements from the original Charmed series, including moving the fictional setting from San Francisco to Hilltowne; making the middle sister a lesbian; giving the youngest sister the power of telepathy instead of premonition; changing the family name from Halliwell to Vera; and having all three of the sisters' alliterative names begin with 'M' instead of 'P'. Additionally, the reboot has a more ethnically diverse cast: Mantock is Afro- Caribbean, Diaz is Puerto Rican, and Jeffery is African American, English and Indigenous Canadian. However, in the series they all play Latina sisters, with Mantock's Macy and Jeffery's Maggie both being Afro-Latinas. Melonie Diaz as Mel Vera, the middle half-sister in the family. A "strong-willed feminist" and "passionate, outspoken activist," Mel is a graduate student in the women's studies department at Hilltowne University. She is a lesbian who was in a relationship with Niko (Ellen Tamaki), a detective on the Hilltowne police force until she had to use a spell to make it so that they never met. She entered a relationship with Jada Shields (Aleyse Shannon), but the relationship ended when Mel asked for help from Jada concerning Harry, and was blown off for it. Mel has the power of time-freezing, similar to the original middle sister Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) from the original series. Later, Mel develops molecular manipulation, even more similar to Piper's powers, which allows her slow molecules and create ice. It is later revealed that Mel is in fact the half-sister and not Macy., Madeleine Mantock as Macy Vaughn, the eldest sister. She is a "practical", "driven", "shy" and "intense science nerd". Macy has a PhD in molecular genetics and initially moves to Hilltowne, Michigan, to work in the university lab. Once she arrives in town, Macy discovers that she has two younger half-sisters. Macy has the power of telekinesis, similar to the original eldest sister Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) of the original Charmed series. Macy later develops pyrokinesis. Macy eventually discovers that she and Maggie share the same father. Macy is later inhabited by the Source of all Evil in the final episodes in season one., Sarah Jeffery as Maggie Vera, the youngest sister. She is a "bubbly", "fun-loving" and "kindhearted" freshman at Hilltowne University who is pledging a sorority. Maggie is initially mortified to learn that she is a witch as she wants to be well-liked and fit in. Maggie has the power of empathy, the ability to read the emotions of other people. This is one of the first differences from the original show as the original youngest sister Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) from the original series initially had the power of premonition; She later develops foresight abilities., Ser'Darius Blain as Galvin Burdette (season 1), a molecular geneticist who works at the Hilltowne University lab with Macy Vaughn. He is "outgoing" and "generous", and is the first person who befriends Macy when she moves to Hilltowne. He enters a relationship with Macy, but ultimately sacrifices himself at the end of the first season to stop the Harbinger Virus., Ellen Tamaki as Niko Hamada (season 1), a "smart" and "determined" detective with the Hilltowne police department. She was dating Mel Vera until Mel used a spell to reverse time so that they never met to protect Niko. She returned to Hilltowne now a PI and encountered Mel. It is revealed that Niko had a mental break-down which led to her changing careers, she is engaged to marry Greta, the woman she was with before she met Mel in the original timeline, but her interactions with Mel causes trouble between them much like the original timeline, especially after she learns about Mel's status as a witch and their past relationship. By the end of the first season, Mel decides to let Niko go and move on., Rupert Evans as Harry Greenwood, the sisters' Whitelighter – a guardian angel who protects and guides witches. In the first episode, Harry initially poses as a professor and the chair of the women's studies department at Hilltowne University, until he gathers all three sisters together to reunite them of their destiny as the Charmed Ones. It is revealed that he doesn't remember his life when he was a human. It is revealed that he has romantic feelings for Charity, an elder and an old friend of his. By the end of the first season, it is revealed that Harry has grown feelings for Macy. Evans also portrays Harry's Darklighter in season 2., Nick Hargrove as Parker Caine (season 1; guest season 2), Maggie Vera's boyfriend. He is the president of the Phi Delta Upsilon fraternity. He and Maggie become friends after he defends her from a rude customer at her waitressing job. He is later revealed to be a half-demon sent by his father to wreak havoc on the sisters. He betrays his father as he falls in love with Maggie, but is forced to leave at the end of the first season to deal with his demon side. He later returns during the second season, where it's revealed that he has taken over demonkind as its new Overlord., Jordan Donica as Jordan Chase (season 2), a law student and amateur boxer. It is later revealed that his family was cursed by a witch due to his ancestor having spearheaded said witch's execution with the curse ensuring that no male in the family lives past the age of 25., Poppy Drayton as Abigael Jameson-Caine (season 2), a demon-witch rescued and recruited by Macy. She is later revealed to be a member of the Caine family, being Alistair's daughter and Hunter's and Parker's half-sister, and has a secret agenda to take over demonkind as its Overlord by stealing the position from Parker. Valerie Cruz as Marisol Vera, Macy, Mel, and Maggie's mother. She was an elder and had the power of prophecy. Due to a necromancer's curse, she had to give up Macy when the latter turned two. She was murdered by her friend and fellow elder Charity Callahan., Natalie Hall as Lucy (season 1), the superficial, pretentious, and "woke" president of Kappa Tau Kappa, the sorority that Maggie is interested in joining. Lucy initially seems like an airhead but gradually reveals hidden layers and becomes a good friend of Maggie's., Constantine Rousoli as Hunter Caine (season 1), Parker's older, full demon brother. Hunter is a shapeshifter who is tasked with killing powerful witches in order to steal their DNA. It is later revealed that he is doing so in order to try to eliminate his younger brother's human side., Craig Parker as Alistar Caine (season 1), the benefactor of Hilltowne's Department of Genetics. Alistair Caine is Parker, Hunter, and Abigael's father., Virginia Williams as Charity Callahan (season 1), an elder and friend of the late Marisol Vera. She had a romantic relationship with Harry Greenwood in the past. She murdered Marisol out of fear that her daughter, Macy, would succumb to evil due to the circumstances of her resurrection. She also killed other elders who learned of her evil acts. She was later killed by her younger sister Fiona., Leah Pipes as Fiona Callahan (season 1), a witch, Charity's younger sister, and a former charge of Harry Greenwood's. She is known as the Keeper of the Sacred Flame, a primordial source of power that is actually the source of all of magic itself. She was imprisoned in Tartarus by the elders as they felt intimidated because she had befriended the Sarcana. The Sarcana later freed her but she killed them after regaining her strength. She planned to raise the Source in order to kill the host and destroy all magic. Eric Balfour as Julian (season 2), a tech millionaire with an interest in SafeSpace Seattle A reboot of the original Charmed series had been announced since October 2013, when it was originally being developed for CBS by Party of Five co-creator Christopher Keyser and Sydney Sidner. The CBS reboot's pilot script was going to center "around four sisters who discover their destiny – to battle against the forces of evil using their witchcraft." However, CBS ultimately decided not to move forward with the reboot. On January 5, 2017, it was announced that The CW network was developing a new reboot of Charmed by Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman for the 2017–18 television season. Urman had been approached in 2016 by CBS Television Studios (who own the rights to Charmed) to work on a new reboot of the show. Urman, knowing that Jane the Virgin writers Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin were fans of the original series, brought them onboard with her along with director Brad Silberling. On why she wanted to reboot the series, Urman explained: "The original was so much about female empowerment and sisterhood and strong women taking over the world and I feel like that’s what we need right now. It felt like a good time to get back to that and show women kicking ass." On the reason they chose not to revive the series with the original cast, O'Toole explained: "That show wrapped everything up so wonderfully — they all got their happy endings, and there were even glimpses of their future. We felt like it told a complete story." Urman added that they did not want to mess around with the original because it was eight years of mythology. The CW president Mark Pedowitz weighed in on why Charmed was better as a reboot than a revival, saying "We wanted to take a different path" with Urman's "great" perspective, calling the original series "a great show for that time and place" only. The CW reboot's original pilot script was going to be a prequel set in 1976 about three witches (Tina, Paige and Annie), who are not related but are brought together to fight evil in a small New England town. O'Toole stated that the prequel would have "explicitly explore[d] the links between the feminist movement and witchcraft." At the time, Pedowitz described the reboot as "a self-contained, self-sustained" and "very standalone show" that would not have any ties to the original series. However, on February 3, 2017, The Hollywood Reporter announced that the reboot would be redeveloped and delayed until the 2018–19 television season, as the pilot draft script "didn't come in the way the network had hoped" and that Urman, who had prior commitments with Jane the Virgin, did not have enough time to fully commit to the reboot for the 2017–18 season. Pedowitz gave an update on the reboot during the Television Critics Association press tour in August 2017, saying that it was still in the redevelopment process and that the network was waiting to see what Urman had come up with for the redeveloped script. On January 25, 2018, The CW officially ordered the Charmed reboot to pilot. The redeveloped script was changed to be set in the present day and was described by The CW as "a fierce, funny, feminist reboot" centered on "three sisters in a college town who, after the tragic death of their mother, are stunned to discover they are witches." The description also stated that the reboot would revolve around the sisters "vanquishing supernatural demons" and "tearing down the patriarchy," while "maintaining familial bonds." O'Toole told BuzzFeed News that the reason the redeveloped script was changed to the present day was because of the results of the 2016 United States presidential election. She explained, "Suddenly it didn’t feel like it should be a period piece anymore. All of the themes seemed more relevant, and we wanted to reconceptualize some things, and it felt like it really should be set in a contemporary world." The pilot episode was written by O'Toole and Rardin, and was based on a story by Urman. All three women became executive producers for the first season alongside Silberling, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, and Carter Covington. The pilot episode was also directed by Silberling. After the pilot was filmed, Silberling told the Metro newspaper that the appeal of the reboot is to be "fun and contemporary" with its timely social observations. On May 11, The CW picked up the pilot and ordered the Charmed reboot to series with 13 episodes. On October 8, The CW ordered five additional scripts for the first season, and a month later, The CW ordered an additional nine episodes, bringing the first season total up to 22 episodes. On January 31, 2019, The CW gave the series an early renewal for a second season. According to Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter, Charmed was renewed due to strong international sales. On March 25, 2019, it was announced that showrunner Carter Covington would be departing Charmed after season one, with married duo Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro taking over as showrunners for season two. Covington was originally brought in as showrunner after Charmed was picked up to series, in order to help executive producers Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin, neither of whom had run a show before. Following the change in showrunners, media outlets reported that the second season would lean harder into the supernatural storylines, with less focus on the family dynamics that Covington helped make. However, ahead of the season two premiere, Kruger stated in an interview with TV Insider that the core of the show and "the heart of the story is still about the power of sisterhood and how powerful women can change the world." Shapiro also told TV Insider that they changed the whole tone and visual look of the show to become more "darker, moodier, edgier" and "more cinematic" than the previous season. Both Jeffrey Lieber and director Stuart Gillard also became executive producers for the second season. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season. Casting details for Charmed were first revealed by TVLine on February 7, 2018, with the three sisters bearing the unofficial names of Macy, Mel and Madison Pruitt. It also revealed that all ethnicities were being considered for each of the roles and that one of the sisters would be a lesbian, a major change from the original Charmed series where all Halliwell sisters were straight women. TVLine also revealed that casting was underway for the trio's "devilishly handsome" advisor/whitelighter Harry, Macy's "documentary filmmaker-boyfriend" Galvin, Madison's "sensitive loner ex-beau" Brian, and Mel's detective girlfriend Soo Jin. During production, Madison's name was later changed to Maggie, the sisters' family name was changed from Pruitt to Vera, Soo Jin's name was changed to Niko, and Galvin was rewritten as a scientist. Former Into the Badlands British actress Madeleine Mantock was cast as the eldest sister Macy, "a practical, driven, and brilliant geneticist". Mantock was cast after Jane the Virgin writer Micah Schraft, who she had worked with on another show five years prior, recommended her to the Charmed producers. Mantock did a Skype interview with the producers because she was in London at the time. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Mantock revealed that she wanted to be part of the show after reading "how funny and smart and conscious" the pilot script was, saying "I thought it was a wonderful way to broach important subjects, be they women's issues or political issues, in a way that's also tied into this wonderful magical fantasy that everybody loves." Film actress Melonie Diaz was cast as the middle sister Mel, "a passionate, outspoken activist" and lesbian. Diaz, who was the first sister cast in Charmed, was chosen after a successful meeting with the producers, which she felt was "an instantaneous connection". Diaz was impressed with their vision for Charmed, saying "I thought it was a really clever, unique way to kind of modernize this big show." Former Shades of Blue Canadian actress Sarah Jeffery was cast as the youngest sister Maggie, "a bubbly college freshman" and sorority pledge. Jeffery revealed that the producers were at first wary of her auditioning for the show because she was still attached to Shades of Blue. She auditioned for the show with scenes involving a demon dog and a fight with one of Maggie's sisters. Jeffery was eventually released from Shades of Blue so she could do Charmed. Mantock, Diaz and Jeffery did not do any screen tests together, but the latter two described the trio's instant chemistry as "miraculous". Diaz stated, "We really feel like sisters," while Jeffery added, "We were lucky – it was an immediate connection. We have a sisterly rapport and it's reflected onscreen." The three lead actresses are of different ethnic backgrounds: Mantock is Afro-Caribbean, Diaz is Puerto Rican, and Jeffery is African American, English and Indigenous Canadian. However, in the series they all play Latina sisters, with Mantock's Macy and Jeffery's Maggie both being Afro-Latinas. Executive producer Jessica O'Toole told BuzzFeed News, "It was always written that way, specifically to have characters who were of color, and with the casting it all kind of came together." O'Toole also added that the decision to make the lead actresses non-white was one of the reasons the producers decided the show would not be based around the Halliwell sisters' children from the original Charmed series, who were all white. Executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman explained that "we've had a chance to see three white witches" and working on Jane the Virgin, which had a predominantly Latinx cast, helped her realize the importance of representation and "what it's like to see yourself onscreen and see yourself be the hero of the story". O'Toole said it was also important to represent the LGBTQ community, which was lacking in the original Charmed series, explaining: "Representation is important and I think it doesn’t feel like the real world to not have that." O'Toole said "it felt very natural" to make one of the sisters gay and that "it didn't even come out of a purpose." Former Man in the High Castle British actor Rupert Evans was cast as Harry, a college professor and the sisters' Whitelighter. Ser'Darius Blain was cast as Galvin, a love interest of Macy's. Blain departed the show at the end of the first season after his character was killed off. Charlie Gillespie was cast as Brian, a love interest of Maggie's who only appeared in the first two episodes of the series. Ellen Tamaki was cast in the first season as Niko, "a detective on the Hilltowne police force" and lesbian who is a love interest of Mel's. Tamaki did not return for the second season. Nick Hargrove was also cast in the first season as Parker, a fraternity president and new love interest of Maggie's. Hargrove was initially cast as recurring and was later promoted to the main cast. He made his first appearance in the third episode of the first season. Hargrove did not return as a regular for the second season, but made several guest appearances. Jordan Donica was cast in the second season as Jordan, a mysterious law student and amateur boxer. Former Shannara Chronicles British actress Poppy Drayton also joined the second season as Abigael, a powerful and mysterious witch. Charmed is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where several other CW shows are filmed. The historical J.E. Phillips House located at 323 Queens Avenue in New Westminster is used as the exterior for the show's fictional Vera Manor. It pays homage to the original Charmeds Halliwell Manor, in that it is a similar-looking red Victorian house. The house was previously used as an exterior in the television series Witches of East End (2013–14). The exterior scenes used for Hilltowne University during the first season were filmed at the University of British Columbia's Point Grey Campus. The pilot episode was filmed from March 19 to April 7, 2018. After the pilot was picked up and Charmed was ordered to series, filming for the remainder of the first season resumed on August 13, 2018, and ended on April 26, 2019. The second season began filming on July 24, 2019, and is expected to end on April 16, 2020. In the United States, Charmed premiered on The CW on October 14, 2018. The first season aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm, with Supergirl as its lead-in at 8:00 pm. The pairing of Charmed and Supergirl returned the network to original programming on Sunday evenings for the first time since the 2008–09 television season. The CW president Mark Pedowitz explained, "We wanted to have an established show on Sunday night. We wanted name value with Charmed on there. We felt that it was two shows that are empowered women. We were making a statement that we were not kidding, that we're not phoning it in on Sunday night, that we were going to compete." The complete first season of Charmed was released onto the streaming platform Netflix only in the US in May 2019. Charmed moved to Friday nights at 8:00pm on The CW for its second season, which premiered on October 11, 2019. The first season of Charmed was released on region 4 DVD in Australia and New Zealand on September 25, 2019, and on region 1 DVD in the US and Canada on October 1, 2019. It will be released on region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2020. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 71% approval rating with an average rating of 6.53/10, based on 31 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Charmed's updates are as fun as they are surprisingly feminist – and with a sharper focus, it could conjure up an even stronger show than the one that came before it". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Shortly after the pilot's announcement in January 2018, Holly Marie Combs, a cast member from the original Charmed series, took to Twitter and criticized The CW's decision to reboot the show without any input from the original cast or crew. Combs claimed to have an issue with The CW's "reimagining" of Charmed as the network, formerly known as The WB, chose not to renew the show in 2006 for a ninth season. Combs accused The CW of trying to cash in on the Charmed name and concept, while "capitalizing" on the original cast and crew's hard work. Combs also took issue with the network's description of a "feminist" reboot, which she felt implied the original series was not, by sarcastically tweeting: "Guess we forgot to do that the first go around. Hmph." Combs then implied that the reboot should have a new title, as she felt that it is a brand new show with no ties to the original Charmed. She tweeted that television reboots or remakes "usually have storylines so similar to the original that they are legally required to use the same title and buy the rights to that title", further adding, "If it's not similar than [sic] it's just another show. A new show with a new title." Another original cast member, Alyssa Milano, told Entertainment Tonight that she wished the original cast were involved with the reboot from the beginning of its development at The CW, further adding "I do hope that it reaches the newer generation and impacts that generation the way ours was able to do for its generation." Shannen Doherty was more positive about the reboot to fans on Twitter, stating that it was a testament to the original that a reboot was even being considered. She also added that she was "intrigued by the idea that a new generation might be comforted, inspired like you all were. Charmed helped us all in some way." However, Doherty admitted that she did take issue with The CW's description of a "feminist" reboot, by tweeting that their wording was "terrible and a bit offensive," but understood that "everyone makes mistakes". Doherty further voiced her support for the reboot in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, stating "I think it's great. I think it's awesome...I'm happy to see that a show, that back then was all about strong women who supported and loved each other, is now coming back again in this day and age." Doherty appreciated the reboot for providing a lot of job opportunities for people, wished the cast and crew well, and hoped that fans of the original series would give the reboot a chance. Rose McGowan was also positive towards the reboot and showed her support to the new lead actresses by tweeting "fly girls, fly." McGowan also added that she had no issues with the reboot and wished "everyone the best". McGowan further voiced her support for the reboot on Instagram, posting "I wish nothing but the best for the new female actors whose careers hopefully will be launched by this show into something long and prosperous." News of the reboot was met with a mixed response from fans of the original series. Some fans were positive about the reboot, while others were not impressed about the changes made to the series. Following the reboot announcement, fans took to Twitter and began to share the #StopCharmedReboot hashtag in attempts to prevent The CW from moving forward with the pilot. The CW's president Mark Pedowitz stated that he would like the fans to give the reboot a chance, telling fans that "before you make a decision, watch the series". In an interview with HuffPost in May 2018, Combs spoke up about the reboot again, this time criticizing the show's marketing and the casting of younger actors. She stated that although she appreciates "the jobs and opportunities the Charmed reboot has created", she "will never understand what is fierce, funny, or feminist in creating a show that basically says the original actresses are too old to do a job they did 12 years ago". Milano also spoke up about the reboot again to Us Weekly in May 2019, stating that she felt the show "ruined any possibility" of a reunion between the four original lead actresses, calling it "disrespectful" and "sad" that they were not involved from the beginning. Milano believed that they "would have come [together] to do something" as they "created that world" first. While the series has been praised for its diversity by casting three women of color in the lead roles, it has also received backlash for being promoted as a Latina-led series when only one of the leads is Latina. Mantock, who learned Spanish for the role, said of the matter, "I'm open with the writers and trying to be respectful because I'm Afro-Caribbean. I'm not actually Afro- Latina and I want to make that inquiry because Melanie [Diaz] is actually the only person in her real life who is Latina." Jeffery further explained, "I know that we are representing the Latina community. I actually am African- American. I'm not Latina, which is a common misconception." Samantha Chavarria felt that, "the latest reveals around the cast's ethnicities do highlight the very real fact that in their effort to promote a reboot, the CW used colorism and exploitation to spark our excitement and interest." Conversely, Patrick Gomez of EW was more forgiving of the casting because the actresses were unknown and that a search into their ethnicities would have been inappropriate, adding, "I hope people celebrate the fact that an African- American and an Afro-Caribbean woman are being cast as 'Latinas' because Afro- Latinx people are not given even a fraction of the visibility they should have in on-camera representations of Latinx people." Princess Weekes of The Mary Sue affirmed Chavarria's assessment of The CW's use of colorism, but felt that the actresses were not to blame, stating "When the creatives realized they'd cast two black actresses who were not Latina in this show, they should have changed the narrative to reflect that." General references Charmed is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast by The WB for eight seasons from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006. The series narrative follows a trio of sisters, known as The Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time, who use their combined "Power of Three" to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to maintain normal lives in modern-day San Francisco. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge for them, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships and resulting in a number of police and FBI investigations throughout the series. The series initially focuses on the three Halliwell sisters, Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano). Following Prue's death in the third-season finale, their long-lost half sister Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) assumes her place within the "Power of Three" from season four onwards. Charmed achieved a cult following and popularity on The WB with its first episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes" garnering 7.7 million viewers, breaking the record for the network's highest-rated debut episode. The show's ratings, although smaller than rival shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB network. Charmed went through several timeslot changes during its eight-season run. For its first three seasons in the Wednesday/Thursday 9:00 pm timeslot, Charmed was the second-highest rated series on The WB, behind 7th Heaven. During its fifth season, the show moved to the Sunday 8:00 pm timeslot, where it became the highest-rated Sunday night program in The WB's history. At 178 episodes, Charmed was the second-longest drama broadcast by The WB, behind 7th Heaven. In 2006, it became the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads, before being surpassed by Desperate Housewives in 2012. The series has also received numerous awards and nominations. In 2010, The Huffington Post and AOL TV ranked Charmed within their joint list of "The Top 20 Magic/Supernatural Shows of All Time," while in 2013, TV Guide listed the series as one of "The 60 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows of All Time." Charmed has also become a source of pop culture references in film and television and has influenced other succeeding television series in the same subgenre. The show's success has led to its development in other media, including a video game, board games, soundtracks, novels, and a comic book series which served as a continuation of its narrative. According to data research from The NPD Group in 2012, Charmed was the second-most binge watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix. A reboot series of Charmed, featuring different cast members and characters, premiered on The CW on October 14, 2018. The series starts when Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) returns from New York and moves back into the family's Halliwell Manor in San Francisco to live with her sisters Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs). When Phoebe discovers the family's Book of Shadows in the attic, she learns that she and her sisters are the most powerful witches ever known, destined to protect both innocents and the world at large from demons, warlocks, and other evil creatures. Phoebe, reasonably suspecting the book to be a novelty, reads its initial inscription--unaware that it also happens to be an incantation activating the sisters' supernatural powers once all three are reunited in their ancestral home. By the end of the first episode, each sister learns that she has a unique magical power and that they can each cast spells and brew potions. Prue, the eldest, has the power of telekinesis (the ability to move objects with her mind), and in season two she develops the power of astral projection (the ability to be in two places at once). Piper, the middle sister, has the power to effectively "freeze" people and objects in time. As she grows more proficient, she learns how to freeze only certain people or objects or body parts, as she wishes. In season three, her powers evolve further, as she is able to cause evil beings or objects to explode using her hands. Phoebe, the youngest of the three, initially possesses the power of premonition allowing her to receive visions of the future and later of the past. She later develops the powers of levitation in season three, and empathy in season six, the latter allowing her to sense and tap into others' emotions and, sometimes, powers. In accordance with the series' mythology, witches' powers are tied to their emotions. During the first two seasons, the sisters face various evil beings from week to week. However, in the third season, they discover that their ultimate enemy is The Underworld's demonic ruler, The Source of All Evil. Eventually, Prue is killed in the season three finale by The Source's personal assassin, Shax (Michael Bailey Smith). While grieving for their older sister, Piper and Phoebe discover that they also have a younger half-sister, Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan), who had been the secret love child of their witch mother, Patty (Finola Hughes), and her whitelighter (guardian angel) Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck). Paige's magical abilities represent her dual heritage as both a witch and whitelighter; like Prue, she possesses a form of telekinesis, but she has to verbally call for objects to orb (or, teleport) them to their intended destination. As she attempts to control the two sides of her ancestry, Paige also learns how to orb herself and others, and to heal others with the touch of her hand; she eventually receives her own whitelighter charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft. Paige can also glamour, shapeshifting into a different human appearance. The Source, responsible for the majority of attacks on the sisters, becomes the main villain during season four until he is finally vanquished. After his demise, an annual season-long storyline and several antagonists are introduced in subsequent seasons (occasionally following the "Big Bad" television format). These include Phoebe's demonic ex-husband, Cole Turner (Julian McMahon), until mid-season five; the scheming, misguided Elder, Gideon (Gildart Jackson), throughout season six; The Avatars until mid-season seven; the demon Zankou (Oded Fehr) until the season seven finale; and, in season eight, powerful sister witches Billie (Kaley Cuoco) and Christy Jenkins (Marnette Patterson), who fall under the influence of the demonic Triad (who earlier feature as early-season three antagonists). In addition to the supernatural themes explored in Charmed, the characters contend with serious issues in their day- to-day lives such as relationships, careers, marriage, childbirth, illness and the deaths of loved ones. The sisters also fight to prevent the exposure of the existence of magic to the human community at large, contending with several police and FBI investigations. Often through the assistance of their long-term ally, Darryl Morris (Dorian Gregory) of the San Francisco Police Department, they are able to avoid police suspicion, including the investigation of the most-recurring human antagonist, Inspector Sheridan (Jenya Lano), in the sixth and seventh seasons. The sisters also face romantic storylines. Prue's love interests include her high school sweetheart, Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King), who dies in the season one finale in an attempt to save the sisters, and a brief co-worker, Jack Sheridan (Lochlyn Munro), in season two. Piper's central love interest throughout the series is the sisters' whitelighter Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause); their early relationship is problematic due to the forbidden nature of witch-whitelighter relationships, and so in season two a love triangle forms with Piper, Leo and her neighbor, Dan Gordon (Greg Vaughan). Eventually, the two manage to marry and consecrate their union in season three, producing a son named Wyatt in season five. The couple separate due to supernatural circumstances at the end of the fifth season; however, they reconnect in the subsequent season, resulting in a second son named Chris. The final episode of Charmed shows them to have a daughter, many grandchildren, and to grow old together in the future. Phoebe's romantic history involves a tortured relationship with half- demon Cole Turner in the show's third, fourth and fifth seasons; they have a turbulent marriage in the fourth, and in the fifth, following their divorce, she is compelled to vanquish him. Phoebe has a number of multi-episode human boyfriends in subsequent seasons, including her boss, Jason Dean (Eric Dane), before meeting a cupid named Coop (Victor Webster) in the eighth season, whom she marries. Paige, like Phoebe, has several multi-episode boyfriends, including fellow-witch and magic "addict" Richard Montana (Balthazar Getty) in season six, and an unstable FBI agent-turned-whitelighter Kyle Brody (Kerr Smith) in season seven. In the eighth season, she becomes committed to a human parole officer, Henry Mitchell (Ivan Sergei), whom she marries. The final episode's flashforward montage reveals Piper, Phoebe, and Paige to have three children each with their respective husbands. Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell (seasons 1–3), the eldest sister who initially receives the power to move objects with her mind by channelling telekinesis through her eyes. As the series progresses, Prue learns how to channel her telekinetic powers through her hands and gains the power of astral projection, the ability to be in two places at once. Prue also develops martial arts skills and becomes an effective hand-to-hand fighter. During her three seasons on Charmed, she is regarded as the strongest and most powerful witch of the Halliwell sisters. Prue initially works as an appraiser for an auction house, and later becomes a professional photographer for a magazine company. In the season three finale, she is killed by Shax (Michael Bailey Smith), a powerful demonic assassin sent by The Source of All Evil., Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell, the second eldest sister who initially receives the power to freeze her surrounding environment. As the series progresses, she also gains the power to cause evil beings or objects to spontaneously explode. Piper is initially the middle sister of the family during the first three seasons, but later becomes the eldest sister after Prue dies. Piper's central love interest throughout the series is Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), the sisters' whitelighter – a guardian angel for good witches. In season three, she marries Leo, and as the series progresses, they have two children; Wyatt (born in season five) and Chris (born in season six). Piper initially works as a chef and manager for the restaurant Quake, but from season two onwards, she becomes the owner and manager of the nightclub P3., Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell, the third eldest sister who initially receives the power of premonition, the ability to see into the future and the past. To make up for initially only having a passive power, Phoebe develops martial arts skills in order to better assist her sisters when they fight evil. As the series progresses, she also gains the active powers of levitation and empathy. Phoebe is introduced into Charmed as the youngest and most rebellious of the Halliwell sisters. However, her progression as a witch helps her become more responsible and grow as a person. Phoebe later becomes the middle sister after Prue dies and the series introduces their younger half-sister Paige (Rose McGowan). Phoebe was initially a college student for the first few seasons, and later becomes an advice columnist for the newspaper company The Bay Mirror., Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews (seasons 4–8), the youngest half-sister who initially receives the power to move objects with her mind by orbing ("teleporting") objects from one location to another through a vocal command. She was the secret love child of the Halliwell sisters' mother Patty (Finola Hughes) and her whitelighter Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck), making Paige both a witch and whitelighter. She was given up at birth and raised by her adoptive parents. Paige is introduced upon Prue's funeral at the beginning of season four, where she goes on to help reconstitute The Charmed Ones by taking Prue's place in the "Power of Three". As the series progresses, Paige also receives the whitelighter powers of orbing herself and others, as well as sensing, glamouring, and healing. T.W. King as Andy Trudeau (season 1), introduced as the Halliwell sisters' childhood friend and Prue's high school sweetheart and first love. He works as an inspector for the San Francisco Police Department and is coincidentally assigned to almost every police case that involves the sisters. Andy eventually discovers that they are witches and serves as the sisters' initial connection to the police force. In the season one finale, Andy is killed by the demon Rodriguez (Carlos Gomez), who also happens to be one of the Internal Affairs officers investigating Andy's unsolved cases., Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris (seasons 1–7), a lieutenant in the San Francisco Police Department. Darryl is introduced into season one as Andy Trudeau's (Ted King) best friend and partner. At first, Darryl is suspicious of the Halliwell sisters' recurring connection to mysterious murders and crimes. However, in season two, the sisters reveal to him that they are good witches trying to bring justice and protection to the world. Throughout the series, Darryl helps the sisters cover up unsolved cases related to demonic activity, as well as granting them favors and giving them general support. His family also become close to the sisters and consider them part of their family. At the end of season seven, Darryl and his family move to the East Coast., Greg Vaughan as Dan Gordon (season 2), introduced as the Halliwell sisters' new next-door neighbor. Dan and Piper become romantically involved after Piper and Leo (Brian Krause) break up due to the strenuous nature his whitelighter duties place on their relationship. Piper later breaks up with Dan and reconciles with Leo. At the end of season two, Dan moves to Portland to take a job offer., Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon (season 2), introduced as Dan Gordon's (Greg Vaughan) niece who temporarily moves in with him for school because her parents are in Saudi Arabia on business. Whilst living with her uncle, Jenny forms a bond with the Halliwell sisters and often turns to them for advice on female issues that she is not comfortable talking to her uncle about. Midway through season two, Jenny moves back in with her parents after they return to the United States., Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt (seasons 2–8; recurring season 1), the Halliwell sisters' whitelighter—a guardian angel for good witches—who has the powers to orb, heal, sense, levitate, glamour and hover. Leo is introduced into season one as the sisters' handyman hired to fix up their house, but they later discover that he is their whitelighter. Leo's whitelighter duties often causes problems for his marriage to Piper and their family. Their relationship is the first of many conflicts between the sisters and The Elders., Julian McMahon as Cole Turner / Belthazor (seasons 3–5; guest season 7), a half-human and half-demon who has the powers to teleport and throw projective energy balls which could stun or kill. Cole is introduced into season three as an Assistant District Attorney sent by The Triad to kill The Charmed Ones, but instead he falls in love with Phoebe. Although Cole completely rids himself of his demonic nature and marries Phoebe in season four, he later returns to evil after he unwillingly becomes the new Source of All Evil. As The Source, Cole is eventually vanquished by The Charmed Ones, only to come back from death in his attempts to win Phoebe back. Driven insane, Cole is, through his own doing, once again killed by the sisters in season five. He later returns for a guest appearance in the season seven episode "The Seven Year Witch," where it is revealed his spirit is trapped between realms., Drew Fuller as Chris Halliwell (season 6; guest seasons 5, 7–8), the second-eldest son of Leo and Piper. Chris is introduced into the season five finale as a whitelighter from the future who helps assist the Halliwell sisters against magical beings known as The Titans. In season six, Chris reveals that he is Leo and Piper's son and has traveled back in time to prevent his older brother Wyatt from growing up to be the evil dictator he becomes in the future. In the season six finale, adult Chris is killed by an Elder named Gideon (Gildart Jackson) and baby Chris is born., Kaley Cuoco as Billie Jenkins (season 8), introduced as a young college student and a new charge for Paige (Rose McGowan). Billie has the power to move objects with her mind using telekinesis, and later develops the power of projection; the ability to warp reality. She spends most of season eight trying to find her eldest sister Christy (Marnette Patterson), who was kidnapped 15 years earlier by The Triad. Billie is eventually reunited with her sister, but does not know that Christy has been turned evil under the influence of demons. After Christy briefly sways her to betray the Charmed Ones, Billie eventually sides with them in the series finale and is forced to kill her sister in self-defense. In 1998, when The WB began looking for a new drama series for the 1998–99 season, they approached Spelling Television (which had produced the network's then-most successful series, 7th Heaven) to create it. Expanding on the popularity of supernatural-themed dramas such as The Craft (1996) and Practical Magic (1998), the production company explored different forms of mythology to find characters they could realize with contemporary storytelling. Constance M. Burge was hired to create the series as she was under contract with 20th Century Fox and Spelling Television after conceiving the drama series Savannah (1996–97). When the theme of witchcraft was first pitched to her, she was aware of stereotypes of witches (flying brooms, black cats, and warts). After researching Wicca, she changed her perspective and aimed at telling a story of good witches who looked and acted like ordinary people. With this, her initial concept was a series set in Boston, Massachusetts about three friends and roommates who were all witches. However, executive producer E. Duke Vincent lacked confidence, asking "Why would anybody want to watch a show about three witches?" He proposed that the series should focus on family values and developed the series-long mantra of it being about "three sisters who happen to be witches, not three witches who happen to be sisters." Spelling warmed to Burge's ideas and, after the concept was re- crafted to be a series about three sisters (now living in San Francisco) descended from a line of witches, it was pitched to The WB's President of Entertainment, Susanne Daniels, who liked it, allowing the series to begin development. The series was retitled Charmed after Spelling's suggestion of House of Sisters was dropped. Burge wrote the pilot script and a 28-minute version of the pilot was filmed (the "unaired pilot," never aired on network television). After original cast member Lori Rom quit the series before its premiere, Alyssa Milano took over her role and a new pilot had to be filmed. Upon its debut, Charmed received the largest audience for a series premiere in The WB's history. The first season of 22 episodes was picked up by The WB after only two episodes had aired. Former Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Shannen Doherty was cast as the eldest sister Prue Halliwell, while her best friend at the time and former Picket Fences actress Holly Marie Combs played the role of the middle sister Piper Halliwell. Lori Rom was originally cast as the youngest sister Phoebe Halliwell in the 28-minute unaired pilot episode. However, Rom quit the series, and a new pilot was filmed with former Who's the Boss? actress Alyssa Milano in the role of Phoebe. Doherty departed Charmed at the end of the third season and was replaced in the fourth season by film actress Rose McGowan, who played the long-lost younger half-sister Paige Matthews. In season one, Ted King was cast as the inspector Andy Trudeau, Dorian Gregory was cast as his inspector partner Darryl Morris, and Brian Krause was cast as the Halliwell sisters' whitelighter Leo Wyatt. King departed Charmed at the end of the first season, while Gregory remained on the show until the seventh season. In season two, Greg Vaughan joined the series as the Halliwell sisters' new next-door neighbor Dan Gordon, while Karis Paige Bryant was cast as his niece Jenny Gordon. Bryant left her role midway through the second season, while Vaughan left at the end of the season. Australian actor Julian McMahon joined the cast of Charmed in season three as the half-demon Cole Turner. He departed the show midway through season five. Drew Fuller joined Charmed at the end of the fifth season as Piper and Leo's second son from the future, Chris Halliwell. Fuller left his role at the end of season six. In the eighth and final season, Kaley Cuoco joined the show as the young witch Billie Jenkins. Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent maintained their positions as executive producers of the series until it ended. Constance M. Burge became an executive producer when she was hired to create the series and write the pilot script. After the 28-minute "unaired pilot" was shown to The WB and the series was picked up by the network, Brad Kern was recruited as the fourth executive producer and as the showrunner in order to decipher how the series would develop over the course of its run. Scripting was done by a large number of writers. Kern did the most writing, with a total of 26 episodes, as well as directing one of them. The writers with the most writing credits other than Kern include Daniel Cerone, Curtis Kheel, Zack Estrin, Chris Levinson, Krista Vernoff, Sheryl J. Anderson, Monica Owusu-Breen, Alison Schapker, Cameron Litvack, and Jeannine Renshaw. Burge wrote seven episodes for the first and second seasons before leaving her position as executive producer. Scripting was carried out after group brainstorms took place, discussing the events of the episodes, the emotions of the characters, and the mythology involved. Robert Masello, an executive story editor for the series, credits himself as the only demonologist hired for a series, in order to add his experience to the storyline. The book Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV (2007) revealed that viewers of the Wiccan religion appreciated the accurate portrayal of some Wiccan elements, but were disappointed with the way the series tied the Wiccan religion with Christianity, through the concept of demons and angels (Whitelighters). One Wiccan viewer noted that some of the evil demons in Charmed carry the names of benevolent gods and goddesses in the Wiccan religion. However, many Wiccan viewers appreciated the fact that Charmed brought their religion into the public eye in a positive way, through the use of other elements such as sacred objects, spellcasting, a Book of Shadows, solstice celebrations and handfastings. Cast member Holly Marie Combs revealed in The Women of Charmed documentary (2000) that the series aimed at following a mythology created by fantasy, and not adhering to Wiccan rules too closely, for fear of coming under criticism for either not being "technically correct enough" or missing the truth completely. Ahead of the third season, Burge left her former position as executive producer to Kern, after she reportedly became frustrated that storylines for the third season were going to become more focused on the sisters' relationships with their love interests than each other. She had disagreements with Kern over bringing the character Cole Turner (Julian McMahon) into the show as a love interest for Alyssa Milano's character Phoebe, as there was already enough focus on the show's established couple Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause). However, Burge remained on Charmed as a creative consultant until season four. Her departure resulted in changes in the story structure of the show, from a "demon of the week" system to using third or half-season-long story arcs. In addition, more importance was given to the protagonists' personal lives. The serial connection of episodes culminated in the second half of season four. Despite the ratings increasing during season four's final story arc from 4.19 to 4.21, The WB asked Kern to abandon the serial system. This led to the largely episodic structure of season five, and resulted in the two systems being balanced from the sixth season onwards. The first six seasons of Charmed were filmed at Ray-Art Studios in Canoga Park, Los Angeles on four of the studio's sound stages. After Ray-Arts Studio was sold in 2003, production for Charmed moved to the Paramount Studios lot for seasons seven and eight. The Innes House located at 1329 Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles was used as the exterior for the show's fictional Halliwell Manor, and has become popular with tourists over the years. During the seventh season and for the first time in its history, the show had been in limbo as there was no guaranteed renewal for an eighth season. Charmed was ultimately renewed for a final season, but the budget was cut considerably compared to previous seasons due to expensive special effects and props and highly-paid actresses. Executive producer Brad Kern revealed that they had to cut back on special effects and guest stars, and that the entire season was shot only on the Paramount Studios lot as they could not go out on location anymore. These budget cuts also led to cast member Dorian Gregory being written out of the final season and Brian Krause being written out of several episodes as a cost-saving measure. Kern revealed that the show could not afford to have Krause in all 22 episodes of the final season, but he was brought back for the final two episodes to help bring closure to the storylines. The opening credits for Charmed was used to introduce the main and supporting cast members in each season. It consisted of various scenes from episodes and individual footages of the cast that were mostly updated from season to season. The opening began with images of the Golden Gate Bridge and flashing shots of the triquetra symbol in a circle. The show's title card then appeared, featuring the triquetra symbol and Book of Shadows. After the title card shot in the seasons 1–3 opening, scenes from the pilot episode were shown, which included an overhead view of the sisters casting a spell at a round table and a shot of them coming downstairs. A scene of the sisters reciting a spell was then shown with the word "starring." This was followed by the individual footages and names of each lead actress; Shannen Doherty's appeared first, then Holly Marie Combs' and Alyssa Milano's, followed by the individual footages and names of each supporting cast member. The last few scenes in the opening showed the sisters' cat, a San Francisco cable car, and lastly the sisters walking upstairs into their home, with Doherty's character closing the door using her telekinetic powers. Following Doherty's departure at the end of season three, the season four opening credits had to be recreated to remove all footage of Doherty and to include her replacement, Rose McGowan. The beginning of the opening remained the same. However, after the title card was shown, scenes were changed to include images of the Golden Gate Bridge, a gargoyle, talisman, scrying crystal, tattoo of the triquetra symbol, and candles. The order in which each lead actresses individual footage and name appeared in the opening was also changed; Milano's was moved up first, McGowan's was put in second, and Combs' was moved down third and listed "as Piper". The last few scenes in the opening were also changed to include a cemetery, exterior shots of the Halliwell Manor, and pages in the Book of Shadows. A five-second opening was used for the two-part premiere episodes of seasons four and five; it featured flashing shots of the triquetra symbol and the show's title in large blue letters. The opening theme song used in the television airings of all eight seasons was Love Spit Love's cover version of "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths. The song had previously appeared on the soundtrack of The Craft. In the shortened five-second opening for the two-part premiere episodes of seasons four and five, the song was replaced by instrumental music. "How Soon Is Now?" was also replaced by hard-rock instrumental music in the season eight DVD because the music license to use it had expired. This hard-rock instrumental music was also used in the opening of all eight seasons on Netflix. The earlier seasons of Charmed received mostly favorable reviews from television critics, with its first season scoring a Metacritic score of 61 out of 100. During the first season, Entertainment Weekly writer Ken Tucker, speaking on the comparisons between Charmed and rival series, argued: "spike- heeled where Buffy is fleet-footed, Charmed is Charlie's Angels with an Ouija board." As well as the show's action sequences—describing the Halliwells as "superheroes"—he noted that the series "plays up the stars' separate-but-equal charms" and admired both its "casting and pop-culture timing." Vanessa Thorpe of The Guardian agreed with Alyssa Milano's description of Charmed as "perfect post-feminist girl-power," praising the balance between action and emotion as the "three sibling sorceresses know mischief, but are accessibly feminine." Entertainment Weekly critic Karyn L. Barr labelled Charmed a "crafty cult classic" and in her retrospective review of the first season, wrote that it "remains spellbinding thanks to its proper balance of quirky humor, Buffy- esque drama" and Shannen Doherty's character Prue. Angelica Bastien of Bustle magazine commended the "strong female characters" and felt that the show resembled more than Buffy due to its "mix of drama, wacky humor, intensely layered mythology, and feminism-lite vibe." During the third season, Michael Abernethy of PopMatters praised the "well-choreographed action sequences, respectable acting" and "believable" sisterly relationship between Milano, Doherty, and Holly Marie Combs. Abernethy credited Charmed as "more enjoyable than most shows in the good vs evil genre" largely due to the strength of the performers, and noted that despite the monster of the week format, "the writers tend to explore the sibling dynamics to keep the show from growing redundant." Christel Loar also from PopMatters agreed that "episodes go beyond the demon-of-the-week formula to tap into the relationships of the characters and their...flaws. Charmed...succeeded by combining sisterhood with the supernatural." Loar also claimed that the Halliwells' struggle for normal lives, "stability, and a sense of self is one of the reasons Charmed strikes such a chord with its viewers." The A.V. Clubs Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya described the fourth season as "one of the grimmest seasons of Charmed," following Doherty's departure and her character's death "informing the overall tone." Upadhyaya also praised the "smart decisions" the writers made of how they introduced a new sister into the series, calling the transition "Charmeds greatest accomplishment" that "opened up whole new avenues for grounded, emotional storytelling." During the sixth season, Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly described Charmed as "a guilty-pleasure fantasy" that is "inherently cute and incredibly simple." Flynn also praised the comedic acting between Milano, Combs and Rose McGowan, adding that "selling this kind of comedy takes a certain gameness, and the actresses have got it." The latter seasons of Charmed also received a mixed reception from some critics. Bustles Bastien felt that after Doherty's departure, "Charmed got pretty bad," noting that the show "lost track of its core theme" of witchcraft and sisterhood by bringing in mystical fairy tale beings and focusing more on soap opera-type plots and the sisters' love lives. Similarly, BuzzFeed writer Jarett Wieselman agreed that "After Doherty's exit, Charmed veered into slightly-absurd-yet-no- less-entertaining territory," noting that McGowan's addition "ushered in a wave of increasingly campy episodes." The A.V. Clubs Upadhyaya felt that the latter seasons "got too complicated" and campy by focusing too much on the magic "and not enough about the themes that grounded the show earlier on." Becca James also from The A.V. Club felt that the show "should have died the same time" Doherty's character did. Hugh Armitage of Digital Spy believed that Charmed "began to feel very self-indulgent towards its stars" in the latter seasons, noting that character-driven storylines were replaced with gimmicks such as the revealing outfits worn by the sisters, particularly both Milano's and McGowan's characters. Heart of Glass magazine's Kristina Adams felt that after creator Constance M. Burge's departure from the show, executive producer Brad Kern "ruined it" by focusing more on the magic and making a "cliché" magical world with the introduction of nymphs, Greek gods, valkyries, Egyptian gods, magic school, gnomes, and ogres. Adams further added that "storylines were less thought out," and the sisters' outfits were becoming "more and more revealing." Nick Romano of Screen Crush wrote that "the storylines became wicca ridiculous and the dialogue became too cheesy," particularly in season eight. Jon Langmead of PopMatters believed that Charmed "slipped markedly" in seasons seven and eight, noting that the final season lost appealing elements such as "smart casting" and "attention to relationship drama" of the show's earlier seasons. Langmead also disliked the introduction of Kaley Cuoco and Marnette Patterson in the eighth season, and felt that Cuoco was "consistently painful to watch." DVD Verdict's Ryan Keefer also felt that Cuoco joining the show was a "poor choice" by the producers, and commented that season eight "failed to recapture the glory days of the first few seasons." Charmed has gathered several awards and nominations. The show was nominated for one TV Guide Award, two International Horror Guild Awards, three Teen Choice Awards, three Wand Awards and seven RATTY Awards, with Holly Marie Combs winning "Best Science Fiction Lead Actress" in 2003. It was also nominated for three Saturn Awards, including one "Best Network Television Series" nomination for its first season and two "Best Actress on Television" nominations for Shannen Doherty in 1999 and 2000. In 2001, Charmed won a Cable Guide Award in the United Kingdom for "Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series." The series also won a "Certificate of Merit" at the 2003 EDGE Awards for the season four episode "Muse to My Ears." In 2004, Alyssa Milano was nominated for a Spacey Award in Canada for "Favorite Female TV Character" and in 2005, she was nominated for "Favorite Television Actress" at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. That same year, Rose McGowan won the award for "Favorite Sister" at the Family Television Awards. Charmed also received recognition for its young guest actors, having been nominated for five Young Artist Awards, with Alex Black winning once for his role in the season four episode "Lost and Bound." In the United States, Charmed premiered on The WB on October 7, 1998 and ended on May 21, 2006. The first season aired on Wednesday nights at 9:00 pm. For its second, third and fourth seasons, Charmed moved to Thursday nights. For the fifth season, the series moved to Sunday nights at 8:00 pm and remained there until its eighth and final season. By the end of season eight, Charmed had aired a total of 178 episodes and became the longest running hour-long television series in American history, featuring all female leads. Most seasons consisted of 22 episodes, except for the fifth and sixth seasons, which contained 23 episodes, including their double-episode premieres and double-episode finales. TNT and Pop currently air reruns of Charmed during early weekday mornings. Full episodes of Charmed are also available for viewing on TNT's official website. WE tv had previously aired reruns during weeknights in 2010. The series was first released onto the subscription video- on-demand service Netflix in July 2011. According to data research from The NPD Group, Charmed was the second-most binge watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix in 2012. Charmeds first episode "Something Wicca This Way Comes" broke the record for the highest-rated debut episode for The WB, with 7.7 million viewers. The show's ratings, although smaller than rival shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB network. Charmeds premiere in 1998 helped ratings rise for The WB, with TV Guides Mark Schwed noting that the network's viewing figures were way up than the previous year. For its first three seasons, Charmed was the second-highest rated series on The WB, behind 7th Heaven. During its fifth season, the series became the highest-rated Sunday night program in The WB's history. Charmed was the first primetime television show about a coven of witches. Following the broadcast of the season eight episode "Payback's a Witch" in January 2006, Charmed became the longest running hour-long series in American television history featuring all female leads. However, this accolade was surpassed in 2012 by Desperate Housewives, which also lasted for eight seasons but aired two more episodes than Charmed. In 2000, Cult TV placed Charmed at number forty-four on its list of the "Top 100 Cult TV Shows." In 2007, AOL TV ranked each Charmed One on its list of the "Top TV Witches"—Piper third, Phoebe seventh, Prue ninth and Paige twelfth. In 2010, HuffPost TV and AOL TV ranked Charmed at number ten on their joint list of "The Top 20 Magic/Supernatural Shows of All Time" and in 2013, TV Guide placed the series on its list of "The 60 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows of All Time." In 2012, six years after its original broadcasting, Charmed was found by The NPD Group to be the second-most binge watched television series on subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix. After Charmed ended, there were never any other long-running shows about witches to rival shows about vampires and zombies. In 2013, Joe Rhodes of The New York Times referred to Charmed as "the last successful witch TV series," while BuzzFeed writer Jarett Wieselman wrote that "no subsequent [witch] series have been able to replicate Charmeds success." Many witch-themed shows since Charmed ended have been cancelled after one or two seasons. The 2013–14 season saw a resurgence of witches in new shows The Originals, Witches of East End, Salem, and in the third season of American Horror Story titled . In an interview with E! Online, cast member Alyssa Milano stated that she believed the success of Charmed helped pave the way for these witch-themed shows, saying "I feel like networks are trying to replicate that." The growing trend of witches on television that year as well as Charmeds success on Netflix prompted CBS to develop a reboot of Charmed, which did not get picked up at the network. However, The CW network later developed a different reboot series, which premiered in October 2018, featuring different cast members and characters. Witches of East End (2013–14) was noted by critics for its strong resemblance to Charmed, as both shows are about a sisterhood of witches battling evil and live in similar houses, which its executive producer Maggie Friedman has acknowledged. Other witch-themed shows that have been compared to Charmed include The Secret Circle (2011–12) and Hex (2004–05), which was described as "the U.K.'s edgier, oversexed response to Charmed." Eastwick (2009) was noted for its surface similarities to Charmed as it also focused on a trio of female witches, which led director David Nutter to come out and say that Eastwick was not a clone of Charmed. The season four episode of Smallville titled "Spell" also received comparisons to Charmed as it focused on three of its main female characters, who get possessed by a trio of 16th Century witches. The depiction of witchcraft in Charmed has had a significant impact on popular culture. The book Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV (2007) revealed that viewers of the Wiccan religion appreciated the fact that Charmed brought their religion into the public eye in a positive way, through the use of sacred objects, spellcasting, a Book of Shadows, solstice celebrations and handfastings. In 2008, the religious organisation Beliefnet ranked The Charmed Ones at number eight on their list of the "Top 10 Witches in Pop Culture." Beliefnet praised the cultural image of Charmed for its female empowerment, mythology and how the sisters "managed to solve their cases" week-on-week. In 2011, Seventeen magazine named The Charmed Ones ninth in its list of the top fictional witches of all time, while E! Online ranked Piper at number six on their list of "Pop Culture's Top 10 Most Bitchin' Witches." In 2012, the Chicago Tribune placed The Charmed Ones at number seven on their list of "The Top Pop Culture Witches of All Time." In 2014, The Charmed Ones were ranked at number six on the "Pop Culture's Favorite Witches" list by MSN's Wonderwall. In 2016, Piper was also ranked at number six in The Huffington Posts list of "The Top 10 Greatest Witches of All Time." Charmed has also become a pop culture reference in television shows and films. In the 2000 parody film, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, Barbara Primesuspect (Julie Benz) is said to be yelling "Charmed my ass!" at Shannen Doherty, who does not appear on-screen. The series is also mentioned in the episode "Ur-ine Trouble" of teen comedy-drama series Popular, when Josh Ford (Bryce Johnson) tells Brooke McQueen (Leslie Bibb) to go home and watch Charmed. In another episode of Popular, entitled "The Shocking Possession of Harrison John," Josh asks George Austin (Anthony Montgomery) who is Michael Bernardino's (Ron Lester) "favorite hottie witch" on Charmed and George says it is Prue. In the episode "Faith" of Third Watch, Fred Yokas (Chris Bauer) mentions to his wife Faith (Molly Price) that their daughter was upset she could not watch Charmed. In the 2002 teen comedy film Big Fat Liar, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) recalls watching an episode of Charmed on The WB where Alyssa Milano's character Phoebe was about to put a spell on her demon boyfriend. In a 2003 episode of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Serena Bishop (Lara Sacher) and Erin Perry (Talia Zucker) find out they have a lot in common like their love for Charmed. In a 2005 episode of Neighbours, Bree Timmins (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) mentions that The O.C. is the best show on television since Charmed. In the episode "Plucky" of sitcom So Notorious, Aaron Spelling tells his daughter Tori Spelling that "there's always room for another witch on Charmed" after hearing of her latest cable telemovie role. In another episode of So Notorious, entitled "Cursed," Tori and Sasan (Zachary Quinto) discuss who has put a curse on her and Sasan says, "It's Shannen [Doherty]! She knows all that witchcraft from Charmed." In the season four episode "Me and the Devil" of True Blood, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) tells a witch named Marnie Stonebrook (Fiona Shaw) that one of her favorite television shows she watched as a child was Charmed. In the episode "Boy Parts" of American Horror Story: Coven, a witch named Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) mentions that she grew up watching Charmed. Both the show and character Piper were referenced in the episode "Sorry for Your Loss" of The Tomorrow People, when Piper Nichols (Aeriél Miranda) introduces herself to Russell Kwon (Aaron Yoo), who responds by saying "Charmed, Piper." Critics noted references of Charmed in the witchcraft-themed music video for British girl group Little Mix's song "Black Magic" (2015). Since Charmed ended in 2006, academics have appropriated its content and published essays and articles regarding Charmed. It has been the subject of several collective books such as Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV edited by Karin and Stan Beeler, which adopts a gender perspective to carry out an in-depth analysis of third-wave feminism as shown in the series. Between 2012 and 2015, French academic and essayist Alexis Pichard delivered a set of three lectures on Charmed. In 2012, he spoke about intertextuality and postmodernism in the series at the Université de Rouen. In 2014, he explored Charmed transmedia storytelling at the Université Paris 3. In 2015, he investigated the show's postfeminist subversion of fairy tales at the University of Lorient, a presentation which was followed two years later by the publication in French academic journal TV/Series of an article entitled "'When you said sea hag, did you mean like old woman hag or evil magic hag?' : Imbrication du conte de fées et du (post)féminisme dans Charmed" ('The embedding of fairy tales and (post)feminism in Charmed'). The journal's editor summarises Pichard's work as follows: "Alexis Pichard examines gender norms as they appear on the small screen, scrutinizing the relationship between supernatural soap Charmed (The WB, 1998-2006) and the fairy tale. He describes a complex relationship where literary associations are a way of subverting traditions and expectations on the one hand – and ultimately succumbing to them on the other, with a problematic post-feminist emphasis on 'having it all'". The Charmed novels are a series of books that accompany the television series. Between 1999 and 2008, forty-three novels were published by Simon & Schuster and were roughly set during the same period as the events of the television series. The first novel, The Power of Three, was released in November 1999 as a novelization of the series premiere episode, "Something Wicca This Way Comes." All subsequent novels – apart from Charmed Again (2001) which narrates the events of the two-part episode of the same name – are original stories revolving around the Halliwell sisters and their allies. The first ten novels involve the original Charmed Ones, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, while the remaining thirty-three are set after both Prue's murder and the introduction of Paige Matthews as the youngest, new Charmed One. Two novels, Seasons of the Witch (2003) and The Warren Witches (2005), are anthologies of short stories. Writers of the series include Diana G. Gallagher and Paul Ruditis who also co-authored two volumes of the official guidebook, The Book of Three (2004; 2006). In 2015, HarperCollins acquired the rights to publish a second series of Charmed novels from CBS Consumer Products. The first novel, The War on Witches, was published in May 2015 and its narrative is set between the events of and of the comic book series. It is written by Ruditis, who previously authored Season 9 and edited Season 10, and follows the younger Charmed Ones' reunions with Prue and Cole Turner after their resurrections. The Charmed comic books serve as a continuation of the television series and were originally published by Zenescope Entertainment. The first comic book series, , was released in June 2010 and is set eighteen months after the events of the televised show's final episode, "Forever Charmed." Author Paul Ruditis was the lead writer of the first series and Raven Gregory helped him co-write the first three issues. The second and final comic book series by Zenescope, , debuted at the New York Comic Con during the weekend of October 9, 2014. Pat Shand was the lead writer of the second series while Ruditis assumed the role of editor. In 2017, Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights to publish a new comic book series titled Charmed: A Thousand Deaths. It was written by Erica Schultz and illustrated by Maria Sanapo. Four soundtrack albums of Charmed have been released and feature music that were used in the show. The first soundtrack album, , was released in September 2003. The second soundtrack, , was released in January 2005 and the third, Charmed: The Final Chapter, was released in May 2006. A retrospect of songs compiled from all eight seasons of the show, Charmed: The Final Chapter was positively received by Heather Phares of AllMusic, who praised it for "feel[ing] like a late '90s/early 2000s time capsule". The fourth soundtrack, Charmed: Score from the Television Series, was released as a limited edition in June 2013 and featured a selection of cues from the show by composer J. Peter Robinson. Several official board games of Charmed have been published by Clash of Arms and Tilsit. The show's first board game, Charmed: The Book of Shadows, was released in 2001 and the second board game, Charmed: The Source, was released in 2003. Other board games include Charmed: The Power of Three and Charmed: The Prophecy, both of which were released in 2005. An action, platform video game of Charmed was developed by DC Studios and published by In-Fusio. The game was released for mobile phones in Europe in 2003 and North America in 2004. Titan Magazines began publishing the Charmed Magazine in 2004, which was issued bi-monthly and featured interviews with the cast and crew, the latest news and developments, and behind-the-scenes information on the show. The 24th and final issue of Charmed Magazine was released in 2008. All eight seasons of Charmed were released individually on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4 between February 2005 and September 2007. A new packaging of the Region 4 DVDs for all seasons were released in April 2011. A limited Book of Shadows box set edition was released in Region 4 on November 16, 2006 and featured seasons 1–7. A limited Magic Chest box set edition was released in Region 2 on March 5, 2007 and included all eight seasons. An ultimate box set was released in Region 2 on October 27, 2008 and Region 4 on November 6, 2008. The set includes all seasons, with a cover that features all four Halliwell sisters together. Two complete series box sets were released in Region 1 on November 18, 2008. Both sets are styled after the show's Book of Shadows, with one set being a regular release and the other being a limited deluxe edition. The complete series box set was re-released in the United States on November 11, 2014 and features a brand new cover of all four sisters. In June 2018, CBS Studios (who own the rights to Charmed) announced that the whole series was in the process of being remastered to high-definition with a completion date of September 2019. The remastered version of season one was released on high-definition blu-ray in the US on October 30, 2018. On October 25, 2013, it was announced that CBS was developing a reboot of Charmed. Party of Five co-creator Christopher Keyser and Sydney Sidner were going to executive produce and write the pilot script for CBS Television Studios (who own the rights to Charmed) and The Tannenbaum Company. The reboot was described as a "re-imagining of the original series centered around four sisters who discover their destiny – to battle against the forces of evil using their witchcraft." CBS only ordered a script for a pilot, however; no commitment to filming was made. Following the announcement, the original cast of Charmed shared their opinions of the reboot through Twitter. Rose McGowan tweeted, "They really are running out of ideas in Hollywood," followed up by another tweet, "lame lame lame lamertons." Alyssa Milano tweeted, "The thing about them doing a #charmed reboot is ... it just ... it feels like yesterday. It feels too close." Holly Marie Combs tweeted, "Here's the thing. Everything is a reboot. If you think otherwise you haven't read enough Shakespeare yet. At least they had the decency to call it what it is. Instead of ripping it off and then pretending to not be ripping it off." Shannen Doherty tweeted to a fan, "I don't know yet. It's strange to think about a reboot. I guess I'm still processing the idea." However, on August 12, 2014, TVLine's Michael Ausiello revealed that CBS were not moving forward with the reboot. On January 25, 2018, The CW network officially ordered a pilot of a new Charmed reboot, developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin, for the 2018–19 television season. The reboot was described by The CW as "a fierce, funny, feminist reboot" of the original series. It follows the lives of three sisters—Macy, Mel and Maggie—who, after the death of their mother, discover they are The Charmed Ones, the most powerful trio of good witches, who are destined to protect innocent lives from demons and other dark forces. The eldest sister Macy is a "practical, driven, and brilliant geneticist" with the power of telekinesis. The middle sister Mel is "a passionate, outspoken activist" and lesbian with the power of time-freezing, while the youngest Maggie is "a bubbly college freshman" with the power to hear people's thoughts. Madeleine Mantock was cast as Macy, Melonie Diaz was cast as Mel, Sarah Jeffery was cast as Maggie, and Rupert Evans was cast as the trio's whitelighter Harry. The reboot premiered on The CW on October 14, 2018, 20 years after the original series' premiere. The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on October 11, 2019. It currently airs on Friday nights at 8:00 pm. Paige Matthews is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Rose McGowan from October 4, 2001 until May 21, 2006. The character was created by executive producer Brad Kern as a replacement for lead character Prue Halliwell, following the departure of actress Shannen Doherty. Paige is introduced into season four as the fiercely independent younger half-sister of the show's remaining female leads, Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano). Like her sisters, Paige is a witch, and more specifically, a Charmed One--one of the most powerful witches of all time. Paige is introduced as the secret love child of the Halliwell sisters' mother Patty (Finola Hughes) and her whitelighter (guardian angel) Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck), making Paige both a witch and whitelighter. She was given up at birth and raised by her adoptive parents. At the beginning of season four, Paige goes on to help reconstitute The Charmed Ones by taking Prue's place in the "Power of Three", following her death in the season three finale. Like Prue, Paige possesses telekinetic abilities, but due to her mixed whitelighter heritage, this manifests as the ability to orb ("teleport") objects from one location to another through a vocal command. As the series progresses, Paige also receives whitelighter abilities such as the power to orb herself and others, as well as sensing, glamouring, and healing. Paige's storylines have often revolved around her protecting innocents and defeating the forces of evil in San Francisco with her sisters. In the later seasons, she eventually receives her own whitelighter charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft. Paige also has romantic relationships with fellow-witch Richard Montana (Balthazar Getty) in season six, and FBI agent Kyle Brody (Kerr Smith) in season seven. In the eighth and final season, Paige marries a human parole officer named Henry Mitchell (Ivan Sergei). The character was mostly well received by television critics, who complimented Paige's personality and felt that McGowan was the right choice for the role. McGowan won the Family Television Award for Favorite Sister in 2005 for her portrayal of Paige. In 2007, AOL TV ranked Paige at number 13 on their list of the Top TV Witches, the lowest of the four sisters. In addition to the television series, the character has also appeared in numerous expanded universe material, such as the Charmed novels and its comic book adaptation. The character of Paige Matthews was conceived by executive producer Brad Kern as a replacement character for Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty). In May 2001, it was officially announced that Doherty would be departing Charmed. The producers originally considered recasting the role of Prue with a different actress. Executive producer Aaron Spelling even approached actresses Tiffani Thiessen, who replaced Doherty on his previous series Beverly Hills, 90210, and Jennifer Love Hewitt to take on the role as Doherty's replacement. Spelling revealed to Entertainment Weekly, "Tiffani was our first choice to take over for Shannen - even before we asked Jennifer [Love Hewitt], but Tiffani told us she wants to do a half-hour comedy." Hewitt also declined the role. Producers then decided to kill off the character of Prue and replace her with a long-lost younger sister in favor of having "a fresh face" join the series. Spelling stated, "[The character's] going to be the long-lost sister Alyssa and Holly never knew [they] had. And wait until you see what we came up with to explain why she's been lost: Nobody ever knew she even existed." Film actress Rose McGowan was later revealed to be cast in the role of Paige Matthews, her first role as a series regular on a television series. Kern stated, "From Paige's point of view, you go to bed one night, and you think you're a single child, and no one understands you. Then you wake up the next morning, and you find out you've got sisters who are witches, who've got supernatural powers, who have a destiny that you must now share and embrace, and you must learn your new powers." He later elaborated saying, "When we meet her, she will have been searching for many years, both for her birth parents, but also for an answer to that feeling that she's had inside of her that there's something special, there's something else that nobody has yet been able to understand and explain." On casting McGowan in the role of Paige, Kern admitted, "Our personal hope was to find somebody that would be of Shannen's calibre, that would have the sexiness, the edge and the range. That, for the age range we were looking for, is hard to find. We said, 'We don't want somebody conventional. We don't want a shrinking violet. We don't want just another pretty face that smiles and has great teeth. We want somebody who has an attitude.' I think Rose definitely has an attitude, and that's an energy that we can take advantage of for the betterment of the show." Paige appears as the secret half-sister in the final five seasons of Charmed, portrayed by Rose McGowan within 112 episodes from 2001 to 2006. In the first episode of the fourth season (2001–2002), "Charmed Again (Part 1)", we are introduced to Paige who is a reformed alcoholic in her early twenties working for South Bay Social Services as an assistant and would-be social worker. In the same episode, it is revealed that after Paige's adoptive parents (played by Lisa Darr and M. Scott Wilkinson) died, she went searching for her birth parents and suspected that she might be related to the Halliwell sisters. With Patty Halliwell (Finola Hughes) long since deceased, Paige relented on pursuing the matter further. After the Source of All Evil learns of Paige's existence, he puts a hit out on her life. Paige is eventually saved by Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) and her boyfriend Cole Turner (Julian McMahon), and then subsequently introduced to Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) and her husband Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause). Paige then goes on to help reconstitute The Charmed Ones by taking Prue Halliwell's (Shannen Doherty) place in "The Power of Three". This is made possible after it is revealed that she is the daughter of Patty and the Whitelighter Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck), making her a sister- witch to Phoebe and Piper. The episode reveals that Paige was given up at birth to protect her from the wrath of The Elders if they were to discover her Whitelighter heritage. Like her sister Prue, Paige was born with "the ability to move things with her mind". Since she possessed the missing power, she was able to take her place in the Power of Three, thus reforming the Charmed Ones. Due to her Whitelighter heritage, however, her magical method of movement causes "objects to orb from a location to another". Paige has also shown the ability to impart momentum on these orbing objects. Throughout season four, Paige shows that she has inherited a variety of Whitelighter powers such as orbing, and sensing. While Paige finds it easier to develop a friendship with Phoebe, she initially butts heads with Piper, but eventually the two sisters grow to have a mutual respect for each other. Later in the season, Paige reveals her identity as a witch to her childhood friend and "sometimes" boyfriend, Glen Belland (Jesse Woodrow). Once she develops more control over her witchcraft Paige is able to help her sisters' avenge Prue's death and vanquish the Source twice – both in his original incarnation and that of his next incarnation, Cole Turner. During the finale of season four, Paige and her sisters are later visited by the Angel of Destiny (Dakin Matthews) and given an offer to live a normal life without magical powers or the threat of demons. Over the course of the episode, Paige eventually convinces her sisters to decline the offer and remain Charmed to continue doing good in the world. At the start of season five (2002–2003), Paige is officially promoted to social worker in the episode, "A Witch's Tail (Part 1)", but by the end of the second episode, "A Witch's Tail (Part 2)", Paige quits her job to pursue being a witch full-time. During this season Paige meets Sam Wilder (her birth- father)and slowly comes to terms with letting him into her life. Paige shows signs of still struggling with living up to the legend of her deceased sister Prue and her title of "Superwitch". When Paige masters a difficult spell created by Prue, she appears to come at peace with her sibling rivalry. Later in the season, Paige, alongside Phoebe, trains to be a mid-wife in order to deliver Piper's baby. When Piper gives birth to a boy she names Wyatt, he is given the middle name Matthew in honor of his protective aunt Paige. In the sixth season (2003–2004), Paige grows tired of unemployment and obtains a job at a temp agency. While employed on the various jobs via the agency, Paige finds herself drawn into various magical endeavors concerning members of the magical community. Through one of these magical journeys she meets and later dates a witch named Richard Montana (Balthazar Getty), a relationship which mirrors the love affair Phoebe had with Cole as Richard attempts to avoid the temptations of dark magic. The couple eventually break up, but not before Paige binds Richard's powers so that he doesn't feel the temptation to misuse his powers. Also in this season, Paige becomes the second person to discover that the sisters' new time-traveling Whitelighter Chris Perry (Drew Fuller) is actually Chris Halliwell and the second child of Piper and Leo. He has come back in time to prevent Wyatt from becoming evil in the future. Together, Chris helps Paige and her sisters discover that a powerful Elder named Gideon (Gildart Jackson) wishes to destroy the Twice-Blessed Wyatt, an act which causes Wyatt to turn his back on good in the future. During the start of the seventh season (2004–2005), Paige fights to keep Magic School from closing after the death of its headmaster, Gideon. The Elders then place Paige in charge of Magic School as the new headmistress once they realize how deep her dedication runs. Also this season, Paige befriends federal agent Kyle Brody (Kerr Smith), and the two eventually grow close over their mutual investigation of The Avatars, powerful beings who are neither good nor evil. After initial hesitation, Paige and her sisters join sides with The Avatars in their plan to turn the world into a utopia against the warnings of both Kyle and The Elders. When The Charmed Ones discover that the new utopia robs the world of their free will, they join sides with Kyle and the demon Zankou (Oded Fehr) and force The Avatars to restore the world to normal. Kyle, however, is killed in the process, but is resurrected as a Whitelighter as a reward from The Elders for helping to defeat The Avatars. He says his goodbyes to Paige, before leaving to start his new life. In late season seven, in episode seventeen "Scry Hard", Paige grows tired of being cooped up in Magic School and desires a reprieve from her duties as headmistress. At the suggestion of Piper and Phoebe, Paige instates the now human Leo as the new headmaster of Magic School in her place so that she can take a break while Leo can work in a place safe from the harm of demon attacks. The following episode, "Little Box of Horrors", The Elders manage to convince Paige that her continued quest for a life outside her role as a Charmed One stems from her destiny as a future Whitelighter. In the episode "Freaky Phoebe", Paige takes on official Whitelighter duties and gains her first charge in a witch named Mitchell Haines (Seamus Dever) who has the power of superhuman speed. In the season seven finale, during a suicide mission to vanquish Zankou, Paige and her sisters fake their deaths in order to escape the constant threat of demon attacks as well as police and government investigations. In the eighth and final season (2005–2006), Paige takes on the false identity of Jo Bennett (Christina Ulloa) and attempts to live a normal life free of magic. This proves to be impossible, as Paige hears the continual call of a new charge, a telekinetic witch named Billie Jenkins (Kaley Cuoco). In the fifth episode of season eight, "Rewitched", Paige and her sisters reclaim their true identities with the help of federal agent Murphy (Brandon Quinn) in exchange for helping the FBI handle supernatural investigations. Episode eight, "Battle of the Hexes", introduces Paige to parole officer Henry Mitchell (Ivan Sergei). After a courtship, which involves Henry discovering Paige's secret identity as a witch and whitelighter, the couple get married in the episode "Engaged and Confused". Later in the season, Paige discovers that her charge Billie and her sister, Christy Jenkins (Marnette Patterson) are the ultimate power The Charmed Ones must defeat to save Leo from the Angel of Death (Simon Templeman), but she has reservations because the women are human and not demons. In the end, Paige willingly participates in the ultimate battle between The Charmed Ones and the Jenkins sisters. After the series end, it is shown in flashforwards that Paige accepts her role as a Whitelighter, aiding many witches and future Whitelighters that include her nieces and nephews. It is also revealed that Paige and Henry's marriage will produce three children, twin daughters and a son. As one of the central characters of the series, Paige appears in a number of Charmed literature. These appearances first began in the eleventh book of the series of novels. The novels follow no strict continuity with the series or each other, and are often considered to be non-canon. However, the television series producers have final approval of everything in the novels, which could indicate the literature fitting into the established canon of the series and the so-called "Charmed universe". Paige's first appearance in Charmed literature takes place within the novel Charmed Again by Elizabeth Lenhard in 2002, which acts as a novelised version of the fourth season premiere episode. Her last appearance in a Charmed novel takes place within Trickery Treat by Diana G. Gallagher on January 1, 2008. In 2010, Charmed gained an officially licensed continuation in the form of a comic book, which is often billed as . The series is published monthly by Zenescope Entertainment. Set eighteen- months after the series finale, the sisters are seen living happy demon free lives and have each entered into motherhood. Paige has had twin girls with Henry Mitchell named Kat and Tamora Mitchell. In the comic series, Paige is working as a full-time Whitelighter and can also be seen helping Leo at Magic School with his students. In Issue #3, Innocents Lost, Paige develops a new power in the form of a reinforced forcefield made up of orbs. Later in Issue #8, Oh, Henry, Paige rescues a baby from the womb of his dying mother. She and Henry later adopt the infant boy and name him Henry, Jr. In the seventeenth issue of the comics, Paige looks for a witch named Sarah at a Salem house; however, she meets Cole who won't let her in. Despite his pleas, she orbs into the house where she meets Patience (Prue) and the two touch causing their powers to send them away. After recovering, Patience tells Paige that she is Prue At first, Paige doesn't believe her, but they go to the manor where after six years, Prue, Piper, and Phoebe are finally reunited with a hug. In Charmed it is revealed that magical witches can develop and master a variety of magical skills and powers which include; scrying, spell casting, and brewing potent potions. As a magical witch Paige can utilize scrying, a divination art form that allows one to locate a missing object or person. Paige can also cast spells, often written in iambic pentameter or as a rhyming couplet, to influence others or the world around her. She can also brew potions, most often used to vanquish foes or to achieve other magical feats similar to the effects of a spell. As a witch and Charmed One, Paige has also developed a number of magical powers which include Telekinetic Orbing and Force Field (sometimes called Orb-Shield). In the second half of the two-part season four premiere, "Charmed Again (Part 2)", Paige displays her method of moving objects with her mind by orbing objects from one location to another through a vocal command. When she vocally calls the name of an object or living being it will orb to her, appearing in hand or within close range to her body. This power is sometimes labeled Telekinetic Orbing. Due to her Whitelighter side, Paige's telekinetic power carries aspects of teleportation, although she still showcases the ability to impart momentum on the objects she orbs allowing her to throw them across distances. Telekinetic Orbing does not require a great deal of accuracy in calling an object. For instance, in the season six episode "Hyde School Reunion", Paige orbs demonic acid by using the vocal call, "Icky stuff". She also displays the lack of need for accuracy in the episode "A Wrong Day's Journey into Right" when she redirects a shuriken by calling out, "Weapon...thingy." Over the course of her time on the series, Paige's powers grow in strength allowing her to move things without verbally calling for them. This can be seen in the episode, "Sword and the City" when she orbs the stoned encased Excalibur into the attic of the Manor without a vocal command. She shows this skill again in the season eight episode "Repo Manor" when she orbs the replica dollhouse of the Manor into the attic without saying anything as well. By late season seven, it becomes evident that Paige can now orb people and demons to any location by saying the name of the desired location. For example, she orbs Phoebe back to the Manor by stating, "Home!" in the episode "Charmed Noir". Towards the end of season eight, Paige displays the advanced skill of being able to orb and throw adult sized demons and people across distances in a similar fashion to Prue's telekinetic lift and throw method. The most prominent example of this occurs when she orbs the demon Asmodeus (Steven J. Oliver), a member of The Triad, directly into a fireball thrown by fellow Triad member Baliel (Sören Oliver). Paige also simultaneously orbs and throws two demons into a dumpster in the episode "Gone with the Witches". In the Charmed comics, specifically Issue #3, Innocents Lost, Paige develops a new power in the form of a reinforced force field made up of orbs. Paige displays the ability to encase others inside of her force fields, without being within them herself, when she uses her new power to contain the explosion caused by the resurrected Source's destruction in the tenth issue of the comic series, Three Little Wiccans. In this same issue, Paige also uses her force field power offensively to push back demons. In Charmed a Whitelighter is a human soul that has been made a "guardian angel" for good witches and other future Whitelighters (also known as a Whitelighter's "charge"). A Whitelighter acts in the service of The Elders who bestow these souls with their new angelic powers. Because Paige's father, Sam Wilder, is a Whitelighter, she has inherited a number of powers associated with this race of guardian angels which include Orbing, Sensing, Glamouring, and Healing. Of important note is that her Whitelighter powers exist independently from her witch powers, which has proven handy in situations where her witch powers were stolen or rendered null. Paige enters the series with the ability to orb, a teleporting ability unique to Whitelighters that allows them to travel anywhere in the world as well as between various supernatural worlds, including the magically guarded realm of The Elders (often called "Up There" in the show). In the season four episode "A Paige from the Past", it is revealed that Paige has always had access to her power to orb, as the ability saves her from dying in the car crash that killed her adoptive parents. When we are introduced to Paige, her orbing power can only be channeled in panic induced situations as a fear response. She is also only able to orb in and out within the same place, which makes her unable to travel across distances with the power. In the season four episode "The Three Faces of Phoebe", Paige displays growth with her orbing powers by transporting herself across town for the first time. In the same episode, she also displays the advanced ability of orbing with passengers. Despite taking on the full duties of a Whitelighter by the eighth and final season of the series, Paige never shows the ability to orb "Up There". Instead, whenever she congregates with an Elder, she orbs to the top of the suspension tower of the Golden Gate Bridge to hold a meeting (though since she has successfully orbed to the Underworld on several occasions, this may have more to do with her personal attitude towards them than a lack of ability). In late season four, it is revealed that Paige has acquired the ability of sensing, a supernatural power which grants a Whitelighter a magical awareness of a charge's location and physical well being. Paige's first instance of full on sensing is seen in the episode "Saving Private Leo". Paige's sensing power enables her to hear the "call" of her charges whenever they are in need, allowing her to go to them when they need her most. Before becoming a full- fledged Whitelighter, Paige displays the ability to hear her sisters' "call" when she is far away from them. As a Whitelighter, her charges must not always vocally call out to her when they are in need. The sensing power allows the Whitelighter to instantly hear a charge's inner call whenever the charge is in immediate danger, which is, more often than not, life-threatening. Paige first shows a talent for healing in the season four premiere, "Charmed Again (Part 2)", when she uses her Whitelighter powers to enhance the healing abilities of her own Whitelighter, Leo Wyatt, to fully heal the half-demon Cole Turner. Later in that season, Paige is able to channel Leo's healing powers to heal him of his wounds after he has been poisoned by a Darklighter's arrow. However, it is not until the season eight episode "Payback's a Witch" that Paige develops the trigger to be able to heal on her own. After expressing her love discreetly for wounded parole officer Henry Mitchell, Paige unlocks the emotional trigger of love to access her healing powers, which she later uses to heal Henry of his gunshot wound. Like all Whitelighters before her, Paige can only use her healing powers on humans and not animals or demons. Paige has proven to be a skilled painter and sketch artist, first introduced in the season four episode, "Muse to My Ears". Paige also showcases her singing talents in the season five episode, "Sense and Sense Ability". While she has limited training in physical combat, her fighting skills are proficient enough to best Billie in hand-to-hand combat in the season eight episode, "Malice in Wonderland". Galen Adair of Wordandfilm.com described Paige as a "kindhearted, goofy witch," while a writer for IGN called her "voluptuous." CNN's Joshua Levs characterised Paige as "the lovable, secret, younger half-sister." In his review of the fourth season, Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk felt that Paige fits right in with the sisters and noted that her addition changed the character dynamics of Piper and Phoebe "in a good way." In another review of the fourth season, Leigh H. Edwards of PopMatters added that the addition of Paige was "contrived and clunky", but welcomed the idea of McGowan joining the show as a witch "since she has major goth cred as Marilyn Manson's former flame." DVD Verdict's Cynthia Boris wrote that McGowan brought "a youthfulness" and "a fresh viewer perspective" to Charmed, further noting that "fans have come to enjoy her presence on the show." Sara Paige and Rachel Hyland of Geek Speak magazine described Paige as "snarky, compassionate and whimsical," and believed that "McGowan was well-suited for the role." Professional wrestler Paige named herself after McGowan's character. A writer for MovieWeb praised McGowan's performance for delivering a "great and relatable character", noting that "She gets all of Paige's own quirks and emotions, and the feel of adjusting to things down really well." The writer also felt that McGowan was a "great casting choice" for Charmed. Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict commented on McGowan's acting in the fifth season, noting that she "clips off the end of every sentence, often growling more than annunciating her lines." Lineberger also added that "McGowan's impressive snarl" was one of the reasons he enjoyed that season. In his review of the sixth season, Lineberger wrote that McGowan was "still smoking hot." BuzzFeed's Jarett Wieselman commented on Paige's outfits, noting that many of the episodes featured her, along with Phoebe, wearing "a series of progressively revealing and ridiculous costumes in the name of vanquishing." Tariq Kyle of Hypable.com wrote that the funniest moment of Charmed was in the season four episode "Hell Hath No Fury", when Paige's breast size increased "by a ridiculous amount." At the 2001 Wand Awards, McGowan was nominated for Best New Cast Member for her portrayal of Paige. In 2005, she won Favorite Sister at the Family Television Awards. In 2007, AOL TV ranked Paige at number 12 on their list of Top TV Witches. The following year, she was ranked at number 13 on the same list. In his review of the television series Witches of East End being too similar to Charmed, Christian Cintron of Hollywood.com noted that Mädchen Amick's "snarky, sarcastic" character Wendy Beauchamp "channels Rose McGowan's Paige Matthews." Woman warrior

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Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bayern Munich and is the captain of the Poland national team. He is renowned for his positioning, technique and finishing, and is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation. After being the top scorer in the third and second tiers of Polish football with Znicz Pruszków, he moved to top-flight Lech Poznań, and was the top scorer in the league as they won the 2009–10 Ekstraklasa. In 2010, he transferred to Borussia Dortmund for a reported €4.5 million, where he won honours including two consecutive Bundesliga titles and a season as the league's top goalscorer. In 2013, he earned with Borussia a spot in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, a tournament in which he was the second top goalscorer, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo. Prior to the start of the 2014–15 season, Lewandowski agreed to join Dortmund's domestic rivals, Bayern Munich, on a free transfer. In Munich, he won the Bundesliga title in each of his first five seasons, earning a spot in the Bundesliga Team of the Year in every season. In 2015–16, 2017–18 and 2018–19, he led the league in goalscoring, and in 2016–17 he was named the Bundesliga Player of The Year. He was named to the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season two times, and is the fifth-highest goalscorer in the history of the competition. He has scored over 200 goals in the Bundesliga, having reached the century mark quicker than any other foreign player, and is the league's all-time leading foreign goalscorer. He also holds the record for the fastest five goal haul in any major European football league since records have been kept after scoring five times in nine minutes against Wolfsburg in 2015. A full international for Poland since 2008, Lewandowski has earned over 110 caps and was a member of their team at Euro 2012, Euro 2016 and 2018 FIFA World Cup. With 61 international goals, Lewandowski is the all-time top scorer for Poland. In 2015, he was voted Polish Sportspersonality of the Year and in 2016 he claimed fourth place at the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or Awards. He has been named the Polish Player of the Year a record seven times. The Guardian ranked him as the fifth-best footballer on the planet in 2015. Lewandowski grew up in Leszno, Warsaw West County, and took his first steps in football as an unregistered player for the local club, Partyzant Leszno. In 1997, he joined MKS Varsovia Warsaw, where as a teen he played for seven years. The following year he moved to Delta Warsaw, where he finally managed to play in the first team, scoring four goals. In 2006–07, Lewandowski was the Polish third division's top goal scorer with 15 goals, helping Znicz Pruszków win promotion. The next season he was the top scorer in the Polish second division with 21 goals. In June 2008, Lech Poznań signed Lewandowski from Znicz for 1.5 million PLN. Earlier that month, Lewandowski's agent Cezary Kucharski offered him to his former team Sporting Gijón, which had been promoted to the Spanish top league after ten years in the second tier. However, Sporting rejected him. He made his debut for Lech in July 2008 as a substitute in a first-round UEFA Cup qualifier versus Khazar Lankaran from Azerbaijan. In that match, he scored the only goal of the match. During his Ekstraklasa debut in the first game of the season in a match against GKS Bełchatów, he scored a heel flick goal just four minutes after coming into the game late second half. In his first season in the Polish top division, he was second in the goal-scoring charts. He finished the season with 18 goals in 42 matches. The next season, he became the top scorer with 18 goals and helped his team win the 2009–10 championship. Following press speculation that Lewandowski might move to one of a number of clubs he joined Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in June 2010, signing a four-year contract with the German club for a fee reported to be worth around €4.5 million. On 19 September, he scored his first goal in the Bundesliga to make it 3–0 in the Revierderby against Schalke 04; the game ended 3–1. In the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign, Lewandowski profited from an injury of Lucas Barrios and he was elevated to an ever-present position in the starting XI until the winter break. The striker responded by finding the net two times in Dortmund's 3–0 DFB-Pokal first round victory over SV Sandhausen. Lewandowski opened his league account in a 2–0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg on 20 August 2011 by providing the finishing touch from a Mario Götze cross. On 1 October, Lewandowski provided an assist and netted a hat-trick in the club's 4–0 victory over FC Augsburg, following a disappointing 3–0 loss to Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League group stage. Dortmund climbed into second place in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 5–0 victory over 1. FC Köln on 22 October, with Lewandowski finding the net either side of half-time. Dortmund travelled to SC Freiburg on 17 December and Lewandowski struck twice and provided an assist for Kevin Großkreutz, as Dortmund eased to a 4–1 triumph. Due to his strong performance, he was named Best Player of the Year in Poland. Following the winter break, on 22 January 2012, Dortmund thrashed Hamburger SV 5–1 to move level on points with leaders Bayern Munich; Lewandowski netted twice and added an assist for Jakub Błaszczykowski in the rout. He scored in a 1–0 home win over Bayern Munich on 11 April. The result gave Dortmund a six- point cushion over their title rivals with only four games left to play. On 21 April, Lewandowski provided the assist for Shinji Kagawa's 59th-minute goal as Dortmund won 2–0 over Borussia Mönchengladbach to seal their second straight title. In the final Bundesliga game of the campaign, Lewandowski scored two first-half goals as Dortmund beat Freiburg 4–0 and celebrated lifting the title. Lewandowski finished the year as the third top goal scorer with 22 goals, none from the penalty spot, and six assists. In the final game of the season for Dortmund, he scored a hat-trick in the DFB-Pokal Final, a 5–2 win over Bayern Munich, to earn the club its first league and cup double. Lewandowski finished as the DFB-Pokal's top goalscorer, with seven goals from six games. Lewandowski made his first appearance of the Bundesliga campaign in Dortmund's 2–1 victory over Werder Bremen on the opening day of the season. He netted his first goal in the 3–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on 15 September 2012, extending Dortmund's run to 31 games unbeaten and moved the club into third in the Bundesliga. Three days later, in the club's first Champions League game of the season, Lewandowski netted an emphatic 87th-minute winner to defeat Ajax by a score of 1–0. He set club's new record of the longest scoring streak, having scored in 12 consecutive league games, surpassing Friedhelm Konietzka's record from 1964–65 season. On 9 February 2013, Lewandowski opened the scoring in a home match against Hamburg, but was sent off in the 31st minute for a foul on Per Ciljan Skjelbred and Dortmund lost 1–4. He finished season with 24 league goals, one goal short of the Bundesliga's topscorer, Bayer Leverkusen's Stefan Kießling. According to Borussia Dortmund director Michael Zorc, speaking in February 2013, Lewandowski would not be renewing his contract with the club, and would leave either in the summer of 2013 or after the 2013–14 season. On 24 April 2013, Lewandowski became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final as Borussia Dortmund defeated Spanish champions Real Madrid 4–1 in the first leg at BVB's Westfalenstadion. On 25 May, he played in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final in which Borussia were defeated 2–1 by Bayern Munich. On 27 July 2013, Lewandowski won the 2013 German Super Cup with Dortmund 4–2 against Bayern Munich. He scored his first goal of the season in Dortmund's 4–0 win over Augsburg in the club's opening Bundesliga match on 10 August. On 1 November, he scored his only hat-trick of the season in a 6–1 Bundesliga win against VfB Stuttgart. On 25 February 2014, Lewandowski scored twice in Champions League round-of-16 first-leg against Zenit Saint Petersburg, becoming BVB's overall top scorer in European competition, surpassing Stéphane Chapuisat's 16 goals record. He scored his 100th goal for the club on his 182nd appearance, as Dortmund defeated VfL Wolfsburg in the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal on 16 April 2014, and revealed a shirt with the number 100 in celebration. Lewandowski ended the 2013–14 season as the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga with 20 goals. He also scored six goals in the Champions League, as Borussia reached the quarter-finals. During the second leg of the Round-of-16 match between Borussia Dortmund and Zenit St. Petersburg, Lewandowski received a second yellow card which resulted in him being suspended for the first leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid. Lewandowski played his final match for Dortmund in the 2014 German Cup final against Bayern Munich on 17 May. Manager Jürgen Klopp had excused him from some training ahead of the final due to injury concerns; although Lewandowski played all 120 minutes of the final, Dortmund lost 2–0. He finished the season with 28 goals in 48 matches. In November 2013, Lewandowski confirmed he would sign a pre-contractual agreement for Borussia Dortmund's rivals Bayern Munich which officially happened on 3 January 2014; signing a five-year contract, joining the team at the start of the 2014–15 season. Lewandowski was officially presented as a Bayern Munich player on 9 July 2014. Pre-season started on 9 July 2014 at which time he was presented. He made his pre–season debut on 21 July 2014, scoring a goal in the process. On 6 August, he opened the scoring as Bayern contested the 2014 MLS All-Star Game in Portland, Oregon, eventually losing 1–2. He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 German Super Cup on 13 August 2014, and scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Schalke 04 in his second league match on 30 August. On 1 November, in his first league match against Dortmund, Lewandowski scored in a 2–1 win which put Bayern four points clear at the top of the table while leaving his former club in a relegation play-off place. In his third match of the season against Dortmund on 4 April 2015, Lewandowski scored in the 36th minute in a 1–0 win. He had scored after Roman Weidenfeller "parried" Thomas Müller's shot. On 21 February 2015, Lewandowski scored twice in Bayern's 6–0 win away at SC Paderborn 07, his second goal of the game was his 10th of the league season. He scored twice in the first half on 21 April as Bayern overturned a deficit from the first leg to defeat FC Porto 7–4 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Five days later, after VfL Wolfsburg lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern won the Bundesliga title. On 28 April, he scored again in a DFB-Pokal semi-final against Dortmund, opening a 1–1 draw which ended in Bayern's elimination via a penalty shootout. With 17 goals in 31 games, Lewandowski was joint-second top scorer of the Bundesliga season alongside teammate Arjen Robben, behind Eintracht Frankfurt's Alexander Meier. He finished the season with 25 goals in 49 appearances. Lewandowski's second season began with the German Super Cup on 1 August, with Bayern losing in a penalty shootout away to VfL Wolfsburg; he had been substituted in the 72nd minute for Rafinha. Eight days later in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, he scored the last goal in a 3–1 win against Oberliga Baden-Württemberg club FC Nöttingen. On 14 August, in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season, he scored the second goal of a 5–0 win over Hamburg. On 22 September 2015, Lewandowski set a Bundesliga record by coming on as a substitute with Bayern trailing 0–1 to Wolfsburg and scoring five goals in 8 minutes and 59 seconds, the fastest by any player in Bundesliga history, to take a 5–1 lead. He also set Bundesliga records for the fastest hat-trick (three goals in four minutes), and most goals scored by a substitute (five). Lewandowski's five goals in nine minutes was also the fastest in any major European football league since Opta began keeping records, and it ended Wolfsburg's 14-match unbeaten run. He was awarded four certificates by Guinness World Records for this feat. Four days later, he scored twice in a 3–0 win at 1. FSV Mainz 05, the first goal being his 100th Bundesliga goal on his 168th appearance, a league record for a foreign player. He also reached 10 goals in the opening 7 matches with this brace, a feat only done before by Gerd Müller. On 29 September, he scored a Champions League hat-trick in a 5–0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, putting him on ten goals in three games in a week. He added two in a 5–1 rout of Dortmund five days later, to total 12 goals in his last four appearances. On 24 October, Lewandowski scored in a 4–0 home win over 1. FC Köln, a result which made Bayern the first Bundesliga team ever to win all 10 of their opening games of a season. The victory in Cologne was also Bayern's 1,000th win in the Bundesliga. On 11 January 2016, he achieved fourth place at the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or awards. On 19 March 2016, Lewandowski scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Köln to bring his league total up to 25 goals; a new personal best. He had scored 24 goals for Borussia Dortmund during the 2012–13 season. His goal against Atlético de Madrid on 3 May in the second leg of Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit saw him end the season's competition with nine goals. On 7 May 2016, Lewandowski scored both goals for Bayern in a 2–1 win at FC Ingolstadt to confirm the Bavarian club as champions of Germany for the fourth consecutive season. A week later, he scored his 30th goal of the season in Bayern's final league match of the season at home to Hannover 96. This made him the first foreign player to score 30 goals in the Bundesliga, the first player since Dieter Müller in 1976–77, and secured him the Torjägerkanone for the second time in three seasons. He finished the season with 42 goals in 51 matches. The 2016–17 season started with Bayern winning the 2016 German Super Cup on 14 August 2016. On 19 August, in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, Bayern defeated Carl Zeiss Jena 5–0 with the help of Lewandowski's hat trick during the first half. He also assisted Arturo Vidal's goal in the seventy-second minute. Lewandowski opened the 2016–17 Bundesliga season with a hat trick in a 6–0 victory against Werder Bremen. On 13 December, Lewandowski signed a new contract with Bayern, keeping him at the club until 2021. On 11 March 2017, Lewandowski reached 100 goals for Bayern in his 137th appearance for the club, scoring twice in a 3–0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. He finished the season with 42 goals in 47 matches. The season began with Bayern Munich winning the 2017 German Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund. Lewandowski scored the opening goal for Bayern by controlling a low cross from Joshua Kimmich to cancel out Christian Pulisic's opener. The match ended 2–2 after extra time. Lewandowski again scored the first penalty of the shootout as Bayern eventually won 5–4 to win the super cup. Lewandowski started from where he left in the last season and once again was the top scorer in the early stages of the Bundesliga. On 13 December 2017, in the league fixture against 1. FC Köln, he scored the only goal of the game to reach the top ten of goalscorers in the Bundesliga. A couple of months later, on Matchday 22, Lewandowski again found the back of the net against Schalke 04 at Allianz Arena to equal the record of scoring in 11 successive home games in a single season, a record also held by then Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes. He continued his goal scoring form by scoring a hat-trick against Hamburg as the runaway leaders won 6-0, while he also missed a kick from the spot which would have been his fourth goal of the day. This was his first penalty missed for Bayern in the Bundesliga, nevertheless he scored the second spot kick to complete his hat-trick. On 11 February 2018, Lewandowski was voted Poland's Footballer of the Year for the seventh time in a row. On 22 February 2018, Lewandowski fired his long-time agent, Cezary Kucharski. Lewandowski hired renowned dealmaker Pini Zahavi as his new agent. The hiring of Zahavi is rumoured to be the start of Lewandowski trying to seal a summer move to Real Madrid. On 24 February 2018, Lewandowski played his 250th Bundesliga game against Hertha BSC. On 19 May 2018, Lewandowski scored Bayern Munich's only goal in a 3–1 defeat in the DFB-Pokal Final against Eintracht Frankfurt. Lewandowski finished the season as the Bundesliga's top goalscorer with 29 goals. This was the third time Lewandowski won the Bundesliga's top goalscorer award. He finished the season with 41 goals in 48 matches in all competitions. On 1 August 2018, after a summer of transfer speculation, Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, confirmed in an interview that Lewandowski would not be allowed to leave Bayern Munich at any price. Rummenigge said "Our door remains closed, the top quality we have at Bayern Munich will stay here. With Robert, we clearly want to send a signal to people within and outside the club: Bayern Munich are completely different to other clubs who get weak when certain sums are mentioned" On 12 August 2018, Lewandowski recorded the first ever hat-trick in the German Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2018 edition as Bayern Munich went on to win the title for the record seventh time. He also became the all-time top scorer in the German Super Cup history. On 27 November 2018, Lewandowski became the third-fastest player to score 50 goals in the Champions League when he scored two goals in a 5–1 win over Benfica. It took Lewandowski just 77 Champions League matches to reach the milestone. Lewandowski finished as the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League group stage with eight goals in six matches. On 9 February 2019, Lewandowski scored in a 3–1 win over Schalke and in doing so became the first player to score 100 competitive goals at the Allianz Arena. His goal was also his 119th league goal for Bayern Munich which saw him draw level with Roland Wohlfarth as the club's third-highest goalscorer of all-time. He surpassed Wohlfarth the following month after scoring a brace in a 5–1 win over Gladbach, with his second goal also seeing him equal Claudio Pizarro's record of 195 league goals for the most Bundesliga goals by a foreign player. In his very next fixture, he broke Pizarro's record by scoring twice in a 6–0 win over Wolfsburg. On 6 April 2019, in the 100th Bundesliga meeting between Bayern Munich and Dortmund, Lewandowski scored twice in a 5–0 win, with his first goal taking him to 200 goals in the league. Lewandowski finished the season as the Bundesliga's top goalscorer with 22 goals for the fourth time. On 25 May 2019, he scored a brace as Bayern won RB Leipzig 3–0 in the 2019 DFB-Pokal Final. With his goals, he became the all-time top scorer in the German Cup finals with six, surpassing Gerd Müller on five. Lewandowski finished the season with 40 goals in 47 matches in all competitions, reaching the 40-goal landmark for the fourth consecutive season, also winning his second domestic double with Bayern. On 12 August 2019, Lewandowski scored his first goal of the season when Bayern defeated Engerie Cottbus 3–1 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. On 16 August 2019, Lewandowski scored two goals in the 2019–20 Bundesliga opener against Hertha Berlin. With his goals, Lewandowski set a Bundesliga record for scoring a goal in the season opener for the fifth year in a row. On 24 August 2019, Lewandowski scored a hat-trick against Schalke at the Veltins Arena as Bayern won 3–0. On 29 August 2019, Lewandowski extended his contract at Bayern until 2023. On 18 September 2019, Lewandowski scored his 200th goal for Bayern in a 3–0 win against Serbian club Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. Later that month, after scoring his tenth goal of the campaign during a 3–2 win over Paderborn, he became the first player in Bundesliga history to achieve double figures for goals scored after the first six match rounds. Lewandowski then became the first player in Bundesliga history to score in each of the opening nine, ten and eleven matches of a season, surpassing the record of eight set by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. On 26 November 2019, Lewandowski scored 4 goals in under 15 minutes as Bayern defeated Red Star Belgrade 6–0 in their reverse fixture and clinched first place in their Champions League group, setting a new record for fastest time to score four goals in a Champions League match. He also became only the second ever player to score four goals in multiple Champions League matches. Lewandowski made three appearances for Poland's U21 team, in friendly matches against England, Belarus and Finland. His debut for the senior national team came on 10 September 2008, three weeks after his 20th birthday, against San Marino where he came on as a substitute and scored a goal in a 2–0 away win in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. Only Włodzimierz Lubański scored a goal on his debut for the national team at a younger age than Lewandowski, having been 16 at the time. Lewandowski scored another qualifying goal against the same team on 1 April 2009, in a 10–0 victory. Playing in Warsaw in the opening match of the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament against Greece, Lewandowski scored the first goal of the competition after an assist from then Dortmund teammate Jakub Błaszczykowski and was named Man of the Match. He played in all three games for Poland in the tournament, as the co-hosts crashed out of the group stage with two points earned. Lewandowski scored two penalties in the 5–0 win against San Marino on 26 March 2013 during the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, his first match as captain. Later on in the campaign, on 6 September, he scored the equaliser against Montenegro in a 1–1 home draw. Poland did not qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. On 7 September 2014, in Poland's first UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier, away against Gibraltar, Lewandowski scored his first international hat-trick, netting four goals in a 7–0 win. On 13 June 2015, he scored another hat-trick in Poland's 4–0 defeat of Georgia, with the three goals scored within the space of four minutes. On 8 October, he scored twice in a 2–2 draw away to Scotland, opening and equalising with the last kick of the game to eliminate the hosts. Three days later he headed the winner in a 2–1 victory against the Republic of Ireland, qualifying Poland for the tournament finals in France. Lewandowski ended the campaign with 13 goals, a joint European Championships qualifying record with David Healy's tally for Northern Ireland in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying. At UEFA Euro 2016 in France, Lewandowski did not have a shot on target until the last-16 match against Switzerland in Saint-Étienne. Following the 1–1 draw, he scored his team's first attempt in the penalty shootout victory that sent them to the quarter-finals for the first time. In the 100th second of the quarter- final against Portugal at the Stade Vélodrome, he finished Kamil Grosicki's cross to open another 1–1 draw, and again scored in the shootout although the Poles lost. At the time of Poland's exit, Lewandowski had suffered more fouls than any other player in the tournament. On 5 October 2017, Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in a 6–1 win over Armenia to take his tally to 50 goals for Poland, surpassing the previous record of 48 goals set by Włodzimierz Lubański to become the all-time top scorer for Poland. On 8 October 2017, Lewandowski scored a goal in a 4–2 win over to Montenegro taking his tally to 51 goals for Poland. He finished the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with 16 total goals, a record for a European World Cup qualifier. Lewandowski was called up to the 23-man Polish squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Lewandowski played every minute in all three matches, against Senegal, Colombia and Japan. Lewandowski did not score a goal as Poland did not qualify for the knockout phase. An accurate and efficient finisher with his head and both feet, Lewandowski is a prolific goalscorer who is regarded by pundits as one of the best strikers in the modern game; a well-rounded forward, he is said to possess almost all the necessary qualities of a traditional number nine: height, strength, balance, pace, intelligent movement and proficiency with both feet. Although he primarily operates as a goal-poacher in the penalty area, due to his positional sense, ability to shoot first time, and strength in the air, his excellent technical skills, quick feet, vision, and physique also enable him to hold up the ball with his back to goal and either bring his teammates into play, or win fouls for his team in useful positions; despite often functioning as a lone-centre forward or as an out-and-out striker, he has also stood out for his work-rate and defensive contribution off the ball, and is capable of dropping into deeper roles on the pitch, in order to create space for teammates with his movement, or surprise defenders by making late and sudden attacking runs into the area. In addition to his playing ability, Lewandowski has also been praised for his outstanding work-ethic, fitness, mentality, and discipline, both on the pitch and in training, by pundits, players and managers. Lewandowski's father gave him the name Robert to make it easier for him when moving abroad as a professional footballer. Lewandowski's father, Krzysztof (died in 2005), was a Polish judo champion, and also played football for Hutnik Warsaw in the second division. His mother, Iwona, is a former volleyball player for AZS Warszawa and later vice-president of Partyzant Leszno. His sister, Milena, also plays volleyball and has represented the U21 national team. His wife, Anna Lewandowska, won the bronze medal at the 2009 Karate World Cup. They married on 22 June 2013 in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Serock. Their daughter, Klara, was born on 4 May 2017. Lewandowski is a practising Catholic. He met Pope Francis in October 2014, when Bayern Munich visited Vatican City following a 7–1 win over A.S. Roma in the UEFA Champions League. In October 2017, the day after scoring to help Poland qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Lewandowski finished a degree in Physical Education with coaching and management at the Academy of Sport Education in Warsaw, concluding a decade of studies. Lewandowski and his wife, Anna, have supported, donated & raised money for various charitable organisations and children throughout their career; including Children's Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw, for which they've raised more than 150 thousand PLN during Anna's birthday party, on 25 August 2018. Lewandowski also donated 100 thousand PLN for the treatment of Cyprian Gaweł, a three-year-old boy from Hel; and helps raising funds for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity each year, donating his personal items or private meetings that are sold at online auctions. In March 2014, he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Beside philanthropy, Lewandowski also invests primarily in startups, e-commerce and websites, mainly through Protos Venture Capital, a company of which he is a shareholder. He also owns "Stor9_", an agency specialising in marketing communications. In 2013, Lewandowski signed a sponsorship deal with Nike. Lewandowski plays in Nike Hypervenom boots. Lewandowski featured on the cover of the Polish edition of EA Sports' FIFA 15 video game, alongside Lionel Messi. Lewandowski's "X" goal celebration – arms crossed and index fingers pointing up – appears in FIFA 18. Notes Lech Poznań Ekstraklasa: 2009–10, Polish Cup: 2008–09, Polish SuperCup: 2009 Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga: 2010–11, 2011–12, DFB-Pokal: 2011–12, DFL-Supercup: 2013, UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2012–13 Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, DFB-Pokal: 2015–16, 2018–19, DFL-Supercup: 2016, 2017, 2018 FIFA Ballon d'Or: 4th place (2015), IFFHS World's Top International Goal Scorer of the Year: 2015, Bundesliga Player of the Year: 2016–17, Polish Footballer of the Year: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, Polish Sportspersonality of the Year: 2015, Ekstraklasa Best Player: 2009, Bundesliga top scorer: 2013–14 (20 goals), 2015–16 (30 goals), 2017–18 (29 goals), 2018–19 (22 goals), DFB-Pokal top scorer: 2011–12 (7 goals), 2016–17 (5 goals), 2017–18 (6 goals), 2018–19 (7 goals), Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2009–10 (18 goals), FIFA World Cup qualification top scorer: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (16 goals), UEFA Euro qualifying top scorer: 2016 (13 goals), UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2015–16, 2016–17, UEFA Team of the Year: 2019, Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, FIFA FIFPro World11 2nd team: 2015, 2017, FIFA FIFPro World11 3rd team: 2013, 2016, FIFA FIFPro World11 4th team: 2014, FIFA FIFPro World11 5th team: 2018, FIFA FIFPro World11 nominee: 2019 (13th forward), Best player of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, Bundesliga Player of the Month: August 2019, Polish Revelation of the Year: 2008, I liga top scorer: 2007–08 (21 goals), II liga top scorer: 2006–07 (15 goals) International Scoring record for a single UEFA European Championship qualification: UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying (13 goals), Scoring record for a single European FIFA World Cup qualification: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (16 goals), First European player to score 16 goals in a FIFA World Cup qualification, Most hat-tricks scored in a single European FIFA World Cup qualification: 3 (2018 FIFA World Cup qualification) Bundesliga Bayern Munich Highest number of scored goals in a game by a substitute: 5 (matchday 6 of 2015–16), Shortest elapsed timespan until a scored hat-trick: 4 minutes (between minute 51 and 55 of matchday 6 of 2015–16), Shortest elapsed timespan until five scored goals: 8 minutes 59 seconds (between minute 51 and 60 of matchday 6 of 2015–16), 100 German top flight goals quicker than any foreign player List of men's association football players with 50 or more international goals, List of footballers with 100 or more caps, List of top international association football goal scorers by country, List of Polish people The 2014–15 FC Bayern Munich season was the 116th season in the club's history and the 50th consecutive season in the top flight of German football, the Bundesliga, since their promotion from the Regionalliga Süd in 1965. Bayern participated in the season's editions of the DFB-Pokal, DFL-Supercup and UEFA Champions League. It was the 10th season for Bayern in the Allianz Arena. Bayern came into the 2014–15 season as the defending Bundesliga champions and defending DFB-Pokal champions. In the 2013–14 season, Bayern were knocked-out of Champions League by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semifinals, losing 5–0 on aggregate. Bayern hired Michael Reschke as Technical Director. This is a new position and will provide "support" for Matthias Sammer, the Sporting Director for Bayern. Robert Lewandowski, Sebastian Rode, Juan Bernat, Pepe Reina, Medhi Benatia, Xabi Alonso, and Sinan Kurt transferred to Bayern. Lewandowski was the second "key" player within a year to move to Bayern from Borussia Dortmund. Bayern bought Medhi Benatia from Roma for an undisclosed fee. Pep Guardiola wanted to sign another player due to Javi Martínez's injury in the German Super Cup. For this reason, Bayern brought Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid for undisclosed fee. Lukas Raeder, Alessandro Schöpf, Mario Mandžukić, Toni Kroos, and Diego Contento left the club. Contento had been at the club for 19 years. Mandžukić wanted to leave Bayern because the "playing style of coach Pep Guardiola simply does not fit him." Julian Green was loaned out to Hamburger SV and Daniel Van Buyten retired. He had been offered another role at Bayern. Pre-season started on 9 July. During pre-season, Bayern defeated Red Baroons Dietmannsried 3–0 on 18 July in its first friendly match of the season. This was Holger Badstuber's first match in 594 days. Badstuber injured his ACL against Borussia Dortmund on 1 December 2012. and re-injured it on 19 May 2013. He returned to first-team training on 5 May 2014. Also in pre-season, Bayern faced MSV Duisburg on 21 July in a benefits match which ended in a 1–1 draw. Robert Lewandowski made his pre-season debut and scored his first goal for Bayern. Pre-season continued with the 2014 Telekom Cup. Bayern faced Borussia Mönchengladbach in the semifinal on 26 July which Bayern won in a shoot-out, after a 2–2 draw in sixty minutes. Bayern defeated VfL Wolfsburg 3–0 in the final the following day and won the cup. Bayern took a tour of the United States. This is Bayern's first pre-season tour in the United States in a decade. Bayern were in New York City for three days. During the tour, on 31 July, they defeated Chivas Guadalajara 1–0 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey and won the Audi Football Summit Cup 2014. Bayern were also in Portland, Oregon for four days. While in Portland, on 6 August, Bayern lost to the MLS All-Star team 2–1 on 6 August. Pep Guardiola was angry because of "harsh challenges" and didn't shake Caleb Porter's hand after the game. Two of the tackles came from Osvaldo Alonso and other tackle came from Will Johnson. The tackle by Johnson injured Bastian Schweinsteiger. During pre-season, Thiago "suffered a relapse" of his knee injury that he picked up in March 2014. Prior to the winter break, Bayern signed Tom Starke to a contract extension and gave Gianluca Gaudino his first professional contract. Bayern defeated Mainz 05 and immediately went on winter break. During the winter break, Bayern signed Joshua Kimmich as their first transfer signing for the 2015–16 season. Most of the players returned on 7 January. David Alaba, Holger Badstuber, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Medhi Benatia, and Tom Starke had returned earlier. Bayern loaned out Højbjerg for the remainder of the season and sold Xherdan Shaqiri. Højbjerg also received a contract extension. Bayern left for a nine- day training camp in Doha, Qatar on 9 January. Philipp Lahm and Thiago didn't go to Doha, Qatar. While in the Middle East, Bayern played two friendlies. In the first match in Qatar, Bayern defeated the Qatar Stars League XI 4–1. In the second match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bayern defeated Al-Hilal 4–1. Bayern finished mid-season training with a 5–1 win against VfL Bochum on 23 January. On 13 January, Allianz Arena increased capacity to 75,000 after the city of Munich approved the increase which is for Bundesliga matches only. The capacity for UEFA Champions League matches also increased. Bayern defeated VfL Wolfsburg 2–1 on 22 August in the opening match of the Bundesliga season. Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben scored for Bayern and Ivica Olić scored for Wolfsburg. Junior Malanda failed to convert an opportunity that would have equalised for Wolfsburg. The original shot came off Manuel Neuer then off the crossbar. Then after the ball hit the crossbar, Malanda missed from a yard out. Bayern had chances to score more goals. Sebastian Rode had a goal wrongly ruled out after the assistant referee flagged for offside and Arjen Robben hit the crossbar. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Rafinha, Thiago, Franck Ribéry, and Javi Martínez were out injured. Jérôme Boateng finished his two-match suspension which he received during the 2013–14 season. Robert Lewandowski, Juan Bernat made their league debuts for Bayern. Jérôme Boateng finished his two-match suspension which he received during the 2013–14 season. 17 year-old Gianluca Gaudino made his first Bundesliga appearance of his career and 18-year-old Lucas Scholl was on the bench for the first team for the first time. Bayern finished the matchday tied for third with Hannover 96. Then, on matchday two on 30 August, Bayern finished August with a 1–1 draw against Schalke 04 on 30 August. Robert Lewandowski scored for Bayern and Benedikt Höwedes scored for Schalke 04. Lewandowski's goal was his first competitive goal for Bayern. Bayern disputed Höwedes' goal after it came off his arm. Bayern managed 10 shots on target, which was the worst total for Bayern since Pep Guardiola took over as head coach. This was Schalke 04's first point against Bayern since 10 December 2010. Xabi Alonso made his debut. Bayern finished the matchday tied for fifth with Eintracht Frankfurt. Bayern started September with a 2–0 win against VfB Stuttgart on matchday three on 13 September. Mario Götze and Franck Ribéry scored for Bayern. Holger Badstuber left the match with a thigh injury. Bayern finished the matchday in second place. Then, on matchday four on 20 September, the match against Hamburger SV finished in a 0–0 draw. Guardiola decided to rotate players from their midweek Champions League match. Thomas Müller was on the substitutes bench, however, he replaced Arjen Robben in starting line-up after Robben was injured during the warm-up. Bayern finished the matchday in fourth place. On matchday five, on 23 September, Bayern defeated Paderborn 07 4–0 with two goals from Mario Götze and a goal each from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday six, on 27 September, Bayern defeated 1. FC Köln 2–0 with a goal from Mario Götze and an own goal from Daniel Halfar. Bayern were denied a penalty shot, again, after Arjen Robben went down. Xabi Alonso broke the record for having the most touches on the ball in a single match. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Bayern started October with a 4–0 win against Hannover 96 on matchday seven on 4 October. Both Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben scored two goals each. Xabi Alonso took a shot from just inside his own half, which was subsequently tipped over the crossbar. With the win, Bayern got their 23rd win in 26 matches in Munich against Hannover. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Bayern then defeated Werder Bremen 6–0 on matchday eight on 18 October with two goals from Philipp Lahm, two goals from Mario Götze, and a goal each from Xabi Alonso and Thomas Müller. Alonso's goal was his first goal since transferring to Bayern. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Then on 26 October, on matchday nine, Borussia Mönchengladbach ended Bayern's six- match winning streak in all competitions with a 0–0 draw. Bayern had a chance to win four consecutive league matches for the first time in 47 years. Borussia Mönchengladbach's tactics against Bayern was to crowd the penalty area and play counterattacking football. Yann Sommer made a fingertip save from a David Alaba shot that hit the post. Arjen Robben was injured for the match. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Bayern started November with a 2–1 win against Borussia Dortmund, on matchday 10, 1 November. Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben scored for Bayern and Marco Reus for Borussia Dortmund. A Marco Reus header gave Dortmund the lead in the 31st minute. In the second half, Neven Subotić stopped a through-ball from Franck Ribéry to Robben. However, the ball went to Lewandowski who scored the equaliser. Robben scored the winning goal from the penalty spot after Subotić fouled Ribéry. Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller made several saves during the match. Bayern finished the matchday in first place and maintained their four-point lead. Then on 8 November, on matchday 11, Bayern defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 4–0 with three goals from Thomas Müller and a goal from Xherdan Shaqiri. Müller opened the scoring in the 23rd minute. Müller hit the back of the net three minutes later, however, the referee called offside on the play. Then he got his second goal in the 64th minute and completed his hattrick in the 67th minute. This was Müller's second hattrick of his career. Xherdan Shaqiri then scored in the 86th minute. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Then on 22 November, on matchday 12, Bayern defeated 1899 Hoffenheim 4–0 with goals from Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Arjen Robben, and Sebastian Rode. Götze opened the scoring in the 23rd minute. Then five minutes before half-time, Lewandowski put Bayern up 2–0. Robben put Bayern up 3–0 in the 83rd minute. Four minutes later, Rode scored to put Bayern up 4–0. Bastian Schweinsteiger made his first competitive match of the season when he came on as a substitute in the 78th minute 1899 Hoffenheim player Ádám Szalai was sent-off in the 90th minute for a foul on Dante. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Bayern extended their lead to seven points after Wolfsburg lost to Schalke 04. On matchday 13, on 29 November, Bayern defeated Hertha BSC 1–0 by a first-half goal from Arjen Robben. Franck Ribéry tied Matthieu Delpierre record for most appearances for a French player. With the cleansheet, Bayern tied VfB Stuttgart's record of only three goals conceded in the opening 13 Bundesliga matches. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. To start December, Bayern defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1–0 with Franck Ribéry's 100th goal for Bayern. on matchday 14, on 6 December. The goal came in the 51st minute. Bayern had chances to score more goals after taking the lead, by failed to convert any of those chances. Bayern finished the match in first place, seven points over second place Wolfsburg. Then on 13 December, on matchday 15, Bayern defeated FC Augsburg 4–0 with two goals from Arjen Robben and a goal each from Medhi Benatia and Robert Lewandowski. Benatia opened the scoring in the 58th minute. Then a minute later, Robben scored his first goal of the match. Lewandowski's goal came in the 68th minute before Robben got his second goal of the match three minutes later. Manuel Neuer had touched the ball 64 times during the match and won a free kick "well outside of the box against Tobias Werner." Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On 16 December, on matchday 16, Bayern defeated SC Freiburg 2–0 with goals from Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller. Robben scored in the 41st minute and Müller scored in the 48th minute. Robben scored his 100th competitive goal for Bayern. Bayern had a season record 81% possession. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 17, on 19 December, Bayern defeated 1. FSV Mainz 05 2–1. Elkin Soto opened the scoring in the 21st minute. However, three minutes later, Bastian Schweinsteiger scored the equaliser from a free kick. Then Arjen Robben scored the winning goal with 30 seconds of normal time remaining. Bayern finished the matchday in first place and the first half of the season undefeated. On matchday 18, on 30 January, Bayern lost their first match of the Bundesliga season and their first league match in 293 days after losing 4–1 to Wolfsburg. Bayern had only given up four league goals all season and was the first league match where Bayern gave up four goals since 4 April 2009 when they lost to Wolfsburg 5–1. Bas Dost and Kevin De Bruyne each scored two goals for Wolfsburg and Juan Bernat scored for Bayern. Dost gave Wolfsburg a 1–0 league in the fourth minute and added a second in stoppage time in the first half. Dost became the first player in 102 league matches to score two goals against Bayern. De Bruyne added a third for Wolfsburg in the 53rd minute before Bernat scored two minutes later to give Bayern their only goal of the match. De Bruyne scored his second goal of the match to put Wolfsburg up 4–1. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 19, on 3 February, Bayern and Schalke 04 finished their match in a 1–1 draw. Arjen Robben opened the scoring in the 67th minute for Bayern and Benedikt Höwedes equalised in the 72nd minute. Jérôme Boateng was sent-off in the 17th minute. Manuel Neuer saved the subsequent penalty shot. Boateng received a three-match ban for the red card which was later reduced to two matches. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 20, on 7 February, Bayern defeated VfB Stuttgart 2–0 with goals from Arjen Robben and David Alaba to win their first match of 2015. Just before half-time, Robben scored the opening goal of the match. Then in the 50th minute, Alaba scored from a free kick from about 30 yards out from goal. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 21, on 14 February, Bayern defeated Hamburger SV 8–0 with two goals each from Thomas Müller, Mario Götze, and Arjen Robben and a goal each from Robert Lewandowski and Franck Ribéry. This was Bayern's biggest victory since their 9–0 win against Kickers Offenbach in March 1984. In the 21st minute, Müller opened the scoring from the penalty mark. two minutes later, Götze put Bayern up 2–0. Robben scored the next two goals. The first goal happened in the 36th minute and the second goal happened in the 47th minute. Bayern went up 5–0 after Müller's second goal of the match in the 55th minute. Lewandowski made it 6–0 a minute later. Ribéry scored in the 69th minute. Götze finished the scoring in 88th minute. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 22, on 21 February, Bayern defeated Paderborn 07 6–0 with two goals each from Robert Lewandoweski and Arjen Robben and a goal each from Franck Ribéry and Mitchell Weiser. Lewandowski gave Bayern a 2–0 first-half lead when he scored in the 24th and 37th minutes. Robben scored from a penalty kick in the 63rd minute. Florian Hartherz was sent-off on the play that led to the penalty shot. Ribéry scored in the 72nd minute and Weiser scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 78th minute before Robben got his second of the match in the 86th minute. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 23, on 27 February, Bayern defeated 1. FC Köln 4–1. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben, and Robert Lewandowski scored for Bayern and Anthony Ujah scored for Köln. Bayern took a 2–0 lead inside the first 10 minutes when Schweinsteiger scored off of a corner kick in the third minute and Ribéry goal in the 10th minute. Ujah pulled a goal back when he scored during stoppage time in the first half. Robben and Lewandowski both scored in the second half to give Bayern the 4–1 lead. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 24, on 7 March, Bayern defeated Hannover 96 3–1. Bayern got two goals from Thomas Müller and a goal from Xabi Alonso and Hiroshi Kiyotake scored for Hannover. Kiyotake Gave Hannover the lead in the 25th minute. Then Xabi Alonso scored the equaliser from a free kick in the 28th minute. Then Müller scored from a penalty kick in the 61st minute. He got his second goal of the match 11 minutes later to put Bayern up 3–1. Dante came off in the 32nd minute and was replaced by Robert Lewandowski. Bayern finished the matchday in first place and took an 11-point lead after VfL Wolfsburg lost to FC Augsburg. On matchday 25, on 14 March, Bayern defeated Werder Bremen 4–0 with two goals from Robert Lewandowski and a goal each from Thomas Müller and David Alaba. Müller scored in the 24th minute and Alaba scored in stoppage time in the first half to give Bayern a 2–0 first half lead. Lewandowski scored in the 76th minute and stoppage time in the second half to put Bayern up 4–0. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 26, on 22 March, Bayern lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach 2–0 with two goals, in 30th and 77th minutes, by Raffael. The loss meant that Bayern's six-match winning streak came to an end and they lost at Allianz Arena for the first time since losing to Real Madrid in April 2014. Arjen Robben came off in the 24th minute after he tore an abdominal muscle. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 27, on 4 April, Bayern defeated Borussia Dortmund 1–0 with a 36th- minute goal from Robert Lewandowski. Lewandowski scored from a header after Roman Weidenfeller "parried" Thomas Müller's shot. Bayern and Dortmund came into the match with a 31-point difference in the league table. Four players for Bayern were out with various injuries. Bastian Schweinsteiger was injured during the match. However, Thiago made his first appearance since his injury and Philipp Lahm made his first start since his injury. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. On matchday 28, on 11 April, Bayern defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 3–0 with two goals from Robert Lewandowski and a goal from Thomas Müller. Lewandowski gave Bayern a 1–0 lead in the 15th minute and put Bayern up 2–0 in the 66th minute. Müller scored Bayern's third goal in the 82nd minute. Seven players were out due to injury. Bayern finished the match in first place. On matchday 29, on 18 April, Bayern defeated 1899 Hoffenheim 2–0 with a 38th-minute goal from Sebastian Rode and a second half stoppage time own goal from Andreas Beck. On matchday 31, on 2 May, Bayern lost to Bayer Leverkusen 2–0 with goals from Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Julian Brandt. Çalhanoğlu scored in the 55th minute from a free kick and Brandt scored in the 81st minute. Pep Guardiola made seven changes from their mid-week German Cup match including Rico Strieder, who made his professional debut, and Javi Martínez, who made his season debut in the Bundesliga. Lukas Görtler, who came on in the 72nd minute, also made his professional debut. On matchday 32, on 9 May, Bayern lost to FC Augsburg 1–0 with a 71st-minute goal from Raúl Bobadilla. Pepe Reina received a red card in the 13th minute. Paul Verhaegh hit the post in the subsequent penalty shot and Reina eventually received a two-match suspension for the red card. Dante also picked up a suspension after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season. This was the first time since October 1991 that Bayern lost four in a row (in all competitions and including shoot-out losses). On 16 May, on matchday 33, Bayern lost 2–1 to SC Freiburg. Bastian Schweinsteiger, gave Bayern the lead in the 13th minute. Admir Mehmedi equalized in the 33rd minute and Nils Petersen scored the winner in the 89th minute. This was Bayern's fifth loss in six matches in all competitions. This was also the first time Freiburg beat Bayern since 9 March 1996. On matchday 34, on 23 May, Bayern defeated Mainz 05 2–0 with a goal from the penalty mark from Robert Lewandowski in the 25th minute and a 48th-minute goal from Bastian Schweinsteiger. Schweinsteiger played in his 500th match for Bayern. The draw for the first round of the DFB-Pokal was held on 1 June. Bayern were drawn against Preußen Münster. The match took place on 17 August. Bayern won 4–1 with goals from Mario Götze, Thomas Müller, David Alaba, and Claudio Pizarro. Rogier Krohne scored for Preußen Münster. Robert Lewandowski failed to convert from the penalty spot in the last minute of the match. Holger Badstuber played his first competitive match since getting injured on 1 December 2012 against Borussia Dortmund. Bastian Schweinsteiger was unavailable for the match. Bayern were drawn against Hamburger SV in the second round draw. The match took place on 29 October with Bayern winning 3–1. Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, and Franck Ribéry scored for Bayern and Pierre-Michel Lasogga scored for Hamburg. Jaroslav Drobný made several saves against Bayern. Ribéry was hit by a spectator with a scarf which Hamburg were eventually fined for. Medhi Benatia was suspended for the match. Bayern were drawn against Eintracht Braunschweig in the round of 16 draw. The match took place on 4 March. Bayern won 2–0 with two goals from David Alaba and Mario Götze. Alaba scored in stoppage time in the first half after Arjen Robben won a free kick and Götze scored in the 57th minute. In the quarterfinal draw, Bayern were drawn against Bayer Leverkusen. The match took place on 8 April. The match finished in a 0–0 draw with Bayern advancing after winning in a shoot-out 5–3. Leverkusen's first kick was saved after Manuel Neuer "parried" Josip Drmić's shot. Medhi Benatia left the match due to injury in the 34th minute. In the semifinal draw, Bayern were drawn against Borussia Dortmund. The match took place on 28 April. The match finished in a 1–1 draw with Borussia Dortmund winning in a shoot-out. Bayern missed all four of their shots in the shoot-out. Borussia Dortmund converted two of their shots. Robert Lewandowski scored in the 29th minute and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored in the 75th minute for Borussia Dortmund, three minutes after their first shot. Prior to Borussia Dortmund scoring, referee Peter Gagelmann denied Bayern a penalty shot. Borussia Dortmund went down a man after Kevin Kampl was sent–off after receiving a second yellow card. Arjen Robben returned from injury, coming on as a substitute, but left the match after 15 minutes with a calf injury, causing him to miss the rest of the season. Thiago and Lewandowski were also injured during the match. Lewandowski. Robben was "ruled out" for the remainder of the season. Lewandowski sustained a concussion, broken jaw, and broken nose. Bayern faced Borussia Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup on 13 August. Borussia Dortmund won the match 2–0 with goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang. Javi Martínez left the match injured after tearing his ACL. This was the third consecutive year where Bayern has faced Borussia Dortmund in the competition. Bayern won the super cup in 2012 2–1 and Borussia Dortmund won in 2013 4–2. The match was originally scheduled for four days earlier. Bayern was without Thiago, Franck Ribéry, and Rafinha. Sebastian Rode, Gianluca Gaudino, Juan Bernat, and Robert Lewandowski made their debuts for Bayern. Bayern were drawn into Group E with Manchester City, CSKA Moscow, and Roma. Bayern started their Champions League campaign on 17 September with a 1–0 win against Manchester City. Jérôme Boateng scored for Bayern after a slight deflection from Mario Götze. Medhi Benatia, made his official debut for Bayern, where he played for 85 minutes, completing 93% of his passes. During the match, Joe Hart "denied" Bayern with a "series of saves." The goal was Bayern's 800th goal in all European competitions. Bayern finished the matchday in second place. On matchday two of the group stage, on 30 September, Bayern defeated CSKA Moscow 1–0 with a goal from a penalty shot from Thomas Müller after Mario Götze was fouled by Mário Fernandes. The match had no supporters in the stadium because of racist behaviour of CSKA Moscow supporters. However, several Bayern supporters who made the trip to Moscow for the match saw the match from a skyscraper. This was the 100th win for Bayern in Champions League history. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. Then Bayern defeated Roma 7–1 on matchday three on 21 October. Bayern got two goals from Arjen Robben and a goal each from Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Franck Ribéry, and Xherdan Shaqiri and Gervinho scored for Roma. Gervinho's goal ended Bayern's streak of 813 minutes without conceding a goal. The win was Bayern's biggest away win in Champions League history. Bayern finished the matchday in first place. In the return match against Roma, on matchday four, on 5 November, Bayern won 2–0 with goals from Franck Ribéry and Mario Götze. Ribéry opened the scoring in the 38th minute. Ribéry and David Alaba created a 2-on-1 situation on the left flank. Alaba passed the ball back to Ribéry who scored from the edge of the box. Götze scored the other goal in the 64th minute after Lewandowski pulled away from his marker and crossed the ball to him. Manuel Neuer had to pull off a "double save." Alaba picked up a knee ligament injury in the match. Bayern finished the matchday in first place, and with the win, Bayern clinched top spot in Group E. This was Bayern's quickest path to the knockout round to date. Bayern also became the first German club to win the Group with two matches to spare. Then on matchday five, on 25 November, Manchester City defeated Bayern 3–2. Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski scored for Bayern and Sergio Agüero scored three goals from Manchester City. Agüero scored the opening goal from the penalty spot. Medhi Benatia was sent-off on the play that led up to the penalty shot. The following day, he received a one-match ban for the red card. Alonso equalised when he scored from a free kick in the 40th minute. Five minutes later, Lewandowski scored to give Bayern a 2–1 lead. Stevan Jovetić picked out an Alonso pass and then passed it to Agüero, who scored in the 85th minute. Then Agüero scored in stoppage time to give Manchester City a 3–2 lead. On 10 December, Bayern finished the group stage with a 3–0 win against CSKA Moscow with goals from Thomas Müller, Sebastian Rode and Mario Götze. Müller opened the scoring in the 18th minute from the penalty spot. This was his record- breaking 24th goal in UEFA Champions League for Bayern. Rode and Götze rounded out the scoring in the 84th and 90th minutes. Gianluca Gaudino played in his first UEFA Champions League match. On 5 November, after beating A.S. Roma 2–0, Bayern Munich won the group and qualified for the knockout phase. In the round of 16 draw, on 15 December, Bayern were drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk. In the first leg, on 17 February, the match finished in a 0–0 draw. The match was played in Lviv. Xabi Alonso, who played in his 100th Champions League match, was sent-off after receiving a second yellow card. Douglas Costa received a yellow card after he elbowed Franck Ribéry. There was 35 fouls and eight yellow cards in the match. The second leg took place on 11 March. Bayern defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 7–0 with two goals from Thomas Müller and a goal each from Jérôme Boateng, Franck Ribéry, Holger Badstuber, Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze. Bayern won on aggregate by the same scoreline. Müller gave Bayern the lead in the fourth minute from a penalty shot. Oleksandr Kucher was sent-off on the play leading top the penalty shot. This was the "quickest" red card to be shown in Champions League history. Arjen Robben left the match injured in the 19th minute. Boateng made it 2–0 in the 34th minute. In the 49th minute, Ribéry scored to put Bayern up 3–0. Bayern went up 4–0 when Müller got his second of the match in the 52nd minute. Ribéry left the match in the 60th minute due to an ankle injury. Badstuber scored in the 63rd minute to put Bayern up by 5. This was his first goal since December 2009. Lewandowski scored in the 75th minute to make it 6–0. It was 7–0 when Götze scored in the 88th minute. The scoreline tied for the biggest win in the club's Champions League history. In the quarterfinal draw, Bayern were drawn against Porto. This is Bayern's fourth straight quarterfinal. The first leg took place on 15 April. Porto won the first leg 3–1. Thiago scored for Bayern and Porto got two goals from Ricardo Quaresma and a goal from Jackson Martínez. Quaresma scored two goals in the first 10 minutes. For the first goal, Quaresma scored from a penalty shot in the third minute after Manuel Neuer tripped Martínez inside the penalty area. Neuer received a yellow card on the play. For his second goal in the 10th minute, Quaresma "nicking the ball from Dante" to set-up the goal. Then in the 28th minute, Thiago put Bayern on the scoreboard. Martínez scored in the 65th minute to make it 3–1. The loss finished Bayern's 11-match undefeated streak in Portugal. The following day, Hans-Wilhelm Müller- Wohlfahrt, along with three other members of the medical team, resigned after the medical team was blamed for the loss. The second leg took place on 21 April. Bayern defeated Porto 6–1 and 7–4 on aggregate. Bayern got two goals from Robert Lewandowski and a goal each from Thiago, Jérôme Boateng, Thomas Müller, and Xabi Alonso. Jackson scored for Porto. Bayern took a 2–0 lead within the first 22 minutes with goals from Thiago and Boateng. Lewendowski put Bayern up by three in the 27th minute. Bayern were up 4–0 after Müller scored in the 36th minute. With the goal, he became the highest scoring German in the competition's history. Lewandowski got his second goal of the match when he scored in the 40th minute. Jackson scored for Porto in the 73rd minute and Alonso scored in the 88th minute from a free kick. The free kick was given after Iván Marcano fouled Thiago, in which he was sent-off for a second yellow card for Porto. The win sent Bayern to their fourth consecutive semifinal. This was Pep Guardiola's 100th match as head coach. In the semifinal draw, Bayern were drawn against Barcelona. The match took place on 6 May. Barcelona won the first leg 3–0 with two goals from Lionel Messi and a goal from Neymar. The score remained 0–0 until the 77th minute when Messi scored. Messi added his second of the match three minutes later. Neymar added Barcelona's third goal in stoppage time. Bayern failed to get a shot on target for the first time since October 2009 when they lost to Girondins de Bordeaux. The second leg took place on 12 May. Bayern won the match 3–2, however, Bayern lost 5–3 on aggregate. Medhi Benatia, Robert Lewandowski, and Thomas Müller scored for Bayern and Neymar scored twice for Barcelona. Benatia gave Bayern a 1–0 lead in the seventh minute. Then Neymar scored in the 15th and 29th minutes. Then Lewandowski and Müller scored in the second half. The win ended Bayern's four match losing streak. ! colspan="14"| Players who left during the season. The first suspension of the season was Jérôme Boateng when he was suspended for the last match of the 2013–14 season and the first match of the 2014–15 season. The next Bayern suspension was Medhi Benatia which he had picked up in the 2013–14 Coppa Italia with Roma. Benatia was again suspended after picking up a red card against Manchester City in Champions League. He was given a one match ban. Jérôme Boateng was suspended after picking up a red card against Schalke 04. He was originally given a three-match ban. However, after appeal, the ban was reduced to two matches. Xabi Alonso was sent off for two bookable offences and missed the return leg on 11 March. Alonso also picked up his fifth yellow card against Hannover 96 on 7 March and was suspended for the match against Werder Bremen on 14 March. During the match against Werder Bremen, Benatia picked up a fifth yellow card and was suspended for the match on 22 March against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Pepe Reina received a two-match suspension after his red card against FC Augsburg. Manuel Neuer won the German footballer of the year., Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben, Philipp Lahm, and Thomas Müller were among the top 10 players nominated for UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben joined Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid on the shortlisted for the award. Ronaldo won the award., Mario Götze, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger were nominated to the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or shortlist and Pep Guardiola was named to the shortlist for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football. On 1 December 2014, Neuer was nominated as a final three candidate. On 12 January 2015, he finished third in the voting., David Alaba was named the Austrian footballer of the year., Manuel Neuer, David Alaba, Philipp Lahm, and Arjen Robben were voted in to the UEFA Team of the Year., Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Arjen Robben, and last-years' player Toni Kroos were voted in to the FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2014., Robert Lewandowski was named Polish player of the year. Bayern Munich II play in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Bayern for a third consecutive season. They were coached by Erik ten Hag. Source: Der Klassiker (The Classic), also known as the "German Clasico", is the name given in football to any match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Since the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1963, they are two of the most successful teams in German football, having won a combined total of 21 of the past 25 Bundesliga titles as of 2019. The two teams fought closely for the Bundesliga title in the early 2010s, and met in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final. However, the nature of the rivalry has been called into question, with many disputing the fixture being a "classic" due to the there being little historic rivalry between the teams, in contrast to the long history of many other prominent football derbies in Germany, including Dortmund's Revierderby with FC Schalke 04 and the various Bavarian football derbies involving Bayern Munich and 1. FC Nuremberg. The first match between the two clubs was a 2–0 win for Dortmund in Munich on 16 October 1965. On 5 May 1966, Dortmund won the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup 2–1 against Liverpool in extra time, becoming the first German club to win a European title. Bayern Munich won the same competition the following season. In 1971, Bayern defeated Dortmund 11–1; this remain's Bayern's biggest Bundesliga victory and Dortmund's second worst defeat. (NB: Dortmund's worst defeat was a 12–0 vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach on 29 April 1978) On the other hand, the highest scoring draw in a Bundesliga match between the two teams occurred on 21 May 1983, when Karl-Heinz Rummenigge scored a late equaliser to save Bayern from a defeat against hosts Dortmund, with a final scoreline of 4–4. The rivalry between the clubs grew during the 1990s, as Dortmund's stature increased to challenge perennial title favourites Bayern, winning two Bundesliga titles in 1994–95 and 1995–96. In 1996, Bayern captain Lothar Matthäus accused Germany teammate Andreas Möller of being a 'crybaby', wiping imaginary tears from his face; Möller reacted by slapping Matthäus. At the end of that season, Dortmund won the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final which happened to be played at the Olympiastadion, Bayern's home ground. The teams met in the quarter-finals of the next edition of the Champions League, and Dortmund prevailed over two legs thanks to a single goal from Stéphane Chapuisat. That summer, Bayern hired Dortmund's successful coach Ottmar Hitzfeld to work for them. Tempers flared twice during Bayern and Dortmund's second meeting in the 1998–99 Bundesliga, as Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn first attempted a flying kung-fu kick at Chapuisat, and later appeared to bite Heiko Herrlich's ear. In the early 2000s both clubs remained successful, as Bayern lost one Champions League final (1999) then won another (2001) in addition to more domestic success, while Dortmund won the 2001–02 Bundesliga and reached the UEFA Cup final the same year. An angry 2001 league meeting between the pair was notable for 10 yellow cards and three red being shown (a Bundesliga record for indiscipline). However, Dortmund soon fell heavily into debt, and a €2m loan from Bayern in 2004 was a major reason for them being saved from bankruptcy. On 19 April 2008, the two sides clashed in the 2008 DFB-Pokal Final for the first time that took place in Berlin. Luca Toni opened the scoring on 11 minutes, but Mladen Petric drew BVB level in stoppage time, forcing 30 additional minutes. The Italian completed his double in extra time, thus lifting Bayern to cup glory. By 2010, Dortmund had put together a strong squad, including Mats Hummels, Mario Götze, Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski who led the club to the 2011 and 2012 Bundesliga titles; it was the first time any club other than Bayern won back-to-back championships since Dortmund in the mid-1990s. Dortmund clinched the 2011–12 league championship in a home match where bananas were tossed at Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Dortmund then claimed the first double of their history by beating Bayern 5–2 in the 2012 DFB-Pokal Final with a Lewandowski hat-trick, which was also their fifth consecutive win over the opponents. After seeing two league championships heading to Dortmund and losing the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final to Chelsea at their own Allianz Arena, Bayern recovered to clinch the 2012–13 Bundesliga in record time, breaking Dortmund's points record which had been set the year before. At the end of that season, the rivals met in the 2013 UEFA Champions League final. The German clubs had eliminated the two Spanish contenders, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, leading to the term "German Clasico" term first being used at that time, based on the El Clásico between those two Spanish clubs. The game was also notable for the fact that Dortmund's Mario Götze had already agreed to join Bayern in the coming weeks (although he did not play in the final due to injury). In the first all-German European final, Arjen Robben scored a dramatic 89th-minute winner at Wembley. Bayern would wrap up the first Treble in their history a week later in the 2013 DFB-Pokal Final. Following the biggest match involving the teams, several domestic finals were played between them in quick succession. In the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final on 17 May 2014, Bayern managed to score two goals in extra time, thus achieving their 17th win in the competition. After that, both clubs met again in the 2014 DFL- Supercup at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park, featuring Robert Lewandowski who had just moved to Bayern as a free agent after his contract with Dortmund ended. The match ended 2–0 to Dortmund. Two years later, the 2016 DFB-Pokal Final was the last match in Dortmund shirt for their captain Mats Hummels before he also moved to Bayern, where his career had begun; Bayern won the trophy on penalties after a 0–0 draw. They clashed again in the 2016 DFL-Supercup after Bayern secured a double, Dortmund being runners-up in the league as well as beaten cup finalists; the Bavarians won that match 2–0. The 2017 DFL-Supercup featured the same teams (champions Bayern and cup holders Dortmund) and the same outcome, this time Bayern winning on penalties after a 2–2 draw. In March 2018, Bayern secured a 6–0 home win over Dortmund in the league, the largest margin of victory for either side since the 11–1 result 47 years earlier. The most important recent result has seen Borussia Dortmund defeat Bayern Munich by a score of 2–0 in the 2019 DFL-Supercup.

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Lieutenant Green is a fictional character in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its 2000s computer-animated remake, Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. In both series, Green serves as the personal assistant to Spectrum commander-in-chief Colonel White, and is shown to be an expert in computer programming and electronics. In the former, he is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, and as well as being the only non-white male officer on Cloudbase, he is the only lieutenant among its personnel. In the latter, the character is re-imagined as an African-American woman. The original Green is the only black male character to be given a substantial role in a Gerry Anderson supermarionation series. In the original TV series, Green (born Seymour Griffiths) spends most of his time in the Cloudbase control room. He assists Colonel White in the execution of Spectrum assignments by accessing data and radio links from a large supercomputer, which he operates from a moveable chair. At White's command, Green can activate the control room's display screen or speak on the base's public address system. Green rarely leaves Cloudbase, although he occasionally mentions how he would relish an opportunity to meet primary Mysteron agent Captain Black "face-to-face". Other Cloudbase personnel assist White whenever the Lieutenant is absent. The character's voice was provided by Guyanese actor and singer Cy Grant, on whom the puppet's appearance was based. He was known to the series creators, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, for his regular calypso musical contributions to the current affairs programme Tonight. In the remake series, Green (born Serena Lewis) is re-imagined as a 27-year- old, female, African-American officer, originally from Texas. She remains confined to Skybase (the new series' Cloudbase), but her desk is smaller and her computer uses holographic technology. She is knowledgeable about all aspects of Spectrum, and used to work for the United Nations. Green is attracted to Captain Blue. At the end of the episode 'Proteus', she is offered a promotion to the rank of captain but elects to remain a lieutenant. During a UK repeat run in 1993, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons became the subject of discussion regarding black-and-white dualism for its use of the codenames "White" (to designate the benevolent commander-in-chief of Spectrum, Colonel White), and "Black" (to designate the villainous Captain Black). Series creator Gerry Anderson responded to accusations of political incorrectness and racial stereotyping by pointing out that Lieutenant Green – and the other non-white regulars, Melody and Harmony Angels – are heroic characters of African and Asian backgrounds. Green's original voice actor, Cy Grant, considered Captain Scarlet to be of positive multicultural value and commented on its possible allegorical nature. With regard to dualism, he suggested that "the 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift—the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' — of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift." He also discussed the notion of Green being an African trickster hero. The progressiveness of Green's characterisation has been well received. Mike Fillis of Cult Times praises the Andersons' decision to make a black character the "second-in-command" onboard Cloudbase. Kurt Barling, author of Grant's obituary for The Independent, writes that Green was "one of the first positive black fictional characters in children's television". He praises the character's vocal delivery, arguing that Grant's " tones" provided Green with a "serene and heroic quality". Green is described in The Daily Telegraph as a "black defender of planet Earth". Bibliography Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often shortened to Captain Scarlet, is a British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ITC Entertainment. Running to thirty-two 25-minute episodes, it was first broadcast on ITV regional franchises between 1967 and 1968 and has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It is one of several Anderson series that were filmed using a form of electronic marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation" combined with scale model special effects sequences. Set in 2068, Captain Scarlet follows the "" between Earth and the Mysterons, a race of Martians who possess partial control over matter. When a misunderstanding causes human astronauts to attack their city on Mars, the Mysterons vow revenge and launch a series of reprisals against Earth. These are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. In the first episode, Spectrum agent Captain Scarlet acquires the Mysterons' self-healing power of retro- metabolism and is thus rendered "indestructible", being able to recover from otherwise fatal injuries. In this way, Scarlet becomes Spectrum's top asset in its fight against the Mysterons. Captain Scarlet, the Andersons' eighth of ten puppet series, was preceded by Thunderbirds and followed by Joe 90 and The Secret Service. In terms of visual aesthetic, it represents a departure from Thunderbirds in its use of non-caricatured puppets sculpted to realistic body proportions. Repeated several times in the UK, it has generated tie-ins from toy cars and dolls to audio plays and original novels as well as comic strips in Century 21's weekly comic TV Century 21. Compared to Thunderbirds and earlier Anderson series, Captain Scarlet is generally considered "darker" in tone and less suited to child audiences due to its violent content and themes of alien aggression and interplanetary war. The change in puppet design has divided critical opinion while the wisdom of making the protagonist "indestructible" has also been questioned. However, the series has been praised for its use of a multinational, multi-ethnic puppet cast and depiction of a utopian future Earth. A computer-animated reboot series, Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, was first broadcast in 2005. The series begins in 2068. In the first episode, the crew of the Zero-X spacecraft are investigating the surface of Mars after mysterious radio signals are found to be coming from the planet. The source is discovered to be an alien city, which the astronauts fire on and destroy after mistaking a harmless surveillance device for a weapon. The city's inhabitants, the Mysterons, are sentient computers that form a collective consciousness. They are the remnants of the original Mysteron race: beings from another galaxy that maintained their colony on Mars for 3,500 years before abandoning the planet at the turn of the 20th century. The Mysteron computers use their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild their city before vowing revenge for the humans' unwarranted aggression. Reversing matter, also called "retro- metabolism", enables the Mysterons to re-create people and objects as facsimiles that they can control. This ability is used to wage a "" against Earth whereby the Mysterons issue threats against specific targets (from world leaders and military installations to cities and continents) and then destroy and reconstruct whatever instruments are needed (be they human or object) to carry out their plans. The presence of the Mysterons is indicated by two circles of green light that trail scenes of destruction and reconstruction. Although the Mysterons are able to influence events from Mars, their actions on Earth are usually performed by their replicated intermediaries. Zero-X mission leader Captain Black becomes the aliens' primary agent when they seize control of his mind. Prior to the events of the series, Black was an officer of Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation that mobilises its personnel, vehicles and other resources to counter the Mysteron threat. Spectrum's most senior agents hold military ranks and colour codenames and are posted to the organisation's headquarters, Cloudbase – an airborne aircraft carrier stationed above the Earth's surface – where they answer to its commander-in- chief, Colonel White. Cloudbase is defended by Angel Interceptor fighters flown by a squadron of five female pilots codenamed Destiny (squadron leader), Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody, and Symphony. Spectrum also incorporates a fleet of armoured Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPV), which are hidden in secret locations around the world, as well as patrol cars, hovercraft and machine-gun equipped helicopters. Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's main asset in its fight against the Mysterons after the events of the first episode, in which the Mysterons attempt to assassinate Earth's World President as their first act of retaliation. The original Scarlet is killed in a road accident engineered by the Mysterons and replaced with a double under their control. However, after the reconstruction is shot by Spectrum's Captain Blue and falls to his death from a tower, he returns to life with the consciousness of the original Scarlet restored and is thereafter free of the Mysteron influence. Scarlet's new body possesses two extraordinary abilities: he is able to sense other Mysteron reconstructions nearby and, if injured or killed, returns to full health through retro-metabolism. Now able to use suicidally reckless tactics to thwart Mysteron plots, Scarlet repeatedly sacrifices himself in the knowledge that whatever his injuries he will return to face the Mysterons again. Over the course of the series, it is discovered that Mysteron reconstructions are particularly vulnerable to electricity and can be detected by X-rays, to which they are resistant. Consequently, Spectrum develops two anti-Mysteron devices: the "Mysteron Gun" and "Mysteron Detector". A three- episode story arc focuses on the discovery of a Mysteron base on the Moon, its destruction by Spectrum, and Spectrum's efforts to negotiate with the Mysterons after converting the base's salvaged power source into an interplanetary communication device. A failed attempt to survey Mars, aborted military conferences and the sabotaged construction of a new Earth space fleet hinder Spectrum's progress in taking the fight to the Mysterons, and the organisation twice fails to capture Captain Black. In the penultimate episode, the Mysterons destroy Cloudbase with a fleet of spacecraft, but this is revealed to be a nightmare dreamt by a shot-down Symphony Angel. The final episode is a clip show that ends the series inconclusively with regard to the war between Earth and Mars. When talks to find an American broadcaster for Thunderbirds fell through in July 1966, production on the series' second season ended with the completion of just six episodes at the behest of Lew Grade, APF's financer at distributor ITC. Having overseen APF's work since the creation of Supercar in 1960, and gone on to buy the company during the production of Fireball XL5, Grade was keen for the Andersons' programmes to be broadcast in the lucrative American market and believed that a fresh concept stood a better chance of attracting bidders than a second season of Thunderbirds. As a result of the cancellation, Gerry Anderson was forced to come up with an idea for a new Supermarionation series. He had once been inspired by the thought of creating a live-action police drama in which the hero would have unexpectedly been murdered halfway through the series and replaced by a new lead character. Now giving fresh consideration to this idea, Anderson realised that a major selling point for his new series could be a character who is killed at the end of each episode and resurrected by the start of the next. This, coupled with contemporary theories about the possibility of life on Mars, led to the idea of an interplanetary war between Earth and its neighbour and a worldwide security organisation being called upon to defend humanity. After further thought, Anderson decided that "Scarlet" would be a suitably unusual name for this organisation's "indestructible" agent, while his partner in the field could be "Blue". From this, Anderson reasoned that all personnel should have colour codenames and that the organisation should be called "Spectrum". Noting that white light is composed of, and can be broken down into, the colours of the spectrum, he named Spectrum's leader "White". Intrigued by the oft-heard phrase "life as we know it", Anderson wanted to set his alien villains apart from the conventional extraterrestrials of 1960s TV and cinema. He therefore worked from a basis of "life as we don't know it" and made the Mysterons a collective of sentient computers rather than a race of organic beings, although this is not explicitly stated in the series itself. The intention was that the original Mysteron race came from another galaxy: having established a base on Mars in the distant past, they fled the planet centuries later, leaving their computers behind them. Anderson's recollections of the Second World War provided inspiration for a number of design aspects. For example, he remembered that during the Battle of Britain, RAF pilots had found it difficult to counter German attacks because having to take off from the ground meant that it took a long time to intercept the enemy. He therefore made Spectrum's headquarters, "Cloudbase", an airborne aircraft carrier. The Mysteron rings were inspired by an advertisement for Oxo products, which featured the brand name sliding over a frying pan and a woman's body. Settling on "The Mysterons" as the series' working title, Anderson and his wife, Sylvia, wrote a pilot script in August 1966. This differed significantly from the final draft of the first episode. Initially, it was decided that the Mysteron duplicate of Captain Scarlet would be resurrected by means of an advanced computer instead of reviving naturally, and that thereafter he would no longer be truly human but a "mechanical man" akin to an android. Another aim, later also dropped, was for each episode to feature a guest star puppet voiced by a well-known actor. Consequently, the character of the World President that appears in the first episode was originally intended to be voiced by Patrick McGoohan. With Anderson serving mainly as executive producer, the majority of the writing input was supplied by Tony Barwick, who had previously written for Thunderbirds. Originally Captain Scarlet's script editor, Barwick went on to pen 18 of its 32 episodes himself, besides often making substantial revisions to other writers' work. Discussing his approach to scriptwriting in a 1986 interview, Barwick compared the premise and characters of Captain Scarlet to those of Thunderbirds – for example, likening Spectrum to International Rescue and the character of Captain Black to the The Hood, the earlier series' recurring villain. Filming on the first episode, "The Mysterons", began on 2 January 1967 after two months of pre-production. The budget for the 32-episode series was set at £1.5 million (approximately £ million in ). At an average cost of £46,000 per episode, or £2,000 per minute, it was the most expensive Anderson production to date. A month before, Anderson and his team had dropped the name "AP Films", since company co-founder Arthur Provis was no longer working with Anderson, and renamed their company "Century 21 Productions". By the time Captain Scarlet entered production, many of the directors on earlier Anderson series – such as Alan Pattillo, David Elliott and David Lane – had either left APF or were committed to the production of Thunderbird 6, the second Thunderbirds feature film. Although Lane, Desmond Saunders and Brian Burgess were able to reprise directorial duties from Thunderbirds, the Andersons were forced to promote some of the junior production personnel to replace the outgoing directors. To this end, Alan Perry and Ken Turner were promoted from the camera operator and art departments. Other new directors were drafted in from outside APF; these were Peter Anderson, Leo Eaton and Robert Lynn, the last of whom had been an assistant director on the 1958 Hammer films Dracula and The Revenge of Frankenstein. Stirling Road on the Slough Trading Estate had served as the Andersons' production base since the making of Stingray in 1964. To speed up production on earlier Supermarionation series, episodes had been filmed simultaneously in pairs on separate sound stages, a practice that continued for Captain Scarlet. Some filming coincided with the production of Thunderbird 6, which was recorded on a different stage. Editing rooms, post- production offices and a preview theatre were housed in a separate building on the estate. The crew also worked with Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow, Essex on technical aspects of the production. A third unit, headed by Derek Meddings and his assistant Mike Trim, handled special effects and miniatures and was tasked with creating all the permanent sets and models, such as the Cloudbase interiors and scaled-down Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles. A design innovation for Captain Scarlet meant that the noses of the scale-model vehicles would "dip" when stopped, to imitate the sudden application of brakes and subsequent deceleration on a real-life vehicle. The Cloudbase model, which was long, proved too heavy to be held up with strings and was instead supported by a metal pole. To create the Mysteron rings, the crew used the advice of producer Reg Hill, who suggested that a transparency be made that could be panned across the sets using a slide projector. By the time the series started airing in September 1967, principal photography had been completed on the first 20 episodes. The puppet shots for each episode usually took two weeks or 11 working days to film. Shooting was originally scheduled to last eight months, but ultimately ran into late October due to the demands of the Thunderbird 6 shoot. Although production on the next Supermarionation series, Joe 90, began in November, the final episodes of Captain Scarlet were not completed until early 1968. The music for Captain Scarlet was composed by Barry Gray, who had scored all prior Supermarionation series. The opening theme, titled "The Mysterons", was rendered electronically and accompanied by a staccato drum beat to introduce the lead character of Captain Scarlet. This seven-note beat was also used to link scenes within episodes as well as cut to advertisement breaks, where it was accompanied by a zooming image of the Spectrum logo. On the subject of the beat, Anderson recalled, "When I went to the recording session, I heard the drum beat he had come up with and I thought, 'Christ, is this all he could produce?' Looking back on it, however, I can see that what he came up with worked very well." The ending theme, "Captain Scarlet", underwent significant change after the completion of the first 14 episodes. The first version had been mostly instrumental, with the words "Captain Scarlet!" sung in time to the staccato drum beat followed by a vocoded repetition supplied by Gray himself. This was later revised as a song performed by a London-based pop group The Spectrum, who had been assembled by RCA Victor as an imitation of The Monkees and happened to share their name with the organisation that appears in Captain Scarlet. As well as the theme music, Gray scored incidental music for 18 episodes of Captain Scarlet between March and December 1967. Musical accompaniment for the remaining 14 episodes was achieved by re-using these tracks as well as music from earlier Anderson series such as Thunderbirds. In composing the incidental music, Gray made extensive use of two contrasting, yet similar, themes to illustrate Spectrum and the Mysterons. In their notes for the soundtrack release, Ralph Titterton and Tim Mallett suggest that the music has a "military feel" that favours percussion, brass and wind instruments, contrasting with the orchestral nature of the Thunderbirds score. With the exception of the four-note Mysteron motif, Gray generally restricted his use of electronic synthesisers to space sequences, preferring traditional instruments for Earth-bound action. Captain Scarlet's motif, heard in the incidental music and both versions of the ending theme, is a melodic variation on the Mysteron theme, emphasising Scarlet's Mysteron past. Awarding the soundtrack release a rating of four stars out of five, Bruce Eder of the website AllMusic describes the collection of theme and incidental music as "a strange mix of otherworldly 'music of the spheres', late-50s/early-60s 'space-age pop', 'British Invasion' beat, Scottish folk- inspired tunes, kids-style 'Mickey Mouse' scoring, martial music, light jazz, and light classical". He singles out the two versions of "White as Snow" from the episode of the same name, "Cocktail Music" from the episode "Model Spy" and a piano piece from "The Inquisition" (performed by Gray himself) for particular praise. In his BBC Online review, Peter Marsh suggests that the music's dark tone reflects the series' presentation of realistic puppets and death, frightening alien villains and "no laughs", noting that "dissonant vibraphone chords shimmer under hovering, tremulous strings contrasted with urgent, militaristic drums and pulsing brass – driving the action ever onto its climax (and, no doubt, a big explosion)." In October 2015, Fanderson released a 3-disc soundtrack set exclusively for club members. It contains music either written for, or used in, all but three episodes ("The Heart of New York" and "Treble Cross" contain no original music and the cue recordings for "Traitor" are lost). Captain Scarlet soundtrack releases: Supermarionation, a technique by which the movements of the puppets' mouths were electronically synchronised with pre-recorded dialogue, was first used during the production of Four Feather Falls in 1960. In all series prior to Captain Scarlet, a puppet's head had been disproportionately large compared to the rest of its body, as the head contained the solenoid that formed the key element of the lip-synch mechanism. Scaling the body up to match the head was not possible, as this would have made the puppets difficult to operate and required enlarging all the puppet sets. Gerry Anderson was frustrated with this caricatured look and wanted the design of the puppets to more accurately reflect human physiology. Thus, before Captain Scarlet entered production, Reg Hill and John Read created a new type of puppet with the solenoid built into the chest to allow realistically-sized heads. The costume designer on Captain Scarlet was Sylvia Anderson, who took inspiration from the work of French fashion designer Pierre Cardin (in particular, his 1966 "Cosmonaut" collection) in designing the Spectrum uniforms. After being sculpted in Plasticine, the puppet heads were moulded on a silicone rubber base and finished in fibreglass. At heights ranging from (approximately one-third life size) the next-generation puppets were no shorter than their predecessors. In earlier series, the puppets' eyes had been disproportionately large; for Captain Scarlet, they were made more realistic by fixing prints of real human eyes to the puppets' eyeballs, scaled down from photographs of the eyes of production staff. As before, the main characters were given interchangeable heads showing a range of expressions; these included "smiler", "frowner" and "blinker" heads. As episodes of Captain Scarlet were to be filmed in pairs on separate stages, the "expressionless" heads were made in duplicate. The increased realism of the puppets meant that their mobility was significantly reduced. This, ironically, made the design less lifelike than Anderson had hoped: "Suddenly, all the movements had to be as realistic as the puppets and that made it difficult for the puppeteers to animate them." To minimise the amount of movement required, the puppets were made to stand on moving walkways or sit at moving desks: for example, Colonel White's desk is able to rotate and Lieutenant Green operates the Cloudbase computer from a sliding chair. Puppeteer Jan King commented: The "under control" puppets described by King had no wires and were manipulated from the waist. One advantage of this method was that a puppet could pass through a doorway without necessitating a break in the shot. For shots of characters sitting in aircraft cockpits, variations of the "under control" design were made comprising only a head and torso; these were operated using levers and wires located underneath the set. The appearance of Captain Scarlet has been compared to that of Francis Matthews (who voiced the character), Cary Grant and Roger Moore. Ed Bishop thought that Captain Blue was modelled on him, but sculptor Terry Curtis said that he used himself as the template and simply added a blond wig when he learnt that Bishop was to voice the character. Curtis, a James Bond fan, based Captain Grey on Sean Connery and Destiny Angel on Ursula Andress, Connery's co-star in Dr No (1962). Lieutenant Green was modelled on voice actor Cy Grant, Rhapsody Angel on Jean Shrimpton, Melody Angel on Eartha Kitt and Harmony Angel on Tsai Chin. Prior to Captain Scarlet, supporting characters had been sculpted in clay for each new episode. The guest parts in Captain Scarlet, however, were filled by a permanent "repertory company" of over 50 puppets made to the same standards of workmanship as the main characters. Called "revamp puppets", or simply "revamps", these puppets appeared on an episode-by-episode basis, altered for each new role by changing their hairstyles and hair colours. Both main character and revamp puppets from Captain Scarlet appeared in the final two Supermarionation series, Joe 90 and The Secret Service. Captain Scarlet had the largest regular puppet cast of any Supermarionation production. Whereas earlier series had focused on futuristic technology, in Captain Scarlet the emphasis shifted to the characters. As with the re- designed puppets, the voice parts became less caricatured and more realistic. Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn suggest that the proliferation of English- accented voices in the transition from Thunderbirds to Captain Scarlet altered the sound of Supermarionation and its impression on the viewer. Francis Matthews, who supplied the voice of Captain Scarlet, had turned down offers to voice characters in Thunderbirds. According to Matthews, Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to cast him because he was impressed by an imitation of Cary Grant that Matthews had once used in a radio programme, and indeed the actor based Scarlet's tones on Grant's Mid-Atlantic accent. Anderson, however, stated in his biography that the Grant impression was Matthews' choice at audition, and that while it was not the voice that had been intended for Scarlet the production was happy to use it. Matthews' co-star in the film (1966) had been Charles Tingwell, who was chosen to voice Cloudbase medical officer Dr Fawn. Tingwell, who had provided voices for Series Two of Thunderbirds as well as the feature film Thunderbirds Are Go, had been recommended by fellow Australian Ray Barrett, a regular voice artist on Stingray and Thunderbirds. Due to stage commitments, Tingwell left the production after 12 episodes. Departing at the same time was Paul Maxwell, the voice of Captain Grey (and previously Steve Zodiac in Fireball XL5 and Captain Paul Travers in Thunderbirds Are Go), who left the series to take up the role of Steve Tanner in Coronation Street. Due to the departures of Tingwell and Maxwell, for the remaining episodes Fawn and Grey appeared in a non-speaking capacity only, although guest characters voiced by Tingwell and Maxwell occasionally appeared in flashbacks to earlier episodes. Cy Grant, chosen for the role of Lieutenant Green (Colonel White's assistant and the Cloudbase computer operator), was known to the Andersons for singing topical calypsos on the current affairs programme Tonight. Grant's casting influenced that of Ed Bishop as Captain Blue, as Bishop remembered in a 1995 interview: "It was just that a girl in my agent's office happened to be on the ball. She represented this black actor by the name of Cy Grant and Gerry and Sylvia wanted to use him ... And the girl said, 'Oh, by the way, Mr Anderson, we've just taken on a new, young American actor' – shows you how long ago it was – 'a new American actor, name of Edward Bishop. And we know how much you like American voices. Would you like to meet him as well?' He said, 'Okay, send him out.' So I went out and auditioned and got the job." Donald Gray, who had found himself typecast after performing the lead role in the detective series Saber of London, was having to resort to voice work to sustain his acting career. He was selected for three regular roles: Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons. (After Black is taken over by the Mysterons in the first episode, he speaks with the aliens' voice). For Gray's portrayals of Black and the Mysterons, his voice was electronically deepened by recording his lines at high speed and then playing them back at normal speed to produce a haunting effect. The voice of Captain Ochre was provided by Jeremy Wilkin, who had voiced Virgil Tracy in Thunderbirds Series Two. Captain Magenta, meanwhile, was voiced by Gary Files, a relative newcomer to Century 21 who had supplied guest voices for the second Thunderbirds film, Thunderbird 6. Liz Morgan was also new to the Anderson productions and voiced Destiny Angel, leader of the Angel squadron, and one of her subordinates, Rhapsody Angel. Sylvia Anderson, the voice of Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds, took the role of Melody Angel, while Canadian actress Janna Hill voiced Symphony. Harmony was initially voiced by Morgan, who supplied the character's lines in five episodes. About a third of the way through the dialogue-recording sessions, the role was transferred to Chinese actress Lian-Shin, who voiced Harmony in only one episode ("The Launching") but received cast billing in 20. Supporting character voices were performed by Anderson, Files, Hill, Maxwell, Morgan, Tingwell and Wilkin. Completing the credited cast were David Healy and Martin King. Shane Rimmer, previously heard as Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds, made a number of uncredited vocal contributions besides writing for the series. Neil McCallum voiced guest characters in four episodes but was also uncredited. After Captain Scarlet, six members of the voice cast would continue their association with Century 21. Healy voiced Shane Weston in Joe 90 and Files voiced Matthew Harding in The Secret Service. Wilkin, Morgan and King all had various supporting roles in these two series. Bishop later appeared in the lead role of Commander Ed Straker in UFO, the Andersons' first live-action series. Character dialogue was recorded once a fortnight, at up to four episodes a session, at the Anvil Films Recording Studio in Denham, Buckinghamshire. All actors were paid 15 guineas (£15 15 shillings) per episode (), plus repeat fees, regardless of the size of their contributions. They were not given the opportunity to tour the Century 21 studios in Slough until their work was finished and therefore had no visualisation of their characters during the recording sessions. This was to the regret of Morgan: "We all said that we wished we had seen the puppets before doing the dialogue, as it would have been helpful to have something physical to base the voices on. I knew that Destiny was French and that Rhapsody had to be frightfully 'Sloaney,' but that was about it." All Captain Scarlet episodes, with the exception of the first, have two title sequences. The first of these, incorporating the title card and main production credits, is set in a run-down alleyway and presented from the point of view of an unseen assassin, who turns a corner only to meet his death at the gun barrel of Captain Scarlet. The seven-letter words "Captain Scarlet" gradually appear in time with the seven strikes of the series' signature drum beat composed by Barry Gray. This sequence is intended to demonstrate Scarlet's indestructibility, the bullets from the assassin's machine gun having no effect on the captain. It is accompanied by a voice-over from Ed Bishop that states: A number of variations have been used. In the first episode, Bishop's voice-over runs: A rarely-used alternative version runs: Later prints feature an additional voice-over by Donald Gray that warns the audience: This served both to establish the background to the series and warn younger viewers not to endanger themselves by copying Scarlet's actions. It was used either in isolation or after the alternative "One man ..." voice-over from Bishop. Beginning with the second episode, the primary title sequence leads into a teaser that is in turn followed by a secondary title sequence: as the Mysterons announce their latest threat against Earth, the "Mysteron eyes" pass over the main characters in various environments to demonstrate the aliens' omnipresence. At the same time, the characters' codenames appear on- screen. The Mysterons invariably begin their threat with the words, "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen." The closing credits were originally intended to feature images of printed circuit boards and other electronic components to reflect the Andersons' early conception of Scarlet as a "mechanical man." In the finished sequence, the credits are superimposed over a series of paintings that depict Scarlet in various moments of peril. In earlier episodes, these are accompanied by the instrumental version of the Captain Scarlet theme music; closing credits of later episodes feature a lyrical version sung by The Spectrum. The paintings were created by comic artist Ron Embleton, who would later illustrate the adult comic strips Oh, Wicked Wanda! and Sweet Chastity for Penthouse Magazine. In 2005, the Animation Art Gallery in London released limited- edition prints of the paintings signed by Francis Matthews. In Japan, the original opening titles were replaced with a montage of action clips taken from various episodes, accompanied by a song performed by children. This version is included in the special features of the Captain Scarlet DVD box set. Captain Scarlet had its official UK premiere on 29 September 1967 on ATV Midlands. The first episode, "The Mysterons", was seen by an estimated 450,000 viewers, a number considered promising. Exactly five months prior, this episode had been shown in the London area as a late-night test transmission. The series debuted in the London and Scotland regions on 1 October, with Granada, Anglia, Southern, Westward and Channel Television all following later that month. By the start of the 1968, the series was being broadcast in all parts of the UK. Viewing figures in the Midlands averaged 1.1 million. Captain Scarlet was also shown in more than 40 other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In the United States, it aired in first-run syndication. Only six episodes were shown in the Netherlands. UK repeat runs varied among regions. Granada, HTV and Tyne Tees continued to air the series into 1972, while the Midlands repeated it four times in colour between 1969 and 1974. In other areas, like Yorkshire, it was not repeated at all. In the mid-1980s, the ITV network broadcast the series on Saturday mornings as well as in segmented form as part of Night Network. Captain Scarlet was subsequently purchased by the BBC, which launched the series' first nationwide network run on BBC2 in October 1993. The BBC2 premiere of "The Mysterons" drew an audience of four million, the channel's third-largest audience of the week. BBC Two repeated the series in digitally-remastered form in the autumn of 2001. After the September 11 attacks, the episode order was re-arranged: the second episode, "Winged Assassin" (in which the Mysterons destroy an airliner and re-create it as a weapon), and the third, "Big Ben Strikes Again" (in which London is threatened by a hi-jacked nuclear device), were postponed due to perceived similarities between the storylines and real-world events. The episodes were subsequently broadcast in November and December 2001 and again in July 2003. In the week after the attacks, distributor Carlton Communications briefly took down the Captain Scarlet pages on its website. Although Thunderbirds had run for two series, Lew Grade's unexpected cancellation of that production had led Gerry Anderson to assume that there was no possibility of Captain Scarlet lasting more than one. In Anderson's words: "I didn't expect it to continue. I simply went to Lew and asked, 'What's the next thing you want us to do? Captain Scarlet is generally viewed as being much "darker" in tone compared to earlier Anderson series, as Andrew Billen noted in New Statesman in 2005: "Whereas Thunderbirds was about rescuing people, Scarlet was about damnation, the soul of a resurrected man being fought for between Captain Scarlet and the equally indestructible Captain Black. It was Anderson's Gothic period." The horror of the Mysterons has also been recognised: in 2003, the depiction of the aliens ranked 82nd in Channel 4's list show 100 Greatest Scary Moments. Simon Wickes of the website TV Century 21 argues that the series' sober writing is ultimately due to the realism of the new, accurately-proportioned puppets, and that this aesthetic change also accounts for the increased realism of the scale-model effects. Commentators have drawn parallels between Captain Scarlet and the Cold War. Media historian Nicholas J. Cull interprets the "war of nerves" between Earth and Mars as a reflection of strained international relations during the 1960s and likens the "enemy within" scenario of Martians taking over humans to the plots of films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Mark Bould states that Captain Scarlet "seemed in tune with a decade of civil disobedience and anti-imperialist guerrilla wars" – a view echoed by Rebecca Feasey of the University of Edinburgh, who writes that it is one of a number of TV series that "exploited the fears of 1960s America by presenting civil disobedience and the potentially negative impact of new technologies." Since 2001, comparisons have also been made to the September 11 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror. To others, Captain Scarlet remains a "camp classic". According to Bould, it is one of several Anderson productions that depict "a utopian future benefiting from world government, high technology, ethnic diversity, and a generally positive sense of Americanisation. They articulate the commonly made connection between technological developments and economic prosperity." He also writes that Captain Scarlet espouses "Euro-cool consumerism". World government is a recurring concept in Supermarionation series and was inspired by Gerry Anderson's thoughts on the subject at the time: "I had all sorts of fancy ideas about the future ... we had the United Nations and I imagined that the world would come together and there would be a world government." On the depiction of technology, Peter Wright notes the "qualified technophilia" that Captain Scarlet shares with Thunderbirds. The series has drawn criticism for its camerawork, which some commentators regard as being too static due to the crew's inability to move the puppets convincingly. The return to 25-minute episodes, coming after Thunderbirds 50-minute format, has been blamed for a perceived lack of subplots and drop in the overall quality of the storytelling. Concerns have also been raised about the series' approach to character development: in a 1986 interview, script editor Tony Barwick described Captain Scarlet as "hard-nosed stuff" that lacked humour, adding: "It was all for the American market and to that extent there was no deep characterisation. [The characters] all balanced one against the other." By contrast, Jeff Evans, author of The Penguin TV Companion, describes the characters as "more detailed" than before, noting that they "were given private lives and real identities, and were furnished with other biographical data." Writer John Peel views Captain Scarlet as inferior to Thunderbirds, arguing that while Century 21's special effects had improved it was to the detriment of the scriptwriting. He compares this to the relative failure of the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom following the success of its precursor, Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Anderson made the same mistake that George Lucas made, assuming that if the effects were praised in Thunderbirds, the public wanted a show with more effects." Peel also finds fault with the character of Scarlet himself, arguing that the use of an "indestructible" hero made the episode endings too predictable. He also suggests that Scarlet, who often risks his safety to foil Mysteron plots, served as a poor role model to impressionable child viewers. Regarded as a cult series by some, Captain Scarlet came 33rd in a 2007 Radio Times poll to find the greatest science-fiction series of all time. Despite concerns that it is not a true children's programme due to its "dark" tone and level of violence, it was ranked 51st in Channel 4's 2001 list show 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows. Comparing Captain Scarlet to its immediate precursor, Gerry Anderson's verdict was clear: "Nothing was as successful as Thunderbirds. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was very successful, but once you've had a smash hit, everything tends to look less successful in comparison." On Sylvia Anderson's costume design, Bould writes positively of Century 21's "commitment to fashion" and directs particular praise at the design of the Angel uniforms. The new puppet design has been praised by Vincent Terrace and criticised by others. Certain members of the production staff believed that the new marionettes lacked the charm of the previous generation due to the natural body proportions that were now being used. Episode director David Lane recalls that when he first saw the prototype, "it was as if there was a little dead person in [the box] ... because it was perfect in all its proportions it just looked odd." Sculptor John Brown remembers putting the prototype next to the Lady Penelope puppet from Thunderbirds and gauging his colleagues' response: "When they saw it, some people were horrified by the difference. Some didn't like it, some did." Some have argued that facial expression was sacrificed in favour of a realistic design. Sculptor Terry Curtis recalls: Fellow sculptor John Blundall called the new puppet design "ridiculous", criticising the attempts to make the puppets appear more lifelike because "we always try to do with puppets what you can't do with humans." He suggested that the transition from caricature to realism was at the expense of the marionettes' "character and personality", arguing that "if the puppet appears completely natural, the audience no longer has to use its imagination." Gerry Anderson stated that he pushed for a new design to satisfy the audience, viewing it not as "a case of moving to a new technique, but more a case of incorporating new ideas with existing methods." Evans praises the new puppets, describing them as "perfect in proportion" and commending the re-location of the electronic circuitry from the heads to the bodies. Comparing it to Thunderbirds, Peel sums up Captain Scarlet as "better puppets, bigger action and a huge step backwards in stories". He supports the new puppet design, contending that the increased realism would not have put off an audience familiar with the earlier design. During its 1993 BBC re-run, Captain Scarlet became the subject of a debate about black-and-white dualism for its use of the codenames "Black" for the villainous Captain Black and "White" for the benevolent head of Spectrum, Colonel White. Defending the series against claims of racism and political incorrectness, Gerry Anderson pointed out that the heroic characters include Lieutenant Green, Melody Angel and Harmony Angel, all of whom are of African or Asian background. Green is the only male black character to have a significant role in any of the Anderson series. In academic publications, the diversity of the characters in terms of both race and gender has been viewed highly. Bould praises the "beautiful, multi-ethnic, female Angel fighter pilots" and "secondary roles played by capable women." In a 2003 interview, Anderson noted the effort made to feature ethnic minorities: "... I think people who make television programmes have a responsibility, particularly when children are watching avidly and you know their minds can be affected almost irreversibly as they grow up. We were very conscious of introducing different ethnic backgrounds." Guyanese actor Cy Grant, who voiced Green, believed that Captain Scarlet had both positive multicultural value and an allegorical nature. He argued that the series implied Christian symbolism, with Colonel White as God, Captain Black as the Devil and Scarlet himself as Christ; the allegory extended to Cloudbase, which symbolised Heaven and was guarded by a fleet of fighters codenamed "Angels". Grant viewed Green as an African trickster hero. On dualism, he argued: "The 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift – the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' – of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift." The ATV game show The Golden Shot, hosted by Bob Monkhouse, chose Captain Scarlet as the theme for its 1967 Christmas special. Broadcast live on 23 December, the programme featured guest appearances from Francis Matthews and The Spectrum. Since its first appearance in the 1960s, the TV series has been supplemented by tie-ins ranging from toy dolls to video games. In 1967, Century 21 released five Captain Scarlet audio plays as vinyl EP records. Each play was approximately 21 minutes long and featured the original TV voice cast. TV Century 21 script editor Angus P. Allan wrote Introducing Captain Scarlet (which is set during the denouement to "The Mysterons"), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Captain Scarlet of Spectrum. His assistant, Richard O'Neill, wrote the other two plays, Captain Scarlet is Indestructible and Captain Scarlet versus Captain Black. Author John William Jennison (under the pseudonym "John Theydon") wrote three tie-in novels published between 1967 and 1968: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur and The Angels and the Creeping Enemy. As suggested by its title, the third novel features the Spectrum Angels as the protagonists. In 1993, Young Corgi Books published children's novelisations of the episodes "The Mysterons", "Lunarville 7", "Noose of Ice" and "The Launching". Captain Scarlet was also the basis of three comic strip adventures in TV Century 21. Running for 17 issues between September 1967 and January 1968, the strips were written by Angus P. Allan with artwork by Ron Embleton, and were titled We Will Destroy Unity City, We Will Destroy the Observatory Network and We Shall Make Earth a Planet of Silence. After the TV series finished its original run, the comic continued the story of the Captain Scarlet universe, with later strips revealing that the Mysterons deactivate their Martian city and relinquish their control over Captain Black while Scarlet himself leaves Spectrum to use his powers in the fight against Earth-bound criminals and threats. The Mysterons eventually re- awaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle. The original strips were reprinted in the 1968 and 1969 editions of TV21 Annual. Century 21 published also published Captain Scarlet annuals from 1967 to 1969. Further annuals were published by Grandreams in 1993 and 1994 to coincide with the BBC2 repeats. In 2002, Carlton Books published a new annual to accompany the digitally-remastered TV broadcasts. In Japan, a manga adaptation by Sachihiko Kitagawa and Jōji Enami was serialised in the Shogakukan magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday between 1967 and 1968. Another adaptation by Hikari Asahioka ran in Shōnen Book by Shueisha from January to August 1968. The UK's first VHS releases of the series were distributed by PolyGram and Channel 5. These changed the episode order and, in the case of the first two volumes, altered the episodes with the addition of footage shot for the Captain Scarlet compilation films of the 1980s. Between 2001 and 2002, Carlton Video re-released the series as both separate volumes and a "Complete Series Box Set". These featured the remastered picture and sound quality that had been introduced for the BBC Two repeats of 2001. The box set includes an extra tape featuring Captain Scarlet: The Indestructible, a behind-the-scenes feature. Since September 2001, Captain Scarlet has also been available on Region 2 DVD with new Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound providing an alternative to the original mono soundtrack. Bonus features on these releases include audio commentaries by Gerry Anderson on two episodes, "The Mysterons" and "Attack on Cloudbase", as well as the five 1960s audio adventures. As with the VHS releases, the DVDs have also been released as a box set; this includes an extra disc featuring Captain Scarlet S.I.G. (a behind-the-scenes documentary produced and presented by Anderson) and five alternative title sequences. The Region 1 box set, released by A&E; Home Video in 2002, is largely similar to the Region 2 version. In 2004, Imavision released a French-language box set for the Canadian market. The set is also available in Australia and Japan. On the series' 50th anniversary, British company Network Distributing announced that it was releasing Captain Scarlet on Blu-ray with its episodes remastered in high definition from the original 35 mm film negatives. The Blu-ray range was released both in four volumes and as a box set between 2017 and 2018. VHS releases (UK) DVD releases Blu-ray releases (UK) The distribution rights to much of the ITC catalogue have changed hands several times since the 1980s. They were first transferred to PolyGram Entertainment (or "PolyGram Television"), then Carlton International after a part-sale to the BBC in 1991. In 2004, Carlton merged into Granada International, the current rights holder, which in 2008 became ITV Global Entertainment, a division of ITV plc. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer holds the theatrical release rights. Gerry Anderson announced plans for a live-action film adaptation of Captain Scarlet in 2000 and again in 2002 but the film remains undeveloped. In 1980, Robert Mandell and ITC New York combined several episodes of Captain Scarlet to make two compilation films: Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons and Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars. These were aired on American cable TV under the promotional banner "Super Space Theater" in the hope of reviving transatlantic syndication sales. Compilations were a common practice for Supermarionation series in the 1980s, with Stingray and Thunderbirds receiving similar treatments. In November 1988, Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars was broadcast as episode two of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Minnesota TV station KTMA. In 1999, Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated test film, Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons, to explore the possibility of updating some of his 1960s Supermarionation series for a 21st-century audience. The working title was Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium. Produced by Moving Picture Company using a combination of Maya software and motion- capture technology, the film features Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop reprising their voice roles of Captains Scarlet and Blue. Set a few years after the Mysterons apparently cease hostilities against Earth, the film sees the reappearance of Captain Black, setting the stage for a revival of the war with Mars. The film was screened at a Fanderson convention in 2000 and a science lecture in 2001. It was released on home media in 2017. Plans for a full CGI Captain Scarlet TV series eventually resulted in Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. A reboot of the original series, this was first broadcast on CITV's Ministry of Mayhem in 2005. As a nod to Supermarionation, the series' computer animation was promoted as "Hypermarionation". Notes Primary sources Secondary sources Works cited Captain Scarlet volume originally published separately as: Production locations (Defunct; archived 6 February 2005) (Adobe Flash Player), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons at Gerry Anderson's official website, The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History – Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: TV21, 1967–68 Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the only U.S. Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services. Arnold was also the founder of Project RAND, which evolved into one of the world's largest non-profit global policy think tanks, the RAND Corporation, and one of the founders of Pan American World Airways. Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force. He overcame a fear of flying that resulted from his experiences with early flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I, and became a protégé of General Billy Mitchell. Arnold rose to command the Army Air Forces immediately prior to the American entry into World War II and directed its hundred-fold expansion from an organization of little more than 20,000 men and 800 first- line combat aircraft into the largest and most powerful air force in the world. An advocate of technological research and development, his tenure saw the development of the intercontinental bomber, the jet fighter, the extensive use of radar, global airlift and atomic warfare as mainstays of modern air power. Arnold's most widely used nickname, "Hap," was short for "Happy," attributed variously to work associates when he moonlighted as a silent film stunt pilot in October 1911, or to his wife, who began using the nickname in her correspondence in 1931 following the death of Arnold's mother. He was called Harley by his family during his youth, and "Sunny" by both his mother and wife. Arnold was known to his West Point classmates as "Pewt" or "Benny". By his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff he was referred to as "The Chief." Born June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, Arnold was the son of Dr. Herbert Alonzo Arnold (1857–1933), a strong-willed physician and a member of the prominent political and military Arnold Family. His mother was Anna Louise ("Gangy") Harley (1857–1931), from a "Dunker" farm family and the first female in her family to attend high school. Arnold was Baptist in religious belief but had strong Mennonite ties through both families. However, unlike her husband, "Gangy" Arnold was "fun-loving and prone to laughter," and not rigid in her beliefs. When Arnold was eleven, his father responded to the Spanish–American War by serving as a surgeon in the Pennsylvania National Guard, of which he remained a member for the next 24 years. Arnold attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1903. The athletic fields at Lower Merion are named after him. Arnold had no intention of attending West Point (he was preparing to attend Bucknell University and enter the Baptist ministry) but took the entrance examination after his older brother Thomas defied their father and refused to do so. Arnold placed second on the list and received a delayed appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, prohibited by academy regulations. Arnold entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a "Juliette" (one month late), having just turned 17. His cadet career was spent as a "clean sleeve" (cadet private). At the academy he helped found the "Black Hand", a group of cadet pranksters, and led it during his first class year. He played second- team running back for the varsity football team, was a shot putter on the track and field team, and excelled at polo. Arnold's academic standing varied between the middle and the lower end of his class, with his better scores in mathematics and science. He wanted assignment to the Cavalry but an inconsistent demerit record and a cumulative general merit class standing of 66th out of 111 cadets resulted in his being commissioned on June 14, 1907, as a second lieutenant, Infantry. He initially protested the assignment (there was no commissioning requirement for USMA graduates in 1907), but was persuaded to accept a commission in the 29th Infantry, at the time stationed in the Philippines. Arnold arrived in Manila on December 7, 1907. Arnold disliked infantry troop duties and volunteered to assist Captain Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry, who was on temporary assignment in the Philippines mapping the island of Luzon. Cowan returned to the United States following completion of the cartography detail, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in also transferring to the Signal Corps but heard nothing in reply for two years. In June 1909, the 29th Infantry relocated to Fort Jay, New York, and en route to his new duty station by way of Paris, France, Arnold saw his first airplane in flight, piloted by Louis Blériot. In 1911, Arnold applied for transfer to the Ordnance Department because it offered an immediate promotion to first lieutenant. While awaiting the results of the required competitive examination, he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten. Arnold immediately sent a letter requesting a transfer to the Signal Corps and on April 21, 1911, received Special Order 95, detailing him and 2nd Lt. Thomas DeWitt Milling of the 15th Cavalry, to Dayton, Ohio, for a course in flight instruction at the Wright brothers' aviation school at Simms Station, Ohio. While individually instructed, they were part of the school's May 1911 class that included three civilians and Lt. John Rodgers of the United States Navy. Beginning instruction on May 3 with Arthur L. Welsh, Arnold made his first solo flight May 13 after three hours and forty-eight minutes of flight in 28 lessons. On May 14, he and Milling completed their instruction. Arnold received Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) pilot certificate No. 29 on July 6, 1911, and Military Aviator Certificate No. 2 a year later. He also was recognized by a general order in 1913 as one of the first 24 rated military aviators, authorized to wear the newly designed Military Aviator badge. After several more weeks of solo flying in Dayton to gain experience, Arnold and Milling were sent on June 14 to the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps station established at College Park, Maryland, to be the Army's first flight instructors. There Arnold set an altitude record of on July 7 and thrice broke it (August 18, 1911, to ; January 25, 1912, to ; and June 1, 1912, ). In August 1911, he experienced his first crash, trying to take off from a farm field after getting lost. In September Arnold became the first U.S. pilot to carry mail, flying a bundle of letters five miles (8 km) on Long Island, New York, and he is credited as the first pilot to fly over the U.S. Capitol and the first to carry a United States Congressman as a passenger. The following month Arnold moonlighted as a pilot in the filming of two silent movies, doubling for the leads in The Military Air-Scout and The Elopement. The flight school moved in November 1911 to a farm leased near Augusta, Georgia, hoping to continue flying there during the winter. Training was limited by rain and flooding, and they returned to Maryland in May 1912. Arnold began to develop a phobia about flying, intensified by Al Welsh's fatal crash at College Park on June 11. In August Arnold was at Marblehead, Massachusetts, with 1st Lt. Roy C. Kirtland conducting acceptance tests of the Burgess Model H, an enclosed-fuselage tandem-seat seaplane and the Army's first tractor (front-mounted propeller and engine). The pair received orders to fly the new aircraft to Bridgeport, Connecticut to participate in maneuvers but high winds forced them to land on Massachusetts Bay on August 12. Attempting to take off again, Arnold caught a wing tip in the water turning into the wind and crashed into the bay off Plymouth. Arnold suffered a lacerated chin during the mishap but the aircraft was salvaged and repaired. Another crash at College Park on September 18 killed 2nd Lt. Lewis Rockwell, an academy classmate of Arnold's. In October, Arnold and Milling were ordered to enter the competition for the first MacKay Trophy for "the most outstanding military flight of the year." Arnold won when he located a company of cavalry from the air and returned safely despite high turbulence. As a result, he and Milling were sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, to experiment with radio and other communications from the air with the field artillery. Arnold's flight on November 2 in Wright C Speed Scout S.C. No. 10, with 1st Lt. Follett Bradley as his wireless operator, successfully sent the first radio telegraph message, at a distance of , from an aircraft to a receiver on the ground, manned by 1st Lt. Joseph O. Mauborgne of the Signal Corps. Three days later, Arnold flew on an artillery spotting exercise with 1st Lt. Alfred L.P. Sands of the 6th Field Artillery as an observer. Spiraling down to land in S.C. No. 10, the plane stalled, went into a spin, and they narrowly avoided a fatal crash. He immediately grounded himself and applied for a leave of absence. Flying was considered so dangerous that no stigma was attached for refusing to fly, and his request was granted. During his leave of absence he renewed an acquaintance with Eleanor "Bee" Pool, the daughter of a banker, and one of his father's patients. On December 1, Arnold took a staff assignment as assistant to the new head of the Aeronautical Division in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, D.C. In the spring he was assigned the task of closing the flying school at College Park. Although promoted to 1st lieutenant on April 10, 1913, Arnold was unhappy and requested a transfer to the Philippines. While awaiting a response, he received orders to the 9th Infantry on July 10. In August, still awaiting transfer, he testified before the House Military Affairs Committee against HR5304, a bill to remove aviation from the Signal Corps and make it a semi-autonomous "Air Corps." Arnold, like fellow flyer Captain Benjamin Foulois, argued that the action was premature, and like his Signal Corps boss, Major Edgar Russel (a non-flyer), that the Signal Corps was doing all that could be done to develop military use of the airplane. He was assigned to a company at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, on September 1, where he was stationed until transferred to the 13th Infantry on November 1. On September 10, 1913, he and Bee married, with Milling acting as his best man. Sent back to the Philippines in January 1914, he was quartered near 1st Lieutenant George C. Marshall, who became his mentor, friend and patron. Soon after their arrival Bee miscarried, but on January 17, 1915, their first child, Lois Elizabeth Arnold, was born at Fort William McKinley in Manila. After eight months of troop duty, Arnold became battalion adjutant. In January 1916, completing a two-year tour with the 13th Infantry, Arnold was attached to the 3rd Infantry and returned to the United States. En route to Madison Barracks, New York, he exchanged telegrams from Hawaii with an assistant executive of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, Major William "Billy" Mitchell, who alerted him that he was being detailed to the Signal Corps again, as a first lieutenant if he chose non-flying status. However, if he volunteered to requalify for a rating of Junior Military Aviator, a temporary promotion to captain was mandated by law. On May 20, 1916, Arnold reported to Rockwell Field, California, on flying status but as supply officer at the Signal Corps Aviation School. He received a permanent establishment promotion to captain, Infantry, on September 23. Between October and December 1916, encouraged by former associates, Arnold overcame his fear of flying by going up fifteen to twenty minutes a day in a Curtiss JN trainer, a much safer aircraft with a simpler flight control system than the Speed Scout of just four years' before. On November 26, he flew solo, and on December 16 qualified again for his JMA. Before he could be reassigned to flying duties, however, he was involved as a witness in a controversial service dispute in January 1917. Over the objections of Captain Herbert A. Dargue, the Aviation School's director of training, and with Arnold present, Captain Frank P. Lahm, the school secretary (adjutant), authorized on January 6 an excursion flight for a non-aviator that took place on January 10, again over Dargue's protests, resulting in the loss of the airplane in Mexico and the disappearance of the crew for nine days. After testifying to army investigators on January 27, confirming that Lahm had authorized the flight in writing, Arnold was sent to Panama on January 30, 1917, one day after the birth of his second child, Henry H. Arnold, Jr. Arnold collected the men who would make up his first command, the 7th Aero Squadron, in New York City on February 5, 1917, and was ordered to find a suitable location for an airfield in the Panama Canal Zone. When the military in Panama could not agree on a site, Arnold was ordered back to Washington D.C. to resolve the dispute and was en route by ship when the United States declared war on Germany. Arnold requested to be sent to France, but his presence in Washington worked against him, since the Aviation Section needed qualified officers for headquarters duty. Beginning May 1, 1917, he received a series of assignments, as officer in charge of the Information Division, with a promotion to major on June 27, as assistant executive officer of the Aeronautical Division, and then as executive officer after it became the Air Division on October 1. On August 5, 1917, he was promoted again, becoming the youngest full colonel in the Army. Arnold gained significant experience in aircraft production and procurement, the construction of air schools and airfields, and the recruitment and training of large numbers of personnel, as well as learning political in-fighting in the Washington environment, all of which helped him significantly 25 years later. When the Division of Military Aeronautics superseded the Air Division in April 1918, Arnold continued as executive assistant to its director, Major General William Kenly, and advanced to Assistant Director when the DMA was removed from the Signal Corps in May 1918. Arnold's third child, William Bruce Arnold, was born July 17, 1918. Shortly after, Arnold arranged to go to France to brief General John Pershing, commanding the American Expeditionary Force, on the Kettering Bug, a weapons development. Aboard a ship to France in late October he developed Spanish influenza and was hospitalized on his arrival in England. He did reach the front on November 11, 1918, but the Armistice ended the war on the same day. The Air Service separated from the Signal Corps on May 20, 1918. However control of aviation remained with the ground forces when its post-war director was a field artillery general, Major General Charles T. Menoher, who epitomized the view of the War Department General Staff that "military aviation can never be anything other than simply an arm of the (Army)". Menoher was followed in 1921 by another non-aviator, Maj.Gen. Mason M. Patrick. Patrick, however, obtained a rating of Junior Airplane Pilot despite being 59 years old and became both an airpower advocate and a proponent of an independent air force. Both Menoher and Patrick clashed often with Assistant Chief of Air Service Billy Mitchell, who had become radical in his desire for a single unified Air Force to control and develop all military airpower. Arnold supported Mitchell's highly publicized views, the consequence of which was a mutual dislike with Patrick. Arnold was sent to Rockwell Field on January 10, 1919, as District Supervisor, Western District of the Air Service, to oversee the demobilization of 8,000 airmen and surplus aircraft. There he first established relationships with the men who became his main aides, executive officer Captain Carl A. Spaatz and adjutant 1st Lieutenant Ira C. Eaker. Five months later Arnold became Air Officer of the Western Department (after June 1920 the Ninth Corps Area) in San Francisco and de facto commander of Crissy Field, being developed on a site determined by a board chaired by Arnold. Arnold's promotion to colonel expired June 30, 1920, and he reverted to his permanent establishment rank of captain. Even though he received an automatic promotion to major because of his Military Aviator rating, he became junior to officers serving under him, including Spaatz, whose promotion received while in France was not rescinded. On August 11, 1920, Arnold was one of 21 Infantry majors formally transferred to the Air Service by War Department Special Orders No. 188-0. Of Arnold, the National Park Service history of Crissy Field wrote: "During his tour of duty, Arnold had been instrumental both in bringing Crissy Field into existence, and establishing the pattern of its operations." In October 1922 he was sent back to Rockwell, now a service depot, as base commander and there encouraged an aerial refueling, the first in history, that took place eight months later. Arnold experienced several serious illnesses and accidents requiring hospitalization, including recurring stomach ulcers and the amputation of three fingertips on his left hand in 1922. His wife and sons also experienced serious health problems, including a near fatal case of scarlet fever for son Bruce. His fourth child, John Linton Arnold, born in the summer of 1921, died on June 30, 1923, of acute appendicitis. Both Arnold and wife Bee needed almost a year to recover psychologically from the loss. In August 1924, Arnold was unexpectedly assigned to attend a five-month course of study at the Army Industrial College. After completing the course he was hand-picked by Patrick, despite their mutual dislike, to head the Air Service's Information Division, working closely with Mitchell. When Mitchell was court-martialed, Arnold, Spaatz, and Eaker were all warned that they were jeopardizing their careers by vocally supporting Mitchell, but they testified on his behalf anyway. After Mitchell was convicted on December 17, 1925, his supporters including Arnold continued to use Information Division resources to promote his views to airpower- friendly congressmen and Air Service reservists. In February, Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis ordered Patrick to find and discipline the culprits. Patrick was already aware of the activity and chose Arnold to set an example. He gave Arnold the choice of resignation or a general court-martial, but when Arnold chose the latter, Patrick decided to avoid another public fiasco and instead transferred him to Ft. Riley, far from the aviation mainstream, where he took command of the 16th Observation Squadron on March 22, 1926. Patrick's press release on the investigation stated that Arnold was also reprimanded for violating Army General Order No. 20 by attempting "to influence legislation in an improper manner." Despite this setback, which included a fitness report that stated "in an emergency he is liable to lose his head", Arnold made a commitment to remain in the service, turning down an offer of the presidency of the soon-to-be operating Pan American Airways, which he had helped bring into being. Arnold made the best of his exile and in May 1927, his participation in war games at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, impressed Major General James E. Fechet, successor to Patrick as Chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He also received outstanding fitness reports from his commanders at Ft. Riley, Brigadier General Ewing E. Booth (who had been a member of the Mitchell court) and his successor, Brig. Gen. Charles J. Symmonds. Repairs to Arnold's service reputation may also have been aided by a professional article he wrote for the Cavalry Journal in January 1928, showing the influence of his association with the Cavalry School at Fort Riley. Arnold urged a strong combined arms team be developed between the Air Corps and the Cavalry; and by extension, all ground forces. This opportunity for development of the concept in both theory and practice was lost however, by the effects of cultural differences between the two service branches and the dominance of American isolationism. It did not develop until the United States was engaged in World War II. On February 24, 1927, his son David Lee Arnold was born at Ft. Riley. In 1928 Arnold wrote and published six books of juvenile fiction, the "Bill Bruce Series," whose objective was to interest young people in flying. Fechet intervened with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Charles P. Summerall to have Arnold's exile ended by assigning him in August 1928 to the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. The year-long course was unpleasant for Arnold because of doctrinal differences with the school's commandant, Major General Edward L. King, but Arnold graduated with high marks in June 1929. Arnold was slated for assignment to the Air Corps Training Center in San Antonio following graduation, but Brigadier General Lahm, the commander of the ACTC, strongly opposed it, possibly recalling their 1917 dispute. Instead Arnold commanded the Fairfield Air Service Depot, Ohio. In 1930 he also became Chief of the Field Service Section, Air Corps Materiel Division, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 1, 1931. Arnold's parents were made destitute by the bank collapses in 1929, and on January 18, 1931, his mother died of a sudden heart attack. Arnold struggled emotionally with being absent from his parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration the year before and with the depression afflicting his father after her death. A contemporary biographer of Arnold notes that not until after his mother's funeral did Bee begin use of the sobriquet "Hap" in place of "Sunny" when addressing him, apparently to avoid the "constant reminder" of his mother that the latter name might bring. Arnold himself eschewed the use of "Sunny" in his personal correspondence after May 1931, signing himself as "Hap" Arnold from that point forward. Arnold took command of March Field, California, where Spaatz had just assumed command of the grandiose-sounding but tiny 1st Wing, on November 27, 1931. Arnold's responsibilities included refurbishing the base into a showcase installation, which required that he resolve strained relations with the community. He accomplished this by having his officers join local social service organizations and by a series of well-publicized relief efforts. Arnold took command of the 1st Wing himself on January 4, 1933, which flew food-drops during blizzards in the winter of 1932–33, assisted in relief work during the Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933, and established camps for 3,000 boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He organized a high-profile series of aerial reviews that featured visits from Hollywood celebrities and aviation notables. In August 1932, Arnold began acquisition of portions of Rogers Dry Lake as a bombing and gunnery range for his units, a site that later became Edwards Air Force Base. In 1934, Chief of Air Corps Benjamin D. Foulois named Arnold to command one of the three military zones of the controversial Army Air Corps Mail Operation, with a temporary headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Arnold's pilots performed well and his own reputation was untouched by the fiasco. Later that same year he won his second Mackay Trophy, when he led ten Martin B-10B bombers on an flight from Bolling Field to Fairbanks, Alaska, and back. Overly credited with its success, he nonetheless lobbied for recognition of the other airmen who took part, but the Deputy Chief of Staff ignored his recommendations. His reputation among some of his peers was tarnished by resentment when he was belatedly awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight in 1937. On March 1, 1935, General Headquarters Air Force was activated to control all combat aviation units of the Air Corps based in the United States, although it was not subordinate to the Chief of Air Corps. While a significant step towards an independent air force, this dual authority created serious problems of unity of command for the next six years. GHQAF commander Major General Frank Andrews tapped Arnold to retain command of its 1st Wing, which now carried with it a temporary promotion to the rank of brigadier general, effective March 2, 1935. On December 23, 1935, new Army Chief of Staff General Malin Craig summoned Arnold to Washington. He and Arnold had become personal friends and golfing partners during Craig's command of the Ninth Corps Area in 1933. Foulois had retired under fire in the wake of the Air Mail scandal and allegations of corruption in Air Corps procurement, and the new Chief, Major General Oscar Westover, had asked Craig for Arnold to fill the vacant assistant chief position. Over Arnold's protests, and despite a left-handed recommendation by Secretary of War George Dern, who recalled Arnold's close association with Billy Mitchell, Craig made him Assistant Chief of Air Corps, responsible for procurement and supply, to deal with the political struggles over them from the Foulois years. In effect, however, Arnold had "switched sides" in the struggle between GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps. Westover was killed in an air crash at Burbank, California on September 21, 1938. Prior vacancies in the office had been filled by an incumbent assistant chief, and Arnold's appointment to succeed Westover seemed automatic since he was well-qualified. Yet the appointment was delayed when a faction developed supporting the appointment of Andrews that included two members of the White House staff, press secretary Stephen Early and military adviser Colonel Edwin M. Watson. A rumor circulated through the White House that Arnold was a "drunkard". In his memoirs, Arnold recorded that he enlisted the help of Harry Hopkins to attack the drinking rumors, but more recent research asserts that Craig threatened to resign as Army chief of staff if Arnold was not appointed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Arnold as Chief of Air Corps on September 29, which carried with it the rank of major general. To repair his relationship with the Andrews faction, most of whom were part of GHQ Air Force, he selected its chief of staff, Colonel Walter G. Kilner, to fill the Assistant Chief of Air Corps vacancy. After Charles Lindbergh publicly lent his support in April 1939 for production of a very long range bomber in large numbers to counter Nazi production, development of which had been prohibited since June 1938 by the Secretary of War, Arnold appointed Kilner to head a board to make appropriate recommendations to end the R&D; moratorium. Arnold encouraged research and development efforts, among his projects the B-17 and the concept of Jet-assisted takeoff. To encourage the use of civilian expertise, the California Institute of Technology became a beneficiary of Air Corps funding and Theodore von Kármán of its Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory developed a good working relationship with Arnold that led to the creation of the Scientific Advisory Group in 1944. Arnold characterized his wartime philosophy of research and development as: "Sacrifice some quality to get sufficient quantity to supply all fighting units. Never follow the mirage, looking for the perfect airplane, to a point where fighting squadrons are deficient in numbers of fighting planes." To that end he concentrated on rapid returns from R&D; investments, exploiting proven technologies to provide operational solutions to counter the rising threat of the Axis Powers. Arnold also pushed for jet propulsion, especially after the British shared their plans of Whittle's turbojet during his visit to Britain in April 1941. The proposal was immediately opposed by the General Staff in all respects. He and Eaker collaborated on three books promoting airpower: This Flying Game (1936, reprinted 1943), Winged Victory (1941), and Army Flyer (1942). In March 1939 Arnold was appointed to head the Air Board by Secretary of War Harry Woodring, to recommend doctrine and organization of Army airpower to the Chief of Staff. While the board's report concluded that airpower was indispensable to the defense of the hemisphere, stressed the need for long-range bombers, and became the basis for the first Air Corps field manual, it was a "considerable attenuation" of the doctrine being developed at the Air Corps Tactical School. Arnold submitted the findings to George C. Marshall, newly appointed as Chief of Staff, on September 1, 1939, the day Nazi Germany invaded Poland. When Marshall requested a reorganization study from the Air Corps, Arnold submitted a proposal on October 5, 1940, that would create an air staff, unify the air arm under one commander, and grant it autonomy with the ground and supply forces. Congress repealed the Neutrality Act in November 1939 to permit the selling of aircraft to the belligerents, causing Arnold concern that shipments of planes to the Allies would slow delivery to the Air Corps, particularly since control of the allotment of aircraft production had been given to the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department in December 1938, and by extension, to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., a White House favorite. Arnold experienced two years of difficulties with Morgenthau, who was prone to denigrate the leadership of the War Department and Air Corps. Their conflict peaked on March 12, 1940, when Arnold's public complaint about increases in shipments brought a personal warning from Roosevelt that "there were places to which officers who did not 'play ball' might be sent, such as Guam," and got him banished from the White House for eight months. The disfavor shown Arnold by Roosevelt reached a turning point in March 1941 when new Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, a supporter of Arnold, submitted his name with two others for promotion to the permanent rank of major general. Roosevelt refused to send the list to the Senate for confirmation because of Arnold's nomination, and his forced retirement from the service seemed imminent to both Stimson and Marshall. Stimson and Harry Hopkins arranged for Arnold, accompanied by Maj. Elwood "Pete" Quesada, to travel to England for three weeks in April to evaluate British aircraft production needs and to provide an up-to-date strategic analysis. One outcome of the visit was the setting up of a program for training British pilots in the US, which subsequently became known as the Arnold Scheme. Arnold's meeting with Roosevelt to report his findings was judged as impressively cogent and optimistic, but the president ruminated on Arnold's future for three weeks before submitting his name and the others to the Senate. From that point on, however, Arnold's "position in the White House was secure." His importance to Roosevelt in setting an airpower agenda was demonstrated when Arnold was invited to the Atlantic Conference in Newfoundland in August, the first of seven such summits that he, not Morgenthau, would attend. The division of authority between the Air Corps and the GHQ Air Force was removed with promulgation of Army Regulation 95–5, creating the United States Army Air Forces on June 20, 1941, only two days before Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. Arnold became Chief of the Army Air Forces and acting "Deputy Chief of Staff for Air" with authority over both the Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command (successor to GHQAF). While this provided the air arm with a staff of its own and brought the entire organization under the command of one general, it failed to grant the degree of autonomy sought. By consensus between Marshall and Arnold, debate on separation of the Air Force into a service co-equal with the Army and Navy was postponed until after the war. In July Roosevelt asked for production requirements to defeat potential enemies, and Arnold endorsed a request by his new Air War Plans Division to submit an air war plan. The assessment, designated AWPD/1, defined four tasks for the AAF: defense of the Western Hemisphere, an initial defensive strategy against Japan, a strategic air offensive against Germany, and a later strategic air offensive against Japan in prelude of invasion. It also planned for an expansion of the AAF to 60,000 aircraft and 2.1 million men. AWPD/1 called for 24 groups (approximately 750 airplanes) of very long range B-29 bombers to be based in Northern Ireland and Egypt for use against Nazi Germany, and for production of sufficient Consolidated B-36s for intercontinental bombing missions of Germany. Soon after U.S. entry in the war, Arnold was promoted to lieutenant general on December 15, 1941. On March 9, 1942, after the creation of the AAF failed to define clear channels of authority for the air forces, the Army adopted the functional reorganization that Arnold had advocated in October 1940. Acting on an executive order from Roosevelt, the War Department granted the AAF full autonomy, equal to and entirely separate from the Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply. The Air Force Combat Command and the Office of the Chief of Air Corps were abolished, and Arnold became AAF Commanding General and an ex officio member of both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff. In response to an August 1942 directive, Arnold had the AWPD revise its estimates. AWPD/42 resulted, calling for 75,000 aircraft and 2.7 million men, and increased the production of aircraft for use by other allies. AWPD/42 reaffirmed earlier strategic priorities, but increased the list of industrial targets from 23 to 177, ranking the German Luftwaffe first and its submarine force second in importance of destruction. It also directed that the B-29 bomber not be employed in Europe because of problems in its development, but instead that the B-29 program's deployment be concentrated in the Far East to destroy Japanese military power and combustible cities. Arnold was responsible for approving the Army Air Forces Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). It was approved by September 14, 1942, and directed by aviator Jacqueline Cochran. Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor Arnold began to carry out AWPD/1. The primary strategic bombing force against Nazi Germany would be the Eighth Air Force, and he named Spaatz to command it and Eaker to head its Bomber Command. Other Arnold protégés eventually filled key positions in the strategic bombing forces, including Haywood S. Hansell, Laurence S. Kuter, and James H. Doolittle. Despite protecting his strategic bombing force from demands of other services and allies, Arnold was forced to divert resources from the Eighth to support operations in North Africa, crippling the Eighth in its infancy and nearly killing it. Eaker (now Eighth Air Force commander) found from experience that the pre-war doctrine of daylight precision bombing, developed at the Air Corps Tactical School as a foundation for separating the Air Force from the Army, was mistaken in its tenet that heavily armed bombers could reach any target without the support of long-range escort fighters. Early in 1943 he began requesting more fighters and jettisonable fuel tanks to increase their range, in addition to repeated requests to increase the size of his small bombing force. Heavy losses in the summer and fall of 1943 on deep penetration missions intensified Eaker's requests. Arnold, under pressure and impatient for results, ignored Eaker's findings and placed the blame on a lack of aggressiveness by bomber commanders. This came at a time when General Dwight D. Eisenhower was putting together his command group for the invasion of Europe, and Arnold approved Eisenhower's request to replace Eaker with his own commanders, Spaatz and Doolittle. Ironically, the very items Eaker requested—a larger bomber force, drop tanks, and P-51 fighters—accompanied the change of command and made the Eighth Air Force decisive in defeating Germany using the daylight bombing doctrine. The change in command at Eighth Air Force, particularly involving the relief of a friend or protégé, was just one of many that exemplified a ruthlessness Arnold developed to get results. In 1942, Brigadier General Walter R. Weaver, acting chief of the Air Corps, had his job eliminated and was relegated to a technical training command. George C. Kenney relieved Jacob E. Fickel in command of Fourth Air Force and later that same year replaced former Chief of the Air Corps George H. Brett as Southwest Pacific air commander. In the B-29 campaign, Curtis E. LeMay relieved Kenneth B. Wolfe in India in July 1944, and later Hansell on Guam in January 1945. With the strategic bombing crisis resolved in Europe, Arnold placed full emphasis on completion of the development and deployment of the B-29 Very Long Range (VLR) bomber to attack Japan. As early as 1942, Arnold planned to make himself commanding general of the Twentieth Air Force. This unique command arrangement may also have contributed to his health problems (see below), but after the negative experiences of building an effective bombing force against Germany, and realizing the consequences of failure against Japan, Arnold concluded that, absent any unity of command in the Pacific theaters, administrative decisions regarding VLR operations could best be handled personally. However, theater commanders Douglas MacArthur, Chester Nimitz, and Joseph Stillwell all coveted the B-29s for tactical support, to which Arnold was adamantly opposed as a diversion from strategic policy. He convinced not only Marshall, but also Chief of Naval Operations Ernest J. King, that the Twentieth was unique in that its operations cut across the jurisdiction of all three theaters, and thus should report directly to the Joint Chiefs with Arnold acting as their executive agent. In February 1944 President Roosevelt agreed and approved the arrangement. The VLR program had been plagued with a seemingly unending series of development problems, subjecting it and Arnold to much criticism in the press and from skeptical field commanders. The B-29 was the key component of the AAF's fourth strategic priority, since no other land- based bomber was capable of reaching the Japanese homeland, but by February 1944, the XX Bomber Command, slated to begin Operation Matterhorn on June 1, had virtually no flight time yet above an altitude of . With a designated overseas deployment date of April 15, 1944, Arnold intervened in the situation personally by flying to Kansas on March 8. For three days he toured training bases involved in the modification program, distressed at his findings of shortages and work failures, and on the spot made Maj. Gen. Bennett E. Meyers, a military procurement officer accompanying him, the coordinator of the program. Meyers succeeded in the ";" despite labor problems and blizzard weather, a complete bomb group was ready for deployment by April 9. The mechanical problems of the B-29, however, had not been resolved, and combat operations identified many new ones. Arnold felt the pressure of not only achieving the goals of AWPD/1 but of justifying by results a very expensive technological project in the B-29, as well as providing the delivery platform for the highly classified atomic bomb if the Manhattan Project succeeded. VLR operations against Japanese targets in China and Southeast Asia began in June 1944, and from the outset produced far less positive results than expected. The difficulties of the Twentieth Air Force's campaign against Japan mirrored those of the Eighth Air Force's against Germany. With characteristic impatience, Arnold quickly relieved Wolfe, the B-29 commander in China, after less than a month of operations, and replaced him with LeMay. A second B-29 command began operations from bases in the Mariana Islands in November. Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell, one of the architects of AWPD/1 and AWPD/42, encountered even more command problems than had Wolfe or LeMay. After two months of ostensibly poor results, but mostly because he resisted a campaign of firebombing attacks against Japanese population centers favored by Arnold and his chief of staff, Lauris Norstad, Arnold decided he too needed replacing. He shut down operations from China, consolidated all the B-29s in the Marianas, and replaced Hansell with LeMay in January 1945 as commander of XXI Bomber Command. Between 1943 and 1945 Arnold experienced four heart attacks severe enough to require hospitalization. In addition to being by nature intensely impatient, Arnold considered that his personal presence was required wherever a crisis might be, and as a result he traveled extensively and for long hours under great stress during the war, aggravating what may have been a pre-existing coronary condition. His extended trips and inspection tours were to the United Kingdom in April 1941 and again in May 1942; the South Pacific in September 1942, North Africa and China in January–February 1943; the Middle East and Italy (where his party came under artillery fire) in November–December 1943; London and Normandy accompanying Marshall in June 1944; Germany and Italy in April–May 1945; the Western Pacific in June 1945; and Potsdam in July 1945. A lesser but more frequent factor may have been his difficulty in handling inter-service politics, particularly with the Navy, which steadfastly refused to recognize him as a Chief of Staff or his subordinate staff as equals. On Guam, with knowledge of the approaching atomic bomb decision, he negotiated with Nimitz over the Navy's objections to basing the headquarters of the strategic air forces on the island. Arnold's first heart attack occurred February 28, 1943, just after his return from the Casablanca Conference and China. During that trip, Argonaut, the B-17 bomber transporting his party, became lost for several hours over Japanese-held territory trying to "fly the Hump" at night. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital for several days, then took three weeks leave at the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel in Florida, which had been converted into a convalescent hospital. U.S. Army regulations then required that he leave the service, but President Roosevelt waived the requirement in April after he demonstrated his recovery, and on the condition that the President be provided with monthly updates on Arnold's health. Arnold's second heart attack occurred just a month later, on May 10, 1943, and resulted in a 10-day stay in Walter Reed. Against the wishes of Marshall, he gave the commencement address for the Class of June 1943 at West Point, where his son Bruce was graduating. His third heart attack, less severe than the first two, occurred exactly a year after the second, on May 10, 1944, under the strain of the B-29 problems. Arnold took a month's leave, returning to duty by flying with Marshall to London on June 7 for a conference and an inspection of Omaha Beach. Arnold's last wartime heart attack came on January 17, 1945, just days after he replaced Hansell with LeMay. Arnold had not gone into his office for three days, and refused to permit the Air Force's chief flight surgeon to examine him. The flight surgeon enlisted a general and personal friend of Arnold's to inquire on his condition, after which Arnold was again flown to Coral Gables, Florida, and placed under 24-hour care for nine days. Arnold again was allowed to remain in the service, but under conditions that amounted to light duty. He continued to tour air bases in both theaters. Arnold was returning by C-54 from Italy to Miami for a checkup when he received the news of the German surrender on May 7, 1945. On July 16 he relinquished command of the Twentieth Air Force to LeMay. Arnold received honorary doctorates from Pennsylvania Military College and the University of Southern California in 1941, and from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1942. Post-war honors included doctorates from Hahnemann College, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Columbia University, the University of California, and Ursinus College. Arnold also received 26 decorations and awards from foreign countries honoring his service in World War II. On March 19, 1943, Arnold was promoted (wartime) to full General, and on December 21, 1944, appointed a five-star General of the Army under , placing him fourth in Army rank seniority, behind only Marshall, MacArthur, and Eisenhower. In 1945, Arnold directed the founding of Project RAND (which became the RAND Corporation, a non-profit think tank) with $10,000,000 of funding left over from World War II. Initially tasked "to connect military planning with research and development decisions," RAND widely expanded in its scope beyond its original mission. After a trip to South America in January 1946, in which he developed a heart arrhythmia severe enough to cancel the remainder of the trip, Arnold left active duty in the AAF on February 28, 1946, (his official date of retirement was June 30, 1946). On March 23, 1946, Public Law 333-79 made the promotion to General of the Army permanent for all those holding it, and awarded full pay and allowances for those on the retired list. He was succeeded by Spaatz, who also became first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force when it became a separate service on September 18, 1947. Arnold retired to a ranch near Sonoma, California, and signed a contract with Harper & Brothers to write his memoirs, Global Mission. Unlike George S. Patton, who enjoyed independent wealth, or colleagues who had taken positions in government, such as Marshall (appointed Secretary of State), Arnold had no source of income beyond his retirement pay and allowances, and was not healthy enough to continue service. His autobiography was an attempt to provide financial security for his wife after his death, and during the writing of it he suffered his fifth heart attack in January 1948, hospitalizing him for three months. On May 7, 1949, changed the designation of Arnold's final rank and grade to that of General of the Air Force, and he remains the only person to have held the rank. He is also the only person to hold five-star rank in two U.S. military services. He died on January 15, 1950, at his home in Sonoma. He was given a state funeral in Washington, D.C. that included rare services held in Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, and he was buried in Section 34, plot number 44-A, of Arlington National Cemetery. Robert A. Lovett, with whom Arnold worked closely during the war in his capacity as Assistant Secretary of War for Air, stated that Arnold had been as much a casualty of war as if he had been injured in the line of duty. All three of Arnold's surviving sons were graduates of West Point (Henry Harley Jr., 1939; Willam Bruce, June 1943; and David Lee, 1949) and reached the grade of colonel. The two youngest served in the United States Air Force and are interred near their father's burial site at Arlington National Cemetery. Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, and the Arnold Engineering Development Center are named for Arnold. The Air Force Research Laboratory generally recognizes Arnold as the visionary who first articulated that superior research and development capabilities are essential to deterring and winning wars. Arnold's ideas underpin the Laboratory's modern-day role within the Air Force. The cadet social center at the United States Air Force Academy, Arnold Hall, and the Arnold Hall Community Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, are both named for Arnold. The Civil Air Patrol has named award that accompanies the rank of Cadet Airman First Class after him, being known as the Hap Arnold Award. The Air Force Association recognizes the "most significant contribution by a military member for national defense" with its H.H. Arnold Award. The top honorary organization in Air Force ROTC, the Arnold Air Society, is named for him, and The George C. Marshall Foundation awards the George C. Marshall/Henry "Hap" Arnold ROTC Award annually to the top senior cadet at each college or university with an AFROTC program. The Air Force Aid Society, which he founded, awards a college scholarship in his name to the dependents of Air Force members or retirees. On December 21, 1944 Arnold was appointed to the rank of General of the Army, placing him in the company of Dwight D. Eisenhower, George Marshall, and Douglas MacArthur, the only four men to achieve the rank in World War II, and along with Omar Bradley, one of only five men to achieve the rank since the August 5, 1888 death of Philip Sheridan, and the only five men to hold the rank as a Five-star general. The rank was created by an Act of Congress on a temporary basis when Public Law was passed on 14 December 1944, as a temporary rank, subject to reversion to permanent rank six months after the end of the war. The temporary rank was then declared permanent 23 March 1946 by Public Law 333 of the 79th Congress, which also awarded full pay and allowances in the grade to those on the retired list. It was created to give the most senior American commanders parity of rank with their British counterparts holding the ranks of field marshal and admiral of the fleet. This second General of the Army rank is not the same as the post-Civil War era version because of its purpose and five stars. In 1972, Arnold was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. On May 18, 2006, the Department of the Air Force introduced prototypes of two new service dress uniforms, one resembling those worn by Air Service officers prior to 1926, called the "Billy Mitchell heritage coat," and another, resembling the U.S. Army Air Forces' Uniform of World War II and named the "Hap Arnold heritage coat". In 2007, the Air Force decided in favor of the "Hap Arnold" prototype, but in 2009 the new Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed that "no further effort be made on the Hap Arnold Heritage Coat" and the uniform change was suspended indefinitely. During the last mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-134, a five-star insignia of Arnold's preserved in the National Museum of the United States Air Force was carried into space by shuttle pilot Gregory H. Johnson as a commemorative gesture to Arnold's legacy. Arnold was then the featured honoree of the museum's National Aviation Day celebration of August 20, 2011, when Johnson returned the insignia to the museum. The United States Department of Defense high school at the former Wiesbaden Air Base in Wiesbaden, Germany, was named General H. H. Arnold High School in 1949. The school was renamed Wiesbaden High School in 2006 after the installation was transferred to the United States Army. On November 7, 1988, the United States Postal Service released the H. H. "Hap" Arnold 65 cent postage stamp bearing the likeness of Arnold, in his honor, as part of the Great Americans series. Arnold Drive, a main arterial road running through Sonoma Valley near his ranch, was named in his honor. General Arnold was the class exemplar of the United States Air Force Academy Class of 2012. In a rare depiction on film, Arnold was sympathetically portrayed in the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story, played by Barton MacLane. In 1977, he was again portrayed on film by actor Walter O. Miles in the two-part opus The Amazing Howard Hughes, starring Tommy Lee Jones as Hughes. Arnold appeared in a speaking role as himself in Men of the Sky, a Technicolor propaganda short made by Warner Brothers and released on July 25, 1942. He appears as himself in the first eight minutes of the twenty-minute short, filmed in May 1942 at Merced Army Air Field, California. In the short, he alights from his C-42 staff transport at the training base to preside at a graduation ceremony for pilots completing their flight training. Arnold delivers a short address and speaks with each of four pilots (actors Tod Andrews, Don DeFore, Ray Montgomery, and Dave Willock) as he pins on their wings. Arnold Heights, California is named after General "Hap" Arnold]]. List of United States Air Force four-star generals, List of United States Army four-star generals Footnotes Citations Arnold, Henry H. (1949). Global Mission, Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York. (1989 reprint, McGraw-Hill Publishing, ), ("Cullum's Biographical Register") Vol. 9 1940-1950, Heimdahl, William C., and Hurley, Alfred F., "The Roots of U.S. Military Aviation," Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force Vol. I (1997),, Herman, Arthur (2012). Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II. New York: Random House., Huston's introductory "Biography" is 108 pages in length and a detailed account of Arnold's life, both professional and personal, to 1941., Jordan, Jonathan W. (2015), American Warlords: How Roosevelt's High Command Led America to Victory in World War II (NAL/Caliber 2015)., Perret, Geoffrey (1997). Winged Victory: The U.S. Army Air Corps During World War II, Random House., Rice, Rondall Ravor (2004). The Politics of Air Power: From Confrontation to Cooperation in Army Aviation Civil-Military Relations, University of Nebraska Press. No. 89:, No. 91:, No. 98:, No. 112: Journals (Part I) NMUSAF fact sheet: Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, General Henry H. Arnold (official USAF biography), General of the Air Force, Henry H. "Hap" Arnold Air University biography, Arnold Air Society biography, National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement page

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In humans, implantation is the stage of pregnancy at which the embryo adheres to the wall of the uterus. At this stage of prenatal development, the conceptus is called a blastocyst. It is by this adhesion that the embryo receives oxygen and nutrients from the mother to be able to grow. In humans, implantation of a fertilized ovum is most likely to occur around nine days after ovulation; however, this can range between six and 12 days. The reception-ready phase of the endometrium of the uterus is usually termed the "implantation window" and lasts about 4 days. The implantation window occurs around 6 days after the peak in luteinizing hormone levels. With some disparity between sources, it has been stated to occur from 7 days after ovulation until 9 days after ovulation, or days 6-10 postovulation. On average, it occurs during the 20th to the 23rd day after the last menstrual period. The implantation window is characterized by changes to the endometrium cells, which aid in the absorption of the uterine fluid. These changes are collectively known as the plasma membrane transformation and bring the blastocyst nearer to the endometrium and immobilize it. During this stage the blastocyst can still be eliminated by being flushed out of the uterus. Scientists have hypothesized that the hormones cause a swelling that fills the flattened out uterine cavity just prior to this stage, which may also help press the blastocyst against the endometrium. The implantation window may also be initiated by other preparations in the endometrium of the uterus, both structurally and in the composition of its secretions. To enable implantation, the uterus goes through changes in order to be able to receive the conceptus. The endometrium increases thickness, becomes vascularized and its glands grow to be tortuous and boosted in their secretions. These changes reach their maximum about 7 days after ovulation. Furthermore, the surface of the endometrium produces a kind of rounded cells, which cover the whole area toward the uterine cavity. This happens about 9 to 10 days after ovulation. These cells are called decidual cells, which emphasises that the whole layer of them is shed off in every menstruation if no pregnancy occurs, just as leaves of deciduous trees. The uterine glands, on the other hand, decrease in activity and degenerate around 8 to 9 days after ovulation in absence of pregnancy. The decidual cells originate from the stromal cells that are always present in the endometrium. However, the decidual cells make up a new layer, the decidua. The rest of the endometrium, in addition, expresses differences between the luminal and the basal sides. The luminal cells form the zona compacta of the endometrium, in contrast to the basalolateral zona spongiosa, which consists of the rather spongy stromal cells. Decidualization succeeds predecidualization if pregnancy occurs. This is an expansion of it, further developing the uterine glands, the zona compacta and the epithelium of decidual cells lining it. The decidual cells become filled with lipids and glycogen and take the polyhedral shape characteristic for decidual cells. It is likely that the blastocyst itself makes the main contribution to this additional growing and sustaining of the decidua. An indication of this is that decidualization occurs at a higher degree in conception cycles than in nonconception cycles. Furthermore, similar changes are observed when giving stimuli mimicking the natural invasion of the embryo. The embryo releases serine proteases which causes the epithelial cell membrane to depolarize and activates the epithelial Na+ channel. This triggers a Ca2+ influx and phosphorylation of CREB. Phosphorylation of CREB upregulates the expression of COX-2, which leads to the release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) from epithelial cells. PGE2 acts on the stroma cells activating cAMP-related pathways in stromal cell leading to decidualization. The decidua can be organized into separate sections, although they have the same composition. Decidua basalis - This is the part of the decidua which is located basalolateral to the embryo after implantation., Decidua capsularis - Decidua capsularis grows over the embryo on the luminal side, enclosing it into the endometrium. It surrounds the embryo together with decidua basalis., Decidua parietalis - All other decidua on the uterine surface belongs to decidua parietalis. After implantation the decidua remains, at least through the first trimester. However, its most prominent time is during the early stages of pregnancy, during implantation. Its function as a surrounding tissue is replaced by the definitive placenta. However, some elements of the decidualization remain throughout pregnancy. The compacta and spongiosa layers are still observable beneath the decidua in pregnancy. The glands of the spongiosa layer continue to secrete during the first trimester, when they degenerate. However, before that disappearance, some glands secrete unequally much. This phenomenon of hypersecretion is called the Arias-Stella phenomenon, after the pathologist Javier Arias-Stella. Pinopodes are small, finger-like protrusions from the endometrium. They appear between day 19 and day 21 of gestational age. This corresponds to a fertilization age of approximately five to seven days, which corresponds well with the time of implantation. They only persist for two to three days. The development of them is enhanced by progesterone but inhibited by estrogens. Pinopodes endocytose uterine fluid and macromolecules in it. By doing so, the volume of the uterus decreases, taking the walls closer to the embryoblast floating in it. Thus, the period of active pinocytes might also limit the implantation window. Pinopodes continue to absorb fluid, and removes most of it during the early stages of implantation. Not only the lining of the uterus transforms, but in addition, the secretion from its epithelial glands changes. This change is induced by increased levels of progesterone from the corpus luteum. The target of the secretions is the embryoblast, and has several functions on it. The embryoblast spends approximately 72 hours in the uterine cavity before implanting. In that time, it cannot receive nourishment directly from the blood of the mother, and must rely on secreted nutrients into the uterine cavity, e.g. iron and fat-soluble vitamins. In addition to nourishment, the endometrium secretes several steroid-dependent proteins, important for growth and implantation. Cholesterol and steroids are also secreted. Implantation is further facilitated by synthesis of matrix substances, adhesion molecules and surface receptors for the matrix substances. Implantation is initiated when the blastocyst comes into contact with the uterine wall. To be able to perform implantation, the blastocyst first needs to get rid of its zona pellucida. This process can be called "hatching". Lytic factors in the uterine cavity, as well as factors from the blastocyst itself are essential for this process. Mechanisms in the latter are indicated by that the zona pellucida remains intact if an unfertilized egg is placed in the uterus under the same conditions. A substance probably involved is plasmin. Plasminogen, the plasmin precursor, is found in the uterine cavity, and blastocyst factors contribute to its conversion to active plasmin. This hypothesis is supported by lytic effects in vitro by plasmin. Furthermore, plasmin inhibitors also inhibit the entire zona hatching in rat experiments. The very first, albeit loose, connection between the blastocyst and the endometrium is called the apposition. On the endometrium, the apposition is usually made where there is a small crypt in it, perhaps because it increases the area of contact with the rather spherical blastocyst. On the blastocyst, on the other hand, it occurs at a location where there has been enough lysis of the zona pellucida to have created a rupture to enable direct contact between the underlying trophoblast and the decidua of the endometrium. However, ultimately, the inner cell mass, inside the trophoblast layer, is aligned closest to the decidua. Nevertheless, the apposition on the blastocyst is not dependent on if it is on the same side of the blastocyst as the inner cell mass. Rather, the inner cell mass rotates inside the trophoblast to align to the apposition. In short, the entire surface of the blastocyst has a potential to form the apposition to the decidua. The identity of the molecules on the trophoblast and the endometrial epithelia that mediate the initial interaction between the two remain unidentified. However, a number of research groups have proposed that MUC1, a member of the Mucin family of glycosylated proteins, is involved. MUC1 is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed at the apical surface of endometrial epithelial cells during the window of implantation in humans and has been shown to be differentially expressed between fertile and infertile subjects during this time. MUC1 displays carbohydrate moieties on its extracellular domain that are ligands of L-selectin, a protein expressed on the surface of trophoblast cells. An in vitro model of implantation developed by Genbacev et al., gave evidence to support the hypothesis that L-selectin mediates apposition of the blastocyst to the uterine epithelium by interacting with its ligands. Adhesion is a much stronger attachment to the endometrium than the loose apposition. The trophoblasts adhere by penetrating the endometrium, with protrusions of trophoblast cells. This adhering activity is by microvilli that are on the trophoblast. The trophoblast have binding fiber connections, laminin, collagen type IV, and integrins that assist in this adhesion process MUC16 is a transmembrane mucin expressed at the apical surface of uterine epithelia. This mucin prevents the blastocyst from implanting in an undesired located on the epithelium. Thus, MUC16 inhibits cell-cell adhesion. “Removal of this mucin during formation of uterodomes (bulbous projections from the apical surface of the epithelium that are often found during the implantation period) facilitates trophoblast adhesion in vitro”. There is massive communication between the blastocyst and the endometrium at this stage. The blastocyst signals to the endometrium to adapt further to its presence, e.g. by changes in the cytoskeleton of decidual cells. This, in turn, dislodges the decidual cells from their connection to the underlying basal lamina, which enables the blastocyst to perform the succeeding invasion. This communication is conveyed by receptor-ligand-interactions, both integrin- matrix and proteoglycan ones. Another ligand-receptor system involved in adhesion is proteoglycan receptors, found on the surface of the decidua of the uterus. Their counterparts, the proteoglycans, are found around the trophoblast cells of the blastocyst. This ligand-receptor system also is present just at the implantation window. Invasion is an even further establishment of the blastocyst in the endometrium. The protrusions of trophoblast cells that adhere into the endometrium continue to proliferate and penetrate into the endometrium. As these trophoblast cells penetrate, they differentiate to become a new type of cells, syncytiotrophoblast. The prefix syn- refers to the transformation that occurs as the boundaries between these cells disappear to form a single mass of many cell nuclei (a syncytium). The rest of the trophoblasts, surrounding the inner cell mass, are hereafter called cytotrophoblasts. Syncytiotrophoblast is not determined as a cell type, rather is a multinucleated tissue Invasion continues with the syncytiotrophoblasts reaching the basal membrane beneath the decidual cells, penetrating it and further invading into the uterine stroma. Finally, the whole embryo is embedded in the endometrium. Eventually, the syncytiotrophoblasts come into contact with maternal blood and form chorionic villi. This is the initiation of forming the placenta. The penetration of the trophoblast to the endometrium is demonstrated through metalloproteinase MMP-2 and MMP-9 Syncytiotrophoblast invade the uterus attempting to reach maternal blood supply, for setting up the foundation for fetal blood flow Extravillous trophoblasts are cells from the invading villi that migrate into the myometrium of the mother’s uterus. These cells remodel the spiral arteries to improve and secure maternal blood flow to the growing embryo. There is also evidence that this process occurs with the uterine veins. Stabilizing them to improve drainage of fetal blood and metabolic wastes. Trophoblasts have also been documented to migrate into the mother and have been found in various tissues. Due to this trophoblasts have been implicated in a phenomenon known as “Fetomaternal Microchimerism” where fetal cells establish cell lines in maternal tissues. The blastocyst secretes factors for a multitude of purposes during invasion. It secretes several autocrine factors, targeting itself and stimulating it to further invade the endometrium. Furthermore, secretions loosen decidual cells from each other, prevent the embryo from being rejected by the mother, trigger the final decidualization and prevent menstruation. Human chorionic gonadotropin is an autocrine growth factor for the blastocyst. Insulin-like growth factor 2, on the other hand, stimulates the invasiveness of it. The syncytiotrophoblasts dislodges decidual cells in their way, both by degradation of cell adhesion molecules linking the decidual cells together as well as degradation of the extracellular matrix between them. Cell adhesion molecules are degraded by syncytiotrophoblast secretion of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha. This inhibits the expression of cadherins and beta-catenin. Cadherins are cell adhesion molecules, and beta-catenin helps to anchor them to the cell membrane. Inhibited expression of these molecules thus loosens the connection between decidual cells, permitting the syncytotrophoblasts and the whole embryo with them to invade into the endometrium. The extracellular matrix is degraded by serine endopeptidases and metalloproteinases. Examples of such metalloproteinases are collagenases, gelatinases and stromelysins. These collagenases digest Type-I collagen, Type-II collagen, Type-III collagen, Type-VII collagen and Type-X collagen. The gelatinases exist in two forms; one digesting Type-IV collagen and one digesting gelatin. The embryo differs from the cells of the mother, and would be rejected as a parasite by the immune system of the mother if it didn't secrete immunosuppressive agents. Such agents are Platelet-activating factor, human chorionic gonadotropin, early pregnancy factor, immunosuppressive factor, Prostaglandin E2, Interleukin 1-alpha, Interleukin 6, interferon-alpha, leukemia inhibitory factor and Colony-Stimulating Factor. Factors from the blastocyst also trigger the final formation of decidual cells into their proper form. In contrast, some decidual cells in the proximity of the blastocyst degenerate, providing nutrients for it. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) not only acts as an immunosuppressive, but also "notifies" the mother's body that she is pregnant, preventing menstruation by sustaining the function of the corpus luteum. Other factors secreted by the blastocyst are; Embryo-derived histamine-releasing factor, Tissue plasminogen activator as well as its inhibitors, Estradiol, β1-integrins, Fibroblast growth factor, CYTL1, Transforming growth factor alpha, inhibin, Preimplantation factor is considered to be caused by inadequate uterine receptivity in two-thirds of cases, and by problems with the embryo itself in the other third. Inadequate uterine receptivity may be caused by abnormal cytokine and hormonal signaling as well as epigenetic alterations. Recurrent implantation failure is a cause of female infertility. Therefore, pregnancy rates can be improved by optimizing endometrial receptivity for implantation. Evaluation of implantation markers may help to predict pregnancy outcome and detect occult implantation deficiency. Luteal support is the administration of medication, generally progestins, for the purpose of increasing the success rate of implantation and early embryogenesis, thereby complementing the function of the corpus luteum. In women with more than 3 implantation failures in assisted reproduction, a review of several small randomized controlled studies estimated that the use of adjunct low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) improves live birth rate by approximately 80%. Embryonic diapause, Blastocyst "Implantation of the blastocyst..." The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early development of mammals. It possesses an inner cell mass (ICM) which subsequently forms the embryo. The outer layer of the blastocyst consists of cells collectively called the trophoblast. This layer surrounds the inner cell mass and a fluid-filled cavity known as the blastocoel. The trophoblast gives rise to the placenta. The name "blastocyst" arises from the Greek ' ("a sprout") and ' ("bladder, capsule"). In humans, blastocyst formation begins about 5 days after fertilization when a fluid-filled cavity opens up in the morula, the early embryonic stage of a ball of 16 cells. The blastocyst has a diameter of about 0.1–0.2 mm and comprises 200–300 cells following rapid cleavage (cell division). About seven days after fertilization, the blastocyst undergoes implantation, embedding into the endometrium of the uterine wall. There it will undergo further developmental processes, including gastrulation. Embedding of the blastocyst into the endometrium requires that it hatches from the zona pellucida, which prevents adherence to the fallopian tube as the pre- embryo makes its way to the uterus. The use of blastocysts in in vitro fertilization (IVF) involves culturing a fertilized egg for five days before implanting it into the uterus. It can be a more viable method of fertility treatment than traditional IVF. The inner cell mass of blastocysts is the source of embryonic stem cells, which are broadly applicable in stem cell therapies including cell repair, replacement and regeneration. During human embryonic development, approximately 5–6 days after fertilization, the cells of the morula begin to undergo cell differentiation, and the morula changes into the blastocyst. In the uterus the zona pellucida surrounding the blastocyst breaks down, allowing it to implant into the uterine wall approximately 6 days after fertilization. Implantation marks the end of the germinal stage of embryogenesis. The zygote develops by mitosis, and when it has developed into 16 cells becomes known as the morula. Until this stage in development, all cells (blastomeres) are autonomous and not specified to any fate. In many animals, the morula then develops by cavitation to become the blastula. Cellular differentiation then develops the blastula's cells into two types: trophoblast cells that surround the blastocoel and an inner mass of cells (the embryoblast). The conceptus is then known as the blastocyst. The side of the blastocyst where the inner cellular mass forms is called the animal pole and the opposite side is the vegetal pole. The outer layer of trophoblast cells, resulting from compaction, pumps sodium ions into blastocyst, which causes water to enter through osmosis and form the internal fluid-filled blastocyst cavity (blastocoel). The blastocoel, trophoblast cells, and inner cell mass cells are hallmarks of the blastocyst. Implantation is critical to the survival and development of the early human embryo. It establishes a connection between the mother and the early embryo which will continue through the remainder of the pregnancy. Implantation is made possible through structural changes in both the blastocyst and endometrial wall. The zona pellucida surrounding the blastocyst breaches, referred to as hatching. This removes the constraint on the physical size of the embryonic mass and exposes the outer cells of the blastocyst to the interior of the uterus. Furthermore, hormonal changes in the mother, specifically a peak in luteinizing hormone (LH), prepare the endometrium to receive and envelop the blastocyst. The immune system is also modulated to allow for the invasion of the foreign embryonic cells. Once bound to the extracellular matrix of the endometrium, trophoblast cells secrete enzymes and other factors to embed the blastocyst into the uterine wall. The enzymes released degrade the endometrial lining, while autocrine growth factors such as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) allow the blastocyst to further invade the endometrium. Implantation in the uterine wall allows for the next step in embryogenesis, gastrulation, which includes the formation of the placenta from trophoblastic cells and differentiation of the inner cell mass into the amniotic sac and epiblast. There are two types of blastomere cells: The inner cell mass, also known as the embryoblast, gives rise to the primitive endoderm and the embryo proper (epiblast)., The primitive endoderm develops into the amniotic sac which forms the fluid-filled cavity that the embryo resides in during pregnancy., The epiblast gives rise to the three germ layers of the developing embryo during gastrulation (endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm)., The trophoblast is a layer of cells forming the outer ring of the blastocyst that combines with the maternal endometrium to form the placenta. Trophoblast cells also secrete factors to make the blastocoel., After implantation, cytotrophoblast is the inner layer of the trophoblast, composed of stem cells which give rise to cells comprising the chorionic villi, placenta, and syncytiotrophoblast., After implantation, syncytiotrophoblast is the outermost layer of the trophoblast. These cells secrete proteolytic enzymes to break down the endometrial extracellular matrix to allow for implantation of the blastocyst in the uterine wall. The blastocoel fluid cavity contains amino acids, growth factors, and other molecules necessary for cellular differentiation. Multiple processes control cell lineage specification in the blastocyst to produce the trophoblast, epiblast, and primitive endoderm. These processes include gene expression, cell signaling, cell-cell contact and positional relationships, and epigenetics. Once the ICM has been established within the blastocyst, this cell mass prepares for further specification into the epiblast and primitive endoderm. This process of specification is determined in part by fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling which generates a MAP kinase pathway to alter cellular genomes. Further segregation of blastomeres into the trophoblast and inner cell mass are regulated by the homeodomain protein, Cdx2. This transcription factor represses the expression of Oct4 and Nanog transcription factors in the trophoblast. These genomic alterations allow for the progressive specification of both epiblast and primitive endoderm lineages at the end of the blastocyst phase of development preceding gastrulation. Much of the research conducted on these early embryonic stages is on mouse embryos and specific factors may differ between mammals. In the mouse, primordial germ cells are specified from epiblast cells, a process that is accompanied by extensive genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming. Reprogramming involves global DNA demethylation and chromatin reorganization resulting in cellular totipotency. The process of genome-wide demethylation involves the DNA base excision repair pathway. Trophoblasts express integrin on their cell surfaces which allow for adhesion to the extracellular matrix of the uterine wall. This interaction allows for implantation and triggers further specification into the three different cell types, preparing the blastocyst for gastrulation. The level of human chorionic gonadotropin secreted by the blastocyst during implantation is the factor measured in a pregnancy test. hCG can be measured in both blood and urine to determine whether a woman is pregnant. More hCG is secreted in a multiple pregnancy. Blood tests of hCG can also be used to check for abnormal pregnancies. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is an alternative to traditional in vivo fertilization for fertilizing an egg with sperm and implanting that embryo into a female’s womb. For many years the embryo was inserted into the uterus two to three days after fertilization. However at this stage of development it is very difficult to predict which embryos will develop best, and several embryos were typically implanted. Several implanted embryos increased the likelihood of a developing fetus but also led to the development of multiple fetuses. This was a major problem and drawback for using embryos in IVF. The use of blastocysts for human in vitro fertilization has proved successful and is a common option for couples unable to conceive naturally. A blastocyst is implanted five to six days after the eggs have been fertilized. After five or six days it is much easier to determine which embryos will result in healthy live births. Knowing which embryos will succeed allows just one blastocyst to be implanted, cutting down dramatically on the health risk and expense of multiple births. Now that the nutrient requirements for embryonic and blastocyst development have been determined, it is much easier to give embryos the correct nutrients to sustain them into the blastocyst phase. Blastocyst implantation following in vitro fertilization is a painless procedure in which a catheter is inserted into the vagina, guided through the cervix via ultrasound, and into the uterus where the blastocysts are inserted into the womb. Blastocysts also offer an advantage because they can be used to genetically test the cells to check for genetic problems. There are enough cells in a blastocyst that a few trophectoderm cells can be removed without disturbing the developing blastocyst. These cells can be tested for chromosome aneuploidy using preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), or specific conditions such as cystic fibrosis, often known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Developmental biology Blastocyst transfer and fertility treatment, Risks of blastocyst transfer, Blastocyst photos at different stages of development, Diagram at weber.edu, Is Blastocyst Culture The Way To Go? – Fertility Road Embryo transfer refers to a step in the process of assisted reproduction in which embryos are placed into the uterus of a female with the intent to establish a pregnancy. This technique (which is often used in connection with in vitro fertilization (IVF)), may be used in humans or in animals, in which situations the goals may vary. Embryo transfer can be done at day two or day three, or later in the blastocyst stage, which was first performed in 1984. Embryos can be either “fresh” from fertilized egg cells of the same menstrual cycle, or “frozen”, that is they have been generated in a preceding cycle and undergone embryo cryopreservation, and are thawed just prior to the transfer, which is then termed "frozen embryo transfer" (FET). The outcome from using cryopreserved embryos has uniformly been positive with no increase in birth defects or development abnormalities, also between fresh versus frozen eggs used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In fact, pregnancy rates are increased following FET, and perinatal outcomes are less affected, compared to embryo transfer in the same cycle as ovarian hyperstimulation was performed. The endometrium is believed to not be optimally prepared for implantation following ovarian hyperstimulation, and therefore frozen embryo transfer avails for a separate cycle to focus on optimizing the chances of successful implantation. Children born from vitrified blastocysts have significantly higher birthweight than those born from non-frozen blastocysts. When transferring a frozen-thawed oocyte, the chance of pregnancy is essentially the same whether it is transferred in a natural cycle or one with ovulation induction. There is probably little or no difference between FET and fresh embryo transfers in terms of live birth rate; however, FET may lower the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome while at the same time it may increase the risk of pregnancy complications. In the human, the uterine lining (endometrium) needs to be appropriately prepared so that the embryo(s) can implant. In a natural cycle the embryo transfer takes place in the luteal phase at a time where the lining is appropriately undeveloped in relation to the status of the present Luteinizing Hormone. In a stimulated or a cycle where a "frozen" embryo is transferred, the recipient woman could be given first estrogen preparations (about 2 weeks), then a combination of estrogen and progesterone so that the lining becomes receptive for the embryo. The time of receptivity is the implantation window. A scientific review in 2013 came to the conclusion that it is not possible to identify one method of endometrium preparation in frozen embryo transfer as being more effective than another. Limited evidence also supports removal of cervical mucus before transfer. Embryo transfer can be performed after various durations of embryo culture, conferring different stages in embryogenesis. The main stages at which embryo transfer is performed are cleavage stage (day 2 to 4 after co-incubation) or the blastocyst stage (day 5 or 6 after co-incubation). Embryos who reach the day 3 cell stage can be tested for chromosomal or specific genetic defects prior to possible transfer by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Transferring at the blastocyst stage confers a significant increase in live birth rate per transfer, but also confers a decreased number of embryos available for transfer and embryo cryopreservation, so the cumulative clinical pregnancy rates are increased with cleavage stage transfer. It is uncertain whether there is any difference in live birth rate between transfer on day two or day three after fertilization. Monozygotic twinning is not increased after blastocyst transfer compared with cleavage-stage embryo transfer. There is a significantly higher odds of preterm birth (odds ratio 1.3) and congenital anomalies (odds ratio 1.3) among births having reached the blastocyst stage compared with cleavage stage. Because of increased female embryo mortality due to epigenetic modifications induced by extended culture, blastocyst transfer leads to more male births (56.1% male) versus 2 or 3 day transfer (a normal sex ratio of 51.5% male). Laboratories have developed grading methods to judge oocyte and embryo quality. In order to optimise pregnancy rates, there is significant evidence that a morphological scoring system is the best strategy for the selection of embryos. Since 2009 where the first time-lapse microscopy system for IVF was approved for clinical use, morphokinetic scoring systems has shown to improve to pregnancy rates further. However, when all different types of time-lapse embryo imaging devices, with or without morphokinetic scoring systems, are compared against conventional embryo assessment for IVF, there is insufficient evidence of a difference in live-birth, pregnancy, stillbirth or miscarriage to choose between them. A small prospectively randomized study in 2016 reported poorer embryo quality and more staff time in an automated time-lapse embryo imaging device compared to conventional embryology. The embryo transfer procedure starts by placing a speculum in the vagina to visualize the cervix, which is cleansed with saline solution or culture media. A soft transfer catheter is loaded with the embryos and handed to the clinician after confirmation of the patient’s identity. The catheter is inserted through the cervical canal and advanced into the uterine cavity. There is good and consistent evidence of benefit in ultrasound guidance, that is, making an abdominal ultrasound to ensure correct placement, which is 1–2 cm from the uterine fundus. There is evidence of a significant increase in clinical pregnancy using ultrasound guidance compared with only "clinical touch". Anesthesia is generally not required. Single embryo transfers in particular require accuracy and precision in placement within the uterine cavity. The optimal target for embryo placement, known as the maximal implantation potential (MIP) point, is identified using 3D/4D ultrasound. However, there is limited evidence that supports deposition of embryos in the midportion of the uterus. After insertion of the catheter, the contents are expelled and the embryos are deposited. Limited evidence supports making trial transfers before performing the procedure with embryos. After expulsion, the duration that the catheter remains inside the uterus has no effect on pregnancy rates. Limited evidence suggests avoiding negative pressure from the catheter after expulsion. After withdrawal, the catheter is handed to the embryologist, who inspects it for retained embryos. In the process of zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT), eggs are removed from the woman, fertilised, and then placed in the woman's fallopian tubes rather than the uterus. In 2015, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine developed a medical simulation of the Embryo Transfer procedure with Swiss company VirtaMed, designed for the education and training of clinicians. The virtual reality simulator, which includes real-time simulation of ultrasound guidance, was launched at the annual conference of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. A major issue is how many embryos should be transferred. Placement of multiple embryos carries the risk of multiple pregnancy. In the past, physicians have often placed too many embryos in the hope to establish a pregnancy. However, the rise in multiple pregnancies has led to a reassessment of this approach. Professional societies and in many countries, the legislature, have issued guidelines or laws to curtail a practice of placing too many embryos in an attempt to reduce multiple pregnancies. The appropriate number of embryos to be transferred depends on the age of the woman, whether it is the first, second or third full IVF cycle attempt and whether there are top-quality embryos available. According to a guideline from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2013, the number of embryos transferred in a cycle should be chosen as in following table: The technique of selecting only one embryo to transfer to the woman is called elective-single embryo transfer (e-SET) or, when embryos are at the blastocyst stage, it can also be called elective single blastocyst transfer (eSBT). It significantly lowers the risk of multiple pregnancies, compared with e.g. Double Embryo Transfer (DET) or double blastocyst transfer (2BT), with a twinning rate of approximately 3.5% in sET compared with approximately 38% in DET, or 2% in eSBT compared with approximately 25% in 2BT. At the same time, pregnancy rates is not significantly less with eSBT than with 2BT. That is, the cumulative live birth rate associated with single fresh embryo transfer followed by a single frozen and thawed embryo transfer is comparable with that after one cycle of double fresh embryo transfer. Furthermore, SET has better outcomes in terms of mean gestational age at delivery, mode of delivery, birthweight, and risk of neonatal intensive care unit necessity than DET. e-SET of embryos at the cleavage stage reduces the likelihood of live birth by 38% and multiple birth by 94%. Evidence from randomized, controlled trials suggests that increasing the number of e-SET attempts (fresh and/or frozen) results in a cumulative live birth rate similar to that of DET. The usage of single embryo transfer is highest in Sweden (69.4%), but as low as 2.8% in the USA. Access to public funding for ART, availability of good cryopreservation facilities, effective education about the risks of multiple pregnancy, and legislation appear to be the most important factors for regional usage of single embryo transfer. Also, personal choice plays a significant role as many subfertile couples have a strong preference for twins. It is uncertain whether the use of mechanical closure of the cervical canal following embryo transfer has any effect. Whether or not women remain laying down for a certain amount of time after embryo transfer may make little or no difference. Using hyaluronic acid as an adherence medium for the embryo may increase live birth rates. There may be little or benefit in having a full bladder, removal of cervical mucus, or flushing of the endometrial or endocervical cavity at the time of embryo transfer. Adjunctive antibiotics in the form of amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid probably does not increase the clinical pregnancy rate compared with no antibiotics. For frozen-thawed embryo transfer or transfer of embryo from egg donation, no previous ovarian hyperstimulation is required for the recipient before transfer, which can be performed in spontaneous ovulatory cycles. Still, various protocols exist for frozen-thawed embryo transfers as well, such as protocols with ovarian hyperstimulation, protocols in which the endometrium is artificially prepared by estrogen and/or progesterone. There is some evidence that in cycles where the endometrium is artificially prepared by estrogen or progesterone, it may be beneficial to administer an additional drug that suppresses hormone production by the ovaries such as continuous administration of a gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa). For egg donation, there is evidence of a lower pregnancy rate and a higher cycle cancellation rate when the progesterone supplementation in the recipient is commenced prior to oocyte retrieval from the donor, as compared to commenced day of oocyte retrieval or the day after. Seminal fluid contains several proteins that interact with epithelial cells of the cervix and uterus, inducing active gestational immune tolerance. There are significantly improved outcomes when women are exposed to seminal plasma around the time of embryo transfer, with statistical significance for clinical pregnancy, but not for ongoing pregnancy or live birth rates with the limited data available. Patients usually start progesterone medication after egg (also called oocyte) retrieval. While daily intramuscular injections of progesterone-in-oil (PIO) have been the standard route of administration, PIO injections are not FDA- approved for use in pregnancy. A recent meta-analysis showed that the intravaginal route with an appropriate dose and dosing frequency is equivalent to daily intramuscular injections. In addition, a recent case-matched study comparing vaginal progesterone with PIO injections showed that live birth rates were nearly identical with both methods. A duration of progesterone administration of 11 days results in almost the same birth rates as longer durations. Patients are also given estrogen medication in some cases after the embryo transfer. Pregnancy testing is done typically two weeks after egg retrieval. It is not necessary that the embryo transfer be performed on the female who provided the eggs. Thus another female whose uterus is appropriately prepared can receive the embryo and become pregnant. Embryo transfer may be used where a woman who has eggs but no uterus and wants to have a biological baby; she would require the help of a gestational carrier or surrogate to carry the pregnancy. Also, a woman who has no eggs but a uterus may utilize egg donor IVF, in which case another woman would provide eggs for fertilization and the resulting embryos are placed into the uterus of the patient. Fertilization may be performed using the woman's partner's sperm or by using donor sperm. 'Spare' embryos which are created for another couple undergoing IVF treatment but which are then surplus to that couple's needs may also be transferred (called embryo donation). Embryos may be specifically created by using eggs and sperm from donors and these can then be transferred into the uterus of another woman. A surrogate may carry a baby produced by embryo transfer for another couple, even though neither she nor the 'commissioning' couple is biologically related to the child. Third party reproduction is controversial and regulated in many countries. Persons entering gestational surrogacy arrangements must make sense of an entirely new type of relationship that does not fit any of the traditional scripts we use to categorize relations as kinship, friendship, romantic partnership or market relations. Surrogates have the experience of carrying a baby that they conceptualize as not of their own kin, while intended mothers have the experience of waiting through nine months of pregnancy and transitioning to motherhood from outside of the pregnant body. This can lead to new conceptualizations of body and self. The first transfer of an embryo from one human to another resulting in pregnancy was reported in July 1983 and subsequently led to the announcement of the first human birth 3 February 1984. This procedure was performed at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center under the direction of Dr. John Buster and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine. In the procedure, an embryo that was just beginning to develop was transferred from one woman in whom it had been conceived by artificial insemination to another woman who gave birth to the infant 38 weeks later. The sperm used in the artificial insemination came from the husband of the woman who bore the baby. This scientific breakthrough established standards and became an agent of change for women suffering from the afflictions of infertility and for women who did not want to pass on genetic disorders to their children. Donor embryo transfer has given women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will contain their husband’s genetic makeup. Although donor embryo transfer as practiced today has evolved from the original non-surgical method, it now accounts for approximately 5% of in vitro fertilization recorded births. Prior to this, thousands of women who were infertile, had adoption as the only path to parenthood. This set the stage to allow open and candid discussion of embryo donation and transfer. This breakthrough has given way to the donation of human embryos as a common practice similar to other donations such as blood and major organ donations. At the time of this announcement the event was captured by major news carriers and fueled healthy debate and discussion on this practice which impacted the future of reproductive medicine by creating a platform for further advancements in woman's health. This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte and embryo donation, a mainstream clinical practice, which has evolved over the past 25 years. A Cochrane systematic review updated in 2012 showed that blastocyst stage transfer is more effective than cleavage (day 2 or 3) stage transfer in assisted reproductive technologies. It showed a small improvement in live birth rate per couple for blastocyst transfers. This would mean that for a typical rate of 31% in clinics that use early cleavage stage cycles, the rate would increase to 32% to 42% live births if clinics used blastocyst transfer. Embryo transfer techniques allow top quality female livestock to have a greater influence on the genetic advancement of a herd or flock in much the same way that artificial insemination has allowed greater use of superior sires. ET also allows the continued use of animals such as competition mares to continue training and showing, while producing foals. The general epidemiological aspects of embryo transfer indicates that the transfer of embryos provides the opportunity to introduce genetic material into populations of livestock while greatly reducing the risk for transmission of infectious diseases. Recent developments in the sexing of embryos before transfer and implanting has great potential in the dairy and other livestock industries. Embryo transfer is also used in laboratory mice. For example, embryos of genetically modified strains that are difficult to breed or expensive to maintain may be stored frozen, and only thawed and implanted into a pseudopregnant dam when needed. The development of various methods of cryopreservation of bovine embryos improved embryo transfer technique considerably efficient technology, no longer depending on the immediate readiness of suitable recipients. Pregnancy rates are just slightly less than those achieved with fresh embryos. Recently, the use of cryoprotectants such as ethylene glycol has permitted the direct transfer of bovine embryos. The world's first live crossbred bovine calf produced under tropical conditions by Direct Transfer (DT) of embryo frozen in ethylene glycol freeze media was born on 23 June 1996. Dr. Binoy Sebastian Vettical of Kerala Livestock Development Board Ltd has produced the embryo stored frozen in Ethylene Glycol freeze media by slow programmable freezing (SPF) technique and transferred directly to recipient cattle immediately after thawing the frozen straw in water for the birth of this calf. In a study, in vivo produced crossbred bovine embryos stored frozen in ethylene glycol freeze media were transferred directly to recipients under tropical conditions and achieved a pregnancy rate of 50 percent. In a survey of the North American embryo transfer industry, embryo transfer success rates from direct transfer of embryos were as good as to those achieved with glycerol. Moreover, in 2011, more than 95% of frozen-thawed embryos were transferred by Direct Transfer. How embryo transfer works as part of fertility treatment, The blastocyst transfer process – a form of embryo transfer, One at a time website – benefits of Single Embryo Transfer

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Leprechaun is a series of horror comedy films consisting of eight films. Beginning with 1993's Leprechaun (filmed in 1991) the series centers on a malevolent and murderous leprechaun named "Lubdan" (although he never reveals his name), who, when his gold is taken from him, resorts to any means necessary to reclaim it. None of the series are in chronological order. Warwick Davis plays the title role in every film except for the reboot, , and the TV movie, Leprechaun Returns. In the reboot, Dylan "Hornswoggle" Postl, of WWE fame, portrays the creature and in the TV movie, the creature is played by Linden Porco. The first two films were theatrically released. After a disappointing gross from Leprechaun 2, Vidmark released the following sequels direct-to-video. It was revealed in March 2012 that Lionsgate and WWE Studios (who worked together on See No Evil and The Condemned) were teaming up to reboot the film series. Two weeks later, WWE.com unveiled a new video depicting Dylan Post (who works under a leprechaun gimmick in WWE as Hornswoggle) starring in the role as Lubdan. He announced via Twitter that it would come out in March 2013. Until May 2013, there were no updates on the film's progress. However, on May 28, 2013, it was reported that Zach Lipovsky, a visual effects supervisor and a finalist on the reality game show On the Lot was contracted to direct the reboot, now scheduled for screening in August 2014. The film was released under a VOD/Digital HD format on August 26, 2014 (following a limited release on August 22), with the DVD/Blu-ray released on September 30, 2014. Leprechaun Returns takes place 25 years after the original film. Linden Porco plays the title role, while Mark Holton reprises his role of Ozzie Jones from the first film. On November 16, 2018, Lionsgate announced the film would be released through digital and on demand on December 11. On March 17, 2019, Syfy premiered Leprechaun Returns along with their All-Day Leprechaun Marathon for St. Patrick's Day. Leprechaun Returns is available on Blu-ray and DVD as of June 11, 2019. In explaining why he didn't reprise his role in Leprechaun Returns, Davis said he stopped appearing in horror films after the birth of his children. "You know what, we did six ‘Leprechaun’ films, and around Halloween people always watch them and love them,” Davis told Bloody Disgusting. “Horror is an interesting medium. I think it’s different when you have kids; you look at horror in a slightly different way. Since I finished the ‘Leprechaun’ films I had kids and I see the world through their eyes, and to be in a horror movie right now is probably not quite right.” Davis did leave open the possibility of returning to the franchise, remarking “I will wait until my son turns 18 and then I’ll do some horror again". In March 2019, Darren Lynn Bousman, director of three films in the Saw franchise, expressed interest in a Leprechaun reboot with Davis starring. Bousman announced his intentions on Twitter, detailing a plot that would send the Leprechaun back to the Colorado Gold Rush. In the original Leprechaun (1993), Daniel O'Grady (Shay Duffin) captures the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) while in Ireland, takes his gold and smuggles it back to his home in North Dakota, unaware the Leprechaun has followed him. Confronting O'Grady and demanding his gold the Leprechaun is injured by O'Grady and sealed in a crate with a four-leaf clover, though before O'Grady can kill the creature he suffers a stroke. Ten years later the Leprechaun is accidentally released by Tory Redding (a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston) and her new friends, and goes on a killing spree in search of his gold, which Alex Murphy (Robert Gorman) and Ozzie (Mark Holton) had discovered. After the Leprechaun reclaims the bulk of his gold he is defeated when Alex shoots a four-leaf clover down his throat with a slingshot and Alex's older brother Nathan (Ken Olandt) blows up the well the Leprechaun falls into. In Leprechaun 2 (1994) the Leprechaun seeks out a new bride in modern-day Los Angeles, one thousand years after an earlier attempt to claim a bride was foiled. Claiming a fussy teenage girl named Bridget (Shevonne Durkin), the descendant of his original choice of a wife, the Leprechaun holds her captive in his lair and terrorizes her boyfriend Cody (Charlie Heath), who had taken one of his gold coins. In the end Cody saves Bridget and defeats the Leprechaun by impaling him with a spike made of wrought iron, one of the few substances that can harm a Leprechaun. Leprechaun 3 (1995) begins with the Leprechaun, having been changed into a statue by a magical medallion, being sold to a Las Vegas pawn shop. Assuming his original form when the clerk removes the medallion, the Leprechaun kills him and goes on a rampage through Las Vegas in search of one of his wish granting coins, which is passed from hand to hand. The Leprechaun is ultimately defeated by college student Scott McCoy (John Gatins) and Scott's new girlfriend Tammy Larsen (Lee Armstrong), who blast his gold with a flamethrower, causing it to vanish and the Leprechaun to burst into flames. Taking place in the future, (1997) has the Leprechaun abduct and begin courting snobbish alien princess Zarina (Rebekah Carlton), seducing her with promises of wealth. After being blown up by a group of marines who rescue Zarina, the Leprechaun is reborn on the marines' ship via exploding out of the groin of one of an unfortunate man, Kowalski. He then goes off in search of his stolen bride and gold, killing all those who get in his way. After being turned into a giant via an enlargement ray, the Leprechaun is ejected into space by the survivors of the massacre, Tina Reeves (Jessica Collins), Books Malloy (Brent Jasmer) and Sticks (Miguel A. Núñez, Jr.). Set in Compton, California, Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) has the Leprechaun being turned to stone once more, this time by pimp Mack Daddy O'Nassas (Ice-T), who uses the Leprechaun's mind-controlling magic flute to become a successful music producer. Years later, the Leprechaun is unknowingly changed back to flesh and blood by a trio of wannabe rappers led by Postmaster P. (Anthony Montgomery) who rob Mack Daddy, taking the Leprechaun's gold and the flute from him with the intent of using the objects to become successful. Hunted by both Mack Daddy and the Leprechaun, Postmaster P., after his friends and Mack Daddy are killed, is brainwashed into becoming a servant of the Leprechaun. Leprechaun Returns (2018) centers on the first leprechaun (played here by Linden Porco) who escapes from the well into which he was barricaded 25 years prior by Tory Redding (Jennifer Aniston), her father and her friends who accompanied her at the O'Grady house, where he originally found them and terrorized them to get his gold back. In the present day, he returns to terrorize Laila Jenkins (Taylor Spreitler) and her sorority sisters as well as two men staying with them. With this storyline, all previous films but the first have been retconned, making it a direct sequel that takes over from Leprechaun 2 (1994) until Leprechaun Origins (2014). Laila, a university student, is bought to her sorority home by Ozzie Jones, which sees actor Mark Holton reprising his role, and Tory is revealed to be Laila's mother who has died of cancer, having lived much of her life fearing the creature's return. After dropping Laila off at the house - the same house from 1993, now branded with the AU sorority symbol - he drops his phone while unloading her luggage, and upon returning to retrieve it, he is spat on from down the well by a splash of green water, some of which he swallows, and during his getaway he begins experiencing stomach pains, leading to the creature rebirthing himself and escaping. He kills Ozzie by tearing out of his torso before appearing at the house, killing two of Laila's sorority sisters and the two men. He is eventually electrocuted and ignited, causing the house to explode, but after Laila and Katie (Pepi Sonuga) escape and are driven back to the university campus, he is revealed to have reanimated and is last shown flagging down a truck for a drive to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. The series has been released on DVD both separate and in collections. On September 30, 2014, the entire film series was released on Blu-ray for the first time in a box set titled ”Leprechaun: The Complete Movie Collection". Prior to the release of the original Leprechaun Trimark Pictures released an eight-page comic book prequel to the film. The story presented in the book is contradictory to the events of the film in several regards, such as depicting Daniel O'Grady as a lowly farmer and inhabitant of Ireland (instead of America) who obtains the Leprechaun's gold not by capturing the creature (as was stated in the film) but by following a rainbow. In 2008 publishing company Bluewater Productions announced that it would release a Leprechaun comic book series, which began in May 2009. Written by Zach Hunchar and illustrated by Kris Carter the first arc of the series follows the Leprechaun (who is revealed to be named "Lubdan" and is also the king and last of his species) as he battles rival race the Clurichaun and travels the world in search of his gold, which was stolen and auctioned off online, with the reluctant help of the geeky Ethan Thomas and his friends. With only four issues released, the series was seemingly cancelled, as no new issues have been announced. Micheal Kingston was slated to write the second arc of the series. Plans for a four- issue comic book crossover between the Leprechaun and Warlock series, which would have been written by Nick Lyons and released in late 2009, were made, but did not come to pass. Leprechaun 4: In Space is a 1997 American science fiction black comedy slasher film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It is the fourth installment in the Leprechaun series. In 2096, on a remote planet, the Leprechaun attempts to court a princess named Zarina, in a nefarious plot to become king of her home planet. The two agree to marry, with each partner planning to kill the other after the wedding night in order to enjoy the marriage benefits (a peerage for the Leprechaun, the Leprechaun's gold and jewels for the princess) undisturbed. A platoon of space marines arrive on the planet and kill the Leprechaun for interfering with mining operations. Lucky tries to steal gold but gets killed by the leprechaun with a lightsaber. A grenade explodes and kills the leprechaun, but he still comes back. Gloating over the victory, one of the marines, Kowalski, urinates on the Leprechaun's body. Unbeknownst to Kowalski, the Leprechaun's spirit travels up his urine stream and into his penis, where his presence manifests as gonorrhea. The marines return to their ship with the injured Zarina, whom they plan to return to her homeworld in order to establish positive diplomatic relations. The ship's commander, the cyborg Dr. Mittenhand, explains his plans to use Zarina's regenerative DNA to recreate his own body, which was mutilated in a failed experiment. Elsewhere on the ship, the Leprechaun violently emerges from Kowalski's penis after he is aroused during a sexual act. The marines hunt the Leprechaun, who outsmarts them and kills most of the crew in gruesome and absurd ways. While pursuing Zarina, the Leprechaun injects Mittenhand with a mixture of Zarina's DNA and the remains of a blended scorpion and tarantula, before initiating the ship's self-destruct mechanism. A surviving marine, Sticks, rushes to the bridge to defuse the self-destruct but is stopped by a password prompt. Mittenhand—now a grotesque monster calling himself "Mittenspider"—entangles Sticks in a giant web. Meanwhile, the other survivors confront the Leprechaun in the cargo bay, where they inadvertently cause him to transform into a giant after shooting him with Dr. Mittenhand's experimental growth ray. The ship's biological officer, Tina Reeves, escapes to the bridge and rescues Sticks by spraying Mittenhand with liquid nitrogen and shooting him. The only other surviving marine, Books, opens the airlock so the giant Leprechaun is sucked into space and explodes. Books joins the others at the helm and they deduce that the password is "Wizard", since Dr. Mittenhand previously compared himself to the Wizard of Oz. After stopping the self-destruct sequence, Books and Reeves kiss, while Sticks looks out the window to see the Leprechaun's giant hand giving him the finger. Warwick Davis as The Leprechaun (King Leprechaun), Rebekah Carlton as Princess Zarina, Brent Jasmer as SSgt. Books Malloy, Jessica Collins as Dr. Tina Reeves, Guy Siner as Dr. Mittenhand/Mittenspider, Gary Grossman as Harold, Tim Colceri as MSgt. Metal Head Hooker, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. as Sticks, Debbe Dunning as Priv. Delores Costello, Mike Cannizzo as Danny, Rick Peters as Mooch, Geoff Meed as Kowalski, Ladd York as Lucky This film holds a 0% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 6 reviews; the average rating is 1.5/10. The A.V. Club wrote that "the outer-space setting comes off as a desperate ploy to continue a horror series without having to pay any attention to continuity or the laws of reality." Leprechaun is a 1993 American fantasy comedy slasher film written and directed by Mark Jones. It stars Warwick Davis in the title role, and Jennifer Aniston in her film debut. Davis plays a vengeful leprechaun who believes a family has stolen his pot of gold. As he hunts them, they attempt to locate his gold to vanquish him. The film was originally meant to be more of a straight horror film, but Davis injected humor into his role. Re-shoots also added increased gore to appeal to older audiences. It was the first film produced in-house by Trimark to be theatrically released and grossed $8.6 million in North America against a budget of less than $1 million. Reviews on release were negative and focused on the film's acting, humor, and directing, all of which were criticized, and it has also been called Aniston's worst film. It was followed by six sequels and a remake. Leprechaun is often broadcast on Saint Patrick's Day. In 1983, Dan O'Grady returns to his home in North Dakota from a trip to his native Ireland, where he stole the pot of gold from a leprechaun. After burying the gold, O'Grady discovers that the evil leprechaun has followed him home and murdered his wife. O'Grady uses a four-leaf clover to suppress the leprechaun's powers and trap him inside a crate. Before he can burn him, he suffers a stroke. Ten years later, J. D. Redding and his daughter Tory rent the O'Grady farmhouse for the summer. Contract workers Nathan Murphy, his brother Alex, and their dimwitted friend Ozzie Jones help re-paint the farmhouse. While looking around the basement, Ozzie hears the leprechaun's cry for help and mistakes him for a little person. He brushes the old four-leaf clover off the crate, freeing the leprechaun. After failing to convince the others that he met a leprechaun, Ozzie spots a rainbow and chases it, believing that he will find a pot of gold at the end. Alex accompanies him for fear that Ozzie might hurt himself. A bag of one hundred gold coins magically appears before Ozzie. After Ozzie tests the gold and accidentally swallows a coin, they stash it in an old well and plot to keep it for themselves, hoping to fix Ozzie's brain. At the farm, the leprechaun lures J. D. into a trap by imitating a cat, biting and injuring his hand. Tory and the others rush him to the hospital, and the leprechaun follows on a tricycle. Alex and Ozzie visit a pawn shop to see if the gold is pure, and the leprechaun kills Joe the shop owner for stealing his gold. The leprechaun returns to the farmhouse, where he searches for his gold and shines every shoe that he finds. After leaving J. D. at the hospital, the group drives back to the farmhouse. Finding it ransacked, Nathan checks outside, where he is injured by a bear trap set by the leprechaun. After finding a shotgun in the farmhouse, they shoot the leprechaun several times. When this has no effect, they attempt to flee the farm, but their truck's engine has been sabotaged by the leprechaun. After ramming the truck with a go-kart, the leprechaun terrorizes the group until Ozzie reveals that he and Alex found the pot of gold. Tory recovers the bag from the well and gives it to the leprechaun. Believing the worst to be over, they leave for the hospital. While counting his gold, the leprechaun discovers that he is missing the last coin that Ozzie swallowed. Thinking that they have tricked him, he menaces them until Ozzie tells them about O'Grady, who was taken to a nursing home after his stroke. Tory visits the home to learn how to kill the leprechaun. At the nursing home, the leprechaun pretends to be O'Grady. After he chases Tory to an elevator, the leprechaun throws O'Grady's bloodied body down the shaft as Tory flees. Before dying, O'Grady tells her that the only way to kill the leprechaun is with a four-leaf clover. Tory returns to the farmhouse, where she searches for a clover until she is attacked by the leprechaun; Nathan and Ozzie save her. Ozzie reveals that he swallowed the last gold coin, and the leprechaun critically wounds him trying to get it. Before the leprechaun can kill Ozzie, Alex takes a four-leaf clover Tory has found, sticks it to a wad of gum, and shoots it into the leprechaun's mouth, taking away his power. The leprechaun falls into the well, but his skeleton climbs out. Nathan pushes the leprechaun back into the well and blows up both the well and the leprechaun with gasoline. The authorities arrive, and Tory is reunited with her father. As the cops investigate the remains of the well, the leprechaun vows he will not rest until he recovers every last piece of his gold. Warwick Davis as The Leprechaun, Jennifer Aniston as Tory Redding, Ken Olandt as Nathan Murphy, Mark Holton as Ozzie Jones, Robert Hy Gorman as Alex Murphy, David Permenter as Deputy Tripet, William Newman as Sheriff Roy Cronin, Shay Duffin as Daniel O'Grady, Pamela Mant as Mrs. O'Grady, John Sanderford as J. D. Redding, John Voldstad as Joe Mark Jones, the writer-director, had a career in American television shows. Desiring to make a film, he decided that a low budget horror film was his best opportunity. Jones was inspired by the Lucky Charms commercials to create a leprechaun character, only his twist was to turn the character into an antagonist. Jones was further influenced by the film Critters, which featured a small antagonist. Jones brought the concept to Trimark, who were looking to get into film production and distribution. Leprechaun became the first film produced in-house by Trimark to be theatrically released. Entertainment Weekly quoted the budget at "just under $1 million". In an interview with Fangoria, Jones stated that he began writing the script in 1985 and spent a long time developing the Leprechaun character, which he initially envisioned as a "horrible, murderous creature", but which became a more comedic and developed character before filming began. Warwick Davis, who had experienced a dry spell after playing the protagonist in Willow, liked the script and was excited to play against type. Jennifer Aniston, who was an unknown at the time, impressed Jones, and he fought to have her cast. Shooting occurred from 28 October 1991 - 3 December 1991, and beginning at Valencia Studios, where had recently finished production. Several violent scenes were filmed at Big Sky Ranch, where Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons were shot. Davis later said it felt "a little blasphemous". Davis performed most of his own stunts. For the scene where Davis chases Aniston in a wheelchair, Aniston had to run in slow motion so that Davis could keep up with her, as he had trouble manipulating the wheels. The film was initially more of a straightforward horror film, but Davis sought to add more comedic elements. Jones agreed with this tonal shift, and they shot it as a horror comedy. Several scenes had to be re-shot after the producers insisted that the film be made gorier to appeal to older audiences. Gabe Bartalos performed the make-up effects. Trimark contacted Bartalos to produce a sample. Bartalos's early efforts were not to his liking, and he pushed the design in a more grotesque direction, as that was what he wanted to see on the screen as a horror fan. Bartalos's design impressed Trimark, and he got the account. Applying the make-up took three hours, and taking it off took another 40 minutes. Davis described the experience as "not a pleasant sensation". To pass the time while the make-up was being applied, Davis said he had bizarre conversations with Bartalos, with whom he got along well. Davis was conscious of the need to stay relaxed and not move, and he channelled his confidence that the make-up effects were properly applied into his acting. Leading up to the film's release, Trimark engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign, partnering with the National Basketball Association, American Stock Exchange, and, after failing to secure deals with either corporate headquarters, individual franchisees of Domino's Pizza and Subway. Leprechaun opened on January 8, 1993, in 620 theatres and took in $2,493,020 its opening week, ultimately earning $8,556,940 in the United States. Vidmark released it on VHS in April 1993, and it sold over 100,000 copies. The film score was released on March 9, 1993, by Intrada Records. The film was released on DVD in August 1998. Lionsgate released a triple feature collection on March 11, 2008. All seven films in the series were released on Blu-ray in a collection in September 2014. The film is often broadcast on cable channels such as Syfy on Saint Patrick's Day. Leprechaun was followed by five sequels: Leprechaun 2 (1994), Leprechaun 3 (1995), (1997), Leprechaun in the Hood (2000), and (2003). In 2014, a reboot, was released. After Leprechaun 2s theatrical gross disappointed Trimark, Leprechaun 3 was released direct-to-video. Origins was theatrically released. Leprechaun Returns was released on DVD on December 11, 2018. It serves as a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the subsequent installments. The film stars Linden Porco as the Leprechaun, and Mark Holton as Ozzie Jones, who reprise his role from the first film, and directed by Steven Kostanski. On release, critical reception to the film was negative. Writing for The Deseret News, Chris Hicks said that the film should have been released direct- to-video. Also criticizing Trimark's release of the film, The Austin Chronicles Marc Savlov called it cliched, uninteresting, and an "utter waste of perfectly good Kodak film stock". Internet-based critic James Berardinelli called it "unwatchable" and not even enjoyably bad, and Matt Bourjaily of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the film "has brought new meaning to the term 'bad'". At the Los Angeles Daily News, Robert Strauss called it "as witless and worthless a horror film as could possibly be conjured". Pittsburgh Post- Gazette critic Ron Weiskind called the film incompetent and criticized the film's acting, lack of suspense, and production values. Weiskind concluded, "Forget about the proverbial pot of gold. The movie Leprechaun is a crock." Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times called the cast "the usual all- formula grab-bag", and The Washington Posts Richard Harrington said the human actors are all bland. Berardinelli described the characters as "a group of morons who act like they flunked kindergarten" but said Aniston "might be competent" in a better film. Weiskind instead called Aniston's character a "Beverly Hills brat" who audiences will want to die. Of Davis, Harrington wrote that he "imbues a weak character with a strong presence", saying the film is only interesting while Davis is on-screen. Harrington concludes that the film is notable only for Davis' performance. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the leprechaun "no more than dangerously cranky" and reminiscent of Chucky from Child's Play; Hicks also described the leprechaun as similar to Chucky. Wilmington wrote that while a killer Leprechaun logically follows a trend of gimmicky antagonists, it is still a bad idea. Of the film's humor, Wilmington wrote that Leprechaun "isn't dumb enough to be fun". Hicks described the film's humor as "ill-advised slapstick", and Canby wrote that it is "neither scary nor funny". Berardinelli called the leprechaun's one-liners "more idiotic than pithy". Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Jeff Makos unfavorably compared the film's tone to that of Tremors, which he posited as an influence. Makos said Davis does his best to be funny, but the film has no funny jokes, making audience feedback probably more entertaining than the film itself. The use of Lucky Charms as humor also received commentary. Harrington wrote that Jones is "so bereft of inventive ideas that he refers to Lucky Charms cereal not once but three times", and Bourjaily criticized the Lucky Charms jokes as unfunny. Berardinelli said director Mark Jones has no style evident in the film. Wilmington described it as a "dingy, drab, pointless little movie ... made without flair or imagination, seemingly enervated by its own bad taste and low intentions". Canby called the screenplay and direction amateurish, and Hicks wrote that Jones is bereft of ideas and should go back to his day job, describing the plot as "by-the-numbers killings with no rhyme or reason". Harrington wrote that the film "has major continuity and credibility problems". Strauss identified the theme as anti-greed but said the writing is "simultaneously prosaic and murky", causing Jones to miss his mark. Wilmington wrote that the leprechaun's cries for his gold reflects the filmmakers' cynical desire for box office success. Sight & Sound described Leprechaun as a film which seems to have no concept of a target audience, stating, "Jones wants this to be a lively romp for older kids in the mould of Time Bandits...but also wants to corner the lucrative horror market." The review concluded, "Unsuitable for adults or kids, this is ultimately for completists." Harrington called the make-up "quite evil-looking", though Strauss wrote that "effects are strictly so-so". Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 23% of 13 critics gave the film a positive review. The average rating is 4/10. A 2014 retrospective from Entertainment Weekly identified it as Aniston's worst role to date, and Aniston herself has expressed embarrassment over the film. In 2009, Tanya Gold of The Guardian selected it as one of her ten favorite scary films to watch on Halloween.

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"I Can't Make You Love Me" is a song written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin and recorded by American singer Bonnie Raitt for her eleventh studio album Luck of the Draw (1991). Released as the album's third single in 1991, "I Can't Make You Love Me" became one of Raitt's most successful singles, reaching the top-20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the top-10 on the Adult Contemporary. In August 2000, Mojo magazine voted "I Can't Make You Love Me" the eighth best track on its The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list. The song is ranked at number 339 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. On 27 November 2016, the Grammy Hall of Fame announced its induction, along with that of another 24 songs. "I Can't Make You Love Me" was written by Nashville writers Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, who were well-noted for their successes in the country music arena. The song was rewritten many times before being finalized, months later. "We wrote, most every week, in Mike's basement," Shamblin told Peter Cooper in an interview with the Nashville Tennessean. "And we'd worked on this song for more than six months. One day, he said, 'Come up to the living room,' where his piano was. He sat down and started playing this melody, and it was one of the most moving pieces of music I'd heard. I mean, it hit me in a hard way ... Instantly, I knew it was the best thing I'd ever been a part of." Reid and Shamblin were both country music songwriters, who according to some accounts originally wrote the song as a fast, bluegrass number. Upon slowing down the tempo considerably, they realized the song gained considerable power and thought about giving the song to one of three artists: Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler or Linda Ronstadt. Eventually, the song made its way to Bonnie Raitt, who recorded the track for her eleventh studio album, Luck of the Draw (1991). Raitt co-produced the song with Don Was, while Bruce Hornsby provided a piano accompaniment. "I Can't Make You Love Me" was composed in the key of Bb major, with a moderate slow tempo of 72 beats per minute. Raitt's vocal range on the song spans from the low-note of F3 to the high-note of Bb4. The idea for the song came to Reid while reading an article about a man arrested for getting drunk and shooting at his girlfriend's car. The judge asked him if he had learned anything, to which he replied, "I learned, Your Honor, that you can't make a woman love you if she don't." Raitt recorded the vocal in just one take in the studio, later saying that it was so sad a song that she could not recapture the emotion: "We'd try to do it again and I just said, 'You know, this ain't going to happen.'" A pensive ballad, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was recorded against a quiet electric piano-based arrangement, with prominent piano fills and interpolations supplied by Bruce Hornsby. It was performed in the key of Bb major. The singer depicts a now one-sided romantic relationship about to end in soft but brutally honest terms: "Turn down the lights, turn down the bed/Turn down these voices inside my head/Lay down with me, tell me no lies/Just hold me close, don't patronize ... don't patronize me/'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't/You can't make your heart feel something that it won't," she sings. "I Can't Make You Love Me" received acclaim from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the track, calling it a "strong song" and picking it as one of the album's best tracks. Steve Hochman of Los Angeles Times hailed the song as one of Raitt's most elegant tracks. Elysa Gardner wrote for Rolling Stone that "Raitt's gorgeously understated rendering of 'I Can't Make You Love Me,' in which sentiments such as 'I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power/But you won't' are delivered with a quiet resignation that's worth a hundred glissandi in emotional weight." "I Can't Make You Love Me" entered many lists of the greatest songs of all time. In 2000, Mojo magazine placed it at number 8 on its "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. The song is also ranked #339 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The website "Ultimate Classic Rock" placed the song at number 24 on their "25 Saddest Songs Ever", praising Bonnie Raitt vocals, writing that "she sings in one of her most impassioned vocals ever. There's real ache in every word that drips from her pained lips." The song's popularity helped solidify her remarkable late-in-career commercial success that had begun two years before. In the time since, "I Can't Make You Love Me" has gone on to become a pop standard and a mainstay of adult contemporary radio formats. For Raitt, the song was notoriously difficult to sing, due to its required vocal range, difficult phrasing and breathing, and the emotional content involved. At the televised Grammy Awards of 1992 Raitt performed it in an even more austere setting than on record, with just her and Hornsby highlighted. As she negotiated the final vocal line, she let out a big audible and visible sigh of relief that she had successfully gotten through it. Her live performance of the song was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume III. Raitt has continued to sing the song in all her concert tours: The video for this song uses the shorter single version of the song. Filmed in black-and-white with vibrant lighting effects, it features Raitt performing the song in front of a curtain with a silhouette of a pianist in the background (played by Bruce Hornsby, who actually plays piano on the record), while in other scenes, a scorching fire is taking place outdoors and many shadows of trees, branches, and even people at times are seen swaying to the song's rhythm. The song was a big hit for Raitt, reaching number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song placed at number 100 on the Billboard Year-End chart of 1992. In New Zealand, the song was Raitt's highest charting-single, reaching number 22, while in Netherlands, the song charted moderately at number 43. Although Bruce Hornsby had no hand in writing the song, his piano part on it became associated with him. Phil Collins described it as instantly recognizable as Hornsby's work. Hornsby's own publicity material mentions his role on the "classic". On his own subsequent tours, Hornsby included the song in a number of his set lists. He sometimes let a female backing singer in his band take on the vocal. Other times, he sang the song himself. Emancipation marked the first album in Prince's career to include cover versions of songs written by other songwriters; Prince claimed that he had wanted to cover songs in the past, but was advised against it by Warner Bros. Four such covers appeared on the album: "Betcha by Golly Wow!" (previously a hit for The Stylistics), "I Can't Make You Love Me" (previously a hit for Bonnie Raitt) English singer George Michael covered "I Can't Make You Love Me" and released as a B-side of his single, "Older", which was released on 20 January 1997 as the fourth single from the album of the same name. Michael's version was also included on his compilation, (1998). "Older" and "I Can't Make You Love Me" both reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. After the release of his second studio album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990), George Michael started a legal battle with his label, Sony Music, declaring his contract was financially inequitable and creatively stifling. Michael sued Sony to end his contract, leading to a long and costly legal battle that ended in 1995, with Michael signing to the newly launched Dreamworks Records label in the United States and Virgin in the rest of the world. In 1995, the singer released the song "Jesus to a Child", which became a huge hit worldwide, followed by "Fastlove" and "Spinning the Wheel", which also became successful songs from his third studio album, Older (1996). While choosing the fourth single from the album, the title track "Older" was announced as the chosen one, with an EP also titled "Older" being released to promote the song. The EP features four tracks, including "Older", "The Strangest Thing" (also from the album "Older") and two covers: the famous Brazilian song "Desafinado" and Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me", which became the official B-side of the single. Since it was released as a B-side to "Older", "I Can't Make You Love Me" also entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3. American R&B; vocal group Boyz II Men recorded "I Can't Make You Love Me" for their third cover album, Love (2009). Their version was released as the album's first single on October 27, 2009. Having a more R&B; approach, "I Can't Make You Love Me" received generally favorable reviews from music critics, while it has achieved minor success on the Billboard's Hot R&B;/Hip- Hop Songs chart. After releasing their second cover album in 2007, , which was well received by critics, but failed to produce a successful single, the band announced plans for a new cover album, that features cover versions of songs by "artists I don't think people would expect us to cover," according to member Shawn Stockman. On October 23, 2009, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was announced as Love's lead-single. The song was later released on October 27, 2009 through iTunes store. For the band members, "We wanted to stay true to our roots, and it's a very beautiful song. And with our sound, we gave it an R&B; twist. It's always been a favorite of ours, and we hope people will fall in love with it again." A writer for Soul Bounce wrote that "The biggest surprise on this album is the bluesy interpretation of Bonnie Rait's country hit, 'I Can't Make You Love Me.' Starting with strong lyrics and a deep fried instrumental, the Boyz make this song their own with their unique flow providing good contrast to a familiar melodic line." Los Angeles Theatre called it an "impassioned" performance. On the charts, the song performed very modestly, reaching number 75 on the Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 2011, English singer Adele covered "I Can't Make You Love Me" for her first live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2011). The song was acclaimed by music critics, who praised Adele's delivery and vocals. The song has charted on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the top-forty, although it was never released as a single. In addition to receiving positive reviews from music critics, Adele's second album 21 became one of the most successful albums of the 2010s, being the biggest selling musical release for both 2011 and 2012 and entering the Guinness World Records. While promoting the album and its third single, "Set Fire to the Rain", Adele performed on the iTunes Festival London 2011. On the setlist, Adele performed tracks from 21 and a cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me". Before performing the track, Adele stated that it was one of her favorite songs and described it as "perfect in every way". She added that Bonnie Raitt has a "stunning voice" and went on to compliment the lyrics, calling them "mind-blowing". After the positive response of the iTunes Festival performance, Adele covered once again the track, during her first live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, recorded on 22 September 2011. She made further comment over the song, saying, "It blows me away" and further adding that she thought the song was "incredibly moving". Adele also commented on the emotions the song gives her, saying, "It makes me really, really happy and really, really devastated and depressed at the same time. It makes me think of my fondest and best times in my life, and it makes me think of the worst as well, and combined, probably is a recipe for disaster, but I do love this song. It's just fucking stunning." While reviewing her iTunes Festival performance, David Smyth of London Evening Standard wrote that Adele sang the song "with raw expressiveness." Andrew Leahey of Allmusic wrote that the cover "made all the more tender by the rarely heard frailties in Adele's voice." Donald Gibson of Seattle Pi wrote that "she breathes new life into Bonnie Raitt's 'I Can't Make You Love Me,' with similar intimacy and conviction." While reviewing her Live at the Royal Albert Hall DVD, critics lauded Adele's rendition. Andy Gill of The Independent called it an "impassioned version," while Alex Young of Consequence of Sound named it "heartfelt and stunning." Kit O'Toole of Blogcritics praised her rendition, writing that it "retains its heart- wrenching, devastating mood thanks to Adele's multi-layered voice. Hearing her perform this song, one would imagine her as an older woman who has survived lifelong heartaches instead of a 23-year-old." Maria Schurr of PopMatters lauded the covers (Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" and Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love") on the live album, naming "the most successful," writing that "both seem deeply heartfelt, like Adele understands, and is the only one who can make these words that are not hers ring true." Chris Willman of The Wrap called it "a classic of unrequited love that you'd have to swear she wrote if Bonnie Raitt hadn't turned it into the ultimate female weepie back when Adele was 2." Despite not being released as a single, "I Can't Make You Love Me" debuted at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart week of 30 September 2012. It later peaked at number 37, on the following week, 6 October 2012, becoming her eighth top- forty song and first non-single top-forty hit. In 2014, Indian actress and singer Priyanka Chopra recorded a version of "I Can't Make You Love Me" for her ebut studio album. Speaking about the song, Chopra said "This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It's my ode to a classic, a song that I love, and one that says so much – this is for the actor in me." Chopra's version of the song incorporates electronic dance music (EDM) and electropop in its production. which comes courtesy of German producer Manuel "DJ Manian" Reuter. Andy Gensler from Billboard commented on how different Chopra's version was from the original by Raitt, saying that "Chopra's more uptempo take on the song is more likely to connect with a generation of ravers with no idea of the song's origin" The up-tempo version was demoed by American singer Ester Dean at the request of Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine. It was released on 22 April 2014, by DesiHits, in association with 2101 Records and Interscope Records. It is the third internationally released single following "In My City" (featuring will.i.am), which failed to achieve airplay in the United States, and "Exotic". In the United Kingdom, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was originally planned to be Chopra's debut single. Chopra's version of "I Can't Make You Love Me" was used to promote Beats by Dre. In a press release, it was revealed that the song would be used in the launch of a new campaign for the popular Beats Pill XL portable Bluetooth speaker. Chopra and her new track would be featured in the national ad campaign, that ran nationwide from May 1 through May 25. An accompanying music video was filmed in Los Angeles in February 2014. It was conceptualised and directed by duo Jeff Nicholas and Jonathan Craven of The Uprising Creative. Actor Milo Ventimiglia plays Chopra's love interest and scenes include Chopra throwing coloured paint at Ventimiglia as part of celebrations for the Indian festival of Holi, as well as embraces between the couple and solo scenes with Chopra. According to NDTV, the video charts a fictional relationship that "goes from loving to hellish". Behind the scenes footage was released to Access Hollywood. It premiered in New York City on 30 April 2014. Gensler noted that the video also contained product placement for Nokia and Beats by Dre speakers. CNN-News18 said, "The singer certainly sounds great, so much that it's almost unbelievable it is Priyanka Chopra. The number is definitely foot-tapping and you're going to be hearing this one at every restaurant and club in the days to come" and added that Chopra had "definitely done a great job recreating the Bonnie Ratt song". Adele is an English singer-songwriter. After signing a contract with record label XL Recordings in September 2006, Adele began to work on her debut studio album, 19, which was ultimately released in 2008. At this time, the singer contributed guest vocals on the song "My Yvonne" for Jack Peñate's debut studio album Matinée (2007). The first single released from 19 was "Chasing Pavements", which Adele wrote in collaboration with Eg White. They co-wrote two other songs for the album: "Melt My Heart to Stone" and "Tired". She also collaborated with Sacha Skarbek on the single "Cold Shoulder" and recorded a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love". However, most of the songs were written solely by Adele, including "Best for Last", "Crazy for You", "First Love", and "My Same", as well as her debut single, "Hometown Glory". Adele appeared as a featured artist on another song by Peñate, entitled "Every Glance", from his second studio album, Everything Is New, and on Daniel Merriweather's "Water and a Flame" from his second studio album, Love & War. Both collaborations were released in 2009. Adele released her second studio album 21 in 2011. In addition to reuniting with writers with whom she had previously worked, the singer collaborated with several new writers and producers. The album's lead single, "Rolling in the Deep", was co- written by Adele and Paul Epworth. It has since been certified seven-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and won two awards at the 54th Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Adele and Epworth also wrote "He Won't Go" and "I'll Be Waiting". Adele collaborated with Dan Wilson on the album's second single, "Someone Like You". She co-wrote with Fraser T Smith on "Set Fire to the Rain" and with Ryan Tedder on "Rumour Has It" and "Turning Tables". She reunited with White on the song "Take It All". Adele released "Skyfall" in October 2012, a song co- written with Epworth for the James Bond film of the same name. Her third album, 25, was released in 2015. Adele co-wrote its songs "I Miss You" and "Sweetest Devotion" with Epworth and co-wrote "Hello", "Million Years Ago", and "Water Under the Bridge" with Greg Kurstin. List of Adele songs at AllMusic "Make You Feel My Love" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his 1997 album Time Out of Mind. It was first released commercially by Billy Joel, under the title "To Make You Feel My Love", before Dylan's version appeared later that same year. It has since been covered by numerous performers and has proved to be a commercial success for singers such as Adele, Garth Brooks, Shane Filan, Bryan Ferry, Kelly Clarkson, Ane Brun and Nick Knowles. Dylan eventually released the song as a single. Bob Dylan – guitar, harmonica, piano, vocals Additional musicians Bucky Baxter – acoustic guitar, Tony Garnier – bass guitar, upright bass, Daniel Lanois – guitar, mando-guitar, Gibson Firebird, Martin 0018, Gretsch Gold Top, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, Augie Meyers – Vox organ combo, Hammond B3 organ, accordion, Duke Robillard – guitar Billy Joel released a cover of the song, with the title "To Make You Feel My Love", for his compilation album Greatest Hits Volume III (1997). It was released as the album's lead single and reached number 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Joel's single pre-dated Dylan's release of the song by one month. Garth Brooks covered the song as "To Make You Feel My Love" in 1998. It appeared on the soundtrack of the 1998 film Hope Floats, along with a cover version by Trisha Yearwood as the first and last tracks. It was included first as the bonus track on Fresh Horses for Garth's first Limited Series box set and then included on all later pressings of that album. Brooks' version resulted in a nomination at 41st Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and a nomination for Bob Dylan for Best Country Song. In 2008, British singer-songwriter Adele recorded "Make You Feel My Love" for her debut studio album 19 (2008). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on October 27, 2008, both on CD and vinyl, originally peaking at number 26. "Make You Feel My Love" is the only cover song on Adele's debut album 19; she either wrote or co-wrote all the others. "My manager is the biggest Dylan fan, and for ages, he'd been bugging me to listen to the song, because I hadn't heard it before," she told Premiere Networks. "I was being quite defiant against it. I said, 'I don't want a cover on my album. It kind of implies that I'm incapable of writing enough of my own songs for my first record.' And then I heard it in New York when he played it for me, and it just really touched me. It's cheesy, but I think it's just a stunning song, and it really just summed up everything that I'd been trying to write in my songs." Piano is played by Neil Cowley and Adele is credited with bass. According to Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy, the version expresses Adele's affection for the song, "with just piano as backing, her dreamy, passionate vocals are allowed to shine". According to The Guardians Dave Simpson, with her "hushed delivery", Adele makes the song "her own". In January 2013, Heart Radio listed Adele's recording as the UK's number one song of all time in its Hall of Fame Top 500. Initially, the song only reached a peak of number 26, but found a new lease of life two years after its release after being performed by several contestants on the seventh series of The X Factor. In September 2010, after it was performed by Annastasia Baker, it re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 24. The song then surged to number 4 the following month after a second performance by Gamu Nhengu. Following a third X Factor performance and heavy use in the Comic Relief 2010 television, it spent three more non-consecutive weeks in the top 10. Thanks to this newfound attention, "Make You Feel My Love" was the 48th biggest selling song of 2010, two years after its initial release. In early 2011 the song returned to the top 40 again, at number 34, after it was used on the fifth series series of Britain's Got Talent. After years of trickle selling, "Make You Feel My Love" passed the million sales mark in the UK in 2017. The song's music video features Adele singing the song in London Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf. It was directed by Mat Kirkby. On Friday, November 20, 2015, Adele sang the song during a BBC special, Adele at the BBC, hosted by talk show host Graham Norton. One segment of the show, which went viral, featured a prank in which eight Adele impersonators were invited to audition at the Wimbledon Theatre for a nonexistent show. Adele herself, disguised as a nanny named "Jenny", pretended to also be an Adele impersonator, and was the last one to sing. When she started singing "Make You Feel My Love", the other performers finally recognized her and realized they had been pranked. Adele's version features in the soundtrack of the 2010 romantic comedy film When in Rome. Her cover version was also featured in the compilation album for the benefit of those affected by Supertyphoon Haiyan in the Philippines entitled Songs for the Philippines. In October 2013 the song was used in the third week of Strictly Come Dancing as part of the "Love Week" theme. During a concert at London's O2 Arena on March 22, 2016, the day of the Brussels bombings, Adele dedicated a performance of the song to the victims of the attacks. In other television appearances in the UK and US, the song was used in: S.W.A.T., Waterloo Road, One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer, Parenthood, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, Bones, Hollyoaks, EastEnders, Glee, Nashville, Emmerdale, Against the Wall (pilot episode), Brothers & Sisters, 9-1-1 In addition, Adele's video of the song, directed by Mat Kirby, was released on music channels in late September 2008 and continues to be featured on her website. Digital download 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 Digital download 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 2. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 CD single 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 2. "Painting Pictures" – 3:33 19 version 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:32 19 Deluxe version 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:52 Chimes of Freedom live version 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 4:04 Live at the Royal Albert Hall live version 1. "Make You Feel My Love" – 3:48 "Make You Feel My Love" has also been recorded by: Joan Osborne, Trisha Yearwood, Neil Diamond, Danny Bowes, Shawn Colvin, Luka Bloom, Timothy B. Schmit, Ronan Keating, Winifred Horan (from Solas), Emily Loizeau, Bryan Ferry, Elkie Brooks (from her 2010 album Powerless), Mary Black, Ruarri Joseph, Phil Keaggy, Michael Bolton with Helene Fischer, Paul Evans Taylor Hicks, Jon Peter Lewis, Kris Allen, Maria Muldaur, Louise Setara, Jeremy Irons (actor), Kelly Clarkson, Ed Sheeran, Tony DeSare, Rebecca Ferguson, Aaron Tveit, Sarah Maclaine, Sleeping At Last from the album Covers Vol. 2 (2016), Straight No Chaser, Ane Brun, Lea Michele, Nick Knowles (UK TV personality), Shane Filan of Westlife, Jennifer Paz, Matt Alber, Jasper Steverlinck Josh Kelley's version appeared on Boy George (from his 2013 album This Is What I Do bonus tracks included on deluxe edition) [Released in March 2014] Two covers of the song (one by Garth Brooks and one by Trisha Yearwood) were featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 film Hope Floats. Lyrics at Bob Dylan.com

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This article concerns the career achievements of Basketball Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain, who holds numerous NBA records in scoring, rebounding and durability. Among others, he is the only player in NBA history to average 40 and 50 points in a season, score 100 points in a single game, and grab over 2,000 rebounds in a single season. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and 11 rebounding titles in addition to an assist title. With an assortment of fadeaway jump shots, his favorite one-hand finger-roll and powerful dunks in the low post, he scored 31,419 points, grabbed 23,924 rebounds, averaging 30.07 points (second-best all time behind Michael Jordan) and 22.9 rebounds (all-time leader) and was also very durable, standing on the hardwood an average 45.8 minutes. For his feats, Chamberlain was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, ranked #2 in SLAM Magazine's Top 500 NBA Players of all time in 2011 and #13 in ESPN list "Top North American athletes of the century". In honor of Chamberlain, his jerseys have been retired six times, by Overbrook High School, the University of Kansas, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Warriors, 76ers and Lakers franchises. Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records, 68 by himself. Among his records are several that are considered unbreakable, such as averaging 22.9 rebounds for a career or 50.4 points per game in a season, scoring 100 points or 55 rebounds in a single game, scoring 65 or more points 15 times, 50 or more points 118 times. During Chamberlain's time, defensive statistics like blocks and steals had not been recorded yet. However, according to Jack Ramsay, "Harvey [Pollack] said he used to tell one of his statisticians to keep track of Wilt's blocks in big games ... One night, they got up to 25." NBA record – Most points per game in a season (50.4 in the 1961–62 season), NBA record – Most points in a season (4,029 in 1961–62) NBA record – Most points scored in a game (100 vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most points scored in a half (59 in the 2nd half vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most 50-point games in a season (45 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most 40-point games in a season (63 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most consecutive seasons leading league in points per game (7), NBA record – Most career regular-season 60-point games (32), NBA record – Most career regular-season 50-point games (118), NBA record – Most career regular-season 40-point games (271), NBA record – Most career regular-season 35-point games (381), NBA record – Most consecutive 60-point games (4 from February 25-March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most consecutive 50-point games (7 from December 16–29, 1961), NBA record – Most consecutive 40-point games (14 from December 8–30, 1961 and January 11 – February 1, 1962), NBA record – Most consecutive 30-point games (65 from November 4, 1961 – February 22, 1962), NBA record – Most consecutive 20-point games (126 from October 19, 1961 – January 19, 1963), NBA record – Most consecutive games leading all players in scoring (40 in 1961-62 season), NBA record – Most consecutive games leading all teammates in scoring (116), NBA record – Most points per game by a rookie (37.6 in 1959–60), NBA record – Most points by a rookie (2,707 in 1959–60), NBA record – Most points by a rookie in a game (58 on January 25, 1960, and February 21, 1960), NBA record – Most consecutive 40-point games by a rookie (5 in late January 1960), NBA record – Most points scored by a player in his first NBA game (43 on October 24, 1959, against the New York Knicks), NBA record – Fewest games played to reach 15,000 points (358, achieved in 1964), NBA record – Fewest games played to reach 20,000 points (499, achieved in 1966), NBA record – Fewest games played to reach 25,000 points (691, achieved on February 23, 1968, against the Detroit Pistons), NBA record – Fewest games played to reach 30,000 points (941, achieved on February 16, 1972, against the Phoenix Suns), NBA record – Most consecutive seasons leading the league in field goals made (7 from 1959–60 through 1965–66), NBA record – Most field goals made in a season (1,597 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most field goals attempted in a season (3,159 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most field goals made in a game (36 vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most field goals attempted in a game (63 vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most field goals Made in a Half (22 in the 2nd half vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most field goals Attempted in a Half (37 vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962 (2nd half), NBA record – Most field goals Attempted in a Quarter (21 in the 4th quarter vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most Free Throws Made in a Game (28 vs. the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962), NBA record – Most seasons leading the NBA in free throw attempts (9), NBA record – Most consecutive seasons leading the NBA in free throw attempts (6 from 1959–60 through 1964–65), NBA record – Most free throws Attempted in a season (1,363 in 1961–62), NBA playoff record – Most points by a rookie in a game (53 vs. the Syracuse Nationals on March 14, 1960), NBA playoff record – Most field goals in a seven-game series (113 vs. the St. Louis Hawks in 1964), NBA playoff record – Most field goals in a game (24 vs. the Syracuse Nationals on March 14, 1960), NBA playoff record – Most field goal attempts in a game (48 vs. the Syracuse Nationals on March 22, 1962), NBA playoff record – Most field goal attempts in a three-game series (104 vs. the Syracuse Nationals in 1960), NBA playoff record – Most field goal attempts in a five-game series (159 vs. the Syracuse Nationals in 1962), NBA All-Star Game record – Free throw attempts in a game (16 in 1962) 2nd-highest career scoring average (30.07) – record held by Michael Jordan 2nd-most career regular-season 30-point games (515) – record held by Michael Jordan, 2nd-most free throws made in a season (835 in 1961–62) – record held by Jerry West, 2nd-most free throws attempted in a game (34 vs. the St. Louis Hawks on February 22, 1962) – record held by Dwight Howard 2nd-most points in an NBA All-Star Game (42 in 1962) – record held by Anthony Davis (52 in 2017), 2nd-most Playoff games with at least 50 points: 4 – record held by Michael Jordan (8); 2nd-most playoff games with at least 45 points: 8 – record held by Michael Jordan;, 3rd most points in a Playoff game: 56 -- record held by Michael Jordan;, 3rd-most points in an NBA All-Star Game half (23 in 1962) – record held by Anthony Davis; 2nd place held by Glen Rice; 3rd place shared with Tom Chambers, 3rd-most field goals made in an NBA All-Star Game (17 in 1962) – record held by Anthony Davis; 2nd place held by Blake Griffin; 3rd place shared with Kevin Garnett and Michael Jordan NBA record – Career total rebounds (23,924), NBA record – Career rebounds per game (22.9), NBA record – Most seasons leading the league in rebounds (11), NBA record – Most seasons with 1,000 or more rebounds (13), NBA record – Rebounds per game in a season (27.2), NBA record – Total Rebounds in a season (2,149 in 1960–1961), NBA record – Rebounds in a game (55, Philadelphia Warriors vs. Boston Celtics, November 24, 1960), NBA record – Most rebounds per game by a rookie in a season (27.0), NBA record – Most rebounds by a rookie in a season (1,941), NBA record – Most rebounds by a rookie in a game (45 on February 6, 1960), NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a single postseason (444 during the 1969 Playoffs)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a playoff game (41 against the Boston Celtics, on April 5, 1967)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a half (26 against the San Francisco Warriors on April 16, 1967), NBA playoff record – Highest rebounding average in a playoff series (32.0 in a 5-game series against the Boston Celtics in 1967)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a 5-game playoff series (160 against the Boston Celtics in 1967)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a 6-game playoff series (171 against the San Francisco Warriors in 1967)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds in a 7-game playoff series (220 against the Boston Celtics in 1965)., NBA playoff record – Most rebounds by a rookie in a game (35 against the Boston Celtics on March 22, 1960) NBA Finals record – Highest rebounds per game average, career (24.6), NBA All-Star Game record – Most career rebounds in the NBA All-Star game (197)., NBA All-Star Game record – Most rebounds in a half (16 in 1960). 2nd-highest playoff career average (24.5) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most consecutive seasons with 1,000+ rebounds (10) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a half (31 vs. the Boston Celtics on November 24, 1960) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a quarter (17 vs. the Syracuse Nationals on February 5, 1960) – record held by Nate Thurmond, 2nd place is shared with three performances by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a 3-game NBA Playoff series (69 vs. the Syracuse Nationals in 1961) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a 4-game NBA Playoff series (106 vs. the Cincinnati Royals in 1967) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most consecutive games 20+ rebounds in the NBA Finals (12 over a series of games in the 1964, 1967, and 1969 finals) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most consecutive games 30+ rebounds in the NBA Finals (2 in 1967 finals, 2 in 1969 finals) – record held by Bill Russell; 2nd place is also shared by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a 5-game NBA Finals (vs. Boston Celtics in 1967) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-most rebounds in a 7-game NBA Finals (vs. Boston Celtics in 1969) – record held by Bill Russell, 2nd-highest rebounding average in the NBA All-Star Game (15.2) – record held by Bob Pettit, 3rd-highest rebounding average in an NBA Finals series (28.5 in 1967) – first two spots held by Bill Russell, Chamberlain never grabbed fewer than 10 rebounds in any of playoff games he logged, Chamberlain never averaged less than 18 rebounds in a season, Chamberlain never averaged less than 20 rebounds in a postseason, Chamberlain is the only player to grab more than 2,000 rebounds in a single season: 2,149 rebounds in the 1960–61 season and 2,052 in 1961–62. NBA record – Most double-doubles, all time: 968., NBA record – Highest single-season PER: 31.82 in 1963 season., NBA record – Most consecutive double-doubles (227) (between 1964 and 1967 seasons), Chamberlain also holds the 2nd- and 3rd-longest streaks (220 and 133)., NBA playoff record – Most consecutive triple-doubles in the same postseason (4) (April 9-16, 1967), NBA All-Star Game record – Most double-doubles (7) Only player in NBA history to lead the league in points and rebounds the same season (a feat he accomplished six times), One of only three players in NBA history to lead the league in points and field goal percentage the same season (a feat he accomplished four times), Only player in NBA history to lead the league in rebounds and assists the same season (a feat he accomplished during the '67-68 season), Only player in NBA history to lead the league in points, assists and rebounds in any season, Only player in NBA history to lead the postseason in points, rebounds, assists and field percentage in any postseason, Only player to lead the league in rebounds and assists in the same postseason (a feat he accomplished during the '66-67 Playoffs), Only of only two players in NBA history to record a double-triple-double (20+ in three different categories), Only player in NBA history to record a double-quadruple (40+ in two different categories) (a feat he performed 8 times)., Chamberlain led the league in total assists , with 702 assists (he did not lead the league in assists per game): he remains the only center to lead the league in assists., Most 30-30 games (at least 30 points and rebounds) in the history of NBA: 124;, 2nd-most games leading both teams in points, rebounds and assists: 33 (record held by Russell Westbrook, 2nd place is shared with LeBron James), Only player in NBA history to average at least 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists in the same season. Chamberlain did it in 1966–67 and 1967–68, Only player in NBA history to average at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a 7-game Finals series (23.3 points and 24.1 rebounds, performed during the 1970 NBA Finals), 3rd-most double-doubles in the Playoffs: 143, 5th-most triple-doubles, career: 78, Third most points scored in regulation in a triple-double game (53 points, along with 32 rebounds and 14 assists) (March 18, 1968). James Harden scored 60 in a triple-double with 11 assists and 10 rebounds January 30, 2018. Russell Westbrook scored 57 in a triple-double with 11 assists and 13 rebounds March 29, 2017., Second most consecutive triple-doubles (9) (March 8–20, 1968). Russell Westbrook has the most consecutive triple-doubles with 11. NBA record – Most seasons leading NBA in minutes played (8), NBA record – Most consecutive seasons leading NBA in minutes played (5, from 1959–60 through 1963–64), NBA record – Most career minutes played per game (45.8), NBA record – Most minutes played in a season (3,882 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most minutes played per game for a season (48.53 in 1961–62), NBA record – Most complete games in a season (79 out of 80 games in 1961–62), NBA record – Most consecutive complete games in a season (47 in 1961–62), NBA playoff record – Highest postseason career average minutes per game: 47.24, NBA playoff record – Highest average minutes per game in a playoff series (49.33 (296/6) against the New York Knicks in 1968), NBA playoff record – Most minutes played in a three-game series (144 against the Syracuse Nationals in 1961), NBA playoff record – Most minutes played in a four-game series (195 against the Cincinnati Royals in 1965 and the Atlanta Hawks in 1970), NBA playoff record – Most minutes played in a six-game series (296 against the New York Knicks in 1968), NBA Finals record – Most minutes played in a five-game series (240 against the New York Knicks in 1973), Chamberlain never fouled out of a regular-season or playoff game in his 14 years in the NBA. His career average was only 2 fouls per game, despite having averaged 45.8 minutes per game over his career. His fouls per 36 minutes (a statistic used to compare players that average vastly different minutes) was a remarkable 1.6 per game. 3rd-most minutes played in the NBA All-Star Game: 388;, 2nd-oldest player to win Finals MVP award: 35 years, 8 months, 14 days old in 1972;, 2nd-oldest player to lead the league in rebounds: 36 years, 8 months in 1973;, 2nd-oldest player in NBA history to score at least 60 points in a game: 32 years, 126 days (66 points vs. Phoenix Suns on Feb 9, 1969) NBA record – Most consecutive seasons leading NBA in field goal percentage (5, from 1964–65 through 1968–69), NBA record – Highest field goal percentage in a season with 72.7% (426 / 586) in 1972–73, NBA record – Most consecutive field goals (35 from February 17–28, 1967), NBA record – Most field goals in a game without a miss (18, Philadelphia 76ers vs. the Baltimore Bullets on February 24, 1967), NBA record – Career free throws missed (5805), NBA record – Career free throws missed per game (5.6), NBA record – Free throws missed per game in a season (7.0 in 1967-68), NBA record – most free-throws missed in a single season (578 in the 1967–68 season), NBA playoff record – Most free throws missed in a half (12, vs. Boston Celtics, April 12, 1966) 2nd-most seasons leading NBA in field goal percentage (9) – record held by Shaquille O'Neal (10), One of only four players to lead NBA Playoffs in field goal percentage for more than one season (in 1964 and 1969), 2nd-most free throws missed in a game (22, vs. Seattle SuperSonics, December 1, 1967) – record held by Andre Drummond (23), 2nd-most free throws attempted in a game with none made (10 vs. the Detroit Pistons on 11/04/1960) – record held by Shaquille O'Neal (11) (12/08/2000), 3rd-most free throws missed in a playoff game (17, vs. Boston Celtics, April 12, 1966) – record held by Shaquille O'Neal (21); 2nd place held by DeAndre Jordan (20), 3rd-lowest career free-throw percentage in NBA history (minimum 1,200 attempts) – record held by Ben Wallace In addition to his many statistical accomplishments, Chamberlain also had a successful career. He is a two-time NBA Champion (1967, 1972) and a six-time NBA Finalist (1964, '67, '69–70, '72–73), was voted NBA MVP 4 times (1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68 seasons) and NBA Finals MVP once (1972), was elected to 7 All-NBA First Teams (1960–62, '64, '66–68) and 3 All-NBA Second Teams ('63, '65, '72) and is with Wes Unseld one of two players to have won the Rookie of the Year and the MVP awards in the same year. In addition, he was voted NBA All-Star Game MVP 1960 and also made two All-Defensive First Teams (1972, '73). Rookie of the Year (1959–60 season), NBA All-Star Game MVP 1960, 4× MVP (1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68 seasons), 7× All-NBA First Team (1960–62, '64, '66–68), 3× All-NBA Second Team ('63, '65, '72), 2× NBA champion (1967, '72), 1× Finals MVP (1972), 2× All-Defensive First Team (1972–73), Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1978), One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)., Chamberlain ranked #2 in SLAM Magazine's Top 50 NBA Players of All Time in 2009., Chamberlain ranked #13 in ESPN list of top athletes of the 20th century Wilt Chamberlain's NBA Records at nba.com/history, Basketball Hall of Fame biography, NBA History: Wilt Chamberlain Summary The 2013 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2012–13 NBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat defeated the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs to win their second straight title. The Finals began with Game 1 on June 6, and ended with Game 7 on June 20. Miami became the sixth team to win consecutive NBA championships, joining the Boston Celtics (1959–1966, 1968–1969), the Los Angeles Lakers (1949–1950, 1952–1954, 1987–1988, 2000–2002, 2009–2010), the Detroit Pistons (1989–1990), the Chicago Bulls (1991–1993, 1996–1998), and the Houston Rockets (1994–1995). This series marked the fifth time the Spurs have made the NBA Finals since 1999, second-most for any franchise in that span behind the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs had won all of their previous four finals appearances, putting them only behind the six-time champion Chicago Bulls for most titles without ever losing a Finals, making this series the first Finals loss in Spurs history. This series was also the first time San Antonio had played in the NBA Finals without home court advantage, as Miami had home-court advantage based on their league-best regular season record. It was the Heat's third consecutive NBA Finals appearance, the first Eastern Conference team to achieve that since the Chicago Bulls (1996–1998). This marked the first time a team made three consecutive Finals appearances since the Los Angeles Lakers did so in 2008–2010. Four former NBA Finals MVPs played in the series (the Spurs' Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, and the Heat's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James), the most since 1987. The 2013 Finals also set a record for most international players on either Finals roster (10). Tim Duncan became the fourth player in NBA history to make a Finals appearance in three different decades. This marked the last NBA Finals played during the tenure of NBA commissioner David Stern. It also marked the last time the Finals used the 2–3–2 format, after which it reverted to the 2–2–1–1–1 format. As they were previously close to meeting in the 2005 Finals, the Spurs and Heat would both advance to the 2014 NBA Finals, where the Spurs won in five games. LeBron James and Tim Duncan previously faced off in the 2007 NBA Finals, when James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which saw the Spurs sweep the Cavaliers in four games, giving San Antonio their fourth NBA title. After the deciding game, Duncan sought out James in the locker room to praise him for a great series and told James that the league would be his someday. In 2010, Spurs president of basketball and head coach Gregg Popovich made a congratulatory phone call to Heat president Pat Riley for signing LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play with Dwyane Wade. This was the San Antonio Spurs' fifth appearance in the NBA Finals, attempting to win their fifth NBA championship in team history. The Spurs finished the regular season with 58 wins, finishing in first place in the Southwest Division and the second overall regular season record among Western Conference teams. They recorded only two losses in the first three rounds of the playoffs: they swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round in four games, eliminated the Golden State Warriors in six games in the second round, then swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals in four games. This was the Miami Heat's fourth appearance in the NBA Finals and the third appearance for three straight years, attempting to win their third NBA championship. The Heat finished with the best regular season record, recording a league leading 66 wins, and first place in the Southeast Division. They swept the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs in four games before eliminating the Chicago Bulls in five games in the second round, winning four straight games in the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games. The Heat won both games they played against the Spurs during the regular season: 105–100 on November 29, 2012, and 88–86 on March 31, 2013. For the November 29 game at Miami which was nationally televised, Popovich sat out starters Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, and Danny Green, at the end of a long road trip in order to ensure they had enough rest for the playoffs, as the Spurs had some of the oldest players in the league. NBA commissioner David Stern was outraged when he learned of this and fined the Spurs $250,000 for not informing the Heat, the league or the media in a suitable time-frame that the four players were not making the trip to Miami. Despite the absence of their four starters, the Spurs led the game until the final minute when the Heat came back to win 105–100. The Heat responded somewhat in kind for their trip to San Antonio, as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers sat out with minor injuries, though those moves were understandable in light of Miami's dominant position for clinching the home-court advantage for the playoffs as well as the end two games earlier of the Heat's record 27-game winning streak. Miami ended up winning anyway thanks to a last-second 3-pointer from the top player they left active for the game, Chris Bosh. San Antonio won the opener as Tony Parker scored on a bank shot with 5.2 seconds in regulation with the shot clock about to expire. San Antonio scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, while limiting Miami to just 16. Parker led the Spurs with 21 points and 6 assists. The Heat held a 52–49 halftime lead, and LeBron James recorded a triple-double in the game with 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists. However, Miami's Dwyane Wade, who scored 17 points, was shut out in the final period. Chris Bosh, who recorded 13 points, only scored 2 in the fourth quarter. Miami evened the series, using a 33–5 run in the final two quarters after the two teams were neck-and-neck late in the third. During that run, LeBron James made a highlight-reel block on a dunk attempt by Tiago Splitter early in the fourth quarter. The Heat also made 10 out of 19 three-point shots, and five players had double-digit scoring games: James (17), Mario Chalmers (19), Ray Allen (13), Chris Bosh (12) and Dwyane Wade (10). San Antonio bounced back in Game 3, setting the Finals record for most three- pointers in a game (16), and giving the Heat their worst loss in franchise playoff history. The Spurs ensured the game was a blowout by outscoring Miami 35–14 in the fourth quarter after leading 78–63 at the end of the third. Gary Neal had one of the best games of his career, making 6-of-10 three-point shot attempts and finishing with 24 points, and Danny Green led all Spurs players with 27 points while hitting 7-of-9 from behind the arc. The Spurs shined despite a lackluster game from Tony Parker who scored only 6 points before he had to leave the game due to a hamstring injury. For the Heat, Mike Miller made all five of his three-point shots and finished with 15 points on the night, while Wade led the Heat with 16 points. However, LeBron James was held to just 7 of 21 shooting from the field, finished with only 15 points, and did not shoot a free throw for the first time in his Miami playoff career. After a strong showing in Game 2, Mario Chalmers was held scoreless with one assist. The Heat evened the series again, pulling away from San Antonio in the second half after an even contest at halftime, 49–49. The Heat continued their streak of not losing consecutive games that the team started in January. The Big Three (the trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) for Miami finally came together in a big way. James led the Heat with 33 points, while Wade had 32 and Bosh added 20. Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points. Tony Parker started strong with 15 points in the first half, but could not provide the Spurs with any offensive production in the second half. San Antonio used a marquee shooting performance to down the Heat and take a 3–2 series lead. The Heat trailed the Spurs by double digits for most of the game. Although they finally closed to within one point, 75–74, with 3:05 left in the third quarter, they could not overtake and San Antonio started to pull away after that. Making 42 of 70 shots, San Antonio became the first team to shoot at least 60 percent in an NBA Finals game since the Orlando Magic in Game 3 of the 2009 Finals. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 26 points, while Danny Green scored 24 points, with 6 three-pointers, breaking the all-time record for three-pointers in a Finals series, set by Ray Allen in 2008. Manu Ginóbili, making his first start of the season, had a strong performance with 24 points and 10 assists. Tim Duncan also contributed a double-double (17 points, 12 rebounds), and provided strong defensive support. At one point in the game, Spurs went on a 19–1 run, with Green and Ginóbili scoring most of those points. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade turned in strong performances, leading the Heat with 25 points each, while Ray Allen had five three-pointers (including two four-point plays) and scored 21 points total. The Heat rode a triple-double performance from James (32 points along with 11 assists and 10 rebounds)—becoming the first player since Magic Johnson in 1991 to have two triple doubles in the same NBA Finals series—and 20 points from Mario Chalmers, while Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 30 points and 17 rebounds; however, Duncan was held scoreless after the third quarter. Fans and media outlets alike have begun dubbing it "The Headband Game" in reference to the signature accessory LeBron James lost on a dunk with just under nine minutes left in the 4th quarter and did not wear the rest of the way. The game is considered by players and commentators to be one of the greatest games in NBA history. LeBron James regards it as one of the best games in which he has ever taken part. Dwyane Wade predicted it will go down as "one of the best finals games that's been seen", while NBA legend Magic Johnson called it "one of the best two or three games" he had ever seen. On July 17, 2013, Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals received the 2013 ESPY award for Best Game. The Spurs were leading 75–65 at the end of the third quarter, but LeBron James sparked a 20–7 run for the Heat to start the fourth quarter, personally scoring 11 of those points. With 10:30 remaining, the Spurs still up 77–70, Mike Miller's shoe came loose but he did not have time to put it back on so he tossed it off court; with one sock and one shoe he received a pass from LeBron James and sunk a three-pointer to pull the Heat within four. With 2:09 remaining, the Heat pulled ahead 89–86 but the Spurs went on a run of their own spearheaded by Tony Parker, who shot a stepback three and a reverse layup in consecutive possessions to put his team ahead 91–89. On the next possession, James lost the ball in the post; this eventually led to a pair of Manu Ginóbili free throws after an intentional foul (by Ray Allen) on the other end, pushing the score to 93–89. James committed a second crucial turnover forcing it into the hands of Ginóbili, who was fouled by Allen. Ginóbili missed one of two free throws, setting the stage for the comeback. With 28.2 remaining, the Spurs were up 94–89, and league officials began bringing out the yellow tape to cordon off the floor for the Larry O'Brien Trophy presentation. LeBron James missed a three-pointer, but the ball was kept in Heat possession by Wade and Allen both tipping the ball until Mike Miller got the rebound and passed to James, who made the three-pointer to pull within two points with 20 seconds left. After failing to steal the inbound pass, the Heat immediately fouled Kawhi Leonard, who also missed one of two free throws, keeping it a one possession game at 95–92. James was entrusted with the final shot but missed a 26-foot jumper from beyond the arc. Chris Bosh was able to collect a key offensive rebound before passing to Ray Allen, who stepped backward and made a three-point basket from the right corner with 5.2 left to send the game into overtime. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had opted for a small lineup to defend the perimeter in the closing moments of the fourth quarter, resulting in the Spurs' Tim Duncan being on the bench as both Heat's three-pointers came off of rebounds. The Spurs had no timeouts left after Allen's shot, but received a de facto extra timeout due to the video review that confirmed that Allen had both feet behind the 3-point line when he released the ball. Tony Parker was able to drive the length of the court and launch a short off- balance jumper over LeBron James, but it became an airball as the buzzer sounded to end the 4th quarter. In overtime, James hit a floater with 1:43 remaining to give Miami a 101–100 lead. That score would hold all the way down to final moments, where Dwyane Wade missed a jumper trying to extend the lead, and San Antonio getting the rebound with 12 seconds left. The Spurs opted not to call timeout and let Manu Ginóbili get a full head of steam heading towards the basket. However, Ray Allen stripped the ball away from Ginobili on his way up for a shot and Allen recovered the ball, forcing the Spurs to foul him with 1.9 left. Allen made both free throws to put Miami up 103–100. San Antonio still had a chance but Bosh, who had a key block earlier in OT, came through with another key block in the final seconds to prevent a three-point game- tying shot from Danny Green. James scored 37 points, including five 3-pointers, and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Miami to a 95–88 victory in Game 7. With the win, the Heat captured their second consecutive NBA championship. After a 3-point shot by Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs trailed by just two with 50 seconds remaining in the game. They had a chance to tie the game, but Duncan, guarded by Shane Battier, missed a shot under the basket and a follow-up tip-in attempt. James went on to hit a 17-foot jumper that secured the victory. Wade scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds, and Battier scored 18 points on six 3-pointers to offset scoreless nights by Bosh and Allen. James tied Tommy Heinsohn's record set in 1957 for most points in an NBA Finals Game 7 win, and won his second straight NBA Finals MVP. The Heat became the fifth team to win the NBA title by coming back from a 3–2 series deficit and win the final two games at home (Once by the Boston Celtics in 1969, twice by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988 and 2010, and Houston in 1994). Miami Heat | align="left" | || 7 || 0 || 27.5 || .543 || .545 || .923 || 2.3 || 1.6 || 0.1 || 0.0 || 10.6 San Antonio Spurs | align="left" | || 3 || 0 || 5.8 || .455 || .000 || .333 || 2.7 || 0.3 || 0.7 || 0.0 || 3.7 In the United States, the NBA Finals aired on ABC and Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy served as commentators. ESPN Radio aired it as well and had Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown as commentators. For the first time, ESPN Deportes provided exclusive Spanish-language coverage of The Finals, with a commentary team of Álvaro Martín, Carlos Morales, and Alejandro Montecchia. The Heat finished second in the Eastern Conference the next season behind the Indiana Pacers with a 54–28 record. The Heat swept the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round and defeated the Brooklyn Nets in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, setting up a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Finals match-up with the Pacers. The Heat won that series in six games and advanced to the NBA finals for the fourth consecutive year. The Spurs finished with the NBA's best record at 62–20 the next season. The Spurs outlasted their Southwest Division rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, in the first round in seven games, finished off the Portland Trail Blazers in five games in the Western Conference semifinals, and defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals in six games to return to the NBA finals. The teams set up their Finals rematch in 2014, but it was the Spurs who came away victorious, ending the Heat's hopes of a three-peat in the series in five games and claiming their fifth NBA championship. During the next offseason, the Heat lost a key member of their "Big Three", when LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made it to the Finals in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The Heat did not make the 2015 NBA playoffs, while the Spurs' defense of their title ended in the 1st round when they lost a 7-game series to the Los Angeles Clippers. 2013 NBA Finals Official Site, 2013 NBA Finals at ESPN The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series held from May 30 through June 13, 2019, the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors defeated the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, , earning the franchise its first NBA championship as well as the first win by a team based outside the United States. Acquired by the Raptors via a trade during the off-season, Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second time in his career. This was the first NBA Finals appearance for the Raptors, and the league's first finals with games played outside of the United States. Home-court advantage was awarded to Toronto, who finished the regular season with one more win (58–24) than Golden State (57–25). This was the first time in five consecutive NBA Finals appearances that the then-two-time defending NBA-champion Warriors did not have home-court advantage. Also for the first time after the past four postseasons, the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers did not meet in the championship round. This was the first finals since 2010 not to include LeBron James, who played in the past eight finals with Cleveland and the Miami Heat. During the off-season, Golden State acquired DeMarcus Cousins, who was recovering from a ruptured left Achilles. He gave the Warriors a true, top- flight center for the first time under head coach Steve Kerr. During an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in November 2018, Draymond Green cursed out teammate Kevin Durant over his upcoming free agency status after the season, and he was suspended for the much-publicized blowup. In January 2019, Cousins returned, and the Warriors became the first team in 42 years with a starting lineup of five NBA All-Stars from the previous season. The team finished the regular season with a 57–25 record, winning the Pacific Division and securing the 1st seed in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, Golden State defeated the Clippers in six games in the first round, despite blowing leads at home in Games 2 and 5. Cousins tore his left quadriceps in Game 2, and was initially thought to be out for the remainder of the postseason. With an increased urgency and in a sign of respect towards their opponent, Kerr opened the following round against the Houston Rockets by moving Andre Iguodala from the bench and starting the Hamptons Five for the first time in the season. With the Splash Brothers, Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, struggling with their shooting, Durant had been the team's best player in the playoffs, averaging a team-leading 35.4 points entering Game 5. However, Durant left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a strained right calf; he was later ruled out indefinitely. Led by Curry and Thompson, Golden State pulled out Game 5 without Durant, and won the series in six games. In the Western Conference finals, Golden State swept the Portland Trail Blazers 4–0, with three of the wins including comebacks of 15 points or more. After starting nine consecutive games, Iguodala missed the deciding Game 4 with a sore left calf injury from Game 3. Curry averaged a series career-high 36.5 points, the highest average by a player in a four-game sweep in NBA history. This was Golden State's fifth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals. They were the second team in NBA history to achieve this feat, joining the Boston Celtics, who played in ten straight Finals (1957–1966). During the off-season, the Raptors fired coach Dwane Casey, who was named the 2018 NBA Coach of the Year weeks later, and replaced him with assistant coach Nick Nurse. They also traded DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Pöltl to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. The move stunned the All- Star DeRozan, who had become a fan favorite in his nine seasons in Toronto. It was a risky move for the Raptors and their president, Masai Ujiri, as Leonard was one year away from becoming a free agent, and he wanted to leave the Spurs after playing in just nine games in 2017–18 due to tendinopathy in his left quadriceps. However, the 2014 NBA Finals MVP made it through the season healthy while being systematically rested for 22 games. During the season, Toronto also traded a package which included Jonas Valančiūnas to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Marc Gasol. The Raptors lost Game 1 of the first round to the Orlando Magic, but then they won the next four games in a row and won the series in five games. After trailing 2–1 against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they defeated them in seven games, with Leonard hitting the game-winner at the buzzer as the ball bounced four times on the rim before falling in, the first buzzer beater in a Game 7 in the NBA playoffs. Toronto advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite trailing 2–0, the Raptors won the next four games to advance to the Finals in six games, as Leonard outplayed the Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won league MVP that season. This was their first trip to the NBA Finals in franchise history, breaking a 25-year drought for teams from Toronto appearing in the championship round of any of the four major North American professional sports leagues since Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series. The Raptors won the regular season series 2–0. Pascal Siakam scored a playoff career-high 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting to lead Toronto to a 118–109 win over Golden State in the first ever NBA Finals game played outside the United States. The Raptors had a 10-point lead at the half. Siakam, the NBA Most Improved Player Award that season, shot 6-for-6 in the third quarter to keep the Warriors at bay. Toronto maintained a double- digit lead for most of the fourth quarter, countering every rally by Golden State. Leonard had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his first NBA Finals game since he was named the Finals MVP in 2014. Gasol added 20 for the Raptors. Curry scored 34 and Thompson had 21 for Golden State, which had won Game 1 of the Finals in each the last four years. Draymond Green had a triple- double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Cousins returned from a quadriceps injury to come off the bench in his first NBA Finals game. After missing Game 4 of the Western Conference finals with a left calf injury, Iguodala left near the end of this game after limping and favoring his right leg. Durant, the MVP of the last two NBA Finals, traveled with the team to Toronto, but remained sidelined. Thompson scored a team-high 25 points, and the Warriors outscored the Raptors 18–0 to start the second half before holding off a late Toronto rally to win 109–104. Thompson had 18 points in the first half to keep Golden State in the game. They trailed by 11 with almost two minutes left until halftime before cutting it to 59–54 at the half. The Warriors' 18 unanswered points to begin the second half were the most in NBA Finals history to start a half. Thompson left the game in the fourth quarter with a left hamstring injury after landing awkwardly on a three-point field goal attempt. Toronto scored 10 straight points to pull within two points at 106–104, but Iguodala cemented the win with a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining in the game. Curry finished the game with 23 points after missing his first six shots of the game. Cousins, who was moved into the starting lineup, had 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Green had 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to fall one assist short of his fourth straight triple-double. Warriors backup center Kevon Looney missed the second half with a chest contusion. Leonard led the Raptors with 34 points and 14 rebounds, and Fred VanVleet added 17 points. Game 1 star Siakam scored just 12 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Toronto was held to 37.2 percent shooting for the game. Leonard scored 30 points and the Raptors shot 52.4% and made 17 three-pointers to win 123–109 on the road over the short-handed Warriors. Curry scored a playoff career-high 47 points, shooting 14 for 31 including 6 of 14 on 3-pointers, while his teammates totaled 62 points on 36.7 percent shooting. Golden State played without injured starters Thompson and Durant, and backup big man Looney. Toronto's Kyle Lowry had 23 points and five 3-pointers, and Danny Green added 18 points on 6 made 3s, as all five of their starters scored in double figures. VanVleet contributed 11 points off the bench. Thompson practiced earlier in the day but did not warm up for the game. Kerr had said that the Warriors were not going to play him if there was risk of further damage. Looney was out with a cartilage fracture near his right collarbone. Toronto took a 3–1 lead in the series after Leonard scored 36 points and had 12 rebounds in a 105–92 road win over Golden State. The Raptors fell behind by 11 early in the contest, and trailed 46–42 at halftime. They outscored the Warriors 37–21 in the third quarter, when Leonard scored 17 of his points, and led by as many as 16 in the final quarter. Serge Ibaka scored 20 points for Toronto, shooting 9 for 12 in 22 minutes off the bench. Thompson returned from injury to lead Golden State with 28 points, including six 3-pointers. Siakam added 19 points for the Raptors. VanVleet needed seven stitches in the fourth quarter after the Warriors' Shaun Livingston inadvertently elbowed him in the face. The only other player to score over 10 points for Golden State, Curry had 27 points, but shot just 9 for 22 and missed 7 of his 9 three-point attempts. Looney returned to score 10 points after Kerr initially declared him out for the series following his Game 2 injury. Curry scored 31 points and Thompson had 26 to help the Warriors stave off elimination with a 106–105 win at Toronto. They combined for three straight 3-pointers after the Raptors led by six points with minutes left in the game. Durant returned after missing the previous nine games with his right calf injury, and scored 11 points in the first quarter. However, he was lost for the game two minutes into the second quarter when he tried to drive by Ibaka and suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, falling and grabbing his lower right calf. He limped off the court and was helped to the locker room. Leonard scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to erase Golden State's 14-point lead. Lowry's potential game-winning, 3-point shot at the buzzer fell short after it was partially blocked by Green. Golden State made 20 three- pointers, the second most in NBA Finals history behind Cleveland's 24 against the Warriors in Game 4 in 2017. Cousins, who did not enter the game until Durant's injury, had 14 points and six rebounds for the Warriors, and Green added 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Leonard had 26 points for the Raptors, while Lowry added 18 and Gasol 17 to lead six Raptors in double figures. Golden State played most of the second half without Looney, who aggravated his cartliage fracture after colliding with Lowry while battling for a rebound. Durant left the arena on crutches and in a walking boot. "I don't believe there's anybody to blame [for Durant's injury], but I understand in this world, and if you have to, you can blame me," said Bob Myers, the Warriors' president of basketball operations. Durant underwent surgery to repair the tendon, and was at risk of potentially missing all of the following season. Originally expected to become a free agent after the 2018–19 season, he had a $31.5 million option to remain with Golden State for another season. Nurse was criticized for calling a timeout with Toronto up 103–97 after going on a 12–2 run; the Splash Brothers' three 3-pointers came after the break. In its Last Two Minutes report, the NBA stated that Cousins should have been called for a shooting foul on Gasol with 49 seconds left in the game, which would have given Gasol two free throws with the Raptors trailing 106–103 at the time. Leonard scored 22 points and had six rebounds and was named the NBA Finals MVP after Toronto won 114–110 over Golden State to claim its first championship in franchise history. Thompson scored a game-high 30 points for the Warriors, but was lost for the game with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter after landing awkwardly and suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee on a drive to the basket contested by Danny Green. The Warriors managed to remain in the game until a missed 3-pointer by Curry in the final seconds of the game. Trying to secure the ball after the miss, Golden State called a timeout, but they did not have any left, and were assessed a technical foul. It was academic, as time would have otherwise expired had they not attempted to stop the clock. Lowry and Siakam led Toronto with 26 points each. Lowry scored 11 of his points in the first two-plus minutes of the contest. Van Vleet finished with 22 points, including 12 in the final period, and made five of the team's 13 three-pointers. Siakam added 10 rebounds. Curry had 21 points for Golden State, but he was hounded by the Raptors in the fourth quarter without Durant or Thompson available. Draymond Green had a triple-double with 11 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists, but committed eight turnovers. Iguodala had 22 points despite shooting only 1 of 5 on free throws. Leonard averaged 28.5 points per game in the series, and joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to be named Finals MVP with two different teams. Toronto was the first Canadian team to win the NBA title, and the first non- American team to win any of the Big Four North American sports titles since the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball won the World Series in 1993. This was the Warriors' last game ever at Oracle Arena, as they moved to the new Chase Center in San Francisco at the beginning of the 2019–20 season. They finished 0–3 at home in the series. Golden State Warriors ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text- align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text- align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| Toronto Raptors ! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#FDE910"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text- align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| Bold: team high, Source: As part of a multiyear partnership that began in 2018, the internet television service YouTube TV was the presenting sponsor of the series, which was officially named the NBA Finals 2019 presented by YouTube TV. In the United States, the Finals was televised by ABC in English and ESPN Deportes in Spanish. Play-by-play commentator Mike Breen, and analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson called the series on ABC, while Álvaro Martín (play-by-play) and Carlos Morales (analyst) were on ESPN Deportes. In Canada, the Raptors' and the NBA's main local rightsholders, Sportsnet (which aired games 1, 3, and 5, and would have aired game 7) and TSN (games 2, 4, and 6) aired separate, local telecasts with the Raptors' commentary team of Matt Devlin on play-by-play, and Leo Rautins or Jack Armstrong as analysts. TSN sister broadcast television network CTV 2 aired simulcasts of ABC's feed for games 2 and 4 in order to enforce simultaneous substitution rights on ABC stations carried on pay television, while game 6 was simulcast on CTV. Sportsnet's sister broadcast network Citytv similarly simulcast games 3 and 5. RDS broadcast all six games in French. As the NBA's sole Canadian franchise, the Raptors' parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (which is, in turn, majority owned between a partnership of Sportsnet and TSN's respective owners, Rogers Communications and BCE Inc.) manages the league's national media rights in Canada. The series technically marked the first time that a team's regional broadcaster has produced its own coverage of games during the NBA Finals; these local broadcasts had access to ABC's camera feeds, along with additional cameras that were part of its own production resources. In Canada, Game 1 recorded an average of 3.3 million viewers on Sportsnet, making it the highest-rated NBA game in Canadian history. By contrast, with 10.77 million U.S. viewers, Game 1 was the lowest-rated NBA Finals game in the U.S. since 2013, and the lowest-rated Game 1 in the Finals since 2009. Analysts cited both the presence of a Canadian team (Canadian viewership does not count towards U.S. Nielsen ratings, leading to only one U.S. home market being reflected in viewership), and being the first NBA Finals not to feature a team with LeBron James since 2010, as factors in the drop. In the Warriors' home market, ratings were also lower in comparison to its past Game 1 appearances. The Canadian record would be surpassed by Game 2, with an average of 4.3 million across TSN, the French-language broadcast on RDS, and CTV2's simulcast of ABC's broadcast, and an estimate that the game was seen at any point by at least 10 million viewers. The game also had a 68% ratings share in the Toronto market. Game 3 was seen by 3.8 million viewers across Sportsnet and Citytv. The downward trend of U.S. viewership continued on Game 4, with a 9.8 share for the Friday-night game (a 12.5% year-over-year decline over Game 4 in 2018). TSN reported average viewership of 4.631 million, surpassing Canadian NBA viewership records for the third time in the series. U.S. Game 5 viewership was 37% higher over Game 4, at 18.22 million, while Sportsnet reported an average of 6.4 million viewers across Sportsnet and the Citytv simulcast of ABC coverage—surpassing the series finale of The Big Bang Theory (4.33 million), Super Bowl LIII (4.34 million), and the 91st Academy Awards (5.21 million) as the most-watched television broadcast of 2019 in Canada, and once again the most-watched NBA telecast in Canada. The NBA itself estimated 6.9 million viewers when accounting for the French-language feed on RDS and estimated viewership on out-of-market stations. Game 6 further exceeded these numbers with an average of 7.7 million. TSN publicized that a total of 15.9 unique viewers watched some point of the telecast, and 9.99 million were watching during the final minute. TSN also reported that Game 6 had an 82% share of viewers in the Toronto–Hamilton market—which it stated to be the highest in the region for a sports broadcast outside of the Olympic Games. Game 6's ratings in the United States were slightly higher over Game 5, with 18.34 million. On June 17, the Raptors held a victory parade in downtown Toronto, which began at the Princes' Gates at the east end of Exhibition Place, traveled east along Lake Shore Boulevard West, north along York Street and University Avenue, east along Queen Street West, and finished at Nathan Phillips Square next to Toronto City Hall. This parade was attended by an estimated crowd of two million fans, making this the largest public gathering in one place for one event in Canadian history, peacetime or wartime. However, due to this overcrowding, the parade was delayed an additional three hours as numerous fans bypassed the barricades, blocking the parade route. In addition, excessive crowds delayed emergency services from properly attending to various crowd participants falling ill and transporting them to nearby hospitals, which resulted in the death of an infant. Later on, the parade was marred by shootings, which occurred during the victory speeches. The shootings wounded four people, though did not inflict life-threatening injuries, and caused a stampede. Three suspects were arrested and two guns were recovered. 2019 NBA Finals at Basketball-Reference.com

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Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore OBE (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against. Widely regarded as West Ham's greatest ever player, Moore played over 600 games for the club during a 16 year tenure, winning the FA Cup in 1963–64 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1964–65. During his time at the club he won the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1964 and the West Ham Player Of The Year in 1961, 1963, 1968 and 1970. In August 2008, West Ham United officially retired his number 6 shirt, 15 years after his death. Moore was made captain of England in 1964, at age 23, going on to lift the World Cup trophy in 1966. He won a total of 108 caps for his country, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by Peter Shilton. Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for an outfield player until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. Moore is a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. A national team icon, a bronze statue of Moore is positioned at the entrance to Wembley Stadium. A composed central defender, Moore was best known for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard- tackling, high-jumping defender. Receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1966, he was the first footballer to win the award and he remained the only one for a further 24 years. Moore was given an OBE in the New Year Honours List. He was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a player and in the same year he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons. Moore was born in Barking, Essex. He attended Westbury Primary School Barking, and Tom Hood School, Leytonstone, playing football for both schools. In 1956, Moore joined West Ham United as a player and, after advancing through their youth set-up, he played his first game on 8 September 1958 against Manchester United. In putting on the number six shirt, he replaced his mentor Malcolm Allison, who was suffering from tuberculosis. Allison never played another first team game for West Ham nor indeed any other First Division game as Moore became a regular. A composed central defender, Moore was admired for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Indeed, Moore's ability to head the ball or keep up with the pace was average at best, but the way he read the game, marshalled his team and timed his tackles marked him out as world class. Moore was sent off once over the course of his West Ham career, for a foul on Dave Wagstaffe in the final moment of a match against Manchester City in November 1961. The referee had simultaneously blown his whistle for the offence and for full time. As red cards were not issued at that time, the dismissal didn't become apparent until after the match. Moore also played cricket for the Essex youth team alongside fellow West Ham player Geoff Hurst. In 1960, Moore earned a call up to the England Under-23 squad. His form and impact on West Ham as a whole earned him a late call-up to the full England squad by Walter Winterbottom and The Football Association selection committee in 1962, when final preparations were being made for the summer's World Cup finals in Chile. Moore was uncapped as he flew to South America with the rest of the squad, but made his début on 20 May 1962 in England's final pre- tournament friendly – a 4–0 win over Peru in Lima. Also débuting that day was Tottenham Hotspur defender Maurice Norman. Both proved so impressive that they stayed in the team for the whole of England's participation in the World Cup, which ended in defeat by eventual winners Brazil in the quarter finals at Viña del Mar. On 29 May 1963, 22-year-old Moore captained his country for the first time in just his 12th appearance after the retirement of Johnny Haynes and an injury to his successor, Jimmy Armfield. He was the youngest man ever to captain England at the highest level. England defeated Czechoslovakia 4–2 in the game and Armfield returned to the role of captain afterwards, but new coach Alf Ramsey gave Moore the job permanently during a series of summer friendlies in 1964, organised because England had failed to reach the latter stages of the European Championships. 1964 turned out to be quite an eventful year for Moore. As well as gaining the England captaincy, he lifted the FA Cup as West Ham defeated Preston North End 3–2 in the final at Wembley, courtesy of a last-minute goal from Ronnie Boyce. On a personal level, Moore also was successfully treated for testicular cancer and was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. The FA Cup success would become the first of three successful Wembley finals in as many years for Moore. In 1965, he lifted the European Cup Winners Cup after West Ham defeated 1860 Munich 2–0 in the final with both goals coming from Alan Sealey. By now he was the first choice captain for England with 30 caps, and around whom Ramsey was building a team to prove correct his prediction that they would win the 1966 World Cup. 1966 had a mixed start for Moore. In January, he scored his first England goal in a 1–1 draw with Poland at Goodison Park, but two months later captained West Ham to the final of the League Cup – in its last season before its transfer to Wembley as a one-off final – which they lost 5–3 on aggregate to West Bromwich Albion. For Moore, who had scored in the first leg, and his West Ham teammates Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, considerable consolation lay ahead. Moore scored his second and ultimately final England goal in a friendly against Norway, two weeks before the World Cup would begin. On the verge of his greatest triumph, details were released to the press in early 1966 that Moore wanted to leave West Ham. Moore had let his contract slip to termination, and only after the intervention of Sir Alf Ramsey and realisation he was technically ineligible to play, did he re-sign with West Ham to allow him to captain the England team of 1966. Ramsey had summoned West Ham manager Ron Greenwood to England's hotel and told the two of them to resolve their differences and get a contract signed up. Moore was the leader of the World Cup winning side and established himself as a world-class player and sporting icon. With all their games at Wembley, England had got through their group with little trouble, they then beat Argentina in their quarter final and a Eusébio-led Portugal team in the semi-finals. West Germany awaited in the final. According to Geoff Hurst's autobiography, England full back George Cohen overheard Ramsey talking to his coaching staff about the possibility of dropping Moore for the final and deploying the more battle- hardened Norman Hunter in his place. However, eventually they settled on keeping the captain in the team. Moore had not been playing badly, nor had he given the impression that he had been distracted by his contract dispute prior to the competition. The only possible explanations were that the Germans had some rather fast attacking players, which could expose Moore's own lack of pace, and that Hunter – who was of a similar age to Moore but only had four caps – was the club partner of Moore's co-defender with England, Jack Charlton. In the final, England went 1–0 down through Helmut Haller, but Moore's awareness and quick-thinking helped England to a swift equaliser. He was fouled by Wolfgang Overath midway inside the German half and, rather than remonstrate or head back into defence, he picked himself up quickly while looking ahead and delivered an instant free kick on to Hurst's head, in a movement practised at West Ham. Hurst scored. The West Ham connection to England's biggest day became stronger when Peters scored to take England 2–1 up, but the Germans equalised in the final minute of normal time through Wolfgang Weber – as Moore appealed unsuccessfully for a handball decision – to take the match into extra time. Ramsey was convinced the Germans were exhausted, and after Hurst scored a controversial and heavily debated goal, the game looked over. With seconds remaining, and England under the pressure of another German attack, the ball broke to Moore on the edge of his own penalty area. Teammates shouted at Moore to just get rid of the ball, but he calmly picked out the feet of Hurst 40 yards (40 m) upfield, who scored to bring the score to 4–2. Of many memorable images from that day, one is of Moore wiping his hands clean of mud and sweat on the velvet tablecloth before shaking the hand of Queen Elizabeth II as she presented him with the Jules Rimet trophy (World Cup). The Guardian wrote "Moore is the calmest person in the stadium as he leads the England players up to the Royal Box". Moore became a national icon as a consequence of England's success, with him and the other two West Ham players taking the World Cup around the grounds which West Ham visited during the following domestic season. He was awarded the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year title at the end of 1966, the first footballer to do so, and remaining the only one for a further 24 years. He was also given an OBE in the New Year Honours List. Moore's image and popularity allowed him to start a number of business ventures, including a sports shop next to West Ham's ground, Upton Park, and he also appeared with his wife Tina, along with Peters and his wife Kathy, in a television advertisement for the pub industry, urging people to "Look in at the local". He continued to play for West Ham and England, earning his 50th cap in a 5–1 win over Wales at the end of 1966 in a Home International match which also doubled up as a qualifier for the 1968 European Championships. England ultimately reached the semi-finals (the tournament was just a four-team event) where they played Yugoslavia in Florence and lost 1–0. England, as champions, did not have to qualify for the next World Cup, and Moore remained the first name on Ramsey's team sheet, winning his 78th cap prior to the squad's flight to South America for a short period of altitude-acclimatisation, before going on to the finals in Mexico. The year 1970 was a bittersweet, mixed and eventful one for Moore. Retained as captain for the 1970 World Cup, there was however heavy disruption to preparations when an attempt was made to implicate Moore in the theft of a bracelet from a jeweller in Bogotá, Colombia, where England were involved in a warm-up game. A young assistant had claimed that Moore had removed the bracelet from the hotel shop without paying for it. While Moore had been in the shop (having entered with Bobby Charlton to look for a gift for Charlton's wife, Norma), no proof was offered to support the accusations. Moore was arrested and then released. He then travelled with the England team to play another match against Ecuador in Quito. He played, winning his 80th cap, and England were 2–0 victors, but when the team plane stopped back in Colombia on the return to Mexico, Moore was detained and placed under four days of house arrest. Diplomatic pressure, plus the obvious weakness of the evidence, eventually saw the case dropped entirely, and an exonerated Moore returned to Mexico to rejoin the squad and prepare for the World Cup. Moore received a guard of honour from his squad when he arrived at the team hotel. Moore went on to play a leading role in England's progress through their group. On 2 June he captained England to a 1–0 victory against Romania. In the second game against favourites Brazil, there was a defining moment for Moore when he tackled Jairzinho with such precision and cleanness that it has been described as the perfect tackle. It continues to be shown on television around the world. Brazil still won the game 1–0, but England progressed through the group. Moore swapped shirts with Pelé after the game. The shirt was displayed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, courtesy of the Priory Collection. A 1–0 win over Czechoslovakia allowed England to finish second in the group and advance to the knockout stage. At the Quarter Final stage, a rematch of the 1966 World Cup against West Germany, England took a 2–0 lead but lost 3–2 in extra time. At the end of the year, Moore was voted runner-up (behind Gerd Müller of West Germany) for the 1970 European Footballer of the Year award. On 10 August 1970, Moore received an anonymous threat to kidnap his wife and hold her to a £10,000 ransom. This caused him to pull out of pre-season friendlies against Bristol City and Bournemouth. However, his services to West Ham were rewarded with a testimonial match against Celtic at the end of 1970. Although Moore was seen as an icon and a perfect influence on the game, he was not without his faults or controversies. On 7 January 1971, he and three West Ham teammates, Jimmy Greaves, Brian Dear and Clyde Best, were all fined by West Ham manager Greenwood after going out drinking in a nightclub until the early hours of the morning prior to an FA Cup third round tie against Blackpool. The nightclub in Blackpool was owned by Moore's friend, boxer Brian London. West Ham lost the tie 4–0. They were all fined a week's wages. Blackpool were the bottom of Division one at the time, and were relegated at the end of the season. Coincidentally, Moore was featured on TV as the subject on This Is Your Life the night before. Brian Glanville stated that it was not uncommon for Moore to drink heavily, but he was often seen training with West Ham the next day, working off the alcohol he had consumed the night before. Moore surpassed West Ham's appearances record in 1973 when he played for the club for the 509th time. Three days earlier, on Valentine's Day 1973, he won his 100th cap for England in a comprehensive 5–0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park By this stage, only Peters and Alan Ball from the 1966 squad were also still involved with the England team. Later the same year, Moore was exposed defensively by Poland in a qualifier for the 1974 World Cup in Chorzów, deflecting a free kick past goalkeeper Peter Shilton to put the home side ahead, and then losing possession to Wlodzimierz Lubanski, who scored the second. Moore's form had dipped enough for Ramsey to choose not to select him for the return game at Wembley which England had to win to qualify. Any other result would send Poland through. Being replaced by Norman Hunter in defense and Peters as the skipper for that match, Moore is understood to have asked Ramsey if this meant he was no longer required, to which Ramsey replied: "Of course not. I need you as my captain at the World Cup next year." It never happened, as England could only draw 1–1. During the Wembley match, Hunter attempted to make a tackle but instead trod on the ball and lost it, a similar error to Moore's lost possession in Chorzów, which allowed Poland to quickly counterattack and score thanks to Shilton's mistake. Allan Clarke equalised with a penalty, but England could not score again as goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski blocked numerous English chances. Moore later told how he sat alongside Ramsey on the bench and kept urging him to make a substitution, but Ramsey was hesitant to do so. When Kevin Hector finally did come on for Martin Chivers after 85 minutes Moore could be seen on TV yanking down Hector's tracksuit bottoms while Ramsey sat immobile. Moore, later, said to David Miller "you could 'feel' the minutes escaping. I said to Alf, we need someone to go through the middle. He just nodded. We couldn't get Kevin out there quick enough. We almost threw him onto the pitch." Hunter was in an inconsolable state as he was led off the pitch by Harold Shepherdson, and by Moore, whose place in the side he had taken. England's failure to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup signalled the end of Ramsey's reign as national team manager as he was sacked six months later. Moore won his 108th and final cap in the next game, a 1–0 friendly defeat to Italy on 14 November 1973. He became England's most capped player, beating Bobby Charlton's record by two appearances, and equalled Billy Wright's record of 90 appearances as captain. Peter Shilton, David Beckham and Steven Gerrard have since overtaken the caps record, but the joint captaincy record remains. Moore played his last game for West Ham in an FA Cup tie against Hereford United in January 1974. He was injured in the match. On 14 March the same year, he was allowed to leave West Ham after more than 15 years, taking with him the club record for appearances (since overtaken by Billy Bonds) and the most international caps for an outfield player. He joined London rivals Fulham, who were in the Second Division, for £25,000. During Moore's first season there they defeated West Ham in a League Cup tie and then reached the FA Cup Final where they faced West Ham again. This time Fulham lost the game, 2–0, and Moore had made his final appearance at Wembley as a professional player. Moore played his final professional game in England for Fulham on 14 May 1977 against Blackburn Rovers. He played for two teams in the North American Soccer League – San Antonio Thunder in 1976 (24 games, 1 goal) and Seattle Sounders in 1978 (7 games). During 1976, there was also a final appearance on the international field for Team USA in games against Italy, Brazil and an England team captained by Gerry Francis. This was the U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament, which capitalised on NASL and more importantly England and Italy both failing to qualify for the European Championships that year. In April 1978 he signed his very last contract as a professional player, when he joined Danish side Herning Fremad to promote Danish football's new transition to professional football, playing 9 games for the club before he retired. In 1983, Moore appeared in 8 games for the now-defunct Carolina Lightnin', after injuries left the club without cover. Moore retired from playing professionally in 1978, and had a short relatively unsuccessful spell in football management at Eastern AA in Hong Kong, Oxford City and Southend United. Moore publicly supported Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 General Election. He became manager of Southend United in 1984. In his first full season, 1984–85, Southend narrowly avoided having to apply for re- election to the Football League amid severe financial difficulties. However, the side was gradually rebuilt and in the 1985–86 season Southend started well and were in the promotion race until the new year before eventually finishing 9th. His successor, David Webb built upon those foundations to win promotion the following year. Moore agreed to serve on the board of the club and held this role until his death. Moore joined London radio station Capital Gold as a football analyst and commentator in 1990. His life after football was eventful and difficult, with poor business dealings and his marriage ending. Moore's supporters said that the Football Association could have given a role to Moore, as the only Englishman to captain a FIFA World Cup winning team or given him an ambassadorial role. Moore's first brush with cancer was in 1964, two years before the historic World Cup win. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which he survived by having one testicle surgically removed; the cancer had not spread. In April 1991, Moore underwent an emergency operation for suspected colon cancer, though at the time it was just reported that he had undergone an "emergency stomach operation". On 14 February 1993, he publicly announced he was suffering from bowel and liver cancer; by this stage the cancer had spread. Three days later, he commentated on an England match against San Marino at Wembley, alongside his friend Jonathan Pearce. That was to be his final public appearance; seven days later on 24 February, at 6:36 am, he died at the age of 51. He was the first member of the England World Cup winning side to die, the second being Alan Ball 14 years later. Moore was also outlived by the trainer of the side, Harold Shepherdson, who died in September 1995, and the manager of the side, Alf Ramsey, who died in April 1999. Ray Wilson died in May 2018, as did Gordon Banks in February 2019 and Martin Peters in December 2019. Bobby Moore's funeral was held on 2 March 1993 at Putney Vale crematorium and his ashes were buried in a plot at City of London Cemetery and Crematorium with his father, Robert Edward Moore (who died in 1978) and his mother, Doris Joyce Moore, who had died only the previous year. The first West Ham home game after his death was on 6 March 1993, against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Boleyn Ground was awash with floral tributes, scarves and other football memorabilia from both West Ham fans and those of other clubs. Fellow 1966 World Cup winners Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters placed a floral replica of a West Ham shirt, showing Moore's number, 6, on the back, on the centre spot before the game. West Ham rested the No. 6 for the game, with the regular No. 6, Ian Bishop, wearing No. 12. The game was won by West Ham 3–1 with goals by Trevor Morley, Julian Dicks and Matty Holmes for West Ham and Steve Bull for Wolves. His former England teammate, Jack Charlton, on a BBC documentary of Moore's life in and outside of football, said of Moore's death: Well, I only ever cried over two people, Billy Bremner and Bob... [long pause] He was a lovely man. On 28 June 1993, his memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey, attended by all the other members of the 1966 World Cup team. He was only the second sportsman to be so honoured, the first being the West Indian cricketer Sir Frank Worrell. The Bobby Moore Fund is a charity in the United Kingdom, formed in 1993 by Stephanie Moore, and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in memory of her late husband to raise money for research into bowel cancer and also public awareness of the disease. A campaign, Make Bobby Proud was initiated in 2013 to fundraise. As of February 2013 the Bobby Moore Fund had raised £18.8m towards bowel cancer research. In 1996, comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel used the line "But I still see that tackle by Moore" in the lyrics to their song "Three Lions", which was the England team's official song at the 1996 European Championships, which was adopted by fans rather than the tournament's official song We're In This Together by Simply Red. It referred to the famous incident with Jairzinho in 1970, and was re-created by Baddiel, Skinner and England left back Stuart Pearce for the video. It was written in the context of a list of great England moments of the past as proof that England could win a tournament again. Moore was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a player. The same year he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of England by The Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. On 28 April 2003, Prince Andrew as president of The Football Association unveiled the World Cup Sculpture (also called The Champions) in a prominent place near the Boleyn Ground, at the junction of Barking Road and Green Street. It depicts Moore holding the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft, on the shoulders of Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson, together with Martin Peters. The one and a half-size bronze was sculpted by Philip Jackson after a famous photograph taken just after the 1966 final at the old Wembley. The south bank at West Ham's ground up until 2016, the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, was named the Bobby Moore Stand shortly after Moore's death. On Friday 11 May 2007, a statue of Bobby Moore was unveiled by Sir Bobby Charlton outside the entrance of the newly reconstructed Wembley Stadium as the "finishing touch" to the project, with the stadium officially opening on Saturday 19 May with the staging of the 2007 FA Cup Final. The twice life-size bronze statue, also sculpted by Jackson, depicts Moore looking down Wembley Way. In August 2008 West Ham United officially retired the number 6 shirt as a mark of respect, 15 years after his death. On 26 July 2016, Moore became the first footballer to be honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque outside his home. The plaque was unveiled on a brick wall at Moore's childhood home in Waverley Gardens, Barking in a ceremony attended by his daughter, Roberta. In April 2017 airline Norwegian announced Moore's image would appear on the tail fin one of their Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Moore is one of the company's six "British tail fin heroes", joining Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, children's author Roald Dahl, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson, novelist Jane Austen and aviation entrepreneur Freddie Laker. In 2018, Moore was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports' FIFA video game FIFA 19. "My captain, my leader, my right-hand man. He was the spirit and the heartbeat of the team. A cool, calculating footballer I could trust with my life. He was the supreme professional, the best I ever worked with. Without him England would never have won the World Cup." Alf Ramsey, , "He was my friend as well as the greatest defender I ever played against. The world has lost one of its greatest football players and an honourable gentleman." Pelé, "Bobby Moore was a real gentleman and a true friend." Franz Beckenbauer, "Moore was the best defender I have ever seen." Sir Alex Ferguson, "Bobby Moore was the best defender in the history of the game" Franz Beckenbauer, "There should be a law against him. He knows what's happening 20 minutes before everyone else." Jock Stein, "Ask me to talk about Bobby Moore the footballer and I will talk for days. Ask me about the man and I will dry up in a minute." Ron Greenwood, "Immaculate footballer. Imperial defender. Immortal hero of 1966. First Englishman to raise the World Cup aloft. Favourite son of London's East End. Finest legend of West Ham United. National Treasure. Master of Wembley. Lord of the game. Captain extraordinary. Gentleman of all time." Inscription on the pedestal of the statue at Wembley Stadium. West Ham United FA Cup: 1963–64, FA Charity Shield 1964, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1964–65 England FIFA World Cup: 1966, UEFA Euro third place: 1968 Ballon d'Or runner-up: 1970, FWA Footballer of the Year: 1964, West Ham Player Of The Year: 1961, 1963, 1968, 1970, FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1966, BBC Sports Personality Of The Year: 1966, Officer of the Order of the British Empire: 1967, UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 1968, World Soccer World XI: 1968, 1969, Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame: 2002, UEFA Jubilee Awards – Greatest English Footballer of the last 50 Years (Golden Player): 2003, FIFA World Cup All-Time Team: 1994, World Team of the 20th Century: 1998, Number 6 retired by West Ham: 2008 (posthumous), PFA Player of the Century: 2007, PFA Team of the Century (1907 to 2007):, Team of the Century 1907–1976, Overall Team of the Century, World Soccer Greatest XI of all time: 2013, 100 Greatest Britons: 2002, Football League 100 Legends Moore appeared in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, as Terry Brady, and in cameo roles, as himself, in several episodes of Till Death Do Us Part, including one of its spin-off films The Alf Garnett Saga. Tina and Bobby, a television drama series about Tina and Bobby Moore's relationship, was broadcast on ITV in January 2017. The part of Bobby Moore is played by Lorne MacFadyen. Moore met his first wife, Tina, in 1957 and they married on 30 June 1962. They lived in a house in Chigwell, Essex, called Morlands. They had a daughter, Roberta, and a son, Dean. They separated in 1984, and divorced in 1986. He began a relationship with Stephanie Parlane-Moore (eight years his junior) after the collapse of his marriage to Tina, and they were married on 4 December 1991 until his death just over a year later. Eighteen years after Moore's death, his son Dean was found dead in his flat on 28 July 2011. It is believed that his son, who was 43, had a medical condition and may have died from natural causes. List of footballers with 100 or more caps Hammers make Moore shirt gesture, Bobby Moore photos, biography & statistics at sporting-heroes.net, Bobby Moore Online, The Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK Official Site, Bobby Moore: Captain, Leader, Legend., Bobby Moore's appearance on This Is Your Life !colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| World Cup-winners records West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stratford, East London. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club play at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home the Boleyn Ground in 2016. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. They moved to the Boleyn Ground in 1904, which remained their home ground for more than a century. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. They were promoted to the top flight in 1923, when they were also losing finalists in the first FA Cup Final held at Wembley. In 1940, the club won the inaugural Football League War Cup. West Ham have been winners of the FA Cup three times, in 1964, 1975, and 1980, and have also been runners-up twice, in 1923, and 2006. The club have reached two major European finals, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and finishing runners-up in the same competition in 1976. West Ham also won the Intertoto Cup in 1999. They are one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 61 of 93 league seasons in the top flight, up to and including the 2018–19 season. The club's highest league position to date came in 1985–86, when they achieved third place in the then First Division. Three West Ham players were members of the 1966 World Cup final- winning England team: captain Bobby Moore and goalscorers Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks F.C., the works team of the largest and last surviving shipbuilder on the Thames, Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, by foreman and local league referee Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hills and was announced in the Thames Ironworks Gazette of June 1895. Thames Ironworks was based in Leamouth Wharf in Blackwall and Canning Town on both banks of the River Lea, where the Lea meets the Thames. Thames Ironworks built many ships and other structures, the most famous being . The last ship built there was the dreadnought in 1912 and the yard shut soon after. The repair yard of the Castle Shipping Line was a very near neighbour and their work team, initially known as the Castle Swifts, would informally merge with the Thames Ironworks own team. The team played on a strictly amateur basis for 1895 at least, with a team featuring a number of works employees. Thomas Freeman was a ships fireman and Walter Parks, a clerk. Johnny Stewart, Walter Tranter and James Lindsay were all boilermakers. Other employees included William Chapman, George Sage and Fred Chamberlain, as well as apprentice riveter Charlie Dove, who was to have a great influence on the club's future at a later date. Thames Ironworks won the West Ham Charity Cup, contested by clubs in the West Ham locality, in 1895, then won the London League in 1897. They turned professional in 1898 upon entering the Southern League Second Division, and were promoted to the First Division at the first attempt. The following year they came second from bottom, but had established themselves as a fully fledged competitive team. They comfortably fended off the challenge of local rivals Fulham in a relegation play-off, 5–1 in late April 1900 and retained their First Division status. The team initially played in full dark blue kits, as inspired by Mr. Hills, who had been an Oxford University "Blue," but changed the following season by adopting the sky blue shirts and white shorts combination worn through 1897 to 1899. Following growing disputes over the running and financing of the club, in June 1900 Thames Ironworks F.C. was disbanded, then almost immediately relaunched on 5 July 1900 as West Ham United F.C. with Syd King as their manager and future manager Charlie Paynter as his assistant. Because of the original "works team" roots and links (still represented upon the club badge), they are still known as "the Irons" or "the Hammers" amongst fans and the media. West Ham Utd joined the Western League for the 1901 season while also continuing to play in the Southern Division 1. In 1907, West Ham were crowned the Western League Division 1B Champions, and then defeated 1A champions Fulham 1–0 to become the Western League Overall Champions. The reborn club continued to play their games at the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow (funded by Arnold Hills) but moved to a pitch in the Upton Park area in the guise of the Boleyn Ground stadium in 1904. West Ham's first game in their new home was against fierce rivals Millwall (themselves an Ironworks team, albeit for a rival company) drawing a crowd of 10,000 and with West Ham running out 3–0 winners, and as the Daily Mirror wrote on 2 September 1904, "Favoured by the weather turning fine after heavy rains of the morning, West Ham United began their season most auspiciously yesterday evening; when they beat Millwall by 3 goals to 0 on their new enclosure at Upton Park." In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the Football League Second Division, their first game being a 1–1 draw with Lincoln City, and were promoted to Division One in 1923, also making it to the first ever FA Cup Final to be held at the old Wembley stadium. Their opponents were Bolton Wanderers. This was also known as the White Horse Final, so named because an estimated 200,000 people came to see the match; spilling out on to the pitch, which had to be cleared prior to kick-off, by "Billie," a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by PC George Scorey. The Cup Final match itself ended 2–0 to Bolton. The team enjoyed mixed success in Division 1 but retained their status for ten years and reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1933. In 1932, the club was relegated to Division Two and long term custodian Syd King was sacked after serving the club in the role of manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903. Following relegation, King had mental health problems. He appeared drunk at a board meeting and soon after committed suicide. He was replaced with his assistant manager Charlie Paynter, who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games. The club spent most of the next 30 years in this division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player Ted Fenton. Fenton succeeded in getting the club once again promoted to the top level of English football in 1958. With the considerable input of player Malcolm Allison, Fenton helped develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game. Ron Greenwood was appointed as Fenton's successor in 1961 and soon led the club to two major trophies, winning the 1964 FA Cup Final. The team was led by the young Bobby Moore. West Ham also won the European Cup Winners' Cup. During the 1966 FIFA World Cup, key members of the tournament winners England were West Ham players, including the captain, Bobby Moore; Martin Peters (who scored in the final); and Geoff Hurst, who scored the first, and only, hat- trick in a men's World Cup final. All three players had come through the youth team at West Ham. There is a "Champions" statue in Barking Road, opposite The Boleyn Tavern, commemorating West Ham's "three sons" who helped win the 1966 World Cup: Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Also included on the statue is Everton's Ray Wilson. They also won the FA Cup in 1975 by defeating Fulham 2–0. The Fulham team had former England captains Alan Mullery and West Ham legend Bobby Moore. After a difficult start to the 1974–75 season, Greenwood moved himself "upstairs" to become general manager and, without informing the board, appointed his assistant John Lyall as team manager. The result was instant success – the team scored 20 goals in their first four games combined and won the FA Cup, becoming the last team to win the FA Cup with an all-English side when they beat Fulham 2–0 in the 1975 final. Lyall then guided West Ham to another European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1976, though the team lost the match 4–2 to Belgian side Anderlecht. Greenwood's tenure as general manager lasted less than three years, as he was appointed to manage England in the wake of Don Revie's resignation in 1977. In 1978, West Ham were again relegated to Division Two, but Lyall was retained as manager and led the team to an FA Cup Final win against Arsenal in 1980, their last major honour. They reached the final by defeating Everton in the semi-final. The Hammers won 1–0, with a goal scored from a header by Trevor Brooking in the 13th minute. This is notable as no team outside the top division has won the trophy since. West Ham were promoted to Division One in 1981, and finished in the top ten of the first division for the next three seasons before achieving their highest-ever league finish of third in 1985–86; a group of players which came to be known as The Boys of 86. However, they suffered relegation again in 1989, which resulted in Lyall's sacking. He was awarded an ex gratia payment of £100,000 but left the club in what Lyall described as "upsetting" circumstances, meriting only 73 words in a terse acknowledgement of his service in the club programme. Lyall left West Ham after 34 years service. After Lyall, Lou Macari briefly led the team, though he resigned after less than a single season in order to clear his name of allegations of illegal betting while manager of Swindon Town. He was replaced by former player Billy Bonds. In Bonds' first full season, 1990–91, West Ham again secured promotion to Division One. Now back in the top flight, Bonds saw West Ham through one of their most controversial seasons. With the club planning to introduce a bond scheme, there was crowd unrest. West Ham finished last and were relegated back to Division Two after only one season. However, they rebounded strongly in 1992–93. With Trevor Morley and Clive Allen scoring 40 goals, they guaranteed themselves second place on the last day of the season with a 2–0 home win against Cambridge United, and with it promotion to the Premier League. With the team in the Premier League, there was a need to rebuild the team. Oxford United player Joey Beauchamp was recruited for a fee of £1.2 million. Shortly after arriving at the club, however, he became unhappy, citing homesickness from his native Oxford as the reason. Bonds in particular found this attitude hard to understand compared to his own committed, never-say-die approach; providing for Bonds' further evidence of the decay in the modern game and modern player. Fifty-eight days later, Beauchamp was signed by Swindon Town for a club-record combined fee of £800,000 which included defender Adrian Whitbread going in the opposite direction. Whitbread was valued at £750,000 in the deal. Assistant manager Harry Redknapp was also now taking a bigger role in the transfer of players, with the club's approval. With rumours of his old club AFC Bournemouth being prepared to offer him a position, the West Ham board and their managing director, Peter Storrie, made a controversial move. The board were anxious not to lose Redknapp's services and offered Bonds a place away from the day-to-day affairs of the club—on the West Ham board. This would have allowed them to appoint Redknapp as manager. Bonds refused the post offered and walked away from the club. His accusations of deceit and manipulation by the board and by Redknapp have continued to cause ill-feeling. Peter Storrie claimed they that they had handled the situation correctly, saying, "If Harry had gone to Bournemouth, there was a good chance Bill would have resigned anyway, so we were in a no-win situation. We're sad that Bill is going, and it's a big blow but it's time to move on and we have appointed a great manager." Redknapp became manager on 10 August 1994. Redknapp's time at West Ham was notable for the turnover of players during his tenure and for the level of attractive football and success which had not been seen since the managership of John Lyall. Over 134 players passed through the club while he was manager, producing a net transfer fee deficit of £16 million, despite the £18 million sale of Rio Ferdinand to Leeds United. Some were notably successful, such as the signings of Stuart Pearce, Trevor Sinclair, Paolo Di Canio, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic and Ian Wright. Meanwhile, some were expensive, international players who failed at West Ham, such as Florin Raducioiu; Davor Šuker, who earned as much in wages as the revenue gained from one entire stand and yet made only eight appearances; Christian Bassila, who cost £720,000 and played only 86 minutes of football; Titi Camara; Gary Charles, whose wages amounted to £4.4 million but made only three starts for the club; Rigobert Song; Paulo Futre; and Marco Boogers, a player often quoted as one of the biggest failures in the Premier League. His first season in charge saw West Ham fighting the threat of relegation until the last few weeks, while his third season would also see another relegation battle. Always willing to enter the transfer market, Redknapp bought in the winter transfer window John Hartson and Paul Kitson who added the impetus needed at the season's end. In 1999, West Ham finished fifth, their highest position in the top flight since 1986. They also won the Intertoto Cup beating French club Metz to qualify for the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup. Things began to falter for Redknapp with the sale for £18 million to Leeds of Rio Ferdinand in November 2000. Redknapp used the transfer money poorly with purchases such as Ragnvald Soma, who cost £800,000 and played only seven league games, Camera and Song. Redknapp felt he needed more funds with which to deal in the transfer market. Chairman Brown lost patience with Redknapp due to his demands for further transfer funds. In June 2001, called to a meeting with Brown expecting to discuss contracts, he was fired. His assistant Frank Lampard left too, making the sale of his son Frank Lampard, Jr., inevitable; in the summer of 2001, he joined Chelsea for £11 million. With several names, such as former player Alan Curbishley, now linked with the job, Chairman Brown recruited from within the club, appointing reserve team coach Glenn Roeder as manager on 9 May 2001. He had already failed in management with Gillingham, where he lost 22 of the 35 games he managed, and Watford. His first big signings were the return of Don Hutchison for £5 million and Czech centre back Tomáš Řepka. Finishing seventh in his first season Roeder, in his office at Upton Park, suffered a blocked blood vessel in his brain. As Roeder needed medical help and recuperation, former stalwart Trevor Brooking stood in as caretaker manager. Despite not losing another game, the Hammers were relegated on the last day of the season at Birmingham City with a record for a relegated club of 42 points. Ten seasons of top tier football were over. Many top players including Joe Cole, Di Canio and Kanoute all left the club. The next season, now in the second tier, Roeder resumed his stint as manager. Results were still poor, however, and after an away defeat to Rotherham United, he was sacked on 24 August 2003. Brooking again took over as caretaker. He lost only one game, a 2–0 away defeat to Gillingham and is known as "the best manager West Ham never had." Former Crystal Palace player and manager of Reading Alan Pardew was lined up to be the next bench boss. Reading and their chairman, John Madejski, however, were reluctant to let him leave. After serving a period of notice and gardening leave, and with West Ham paying Reading £380,000 in compensation, he was appointed manager on 18 October 2003, their tenth manager. Pardew set out to rebuild the side bringing in Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood and Brian Deane. In his first season in charge, they made the playoff final only to lose to Crystal Palace. His signings of Bobby Zamora, Matthew Etherington and veterans Chris Powell and Teddy Sheringham saw West Ham finishing sixth and subsequently beat Preston North End 1–0 thanks to a Zamora goal in the 2005 playoff final, securing a return to the Premier League. After ensuring promotion, Pardew said, "It's a team effort. We defended well and we're back where we belong." On their return to the top division, West Ham finished in ninth place, The highlight of the 2005–06 season, however, was reaching the FA Cup final and taking favourites Liverpool to a penalty shootout after a 3–3 draw. West Ham lost the shootout, but nonetheless gained entry to the following season's UEFA Cup as Liverpool had already qualified for the Champions League. In August 2006, West Ham completed a major coup on the last day of the transfer window after completing the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. The club was eventually bought by an Icelandic consortium, led by Eggert Magnússon, in November 2006. Manager Alan Pardew was sacked after poor form during the season and was replaced by former Charlton Athletic manager Alan Curbishley. The signings of Mascherano and Tevez were investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details of the transfers had been omitted from official records. The club was found guilty and fined £5.5 million in April 2007. However, West Ham avoided a points deduction which ultimately became critical in their avoidance of relegation at the end of the 2006–07 season. Following on from this event, Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, supported by other sides facing possible relegation, including Fulham and Sheffield United, threatened legal action. West Ham escaped relegation by winning seven of their last nine games, including a 1–0 win over Arsenal, and on the last day of the season defeated newly crowned League Champions Manchester United 1–0 with a goal by Tevez to finish 15th. In the 2007–08 season, West Ham remained reasonably consistently in the top half of the league table, with Freddie Ljungberg in the team, despite a slew of injuries; new signing Craig Bellamy missed most of the campaign, while Kieron Dyer was out from August 2007. The last game of the season, at the Boleyn Ground, saw West Ham draw 2–2 against Aston Villa, ensuring a tenth-place finish three points ahead of rivals Tottenham Hotspur. It was a five-place improvement on the previous season, and most importantly West Ham were never under any realistic threat of relegation. After a row with the board over the sale of defenders Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney to Sunderland, manager Alan Curbishley resigned on 3 September 2008. His successor was former Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola, who took over on 11 September 2008 to become the club's first non-British manager. In the 2008–09 season, West Ham finished ninth, a single place improvement. In the 2009–10 season, West Ham started strongly with a 2–0 win over newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers with goals from Mark Noble and newly appointed captain Matthew Upson. A League Cup match against old rivals Millwall brought about violent riots outside the ground as well as pitch invasions and crowd trouble inside Upton Park. In August 2009, the financial concerns of Icelandic owners parent companies left the current owners unable to provide any funds until a new owner was found. The club's shirt sponsor SBOBET provided the club with help to purchase a much needed striker, the Italian Alessandro Diamanti. West Ham had a poor season which involved a prolonged battle against relegation. They finally secured their survival with two games remaining by defeating Wigan 3–2. The club managed to take 35 points from 38 games, seven fewer than the total they had when relegated seven years prior. On 11 May 2010, two days after the end of the 2009–10 season, West Ham announced the termination of Zola's contract with immediate effect. On 3 June 2010, Avram Grant signed a four-year deal to become the next manager of West Ham subject to a work permit. West Ham's form continued to be poor with the team seldom outside the relegation zone, placing Grant's future as manager under serious doubt. A 4–0 Football League Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United was an otherwise bright spot in a disappointing season. West Ham's form in the Premier League did not affect their form in the two domestic cups. The Hammers reached the semi-final of the League Cup before being eliminated by eventual winners Birmingham City as well as the quarter final of the FA cup before a 2–1 defeat at Stoke City. On 15 May 2011, West Ham's relegation to the Championship was confirmed after a comeback from Wigan at the DW Stadium. With West Ham leading 0–2 at half-time through two Demba Ba goals, Wigan battled back to win 3–2 thanks to an added-time strike from Charles N'Zogbia. Following the loss, West Ham announced the sacking of manager Avram Grant just one season into his tenure. On 1 June 2011, Sam Allardyce was appointed as manager as Grant's replacement. The club finished third in the 2011–12 Football League Championship with 86 points and took part in the play-offs. They beat Cardiff City in the play-off semi-final 5–0 on aggregate to reach the final against Blackpool at Wembley on 19 May 2012. Carlton Cole opened the scoring, and although Blackpool equalised early in the second half, Ricardo Vaz Tê scored the winner for West Ham in the 87th minute. West Ham, on their return to the Premier League, signed former players James Colllins and George McCartney on permanent deals, as well as record signing Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll on loan. They won their first game of the season, on 18 August 2012, 1–0 against Aston Villa thanks to a Kevin Nolan goal. The highlight of the first half of the season was a 3–1 home win against reigning European champions Chelsea on 1 December 2012 which saw them in eighth position and 12th at the end of the year. On 22 March 2013, West Ham secured a 99-year lease deal on the Olympic Stadium, with it planned to be used as their home ground from the 2016–17 season. Tenth place was secured at the end of the season with nine home wins and only three away from home. Only 11 away goals were scored, the lowest of the entire league. In 2013–14, West Ham finished 13th in the Premier League. They also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup before losing 9–0 on aggregate to eventual cup-winners Manchester City. A feature of the season were the criticisms of manager Sam Allardyce by supporters relating to his perceived negative playing tactics. West Ham finished 12th in the 2014–15 Premier League, one place higher than the previous season. Minutes after the last game of the season, on 24 May 2015, the club announced that Allardyce's contract would not be renewed and that they were seeking a new manager. By winning the Premier League Fair Play table for 2014–15, West Ham qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, entering at the first qualifying round. On 9 June 2015, former West Ham player Slaven Bilić was appointed as manager on a three-year contract. In Bilić's fourth game in charge, the team won at Anfield for the first time in 52 years, beating Liverpool 0–3, with goals from Manuel Lanzini, Mark Noble and Diafra Sakho. At the end of the season, West Ham finished 7th in the Premier League. The team broke several records for the club in the Premier League era, including the highest number of points (62), the highest number of goals in a season (65), the least number of games lost in a season (8) and the lowest number of away defeats (5). The season also marked the last season where the team played at the Boleyn Ground, with them moving to the London Stadium from next season - ending their 112 year stay at the stadium. Following Manchester United's win in the 2016 FA Cup Final, West Ham took their Europa League place and qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2016–17 edition. At the end of the tough first season at the London Stadium, the team finished 11th, along with having to deal with the departure of star man Dimitri Payet. However, the team suffered a poor start to the following season, taking only two wins in their opening 11 games. Following a 4–1 defeat to Liverpool at home and with the team threatened by relegation, Bilić was sacked on 6 November 2017. He was replaced by former Sunderland boss David Moyes on a contract till the end of the season. The team battled inconsistent form for the rest of the season but managed to avoid relegation and finish 13th. Moyes was not offered a new contract and left the club on the expiration of it on 16 May 2018. On 22 May 2018, the club appointed former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini as the new manager on a three-year deal contract. In his first season in charge, the Hammers finished 10th, once again suffering from inconsistent form. However, after a poor first half to the following season, Pellegrini was sacked in December 2019 with the team only one point above the relegation zone. His last game in charge was a 2-1 home loss to Leicester City. He was replaced by David Moyes, who returned for a second spell in charge a day later. The Thames Ironworks Team (1895–1900) used the Union Flag as its badge. The principal element of the badge is the crossed pair of rivet hammers, tools that were used in the shipbuilding industry. The Blackwall and Canning Town neighbourhoods surrounding the Thames Ironworks echoed to the sound of hammers; steam hammers, sledge hammers and rivet hammers. Seven large mechanical steam hammers would punch small holes near the edges of the iron plates which would be joined to build the ships. The plates would be put in place and fixed together with rivets by teams of five, three inside the emerging vessel and two outside. Inside the ship one member of the team would heat the rivets till they were white hot and pass to a second person known as a 'catch-boy' or 'putter-in' who would place the rivet in the hole. The third person was known as the 'holder-on' and he would then smash the rivet home with a sixteen pound sledge hammer and then use his sledgehammer to hold the rivet in place while the men on the other side flattened the other end of the rivet. Outside the ship, exposed to the elements, two men with rivet hammers – one right-handed, one left-handed – would hammer the protruding and still glowing rivet flat, so securing one of the many points necessary to link each of the ship's large plates. The crossed hammers were also incorporated into the coat of arms of the County Borough of West Ham and those of its successor, the modern London Borough of Newham. A yellow or white tower was added, intermittently, from the 1950s onwards. The primary reason for this seems to be to represent Anne Boleyn’s Tower, the most notable feature of Green Street House, an originally Tudor group of buildings which stood next to the Boleyn Ground until demolished in 1955. Green Street House was also known as Boleyn Castle through an association with Anne Boleyn. The manor was reputedly one of the sites at which Henry VIII courted his second queen, though there is no documentary evidence to support the tradition. There are a number of other factors which may have influenced the inclusion of the stylised castle feature, for instance: to reflect the contribution made to the club by players of Old Castle Swifts, The imposing towers, rooves and doorway of the Engineering Department of the Thames Ironworks bore a strong resemblance to the castle feature in earlier iterations of the badge., The first verse of the club's anthem I'm forever blowing bubbles begins "I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high"., The White Tower of the Tower of London as emblematic of East London. For hundreds of years, up until 1900, inner East London had been known as the Tower Division, an area which owed military service to the Tower of London. The (originally whitewashed) White Tower was used as insignia for the area, for instance on cap badges of local units of the army., In recognition of the ‘West Ham Pals’, the 13th Battalion of the Essex Regiment which was raised in Stratford in 1915 and saw extensive action and heavy losses on the Western Front in the World War I. The Battalion was formed from volunteers from West Ham and East London generally. Their war cry was “Up the Hammers”. The cap badge of the Essex Regiment was the castle and key of Gibraltar, though the unit made an unsuccessful request to the War Office that crossed hammers could be used instead., The adoption (in 1904) of Boleyn Castle FC as the club’s reserve side when they took over their grounds on the site. A shield has been used in many iterations of the club badge, and the shape of the 2016 version matches the cross-section on the hull of HMS Warrior, the most famous ship built by the Thames Ironworks. However examining draughtsman's diagrams of the ship casts doubt on the resemblance between the shield and the ship. The crest was redesigned and updated in the late 1990s, featuring a wider yellow castle with fewer cruciform "windows" along with the peaked roofs being removed; the tops of the towers had previously made the castle appear more akin to Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle than a functioning fortress. The designer also altered other details to give a more substantial feel to the iconography. When the club rebuilt the west stand of the Boleyn Ground (construction finished 2001–02) the "castle" from the redesigned badge was incorporated into the structure at the main entrance to the ground. A pair of towers were prominent features of the ground's appearance, both bearing large club badges. A new badge was introduced following the end of the 2015–16 season, when the club moved into the Olympic Stadium. It removes the Boleyn Castle due to the club moving away, leaving just the crossed hammers, which the club says is inspired by the crest before and during the career of Bobby Moore. The word "London" was introduced below to "establish the club firmly on the international stage", and the more minimalist approach is to give a "strong statement that is instantly West Ham United". The shape of the crest is that of the hull of , the first ironclad warship in the Royal Navy, which was built by Thames Ironworks. The original colours of the team were dark blue, due to Thames Ironworks chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University. However, the team used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Ironworks, as well as sky blue or white kit. The Irons permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in 1903. One story suggests that Thames Ironworks right-half Charlie Dove received the Aston Villa kit from William Belton, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks. Belton had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win. Belton defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete team's "football kits" to Belton in payment. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was "missing." This, however, is often disputed. Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits. Since January 2015 West Ham's shirts have been sponsored by Betway. Previous sponsors have included AVCO Trust (1983–89), BAC Windows (1989–93), Dagenham Motors (1993–97), Dr. Martens (1998–2003), JobServe (2003–07), XL.com (2007–08), SBOBET (2008–13), and Alpari FX (2013–15). The deal with XL ended early due to the XL Leisure Group being placed in administration in September 2008. During this period, players had their squad numbers ironed over the existing sponsorship logo, before a deal with SBOBET was finalised. The deal with Alpari also ended early, because of the sponsor entering liquidation. The current kit manufacturers, Umbro, have made West Ham's kit from 2007 to 2010, and from 2015 to the present. Previous manufacturers have been Admiral (1976–80), Adidas (1980–87, 2013–15), Scoreline (1987–89), Bukta (1989–93), Pony (1993–99), Fila (1999–2003), Reebok (2003–07) and macron (2010–13). The team's supporters are famous for their rendition of the chorus of their team's anthem, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in the late 1920s. A Pears soap commercial featuring the curly haired child in the Millais' "Bubbles" was well known at the time. The child resembled a player, Billy J. "Bubbles" Murray, from local schoolboy team, Park School, where the headmaster was Cornelius Beal. Beal was known locally for his music and rhyme and wrote special words to the tune of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" whenever any player was having a good game. Beal was a friend of Paynter, while Murray was a West Ham trialist and played football at schoolboy level with a number of West Ham players such as Jim Barrett. Through this contrivance of association the club's fans took it upon themselves to begin singing the popular music hall tune before home games, sometimes reinforced by the presence of a house band requested to play the refrain by Charlie Paynter. The 1975 FA Cup version – which contains the original lyrics, and features vocals from the team's then-current players – is always played before home games, with the home crowd joining in and carrying the song on after the music stops at the verse line "Fortune's always hiding". Bubbles was published as a waltz whereas during the game the crowd sing it in common time. Like other teams, the team also have a history of adopting or adapting popular songs of the day to fit particular events, themes, players or personas. These have included serious renditions of theatre and movie classics such as "The Bells are Ringing," along with more pun-laden or humorous efforts, such as chanting former player Paolo Di Canio's name to the canzone "La donna è mobile" by Giuseppe Verdi, or D.I. Canio to the tune of Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O.", or the chant of "Who Let The Potts Out?" to the tune of Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" when Steve Potts could be seen warming up to come on as substitute late on in his career, or "That's Zamora" to the tune of Dean Martin's 1953 "That's Amore" in honour of former striker Bobby Zamora. Other former players to be serenaded include Christian Dailly with vastly- altered lyrics to Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Joe Cole and Carlton Cole with Spandau Ballet's "Gold" song title sung as "Cole" and Luděk Mikloško. A song for West Ham favourite Bobby Moore, "Viva Bobby Moore", is also sung based on The Business's "Oi!" rendition of the song, based on The Equals' 1969 release "Viva Bobby Joe". In 2016, supporters adapted the lyrics of Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" in honour of Dimitri Payet. When the players come onto the pitch, and at other times of celebration, as the song I'm forever blowing bubbles is being sung, around 60 bubble machines produce copious bubbles that rise high into the stadium.. Fans gained national attention after giving a torrid time to David Beckham in his first away match of 1998–99 the season after the England midfielder was sent off for a petulant foul on Diego Simeone. Coinciding with the game, there were claims (and an image taken) that fans, organised by a hardcore, had hung an effigy of the player outside a local pub. Although it was later revealed that the pub was in South-East London, the heartland of West Ham's greatest rivals Millwall. The West Ham fans did, however, boo Beckham's every touch of the ball during the game. They have also displayed a particular zeal when it comes to abusing former players particularly those who are perceived to have abandoned the club, or performed some disservice. Famously Paul Ince, Frank Lampard, Jermain Defoe, and Nigel Reo-Coker have borne the brunt of verbal assaults and a guaranteed hostile reception at Upton Park. However, players such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora and Carlos Tevez receive applause and even standing ovations in honour of their contributions during their time at the club. Joe Cole subsequently rejoined West Ham from Liverpool midway through the 2012–13 season. The origins of West Ham's links with organised football-related violence starts in the 1960s with the establishment of The Mile End Mob (named after an area of the East End of London). During the 1970s and 1980s (the main era for organised football-related violence), West Ham gained further notoriety for the levels of hooliganism in their fan base and antagonistic behaviour towards both their own and rival fans, and the police. During the 1970s in particular, rival groups of West Ham fans from neighbouring areas often did battle with each other at games, most often groups from the neighbouring districts of Barking and Dagenham. The Inter City Firm were one of the first "casuals", so called because they avoided police supervision by not wearing football-related clothing and travelled to away matches on regular InterCity trains, rather than on the cheap and more tightly policed "football special" charter trains. The group were an infamous West Ham-aligned gang. As the firm's moniker "inter city" suggests violent activities were not confined to local derbies – the hooligans were content to cause trouble at any game, though nearby teams often bore the brunt. The 2005 independent film Green Street starring Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam focuses on a firm of West Ham hooligans. West Ham have strong rivalries with several other clubs. Most of these are with other London clubs, especially with Tottenham Hotspur in an East versus North London derby and with Chelsea in an East versus West London rivalry. The rivalry between West Ham and Tottenham has been fuelled by players such as Michael Carrick, Martin Peters, Paul Allen, Jermain Defoe and Scott Parker leaving the Hammers to join Tottenham. The rivalry deepened with the appointment of former Hammers manager Harry Redknapp as Tottenham's manager. Since the 2006–07 Premier League season, West Ham have developed a strong rivalry with Yorkshire club Sheffield United due to the dubious circumstances surrounding the transfer of Carlos Tevez, who helped West Ham avoid relegation at Sheffield United's expense. The oldest and fiercest rivalry is with Millwall. The two sides are local rivals, having both formed originally around local companies, with players living in the same localities. The early history of both clubs are intertwined, with West Ham proving to be the more successful in a number of meetings between the two teams at the time, resulting in West Ham being promoted at the expense of Millwall. Millwall later declined to join the fledgling Football League while West Ham went on to the top division and an FA Cup final. Later in the 1920s, the rivalry was intensified during strike action which Isle of Dogs-based companies (i.e., Millwall fans) refused to support, breeding ill will between the two camps, the bitterness of this betrayal enduring for years. In 1972, a Millwall supporter died at New Cross station after falling out of a train during a fight with West Ham fans. The rivalry between West Ham and Millwall has involved considerable violence and is one of the most notorious within the world of football hooliganism. The teams were drawn against each other in the second round of the 2009–10 League Cup and met on 25 August 2009 at Upton Park. This was the first time in four years that the two clubs had played each other, and the first ever in the League Cup. Clashes between fans occurred outside the ground, resulting in violence erupting up to half a mile away from the stadium, with serious injuries, including the stabbing of a Millwall supporter, damage to property and several arrests reported by police. There were also several pitch invasions by West Ham supporters which brought a temporary halt to the game. In January 2010, West Ham were fined after being found guilty of violent, threatening, obscene and provocative behaviour and of failing to prevent their fans entering the field of play. Millwall were cleared of all charges. The team and supporters are known as The Hammers, in part because of the club's origins as Thames Ironworks. They are also known as The Irons and The Cockney Boys. Other nicknames are The Academy of Football, or just The Academy. Until 2016, West Ham were based at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park, in Newham, East London. The capacity of the Boleyn Ground was 35,016, and had been West Ham's ground since 1904. Prior to this, in their previous incarnation of Thames Ironworks, they played at Hermit Road in Canning Town and briefly at Browning Road in East Ham, before moving to the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow in 1897. They retained the stadium during their transition to becoming West Ham United and were there for a further four seasons before moving to the Boleyn Ground in 1904. Former chairman Eggert Magnússon made clear his ambition for West Ham to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Summer Olympics, a desire reiterated by current chairmen Gold and Sullivan when they assumed control of the club stating that they felt it was a logical move for the Government as it was in the borough of Newham. In February 2010, however, the British Olympic Minister stated that West Ham would not get the stadium, and it would instead be used for track and field. On 17 May 2010, West Ham and Newham London Borough Council submitted a formal plan to the Olympic Park Legacy Company for the use of the Olympic Stadium following the 2012 Summer Olympics. The proposal was for a stadium with a capacity of 60,000 which would retain a competition athletics track. The proposal was welcomed by the chairman of UK athletics, Ed Warner, who said, "I think it will feel great as a football stadium and I speak as a football fan as well the chairman of UK Athletics. I think you'd find West Ham would cover the track in the winter season so it wouldn't look like you had a track between you and the pitch." On 30 September 2010, the club formally submitted its bid for the Olympic Stadium with a presentation at 10 Downing Street, and on 8 October 2010 the world's largest live entertainment company, Live Nation, endorsed the club's Olympic Stadium plans. Three days after Live Nation's endorsement, UK Athletics confirmed its formal support for West Ham United and Newham Council in their joint bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in legacy mode. In November 2010, West Ham commenced a search for potential developers for "informal discussions" about what would happen to the ground if it were to win its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games. According to the club, the site could be vacated and open to redevelopment by the summer of 2014. On 11 February 2011, the Olympic Park Legacy Committee selected West Ham as the preferred club to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games. The decision in favour of West Ham's bid was unanimous, although controversial as local rivals Tottenham Hotspur had also been bidding for the venue. Hopes of moving to the stadium, however, were since placed under doubt following a legal challenge by Tottenham and Leyton Orient, with Leyton Orient fearful that having West Ham playing less than a mile away from their Brisbane Road ground could steal support from the club and put them out of business. Both clubs' appeal for a judicial review, however, were rejected on 23 June 2011. On 3 March 2011, West Ham's proposed move to the Olympic Stadium was formally approved by the British government and Mayor of London Boris Johnson. On 8 June 2011, it was confirmed that the Westfield Shopping Centre had been in detailed talks with West Ham for naming rights of the new Olympic stadium which could be called the Westfield Stadium. West Ham announced plans to move from the Boleyn Ground from the 2014–15 season. In August 2011, an independent investigation initiated by the Olympic Park Legacy Company upheld the decision to award West Ham the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games. On 29 June 2011, however, Tottenham announced that they were returning to the High Court again to fight the decision to award West Ham the stadium, in an oral hearing, to try and overturn the original high court appeal being rejected. On 25 August 2011, Tottenham and Leyton Orient were in fact granted a judicial review by the High Court into the Olympic Stadium bidding process. On 11 October 2011, the deal to award West Ham the Olympic Stadium collapsed over concerns of legal pressure, with the government deciding that the stadium will stay in public ownership. Six days later, Tottenham and Leyton Orient announced they had ended their legal challenge after the deal collapsed. Once the original deal collapsed, a new process to select a tenant was begun. West Ham immediately announced plans to become tenants of the stadium. By March 2012, West Ham was one of the four bidders for the Stadium. With a decision due by the Olympic Park Legacy Company in May 2012, Mayor of London Boris Johnson delayed the final selection of future tenants until completion of the 2012 Summer Olympics, stating that it was "overwhelmingly likely" that the tenants would be West Ham. It was announced on 22 March 2013 that West Ham had signed a 99-year lease for the Olympic Stadium after the government agreed to put in an extra £1 million towards the costs of converting the site. The club's plan was to move into the stadium prior to the start of the 2016–17 season. Supporters of rival clubs had pressed for an inquiry into the granting of West Ham's tenancy, arguing that West Ham were being given an unfair advantage by the arrangement. In September 2015, however, the government rejected holding such an inquiry. The club promotes the popular idea of West Ham being "The Academy of Football", with the moniker adorning the ground's new stadium façade. The comment predominantly refers to the club's youth development system which was established by manager Ted Fenton during the 1950s, that has seen a number of international players emerge through the ranks. Most notably, the club contributed three players to the World Cup-winning England side of 1966, including club icon Bobby Moore, as well as Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst who between them scored all of England's goals in the eventual 4–2 victory. Other academy players that have gone on to play for England have included Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin, Tony Cottee and Paul Ince. Since the late 1990s, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Glen Johnson began their careers at West Ham and all went on to play for much bigger clubs. Most recently, the likes of first teamers Mark Noble and James Tomkins, as well as Welsh international Jack Collison, have emerged through the Academy. Frustratingly for fans and managers alike, the club has struggled to retain many of these players due to (predominantly) financial reasons. West Ham, during the 2007–08 season, had an average of 6.61 English players in the starting line up, higher than any other Premier League club, which cemented their status as one of the few Premier League clubs left that were recognised to be bringing through young English talent and were recognised as having "homegrown players." Between 2000 and 2011, the club produced eight England players, as many as Manchester United and one fewer than Arsenal. Much of the success of The Academy has been attributed to Tony Carr, who was West Ham youth coach between 1973 and 2014. 6 Bobby Moore, Defender (1958–74) – posthumous honour, 38 Dylan Tombides, Striker (2010–14) – posthumous honour In the 2003 book The Official West Ham United Dream Team, 500 fans were quizzed for who would be in their all time Hammers Eleven. The voting was restricted to players from the modern era. The following is a list of recipients of the 'Hammer of the Year' award. The first award, to Andy Malcolm in 1957–58, was nominated by a journalist at The Stratford Express. Subsequent recipients would be awarded the title after a vote by supporters. Trevor Brooking was the first player for West Ham United to have been honoured with the title of Hammer of the Year three times in a row in 1976, 1977 and 1978. Scott Parker repeated this feat between 2009–2011. Brooking has won the award the most times, on five occasions: 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1984. Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds and Julian Dicks have each won it four times. Bobby Moore has been runner-up four times, while Billy Bonds and Tony Cottee have both been runners-up three times. Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking's wins are notable in the amount of time between first and last Hammer of the Year award. Bonds has 16 years separating his wins whilst Brooking has 12. In 2013, West Ham United introduced a new annual award, the West Ham United Lifetime Achievement Award. The first award was presented to club-record appearance maker Billy Bonds, who picked up the award on the pitch at Upton Park before kick-off against Cardiff City on the opening day of the 2013–14 season. The 2014 award was presented to Sir Trevor Brooking, a record five- time winner of the Hammer of the Year award. Brooking received the award before the 2014–15 season curtain-raiser against Tottenham Hotspur on 16 August 2014. Brooking had already had the Centenary Stand at the Boleyn ground named after him in 2009. The 2015 award was awarded to Martin Peters. On 3 May 2016, it was announced via the club's official website that the fourth recipient of the award would be Sir Geoff Hurst, the club's second all-time leading goalscorer, and scorer of a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup Final. Hurst would be honoured at the club's 2015/16 Player Awards Ceremony. Ken Brown became the sixth recipient of the award, in April 2018. The 2019 honour was awarded to midfielder Ronnie Boyce who made his debut for West Ham in 1960. Staff and directors Coaching staff West Ham United have had 17 permanent managers in their history and an additional three caretaker managers. In January 2010, David Sullivan and David Gold acquired a 50% share in West Ham, given them overall operational and commercial control. At the end of May 2010, Gold and Sullivan purchased a further 10% stake in the club at a cost of million. Taking their controlling stake to 60%, they announced that they could open up shares for fans to purchase. On 9 August 2010, Gold and Sullivan increased their shares up to 30.6% each with "minority investors", (which included former owner Terry Brown, purchasing a further 3.8% of the club at a cost of around −4 million) leaving Icelandic Straumur Investment Bank owning 35% of the club. On 2 July 2013, Sullivan acquired a further 25% of shares after restructuring the debt of the club, leaving Straumur Bank with just 10%. In order to clear club debts before a move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016, in December 2014 Sullivan announced the availability for sale of 20% of the club. The clearing of club debts, given in July 2013 as million, was given as a pre- condition to a move to the Olympic Stadium. Record attendance: 59,988 vs Everton, Premier League, 30 March 2019, At the Boleyn Ground: 42,322 v Tottenham Hotspur, Division One, 17 October 1970, Lowest league attendance: 4,373 v Doncaster Rovers, Division Two, 24 February 1955 Biggest Transfer fee paid: £45 million to Eintracht Frankfurt for Sébastien Haller, 17 July 2019, Biggest Transfer fee received: £25 million from Olympique de Marseille for Dimitri Payet, 29 January 2017 League:, Premier League:, Home: 6–0 v Barnsley 10 January 1998, Away: 5–0 v Derby County 10 November 2007, Division One:, Home: 8–0 v Sunderland 19 October 1968, Away: 6–1 v Manchester City 8 September 1962, Division Two:, Home: 8–0 v Rotherham United 8 March 1958, Away: 6–0 v Leicester City 15 February 1923, FA Cup:, Home: 8–1 v Chesterfield (Rd 1) 10 January 1914, Away: 5–0 v Chatham Town (5th qualifying rd) 28 November 1903, League Cup:, Home: 10–0 v Bury (Rd 2 leg 2) (12–1 aggregate scoreline) 25 October 1983, Away: 5–1 v Cardiff City (SF leg 2) (10–3 aggregate scoreline) 2 February 1966, Away: 5–1 v Walsall (Rd 2) 13 September 1967, European Cup Winners Cup:, Home: 5–1 v Castilla CF (Rd 1 leg 2) (6–4 aggregate scoreline) 1 October 1980, Away: 2–1 v Lausanne (QF leg 2) (6–4 aggregate scoreline) 16 March 1965, UEFA Cup/Europa League:, Home: 3–0 v Osijek (Rd 1 leg 1) 16 September 1999, Home: 3–0 v Lusitanos (Qual Rd 1 leg 1) 2 July 2015, Away: 3–1 v Osijek (Rd 1 leg 2) 30 September 1999 League:, Premier League:, Away: 0–6 v Everton 8 May 1999, Division One:, Home: 2–8 v Blackburn Rovers 26 December 1963, Away: 0–7 v Sheffield Wednesday 28 November 1959, Division Two:, Away: 0–7 v Barnsley 1 September 1919, FA Cup:, Away: 0–6 v Manchester United (Rd 4) 26 January 2003, League Cup:, Away: 0–6 v Oldham Athletic (SF leg 1) 14 February 1990, Away: 0–6 v Manchester City (SF leg 1) 8 January 2014, European Cup Winners Cup:, Home: 1–4 v Dinamo Tbilisi (QF leg 1) (2–4 aggregate scoreline) 4 March 1981, Away: 2–4 v FC Den Haag (QF leg 1) (5–5 aggregate scoreline, West Ham won on away rule) 3 March 1976, Neutral: 2–4 v Anderlecht (Final) 5 May 1976, UEFA Cup:, Home: 0–1 v Palermo (Rd 1 leg 1) 14 September 2006, Away: 0–3 v Palermo (Rd 1 leg 2) 28 September 2006 Forbes' list of the most valuable football clubs, West Ham United L.F.C., the affiliated women's team West Ham United News – Sky Sports, Knees up Mother Brown (KUMB.com) – the supporters' website Martin Stanford Peters (8 November 1943 – 21 December 2019) was an English footballer and manager. As a member of the England team which won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he scored the second of England's four goals in the final against West Germany. He also played in the 1970 World Cup. Born in Plaistow, Essex, he played club football for West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City and Sheffield United. He briefly managed Sheffield United before retiring from professional football in 1981. Peters was known as "the complete midfielder" as he could pass the ball well with either foot, was good in the air and difficult to mark because of his movement. A free kick specialist, he was described by England manager Sir Alf Ramsey, after a game against Scotland in 1968, as being "ten years ahead of his time". His versatility was such that while he was at West Ham he played in every position in the team, including goalkeeper in his third game, replacing an injured Brian Rhodes. With his transfer from West Ham United to Tottenham Hotspur in 1970, he became Britain's first £200,000 footballer. Peters was born in Egham Road, off East India Dock Road in Plaistow, Essex, on 8 November 1943 during the Second World War. His father, William Peters, was a Thames Lighterman. Not long after Peters was born he was evacuated with his mother to Shropshire to avoid the bombing of London by the Luftwaffe. When he was seven his family moved to Dagenham, where he attended the local Fanshawe School. In schoolboy football, he played mostly as a centre-half but often as a full-back. He came to the attention of Fulham, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. Peters did not support any club as a schoolboy and favoured joining Chelsea as his friend, Terry Venables, who he had met playing for Dagenham Schoolboys, had signed for Chelsea. After playing for England schoolboys he was scouted by Wally St Pier for West Ham United. In the summer of 1959 he was signed as a 15-year-old apprentice by West Ham. Peters signed his first professional contract in November 1960. His first manager Ted Fenton left the club in 1961, to be replaced by Ron Greenwood. He was a major influence on Peters and his progress as a young footballer. In his first years with West Ham, Peters had played in both defensive and midfield positions before Fenton had encouraged him to play as a right-half. He made his debut on Good Friday 1962 in a 4–1 home win against Cardiff City. He scored his first goal for West Ham in a 6–1 away win at Manchester City on 8 September 1962. Also in 1962, Peters played in goal for West Ham in a game against Cardiff City after regular goalkeeper, Brian Rhodes had been injured. Peters played only five games in his first season with West Ham. Although he played 32 league games in the 1963–64 season, he played no part in their FA Cup run and was not selected for the FA Cup final of 1964 at Wembley, in which they beat Preston North End 3–2. The following year, however, he established himself as a first team regular and was victorious at Wembley when West Ham won the European Cup Winners Cup with victory over 1860 Munich. He was usually partnered in midfield by Eddie Bovington and Ronnie Boyce. Peters began to impose himself on West Ham's game, and another chance for silverware came in 1966 when West Ham reached the League Cup final. The occasion was still a two- legged affair with each of the finalists hosting a leg (though this changed to a one-off final at Wembley a year later), and Peters played in both matches. He scored in the second game but opponents West Bromwich Albion emerged as 5–3 winners on aggregate. The 1968–69 season saw Peters's only hat-trick for West Ham, in a 4–0 home defeat of West Bromwich Albion. That was also his most prolific season: 24 goals came for him from 48 games. Feeling he was in the shadows of Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, Peters sought a new challenge. In March 1970, West Ham received a record-breaking £200,000 (£150,000 cash) for Peters from Tottenham Hotspur and he moved to White Hart Lane, with Spurs and England striker Jimmy Greaves (valued at £50,000) going the other way. On 21 March 1970, Peters scored on his Spurs debut against Coventry City. He won his first domestic winners' medal in 1971 when Spurs beat Aston Villa 2–0 in the League Cup final. Spurs beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–2 on aggregate to win the 1972 UEFA Cup in what remained the only all-English European final until Manchester United beat Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League Final of 2008. In 1973, Peters won the League Cup again with Spurs. He completed one more season with Spurs, who lost the 1974 UEFA Cup final to Feyenoord on aggregate. He then moved in March 1975 to Norwich City – managed by his former West Ham teammate John Bond – for a fee of £40,000. In total Peters played 260 times in all competitions, scoring 76 goals. Peters, now aged 31, made his debut appearance for Norwich on 15 March 1975 in a 1–1 away draw with Manchester United. He helped newly promoted Norwich establish themselves in the First Division, making more than 200 appearances, and earning a testimonial against an all-star team which included most of the 1966 World Cup-winning England XI. He was voted Norwich City F.C. Player of the Season two years running, in 1976 and 1977, and in 2002 was made an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. In 1978, whilst still a Norwich City player, Peters was awarded an MBE for services to association football. Peters also travelled to Australia and played as a guest player for Victorian State League side Frankston City. For them he played five games, scoring three goals; the team won four and drew one of the matches in which he competed. He joined Sheffield United on 31 July 1980 as player-coach, eventually replacing Harry Haslam as manager. Alf Ramsey had seen Peters' potential quickly, and in May 1966 he gave the young midfielder his debut for England against Yugoslavia at Wembley. England won 2–0 and Peters had an outstanding debut. Nearly scoring twice he set up chances for Jimmy Greaves and for others. In the final preparation period for Ramsey prior to naming his squad for the World Cup, Peters played in two more of the scheduled warm-up games. Against Finland, he scored his first international goal in what was only his second appearance, and subsequently he made Ramsey's squad for the competition, as did his West Ham teammates Bobby Moore (the England captain) and Geoff Hurst. Though Peters did not play in the opening group game against Uruguay, the drab 0–0 draw prompted Ramsey into changes. The England coach had been toying with using a system which allowed narrow play through the centre, not operating with conventional wingers but instead with fitter, centralised players who could show willing in defence as well as spread the ball and their runs in attack. Peters therefore had become an ideal player for this 4–1-3-2 system, elegant in his distribution and strong in his forward running, yet showing the stamina, discipline and pace to get back and help the defence when required. This system was dubbed "the wingless wonders". Ramsey put Peters in the team for his fourth cap, for the second group game against Mexico, which England won 2–0. He kept his place as England got through their group, scraped past a violent Argentina side in the quarter finals (Peters' late cross set up Hurst's header for the only goal) and beat Portugal in the last four. The Germans awaited in the final. A tense but open game at Wembley saw the score at 1–1 in the final quarter of an hour when England won a corner. Alan Ball delivered it to the edge of the area to Hurst, who tried a shot on the turn. The ball deflected high into the air and bounced down into the penalty area where Peters rifled home a half-volley. The Germans equalised in the final seconds, though glory would still come the team's way with the 4–2 win in extra time, and Hurst – like Peters, winning only his eighth cap – completing a historic hat-trick. Peters played in England's three group games in the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico, from which they qualified, again with West Germany waiting in the last eight. Peters scored against the Germans again early in the second half – a run and finish from behind a defender which no West German player had spotted – to establish a 2–0 lead, but later Ramsey committed a tactical error by substituting Peters and Bobby Charlton with Colin Bell and Norman Hunter, and West Germany won 3–2 in extra-time. In 1972, Peters won his 50th England cap in a qualifier for the 1972 European Championships, beating Switzerland 3–2. England failed to progress due to another defeat against West Germany, who went on to win the tournament. International disappointment for Peters was tempered mildly by more club success, and he scored the only goal as England beat Scotland at Wembley on 19 May 1973. It was his 20th goal for his country and would prove to be his last. England had been stuttering in their qualifying campaign for the 1974 World Cup, dropping points in a drawn game against Wales and then a 2–0 defeat against Poland in Chorzów on 6 June 1973. England needed to defeat Poland at Wembley on 17 October 1973 to qualify for the finals in Germany, and with an out-of-form Moore dropped from the side – he would subsequently play only once more for his country – Peters captained the side for the crucial game. A defensive error allowed Poland to score, and only a penalty allowed England to level up quickly. Allan Clarke scored from it, but England could not get the crucial winning goal. Poland went through after the match finished 1–1, meaning Peters would not play in a third successive World Cup competition. At the age of 30, Peters' career at the highest level began to slip away. He played three more games for England, reaching a total of 67 caps, though his career with his country ended on 18 May 1974, as England lost 2–0 against Scotland at Hampden Park. His wait to become manager was not long, his final game coming against Gillingham on 17 January 1981 which Haslam was too ill to attend, and at which there were demonstrations from the Sheffield United fans. Peters retired to take up the manager's job the following day with United 12th in the table with 16 games to play, but was unable to halt the decline already in place, winning just three of the remaining games. For the first and only time in their history Sheffield United were relegated to the Fourth Division, and Peters resigned. On his retirement from professional football in January 1981, after a distinguished and injury-free career, he had made 882 appearances in total, scoring 220 goals. After he quit Sheffield United, Peters spent the 1982–83 season playing in defence for Gorleston in the Eastern Counties League. In 1984, he moved into the insurance business where he stayed until he was made redundant in July 2001. Peters joined the board of directors at Spurs in a non-executive capacity in 1998, taking on a supporter-liaison role. He remained in that post for four years before stepping down, but remained one of the match-day welcomers in the hospitality suites at the club's White Hart Lane ground. He also worked in the hospitality suites at Upton Park for West Ham home matches. In 2006, Peters published his autobiography, The Ghost of '66. That same year he was inducted, with former manager Ron Greenwood, into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements as a player. Peters identified as a Conservative Party supporter when asked about his politics in 1972. In 2016, it was announced that Peters had Alzheimer's disease. Peters died on 21 December 2019, aged 76. Tributes were paid to him from former football clubs he played for, including West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City and many others. West Ham European Cup-Winners' Cup: 1964–65, Football League Cup runner-up: 1965–66 Tottenham League Cup: 1970–71, 1972–73, UEFA Cup: 1971–72; runner-up: 1973–74, Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1971 International World Cup: 1966, European Championship third place: 1968 MBE for services to football, (1978).

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The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm was prohibited by the state's Constitution from seeking a third term. This resulted in a large pool of candidates which was whittled down, when the May 11 filing deadline passed, to two Democrats and five Republicans. Both the Cook Political Report and the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report rated the election as leaning Republican. The Republican primary race was highly competitive; both local and national polling reported Congressman Peter Hoekstra, state Attorney General Mike Cox, and businessman Rick Snyder as being front-runners for the Republican Party nomination. The Democratic front-runner when the 2009 polls were conducted, Lieutenant Governor John D. Cherry, withdrew from the race in January 2010. The final polls just days before the primary election showed that, while Lansing mayor Virg Bernero was in the lead, over a quarter of those polled were still undecided. The deadline for candidates to file nominating petitions for the August 3 state primary was 4:00 PM on May 11, 2010. A total of 1,575,167 registered voters voted in the primaries, with 66.4% of them voting in the Republican primary. Analysts believe a large portion of Democrats crossed party lines to vote for Snyder, whose ad campaign targeted bipartisan and independent support. In Michigan, voters may vote in either primary regardless of their political affiliation, but can only vote for one party. Ballots with split tickets are not counted in partisan races. Both races came in more disparate than predicted. Snyder won with a near 10-point lead over closest rival Pete Hoekstra, and Bernero won with an even larger 17-point lead over early favorite state house speaker Andy Dillon. Both nominees portrayed themselves as political outsiders. On August 25, Snyder appointed State Representative Brian Calley as his running mate. On August 28, Bernero appointed Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence as his running mate. Snyder won a decisive victory over Bernero in the general election, winning by nearly 20 percentage points. Virg Bernero, Mayor of Lansing, Andy Dillon, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Robert Bowman, former Michigan treasurer (ended exploratory bid on February 15, 2010), John D. Cherry, Lieutenant Governor (ended exploratory bid on January 5, 2010), Hansen Clarke, member of the Michigan Senate (ended bid on January 15, 2010; ran for Congress instead), John Freeman, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives (ended bid on January 11, 2010), Dan Kildee, former Genesee County Treasurer (ended exploratory bid on March 5, 2010), Alma Wheeler Smith, member of the Michigan House of Representatives (ended exploratory bid on May 10, 2010) Mike Bouchard, Sheriff of Oakland County, Mike Cox, Michigan Attorney General, Tom George, state senator, Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Representative, Rick Snyder, businessman David Kniffen, businessman, Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Secretary of State (became Bouchard's running mate), Tim Rujan, Huron County Commissioner (failed to qualify) Based on past election performance, the Libertarian Party of Michigan, Green Party of Michigan, and the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan (affiliated with the Constitution Party) have automatic ballot access for the general election, but by state law they must nominate candidates through party conventions rather than primary elections. The Natural Law Party also has automatic ballot access in Michigan, but chose not to run a candidate for governor in 2010. The Libertarian Party of Michigan nominee was Kenneth Proctor. The nomination was won at the Michigan Libertarian Convention held in Okemos, Michigan on Saturday, May 22, in accordance with Michigan state law. He beat out Bhagwan Dashairya, who had been the 2006 U.S. Taxpayers Party nominee for governor. The delegates ended up selecting Dashairya as the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Congress in District 8. Proctor's running mate was Dr. Erwin Haas, Maryland of Grand Rapids. Haas received the Lt. Governor nomination unanimously. The Green Party of Michigan held their statewide nominating convention July 31 and August 1 in Lansing, Michigan, and nominated Harley Mikkelson for governor and Lynn Meadows for lieutenant governor. The 2010 U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan convention was held on June 26 in East Lansing, Michigan. In a nearly unanimous vote, Stacey Mathia and Chris Levels were formally nominated as candidates of the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Michigan for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor. According to Stacey Mathia's official press release, "The Convention applauded Mathia's agenda to institute Law-Abiding Constitutional Government and State Sovereignty in order to free the People of Michigan from the political oppression of big government operating outside of its authority." The press release also stated, "Chris Levels, is currently well known as a radio talk show host on WSNL in the Flint, Michigan area. His last minute nomination speech will be available on Mathia's website. The USTPM Convention gave him a standing applause." On August 12, it was reported that Virg Bernero accepted invitations to three debates. The first debate would be held September 21 and sponsored by WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids. The second debate would be held October 7 and be broadcast on 55 radio and TV stations throughout the state. The third debate would be held October 21 and would be sponsored by WXYZ-TV, WWJ (AM) and Crain's Detroit Business. Then in early September, Bernero offered Snyder a deal of eight debates. Snyder proposed a counter-offer of three debates, which Bernero refused. A Detroit Free Press editorial was critical of Snyder for not agreeing to debates. Bernero called Snyder a wimp for not agreeing to debate him. An impromptu debate developed after Bernero crashed a town hall meeting Snyder was hosting in Westland on September 13. The two sides agreed to an hour-long televised debate, broadcast on October 10 from the studios of WTVS in Wixom. A group of Detroit clergy have invited the two major party candidates to a debate there on October 21. Only Bernero accepted the invitation. 2010 United States gubernatorial elections Elections in Michigan from the Michigan Secretary of State, 2010 Official Michigan General Candidate Listing, Michigan Governor Candidates at Project Vote Smart, Campaign contributions for 2010 Michigan Governor from Follow the Money 2010 Michigan Governor General Election: Rick Snyder (R) vs Virg Bernero (D) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com, Election 2010: Michigan Governor from Rasmussen Reports, 2010 Michigan Governor Race from Real Clear Politics, 2010 Michigan Governor's Race from CQ Politics, Race Profile in The New York Times Debates Michigan Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Debate on C-SPAN, June 21, 2010, Michigan Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate on C-SPAN, June 24, 2010, Michigan Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate on C-SPAN, July 13, 2010 Official campaign sites (Archived) Virg Bernero, Mike Bouchard, Mike Cox, Tom George, Pete Hoekstra, Stacey Mathia, Ken Proctor, Rick Snyder The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2014 took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Michigan, concurrently with the election of Michigan's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Snyder ran for re-election to a second term in office. Primary elections took place on August 5, 2014, in which Snyder and former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer were unopposed in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively. Snyder was considered vulnerable in his bid for a second term, as reflected in his low approval ratings. The consensus among The Cook Political Report, Governing, The Rothenberg Political Report, and Sabato's Crystal Ball was that the contest was a "tossup". Snyder was saddled with a negative approval rating, while his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer, suffered from a lack of name recognition. Snyder was re-elected with 50.9% of the vote. Polling indicated significant opposition from Republican primary voters in Michigan towards Snyder's bid for re-election. This came in the midst of discussions by the Tea Party network regarding whether incumbent lieutenant governor Brian Calley should be replaced as Snyder's running mate. Snyder started running campaign ads in September 2013, immediately following the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and formally declared that he is seeking re-election in January 2014. In August 2013, Tea Party leader Wes Nakagiri announced that he would challenge Calley for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. At the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference (September 20–22, 2013), speculation reported by the media also included Todd Courser as a potential challenger to Calley. At the Michigan Republican Party state convention, which took take place on August 23, 2014, incumbent lieutenant governor Brian Calley won renomination. On January 3, 2014, Mark McFarlin (who had originally declared his intention to run as a Democrat the previous November), announced that he would be running for the Republican nomination. He believed that his populist platform was too conservative for the Democratic ticket, and that he could get crossover support in the general election. However, he did not submit his filing petitions in time to qualify for the August primary ballot. Rick Snyder, incumbent governor of Michigan Mark McFarlin, private investigator and Independent write-in candidate for governor in 2002 (had declared as a Democrat, then switched parties) Mike Bishop, former Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate (running for Congress), Todd Courser, Tea Party activist, candidate for the Michigan Board of Education in 2012 and for chairman of the Michigan Republican Party in 2013 Michigan Democratic Party leadership rallied support behind former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Party primary. Party Chairman Lon Johnson encouraged all other potential challengers to stay out of the race so as to avoid a costly and potentially bitter primary campaign. Conservative Democrat and "birther" Mark McFarlin had announced on November 29, 2013, that he was running for the Democratic nomination for governor, but he switched parties on January 3, 2014, leaving Schauer as the only candidate for the Democratic nomination. Mark Schauer, former U.S. Representative Mark McFarlin, private investigator and Independent write-in candidate for governor in 2002 (ran as a Republican) John C. Austin, president of the Michigan Board of Education, Vicki Barnett, Minority Whip of the Michigan House of Representatives, Jocelyn Benson, dean of Wayne State University Law School and nominee for Michigan Secretary of State in 2010, Virgil Bernero, Mayor of Lansing and nominee for governor in 2010, Mark Bernstein, attorney and Regent of the University of Michigan, Mike Duggan, Mayor-elect of Detroit and former Wayne County Prosecutor, Mark Hackel, Macomb County Executive, Dan Kildee, U.S. Representative, Gary Peters, U.S. Representative (running for the U.S. Senate), Bart Stupak, former U.S. Representative, Gretchen Whitmer, Minority Leader of the Michigan Senate Mary Buzuma, nominee for Michigan's 2nd congressional district in 2012 Running mate: Scott Boman, activist, former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Michigan and perennial candidate Paul Homeniuk Running mate: Candace Caveny, nominee for the state senate in 2006, 2008 and 2010 and nominee for the State Board of Education in 2012 Mark McFarlin, Independent write-in candidate for governor in 2002 Running mate: Richard Mendoza Robin Sanders, retired from the United States Navy and the Michigan Department of Corrections Complete video of debate, October 12, 2014 - C-SPAN 2014 United States Senate election in Michigan, 2014 Michigan Attorney General election, 2014 Michigan Secretary of State election, 2014 United States gubernatorial elections, 2014 United States elections Michigan gubernatorial election, 2014 at Ballotpedia, Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org Official campaign websites (Archived) Mark McFarlin for Governor, Robin Sanders for Governor, Mark Schauer for Governor, Rick Snyder for Governor incumbent The 2006 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, 2006, with all 33 Class 1 Senate seats being contested. The term of office for those elected in 2006 ran from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2013. Prior to the election, the Republican Party controlled 55 of the 100 Senate seats. The Senate elections were part of the Democratic sweep of the 2006 elections, in which Democrats made numerous gains and no congressional or gubernatorial seat held by a Democrat was won by a Republican. One Democratic incumbent however was defeated in a primary but then went on to be reelected on a third party ticket. Because of this, this is the first time since the 1970 Senate elections in which a member of a third party, who is not an independent, was elected to the Senate. The lone Independent retired but was succeeded by another Independent, retaining their presence in the Senate. This election was also the first midterm election since the 1990 midterms and the most recent one to date in which Senate Democrats made net gains and the first midterm election in which they made more than one net gain since 1988. Following the elections, no party held a majority of seats for the first time since January 1955. The Democrats were able to control the chamber because the two Independents caucused with the Democrats. The Democrats needed at least 51 seats to control the Senate because Vice President Dick Cheney would have broken any 50–50 tie in favor of the Republicans. This was the first time since 2000 where the Democrats effectively won control of the Senate as a result of elections. As of 2019, this is the last time Democrats won a Senate election in Nebraska. Six Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats: Jim Talent (Missouri) lost to Claire McCaskill, Conrad Burns (Montana) lost to Jon Tester, Mike DeWine (Ohio) lost to Sherrod Brown, Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania) lost to Bob Casey Jr., Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island) lost to Sheldon Whitehouse, George Allen (Virginia) lost to Jim Webb Democrats kept their two open seats in Minnesota and Maryland, and Republicans held onto their lone open seat in Tennessee. An Independent was elected in Vermont to replace the Independent in an open seat. In Connecticut, incumbent Joe Lieberman lost his Democratic primary, but won re-election under an ad hoc new party, "Connecticut for Lieberman." The following table rates the competitiveness of every race. Incumbents with parentheses around their names did not run for reelection. There were no special elections during the 109th Congress. In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2007; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats. There were no special elections in 2007 after January 3. Incumbent Republican Jon Kyl won re-election to a third term over Democrat Jim Pederson, real estate developer and former Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party. The incumbent, Republican Jon Kyl, was elected to the Senate in 1994 and was re-elected to a second term in 2000; having previously spent eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Kyl's Democratic opponent for the general election was wealthy real-estate developer Jim Pederson, who served as the Arizona Democratic Party Chairman from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure, Pederson spent millions of dollars of his own money to help Democrats modernize and to elect Janet Napolitano as Governor of Arizona. The deadline for signing petition signatures to appear on the September 12, 2006 primary ballot was June 14, 2006. Not long after the 2004 election, Pederson's name began being mentioned as a potential Senate candidate for the 2006 race. On July 28, 2005, Pederson formally stepped down as Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, further fueling those speculations. In early September 2005, an e-mail was sent from the Arizona Democratic Party's website, inviting people to an announcement by Pederson on September 7. In an anticlimactic move, an e-mail was sent out shortly after the first saying that the announcement would be postponed due to Hurricane Katrina. It was requested that any money that would be donated to Pederson's campaign at the announcement be directed to relief efforts instead. Similarly, a meeting in Arizona of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was scheduled for around the same time. It was also postponed and the same request was made involving donations. On September 7, 2005, Pederson filed to run for the U.S. Senate. On September 14, 2005, Pederson formally announced his intention to run, in his hometown of Casa Grande, Arizona. Although Kyl started the campaign with a sizable lead in most polls, the gap quickly narrowed, especially after Pederson released his array of ads. Pederson lost the election by 9.84% or 150,257 votes, despite Democratic Incumbent Governor Janet Napolitano easily being re-elected and winning every county statewide. While Pederson lost it was still notable, as it was the worst performance of Senator Kyl's career. Kyl did well as Republicans usually do in Maricopa County home of Phoenix. Pederson did well in Pima County home of Tucson which tends to support Democrats. Kyl was called the winner by CNN at around 8 P.M. local time, 11 P.M. EST. Pederson called Senator Kyl and conceded defeat at 9:02 P.M. local time, 12:02 P.M. EST. Incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein won re-election to her third full term. Feinstein stood against Republican Dick Mountjoy, who had never held a statewide elected position, but had been a state senator for several years. Also running was Libertarian Michael Metti, Don Grundmann of the American Independent Party, Todd Chretien of the Green Party and Marsha Feinland of the Peace and Freedom Party. Because California is a state that requires a large amount of money to wage a competitive statewide campaign, it is not unusual - as was the case for this race - for a popular incumbent to have no significant opponent. Several prominent Republicans, such as Bill Jones, Matt Fong, and others, declined to run, and a previous announced challenger, businessman Bill Mundell, withdrew his declaration after determining he would not be a self- funded candidate (like Michael Huffington was in the 1994 election). On September 22, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mountjoy's official biography, as found on his campaign website, falsely asserted that he had served aboard the battleship USS Missouri during the Korean War—he'd actually served aboard the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton. A review of the ships' logs corroborated this and the website was quickly changed to reflect his service aboard the Bremerton rather than the Missouri. Mountjoy denied having been responsible for adding the incorrect information Feinstein won the election easily. Feinstein won almost every major urban area, winning in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego. Feinstein was projected the winner as the polls closed at 11 P.M. EST. Incumbent Democrat Joe Lieberman lost the August 8 Democratic primary to cable executive Ned Lamont, a former Greenwich selectman. Lieberman formed his own third party and won in the general election to a fourth term. Because Connecticut was believed to be a Democratic stronghold, Connecticut's Senate seat was considered safe to remain as a Democratic seat by political analysts, but Lieberman's continued support for conservative and Bush administration policies made him vulnerable to a Democratic primary challenger. Lieberman's critics objected to what they call Lieberman's lack of commitment to the Democratic party; his opposition to affirmative action; his opposition to a Connecticut state law that would require Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims; his membership in the bipartisan Gang of 14; his support of Florida governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case; his initial willingness to compromise on Social Security privatization; his alliances with Republicans; and his attacks on other Democrats. On March 13, 2006, Ned Lamont announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Lamont was more liberal than Lieberman, but he was not immune from criticism from within his own party. The New Republic senior editor and "liberal hawk" Jonathan Chait, who is critical of Lieberman on a variety of issues, wrote: I can't quite root for Lieberman to lose his primary. What's holding me back is that the anti-Lieberman campaign has come to stand for much more than Lieberman's sins. It's a test of strength for the new breed of left-wing activists who are flexing their muscles within the party. These are exactly the sorts of fanatics who tore the party apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They think in simple slogans and refuse to tolerate any ideological dissent. Early polling showed Lieberman with as much as a 46-point lead, but subsequent polls showed Lamont gaining until Lamont took the lead just weeks before the primary. A controversy about a "kiss" Lieberman supposedly received from President Bush during the 2005 State of the Union address highlighted concerns that the senator was too close to the unpopular president to be a credible Democratic nominee. Lieberman released several campaign advertisements over the summer of 2006, seeking to connect himself to former President Bill Clinton and to portray Lamont as standing for little more than opposition to Lieberman. Lamont struck back against some of Lieberman's more negative ads with an advertisement produced by well-known political consultant Bill Hillsman. In Lamont's ad, a foreboding narrator says, "Meet Ned Lamont. He can't make a decent cup of coffee, he's a bad karaoke singer, and he has a messy desk." Lamont then chimes in, "Aren't you sick of political attack ads that insult your intelligence? Senator Lieberman, let's stick to issues and pledge to support whoever wins the Democratic primary." From midmorning August 7 to well past August 9, Lieberman's official campaign site was taken offline; officials from Lieberman's campaign claimed "dirty politics" and "Rovian tactics" on the part of Lamont's supporters, and more specifically, a sustained Distributed Denial of Service attack that, according to the Lieberman campaign, had left the site down for several days. Tim Tagaris, Lamont's Internet communications director, denied the charge and attributed the downtime to the fact that the Lieberman campaign had chosen an inferior web host, or ISP, and was only paying $15/month to operate its site (in comparison to the $1500/month being spent by the Lamont campaign). On December 20, 2006, a joint investigation by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office and the U.S. attorney's office cleared the Lamont campaign of the hacking accusations. A spokesman for Kevin O'Connor, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, stated, "The investigation has revealed no evidence the problems the Web site experienced were the result of criminal conduct." Lamont won the primary with 51.79% of the vote, as opposed to Lieberman's 48.21%. However, in his concession speech, Lieberman announced that he would stand by his prior statements that he'd run as an independent if he lost the Democratic primary. In the Republican Party primary, Alan Schlesinger drew fire in July when it was revealed that he had been gambling under an alias in order to avoid detection as a card counter. Despite calls to withdraw from the race, Schlesinger remained in the race, ultimately becoming the Republican nominee when no other Republican challengers entered the race. On June 12, Ned Lamont began running radio ads promising if he lost the primary to endorse Lieberman, challenging Lieberman to abandon consideration of an independent run by making a similar pledge. Lieberman refused to make this pledge; his campaign manager, Sean Smith said, "Are we going to support Ned Lamont? Ah, no!" On July 3 in Hartford, Lieberman announced that he would collect signatures in order to guarantee himself a position on the November ballot. Both Lieberman and Smith said that Lieberman will run as a "petitioning Democrat" and would caucus with Senate Democrats if elected. On July 10, the Lieberman campaign officially filed paperwork allowing him to collect signatures to form a new political party, the Connecticut for Lieberman party. Upon Lieberman's announcement, independent polls continued to show him favored to win a plurality or outright majority of the vote in a three-way general election (see below). The petition issue led to charges against the Lieberman campaign of political opportunism and lack of respect for the political process. Lieberman received strong support from many prominent conservative pundits and publications. "[H]is most vocal support came from places like The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Commentary Magazine; Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol and right-wing radio hosts cheered for his victory." Thus, "Lieberman was able to run in the general election as the de facto Republican candidate — every major Republican office- holder in the state endorsed him — and to supplement that GOP base with strong support from independents." On August 9, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer issued the following joint statement on the Connecticut Senate race: According to The Hill, a Democratic aide to a high-ranking senator commented that Lieberman might be stripped of his Democratic privileges in the Senate. "At this point Lieberman cannot expect to just keep his seniority," said the aide. "He can't run against a Democrat and expect to waltz back to the caucus with the same seniority as before. It would give the view that the Senate is a country club rather than representative of a political party and political movement." Lieberman won with approximately 50% of the vote, and served a six-year term from January 3, 2007 to January 3, 2013. Exit polls showed that Lieberman won the vote of 33% of Democrats, 54% of independents and 70% of Republicans. Lieberman won every county in the November general election. Incumbent Democrat Thomas R. Carper won re-election to a second term over a Republican Temple University law professor, Jan C. Ting. Incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson won re-election to a second term over Republican congresswoman Katherine Harris. The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which monitors political corruption, complained to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in October 2006 that the Bacardi beverage company had illegally used corporate resources in support of a fundraising event for Nelson in 2005. CREW had previously filed a similar complaint concerning a Bacardi fundraising event for Republican Senator Mel Martinez, an event that raised as much as $60,000 for Martinez's campaign. The amended complaint alleged that, on both occasions, Bacardi violated the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC regulations by soliciting contributions from a list of the corporation's vendors. Nelson was easily re-elected, winning all but 10 of Florida's 67 counties and receiving 60.3% of the vote, winning by 1,064,421 votes or 22.2%. Nelson was projected the winner as the polls closed at 7 P.M. EST. Incumbent Democrat Daniel Akaka won re-election to his third full term over Republican State Representative Cynthia Thielen. Democratic congressman Ed Case ran against Akaka in the Democratic Primary, having stated that although he had the deepest respect for Akaka, Hawaii was in a time of transition with regard to the state's representation in Congress which required that the state elect Senators of the next generation to provide continuity. He warned the state would lose all clout in Washington if the state's two US Senators, both of whom were over 80 years old, left office within a short time of each other. If a Senator were to die, Hawaii election law requires that the governor appoint a replacement of the same party. Hawaii's other Representative, Neil Abercrombie, and other Senator, Daniel Inouye, pledged their support to Akaka, who won the primary with 55% of the vote. Hawaii State Representative Cynthia Thielen was selected to be the Republican nominee after Jerry Coffee, who had previously withdrawn his candidacy, won the primary. Akaka won in all 4 Hawaii counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each area. Incumbent Republican Richard Lugar was unopposed by any Democratic candidate and was re-elected to his sixth six-year term with 87.3% of the vote over Libertarian radio operator Steve Osborn. This would be Lugar's last race of his political career. Lugar faced no opposition from the Democratic Party, as they felt Lugar was unbeatable. The Indiana Senate race was the only one in 2006 where the incumbent faced no challenger from the other major party. Also running was Libertarian Steve Osborn. Osborn was from La Porte, Indiana and was an amateur radio operator. Exit polls projected a landslide victory for Lugar which was borne out by the result. The election was not close, with Lugar winning every county. Osborn's best performance was in Switzerland County, where he received just over 22% of the vote. Incumbent Republican Olympia Snowe won re-election to a third term over Democratic activist Jean Hay Bright. Snowe, who had been elected to both of her previous terms by approximately 2-to-1 margins, had never lost an election. Snow won by a landslide even as Democrats won across the country due to her being a centrist Republican and having a very high approval rating in Maine. Meanwhile, her Democratic opponent in the 2006 election, Jean Hay Bright, had never been elected to political office. Democrats' best hope for taking the seat was that Snowe would retire rather than run in 2006, but there was never any indication that she seriously considered not running for re- election. The filing deadline for major party candidates was March 15, 2006. The primary was held June 13, 2006. Olympia Snowe was unopposed for the Republican nomination; Jean Hay Bright narrowly won the Democratic nod with 50.7% of the vote against Eric Mehnert. Hay Bright announced her candidacy in May 2005. Hay Bright was previously an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 1996. The race had been called by FOX News for Snowe 23 minutes after the polls had closed. Snowe won re-election by a greater margin than any U.S. Senator that cycle except Indiana's Richard Lugar, who faced only a Libertarian opponent. Snowe won in all of Maine's counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each region. Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States Senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin won the open seat. Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when Dennis F. Rasmussen, a former Baltimore County Executive, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL-CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn. Michael S. Steele, Lieutenant Governor and former Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, was expected to win the Republican primary, and the Baltimore Sun wrote the month before that he faced "only nominal opposition". Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving significant media coverage was Daniel Vovak. This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected. Kevin Zeese, the nominee for the Green, Populist and Libertarian Parties, was also on the ballot. Though Steele lost the general election by 10% of the vote, a much wider margin than predicted, his was and remains the best showing for a Republican in a Senate race in Maryland since Charles Mathias, Jr. was re- elected in 1980 with 66% of the vote. Both Steele and Cardin made controversial statements and advertising throughout the campaign. Cardin primarily attacked Steele over his close relations with President Bush, including pictures of Bush and Steele in Cardin's TV ads. Steele focused on low taxes, less government spending, free markets and national security. Despite polls days before the election showing the race at a 3% margin, Cardin won by more than 10% with a 178,295-vote margin. Steele conceded defeat at 9:02P.M. EST. Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy won re-election to his eighth full term, beating Republican language school owner and activist Kenneth Chase. This was Kennedy's last election to the Senate. At the Massachusetts Republican Party Convention Kenneth Chase received the official endorsement with a majority of delegates, though both candidates qualified for the September primary. Former White House Chief-of-Staff Andy Card also received 3 votes. Kennedy captured every county in the state, winning at least 62% in each region. Incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow won re-election to a second term, beating Republican Michael Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff Economic issues took front-and-center in the campaign, as Michigan's unemployment rate was one of the highest in the nation. In July 2006, unemployment in Michigan stood at approximately 7%, compared with a 4.7% rate nationwide. Pessimism about the state's economic future had left Michigan ranked 49th nationally between 2000 and 2005 in retaining young adults. Since its peak, Detroit had lost over a million people. Bouchard claimed that the incumbent had accomplished nothing, dubbing her "Do-Nothing Debbie." President George W. Bush came to Michigan and raised $1 million for Bouchard. From a long way out Stabenow looked like she might be vulnerable. President Bush even came to Michigan to campaign for Bouchard, raising over $1,000,000 dollars for him. However Bouchard never won a single poll. By October the Republican Party, started taking resources out of Michigan to focus on closer races, essentially ceding the race to Stabenow. Stabenow would go on to win the election easily, capturing nearly 57% of the vote. Stabenow did well throughout Michigan, but performed better in heavily populated cities like Detroit, Oakland, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo. Bouchard did win Grand Rapids, a typical Republican area. He also won in many rural areas around the state. However Bouchard failed to put a dent in Stabenow's lead, largely due to her strong performance in heavily populated areas. Bouchard conceded to Stabenow at 9:58 P.M. EST. Incumbent DFL senator Mark Dayton decided in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. The primary elections took place on September 12, 2006. DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar won the open seat over Mark Kennedy (R), U.S. Congressman. Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes was a central issue for Democrats in the campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official house website; in rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process. Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not to be invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Mr. Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Ms. Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the 2006 campaign as a special guest. Incumbent Republican Trent Lott won re-election to a fourth term. Lott ran for re-election without facing any opposition in his party's primary. While it had been speculated that Lott might retire after his home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, he instead chose to run for re-election. Fleming is an African American, which represents 37% of the state's population. However, no African American has ever been elected to statewide office. The last black U.S. Senator was Hiram Revels, who was appointed and took office in 1870. Fleming got little help from the DSCC, which only donated $15,000 to his campaign. Incumbent Republican Jim Talent was elected in a special election in 2002 when he narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan. Carnahan had been appointed to the Senate seat following the posthumous election of her husband Mel Carnahan, who had died in a plane crash shortly before the 2000 election. Talent's Democratic opponent was Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill. Early on the morning of November 8, Talent conceded defeat to McCaskill, having faced considerable political headwinds. Talent lost the election with 47% of the vote, to 50% of the vote for McCaskill. The election was always expected to be very close, which seems fitting for a seat that has changed hands twice, both by very narrow margins, within the last six years. In 2000, the late Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator John Ashcroft 50% to 48%. Two years later in a special election held for the seat, incumbent Senator Jean Carnahan lost an even closer election to former Congressman Talent, 50% to 49%. Missouri was seen as the nation's bellwether state throughout the 20th century: It had voted for the winner of every presidential election since 1900, except for 1956 (when the state narrowly favored Adlai Stevenson over Dwight D. Eisenhower). Missouri's bellwether status was due to the fact that it not only voted for the electoral victor, but that its returns usually mirrored national returns. The state itself is a geographically central state, bordered by both the edges of Southern and Midwestern regions. In statewide contests for much of the 20th century, Missouri favored the Democratic Party. In recent elections, the Republican Party (GOP) has emerged in statewide contests. The election of 2004 was an important one; as George W. Bush was re-elected he carried Missouri. But this time his margin in the state was greater than it was nationwide. Bush won the Presidency 51% to 48%, he carried Missouri 53% to 46%. This trend had begun in 2000, when Bush lost the national popular vote to Al Gore 47% to 48% but still won Missouri, 50% to 47%. Bush's victory also saw Republicans triumph in several statewide contests; Senator Kit Bond was re- elected by a decisive 56% to 43% margin and Matt Blunt won the election for Governor, narrowly defeating state auditor Claire McCaskill 51% to 48%. The GOP also captured control of the state legislature for the first time in eighty years. Talent, anticipating a tough re-election battle and attempting to dissuade challengers, had accumulated a large campaign fund. For most of 2005, he had no opposition. State Senator Chuck Graham had briefly entered the race early in the year, but dropped out soon after. However, on August 30, 2005, Democrat Claire McCaskill announced her intention to run for Talent's Senate seat. McCaskill started with a large financial disadvantage, but she was also an experienced candidate with high name recognition. McCaskill had run two successful campaigns for state auditor. She was also a candidate for governor in 2004, when she defeated the incumbent Democratic Governor Bob Holden in the primary election but lost with 48% of the vote in the general election. Both Talent and McCaskill faced unknowns in their respective primaries on August 8, 2006, and defeated them soundly. The Missouri contest was seen as vitally important to control of the United States Senate; as a toss-up election between two strong candidates, the race was expected to attract a lot of interest as well as money spent on ads and turning out supporters. If Talent won, then a Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate depended upon victories in Tennessee, where the Republican Bob Corker won, and Virginia, where Democrat Jim Webb won; the Democrats needed to win six seats to take control of the chamber with 51 seats. To do this, they would need to retain their 19 incumbent seats, win the four Republican-held seats of Montana, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania (where Democratic chances seemed above 50%, and Democrats won all 4.) and two of the following three "toss-up" races: Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia. It is believed that statewide ballot issues drove the November 2006 vote. Talent was on the opposite of the majority of voters in this poll on just about every issue: 66% of Missouri voters favored raising the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour; 62% of Missouri voters favored raising taxes to replace Medicaid funding cut by the current Republican Governor, Matt Blunt; 54% opposed a law that would require all Missourians to show a photo ID before they vote; 58% favored campaign donation limitations; and 66% favored restoring Medicaid coverage to about 90,000 Missourians who lost coverage when Blunt and the Republican legislature tightened eligibility requirements. Perhaps most importantly, 62% favored a ballot proposal that would allow all types of embryonic stem cell research allowed under federal law - a measure Talent had recently announced that he was against. On election night the race was, as expected, too close to call. With 85% of the vote in and with still no call, McCaskill claimed victory. At the time McCaskill declared victory, she was ahead by a vote margin of 867,683 to Talent's 842,251 votes; in percentage terms, with 85% of the vote in, McCaskill led Talent, 49% to 48%. Finally, at 11:38 P.M. Central Time the Associated Press called McCaskill as the winner. St. Louis County, adjacent to St. Louis, and Jackson County, home of Kansas City, are probably what pushed McCaskill over the finish line. Incumbent Republican Conrad Burns was running for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Democrat Jon Tester, President of the Montana State Senate, by a margin of 0.87%, or 3,562 votes out of 406,505 votes. Burns was first elected as a United States Senator from Montana in 1988, when he defeated Democratic incumbent John Melcher in a close race, 51% to 48%. Burns was re-elected 62.4% to 37.6%, over Jack Mudd in the Republican Revolution year of 1994. In 2000, Burns faced the well-financed Brian Schweitzer whom he beat 50.6% to 47.2%. In 2000, George W. Bush carried Montana 58% to 33% in the race for President, but Burns won by 3.4%. Since the direct election of Senators began in 1913, Burns is only the second Republican Montana has elected to the U.S. Senate. Also, for thirty-two straight years, 1952 to 1984, Montana elected only Democratic Senators. Burns's involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal made him vulnerable. A SurveyUSA poll released in March 2006 found that 38% of Montanans approved of him, while 52% disapproved of him. Polls against leading Democratic candidates had him below his challengers. On May 31, 2006, Richards, citing the closeness of the race, and his own position (third) in the polls, withdrew from the race, and threw his support to Tester. Morrison started off strong in the race for the Democratic nomination for Senator, collecting $1.05 million as of the start of 2006, including $409,241 in the last three months of 2005. but Morrison's advantages in fundraising and name identification did not translate into a lead in the polls. Later, the race was called a "deadlock," but Tester continued to gather momentum. The race was expected to be close, due to Burns's previous narrow winning margins and recent political scandal involving him personally; Republican incumbents everywhere were facing more challenging races in 2006 due to the waning popularity of Congress and the leadership of President George W. Bush. In July 2006, the Rasmussen report viewed Burns as the "second most vulnerable Senator seeking re-election this year (Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum was still the most vulnerable)." Senator Conrad Burns of Montana faced a strong challenge from Brian Schweitzer in 2000, being re-elected by 3.4% in a state that went for Bush twice by margins of over 20%. This, combined with the increasing strength of the state Democratic party and accusations of ethical issues related to the Jack Abramoff scandal, made this a highly competitive race. On July 27, Burns was forced to apologize after he confronted out of state firefighters who were preparing to leave Montana after helping contain a summer forest fire and directly questioned their competence and skill; Burns was strongly criticized. On August 31, in a letter faxed to the office of Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, Burns urged the governor, a Democrat, to declare a fire state of emergency and activate the Montana Army National Guard for firefighting. Schweitzer had already declared such a state of emergency on July 11 — thus, activating the Montana Army National Guard. He issued a second declaration on August 11. A Burns spokesman said the senator was "pretty sure" Schweitzer had already issued such a disaster declaration, but just wanted to make sure. "The genesis of the letter was just to make sure that all the bases were covered," Pendleton said. "This is not a political football. It's just a cover-the-bases letter and certainly casts no aspersions on the governor." Due to errors with polling machines the Montana count was delayed well into Wednesday November 8. The race was too close to call throughout the night and many pundits predicted the need for a recount. After a very close election, on November 9, incumbent Conrad Burns conceded defeat. Just before 11:00 AM (MST) on November 8, Jon Tester was declared Senator-elect for Montana in USA Today. At 2:27 PM EST on November 8, CNN projected that Jon Tester would win the race. Burns conceded the race on November 9, and congratulated Tester on his victory. The race was the closest Senate election of 2006 in terms of absolute vote difference; the closest race by percentage difference was the Virginia senate election. Incumbent Democrat Ben Nelson won re-election to a second term. As of 2017, this is the last Senate election in Nebraska won by a Democrat. Since Republican Pete Ricketts, former COO of Ameritrade was a millionaire, he could finance his own campaign. His opponents could not raise enough money to keep up. Kramer raised $330,000 and Stenberg raised $246,000 in 2005. The primary election was held May 9, 2006. Pete Ricketts won the Republican nomination with 48% of the vote. Ben Nelson was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Nelson was elected in 2000 by a margin of 51% to 49% after serving as the state's governor for two terms. Nelson, considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, is the lone Democrat in Nebraska's Congressional delegation. This election was one of the most expensive in Nebraska history. In 2005, Ben Nelson raised $3.9 million for his re-election campaign. Pete Ricketts contributed $14.35 million of his own money to his campaign; he raised an additional $485,000 in contributions. The race also attracted national attention and generated several high-level campaign appearances. President George W. Bush appeared at a rally for Ricketts on November 5, 2006, in Grand Island, while then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama appeared at a fundraiser for Nelson and other Nebraska Democrats on May 5, 2006 in Omaha. However, he won re-election by a wide margin. Incumbent Republican John Ensign won re-election to a second term over Democrat Jack Carter, Navy veteran and son of President Jimmy Carter. Popular Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman had said in January that he would probably run, but in late April, he decisively ruled that out. Goodman did not file by the May 12, 2006 deadline. Carter's advantages included his formidable speaking abilities and kinship with a former U.S. President. On the other hand, Ensign was also considered to be an effective speaker and as of the first quarter of 2006, held an approximately 5-1 advantage over Carter in cash-on-hand. Ensign won a majority of the votes in every county in the state, with his lowest percentage at 53%. Incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez was re-elected. The seat was previously held by Democratic Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine. After Corzine resigned and was sworn in Governor, Corzine appointed Congressman Menendez on January 18, 2006. Menendez was challenged by Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. and seven other candidates. Filing for the primary closed on April 10, 2006. The primary election was held June 6, 2006. Menendez became the first Hispanic to hold a U.S. Senate seat from New Jersey, and was the first Latino elected to statewide office in the state. Menendez won the Democratic primary, with 86% of the vote, against James D. Kelly, Jr. Republican John P. Ginty, associate director with Standard & Poor's represented the conservative wing of the New Jersey Republican party. Kean was a moderate, and the son of the former Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean. Kean won the primary by a 3-1 margin. The biggest factors in the New Jersey Senate race may have had little to do with the candidates involved and more to do with Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine and President George W. Bush. In mid-summer, Jon Corzine and the Democratic- controlled state legislature held a brief shutdown of state government, which ultimately resulted in a sales tax increase, among other things. In a September 2006 poll, SurveyUSA found that Corzine received an approval rate of only 43%, with 48% of the state disapproving. Since Menendez had been appointed by Corzine, some pundits argued that this would be a resonating factor with a number of voters. According to a separate September 2006 poll, SurveyUSA found that the state of New Jersey had a rather high disapproval rating for Republican President George W. Bush, with 64% disapproving and only 32% approving. This led some to argue that voters would take their discontent with Bush out on Kean in the November election. Indeed, some pollsters demonstrated that concerns over the Iraq War and discontent with President Bush solidified the Democratic base in October's advertising blitz, and won over enough independents to seal of fate of the Republican nominee. On the eve of the election, Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll reported that 65% likely voters said that the US invasion of Iraq was a mistake, "including nine of ten Democrats and six of ten independents." Observers also pointed out that "from the beginning, [Menendez] made much of his 2002 vote against the Iraq War Resolution, often referring to it as one of the most important votes of his career. He made it clear as well that he intended to make the race a referendum on the President." Others attributed Kean's early strong showing in the polls of this blue state to uninformed voters confusing the three-year state senator with his father, the popular former governor and 9/11 Commission chairman. Because of Kean's perceived liberalism on social issues, he has been labeled by some conservatives as a "Republican in Name Only". On June 13, 2006, Kean held a fundraiser in Ocean County featuring First Lady Laura Bush. It was here that both Senator Kean and Mrs. Bush pointed out that Kean is not George W. Bush, claiming that Senator Menendez seems to confuse the two. On June 16, 2006 at a New Jersey Association of Counties speaking event in Atlantic City, Kean and his aides beat a hasty retreat from the ballroom engagement and "stampeded" into an elevator in an abortive attempt to avoid the press, only to exit on the same floor as they had entered. Kean declined to answer questions about the scathing attacks on his integrity which his opponent had delivered minutes earlier, instead opting to repeat "a few slogans." In late June, the Associated Press reported that Kean's campaign was planning a "Swift Boat"-style film accusing Menendez of involvement in a New Jersey mob-connected kickback scheme "despite public records and statements disputing that claim." The AP article noted that "[f]our former federal prosecutors who oversaw the case have said Menendez was never involved in any wrongdoing." The airing of unsubstantiated [by whom?] allegations years or even decades old is a hallmark of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign attack style, which gained notoriety during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In mid-September, The Star-Ledger reported that Sen. Menendez had declined a national debate with Kean on the popular Sunday morning talk-show, Meet the Press. A Menendez spokesperson stated that the incumbent Democrat would prefer to focus on local citizens and press. Menendez did agree to take place in three locally aired debates with Kean, which will be aired between October 7–17. Kean withdrew from one of the scheduled debates to which he had previously committed, an October 14, 2006, debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, insisting on a national TV debate as a condition of his participation. Both candidates agreed to participate in a virtual debate sponsored by the nonpartisan Hall Institute of Public Policy - New Jersey which provided "an unprecedented opportunity for candidates and citizens to engage in an interactive forum on the important issues confronting" New Jersey. Beginning in July and running through Election Day in November, the institute submitted questions to the candidates and then posted their responses on its website. Incumbent Democrat Jeff Bingaman won re-election to a fifth term. David Pfeffer, Santa Fe City Councilman announced on August 23, 2005, that he would be entering the primary. A former Democrat, he supported George W. Bush in 2004 and became a Republican in 2005. In his campaign announcement, Pfeffer focused mainly on border controls with Mexico. He criticised Bingaman in comparison to his own support for reform of the Social Security system and the Iraq War as well as U.S. relations with China, saying "With all due respect, I do not believe the present occupier of the junior seat from New Mexico is doing all that can and should be done on these fronts," he said of Bingaman. "I believe I can do a better job ... " Pfeffer also commented that he would have a hard time raising an amount equivalent to Senator Bingaman, a problem faced by any of the latter's potential challengers. Bingaman had a 60% approval rating in one poll. He faced no primary opposition. There had been speculation that Bingaman would give up the chance to run for another term to pursue a lobbyists' job in Washington. Bingaman won every county in the state with at least 56% of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton won by a more than two-to-one margin. Clinton was challenged by Republican John Spencer, a former Mayor of Yonkers, New York. Clinton spent $36million for her re-election, more than any other candidate for Senate in the 2006 elections. On November 7, 2006, Clinton won easily, garnering 67% of the vote to Spencer's 31%. The election was not close, with Clinton winning 58 of New York's 62 counties. Clinton had a surprisingly strong performance in upstate New York which tends to be tossup. When Clinton's upstate margins combined with her huge numbers out of New York City, there was no coming back for the Republicans. Clinton was sworn in for what would be her last term in the senate serving from January 3, 2007 to January 21, 2009 when she assumed the office of United States Secretary of State. Incumbent Dem-NPL-er Kent Conrad won re-election to a fourth term, beating Republican farmer Dwight Grotberg. Popular Republican governor John Hoeven was heavily recruited by prominent national Republicans, including Karl Rove and Dick Cheney to run against Conrad. SurveyUSA polls showed that both Conrad and Hoeven had among the highest approval ratings of any Senators and governors in the nation. A poll conducted by PMR (8/26-9/3 MoE 3.9) for The Forum of Fargo- Moorhead had as result for a hypothetical matchup: Hoeven-35%, Conrad-27%, Uncommitted-38%. This poll showed voter conflict between two very popular politicians in a small state where party loyalty is often trumped by personality. In late September 2005, Hoeven formally declined. Hoeven ran for the Senate in 2010 and was elected. Conrad won at least 53% of the vote in every county in the state. Incumbent Republican Mike DeWine ran for re-election but lost to Democratic congressman Sherrod Brown. DeWine had approval ratings at 38%, making him the second most unpopular U.S. Senator, behind Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum, who was also up for re-election in 2006. Pre-election stories in the U.S. media suggested that the national Republican Party may have given up on saving Senator DeWine's senate seat before election date. Sherrod Brown, former Ohio Secretary of State and U.S. Representative from Ohio's 13th district was the Democratic candidate, and the eventual winner. Paul Hackett, Iraq War veteran announced on February 13, 2006 that he would withdraw from the race, because national party leaders had decided that Sherrod Brown had a better chance against DeWine. The Plain Dealer (2/18/06) also reported that there had been concerns that Hackett might not have had enough money after the primary to run the statewide advertising customary for a Senate campaign. Both Republican challengers, engineer William G. Pierce and David Smith, candidate for OH-02 in 2005, campaigned as conservative alternatives to DeWine, citing DeWine's support for legal abortion and his role as one of the Republican members of the Gang of 14 who compromised with Democrats in a dispute about judicial appointments. DeWine won the primary 71.82% of the votes. Because this race was targeted by Democrats, it made it all the more important to the GOP, who desired to retain Senate control. John McClelland, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party said, "It's vitally important to the Republican Party as a whole, so I think that's why you see the president coming to Ohio to support Mike DeWine. Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said, "Mike DeWine Senior is in for the fight of his life, make no mistake about it". On July 14, 2006, DeWine's campaign began airing TV commercials depicting a smoking World Trade Center. "The senator was notified ... by a reporter at U.S. News & World Report that the image of the burning Twin Towers could not have depicted the actual event because the smoke was blowing the wrong way." DeWine's campaign admitted that the video was actually a still photo of the World Trade Center with smoke digitally added. He also was criticized for using an emotionally charged image to attack his challenger. Another of DeWine's ads suggested that opponent Sherrod Brown didn't pay his taxes for thirteen years. This claim led to the Associated Press reporting on October 19 that, "Several Ohio television stations have stopped airing a Republican ad because state documents contradict the ad's accusation that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown didn't pay an unemployment tax bill for 13 years." Brown produced a commercial citing these facts. DeWine's ads were changed to state only that he had failed to pay his unemployment taxes until legal action was taken against him. According to an article in the October 16, 2006, edition of The New York Times, top Republican party officials on the national level determined that DeWine would probably be defeated and were moving financial support from his race to other Republican senatorial candidates they felt were more likely to win. Brown was called the winner right when the polls closed at 7:30. DeWine had the second worst performance of a Republican incumbent in 2006. Only Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania had a worse performance. While DeWine was able to win rural counties in western Ohio, Brown managed to win most eastern Ohio counties, especially in heavily populated areas. DeWine's narrow 2,000 vote victory in Hamilton County which is home to Cincinnati, came nowhere close to making a dent in Brown's lead. Brown would go on to be re elected in 2012. Incumbent Republican Rick Santorum ran for re-election to a third term, but was defeated by Bob Casey, Jr. Casey was elected to serve between January 3, 2007 and January 3, 2013. Santorum trailed Casey in every public poll taken during the campaign. Casey's margin of victory (nearly 18% of those who voted) was the largest ever for a Democratic Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, and the largest margin of victory for a Senate challenger in the 2006 elections. Bob Casey, Jr., State Treasurer, former State Auditor General and son of former Governor Bob Casey, Sr. won the Democratic primary. Santorum was unopposed in the Republican primary. Republican John Featherman, who ran against Santorum in 2000 as a Libertarian, had been expected to challenge him in the 2006 Republican primary. However, Featherman withdrew his candidacy after a GOP petition challenge because he did not have the necessary number of signatures to get on the ballot. Republican strategists took as a bad omen Santorum's primary result in 2006, in which he ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. Republican gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann, also unopposed in the primary, garnered 22,000 more votes statewide than Santorum in the primary, meaning thousands of Republican voters abstained from endorsing Santorum for another Senate term. This may have been partly due to Santorum's support for Arlen Specter, over Congressman Pat Toomey in the 2004 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Even though Santorum was perceived to be only slightly less conservative than Toomey, he joined virtually all of the state and national Republican establishment in supporting the moderate Specter. This led many socially and fiscally conservative Republicans to consider Santorum's support of Specter to be a betrayal of their cause. However, Santorum said that he supported Specter to avoid risking a Toomey loss in the general election, which would have prevented President George W. Bush's judicial nominees from getting through the Senate. Santorum said Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito would not have been confirmed without the help of Specter, who was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time. At 9:45 PM EST on Election Night, Santorum called Casey to concede defeat. The election was won by Sheldon Whitehouse, former Attorney General of Rhode Island and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island. Republican Lincoln Chafee was seeking re-election to the seat he had held since 1999, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of his father John Chafee. Lincoln Chafee won election to the seat in 2000. Whitehouse was endorsed by U.S. Senator Jack Reed, U.S. Congressmen Jim Langevin and Patrick J. Kennedy, as well as by former candidate Matt Brown. Carl Sheeler, a former U.S. Marine, a business owner, and an adjunct professor of business, ran on a more progressive platform. Ultimately, however, Whitehouse would trounce his competition in the primary on September 12, winning his party's support by a large margin. Incumbent Lincoln Chafee was one of the most liberal members of the Republican Party in the Senate by 2006, and was challenged for the Republican nomination by Steve Laffey, Mayor of Cranston, who had criticized Chafee for his liberal voting record in the Senate. In early 2006, the Club for Growth, a pro-tax cut political action committee, sent a series of mailings to Rhode Island Republicans attacking Chafee's positions and voting record. The national GOP supported Chafee in the primary campaign, believing that he was the most likely candidate to hold the seat in the general election. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, John McCain of Arizona and Laura Bush appeared at fundraisers for Chafee, while Senator Bill Frist's PAC donated to Chafee. The National Republican Senatorial Committee also ran ads in the state supporting Chafee. Steve Laffey, however, picked up many endorsements from Republican town committees throughout Rhode Island, the national group Club for Growth, and former candidate for the party's Presidential nomination Steve Forbes. On July 10, 2006, the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Laffey, saying that he had included a political communication in tax bills mailed to residents of Cranston. Democrats believed that this was one of the most likely Senate seats to switch party control, due to the Democratic tilt of Rhode Island, as well as the fact that Chafee needed to expend part of his campaign fund to win the Republican primary election. Chafee's approval ratings also took a beating from his primary battle with Laffey and may have hurt him in the general election. Another factor that hurt Chafee was the fact that Whitehouse, the Democratic nominee, had a huge head start on him, as he was able to campaign with little opposition for at least half the year and had not had to contend with a major opponent until the general election campaign. Rhode Islanders' historically large disapproval ratings for President Bush and the Republican Party as a whole was another major hurdle for Chafee. Whitehouse and Chafee very rarely disagreed on political issues. Socially, they agreed almost 100% of the time. Chafee was against the Bush tax cuts, indicating his ideology was liberal-leaning. On some fiscal issues they disagreed on such as on social security and free trade. Whitehouse carried Providence County, which contains approximately 60% of the state's population, with 59% to Chafee's 41%. Chafee's strongest showing was in Washington County (South County), where he took 55% of the vote against Whitehouse's 45%. Chafee also took Kent County by a small margin, while Whitehouse was victorious by extremely slim margins in Bristol and Newport Counties. After the election, when asked by a reporter if he thought his defeat would help the country by giving Democrats control of Congress, he replied, "to be honest, yes." Winner Bob Corker replaced Republican Bill Frist who retired upon the end of his second term in 2007. Corker was the Republican nominee, and the Democratic nominee was Harold Ford, Jr., U.S. Representative. The race between Ford and Corker was one of the most competitive Senate races of 2006, with Corker winning the race by less than three percent of the vote. Corker was the only non-incumbent Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2006. Since 1994, the Republican Party has held both of Tennessee's Senate seats. Ford is known nationally for his keynote address at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California, and for a challenge to Nancy Pelosi for leadership of the House Democrats. Rosalind Kurita, a six-term state Senator from Clarksville, Tennessee dropped out of the race in early April 2006. No official reason was given, but Ford enjoyed substantial support from Democratic leaders in Washington and Nashville and held a substantial lead in fundraising. Ford won the Democratic nomination by a wide margin in the primary. Only 11 percent of Tennesseans knew who Corker was when he began running for the Senate race. All three Republicans had run statewide campaigns in the past, albeit unsuccessful ones: former U.S. Representative Ed Bryant for the 2002 Republican Senate nomination, losing to Lamar Alexander; businessman and former Mayor of Chattanooga Bob Corker for the U.S. Senate in 1994, losing to Frist in the Republican primary; and former U.S. Representative Van Hilleary for Tennessee Governor in 2002, losing to Democrat Phil Bredesen. Corker won the nomination by obtaining 48% of the primary vote to Bryant's 34% and Hilleary's 17%. Not long after Corker's primary victory was assured, Ford, at a rally of his supporters attended by Bill Clinton, challenged Corker to seven televised debates across the state. In response, Corker said he will debate Ford but did not agree to Ford's request of seven debates. Both of Corker's primary opponents endorsed Corker immediately after they conceded the race. Before a Corker press conference in Memphis on October 20, Ford approached Corker in a parking lot and confronted his opponent about Iraq in front of local news cameras, pointing out that some of Corker's fellow Republicans are changing their minds on the war and wanting to debate him about the issue. In response, Corker said, "I came to talk about ethics, and I have a press conference. And I think it's a true sign of desperation that you would pull your bus up when I'm having a press conference." Ford replied that he could never find Corker. Corker then walked away to his press conference. On November 2, Nielsen Monitor Plus indicated that the Corker campaign had purchased more television advertising than any other Senate candidate in the country through October 15. A particularly negative ad titled "Who Hasn't?" sponsored by the Republican National Committee ("RNC") that aired during the third and fourth weeks of October gained national attention and condemnation from both Ford and Corker. The ad portrayed a scantily clad white woman (Johanna Goldsmith) acting as a Playboy bunny who "met Harold at the Playboy party" and invites Ford to "call me". Responding to questions about the ad, a Ford spokesperson said that Ford went to a 2005 Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party that was attended by more than 3,000 people, and Ford himself said that he likes "football and girls" and makes no apology for either. Incumbent Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison won re-election to a third term over Democratic attorney Barbara Ann Radnofsky. The Democratic nominee who had never run for public office and was expected to face an uphill battle in the general election, especially in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994 and against a historically popular Hutchison. Since neither Radnofsky nor her main opponent, Gene Kelly, had received a majority of votes in the Democratic primary, a runoff was held April 11, 2006, which Radnofsky won. Radnofsky's campaign platform is available on her website. Scott Lanier Jameson won the Libertarian Party nomination at the party's state convention on June 10, 2006, defeating Timothy Wade and Ray Salinas. Arthur W. Loux, a Roman Forest City Councilman and a member of the Minutemen, was running as an independent. Hutchison co-sponsored legislation supporting the creation of a constitutional amendment that would limit terms for senators, but had been quoted saying that she would only leave after two terms if such a law applied to all senators. After deciding not to challenge Governor Rick Perry this year, as had been widely speculated, Hutchison was running for a third term. She had no opposition in the Republican primary, and had approval ratings in the 60 percent range going into the General Election , although they had been slipping rapidly. Incumbent Republican Orrin Hatch won re-election to a sixth term over Democrat Pete Ashdown, the founder and CEO of Utah's oldest Internet service provider, XMission. Hatch won all but one county with 60% to 70% of the vote. Ashdown won the remaining one county by 342 votes. Incumbent Independent Jim Jeffords decided to retire rather than seek re- election to a fourth term in office and Bernie Sanders was elected to succeed him over Republican businessman Richard Tarrant. Sanders represented Vermont's at-large House district as an independent, won the Democratic primary and then dropped out to run as an independent. Many Democratic politicians across the country endorsed Sanders, and no Democrat was on the ballot. The state committee of the Vermont Democratic Party voted unanimously to endorse Sanders. Sanders won the open seat with 65% of the vote. Four candidates ran in the Democratic primary. Sanders won the primary, but declined the nomination, leaving no Democratic nominee on the ballot. This victory ensured that no Democrat would appear on the general election ballot to split the vote with Sanders, an ally of the Democrats, who has been supported by leaders in the Democratic Party. In mid-August 2006, the campaign heated up considerably, with Tarrant fully engaged in heavy media advertising, most of which criticized Sanders's public stances. Tarrant ran several ads accusing Sanders of representing himself differently from his voting record in the House of Representatives, citing such examples as Sanders's votes against Amber Alert and against increased penalties for child pornography. Sanders responded with an ad stating that Tarrant's claims are "dishonest" and "distort my record" and presented what he viewed as more accurate explanations of his voting record. Sanders won a majority of the votes in every county in the state, with 57% as his lowest county total. Incumbent Republican George Allen ran for re-election to a second term, but lost in a narrow race to Democrat Jim Webb. Allen, who previously served as Governor of Virginia and was considered a possible candidate for president in 2008, was running for his second term. Webb, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, writer and former Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan won the Democratic nomination after being drafted by netroots activists, such as those at the blog Raising Kaine. Polls clearly favored Allen through mid-August, when he was caught on videotape on August 11 twice using an ethnic slur in reference to a Webb campaign volunteer, S.R. Sidarth, who is of Indian ancestry. Allen denied any prejudice in the comment, but his lead shrank considerably. Still, he led in most polls until late October, when several surveys showed Webb with a lead — mostly within the margin of error. The election was not decided until nearly 48 hours after the polls closed, when Allen, behind by a margin of about 0.3%, conceded on November 9, 2006. With all of the other Senate races decided, the outcome swung control of the Senate to the Democrats. The week before the primary, businessman Harris Miller said a Webb campaign flier characterized him in an anti-Semitic way; Webb denied that it did. Webb focused on his early and outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq, which Allen supported. In a September 4, 2002, Washington Post opinion piece, Webb wrote: "A long-term occupation of Iraq would beyond doubt require an adjustment of force levels elsewhere, and could eventually diminish American influence in other parts of the world." Webb's son, a U.S. Marine, served in Iraq. Allen and Webb differed on other issues. Allen is pro-life; Webb, pro-choice. Allen supported George W. Bush's tax cuts while Webb said more of the benefits should have gone to middle-class Americans. Both candidates supported the death penalty, right-to-work laws, and Second Amendment rights. Virginia has historically been one of the more Republican Southern states, for instance it was the only Southern state not to vote for Jimmy Carter in 1976, its congressional delegation is mostly conservative, with eight of eleven Congressmen and both Senators belonging to the Republican Party prior to the 2006 election, this made Virginia's Congressional delegation the most Republican of any Southern state. Despite this, Democrats had won the previous two gubernatorial races, in 2001 and 2005. The state's political majority has been changing from conservative white to a mixture of races, especially Hispanic. The state is increasingly diverse; it has the highest percentage of Asians (4.7%, according to the 2005 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census) of any Southern state. 9.9% of Virginians are foreign-born. Webb, like Governor Tim Kaine in 2005, won the four major fast-growing counties in Northern Virginia outside Washington, D.C.; Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Arlington. President Barack Obama carried Virginia by a 6.3% margin over Republican Senator John McCain. When results began coming in, Allen quickly built a sizeable lead, which began to narrow as the night went on. With 90% of precincts reporting, Allen held a lead of about 30,000 votes , or about 1.5%. However, as votes began to come in from population-heavy Richmond, Webb narrowed the gap, and pulled ahead within the last 1 or 2% of precincts to report. Preliminary results showed Webb holding a lead of 8,942 votes, and many news organizations hesitated to call the election for either candidate until the next day. At 8:41 PM EST on November 8, AP declared Webb the winner. In all Virginia elections, if the margin of defeat is less than half of a percentage point, the Commonwealth of Virginia allows the apparent losing candidate to request a recount, paid for by the local jurisdictions. If the margin of defeat is between one and one-half of a percentage point, the losing candidate is still entitled to request a recount, but must cover its expense. Because the difference was less than 0.5%, George Allen could have requested a recount paid for by the government, but declined to make such a request. That was likely because: Even in large jurisdictions, recounts — such as those in Florida in 2000 and Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election — rarely result in a swing of more than 1,000 votes, and Allen was trailing by almost 10,000 in the initial count. In particular, almost all votes in this Virginia election were cast using electronic voting machines, whose results are unlikely to change in a recount., There was wide speculation that calling for a recount (and still losing) would give Allen a "sore loser" label, which would hurt his future election campaigns, including what some speculated might still involve a 2008 presidential run. However, after losing the senatorial election, on December 10, 2006, Allen announced that he would not be running for president in 2008. Incumbent Democrat Maria Cantwell won re-election to a second term. The filing deadline was July 28, 2006, with the primary held September 19, 2006. Cantwell consistently led in polling throughout the race, although political analysts saw her as vulnerable this election cycle due to her extremely narrow win in 2000 and discontent among progressive voters. In November, The National Journal ranked Cantwell's seat as number 13 of the top 20 races to watch based on the likelihood of switching party control, and the third-highest Democratic seat likely to flip. However, in an election marked by discontent over the Republican leadership in D.C., Cantwell easily won by a 17% margin of victory. Statewide politics in Washington have been dominated by the Democratic Party for many years. The governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, state auditor, and insurance commissioner are Democrats, while only secretary of state, attorney general, and commissioner of public lands are Republican. Of the nine representatives Washington sends to the House of Representatives, six are Democrats. Democrat Patty Murray is the state's senior senator. Cantwell won her initial election to the Senate in 2000 over Slade Gorton by 2,229 votes. Due to the closeness of that race, and the close gubernatorial contest between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi in November 2004, many Republicans believed they had a strong chance of capturing Cantwell's seat in 2006. On March 9, 2006, Aaron Dixon announced his decision to seek the Green Party's nomination for U.S. Senate, challenging Cantwell on her continued support for the U.S. presence in Iraq and the USA PATRIOT Act. On May 13, 2006, Mr. Dixon secured the party's nomination at the Green Party of Washington state's Spring Convention. Initially, Cantwell had two challengers from within the Democratic primary, both of them taking strong stances against the Iraq war that brought attention to Cantwell's votes for the Iraq Resolution and against a timeline for withdrawal. Three other Democrats also entered the primary race. On August 8, 2006, the incumbent Democratic Senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, lost his primary race to challenger Ned Lamont by 52%-48%, and appears to be following through on his earlier commitment to run as an Independent in the general election. A great deal of attention has focused on this race, as an early barometer of both anti- incumbent and anti-war sentiment nationwide. Comparisons have been made between Lieberman's troubles and Cantwell's re-election bid, citing Cantwell's vote in favor of the Iraq Resolution that led to the war, her refusal to say she regretted the vote, and her vote against a timetable for withdrawal. Unlike Lamont's campaign, Cantwell's anti-war opponents' campaigns have received much less funding and have not had the same support from the blogosphere that brought Lamont to prominence and improved his name recognition. Also, unlike Lieberman, Cantwell has altered her position on the war during her campaign and criticized the Bush Administration for its conduct of the war. She also hired her most vocal anti-war primary opponent, Mark Wilson, at $8,000-a-month salary, a move that was described by political commentators as "buying out" the opposition (which she also allegedly attempted with other anti-war challengers Hong Tran and Aaron Dixon). The article does, however, note that, despite the differences in exact circumstances, the Lieberman defeat also shows that voters are in an anti- incumbent mood, which could create problems for Cantwell. This is supported by another P-I article that also notes that the primary loss of Lieberman and two House incumbents, Michigan Republican Joe Schwarz and Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney, on the same day indicates that there may be a nationwide anti- incumbent trend. Following the primary results, Cantwell endorsed Ned Lamont and McGavick responded by endorsing Senator Lieberman. The Dixon campaign released a statement criticizing Cantwell's "spin and vague rhetoric" on the war, and equating her current position to a pro-war stance similar to Lieberman's. On August 14, less than a week after Lamont's win and nearly four years after the actual event, Cantwell for the first time said she would have voted against the authorization to use force in Iraq if she knew then what she knows today. However, she did so only after hearing her opponent McGavick say that he would have voted against the authorization under those conditions. Cantwell has stated that she had no regrets for her vote in favor of the authorization and has not changed that position. On July 9, anti-war challenger Mark Wilson announced he would abandon his bid, endorse Cantwell, and take a paid position offered by Cantwell's campaign, one day after progressive activist and anti-war critic Dal LaMagna had been hired to be the Cantwell campaign's co-chair. Initially, Cantwell's campaign refused to state how much they were paying Wilson, but under pressure from the media, disclosed that he was receiving $8,000 per month, only slightly less than Cantwell's campaign manager Matt Butler, who earns $8,731 per month. The next day, Hong Tran received a call from LaMagna saying they would like her to join their campaign, in a context that she interpreted as a job offer, which she refused. Political commentators, including those at the Seattle Post Intelligencer and one at The Washington Times, expressed their views that Cantwell was attempting to eliminate the viable options anti-war Democrats had to voice their opinion on the war in the upcoming primary by having Wilson join her campaign and then soliciting Tran. Wilson's supporters and journalists expressed surprise at his withdrawal from the race after a 16-month campaign, where he was a sharp critic of the incumbent Senator, who he referred to on his campaign website as a "free-trading corporate elitist" who "bought her seat", then "alienated and alarmed" her base. When asked by reporters if he still believed what he said about Cantwell during his primary bid, he stated: "I believed in it to a point in order to capitalize on what was already existent, which was a rift within the Democratic Party over the issue of the war." Both Dixon and Tran have publicly doubted that Wilson's apparent change of heart was genuine, citing his paid position with the campaign and his initial refusal to disclose his salary. On September 25, Joshua Frank reported that Dixon was alleging that he had been contacted twice in July by Mark Wilson, who implied that large donations to Dixon's non-profit organization, Central House, would be made if he were to withdraw his candidacy before filing. Dixon also claimed that Wilson was not the only Cantwell staffer to contact him, but declined to disclose who the other staff was. Dixon also made this claim on a Democracy Now! broadcast. David Postman of the Seattle Times contacted the Cantwell campaign about the allegations; their spokesperson didn't say it didn't happen, but stated that no one on the campaign had authorized to speak to Dixon about his campaign. The campaign did not allow access to Wilson so he could respond as to whether the conversation took place. Other reporters also have had trouble contacting Wilson in recent weeks; Susan Paynter of the Seattle P-I, in an article on his shunning of the media, noted that there had been a widespread assumption after Wilson's hire that the intent was to silence him and that his disappearance only reinforced this assumption, calling it "the political equivalent of a farm subsidy." Paynter also quoted Hong Tran as saying that the reaction to Wilson's initial appearances on the campaign trail after he had joined Cantwell were so negative that she was not surprised he disappeared. On September 19, after her defeat in the Democratic primary, Hong Tran lamented to the Seattle Times of "how undemocratic the Democratic Party really is" saying the state Democratic party had tried to keep her from getting attention, forbidding her from putting up signs at Coordinated Campaign events and not giving her access to the state party voter rolls. Cantwell, whose campaign hired two of her early critics, had also refused to debate Tran. When asked before the primary whether she would endorse the senator if her primary bid proved unsuccessful, Tran had responded, "certainly not." From the Washington Secretary of State In early hypothetical matchups in 2005 compiled by conservative pollster Strategic Vision, Rossi led Cantwell. Republican leadership reportedly pleaded with Rossi to jump into the ring. Rossi declined. Speculation next centered on Rick White (who had taken Cantwell's House seat in 1994), state GOP chair Chris Vance, former Seattle television reporter Susan Hutchinson, and former 8th district Congressional candidate and Republican National Committee member Diane Tebelius. None of those chose to enter the race. Republican leaders finally got behind former Safeco Insurance CEO Mike McGavick. Cantwell was projected to be the winner right when the polls closed at 11:00 P.M. EST Time. Incumbent Democrat Robert Byrd won re-election to a ninth term. He was sworn in on January 4, 2007. Before the 2000 presidential election, West Virginia had been won by the Democratic nominee every time since 1932 (except for the Republican landslides of 1956, 1972, and 1984). In 2000, then Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas won West Virginia's five electoral college votes over then Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee by a margin of 52-46. Also in the 2000 election, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, the daughter of Former West Virginia Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr., won a surprise victory over Democrat Jim Humphreys for West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District seat to the United States House of Representatives. She would become the first Republican in West Virginia to hold a Congressional office for more than one term since her father in 1969. Before these two major victories for national and West Virginia Republicans, it was difficult to find a Republican who could mount a formidable campaign against Democrats running for public office in West Virginia. President Bush won West Virginia again in the 2004 presidential election over John F. Kerry, the Democratic junior Senator from Massachusetts by a margin of 56-43. Both Representative Alan Mollohan (D-1st District) and Representative Nick Rahall (D-3rd District) had more formidable challenges from Republicans when compared to 2000 and 2002. Republican Brent Benjamin defeated Democratic incumbent West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Warren McGraw, and Republican Betty Ireland defeated liberal-Democrat Ken Hechler, a former congressman and secretary of state, for West Virginia Secretary of State. Since 2000, the Republicans have gained seven net seats in both the West Virginia Senate and the West Virginia House of Delegates. However, the Democrats hold 60% of the seats in the Senate and 68% of the seats in the House. Along with continued majorities in the legislature, Democrats have also had some other victories. Even though both Bush and Capito won their respective offices in 2000, Senator Byrd sailed to an eighth term with 78% of the vote over Republican David Gallaher. Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, easily won a fourth term to the Senate in 2002 by a margin of 63-37 over Republican Jay Wolfe. In 2000, 2002, and 2004, both Representative Mollohan and Representative Rahall were re-elected by much stronger margins than Capito. In 2004, Republican Monty Warner failed to defeat Democratic West Virginia Secretary of State Joe Manchin for governor. After the Republicans failed to win the governor's race, West Virginia Republican Committee Chairman Kris Warner, the brother of Monty, was put under pressure to resign his post; he did so in May 2005. Wheeling attorney Rob Capehart took his place. (Dr. Doug McKinney of Bridgeport now holds the post.) Another brother of Monty, Kasey, who was appointed by President Bush in 2001, was removed as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia on August 1, 2005. No explanation has been given for his departure and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller currently represents the district. Both state and national Republicans chose Shelley Moore Capito as their first choice to challenge Byrd. Early polling showed Byrd with only around a ten-point lead. Capito had even met with National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairwoman Elizabeth Dole, whose husband, Robert Dole, served alongside Byrd as majority and minority leader in the Senate, to discuss a possible run. Despite party leaders pushing for her to run, on October 3, 2005, Capito announced she would seek a fourth term for her congressional seat rather than run against Byrd. She cited the negativity of a possible Byrd-Capito race as a reason for not running. Other reasons for Capito not running include the following: Capito's seat is widely considered safe; Capito is rising in House leadership; if Capito ran against Byrd, her seat could possibly have fallen back into the Democratic column; and Capito's large amount of contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay could be brought into question. After Capito decided not to run, Republicans hoped to recruit Secretary of State Betty Ireland, the first woman elected to the executive branch of West Virginia. On October 27, 2005, however, Ireland announced she would not run against the eight-term senator. She said that the office of Secretary of State should not be used as a political stepping stone. Ironically, Joe Manchin held the office of Secretary of State during his campaign for governor. Conservative columnist Robert Novak wrote in a September 24, 2005, article that Gale Catlett's, the former Head Coach of the West Virginia University Men's Basketball team, name had been floated around as a possible challenger to Byrd. Catlett had in fact talked to West Virginia Republican Committee Chairman Capehart about either running against Byrd or possibly Representative Mollohan. It was also reported that if Capito had run against Byrd, Catlett would seek her seat. However, on November 11, 2005, Catlett decided not to run against Senator Byrd or Representative Mollohan. (A side note: On November 12, 2005, Ohio County Delegate Chris Wakim (R) announced his intentions to run against Representative Mollohan.) On January 11, 2006, TheHill.com reported that NRSC Chairwoman Dole met with John Raese, the 1984 Republican United States Senate candidate and 1988 Republican Gubernatorial primary-candidate to discuss a possible run for the nomination in May. Raese did file for the primary by the deadline of January 28, 2006. Byrd was extremely popular as he had approval ratings in the low 60% range. Raese, a millionaire, self-financed his campaign. He spent campaign ads on attacking Byrd. Incumbent Democrat Herb Kohl won re-election to a fourth term. ! style="background:#e9e9e9;"| ! style="background:#e9e9e9;"| Robert Lorge was the Republican candidate for the seat after being the only Republican candidate to file before the filing deadline on July 11, 2006. Despite receiving no money or support from the State or National Republican Republican party he fared better than Republican Senate candidates in New York, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and was the only major party candidate in 2006 able to deliver votes for under $1 in the Post McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law era. Kohl won a majority in every county in the state. Kohl's weakest performance in the state was suburban Washington County, Wisconsin, which Kohl won with just 49.6%. Kohl's strongest performance was in rural Menominee County, where he won with over 90% of the vote. Vogeler's best performance was in Dane County, where she came in third place with over 5%, a county where Lorge had his second weakest performance. Incumbent Republican Craig Thomas won re-election to a third term. Thomas died 5 months into his term on June 4, 2007 after battling leukemia. Thomas was a very popular two term incumbent, having a 68% approval rating. Despite doing very well in the polls, Thomas agreed to a debate. An October debate was sponsored by the Casper Star-Tribune and KCWY in Casper. Thomas said the nation has made progress in its energy policy, while Groutage said the nation's energy policy has failed because Congress has done more for special interests than the people. Thomas won at least 56% of the vote in every county in Wyoming. United States elections, 2006, United States gubernatorial elections, 2006, United States House of Representatives elections, 2006, 109th United States Congress, 110th United States Congress Orey, Byron D'Andra. "Racial Threat, Republicanism, and the Rebel Flag: Trent Lott and the 2006 Mississippi Senate Race," National Political Science Review July 2009, Vol. 12, pp. 83–96 United States Election 2006 Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress, New York Elections Website, Sample New York State ballot, Rhode Island Election Results, Democrats' Senate Hopes May Ride on Tennessee, by Robin Toner, New York Times, May 31, 2006, Dems pin hopes on candidate who's no liberal, by Zachary Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2006, Senate race is looming large, by Rebecca Ferrar, Knoxville News-Sentinel, September 24, 2006, New Hope for Democrats in Bid for Senate, by Robin Toner, New York Times, September 28, 2006, A photo finish in Corker-Ford race?, by Richard Locker, The Commercial Appeal, October 1, 2006, Bob Corker's questionnaire responses from The Commercial Appeal, Harold Ford Jr's questionnaire responses from The Commercial Appeal, The Green Papers link on the Texas Midterm Election, Vermont Secretary of State's Draft list of candidates (Excel spreadsheet). (Final version due to be released on July 24, 2006)., Meet the Press with Allen and Webb: debate video excerpts, and debate transcript, 2006 Voter’s Guide by the League of Women Voters of Virginia, Updated every 2 minutes., Maps & graphic displays of the 2006 Virginia election results @ www.VaElection.org, Televised Debate between Cantwell, McGavick, and Guthrie, Washington Secretary of State's listing of candidates who have filed for office, Results of previous elections in Washington State, Washington Secretary of State, JoinCalifornia 2006 General Election, SmartVoter.org page on the California Senate race., State of Connecticut Secretary of State: 2006 Primary and Election Information, State of Connecticut Secretary of State: Statement of Vote, Topic: Primary results, Full list of U.S. Senate Candidates in Minnesota - From E-Democracy.Org, Election results, "Montana Senator in Fight of Political Life," Associated Press, October 15, 2006, Election Results

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The history of the Philadelphia Eagles begins in 1933. In their history, the Eagles have appeared in the Super Bowl three times, losing in their first two appearances but winning the third, in 2018. They won three NFL Championships, the precursor to the Super Bowl, in four appearances. They have a total of four championship rings. The beginning era of the Eagles history, 1933 to 1939, was influenced by its owner, and then also coach, Bert Bell. After Bell ostensibly sold the team, to Alexis Thompson in 1940, the second era of the Eagles history was largely directed by their coach (and future Hall of Famer) Greasy Neale. In 1931, Philadelphia's NFL franchise, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, who had won the NFL Championship in 1926, went bankrupt and ceased operations midway through the season. After more than a year searching for a suitable replacement, the NFL granted an expansion franchise to a syndicate headed by former University of Pennsylvania teammates Lud Wray and Bert Bell. In exchange for an entry fee of $2,500, the Bell-Wray group was awarded the assets of the failed Yellow Jackets organization. Drawing inspiration from the insignia of the centerpiece of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, specifically the National Recovery Act's "blue eagle," Bell and Wray named the new franchise the Philadelphia Eagles, with Bell as president and general manager and Wray as head coach. Although this makes it appear that the Yellow Jackets sat out the 1932 season and returned in 1933 as the Eagles, this is not the case. The Eagles do not claim the Yellow Jackets' history as their own, and neither they nor the NFL officially regard the two franchises as the same, citing the aforementioned period of dormancy. The Eagles simply inherited the NFL rights to the Philadelphia area. Further, Wray and Bell assembled an almost entirely new team; only a single player from the 1931 Yellow Jackets ended up with the 1933 Eagles. The new team played its first game on October 15, 1933, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York City. They lost the game 56-0. The Eagles struggled over the course of their first decade, never winning more than four games. Their best finish was in their second season, 1934, when they finished tied for third in the East. For the most part, the Eagles' early rosters were composed of former Penn, Temple and Villanova players who put in a few years before going on to other things. In 1935, Bell proposed an annual college draft to equalize talent across a league that had been dominated by the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and New York Giants. Between 1927 (the year the NFL changed from a sprawling Midwestern-based association to a narrower, major-market league) and 1934, the Bears, Packers and Giants had won all but one title (the lone exception being the Providence Steam Roller of 1928). The draft was a revolutionary concept in professional sports. Having teams select players in inverse order of their finish in the standings, a practice still followed today, strove to increase fan interest by guaranteeing that even the worst teams would have the opportunity for annual infusions of the best college talent. Having finished last in the standings, the Eagles had the first pick in the 1936 draft, an opportunity they used to select the University of Chicago's Heisman Trophy-winning back, Jay Berwanger. They then traded his rights to the Chicago Bears. Berwanger, who had no interest in playing professional football, elected to go to medical school instead. The Eagles' first major recruiting success would come in 1939, with the signing of Texas Christian's All-America quarterback, Davey O'Brien; O'Brien proceeded to shatter numerous existing single-season NFL passing records in his rookie season. That year, the Eagles participated in the first televised football game, against the football Brooklyn Dodgers, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn (losing the game 23-14). The 1940s would prove a tumultuous and ultimately triumphant decade for the young club. In 1940, the team moved from Philadelphia Municipal Stadium to Shibe Park. Lud Wray's half-interest in the team was purchased by Art Rooney, who had just sold the Pittsburgh Steelers to Alexis Thompson. Soon thereafter, Bell/Rooney and Thompson swapped franchises, but not teams. Bell/Rooney's entire Eagles' corporate organization, including most of the players, moved to Pittsburgh (The Steelers' corporate name remained "Philadelphia Football Club, Inc." until 1945) and Thompson's Steelers moved to Philadelphia, leaving only the team nicknames in their original cities. Since NFL franchises are territorial rights distinct from individual corporate entities, the NFL does not consider this a franchise move and considers the current Philadelphia Eagles as a single unbroken entity from 1933. After assuming ownership, Thompson promptly hired Greasy Neale as the team's head coach. In its first years under Neale, the team continued to struggle. In 1943, when manpower shortages stemming from World War II made it impossible to fill the roster, the team temporarily merged with the Steelers to form a team popularly known as the "Steagles." The merger, never intended as a permanent arrangement, was dissolved at the end of the 1943 season. This season saw the team's first winning season in its 11-year history, with a finish of 5-4-1. In 1944, however, the Eagles finally experienced good fortune, as they made their finest draft pick to date: running back Steve Van Buren. At last, the team's fortunes were about to change. Led by Van Buren and Neale, the Eagles became a serious competitor for the first time. They had their first winning season as a separate team in 1944. After two more second-place finishes (in 1945 and 1946), the Eagles reached the NFL title game for the first time in 1947. Van Buren, end Pete Pihos, and Bosh Pritchard fought valiantly, but the young team fell to the Chicago Cardinals 28-21 at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Undeterred, the young squad rebounded and returned to face the Cardinals once more in the 1948 championship. With home-field advantage (and a blinding snowstorm) on their side, the Eagles won their first NFL Championship 7-0. Due to the severity of the weather, few fans were on hand to witness the joyous occasion. That would not be the case the following season, however, when the Eagles returned to the NFL championship game for the third consecutive year and won in dominating fashion in front of a large crowd in Los Angeles, beating the Los Angeles Rams 14-0. In Thompson's final draft, Chuck Bednarik was selected as the first overall pick in the 1949 NFL Draft. An All-American lineman/linebacker from the University of Pennsylvania, Bednarik would go on to become one of the greatest and most beloved players in Eagles history. The 1949 season also saw the sale of the team by Thompson to a syndicate of 100 buyers, known as the "Happy Hundred", each of whom paid a fee of $3,000 for their share of the team. While the leader of the "Happy Hundred" was noted Philadelphia businessman James P. Clark, one unsung investor was Leonard Tose, a name that would eventually become very familiar to Eagles fans. With the turn of the decade came another turn in team fortunes. The Eagles were slated to open the 1950 season against the AAFC champion Cleveland Browns, who had just (with the other AAFC franchises) joined the NFL. The Eagles were expected to make short work of the Browns, who were widely reckoned at the time as the dominant team in a lesser league. However, the Browns lit up the Eagles' vaunted defense for 487 total yards, including 246 passing yards, in a 35-10 rout. The Eagles never really recovered, and finished 6-6. Neale retired after the season and was replaced by Bo McMillin. Two games into the season, McMillin was forced to retire due to terminal stomach cancer. Wayne Millner finished out the season before being replaced by Jim Trimble. While the remnants of the great 1940s teams managed to stay competitive for the first few years of the decade, and while younger players like Bobby Walston and Sonny Jurgensen occasionally provided infusions of talent, the team lacked the stuff of true greatness for most of the 1950s. The Eagles considered trying to purchase Temple Stadium in 1952 when the team was unhappy with their lease at Shibe Park. Temple University claimed the property to have been appraised for $1 million and said they were uninterested in selling. In 1958, however, the franchise took key steps to improve, hiring Buck Shaw as Head Coach and acquiring Norm Van Brocklin in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams. That year also saw the team move from Connie Mack Stadium (formerly Shibe Park) to Franklin Field, and attendance doubled. The 1959 squad showed real flashes of talent, and finished in second place in the Eastern Division. 1960 remains the most celebrated year in Eagle history. Shaw, Van Brocklin and Chuck Bednarik (each in his last season before retirement) led a team more notable for its grit than its talent (one observer later quipped that the team had "nothing but a championship") to its first division title since 1949. The team was aided by their two Pro Bowl receivers, WR Tommy McDonald (who would later pen a short autobiography titled "They Pay Me to Catch Footballs") and TE Pete Retzlaff. On December 26, 1960, one of the coldest days in recorded Philadelphia history, the Eagles faced Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers in the NFL title game and dealt the mighty Lombardi the sole championship game loss of his storied career. Bednarik lined up at center on offense and at linebacker on defense. Fittingly, the game ended as Bednarik tackled a struggling Jim Taylor and refused to allow him to stand until the last seconds had ticked away. Flush with excitement from the 17-13 victory, with the talented Jurgensen poised to take the reins of the offense, the future looked promising. That promise, however, proved illusory. In 1961, the Eagles finished just a half-game behind the New York Giants for first place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 10-4 record. Despite the on-the-field success, however, the franchise was in turmoil. Van Brocklin had come to Philadelphia and agreed to play through 1960 with the tacit understanding that, upon his retirement as a player, he would succeed Shaw as head coach. Ownership, however, opted to promote assistant Nick Skorich instead, and Van Brocklin quit the organization in a fit of pique, instead becoming head coach of the expansion Minnesota Vikings. In 1962, the bottom dropped out as the team was decimated by injury, managed only three wins and were embarrassed at home 49-0 by the Packers. The off-field chaos would continue through 1963, as the remaining 65 shareholders out of the original Happy Hundred sold the team to Jerry Wolman, a 36-year-old millionaire Washington developer who outbid local bidders for the team, paying an unprecedented $5,505,000 for control of the club. In 1964, Wolman hired former Cardinals and Washington Redskins coach Joe Kuharich to a 15-year contract. Many people have heavily criticized Kuharich as a coach, as they say he wasted top-tier talent such as that of Jurgensen, Timmy Brown, Ollie Matson and Ben Hawkins and effectively ran the franchise into the ground. At Kuharich’s insistence, Jurgensen was traded to the Washington Redskins for Norm Snead in 1964: Jurgensen would go on to a Hall of Fame career while Snead, although serviceable, lacked the talent to lift the team out of mediocrity. By 1968, fans were in full revolt. Chants of “Joe must go” echoed through the increasingly empty bleachers of Franklin Field. Adding insult to injury, the Eagles managed to eke out meaningless wins in two of the last three games of the season, costing the franchise the first pick in the draft, and with it the opportunity to add O. J. Simpson to the roster. (With the second pick, the Eagles chose Leroy Keyes, who played only four years in an Eagles uniform.) The last game of 1968, played on December 15, helped cement the rowdy reputation of Philadelphia fans when some of them booed and threw snowballs at an actor playing Santa Claus. By 1969, Wolman had lost most of his fortune and was bankrupt, leaving the franchise under the administration of a federal bankruptcy court. At the end of the bankruptcy proceedings, the Eagles were sold to Leonard Tose, the self-made trucking millionaire and original member of the Happy Hundred. Tose's first official act was to fire Kuharich. With an earned reputation as a fast-living high-flier, Tose infused the organization with some much-needed panache. Initially, however, he ran the team with more enthusiasm than ability, as was exemplified by his choice to replace Kuharich, the hapless Jerry Williams. Tose also selected former Eagles great Pete Retzlaff as General Manager. In 1971, the Eagles moved from Franklin Field to brand-new Veterans Stadium. In its first season, the “Vet” was widely acclaimed as a triumph of ultra- modern sports engineering, a consensus that would be short-lived. Equally short-lived was Williams’s tenure as head coach: after a 3-10-1 record in 1970 and three consecutive blowout losses to Cincinnati, Dallas and San Francisco to open the 1971 season, Williams was fired and replaced by assistant Ed Khayat, a defensive lineman on the Eagles' 1960 NFL championship team. Williams and Khayat were hampered by Retzlaff's decision to trade longtime starting quarterback Norm Snead to the Minnesota Vikings in early 1971, leaving the Eagles a choice between journeyman Pete Liske and the raw Rick Arrington. Khayat lost his first two games, but won six of the final nine in 1971 thanks to the exploits of the defense, led by All-Pro safety Bill Bradley, who led the NFL in interceptions (11) and interception return yardage (248). The team regressed in 1972, and Khayat was released after the Eagles finished 2-11-1. The two wins (both on the road) proved to be surprises, however. Philadelphia beat Kansas City (which had the best record in the AFC a year before) 21-20 and Houston 18-17 on six field goals by kicker Tom Dempsey. The latter game became known as the "Johnny Rodgers Bowl", because the loser would finish with the worst record in the league and obtain the #1 draft pick of 1973, which was then assumed to be Nebraska wingback Johnny Rodgers. The Oilers ultimately got the #1 pick, which instead turned out to be University of Tampa defensive end John Matuszak (who would end up facing Philadelphia in the Super Bowl several years later). With the second pick, the Eagles selected USC tight end Charle Young. Khayat was replaced by offensive guru Mike McCormick, who, aided by the skills of Roman Gabriel and towering young receiver Harold Carmichael, managed to infuse a bit of vitality into a previously moribund offense. New general manager Jim Murray also began to add talent on the defensive side of the line, most notably through the addition of future Pro Bowl linebacker Bill Bergey. Overall, however, the team was still mired in mediocrity. McCormick was fired after a 4-10 1975 season, and replaced by a college coach unknown to most Philadelphians. That coach would become one of the most beloved names in Philadelphia sports history: Dick Vermeil. Vermeil faced numerous obstacles as he attempted to rejuvenate a franchise that had not seriously contended in well over a decade. Despite the team’s young talent and Gabriel’s occasional flashes of brilliance, the Eagles finished 1976 with the same result—a 4-10 record—as in 1975. 1977, however, saw the first seeds of hope begin to sprout. Rifle-armed quarterback Ron Jaworski was obtained by trade with the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for popular tight end Charlie Young. The defense, led by Bergey and defensive coordinator Marion Campbell, began earning a reputation as one of the hardest hitting in the league. By the next year, the Eagles had fully taken Vermeil’s enthusiastic attitude, and made the playoffs for the first time since 1960. Young running back Wilbert Montgomery became the first Eagle since Steve Van Buren to exceed 1,000 yards in a single season. (1978 also bore witness to one of the greatest, and unquestionably most surreal moment in Eagles history: "The Miracle at the Meadowlands," when Herman Edwards returned a late-game fumble by Giants' quarterback Joe Pisarcik for a touchdown with 20 seconds left, resulting in a 19-17 Eagles victory - the Eagles would later edge into the playoffs that year with a 9-7 season.) By 1979, in which the Eagles tied for first place with an 11-5 record and Wilbert Montgomery shattered club rushing records with a total of 1,512 yards, the Eagles were poised to join the NFL elite. In 1980, the team, led by coach Dick Vermeil, quarterback Ron Jaworski, running back Wilbert Montgomery, wide receiver Harold Carmichael, and linebacker Bill Bergey, dominated the NFC, facing its chief nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys, in the NFC Championship. The game was played in cold conditions in front of the Birds' faithful fans at Veterans Stadium. Led by an incredible rushing performance from Montgomery, whose long cutback TD run in the first half is surely one of the most memorable plays in Eagles history, and a gutsy performance from fullback Leroy Harris, who scored the Eagles' only other TD that day, the Birds earned a berth in Super Bowl XV with a 20-7 victory. The Eagles traveled to New Orleans for Super Bowl XV, which was played on January 25, 1981, and were heavy favorites to knock off the Oakland Raiders, who were merely a wild card team. Things did not go the Eagles' way, beginning with the disastrous decision by Tose to bring comedian Don Rickles into the pregame locker room to lighten the mood. Jaworski's first pass was intercepted by Rod Martin, setting up an Oakland touchdown. Later in the first quarter, a potential game-tying 40-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Parker was nullified by an illegal motion penalty, and the Raiders promptly marched down the field and scored again, making the score 14-3 at halftime. The Eagles finally managed to score a touchdown that counted early in the fourth quarter, but Jawordki's third interception of the day on a subsequent drive erased any hope of a comeback. The final score was 27-10. Veteran journeyman quarterback Jim Plunkett was named the game's MVP. In a bizarre coincidence, Joe Kuharich died on the same day. The Eagles got off to a great start in the 1981 season, winning their first six games. They eventually ended up 10-6 and earned a wild card berth. However, they were unable to repeat as NFC champs when they were knocked out in the wild card round by the New York Giants, 27-21. After the Eagles finished 3-6 in the strike-shortened 1982 season, Vermeil quit the team, citing "burnout." He was replaced by defensive coordinator Marion Campbell, aka "the Swamp Fox". Campbell had helped to popularize the "bend-don't-break" defensive strategy in the 1970s. Under Campbell, however, the team struggled, although his stewardship was notable in that it saw the arrival of all-time football greats Reggie White and Randall Cunningham. The 1983-85 seasons would see the Eagles go 5-11, 6-9-1, and 7-9, respectively. Campbell's reign of error ended in 1986, when Buddy Ryan was named head coach. Immediately infusing the team with his tough, hard-as-nails attitude, the Eagles quickly became known for their tough defense and tougher personalities. Ryan began rejuvenating the team by releasing several aging players, including Ron Jaworski. Randall Cunningham took his place, and despite a 5-10-1 season, he began showing considerable promise. 1987 saw another strike, reducing the season by one game. The substitutes who were filling in for the strikers turned in a poor performance, being crushed 41-22 by the Dallas Cowboys. After the strike ended, the regular Eagles team won a 37-20 revenge game against Dallas. The season record was 7-8, three games having been played by substitutes. The Eagles would reach the playoffs in 1988, but lost to the Chicago Bears 20-12 in what became known as the "Fog Bowl", due to the weather conditions during the game. The following two years would see playoff appearances as well, but the team could not make it past the first round. This failure was greatly frustrating to many Eagles fans, as the team was commonly acknowledged as among the most talented in the NFL. On offense, the Eagles were led by quarterback Cunningham, one of the most exciting players of his generation; tight end Keith Jackson; and running back Keith Byars. The defense is commonly acknowledged as among the greatest in league history, and as the best never to win a championship. The two 1989 matches with Dallas were known as the Bounty Bowls. Both were won easily by the Eagles (the Cowboys finished 1-15 that year), and were marked by Ryan insulting new Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, putting a "bounty" on their kicker, and for Eagles fans throwing snowballs on the season ender. On November 12, 1990, during a Monday Night Football game at the Vet, the Eagles crushed the Washington Redskins by a score of 28-14, with the defense scoring three of the team's four touchdowns. More lopsided than its score would indicate, the game quickly acquired the sobriquet "the Body Bag Game", attesting to the physical damage inflicted by the tougher Eagles squad. The Eagles knocked out the starting Washington quarterback, and then seriously injured his replacement as well. Running back Brian Mitchell, who would later be signed by the Eagles, was forced to play quarterback for the Redskins. Unfortunately, the Redskins returned to Veterans stadium in the first round of the playoffs and defeated the Eagles 20-6, ending their season. Buddy Ryan was fired at the end of the season. Despite his tough talk, the Eagles failed to win a playoff game in the five years he had been head coach. In 1991, the Eagles became the first NFL team since 1975 to rank first in the league in both rushing and passing yardage allowed, but with the loss of Randall Cunningham to an ACL tear in week 1 and competing in a strong division were unable to reach the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. Along with White, notable defensive stars included Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, Eric Allen, Wes Hopkins, and Andre Waters. With Ryan's firing by Norman Braman, Ryan's former Offensive Coordinator, Rich Kotite, took the helm of the franchise. Although Cunningham suffered a season-ending ACL tear in the season opener, veteran backup QB Jim McMahon performed admirably in his stead and the Eagles still made a respectable showing, missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker. In 1992, Kotite led the Eagles back into the postseason with an 11-5 record. In the Wild Card Round, the Eagles soundly defeated the New Orleans Saints by a final score of 36-20. The Eagles were eliminated by Dallas in the next round (34-10). At the end of the season, DE Reggie White would leave the team through free agency. In the 1992 NFL Off-season, DT Jerome Brown died in a high-speed automobile crash on June 25. In 1993 and 1994, Kotite's Eagles would fall apart after initially promising starts, and missed the playoffs in each season, going 8-8 and 7-9. By this point, Braman had become unpopular among most local fans and a polarizing presence in the front office. Under rising scrutiny and deflating optimism, he sold the team to current owner Jeffrey Lurie. Almost Lurie's first act was to fire Kotite. Lurie's choice to replace Kotite was San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator Ray Rhodes, who successfully lobbied 49ers star Ricky Watters to join the team as a free agent. In 1995, Rhodes's first season, the Eagles got off to a slow start by losing 3 out their first 4 games: they subsequently rebounded, finishing with a 10-6 record and a playoff spot. In the Wild Card Round, the Eagles played at home and overwhelmed the Detroit Lions 58-37, with 31 of Philadelphia's points coming in the second quarter alone. Despite this dominating performance, yet again, the Eagles were eliminated in the next round by the Cowboys (30-11). Ironically, this would be Randall Cunningham's last game as an Eagle. Cunningham would score the only touchdown of the game and the last Eagles post season touchdown for six years. 1995 was Cunningham's final season as starting quarterback. Rhodes benched Cunningham in favor of Rodney Peete, leading to friction between the two. Before the benching, news reports circulated that Lurie and Rhodes tried to trade Cunningham to the Arizona Cardinals. However, no such trade was executed and Cunningham retired shortly after the season. In 1996, the Eagles donned new uniforms featuring a darker shade of green. They got off to a good start, winning three of their first four games. However, a week-5 Monday night game at Veterans Stadium against the hated Cowboys would witness a season-ending knee injury to Peete and the loss of the team's momentum, and the transition to an offense led by Ty Detmer and Watters. While Detmer played well and Watters rushed for 1,411 yards, the season followed an all-too-familiar pattern: 10-6 record, and early elimination (a 14-0 shutout by the 49ers) in the playoffs. The continued early playoff exits led to fans and local media blaming the high priced free agent signings (Irving Fryar, Watters, Troy Vincent, and Guy McIntyre) for not stepping up in big games, most notably the postseason. Rhodes gradually deteriorated under the stress of the job, and players were beginning to grow tired of his brash demeanor and often autocratic coaching style. After an up-and-down 6-9-1 campaign in 1997, the bottom fell out in 1998. The Eagles suffered a 3-13 record—the worst in franchise history, as each of Philadelphia's three quarterbacks won one game. They were ranked dead last in numerous offensive statistics. Home game attendance was declining, a quarterback controversy was deteriorating an already rudderless locker room, and the players had all but tuned out the embattled coaching staff. Left with little choice after a disastrous season, fan revolt and sagging team morale, Lurie fired Rhodes. Resurgence would come under the leadership of new head coach Andy Reid, who began by drafting Syracuse QB Donovan McNabb with the #2 pick in the 1999 draft (the Eagles would have had the #1 pick, but it was awarded to the rebooted Cleveland Browns). Despite clearing up roster space for new talent by releasing unpopular, aging veterans (such as Watters and Irving Fryar), Reid was still a virtual unknown at the time of his selection as head coach, and his appointment was met with considerable skepticism in Philadelphia. McNabb was also not considered a good choice to draft by Eagles fans. When he was drafted, many Eagles fans booed the selection, believing that the Eagles should draft Ricky Williams. The choices proved wise, however: with Reid leading the way and McNabb emerging as one of the game's great players. However, 1999 was a rebuilding year and so the Eagles only won five games and game attendance was still looking stale as two home games were not sold out - resulting in local TV blackouts- while the other 6 were only sold out due to several small business owners purchasing the remainder of the unsold tickets to spare TV viewers. The Week 5 game, on Sunday, October 10, 1999, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, saw Dallas WR Michael Irvin suffer a career-ending spinal injury where Eagles fans stood up and cheered as he lay on the field. Even the TV commentators expressed their disgust at this behavior. The 2000 season saw the team go 11-5, reaching the playoffs as a wildcard which rejuvenated the fan base and optimism. After brushing aside the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3, the Eagles moved to the second round of the playoffs, only to lose a 20-10 game against the Giants. The 2000 regular season opener in Dallas (September 3), became known in NFL lore as the "Pickle Juice Game". Kickoff temperature in Texas Stadium was 109 degrees Fahrenheit and soared to nearly 120, making it the hottest game in league history, beating a previous record set during the 1997 Cowboys-Cardinals match in Arizona. The nickname came about because a certain Eagles trainer had been preparing for the projected high temperatures by having the players drink the juice from jars of dill pickles in order to retain body moisture and stave off cramps and heat exhaustion. The experiment proved a success as the Cowboys lost the game 44-14 and had multiple players benched for inability to handle the brutal temperatures (the Eagles had no players benched). The game also had significance because it marked the beginning of Philadelphia's domination of the NFC East and the end of the Cowboys' dominance. After compiling an 11-5 record in 2001, the Eagles reached the playoffs again, this time at the top of their division. In a near-rerun of the previous year, they disposed of the Buccaneers in a 31-9 game. In the second round, the Eagles defeated the Bears 33-19 at Soldier Field. Reaching the NFC Championship game, they were unable to stop the St. Louis Rams, who defeated them 29-24 Despite injuries, McNabb led the Eagles to a 12-4 season in 2002. Once again, they reached the NFC Championship, but lost at home 27-10 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the last game at Veterans Stadium. The 2003 team lost its first two games, both at their new home. In the opening game of the 2003 season, the Eagles were shut out 17-0 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first regular-season game ever played at Lincoln Financial Field. Once again, the team went 12-4 for the season. By reaching the conference championship game in the same year as this defeat, they became the first team in modern history to get that far in the postseason after having been shut out at home in its first game. They achieved that distinction despite getting only five touchdown catches all year from their wide receivers, which tied the league low since the regular-season schedule was lengthened to its present 16 games in 1978 (this record would be broken in 2004 when the New York Giants' wide receivers caught only two touchdown passes). The Eagle receivers even went through both September and October without a TD catch -- the last time an NFL team had done that was in 1945. The Eagles actively pursued premier wide receiver Terrell Owens, and acquired him in a controversial three-way deal with the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, on March 16, 2004. Owens would often feud with McNabb, and was released by the Eagles after the 2005 season. The 2004 season began with a bang as Owens caught three touchdown passes from McNabb in their season opener against the New York Giants. Owens would end up with exactly 1,200 receiving yards and 14 touchdown receptions, although his season ended prematurely with an ankle injury on December 19, 2005 against the Dallas Cowboys. Their 12-7 victory in this game gave them home field advantage throughout the conference playoffs for the third year in a row. [This distinction also includes a "bye" in the first round (also known as the Wild Card Round) of the playoffs, which the top two teams in each conference receive.] The Eagles tied a record by clinching the NFC East division crown (their fourth straight such title) after only their eleventh game of the season, matching the mark set by the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1997 San Francisco 49ers. Their final two regular-season games thus rendered meaningless, the Eagles sat out most of their first-string players in these games and lost them both, yet still finished with a 13-3 record, their best 16-game season ever. McNabb had his finest season to date, passing for 3,875 yards and 31 touchdowns, with only eight interceptions. This made him the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 or more TD passes and fewer than 10 interceptions in a single regular season. They then began their playoff run with the Divisional round at home against the sixth-seeded Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles led from the start and never looked back, as McNabb led a very efficient passing attack (21 of 33 for 286 yards and 2 TDs), Brian Westbrook dominated on the ground with 70 rushing yards, and Freddie Mitchell performed very well on the receiving corps (5 receptions for 65 yards and a TD), as Philadelphia won 27-14, setting up their fourth-straight NFC Championship appearance. The Eagles' futility in Conference Championship games had become notorious. In 2002, the Eagles had fallen in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams in St. Louis, 29-24. In 2003, the Eagles hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Veterans Stadium and were widely viewed as the overwhelming favorites—this view no doubt accentuated by the expected emotional boost that many anticipated would power the team, given that the game was to be the last at "the Vet." After a promising start, however, the game slipped away, and the ensuing 27-10 loss devastated a fan base that had already become too accustomed to disappointment. In 2004, a banged-up Eagles squad managed to overcome numerous injuries, particularly to its defense, to reach the NFC Championship for the third year in a row, only to suffer a heartbreaking 14-3 loss against the Carolina Panthers. On January 23, 2005, the Eagles reached a fourth consecutive conference championship game (the first time this happened in the salary cap era of the NFL). At long last, the Eagles justified the hopes of their long-suffering fan base, defeating Michael Vick's much-hyped Atlanta Falcons, 27-10, sending them to their first Super Bowl in 24 years. The victory sent the city of Philadelphia into wild celebrations. With two Super Bowl wins under their belt, the defending champion New England Patriots were heavily favored. McNabb had a great game with 357 yards and three touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Terell Owens returned despite his injury, and caught 122 yards on 9 catches. The game was a defensive struggle through the third quarter, but in the fourth, the Patriots took the lead, with the Eagles trailing ten points. The early game struggle left everyone exhausted, and for his best efforts, McNabb scored one touchdown, but could not get the team within field goal range on the final drive. He was picked off in the closing seconds of the game. The final score was 24-21, and the Patriots had won their third Super Bowl in four years. The defending NFC Champions did not fare well the next year. The season was tainted by a locker room division started by Terrell Owens, who argued that he should be paid more following the Super Bowl season. The 2005 season began in a strange and erratic fashion with a 14-10 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football, a game in which Donovan McNabb suffered a chest bruise. In addition, Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was ejected prior to kick-off for getting involved in an altercation with Falcons cornerback Kevin Mathis. In the Week 2 home opener in Philadelphia, the Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers in a rout 42-3; however, McNabb was diagnosed with a sports hernia following the game. Weeks 3 and 4 saw the Eagles struggle somewhat but still manage to defeat the Oakland Raiders (23-20) and mount a stunning comeback from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium (37-31). In week 5, the Eagles were manhandled by the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium, losing by 23 points (33-10). Following a bye week, the Eagles pulled off a miraculous 20-17 win against the San Diego Chargers when cornerback Matt Ware returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Fans hoped the play would “wake up” the Eagles and save the season similar to Brian Westbrook's fourth quarter punt return against the New York Giants in 2003. However, in the next week, the Eagles were unable to stop the running and passing attack of the Denver Broncos, losing 49-21. Week after week, Andy Reid had come under criticism for the Eagles' lack of dedication to a running game and overworking an injured Donovan McNabb, who was on pace to break the records for all-time passing attempts and completions. The Eagles had also allowed themselves to get behind in the first quarters of games, only to end up fighting from behind in the remaining quarters. Some analysts speculated the Eagles' problems were due to not finding replacements for former defensive linemen Corey Simon and Derrick Burgess, poor pass rush, poor special teams, and the contract disputes with Brian Westbrook and Terrell Owens, along with Owens' virtually weekly controversies. They had also been hindered by injuries to McNabb, Correll Buckhalter, Todd Pinkston, Lito Sheppard, Dirk Johnson, and David Akers. On November 4, 2005, on ESPN, Terrell Owens criticized the Eagles front office for not recognizing his 100th touchdown catch. He also agreed with Michael Irvin's statement that the Eagles would be undefeated had Brett Favre been the quarterback. Despite Owens's apology the next day to the front office (but not to McNabb), he was suspended indefinitely. There were also reports that he got into a fist fight with Hugh Douglas and challenged other players in the locker room which contributed to his suspension. At Andy Reid's press conference after the Washington loss, he announced T.O. would no longer be playing this year for the Eagles due to conduct detrimental to the team. Things only got worse for the Eagles. They lost a Sunday night match-up to their division rival, the Washington Redskins 17-10. Then, when they went home and played a rematch with their much-hated rival, the Cowboys, on Monday Night Football, a late game interception by Roy Williams sealed their doom. Not only did they lose 21-20, but the already suffering Donovan McNabb got shoved to the ground, worsening his sports hernia and ending his season. On November 20, former Detroit quarterback Mike McMahon was named the Eagles starter. However, his wild gun passing didn't do much to phase the Giants, as the Eagles went down again 27-17. Then, on November 21 Donovan McNabb announced that he would undergo surgery for his sports hernia. The Eagles would finish the season without at least eight of their projected starters heading into the season, including Pinkston, Hank Fraley, Dirk Johnson, and Pro Bowlers McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Lito Sheppard, Tra Thomas, and the exiled Owens. Their next-to-last win of the season came a week later against the injury-ravaged Green Bay Packers 19-14. At a home game on December 5, on Monday Night Football, the Eagles retired #92, which had belonged to the late Reggie White. Unfortunately, they got shut out by the NFC West and eventual NFC champion Seattle Seahawks 42-0. Afterwards, they lost to the Giants at home 26-2. Their last win of the season came on the road against the St. Louis Rams 17-16. Then they lost their last two games of the season to the Arizona Cardinals on the road 27-21 and then at home to the wild card Washington Redskins 31-20. They ended their 2005 season at 6-10, which marked the first time since 1999 that the Eagles failed to make the playoffs. After expectations of a return to the Super Bowl, it appeared the Eagles would have to retool in the 2006 off-season to make another run for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. In 2006, the Eagles started off hot, beating the Houston Texans in Houston 24-10. And they kept the streak going, jumping to a 24-7 lead against the Giants before losing 30-24 in overtime. They won their next two games easily, beating the 49ers in San Francisco and then returning home to limit Brett Favre's Packers to three field goals. The Birds' 3-1 record set the stage for Terrell Owens' return to Philadelphia. Owens return to Philadelphia was being promoted by Fox as the "game of the year". The game had more at stake, because the winner would take the lead in the NFC East. Owens received boos and jokes about his accidental overdose from a sell-out crowd. Lito Sheppard's game- winning interception for a touchdown sealed the game for the Eagles, 38-24. McNabb's season was already considered one of the finest in Eagles history and his career. After the win against Owens' Cowboys, they faced the upstart New Orleans Saints, with critics claiming the winner would be the NFC favorite. The Eagles ended up losing 27-24 on a last second field goal. The next week at Tampa, the Eagles would once again lose on a last second field goal. This time the field goal was an improbable 62 yarder by Matt Bryant - the second longest in NFL History. One week before their bye, the Eagles faced the Jacksonville Jaguars and failed to score a touchdown in a 13-6 loss. After their bye, they routed the Redskins, which not only kept Reid/McNabb perfect after the bye week, it put them back on track after three consecutive losses. The Birds were on a roll going into their match with Vince Young's Titans, but were dominated throughout the game, losing 31-13. The bigger loss however was Donovan McNabb - who suffered a season ending injury for the second straight year. With Donovan McNabb going down to injury, the Eagles called on Jeff Garcia to lead the team. The move was a highly unpopular one, because fans believed A.J. Feeley was their best bet. After falling to Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts, the Eagles' record stood at 5-6, and they did not appear to be in playoff contention. However, Garcia led the team to an improbable five-game winning streak, which included a three-game NFC East road trip and a Christmas showdown in Dallas. The Eagles finished the season 10-6, but lost the tie- breaker to the Saints, meaning they would be the third seed. The Eagles won their home wild card game against the Giants 23-20, on a David Akers' field goal. The game officially sent Tiki Barber into retirement. Their divisional playoff game was a Week 6 rematch against the Saints. The Eagles lost by the same score as in the regular season: 27-24. Andy Reid made the controversial decision to punt with less than two minutes remaining. 2007 marked the Eagles' 75th season. The Eagles drafted quarterback Kevin Kolb from Houston, signaling a possible life beyond Mcnabb. McNabb delivered average performances, and missed three games due to an injury. The team only achieved an 8-8 record and missed the playoffs. The beginning of 2008 presented a good opportunity for the Eagles. Donovan McNabb got a good start to the season, Brian Westbrook ran for many touchdowns, and rookie receiver DeSean Jackson became an important figure in the Eagles' passing game. However, the Eagles went against the 1-8 Bengals in Week 10 and McNabb played horribly, throwing consistent interceptions and leading the Eagles to a ten-point deficit at the half. Despite being able to score those ten points, the game went into overtime. A Bengals missed field goal led to Eagles ball, but McNabb's 'Hail Mary' was deflected with seconds left in overtime, and the game ended in a 13-13 tie, the first since 2002. McNabb then sparked controversy by admitting that he was unaware that an NFL game could end in a tie. Against Baltimore, things were even worse. At halftime, due to bad performance, McNabb was benched. However, the Eagles needed him, and it would show. His backup, Kevin Kolb, managed to get the Eagles to the Baltimore two-yard line; he then threw an interception in the end zone that was returned by Ed Reed for a record 107-yard touchdown. By this time, it was obvious that the Eagles needed a good quarterback for the next week's match-up against the Arizona Cardinals, who for the first time in several decades seemed poised to win their division. The game was scheduled for Thanksgiving night, and the decision was eventually made to start Donovan McNabb, but if he played like he did in the last couple of weeks, he would probably be benched for the season. But McNabb surprised everyone and led the Eagles to what was perhaps one of the greatest games in franchise history, a 48-21 blowout in which McNabb threw for four touchdowns. The Eagles went on a three-game win streak following up the Cardinals victory with wins over the Giants and Browns. The Eagles then lost to a mediocre at best Redskins team, 10-3 and putting their post season prospects in serious doubt. O n December 28, 2008, the Eagles needed Oakland Raiders (4-11) to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-6), and either the Minnesota Vikings (9-6) losing to the New York Giants (12-3) or the Chicago Bears (8-7) losing to Houston Texans (7-8), on top of the Eagles needing to beat the Cowboys at 4:00. However, getting the help that they needed earlier in the day, the Eagles were able to run over the Dallas Cowboys 44-6 and advanced to the playoffs. The Raiders were down 24-14 and came back to win, and the game was being shown and watched by Eagles fans at Lincoln Financial Field before the Eagles-Cowboys game. The Eagles then defeated the Minnesota Vikings 26-14 in the first round of the playoffs on January 4, 2009. They defeated their division rival and the defending Super Bowl champions the New York Giants 23-11 in the NFC Divisional Round to advance to their fifth NFC Championship game in nine years. For the third time in a decade, an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl seemed possible, as the Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens. However, the Eagles lost 32-25 to the Arizona Cardinals. In August, the team stirred up controversy by signing ex-Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who had recently been released from prison for federal dogfighting charges. On the regular season opener against Carolina, McNabb sustained a broken rib and sat out the next two games, with Kevin Kolb taking his place as starter. Afterwards, Philadelphia endured a bad loss to New Orleans, but then beat Kansas City the following week. McNabb returned, and Vick also began playing (as he had been barred from the first two games). He got off to a slow start and was used sparingly for much of the season. After a 13-9 loss in Oakland, the Eagles defeated the Redskins 27-17 on Monday Night Football. During this game, running back Brian Westbrook suffered a severe concussion and was knocked unconscious. He returned to play in the Week 10 game against San Diego, but was felled by a second concussion. Afterwards, Philadelphia went on a five-game winning streak and clinching a playoff berth after defeating the Broncos in Week 16, which marked Brian Westbrook's return to action after an absence of five weeks. However, the season ended with a whimper, as they were shut out by a resurgent Cowboys squad the following week. This put Dallas at the top of the NFC East and gave the Eagles a wild card spot. The two teams then had to play again the following week, but Philadelphia went down to defeat a second time, the score being 34-14. On January 11, 2010, General Manager Tom Heckert was hired by the Cleveland Browns in the same role. He was replaced by Howie Roseman, who was promoted from Vice President of Player Personnel. On February 23, 2010 the Eagles released starting running back Brian Westbrook, Eagles' all-time leader in yards from scrimmage with 9,785 yards. A bigger surprise came on Easter Sunday, when the team traded quarterback Donovan McNabb to their division rival Washington Redskins for a second-round (37th overall) pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and a third- or fourth-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Kevin Kolb was named team's starting quarterback. The Kolb era did not begin on a positive note as the Eagles donned their throwback kelly green jerseys and hosted the Green Bay Packers in their opening game as both teams performed poorly in the first half, although that was partially because of weather conditions and damaged turf in Lincoln Financial Field. Kolb was thrown to the ground by Packers linebacker Clay Matthews and was forced to sit out the rest of the game after it was determined that he suffered a concussion. Five other Packers and Eagles players were also injured in the game. Michael Vick replaced Kolb, but the Packers ended up winning the game, 27-20, the Packers' first win in Philadelphia since 1962 and their first-ever win on Lincoln Financial Field. With Vick taking over as starter, the Eagles traveled and defeated the Detroit Lions 35-32 in week 2 with Vick's impressive performance in the team's offense. Although Kolb was presumed to be the starter after he recovered from injury, Andy Reid named Vick as the starting quarterback instead. The team then traveled to Jacksonville. Vick scored four touchdowns (three passing and one rushing) and no interceptions in a 28-3 rout of the Jaguars. Week 4 saw the return of McNabb to Philadelphia. He was generally given a warm reception, and the Redskins got a touchdown early in the first quarter. After that, both offenses sputtered and the Eagles had to settle for two field goals. But things rapidly fell apart when Vick was injured late in the first quarter with chest and rib injuries he suffered when two Redskins defensive backs crushed him from both sides while running near to the endzone. Kolb was once again brought out as starter, but delivered an uninspired performance. He did manage a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late. A two-point conversion attempt after the touchdown failed, and Washington won 16-12. Afterward, Vick was diagnosed with cracked cartilage and forced to sit out at least one game. With Kolb starting, the Eagles headed to San Francisco for a Sunday Night Football match against the 0-4 49ers. Kolb passed for 253 yards and one touchdown to lead his team to a 27-24 victory. Philadelphia won its first home game in week 6 by overpowering the Falcons 31-17. Kolb continued to improve, passing for 326 yards, three touchdown passes, and one interception. However, he was not able to sustain this momentum in the week 8 game against Tennessee, throwing two interceptions and only one touchdown. The Eagles lost 37-19 to enter their bye week at 4-3, and once again Vick was brought out as starter prior to hosting Indianapolis in week 10. This game proved an intense, highly physical contest as Vick scored two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing) and Philadelphia overcame stubborn resistance by the Colts to win 27-24. Afterwards, the Eagles headed to Washington, where, for the second year in a row, they faced the Redskins on Monday Night Football. Philadelphia quickly marched out to two touchdowns in the first quarter, putting them up at 14-0 within five minutes. By the second quarter, they had scored another two, leading by 28 points. Four more touchdowns followed in a 59-28 blowout of Washington. All in all, there were eight (four passing, three rushing, and one interception return), six of which were from Michael Vick, who had 333 passing and 80 rushing yards for one of the finest performances of his career. For the third season in a row, the Eagles traveled to Chicago, a team that Michael Vick had a career 0-4 record against. This time would be no different as the Bears' defense slowed him down to win 31-26. Vick also threw his first interception of the season. The Eagles rebounded with a Thursday game against Houston. Despite winning 34-24, Philadelphia's defense turned in a relatively mediocre performance, which may have had to do with the fact that the team had played four games in a 17-day stretch. On Sunday Night in Week 14, the Eagles headed to Dallas for a game with their arch-rivals. However, the Cowboys were a considerably weaker team than when they defeated Philadelphia three times in 2009. Their QB Tony Romo was out of commission from an injury, they had had their head coach Wade Phillips fired halfway through the season, and they were barely clinging to life at 4-9. Michael Vick delivered an average performance, although one of the game's highlights was a 90-yard TD pass to DeSean Jackson. Although Andy Reid had gained a reputation as a pass-happy coach, the Eagles' scoring was mainly based on run plays and long field goals. Despite a close game, they prevailed 30-27 and eliminated Dallas from playoff contention. In Week 15, the Eagles beat New York in a shocking upset by overcoming a 21-point deficit in the second half. In the closing seconds of the game, DeSean Jackson returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown to win 38-31. This became known as the Miracle at the New Meadowlands. After locking up their first division title in four years, the Eagles played a surprisingly bad game against Minnesota and lost. The team lost a meaningless season ender against Dallas before preparing to host Green Bay again in the wild card round of the playoffs. Despite playing the Packers hard, Philadelphia's first home playoff game since 2006 ended in defeat 21-16 as Vick threw a hail mary interception in the closing minute of the 4th quarter. Pro bowler David Akers, who had one of the best seasons ever by a kicker, also contributed to the loss having a rare poor game going 1 for 3, missing from 34 & 41 yards. The off-season was marred by a lockout that began in March after the NFL's collective bargaining agreement expired, making practices, trades, and free agency impossible. During the draft, the Eagles did comparatively little. After the lockout ended in July, the team embarked on a rash of high-profile FA signings, including Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha, Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown, Giants WR Steve Smith, Packers TE Donald Lee, Titans DE Jason Babin, Packers DT Cullen Jenkins, and Cardinals CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Meanwhile, Kevin Kolb, displeased at losing the starting QB job to Michael Vick in 2010, was traded to Arizona for Cromartie. Replacing him as 2nd-stringer was ex- Titans QB Vince Young. Vince Young made a lot of hype by calling Philadelphia the "Dream Team". Although the Eagles won their 2011 opener in St. Louis, the Dream Team failed to deliver as Michael Vick fell victim to injuries and turnovers. The Eagles lost four straight games. With Vince Young taking over, Philadelphia beat the Washington Redskins at last in Week 6. In Week 8, Vick returned to help crush the Cowboys at home 34-7. After further losses to Chicago and Arizona, the Eagles beat the New York Giants and then fell to New England and Seattle before winning their final four matches and finishing 8-8. The Eagles entered 2012 with strong hopes after winning their last 4 games of last season. When the team started 3-1, including a 24-23 victory over the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, the fans were thinking playoffs, even Super Bowl. However, these hopes came to a crashing halt as the team lost their next 8 and 11 of their next 12 to finish 4-12, their worst record since 1998. After a Michael Vick injury in week 10 against the Dallas Cowboys, Nick Foles stepped in and made his Philadelphia debut. In week 14, at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nick Foles led his offense on a game winning TD drive, throwing a touchdown to Jeremy Maclin with 1 second left in the game to record his first win as an Eagle. The Eagles proceeded to fire Andy Reid, the longest-tenured and winningest coach in team history. Reid would later join the Kansas City Chiefs as head coach. After the firing of Andy Reid, Chip Kelly was named head coach of the Eagles on January 16, 2013 after a successful four-year reign manning the sidelines at the University of Oregon. Kelly was known for his up tempo approach to football which helped him make the University of Oregon a premier college organization. In his first season in professional football, Kelly produced a 10-6 record and an NFC East championship, becoming just the second head coach in league history to win a division title in his first season in the NFL. During the start of the season Michael Vick got injured, and backup Nick Foles took over. Nick Foles would become the surprise of the NFL as he would end the season with 27 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions with one game at the Oakland Raiders in which he threw for 7 touchdowns in one game, tying an NFL record. Along the way, the Eagles set a plethora of team records, including points (442), total net yards (6,676), touchdowns (53), passing yards (4,406) and fewest turnovers (19). The Eagles also set an NFL record with 99 plays of 20+ yards and became the first team since the 1991 Buffalo Bills to lead the league in rushing while ranking last in time of possession. Individually, RB LeSean McCoy set the franchise record for rushing yards and scrimmage yards in a season in 2013, while QB Nick Foles had the 3rd best QB rating in NFL history in 2013. By week 17, the division race between the Cowboys and Eagles culminated to a must win, winner-takes-all, loser-goes-home Sunday night matchup between the Eagles and Cowboys in Dallas. After a hard fought game, the game came down to the final two minutes, with the Cowboys down by 2 and having possession of the ball. However, not far into the potentially game winning drive, cornerback Brandon Boykin intercepted an under thrown pass to win the game and the division. The Eagles preceded to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. However, they would not make it far as they were defeated by the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. At the end of the game, the Saints made a game-winning field goal as time expired after a 7 minute drive drained the clock. In 2014 a lot of expectations were set on the team after what seemed like a successful first year for Chip Kelly. The Eagles started off as a force to be reckoned with, enjoying a 6-2 record with both losses having been on the road and ending with failed red zone attempts at game winning touchdowns. Nick Foles' 2014 season would end during Week 9, however, where he broke his collarbone in a win against the Houston Texans. Mark Sanchez would take over for the rest of the season for the Eagles. They would collapse from their 9-3 record near the end of the season to go 10-6 again, but miss the playoffs due to losing their division to the Dallas Cowboys and tiebreakers. After beating the Cowboys on Thanksgiving to put themselves in good position to win the division, the Eagles then lost the next two, against the Seahawks and at home against the Cowboys to hand the division lead back to the Cowboys. Philadelphia had the 6th best record in the NFC, but the NFC South winners, the 7-8-1 Carolina Panthers, took a playoff spot for winning the division, thus leaving the 10-6 Eagles out of the playoffs. With the 2015 season, Chip Kelly was given full control which he used to revamp the roster into something he preferred. Offensive stalwarts such as LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, Nick Foles, and Evan Mathis were either traded, released, or not resigned, often to the chagrin of Eagles fans. The new quarterback of the Eagles was Sam Bradford. In a surprise free agent signing, Chip Kelly also acquired the previous season's rushing yard leader, DeMarco Murray, from the rival Dallas Cowboys. LeSean McCoy was traded for Kiko Alonso from the Buffalo Bills. Many changes were made with the offense to better fit Chip Kelly's fast-paced offense. The new roster didn't work out as the Eagles would go 7-9, and miss the playoffs, however, this was in part due to an injury suffered by Sam Bradford in week 9 during a home game against the Dolphins. Weeks 9-11, in which the Eagles played vs. Dolphins, vs. Buccaneers, and at the Lions on Thanksgiving, were supposed to be the easiest stretch of the season for Philadelphia. In the 3rd quarter of the game against Miami, when the Eagles were leading, Sam Bradford exited the game with an injury that would sideline him for the remainder of that game and for the next two games. Mark Sanchez took his place and went on to throw an interception in the end zone in a potential game winning TD drive. Sanchez's offense went on to be blown out in the next two games, scoring no more than 17 in each. Bradford came back in week 12, and beat the strong favorites, the New England Patriots, on the road. Kelly was fired as head coach with one game remaining on the season. After Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson was announced head coach on January 18, 2016, his first NFL head coaching job. The Eagles traded up for the second overall draft pick and chose North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz in the 2016 NFL Draft. The season started off well for the Eagles when they went 3-0 to start the season (Doug Pederson would become the first head coach in franchise history to win their first three games). However, the lack of weapons for Carson Wentz and his lack of experience would catch up to them as the Eagles would go 4-9 in their final 13 games, and end the season 7-9 again and miss the playoffs. During the offseason, a lot of changes were made in the receiving corps and running back position to help Wentz. This would end up working as the Eagles would soar to the top of the NFL with a 13-3 record which gave them their first NFC East Championship since 2013, and gave them a first round bye for the first time since the 2004 season which was the last time they last went to the Super Bowl. Carson Wentz improved drastically during the season in which he threw for 33 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions. His potential MVP season came to an end though during Week 14 against the Los Angeles Rams where he tore his ACL, and would be out for the rest of the year. Nick Foles, who returned to the Eagles after having short stints with the Rams (then St. Louis Rams) and Chiefs (where Andy Reid was coaching), would take over. His shaky performances during the end of the regular season made the team become underdogs during the playoffs despite being the number one seed. The Eagles would beat the Atlanta Falcons 15-10 in the Divisional Round which was their first playoff win since the 2008 season. The divisional game in Atlanta ended with a 4th down stop at the goal line as Matt Ryan's pass sailed through star WR Julio Jones' hands after having been stopped on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The Eagles went on to face the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship. The game would end up being a surprising blowout with the Eagles dominating the Vikings 38-7 to go to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2004 season. The Eagles would face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX at Super Bowl LII. The Eagles would end up winning the game 41-33 to give the Eagles their first Super Bowl Championship and their first championship since the 1960 season before the NFL-AFL merger. Nick Foles would be named Super Bowl MVP. See Super Bowl LII. The Eagles came back from a successful 2017 season hoping to become the first repeat Super Bowl victors since the New England Patriots during their 2003 and 2004 season. Before the season started many injuries plagued the team including their quarterback Carson Wentz who was still recovering from an ACL injury. Nick Foles would be the starting quarterback to begin the season and helped win the team their opening game against the Atlanta Falcons 18-12. The season opener against Atlanta ended in similar fashion as the previous year's divisional round matchup had; an incomplete pass to Julio Jones in the end zone to end the game. Throughout the 2018 season many injuries plagued the team, especially in their secondary like Jalen Mills, Ronald Darby, and Rodney McLeod. A feeling of complacency after winning the franchise's first Super Bowl Championship (and 3rd NFL championship) had set into the team and fanbase, giving them a lack of urgency through the beginning of the season. In many of the games in the beginning of the season, like those against Carolina and Tennessee for example, the Eagles had blown leads late in the 4th quarter. The Eagles had a 4-6 record in their first ten games and looked to have a very small chance of making the playoffs, but the Eagles managed to win 5 of their last 6 games which included upset victories over the Rams and Texans to go 9-7 and make the playoffs as the sixth seed. Carson Wentz, having been rushed back to playing too soon, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back after Week 14. Nick Foles filled in for Wentz late in the season yet again. The Eagles win against the Texans in week 16 was a close one; the Eagles were winning for most of the game, but fell apart towards the end in the 4th quarter, where they when the Texans took the lead with only a few minutes remaining to play. In the end, the Eagles drove down the field and Jake Elliott made a field goal to win the game. That set up a week 17 where the Eagles had to win in Washington, D.C. and needed the Bears to beat the Vikings in order to clinch a playoff spot. The Eagles beat the Redskins comfortably, and the Bears beat the Vikings. The Bears had left in their starters throughout the whole game, even though, toward the end, the situation became so that their 3rd seed spot could not possibly change whether they won or lost. They did this because, among other reasons, they preferred to play the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs. In the Wild Card game against the Chicago Bears Nick Foles threw 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in a 16-15 win. Bears kicker Cody Parkey missed a game winning field goal that hit the upright and crossbar. The kick was also tipped slightly by Treyvon Hester sending the Philadelphia Eagles to a NFC Divisional matchup against the New Orleans Saints. In the NFC Divisional Round match with the Saints, the Eagles ended the first quarter with a 14-0 lead. However, the offense would be unable to get any more points as the defense got pressure on Nick Foles and the Eagles would end up losing to the Saints 20-14, ending their opportunity to defend their Super Bowl championship. The Eagles attempted to go down the field to score a game winning TD, and were progressing well down the field, when at around the Saints' 20 yard line, Alshon Jeffery let a pass go through his hands and into Marshon Lattimore's arms. In the offseason Nick Foles left Philadelphia to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Eagles also traded away Michael Bennett and a 2020 seventh-round pick to the New England Patriots for a 2020 fifth-round pick. One of the Eagles' most notable offseason addition was a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reaquire DeSean Jackson. Other additions to the team included defensive tackle Malik Jackson and running back Jordan Howard. The Eagles got off to a promising start with a Week 1 win against the Washington Redskins, in which DeSean Jackson caught two touchdowns from Carson Wentz of over 50 yards. However, the Eagles lost their next two games with major injuries to both their offense and defense. They defeated the then-undefeated Green Bay Packers in Week 4 and the New York Jets the following week but lost to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6. In Week 7 the Eagles lost a game in Dallas that could have put them in a favorable position within the division. However, the Eagles went on to win two straight in Buffalo and at home against the Chicago Bears. After the bye week, the Eagles played the New England Patriots for the first time since Super Bowl LII. In a low scoring game, the Eagles blew a 10–0 early lead to lose 17–10. The next week saw the Eagles lose 17-9 at home against the Seattle Seahawks, a game in which Carson Wentz threw a touchdown, 2 interceptions, and lost 2 fumbles. The Eagles last 5 games are the easiest in the NFL, based on records. However, in the first of the last five games, week 13 the Eagles lost 37-31 in Miami to the Dolphins, who were 2-9 heading into the game. The Eagles had a 28-14 lead in the third quarter but failed to retain the lead as the Dolphins punted only once in the second half. In the next two weeks, the Eagles beat the Giants at home on an overtime touchdown pass from Wentz to Ertz after coming back from a 17-3 halftime deficit, and then beat the Redskins in Washington 37-27 after Nigel Bradham sealed the game with a fumble return for a touchdown following a go-ahead touchdown pass by Greg Ward Jr. from Carson Wentz. In week 16, the Eagles played the Cowboys in Philadelphia having lost to Dallas in their previous four matchups. The Eagles jumped to a quick 10 point lead and held on to win 17-9, preventing the Cowboys from clinching the division. It was a crucial game against their longtime rivals, and heading into week 17 the Eagles needed either a win against the 3-11 Giants or a Cowboys loss to the Redskins to clinch the NFC East. The Eagles headed into their week 17 matchup without Zach Ertz, their leading receiver who had broken a rib and suffered a lacerated kidney on a hit in the first quarter of the Cowboys game. Regardless, the Eagles broke away from the Giants in the third quarter with a touchdown following a fumble recovery by Fletcher Cox. Boston Scott, backup RB, scored three touchdowns in the 34-17 win, and the Eagles won the NFC East with a 9-7 record. The Eagles became the first team in NFL history to have a quarterback throw for more than 4,000 yards without having a wide receiver catch for more than 500 yards in a season. Carson Wentz started his first postseason game at home against the 5th seeded Seahawks. In the 1st quarter, Wentz took a hit to the head by Jadeveon Clowney, which gave him a concussion that sidelined him for the rest of the game. Backup Josh McCown stepped in for Wentz, becoming the oldest quarterback to play their first playoff game. Although he led the offense on multiple drives to the end zone, the offense failed to convert two red zone 4th downs in the red zone in the 9-17 loss. Didinger, Ray; with Lyons, Robert S. (2005). The Eagles Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press., NFL Editors (2011). NFL Record & Fact Book 2011: The Official National Football League Record and Fact Book Time Home Entertainment Eagles record-setting game in 1934 was against doomed Cincinnati Reds, Claassen, Harold (Spike) (1963). The History of Professional Football. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Davis, Jeff (2005). Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. New York: McGraw-Hill, Lyons, Robert S. (2010). On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press., MacCambridge, Michael (2005). America's Game. New York: Anchor Books, Peterson, Robert W. (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press., Westcott, Rich (2001). A Century of Philadelphia Sports. Philadelphia: Temple University Press., Willis, Chris (2010). The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc. Wing Bowl was an annual eating contest founded in 1993 by Philadelphia talk- radio hosts Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti. The contest was first broadcast on WIP. About 150 people attended Wing Bowl I (held in a hotel) in 1993 to see a competition between two contestants. The event pits competitive eaters in a Buffalo wing eating contest. The Wing Bowl is traditionally held on the Friday before the Super Bowl. The event, which began as a radio promotion, has grown to encompass television, the Internet, and a contest for women who are termed "the Wingettes." From 2000 to 2018, the event was held at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center, where they did live broadcasts on 94-WIP-FM. There were no television deals to broadcast the event live; however, a replay was usually shown on CW 57, Comcast SportsNet, or one of the other local stations within the following week. The Wing Bowl drew crowds of over 20,000. The final Wing Bowl, Wing Bowl XXVI was held on February 2, 2018 and the winner was Molly Schuyler, who devoured a record 501 wings in a half hour. Wing Bowl was the brainchild of WIP radio host Al Morganti, who came up with the idea when it became apparent the Philadelphia Eagles were not going to make the Super Bowl anytime soon. It is also suggested that Morganti was fed up with the Buffalo Bills going to the Super Bowl and not winning. The first Wing Bowl was held in the lobby of the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Center City. Carmen Cordero walked away with the inaugural title, receiving a hibachi as his prize. Since then, media coverage has grown to the point where every one of the major Philadelphia television stations has covered the event. The ABC 6, CBS Channel 3 and Fox 29 affiliates all aired live reports from the event during their morning news. Features on the event have appeared in the Courier-Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News as well as a host of newspapers in the surrounding counties. The event has been featured on ESPN and the syndicated television shows Real TV and The Montel Williams Show. Segments on Wing Bowl have appeared on TV newscasts in cities throughout the country. Several Wing Bowl contestants, including "El Wingador," competed in Fox's "Glutton Bowl" in the spring of 2002. The 2007 Wing Bowl was carried on Comcast Cable's On Demand channel. Then Mayor of Philadelphia and future Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell attended Wing Bowls II, III, IV and VI, where he presented the winner with a "Liberty Bell" trophy. Other celebrities who have appeared include retired heavyweight boxer Randall "Tex" Cobb, former 76ers President Pat Croce, former Phillies manager Larry Bowa, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, and others. Major-league umpire Eric Gregg served as the "Commissioner" of Wing Bowl from its second year until his death from a stroke on 5 June 2006. From December 2006 to 2013, Pat Croce was the second commissioner. Jon Dorenbos served as the last commissioner from 2014, and served the final 5 editions. Entry into Wing Bowl can be gained in two ways, the first of which is successfully performing an "eating stunt" on air during The Morning Show at the 94 WIP studios in Center City, Philadelphia, with Al Morganti as judge. Stunts have included eating 20 cups of cooked oatmeal, eating of creamed spinach with of hot sauce, and eating five Big Macs. The stunt must be completed within a time limit negotiated between the contestant and Morganti. Morganti, known to be a tough judge, has disallowed stunts that involved what he considers "cheating", such as dipping bread into a beverage to make it easier to swallow, or breaking up a food item into constituent parts for easier chewing (such as separating hot dogs from their buns). He is also tough on contestants who suggest a stunt involving liquid consumption; The Morning Show hosts prefer eating stunts over drinking stunts. If a person offers to perform a drinking stunt, it must be compelling to the hosts, such as Wing Bowl XIV champion Joey Chestnut's offer to drink of milk. The hosts deemed it not difficult enough, but, fortunately for Chestnut, former champion Bill "El Wingador" Simmons was present and declared the stunt to have a high level of difficulty, upon which the hosts accepted his offer, with a five-minute time limit to complete the challenge. The other way to gain entry to Wing Bowl is to win a "Wingoff." A "Wingoff" is a 10-minute eating contest held at a Philadelphia or South Jersey bar hosted by former Philadelphia Eagle and WIP Host Hugh Douglas and WIP Personality Marc Farzetta. The "Wingoffs" began in 2005 when 610 WIP decided to spoof the Big 5 Philadelphia area universities basketball teams. The winner of these "Wingoffs" gain automatic entry into the Wing Bowl. WIP announced on October 30, 2018 that event was being canceled after 26 years because the time for doing so felt right after the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. According to WIP program director Spike Eskin, "When Wing Bowl started ... a large part of it was the lead-up to the Super Bowl never involved the Eagles. We just wanted to get to the promised land." Wing Bowl 15 is known as "Philadelphia Against The World". Tickets sold out on the first day of sales. Wing Bowl 15 was presented by Philadelphia Park Casino. Pat Croce was this year's Wing Bowl Commissioner. Pat took the helm after the tragic loss of WIP's dear friend Eric Gregg. Going into Wing Bowl 16 WIP Host, Angelo Cataldi, billed it as the greatest Wing Bowl ever. With El Wingador coming out of retirement to square off against the number one eater in the world, Joey Chestnut. Wing Bowl 16 also featured a change in chicken wing providers, which contributed to the shattering of the elusive 200 wing mark. Unlike the past years in which professional eaters were allowed to participate, Wing Bowl 17 on January 30, 2009 at the Wachovia Center, was an all Amateur eater event, promoting eaters from the local neighborhoods in and around the Philadelphia area. There are 25 eaters in Wing Bowl 17, with Wing Bowl 8 Champion "Tollman Joe" participating. This marks the first occasion that Wing Bowl creator Al Morganti gave a special dispensation that Tollman Joe did not have to perform an eating stunt to be in the Wing Bowl field, since he has been the only amateur to beat Bill "El Wingador" Simmons. Jonathan "Super" Squibb of Winslow Twp., NJ, took the Wing Bowl 17 title of Wing Bowl Champion by eating 203 wings. Wing Bowl 18 took place on February 5, 2010. Jonathan Squibb finished with a total of 238 wings to win his second Wing Bowl in a row. Squibb finished 93 wings ahead of the second place finisher and won a Ford F-150 truck and a championship ring as prizes. Jonathan Squibb won for the third consecutive year by 255 eating wings to win Wing Bowl 19. Squibb's total broke the record of 241 wings set by Joey Chestnut at Wing Bowl 16 (2008) and was one wing more than second place finisher Bill "El Wingador" Simmons was able to eat. Squibb won $20,000 in cash and 2011 Dodge Ram truck. Takeru Kobayashi set a new competition record by eating 337 wings to win Wing Bowl 20. Kobayashi's total was 82 wings more than the previous competition record set by Jonathan Squibb. Squibb also broke his own record, but finished in second with 271 wings. Kobayashi won $20,000 in cash and a championship ring as prizes. Wing Bowl 21 was won by James McDonald who ate a total of 287 wings. McDonald finished five wings ahead of three-time champion Jonathan Squibb to win $20,000 in cash and a $7,500 championship diamond ring. Molly Schuyler won Wing Bowl 22 by eating a total of 363 wings. Schuyler's total broke the previous record of 337 set at Wing Bowl 20 by Takeru Kobayashi. Patrick Bertoletti finished second with 356 wings. Schuyler received the $22,000 top prize for her win. The winner of Wing Bowl 23 was Patrick Bertoletti. Bertoletti ate 444 wings to set a new Wing Bowl record and finished four wings ahead of defending champion Molly Schuyler. Bertoletti received a Harley Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle, $10,000 in cash, and a one-of-a-kind commemorative ring for winning. Molly Schuyler won Wing Bowl 24 with a total of 429 wings to finish 21 wings ahead of second place finisher Patrick Bertoletti. Schuyler won a 2016 Harley Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle, $10,000 in cash, and a custom made Wing Bowl 24 championship ring as prizes. Bob "Notorious B.O.B." Shoudt won Wing Bowl 25 with a count of 409 wings to finish ahead of David T. "Wings & Things" Brunelli by 23 wings. Celebrity guests included actor/rapper, Coolio and former pro-wrestler, Ric Flair. Shoudt won $10,000 in cash, a Hyundai Santa Fe, a ring and a medal as prizes. Molly Schuyler broke her own female record and devoured an event-record 501 wings to win the title. She received $5,000, a 2018 Hyundai Sonata, a ring and medal. "Wings & Things" was 2nd, 105 behind her. Competitive eating Official Wing Bowl 19 Website, Philly.com Coverage of Wing Bowl, Photos of the Virgin Wing Bowl can be viewed here on PhillySportsline.com Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2004 season. The Patriots defeated the Eagles by the score of 24–21. The game was played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, the first time the Super Bowl was played in that city. The Patriots, who entered the Super Bowl after compiling a 14–2 regular season record, became the most recent team to win consecutive Super Bowls (). New England also became the second team after the Dallas Cowboys to win three Super Bowls in four years. The Eagles were making their second Super Bowl appearance after posting a 13–3 regular season record. The game was close throughout, with the teams battling to a 14–14 tie by the end of the third quarter. The Patriots then scored 10 points in the 4th quarter with Corey Dillon's 2-yard touchdown run and Adam Vinatieri's 22-yard field goal. The Eagles then cut their deficit to 24–21, with quarterback Donovan McNabb's 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Greg Lewis, with 1:48 remaining in the game but could not sustain the comeback. Overall, New England forced four turnovers, while Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch was named Super Bowl MVP for recording 133 receiving yards and tied the Super Bowl record with 11 catches. To avoid the possibility of an incident similar to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show during the previous year, the league selected Paul McCartney as a "safe" choice to perform during Super Bowl XXXIX's halftime. The broadcast of the game on Fox was watched by an estimated 86 million viewers. NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXXIX to Jacksonville during their November 1, 2000 meeting held in Atlanta. New England finished the regular season with a record of 14–2, bested only by the Steelers' 15–1 mark, and ranking 7th in yards gained (5,773) and fourth in points scored (437). The Patriots' major acquisition prior to the season was veteran running back Corey Dillon, who joined the team after playing 7 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. In his first 6 seasons in the league, Dillon averaged over 1,250 rushing yards per year, including setting a single-game rushing record (278 yards, but has since been broken) against the Denver Broncos on October 22, 2000. In 2003, however, injuries, conflicts with the Bengals' management and coaching staff, and other off-field problems limited him to just 541 yards during the season. By the end of the 2003 season, Dillon had lost his starting job to running back Rudi Johnson, and thus demanded to be traded. Dillon became a significant offensive weapon for the 2004 Patriots, recording 1,635 rushing yards (franchise record) and 12 touchdowns, both career highs, and was named to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his career. He also caught 15 passes for 103 yards and another touchdown. His contributions helped lead the team to break the NFL record for the most consecutive regular season victories (18), the record for the most consecutive overall victories (21) and earned the second best regular season record during the year at 14–2. The team's only losses during the year were to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who ended up with the league's best regular season record at 15–1, and a 29–28 loss to the Miami Dolphins on ABC's Monday Night Football. Another weapon in the Patriots' offensive backfield was running back Kevin Faulk, who rushed for 255 yards, recorded 26 receptions for 248 yards, returned 20 punts for 113 yards, returned 4 kickoffs for 73 yards, and scored 3 total touchdowns. Fullback Patrick Pass also emerged as a big contributor, rushing for 141 yards, catching 28 passes for 215 yards, and gaining another 115 yards on kickoff returns. Pro Bowl quarterback Tom Brady remained at the helm of the Patriots offense, completing 288 out of 474 (60.8 percent) of his passes for 3,692 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. Although wide receiver Deion Branch, New England's major deep threat, missed most of the season because of injuries, he did record 35 receptions for 454 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wide receiver David Givens ended up being the team's leading receiver with 56 catches for 874 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wide receiver David Patten also contributed with 44 receptions for 800 yards and 7 touchdowns, and tight end Daniel Graham had 30 receptions for 364 yards and 7 touchdowns. On special teams, pro bowl kicker Adam Vinatieri had the best season of his career, leading the NFL in field goals made (31), field goal percentage (93.9) and scoring (141 points) On defense, the Patriots were plagued by injuries, especially in their secondary. Defensive backs Tyrone Poole and Ty Law suffered season-ending injuries, while safety Eugene Wilson, who led the team with 4 interceptions, missed several games. In order to compensate for the losses, the following players were promoted to starters: Rookie cornerback Randall Gay, who did not play at all in the first 3 games of the season, and did not start until the 6th week., Cornerback Asante Samuel, who normally only played in dime formations., Safety Earthwind Moreland, who came off of the team's practice squad and had only played in three games in his entire 5-year NFL career., Veteran wide receiver Troy Brown. Head Coach Bill Belichick used Brown in the secondary during training camp, gave him playing time there during the preseason and saw Brown did very well. With their patchwork secondary, the Patriots ranked just 17th in passing yards allowed (3,400) and 22nd in completions allowed (315). However, they did rank 7th in interceptions (20) and 10th in fewest passing touchdowns allowed (18). Most importantly, New England continued to win despite the injuries. Brown actually turned out to be very effective playing as a defensive back, ranking second on the team with 3 interceptions. Safety Rodney Harrison was also an impact player, leading the team with 138 tackles while also recording 3 sacks and 2 interceptions. Up front, the Patriots' defensive line was anchored by Pro Bowler Richard Seymour, who recorded 5 sacks and 1 fumble recovery. New England also still had their trio of impact veteran linebackers: Pro Bowler Tedy Bruschi (122 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 70 return yards), Willie McGinest (9.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 interception), and Mike Vrabel (71 tackles and 5.5 sacks), along with Ted Johnson. Vrabel also frequently played at the tight end position during offensive plays near the opponent's goal line, recording 2 touchdown receptions. The Eagles gained the 2004 NFC Super Bowl berth after 3 consecutive defeats in the NFC Championship Game to the St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who won Super Bowl XXXVII that year), and Carolina Panthers, respectively. The Eagles hired Andy Reid as their head coach in 1999 following two straight losing seasons. That same year, they used their first-round pick in the NFL draft (the second overall) to select quarterback Donovan McNabb. Although they finished the 1999 regular season with a 5–11 record, they became a playoff team in 2000, with McNabb throwing for 3,365 yards and 21 touchdowns while also rushing for 629 yards and another 6 touchdowns. The Eagles achieved the best regular season record in the conference during the combined 2001, 2002, and 2003 seasons with a total of 35 wins out of 48 games, but lost the NFC Championship Game in each of those 3 years. Prior to the 2004 season, the Eagles traded for wide receiver Terrell Owens to be the impact player to help get them to the Super Bowl. Owens joined the team after 8 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. McNabb had the best season of his career in 2004, completing 300 out of 469 (64 percent) passes for 3,875 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions, making him the first quarterback to ever throw for more than 30 touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions in a season. He also rushed for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wide receiver Todd Pinkston was also a reliable target, recording 36 catches for 676 yards. Philadelphia's running game was not as strong as their passing attack, ranking just 24th in the league in rushing yards (1,639). Running back Brian Westbrook led the team with 812 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, however he also led all NFL running backs in receiving with 73 receptions for 706 yards and 6 touchdowns. Veteran running back Dorsey Levens was also a big contributor with 410 rushing yards. The Eagles' offensive line was led by Pro Bowl tackles Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan and center Hank Fraley. Three of their four starters in the defensive secondary were named to the Pro Bowl: Cornerback Lito Sheppard (1 sack, 5 interceptions, 172 return yards and 2 touchdowns), safety Michael Lewis (88 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 sack, and 1 interception) and safety Brian Dawkins (3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and 4 interceptions for 40 return yards), while their fourth starter, cornerback Sheldon Brown, also enjoyed a solid year (89 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 2 interceptions). Their defensive line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Corey Simon (5.5 sacks) and defensive ends Jevon Kearse (7.5 sacks, Pro Bowl) and Derrick Burgess. Pro Bowl middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, who only started 9 games, recorded 69 tackles and 1 sack. The Eagles started the 2004 regular season with seven straight wins before suffering a loss to the 15-1 Steelers. After that, they finished the season with a 13–3 record. Their only other 2 losses were in their last 2 games of the season, when they decided to rest all of their starters because they had already clinched the NFC #1 seed, and thus home-field advantage in the playoffs. However, during a December 19, 12–7 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Owens was seriously injured on a "horse- collar tackle" by Cowboys defensive back Roy Williams and had to miss the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. Despite the loss of Owens, the Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27–14, and the Atlanta Falcons, 27–10, in the playoffs with relative ease. McNabb recorded 21 out of 33 completions for 286 yards and two touchdowns, while receiver Freddie Mitchell scored two touchdowns in the victory over the Vikings. Although Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw for 316 yards, the Eagles defense recorded 2 interceptions, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble. McNabb then completed 17 out of 26 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Falcons. The Eagles defense held dual-threat quarterback Michael Vick to only 136 passing yards, 26 rushing yards, and no touchdowns, while also recording an interception, 4 sacks, and a forced fumble on Vick. McNabb had an average passer rating of 111.3 in the two games, with 466 passing yards, 35 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns, and no turnovers. Safety Brian Dawkins was also an important player, recording a sack and a forced fumble against the Vikings, followed by an interception and a forced fumble against the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game. Meanwhile, the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20–3, holding the league's highest scoring team with 522 total points to just one field goal, Indianapolis' lowest point total since their opening game of the 2003 season. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 4,557 yards during the regular season, and set NFL records for most touchdown passes in a regular season (49) and highest quarterback rating (121.4). The Patriots then defeated the first seeded Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game, 41–27. Although Pittsburgh had beaten New England, 34–20, during the regular season and led the league in fewest total yards allowed, they could not stop the Patriots. Brady threw for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns; Dillon rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown; and Branch, who was coming off of his injuries, recorded 4 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown, along with 37 rushing yards and another touchdown on 2 carries. Owens was cleared to play in Super Bowl XXXIX, defying doctors orders by playing on his injured ankle containing 2 screws and a metal plate. The other major story was the Patriots' potential loss of both their offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator at the end of the season, and how it might affect the team in 2005. On December 12, 2004, about a month and a half before the game, New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis signed a contract to become the head coach of Notre Dame starting in the 2005 season. Due to injuries at the tight end spot, the Eagles were forced to sign Jeff Thomason, a former tight end who was working construction at the time, to a one-game contract for the Super Bowl. Thomason saw time during several plays, although never had a ball thrown his way. This was his third Super Bowl, playing in two with the Green Bay Packers during Andy Reid's days as a Packer assistant. With this appearance the Patriots became the 8th team to make it to the Super Bowl for the 5th time. They joined the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. They would be joined by the Green Bay Packers in 2011 and the New York Giants in 2012. The Eagles were trying to win their first NFL title since 1960 and the first championship for the city of Philadelphia since Moses Malone's "fo', fi', fo'" during the 76ers run to the NBA Championship. With President George W. Bush being inaugurated for a second time in January, the Eagles were also trying to end a losing streak—teams in the city of Philadelphia had lost six straight championships during presidential inauguration years, beginning with the 76ers loss in . The streak included the Eagles in Super Bowl XV in 1981. 1989 was not included in that streak, but 1977, 1981, 1985 (Flyers), 1993 (Phillies), 1997 (Flyers), and 2001 (76ers) were. The game was televised in the United States by Fox, with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and color commentators Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman. Pam Oliver (Patriots sideline) and Chris Myers (Eagles sideline) served as sideline reporters. This marked the first time since Super Bowl I that none of the network commentators had ever called a Super Bowl game before (although Collinsworth had worked three prior Super Bowl telecasts as a pregame analyst). This was also the last game that Collinsworth broadcast as a member of the Fox NFL team, as he chose to return to NBC in the following off-season. James Brown hosted all the events with help from his fellow Fox NFL Sunday cast members Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson. Jillian Barberie served as weather and entertainment reporter. Following the game, Fox aired a special episode of The Simpsons ("Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass") and the series premiere of American Dad! ("Pilot"), except in Philadelphia and Boston, where local newscasts delayed the premieres by an hour. Before the game, performances came from the Black Eyed Peas, Earth Wind & Fire, Charlie Daniels, John Fogerty, and Gretchen Wilson. Shortly before kickoff, Alicia Keys sang "America the Beautiful," paying tribute to Ray Charles, who died in June 2004. The combined choirs of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (including members of The Idlers) sang the national anthem accompanied by the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets. This was the first time in more than 30 years that all four service academies sang together—the last time was at the second inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973. The traditional military missing man formation flyby was this year performed by a pair of F/A-18 Super Hornets from VFA-106 at NAS Oceana and a pair of the Air Force's newest fighters, the F-22 Raptor, flying from Tyndall AFB, the training base for the Raptor. The earlier military flyby during the veterans' salute was conducted by 2 T-6 Texan trainers and a B-25 Mitchell bomber. The coin toss ceremony featured youth football players from Jacksonville: Tyler Callahan, Tyler Deal, Lawrence McCauley, and Jacob Santana; and New Orleans NFL Junior Player Development coach Tamaris Jackson. They were billed as the first non- celebrities to participate in the coin toss. For the third straight year, each team took the field en masse, following a tradition the Patriots had started in Super Bowl XXXVI. In prerecorded video segments, Andover, Massachusetts native Michael Chiklis introduced the Patriots, and Philadelphia-born Will Smith introduced the Eagles. Paul McCartney performed during the halftime show; his selection by the NFL, the show's producers, Don Mischer Productions, and the show's sponsor, Ameriquest Mortgage, was considered to be a "safe" choice, as it avoided the possibility for an incident similar to that which sparked the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy the previous year. McCartney's set consisted of these songs: "Drive My Car", "Get Back", "Live and Let Die" from his career with Wings., "Hey Jude" Taking the concept a step further, for the first time, a theme was tied to the event: Building Bridges, as symbolized by the theme logo, represented by the Main Street Bridge, one of the seven bridges that crosses over the St. Johns River in the host city, and according to the League, symbolized the bridging of a nation under the NFL football umbrella. The theme was also used by Jacksonville-area nonprofit Fresh Ministries in a major event entitled "Bridges of Peace," featuring city officials asking the people to unite for the Super Bowl and heal the wounds of segregation. Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton appeared in support of their bipartisan effort to raise money for relief of the December 26, 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia through the USA Freedom Corps, an action which former President Bush described as "transcending politics." On the first drive of the game, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb fumbled while being sacked by New England linebacker Willie McGinest, and the Patriots recovered the ball at Philadelphia's 34-yard line. Eagles' coach Andy Reid's instant replay challenge overruled the fumble; officials ruled that McNabb had been down by contact before the ball came out of his hands. Later in the quarter after each team had punted twice, McNabb completed a 30-yard pass to Terrell Owens, with a roughing the passer penalty adding 9 yards, moving the ball inside the Patriots 20-yard line. However, linebacker Mike Vrabel sacked McNabb for a 16-yard loss on the next play. On the following play, the Eagles once again appeared to turn the ball over: McNabb's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Patriots defensive back Asante Samuel, but it was nullified by an illegal contact penalty on linebacker Roman Phifer, moving the ball back inside the 20 and giving the Eagles a first down. However, McNabb's second chance was wasted as he threw an interception to safety Rodney Harrison on the next play. This was Donovan McNabb's first red zone interception of the season. The Eagles defense then forced New England to a three-and-out on their ensuing possession, and Philadelphia got great field position by receiving the punt at the Patriots 45-yard line. But once again, they gave up another turnover: tight end L. J. Smith lost a fumble while being tackled by defensive back Randall Gay, and Eugene Wilson recovered the ball at the 38. The Eagles defense once again forced New England to punt, and got the ball back at their own 19-yard line. Aided by a pair of completions from McNabb to wide receiver Todd Pinkston for gains of 17 and 40 yards, the Eagles drove 81 yards in nine plays and scored on McNabb's six-yard touchdown pass to L. J. Smith, taking a 7–0 lead with 9:55 left in the second quarter. It was the first time New England trailed during the entire postseason. On their ensuing drive, the Patriots moved the ball to the Eagles four-yard line, mainly on plays by running back Corey Dillon, who caught two screen passes for 29 yards and rushed for 25. But quarterback Tom Brady fumbled the ball on a fake hand off Play-action pass and Philadelphia defender Darwin Walker recovered it. However, the Eagles could not take advantage of the turnover and had to punt after 3 plays. Eagles punter Dirk Johnson's punt went just 29 yards, giving the Patriots the ball at Philadelphia's 37-yard line. The Patriots then drove 37 yards to score on Brady's 4-yard pass to receiver David Givens with 1:10 remaining in the period, tying the game 7–7 by halftime. It was only the second halftime tie in Super Bowl history and the first time both of the game's first two quarters ended tied. On the opening drive of the second half, Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch caught 4 passes for 71 yards on a drive that ended with Brady's 2-yard touchdown pass to Vrabel, who lined up at the tight end spot on the play. The Eagles later tied the game with 3:39 left in the third period with a 74-yard, 10-play drive that was capped by McNabb's 10-yard touchdown pass to running back Brian Westbrook. For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game was tied going into the fourth quarter. Early in the final period, the Patriots put together a 9-play, 66-yard scoring drive that was keyed by 3 plays from running back Kevin Faulk, who caught 2 passes for 27 combined yards and rushed once for 12. Dillon capped off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Patriots a 21–14 lead. Then after forcing another Eagles punt, Branch made a spectacular catch, taking the ball out of the hands of cornerback Sheldon Brown. The 19 yard gain, and a roughing-the-passer penalty on Philadelphia defensive lineman Corey Simon on the same play, set up kicker Adam Vinatieri's 22-yard field goal with 8:43 left in the game to increase the score 24–14 in favor of New England. In all three Patriots' Super Bowl wins in the decade, they held a double digit lead in the 4th quarter. The Eagles responded with a long McNabb completion to Owens. However, after reaching the New England 36-yard line, McNabb fired a pass over the head of Dorsey Levens, where Tedy Bruschi was waiting to intercept it at the Patriots 24-yard line. At this point, there was only 7:20 to play in the game, with the Patriots still up by 10 points. The Eagles did force New England to punt, and got the ball back at their own 21-yard line, but with 5:40 left in the game. The Eagles then drove 79 yards in 13 plays. McNabb's 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Greg Lewis cut the deficit to 24-21. Because the Eagles used a full huddle, the drive consumed 3:52 of the clock, and only 1:48 remained in the game by the time Lewis scored. Because of this, many sportswriters later criticized the Eagles for not immediately going to a no-huddle offense at the start of the possession. Anecdotal reports later came out alleging that McNabb was suffering from dry-heaves, and teammates Jon Ritchie and Lito Sheppard have gone on record years later that McNabb was suffering from dry-heaves or vomiting, though no video evidence exists and the stories have not been confirmed. Hank Fraley said in an interview the day after the game that McNabb was "almost puking" due to two large hits from Tedy Bruschi and Jarvis Green on back-to-back plays. McNabb himself denies that he was vomiting or dry-heaving during the final drive, and Brian Westbrook later claimed that McNabb was merely "coughing." The Eagles failed to recover their ensuing onside kick attempt, with Christian Fauria catching the ball cleanly and sliding down to seal possession for New England. The Patriots then played it safe by running the ball 3 times and forcing Philadelphia to use all of its timeouts. New England punter Josh Miller then pinned the Eagles back at their own 4-yard line with just 46 seconds left in the game. Philadelphia then tried one last desperate drive to win or tie the game. But on first down, McNabb was pressured into making a rushed pass to Westbrook at the line of scrimmage. Instead of dropping the pass to stop the clock, Westbrook made the mistake of catching the ball and was immediately tackled for no gain, keeping the clock running and forcing the Eagles to run back to the line of scrimmage for their next play with no huddle. On second down, McNabb threw an incomplete pass intended for Owens. Finally on third down, McNabb threw a pass that deflected off of the outstretched fingertips of Smith and into the arms of Harrison for an interception with nine seconds left. Tom Brady took a knee to run out the clock, clinching the 3rd Super Bowl title in 4 years for the Patriots, and in the eyes of many establishing themselves as a dynasty. McNabb completed 30 out of 51 passes for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns, but threw 3 interceptions and was sacked four times. McNabb's 357 yards are tied with Joe Montana for the seventh most in Super Bowl history and third most of any quarterback, as Tom Brady holds both the top and number 2 spot, with 505 yards in Super Bowl LII and 468 yards in Super Bowl LI. Westbrook was the Eagles leading rusher with 44 yards, while also catching 6 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown and returning 3 punts for 19 yards. Pinkston caught 4 passes for 82 yards, while Owens was the Eagles' top receiver with 9 catches for 122 yards, however neither of them scored a touchdown. Brady completed 23 out of 33 passes for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns. Dillon was the top rusher of the game with 75 yards and a touchdown, and had 3 catches for 31 yards. Running back Kevin Faulk contributed 38 rushing yards and 27 receiving yards. Branch's Super Bowl record 11 catches tied Cincinnati Bengals' Dan Ross in Super Bowl XVI and San Francisco 49ers' Jerry Rice in Super Bowl XXIII. Coincidentally, all three would later be traded to the Seattle Seahawks: Ross in 1985, Rice in 2004 and Branch in 2006. Branch's combined 21 catches in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX are the most in back-to-back Super Bowls. Branch also became the third offensive player ever to win Super Bowl MVP honors without scoring a touchdown or throwing a touchdown pass. The other two players were Joe Namath in Super Bowl III and Fred Biletnikoff in Super Bowl XI. Branch and Terrell Owens each had 100 yards receiving, marking the third time in Super Bowl history, one player from each team had over 100 yards in a Super Bowl. Michael Irvin and Andre Reed were the first in Super Bowl XXVII, and Branch and Muhsin Muhammad the second a year earlier in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Branch also became the fourth player to have at least 100 yards receiving in back-to-back Super Bowls, joining John Stallworth, Jerry Rice and Antonio Freeman. Also, Mike Vrabel and David Givens became just the 14th and 15th players to score a touchdown in consecutive Super Bowls. Vrabel is the most surprising person on this list because he is a linebacker and he scored his on offense. They also became just the 7th and 8th players to catch a touchdown in back-to-back Super Bowls. With the victory, Tom Brady became just the fourth quarterback to win at least three Super Bowls, along with Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Troy Aikman. Brady also became the fourth quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in three different Super Bowls. Other quarterbacks to do it were Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and John Elway, with Kurt Warner later accomplishing the feat during Super Bowl XLIII and Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII. The Patriots joined the Dallas Cowboys as the only teams in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a span of four years. The Patriots' Super Bowl win was the third championship for Boston-area sports teams in 12 months, following the Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVIII the year before and the Red Sox winning the World Series–first in 86 years–three months earlier. This marked the first time since 1989–1990 in the San Francisco Bay Area that the same market has had 2 Super Bowl and World Series winners in 12 months. With the Eagles’ loss, the city of Philadelphia’s sports championship drought continued (no Philadelphia-based pro sports team since the 1983 Sixers won the NBA title) until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series. The Eagles did not return to the Super Bowl until 2017, also with a 13-3 record, when they beat the Falcons and Vikings in the reverse order that they did in the 2004-05 playoffs. They exacted revenge on New England in Super Bowl LII, defeating them 41–33. As of 2020, this is the last time that a team has won back-to-back Super Bowls. Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXIX, Super Bowl XXXIX Play Finder NE, Super Bowl XXXIX Play Finder Phi Completions/attempts Carries Long gain Receptions Times targeted Source: As usual, the television coverage of this year's Super Bowl was the showcase for the most expensive commercials in television—both to produce and to buy airtime (at the rate of $2.4 million US for 30 seconds). One ad that drew the ire of many—including the NFL—was for the internet domain provider Go Daddy, which tweaked the controversial halftime of the previous year's game with a mock censorship hearing featuring a comely woman, Nikki Cappelli (played by WWE Wrestler Candice Michelle), having a "wardrobe malfunction". Fox pulled the second airing of the ad, scheduled for the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter, along with a five-second plug, and it was replaced with a promo for The Simpsons. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based World Wide Web domain registration company got a refund on the second ad. Another popular ad was made by the NFL. It featured players who were not in the Super Bowl, headlined by Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger being at a beach resort, depressed he did not make it in. Joe Montana comforted Roethlisberger, and soon both Montana and Roethlisberger joined many other players in different locations in an off-key yet rousing edition of "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie. The commercial ended with the tagline: "Tomorrow, we're all undefeated again." Roethlisberger went on to lead the Steelers to victory in Super Bowl XL the very next season. The top ad, as chosen by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter was for Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light featuring a timid skydiver making his first jump getting enticed with a six-pack of the product. This ad was ranked second on ADBOWL. The highest ranked commercial by ADBOWL was Anheuser-Busch's "Applause." For the first time since the campaign started in Super Bowl XXI, no "I'm going to Disney World!" ad aired following Super Bowl XXXIX. Each member of the Patriots received a payment of $68,000 for winning the game. The Eagles each received $36,500. When adjusted for inflation, the Patriots salary was actually less than the $15,000 paid to members of the Green Bay Packers for winning Super Bowl I in 1967. That amount of money in 1967 equated to approximately $85,000 in 2005. Referee: Terry McAulay #77 first Super Bowl, Umpire: Carl Paganelli #124 first Super Bowl, Head Linesman: Gary Slaughter #30 first Super Bowl, Line Judge: Mark Steinkerchner #84 second Super Bowl (XXXVII), Field Judge: Tom Sifferman #118 third Super Bowl (XXXVII, XXXVIII), Side Judge: Rick Patterson #15 second Super Bowl (XXXVII), Back Judge: Tony Steratore #112 first Super Bowl, Alternate Referee: Ed Hochuli #85 (referee for XXXII, XXXVIII), Alternate Umpire: Garth DeFelice #53, Alternate Field Judge: Larry Rose #128 Super Bowl official website

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CVS Pharmacy (sometimes stylized as CVS/pharmacy) is a subsidiary of the American retail and health care company CVS Health, headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1963. The chain was owned by its original holding company Melville Corporation since its inception until its current parent company (CVS Health) was spun off into its own company in 1996. CVS Pharmacy is currently the largest pharmacy chain in the United States by number of locations (over 9,600 as of 2016) and total prescription revenue. Its parent company ranks as the 7th largest U.S. corporation by FY2017 revenues in the Fortune 500. The parent company of CVS Pharmacy's leading competitor (Walgreens) ranked 19th for the same time period. CVS sells prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise, including over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, film and photo finishing services, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through their CVS Pharmacy and Longs Drugs retail stores and online through CVS.com. It also provides healthcare services through its more than 1,100 MinuteClinic medical clinics as well as their Diabetes Care Centers. Most of these clinics are located within CVS stores. CVS Pharmacy used to be a subsidiary of Melville Corporation, where its full name was initially Consumer Value Stores. Melville later changed its name to CVS Corporation in 1996 after Melville sold off many of its nonpharmacy stores. The last of its nondrugstore operations were sold in 1997. CEO Tom Ryan has said he considers "CVS" to stand for "Convenience, Value, and Service". During the company's days as a regional chain in the Northeast, many CVS stores did not include pharmacies. Today, the company seldom builds new stores without pharmacies and outside of New England is gradually phasing out any such shops. Any new non-pharmacy store is usually built in a more urban setting where another CVS with a pharmacy exists within walking distance such as downtown Boston, Massachusetts or Providence, Rhode Island. These stores usually lack a pharmacy and a photo center but carry most of the general merchandise items that a normal CVS Pharmacy carries such as health and beauty items, sundries, and food items. CVS Pharmacy announced the closure of 70 stores in early 2017; nearly all 70 stores had already been closed by that time. The CVS name was used for the first time in 1964. That year, they had 17 retail locations, and 40 stores five years later. In 1967, CVS began operation of its first stores with pharmacy departments, opening locations in Warwick and Cumberland, Rhode Island. CVS was acquired by the now-defunct Melville Corporation in 1969, boosting its growth. By 1970, CVS operated 100 stores in New England and the Northeast. In early 1972, CVS introduced America's first refillable plastic bottle - with its CVS private-label shampoo. Customers paid $.79 for a bottle of CVS private-label shampoo and when they returned the empty bottle and cap, could buy another bottle of the same shampoo for $.69 (a 10 cent saving). This practice created a cause-related repeat-purchase cycle, wherein the customer saved $.10 as they bought another bottle of CVS shampoo and avoided using (and CVS producing) a new plastic bottle. Each initial PVC bottle, flip-top cap and label cost CVS $11.5 cents. Thus, the process paid for itself and CVS empowered customers to make a greener purchase decision and reduce their carbon footprint. In 1972, CVS acquired 84 Clinton Drug and Discount Stores, which introduced CVS to Indiana and the Midwest. By 1974, CVS had 232 stores and sales of $100million. In 1977, CVS acquired the 36-store New Jersey-based Mack Drug chain. The chain had more than 400 stores by 1981. Sales reached $1billion in 1985, partly due to the pharmacies being added to many of CVS's older stores. In 1980, CVS became the 15th largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., with 408 stores and $414million in sales. In 1988 CVS celebrated its 25th anniversary, finishing the year with nearly 750 stores and sales of about $1.6billion. In 1990 CVS acquired the 490-store Peoples Drug chain from Imasco, which established the company in new mid-Atlantic markets including Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. In 1994 CVS started PharmaCare Management Services. The parent company decided to focus on CVS in 1995, selling off Marshalls and This End Up. The following year, they let go of Footaction/Footstar, Meldisco, Linens 'n' Things, and KB Toys. The company, then decided to change its name from Melville Corporation to CVS Corporation. In 1997, Bob's Stores were also sold, and CVS nearly tripled its 1,400 stores after purchasing the 2,500-store Revco chain. CVS bought 200 Arbor Drugs locations in 1998, opened approximately 180 new stores, closed about 160 stores, and relocated nearly 200 existing stores from strip malls to freestanding locations. In 1999 CVS acquired Soma.com, the first online pharmacy, and renamed it CVS.com. The same year, CVS launched their CVS ProCare Pharmacy for complex drug therapies. In 1990 CVS bought the 23-store Rix Dunnington chain. In 1993, CVS withdrew from the southern California market. Formerly traded as MVL on the New York Stock Exchange, the company now trades as CVS. CVS bought Stadtlander Pharmacy of Pittsburgh from Bergen Brunswig/AmerisourceBergen in 2000. As of December 2009, CVS Caremark had over 7,000 locations. In 2004 CVS purchased 1,268 Eckerd drug stores and Eckerd Health Services, a PBM/mail-order pharmacy business, from J. C. Penney. Most of the former Eckerd stores, which were converted to CVS stores by June, are located in Florida, Texas, and other southern states. Because JCPenney credit cards were accepted at Eckerd locations, CVS continues to accept them as well. On January 23, 2006, CVS announced that it had agreed to acquire the freestanding drug store operations of supermarket chain Albertsons. The deal included the acquisition of 700 drug stores trading under the Osco Drug and Sav-On Drugs banners, mostly in the midwestern and southwestern United States (with a concentration of stores in southern California and the Chicago area), and was formally completed on June 2, 2006. Transition of Sav-On and Osco stores to the CVS brand was completed by December 2006. CVS now dominates the southern California market. Also included were Albertsons Health'n'Home (now CVS Home Health) durable medical equipment stores. Approximately 28 CVS Home Health locations are present in Arizona, California, and the Kansas City area, representing CVS's first venture into the specialized DME market.CVS had previously operated stores in southern California but completely withdrew from the market in 1993. CVS sold virtually all of the locations to Sav-On's then owner American Stores, who operated them under the name American Drug Stores. Many of the stores CVS gained in January 2006 had been the stores it owned prior to 1993. Before their re-acquisition, these stores were operated under the name Sav-On Express (the Express name was used to help customers identify these stores that did not carry all the lines of merchandise as compared to the larger, traditional Sav-On Drugs locations). CVS now operates over 6,200 stores in 43 states and the District of Columbia. In some locations, CVS now has two stores less than two blocks apart. On July 13, 2006, CVS announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic, the pioneer and largest provider of retail-based health clinics in the U.S. MinuteClinic operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS Corporation. MinuteClinic health care centers are staffed by board-certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are trained to diagnose and treat common family illnesses such as throat, ear, eye, sinus, bladder, and bronchial infections, and provide prescriptions when clinically appropriate. MinuteClinic also offers common vaccinations, such as flu shots, tetanus, and Hepatitis A & B. The clinics are supported by physicians who collaborate with the staff. There are over 550 locations across the United States, most of which are within CVS Pharmacy locations. On November 1, 2006, CVS announced that it was entering into a purchase agreement with Nashville-based Caremark Rx Inc., a pharmacy benefits manager. The new company is called CVS Caremark Corporation and the corporate headquarters remains in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The new pharmacy services business, including the combined pharmacy benefits management (PBM), specialty pharmacy, and disease management businesses, is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The new CVS Caremark Corporation is expected to achieve about $75billion in yearly revenue for 2007. The merger was formally completed on March 22, 2007. Tom Ryan, CVS's Chairman and CEO, remains president and CEO of the combined company, while Caremark's President and CEO, Mac Crawford, is Chairman of the Board. On November 7, 2007, Mac Crawford stepped down as Chairman of the Board for CVS Caremark. He was replaced by President and CEO of CVS Caremark, Tom Ryan. On August 12, 2008, CVS Pharmacy announced that it would acquire Longs Drugs for $2.9billion. Walgreens made a counteroffer but dropped it. The deal closed October 30, 2008. Longs Drugs stores outside Hawaii were rebranded to CVS Pharmacy in September 2009. In 2012 CVS Caremark received 59 percent of Rhode Island's tax credits. On July 14, 2014, it was announced that CVS Caremark would acquire the Miami- based Navarro Discount Pharmacies when the deal closes, the 33 stores will remain untouched and will stay under the Navarro name. On September 3, 2014, CVS Caremark changed its name to CVS Health and announced that it would stop selling tobacco products. On October 25, 2014, CVS Health disabled near field communication NFC payments, disallowing customers from using Apple Pay or Google Wallet payment methods. A reason was not immediately given. Analysts suggested that it was a way to favor the MCX system, which was still under development, and of which CVS was a founding member. On May 21, 2015, it was announced that CVS Health would acquire Omnicare, Inc. the leading provider of pharmacy services to long term care facilities, for $98.00 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $12.7billion, which includes approximately $2.3billion in debt. The transaction was expected to close near the end of 2015. On June 15, 2015, CVS Health announced its agreement to acquire Target Corporation's pharmacy and retail clinic businesses. The deal expanded CVS to new markets in Seattle, Denver, Portland and Salt Lake City. The acquisition includes more than 1,660 pharmacies in 47 states. CVS will operate them through a store-within-a-store format. Target's nearly 80 clinic locations will be rebranded as MinuteClinic, and CVS plans to open up to 20 new clinics in their stores within three years. CVS started rebranding the pharmacies within the Target stores on February 3, 2016. In December 2017 CVS Health announced a deal to acquire Aetna. On October 10, 2018, CVS Health received approval from the United States Department of Justice to acquire Aetna, for $69billion. CVS announced it would close 46 "underperforming stores" in 2019, and a further 22 in 2020, without disclosing their locations. The domain CVS.com attracted at least 26million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey. CVS no longer owns the soma.com domain name, which it acquired with the purchase of online drugstore pioneer Soma; that domain now resides with the lingerie brand of the same name owned by clothing retailer Chico's. By 2004, all CVS stores were able to receive electronic prescriptions. In 2015 CVS Pharmacy launched an alternative version of their CVS Pharmacy stores called CVS Pharmacy y más specifically aimed at attracting Hispanic shoppers. The first stores were launched in Florida and have since expanded to California, Puerto Rico and Texas. In 2005 CVS participated in a program to reduce the pollution of Maine's waterways. CVS agreed to accept drugs for disposal so that people would not dispose of them in ways that reach rivers and other bodies of waters. In 2013 CVS agreed to pay Connecticut $800,000 due to alleged mismanagement of hazardous waste. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection agency found that CVS had improperly identified, managed, and disposed of hazardous materials. CVS was required to pay the United States government $2.25million in 2009 for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that CVS did not appropriately dispose of sensitive patient information or provide the necessary training on disposal to their employees. Former CVS executives John R. Kramer and Carlos Ortiz were charged with bribery, conspiracy, and fraud (including mail fraud) by a federal grand jury for allegedly paying State Senator John A. Celona (D-RI) to act as a "consultant" for the company. Between February 2000 and September 2003, CVS paid Celona $1,000 a month, and he received tickets to golf outings and sporting events and compensation for travel to Florida and California. In August 2005, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges, and in January 2007, he was fined a record $130,000 by the Rhode Island Ethics Committee. The investigation was led by the FBI and the Rhode Island State Police, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gerard B. Sullivan and Dulce Donovan. Kramer and Ortiz were acquitted after a jury trial, in May 2008. During 2005 a rash of prescription mistakes came to light in some of CVS Corporation's Boston-area stores. An investigation confirmed 62 errors or quality problems going back to 2002. In February 2006 the state Board of Pharmacy announced that the non-profit Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) would monitor all Massachusetts stores for the next two years. Later, a 2007 segment on ABC News 20/20 accused CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid among other pharmacies, of making various prescription dispensing errors. This segment aired in March 2007, and included an undercover investigation. CVS responded by claiming they had designed and invested millions of dollars in a comprehensive quality assurance program. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued CVS in April 2007, for illegally dumping records containing confidential patient information and sensitive financial information including credit card numbers when closing an acquired Eckerd store in Liberty, Texas. CVS was accused of breaking the state's 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act. It was reported that this was the fourth time action had been taken against CVS for violating the 2005 law and that there were also other possible violations under the Texas Business and Commerce Code. CVS settled by paying $315,000 to the state and agreeing to overhaul its information security system. As was common practice among U.S. pharmacies, CVS originally stocked cigarettes for sale to the public. This met with criticism from public health advocates of the removal of tobacco from pharmacies due to the harmful effects on health associated with smoking, who pointed to the apparent contradiction implicit in selling cigarettes while offering smoking cessation products and medications to treat ailments such as asthma that are caused or aggravated by smoking. CVS and other pharmacies that continued to sell tobacco products were subject to criticism, and attempts were made to introduce regional bans on the practice, notably by the City and County of San Francisco. In 2007 CEO Thomas Ryan stated that the company was considering halting the sale of cigarettes within its pharmacies, acknowledging that the issue was problematic for the company. He said the company would continue selling cigarettes, citing internal market research that concluded that ceasing cigarette sales would not change the consumer practice of purchasing them. In February 2014, CVS announced that it would stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its stores and that it was challenging other retailers to do the same. The decision meant the company would forego about $1.5billion a year in tobacco revenue. In a videotaped message, CEO Larry J. Merlo said ending tobacco sales "is the right thing to do". On September 3, 2014, CVS officially stopped selling cigarettes in its stores. A Forbes magazine article cited the move to remove tobacco products as coinciding with CVS's decision to change its corporate name from CVS Caremark to CVS Health and said this reflected a "broader health care commitment" and desire to change the future health of Americans. In February 2008 CVS settled a large civil lawsuit for deceptive business practices. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported: CVS Caremark has agreed to a $38.5 million settlement in a multi-state civil deceptive-practices lawsuit against pharmacy benefit manager Caremark filed by 28 attorneys general, the Chicago Tribune reports. The attorneys general, led by Lisa Madigan (D) of Illinois and Douglas Ganslar (D) of Maryland, allege that Caremark "engaged in deceptive business practices" by informing physicians that patients or health plans could save money if patients were switched to certain brand-name prescription drugs (Miller, Chicago Tribune, 2/14). However, the switch often saved patients and health plans only small amounts or increased their costs, while increasing Caremark's profits, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) said (Levick, Hartford Courant, 2/15). Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) said the PBM kept discounts and rebates that should have been passed on to employers and patients (Levy, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/14). In addition, Caremark did not "adequately inform doctors" of the full financial effect of the switch and did not disclose that the switch would increase Caremark's profits, the lawsuit alleges (Chicago Tribune, 2/14). ...The settlement prohibits Caremark from requesting prescription drug switches in certain cases, such as when the cost to the patient would be higher with the new prescription drug; when the original prescription drug's patent will expire within six months; and when patients were switched from a similar prescription drug within the previous two years (Hartford Courant, 2/15). Patients also have the ability to decline a switch from the prescribed treatment to the prescription offered by the pharmacy under the settlement, Madigan said (Bloomberg News/Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/15). On October 14, 2010, CVS was ordered to pay $77.6million in fines and returned profits stemming from a lawsuit alleging improper control in the sale of pseudoephedrine, a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine. In 2011 the U.S. Department of Justice charged that CVS pharmacies in Sanford, Florida, ordered enough painkillers to supply a population eight times its size. Sanford has a population of 53,000 but the supply would support 400,000. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, in 2010 a single CVS pharmacy in Sanford ordered 1.8million oxycodone pills, an average of 137,994 pills a month. Other pharmacy customers in Florida averaged 5,364 oxycodone pills a month. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigators serving a warrant to a CVS pharmacy in Sanford on October 18, 2011, noted that "approximately every third car that came through the drive-thru lane had prescriptions for oxycodone or hydrocodone". According to the DEA, a pharmacist at that location stated to investigators that "her customers often requested certain brands of oxycodone using "street slang", an indicator that the drugs were being diverted and not used for legitimate pain management. In response, CVS, in a statement issued February 17, 2012, in response to opioid trafficking questions from USA Today, said the company was committed to working with the DEA and had taken "significant actions to ensure appropriate dispensing of painkillers in Florida". In 2013 a Korean customer, Hyun Lee, was identified as "Ching Chong Lee" on her receipt from a CVS in New Jersey. Lee contacted CVS and received an email response saying that the employee would be "counseled and trained". Lee's attorney said "[The employee] should have been terminated immediately. She never got an apology. She never got anything further after she complained." On April 16, 2013, Lee filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against CVS and sought $1million. She settled for an undisclosed sum. In 2013 CVS introduced a program that rewarded customers up to $50 per year in ExtraCare Bucks in exchange for filling their prescriptions. In order to enroll in the program, customers had to sign a HIPAA waiver acknowledging, "my health information may potentially be re-disclosed and thus is no longer protected by the federal Privacy Rule." Stores had to fulfill a quota of a number of customers in the program each week. Walgreens and Rite Aid also offer rewards for filling prescriptions, although they do not require a signed HIPAA waiver. On April 1, 2011, the James Randi Educational Foundation awarded CVS Pharmacy the tongue-in-cheek Pigasus Award for selling homeopathic remedies alongside medicines recognized by science. In July 2018 the Center for Inquiry (CfI) filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against CVS for consumer fraud over its sale of homeopathic medicines. According to Nicholas Little, CFI's Vice President and General Counsel: "... [CVS] have a responsibility to their customers and to the law to make sure that the products are not falsely marketed, and that customers are told what they are: unproven treatments which cannot work under any current understanding of science." CVS responded by describing the lawsuit as "having no merit", and stating that they were "... committed to assuring that the products [CVS] offer are safe, work as intended, comply with regulations and satisfy customers." As of June 2019, the lawsuit is still in negotiations, while CFI filed a similar suit against Walmart for their range of homeopathic products. In an August 2019 interview, Little commented that "The problem is the government agencies (the FDA and FTC) aren't doing their job. ... The FDA and FTC have rules and guidelines, but they don't enforce them." In July, 2019, CFI announced that the Stiefel Freethought Foundation was contributing an additional $150,000 to the previously committed $100,000 to support the two lawsuits. On July 17, 2015, CVS shut down its online photo processing services, blaming a third party vendor, believed to be PNI Digital Media. According to reporters, CVS was unwilling to confirm or deny questions about whether hackers had stolen customer photographs as well as data. The site was updated on September 11, 2015, with more details of the attack. By the end of November 2015 the CVS photo website was restored, and customers may order photo services online again. In July 2018 a transgender woman in Arizona posted an allegation on the ACLU of Arizona website. She said she had attempted to fill prescriptions for hormone therapy at the CVS store in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and that the pharmacist had refused to fill the prescriptions and instead subjected her to loud questioning in front of other customers and pharmacy staff demanding her to explain why she had been prescribed the medications. She said the pharmacist also refused to return the prescription notes to her or to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy. She said she filed a complaint with CVS and received no acknowledgement of her complaint until she went public with the allegation three months later. In an email to The Arizona Republic on the day they published an article about the story, CVS apologized to her, stating that the pharmacist had violated company policies and was no longer employed by CVS and that the incident "does not reflect our values or our commitment to inclusion, nondiscrimination and the delivery of outstanding patient care." The newspaper also said that the pharmacist's alleged actions may have violated the laws governing pharmacy practices. CVS has drawn ire for the length of its receipts, specifically receipts given to people who have signed up for their ExtraCare rewards program. Due to CVS' practice of placing numerous targeted coupons on the back, these receipts can be up to 5 feet in length. CVS CEO Larry Merlo responded by saying that they were working on ways to reduce the length of the receipts by 25% and mentioned that customers can get their receipts and coupons digitally through CVS' mobile app, which requires the customer to sign up for digital coupons and receipts. However, despite this, Merlo admitted that CVS still could do a better job of making the instructions to opt out of paper receipts more clear. Rite Aid, Walgreens Notes CVS Pharmacy Official website The CVSNT Versioning System implements a version control system: it keeps track of all changes in a set of files, typically the implementation of a software project, and allows several (potentially geographically separated) developers to collaborate. It is compatible with and originally based on Concurrent Versions System (CVS), which has become popular in the open-source world. CVSNT keeps track of the version history of a project (or set of files). CVSNT is based on the same client–server architecture as the Concurrent Versions System: a server stores the current version(s) of the project and its history, and clients connect to the server in order to check-out a complete copy of the project, work on this copy and then later check-in their changes. A server may be a caching or proxy server (a read only server that passes on write requests to another server) or a read and write (normal) server. Typically, client and server connect over a WAN or Internet, but client and server may both run on the same LAN or even the same machine. The server software runs equally well on Unix and Windows. It is compatible with CVS clients and supports a large number of configuration management methodologies including the CVS compatible unreserved method and the VSS-like reserved method. The modular nature of CVSNT allows server administrators to dynamically enable and disable protocols as well as load additional functions via triggers such as Audit, Defect Tracking Integration, Automatic Checkout (for webservers) and more. CVSNT Server features include: Access control for securing projects and branches., Detailed audit and metrics recorded in an SQL database., Authentication with Active Directory., Tracking everything about the change - including whether it was merged from somewhere, belongs to a problem report or was part of a change set., A control panel to manage email notification of changes, defect tracking integration, and more., Integrated repository synchronisation (for fail-over servers)., Change set support (group changes by defect number)., Supports Unicode UTF-8/UCS-2 files and multi-lingual filenames., When operating in UTF-8 (Unicode) mode it can automatically translate filename encoding for any client., Plug-ins for email notification., Helps make merging branches easier with its "Mergepoint" feature., Native servers available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX., Supports reserved and unreserved versioning methodologies., CVSAPI for integration into third-party products., Script, COM and 3GL interface for triggers and integration into 3rd party tools (such as defect tracking) Users unhappy with the limitations of CVS 1.10.8 began the development of CVSNT. The original limitations addressed were related to running CVS server on Windows and handling filenames for case-insensitive platforms. The first version was released in 1998, and stable feature releases have been released roughly every three to four months since. Linux and Unix support was re-added to CVSNT in early 2002. From the project's inception until October 2002 CVSNT and CVS used identical version numbers and CVSNT was "kept in sync" with the features and code base of CVS. After October 2002, CVSNT began its own version sequence beginning with "2" to indicate significant departure from its CVS origins. Since that time, there has not been a stable feature release of CVS. However the unstable CVS 1.12 contains some of the oldest features originally implemented in CVSNT. Due to this shared history, all features from CVS 1.11 are included in CVSNT and most from CVS 1.12 (e.g.: the 1.12 'ls' feature is functionally compatible with the CVSNT 'ls'). In 2003, the CVSNT SJIS project released a Japanese version of CVSNT including support for SJIS filenames and file encoding. March Hare Software began sponsorship of the project in July 2004 to guarantee the project's future and to employ the original project manager on CVSNT development and commercial support. In February 2005, the project servers moved to CVSNT version 2.5 and began unstable releases of a new server incorporating server plugins, ACLs, filename character set conversion as well as client/server autodiscovery. In October 2005, the first commercial CVS Suite was released, incorporating non-GPL addins and clients for CVSNT. In November 2005, CVSNT was enhanced to incorporate the features of the CVSNT SJIS project. In March 2006, the project servers moved to CVSNT version 2.6 and began unstable releases of the new server backend. This backend incorporated a partial SQL database repository to facilitate better server performance and more complex server features. When work was abandoned on CVSNT 2.6 and moved to EVS/CVSNT 3.1 the project server was moved back to 2.5.04. In November 2008 the project released version 2.5.04 with support for multi site repository replication or 'local' repository caches and specific performance features for using large files use over a WAN. The project began advertising for contributors more aggressively including placing advertising in commit comments (which can be turned off). Note: Although March-Hare's site gives 'instructions' for disabling the advertising messages, it has been documented that the method given does not work for release 2.5.04. In March 2010 the project released version 2.5.05 with a server that always runs in Unicode, native Windows crypt and schannel support and support for Internationalized Domain Names. The open source CVSNT project does not have a "project charter". This was a decision based on the observation that the charter prevented the CVS project from evolving CVS into a versioning system supporting modern CM best practice. The CVSNT project will continue to evolve the software as the scope of version management and CM changes, including changes to expand the supported methodologies. The status of the project is active, with further releases of CVSNT 2.5 planned, and continuing evolution of CVSNT/EVS 3.1. CVSNT/EVS will implement a complete SQL database repository to support further complex server and client features. An RCS emulation layer is also planned for CVSNT/EVS 3.1 to support legacy systems. On June 30, 2010, March Hare retired the zero-dollar Community edition, however the commercial "CVS Suite" edition with a new CVSNT 2.8 release and support is actively developed and available from the web store, as are snapshots of the older community releases (unsupported, and a fee is required to download). Email support is available for customers but the community mailing list/newsgroup has been removed. The description of the public CVS server for source code was updated with the caveat "not guaranteed to be available 24x7, is provided by a volunteer and may be withdrawn at any time". This arrangement appears to fulfil the requirements of the GPL, since the software offered for download includes a written offer to receive the source code, as is explicitly required by the license. Older versions can still be downloaded for free from various repositories, or, including source code. To many people CVSNT is best known because it has been embedded in a 3rd party systems. Software incorporating CVSNT includes: TortoiseCVS recommend CVSNT for both Unix and Windows machines., WinCVS was developed in close cooperation with CVSNT project., VP/MS March Hare plans to deliver the following features in the next release : Atomic Commits, Database backend (no more Revision Control System (RCS) files), RCS "interface" for legacy integrating Version control system, general overview, CVSNT was originally forked from Concurrent Versions System (CVS) in 2004, List of revision control software, Comparison of revision control software CVSNT Home Page - GPL licensed CVS implementation with a server and client for many platforms including Microsoft Windows and Linux., EVS Home Page - LGPL licensed CVS implementation with a server and client for many platforms including Microsoft Windows and Linux., March Hare's CVSNT FAQ, AnandTech How to Set up a Source Control on Windows., AVAJAVA CVSNT and Eclipse setup guide., CVSNT Legacy Home Page - CVSNT Legacy client/server tools v2.5.05 for Microsoft Windows. March Hare Software: All About CVS: How to Design and Build an Effective CM solution using TortoiseCVS, WinCVS, Bugzilla on Windows and Linux (2005). The Concurrent Versions System (CVS), also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, is a free client-server revision control system in the field of software development. A version control system keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers (potentially widely separated in space and time) to collaborate. Dick Grune developed CVS as a series of shell scripts in July 1986. In addition to proprietary software developers, CVS became popular with the open-source software world and was released under the GNU General Public License. While there was regular development to add features and fix bugs in the past, including regular builds and test results, there have been no new releases since 2008. CVS uses a client–server architecture: a server stores the current version(s) of a project and its history, and clients connect to the server in order to "check out" a complete copy of the project, work on this copy and then later "check in" their changes. Typically, the client and server connect over a LAN or over the Internet, but client and server may both run on the same machine if CVS has the task of keeping track of the version history of a project with only local developers. The server software normally runs on Unix (although at least the CVSNT server also supports various flavours of Microsoft Windows), while CVS clients may run on any major operating-system platform. Several developers may work on the same project concurrently, each one editing files within their own "working copy" of the project, and sending (or checking in) their modifications to the server. To avoid conflicts, the server only accepts changes made to the most recent version of a file. Developers are therefore expected to keep their working copy up-to-date by incorporating other people's changes on a regular basis. This task is mostly handled automatically by the CVS client, requiring manual intervention only when an edit conflict arises between a checked-in modification and the yet-unchecked local version of a file. If the check in operation succeeds, then the version numbers of all files involved automatically increment, and the CVS-server writes a user- supplied description line, the date and the author's name to its log files. CVS can also run external, user-specified log processing scripts following each commit. These scripts are installed by an entry in CVS's loginfo file, which can trigger email notification or convert the log data into a Web-based format. Clients can also compare versions, request a complete history of changes, or check out a historical snapshot of the project (e.g.: based on a given date). CVS servers can allow "anonymous read access", wherein clients may check out and compare versions with either a blank or simple published password (e.g., "anoncvs"); only the check-in of changes requires a personal account and password in these scenarios. Clients can also use the "update" command to bring their local copies up-to-date with the newest version on the server. This eliminates the need for repeated downloading of the whole project. CVS can also maintain different "branches" of a project. For instance, a released version of the software project may form one branch, used for bug fixes, while a version under current development, with major changes and new features, can form a separate branch. CVS uses delta compression for efficient storage of different versions of the same file. This works well with large text files with few changes from one version to the next. This is usually the case for source code files. On the other hand, when CVS is told to store a file as binary, it will keep each individual version on the server. Storing files as binary is important in order to avoid corruption of binary files. CVS labels a single project (set of related files) that it manages as a module. A CVS server stores the modules it manages in its repository. Programmers acquire copies of modules by checking out. The checked-out files serve as a working copy, sandbox or workspace. Changes to the working copy are reflected in the repository by committing them. To update is to acquire or merge the changes in the repository with the working copy. CVS was designed: To exclude symbolic links because when they are stored in a version control system they can pose a security risk. For instance, a symbolic link to a sensitive file can be stored in the repository, making the sensitive file accessible even when it is not checked in. In place of symbolic links, scripts that require certain privileges and conscious intervention to execute may be checked into CVS., Use the native ASCII character set in filenames, precluding the use of multi-lingual filenames. Now many Unix systems run in UTF-8, and CVS on such systems handles UTF-8 multi-lingual filenames natively., Create revisions per file, not an identifier for all revisions created during a commit ( this is sometimes referred to as atomic but not in the transactional database sense, where a commit automatically rolls back if it fails for any reason, but in the sense that each commit can be uniquely identified). This design choice was made even when servers could easily have had insufficient resilience to complete a commit without crashing. The lack of atomicity is mitigated by the fact that in many code management processes, development work is performed on branches and then merged into the trunk after code review. That final merge is atomic, and performed in the data center by QA. Tracking each commit can be accomplished by modifying the correct trigger., To assume that the majority of work takes place on the trunk, and that branches should generally be short-lived or historical. When used as designed, branches are easily managed and branch operations are efficient and fast., That text files are expected to be the primary file type stored in the CVS repository. However, binary files are also supported, and files with a particular file extension can automatically be recognized as being binary., That changes would be frequently committed to the centrally checked-in copies of files in order to aid merging and foster rapid distribution of changes to all users, so there is no support for distributed revision control or unpublished changes. Dick Grune developed CVS as a front end for the Revision Control System (RCS), an older version control system that manages individual files but not whole projects. Grune publicly released the code on June 23, 1986. The code that eventually evolved into the current version of CVS started with Brian Berliner in April 1989, with later input from Jeff Polk and many other contributors. Brian Berliner wrote a paper introducing his improvements to the CVS program—which describes how the tool was extended and used internally by Prisma, a third-party developer working on the SunOS kernel, and was released for the benefit of the community under the GPL. On November 19, 1990, CVS version 1.0 was submitted to the Free Software Foundation for development and distribution. CVS supports distributed, multi-site and offline operations due to the unreliability of the few computer networks that existed at the time CVS evolved. There have been no official recent announcements indicating the project status. The latest version was released ( ago)., Since 2008 there have been some maintenance bugfixes in the CVS project's own CVS repository., There are no bugs or enhancements reported since the last code change that are complete (fulfill the requirement for a fix). There are a total of 9 reports, most of which are questions. Questions are typically answered quickly if asked on the mailing list., The info-cvs mailing list actively answer questions., Links on the official CVS page that point to the external web site ximbiot.com, such as 'Current Events,' are dead, as is the CVS wiki. Archived information is available using new links, The last message in the Cvs-Announce mailing list was posted on ( ago)., The last code checkin to the CVS code repository occurred on ( ago). Development of the Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris, HPUX, I5os and Mac OS X port of CVS has split off into a separate project named CVSNT, which is under current, active development. The relationship between CVS and the GNU project has long been somewhat ambiguous: the GNU web site distributed the program, labelling it "GNU package" on one page and "other GPL-licensed project" on another. In 2008, when development of CVS was transferred from the old website (cvshome.org) to the GNU Savannah hosting platform, it was placed in the "non-GNU" section. Further, on GNU's FTP download server, CVS is distributed in the "non-gnu" directory. Over time, developers have created new version control systems based on CVS in order to add features, alter the operational model, and improve developers' productivity. CVS replacement projects include CVSNT (first released 1998), Subversion (initially released in 2004) and EVS (first released 2008). StatCVS, a program that generates graphical reports about CVS repositories., TortoiseCVS, a shell-integrated CVSNT client for Microsoft Windows (commonly used with CVS servers), Bonsai CVS code management system, a tool to report on files, directories, and branches under CVS management., Cervisia, a KDE GUI frontend for CVS, ViewVC, a browser interface for CVS repositories, OpenGrok, a browser interface for CVS repositories, CVSup, a utility and protocol to check out and mirror CVS repositories efficiently Android Studio, Anjuta, Code Composer Studio, Dev-C++, Eclipse, Aptana, Zend Studio, Emacs, IntelliJ IDEA PL/SQL Developer, JDeveloper, KDevelop, Komodo IDE, NetBeans, Oracle SQL Developer, PHPEdit, PhpStorm/WebStorm, PyCharm Qt Creator, SlickEdit, Vim (plugin: Menu for CVS-Versioncontrol), Visual Studio, Wing IDE Professional, wxDev-C++, Xcode Version Management with CVS – manual for CVS 1.12.13, by Per Cederqvist et al.

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Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time due to his numerous career achievements, he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and was a member of the Denver Broncos in his last four seasons. Manning played college football for the University of Tennessee, leading the Tennessee Volunteers to the 1997 SEC Championship in his senior season. He is the second son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and older brother of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Manning was selected by the Colts as the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. From 1998 to 2010, he improved the fortunes of the struggling Colts franchise and helped transform them into consistent playoff contenders. During his tenure as starting quarterback, Manning led the team to eight division championships, two AFC championships, and one Super Bowl title, the franchise's first in over three decades, as well as their first since relocating to Indianapolis. After undergoing neck surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2011 season, Manning was released by the Colts and signed with the Broncos. Serving as the team's starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015, he contributed to the Broncos reaching the top of their division each year and his playing career concluded with a victory in Super Bowl 50. Manning holds many NFL records, including AP MVP awards (5), Pro Bowl appearances (14), 4,000-yard passing seasons (14), single-season passing yards (5,477 in 2013), single-season passing touchdowns (55 in 2013). He tied for most First-Team All Pros for a quarterback with 7, and is second in career passing yards (71,940) and passing TD (539). A two-time Super Bowl winner and the most valuable player of Super Bowl XLI, Manning is also the only quarterback to start the Super Bowl for two franchises more than once each, with different coaches at each Super Bowl start (Dungy, Caldwell, Fox, Kubiak), and the only starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two franchises. At 39 years of age, Manning was the oldest quarterback to start in and win a Super Bowl until Tom Brady surpassed him by winning a Super Bowl at 41. During a 2009 Monday Night Football game, Manning received the nickname "The Sheriff" from color commentator Jon Gruden due to his tendency to audible prior to the snap, and he was one of the most recognizable and parodied players in the NFL. Teams led by Manning typically used the hurry-up offense in place of the standard huddle. Manning attended Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana, and led the Greenies football team to a 34–5 record during his three seasons as the starter. He was named Gatorade Circle of Champions National Player-of-the-Year and Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club National Offensive Player-of-the-Year in 1993. While at Newman, he began wearing the #18 jersey in honor of his older brother Cooper, who was forced to give up football due to spinal stenosis. Younger brother Eli also wore the number when he became starting quarterback. Newman has since retired the #18 jersey and it can be seen hanging in the school gym. Manning was among the most sought after high school players in the country and was recruited by about 60 colleges, led by Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M;, and his father's alma mater, Ole Miss. Manning chose to play college football for the University of Tennessee Volunteers under head coach Phillip Fulmer. Many fans were surprised that he did not pick the Ole Miss Rebels, for whom his father Archie played, and Peyton's parents received several angry phone calls and letters. He became Tennessee's all-time leading passer with 11,201 yards and 89 touchdowns and won 39 of 45 games as a starter, breaking the Southeastern Conference (SEC) record for career wins. As a freshman, Manning began the season as the third-string quarterback. In the season opener against UCLA, Manning was one of three quarterbacks to come off the bench after starter Jerry Colquitt suffered a season-ending injury on the seventh play of the game. However, Manning was not able to generate any offense, only handing the ball off three times, and was pulled from the game. Two weeks later, in a 31–0 loss to the #1 Florida Gators, Manning completed his first collegiate pass. During the season's fourth game, against Mississippi State, starter Todd Helton got injured and Manning took over. The Vols lost 24–21, but Manning threw his first touchdown in the game. He was named the team's starter and remained so for the rest of his college career. In his first start, the following week against Washington State, the Vols won 10–9. They won all but one of their remaining games, finishing the season 8–4 with a 45–23 victory over Virginia Tech in the 1994 Gator Bowl. He finished his first collegiate season 89 of 144 for 1,141 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Manning and the Vols started off the 1995 season with victories over East Carolina and SEC rival Georgia, before heading off to Gainesville to face off against the rival Gators. Against Florida, he threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Vols to a 30–21 halftime lead. However, the Gators outscored the Vols 41–7 in the second half, winning 62–37. This was the Vols' only loss of the season, as they won their remaining eight regular season games, including a 41–14 win over rival Alabama. The Vols defeated Ohio State by a score of 20–14 in the Citrus Bowl. The Vols ended the season ranked third and Manning came in sixth in Heisman Trophy voting. He finished his sophomore season 244 of 380 for 2,954 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and four interceptions. The Vols opened the 1996 season ranked #2 behind Nebraska and one of the favorites to win the National Championship. However, after winning their first two games against UNLV and UCLA, the Vols again lost to Florida by a score of 35–29, with Manning throwing four interceptions. After winning their next four games, the Vols were upset by Memphis, despite Manning passing for 296 yards. The Vols won the remainder of their games, including a 48–28 win in the Citrus Bowl over Northwestern, a game in which Manning passed for 408 yards and four touchdowns; he was named the game's MVP. His 243 pass completions and 63.9% completion percentage led the SEC that year. In the 1996 season, he finished with 3,287 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He finished in eighth place in the Heisman Trophy voting. Manning completed his degree in three years, a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication, and was projected to be the top overall pick in the NFL Draft, but returned to Tennessee for his senior year. In his senior season, the Vols opened the season with victories against Texas Tech and UCLA, but for the third time in his career, Manning fell to Florida 33–20. The Vols won the rest of their regular season games, finishing 10–1, and advanced to the SEC Championship game against Auburn. Down 20–7 in the second quarter, Manning led the Vols to a 30–29 comeback victory. Throwing for 373 yards and four touchdowns, he was named the game's MVP, but injured himself in the process. The #3 Vols were matched-up with #2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl; if Tennessee won and top-ranked Michigan lost to Washington State in the Rose Bowl, the Vols would have won the national championship. However, the Vols' defense could not stop Nebraska's rushing attack, giving up over 400 rushing yards in a 42–17 loss. As a senior, Manning won numerous awards; he was a consensus first-team All-American, the Maxwell Award winner, the Davey O'Brien Award winner, the Johnny Unitas Award winner, and the Best College Player ESPY award winner, among others. He finished as the runner-up to Charles Woodson in the 1997 Heisman Trophy voting. In 2005, Tennessee retired Manning's number (No. 16). One of the streets leading to Neyland Stadium has been renamed Peyton Manning Pass. Manning finished his final season at Tennessee with 3,819 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. While at the University of Tennessee, Manning excelled academically and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1997 and awarded the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Award. In 1996, while attending the University of Tennessee, Manning was accused of sexual assault by trainer Jamie Ann Naughright after he pressed his genitals against Naughright's face during a foot examination. Manning claims that he was just pulling a prank by "mooning" another athlete in the room as Naughright bent over to examine him. Both Naughright and the other athlete deny Manning's story. Naughright settled with the university for $300,000 for its alleged failure in four incidents, and resigned from the school. She had initially made a list of 33 complaints about the school. Naughright filed a defamation lawsuit against Peyton Manning and three other parties in 2002, claiming that Manning defamed her in a book he wrote with his father and author John Underwood. The lawsuit was settled after the court ruled there was sufficient evidence for it to be heard by a jury. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed due to confidentiality terms. Manning was inducted into the Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. He was also named the 2016 Tennessean of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Manning was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017, his first year of eligibility for the honor, and was inducted during a ceremony in December. He joined his father Archie in the Hall of Fame, making them the first father and son duo to both be inducted as players. Manning was selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the first overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft. He would start as a rookie and go on to play for the Colts for 13 full seasons before being sidelined by a neck injury, which cost him the entire 2011 season. After recovering from the injury, he was released by the Colts and joined the Denver Broncos for whom he played from the 2012 season through the 2015 season. Excluding the year lost to the neck injury, Manning played in 17 NFL seasons. Manning is considered to be one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time. He was named the NFL's most valuable player a record five times (four times as a Colt, once as a Bronco), was named to the Pro Bowl a record 14 times and named a first-team All-Pro seven times. As a starter up to the end of 2015 season, he had a career winning percentage of .702 in the regular season. He held the NFL record for career touchdown passes from 2014–2019, and the career passing yards record, achieved 2015. The most commonly cited criticism of Manning's professional career is that despite great success and gaudy statistics during the regular season, he did not enjoy similar levels of success in the post-season. His career post-season record as a starter was a more modest 14–13, compared to his regular season record through the 2015 season, which was 186–79. Manning won two Super Bowls (Super Bowl XLI and Super Bowl 50) and played in two others (Super Bowl XLIV and Super Bowl XLVIII), being named MVP of XLI, while losing XLIV in an upset, and managing just one successful touchdown drive in each of XLVIII and 50. During the early part of Manning's career, "his record-breaking stats were written off because of the Colts' postseason failures"; conversely he posted poor statistics in the 2015 regular season and Super Bowl 50, which would be his final season, but nonetheless won his second Super Bowl thanks to his team's defense. Manning is also the only quarterback in NFL history to make the Super Bowl four times with four head coaches (Dungy, Caldwell, Fox and Kubiak). Despite concerns about his arm strength and mobility, Manning was selected first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. Although many considered Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf his rival for the first selection in the draft, and Leaf's quarterback rating was higher, all six experts Sports Illustrated consulted believed that Manning was superior. Five said that they would take him first in the draft; Sid Gillman said of Manning, "this is a pro quarterback". The Colts' scouts initially favored Leaf, but the team's management and coaches liked Manning's attitude, particularly as Manning showed up prepared to a scheduled interview meeting with the Colts' staff while Leaf arrived late. Colts general manager Bill Polian, who had the final say on the draft selection, recalled Manning saying "I'll leave you with this thought. If you take me, I promise you we will win a championship. If you don't, I promise I'll come back and kick your ass". Polian said that, contrary to what he had heard about their athletic ability, Manning "far and away had the stronger arm, threw a tighter ball" than Leaf. In Manning's rookie season under head coach Jim Mora, he passed for 3,739 yards with 26 touchdowns, set five different NFL rookie records including most touchdown passes in a season, most interceptions (28) in a rookie year, and was named to the NFL All-Rookie First Team. In his NFL debut, Manning was 21-of-37 for 302 passing yards for one touchdown and three interceptions. He threw his first career touchdown, a six-yard pass to Marvin Harrison, in the fourth quarter of the 24–15 loss. In Week 4, against the New Orleans Saints, he threw a 78-yard touchdown pass to Marshall Faulk in the 19–13 loss. Manning's first win came against fellow rookie Leaf, 17–12 over the San Diego Chargers in Week 5. Two weeks later, Manning faced off against Steve Young; he threw three touchdowns, tying a Colts rookie record, but the 49ers kicked a late field goal to win 34–31. In November against the New York Jets, Manning threw for three touchdowns in a 24–23 win; he was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for this performance. It was the first game-winning drive of Manning's career, as he threw the game- winning touchdown pass to Marcus Pollard. Manning was certainly a bright spot in the 1998 season for the Colts with 3,739 passing yards and 26 passing touchdowns, but he also threw a league high 28 interceptions as the team struggled to a 3–13 record with a defense that gave up more than 27 points per game. The Colts lost many close games, including five games in which they had led by double digits at some point. Manning and the Colts opened the 1999 season with a 31–14 victory over the Buffalo Bills, but gave up a 28–7 lead the following week against the New England Patriots and lost 31–28. After defeating the San Diego Chargers 27–19 in a game in which Manning threw for over 404 yards, scored his first professional rushing touchdown, and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week, they lost again, to Miami by a score of 34–31. The Colts responded by winning 11 of their remaining 12 games, finishing 13–3 and the AFC East division. In Week 11, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Manning threw a then career-high 80-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Wilkins in the 44–17 victory. The ten-game turnaround from the previous year set an NFL record. His seven game-winning drives were tied for the most in NFL history until Matthew Stafford had eight in the 2016 season. As the second seed in the AFC, the Colts earned a first round bye, and faced Tennessee in the of the playoffs. The Colts lost 19–16 to the Super Bowl-bound Titans and Manning was limited to 19-of-42 passing attempts for 227 passing yards and one touchdown run. Manning finished the year with 4,135 passing yards and 26 passing touchdowns, and was named both Second-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl, both firsts for him. In the Pro Bowl, he passed for 270 yards with two touchdowns in the 51–31 loss. The Colts started the 2000 season with a 27–14 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener in which Manning had 267 passing yards and a touchdown. However, they blew a 21–0 lead against the Oakland Raiders in the following game, a 38–31 loss. Manning finished with 351 passing yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. The Colts responded with a Monday Night Football victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a 43–14 win in which Manning threw for 430 yards and four touchdowns; Manning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for this performance. The Colts won four of their next five games, including one against the New England Patriots in which Manning posted the first perfect passer rating of his career, but then lost four of the five games following that. The Colts regained their momentum, winning their final three games, including a 31–10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Week 17. Manning threw for four touchdowns in the win and was again named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. The win gave the Colts a 10–6 record as well as a Wild Card spot in the playoffs. In the , the Colts fell to the Dolphins 23–17 in overtime. Manning passed for 194 yards and a touchdown in the loss. He finished the season with a league-high 357 pass completions for and and was named Second-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl. At the Pro Bowl, Manning threw two touchdown passes. Manning and the Colts introduced the no-huddle offense, and used it to great effect in a Week 1 rout of the New York Jets, 45–24. Two weeks later (Week 2 games were not played as scheduled due to the 9/11 attacks) the Colts advanced to 2–0 with a win over Buffalo, behind Manning's 421 yards passing. He was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for this game. However, the Colts lost the following week in a 38–17 loss to the New England Patriots, which was the first meeting between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The Colts continued their slide, losing their following two games. The Colts briefly rebounded, winning two games, but then lost seven of their last nine games. In the stretch, Manning a threw a career-high 86-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Pollard in the 34–20 loss to the New Orleans Saints. After a 40–21 home loss to the 49ers, in which Manning threw a career-high four interceptions in that game, coach Jim Mora uttered his famous "Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs," press conference. Despite the 6–10 record, Manning finished the season with , , and four rushing touchdowns as the offense produced the second most points in the league. However, the defense allowed the most points in the league and Mora was fired after the season. Before the 2002 season, Tony Dungy became Manning's second head coach in the NFL. The Colts started off the 2002 season with a 4–1 record, before a three- game losing streak sent them to 4–4. The Colts responded by winning all but two of their remaining games, including a 35–13 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in which Manning had a perfect passer rating for the second time in his career, giving them a 10–6 record and a spot in the playoffs. However, the Colts were pummeled by the New York Jets in the , 41–0, with Manning passing for only 137 yards to fall to 0–3 in the playoffs to start his career. He finished the 2002 season with and and was named to the Pro Bowl team. In the Pro Bowl, Manning completed five of eleven passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in the 45–23 victory. The 2003 Colts began the season 5–0, including a 55–21 blowout of the New Orleans Saints in which Manning recorded his third perfect passer rating game and threw six touchdown passes, earning him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. On Monday Night Football, against the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Manning and the Colts trailed 35–14 in the final five minutes. After one short touchdown drive, the Colts recovered the onside kick. Manning threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison on 4th & 6 to make it 35–28. With 1:41 remaining, Manning got the ball back and drove the offense 85 yards for the game-tying touchdown. He set up the winning 29-yard field goal in overtime for a 38–35 win. It was the only time in NFL history a team won a game after trailing by 21 points in the final 4 minutes of regulation. Manning passed for 386 yards in the game. After an overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Colts won all but three of their remaining games, finishing 12–4. On November 30, the Colts hosted the 9–2 New England Patriots in what would be the beginning of the NFL's top rivalry of the 2000s. The Colts trailed 31–10 late in the third quarter before Manning threw three touchdown passes in a span of six minutes to tie the game. Trailing 38–34 in the final minutes, the Colts had three plays at the 1-yard line to try and score the winning touchdown. Running back Edgerrin James was stopped on fourth down by linebacker Willie McGinest and the Patriots won. In a Week 14 win against the Atlanta Falcons, Manning threw for five touchdowns and was named Offensive Player of the Week a second time. He also earned AFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for the month of October. In the , Manning and the Colts defeated the Denver Broncos 41–10 for his first playoff win. He passed for 377 yards and five touchdowns in the game, earning him a perfect passer rating, his second of the season and the fourth of his career. After the game, Manning was awarded Player of the Week honors for the third time that season. In the , Manning led the Colts to a 38–31 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. In the victory, he passed for 304 yards and three touchdowns. In the , Manning was shut down by the New England Patriots' top-ranked defense and posted the third lowest passer rating of his career at 35.5. The Patriots defense intercepted Manning four times and sacked him another four, as the Colts lost the game by a score of 24–14. During the season, Manning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for September and was named the AP NFL co-MVP along with Titans quarterback Steve McNair. Manning also received the ESPY Award for Best NFL Player. Manning led the league with 379 pass completions for and threw 29 touchdowns; he was named first-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl. He passed for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the Pro Bowl, a 55–52 loss. The 2004 Colts opened the season with a 27–24 loss to the New England Patriots, after placekicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a game-tying field goal in the closing seconds of the game. The Colts won their next four games including a 45–31 win over the Green Bay Packers in which Manning threw five touchdowns, earning him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, but then lost their next two games, to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs, despite Manning throwing for 840 yards combined in the two games. The Colts responded well, winning their next eight games before losing their final regular season game to Denver, a game in which Manning played only the first series. During the month of November, Manning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week twice; once for his five-touchdown performance in a 49–14 blowout of the Houston Texans and once for his performance in a 41–9 road win against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving in which he threw six touchdowns in less than three quarters. Due to his performances in November, Manning earned AFC Offensive Player of the Month honors. He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for a fourth time in the Week 16 game against the San Diego Chargers where he led the Colts to a 34–31 victory after trailing by fifteen in the fourth quarter. With the Colts facing a 4th & 4 at their own 26, Manning waved the punt team off the field and completed a 19-yard pass to wide receiver Reggie Wayne for the first down. He finished the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley, his 49th touchdown pass of the season, breaking Dan Marino's record of 48. After the two-point conversion to tie, Manning got the ball first in overtime and set up the winning field goal. The Colts clinched the AFC's third seed with the win. During the season, Manning threw for 4,557 yards, had a then record 121.1 passer rating and a then-record 49 touchdown passes while throwing only 10 interceptions. Manning's 2004 season was voted the second greatest passing season of all time by ESPN in 2013. He achieved this despite the 2004 season being his only season of his career where he attempted less than 500 passes. He finished with a league-high 13.6 yards per pass completion and 9.2 yards per pass attempt in 2004. His 9.9% touchdown passing percentage is currently the highest in NFL history. His 49 touchdown passes is currently the third highest ever and his 121.1 passer rating is the second highest ever. He was selected as the 2004 NFL MVP drawing 49 of 50 votes, was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year and was named the Best NFL Player at the ESPY Awards for the second consecutive year; Manning also received the ESPY Award for Best Record-Breaking Performance for his 49 touchdown passes. The Colts finished the season with a 12–4 record and their second straight AFC South title. The Colts scored a franchise record 522 points. Three Colts receivers had 1,000 yard seasons with at least 10 touchdowns that season, also a record. Sports statistics cite Football Outsiders calculates that Manning had the best season ever by a quarterback, play-for-play, in 2004. In the against the Denver Broncos at home, Manning passed for 458 yards and four touchdowns in the 49–24 victory. However, the Colts' 2004 season ended in Foxborough for a second straight season with a 20–3 loss against New England in the , when Manning recorded a season-low passer rating of 69.3. It was Manning's seventh consecutive loss to the Patriots in Foxborough and the Colts' three points were their lowest single game point total since their opening game of the 2003 season. Manning was named a Pro Bowl starter; in the Pro Bowl, he threw three touchdowns in a 38–27 victory and was named the game's MVP. Manning was also a unanimous first-team All-Pro selection. In 2005, the Colts had a greatly improved defense over that of recent years. Combining this with their offense, they won their first 13 games, including a 40–21 rout of the two-time defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. This was Manning's first road win against the Patriots in eight attempts, and his three touchdown passes earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. By Week 15, the Colts had a perfect 13–0 record, and had secured the AFC South and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Nevertheless, head coach Tony Dungy made the decision to play all of his regular starters against the San Diego Chargers. However, the Colts played a sub-par game against the Chargers and fell short of the win; the score was 26–17. Manning finished the 2005 season with , the first time he had thrown for under 4,000 yards since his rookie season in 1998, largely because Manning sat out much of the final two games with the top AFC seed clinched. His quarterback rating of 104.1 was the highest in the league for the season. In the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers visited the RCA Dome for the second AFC of the 2005 season. In the fourth quarter with only a few minutes left in the game, Manning threw what looked to be the game-ending interception to safety Troy Polamalu, but the interception was overturned (a call the NFL later admitted was incorrect). The Colts went on to score, and got the ball back down three points near the end of the game. On fourth down, Manning was sacked near his own goal line, and the game seemed to be over as the Steelers were one yard from a touchdown. On the next play, the ball was fumbled by running back Jerome Bettis and picked up by Colts defender Nick Harper who appeared to have a clear path down the sideline for what might have been the game-winning score. However, Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger dove in front of Harper and tackled him by the leg, saving a touchdown. On the ensuing drive, the Colts moved down the field to the Steelers 27-yard line, before Mike Vanderjagt missed a field goal as time ran out. Manning finished the loss 22 of 38 for 290 yards and a touchdown. Manning came in second in voting for the MVP award to Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander ending his streak at two years. He was named the 2005 winner of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and nominated for the FedEx Air Player of the Year Award, along with Tom Brady and Carson Palmer. Manning was also named first-team All-Pro for the third consecutive year and named to the Pro Bowl squad; in the Pro Bowl, he threw one touchdown pass and three interceptions in the 23–17 loss. Manning opened the 2006 season against his brother Eli's New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. It was the first NFL game with starting quarterbacks that were brothers, and Peyton's team won 26–21. Manning passed for 400 yards against the Houston Texans in a 43–24 victory, which earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors (he also won the award for his 345 yards and four touchdown passes against the Washington Redskins in Week 7). A second trip to New Jersey, this time to play the New York Jets, produced another Colts win. After taking the lead twice in the fourth quarter, Manning had to lead a third scoring drive, this time finishing with a one-yard quarterback sneak rushing touchdown in the last minute for a 31–28 win. In a road game against the Denver Broncos, Manning again led three scoring drives in the fourth quarter in a 34–31 shootout win. He completed 32-of-39 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns. Following a second straight season with a win at New England, then a home win against Buffalo, the Colts were the NFL's last unbeaten team at 9–0. Their first loss would come in a 21–14 road loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Plagued by a run defense that would allow over 100 yards in every game, the Colts were 11–4 heading into their final game. Against the Miami Dolphins, Manning threw for 282 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown. The Colts won 27–22, were AFC South division champions, and clinched the third seed in the AFC playoffs. Manning was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. He ended the regular season with 4,397 passing yards and a league-leading 31 touchdown passes. His passer rating (101.0) was the highest in the league for the third year in a row. Manning helped the offense set an NFL record for third down conversion rate in a season (56.1%). Despite three interceptions, Manning completed 30 out of 38 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown as the Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the by a score of 23–8. The following week, the Colts were limited to five field goals and no touchdowns, but defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 15–6. Manning was 15 of 30 for 170 yards and two interceptions in the victory. In the against the rival Patriots, the Colts trailed 14–3 when Manning threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Asante Samuel to give New England a 21–3 lead. Manning led the Colts to 32 points in the second half for a 38–34 victory, the final score coming late in the fourth quarter as Manning led the Colts on an 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead for the first time in the game. He finished the game with 349 yards passing, one passing touchdown, and one rushing touchdown. The comeback was the largest deficit ever overcome in a conference championship. Completing 25-of-38 passes for 247 yards with a touchdown and one interception, Manning led the Colts to a 29–17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI and was voted Super Bowl MVP. Manning, who had been criticized for failing to win big games, exorcised his big-game demons with the win. "In years' past when our team's come up short, it's been disappointing", he told reporters. "Somehow we found a way to have learned from some of those losses and we've been a better team because of it." For his role in the Colts' championship run, Manning was awarded the ESPY for Best Championship Performance. Manning was again named to the Pro Bowl and was also named Second-team All-Pro; in the Pro Bowl he played only two series, passing for 67 yards. Following the Super Bowl win, Manning agreed to restructure his contract to save the Colts $8.2 million in salary cap space. Manning's Colts opened the NFL season with seven wins, pitting them against an undefeated Patriots squad in a match-up that was being called "Super Bowl 41 1/2". Manning and Addai helped the Colts to a 13–7 halftime lead, and an early fourth-quarter touchdown upped the lead to 20–10. However, Brady led the Patriots to two late touchdowns, to hand Manning and the Colts their first loss of the season, 24–20. Manning finished the game with 225 yards passing, one passing touchdown, and rushing touchdown. Manning did not bounce back from the loss well. Against the San Diego Chargers, he threw for a career-worst and franchise-record six interceptions. Despite this, he was able to rally the Colts from a 23–0 deficit to 23–21, and gave Adam Vinatieri an opportunity to take the lead with a field goal. However, Vinatieri's 29-yard attempt missed, and the Colts fell to 7–2. Manning did not play particularly well against the Kansas City Chiefs either, throwing no touchdowns. However, he managed to lead the Colts on a late drive for a game-winning field goal, rushing for two yards on 4th and 1 in the process. Manning finished the game with , allowing him to overtake 40,000 in his career. The victory was Manning's 100th. The Colts won their next five games, securing yet another AFC South title, as well as the AFC's second-seed in the playoffs. In that stretch was a Week 13 28–25 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars where he was 20 of 29 for 288 passing yards, four touchdowns, and an interception. For his performance against the Jaguars, he was named as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. In the final game of the regular season, Manning played only two series before being replaced with back-up Jim Sorgi; the Colts lost the game to the Titans, 16–10. Manning finished the season with , , and a quarterback rating of 98.0. In the , Manning and the Colts lost to the Chargers, 28–24. Manning helped the Colts to four leads but could not lead a final touchdown drive for the win. Manning finished the game with and . Peyton was widely viewed during Super Bowl XLII as he cheered on brother Eli and the New York Giants in their upset of the previously undefeated New England Patriots. Manning was named a Pro Bowl starter and passed for 147 yards and a touchdown in three series of the 42–30 loss. On July 14, 2008, Manning had surgery to remove an infected bursa sac in his left knee. Manning, who had worn a knee brace due to problems since he was in college, sat out all four preseason games and missed most of training camp. In the first regular season game at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts lost, 29–13, to the Chicago Bears. The following week, they fell behind 15–0 to the Minnesota Vikings in the second half before rallying to win the game on Adam Vinatieri's 47-yard field goal. Manning passed for 311 yards as the Colts avoided their first 0–2 start since Manning's rookie season. Week 3 matched the Colts with the division rival Jacksonville Jaguars. Manning threw two interceptions in the game, including one that was returned for a touchdown by Rashean Mathis. Jacksonville rushed for 236 yards and held the ball for over 41 minutes. Still, trailing by six points late in the game, Manning led the Colts on a 77-yard touchdown drive to take a 21–20 lead. Jacksonville kicker Josh Scobee made a 51-yard field goal to win the game and drop the Colts to a 1–2 record. For the third week in a row, Manning used the fourth quarter to bring the Colts back from a 27–10 deficit in the last five minutes against the Houston Texans to a 31–27 victory. It was the first time an NFL team had won a game in regulation after trailing by 17 points in the last five minutes. Manning threw a seven-yard touchdown pass on 4th & 6 to rookie tight end Tom Santi to make the deficit 27–17. Houston quarterback Sage Rosenfels, starting for the injured Matt Schaub, then fumbled the ball on a scramble, and it was returned 68 yards for a touchdown by Gary Brackett. After another Rosenfels fumble, Manning threw the 5-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne. The Colts scored three touchdowns in 2:10. On October 12, Manning led the Colts to a 31–3 blow out win at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens to avoid their first 0–3 start at home since the 1997 season. Manning was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the 17th time in his career for his effort of three touchdown passes and 271 yards passing. It was revealed during the game by CBS commentators Jim Nantz and Phil Simms that Manning had a second surgery on his knee before the season started. Colts coach Tony Dungy confirmed this report the day after the game. The Colts suffered their largest margin of defeat of the season, 34–14, against the Green Bay Packers the following week. Manning threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns (for the second time in his career; the first was on September 30, 2001, against the New England Patriots). The following week. the Colts went into Tennessee on Monday Night Football to face the 6–0 Tennessee Titans. They led 14–6 in the third quarter, but Tennessee scored 25 unanswered for a 31–21 victory and almost assured the Colts they would not win the AFC South division title for the first time in six seasons. At 3–4, the Colts opened up November with their annual showdown against the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. Tied at 15 in the 4th quarter, Manning set up Adam Vinatieri for a 52-yard field goal that proved to be the winning points in an 18–15 victory. Manning completed 21-of-29 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. The Colts were 4–4 halfway through the season and still alive in the AFC playoff race. In a Week 10 road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had the league's highest ranked defense. They trailed 17–7 in the second quarter before Manning found tight end Dallas Clark for a two-yard touchdown to end the half 17–14. Down 20–17 in the fourth quarter, Manning found running back Dominic Rhodes uncovered for a 17-yard touchdown pass that would put the Colts up 24–20 for the rest of the game. It was Manning's fourth game-winning drive (35th of his career) of the season. He completed 21 of 40 for 240 yards and three touchdowns (the 50th game of his career with 3+ touchdown passes). It was the first time the Colts have won in Pittsburgh since 1968 (12 straight losses before this win). Against the Houston Texans, Manning passed for 320 yards and two touchdowns while leading five consecutive scoring drives in a 33–27 victory, the third in a row for the Colts. Manning won AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season (18th time, career). In a road game against the San Diego Chargers, Manning threw for 255 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, in a 23–20 victory. The interception snapped a career- best streak of 140 pass attempts without an interception. After the Chargers rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game, Manning led the game-winning drive by completing a 14-yard pass to Marvin Harrison on 4th and inches at midfield. Adam Vinateri kicked the winning 51-yard field goal three plays later. It was Manning's fifth game-winning drive of the season. Manning passed for a season-low 125 yards in a road game against the Cleveland Browns, but the Colts won their fifth straight game, by a final score of 10–6. In a 35–3 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, Manning threw three touchdown passes, while completing 26-of-32 passes for 277 yards. It marked the 11th straight season Manning had thrown at least 20 touchdown passes, the second longest streak ever. Against the 0–13 Detroit Lions, the Colts found themselves in a 21–21 game in the 4th quarter. Manning led his sixth game-winning drive of the season and the Colts pulled away 31–21. It marked their seventh straight win, seventh straight season with 10+ wins, and they became the only team in NFL history to have a winning streak of at least seven games in five straight seasons. Manning completed 28-of-37 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown. Needing a win to clinch the 5th seed in the playoffs, Manning had one of his best career performances in Jacksonville on Thursday Night Football. He completed his first 17 passes of the game. In addition to completing his last six completions against Detroit, Manning's 23 straight completions fell one shy of the NFL record (Donovan McNabb – 24). The Colts trailed 14–0 in the first half and 24–14 to start the fourth quarter. Manning led his seventh fourth quarter win of the season and the Colts put the game away with a defensive touchdown for a 31–24 victory to clinch a seventh consecutive playoff berth. Manning completed 29-of-34 passes (85.7%) for 364 yards and three touchdowns. It increased his NFL record streak of seasons with 25 touchdown passes to 11. Manning and the Colts tied an NFL record by winning three games in a season in which they trailed by at least 14 points. For his efforts, Manning won AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in the 2008 season. It was the 19th time he has won the award, passing Dan Marino for the most all-time since the award was originated in 1984. He also was selected as the FedEx Air Player of the Week. With the Colts' playoff seeding secured, Manning only played the opening drive in a shutout against the division-leading Titans in Week 17. He completed all seven of his passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, extending his NFL record to nine seasons with 4,000 yards passing, and also extended the record to a sixth straight season he led the Colts to at least 12 wins. At the end of the 2008 season, Manning was named NFL MVP for the third time, tying Brett Favre for the most MVP awards in NFL history. The day following the MVP award, the Colts played their 2007 nemesis, the Chargers, in their . Down 14–10 at the half, Manning put the Colts ahead 17–14 in the third quarter as he completed a 72-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Reggie Wayne. However, the Chargers tied the game in the fourth quarter as kicker Nate Kaeding nailed a 22-yard field goal. When San Diego won the overtime coin toss, they scored a touchdown on the first possession, ending the Colts' season for the second consecutive season. Manning was 25 of 42 for 310 yard and a touchdown in the loss. Following the end of the season, Manning's head coach, Tony Dungy, retired. Under new head coach Jim Caldwell, Manning started the 2009 season with a victory by throwing for 301 yards. In Week 2, Manning led his 29th fourth quarter comeback (38th career game-winning drive) by throwing for 303 yards and two touchdown passes, despite only having the ball for 14:53, the lowest time of possession for a winning team in the NFL since they began tracking the statistic in 1977. Manning was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for the fourth time in his career in September. Against the Seattle Seahawks Manning passed for 353 yards and two touchdowns for his fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game set a new franchise record. Against the Houston Texans in Week 9, Manning became the first quarterback to pass for over 40,000 yards in a decade. He threw a career-high 25 passes in the first quarter (most in any opening quarter since 1991), and had a career-high 40 pass attempts in the first half. He set a franchise record for most 300-yard passing games in a season with his seventh 300-yard effort of the season (also an NFL record through the first eight games of a season). In Week 10, a 35–34 victory over the New England Patriots, he was 28 of 44 for 327 passing yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. His performance against the Patriots earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Two weeks later, against Houston, Manning claimed his 34th comeback win in the fourth quarter, tying him with John Elway and Johnny Unitas for the second most in NFL history. On Week 15 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Manning won his 23rd consecutive regular season game breaking Jim McMahon's NFL record of 22 straight wins with the Chicago Bears from 1984 to 1987. At the end of the regular season, Manning was awarded his fourth MVP, breaking the NFL record for most MVPs by a single player. He was also selected to the AP All-Pro team for the fifth time in his career. He finished the regular season tying his then NFL-record with seven game-winning drives in 2009. In the against the Baltimore Ravens, Manning threw two touchdown passes late in the first half to build a 17–3 halftime lead. He completed 30 passes for 246 yards in leading his eighth straight victory over the Ravens. In the against New York Jets, Manning overcame a 17–6 deficit late in the second quarter to lead the Colts to 24 unanswered points in a 30–17 win. The 11-point comeback was the third largest in a conference championship game. Manning set a playoff record with his seventh 300-yard passing game in the postseason. In Super Bowl XLIV against New Orleans Saints, Manning led the Colts to a 10–0 lead after their two first quarter drives, throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Pierre Garçon to cap off a 96-yard drive (tied for longest in Super Bowl history). After running just six plays in the second quarter, the Colts led 10–6 at halftime. The Saints recovered an onside kick to start the second half and took their first lead, 13–10. Manning led a go ahead touchdown drive to regain the lead. Leading 17–16 at the start of the fourth quarter, placekicker Matt Stover missed a 51-yard field goal for the Colts. The Saints scored the go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion to take a 24–17 lead with 5:42 left. Manning took over and moved the Colts to the Saints' 31-yard line. Facing a 3rd & 5 with 3:24 left, his pass intended for Reggie Wayne was intercepted by Tracy Porter, who returned it 74 yards for a critical touchdown and a 31–17 Saints lead. Manning drove the Colts down to the 5-yard line in the last minute, but his 4th & goal pass was dropped by Reggie Wayne at the goal line. The Saints won their first Super Bowl in franchise history, dropping Manning to 9–9 in the postseason and a 1–1 record in the Super Bowl. Manning finished the Super Bowl with 333 passing yards on 31-of-45 attempts, with one touchdown and one interception. In a season-opening loss in Houston, Manning set career highs with 57 pass attempts and 40 completions, throwing for three touchdowns and 433 yards, the fourth highest opening-weekend total ever. In his third game, Manning passed for 325 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, marking the first time since 1960 a quarterback began a season with three consecutive games of at least three touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Against the Kansas City Chiefs, Manning failed to throw a touchdown for the first time in 2010, but led the Colts on a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter (45th of his career) to hand the Chiefs their first loss of the season by a score of 19–9. In Week 6 against the Washington Redskins, he passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Including the playoffs, that was 68 career games with 300+ yards passing, moving him ahead of Dan Marino (67) for the most in NFL history. Week 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles marked his 200th consecutive regular season start. Against the New England Patriots, Manning passed for 396 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions, the second time Manning threw four touchdowns in a game that resulted in a loss. This broke a tie with Dan Marino for second-most all-time. The next week resulted in the largest margin of defeat at home in his NFL career, 36–14 to the San Diego Chargers. Against the Tennessee Titans, he went over 4,000 yards passing for the 11th time in a season, and tied Dan Marino with his 63rd regular season game with 300+ yards passing. Manning was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for this game. The Colts ended up winning the AFC South for the seventh time in eight years, and Manning became the first quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to nine consecutive postseason berths (2002–2010). It was the 208th consecutive regular season start of his career, breaking Gene Upshaw's record. For the season, Manning finished with an NFL-record 450 completions on 679 attempts (third most in history), and a career-high 4,700 yards passing. The Colts' season ended in a 17–16 defeat to the New York Jets in the of playoffs. Manning finished what would be his final game with the Colts 18 of 26 for 225 yards and one touchdown. In 2010, Manning was chosen as the 14th-smartest athlete in sports by Sporting News. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011, he was chosen as the second best player in the league by his peers. The Colts placed their franchise tag on Manning on February 15, 2011. On July 30, 2011, the Colts signed Manning to a 5-year, $90 million contract after negotiations in which he made it clear that he did not need to be the highest- paid player in the NFL. After a May 23 neck surgery, Manning could not use the Colts' facilities for practice and workouts due to the NFL lockout. Reluctant to have witnesses to his recovery, he used the Colorado Rockies baseball team's trainers at Coors Field in Denver. Manning was unable to complete his throwing motion, and his arm strength had significantly diminished. Based on an MRI, doctors told him in the late summer that he needed spinal fusion surgery and that at his age they could not guarantee his return to the NFL. On September 7, the Colts officially ruled Manning out for the season opener against Houston, ending his consecutive starts streak of 208 games (227 including playoffs); the team signed Kerry Collins out of retirement and named him interim starting quarterback. After seeking other opinions, Manning had the second surgery on September 8. Manning stated that while he did intend to play during the 2011 season, he would not "fight" the front office to stay off injured reserve if his roster spot was needed. Manning started practicing throwing footballs again in mid-December, with teammate Joseph Addai even claiming his passes looked "game ready." Ultimately, Manning did not play a single game in the 2011 season, and the Colts went 2–14 without him; only the third season since Manning was a rookie that the Colts did not win at least 10 games. With the Colts having the first overall pick in the upcoming 2012 Draft (which contained highly rated quarterback Andrew Luck out of Stanford), and with Manning due a $28 million roster bonus, he was released on March 7, 2012. Earlier, the Colts had dismissed vice-chairman Bill Polian (who in his previous capacity as general manager had drafted Manning), general manager Chris Polian, and head coach Jim Caldwell, as a precursor to the rebuilding of the team. In an emotional press conference, Manning told Colts fans, "Thank you for letting me be your quarterback." Upon his release, Colts owner Jim Irsay announced that no Colt will ever wear the No. 18 jersey again, and it was formally retired on March 18, 2016. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012, he was ranked 50th by his peers despite not playing in the 2011 season. Manning was one of the most highly sought-after free agents going into the 2012 season. Several teams sought out to meet with Manning including the Miami Dolphins, the Tennessee Titans. the Arizona Cardinals and the Denver Broncos. After visiting both the Arizona Cardinals and the Denver Broncos, Manning ultimately selected Denver after meeting with John Elway, a retired Broncos Hall-of-Famer quarterback who was now the team's Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager, and Broncos head coach John Fox. Manning reached an agreement with the Broncos on a five-year contract worth $96 million on March 20, 2012. Although the #18 is retired in honor of quarterback Frank Tripucka, he gave Manning permission to wear it. On August 9, 2012, Manning made his first appearance as a Bronco in a preseason game against the Chicago Bears, where he completed four of his seven passes for 44 yards, and was intercepted once by Bears safety Major Wright. Manning made his regular season debut as a Denver Bronco in the prime time game on the first Sunday of the 2012 season, against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the game, Manning completed 19-of-26 passes for 253 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. He posted a 129.2 QB rating in the 31–19 win, and made history in the third quarter when he connected with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on a 71-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown was Manning's first in the NFL with a team other than the Colts, and marked the 400th of his career, making him the third quarterback, after Dan Marino and Brett Favre, to accomplish the feat and the fastest of the three to reach that mark. In a Week 6 game against the San Diego Chargers, he was 24 of 30 for 309 yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception in the 35–24 victory. In the game, the Broncos trailed 24–0 at halftime and Manning led the Broncos to 35 unanswered points. His performance against the Chargers gave him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, his first since coming to Denver. Despite the preseason concerns about his recovery, by late October, ESPN stated that Manning "has silenced the critics" about his arm strength. Manning was later named to the 2013 Pro Bowl, his twelfth. In Week 17, a 38–3 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, he was 23 of 29 for 304 yards and three touchdowns to close out the regular season. He earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance against the Chiefs. Overall, he finished the 2012 season with 4,659 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. The Broncos made the playoffs and earned a first-round bye, but lost 38–35 in double overtime in the to the Baltimore Ravens, who went on to win Super Bowl XLVII that season. Manning finished the game 28 of 43 for 290 passing yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. On February 2, 2013, Manning was awarded the AP National Football League Comeback Player of the Year Award and was named a first-team All-Pro selection, in addition to finishing second in MVP voting. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013, he was ranked as the second best player in the NFL by his peers. On the opening game of the 2013 NFL season, Manning became the sixth player in NFL history to throw seven touchdowns in a game, doing so against the defending Super Bowl XLVII champions, the Baltimore Ravens. He added to this feat by not throwing an interception, tying Y. A. Tittle as one of the only two players to have a 7:0 touchdown to interception ratio in a single game (although the Philadelphia Eagles' Nick Foles later matched that feat in Week 9 of the same season against the Oakland Raiders). His historic performance against the Ravens gave him AFC Offensive Player of the Week Honors. Against the Oakland Raiders in Week 3, Manning broke the record for most touchdown passes in the first three games of a season after throwing 12, surpassing Tom Brady's 2011 record. His performance against the Raiders gave him his second AFC Offensive Player of the Week nod in three weeks. In Week 5, Manning threw his first interception of the season, in a win against the Dallas Cowboys. He was intercepted by cornerback Morris Claiborne. Two weeks later, Manning returned to Indianapolis for the first time in the regular season since being released by the Colts. In an emotional pregame ceremony, the Colts showed a tribute video to Manning. In his first game back at Indianapolis, he was 29 of 49 for 386 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception but was sacked a season-high four times as the Broncos fell 39–33. The Broncos bounced back from the loss with a 45–21 victory over the Washington Redskins in which Manning had 354 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, and three interceptions. In the next game, a 28–20 victory over the San Diego Chargers, he had one of his most efficient games of the season with 330 passing yards and four passing touchdowns for a 135.2 quarterback rating. The next week, he had 323 passing yards and a season-low one passing touchdown as the Broncos defeated the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 27–17. The next game for the Broncos was a huge showdown with the New England Patriots. The Broncos raced out to a 24–0 lead at halftime. However, the Patriots came back and won 34–31 in overtime. In the loss, Manning had a season-low 150 passing yards to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. After the tough loss, the Broncos defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the following game by a score of 35–28. He had 403 passing yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions in the victory. He followed that up with 397 passing yards and four passing touchdowns in the 51–28 victory over the Tennessee Titans. In Week 16, against the Houston Texans, Manning broke Brady's record for most touchdown passes in a season with 51 on a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Julius Thomas. For the third time in the 2013 season, he earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. In the Week 17 season finale against the Oakland Raiders, he had 266 passing yards and four passing touchdowns to finish the season with 55 touchdown passes and a league-record 5,477 yards, breaking Drew Brees's mark by one yard. His 450 completions were at the time tied for second most all time. The Broncos scored an NFL record 606 points, becoming the first team ever to eclipse 600 points in a season. They had more 50-point games in a season than any other team in NFL history, with three. Four Broncos receivers recorded at least ten touchdowns—an NFL record—and Manning set a season record with nine games with four or more touchdown passes. His 115.1 passer rating ranks seventh all time and he joined Brady as the only two quarterbacks at the time to achieve a passer rating of 110.0 or higher in more than one season. The Broncos went on to win their playoff game against the San Diego Chargers by a score of 24–17. Manning finished 25 of 36 for 230 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception. In another postseason meeting between Manning and Brady, the Broncos defeated the New England Patriots in the by a score of 26–16. Manning was 32-of-43 for 400 passing yards and two passing touchdowns in the victory. Manning became the third starting quarterback to reach the Super Bowl with two teams, after Craig Morton and Kurt Warner. In Super Bowl XLVIII, Manning's Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 43–8. Manning was up against the Seahawks' young starting quarterback Russell Wilson, who idolized Manning and attended one of Manning's passing camps as a teenager, and later met Manning at a Broncos pre-draft interview. The Seahawks' number one ranked defense proved too much for the Broncos' number one ranked offense to overcome, while the Broncos' defense also struggled due to injuries. The Broncos' first play from scrimmage set the tone for the game. While Manning was stepping forward to call an audible, center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball too early and it flew past Manning's head into the end zone, where running back Knowshon Moreno downed it for a safety. Manning set a Super Bowl record with 34 completions (broken by Tom Brady the following year in Super Bowl XLIX), but the record-setting offense did not record a first down until the second quarter, and did not score any points until the final seconds of the third quarter. While Manning threw one touchdown pass and one successful two-point conversion, he also threw two costly interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Malcolm Smith in the second quarter. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014, he was ranked as the best player in the league by his peers. On August 28, 2014, Manning was fined $8,268 for taunting D. J. Swearinger during a preseason game against the Houston Texans. With the Broncos' win in their opening game of the 2014 NFL season against the Colts, Manning became, along with Brett Favre, one of only two starting quarterbacks in NFL history who have beaten all 32 teams. In the next game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he had his most efficient game of the season by going 21-of-26 for 242 passing yards and three passing touchdowns for a 143.9 passer rating in the 24–17 victory. The next game was a Super Bowl XLVIII rematch with the Seattle Seahawks. In the 26–20 overtime loss, he had 303 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and one interception. On October 5, 2014, in a stellar performance against the Arizona Cardinals, Manning tied his career-high with an 86-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas, threw his 500th career touchdown pass to Julius Thomas, and also tied Dan Marino for the most 400-yard games by a quarterback. On October 19, 2014, against the San Francisco 49ers on NBC Sunday Night Football, Manning threw his 509th career touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas, passing Brett Favre to become the NFL's all-time leader in passing touchdowns. His historic touchdown was part of a 318-yard, four- touchdown passing performance where he earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the 27th and final time in his career. Overall, he finished the 2014 season with 4,727 passing yards, 39 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. By the end of the regular season, Manning would be selected to his 14th Pro Bowl appearance, tying him with Tom Brady, Tony Gonzalez, Bruce Matthews, and Merlin Olsen for most Pro Bowl selections in a career. The Broncos finished with a 12–4 record and earned a first-round bye. However, his season ended after the Broncos lost in the of the playoffs to his former team, the Colts, 24–13. Manning finished 26-for-46 for 211 yards and a touchdown. However, he went just 7-for-18 (38.9%) in the first half, his lowest completion percentage in a first half of any game since 2007. After the season ended, the Broncos and head coach John Fox parted ways. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015 list, he finished as the fifth best player ranked by his peers. After much speculation, Manning announced in the offseason that he would return for his 18th season in the NFL, this time under his fourth different head coach, Gary Kubiak. In the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, Manning's play seemed to have deteriorated, going 24–40 for 175 yards and one interception, but a pick-six by cornerback Aqib Talib and late interception by Darian Stewart aided the Broncos in their 19–13 victory. In a Week 2 game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football, he passed for 256 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception as the Broncos won 31–24. In the next game, a 24–12 victory over the Detroit Lions, he passed for 324 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception for a season-high 101.7 passer rating. On November 1, against the Green Bay Packers, he finished with a season-high 340 passing yards and an interception in the dominant 29–10 victory. The Broncos got off to a dominant 7–0 start to the season; however, the streak ended in a loss at Indianapolis, losing 24–27. During that winning streak, and the loss in Indianapolis, Manning played better, putting up over 250 yards in six of the seven games, and he threw nine touchdowns. However, he never had a game without an interception, bringing his 8-game TD–INT ratio to 9–13, and the Broncos needed a hardworking defense to contribute for victories. In Week 10, in the second divisional game against Kansas City, the game's biggest highlight was Manning breaking Brett Favre's record for career passing yards with a four-yard pass to running back Ronnie Hillman in the first quarter. Despite the accomplishment, however, Manning went 5-for-20 for 35 yards and four interceptions with a 0.0 passer rating before head coach Gary Kubiak benched him during the third quarter. Brock Osweiler filled in for Manning for the rest of the game as the Broncos lost 29–13. Manning's record lasted until the 2018 season, when Drew Brees broke it in Week 5 against the Washington Redskins. A day later, sources said that Manning had suffered a bout of plantar fasciitis. It was later announced that this injury would keep him out of Week 11, marking the first time Peyton had missed a game in a season he played. Osweiler replaced Manning and performed well in a 17–15 win over the Chicago Bears, leading to questions about whether Manning would retain his role when healthy in a Week 12 showdown against the New England Patriots. The next day, head coach Gary Kubiak, citing Manning's injuries, announced that Osweiler would start against New England. On December 15, it was announced that Osweiler would make his fifth consecutive start, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, even though Manning had returned to practice and the Broncos had gone seven straight quarters without scoring a touchdown on offense. Overall, the Broncos went 4–2 in six games without Manning, giving them an 11–4 record heading into the final week of the regular season. On December 27, 2015, Al Jazeera America released conducted by the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit investigating professional athletes' use of Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) which named Manning, among other prominent athletes, as having received illegal drugs from Charles Sly, a pharmacist who had worked at the Guyer Anti- Aging Clinic in Indianapolis during the fall of 2011. In July 2016, the NFL cleared Manning of the allegations and announced that it had found no evidence to support the claims. Manning was listed as active for the Week 17 regular season finale against the San Diego Chargers, but for the first time since his freshman year at college, he was listed as a backup. In the third quarter, with the Broncos down 13–7, Manning entered the game in relief of Osweiler, who had been intercepted twice and fumbled once. The Broncos went on to beat the Chargers, 27–20, and secure the AFC West and the top seed in the AFC. Despite the Broncos' 12–4 record (and Manning's 8–2 record in games that he played in), Manning had the worst season statistically of his career, as he threw a career-low nine touchdown passes and 17 interceptions in just 10 games, and posting a quarterback rating of 67.9, the lowest rating of his career, and first time he had a rating below 84 since his rookie season. Manning's 59.8 completion percentage was the second lowest of his career, only behind his rookie season. Manning's 17 interceptions were second to Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, who threw 18 interceptions but started all 16 games. The Broncos, by virtue of having the AFC's #1 seed, earned home field advantage throughout the NFL playoffs. The Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the by a score of 23–16 to advance to the game to host the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Manning was 21-of-37 for 222 with no touchdowns or interceptions. It was the 17th, and ultimately final, meeting between Manning and his longtime rival Tom Brady. Despite a late comeback attempt from the Patriots, the Broncos won 20–18 to advance to Super Bowl 50. Manning threw for 176 passing yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions in the win. On February 7, 2016, the Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 24–10 in Super Bowl 50 as the Broncos' defense shut down the heavily favored Panthers' top-ranked offense and regular season MVP Cam Newton. Manning finished the game 13-of-23 for 141 yards with one interception while being sacked five times, scoring his only passing points with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter when he connected with wide receiver Bennie Fowler for a two-point conversion, which ended up being the final pass of his career. Manning became the oldest starting quarterback to both play in and win a Super Bowl, until Tom Brady surpassed the record at age 41 in Super Bowl 53. Manning also became the first quarterback to start two Super Bowls with multiple franchises, with different head coaches each time (Dungy, Caldwell, Fox, and Kubiak) and the first quarterback to lead two franchises to a Super Bowl victory. The victory gave Manning his 200th overall win including regular season and playoffs, making him at the time the starting quarterback with the most combined regular season and postseason wins in NFL history. Peyton and Eli Manning played against each other three times in their professional careers, not counting Pro Bowls or the preseason. These encounters were colloquially dubbed "The Manning Bowl", and Peyton's teams (twice with the Colts, once with the Broncos) held a 3–0 record over Eli's team (three games with the New York Giants). The first Manning Bowl was held on September 10, 2006, and Peyton's Colts defeated Eli's Giants by a score of 26–21. The second Manning Bowl was held on September 19, 2010, with Peyton and the Colts besting Eli's team again by a score of 38–14. The third and final Manning Bowl took place on September 15, 2013, and Peyton and the Broncos beat Eli's Giants, 41–23. Manning announced his retirement, after 18 seasons, on March 7, 2016. Manning's final words of his retirement speech were, "I've fought a good fight. I've finished my football race and after 18 years, it's time. God bless all of you and God bless football." After 18 seasons with the NFL, Manning received the 2016 ESPY Icon Award. He won nine total ESPY Awards during his career. On October 7, 2017, in a ceremony attended by hundreds of fans, the Colts unveiled a bronze statue of Manning outside its Lucas Oil Stadium. Manning was also inducted into the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor and became the first player to have his jersey retired by the Colts since the team moved to Indianapolis. Regular season Postseason Source: 5x NFL MVP (2003 (shared with Steve McNair)-2004, 2008–2009, 2013), 2x NFL Offensive Player of the Year (2004, 2013), Best NFL Player ESPY Award (2004-2005, 2014), 14× Pro Bowl (1999–2000, 2002–2010, 2012–2014), 7× First-team All-Pro (2003–2005, 2008–2009, 2012–2013), 3× Second-team All-Pro (1999–2000, 2006), 2× Bert Bell Award (2003–2004), 8× AFC Offensive Player of the Year Awards (1999, 2003–2005, 2008–2009, 2012–2013), 1998 NFL All-Rookie First Team, 2004 Fedex Express Player of the Year, Best Record-Breaking Performance ESPY Award (2005, 2014, 2015), 2005 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, 2005 Byron "Whizzer" White Humanitarian Award, 2005 Pro Bowl MVP, 2007 Super Bowl MVP, 2007 Best Championship Performance ESPY Award, 2012 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Additionally, Manning has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month a record eight times (9/2003, 11/2004, 10/2006, 9/2009, 9/2012, 10/2012, 9/2013, 12/2013) and Offensive Player of the Week a then-record 27 times (since broken by Tom Brady). Manning holds a number of individual career records: First quarterback to reach 200 career wins (playoffs and regular season), Most touchdown passes, season: 55 (2013), Most seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards: 14 (1999–2004, 2006–2010, 2012–2014), Most passing yards, season: 5,477 (2013), Most consecutive seasons with at least 20 touchdown passes: 13 (1998–2010), Most consecutive seasons with at least 25 touchdown passes: 13 (1998–2010), Most games with a perfect passer rating, career: 4 (includes 1 playoff game), Most consecutive games started to open a career: 208, Most consecutive games with at least 2 touchdown passes: 15 (2013-2014), Most consecutive games with at least 4 touchdown passes: 5 (games 7–11, 2004), Most games with at least 4 touchdown passes, season: 9 (2013), Only QB with at least 6 touchdown passes in three games, One of eight QBs with at least 7 touchdown passes in a game, Highest career passing TDs/game average (min. 150 TD passes): 2.046 TDs/game, Highest completion percentage by a QB in one month in NFL history (min. 75 attempts): 81.8% (December 2008), Most consecutive regular season wins as a starter: 23 (2008–2009), Only QB with seven straight seasons of 12+ wins as a starter(2003–2009), Only QB to lead five consecutive 4th quarter comeback wins (games 7–11, 2009), First QB to defeat the other 31 teams in the regular season (Tom Brady did this later the same day, and Brett Favre did it the following week), Most AP NFL MVP Awards: 5 (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013) Manning was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Olivia (née Williams) and former NFL quarterback Archie Manning. He is the brother of two-time Super Bowl Champion, Eli Manning. Some have described the Mannings as football's "royal family". Manning married his wife, Ashley, in Memphis on St. Patrick's Day, 2001. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Ashley was introduced to him by her parents' next-door neighbor the summer before Manning's freshman year in college. Peyton and wife Ashley have twins, a son, Marshal Williams, and a daughter, Mosley Thompson, born on March 31, 2011. Manning is a Christian. At age 13, he said, "I committed my life to Christ, and that faith has been most important to me ever since." Manning said his priorities ranked in order are "...faith, family, friends, and football." Manning said he prays every night and before games and added, "I hope (and pray) I don't do too many things that displease Him before I get to Heaven myself. I believe, too, that life is much better and freer when you're committed to God in that way." Manning reportedly memorized the Colts' playbook within a week after being drafted, and in 2012 was able to precisely recall the details and timing of a specific play he had used at Tennessee 16 years earlier. During the summer, Archie, Peyton, Eli, and eldest sibling Cooper run the Manning Passing Academy, a five-day camp which aims to improve the offensive skills of quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs. In addition to the Mannings, the camp has included many prominent players from football as coaches, such as Colts wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Manning, along with his father Archie, co-authored a book titled, Manning: A Father, His Sons, and a Football Legacy, which was released in 2000. The book covers Archie's and Cooper's lives and careers, and Manning's life and career up to the time that the book was released, and examines football from both Archie's and Manning's points-of-view. Manning wrote about Jamie Ann Naughright, who had accused him of sexual harassment, stating that she had a "vulgar mouth". He described his conduct towards her as "crude, maybe, but harmless". The trainer sued for defamation, resulting in an undisclosed settlement in 2003 and a court-ordered gag on Manning and Naughright from ever talking about the settlement or each other again. Mark Kiszla, a sports columnist for the Denver Post, in a column about Manning's future plans, said that Manning's net worth "is estimated to be in excess of $150 million" and "That's not enough money to buy an NFL franchise by himself, although an ownership group that included Manning as president with a financial stake in the team would be led by a brilliant football mind." He has donated over $8,000 to Republican politicians, among them Fred Thompson, Bob Corker and former President George W. Bush. During the 2016 presidential race, Manning contributed to the campaign of Jeb Bush. On October 26, 2012, Manning purchased 21 Papa John's Pizza stores, all in Colorado. He sold his stakes in the stores in February 2018. In honor of Manning, the University of Tennessee offers a Peyton Manning Scholarship to incoming freshmen. Manning has been credited with helping to improve the image of the city of Indianapolis. A curator at the Indiana State Museum observed that "There is no Super Bowl held here without Peyton. There is no Lucas Oil Stadium without Peyton. Without Peyton, the Colts would probably be in L.A. right now." He has become one of the NFL's most marketable players, appearing in several television and printed advertisements for some of the NFL's biggest sponsors. Manning hosted Saturday Night Live on March 24, 2007, his 31st birthday. The episode earned the show's highest household rating in more than 10 months in the metered markets. He also appeared on SNL in 2008 and on the 2015 Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special. On May 27, 2007, Manning waved the green flag to begin the 91st Indianapolis 500. On February 18, 2018, he drove the pace car during the 2018 Daytona 500. Before the latter, he made a guest appearance on Fox NASCAR pre-race show alongside race pole-sitter and fellow Nationwide Insurance spokesman Alex Bowman. In 2009, Manning guest-voiced (with his brothers, Eli and Cooper) on an episode of The Simpsons called "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?" in which Bart dreams of having a baby brother and sees such famous brothers as The Marx Brothers, The Blues Brothers, The Wright Brothers, The Mario Brothers, and The Manning Brothers. Manning also voiced the character 'Guapo' in the 2017 motion picture, Ferdinand. Manning hosted the 2017 ESPY Awards on July 12, 2017. Shortly after beginning his NFL career, Manning started his own charity called 'the Peyback Foundation'. The Peyback Foundation's mission is to help disadvantaged kids, and focuses its efforts in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Indiana. For his work with this foundation, Manning received the Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. Manning, along with his brother Eli, volunteered their assistance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Among the tasks performed, the Mannings assisted in the delivery of 30,000 pounds of water, Gatorade, baby formula, diapers, and pillows to the people of New Orleans. In September 2007, St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis renamed its children's hospital to "Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent." Manning and his wife made a donation of an undisclosed amount to St. Vincent's and have had a relationship with the hospital since his arrival in Indianapolis. List of first overall National Football League draft picks, List of gridiron football quarterbacks passing statistics, List of most consecutive starts by a National Football League quarterback, List of NFL quarterbacks who have passed for 400 or more yards in a game, List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating, List of National Football League passing completions leaders, List of National Football League career quarterback wins leaders, List of quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl starts, NFL players with most consecutive starts, NFL players with the most consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass, NFL starting quarterback playoff records Denver Broncos biography, Indianapolis Colts biography Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2013 season. The Seahawks defeated the Broncos 43–8, the largest margin of victory for an underdog and tied for the third largest point differential overall (35) in Super Bowl history with Super Bowl XXVII (1993). It was the first time the winning team scored over 40 points, while holding their opponent to under 10. This became the first Super Bowl victory for the Seahawks and the fifth Super Bowl loss for the Broncos, tied with the New England Patriots for the most of any team. The game was played on February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city and the first Super Bowl to be played on February 2. This marked the third time the number one seed from each conference met in the league championship, joining Super Bowl XXVIII (1994) and Super Bowl XLIV (2010). The Seahawks posted a 13–3 record and were making their second Super Bowl appearance in eight years. The Broncos were making their seventh Super Bowl appearance after also posting a 13–3 record. The game also featured the league's top offense (Denver) against the top defense (Seattle), the first time this occurred since Super Bowl XXXVII (2003). This also marked the only time that two former divisional rivals met in a Super Bowl, as the Seahawks and Broncos were in the same division from 1978 to 2001. Seattle built a 22–0 halftime lead, and then a 36–0 advantage before allowing Denver's first and only score on the final play of the third quarter. The Seahawks defense scored a safety on the first play from scrimmage (coincidentally, the final play from scrimmage of the previous Super Bowl was also a safety), the quickest score in Super Bowl history at 12 seconds. They also became the first team in a Super Bowl to score on a safety, a kickoff return for a touchdown (12 seconds into the second half), and an interception return for a touchdown. The Broncos were held to almost 30 points below their scoring average. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, a five-time NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award winner, threw two interceptions in the first half. Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, who returned one of those interceptions 69 yards for a touchdown, recovered a fumble and made nine tackles, was named Super Bowl MVP. In the United States, the game was televised by Fox; with an average audience of 111.5 million viewers, and peaking at 115.3 million during the halftime show featuring Bruno Mars, the game was briefly the most-watched U.S. television broadcast of all time, until it was surpassed the following year. The game's inaugural Spanish- language telecast on Fox Deportes was also the highest-rated Spanish-language cable telecast outside of soccer. Three stadiums were part of the bidding to host the game: 1. MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, New Jersey 2. Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, Florida 3. Sun Life Stadium – Miami Gardens, Florida Tampa has hosted four Super Bowls (XVIII, XXV, XXXV, and XLIII). South Florida / Miami has hosted ten Super Bowls (II, III, V, X, XIII, XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, and XLIV). During the voting process by the league owners, the South Florida/Miami bid was eliminated in the second round of voting, but it eventually took the fourth round of voting for New Jersey's bid to beat Tampa's. The game was awarded on May 26, 2010 at the NFL owners meetings in Irving, Texas. Super Bowl XLVIII was the first Super Bowl held at an open-air stadium in a "cold-weather" city; previous Super Bowls in cold-weather cities were held at indoor stadiums. However, the temperature at kickoff was a mild , making this only the third-coldest game in Super Bowl History. A major snow storm hit the area the very next day. According to Weather.com, the average high and low temperatures for East Rutherford on February 2 were and , respectively. The coldest outdoor Super Bowl of the first 47 games was Super Bowl VI, held at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans on January 16, 1972, with a kickoff temperature of (Tulane Stadium also hosted the second coldest outdoor Super Bowl, Super Bowl IX, with a kickoff temperature of ). However, New Orleans usually has a humid subtropical climate, with January morning lows averaging around and daily highs around ; also, all New Orleans Super Bowls since XII have been played at the indoor Superdome. Since Super Bowl X in 1976, all but one outdoor Super Bowl has been played in either California or Florida, the exception being Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Arizona. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell indicated that if Super Bowl XLVIII was successful, additional "cold-weather" Super Bowls would be considered. Super Bowl XLVIII was the first NFL championship game to be held in the New York metropolitan area since December 30, 1962, when the Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants in the original Yankee Stadium, 16–7. Since then, two other major pro football leagues have held title games in the area: 1968 AFL Championship Game at Shea Stadium, December 29, 1968: New York Jets 27, Oakland Raiders 23. The Jets went on to Super Bowl III, where they upset the Baltimore Colts, 16–7., 1985 USFL Championship Game at Giants Stadium, July 14, 1985: Baltimore Stars 28, Oakland Invaders 24. This game would turn out to be the final contest in the league's three-year history. New York City was scheduled to host Super Bowl XLIV upon the completion of the proposed West Side Stadium. When the stadium proposal was rejected, Sun Life Stadium was selected to host the game instead. MetLife Stadium was the first Super Bowl venue that was simultaneously home to two NFL teams: the New York Giants and the New York Jets, and thus was the first championship game to have two host teams. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (which hosted Super Bowls I and VII) served as the home of the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Raiders, but not at the same time. This was also the first Super Bowl played outdoors on artificial turf (FieldTurf) since Super Bowl X (1976) at the Miami Orange Bowl. It was also the first in which two U.S. states, New York and New Jersey, shared hosting duties. This was also the first Super Bowl to be played outdoors since Super Bowl XLIV was played in Miami Gardens. The choice of holding the Super Bowl outdoors in a cold weather environment generated some controversy. When it was released in August 2013, the "Winter Outlook" section in the 2014 Farmers' Almanac predicted that a winter storm would hit just about the time Super Bowl XLVIII kicked off; this generated the attention of several media sources, including ESPN's Rick Reilly in a piece that aired on ESPN's Monday Night Countdown on October 21, 2013. In a radio interview broadcast on WFAN, Fox studio analyst Terry Bradshaw stated that he opposes the idea of a cold Super Bowl, stating "I don't want it to be bad ... What if we get two passing teams?" In a piece published on Sports Illustrated's "Monday Morning Quarterback" site, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman also opposed holding the game at MetLife Stadium, stating that "it's the league's responsibility to show its audience the best possible product, and this can't happen in the snow". The decision to play the game in New Jersey was made even more controversial by the fact that the NFL informed the Miami Dolphins that Sun Life Stadium would never host another Super Bowl until they put a roof over the stadium for fear of rain. The NFL announced on December 18, 2013, that in the event of a forecast of heavy snow, the game would be rescheduled for the Saturday before, or for the Monday or Tuesday after. One day before the Super Bowl, weather conditions for the game were forecast to be mostly cloudy with temperatures in the low to mid-40s Fahrenheit. A winter storm arrived 6 hours after the game ended, dropping 8 inches of snow on the region. The inclement weather cancelled one-quarter of the flights available at the area's three major airports, stranding thousands. Super Bowl XLVIII earned a few unofficial nicknames, with the "Weed Bowl", "Bong Bowl", and "Marijuana Bowl" being among the most prominent, from users of social networking websites and various news outlets as the home states of the Seahawks and Broncos (Washington and Colorado, respectively) were the first two states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, during the fall 2012 elections. Seattle finished the season 13–3, winning the NFC West division and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The team scored 417 points during the season, while giving up 231. The offense was led by second-year quarterback Russell Wilson, a third-round draft pick who won the starting role after a three-way quarterback competition in training camp and went on to win a playoff game in his rookie season with the Seahawks. In his second season, he completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 3,357 yards and 26 touchdowns, with only nine interceptions, while also rushing for 539 yards and another score. His 101.2 passer rating ranked him seventh in the NFL, and made him the first quarterback in history with a triple digit passer rate in his first two seasons. His top target was Pro Bowl receiver Golden Tate, who caught 64 passes for 898 yards and five touchdowns. Tate was also a major asset on special teams, returning 51 punts for 585 yards (second in the NFL). Other key targets included Doug Baldwin (50 receptions, 775 yards, five touchdowns) and tight end Zach Miller (33 receptions, 387 yards, five touchdowns). Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch was the team's leading rusher with 1,257 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was also a reliable receiver, hauling in 36 passes for 316 yards and two more scores. The Seahawks' offensive line was led by Pro Bowl center Max Unger. Kicker Steven Hauschka ranked fourth in the NFL in scoring (143 points) and second in field goal percentage (.943, 33/35). Seattle had the NFL's top defense, with the fewest yards allowed per game (273.6), fewest points allowed (231), and most takeaways (39). They were the first team since the 1985 Chicago Bears to lead the league in all three categories. The Seahawks were also the fourth team to lead the NFL in interceptions and fewest passing yards allowed; all four teams reached the Super Bowl. Seattle's defensive line featured defensive ends Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett, both of whom recorded eight sacks. Avril also forced five fumbles, while Bennett recovered three, returning them for 39 yards and a touchdown. Defensive tackle Clinton McDonald also made a big impact with 5.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and an interception. Linebacker Bobby Wagner led the team in combined tackles (120), while also racking up five sacks and two interceptions. But the best aspect of the defense was their secondary – collectively known as the Legion of Boom – which sent three of their four starters to the Pro Bowl: cornerback Richard Sherman, who led the NFL in interceptions (eight, with 125 return yards), along with free safety Earl Thomas (five interceptions, 105 tackles, two forced fumbles) and strong safety Kam Chancellor (99 tackles, three interceptions, 78 return yards). Denver finished the season 13–3 for the second straight year, winning the AFC West division and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Broncos had the best offense in the NFL, leading the league in points scored (606, the highest total in NFL history) and yards gained (7,313). The offense was so explosive that they scored points on their opening possession at least eight straight games leading into the playoffs and a ninth time against the San Diego Chargers during the Divisional Playoffs game. During the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, they broke that streak, only to score on the opening possession of the second half. In only five out of 18 games (including playoffs) did they score fewer than 30 points, the fewest being 20 points. In command of the offense was 16-year veteran quarterback Peyton Manning. Now in his second year as the team's starter, Manning posted one of the best seasons of any quarterback in NFL history, leading the league in completions, attempts, yards, and touchdown passes. His 5,477 passing yards and 55 touchdown completions both set new NFL records. His 450 completions were the second-highest total in NFL history, and his 115.1 passer rating ranked second in the league. Denver's leading pass-catcher was Pro Bowl receiver Demaryius Thomas, who caught 92 passes for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns. But Manning had plenty of other reliable options, including Eric Decker (97 receptions, 1,288 yards, 11 touchdowns), Wes Welker (73 receptions, 778 yards, 10 touchdowns), and Pro Bowl tight end Julius Thomas (65 receptions, 788 yards, 12 touchdowns). Overall, they made Denver the first team in NFL history ever to have four players with at least 10 touchdown receptions in a season. Running back Knowshon Moreno was the team's leading rusher with 1,038 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also catching 60 passes for 548 yards and another three scores. Rookie running back Montee Ball was also a big contributor with 554 rushing yards, four touchdowns, and 20 receptions. The team's offensive line featured Pro Bowl guard Louis Vasquez. On special teams, Pro Bowl kicker Matt Prater ranked second in the NFL in scoring (150 points) and first in field goal percentage (.962, 25/26). His only miss of the year was from 52 yards, and he set a new NFL record for the longest field goal ever made (64 yards), breaking a record that had stood for 44 years. Defensive end Shaun Phillips anchored the Broncos' line with 10 sacks, while linebacker Danny Trevathan racked up 129 combined tackles, three forced fumbles, and three interceptions. Defensive end Malik Jackson was also a key component of the defense with 42 tackles and six sacks, helping compensate for the loss of Von Miller, who had five sacks in nine games before suffering a season-ending injury. Cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Chris Harris Jr. led the secondary with three interceptions each. Both the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos entered the postseason as the number one seed in their respective conferences, and as such started with first-round byes. The Seahawks' first playoff game was in the NFC divisional round, a rematch of Monday Night Football from Week 13, playing the New Orleans Saints at home. The Seahawks had a 16-point lead at halftime, but although the Saints were able to halve the deficit in the fourth quarter, they could not close the gap further before a botched play in the final seconds ended the game, with the Seahawks winning 23–15. The Seahawks then played in the NFC Championship Game at home against the rival San Francisco 49ers; the two teams had each won once against the other during the regular season. Despite entering halftime with a 7-point deficit, the Seahawks took the lead in the fourth quarter thanks largely to Colin Kaepernick losing one fumble and throwing two interceptions. The second interception came in the final seconds of the game when Richard Sherman batted the ball into the arms of Malcolm Smith to seal the 23–17 win and send the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl in franchise history. The Broncos faced the San Diego Chargers in the AFC divisional round. Although their record-breaking offense was held to an unusually low 24 points, the Broncos still emerged victorious, 24–17, having shut out the Chargers until the fourth quarter. The AFC Championship Game once again pitted Peyton Manning and his Broncos against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the 15th matchup between the two veteran quarterbacks. The Broncos won 26–16 on the back of a 400-yard passing performance by Manning, which included two touchdown drives that lasted over seven minutes each, earning the Broncos their first Super Bowl berth since 1998. As the Broncos were the designated home team in the annual rotation between AFC and NFC teams, they elected to wear their home uniform (orange jerseys with white pants) while the Seahawks wore a mixed uniform (white jerseys with navy-blue pants, representing away and home, respectively). With the loss, the Broncos fell to 0–4 (outscored 167–38) in Super Bowls in which they wore orange jerseys, while with the Seahawks' win, the team wearing white had then won nine of the previous ten Super Bowls. The Hyatt Regency in Jersey City served as the home for the Broncos during their stay. The team took up 150 of the 351 rooms until the night of January 29 before taking up the entire hotel. The team hosted the press conferences during the week on a cruise ship docked at the pier of the hotel. Meanwhile, the Seahawks took up 120 to 150 of 429-room Westin Hotel, also in Jersey City. The team retrofitted some rooms into training and massage rooms and occupied the pool. The City of Jersey City renamed its main boulevard, Columbus Drive, to Super Bowl Drive to welcome the teams. The Broncos utilized the New York Jets headquarters, Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, while the Seahawks utilized the New York Giants headquarters, Quest Diagnostics Training Center adjacent to MetLife Stadium. Since New York and New Jersey co-hosted the Super Bowl, pregame events took place in both states. The "Super Bowl Kickoff Spectacular" concert was held on January 27 at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, headlined by Daughtry and featuring a fireworks show. Media Day took place on January 28 at the Prudential Center in Newark. Unlike previous Super Bowl games, the league did not organize its NFL Experience fan attraction. Instead, an outdoor festival known as Super Bowl Boulevard was held along Broadway and Times Square in Manhattan from January 29 to February 1. The event featured various fan- oriented events and attractions, including an artificial toboggan hill. As the area was expected to see around 400,000 people, security was increased in the area. NFL On Location and an NFL Tailgate Party was held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex prior to the game. Super Bowl XLVIII was televised by Fox in the United States, with Joe Buck calling play-by-play, Troy Aikman as color analyst, and Pam Oliver and Erin Andrews as sideline reporters. Fox planned to use multiple 4K resolution cameras to provide the ability to zoom closer into certain camera angles, and due to the expected possibility of cold weather, special graphics developed by Autodesk to display simulations of wind patterns inside the stadium. Fox constructed an enclosed studio in Times Square for use as part of studio programming on Fox and Fox Sports 1 during the week of the game. The broadcast attracted 111.5 million viewers, becoming the most-watched event in U.S. television history and surpassing the previous record of 111.3 million viewers who watched Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. Episodes of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine- Nine were the lead-out programs. For the third consecutive year, a webcast was provided for viewers. Fox streamed its coverage of the game online on PCs and tablets through its new TV Everywhere service Fox Sports Go. Although normally requiring a television subscription to use, Fox made the service available as a free preview for the Super Bowl. Due to contractual restrictions imposed by the NFL's exclusive digital and mobile content deals with Microsoft and Verizon Communications, Fox was unable to offer any additional camera angles or offer streaming on smartphones. Mobile streaming of the game was exclusive to the Verizon Wireless NFL Mobile service. For the first time in Super Bowl history, a dedicated Spanish language telecast of the game was broadcast in the United States. The broadcast was carried by sister cable network Fox Deportes as part of a larger package of marquee games simulcast from Fox, and featured commentary and surrounding coverage in that language. As with all NFL games, the Spanish play-by-play was also carried via Fox's SAP feed. With 561,000 viewers, the Fox Deportes broadcast was the highest-rated U.S. Spanish-language cable telecast outside of soccer. NFL Network produced an international television feed of the game, with alternate English-language commentary provided by Bob Papa (play-by-play) and Charles Davis (color analyst). Fox set the sales rate for a 30-second advertisement at US $4 million, matching the price set by CBS for Super Bowl XLVII. Fox began selling advertising for the game in May 2013 and announced it had sold out on December 4. USA Todays Super Bowl Ad Meter named Budweiser's ad "Puppy Love" as the best of the game. Meanwhile, a Coca-Cola spot with people of diverse cultures singing "America the Beautiful" in various languages ignited controversy, with political commentators such as Glenn Beck, Todd Starnes and Allen West condemning the ad for discouraging assimilation, while others considered it a tribute to the idea of the United States as a multicultural society. Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Universal Studios and Walt Disney Studios paid for movie trailers to be aired during the Super Bowl. Following Monsters vs. Aliens' footsteps, Paramount paid for the debut trailers for and Noah, Sony paid for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, RoboCop, The Monuments Men, and Pompeii, Lionsgate paid for Draft Day, Warner Bros. paid for The Lego Movie, Universal paid for Neighbors, and Disney paid for , Need for Speed, and Muppets Most Wanted. The game was nationally broadcast on Westwood One radio, with Kevin Harlan as play-by-play announcer, Boomer Esiason as color analyst, and James Lofton and Mark Malone as sideline reporters. Jim Gray hosted the network's pregame, halftime, and post-game coverage. Scott Graham, who hosted additional pregame coverage for Westwood One, also served as MetLife Stadium's public address system announcer for the game. The flagship stations of each station in the markets of each team carried their local play-by-play calls. In Seattle, KIRO-FM (97.3) and KIRO (710 AM) carried the "Seahawks Bing Radio Network" call with Steve Raible on play-by- play and Warren Moon with color commentary, while in Denver, the Broncos play- by-play from the "Denver Broncos Radio Network" aired on KOA (850 AM) and KRFX (103.5) with the play-by-play of Dave Logan and the color commentary of Ed McCaffrey. The Spanish-language partner of the Broncos, KJMN (92.1)/KMXA (1090) carried the game in that language for the Denver market. Sirius XM Radio carried the Westwood One and local team feeds over satellite radio, along with the call in eight other languages. Outside of those stations, all the other stations in the Seahawks and Broncos radio networks carried the Westwood One call per NFL rules. KOA and KIRO are both clear-channel stations, which allowed listeners throughout most of the western US to hear the portion of the contest which continued past sunset local time. Westwood One's coverage was simulcast on TSN Radio in Canada. In the United Kingdom, Absolute Radio 90s carried the game for the first time, taking over rights from the BBC, who carried the contest for several years prior. The in- house Absolute Radio broadcast featured Darren Fletcher on color commentary (the same capacity in which he served with the BBC), Rocky Boiman with additional contributions and Will Gavin on play-by-play. The social network Twitter estimated that Super Bowl XLVIII generated 24.9 million posts ("tweets") on the service (surpassing last year's total of 24.1), peaking at 381,605 tweets per-minute following Percy Harvin's kickoff return at the start of the second half (surpassing the 231,500 per-minute peak the previous year during the blackout). 57% of the ads broadcast during the game promoted an associated hashtag, up from 50% in 2013. The pregame show began with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Marching Band and Syracuse University Marching Band. Queen Latifah, joined by the New Jersey Youth Chorus, sang "America the Beautiful". "The Star-Spangled Banner" was then sung by Renée Fleming, the first, (and, so far, only), opera singer ever to do so at a Super Bowl. A V-shaped formation of three United States Army Black Hawks, three Apache attack helicopters and three Chinook heavy-lifters did a military flyover timed with the last note of the song. On September 8, 2013, the league announced that Bruno Mars would perform at halftime. On January 10, 2014, it was announced that Red Hot Chili Peppers would be joining Mars as halftime show performers. The show opened with a children's choir singing a chorus from "Billionaire." Afterward, Mars appeared, playing a drum solo. Mars then performed the songs "Locked Out of Heaven", "Treasure", "Runaway Baby", "Give It Away" (with Red Hot Chili Peppers) and "Just the Way You Are" as a tribute to the United States Armed Forces. The halftime performance was the most watched in the history of the Super Bowl drawing in a record 115.3 million viewers, passing the record 114 million who watched Madonna perform two years earlier. It was later revealed that the music was pre-recorded. Red Hot Chili Pepper's drummer, Chad Smith responded on Twitter by saying "FYI... Every band in the last 10 years at the Super Bowl has performed to a previously recorded track. It's the NFL's policy." Planners initially indicated there would not be a halftime show at all due to the possibility of poor weather conditions. One such logistical problem would be assembling and disassembling the halftime show stage during a blizzard. But the league went ahead after all. According to Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com, the NFL wanted to avoid a repeat of Super Bowl XXVI when Fox counter-programmed a special live episode of In Living Color. Fox had not yet become a television partner with the NFL and saw an opportunity to pull young audiences away from a halftime show that lacked big-name performers. As a result of Fox's ratings success, the league tapped Michael Jackson to perform during the following season's Super Bowl XXVII, and since then the league has continued to book big-name talent to hold the television audience. Touchdown Entertainment, the company that produced the event, incorporated the live audience into the show and transformed the crowd into "the largest ever LED screen". During the show, spectators put on a black knitted hat called a "video ski hat" with 3 embedded LEDs that lit up on command. The hats transformed the audience into an enormous human video screen made up of over 80,000 pixels. Images including the Pepsi logo flashed across the crowd, as well as video of the live Red Hot Chili Peppers performance and fireworks display. Thanks to this technology, each spectator was integrated to the show, and the Super Bowl Halftime laid claim to the largest-ever human video screen. The company that invented and provided the crowd activation technology is the Montreal-based company PixMob. The game kicked off at 6:32 p.m. EST (). On Denver's first play after receiving the opening kickoff, center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball while quarterback Peyton Manning was shifting forward (from shotgun formation) in the process of calling an audible, resulting in the ball going past Manning into the end zone. Running back Knowshon Moreno recovered the ball to prevent a Seahawks touchdown, but he was downed for a safety to give the Seahawks a 2–0 lead. Seattle's score just 12 seconds into the game was the quickest to start a game in Super Bowl history, surpassing the kickoff return by Devin Hester to start Super Bowl XLI seven years earlier (which coincidentally featured Peyton Manning, at the time the Colts' quarterback). Following the free kick, receiver Percy Harvin gained 30 yards on an end around run to set up Steven Hauschka's 31-yard field goal, making the score 5–0. Denver was forced to a three-and-out on their next drive, and after the Denver punt, Russell Wilson completed a 37-yard pass to Doug Baldwin, leading to another Hauschka field goal, this one from 33 yards, that increased the lead to 8–0. On the third play of Denver's ensuing possession, Manning was intercepted by Kam Chancellor, giving Seattle a first down on the Denver 37. Aided by a 15-yard run from Harvin on the first play, Seattle quickly got the ball into the red zone. The Broncos defense eventually managed to force an incomplete pass on third down, but defensive back Tony Carter was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, giving Seattle a first down at the one-yard line. One play later, running back Marshawn Lynch crashed into the end zone, hitting the line so effectively that he ended the play on his feet, scoring a 1-yard touchdown run that made the score 15–0 three minutes into the second quarter. At this point, the Broncos offense finally managed to get moving, picking up a first down for the first time in the game at 10:37 and moving the ball to the Seattle 35-yard line. But on third-and-13, Manning was hit by Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril as he tried to throw a pass to Moreno, causing a high short floater that was intercepted by linebacker Malcolm Smith and returned 69 yards for a touchdown. After Seattle's kickoff, Denver mounted a drive to the Seahawks' 19-yard line, aided by Demaryius Thomas's 19-yard reception on third-and-5. With just over a minute left in the half, Denver faced fourth-and-2. Rather than kick a field goal, they tried to pick up a first down, but Manning's pass was incomplete and the score would remain 22–0 at the end of the half. The 22-point deficit was the largest faced by the Broncos all season. It was also the third-largest halftime deficit in Super Bowl history, and the previous two were also against the Broncos – the Redskins led the Broncos 35–10 in Super Bowl XXII and the 49ers led the Broncos 27–3 in Super Bowl XXIV. In order to avoid a big kickoff return, Matt Prater kicked the second half kickoff short, hitting the ground at the Seattle 12-yard line. But it did not stop Harvin from picking the ball out of the air and taking off for an 87-yard touchdown return that increased Seattle's lead to 29–0. The touchdown took place 12 seconds into the second half, exactly the same amount of time that the Seahawks took to score the safety in the first half. It was also the first time that consecutive Super Bowls had kickoff returns for touchdowns (Jacoby Jones' return in Super Bowl XLVII being the previous one, which was also the second half opening kickoff). After an exchange of punts, Eric Decker gave Denver good field position with a 9-yard return to the Denver 45. Two plays later, Manning completed a 23-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas, but cornerback Byron Maxwell knocked the ball out of his hands and Malcolm Smith recovered it, returning the ball seven yards. An unnecessary roughness penalty against Denver added 15 more yards onto the end of the play, giving Seattle the ball at the Denver 42-yard line. Two plays later, Russell Wilson hit tight end Luke Willson for a 12-yard completion on third-and-7 and later completed a 19-yard pass to Ricardo Lockette. On the next play, he threw a short pass to Jermaine Kearse, who broke four tackles as he took off for a 23-yard touchdown reception bringing the score to 36–0. Denver finally managed to respond on their next drive, advancing the ball 80 yards as Manning completed six consecutive passes, including a 22-yard completion to Wes Welker, and finishing the drive with a 14-yard touchdown toss to Demaryius Thomas on the last play of the third quarter. Then Welker caught a pass for a successful two-point conversion, cutting the score to 36–8. However, any momentum Denver might have gained was quickly snuffed out as Seattle tight end Zach Miller recovered Prater's onside kick attempt on his own 48-yard line. He also caught a 10-yard reception as the Seahawks subsequently drove 52 yards, featuring a 24-yard reception by Kearse, and scoring on Wilson's 10-yard touchdown pass to Baldwin, increasing their lead to 43–8. There were more than 11 minutes left in the game, but this would be the final score, as Denver's last three drives would result in a turnover on downs, a Manning fumble that was forced and recovered by Seattle defensive end Chris Clemons (the only sack of the game for either team), and time expiring in the game. Wilson finished the game 18/25 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. Baldwin was his top receiver with five catches for 66 yards and a score, while Kearse added four catches for 65 and a touchdown. In addition to his 87-yard kickoff return touchdown, Harvin was Seattle's leading rusher with 45 yards, even though he only carried the ball twice. Chancellor had nine tackles and an interception. Manning completed 34/49 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions. His top target was Demaryius Thomas, who caught 13 passes (a Super Bowl record) for 118 yards and a touchdown. Welker added eight receptions for 84 yards. Linebacker Danny Trevathan had 12 tackles. Moreno was Denver's leading rusher, but with just 17 yards. Overall, Denver's record setting offense gained only 306 yards, with just 27 yards on the ground. Seahawks' LB Malcolm Smith was named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. Denver fell to 2–5 in Super Bowls, while five-time league MVP Manning dropped to 11–12 in the playoffs, and 1–2 in the Super Bowl. Including Denver's loss, none of the eight highest-scoring teams in league history won a Super Bowl in the same season, and all four teams who entered the championship with the league's leading passer lost the game. Manning's 34 completions and Demaryius Thomas' 13 receptions were both Super Bowl records. With touchdowns scored on offense, defense, and special teams, the Seahawks became the first team since the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV to do so. Teams with an interception return for a touchdown also stayed perfect, improving to 12–0 in Super Bowls. As a result of scoring their safety 12 seconds into the game and subsequently never relinquishing the lead for the rest of the game, the Seahawks set a Super Bowl record for holding a lead continuously for the longest time (59:48). Denver became only the second team in the past 30 years to score fewer than 10 points during the course of the game. Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XLVIII, The Football Database Super Bowl XLVIII Completions/attempts Carries Long gain Receptions Times targeted Organizers dubbed Super Bowl XLVIII the "Mass Transit Super Bowl", emphasizing and encouraging game attendees and other visitors to use public transportation to get to the game and other festivities throughout the region. The host committee in conjunction with other metropolitan transit agencies, such New Jersey Transit, the lead agency, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Metropolitan Transportation Authority developed special services, fares, schedules and maps to promote the use of metro area's trains, subways, light-rail, and buses during Super Bowl Week. However, the plan was considered a failure by fans and writers who attended the game due to poor execution and overcrowding. , the diagram is still updated online. The Super Bowl was considered a level one national security event. To that end, the New Jersey State Police and the NFL host committee installed a 2.5-mile chain-link perimeter fence around the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which is located at the intersection of a number of highways. Security planners stated that access to the area would be strictly limited and regulated. To that end, parking spaces were greatly reduced, tailgate parties restricted and walking to the venue strictly prohibited. Taxis and limousines were not permitted to drop off passengers. Passengers for trains to the stadium were limited in what they carry and were screened before boarding. The area was patrolled on land, by air, and by water since it is surrounded by wetlands. More than 3,000 security guards and 700 police officers were on duty on game day. In addition, SWAT teams and snipers were located throughout the stadium. There was a no-fly zone and fighter jets patrolled the region. The security effort was overseen by a joint operations center a few miles away from MetLife Stadium, which was staffed by hundreds of people from 35 different agencies ranging from the CIA to the New Jersey Transit Police. In February 2013, controversy arose with mayors of five local municipalities saying they would not provide emergency services, stating they have been poorly compensated for past stadium events. One of the mayors, William J. Roseman of Carlstadt, New Jersey, stated: "The teams don't care about budget caps and what the impacts are on the taxpayers of Carlstadt. I had to cut back my police department budget by a total of a million dollars over the last several years. While we are forced to lay off police officers, the owners of the Jets and Giants are filling their pockets at taxpayers’ expense." In a postgame news conference, Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith was being asked questions when suddenly a man jumped onto the podium, grabbed the microphone, and said "Investigate 9/11. 9/11 was perpetrated by people within our own government." Smith did not react hastily but was rather confused and continued on with answering questions from the media. The man quickly walked away but security closed in and he was arrested for trespassing. Super Bowl XLVIII had seven officials. The numbers in parentheses below indicate their uniform numbers. Referee – Terry McAulay (77), Umpire – Carl Paganelli (124), Head Linesman – Jim Mello (48), Line Judge – Tom Symonette (100), Field Judge – Scott Steenson (88), Side Judge – Dave Wyant (16), Back Judge – Steve Freeman (133), Replay Official – Earnie Frantz, Replay Assistant - Brian Matoren, Alternate Referee - Clete Blakeman (34), Alternate Umpire - Paul King (121), Alternate Wing - Greg Bradley (98), Alternate Deep - James Coleman (95), Alternate Back Judge - Terrence Miles (111) List of Super Bowl champions, Sports in New York City, Sports in Newark, New Jersey Elisha Nelson Manning IV (born January 3, 1981) is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Mississippi from 2000 to 2003. He was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers and was immediately traded to the Giants who in return gave up a package, highlighted by fourth overall selection Philip Rivers. Manning is the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the younger brother of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning holds Giants franchise records for most passing yards, touchdown passes, and completed passes in a career. In 2012, in a 41–34 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he threw for 510 yards, three yards short of Phil Simms' record of 513. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, defeating the New England Patriots in both games. Manning was named Most Valuable Player in both Super Bowls, becoming one of five players to have multiple Super Bowl MVP awards (Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw also have two, Joe Montana three and Tom Brady four). Manning started 210 straight games from 2004 to 2017, the third-longest consecutive starts streak by a quarterback in NFL history. He is the seventh all-time leader in passing yards and eighth in touchdowns. Though lacking his brother's regular-season consistency and high-caliber performances, Manning is known for his two improbable Super Bowl-winning postseason runs in 2007 and 2011, in which he led an underdog Giants squad to Super Bowl victories twice against the Patriots. Manning attended high school at the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, where he played football and basketball for the Greenies. In his high school career, Manning passed for 7,389 yards and 89 touchdowns. On February 7, 1999, he committed to play college football at Ole Miss. During his years with the Rebels at Ole Miss, Manning set or tied 45 single- game, season, and career records. His career numbers include 10,119 passing yards (fifth on the SEC career list), 81 touchdown passes (third on the SEC career list), and a passer rating of 137.7 (tied for sixth on the SEC career list). As a freshman, Manning competed with veteran Romaro Miller for the starting quarterback position. Manning saw little playing time behind Miller. He appeared in six games and passed for 170 total yards and one interception. With the departure of Miller, Manning became the Rebels' starting quarterback as a sophomore. In the first game, against Murray State, he converted 20-of-23 pass attempts for 271 yards and five passing touchdowns in the 49–14 victory. In the following game, a 27–21 loss to Auburn, he had 265 passing yards, one passing touchdown, and one interception. Over the next few games, Manning helped lead the Rebels to victories over Kentucky, Alabama, and LSU. On November 3, in 58–56 loss to Arkansas, Manning passed for 312 passing yards and six passing touchdowns. Overall, Manning had a solid first year as the Rebels' starting quarterback with 2,948 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Manning's junior season started out promising with a 31–3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe and a 38–16 victory over Memphis. Manning had four passing touchdowns and one interception combined in those two games. In the next game, a 42–28 loss to Texas Tech, Manning passed for 374 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. The Rebels won their next three games, which were over Vanderbilt, #6 Florida, and Arkansas State to earn Ole Miss a #21 ranking in the AP Poll. Manning had five touchdowns and one interception in that stretch. The Rebels' fortunes turned in the latter half of the season with a five-game losing streak. In the stretch was a 48–28 loss to Arkansas, in which Manning completed 42-of-56 passes for 414 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. In addition, he had a rushing touchdown. After a 24–12 win over rival Mississippi State, the Rebels qualified for the Independence Bowl against Nebraska. Manning passed for 313 yards and one touchdown in the 27–23 victory. Overall, Manning finished with 3,401 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions in his junior season. Manning started off his senior season with a 2–2 record. He played well in that stretch with 1,329 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, and four interceptions with victories over Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe but losses to Memphis and Texas Tech. The Rebels went on a six-game winning streak that included victories over major SEC opponents #24 Florida, Alabama, #21 Arkansas, South Carolina, and Auburn. Manning passed for over 1,500 yards, 12 touchdowns, and four interceptions in the winning streak. Overall, he led the Rebels to a 10–3 record and a 31–28 SBC Cotton Bowl Classic victory over the #21 Oklahoma State Cowboys with 259 passing yards and two touchdowns in 2003. He was invited to play in the 2004 Senior Bowl, but chose not to play. As his senior year came to a close, Manning won many awards, including the Maxwell Award as the nation's best all-around player, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Award, the Sporting News Radio Socrates Award, and the SEC Most Valuable Player Award. He was also a candidate for the 2003 Heisman Trophy, finishing third in the voting after winning quarterback Jason White of the University of Oklahoma and University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Manning graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in marketing and a GPA of 3.44. 2001: Conerly Trophy – Best College Football Player in Mississippi, 2001: Davey O'Brien Award (finalist) – Awarded to the Nation's Top Quarterback, 2001: Honorable Mention All-American – The Football News, 2002: Independence Bowl MVP, 2002: Second Team All-American – The Associated Press, 2003: Maxwell Award – Nation's Top Player, 2003: Conerly Trophy – Best College Football Player in Mississippi, 2003: SEC MVP – Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club, 2003: Sports Person of the Year in Mississippi – The Clarion-Ledger, 2003: Mississippi Amateur Athlete of the Year – Jackson Touchdown Club, 2003: National Scholar-Athlete Class – Division I-A QB, 2003: Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award – Awarded to the Nation's Top Quarterback, 2003: SEC Offensive Player of the Year – The Associated Press and the SEC Coaches, 2004: Sporting News Radio Socrates Award, 2004: SBC Cotton Bowl Classic MVP, Colonel Earl (Red) Blaik Leadership Award – All-American Football Foundation, USA Today Player of the Year in Louisiana, First team All-American – The All-American Foundation, SEC Player of the Year – The Commercial Appeal and the SEC Coaches, First Team All-SEC – Associated Press, SEC Top Offensive QB – Touchdown Club of Atlanta Wally Butts Award The San Diego Chargers originally held the rights to the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft due to their 4–12 record in 2003. With Manning being the most coveted player in the draft, it appeared that the Chargers' intentions were to draft him first overall. However, Manning (echoed by his father) stated publicly that he would refuse to play for the Chargers if drafted by them. The Chargers selected him with the first pick overall nonetheless, as the team had a deal in place with the New York Giants, whereby the Giants would draft and then trade Philip Rivers and a 2004 third-round pick, used to select placekicker Nate Kaeding; a 2005 first round pick, used to select linebacker Shawne Merriman; and a 2005 fifth round pick, which was later traded away, to the Chargers for Manning. He signed a six-year, $45 million contract with the New York Giants. Manning was one of four quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft along with Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, and J. P. Losman. Manning, Roethlisberger, and Rivers have all been voted to the Pro Bowl since becoming starters. Until 2013, Roethlisberger and Manning had not produced a season with a losing record (although each had an 8–8 season), and Roethlisberger and Manning have each won two Super Bowls. They have been compared favorably to the Quarterback class of 1983, which included Hall of Fame quarterbacks Dan Marino, John Elway, and Jim Kelly. Manning made his NFL debut in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He came into the game toward the end the fourth quarter in relief of Kurt Warner. He finished the 31–17 loss 3-of-9 for 66 yards. Manning made his first career regular season start against the Atlanta Falcons at Giants Stadium on November 21, 2004. In the game, Manning threw his first career touchdown on a six-yard pass to Jeremy Shockey in the third quarter. In his fourth start, against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T; Bank Stadium on December 12, 2004, he ended the day with a 0.0 passer rating and was benched in the second half in favor of Warner, but remained the Giants starter through the end of the season. In Week 15, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he recorded his first multi-touchdown performance with 182 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the 33–30 loss in a duel with fellow rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In the regular season finale, Manning passed for 144 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception in the 28–24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants finished with a 6–10 record and were 1–6 in games that Manning started in. He finished with 1,043 passing yards, six touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Following 2004, Warner left the Giants, and Manning was named the starter for 2005. Manning led the Giants to a 2–0 record with victories against the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints, before traveling to the West Coast for a test in a road game against the San Diego Chargers. Chargers fans did not forget the snub, and on September 25, 2005 when Manning and the Giants made their first trip to San Diego for a game since that draft day, the crowd booed Manning loudly every time he touched the ball. San Diego defeated the Giants, 45–23, but Manning displayed what may have been his most impressive performance of his young career, going 24-of-41 for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Manning returned home to throw for almost 300 yards and a career- high four touchdowns against the St. Louis Rams at Giants Stadium in a 44–24 romp. Two games later, he led a last-minute drive against the Denver Broncos to secure a 24–23 victory for the Giants. The drive culminated in a two-yard touchdown to Amani Toomer with five seconds remaining. Two weeks later, Manning overcame a weak first half at San Francisco to help his team secure their first official road victory of the season, 24–6. Despite a poor performance at home against the Minnesota Vikings, throwing four interceptions, he again led his team back to tie the game in the final minutes before the Vikings won on a late field goal. Manning finished among the top five quarterbacks in both passing yards and touchdown passes, while leading an offense that finished third in the NFL in scoring with a total of 422 points. It was the most points the Giants scored in a single season since 1963. The Giants won the NFC East with an 11–5 record and advanced to the postseason as the #4-seed. In the against the Carolina Panthers, Manning was 10-of-18 for 113 yards and three interceptions in the 23–0 loss. Manning's second full season was reminiscent of his 2005 season. He started off playing well and completed over 65 percent of his passes through the first four games. However, he struggled in the second half of the season and his production diminished towards the end of the regular season. After losing a tough game to his brother Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts on opening day, Manning and the Giants rebounded from a 24–7 4th-quarter deficit en route to a 30–24 overtime victory over the division rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2. Manning threw for a career-high 371 yards in the win with three touchdowns including a game-winning pass to Plaxico Burress in overtime to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Following a poor performance against Seattle the next week, Manning and the Giants responded by winning five straight games including wins over the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, and Atlanta Falcons to push their record to 6–2. Following this winning streak, key injuries including one to wide receiver Amani Toomer pushed Manning and the Giants into a downward slide. Playing against the Chicago Bears, Manning started well, but the Giants' offense was derailed by the loss of left tackle Luke Petitgout to a broken leg. Manning was held to only 141 yards passing with two interceptions. Petitgout's loss left a gaping hole at the crucial left tackle position, and Manning was unable to repeat his first-half success. Manning struggled the next week at Jacksonville and the week after that, a costly interception helped to culminate a huge collapse on the road against the Tennessee Titans, with the Giants seeing a 21-point fourth quarter lead simply evaporate. Manning improved the following week, throwing for 270 yards and two touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys, but the Giants lost 23–20. Finally regaining momentum, Manning threw three touchdowns in a win on the road against the Carolina Panthers, but then he stumbled badly in the final three games. He threw two interceptions against the Eagles and tallied only 73 passing yards in a game against the New Orleans Saints. Although the Giants battled back to 8–8 the following week on the road against the Washington Redskins, Manning completed only 12 of 26 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. The Giants qualified for the postseason as the #6-seed and met the Philadelphia Eagles. Although he did significantly better in this game than the 2005 playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, completing 16 of 27 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, the Giants lost in the on a last- second field goal by the Eagles. For the year, Manning threw for 3,244 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. He completed 57.7 percent of his passes, a five-point improvement from 2005, but he again struggled badly in the second half of the season. Manning finished the season with a quarterback efficiency rating of 77.0 (18th in the league) with 6.2 yards per attempt. Manning trained in the Meadowlands with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and new quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer prior to the 2007 regular season. For the first time ever, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey practiced in the off- season with Manning to perfect their timing and chemistry rather than training alone in Miami as they did in previous years. Manning opened the 2007 season with an outstanding personal performance against the Dallas Cowboys, completing 28 of 41 passing attempts for 312 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception, but suffered a shoulder sprain and was removed from the game late in the second half. Although he did play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 while throwing for 211 yards with one touchdown, the Giants defense performed poorly again and the team dropped to 0–2 with Green Bay winning, 35–13. In week three, Manning got a come-from- behind victory as the Giants defense improved, pitching a shutout in the second half and stopping the Washington Redskins on a fourth and goal situation, winning the game 24–17. The Giants defense then shut down the Philadelphia Eagles with an NFL record-tying 12 sacks, holding the Eagles offense to one field goal. The Giants won with a score of 16–3. The following week, Manning overcame a dismal first half to throw for two second-half scores in a 35–24 win over their in-city rivals, the New York Jets. Following two straight home victories, Manning and the Giants obtained their fourth consecutive victory with a 31–10 defeat of the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome on Monday Night Football. Manning performed well, completing 27 of 39 passes for 303 yards along with a pair of touchdowns while giving away two interceptions. Behind a dominant defensive effort, the Giants improved to 5–2 the next week with a 33–15 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Manning played well again, throwing for two touchdowns in the effort. In week 8, the Giants played a road game against the Miami Dolphins on October 28, 2007, in London's Wembley Stadium. Manning only threw for 59 yards in the rain and mud, but he scored the Giants' only touchdown on a 10-yard run. This touchdown was the first in an NFL regular season game that was played outside of North America. The Giants defeated the Dolphins, 13–10, bringing the Giants to a 6–2 record at the mid-way point of the 2007 season. After losing to their division rivals the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9, New York Giants co-owner John Mara publicly questioned Manning's ability to lead the New York Giants in 2007 but more importantly in the future: After a week of criticism in the New York media and being outplayed by Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Manning had a bounce-back victory against their conference Wild Card competitors the Detroit Lions. Manning threw for 283 yards and one touchdown but most importantly, no interceptions in a critical road game. The following week in a 41–17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Manning threw four interceptions and had three of them returned for touchdowns. He continued to struggle until the last game of the season, against the 15–0 New England Patriots. With a playoff spot secured, the Giants could have rested their starters for the playoffs, but they instead chose to keep in the regulars and attempt to stop New England's quest for an undefeated regular season. The Giants lost 38–35, with Manning completing 22 of 32 passes for 252 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception. The Giants entered the playoffs as the #5-seed. On January 6, 2008, in the , Manning went 20-of-27 for 185 yards playing on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The underdog Giants won 24–14, and Manning had two touchdown passes. On January 13, 2008, in the Manning led the Giants to an upset victory over the heavily favored Dallas Cowboys, the number one seed in the NFC. For the third straight game, Manning played well, completing 12 of 18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The Giants were the first team to beat an NFC number one seed in the Divisional Round since the start of the 12-team format in 1990. This victory secured an berth against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, January 20, 2008. In the NFC Championship, the Giants beat the Packers in overtime, with a score of 23–20. The dramatic victory secured Manning and the Giants a trip to Super Bowl XLII. This was the first Super Bowl appearance for the New York Giants since Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, and their first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl XXV. In front of a record-setting American television audience and on the strength of a late fourth-quarter drive led by Manning, the Giants beat the 12.5 point- favored, undefeated New England Patriots 17–14. Trailing 14–10 with 2:42 remaining, Manning led the Giants 83 yards on a game-winning touchdown drive. On a crucial third-and-5 at the Giants' 44-yard line, Manning connected with David Tyree on a play in which he avoided several near-sacks and Tyree caught the ball off his helmet for a large gain. Four plays later, Plaxico Burress caught a 13-yard touchdown pass with just 35 seconds remaining for the winning margin. Manning became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw two go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdowns in a Super Bowl (Joe Montana being the first in Super Bowl XXIII in 1989). Manning also became the first quarterback to throw a last-minute, championship-winning touchdown in the NFL title game (including the pre-Super Bowl era) when a field goal would not at least tie the game. Following the Giants' monumental victory, Manning and the coaching staff spoke briefly with President George W. Bush. Manning was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLII. He and his brother Peyton are the only brother combination to play at quarterback in the Super Bowl and the only set of brothers to win Super Bowl MVP, doing so in successive years. For winning Super Bowl MVP, he was given his choice of any 2008 model Cadillac, and Manning chose an Escalade Hybrid. The Wednesday following the Super Bowl he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Manning and the Giants opened the 2008 season with a win over their division rivals, the Washington Redskins, 16–7. "It was a great opening to the season", said Manning, who completed 19 passes of 35 for 216 yards, and had one rushing touchdown and one interception. "There was a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement. You could feel it in the crowd." In the Giants' next game, against the St. Louis Rams, they won again, 41–13, behind a stellar Manning performance. Manning finished the game with 20 completions, 260 yards passing and threw three touchdowns to three different receivers. The victory also marked the team's fourth straight victory over the Rams. The following week, Manning rallied the Giants to more fourth quarter magic, overcoming a late deficit to throw the go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss, and then in overtime, throwing a clutch 31-yard pass to Amani Toomer in the Giants' 26–23 win over Cincinnati Bengals. The fourth week of the season saw the Giants score on each of their first six possessions and dominate the Seattle Seahawks, 44–6. Manning threw for two touchdowns, completing 19 of 25 passes for 267 yards as the Giants totaled 523 yards on offense, their most since 2002. Following a poor team performance in a 35–14 loss on the road against the Cleveland Browns, Manning and the Giants responded with a 29–17 win over the 49ers and battled to a hard earned 21–14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field. Manning completed 19 of 32 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown in the crucial win, which pushed the Giants to a 6–1 record. The following week, the Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys at home 35–14 to get to 7–1 at the midway point of the regular season. Manning threw three touchdowns in the game. New York improved to 8–1 with a 36–31 win on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Manning threw two touchdowns in the victory, but the crucial play occurred in the third quarter. With the Giants trailing by four, Manning appeared to make an illegal forward pass to tight end Boss. After review, it was determined that the pass was legal. The Giants scored a touchdown two plays later. Week nine pitted the Giants in a battle with the visiting Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had come into the game with the league's third-ranked defense; nevertheless, Manning led the Giants to a decisive 30–10 victory, improving to 9–1, which included a 200-yard rushing effort by running backs Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. Two weeks later, the Giants faced the Redskins at Washington in their second encounter in the season. Manning threw his first 300-yard game of the season going 21-of-34 with an interception and a 40-yard touchdown pass to Toomer. The Giants beat the Redskins 23–7. In November, Manning was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month. For the month, Manning threw for 1,036 yards and ten touchdowns, and compiled a 94.9 passer rating while leading the Giants to a perfect 5–0 record. Manning was named to his first Pro Bowl on December 16, making him the first Giants quarterback to earn the honor since Phil Simms in 1993. In week 15, Manning and the Giants visited Texas Stadium, where Tony Romo battled through a lower back contusion and connected with nine different receivers, finishing 20-of-30 for 244 yards and two touchdowns leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 20–8 victory. In week 16 against the Carolina Panthers with NFC homefield advantage on the line, Manning had a passing day of 17 of 27 for 181 yards and no interceptions. Manning led the Giants back from deficits of 21–10 and 28–20 to tie the game with just over three minutes left, including a bullet pass to Domenik Hixon for a key two-point conversion to tie the game at 28. The game was played in freezing conditions. After becoming the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 12–4 record, the Giants had a first playoff round bye week and home field advantage through the rest of the playoffs. In the , they faced their archrival Philadelphia Eagles at Giants Stadium with its signature windy conditions. Philadelphia went on to win the game 23–11. Manning completed 15 out of 29 passes for 169 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. On August 5, 2009, he signed a six-year US$97.5million contract extension. Manning and the Giants opened the 2009 season with a win over their division rival, the Washington Redskins, 23–16. Manning played well completing 20 of 29 passing attempts for 256, one touchdown and one interception. Manning and the Giants traveled to Dallas to play the Dallas Cowboys in the opening of their new Cowboys Stadium on Sunday Night Football. Manning played outstanding completing 25 of 38 passing attempts for 330 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions which resulted in a 33–31 win for the Giants on a last second field goal. In Week 3, Manning and the Giants played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he completed 14 of 24 passes for 161 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions and as the Giants had a big lead he was taken from the game at the start of the second quarter, the Giants ended up winning 24–0. In Week 4, the Giants played the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning was playing well up until the start of the fourth quarter when on a play action fake Manning injured his heel while passing downfield to Steve Smith. He stayed in for the next play completing a 54-yard touchdown to Hakeem Nicks. It was discovered that Manning had plantar fasciitis (inflammation of connective tissue within the soles of the feet) and there was speculation he would not play against the Oakland Raiders in Week 5. However, in Week 5, Manning played well, completing eight of ten passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns with the Giants winning 44–7. This was the first time in his career that Manning had a posted a perfect passer rating. After this five-game winning streak, the Giants fell to a four- game losing streak, losing to the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Diego Chargers before winning again after a bye week on Week 11 when they played the Atlanta Falcons, winning 34–31 in overtime. Against the Falcons, Manning posted a career-high 384 passing yards with three touchdowns and one interception. On Thanksgiving, the Giants traveled to Denver to play the Denver Broncos where they lost 26–6. Manning completed 24 of 40 passes for 230 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception. In Week 14 they played their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, and lost 45–38, where it was a close game from the start. Manning passed for a career-high 391 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions but was not able to win the game. Next week, on Monday Night Football, Manning and the Giants dominated the Redskins, winning the game 45–12. The next week, in the final game in Giants Stadium, Manning and the Giants lost 41–9 against the Carolina Panthers. The Giants did not fare better the next week on the road against the Minnesota Vikings in the final regular season game, losing 44–7 while down 38 points in the fourth quarter. After the games, Manning apologized to the fans for the team's performance. The Giants finished the 2009 season with an 8–8 record and missed the playoffs. Manning ended the 2009 season with career highs including 4,021 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, a 62.3 completion percentage rating, and a passer rating of 93.1. On August 16 during a preseason game against the New York Jets, Manning was hit by Brandon Jacobs, then by Calvin Pace, which knocked off his helmet, then went face first into Jim Leonhard's face mask. As a result, Manning had a large gash that needed twelve stitches. Manning left the game. Manning started the season with 263 passing yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions in the 31–18 victory over the Carolina Panthers. In a Week 3 game with the Tennessee Titans, Manning put together a season-high 386 passing but two interceptions in the 29–10 loss to put the Giants at 1–2. The Giants went on a five-game winning streak following the loss. In that stretch was a Week 7 41–35 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, where Manning passed for 306 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions. In Week 15, he had 289 passing yards, four touchdowns, and one interception in the 38–31 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In Week 16, Manning connected on with Mario Manningham on a then-career-high 85-yard receiving touchdown in a 45–17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The mark was broken the next week when Manning completed a 92-yard passing touchdown to Manningham in the 17–14 victory over the Washington Redskins. The Giants ended the 2010 NFL season with a 10–6 record. Manning led the Giants to a 17–14 win in the last game of the season against the Washington Redskins, however, because of Green Bay Packers 10–3 win over the Chicago Bears, the Giants did not make the playoffs. He ended the season with 4,002 yards, a career-high 31 touchdowns, but also a career-high 25 interceptions, which marked the most by a quarterback in the 2010 season, and a 62.5 completion percentage. In August 2011, Manning generated mild controversy in the sports media during a radio interview on The Michael Kay Show. When asked by host Michael Kay whether he was an elite "Top 10, Top 5" quarterback in the same class as Tom Brady, he responded: Manning received criticism for the quote for trying to inflate his own status and skills, with critics pointing out his past inconsistent stats, including his 25 interceptions in the previous season, as evidence contradicting his claims. However, Manning also received support for his comments from Giants coach Tom Coughlin and teammates such as wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. Later in the season, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan commented on the quote, agreeing with Manning that he was an elite quarterback "for sure." The Giants opened the 2011 season with a slow start, losing to the rival Washington Redskins 14–28 in an emotional game for both fanbases on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Manning completed 18 of 32 passes for 268 yards but threw a costly interception in the third quarter to linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, who returned it for a touchdown and swung the momentum of the game. However, the Giants would recover and win their next three games, including over the arch-rival Philadelphia Eagles, where he had 254 passing yards and four touchdowns in the 29–16 victory to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. During this streak, Manning improved, throwing for eight touchdowns and one interception. After a 6–2 start, including a 24–20 last-minute comeback by Manning over the New England Patriots that evoked comparisons to Super Bowl XLII, the Giants entered a tough stretch of their schedule, facing off against the San Francisco 49ers, the New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers, the respective eventual NFC West, South, and North champions. The Giants would lose all three games as well as falling to the Philadelphia Eagles at home, leading them into a four-game skid and once again putting their postseason hopes in jeopardy. However, unlike the previous three seasons, the Giants would finish strong, winning three of their last four games. This included a key win over their crosstown rival New York Jets, where Manning tied a NFL-record by completing a 99-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz, as well as a sweep of their fellow division rival Dallas Cowboys. In the final regular season game against the Dallas Cowboys, Manning threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns, giving the Giants the win, the NFC East title, and a playoff berth for the first time in three years. He earned a Pro Bowl nomination for his performance in the 2011 season. The Giants entered the 2011 postseason as underdogs, with the worst record of any NFC playoff team. However, Manning and his team would once again demonstrate their endurance and durability late in the year. The Giants first easily routed the Atlanta Falcons 24–2 in the and then stunned the defending Super Bowl champions and top-seeded Green Bay Packers in the to advance to the NFC Championship Game. In the win, Manning completed 21 out of 33 attempts and threw three touchdowns and one interception. The following week, the Giants avenged their regular season loss to the San Francisco 49ers with a dramatic 20–17 overtime win in the . In the game, Manning set franchise playoff records with 32 completions on 52 attempts, good enough for 316 yards and two touchdowns despite being sacked a franchise-record-tying six times. This victory secured Manning and the Giants a second trip in five years to the Super Bowl, setting up a highly anticipated Super Bowl XLII rematch against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Giants also made history as the first Super Bowl team ever team outscored in the regular season (394 points scored, 400 points allowed). In the most-watched program in the history of United States television, Manning once again led the Giants to an upset victory over the 2½ point favored Patriots 21–17, his second Super Bowl win and the fourth overall for the franchise. While trailing the Patriots 15–17 in the final minutes, Manning led the Giants 88 yards down the field to a touchdown that many observers described as "accidental". With just over a minute of time left in the game, the Giants called a running play and Manning handed off the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw with the hopes of stopping short of the goal line and forcing the Patriots to use their final time out, thus allowing the Giants to run out the clock. The Patriots, in turn, did not attempt to tackle Bradshaw in his run, and he then fell over the goal line despite making an attempt to stop. However, the remaining time was not enough for Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to lead a comeback and the Giants held onto the lead to win. Manning was again named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLVI, becoming the third quarterback in a row to win the award. The Giants also became the first team ever with fewer than ten wins in a 16-game regular season to win the Super Bowl. Manning also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 4,900+ yards and win a Super Bowl in the same season. The Giants were the first team with a running game ranked last (32nd) and a defense ranked as low as 27th to win a Super Bowl. For winning the Super Bowl, Manning and the Giants received a victory parade in Manhattan and were honored with symbolic keys to the city by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was ranked 31st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012. The Giants endured a disappointing season following up their Super Bowl run in 2011. Manning led the Giants to a 6–2 record to begin their season, including a career-best 510 yards in a Week 2 41–34 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (second only to Phil Simms' 513 in 1985 for the franchise record), overcoming three interceptions and a fumble. However, Manning averaged an anemic 204 yards per game and 74.3 passer rating over games 8–15, including his lowest rating in five years (38.9) in a 0–34 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15. He ended the 2012 season on a high note, throwing a career-high five touchdown passes while completing 13 of 21 pass attempts and passing for 208 yards with no interceptions, in a 42–7 Giants win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished the season with 26 touchdown passes, 15 interceptions, and 3,948 passing yards. As was typical for this phase of his career (2012–16), Manning was exceptionally well-protected by his offensive line; he was sacked just 19 times for a league-lowest 3.4% of passing plays. Although the Giants did not qualify for the playoffs with a 9–7 season, Manning was selected to his third Pro Bowl as a second alternate. Manning started the 2013 season off with 450 passing yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions in a 36–31 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The loss was a sign of things to come as the Giants started the season with an 0–6 record, their worst regular season start since 1976. He threw 12 interceptions in his first five games. Manning fell to 0–3 against his older brother, Peyton in Week 2's 41–23 loss to the Denver Broncos. He was 28 of 39 for 362 yards, but was intercepted four times. Manning's four interceptions tied his career high and was the fourth time he threw four interceptions in a game. The game between Peyton and Eli was the final professional meeting of the two brothers. In Week 15, Manning threw for 156 yards and a career-high five interceptions in a 23–0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Manning ended the season with a career-high 27 interceptions, which were the most in one season by a quarterback since Brett Favre had 29 in 2005. The Giants finished the season 7–9, their first losing record since Manning's rookie year in 2004. Manning passed Phil Simms to become the franchise's all-time leader in yards passing. Simms, who played 14 seasons with the Giants, finished his career with 33,462 yards in the air. He was ranked 43rd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014. After an 0–2 start, the Giants won three straight games but subsequently lost their next seven games including a 16–10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in a game where Manning threw five interceptions, which tied his career high. The Giants won three of their last four games to end the season with a 6–10 record. Manning finished the season with 30 touchdown passes, 14 interceptions, and 4,410 passing yards. A few days before the Giants' regular season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, Manning signed a four-year, US$84million extension with the Giants. In Week 5, he had a franchise-record 41 completions for 441 passing yards, three touchdowns, and one interception in a 30–27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Through six games, he led the Giants to a 3–3 record and a tie for first place in the NFC East. In Week 8, Manning threw a career-high six touchdowns and 350 yards, but the Giants lost to the New Orleans Saints, 52–49. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for six touchdowns and no interceptions in a game and lose. In Week 10, in a narrow 27–26 loss to the undefeated New England Patriots, Manning passed for 361 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was an 87-yard strike to Odell Beckham Jr. in the first quarter. In Week 14, in a 31–24 victory over the Miami Dolphins, he was 27-of-31 for 337 passing yards and four touchdowns to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. After starting the season 5–5, Giants fell to 1–5 the rest of the way to finish 6–10 for the second straight season. Manning's longtime coach in Tom Coughlin stepped down at the end of the season. Manning finished the 2015 season with career highs in touchdown passes (35), completions (387), attempts (618), and passer rating (93.6). His 35 touchdowns were one shy of tying Y. A. Tittle for most in a single season in franchise history and ranked second among quarterbacks that year. Manning also threw 4,432 yards in 2015, second most in his career. On January 22, 2016, Manning was selected to his fourth career Pro Bowl, replacing Ben Roethlisberger. Manning's fourth Pro Bowl berth ties Fran Tarkenton for most Pro Bowl selections by a New York Giants quarterback in franchise history. He was ranked 47th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016. Manning had a new head coach in Ben McAdoo for the 2016 season. In the regular season opener against their divisional rival Dallas Cowboys on September 11, Manning threw three touchdowns and one interception for 207 yards, as the Giants would hang on to win 20–19. On October 16, in a victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Manning threw for three touchdowns, reaching a career total of 302 touchdown passes and passing John Elway for seventh all time. Coming off a bye week and on a two-game winning streak, beating the Ravens and the Los Angeles Rams, Manning threw a season high four touchdowns as the Giants would halt a last-second game-winning drive by the Philadelphia Eagles to win 28–23. In a Week 16 loss against the Eagles on December 22, Manning set a career-high of 63 pass attempts in a single game, while throwing one touchdown and three interceptions, surpassing Peyton Manning's record of 21 games with at least three interceptions with 22. Despite the loss, though, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the New Orleans Saints later that week 31–24, giving the Giants their first playoff berth since the 2011 season, when the team last won the Super Bowl. By defeating the rival Washington Redskins in the final week of the NFL season on New Year's Day and, therefore, knocking the Redskins out of playoff contention and bringing their season record to 11–5 (their first winning season since 2012), Manning and the Giants faced the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field in the of the NFL playoffs, as Manning completed 23 of 44 of his passes for 299 yards, while throwing for a touchdown. Manning was back to his playoff self in the game, but was let down by numerous drops by Odell Beckham Jr. and other star playmakers. The Packers would eventually rout the Giants 38–13, ending the Giants season. Manning finished the season recording 4,027 passing, 26 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions with an 86.0 passer rating. On February 4, 2017, Manning and Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald both won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, making it the first time since the 2006 season that two players were co-winners of this award (Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson). Manning started the 2017 season off with a 19–3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on NBC Sunday Night Football. In the game, he had 220 passing yards, but the offense struggled to sustain consistent success. Despite solid performances from Manning, the Giants dropped the next four games to start the season with a 0–5 record, with the last three games of that stretch being lost by a combined 10 points. The Giants broke their losing streak with a 23–10 victory over the Denver Broncos. The success was short-lived as the Giants lost the next game to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 24–7. During Week 9 against the Los Angeles Rams, Manning finished with 220 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Giants lost by a score of 51–17. During the Rams game, he became the seventh quarterback to reach 50,000 passing yards. On November 28, after a 2–9 start to the season, it was announced that Manning would be benched and replaced by Geno Smith in Week 13 against the Oakland Raiders, ending Manning's streak of 210 consecutive regular season games started. The streak was second all-time for quarterbacks behind Brett Favre's 297. Head coach Ben McAdoo gave Manning the option of starting to keep the streak going but Manning declined, stating that "My feeling is that if you are going to play the other guys, play them. Starting just to keep the streak going and knowing you won't finish the game and have a chance to win it is pointless to me, and it tarnishes the streak." The move was met with backlash from former Giants players and coaches. On December 5, two days after the Week 13 game, Manning was renamed the starter by interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo after McAdoo was terminated as head coach. During Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Manning finished with 434 passing yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. The Giants lost 29–34, allowing the Eagles to clinch a first-round bye. On December 24, against the Arizona Cardinals, Manning passed John Elway to take sole possession of sixth place on the NFL's all-time passing yard list. Manning started the regular season finale against the Washington Redskins. In the 18–10 victory, he had 132 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception as the Giants ended their disappointing season with a 3–13 record. Following speculation that Manning would be released, new Giants head coach Pat Shurmur put these rumors aside by saying "I think what's important is we have a guy (Manning) here who has helped this organization win Super Bowls. He's an outstanding player and I'm really looking forward to working with him." After losses to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys to the start the season, Manning and the Giants defeated the Houston Texans by a score of 27–22. Manning was efficient going 25-of-29 for 297 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Giants lost the next five consecutive games, with Manning leading the leagues in sacks for most of that stretch despite an improved running game from rookie Saquon Barkley. Manning had 399 yards passing in the fourth of these losses (Game 7 against the Atlanta Falcons), but was sacked seven times and threw two interceptions in Game 8. Manning rebounded with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the following week's victory over the San Francisco 49ers, and a remarkable 17 completions on 18 attempts for two touchdowns in a win the following week over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Giants went 4–4 over the last eight games of the season to finish 5–11 and last in the NFC East. Manning passed for 4,299 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions on the 2018 season. Manning started the Giants' first two games of the season, passing for 306 yards and a touchdown in a 35–17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys and 250 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in a 28–14 loss to the Buffalo Bills. On September 17, 2019, the Giants announced that Manning would not start the team's Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, instead opting for 2019 first-round pick Daniel Jones. This was thought to be the end of Manning's pro career, but he was brought back to the starting line again on December 9 in an away game against the Philadelphia Eagles, due to an injury suffered by Jones. During the game, Manning threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns to rookie wide receiver Darius Slayton, but the game ended in an overtime loss by 23–17. In the following week's game against the Miami Dolphins at home, Manning threw for 283 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions, leading the team to a 36–20 win. As the game ended, Manning was taken off the field and received a standing ovation as many fans believed this was Eli's final home game as the starting quarterback. Jones returned to action in Week 16 and Manning's season was over. He finished with 1,042 passing yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions in four games. 2× Super Bowl Champion (XLII, XLVI), 2× Super Bowl MVP (XLII, XLVI), 4× Pro Bowl (2008, 2011, 2012, 2015), NFC passing touchdowns co-leader (2015), 2011: NFL Record most 4th-quarter touchdown passes in a season (15), 2011: Tied NFL Record for longest pass completion and touchdown (99 yards), Most passing yards in a single postseason (1,219 yards, 2011), Super Bowl XLVI: Most consecutive completions to begin a Super Bowl (9), 3rd all-time for most consecutive starts by a National Football League quarterback (210) Most 4th-quarter touchdown passes in a season (15 in 2011), Tied NFL Record longest pass completion and touchdown (99 yards in 2011), Tied NFL Record most game-winning drives in a season (8 in 2011), Most passing yards in a single postseason (1,219 yards in 2011) Most pass attempts (career): 7,396, Most pass attempts (season): 618 (2015), Most pass attempts (game): 63 (December 22, 2016 against the Philadelphia Eagles), Most pass attempts (playoff career): 400, Most pass attempts (playoff season): 163 (2011), Most pass attempts (playoff game): 58 (January 22, 2012 against the San Francisco 49ers), Most completions (career): 4,424, Most completions (season): 387 (2015), Most completions (game): 41 (October 11, 2015 against the San Francisco 49ers), Most completions (playoff career): 242, Most completions (playoff season): 106 (2011), Most completions (playoff game): 32 (January 22, 2012 against the San Francisco 49ers), Most passing yards (career): 55,981, Most passing yards (season): 4,933 (2011), Most Passing Yards (playoff career): 2,815, Most Passing Yards (playoff season): 1,219 (2011), Most Passing TDs (career): 339, Most Passing TDs (playoff career): 18, Most Passing TDs (playoff season): 9 (2011), Most Intercepted (career): 228, Most Intercepted (season): 27 (2013), Most Sacked (playoff career): 27, Most Sacked (playoff season): 11 (2011), Most Sacked (playoff game): 6 (January 22, 2012 against the San Francisco 49ers; tied with Phil Simms), Longest completed pass: 99 yards (2011), Most 4th-quarter touchdown passes, season: 15 (NFL record), Most consecutive starts by a quarterback: 222 (210 regular season + 11 playoff games) Manning, his brothers Peyton and Cooper, and their parents Archie and Olivia all appeared in an ESPN This is SportsCenter ad from 2006., He co-starred with Peyton for NFLShop.com and Oreo., He is a spokesman for Citizen Watch Co., Toyota of New Jersey, and Reebok. He reportedly received several more endorsement offers after reaching Super Bowl XLII. Manning was born in New Orleans, the youngest of three boys for Olivia (née Williams) and NFL quarterback Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III, both natives of Mississippi. He is a member of Sigma Nu fraternity as was his father, and he was named Sigma Nu Athlete of the Year in 2001 and 2003. In 2007, he proposed to Abby McGrew of Nashville, Tennessee. McGrew studied fashion in New York City, and has been with Manning since their days at the University of Mississippi. The couple wed in a private ceremony held in San José del Cabo, Mexico on April 19, 2008. Manning and Abby have three daughters and a son. They reside in Summit, New Jersey. Eli and Peyton Manning volunteered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Mannings assisted in the delivery of of water, Gatorade, baby formula, pumice, and pillows to the people of New Orleans. After touring the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, he undertook a five-year campaign in 2007 to raise US$2.5million for the construction of "The Eli Manning Children's Clinics" at the children's hospital. Manning said in 2007, "I am humbled by the work they do and am honored to make this five-year commitment to help raise funds to build this state-of-the-art clinic that will serve Mississippi families for years to come." His father, Archie Manning, has also raised funds for Katrina relief efforts. In 2009, Eli, Peyton, and Archie Manning co-authored a children's book entitled Family Huddle, which describes in simple text and pictures how the three Manning brothers played football as young boys (Scholastic Press; illustrations by Jim Madsen). In 2010, Manning helped raise funds for awareness of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in wake of the catastrophe. Since 2008, Manning has been the host of Guiding Eyes for the Blind's Golf Classic, the oldest and largest charity golf event in Westchester County, New York. Guiding Eyes is a nonprofit guide dog school serving the blind and visually impaired from around the world, as well as children on the autism spectrum. He is a former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. History of the New York Giants (1994–present), List of 500-yard passing games in the National Football League, List of first overall National Football League draft picks, List of New York Giants players, List of most consecutive starts by National Football League players, Manning Passing Academy New York Giants bio

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Justice League is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the follow-up to 2016's , and the fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by Zack Snyder, and written by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon. It features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J. K. Simmons. In the film, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg after Superman's death to save the world from the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. Plans for the film were announced in October 2014, with Snyder on board to direct and Terrio attached to write the script. It was initially titled Justice League Part One, with a second film (Part Two) intended to follow in 2019. But the second film was indefinitely delayed to accommodate the production of a standalone Batman film with Affleck. Principal photography took place from April to October 2016. After Snyder stepped down to deal with the death of his daughter, Joss Whedon was hired to oversee the remainder of post-production, including directing additional scenes written by himself. Justice League premiered in Beijing on October 26, 2017, and was released in the United States in 2D, RealD 3D, and IMAX on November 17, 2017. With an estimated production budget of $300 million, Justice League is one of the most expensive films ever made. The film grossed $657 million worldwide, against a break-even point of $750 million, becoming the highest-grossing film (as of 2019) to become a box office bomb: it lost the studio an estimated $60 million. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Although the action sequences and performances (particularly Gadot’s and Miller’s) were praised, the plot, writing, pacing, villain, and overuse of CGI were criticized. The film's tone was met with a polarized reception, with some appreciating the lighter tone compared to previous DCEU films, and others finding it inconsistent. Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons attempted to take over Earth with the combined energies of three Mother Boxes. They were foiled by a unified army that included the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, mankind, and a Green Lantern. After repelling Steppenwolf's army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in locations on the planet. In the present, mankind is in mourning over Superman for two years, whose death triggers the Mother Boxes to reactivate and Steppenwolf's return to Earth. In an effort to regain favor with his master Darkseid, Steppenwolf aims to gather the boxes to form "The Unity", which will destroy Earth's ecology and terraform it in the image of Steppenwolf's homeworld. Steppenwolf retrieves the Mother Box from Themyscira, prompting Queen Hippolyta to warn her daughter Diana of Steppenwolf's return. Diana joins Bruce Wayne in his attempt to unite other metahumans to their cause, with Wayne going after Arthur Curry and Barry Allen, while Diana tries to locate Victor Stone. Wayne fails to persuade Curry, but manages to recruit an enthusiastic Allen onto the team. Although Diana fails to convince Stone to join, he agrees to help them locate the threat if he discovers their location. Stone later joins the team after his father Silas and several other S.T.A.R. Labs employees are kidnapped by Steppenwolf seeking to acquire the Mother Box from mankind. Steppenwolf attacks an Atlantean outpost to retrieve the next Mother Box, forcing Curry into action. The team receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon leading them to Steppenwolf's army, based in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor. Although the group manages to rescue the kidnapped employees, the facility is flooded during combat, which traps the team until Curry helps delay the flood so they can escape. Stone retrieves the last Mother Box, which he had hidden, for the group to analyze. Stone reveals that his father used the Mother Box to rebuild Stone's body after an accident almost cost him his life. Wayne decides to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman, not only to help them fight off Steppenwolf's invasion, but also to restore hope to mankind. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan in case Superman returns as hostile. Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the amniotic fluid of the genesis chamber of the Kryptonian scout ship alongside the Mother Box, which in turn activates after Flash uses his powers to charge it up and successfully resurrects Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he reflects and his memories slowly come back. In the turmoil, the last Mother Box is left unguarded and Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease. Without Superman to aid them, the five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes once again to remake Earth. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to distract him enough for Stone to separate the Mother Boxes. Superman arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone in separating the Mother Boxes. The team defeats Steppenwolf, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons before they all teleport away. After the battle, Bruce and Diana agree to set up a base of operations for the team, with room for more members. As the team is now established, Diana steps back into the public spotlight as a heroine; Barry acquires a job in Central City's police department, impressing his father; Victor continues to explore and enhance his abilities with his father in S.T.A.R. Labs; Arthur embraces his Atlantean heritage and continues protecting people on the seas; and Superman resumes his life as reporter Clark Kent and as protector of Earth as well. In a mid-credits scene, Superman and Barry have a friendly race to see which of them is faster. In a post-credits scene, Lex Luthor has escaped from Arkham Asylum and then recruits Slade Wilson to form their own league. Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy socialite, and the owner of Wayne Enterprises. He dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld as a highly trained, masked vigilante equipped with various tools and weapons. Affleck noted on how the film gave him an opportunity to reinvent Batman and portray a more classic take on the character. He described that in the film, audiences will see Batman as more heroic, and more of a leader. "Batman is by nature, [while] not necessarily anti-social, pretty private, pretty a loner," Affleck says. "And then in this movie he's thrust into the role of having to not only work with people, but bring them together and convince them to come in and try to ... somehow with Wonder Woman hold all that community effort together. That was a really interesting thing to play for me, and it also does take us to a more traditional role for Batman in the Justice League comics, and his role with the Justice League versus the sort of less typical version we saw in Batman v Superman, where he was blinded by rage and wanted to take on Superman.", Henry Cavill as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman: A member of, and inspiration for, the Justice League. He is a Kryptonian survivor, and a journalist for the Daily Planet based in Metropolis. In Justice League, Superman was portrayed as more optimistic and hopeful. The character was intentionally excluded from all Justice League marketing materials to emphasize his death as depicted on ., Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman: An antiquities dealer, acquaintance of Wayne, and an immortal Amazonian warrior, who is the crown princess of Themyscira and daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. She is endowed with metahuman attributes and abilities inherited from her parents., Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash: A Central City University student, who can move at superhuman speeds with his ability to tap into the Speed Force., Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman:Half-human and half Atlantean metahuman with superhuman strength and aquatic abilities. Momoa was cast as Aquaman in June 2014, and made a cameo role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice., Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg: A former college athlete who, after being cybernetically reconstructed after a nearly fatal car accident, is turned into a techno-organic being enhanced by reactive, adaptive biomimetic alien technology. His enhancements include the abilities of flight, variable weaponry and technopathy. Fisher portrays the character through the use of motion capture for the cybernetic portion of his body. Fisher was cast as Cyborg in April 2014, and made a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice., Amy Adams as Lois Lane: An undaunted and compassionate award-winning journalist for the Daily Planet and the love interest for Kent., Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne's butler, chief of security, and trusted confidant., Diane Lane as Martha Kent: Kent's adoptive mother., Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta: Diana's mother and the Amazonian Queen of Themyscira., J. K. Simmons as Commissioner James Gordon: The Gotham City Police Department Commissioner, and close ally of Batman., Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf:An alien military officer from Apokolips who leads an army of Parademons and is searching for the three Mother Boxes held on Earth. The character is described as "old, tired" and trying to find a way to escape his role of servitude under Darkseid. Hinds portrayed the villain through use of motion capture and received some advice in the process from Liam Neeson, who had recently done similar work in A Monster Calls. After the release of the film, Hinds was reportedly unhappy with the final cut of the film, which trimmed down the backstory and characterization of Steppenwolf., Amber Heard as Mera: An Atlantean, who approaches Curry to discuss the nature of the Mother Boxes., Joe Morton as Silas Stone: Victor Stone's father and head of S.T.A.R. Labs. During a scene a half hour into the film, depicting Steppenwolf's first invasion thousands of years earlier, Olympian Old Gods Zeus, Ares and Artemis are portrayed by fitness model Sergi Constance, stuntman Nick McKinless, and MMA fighter Aurore Lauzeral, respectively. All three were required to reach a specific degree of physicality, with Snyder instructing McKinless to sport "veins like worms and paper thin skin". In the finished film, McKinless' face was replaced using special effects to David Thewlis. Thewlis received the credit as Ares. The scene also shows a Green Lantern, named Yalan Gur, created through motion-capture CGI and embodied by an uncredited actor. Two ancient kings of Earth appear during the scene, including King Atlan of Atlantis and Arthur Pendragon of ancient England; portrayed by Julian Lewis Jones and Francis Magee, respectively. Billy Crudup appears, uncredited, as Henry Allen, Barry Allen's father. Joe Manganiello and Jesse Eisenberg appear uncredited in a post-credits scene as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke and Lex Luthor, respectively. Michael McElhatton appears as the leader of a group of terrorists who clash with Wonder Woman early in the film, while Holt McCallany makes an uncredited appearance as a burglar. Marc McClure, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve Superman film series, has a cameo as a police officer. Willem Dafoe and Kiersey Clemons filmed scenes as Nuidis Vulko and Iris West, although their roles were cut from the final film. Both actors are signed for multiple films and are set to appear in the future installments of the franchise. A scene depicting Green Lanterns Kilowog and Tomar-Re visiting Batman was filmed as an additional post-credits scene, further teasing the upcoming Green Lantern Corps, but the scene was later scrapped. Other scenes that were filmed, but cut from the theatrical film, include: Ryan Zheng as Ryan Choi, setting up the character's future as The Atom; a fight between Ares and Darkseid, with the villain portrayed by Ray Porter; Harry Lennix reprising his role from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman as Calvin Swanwick, in a scene where it would have been revealed that his character is actually J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter; and scenes featuring Darkseid's servant DeSaad, with the character voiced by Peter Guinness. In February 2007, it was announced that Warner Bros. had hired husband-and- wife duo Michele and Kieran Mulroney to write a script for a Justice League film. The news came around the same time that Joss Whedon's long-developed Wonder Woman film was cancelled, as well as The Flash, written and directed by David S. Goyer. Reportedly titled Justice League: Mortal, the script by Michele and Kiernan Mulroney was submitted to Warner Bros. in June 2007, receiving positive feedback, which prompted the studio to immediately fast track production in the hope of beginning filming before the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Warner Bros. was less willing to proceed with development of a sequel to Superman Returns, having been disappointed with its box office. Brandon Routh was not approached to reprise the role of Superman in Justice League: Mortal, nor was Christian Bale from Batman Begins. Warner Bros. intended for Justice League: Mortal to be the start of a new film franchise, and to branch out into separate sequels and spin-offs. Shortly after filming The Dark Knight, Bale stated in an interview that "It'd be better if it doesn't tread on the toes of what our Batman series is doing," and felt it would make more sense for Warner Bros. to release the film after The Dark Knight Rises. Jason Reitman was the original choice to direct Justice League, but he turned it down, as he considers himself an independent filmmaker and prefers to stay out of big budget superhero films. George Miller signed to direct in September 2007, with Barrie Osbourne producing on a projected $220 million budget. The following month, roughly 40 actors and actresses auditioned for the ensemble superhero roles, among them Joseph Cross, Michael Angarano, Max Thieriot, Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki and Scott Porter. Miller had intended to cast younger actors, as he wanted them to "grow" into their roles over the course of several films. D. J. Cotrona was cast as Superman, along with Armie Hammer as Batman. Jessica Biel reportedly declined to play Wonder Woman role after negotiations. The character was also linked to actresses Teresa Palmer and Shannyn Sossamon, along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who confirmed that she had auditioned. Ultimately, Megan Gale was cast as Wonder Woman, while Palmer was cast as Talia al Ghul, whom Miller had in mind to act with a Russian accent. The script for Justice League: Mortal would have featured John Stewart as Green Lantern, a role originally offered to Columbus Short. Hip hop recording artist and rapper Common was cast, with Adam Brody as Barry Allen / Flash, and Jay Baruchel as the lead villain, Maxwell Lord. Longtime Miller collaborator Hugh Keays-Byrne had been cast in an unnamed role, rumored to be Martian Manhunter. Santiago Cabrera was eventually revealed to be Aquaman after the film was cancelled. Marit Allen was hired as the original costume designer before her untimely death in November 2007, and the responsibilities were assumed by Weta Workshop. However, the writers strike began that same month and placed the film on hold. Warner Bros. had to let the options lapse for the cast, but development was fast tracked once more in February 2008 when the strike ended. Warner Bros. and Miller wanted to start filming immediately, but production was pushed back three months. Originally, the majority of Justice League: Mortal was to be shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, with other locations scouted nearby at local colleges, and Sydney Heads doubling for Happy Harbor. The Australian Film Commission had a say with casting choices, giving way for George Miller to cast Gale, Palmer and Keays-Bryne, all Australian natives. The production crew was composed entirely of Australians, but the Australian government denied Warner Bros. a 40 percent tax rebate as they felt they had not hired enough Australian actors. Miller was frustrated, stating that "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking. They're throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs." Production offices were then moved to Vancouver Film Studios in Canada. Filming was pushed back to July 2008, while Warner Bros was still confident they could produce the film for a summer 2009 release. With production delays continuing, and the success of The Dark Knight in July 2008, Warner Bros. decided to focus on the development of individual films featuring the main heroes, allowing director Christopher Nolan to separately complete his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Warner Bros. relaunched development for a solo Green Lantern film, released in 2011 as a critical and financial disappointment. Meanwhile, film adaptations for The Flash and Wonder Woman continued to languish in development, while filming for a Superman reboot commenced in 2011 with Man of Steel, produced by Nolan and written by Batman screenwriter David S. Goyer. In October 2012, following its legal victory over Joe Shuster's estate for the rights to Superman, Warner Bros. announced that it planned to move ahead with the Justice League film. Shortly after filming on Man of Steel was complete, Warner Bros hired Will Beall to write the script for a new Justice League film. Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov explained that Man of Steel would be "setting the tone for what the movies are going to be like going forward. In that, it's definitely a first step." The film included references to the existence of other superheroes in the DC Universe, and set the tone for a shared fictional universe of DC Comics characters on film. Goyer stated that should Green Lantern appear in a future installment, it would be a rebooted version of the character, unconnected to the 2011 film. With the release of Man of Steel in June 2013, Goyer was hired to write a sequel, as well as a new Justice League, with the Beall draft being scrapped. The sequel was later revealed to be , a team-up film featuring Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg, the latter three in minor roles that became more significant in the Justice League film. The universe is separate from Nolan and Goyer's work on The Dark Knight trilogy, although Nolan was still involved as an executive producer for Batman v Superman. In April 2014, it was announced that Zack Snyder would also direct Goyer's Justice League script. Warner Bros. was reportedly courting Chris Terrio to rewrite Justice League the following July, after having been impressed with his rewrite of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On October 15, 2014, Warner Bros. announced the film would be released in two parts, with Part One on November 17, 2017, and Part Two is announced but release date not confirmed. Snyder was set to direct both films. In early July 2015, EW revealed that the script for Justice League Part One had been completed by Terrio. Zack Snyder stated that the film would be inspired by the New Gods comic series by Jack Kirby. Although Justice League was initially announced as a two-part film, with the second part set for release two years after the first, Snyder stated in June 2016 that they would be two distinct, separate films and not one film split into two parts, both being stand-alone stories. Principal photography began on April 11, 2016, with shooting taking place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, as well as various locations around London and Scotland. Additional filming took place in Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, and Djúpavík, in the Westfjords of Iceland. Snyder's longtime cinematographer Larry Fong was replaced by Fabian Wagner due to scheduling conflicts. Ben Affleck served as executive producer. In May 2016, it was revealed that Geoff Johns and Jon Berg would produce the Justice League films, and would also be in charge of the DC Extended Universe, after the largely negative critical reception to the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The same month, Irons stated that the Justice League storyline would be more linear and simple, compared to the theatrical version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Johns confirmed on June 3, 2016 that the title of the film is Justice League, and later stated that the film would be "hopeful and optimistic" in comparison to previous DC Extended Universe (DCEU) films. Justice League had a troubled production. During filming, it was reported that the rewrites by Geoff Johns caused issues with Chris Terrio and Warner Bros. executives. Warner Bros. was unsatisfied with how the film was shaping up under Snyder, because of the negative feedback that the theatrical version of Batman v Superman received. It was reported that Warner Bros. held a footage summit for writers that include Joss Whedon, Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Andrea Berloff. This caused numerous rewrites as Justice League was filming. Whedon was eventually hired by Warner Bros. after Snyder stepped down for directorial duties during the post- production. Filming wrapped in October 2016. In May 2017, Snyder stepped down from directorial duties during post- production of the film to properly deal with the death of his daughter, Autumn Snyder. Joss Whedon, whom Snyder had previously brought on to rewrite some additional scenes, took over to handle post-production duties in Snyder's place. In July 2017, it was announced the film was undergoing two months of reshoots in London and Los Angeles, with Warner Bros. putting about $25 million into them, more than the typical $6–10 million additional filming costs, which brought the budget of the film up to $300 million. The reshoots coincided with Cavill's schedule for , for which he had grown a mustache which he was contracted to keep while filming. While Fallout director Christopher McQuarrie initially gave the producers of Justice League permission to have Cavill shave the mustache in exchange for the $3 million it would cost to shut down production on Fallout and then digitally fill the mustache in, executives from Paramount Pictures rejected the idea. Justice Leagues VFX team was then forced to used special effects to digitally remove the mustache in post- production. In an interview, producer Charles Roven said: "Let's just say 80, 85 percent of the movie is what was originally shot. There's only so much you can do with other 15, 20 percent of the movie". Whedon received a screenwriting credit on the film alongside Chris Terrio, while Snyder received sole director's credit. Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara mandated the film to be under two hours. The company also did not opt to delay the film's release despite the fact that there had been numerous problems in post-production, so that the executives will receive their cash bonuses before the company's merger with AT&T.; In February 2018, it was reported that Snyder was fired from directorial duties from Justice League, after his cut was deemed "unwatchable" according to Collider's Matt Goldberg. "I'd heard similar things from separate sources over the last year as well, I also heard that Snyder's rough-cut of the movie was 'unwatchable' (a word that jumped out at me because it's rare you hear two separate sources use exactly the same adjective). Of course, even if that's true, there's obviously more to the story since rough cuts can be fixed up with reshoots, rewrites, etc.", Goldberg wrote. According to DC Comics publisher, comic book artist Jim Lee, Snyder was not fired. Speaking at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, Lee stated "that he (Snyder) was not fired at all and that he stepped down from the production due to a family matter", as far as he knew. In March 2016, Hans Zimmer, who co-composed the score for Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, stated that he had officially retired from the "superhero business", though he would later score the 2019 X-Men film Dark Phoenix. Junkie XL, who wrote and composed the soundtrack of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with Zimmer, was originally scoring the film. In June 2017, Danny Elfman was announced to have controversially replaced Junkie XL. Elfman had previously composed the films Batman and Batman Returns, and the theme music for . Elfman used the Batman theme music from the 1989 film Batman. The John Williams' Superman theme was used during "a dark, twisted moment" in the film, the time when a resurrected Superman fights the Justice League. The film features a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" performed by Sigrid, "Icky Thump" performed by the White Stripes, and a cover of the Beatles' "Come Together" performed by Gary Clark Jr. and Junkie XL. WaterTower Music released the soundtrack album digitally on November 10, 2017, with a release of the physical format on December 8. The film held its world premiere in Beijing on October 26, 2017, and was theatrically released in North America and elsewhere around the world in standard, RealD 3D and IMAX on November 17, 2017. Its Japan premiere took place on November 20, 2017 in Tokyo, with only Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher from the main cast attending. In the United States, the film opened to 4,051 theaters in its widest release. Justice League was shown in cinemas for 119 days (17 weeks). Superman was intentionally left out on all early Justice League marketing materials, including trailers, clips and posters, which actor Cavill commented as "ridiculous". Despite his character being hidden from promotional materials, Cavill still joined the rest of the cast on the film's press tour. Clark Kent was revealed in a final trailer before the release of the film, but edited in a way that writers felt Lois Lane was dreaming about Clark. Sponsorship and marketing partners of the film included AT&T;, Gillette, Mercedes-Benz, and TCL. Later after the film's release, Superman was finally included in a new alternate version of the theatrical poster. Justice League was released on digital download on February 13, 2018, and was released on Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray 3D, 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, 2018 in various international markets. The Blu-ray features two deleted scenes titled Return of Superman. It is also notable for having no director commentary from either Zack Snyder or Joss Whedon. , it has made $19.4 million in DVD sales and $38.9 million in Blu-ray sales, totaling an estimated of $58.3 million in domestic video sales according to The Numbers. Forbes reported that Justice League went on to gross more than $100 million in Blu- ray/DVD/Digital-HD sales and rentals. Justice League grossed $229 million in the United States and Canada, and $428.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $657.9 million, against a production budget of $300 million. It had a worldwide opening of $278.8 million, the 24th biggest of all-time. Up against an estimated break- even point of as much as $750 million, Deadline Hollywood reported that the film lost the studio around $60 million. Due to the film losing the studio money, the movie was deemed a "box office bomb" or "flop". In the United States and Canada, industry tracking initially forecast the film debuting to $110–120 million from 4,051 theaters (including 400 IMAX screens). It made $13 million from Thursday night previews, up from the $11 million made by Wonder Woman the previous June. However, after making $38.8 million on its first day (including Thursday previews), weekend projections were lowered to $95 million. It ended up debuting to $93.8 million, down 45% from Batman v Supermans opening of $166 million, and being the first film of the DCEU to open under $100 million. Deadline attributed the low figure to lukewarm audience reaction to the film and most of its predecessors, as well as poor critical reception, and film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes not posting their aggregated score until the day before release, causing speculation and doubt from filmgoers. In its second weekend, the film dropped 56% to $41.1 million, finishing second at the box office, behind newcomer Coco. It was the second-best second weekend hold of the DCEU, behind Wonder Womans 43%, but the lowest overall gross. In its third week it again finished second behind Coco, grossing $16.7 million. It made $9.7 million in its fourth week and $4.3 million in its fifth, finishing a respective second and fifth at the box office. In 2018, Forbes compared the drastic uncohesive shift from Snyder's darker films Man of Steel and Batman v Superman to the lighter Justice League (co-written by Whedon), to the similarly drastic and uncohesive change in tone experienced from the older 1989 and 1992 Tim Burton's Batman films to the direct light-hearted sequels directed by Schumacher, although noting the former shift in tone was better received than the one in Justice League, affecting box office, due to going against the expectations of Snyder fans in its attempt to reach a higher demographic, while alienating its own established core audience. Internationally, the film was projected to debut to $215–235 million for a worldwide opening of $325–355 million. It made $8.5 million on its first day from nine countries, including South Korea, France and Brazil. It ended up having a $185 million international debut from 65 countries, including $57.1 million from China, $9.8 million from the United Kingdom, $9.6 million from Mexico and $8.8 million from South Korea. The film broke a record in the Philippines with a debut of $1.12M (PHP 57.3M), making it the biggest industry opening day for a film in 2017 and eventually becoming the 7th-most successful film of all time. In Brazil, the film opened to $14.2 million, the biggest opening in the country's history. Outside North America, the films largest markets were China ($106 million), Brazil ($41 million), Mexico ($24.8 million), and United Kingdom ($24 million). Justice League received mixed reviews. It was praised for its action sequences and acting (primarily by Gadot and Miller) but criticized for the screenplay, pacing and CGI, as well as its thin plot, and the underdeveloped villain. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40%, based on 382 reviews, with an average rating of 5.25/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Justice League leaps over a number of DC movies, but its single bound isn't enough to shed the murky aesthetic, thin characters, and chaotic action that continue to dog the franchise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 85% overall positive score (average 4 out of 5 stars) and a 69% "definite recommend". Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising the cast, especially Gadot, and saying "It's a putting-the-band-together origins movie, executed with great fun and energy." Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Justice League ... has been conceived, in each and every frame, to correct the sins of Batman v Superman. It's not just a sequel—it's an act of franchise penance. The movie ... is never messy or bombastic. It's light and clean and simple (at times almost too simple), with razory repartee and combat duels that make a point of not going on for too long." Bilge Ebiri of the Village Voice similarly gave it a positive review: "... action scenes start and stop and then start again, then go in different directions, and it was a few moments into the Big Climactic Face-Off before I realized we'd arrived at the Big Climactic Face-Off. But these off-kilter rhythms actually lend the film a pleasant unpredictability. As does the humor, which often sits uneasily next to the moodiness, but is somehow fast and witty enough to work." Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, praising the cast but criticizing the action sequences and writing, saying: "The scenes of the League members together, bickering and bonding, spike the film with humor and genuine feeling, creating a rooting interest in the audience. Without it, the film would crumble." Conversely, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, while praising Gadot and Miller, called the film visually ugly and boring, saying, "Fatigue, repetition and a laborious approach to exposition are the keynotes of this affair, which is also notable for how Ben Affleck, donning the bat suit for the second time, looks like he'd rather be almost anywhere else but here." Sara Stewart of the New York Post gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars: "Justice League is a pointless flail of expensive (yet somehow cheap-looking) CGI that no amount of tacked-on quips, or even Gadot's luminescent star power, can rescue. Like Cyborg (Ray Fisher), one of its ostensible heroes, Justice League is patched together from disparate elements. Original director Zack Snyder left partway through due to a death in the family, leaving Joss Whedon to finish up. The result? All the plodding, gray, generic action of a Snyder film with stabs of Whedonian humor that almost never feel organic. There's no sense of purpose here, not even a sense of place." Writing for The Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg also returned with a negative review: "... if Justice League is a symbol of just how entrenched superhero movies have become in the Hollywood ecosystem, it's also a potent illustration that success hasn't necessarily artistically elevated the genre. It's not just that, beat by beat, Justice League feels nearly identical to so many of the superhero movies that have come before, or that it features some of the ugliest, most pointless special effects I've seen at the movies in a long time. It's that the darn thing feels depressingly haphazard and thoughtless, and that it's guaranteed to make a ton of money anyway. Superhero fans are a ridiculously powerful market; they deserve better than this." James Berardinelli gave it 2 out of 4 stars: "When Marvel mapped out the trajectory for their Cinematic Universe, they were sometimes criticized for overthinking and overplanning. Nearly every major hero – Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor – had his own movie. Many of the secondary characters (including the villain) boasted significant screen time in one or more of the first five films. Only once all these things had been accomplished were the characters brought together for The Avengers. The formula worked. The Avengers was popcorn bliss, a superhero nirvana. DC, however, came late to the party. Riding the critical and popular success of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and smarting from the disappointing performance of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, they dithered and dallied and didn't begin planning out the post-Dark Knight campaign until the MCU movie count was past the half-dozen mark and rising. The late start resulted in a rushed and ununified approach. Justice League arrives with three major characters who haven't previously been introduced. As a result, this film has a lot of heavy background lifting to do - too much, in fact, for it to be able to tell a worthwhile story. 70% of the movie is set-up for future tales. The rest is an overlong smack-down between our heroes and possibly the worst villain ever to appear in a comic book picture." Writing for the Film Ireland Magazine, Ellen Murray found the characters interesting, but their setting unworthy: "... there is something undeniably thrilling in seeing these iconic characters work together on the big screen. It's just a shame that their current incarnation, moulded in Zack Snyder's vision, lacks a strong framework to allow them to better shine. The characters save the film from being a complete and utter disaster, but they alone can't save it from being a mild disaster. While undoubtedly Snyder is genuinely passionate about these characters, he seems to suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding of what they represent and, most importantly, what cinema-goers expect from a story involving them. Justice League understands that a character like Superman means something to people; it just can't show us convincingly why". Justice League was short-listed as a potential candidate for the 90th Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, along with another DCEU film, Wonder Woman. However, neither film made it to the final list of nominations. Justice League won 2 out of its 13 nominations. The divisive reaction towards the final highlighted cut of the film, with Zack Snyder leaving directorial duties and the final cut of the film in the hands of Joss Whedon, has led to an argument comparing the situation to the one experienced by the film Superman II. Both Justice League and Superman II feature a director that was replaced, for different reasons, before completion of a film, which led to a second director coming in and making substantial changes to the tone of each film. Although the reasoning behind each director's departure differs, Richard Donner was able to complete his in 2005. In the belief that Snyder had shot enough material for a finished film, a campaign for a "Snyder Cut" was started to allow Snyder to receive a similar treatment to Donner. Arguments are made that Snyder's vision would be more cohesive to the previous films than the actual theatrical cut, which Snyder has refused to see. Warner Bros has officially remained silent regarding any intention of making a "Snyder Cut". In March 2019, Snyder confirmed his original cut does exist, and stated that it is up to Warner Bros. to release it. In November, however, an insider claimed that Warner Bros. is unlikely to release Snyder's version of Justice League in theaters or on HBO Max, calling it a "pipe dream." In December, however, Snyder posted a photo in his Vero account, which showed boxes with tapes labeled "Z.S. J.L Director's cut", and with the caption "Is it real? Does it exist? Of course it does." A sequel was scheduled to be released in June 2019 but has since been delayed to accommodate the release for The Batman. By March 2017, producer Charles Roven announced that Zack Snyder would direct the film. In October 2017, J. K. Simmons stated that the studio is working on the script of the sequel, alongside The Batman. Shortly after the release of Justice League, Henry Cavill stated that he is under contract with Warner Bros. to play Superman for one more film. In December 2017, it was reported that there were "no immediate plans" for Zack Snyder to direct a Justice League sequel, or any other DC films, with Snyder instead being relegated to an executive producer position. This comes after a reshuffling of film production staff at Warner Bros. due to the film's mixed critical reception and disappointing financial performance. By 2019, Warner Bros. had prioritized standalone films over the project, although Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins noted she is open to directing a Justice League sequel. The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Since their first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28 (February/March 1960), various incarnations of the team have appeared in film, television, and video game adaptations. In February 2007, it was announced that Warner Bros hired husband and wife duo Michele and Kieran Mulroney to write a script for a Justice League film. The news came around the same time that Joss Whedon's long-developed Wonder Woman film had been canceled, as well as The Flash, written and directed by David S. Goyer. Titled Justice League: Mortal, Michele and Kiernan Mulroney submitted their script to Warner Bros. in June 2007, receiving positive feedback, which prompted the studio to immediately fast track production in the hopes of filming to begin before the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Warner Bros. was less willing to proceed on development with a sequel to Superman Returns, having been disappointed with the box office return. Brandon Routh was not approached to reprise the role of Superman in Justice League Mortal, nor was Christian Bale from Batman Begins. Warner Bros. intended for Justice League: Mortal to be the start of a new film franchise, and to branch out into separate sequels and spin-offs. Shortly after filming finished with The Dark Knight, Bale stated in an interview that "It’d be better if it doesn't tread on the toes of what our Batman series is doing," though he personally felt it would make more sense for Warner Bros. to release the film after his planned "Batman 3" (later called The Dark Knight Rises). Jason Reitman was the original choice to direct Justice League, but he turned it down, as he considers himself an independent filmmaker and prefers to stay out of big budget superhero films. George Miller signed to direct in September 2007, with Barrie Osbourne producing on a projected $220 million budget. The following month roughly 40 actors and actresses were auditioning for the ensemble superhero roles, among them were Joseph Cross, Michael Angarano, Max Thieriot, Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki and Scott Porter. Miller intended to cast younger actors as he wanted them to "grow" into their roles over the course of several films. D. J. Cotrona was cast as Superman, along with Armie Hammer as Batman. Jessica Biel reportedly declined the Wonder Woman role after being in negotiations. The character was also linked to actresses Teresa Palmer and Shannyn Sossamon, along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who confirmed that she had auditioned. Ultimately Megan Gale was cast as Wonder Woman, while Palmer was cast as Talia al Ghul, whom Miller had in mind to act with a Russian accent. The script for Justice League: Mortal would have featured the John Stewart character as the Green Lantern, a role originally offered to Columbus Short. Hip hop recording artist and rapper Common was cast, with Adam Brody as The Flash / Barry Allen, and Jay Baruchel as the lead villain, Maxwell Lord. Longtime Miller collaborator Hugh Keays-Byrne had been cast in an unnamed role, rumored to be Martian Manhunter. Aquaman had yet to be cast. Marit Allen was hired as the original costume designer before her untimely death in November 2007, and the responsibilities were assumed by Weta Workshop. However, the Writers Strike began that same month and placed the film on hold. Warner Bros. had to let the options lapse for the cast, but development was fast tracked once more in February 2008 when the strike ended. Warner Bros. and Miller wanted to start filming immediately, but production was pushed back three months. Originally, the majority of Justice League: Mortal would be shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, with other locations scouted nearby at local colleges, and Sydney Heads doubling for Happy Harbor. The Australian Film Commission also had a say with casting choices, giving way for George Miller to cast Gale, Palmer and Keays-Bryne, all Australian natives. The production crew was composed entirely of Australians, but the Australian government denied Warner Bros. a 40 percent tax rebate as they felt they had not hired enough Australian actors. Miller was frustrated, stating that "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking. They're throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs." Production offices were then moved to Vancouver Film Studios in Canada. Filming was pushed back to July 2008, while Warner Bros was still confident they could release the film for a summer 2009 release. With production delays continuing, and the success of The Dark Knight in 2008, Warner Bros. decided to focus on development of individual films featuring the main heroes, allowing director Christopher Nolan to separately complete his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Gregory Noveck, senior vice president of creative affairs for DC Entertainment stated "we’re going to make a Justice League movie, whether it’s now or 10 years from now. But we’re not going to do it and Warners is not going to do it until we know it’s right." Actor Adam Brody joked "They [Warner Brothers] just didn’t want to cross their streams with a whole bunch of Batmans in the universe." Warner Bros. relaunched development for the solo Green Lantern film, released in 2011 as a critical and financial disappointment. Meanwhile, film adaptations for The Flash and Wonder Woman continued to languish in development while filming for a Superman reboot was commencing in 2011 with Man of Steel, produced by Nolan and written by David S. Goyer. In April 2014, Zack Snyder was announced as director for Goyer's Justice League script. Warner Bros. was reportedly courting Chris Terrio to rewrite Justice League the following July, after having been impressed with his rewrite of Batman v Superman. In October 2014, Warner Bros. announced there would be two films as the fifth and tenth installments of the DC Extended Universe, with one releasing in 2017, and the other in 2019. Snyder will direct both films. It is expected that Fisher will reprise his role as Cyborg; while Jason Momoa will appear as Aquaman and Ezra Miller will appear as The Flash. In July 2015, it was revealed that Terrio had completed the draft of the script of the first film. In January 2016, Variety reported that Amber Heard was in talks for the role of Mera in both films and Aquaman. The film will be shot in the U.K. On January 19, 2016, concept art was released for the film confirming Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash as the official lineup, though Geoff Johns hints that a Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps will eventually join the roster and appear in the movie. In February 2016, Entertainment Weekly reported that filming for Justice League will commence on April 11 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in southeast England, as well as various locations around London and in Iceland. In March 2016, it was announced that J. K. Simmons will play James Gordon in both upcoming films. That same month, Amber Heard was confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that she will be portraying Mera. The film would reportedly have a lighter tone than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film was released in November 2017 and received mixed reviews from critics and earned over $657 million worldwide. is a direct-to-video animated film adaptation of popular DC Comics limited series released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc in the United States on February 26, 2008. The film was written by Justice League writer Stan Berkowitz, with Darwyn Cooke serving as story and visual consultant., In , some members of the Justice League (Captain Atom, Power Girl, Starfire, Black Lightning, Captain Marvel and Hawkman) as well as several other superheroes, are shown working for President Lex Luthor., Another direct-to-video film titled was released in 2010. The film was originally brought up as a possible return to the Justice League Unlimited animated series with the title Justice League: Worlds Collide. Justice League: Worlds Collide would have been set in the DC animated universe. It was originally going to be produced concurrently with the first season of Justice League Unlimited, bridging the gap between the second season of Justice League and the relaunched show. The production was shelved just before the start of filming, but the script was later adapted into the direct-to-video film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, with changes that included removing all references to the DCAU continuity. As a result, the feature as originally intended is now unlikely to ever be produced. The film featured a League consisting of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and Martian Manhunter. Aquaman, Firestorm, Black Canary, Red Tornado and Black Lightning appeared near the end of the film, and were supposedly offered full-time membership by Batman. In addition, alternate versions of Justice League Detroit (save for Steel) were shown as part of the Crime Syndicate of America, as were Black Canary and Green Arrow analogues. Analogues of Zatanna, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Power Girl and Red Tornado made brief cameos on a computer screen., Another animated feature, , was released on February 2012. The film featured a Justice League consisting of Superman, Batman, Cyborg, the Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter., DC released another animated film on July 30, 2013, entitled . The film is centered on the Flash, who inadvertently changes the time stream by travelling back in time to save his mother. In the new world created, Flash finds himself speedless in a world without a Justice League and suffering from a devastating war between the Atlanteans and Amazonians. Relying on the help of Batman, in this world a vengeful, alcoholic Thomas Wayne, the Flash must find the prime suspect, Professor Zoom, and find a way to fix the time stream., Another animated feature, , was released in early February 2013 and features members of the Justice League, particularly Batman and Superman, fighting Lex Luthor and The Joker in Lego form., In , Green Arrow and Black Canary are members of the Justice League and their logo was seen in Oliver's phone., A version of the Justice League similar to The New 52 appears in the movie , with a team consisting of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Shazam. The same team appears in , with Aquaman as a newcomer. Superman, Batman, Cyborg, Flash and Wonder Woman appear in Justice League vs. Teen Titans., The Justice League is featured in the animated film . The team consists of Superman, Batman, Cyborg, The Flash (Barry Allen), Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Karate Kid, Dawnstar, and Robin appear as well., Justice League Dark appears in their own animated film Justice League Dark, with the cast including Batman, Zatanna, John Constantine, Etrigan the Demon, Deadman, Swamp Thing and Black Orchid. The traditional Justice League team appears as well, consisting of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Flash (Barry Allen), Hawkman and Martian Manhunter., The Justice League appears in DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon. The team consists of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman and Cyborg. The Justice League appears in The Lego Movie, with Superman voiced by Channing Tatum, Batman voiced by Will Arnett, Wonder Woman by Cobie Smulders, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) by Jonah Hill. Flash (Barry Allen) and Aquaman also appear in the movie, although they have no lines. The Justice League also appeared in The Lego Batman Movie. The Justice League appears in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, with Superman voiced by Nicolas Cage, Batman voiced by Jimmy Kimmel, Wonder Woman voiced by Halsey and Green Lantern (John Stewart) voiced by Lil Yachty. Other members of the League, such as the Atom (Ray Palmer), Flash (Barry Allen) and Shazam also appear in cameos. Justice League of America has been adapted for television numerous times. The first animated appearance of the Justice League was in the 1967 television series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. The team appeared in only three segments of the run of the show. The members seen are Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, and the Atom., The longest-running version of the Justice League was the loosely adapted series called Super Friends, which ran in various incarnations from 1973 to 1986., The Justice League make their first appearance in the DC animated universe in "The Call", a two-part episode of Batman Beyond. It portrayed a futuristic version of the team, referred to as "Justice League Unlimited", or "JLU" for short. The lineup consisted of an aging Superman, a brand new Green Lantern, Big Barda, plus new characters: Aquagirl (Aquaman's daughter), Micron (similar to Atom), and Warhawk (who is later revealed to be the son of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl). Though he does not appear in Batman Beyond, Static and his ally Gear are also revealed to be members of the future Justice League in the Static Shock episode "Future Shock"., Cartoon Network's Justice League series debuted in 2001 and lasted for two seasons. Although not the Justice League's first appearance in the DC animated universe, it was their first chronological appearance. In July 2004, the series was retitled and revised for its third, fourth, and fifth seasons as Justice League Unlimited. Both of these were extensions of the DC animated universe, continuing the continuity begun by , , The New Batman Adventures, Static Shock, Batman Beyond, and The Zeta Project., In the two-part fourth season finale of The Batman, titled "The Joining", Batman allied with Martian Manhunter against aliens known as "the Joining". At the end of the second episode, J'onn contacts Batman and asks him to join his group, prompting Batman to remark that J'onn has formed "quite a league". The members of the "League" featured in this sequence were Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, and the Flash. In "The Batman/Superman Story, Part Two", Superman joins up with the Justice League. Much of the fifth season revolves around team-ups with League members and Batman. Other elements that were put forth included Batman recruiting Superman, and a headquarters combining elements of the Hall of Justice from Super Friends and the Watchtower from Justice League., "The League" is mentioned in a conversation between Batman and Plastic Man in an episode of . Presumably this refers to the Justice League. In fact, the show has featured many team-ups that included various heroes that were members of the JLA at one time or another, such as Adam Strange, Aquaman, Batman, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Captain Marvel, Elongated Man, Etrigan the Demon, Fire, Ice, Firestorm (both Ronald Raymond and Jason Rusch), Green Arrow, Roy Harper, Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan, G'nort, Kilowog, Huntress, Mister Miracle, Oberon, Big Barda, Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Phantom Stranger, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, the Flash, Vixen, and Zatanna. The League itself is later seen in a flashback, meeting aboard the Satellite in "Sidekicks Assemble!". The roster seen consists of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, and Fire, though Superman and Wonder Woman have no dialogue and are seen only from behind due to the characters not being available to the show at the time. The Justice League International is featured in "Darkseid Descending!", and consists of Batman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Fire and Ice, Guy Gardner, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes). It is mentioned by Aquaman that there had been a previous incarnation of the JLA (presumably the original roster featured in "Sidekicks Assemble!"), and that it had disbanded under unpleasant circumstances., A twenty-person roster of the Justice League appears in the Young Justice animated series as mentors to the young heroes. The cast includes Bruce Greenwood as Batman, Phil LaMarr as Aquaman, Alan Tudyk as Green Arrow, Rob Lowe (and Chad Lowe) as Captain Marvel, Nolan North as Superman and Zatara (later Doctor Fate), George Eads as Flash, Kevin Michael Richardson as Martian Manhunter and John Stewart, Vanessa Marshall as Black Canary, Dee Bradley Baker as Hal Jordan, Maggie Q as Wonder Woman, Jeff Bennett as Red Tornado, Michael T. Weiss as Captain Atom and Zehra Fazal as Hawkwoman. In the two-part pilot episode "Independence Day" (with the second part being renamed "Fireworks"), Hawkman is also shown as part of the team as well. At the end of the episode, Red Tornado volunteers to watch over the members of Young Justice as their guardian, while Black Canary is assigned as their combat instructor. The members of Young Justice operate out of the Secret Sanctuary in Happy Harbor, which Batman, the leader of the Justice League, describes as having been the original headquarters of the JL during their early years. Speedy explains that the Justice League currently operates out of the Watchtower in space while using the Hall of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a decoy headquarters to misdirect enemies and the general public. In "Usual Suspects", Red Arrow, Atom, Icon, Doctor Fate and Plastic Man officially joined the team. In the season 2 premiere, it is confirmed that Black Lightning, as well as former Young Justice members Zatanna and Rocket have joined the team as well., In a sketch for Mad, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are convinced to change the name from the Super Friends to the Justice League after a musical appeal by fellow heroes., The Justice League is re-imagined as animals in the DC Nation Shorts Farm League with Superman as Supermanatee, Batman as a mouse, Wonder Woman as Wonder Wombat, Flash as the Flish, Green Lantern as a boar, Aquaman as Aquamandrill, Captain Marvel as Shazham!, Robin as Robin's Egg, and Cyborg as Cybug., A new Justice League animated series titled Justice League Action debuted on Cartoon Network in Fall 2016. The series features a revolving cast anchored by Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Legends of the Superheroes was a 1979 two-part special that adapted the Justice League. It featured Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin returning to their roles from the 1966-1968 live-action Batman television series: Batman, Robin, and the Riddler respectively. Other heroes portrayed on the show included Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Huntress, and more., Justice League of America was a series pilot produced for CBS in 1997, but failed to sell. The pilot used less well-known characters to avoid the licensing issues surrounding Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The characters used were the Guy Gardner Green Lantern, Fire, Ice, the Barry Allen Flash, and the Ray Palmer Atom set against a version of the Weather Wizard., Smallville featured a version of the Justice League in its sixth-season episode "Justice". The members of the team were drawn from versions of DC Comics heroes that had previously appeared in the show: "Impulse" from the season four episode "Run"; "Aquaman" (A.C.) from the season five episode "Aqua"; "Cyborg" (Victor Stone) from the season five episode of the same name, and "Green Arrow" who had been appearing as a regular character through season Six. The episode had the team temporarily recruiting main characters Clark Kent, who Green Arrow dubs "Boy Scout", and Chloe Sullivan, who acts as the team's advisor through a computer network under the codename "Watchtower". Later, in the Season Seven episode "Siren", Dinah Lance joined Oliver's team as the "Black Canary". She returns in the Season Eight premiere with Aquaman and Green Arrow to find Clark. However, after A.C. and Dinah have their identities exposed, Oliver makes the call for the team to temporarily disband. Later in the season, when Oliver reconnects with his heroic side in "Identity", the team reunites. In the episode "Bulletproof", it is mentioned that Detective John Jones (Martian Manhunter) has helped Oliver's team and got Oliver out of trouble with the police and is considered a member of the team. Clark and Chloe become more involved with the League as well, with Clark joining Bart on a mission in Keystone during "Hex", whilst in the same episode Chloe becomes a full-time 'Watchtower' for the team. Dr. Emil is a staff physician at Metropolis General Hospital and Metropolis University, who is also on Oliver Queen's payroll. Season Eight concludes with Flash, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Clark working together to stop Doomsday. In the closing scenes Chloe reveals that Bart, Dinah, and Oliver have gone missing. In season 9 episode "Absolute Justice" members Green Arrow, Clark, John Jones, and Chloe aid members of the Justice Society of America. In the episode Doctor Fate restores John Jones's powers. The Flash and its related TV series Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow have hinted towards a Justice League in the future, with the heroes of the different series teaming up for annual crossover events. Barry Allen is shown to own a building resembling the Hall of Justice during the Invasion crossover, which the heroes use as a base during that crossover. An A.I. named Gideon from the future claims that Barry as the Flash is a "founding member" before being cut off. The Justice League is directly mentioned in the Arrow episode "Living Proof"., In the end of the Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, the heroes of the Earth-Prime (an amalgamation of Earth-1, Earth-38 and Black Lightning's Earth), after a memorial for Oliver Queen, sits at a table in an abandoned S.T.A.R. Labs building, creating a new league of heroes. This Justice League's iteration consists of White Canary, The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Superman, Black Lightning and Martian Manhunter, with an empty seat in honor of Green Arrow. The Justice League appears in the video games Justice League Task Force, released in 1995 for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Justice League Heroes, released in 2006 as a cross-platform game, as well as several video games based on its animated incarnation., Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Captain Marvel, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) appear in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe., The Justice League is featured prominently in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game DC Universe Online, with the Watchtower serving as the transportation hub between Metropolis and Gotham City., The Justice League are the main characters of the mobile video game for iOS Justice League: Earth's Final Defense, developed by Mobicle and published by Netmarble, the companies in South Korea. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash are playable characters, with Aquaman and Cyborg as non-playable Justice League members. This version of the Justice League is based on the one seen in The New 52. The Justice League is also featured in , developed by Netherrealm Studios, the team responsible for the Mortal Kombat series of games., A new incarnation of the League is shown in various character endings in the game Injustice 2. The line up is consistent of Batman, Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Firestorm (Jason Rusch and Martin Stein), Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), The Flash (Barry Allen), and in his story only Sub-Zero. In , Batman and Robin team-up with the Justice League, which consists of Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Cyborg and Martian Manhunter., The Justice League reappear in . Members include Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Plastic Man, and other heroes., The Justice League is featured in Lego DC Super-Villains. As part of the story, they were replaced by a different team of superheroes called the "Justice Syndicate". DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an unofficial term used to refer to an American media franchise and shared universe that is centered on a series of superhero films, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and based on characters that appear in American comic books by DC Comics. The shared universe, much like the original DC Universe in comic books and the television programs, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters. The films have been in production since 2011 and in that time Warner Bros. has distributed seven films, with a multitude of other planned films in various stages of development. It is the tenth highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $5.28 billion at the global box office. Its highest-grossing film is Aquaman, which earned over $1.15 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing DC film to date. The films are written and directed by a variety of individuals and feature large, often ensemble casts. Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher, among others, star in several films. However, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise has non-linear, loosely connected storylines, with greater autonomy for the filmmakers who create each individual film. The first film in the DCEU was Man of Steel (2013), followed by (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), and Shazam! (2019). The franchise will continue with Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020, The Batman, The Suicide Squad, and Black Adam in 2021; and Shazam! 2, The Flash and Aquaman 2 in 2022. In 2002, Wolfgang Petersen was set to direct a Batman vs. Superman film from a script by Akiva Goldsman. Warner Bros. canceled development to focus on individual Superman and Batman projects after J. J. Abrams submitted another draft for Superman: Flyby. In February 2007, Warner Bros. hired husband and wife duo Michele and Kieran Mulroney to write a script for a Justice League film. Christian Bale, who starred as Batman in Batman Begins (2005), was not approached to reprise the role, nor was Brandon Routh, who starred as Superman in Superman Returns (2006). George Miller was hired to direct the film, reportedly titled Justice League Mortal, with Armie Hammer cast as Batman, D. J. Cotrona as Superman, Adam Brody as Flash, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Common as Green Lantern, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter and Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord. The project was put on indefinite hold in January 2008, after failing to secure tax breaks for filming in Australia, as well as the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike preventing progress on the script. In 2013, a reboot of the Superman franchise, Man of Steel, was set to lay the groundwork for future DC films. The film contained references to other characters in the DC Universe, so if it were a success, it could launch a shared universe. Days before Man of Steels release in June, it was reported that director Zack Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer would be returning for a sequel, which was being fast-tracked by Warner Bros. In July, at San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that the sequel would include Batman in a main role, establishing the shared universe. In October 2014, Warner Bros. announced a slate of ten DC films. While the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) includes television productions, DC's crossover series is a shared continuity for films. Several television series featuring DC characters and storylines have their own shared continuity, frequently referred to as the Arrowverse. DC's chief creative officer Geoff Johns explained DC's difference in approach to Marvel Studios and their cinematic universe, saying, "We look at it as the multiverse. We have our TV universe and our film universe, but they all co-exist. For us, creatively, it's about allowing everyone to make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world. Everyone has a vision and you really want to let the visions shine through ... It's just a different approach." In June 2015, Warner Bros. president of creative development Greg Silverman expanded on DC's approach to their cinematic universe, saying, "We ... take these beloved characters and put them in the hands of master filmmakers and make sure they all coordinate with each other. You'll see the difference when you see ... the things that we are working on." In May 2016, following criticism of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. established a DC Films division with Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. executive vice president Jon Berg as its heads, which oversees production to form a cohesive creative direction for the franchise. DC Films would not be fully autonomous, as Johns reported to DC president Diane Nelson and Berg reported to Silverman. Charles Roven was also moved from his day-by-day producer role on future DC films, which he had served since 2005's Batman Begins, to an administrative executive producer role. In December, Silverman was ousted from his role in Warner Bros., and Toby Emmerich was promoted to president and chief content officer, in his place. By January 2017, Johns and Berg reported to Emmerich. Following the financial and critical success of Wonder Woman in June 2017, Johns stated that moving forward the films will focus on the heart, humor, hope, heroics, and optimism of the characters. As a result of Justice Leagues underperformance at the box office, Berg left his position by January 2018 and became a production partner with Roy Lee. DC also sought to deemphasize the shared nature of their films, with Diane Nelson stating, "Our intention, certainly, moving forward is using the continuity to help make sure nothing is diverging in a way that doesn't make sense, but there's no insistence upon an overall storyline or interconnectivity in that universe... Moving forward, you'll see the DC movie universe being a universe, but one that comes from the heart of the filmmaker who's creating them." In January 2018, Walter Hamada was appointed the President of DC Films and co-runner of the DCEU, replacing Berg. The following month, Chantal Nong was named Vice President of DC Films. The pair were hired to oversee the franchise with Johns, as the key production team managers. However, Johns stepped down from his executive roles at DC in June 2018. He created a production company, Mad Ghost Productions, to have a greater hands- on role in various DC media as a writer and producer. After the financial success of Aquaman, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara said the upcoming slate of DC films would be focused on individual character stories instead of interconnectivity. Kal-El / Clark Kent, who arrived on Earth years ago as an infant from Krypton, struggles with why he was sent to Earth. Raised by his adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, Clark adopts the persona "Superman", and learns if his abilities are meant to maintain peace or conquer the world. During story discussions for The Dark Knight Rises, David S. Goyer told Christopher Nolan his idea regarding how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, who hired Nolan to produce and Goyer to write based on the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight. Zack Snyder was hired in October 2010 to direct the film. In January 2011, Henry Cavill was cast as Clark Kent / Superman. Other cast members included Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as the villain General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. Principal photography began on August 1, 2011. Man of Steel released in North America on June 14, 2013. Gotham City-based vigilante Batman travels to Metropolis to preemptively combat Superman, fearing what would happen if the latter is kept unchecked, while another threat endangers humankind. In June 2013, it was reported that Snyder and Goyer would be returning for a sequel to Man of Steel, which was being fast-tracked by Warner Bros. Nolan was involved in an advisory role as executive producer. In July, at the San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. announced that Superman and Batman would meet for the first time in a cinematic format in the film, which would be the follow-up to Man of Steel and a reboot of the Batman film series. According to Snyder, the film took inspiration from the comic The Dark Knight Returns. Cavill, Adams, Lane, and Fishburne reprised their roles. In August, Ben Affleck was cast as Bruce Wayne / Batman. In December, Gal Gadot was cast as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, marking the character's first appearance in a live-action theatrical film. Later in the month, Chris Terrio was hired to rewrite Goyer's script. In January 2014, the film was delayed from its July 17, 2015, release date to May 6, 2016, to give the filmmakers "time to realize fully their vision, given the complex visual nature of the story". Later that month, Jesse Eisenberg and Jeremy Irons joined the cast as Lex Luthor and Alfred Pennyworth, respectively. In May 2014, the film's title was revealed to be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Initial filming occurred on October 19, 2013, at East Los Angeles College, before full principal photography began on May 21, 2014, in Detroit. Production also took place in Illinois, New Mexico, Africa and the South Pacific. After another date change, the film was released in North America on March 25, 2016. The film is set 18 months after the events of Man of Steel. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice introduced Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash, Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg, and Joe Morton as Dr. Silas Stone. The film also introduced Steppenwolf, who served as the main antagonist in Justice League, through a brief scene. The scene was not included in the film's theatrical release, but instead was revealed online by Warner Bros. on March 28, before being included in the Ultimate Edition home video release. After the death of Superman, a secret government agency recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions and rescue the world from a powerful threat, in exchange for clemency. In February 2009, prior to the development of the DCEU, Warner Bros. was developing a Suicide Squad film, with Dan Lin producing and Justin Marks writing the script. In October 2014, Suicide Squad was announced by Warner Bros., with David Ayer confirmed as director. In December, it was revealed that Ayer would also be writing the screenplay. The main cast included Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jared Leto as the Joker, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag. Tom Hardy was originally cast as Rick Flag, but dropped out due to scheduling issues with his film The Revenant. Principal photography commenced April 13, 2015, and took place in and around Toronto. Filming concluded August 28, 2015. Suicide Squad was released in North America on August 5, 2016. The film is set after the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash made appearances in the film. In a mid-credits scene, Waller meets Wayne in a restaurant and hands him a dossier containing information on future members of the Justice League. Diana of Themyscira, an Amazon warrior who also is the demigoddess daughter of the god Zeus, uses her talents and abilities in order to help humanity during World War I. Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot was cast as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in December 2013 and signed a three-picture deal which included a solo film. In October 2014, Wonder Woman was announced by Warner Bros. In November, Michelle MacLaren was confirmed to direct the film from a screenplay by Jason Fuchs. In April 2015, MacLaren left the project due to creative differences. Later that month, Patty Jenkins was announced as the new director of the film. In July, Chris Pine was cast as Steve Trevor. Other cast members include Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Robin Wright as General Antiope, Danny Huston as Erich Ludendorff, Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison, and David Thewlis as Ares. Filming began in November 2015, and was shot in the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Wonder Woman was released in North America on June 2, 2017. Motivated by Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team of metahumans to face a new catastrophic threat. In June 2013, it was reported that Goyer would be writing Justice League as part of a three-film deal he signed for Man of Steel. In April 2014, it was announced that Snyder would return as director. The film was announced in October as Justice League Part One. In March 2016, it was confirmed that Chris Terrio had written the script, who said that the film would not be as tonally dark as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In June, Geoff Johns announced that the title had been changed to simply Justice League. Affleck, Cavill, Gadot, Momoa, Miller, Fisher, Irons, Lane, Adams, Eisenberg, Nielsen, Wright, and Morton reprised their respective roles from previous films. Ciarán Hinds provides the voice and performance capture for the villain Steppenwolf. Beginning on April 11, 2016, filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, in England, as well as locations around London and in Iceland. Filming concluded in October 2016. In May 2017, Snyder stepped down from his duties on the film due to his daughter's death; Joss Whedon filled his position on post-production, with additional scenes being written and directed by him. Though Whedon was not officially credited for his role as post- production director, he completed enough additional work for a screenwriting credit on the film. Justice League was released worldwide on November 17, 2017. Justice League introduced various characters, including J. K. Simmons as James Gordon, Amber Heard as Mera, and Billy Crudup as Henry Allen. Additionally, Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke was also introduced in a post-credits scene, teasing an alliance between him and Lex Luthor. Kiersey Clemons as Iris West and Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko were to be introduced but their scenes were ultimately cut from the film. Arthur Curry sets out to lead the underwater kingdom of Atlantis against his half-brother, King Orm, who seeks to unite the seven underwater kingdoms against the surface world. In June 2014, Jason Momoa was cast as Arthur Curry / Aquaman. By August, Will Beall and Kurt Johnstad were writing competing scripts for the character's solo film. Aquaman was announced in October. In June 2015, James Wan was hired as director, as well as to oversee the screenplay by Johnstad. In November 2015, David Leslie Johnson was hired to write a new script. In July 2016, Beall returned to write the script, based on a story treatment by Wan and Geoff Johns. Johnson worked on a rewrite of Beall's script with Wan and producer Peter Safran. In December 2016, Patrick Wilson was cast as Orm / Ocean Master, the half-brother of Aquaman and the main antagonist of the film. In January 2017, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was cast in the role of villain Black Manta. Heard reprised her role as Mera from Justice League. Other cast members include Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Temuera Morrison as Aquaman's father Tom Curry, Nicole Kidman as Aquaman's mother Queen Atlanna, and Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus. Principal photography began on May 2, 2017, in Queensland, Australia, and wrapped on October 21, 2017. Aquaman was released in North America on December 21, 2018. The film is set after the events of Justice League. By speaking "Shazam", a 14-year-old foster child, Billy Batson, can turn into an adult superhero, courtesy of an ancient wizard. He attempts to master his powers and defeat the evil forces controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. In August 2014, Dwayne Johnson announced his attachment to a project about the superhero Shazam, formerly known as Captain Marvel. In September, Johnson was revealed to be portraying the antihero Black Adam, Shazam's nemesis in the film, with Darren Lemke set to write the script. In October, Warner Bros. announced Shazam as a film in its upcoming slate. By January 2017, Henry Gayden was working on the script. In July, it was confirmed that David F. Sandberg would direct Shazam!, and that Johnson would no longer appear, instead starring in a Black Adam solo film. Pre-production began in August. By October, Zachary Levi was cast as Shazam, and in November, Asher Angel was cast as Shazam's child- age alter ego, Billy Batson. The film's primary villain is Doctor Sivana, with Mark Strong in the role. Other cast members include Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Jovan Armand, Ian Chen, and Faithe Herman as Batson's foster siblings, Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans as Batson's foster parents, and Djimon Hounsou as the wizard Shazam, who gives Batson his powers. The film began principal photography in Toronto on January 29, 2018, and wrapped on May 11, 2018, with most of the filming taking place at Pinewood Toronto Studios, among other locations around the city. Shazam! was released in North America on April 5, 2019. The film is set after the events of Justice League. The villain Mister Mind is introduced in a mid-credits scene. Since the events of Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn has left the Joker. When Cassandra Cain, a young girl, comes across a diamond belonging to crime lord Black Mask, Harley joins forces with Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya to help protect her. By November 2016, Birds of Prey, based on the female superhero team of the same name, was in development with Christina Hodson signed on as screenwriter. By April 2018, Warner Bros. selected Cathy Yan as director, with Margot Robbie, Sue Kroll, and Bryan Unkless serving as producers. Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. The film is expected to be the first theatrical R-rated installment in the franchise and will have a smaller budget than most of the other films. In addition to Robbie's starring role, the team roster will also include Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, and Ella Jay Basco as Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain, respectively. Black Mask will serve as the film's primary antagonist with Ewan McGregor portraying the character, and Chris Messina will be portraying Victor Zsasz. The film began pre-production in late July 2018. Principal photography commenced on January 15, 2019, in Los Angeles, and lasted until April 15, 2019. In November 2018, Robbie revealed the full title of the film as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Birds of Prey is scheduled to be released on February 7, 2020. Diana Prince comes into conflict with the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the 1980s and finds two formidable foes in the form of the Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. By June 2017, Geoff Johns and Patty Jenkins had begun work on the story treatment for a Wonder Woman sequel. By July, Johns was working on the script. That same month, the sequel was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con. Gadot will reprise her role as Wonder Woman. By September, Jenkins signed a deal to return as director, and brought on David Callaham to pen the script with her and Johns. The film takes place in the 1980s during the Cold War. Jenkins said the film, like its predecessor, will be a love story, but with a new love interest. Pre-production had begun by early December 2017. In March 2018, Kristen Wiig was cast to portray the film's primary antagonist, Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah, and Pedro Pascal was cast as Maxwell Lord. Production began on June 13, 2018, around the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. Other filming locations include the Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in the United Kingdom and the islands of Tenerife and Fuerteventura in Spain. Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to be released on June 5, 2020. In October 2014, a Batman standalone film was announced by Warner Bros. By 2016, Ben Affleck was set to star in, produce, direct, and write the project. Affleck co-wrote the script with Geoff Johns, and Chris Terrio turned in a rewrite. The film was on track to shoot in early 2017, until Affleck stepped down as director that January. Affleck initially cited his intentions being to more specifically focus on starring as Batman, later acknowledging that after various attempts to get the script where he wanted it, it simply became "time to let someone else have a shot at it". In February 2017, Warner Bros. announced the title as The Batman and that Matt Reeves would direct and co- produce the film. In July 2017, Reeves confirmed that the script was being rewritten; the final draft was completed by January 2019. Reeves reworked the story to focus on Batman earlier on in his career as a vigilante; he said the film will be character-driven and stylistically noir, and will explore the detective aspect of the character to a greater extent than previous films. In January 2019, Affleck confirmed he will not reprise his role as Batman for this film. In May 2019, Warner Bros. screen tested Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult as Batman, after which Pattinson was cast in the role. Between October and December 2019, Jeffrey Wright, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell and John Turturro were cast as Commissioner James Gordon, Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Edward Nashton / Riddler, Alfred Pennyworth, Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin and Carmine Falcone, respectively, while Jayme Lawson and Peter Sarsgaard are cast in undisclosed roles. The Batman will be the first installment in a trilogy of films centered around the character. Principal photography began in January 2020 in London, England, with a release date of June 25, 2021. In March 2016, a Suicide Squad sequel was announced to be in development, with Ayer returning as director. Adam Cozad was hired to write the script by March 2017. By July 2017, a new story treatment was written by Zak Penn. In September 2017, Gavin O'Connor was hired as director after Ayer dropped out, as well as co-screenwriter with David Bar Katz and Todd Stashwick. The final draft of the script was completed by September 2018. The next month, O'Connor left the project as Warner Bros. believed the script was too similar to Birds of Prey. In January 2019, the film was re-titled The Suicide Squad, with James Gunn directing, from a new script he wrote. Gunn chose the project over various other films Warner Bros. had in development, including a Superman film. In March, Idris Elba joined the cast. He was initially hired to replace Smith as Deadshot, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, but it was later decided that Elba would play a new character so Smith could return in the future. Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, and Viola Davis will reprise their roles from the first film, while David Dastmalchian, Steve Agee, Michael Rooker, Peter Capaldi, Taika Waititi, Alice Braga, Sean Gunn, Juan Diego Botto, Storm Reid, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Flula Borg, John Cena, and Joaquín Cosío, among others, will join the cast. Production began on September 20, 2019, at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, with additional filming following in Panama, for a scheduled release date of August 6, 2021. In September 2014, after being considered to play Shazam and Lobo, Dwayne Johnson was cast as Black Adam. The character was intended to be introduced in Shazam!, but by January 2017 the film's production studios had chosen to divide the narrative to focus on Black Adam's origin. Johnson, who is also attached as producer, has stated the two characters will cross paths in a future film. Other DC characters, including the Justice Society of America, will factor into the plot of Black Adam. In October 2017, Adam Sztykiel was hired to write the script. Co-producer Hiram Garcia stated the film will be gritty and violent, similar to the comics. In June 2019, Jaume Collet-Serra was announced as director for the film, with Beau Flynn, Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, and Scott Sheldon attached as producers. Principal photography is expected to begin in July 2020, for a scheduled release date of December 22, 2021. A sequel to Shazam! entered development in April 2019, with Henry Gayden returning as screenwriter. Director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran are also expected to return. Zachary Levi will reprise his role as the titular superhero, with Michelle Borth reprising her role as Lady Shazam, as a part of her five-picture contract. Zachary Levi stated that production is expected to begin around mid-2020, for a scheduled release date of April 1, 2022. By July 2013, Greg Berlanti was developing a film that centered around Barry Allen / The Flash. In October 2014, The Flash was announced with a scheduled 2018 release date. The initial script was drafted by Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Chris Brancato, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim. By April 2015, a story treatment was being written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Over the next two years, Seth Grahame-Smith and Rick Famuyiwa had individually dropped out as director due to creative differences with the studio. In January 2017, Joby Harold was hired to do a page-one rewrite of the script, which previously had drafts written by Grahame-Smith and Famuyiwa. In July 2017, the title for the film was changed to Flashpoint, based on the comic book storyline, of the same name. Dan Mazeau was brought on as co-writer. In March 2018, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were hired to co-direct. The tone of the film is expected to be similar to Back to the Future. Miller revealed that the plot will involve the Speed Force multiverse. In March 2019, following creative differences with the co-directors' work on the script, Miller was hired to co- write a new draft in collaboration with Grant Morrison. By July 2019, Daley and Goldstein had left the project, while Andy Muschietti and Christina Hodson were hired to replace them as director and screenwriter, respectively. Barbara Muschietti and Michael Disco will serve as producers. In January 2020, Muschietti said the film will include elements from the Flashpoint comic book arc. Filming is expected to begin in 2021, for a scheduled released date of July 1, 2022. In October 2018, James Wan stated that Aquaman intentionally left room for a followup. By December, high pre-release ticket sales and positive reception for Aquaman had convinced Warner Bros. to begin developing a sequel. In January 2019, Warner Bros. confirmed development, with intentions for Wan to return as director. The following month, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, co- writer of the first film, signed on as screenwriter. In March, Safran said the film will explore the other Seven Kingdoms of Atlantis. Jason Momoa will have a larger creative role in the sequel, having written the story while on-set the first film, and pitched the "mapped out" story to Warner Bros., who were receptive. Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will reprise their roles as Orm Marius / Ocean Master and David Kane / Black Manta, respectively. Production is expected to begin in early 2021, for a scheduled released date of December 16, 2022. Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films have a variety of DC films in varying stages of development: Amazonians film: In December 2019, Patty Jenkins announced that a Wonder Woman spin-off film is in development. The story will focus on the Amazonian people from the island of Themyscira. Jenkins is attached as executive producer. Additionally, she said the story for the project is mapped out, though she is not sure when production will begin., Batgirl: In March 2017, Joss Whedon was hired to write, direct and produce a film centered around Batgirl. Whedon was to begin production on the film in 2018, but stepped down in February. In April, after impressing Warner Bros. with her work on Birds of Prey, Hodson was hired as screenwriter for Batgirl. By November 2019, Hodson was expected to write the script once she has completed work on The Flash. Warner Bros. is looking for a female director to replace Whedon., Blue Beetle: By November 2018, a film centered around the Jaime Reyes incarnation of Blue Beetle was in development. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer and Zev Foreman are respectively attached as screenwriter and executive producer., Booster Gold: In September 2015, a film centered around Booster Gold and Blue Beetle was announced to be in development with producer Greg Berlanti. The film's tone was described as a buddy cop film with connections to Justice League (2017). By May 2016, Zack Stentz was hired to script the Booster Gold film, and Berlanti expressed interest in directing. In September 2016, Berlanti said that Booster Gold has "no connective tissue" to other films. The script had been completed by March 2018. According to Berlanti, production would begin once Warner Bros. decides where to place it within the slate of films. In May 2019, Stentz reaffirmed that the film was still awaiting the greenlight from Warner Bros., Cyborg: In April 2014, Ray Fisher was cast as Victor Stone / Cyborg, and Warner Bros. announced a film about the character was in development the following October. Joe Morton is set to reprise his role as Dr. Silas Stone. In November 2017, Fisher stated the film will focus specifically on Cyborg, and that the cast and production team will be diverse. In August 2018, Morton stated that he believed cut Justice League scenes involving Cyborg were going to be reworked into Cyborg, though he was not aware of when production would begin. Fisher has expressed his desire for Snyder to direct the film. Cyborg was scheduled to be released on April 3, 2020, but has been delayed., Deadshot: In December 2016, The Hollywood Reporter noted that a film centered around Floyd Lawton / Deadshot was in development. By September 2018, Will Smith confirmed he would reprise his role from Suicide Squad and that the story is in development. In February 2019, Smith left the role due to scheduling conflicts, and by March Idris Elba was cast to replace him in The Suicide Squad. In April 2019, the character was written out of the teamup film, so that Smith can reprise the role., Deathstroke: In October 2017, TheWrap reported a film centered around Deathstroke was in development, with Gareth Evans attached as screenwriter and director and Joe Manganiello set to reprise his role from Justice League. Ben Affleck released test footage with Manganiello in costume in August 2016. Warner Bros. greenlit the film after Evans impressed executives with his story pitch, which he described as dark and unforgiving, similar to Korean noir films. However, in October 2018, Evans stated that he is yet to be attached to the project contractually., Gotham City Sirens: A film based on the Gotham City Sirens, a team consisting of Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy, was announced to be in development in December 2016. Ayer signed on as director/co-producer from a script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Robbie will reprise her role from Suicide Squad and take the role of an executive producer, while Geoff Johns and Jon Berg will produce. The film's development was postponed in favor of Birds of Prey. In August 2017, Leto was confirmed to reprise his role as the Joker. Despite a busy production schedule on other projects, Ayer continued to work on the film, meeting with Gotham City Sirens creator Paul Dini in August 2018. By January 2020, Ayer confirmed that the project was still on hold., Green Lantern Corps: A film based on the Green Lantern Corps was announced to be in development in October 2014. In January 2017, David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes were hired to co-write the screenplay, based on a story by Goyer and Geoff Johns, with Goyer also serving as producer. Warner Bros. described the film as "Lethal Weapon in space". In January 2018, Goyer reaffirmed that despite the franchise's leadership shakeup the film was still in active development. By June 2018, Geoff Johns was hired to do a rewrite on the script, in addition to his role as producer. Johns stated that the script draws inspiration from his work on the New 52 Green Lantern comics. Green Lantern Corps was scheduled for release on July 24, 2020, but has been delayed. In July 2019, Christopher McQuarrie said that he had sent a written proposal for the film to Warner Bros. over a year prior, which had ties to the Man of Steel sequel, but he had moved on to other projects due to what he perceived as no movement on further developing the film. By November 2019, Johns was expected to deliver his script to Warner Bros. by the end of the year., Harley Quinn and Joker film: In July 2017, an untitled film centered around Harley Quinn and the Joker was announced to be in development with the working title Harley Quinn vs the Joker, scheduled to begin production after The Suicide Squad. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa will co-write, direct, and produce. In September 2018, Ficarra and Requa announced the script was completed and submitted to Warner Bros., and that production will start after Birds of Prey. The story will explore the relationship of the characters, combining the tones of the Ficarra and Requa's previous works Bad Santa and This Is Us., Joker film: In June 2018, a film centered around the Joker entered early development. Leto will serve as an executive producer in addition to reprising his role as the Joker. Warner Bros. intends for the film to "pave the way" for all other Suicide Squad-related projects. Leto will also be involved with hiring the film's production crew., Justice League sequel: In October 2014, Justice League Part Two was announced, with Snyder returning as director. In June 2016, Deborah Snyder revealed that Justice League would not be one film split in two, leaving the sequel untitled. The film was scheduled to be released on June 14, 2019, but production was pushed back to accommodate The Batman. In October 2017, J. K. Simmons stated that work on the script was in-progress, while in December, Variety reported that there were "no immediate plans" for Snyder to direct. By 2019, Warner Bros. had prioritized standalone films over the project, although Patty Jenkins noted she would be open to directing the next Justice League film. Though Ben Affleck will not play Batman in Matt Reeves' film, he is still signed on to reprise the role for the Justice League sequel., Justice League Dark: In January 2013, Guillermo del Toro confirmed that he was working on a film centered around the Justice League Dark. Del Toro submitted a script in November 2014, but was no longer attached to the project by June 2015. In August 2016, Doug Liman was hired to direct the film, though he left the project in May 2017 due to scheduling conflicts. Scott Rudin is attached to produce, while Michael Gilio was hired to rewrite the script. In July 2017, the film was titled Justice League Dark, and later in August, Gerard Johnstone was hired to contribute to the script., Lobo: In September 2009, Warner Bros. announced that a film centered around Lobo was in development. Guy Ritchie and Brad Peyton were attached to direct at different times, while Dwayne Johnson was originally intended to star. After various iterations, in 2016 Jason Fuchs was hired as screenwriter. By February 2018, Warner Bros. was in discussions with Michael Bay to direct. Fuchs began rewriting the script at Bay's request so the budget could be considerably lowered., Man of Steel sequel: By October 2014, a sequel to Man of Steel was in development. In November 2016, Amy Adams stated that work had begun on the screenplay. In September 2017, Matthew Vaughn announced that he was having discussion with the studio to direct the film. In June 2018, Cavill revealed that he was preparing to reprise the role. By March 2019, Vaughn stated that discussions with Warner Bros. had ended, and he was no longer involved with development of the film. In discussing his work on the project he revealed that it was influenced by a previous trilogy pitch, from 2008 that he had co-written with Mark Millar, with Vaughn describing the project as "a massive, uplifting, hopeful thing". In July 2019, Christopher McQuarrie said that he and Cavill had pitched a sequel idea to Warner Bros. over a year prior, with the plot having ties to Green Lantern Corps, but that he had since moved on to other projects due to what he perceived as no movement on the films. Later, Michael B. Jordan had pitched his own take on the character, but was not ready to commit due to an already busy schedule. By November 2019, it was reported that Warner Bros. had entered early negotiations with J. J. Abrams taking control of the project. In December, Cavill said the future of Superman will be more faithful to the comic book source material. After confirming that though his casting in The Witcher had previously interfered with his availability for the role, he also stated that the same would not be the case with the second season of the Netflix series., New Gods: In March 2018, Ava DuVernay signed on to direct a film centered around the alien-race the New Gods, after pitching the idea to Warner Bros. Kario Salem was also hired as the screenwriter. In May 2019, DuVernay announced that she will co-write the script with Tom King. An expansion of the DC Film franchise, Deadline Hollywood noted that at that time there "no connection" to films previously released. By July 2019, King stated that a team of Jack Kirby-material experts has been put together to work on the project, calling the experience "one of the best storytelling experiences [he's] ever had". The characters Darkseid and the Apokaliptian militant strikeforce, the Female Furies, will appear in the film. The New Gods of Apokolips were previously featured in Justice League, while Ray Porter was cast to portray Darkseid prior to significant changes made by the studio during post-production., Nightwing: By February 2017, a film centered around Dick Grayson / Nightwing was in development, with Chris McKay and Bill Dubuque signed on as director and screenwriter, respectively. In February 2018, McKay stated the script was nearing its final draft., Plastic Man: By December 2018, a Plastic Man film was in development with Amanda Idoko hired to write the script. The plot is described as a comedy-action adventure., Supergirl: In August 2018, a film centered on Supergirl, was announced to be in development with Oren Uziel penning the script. Warner Bros. is seeking a female director., The Trench: In February 2019, Warner Bros. announced a horror spin-off from Aquaman focusing on the villainous Trench kingdom. Peter Safran and James Wan are set to produce, with Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald acting as screenwriters. The film will have a lower production budget compared to other DC-based films. The following month, Safran stated that he expects the film to be released before Aquaman 2., Wonder Woman 1984 sequel: In January 2019, after principal photography on Wonder Woman 1984 was completed, director and co-writer Patty Jenkins stated that the plot for a third Wonder Woman film had been mapped out. She revealed that the story-arc for Wonder Woman had been planned over three films, with the third taking place in the present. Jenkins and Gadot plan to work on other projects before proceeding with the sequel. In October 2014, Johns explained that DC's approach to their films and television series would be different to Marvel Studios' cinematic universe, stating that their film universe and TV universes would be kept separate within a multiverse to allow "everyone to make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world." Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were appointed by the studio to co-run the DC Films division and oversee creative decisions, production and story-arcs in order to create a cohesive overarching plot within the films. Johns left his position in June 2018 to start his own studio where he will take on a greater hands-on role with film media as a producer and screenwriter. However, he remained with the studio as a co- chairman. Berg was replaced by Walter Hamada as the president of DC Films in January 2018. After the successful release of Wonder Woman (2017), DC Films decided to deemphasize the shared nature of the franchise. The DC Extended Universe was retroactively established to have connections to The CW's Arrowverse continuity via the concept of a multiverse, during Part 4 of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover. Ezra Miller reprised his role as Barry Allen in a cameo appearance alongside Grant Gustin's version of the same character. During their conversation, Miller's Barry Allen gets the idea to call himself "The Flash" from his alternate self. However, despite his cameo, the episode does not confirm the designated Earth for the DCEU characters. The DCEU has a complicated timeline, since most events of the film never actually make their exact years known. Man of Steel took place after the events of Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984, which are both set earlier in the timeline. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice happened 18 months after the events of Man of Steel, which follows the consequences of the emergence of metahumans such as Superman. The film concludes with the death of Superman, which was emphasized in the following ensemble films of Suicide Squad and Justice League. Suicide Squad occurred shortly after Batman v Superman. Sometime later, the events of Justice League happened which feature Superman's resurrection and the subsequent formation of the Justice League. It was followed by Aquaman, which the director confirmed happened one year after and made references to Justice League. It was followed by Shazam!, which occurred on the Christmas season of 2018 sometime later after the events of Aquaman. List of films based on DC Comics publications, List of television series based on DC Comics publications, Arrowverse, DC animated universe, DC Universe Animated Original Movies, Joker

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HaKokhav HaBa (, translated as "The Next Star") is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, which was first broadcast on Channel 2 from 17 September 2013. It is based on the Rising Star franchise created by Keshet Broadcasting. The show is a continuation of the former program Kokhav Nolad (meaning "A Star is Born") which featured aspiring singers competing for a winning title. The program's format combines the internet, smartphones and television and is filmed live. The shows inaugurative season in 2013 was won by Evyatar Korkus. Since season 2, the winner is given the opportunity to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. 2014–2015 winner Nadav Guedj represented Israel in 2015 with "Golden Boy" 2015–2016 winner Hovi Star represented Israel in 2016 with "Made of Stars", 2016–2017 winner Imri Ziv represented Israel in 2017 with "I Feel Alive", and 2017–2018 winner Netta Barzilai who went on to win the 2018 contest with "Toy". Kobi Marimi won in 2019 and represented Israel on home soil in Tel-Aviv. As the season begins, each contestant is asked to perform a well-known song in front of judges. After the song, a vote is taken among judges whether to transfer the applicant to the test stage facing the audience at home. If the judges are not sure about how to vote, the contestant is required to perform another song, and then a decision is made. Contestants who do move forward must then sing in front of an audience. Viewers then connect with an app at makoTV and decide in real time whether a contestant passes or does not pass. Judges also influence the test stage - all judges may support the promotion of the contestant and thereby add 8% percent if there are five judges or 10% if there are four. Once the contestant reaches 70% of votes they "pass" and the screen opens and the contestant goes to the next level. 14 singers then move on to a section where the judges and the audience at home vote. At the final stage, four singers are left and one will be elected "The Next Star". This season host is Assi Azar and the co-host is Esti Ginzburg. The judges are Rita, Zvika Hadar, Muki and Rani Rahav. Eyal Golan judged the program until his suspension on November 20, 2013, and after four days was replaced by Muki. In order: George Abu Shakra – 14th Place, Dondit Jon – 13th Place, Alon Tube – 12th Place, Roni Israeli – 11th Place, Lior Peretz – 10th Place, Hen Levy – 9th Place, Inbal Bekman – 8th Place, Elias Melayev – 7th Place (Quit), David Drey – 6th Place, Omer Datz – 5th Place Rinat Cohen – Fourth place, Tina Ibagrimov – Third place, Arye & Gil Gat – Second place, Evyatar Korkus – Winner The winner of season two would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. In order: Evyatar Adir – 16th Place, Zadok Garamech – 15th Place, Almog Nasawi – 14th Place, Random Dogs – 13th Place, David Maman – 12th Place, Eva Al Kanrash – 11th Place, Asif Zilberman – 10th Place, Liroz Balas – 9th Place, Yifi and Osher Aricha – 8th Place, Nava Tehila Walker – 7th Place, Saar “Rusty” Davidov – 6th Place, Orit Biansey – 5th Place Avia Shoshani – Fourth place, Sary Nachmias – Third place, Iky Levy and the Rasta Hebrew Men –Second place, Nadav Guedj – Winner This season was named "The Next Star to the Eurovision" The winner of season three would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. In order: Alma Kalbermann - 16th Place, Maya Bernadski - 15th Place, Sharon Fartouk - 14th Place, Yoni Grayev - 13th Place, Avi Eliot Alush and Sister Shvakya - 12th Place, Neomi Ezran - 11th Place, Uriel Aharoni - 10th Place, Shtar - 9th Place, Ofir Haim - 8th Place, Oded Sharavi - 7th Place, "Velma" - 6th Place, Kiara Duple (Lior Cohen) - 5th Place Gil Hadash – Fourth place, Ella Daniel - Third place, Nofar Salman - Second place, Hovi Star - Winner The winner of season four would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The show is hosted by Yael Goldman joined by Assi Azar and Rotem Sela. The presiding judges are Keren Peles and Harel Skaat who were judges in the previous two seasons joined by new judges Assaf Amdursky and the duo Static and Ben El Tavori. In order: Yona Shabin - 8th Place, Hally Lewis - 7th Place, Ta-La-Te - 6th Place, Sapir Nahon - 5th Place Beatbox Element - Fourth Place, Julieta - Third place, Diana Golbi - Second place, Imri Ziv - Winner Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as the Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) for the first time collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions which organized the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion ("The Next Star for Eurovision") to select the singer to represent Israel, while the song was chosen by a committee of the Israeli broadcaster. Four contestants reached the final, Chen Aharoni, Jonathan Mergui, Riki Ben Ari and Netta Barzilai. The season was won by Netta Barzilai, the first woman to win the series. As a result, she represented Israel at Eurovision Song Contest 2018. She went on to win the contest in Lisbon with the song "Toy" earning 529 points. In order: Axum - 20th Place, Tal Mizrahi - 19th Place, Ofir Harush - 18th Place, Shir Baruch - 17th Place, The Choice - 16th Place, Shir Gadasi - 15th Place, Jaki Gaforov - 14th Place, Gal Yaakobi - 13th Place, Rinat Bar (Quit) - 12th Place, Sarit Hativa - 11th Place, Shay & Gilad - 10th Place, José Steinberg - 9th Place, Adava Omer - 8th Place, Ravit Batashvili - 7th Place, Howie Danao - 6th Place, Eden Meiri - 5th Place Chen Aharoni – Fourth place, Riki Ben Ari - Third place, Jonathan Mergui - Second place, Netta Barzilai - Winner Kobi Marimi won the show with 383 points, beating runner up Keteryah and third place Shefita. Kobi represented Israel at Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with his song "Home". In order: Wanna Wanna - 20th Place, Shachaf - 19th Place, Lior Chen - 18th Place, Naama Gali Cohen - 17th Place, Liat Eliyahu - 16th Place, Nitay Twito - 15th Place, Nave Madmon - 14th Place, Naor Cohen - 13th Place, Klara Sabag - 12th Place, Osher Biton - 11th Place, Danielle Mazuz - 10th Place, Tai - 9th Place, Ofri Calfon - 8th Place, Daniel Barzilai - 7th Place, Avraham de Carvalho - 6th Place Shalva Band – Fifth place (Quit), Maya Bouskilla – Fourth place, Shefita - Third place, Ketreyah - Second place, Kobi Marimi - Winner This season was announced by the IPBC to be the last season featuring the Eurovision. Next year, the representative of Israel to the Eurovision will return to be chosen by the Kdam Eurovision, and this show will return to be a regular singing reality show, like it was in the first season. Or Edi - 20th Place, Nathan Katorza - 19th Place, Dana Lapidot - 18th Place, Oneg Israel - 17th Place, HaTavlinim - 16th Place, Linoy Akala and Gil Shapira - 15th Place, Nicki Goldstein - 14th Place, Avihu Pinhasov Rhythm Club - 13th Place, Omer Eliyahu - 12th Place, Lali Kolishkin, Ella-Lee Lahav, Or Amrami-Brockman, Ohad Shragai, Gaya Shaki, Raviv Kaner, Moran Aharoni, Dorel Saadon, Eden Alene, Loai Ali, Eden Zohar Sivan After the success of the Israeli series in 2013, many television stations throughout the world bought the rights and started broadcasting similar series. The American television network ABC began airing its first series of Rising Star in June 2014 from Los Angeles. The US edition was also carried in Canada, with advertising simultaneous substitution and voting access on CTV. The show was canceled after its full 10-episode season due to low ratings in its target demographic, and extremely low ratings on the German and French versions. Another major broadcaster RTL Television launched a German language version in Germany. But following reported poor ratings on its early shows, it announced it was bringing Rising Star Germany scheduled final forward airing an extended one-day finale between 20.15 and 00.00 to decide the winning performer, rather than completing the full 10-episode scheduled season originally planned. The UK ITV channel bought the rights, but canceled its scheduled launch citing lower-than-expected viewership in similar launches in the United States and Germany. Canale 5 also bought the rights to an Italian version of the show, which was also canceled during development for unexplained reasons. French television M6, with its first season, launched in September 2014 keeping the title Rising Star. The French version had a shortened season due to low ratings. The Italian television Canale 5 launched its version as Rising Star. Other broadcasters that adapted the series include Argentine Telefe as Elegidos (La música en tus manos), Brazilian Rede Globo as SuperStar, Chinese CCTV-3, Greek ANT1 , Hungarian TV2 as Rising Star, Indonesian RCTI as Rising Star Indonesia, Portuguese Televisão Independente (TVI) as Rising Star: A próxima estrela, Russia-1 as Артист (Artist), and Turkish TV8 as Yükselen Yıldız. The Russian version of the show had a shortened season due to low ratings on the French and German versions, while the Portuguese and Brazilian versions became quickly popular, but neither lasted more than three seasons; the Brazilian version ended in 2016 after three seasons due to declining viewership. The Indonesian version is the longest-running version of the show outside of Israel. Kokhav Nolad, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Official website Rising Star is the second Indian version of the international franchise series Rising Star, a reality television singing competition. This is first time when Rising Star does not come with any present sponsor. This season earlier had an age limit of 4-13 years but when singers more than 13 years of age came for audition, the channel decided to change the age limit to 4 years and above. It is based on the Israeli singing competition HaKokhav HaBa (meaning The Next Star) created by Keshet Broadcasting Ltd. The program format lets the viewers vote for contestants live via the television channel's mobile app. The show premiered on 20 January 2018 on Colors TV. This is the first reality television show in India which involves Live Audience Voting through Voot App. Popular playback singer and music director Shankar Mahadevan, playback singer and actor Monali Thakur and actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh return as the experts in the show. The show is hosted by TV Actor Ravi Dubey. The winner of Rising Star Season 2 is Hemant Brijwasi. In contrast to other singing competition TV shows which feature a cast of celebrity judges, Rising Star features a cast of celebrity experts and considers the viewers at home the judges. During each performance, the audience at home is able to decide in real time whether or not a contestant is sent through to the next round by using a mobile voting app. While the viewers at home are considered the "judges", the expert panelists also may influence the vote but with continuously decreasing percentage votes over the total public vote and not exceeding 5% of the total voting power. The first round where the acts are individually called to perform. As a reportage of the announced performer is shown, viewers are invited to register for voting for that specific act. Following a countdown of three seconds, the candidate has to start performing behind a screen called "The Wall". With start of performance, the voting kicks in. Registered voters have the option of voting just "Yes" or "No". Non-votes are also considered "No" votes. If an expert votes "Yes", another 5% is added to the tally of the contestant. The contestants also see random photos of voters in their favour. Faces of panelists voting "Yes" is also be shown in larger frames. Once the contestant reaches 80% of "Yes" votes, the wall is raised and the contestant goes to the next round of the competition. Contestants who make it through the auditions are paired by the judges to face off in a duel. The first contestant sings with the wall up and sets the benchmark for the second contestant. The second contestant sings with the wall down. If the second contestant betters the first contestant's vote total, the wall rises and the second contestant was through to the next round while the first contestant is eliminated; if the second contestant fails to raise the wall, the second contestant is eliminated and the first contestant goes through. The Live auditions began on 20 January 2018 and went on till 4 February 2018. The top 31 scorers from the auditions moved on to the second round named 'Duels Ki Takkar' which began on 10 February 2018. The contestants who qualify from this round move on to the quarterfinals. Guests: Manish Paul and Iulia Vântur Guest: Sukhwinder Singh Guest: Gurdas Mann Guest: Sonakshi Sinha & Raftaar The Top 16 contestants compete in this round. Eight teams of two perform in duets. The first team perform with the wall up and set the target percentage. The next teams perform with the wall down and attempt to beat the target score. The duo with the least score move to the Red Sofa (unsafe zone). The team with the lowest score gets eliminated. Episode 11: 24 February 2018 Guest: Richa Sharma The Top 14 contestants compete in this round. As the round progresses, the contestant who receives fewest votes at that point of the competition moves to the Red Sofa. At the end of the episode, the contestant who sits on the Red Sofa gets eliminated. Guest: Alka Yagnik Guest: Kavita Krishnamurthy The Top 12 contestants compete in this round. As the round progresses, the contestant who receives fewest votes at that point of the competition moves to the Red Sofa. At the end of the episode, the contestant who sits on the Red Sofa gets eliminated. Guest: Govinda Guest: Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani Wild Card Twist: Some of the eliminated contestants were brought back for another chance. Raenit Singh, Aman Biswal & Chetan Brijvasi. The Top 12 contestants compete in this round. As the round progresses, the contestant who receives fewest votes at that point of the competition moves to the Red Sofa. At the end of the episode, the contestant who sits on the Red Sofa gets eliminated. Guest: Rani Mukerji WILD CARD Top 12 Guest: Shaan & Manish Paul The Top 10 contestants compete in this round. As the round progresses, the contestant who receives fewest votes at that point of the competition moves to the Red Sofa. At the end of the episode, the contestant who sits on the Red Sofa gets eliminated. Guest: Rekha Guest: Season One Contestants The Top 8 contestants compete in this round. As the round progresses, the contestant who receives fewest votes at that point of the competition moves to the Red Sofa. At the end of the episode, the contestant who sits on the Red Sofa gets eliminated. Guest: Udit Narayan The contestants compete to earn a direct entry to the finale week. In each episode, the contestant sitting on Golden Sofa (the contestant with the highest score) will move on to compete for the Ticket To Finale. The two top scorers of Saturday and Sunday episode participate in a face-off round. Guest: Alia Bhatt The Top 5 contestants except for Ticket to Finale winner Hemant Brijwasi were divided into two batches. Batch A- Zaid Ali, Chetan Brijwasi & Vishnumaya Ramesh and Batch B- Akhtar Brothers & Rohanpreet Singh. The contestant with the lowest score in each batch will be eliminated, making the Top 4. The Top 4 finalists compete in the first round. The Top 3 contestants proceed to the Face-off round. Final Face-off: Color key The second season of Rising Star Indonesia an Indonesian reality singing television competition aired on RCTI. Judika, , Ariel "Noah" and Rossa are appointed as the experts. Boy William, Nirina Zubir and are appointed as hosts. The winner of which receives a 1 billion rupiahs recording contract with Warner Music Indonesia. The second season aired on 12 December 2016 and is produced by RCTI in-house production and led by Fabian Dharmawan. This season, the competition was won by Andmesh Kamaleng after received 80 percent in the final round. The open call auditions were held in the following locations: Non-performance: Non-performance: Non-performance: Non-performance: Non-performance: First Round In the first round, expert's vote each worth 5% Finale Round In the finale round, expert's vote each worth 3%. Both voting results from the first round and the final round will be accumulated. The highest score will be the winner of Rising Star Indonesia. Non Performance Notes Thasya Kenang, Chandra Aditya, Tiffany Geraldine and Siti Saniyah previously auditioned for The Voice Indonesia in 2016., Salma Salsabilla previously auditioned for The Voice Kids Indonesia in 2016 from team Agnez Mo where she was eliminated in the Battle Rounds., Innocent Purwanto (Part of Fade In) previously auditioned for Rising Star Indonesia Season 1. Official website

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"Oriole" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Homeland, and the 55th episode overall. It premiered on Showtime on November 15, 2015. As Carrie (Claire Danes) reviews the hundreds of documents, she finds one outlining an incident where an informant named "Touchstone" attempted to contact "Oriole", which was a code name of Carrie's. Carrie phones "Touchstone" a.k.a. Samir Khalil (Makram Khoury), an Iraqi national. Samir reports to her that he saw Ahmed Nazari (Darwin Shaw), a corrupt Iraqi lawyer who was presumed dead, in Iraq five months prior. Carrie resolves to track down Nazari and find out what he knows. With the help of Numan (Atheer Adel), they discover that Nazari's supposed widow is living in Amsterdam. Bibi (René Ifrah) asks Quinn (Rupert Friend) to guide his group to the Syrian border via Turkey. Bibi stresses that he can pay handsomely, as his uncle is Abu Al- qaduli, a deputy emir. Quinn reaches out to Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham) and informs him of his opportunity to get close to Al-qaduli, a CIA kill target. Saul (Mandy Patinkin), having been caught taking a copy of the leaked documents out of the station, is subjected to a battery of interrogations by Dar Adal. Allison (Miranda Otto) offers to take Saul back to his hotel room to get him to confide. In the room, Saul admits to Allison that he delivered the documents to Carrie. Allison excuses herself and has a panic attack. She then reports back to Krupin (Mark Ivanir) that Carrie is confirmed to be alive and likely headed to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Carrie breaks into the house of Nazari, finding a safe she can't get into, and a laptop which she takes with her. Two men, sent by Krupin, enter the house and notice the broken window. Carrie watches as one of them takes something out of the safe; she then flees the house, managing to avoid their gunshots. Jonas (Alexander Fehling) visits Otto Düring's compound to look for Carrie. As they talk about her, Düring (Sebastian Koch) reveals that he doesn't plan on renewing Carrie's contract at the foundation, due to her being "unbalanced". Dar Adal orders that Saul be flown back to Langley. As Saul is monitored by guards in his room, he makes a phone call for his laundry, which turns out to be a coded distress call. As Saul is escorted out of the building, he is nabbed by a group of armed, masked men who drive away with him. They deliver Saul to Etai Luskin (Allan Corduner), who greets Saul warmly and asks what they're doing next. Saul responds "I don't know. I've never defected before". Carrie calls Allison, saying that she'd like to ask some questions about the latter's tenure in Baghdad. They agree to meet. The episode was directed by executive producer Lesli Linka Glatter, and co- written by showrunner Alex Gansa and executive producer Patrick Harbinson. The episode received a rating of 92% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating "In the action-packed 'Oriole,' Homeland brings Carrie and Allison together with a surprising turn of events." Price Peterson of New York Magazine rated the episode 4 out of 5 stars, with the summation that it was "full of fascinating character moments and crackerjack suspense sequences, and on the whole brought together disparate elements in a highly satisfying way". Entertainment Weeklys Shirley Li praised the Allison Carr character, stating "Miranda Otto has been knocking her performance out of the park, but Allison, as a character, has also proved a fascinating foil to Carrie." Judith Warner of The New York Times highlighted the interplay between Allison and her handler Krupin as a particularly effective scene. The original broadcast was watched by 1.348 million viewers, a small decrease in viewership from the previous week of 1.35 million viewers. "Oriole" at Showtime "Took" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by Richard Price from a story by David Simon & Richard Price and was directed by cast member Dominic West. It aired on February 17, 2008. McNulty, Freamon, and Sydnor plot to get Templeton to take a phone call from the "serial killer." McNulty, posing as the killer, acts upset about Templeton's articles painting him in a sexual light and says that no more bodies will be found in Baltimore; instead, he will simply send pictures of his victims. Both the BPD and The Baltimore Sun prioritize the serial killer and resolve to see the case to its end. Freamon, now able to intercept cell phone images via his illegal wiretap on Marlo, runs up against a tougher code than he expected - a simple clock face showing a different time in each picture - and he needs more manpower to determine what these messages mean. McNulty, knowing the serial killer case is a hoax, sends his surveillance teams to Freamon while allocating the extra manpower assigned to him to allow other detectives to earn their overtime pay. McNulty is overwhelmed as the bosses offer him more and more men. Eventually, the fact that he's giving away time gets out and people come looking for it. Knowing the truth about McNulty's hoax, Bunk refuses to attend a mandatory meeting about the serial killer and instead goes back to investigating the vacant murders. Carver brings in Michael to let Bunk interview him about his stepfather. Omar robs a Stanfield stash house, killing a soldier and flushing several kilos of heroin. He later traps and executes Savino Bratton, now working for Marlo. Later, Omar tells Michael that he will take out all Marlo's muscle until Marlo comes at him himself. Gus consults his old friend, Major Dennis Mello, about whether someone can go through the court system with a false name. Mello's answer casts doubt on Templeton's reporting. Gus and Corbett show disgust at Templeton's maudlin story about living with the homeless. Gus sends Sun reporter Mike Fletcher to research the homeless, which leads Fletcher to Bubbles' soup kitchen. Bubbles guides Fletcher to the Jones Falls Expressway, where he talks to local homeless. When Fletcher offers to pay Bubbles, he turns him down and tells him to "write it how it feels". Senator Davis hires high-powered attorney Billy Murphy. Despite another round of incriminating testimony from Damien Price, Davis is able to charm the jury and present himself as a man of the people. To the shock of Bond and Pearlman, Davis is acquitted. Greggs, assigned to the homeless killings full-time, spends an entire day getting background information on the homeless victims. She plans to keep her ex-partner's son Elijah for the night and asks McNulty where to get children's furniture. He recommends IKEA, but fails to inform her that their furniture must be assembled. Having apparently failed to assemble the bed, Greggs lets Elijah use her own bed. However, when Elijah can't sleep, Greggs sits with him in the apartment window and says good night to the denizens of the inner city à la Goodnight Moon. Peter Gerety as Judge Daniel Phelan, David Costabile as Thomas Klebanow, Sam Freed as James Whiting, Delaney Williams as Jay Landsman, Ed Norris as Ed Norris, Gregory L. Williams as Michael Crutchfield, Brian Anthony Wilson as Vernon Holley, Kara Quick as Rebecca Corbett, Brandon Young as Mike Fletcher, William F. Zorzi as Bill Zorzi, Dion Graham as Rupert Bond, Billy Murphy as Defense Attorney Billy Murphy, Donnell Rawlings as Damien "Day-Day" Price, Richard Belzer as John Munch, Thomas J. McCarthy as Tim Phelps, Crissandra Spencer as Reporter, Stanley Boyd as Cherry, Christopher J. Clanton as Savino Bratton, Edward Green as Spider, Kwame Patterson as Monk Metcalf, Thuliso Dingwall as Kenard, James Jorsling as Vincent, Jay Landsman as Dennis Mello, Michael Salconi as Michael Santangelo, Curt Boushell as Andy, David Goodman as Budget Advisor, Dennis Hill as Detective Christeson, Elijah Grant Johnson as Elijah, Kim Tuvin as Judge Emily Johnson, Stu Evered as Detective, Seymour Horowitz as Father, Rosemary Knower as Mother, Ken Ulman as Reporter Ken Ullman, Vickie Warehime as Patrol Sergeant Stanley Boyd's name is misspelled in the credits as Stanely Boyd. Michael Stone Forrest as Frank Barlow, Derek Horton as Brian Baker, Todd Scofield as Jeff Price Richard Belzer makes a cameo appearance as former Baltimore police detective John Munch, the character he portrayed on the Baltimore-based police drama (1993–1999), and subsequently on the New York-based (1999–2014). Clark Johnson's character, Augustus Haynes, walks into a bar to speak with Major Dennis Mello, played by Jay Landsman (the John Munch character was based upon Landsman from David Simon's non-fiction book ). On Homicide, Johnson's character Meldrick Lewis owned a Baltimore bar with Munch. As Haynes walks past him, Munch can be heard telling the bartender that he once owned a bar. "Took" at HBO.com Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! was a factual/reality documentary series on Channel 5. It follows the work of High Court Enforcement Officers (previously known as Sheriffs) as they execute High Court writs across England and Wales, on those who have failed to make repayments on alleged debts or refuse to vacate a property. The series was first broadcast on 24 February 2014, featuring “High Court Enforcement Agents” (HCEAs) of High Court Solutions. Five series of the programme have been broadcast to date. There are five different series, with the fourth and fifth series being made up of multiple parts. The series has been broadcast Channel 5 since 24 February 2014. Their brief of the series says: With exclusive access to some of the most experienced HCEAs and Repossession Teams in the country, this series is an eye-opening insight into cash-strapped Britain from the perspectives of debtors, creditors and debt collectors. Produced by Brinkworth Films, the series and its various spin-offs reveal what it means to be a creditor who cannot get back what they are owed, what it is like to be saddled with debt that you are simply unable to repay, and what it takes to be the kind of person who can pay but refuses to do so. Cameras capture the daily hassle of dealing with violent confrontations, tearful debtors, downright liars and genuine cases of hardship. Then there are the debtors, many of whom have some distressing tales to tell of how they got into the situation in the first place. No one wants their possessions confiscated, after all. The result is a unique insight into one of the biggest issues facing those who cannot afford to keep paying the bills. The first series introduces five initial cast members: Paul Bohill, Steve Pinner, Mike Allonby, Terry Jones and Steve Wood. The day after the broadcast of the first programme, Allonby died aged 47 at his home in Wales. Both Jones and Wood subsequently only appeared in the first series, with Bohill and Pinner (High Court Solutions) the only two cast members who went on to appear in series two. The first three episodes became the most watched programme on the channel that week, with episodes four and five placing at second and third, respectively. The second series sees the introduction of five new cast members – Ben Pinner, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Graham Aldred, Iain Taylor and Stewart McCracken. Paul Bohill and Steve Pinner are the only two returning cast members from the first series. Every episode of the series ranked in the top three most watched programmes on the channel that week. Cast member Kevin Stokes confirmed on Twitter that the returning cast for the third series was as follows: Paul Bohill, Steve Pinner, Ben Pinner, Stewart McCracken, Iain Taylor and Brian O'Shaughnessy. New cast members in this series would include: himself, Delroy Anglin ("Del"), Elmor Victor ("Vic") and Phil Short, who previously appeared in a non-speaking role in series two. Graham Aldred was confirmed as the only cast member from series two to not be returning for the third series. Every episode in series three placed within the top four most-watched programmes on Channel 5 for each respective week. For eight non-consecutive weeks, it was the most watched programme on the channel. Episode 12 had previously been broadcast on 4 August, as part of the "Britain on Benefits" season. In February 2016, cast member Paul Bohill confirmed on Twitter that the cast for the fourth series was as follows: himself, Steve Pinner, Ben Pinner, Stewart McCracken, Iain Taylor, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Delroy Anglin ("Del") and Elmor Victor ("Vic"). The only agent not to return from the third series was Kevin Stokes. Additionally, three further agents appeared in minor roles: Phil Short, Ru Pabari and Alan Hunt, all of whom featured in one episode each. The series was filmed between September and November 2015. Broadcast was later confirmed for 13 April 2016. Additionally, the scheduling for several episodes was changed at the last minute: episode 4 was due to air on 4 May, but for reasons unknown was held over and not broadcast until the end of the series, later subtitled the "Busted" special. The broadcast of episodes 7 & 8 was also switched for reasons unknown. Broadcast of fourth series continued after a summer break, and the transmission date was confirmed on 18 August 2016. DCBL subsequently added a page on their website with profiles of each of the agents featured in the series. The cast for the second half of the series remains unchanged, with Bohill, Steve Pinner, Ben Pinner, McCracken, Taylor, O'Shaughnessy, Anglin and Victor all returning. This half-series sees the introduction of one new agent, Dael Anglin, Delroy's son. On 5 October 2016 two further new agents were introduced into the series, Gareth Short and Craig Vernall. Episode 8 also saw a guest appearance from Graham Aldred, last seen in series two. Phil Short also guest starred in Episode 9. O'Shaughnessy has since confirmed on Twitter that this series will be his last. The series began filming in February 2016. This half-series featured sixteen episodes. A fifth series was confirmed for broadcast shortly after the end of series four. In this series, six new regular agents are introduced: Gary Brown, Garry Ball, Matthew Heighway, Cona Jackson, Mitchell Starr and Max Carracher. Agent Aron Graves also appears as a recurring member of the cast. Returning cast members for this series include Paul Bohill, Steve Pinner, Ben Pinner, Stewart McCracken, Elmor Victor, Iain Taylor and Gareth Short, who made his debut appearance in the last series. Delroy Anglin also guest starred in one episode. Brian O'Shaughnessy, Dael Anglin and Craig Vernall will not be returning to the series. The Radio Times initially confirmed that this series will contain a total of thirty episodes; however, this subsequently increased to thirty-two; and a further ten episodes were later added to the schedule; bringing the final number of episodes to forty-two. This series was split into three broadcast segments, with the first airing from 22 March 2017, the second airing from 30 August 2017 (with an additional two unplanned episodes broadcasting from 8 November 2017, replacing a planned broadcast of Big Family Values), and the third set to be broadcast in 2018. Several episodes of the programme have been assessed by broadcasting regulator Ofcom after complaints. In 2015, Ofcom considered three complaints by individuals featured during the first series. In its decisions, the agency found that the complainants had not been subject to an unwarranted infringement of privacy despite being filmed both by body cameras and by regular cameras. However, in a 2017 decision, Ofcom reversed its position after receiving supplemental information that the body cameras used by the enforcement agents came from the programme makers, not their employers (thus negating the argument that they were used for health and safety purposes). As the complainant in that case had not been informed that the footage would be broadcast, Ofcom found that there had been an unwarranted infringement of privacy. Ofcom has since found similar breaches in other episodes of Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!, including in syndicated episodes from earlier series. In February 2018, a couple whose eviction was shown during an episode of series 3 successfully sued Channel 5 for damages. The High Court of Appeals awarded the two £20,000 after finding that their privacy had been infringed.. This led the series being axed as Channel 5 realised that the court case opened them up to future claims. The Sheriffs Are Coming Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! (Channel 5), Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! (My5), Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! at Radio Times, Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! Netflix

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"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is a song written by Jim Steinman, and recorded by Meat Loaf with Lorraine Crosby. The song was released in 1993 as the first single from the album . The last six verses feature a female singer who was credited only as "Mrs. Loud" in the album notes. She was later identified as Lorraine Crosby. However, she does not appear in the video, in which her vocals are lip-synched by Dana Patrick. Meat Loaf promoted the single with US vocalist Patti Russo. The power ballad was a commercial success, reaching number one in 28 countries. The single was certified platinum in the United States and became Meat Loaf's first and only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart, and was the best-selling single of 1993 in the United Kingdom. The song earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo. The timings in this article refer to the original album version. There are many shorter single and radio edits. The song opens with a guitar played to sound like a revving motorcycle. Roy Bittan's piano begins to play along with the guitars and drums. The vocals begin at the 1:50 point. The opening vocals are accompanied by piano and backing vocals. The song then becomes much louder as the band, predominantly piano, plays the main melody for twenty seconds. An instrumental section follows the first verse and chorus, lasting over 45 seconds, with piano playing the title melody, accompanied by guitar and wordless background vocals by Todd Rundgren, Rory Dodd and Kasim Sulton. The lead vocals recommence with another verse. The phrase "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" was changed to "Some days I just pray to the god of sex and drums and rock and roll" on the recording, although Meat Loaf occasionally sings the more familiar phrase in concert. At the 9:28 point, the song transforms into a duet coda. The structure of the verses remains, but the woman now asks what the man would do. He answers in the affirmative for the first four sections. The song's tone changes for the final two sections, in which the woman, Lorraine Crosby on the original recorded version, predicts that the man would eventually do things to upset her and their relationship. Both times, he denies it. The duet part was and still is performed regularly on stage by Meat Loaf with his current featured female vocalist Patti Russo. However, with the passing years their interplay during the coda has gradually taken on ironic overtones, if not overtly comedic ones, which were totally absent from the original album version. For example, in the 2007 show 3 Bats Live, after Russo sings "After a while you'll forget everything, it was a brief interlude and a midsummer night's fling", Meat Loaf stops the band and asks her (half-sung, half-spoken): "Why do you say this to me? Why do you keep saying these things to me every single night?", and she replies innocently (again half-sung): "It's in the lyrics". More funny exchanges of the same kind occur during their other live duets, such as the famous Bat Out of Hell track "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". Meat Loaf says that the question, "What is 'that'?" is one of the most popular questions he is asked. Each verse mentions two things that the man would do for love, followed by one thing that he will not do. The title phrase repetition reasserts that he "won't do that." Each mention of "that" is a reference to the particular promise that he made earlier in the same verse. The four things he says he will never do are: "forget the way you feel right now", "forgive myself if we don't go all the way tonight", "do it better than I do it with you", "stop dreaming of you every night of my life" At the song's conclusion, the woman predicts two things that he will do: "You'll see that it's time to move on", and "You'll be screwing around." To both of these, the male emphatically responds, "I won't do that!" In his 1998 VH1 Storytellers special, Meat Loaf even explained it on stage using a blackboard and a pointing stick. In a 1993 promotional interview, Steinman states that the definition of "that" is fully revealed in the song in each of the several verses in which it is mentioned. This sense would have been more clear if the lyric had been "and I won't do that" instead of "but I won't do that." It is the use of "but" instead of "and" that leads to the ambiguity. It sort of is a little puzzle and I guess it goes by - but they're all great things. 'I won't stop doing beautiful things and I won't do bad things.' It's very noble. I'm very proud of that song because it's very much like out of the world of Excalibur. To me, it's like Sir Lancelot or something - very noble and chivalrous. That's my favorite song on the record - it's very ambitious. Meat Loaf believed that the lyrics were unambiguous, but Steinman predicted that they would cause confusion. An early episode of the VH1 program Pop-up Video made this claim at the end of the song's video: "Exactly what Meat Loaf won't do for love remains a mystery to this day." A reviewer writing for AllMusic commented that "The lyrics build suspense by portraying a romance- consumed lover who pledges to do anything in the name of love except 'that,' a mysterious thing that he will not specify." Frank O'day says the lyrics provide "an enlightening example of how listeners project their own thoughts, values, and concerns onto the meaning of the song with misconstrued lyrics." The phrase "I would do anything for love but I won't do that" had previously appeared as a spoken interlude in the song "Getting So Excited," released in 1983 by Bonnie Tyler in her album Faster Than the Speed of Night. In this song, the phrase's meaning is more clear: a woman is refusing an offensive proposal. Steinman produced this record and wrote many of the songs but this song is credited to Alan Gruner. Steinman's songs are usually long, and "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is no exception. The song is a full 12 minutes, and Steinman was deeply upset when executives advised him that he had to cut it down to get radio play. Manager Allen Kovac warned that any song over five minutes would not be played on radio, saying that if Steinman and the group did not make the cuts then the stations would. Even after they made the cuts, Steinman sent his own version to the stations. The single version was edited down to five minutes and 13 seconds, with the motorcycle introduction omitted. The video version (which also appears on many international releases of the single) was whittled down to seven minutes and 38 seconds, with part of the motorcycle intro remaining. In the video version and single version, the lengthy instrumental break is completely omitted. In the video and single versions, the refrain is abridged as well; Lorraine Crosby sings six verses in the complete song. In the video version, the second and third verses are omitted. In the single version, the second, third, and fifth verses are omitted. Lorraine Crosby, a singer from England, was the guest singer, though AllMusic incorrectly attributes the female vocals to Ellen Foley. Crosby and her partner Stuart Emerson had moved to Los Angeles to work with Steinman, who became their manager. He secured them a contract with Meat Loaf's label MCA. While visiting the company's studios on Sunset Boulevard, Crosby was asked to provide guide vocals for Meat Loaf, who was recording "I'd Do Anything for Love". Crosby recalls, "In I went and sang it twice and I never thought anything more of it until six months later when I got a phone call saying, 'Would you mind if we used your vocals?'" As Crosby had recorded her part as guide vocals, she received no royalties from the song. Cher, Melissa Etheridge and Bonnie Tyler had been considered for the role. Tyler, who described Crosby as "a great friend of mine from Newcastle", said: "Meat Loaf was naughty, really: he gave her no acknowledgement on the album but I think her part really made that song." Michael Bay directed the music video. He also directed the videos for "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" and "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", also from Bat Out of Hell II. Filming took place in Los Angeles County, California in July 1993; the opening chase was filmed at Chávez Ravine, with the interior mansion scenes filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. The cinematographer was Daniel Pearl, particularly known for filming The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1973. Pearl says that this video "is one of my personal all-time favorite projects... I think the cinematography is pure, and it tells a story about the song." The video is based on Beauty and the Beast and The Phantom of the Opera. Bob Keane did Meat Loaf's make-up, which took up to two hours to apply. The make-up was designed to be simple and scary, yet "with the ability to make him sympathetic." It went over budget, and was filmed in heat, across four days. According to one executive, it "probably had the budget of Four Weddings and a Funeral." It is the abridged seven-minute version, rather than the twelve-minute (11:58) album version. The actress in the video, Dana Patrick, is miming to Crosby's vocals; she did the same for Patti Russo's vocals in the 1995 song "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)". According to the captions aired on Pop-Up Video, Patrick received several offers for record deals after the video aired, from executives who assumed she was actually singing in the video. The story begins with the opening credits saying: "I have travelled across the universe through the years to find her. Sometimes going all the way is just a start." We then see "The Beast" character - a deformed man portrayed by Meat Loaf, on a motorbike being chased by police officers and a helicopter. As the chase continues into night, the Beast passes through into a graveyard and into what appears to be a very ornate mausoleum hiding from his pursuers. He mournfully examines his deformed hands and features; as the officers enter and examine the mausoleum he crashes through the wall with his motorbike and he accidentally knocks down a police officer (whose shotgun goes off) and causes one of the chandeliers on the ceiling to fall and kill the officer. In desperation the Beast flees into the nearby woods where he comes across a beautiful woman bathing/cooling herself by a fountain. The woman appears to be in sunny daylight, while the rest of the woods and castle clearly show that it is night-time. The woman looks into a mirror and glimpses the Beast watching her. She turns and he flees leaving only an amulet hanging on a branch. The woman picks it up and pursues him. As she approaches the castle, the Beast is watching her movements through the reflection of his drink. As she comes into the castle the Beast hurriedly removes himself. The woman sits in his chair and rests by the fire. The beast watches her from his hall of mirrors and contemplates approaching her but is ashamed of his appearance. She later is seen having a bath interspersed with the police officers finding the dead officer's body and preparing to raid the castle. She is later seen trying to sleep while being seduced by 3 vampy women while the Beast sits in a chair (a reference to Dracula and the Brides). The Beast leaves the room and, seeing his reflection, begins to smash up the mirrors. The woman, hearing the noise, comes out and follows him into a presumable living room. The Beast observes her from above and levitates the chair she is sitting on. The Beast, then hearing the officers are near moves away, pulls the chair back down breaking a lamp. The two run away and the woman removes the Beast's hood so she can look at him clearly. She accepts him and caresses his face while they embrace. As they pull away, the Beast is returned to his human form, and the two disappear just before the police catch them. The woman and the transformed Beast finally ride off into the sunrise on his motorbike. In 2013, the song was covered in an M&M;'s commercial which aired during Super Bowl XLVII. The song is featured in the animated comedy Sausage Party and on its soundtrack. In the film the song is performed by an anthropomorphic meatloaf caricature of the singer. It was used in a 2017 commercial for Carvana and in the trailer for the 2018 comedy Blockers. The song also appeared on the EP Fire & Ashes by German symphonic metal band Xandria. On this version, Meat Loaf's vocal parts are done by Dianne van Giersbergen, while Lorraine Crosby's vocal parts are done by Valerio Recenti, singer of the Dutch rock band My Propane. The single cover is a cropped version of the painting Leavetaking by fantasy illustrator Michael Whelan, who also painted the Bat Out of Hell II cover. The song reached number one in the charts in 28 countries. In most countries, it was Meat Loaf's first and only number one solo single. It was number one in the US for five weeks and sold over 1.4 million copies there. In the UK, it topped the singles chart, and at seven minutes and 52 seconds, "I'd Do Anything for Love" becoming the longest song on top there since The Beatles' hit "Hey Jude". This was then broken when Oasis released their 1997 single "All Around the World", clocking in at 9 minutes and 20 seconds. In the UK, this was the biggest hit of 1993, selling 761,200 copies and staying at number one for seven weeks. As a result of its success, "Bat Out of Hell" was reissued in the UK, this time reaching the top ten (which it did not achieve on its first release in 1979), meaning Meat Loaf achieved the rare feat of having two singles in the UK top ten at the same time. In Germany, the song is the 7th best-selling pop hymn ever. Critical reaction was mixed. AllMusic said that "Meat Loaf sells the borderline-campy lyrics with a full-throated vocal whose stirring sense of conviction brings out the heart hidden behind the clever phrases." Meat Loaf won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo for the song. British adventurer Bear Grylls cites this song as his inspiration to apply for selection into the SAS: "Enthusiasm and determination count for so much more than skills, brains or qualifications... and all this expressed itself to me through Meatloaf's song!". James Richard Steinman (born November 1, 1947) is an American composer, lyricist, record producer, and playwright. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist and singer. His work has included songs in the adult contemporary, rock and roll, dance, pop, musical theater and film score genres. Beginning his career in musical theater, Steinman's most notable work in the area includes lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind and music for Tanz der Vampire. His work includes such albums as Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (which is one of the best selling albums of all time) and , and producing albums for Bonnie Tyler. His most successful chart singles include Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", the Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More", Barry Manilow's "Read 'Em and Weep", Celine Dion's cover of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (originally released by Steinman's project Pandora's Box) and Boyzone's "No Matter What" (as the group's first and only single to be popular and chart in the US). The album Bad for Good was released in his own name in 1981. Steinman was born in New York City. His parents were named Louis and Eleanor. He has Jewish ancestry. He graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1965 and received his bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1969. In February of 1963, his sophomore year at Hewlett High School, Steinman won Newsday's American History essay contest. His essay was about the three greatest American inventions. According to longtime manager David Sonenberg, Steinman had serious cardiac health problems around 2004, but has been in good health since. Responding to an interviewer's asserting that his songs are tragic, Steinman says that he has "never been stomped on literally. Figuratively, I am stomped on every day ... anyway, that is the way I feel sometimes. I've never had my heart broken the way you are talking about. I've never been dumped... but probably because I don't allow myself to be dumped." In March 1968, Steinman contributed music for an Amherst College adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man. In May 1968, he directed an Amherst production of Michael McClure's The Beard. Over the summer of 1968, he contributed music for an adaptation of Brecht's Baal by the Island Theater Workshop on Martha's Vineyard. As a senior at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Jim wrote the book, music and lyrics for The Dream Engine (April 1969), a musical that was used to fulfill the requirements for an independent study course in his senior year. Jim himself played Baal while an audition call went out to fellow students for the remaining roles of the production. Barry Keating (serving as the co- creator and director,) also played the role of the Historian/Narrator and worked extensively with Jim to compile the book for the production, often shouting lines from the audience and sourcing heavily from their earlier work with Brechtian form and tropes. The play was presented at the Amherst campus' "Kirby Theater" in April of 1969 and transferred to nearby Holyoke for a small handful of performances, infamously drawing the attention of local authorities for its ensemble-wide display of nudity in the finale, (an element that was begrudgingly muted for the off-campus performances.) The story of The Dream Engine, set in a satirical-dystopian 1969, centers around a young boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, doesn't accept the restraints and limits of their society. Baal is the leader of a self-assembled group of wild boys called The Tribe, whose mortal enemies are Max and Emily, the parents of the Girl, a young woman with whom Baal has fallen in love. Several motifs, lyrics, and monologues from this show appear in songs Steinman later released. For example, the lyrics "turn around bright eyes" "Total Eclipse of the Heart" can be heard in the song called "The Formation of the Tribe." This was originally a reference to the blast flash of nuclear explosions, and the full riff of the original Dream Engine composition can be heard in the musical break of the Bonnie Tyler recording, (including symbolic musical "blasts" to punctuate each phrase.) Multiple esoteric references to "silver" and "gold" also occur first, throughout the book, and appear in numerous later Steinman works, and the full monologue that was later recorded to open "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" is delivered in a love scene between Baal and The Girl. Steinman said in an interview that Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, saw the play and was so impressed he signed it up during intermission. He wanted to bring it to New York (either Broadway or Central Park), but balked when his Amherst faculty advisor explained to Papp that, contrary to Papp's published claim, Steinman was never threatened with "near-expulsion" from the college. Nonetheless, Steinman worked under Papp after his years at Amherst College. In 1971, Steinman provided music for a puppet show called Ubu. The show, put on by puppeteer and filmmaker Demian, was an adaptation of Ubu on the Hill, an 1888 play by Alfred Jarry. In 1972, Steinman worked with college friend Barry Keating on a musical called Rhinegold at the Mercer Arts Center, based on Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold. Steinman wrote the music and Keating wrote the lyrics. In 1972, Bette Midler sang a demo of the Steinman song "Heaven Can Wait". Midler's career was in an early stage at the time. Midler would go on to far more fame than she had in 1972, making that demo a collector's item. That demo has been in circulation among fans on the internet. In 1973, Steinman's song "Happy Ending" appeared on the album Food of Love, sung by Yvonne Elliman. This was the first commercially released recording of a song written by Steinman. That same year, Steinman wrote music and lyrics for a musical called More Than You Deserve (1973). One of the actors cast in this show was Michael Lee Aday, who went by the name Meat Loaf, with whom Steinman later collaborated. In 1973, a single of the song "More Than You Deserve", from the musical sharing that name, was released. Reid Whitelaw was producer. Norman Bergen was arranger. Meat Loaf was the lead singer. A cover of this single also appears on the 1981 album Dead Ringer. In 1975, while working for Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Steinman contributed music and lyrics to Thomas Babe's Kid Champion, which starred Christopher Walken. In 1976, there was a minor one-month run of a musical called The Confidence Man. It was based loosely on the novel by the same title by Herman Melville. The book and lyrics were written by Ray Errol Fox, the music by Steinman. Ray Fox described the 1976 production as "a capsule version of the show." In 1986, a more elaborate production of the show with added songs was held at Queens College in New York City. It was directed by Susan Einhorn and performed by Queen's College students. Orchestrations were by Steven Margoshes, a frequent Steinman collaborator. One song from The Confidence Man, "Milady", was recorded by Barry Manilow, but never released. The melody of that song later appeared in Tanz der Vampire as the melody of "Für Sarah" (for Sarah). Some music from this show later appeared in the hit song "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", and in the score of the film A Small Circle of Friends. A cast album of the songs from The Confidence Man, produced by Jeff Olmstead, was released in 2003. A cabaret show featuring songs from The Confidence Man was presented in 1977 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, where Steinman had previously written music for another cabaret show called Bloodshot Wine. In 1977, a brief workshop was held for a work-in-progress musical called Neverland. Adapted largely from the Steinman/Keating source material developed for the Dream Engine, it also loosely sourced material from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. While preparing the show, Steinman and Meat Loaf, who were touring with the National Lampoon show, felt that three songs were "exceptional" and Steinman began to develop them as part of a seven-song set they wanted to record as an album. The three songs were "Bat Out of Hell", "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Formation of the Pack", which was retitled "All Revved Up With No Place to Go." The show also contained Steinman's "Bolero" (a.k.a. "Great Bolero's of Fire") which was later used at many live shows featuring Steinman work. Jim Steinman originally wanted Kim Milford to sing the album Bat Out of Hell, but later changed his mind. Steinman and Meat Loaf had immense difficulty finding a record company willing to sign them. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975, and two and a half years, auditioning Bat Out of Hell and being rejected. CBS executive Clive Davis even claimed that Steinman knew nothing about writing, or rock music in general. Recording started in 1976 in Bearsville, near Woodstock. After numerous further rejections, the album was released by Cleveland International Records in October 1977. The album was an immediate success in Australia and the United Kingdom, and later in the United States. Reports vary as to how many copies of the album have been sold, but in 2007, Cleveland International Records founder Steve Popovich said that it was around 40 million copies. The highest-charting song from the album was "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Charts. In 1979, the Freeway Records label made a 2-L.P. compilation album called L.A. Radio. It was not commercially released, but promo copies were distributed. It included a spoken word segment called "Shadows on the Freeway", written and recited by Steinman. It later appeared on the 1981 album Dead Ringer with a new title, "Nocturnal Pleasure". Parts of it can also be heard at the beginning of the 1989 music video, directed by Ken Russell, for the first release of the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". Steinman wrote the theme music for the 1979 National Lampoon sitcom Delta House. Sean Kelly and Tony Hendra wrote the lyrics. Michael Simmons sang the lead vocal. The music from this later appeared on the song "Dead Ringer for Love". In 1980, the film A Small Circle of Friends was released. It had an orchestral score composed by Steinman, and orchestrated by his frequent collaborator Steve Margoshes. The motifs of this orchestral score match the melodies of numerous songs Steinman later released, including "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" and "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire. Early in the production of a follow-up album to Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf developed vocal problems and was unable to continue on the project. Steinman proceeded with the album, released as Bad for Good in 1981. Most songs are sung by Steinman himself. Three of the songs are sung by Rory Dodd, who did not receive a clear indication for his work in the album's credits, and Karla DeVito sings a duet part on one song. Steinman was this time credited as co-producer with Todd Rundgren for all but one track. Steinman was credited as co-producer with Jimmy Iovine for the song "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through". Meat Loaf again recorded songs by Steinman on the album Dead Ringer (1981). All of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. One of the songs, "More Than You Deserve", was previously released. Stephan Galfas was the primary producer for this album. Steinman's role in this album was less than his role in Bad for Good. The highest-charting song on this album was "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with Cher, and the album reached No. 1 on the album charts in the United Kingdom. Steinman is credited as music producer of every selection on Bonnie Tyler's album Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). Steinman also wrote and composed two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night", the album's title selection. For a period in 1983, two songs written and produced by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", performed by Air Supply, at number two. The second of those appeared on Air Supply's 1983 compilation albums Greatest Hits and Making Love... The Very Best of Air Supply. On the inner cover of the album, Steinman is also credited with being the "seductive female voice" speaking the words "I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that" on the song "Getting so Excited", the same words that would later become the title of a hit single Steinman wrote for Meat Loaf which was released ten years later. Barry Manilow's compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. II (1983) included the song "Read 'Em and Weep", written, composed, and produced by Steinman. It had appeared on Meat Loaf's Dead Ringer album in 1981, but with a slightly different lyric. The song stayed at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for eight consecutive weeks. In 1983, Ian Hunter released his album All of the Good Ones Are Taken. On the title selection, "All of the Good Ones Are Taken", Steinman is credited with "assistance". Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer, two singers who often sang on Steinman's studio work, were credited with "additional background vocals." In 1984, the film Streets of Fire was released. The soundtrack included two songs written, composed, and produced by Steinman. They are "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" and "Nowhere Fast." The performance of these two songs is credited to "Fire Incorporated", which was a reference to an assembly of studio musicians and singers hired for these two songs. The voices heard on these songs include those of Rory Dodd, Holly Sherwood, and Laurie Sargent. Steinman is credited for producing all the selections on Billy Squier's album Signs of Life (1984), and Barbra Streisand's album of the same year, Emotion, featured "Left in the Dark", which Steinman wrote, composed and produced. The song had previously appeared on Bad for Good. The soundtrack for the 1984 film Footloose included the song "Holding Out for a Hero", performed by Bonnie Tyler. Steinman produced the selection and is credited with composing the music, and Dean Pitchford, who had written the film itself directly for the screen, for writing the lyrics. The song was a hit single, the soundtrack album was successful, and the film was successful. Some of the music from this song was adapted from the music used for the song "Stark Raving Love" from the album Bad for Good. In 1984, Steinman was hired by and worked briefly with the rock band Def Leppard on some tracks that were intended for a Def Leppard album. However, Steinman was fired, and the recording work he made with the band was not released. The next album Def Leppard released after this, Hysteria, was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Jim Steinman wrote a song called "Vaults of Heaven" which has the same melody as "Milady" from The Confidence Man and "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire. Rory Dodd sang a demo of this "Vaults of Heaven" in 1984. That demo has been in circulation among fans on the internet. In 1985, Steinman wrote, composed, and produced a theme song for WWF performer Hulk Hogan. It was released in 1985 on an album called The Wrestling Album. The selection was recorded during the recording sessions for Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire, an album that Bonnie Tyler was then recording, and which Steinman also produced. The selection has no lead vocals, and it matches much of the non-vocal parts of the track of "Ravishing" that appeared on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track was also heard as the theme music on the animated television show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Steinman produced the track "Love Can Make You Cry", written by Michael Kehr, Don Kehr and Ian Hunter, for the soundtrack album for the 1986 film Iron Eagle. This was a modified version of the original recording of the same song, which had appeared on Urgent's 1985 album Cast The First Stone. The original recording had been produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. According to Steinman in an interview, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached him to write lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera because Lloyd Webber felt that his "dark obsessive side" fit in with the project. However, Steinman declined in order to fulfill his commitments to a Bonnie Tyler album. In 1986, the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was released. Bonnie Tyler sang lead vocals, and Steinman produced all the selections on the album. Four of the songs on the album were written and/or composed by Steinman. One, "Holding Out for a Hero", was the same track from the Footloose soundtrack. The other three were "Ravishing", "Rebel Without a Clue" and "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It", a duet with Todd Rundgren. This album was the first time Steinman worked with Steven Rinkoff, who was a recording engineer on this album. Since this album, the two have been co-producers and regular professional partners on Steinman's work. In 1987, the Sisters of Mercy released their second album Floodland. The track "This Corrosion" was produced by Steinman, and the track "Dominion/Mother Russia" was co-produced by Steinman, along with Larry Alexander and Andrew Eldritch. The soundtrack album for the 1989 film Rude Awakening included two tracks produced by Steinman. One was the song "Rude Awakening", with lead vocals by Bill Medley and was written by Rick Rose and Paul Rothchild. The other, "Darling Be Home Soon," which featured lead vocals by Phoebe Snow, had been written, composed and originated by John Sebastian. In 1989, the album Original Sin was released. The album artist name is Pandora's Box. Pandora's Box referred to a group assembled by Steinman, including, officially, four female singers and Steinman himself. The official four female singers were Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor and Deliria Wilde (with Holly Sherwood doing lead vocals on "Good Girls Go to Heaven"). Gina Taylor, who also uses the names Gina Taylor-Pickens and Gina Taylor Pickens, was in the group Musique, including the 1978 hit single "In The Bush". There have been conflicting reports about whether or not Deliria Wilde existed. Elaine Caswell has said in an interview that Deliria Wilde did not exist. Deliria Wilde might have been a pseudonym for Holly Sherwood. Sales in Europe were low. The album was successful and reached No. 1 on the album charts in South Africa. It was not released at all in North America. Years later, it was reissued and became available all over the world on compact disc. Original Sin included the original recording of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", sung by Elaine Caswell. Two songs from this album "It Just Won't Quit" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" were re-recorded and released on . Jim Steinman's lyric for "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be" plagiarized Ray Errol Fox's lyric for "New Orleans is Comin' For Me", from the musical The Confidence Man. The copyright registration and credits for "New Orleans Is Comin' For Me" say that Steinman wrote the music and Ray Errol Fox wrote the lyric. The copyright registration and credits list Jim Steinman as the sole writer of "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be". The lyric of "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be" copies seventeen words from the lyric of "New Orleans Is Comin' For Me". The seventeen words are "sons and daughters", "got a hold of me", "are pulling me forward", and "tears are washing over me". In the late 1980s, Jim Steinman was working on an adaptation of the 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise by writer and director Brian De Palma. Steinman made demos for this project. His demos include Rory Dodd singing Making Love Out of Nothing at All, with an extra verse not heard in the Air Supply recording, and include a 1980s recording of "Who Needs The Young?". In the late 1980s, Jim Steinman was preparing to produce an album for ELO Part II, a spin-off of the group Electric Light Orchestra. Steinman made a demo of Rory Dodd singing the song "Kiss Me Red" by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. ELO Part II released their album Electric Light Orchestra Part Two in 1990, without Steinman producing. Eric Troyer, a frequent background vocalist on Steinman productions, sang the lead vocal on ELO Part II's released recording of "Kiss Me Red". With Andrew Eldritch, Steinman co-wrote and co-produced the track "More" for the album Vision Thing (1990) by the group the Sisters of Mercy. Around 1992, Steinman worked with the punk band Iron Prostate, which featured guitarist and writer George Tabb. The group reportedly dissolved while working with Steinman on what was to be their second album. Tabb's website has shared a recording of the song "Bring Me The Head of Jerry Garcia", with Steinman credited as executive producer. The song's lyric says of Jerry Garcia, "he plays guitar like diarrhea". After a series of financial and legal disputes during the 1980s, Steinman and Meat Loaf met at the singer's house in Connecticut at Christmas 1989 or 1990 and sang Bat out of Hell on piano. Steinman says that "working together again seemed like the cool thing to do." In 1993, the album was released. Steinman wrote all the songs, and was credited as producer and arranger. Steven Rinkoff was, as usual, credited as co-producer, and others received co-producer credits. The album was successful, reaching the peak position on album charts in many countries. The album had three top 40 singles, with "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" reaching the peak position on pop singles charts in 28 countries. The other top 40 singles from this album were "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" and "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are". "Original Sin", the eponymous song on the 1989 Pandora's Box album, featured on the soundtrack album for the film The Shadow (1994). The lyric on this release was slightly different from that heard on the original release of this song. Steinman also produced this version, with lead vocals by Taylor Dayne. In 1995, the band Watershed released the album Twister. Steinman was executive producer for the album, and Steinman's partner Steven Rinkoff was producer for all but one track of it. The album consisted of songs written by the band members. In 1995, Bonnie Tyler released the album Free Spirit, featuring two tracks produced and written by Steinman. They were dance versions of the past hits "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All". Steinman, along with Brothers in Rhythm and David James, with Steven Rinkoff as associate producer and engineer, co-produced the song "Never Forget". It was written by Gary Barlow, for the British group Take That. It was released on the album Nobody Else (1995) and reached the No. 1 position on the UK singles chart. Like many Steinman/Rinkoff productions, it featured programming and keyboard work by Jeff Bova. Celine Dion's album Falling Into You (1996) included the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", written and produced by Steinman. He also produced, but not authored, two other songs on the album: "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man". "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts and won Steinman the award for BMI song of the year. That award is given for the song, out of all those represented in the BMI catalog, that receives the most radio airplay in a particular year. This album as a whole won two 1997 Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Album and for Album of the Year. Steinman also produced the track "Us", written by Billy Pace, for Dion's album Let's Talk About Love (1997). Steinman's production team prepared a recording of the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred" for that album, but it was removed shortly before the album's release. A recording of Dion singing the song was leaked and has been shared on fan websites. Steinman produced two tracks for films in the late 1990s. He produced "In the Dark of the Night", written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, for the soundtrack album of the film Anastasia (1997). He also produced "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" (music by James Horner, lyric by Will Jennings) for the film The Mask of Zorro (1998). Lead vocals were a duet between Tina Arena and Marc Anthony, and the track also appeared on Tina Arena's album In Deep (1997). No later than 1996, Steinman worked on a movie musical called Bat Out of Hell 2100. This was a predecessor to Bat Out of Hell The Musical, and it built upon the storyline of Steinman's Neverland musical from the 1970s. This movie was not made, although a movie based on Bat Out of Hell The Musical might someday be made. A script for Bat Out of Hell 2100 was leaked, and has been available among fans on the internet. Steinman also made demos for Bat Out of Hell 2100. Those include Kyle Gordon a.k.a. Scarpia singing "All Revved Up With No Place To Go" with an alternate lyric, Ellen Foley singing a song called "City Night", and Marcus Lovett singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart". "City Night" incorporates material from "Come With Me" from Tanz der Vampire and Dance of the Vampires, which uses the melody from "New Orleans is Comin' To Me" from The Confidence Man and "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be". Recordings of all three of those demos have been leaked and circulated among fans on the internet. Steinman provided lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Whistle Down the Wind, which opened in Washington, D.C. in December 1996. However, it received poor reviews and the Broadway run, scheduled for the following April, was cancelled. A reworked and more successful West End production opened at the Aldwych Theatre on July 1, 1998. In addition to a full-length cast album for the London production, an album was released of well-known performers singing pop versions of the songs from the show. This album was produced by Steinman, as usual with Steven Rinkoff. Those performers include Tom Jones, Tina Arena, Boyzone, Elaine Paige, Donny Osmond, The Everly Brothers, Meat Loaf, Boy George, Sounds of Blackness, Bonnie Tyler, Michael Ball, and Lottie Mayor. One track, "No Matter What" performed by Boyzone, reached the peak position on the pop charts in many countries. The same track appeared on a Boyzone album and their greatest hits album. As of 2019, Boyzone's 1998 recording of "No Matter What" is the most recent new song or project written at least in part by Steinman, or to contain any new work of his at all, to achieve major, chart-topping success. The track "Whistle Down the Wind", performed by Tina Arena, from the same album, also had some chart success. There was also a single released in the U.K., for charity, of children from Red Hill Primary School and Sylvia Young Theatre School performing "When Children Rule The World". The singers were called the "Red Hill Children", and the single peaked at #40 on the U.K. singles charts. Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), opened in Vienna, Austria on October 4, 1997. The show was adapted from Roman Polanski's movie The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), and initially directed by Polanski himself. It won six International musical awards, at the International Musical Award Germany (IMAGE 1998), in Düsseldorf. There have also been translated productions of Tanz der Vampire in Estonia, Poland, Finland, Hungary and Japan. Many of the various productions of Tanz der Vampire have had cast recordings released, some of them produced by Steinman, along with other co- producers. Like much of Steinman's work, the show includes adaptation (or, recycling) of material Steinman had released before. This includes the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", the melody of "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are", and many other parts of earlier works. Ten previously released Steinman songs were included on the 2-disc compilation album The Very Best of Meat Loaf (1998). The included recording of the song "Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" was a new remix made by Steinman's production team. The compilation also included three new recordings of songs co-written by Steinman, all three of which he produced. They include the hybrid track "Home By Now/No Matter What" and "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" from Whistle Down the Wind. Also included is the song "Is Nothing Sacred", on which Steinman wrote music for Don Black's lyrics. In 2000, South African black singer Jennifer Jones sang at the World Aids Day concert. Jones performed "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be". The World Aids Day concert was broadcast worldwide. For many people around the world, this was the first or only time they ever heard that song. In 2001, the box set Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever was released. It included a recording, produced by Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and also co-produced by Steven Rinkoff and Nigel Wright, of the Steinman/Webber song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste", from Whistle Down the Wind. It was credited to The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra, which was an unrealized performance project idea. Kyle Gordon, a.k.a. "Scarpia", a singer on many demo recordings for Steinman, sang the lead vocal. Around 2001, Steinman was working with singer Karine Hannah. Plans to make an album with her were eventually abandoned. Demo recordings of Hannah singing four songs by Steinman were leaked to fans and have since been available on numerous fan sites. The songs on these demos are "Safe Sex", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", "Is Nothing Sacred" and "Braver Than We Are". Steinman also recorded her voice on a demo of "Catwoman's Song", which recycled parts of the Steinman/Eldritch song "More". This demo was part of Steinman's preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical. He shared it with fans through a website. In 2002, Russell Watson released the album Encore. It included the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred". Steinman had originally worked on his production of this song with Watson on lead vocals. Composed by Michael Reed and Steinman, with a script by Warner Brown, Garbo – the Musical, about the life of the late screen idol Greta Garbo, opened in Sweden to poor reviews in 2002. Preparation for a stage musical based on the Batman comic book series began early in the decade, with Steinman working on the music and lyrics. In August 2002, the New York Post reported that Warner Bros. signed Tim Burton to direct. According to an unnamed source Burton was attracted to the project because it was as dark as his 1989 film Batman rather than "the goofy, campy turn the franchise took with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, both of which were directed by Joel Schumacher.". Steinman said about Burton and the project, "It's more like his first two movies than any of the other movies. It's very dark and gothic, but really wildly funny. It was my dream that he do this." However, Warner Bros. cancelled its plans to cast and stage the show. Steinman has since shared some of the song demos from the show via the Dream Pollution website. The Dream Engine has, according to its website and MySpace page, also worked on recordings of some of the songs that were in the show. That includes the songs "We're Still The Children We Were Then" and "Not Allowed To Love". Steinman was executive producer for the 2003 MTV television film Wuthering Heights. He has cited Brontë's novel, which had inspired "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", as one of his favorites. A limited- release six-track soundtrack CD was sold through MTV, on Steinman and Rinkoff's Ravenous Records label. Jim Steinman is credited as producer for the album and most of its tracks, and Steven Rinkoff is credited with recording, mixing and co-production. That album includes a simple recording of the Steinman/Eldritch song "More" with actors Mike Vogel and Erika Christensen performing lead vocals. It also includes the first-ever release of the song "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)", written by Steinman, with lead vocals by Mike Vogel. The album also has a version of "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" by Jim Steinman with lead vocals from Erika Christensen. In 2002, the Opera Babes released the album Beyond Imagination. Steinman produced the track "Vittoria!", adapted from the Giuseppe Verdi opera Aida. Steven Rinkoff was credited with co-production, recording and mixing. Like many Steinman productions, it includes work by electronic-music arranger and programmer Jeff Bova. Steinman was also credited as arranger, along with Jeff Bova and Jon Cohen. In 2004, the film Shrek 2 was released, along with a soundtrack album. The album has two dance covers of the Steinman/Pitchford song "Holding Out for a Hero", one with vocals by Jennifer Saunders and the other credited to Frou Frou. In 2005, The Everly Brothers released a limited edition album called . This album included the song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste", written and produced by Steinman. The recording on that album was made in 1987, during the recording sessions that ended up being the 1989 album Some Hearts. However, the Steinman song was not released until 2005. This song is different from the song with the same title in Whistle Down the Wind. The two songs with this title share only a few words and no music in common, with the Everly Brothers version containing musical motifs recycled from the Steinman song "Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)". A demo recording of this song, with Rory Dodd singing lead vocals, has for many years been in circulation among fan websites. Steinman also wrote a later incarnation of "A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste", with partly different music and a partly different lyric. Steinman made a recording of this later incarnation with Gina Taylor, a.k.a. Gina Taylor-Pickens or Gina Taylor Pickens, singing the lead vocal. That recording was most likely made when the Pandora's Box album Original Sin was made, in the late 1980s, and has been in circulation among fans on the internet. A separate and very different show from Tanz der Vampire, Dance of the Vampires opened on Broadway on October 16, 2002. After the original director left the show, it was directed by John Rando, who joined very shortly before the opening. The book was written by David Ives and was notable for the large number of jokes, many of which had a silly or vulgar quality to them. Whereas Tanz had been a "sung-through" musical with no breaks in the music (like an opera), Dance of the Vampires was a humorous spoken play with songs inserted at some parts. The reviews tended to be very negative. It closed on January 25, 2003 after 61 preview and 56 regular performances. Financially, it was very unsuccessful and lost roughly $17 million. Steinman did not attend the opening night to show his disgust with the show. In his blog, Steinman also described the show as "DOTV, which you guys know I hated & was disgusted by, & was FIRED by my manager, acting as producer!" The manager he was referring to was David Sonenberg, who was one of the producers of the show and Steinman's longtime manager. During the concerts in his Hair of the Dog tour, Meat Loaf told the audience that he and Steinman would be releasing a new album. Later, Meat Loaf said that "lawyers worked for over a year putting together a contract for Steinman to do Bat Out of Hell III. It was one of the best producer's contracts in the history of the record business." According to Meat Loaf, the composer had suffered some health setbacks, including a heart attack. Ultimately, according to the singer, Steinman was not well enough to work on such an intense project. However, Steinman's manager refuted this version, saying that Steinman's "health is excellent" and although he had some "meaningful health problems about four years ago... he's been totally healthy the last couple of years... that's not the reason he didn't participate in [Bat III]". Produced by Desmond Child, was released in October 2006. It has fourteen songs, seven of which were written by Steinman; five of these were covers of songs already released on other albums. The other two were adapted from Steinman's demos of songs that were intended for musical theater projects. Steinman's demo of "In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King", with Rob Evan singing lead vocal, was part of the preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical project. Steinman's demo of "Cry to Heaven", with Kyle Gordon singing lead vocal, was intended for the possibility that Steinman would provide songs for a musical based on the film Cry-Baby. Cry- Baby has since been staged, but without any work from Steinman. In 2006, the album's title became the subject of a legal battle between Steinman and Meat Loaf. Steinman had registered a trademark on the title "Bat Out of Hell" in 1995, and sought to prevent Meat Loaf from using the title. Meat Loaf sought to cancel Steinman's trademark and use the title. Aside from the trademark case, he sued Steinman and longtime manager David Sonenberg for $50 million each, for a total of $100 million. An out-of-court settlement was reached, ending the legal cases, allowing Meat Loaf to use the title for this album, and allowing Meat Loaf to release his recordings of the songs "In the Land of the Pig the Butcher Is King" and "Cry to Heaven". The agreement allowed Steinman to use the title "Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell" for a musical theatre project based on the songs from Bat Out of Hell. This project was announced for opening on February 17, 2017 in Manchester. In 2006, Westlife released The Love Album. It contained a cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", produced by Steve Mac. A remix with an added intro, presumably done by Steinman, Rinkoff, and Bova, has leaked and been in circulation among fan sites. First publicly presented in early 2006, Steinman and Steven Rinkoff created a music performance group called The Dream Engine. The group has worked on studio recordings and held live shows in New York City. It also performed at an award show in Atlanta, Georgia. The people in this project were the first ever to publicly perform the songs "What Part of My Body Hurts the Most", "We're Still the Children We Once Were", "Speaking in Tongues", "Not Allowed to Love" and "(It Hurts) Only When I Feel". The last of those songs is partly adapted from "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)". This project was also the first to perform a revised and politicized lyric to "Braver Than We Are". With the new lyric, the song has alternatively been called "An American Elegy" and "God's Gone A.W.O.L.". According to Steinman's blog, this project was "guided" by Steven Rinkoff. This project has not performed or been active in public since 2006. In January 2012, it was announced that Steinman was working with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame on a heavy metal version of The Nutcracker. In February of the same year, it was announced that he would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 14. On April 10, 2012, Amherst College announced that Steinman would receive an honorary degree at the college's 191st commencement on May 20. However, honorary degrees are awarded only in person, and Steinman "had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances". On April 17, 2013, the college announced that Steinman would speak at a "conversation" on campus that will be open to the public on May 25, and would receive an honorary degree, a doctorate of humane letters, at the college's 192nd commencement on May 26. In April 2013, Meat Loaf said that he and Steinman will collaborate on three new songs to be included on Meat Loaf's album Braver Than We Are, which was (at the time) to be released in 2015. In 2016, Jim Steinman was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Meat Loaf's album Braver Than We Are was released on September 9, 2016 in Europe and on September 16, 2016 in North America. It contains ten songs composed by Steinman. Jim Steinman wrote either nothing or almost nothing specifically for this album. Paul Crook produced this album. Like Desmond Child's , this album was made separately from the production team of Jim Steinman and Steven Rinkoff. Rob Evan was the first singer to perform the songs "Only When I Feel" and "Speaking in Tongues", in 2005 and 2006. The track "Going All The Way" is a mixture of some previously released material, some previously leaked material, and a little bit of material neither previously released nor previously leaked. Part of "Going All The Way" is in the song "Braver Than We Are/Say A Prayer" from Dance of the Vampires. Part of it is in a leaked demo of Karine Hannah singing, called "Braver Than We Are". A small minority of it is not in the leaked demo of Karine Hannah singing or in Dance of the Vampires. "Loving You's A Dirty Job (But Somebody's Got To Do It)" is a cover of the released recording of Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren. "More" is a cover of the released recording of The Sisters of Mercy. The tracks "Who Needs The Young", "Souvenirs", "Godz", "Skull of Your Country", and "Train of Love" are all covers of unreleased recordings that Steinman made in the 1970s. Recordings from the 1970s of all of those songs have been in circulation among fans on the internet. In February 2017, Steinman's Bat Out of Hell The Musical opened for previews at the Manchester Opera House in Manchester, England, before officially premiering at the same venue, then continuing on to the London Coliseum in June. This musical was based on multiple projects, including Steinman's Neverland musical from the 1970s, the hit albums Bat Out of Hell, , and on assorted other recordings from Steinman's career. This musical did not contain any songs that were not released or performed in public by the Summer of the year 2006. The musical has since gone on to Toronto, before finishing in January 2018 to make a return to London in 2018, this time the Dominion Theatre and as well as gearing up for a German version of the show, which is also to be launched in Autumn 2018 in Oberhausen's Metronom Theatre. Steinman had also set an American tour of the musical to take place starting in late 2018 through 2019 but it was cancelled after its 3-week run in the first city Toronto was complete. The musical began a limited 6 week run in New York City's City Center Theatre from August 1 - September 8, 2019. In 2017, Velvet Valve Records was preparing to release music with Karine Hannah singing. In March of 2017, Velvet Valve Records digitally released a recording of Hannah singing "Braver Than We Are". This recording is different from the recording of Hannah singing "Braver Than We Are" from the early 2000s. Plans to release an album with Hannah after the single, possibly to be called Renegade Angel, were abandoned. Dream Pollution web site, Jim Steinman's blog, The Dream Engine official site Steinmania – Features the 1969 Recording of the Dream Engine Meat Loaf (Michael Lee Aday, born Marvin Lee Aday, September 27, 1947) is an American singer and actor. He is noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and for his theatrical live shows. Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell trilogy of albums—Bat Out of Hell, , and —has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. More than 40 years after its release, Bat Out of Hell still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums in history. After the commercial success of Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, and earning a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song "I'd Do Anything for Love", Meat Loaf nevertheless experienced some difficulty establishing a steady career within the United States. This did not stop him from becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records. The key to this success was his retention of iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the United Kingdom, where he received the 1994 Brit Award for best-selling album and single, appeared in the 1997 film Spice World, and ranks 23rd for the number of weeks spent on the UK charts, He ranks 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock". Sometimes credited as Meat Loaf Aday, he has also appeared in over 50 movies and television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable film roles include Eddie in [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]] (1975), and Robert "Bob" Paulson in [[Fight Club]] (1999). His early stage work included dual roles in the original cast of [[The Rocky Horror Show]], and he was also in the musical [[Hair (musical)|Hair]], both [[Broadway theatre|on-]] and [[off-Broadway]]. Marvin Lee Aday was born in [[Dallas|Dallas, Texas]], the only child of Wilma Artie (née Hukel), a school teacher and a member of the Vo-di-o-do Girls gospel quartet, and Orvis Wesley Aday, a former police officer who went into business with his wife and one of their friends as the Griffin Grocery Company, selling a homemade cough remedy. His father was an alcoholic who would go on [[binge drinking|drinking binges]] for days at a time; this had started after he was invalided out of the army during World War II, hit with shrapnel from a mortar explosion. Aday and his mother would drive around to all the bars in Dallas, looking for Orvis to take him home. As a result, Aday often stayed with his grandmother, Charlsee Norrod. Meat Loaf relates a story in his autobiography, [[Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back|To Hell and Back]], about how he, a friend, and his friend's father drove out to [[Dallas Love Field|Love Field]] on [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|November 22, 1963]] to watch [[John F. Kennedy]] land. After watching him leave the airport, they went to Market Hall, which was on Kennedy's parade route. On the way, they heard that Kennedy had been shot, so they headed to [[Parkland Hospital]], where they saw [[Jackie Kennedy]] get out of the car and [[Governor of Texas|Governor]] [[John Connally]] get pulled out, although they did not see the president taken out. In 1965, Aday graduated from [[Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas)|Thomas Jefferson High School]], having already started his acting career via school productions such as [[Where's Charley?]] and [[The Music Man]]. After attending college at [[Lubbock Christian University|Lubbock Christian College]], he transferred to North Texas State University (now the [[University of North Texas]]). After he received his inheritance from his mother's death, he rented an apartment in Dallas and isolated himself for three and a half months. Eventually, a friend found him. A short time later, Aday went to the airport and caught the next flight leaving. The plane took him to [[Los Angeles]]. In Los Angeles, Aday formed his first band, "Meat Loaf Soul", after a nickname coined by his football coach because of his weight. During the recording of their first song, he hit a note so high that he managed to blow a fuse on the recording monitor. He was immediately offered three recording contracts, which he turned down. Meat Loaf Soul's first gig was in [[Huntington Beach, California|Huntington Beach]] in 1968 at the Cave, opening for [[Van Morrison]]'s band [[Them (band)|Them]], and [[Question Mark and the Mysterians]]. While performing their cover of the [[Howlin' Wolf]] song "[[Smokestack Lightning]]", the smoke machine they used made too much smoke and the club had to be cleared out. Later, the band was the opening act at [[California State University, Northridge|Cal State Northridge]] for [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]], [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]], and [[Janis Joplin]]. The band then underwent several changes of lead guitarists, changing the name of the band each time. The new names included Popcorn Blizzard and Floating Circus. As Floating Circus, they opened for [[the Who]], [[the Fugs]], [[the Stooges]], [[MC5]], [[Grateful Dead]], and [[the Grease Band]]. Their regional success led them to release a single, "Once Upon a Time", backed with "Hello". Then Meat Loaf joined the Los Angeles production of the musical [[Hair (musical)|Hair]]. During an interview with New Zealand radio station [[ZM (New Zealand)|ZM]], Meat Loaf stated that the biggest life struggle he had to overcome was not being taken seriously in the music industry. He compared his treatment to that of a "circus clown". With the publicity generated from [[Hair (musical)|Hair]], Meat Loaf was invited to record with [[Motown]]. They suggested he do a duet with [[Shaun Murphy (singer)|Shaun "Stoney" Murphy]], who had performed with him in Hair, to which he agreed. The Motown production team in charge of the album wrote and selected the songs while Meat Loaf and Stoney came in only to lay down their vocals. The album, titled [[Stoney & Meatloaf]] (with Meat Loaf misspelled as one word) was completed in the summer of 1971 and released in September of that year. A single released in advance of the album, "What You See Is What You Get", reached number thirty-six on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart (the same chart is now titled [[Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs]]) and seventy-one on the [[Billboard Hot 100|Billboard Hot 100]] chart. To support their album, Meat Loaf and Stoney toured with [[Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers]], opening for [[Richie Havens]], [[the Who]], [[the Stooges]], [[Bob Seger]], [[Alice Cooper]], and [[Rare Earth (band)|Rare Earth]]. Meat Loaf left soon after Motown replaced his and Stoney's vocals from the one song he liked, "Who Is the Leader of the People?" with new vocals by [[Edwin Starr]]. The album has been re-released after Meat Loaf's success, with Stoney's vocals removed. Meat Loaf's version of "Who Is the Leader of the People?" was released; however, the album failed. In December 1972, Meat Loaf was in the original [[off-Broadway]] production of Rainbow at the Orpheum Theatre in New York. After the tour, Meat Loaf rejoined the cast of Hair, this time on [[Broadway theater|Broadway]]. After he hired an agent, he auditioned for the [[Public Theater]]'s production of [[More Than You Deserve]]. During the audition Meat Loaf met his future collaborator [[Jim Steinman]]. He sang a former Stoney and Meatloaf favorite of his, "(I'd Love to Be) As Heavy as Jesus", and subsequently got the part of Rabbit, a maniac that blows up his fellow soldiers so they can "go home." [[Ron Silver]] and [[Fred Gwynne]] were also in the show. In the summer between the show's workshop production (April 1973) and full production (Nov 1973 - Jan 1974), he appeared in a [[Shakespeare in the Park (New York City)|Shakespeare In The Park]] production of [[As You Like It]] with [[Raul Julia]] and [[Mary Beth Hurt]]. He recorded a single of "More Than You Deserve", with a [[cover version|cover]] of "[[Blind Faith (Blind Faith album)|Presence of the Lord]]" as the B-side. He was only able to save three copies of it, because the record company did not allow its release.. He recorded it again (1981) in a slightly rougher voice. The original single came out on RSO SO-407 with some promotional copies bearing both songs, while some were double-A side copies with "More Than You Deserve" in mono and stereo on them. In late 1973, Meat Loaf was cast in the original L.A. Roxy cast of [[The Rocky Horror Show]], playing the parts of Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott. Two other cast members from More Than You Deserve were also part of this cast; [[Graham Jarvis]] (playing The Narrator) and [[Kim Milford]] (playing Rocky). The success of the musical led to the filming of [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]] in which Meat Loaf played only Eddie, a decision he said made the movie not as good as the musical. About the same time, Meat Loaf and Steinman started work on [[Bat Out of Hell]]. Meat Loaf convinced [[Epic Records]] to shoot [[music video|videos]] for four songs, "[[Bat Out of Hell (song)|Bat Out of Hell]]", "[[Paradise by the Dashboard Light]]", "[[You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth]]", and "[[Two Out of Three Ain't Bad]]". He then convinced [[Lou Adler]], the producer of Rocky Horror, to run the "Paradise" video as a trailer to the movie. Meat Loaf's final theatrical show in New York was [[Gower Champion]]'s [[Rockabye Hamlet]], a [[Hamlet]] musical. It closed two weeks into its initial run. Meat Loaf later returned occasionally to perform "[[Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul]]" for a special Rocky Horror reunion or convention, and rarely at his own live shows (one performance of which was released in the 1996 [[Live Around the World (Meat Loaf album)|Live Around the World]] CD set). During his recording of the soundtrack for Rocky Horror, Meat Loaf recorded two more songs: "[[Stand by Me (Ben E. King song)|Stand by Me]]" (a [[Ben E. King]] cover), and "Clap Your Hands". They remained unreleased until 1984, when they appeared as B-sides to the "[[Nowhere Fast (song)|Nowhere Fast]]" single. In 1976, Meat Loaf recorded lead vocals for [[Ted Nugent]]'s album [[Free-for-All (Ted Nugent album)|Free-for-All]] when regular Nugent lead vocalist [[Derek St. Holmes]] temporarily quit the band. Meat Loaf sang lead on five of the album's nine tracks. As on the "Stoney & Meatloaf" album, he was credited as Meatloaf (one word) on the "Free-for-All" liner notes. Meat Loaf and Steinman started [[Bat Out of Hell]] in 1972, but did not get serious about it until the end of 1974. Meat Loaf decided to leave theatre, and concentrate exclusively on music. Then the [[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]] show [[Lemmings (National Lampoon)|Lemmings]] opened on Broadway and it needed an understudy for [[John Belushi]], a close friend of Meat Loaf since 1972. It was at the Lampoon show that Meat Loaf met [[Ellen Foley]], the co-star who sang "[[Paradise by the Dashboard Light]]" and "[[Bat Out of Hell (song)|Bat Out of Hell]]" with him on the album Bat Out of Hell. After the Lampoon show ended, Meat Loaf and Steinman spent time seeking a record deal. Their approaches were rejected by each record company, because their songs did not fit any specific recognized [[music industry]] style. Finally, they performed the songs for [[Todd Rundgren]], who decided to produce the album, as well as play lead guitar on it (other members of Rundgren's band [[Utopia (American band)|Utopia]] also lent their musical talents). They then shopped the record around, but still had no takers until [[Cleveland International Records]] decided to take a chance. In October 1977, Bat Out of Hell was finally released. Meat Loaf and Steinman formed the band [[Neverland Express|The Neverland Express]] to tour in support of Bat Out of Hell. Their first gig was opening for [[Cheap Trick]] in Chicago. He gained national exposure as musical guest on [[Saturday Night Live]] on March 25, 1978. Guest host [[Christopher Lee]] introduced him by saying, "And now ladies and gentlemen I would like you to meet Loaf. (pauses, looks dumbfounded) I beg your pardon, what? (he listens to the director's aside) Oh! Why...why I'm sorry, yes, of course...ah... Ladies and gentlemen, Meat Loaf!" Bat Out of Hell has sold an estimated 43 million copies globally (15 million of those in the United States), making it one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the United Kingdom alone, its 2.1 million sales put it in 38th place. Despite peaking at No. 9 and spending only two weeks in the top ten in 1981, it has now clocked up 485 weeks on the [[UK Albums Chart]] (May 2015), a figure bettered only by Rumours by Fleetwood Mac—487 weeks. In Australia, it knocked the [[Bee Gees]] off the number No. 1 spot and went on to become the biggest-selling Australian album of all time. Bat Out of Hell is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world, although the published chart contains just 75 positions. In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared in the short-lived Broadway production of the rock musical [[Rockabye Hamlet]]. Steinman started to work on [[Bad for Good]], the album that was supposed to be the follow-up to 1977's Bat out of Hell, in 1979. During that time, a combination of touring, drugs and exhaustion had caused Meat Loaf to lose his voice. Without a singer, and pressured by the record company, Steinman decided that he should sing on Bad for Good himself, and write a new album for Meat Loaf; the result was [[Dead Ringer (album)|Dead Ringer]], which was later released in 1981, after the release of Steinman's Bad for Good. After playing the role of Travis Redfish in the movie [[Roadie (1980 film)|Roadie]], Meat Loaf's singing voice returned, and he started to work on his new album in 1980. Steinman had written five new songs which, in addition to the track "More Than You Deserve" (sung by Meat Loaf in the stage musical of the same name) and a reworked monologue, formed the album Dead Ringer, which was produced by Meat Loaf and Stephan Galfas, with backing tracks produced by [[Todd Rundgren]], Jimmy Iovine, and Steinman. (In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared on the track "Keeper Keep Us", from the Intergalactic Touring Band's self-titled album, produced by Galfas.) The song "[[Dead Ringer for Love]]" was the pinnacle of the album, and launched Meat Loaf to even greater success after it reached No. 5 in the United Kingdom and stayed in the charts for a surprising 19 weeks. [[Cher]] provided the lead female vocals in the song. A comedy/documentary movie was filmed to accompany the release of "Dead Ringer", written and produced by Meat Loaf's managers [[David Sonenberg]] and [[Al Dellentash]]. It featured Meat Loaf playing two roles: himself, and a Meat Loaf fan, 'Marvin'. Sonenberg persuaded [[CBS]] to advance money for the making of the movie, which was shown at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]] and won some favorable reviews. The album reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom, and three singles were released from the album: "Dead Ringer for Love" (with [[Cher]]), "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us", and "Read 'Em and Weep". Following a dispute with his former songwriter Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf was contractually obliged to release a new album. Struggling for time, and with, it seemed, no resolution to his arguments with Steinman on the horizon (eventually, Steinman sued Meat Loaf, who subsequently sued Steinman as well), he was forced to find songwriters wherever he could. The resulting album was [[Midnight at the Lost and Found]]. According to Meat Loaf, Steinman had given the songs "[[Total Eclipse of the Heart]]" and "[[Making Love Out of Nothing at All]]" to Meat Loaf for this album. However, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay for Steinman. This was hard luck for Meat Loaf, as [[Bonnie Tyler]]'s version of "Eclipse" and [[Air Supply]]'s version of "Making Love" topped the charts together, holding No. 1 and No. 2 for a period during 1983. Meat Loaf is credited with having been involved in the writing of numerous tracks on the album, including the title track, "Midnight at the Lost and Found". The title track still regularly forms part of Meat Loaf concerts, and was one of few 1980s songs to feature on the 1998 hit album [[The Very Best of Meat Loaf]]. This was Meat Loaf's final album to be released through [[Epic Records|Epic]]. It was also his last album release via [[Sony Music]] until 2011's "[[Hell In A Handbasket]]. On December 5, 1981, Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express were the musical guests for Saturday Night Live where he and former fellow Rocky Horror Picture Show actor [[Tim Curry]] performed a skit depicting a One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Later, Curry performed "The Zucchini Song" and Meat Loaf & the Neverland Express performed "Bat Out of Hell" and "Promised Land". In 1983, he released the self written [[Midnight at the Lost and Found]]. In 1984, Meat Loaf went to England to record the album [[Bad Attitude (album)|Bad Attitude]]; it was released that year. It features two songs by Steinman, both previously recorded. It was a minor success with a few commercially successful singles, the most successful being "[[Modern Girl (Meat Loaf song)|Modern Girl]]". The American release on RCA Records was in April 1985 and features a slightly different track list, as well as alternate mixes for some songs. The title track features a duet with [[the Who]]'s lead singer [[Roger Daltrey]]. "Modern Girl" was the first single taken from the album but was only a moderate success on the European Charts. In 1986 he and songwriter [[John Parr]] started recording a new album, [[Blind Before I Stop]]. In 1985, Meat Loaf took part in some comedy sketches in the UK, with [[Hugh Laurie]]. Meat Loaf also tried stand-up comedy, appearing several times in Connecticut. [[Blind Before I Stop]] was released in 1986. It features production, mixing, and general influence by [[Frank Farian]]. Meat Loaf gave songwriting another shot with this album and wrote three of the songs on the album. Released as a single (in the United Kingdom) was Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries, which was a duet with rock singer [[John Parr]]. Another single released in the United Kingdom was "Special Girl". According to Meat Loaf's 1998 autobiography, the album sold poorly because of its production. Meat Loaf would have preferred to cancel the project and wait to work with more Steinman material. However, the album gained a cult following over the years, with the songs "Execution Day" and "Standing on the Outside" as standout tracks on the record. "Standing on the Outside" was also featured during the third season of the 1980s television series [[Miami Vice]]; it was used several times during the episode titled "Forgive Us Our Debts" (first aired December 12, 1986). In the former [[Soviet Union|USSR]], this was the first Meat Loaf album officially permitted to be published, in connection with the beginning of the collapse of the [[Iron Curtain]]. The song Masculine was the only song from the record that was a live show mainstay from 1987 to 1992. He then omitted that song in favor of Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back, with the success of Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. Meat Loaf performed "Thrashin" for the soundtrack of the 1986 skateboarding film [[Thrashin' (film)|Thrashin']] (directed by [[David Winters (choreographer)|David Winters]] and starring [[Josh Brolin]]). Following the success of Meat Loaf's touring in the 1980s, he and Steinman began work during the Christmas of 1990 on the sequel to Bat Out of Hell. After two years, [[Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell]] was finished. The artist's then manager, Tommy Manzi, later told [[HitQuarters]] that music industry insiders were wholly unenthusiastic about the idea of a comeback, and considered the project "a joke". The immediate success of "Bat Out of Hell II" quickly proved any doubters wrong, with the album going on to sell over 15 million copies, and the single "[[I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)]]" reaching number one in 28 countries. Meat Loaf won the [[Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo]] in [[Grammy Awards of 1994|1994]] for "I'd Do Anything for Love". This song stayed at No. 1 in the United Kingdom charts for seven consecutive weeks. The single features a female vocalist who was credited only as "Mrs. Loud". Mrs. Loud was later identified as [[Lorraine Crosby]], a performer from England. Meat Loaf promoted the song with American vocalist [[Patti Russo]] who performed lead female vocals on tour with him. In Germany, Meat Loaf was commercially successful following the release of Bat Out of Hell II. Also in 1994, he sang the U.S. national anthem "[[The Star Spangled Banner]]" at the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game]]. He released the single "[[Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through]]", which reached No. 13 in the United States. In 1995, Meat Loaf released his seventh studio album, [[Welcome to the Neighbourhood]]. The album went platinum in the United States and the United Kingdom. It released three singles that hit the top 40, including [[I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)|I'd Lie for You]] (which reached No. 13 in the United States and No. 2 in the United Kingdom charts), and [[Not a Dry Eye in the House]] (which reached No. 7 in the UK charts). I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth) was a duet with [[Patti Russo]], who had been touring with Meat Loaf and singing on his albums since 1993. Of the twelve songs on the album, two are written by Steinman. Both are cover versions, the "Original Sin" from [[Pandora's Box (band)|Pandora's Box]]'s Original Sin album and "Left in the Dark" first appeared on Steinman's own Bad for Good as well as the 1984 album [[Emotion (Barbra Streisand album)|Emotion]] by [[Barbra Streisand]]. The video had a bigger budget than any of his previous videos. His other singles "I'd Lie for You" and "Not a Dry Eye in the House" were written by [[Diane Warren]]. In 1998, Meat Loaf released [[The Very Best of Meat Loaf]]. Although not reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom, it went platinum in December of that year, and was already platinum around the rest of the world just after its release. The album featured all of Meat Loaf's best-known songs, a few from his less popular albums from the 1980s, and three new songs. The music on the two Steinman songs was written and composed by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. The single from the album was "[[Is Nothing Sacred]]", written by Steinman with lyrics by [[Don Black (musician)|Don Black]]. The single version of this song is a duet with Patti Russo, whereas the album version is a solo song by Meat Loaf. The album did not feature any songs from his 1986 album Blind Before I Stop. In 2003, Meat Loaf released his album [[Couldn't Have Said It Better]]. Only for the third time in his career, Meat Loaf released an album without any songs written by Steinman (not counting live bonus tracks on special edition releases). Although Meat Loaf claimed that Couldn't Have Said It Better was "the most perfect album [he] did since Bat Out of Hell", it was not as commercially successful. The album was a minor commercial success worldwide and reached No. 4 in the UK charts, accompanied by a sellout world tour to promote the album and some of Meat Loaf's best selling singles. One such performance on his world tour was at Sydney's [[2003 NRL grand final]]. There were many writers for the album including Diane Warren and James Michael, who were both asked to contribute his 2006 album [[Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose]]. Diane Warren has written for Meat Loaf in the past with some commercially successful singles. James Michael had never written for Meat Loaf before and it was only his songs that were released as singles from the album. The album featured duets with Patti Russo and Meat Loaf's daughter [[Pearl Aday]]. From February 20 to 22, 2004, during an Australian tour, Meat Loaf performed with the [[Melbourne Symphony Orchestra]], titled [[Bat Out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra]]. The performance included the [[Australian Boys' Choir]] singing back-up on a Couldn't Have Said It Better track, "Testify". The show was released as a DVD and a CD called Meat Loaf and The Neverland Express featuring Patti Russo Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The CD had few edited songs from the concert on it. Meat Loaf sold out over 160 concerts during his 2005 tour, "Hair of the Dog". On November 17, 2003, during a performance at London's [[Wembley Arena]], on his Couldn't Have Said It Better tour, he collapsed of what was later diagnosed as [[Wolff- Parkinson-White syndrome]]. The following week, he underwent a surgical procedure intended to correct the problem. As a result, Meat Loaf's insurance agency did not allow him to perform for any longer than one hour and 45 minutes. As well as singing his best known songs, Meat Loaf sang a cover version of the hit single "[[Black Betty]]". During this tour he also sang "Only When I Feel", a song meant to appear on his then-upcoming album Bat Out of Hell III. The song subsequently turned into "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)". [[File:Meat Loaf Birmingham NEC 2007.jpg|250px|right|thumb|On stage at Birmingham's NEC arena, 2007]] Meat Loaf and Steinman had begun to work on the third installment of Bat Out of Hell when Steinman suffered some health setbacks, including a heart attack. According to Meat Loaf, Steinman was too ill to work on such an intense project while Steinman's manager said health was not an issue. Steinman had registered the phrase "Bat Out of Hell" as a trademark in 1995. In May 2006, Meat Loaf sued Steinman and his manager in federal District Court in Los Angeles, seeking $50 million and an injunction against Steinman's use of the phrase. Steinman and his representatives attempted to block the album's release. An agreement was reached in July 2006. According to Virgin, "the two came to an amicable agreement that ensured that Jim Steinman's music would be a continuing part of the 'Bat Out of Hell' legacy." Denying reports in the press over the years of a rift between Meat Loaf and Steinman, Meat Loaf told [[Dan Rather]] that he and Steinman never stopped talking, and that the lawsuits reported in the press were between lawyers and managers, and not between Meat Loaf and Steinman. The album was released on October 31, 2006, and was produced by [[Desmond Child]]. The first single from the album "[[It's All Coming Back to Me Now]]" (featuring [[Marion Raven]]) was released on October 16, 2006. It entered the [[UK singles chart]] at No. 6, giving Meat Loaf his highest UK chart position in nearly 11 years. The album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, and sold 81,000 copies in its opening week, but after that did not sell well in the United States and yielded no hit singles, although it was certified gold. The album also featured duets with [[Patti Russo]] and [[Jennifer Hudson]]. In the weeks following the release of Bat III, Meat Loaf and the NLE (the [[Neverland Express]]) did a brief tour of America and Europe, known as the Bases Loaded Tour. In 2007, a newer, bigger worldwide tour began, [[The Seize the Night Tour]], with Marion Raven, serving as a supporting act, throughout the European and American tour. Portions of the tour in February 2007 were featured in the documentary [[Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise]], directed by [[Bruce David Klein]]. The film was an official selection of the [[Montreal World Film Festival]] in 2007. It opened in theaters in March 2008 and was released on DVD in May 2008. During a performance at the [[Metro Radio Arena]] in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England, on October 31, 2007, at the opening of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" he suggested that the crowd of thousands should enjoy the performance as it was the last of his career. He attempted to sing the first line of the song, but instead said "Ladies and gentlemen, I love you, thank you for coming, but I can no longer continue." Removing the jacket he was wearing, he thanked the audience for 30 years, said "goodbye forever" and left the stage. His tour promoter, Andrew Miller, denied that this was the end for Meat Loaf and said he would continue touring after suitable rest. The next two gigs in the tour, at the [[National Exhibition Centre|NEC]] and [[Manchester Evening News Arena]] were cancelled because of "acute [[laryngitis]]" and were rescheduled for late November. The concert scheduled for November 6, 2007 at London's [[Wembley Arena]] was also cancelled. Meat Loaf cancelled his entire European tour for 2007 after being diagnosed with a cyst on his vocal cords. After releasing a statement he said "It really breaks my heart not to be able to perform these shows," adding "I will be back." On June 27, 2008, Meat Loaf returned to the stage in [[Plymouth]], England, for the first show of [[The Casa de Carne Tour]] alongside his longtime duet partner Patti Russo, who debuted one of her own original songs during his show. The tour continued through July and August with twenty dates throughout England, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Six U.S. showdates were also added for October and December 2008. In May 2009, Meat Loaf began work on the album [[Hang Cool Teddy Bear]] in the studio with [[Green Day]]'s [[American Idiot]] album producer [[Rob Cavallo]], working with such writers as [[Justin Hawkins]], Rick Brantley, Ollie Wride, Tommy Henriksen and [[Jon Bon Jovi]]. Though not much was revealed officially to begin with, Meat Loaf gave away some information through videos he posted on Twitter and YouTube. The album is based on the story of a fictional soldier, whose "story" furnishes the theme. During his concert of March 19, 2011, held outside of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Meat Loaf explained that he had wanted an insert put with the album to explain what the premise of the album was, but he said there were too many "bleeping" record label politics and it did not get done. He went on to tell the audience that the story was of a soldier who being wounded, had his life flash forward before his eyes, and the songs were telling the story of his life. The album is based on a short story by L.A.-based screenwriter and director Kilian Kerwin, a long-time friend of the singer. [[Hugh Laurie]] and [[Jack Black]] both perform on the album, Laurie plays piano on the song "If I Can't Have You", while Black sings a duet with Meat Loaf on "Like A Rose". Patti Russo and Kara DioGuardi also duet on the album. Queen's [[Brian May]] features on guitar along with [[Steve Vai]]. It received positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The first single from the album, "Los Angeloser", was released for download on April 5 with the album charting at number 4 in the official UK album chart on April 25, 2010. [[The Hang Cool Tour]] followed in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada with rave reviews from fans and critics. Patti Russo accompanied him on the tour, continuing through the summer of 2011. In May 2011, Meat Loaf confirmed in a video on his YouTube account, that he was in the process of recording a new album called [[Hell in a Handbasket]]. According to Meat Loaf, the album was recorded and produced by [[Paul Crook]]; Dough McKean did the mix with input from [[Rob Cavallo]]. The album features songs called "All of Me", "Blue Sky", "The Giving Tree", "Mad, Mad World", and a duet with Patti Russo called "Our Love and Our Souls". On July 6, the album had to be finished for the record company. They released it in October 2011 for Australia and New Zealand, and February 2012 for the rest of the world. Meat Loaf said, "It's really the first record I've ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what's going on at the moment." The "Mad, Mad World" tour in connection with the album Hell in a Handbasket was launched in late June 2012. For the tour Meat Loaf has said, "People who come to Meat Loaf shows know what to expect. They know they're going to get full-on energy with the best rock 'n' roll band in the world. That's not an opinion. That's the truth." At the [[2011 AFL Grand Final|2011 Australian Football League Grand Final]], the pre-match entertainment was headlined by a 12-minute medley performed by Meat Loaf. The performance was panned as the worst in the 34-year history of AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment in a multitude of online reviews by football fans and Australian sport commentators. Meat Loaf responded by calling online critics "butt-smellers", and the AFL "jerks", saying "I will go out of my way to tell any artist, 'Do not play for them. In response to this criticism, the AFL changed the format of the entertainment, effective from the 2012 Grand Final, to have a small pre-match show, a larger half-time show, and, for the first time, a free concert open to the public at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the match. Meat Loaf said in 2011 that he planned to release a Christmas album called Hot Holidays. As of 2019, the album has not yet been released. In media interviews to promote his 2013 "Last at Bat" tour, Meat Loaf said he would work with Steinman again on an upcoming album called Brave and Crazy. The album was released in 2016 as [[Braver Than We Are]] on September 9 (Europe) and September 16 (North America). It features 10 tracks. Meat Loaf claimed in several interviews that he will be recording reworked versions of Steinman's songs "Braver Than We Are", "Speaking in Tongues", "Who Needs the Young", and "[[More (The Sisters of Mercy song)|More]]" (previously recorded by [[the Sisters of Mercy]]) for the album. Additionally, the song "Prize Fight Lover", originally issued as a download-only bonus track for Hang Cool Teddy Bear, has been re-recorded for the album. In January 2020, during an interview for 'The Mirror' Meat Loaf announced "I’m not old. I’ve got songs for another record and I’m reading a script.” Appeared playing the drums in the music video of the [[World Wrestling Federation]] wrestlers' rendition of "Land of 1,000 Dances" (from [[The Wrestling Album]]) in 1986., Appeared as the [[Spice Girls]]' bus driver in the 1997 movie [[Spice World (film)|Spice World]]., Appeared as Red in the thriller/drama [[Black Dog (film)|Black Dog]] alongside [[Patrick Swayze]] and [[Randy Travis]]., In 2000, he appeared as the [[viral meningitis]] addled Confederate Colonel Angus Devine in the sixth-season episode "[[Gettysburg (The Outer Limits)|Gettysburg]]" of [[The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)|The Outer Limits]] who is accidentally transported forward in time 150 years in a failed attempt to prevent the assassination of the President in 2013., Meat Loaf was featured as one of the celebrity drivers in the 2005 [[Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race]], finishing 12th overall., He also appeared in the [[South Park]] episode "[[Chef Aid]]". In a flashback, Meat Loaf claims that he started out as an unsuccessful artist named [[Couscous]]. After being booed off stage and almost deciding to quit, Chef tells him that his name might be the problem, and then hands him a plate of meatloaf to cheer him up., Meat Loaf appears (uncredited) as [[Jack Black]]'s father in the 2006 film [[Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny]], providing vocals on the film's opening song "[[Kickapoo (song)|Kickapoo]]". In the special features and commentary of the film's DVD release, it is noted that this is the first time Meat Loaf has sung for a movie soundtrack since The Rocky Horror Picture Show., Meat Loaf appeared, credited as Meat Loaf Aday, in the Season 5 episode of [[House (TV series)|House M.D.]], "Simple Explanation"., Meat Loaf appeared, credited as Meat Loaf Aday, in the Season 8 episode of [[Monk (TV series)|Monk]], "Mr. Monk and the Voodoo curse"., He appeared as Robert "Bob" Paulson, in [[David Fincher]]'s 1999 film [[Fight Club]] (as Meat Loaf Aday)., Along with his daughter [[Pearl Aday]], and longtime duet partner Patti Russo, he taped an episode of the FOX game show [[Don't Forget the Lyrics!]], which aired on May 22, 2009., On September 30, 2009, Meat Loaf appeared on the reality television show [[Ghost Hunters (TV series)|Ghost Hunters]] along with [[Jason Hawes]] and [[Grant Wilson]] and again on November 17, 2010 as a guest investigator at the [[Sloss Furnaces]] in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]., On October 26, 2010, Meat Loaf (credited as Meat Loaf Aday) appeared on the [[Fox Broadcasting Network|Fox]] television series [[Glee (TV series)|Glee]] in "[[The Rocky Horror Glee Show]]", the series' tribute episode to [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]., Circa 2011, an autographed photograph of Meat Loaf appeared as a [[sight-gag]] in a [[Farmers Insurance Group]] commercial., "The Big Interview" with Dan Rather, AXS TV, originally broadcast September 20, 2016 In 1984, Meat Loaf legally changed his first name from Marvin to Michael. Meat Loaf identifies as a Christian. Meat Loaf is a baseball fan and supporter of the [[New York Yankees]]. He is an avid [[fantasy baseball]] player and participates in multiple leagues every season. He is also a supporter of the English [[Association football|football]] team [[Hartlepool United F.C.|Hartlepool United]] and, in 2003, the BBC reported he was seeking a residence in the nearby area. He currently resides just outside [[Calabasas, California]], near [[Santa Monica Mountains#Named peaks|Saddle Peak]] and [[Santa Monica Mountains#Named peaks|Calabasas Peak]]. In June 2008, he took part in a football [[penalty shootout]] competition on behalf of two cancer charities in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in the United Kingdom. He auctioned shots to the 100 highest bidders and then took his place between the goal posts. He also participates in celebrity golf tournaments. Meat Loaf has expressed that he has [[social anxiety]], being quoted saying "I never meet anybody much in a social situation because when I go into a social situation, I have no idea what to do." He revealed that he does not "even go anywhere", and also feels he leads a "boring life", saying that he "completely freaked" when having to attend a party, and that he was "so nervous, so scared". He also said he met with fellow musicians chiefly in work-related situations as he was working a lot. On June 25, 2019, [[The New York Times Magazine]] listed Meat Loaf among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the [[2008 Universal fire]]. In December 1978, he went to [[Woodstock, New York|Woodstock]] to work with Steinman. It was at the [[Bearsville Records|Bearsville]] studio that Meat Loaf met his future wife, Leslie G. Edmonds; they were married within a month. Leslie had a daughter, [[Pearl Aday|Pearl]], from a previous marriage (Pearl later married [[Scott Ian]], the rhythm guitarist for the [[thrash metal]] band [[Anthrax (American band)|Anthrax]]). Meat Loaf and his family moved to [[Stamford, Connecticut]], in 1979. In 1981, Leslie gave birth to [[Amanda Aday]], later a television actress. For a brief time after Amanda's birth, they lived in nearby [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]]. According to Meat Loaf, Pearl, then in the fifth grade, came home crying "because she had the wrong type of jeans and I said, 'That's it. We're gone. The family then moved to [[Redding, Connecticut]], "which is much more of a blue-collar, working- class kind of town, and it really didn't make any difference what kind of jeans you were wearing. I really liked it there." Meat Loaf coached children's baseball or softball in each of the Connecticut towns where he lived. In 1998, Meat Loaf relocated to [[California]]. Meat Loaf and Leslie divorced in 2001. He married Deborah Gillespie in 2007. At the start of his 2012 tour in Austin on June 22, Meat Loaf announced that he was a new resident (1 month) of Austin, Texas. Meat Loaf was a [[vegetarian]] for ten years and declared in late-2019 that he would 'go vegan for [[Veganuary]]' (January 2020). In October 2006, his private jet had to make an emergency landing at [[London Stansted Airport]] after the plane's forward landing gear failed. In 2011, Meat Loaf fainted on stage while performing in [[Pittsburgh]]. He collapsed again while on stage in [[Edmonton]] on 16 June 2016, due to severe dehydration after having cancelled two other shows due to illness. The playback containing his pre-recorded vocal track in Edmonton continued while he lay unconscious on the stage. In 2019, while in Texas, Meat Loaf fell on stage and broke his collar bone. Meat Loaf is not officially registered with any political party. He performed at the 1997 pre-inauguration ball for re-elected [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] President [[Bill Clinton]] and attended the [[First inauguration of George W. Bush|2001 inauguration]] of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] President [[George W. Bush]]. In 2008, Meat Loaf donated to the Presidential campaigns of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] candidates [[Rick Santorum]] and [[John McCain]], the latter of whom became the party's candidate in that [[2008 United States presidential election|year's election]]. On October 25, 2012, Meat Loaf endorsed [[Mitt Romney]] for President of the United States, citing poor relations with [[Russia]] as a major reason he had been "arguing for Mitt Romney for a year". Meat Loaf explained, "I have never been in any political agenda in my life, but I think that in 2012 this is the most important election in the history of the United States." He cited "storm clouds" over the United States, and "thunder storms over Europe. There are hail storms – and I mean major hail storms! – in the Middle East. There are storms brewing through China, through Asia, through everywhere." The same day, he performed "[[America the Beautiful]]" standing next to Romney. [[Stoney & Meatloaf]] (1971), [[Bat Out of Hell]] (1977), [[Dead Ringer (album)|Dead Ringer]] (1981), [[Midnight at the Lost and Found]] (1983), [[Bad Attitude (album)|Bad Attitude]] (1984), [[Blind Before I Stop]] (1986), [[Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell]] (1993), [[Welcome to the Neighbourhood]] (1995), [[Couldn't Have Said It Better]] (2003), [[Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose]] (2006), [[Hang Cool Teddy Bear]] (2010), [[Hell in a Handbasket]] (2011), [[Braver Than We Are]] (2016) [[Bat Out of Hell Tour]] (1977–1979), [[Dead Ringer Tour]] (1981–1982), [[Midnight at the Lost and Found Tour]] (1983), [[Bad Attitude Tour]] (1984–1986), 20/20 World Tour (1987), Lost Boys and Golden Girls World Tour (1988), [[1989-1992 Tour]] (1989–1992), [[Everything Louder Tour]] (1993–1994), [[Born to Rock Tour]] (1995–1997), [[The Very Best of World Tour]] (1998–1999), [[The Storytellers Tour]] (1999–2000), [[ATLANTIC CITY GIGS]] (2001), [[Night of the Proms]] (2001), [[Just Having Fun with Friends Tour]] (2002–2003), [[The Last World Tour]] (2003–2004), [[Hair of the Dog Tour]] (2005), [[Bases Are Loaded Tour]] (2006), [[Seize the Night Tour / Three Bats Live Tour]] (2007), [[Casa De Carne Tour]] (2008), [[Hang Cool Tour]] (2010–2011), [[Guilty Pleasure Tour]] (2011), [[Mad Mad World Tour]] (2012), [[Last at Bat Farewell Tour]] (2013), [[Rocktellz & Cocktails]] (2013–2014), [[Live in Concert Tour]] (2015–2016), [[Braver Than We Are Tour]] (2017), [[My Tour]] (2018), [[Back Out Of Hell]] (announced, 2019) : with [[Caleb Johnson]] on vocals. [[List of best-selling music artists]] [[Category:Meat Loaf| ]] [[Category:1947 births]] [[Category:20th-century American male actors]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:21st-century American male actors]] [[Category:21st-century American singers]] [[Category:American hard rock musicians]] [[Category:American male film actors]] [[Category:American male singers]] [[Category:American male television actors]] [[Category:Arista Records artists]] [[Category:Atlantic Records artists]] [[Category:Epic Records artists]] [[Category:Grammy Award winners]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Male actors from Texas]] [[Category:MCA Records artists]] [[Category:Motown artists]] [[Category:Music of Denton, Texas]] [[Category:Musicians from Dallas]] [[Category:Neverland Express members]] [[Category:Participants in American reality television series]] [[Category:People with social anxiety disorder]] [[Category:Singers from Texas]] [[Category:Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas) alumni]] [[Category:University of North Texas alumni]] [[Category:Virgin Records artists]] [[Category:Ted Nugent Band members]]

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The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they are commonly regarded as the most influential band of all time. The group were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band later explored music styles ranging from ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the group revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements. Led by the band's primary songwriters, Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four", with Epstein, Martin and other members of the band's entourage sometimes given the informal title of "fifth Beatle". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market and breaking numerous sales records. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). From 1965 onwards, they produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all four members enjoyed success as solo artists. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with certified sales of over 183 million units in the US and estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart, most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and most singles sold in the UK. The group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and all four main members were inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2008, the group topped Billboard's list of the all- time most successful artists on the Billboard Hot 100. The band have received seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. Time named them among the . In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a respected local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined them as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he and Lennon met that July. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fifteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young for the band. After a month of Harrison's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), he performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art. The three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960, and it was he who suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August shortened the name to The Beatles. Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, left four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3-month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities." Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave the band one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr, who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. When Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany, McCartney took up the bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records. As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were also growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at The Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality." Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month-early release from their contract in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. Tragedy greeted them on their return to Germany in April, when a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from what was later determined as a brain haemorrhage. Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. In order to secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band with the comment "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein." However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London on 6 June 1962. Martin immediately complained to Epstein about Best's poor drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal, the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of "Love Me Do" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You". Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places. After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1." In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist. Epstein, in an effort to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ..." Lennon said: "We used to dress how we liked, on and off stage. He'd tell us that jeans were not particularly smart and could we possibly manage to wear proper trousers, but he didn't want us suddenly looking square. He'd let us have our own sense of individuality." On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me. The album was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin originally considered recording the Beatles' debut LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" met with a more emphatic reception. Released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album of the same name, the song reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer, where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine comments, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers, à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant." Released in March 1963, the album initiated a run during which eleven of their twelve studio albums released in the United Kingdom through to 1970 reached number one. The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and was also a chart-topping hit, starting an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles for the Beatles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, the band's fourth single, "She Loves You", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. Their commercial success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. Greeted with riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans, the press dubbed the phenomenon "Beatlemania". Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison. In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles, which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack. When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow, used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which the media widely adopted as "the Fab Four". EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some of the songs in 1963, but not all. Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album Introducing... The Beatles, culled from most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. Then when it surfaced that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence Vee-Jay signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia by Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake, Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles to go along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles left the United Kingdom with an estimated 4,000 fans gathered at Heathrow, waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 percent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television ". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum. Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall. The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on the weekly Ed Sullivan Show a second time, before another 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the United States took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November. Commentators often suggest that, for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped make way for the revolutionary social changes to come in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and a number of other UK acts subsequently made their own American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion. The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Petula Clark, the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five. Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged their film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing comparison with the Marx Brothers. United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan. Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis. Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists." Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with the reality of racial segregation in the country at the time, particularly in the South. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. Documents reveal that for their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. According to Gould, Beatles for Sale, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist John Riley secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realized a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their own insignia. Released in July, the Beatles' second film, Help!, was again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: "Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride". The accompanying Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album, with the exception of Let It Be brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday". Composed by and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording – "Yesterday" inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August 1965 – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on- stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills. September saw the launch of an American Saturday- morning cartoon series, The Beatles, that echoed A Hard Day's Night slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was a historical milestone as the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October 1965, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy. Biographers Peter Brown and Steven Gaines attribute the new musical direction to "the Beatles' now habitual use of marijuana", an assertion confirmed by the band – Lennon referred to it as "the pot album", and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help!s foray into the world of classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As their lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. Of "Norwegian Wood" Lennon commented: "I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair ... but in such a smokescreen way that you couldn't tell." While many of Rubber Souls prominent songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, it also featured distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. The song "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album" and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Rubber Soul fifth among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and AllMusic's Richie Unterberger describes it as "one of the classic folk-rock records". Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, Yesterday and Today, one of Capitol's compilation albums, caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first- state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace. When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave. "Christianity will go," Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." The comment went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed it five months later – on the eve of the group's August US tour – it sparked a controversy with Christians in the American "Bible Belt". The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles' records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service. Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context; at a press conference Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." Lennon claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry." As preparations were made for the US tour, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed by Vox for them as they moved into larger venues in 1964, but these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live. Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last. Rubber Soul had marked a major step forward; Revolver, released in August 1966 a week before the Beatles' final tour, marked another. Pitchforks Scott Plagenhoef identifies it as "the sound of a band growing into supreme confidence" and "redefining what was expected from popular music". Revolver featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelic rock. Abandoning the customary group photograph, its cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – "was a stark, arty, black-and-white collage that caricatured the Beatles in a pen-and-ink style beholden to Aubrey Beardsley", in Gould's description. The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos", they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June 1966. Among the experimental songs that Revolver featured was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's . Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data. McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song". Harrison was developing as a songwriter, and three of his compositions earned a place on the record. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Revolver as the third greatest album of all time. During the US tour that followed Revolvers release, the band performed none of its songs. As Chris Ingham writes, they were very much "studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts." The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert. It marked the end of a four-year period dominated by almost nonstop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours. He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around." Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra. The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967; the Sgt. Pepper LP followed in June. The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists. Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal. Gould writes: Sgt. Pepper was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover. Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier, who observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy". Poirier identified what he termed its "mixed allusiveness": "It's unwise ever to assume that they're doing only one thing or expressing themselves in only one style ... one kind of feeling about a subject isn't enough ... any single induced feeling must often exist within the context of seemingly contradictory alternatives." McCartney said at the time: "We write songs. We know what we mean by them. But in a week someone else says something about it, and you can't deny it. ... You put your own meaning at your own level to our songs." The album's elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study. A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track standing in front of a crowd of famous people. The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of hippie style, while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti- authoritarian and anti-establishment" display. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number one on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". On 25 June 1967, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single, "All You Need Is Love", to an estimated 350 million viewers on Our World, the first live global television link. Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem. On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein, only thirty-two years old, had died. The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide. Epstein had been in a fragile emotional state, stressed by personal troubles. His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future. Lennon recalled: "We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'" Magical Mystery Tour, the soundtrack to a forthcoming Beatles television film, was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play disc (EP) in early December 1967. In the United States, the six songs were issued on an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles. Unterberger says of the US Magical Mystery Tour, "the psychedelic sound is very much in the vein of Sgt. Pepper, and even spacier in parts (especially the sound collages of 'I Am the Walrus')" and he calls its five songs culled from the band's 1967 singles "huge, glorious, and innovative". In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums. First aired on Boxing Day, the Magical Mystery Tour film, largely directed by McCartney, brought the group their first major negative UK press. It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express; the Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit"; and The Guardian labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience". Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus". Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film. In January 1968, the Beatles filmed a cameo for the animated film Yellow Submarine, which featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film. Released in July, the film was praised by critics for its music, humour and innovative visual style. It would be seven months, however, before its soundtrack album appeared. In the interim came The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover. Creative inspiration for the album came from a new direction: without Epstein's guiding presence, the group had briefly turned to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru. At his ashram in Rishikesh, India, a "Guide Course" scheduled for three months marked one of their most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs including a majority of the 30 included on the album. However, Starr left after only ten days, likening it to Butlins, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later. For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to questioning when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him. In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was." During recording sessions for the White Album, which stretched from late May to mid-October 1968, relations between the Beatles grew openly divisive. Starr quit for two weeks, and McCartney took over the drum kit for "Back in the U.S.S.R." (on which Harrison and Lennon drummed as well) and "Dear Prudence". Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit". Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio. Describing the double album, Lennon later said: "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. [It's] John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band." McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make". Both he and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up. Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings. The new label was a subsidiary of Apple Corps, which Epstein had formed as part of his plan to create a tax-effective business structure. The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations. Despite its popularity, it did not receive flattering reviews at the time. According to Gould: General critical opinion eventually turned in favour of the White Album, and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it as the tenth greatest album of all time. Pitchforks Mark Richardson describes it as "large and sprawling, overflowing with ideas but also with indulgences, and filled with a hugely variable array of material ... its failings are as essential to its character as its triumphs." Erlewine comments: "The [band's] two main songwriting forces were no longer on the same page, but neither were George and Ringo", yet "Lennon turns in two of his best ballads", McCartney's songs are "stunning", Harrison had become "a songwriter who deserved wider exposure", and Starr's composition was "a delight". The Yellow Submarine LP, issued in January 1969, contained only the four previously unreleased songs that had debuted in the film, along with the title track (already issued on Revolver), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin. Because of the paucity of new Beatles music, AllMusic's Unterberger and Bruce Eder suggest the album might be "inessential" but for Harrison's "It's All Too Much": "the jewel of the new songs ... resplendent in swirling Mellotron [sic], larger-than-life percussion, and tidal waves of feedback guitar ... a virtuoso excursion into otherwise hazy psychedelia". Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before Abbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film". Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Martin has said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb." Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time". Irritated by both McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special. He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. The other band members agreed, and the idea came about to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film. In an effort to alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate in the last nine days of sessions. Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release. At the conclusion of the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Tunisian desert, and the Colosseum. Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Backs "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project". New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke; McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman, whom McCartney married on 12 March. Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers. Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost. On 8 May 1969, Klein was named sole manager of the band, the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles. Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us". The primary recording sessions for Abbey Road began on 2 July 1969. Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album. The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise. On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio. On 8 September 1969, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretense and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas. On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album. Released six days after Lennon's declaration, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition ever to appear as a Beatles A-side. Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim. Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record". Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley. Martin has singled it out as his personal favourite of all the band's albums; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it". Recording engineer Emerick notes that the replacement of the studio's valve mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums. For the still unfinished Get Back album, one last song, Harrison's "I Me Mine", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate. In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled Let It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producer Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!" In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble. McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first, self-titled solo album. On 8 May 1970, the Spector-produced Let It Be was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was the Beatles' last; it was released in the United States, but not in the UK. The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. Sunday Telegraph critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings". Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks. Describing Let It Be as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'", and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back", and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together". McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970. Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974, when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the others; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint. Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi- Platinum certification in the United States and a Platinum certification in the United Kingdom. Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music. The only one to feature previously unreleased material was The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon-McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it. Later that year, the off- Broadway musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road opened. All This and World War II (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra. The Broadway musical Beatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham. Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert. Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month. On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live, producer Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981. McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982. In 1987, Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era. When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour. All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988). Except for the Red and Blue albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the Hollywood Bowl record – from its catalogue. In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean. McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion". The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material. Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994. That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project. Anthology was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title The Long and Winding Road. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s. During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Two songs based on Lennon demos, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", were issued as new Beatles singles. The releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued. The Beatles' 1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number- one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries. , the compilation had sold 31 million copies globally, and is the best-selling album of that decade in the United States. Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised by Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow, Olivia. The tribute event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death. In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the Let It Be album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006; The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2 included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release. As a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Beatles stage revue, Love, George Martin and his son Giles remixed and blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period". The show premiered in June 2006, and the Love album was released that November. In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney. On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years. Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the Past Masters compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set. A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions). , a music video game in the Rock Band series, was issued on the same day. In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives. Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services. Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them". In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, Past Masters, and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes. In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division. The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set. In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, titled On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these." On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The following day, television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music. In September 2016, the documentary film was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1962 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September 2016 in the United Kingdom and the United States, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September 2016. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. An expanded, remixed and remastered version of the 1977 live album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September 2016, to coincide with the release of the film. On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary. Similar box sets were released for The Beatles in November 2018, and Abbey Road in September 2019. On the first week of October 2019, Abbey Road returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as Abbey Road hit the top spot 50 years after its original release. In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility." Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts, and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming". The band's earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers. The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including Bob Dylan, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album Pet Sounds amazed and inspired McCartney. Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]." Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years. Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre, and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music. Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of Beatles for Sale, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP", while Gould credits Rubber Soul as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop". Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes: "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars." They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; Sgt. Peppers "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama". The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record". Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature". Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell: "'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively." Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "the Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way." Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: "Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained in parallel their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy." As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the " roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter". George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle". He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould. Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description. Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording. In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass. Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!' is an outstanding example." Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his own stabilising influence: Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape." Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music. Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from Rubber Soul and, especially, Revolver onwards. Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro, and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man". Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism", and "the first advance in popular music since the War". They not only sparked the British Invasion of the United States, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the United States had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley and, later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture. Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion. According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness". Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the United States, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964." According to Gilmore: In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the United States. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 800 million physical and digital albums . They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. , they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 178 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the . In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under UNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening of The Cavern Club in 1957. Five asteroids, 4147 Lennon, 4148 McCartney, 4149 Harrison, 4150 Starr and 8749 Beatles are named after the Beatles. Principal members John Lennon – vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards, harmonica, bass guitar (1960–1969), Paul McCartney – vocals, bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards, drums (1960–1970), George Harrison – lead and rhythm guitar, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass guitar (1960–1970), Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970) Early members Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962), Stuart Sutcliffe – bass guitar, vocals (1960–1961), Chas Newby – bass guitar (1960–1961), Norman Chapman – drums (1960), Tommy Moore – drums (1960) Touring musician Jimmie Nicol – drums (1964) Please Please Me (1963), With the Beatles (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Beatles for Sale (1964), Help! (1965), Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), The Beatles ("The White Album", 1968), Yellow Submarine (1969), Abbey Road (1969), Let It Be (1970) The above albums were reissued on CD in 1987, followed by the 1988 compilations Past Masters – Volume One and Past Masters – Volume Two, which collected all of the Beatles' non-album singles plus the 1964 EP Long Tall Sally and a few other rarities that were commercially available in the 1960s. See also Anthology 1 (1995), Anthology 2 (1996) and Anthology 3 (1996), Discographies of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Lennon and McCartney's non-Beatles songs, Collaborations between ex-Beatles Through 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee. In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000. At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three- year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You". The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights. Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owns the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden". In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding. The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City." By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973. In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969. In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million. According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue, if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected. According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million. In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights. In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million. Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 33% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%. Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in 1978, and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications. On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017. Fictionalised A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968) Documentaries and filmed performances The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966), Let It Be (1970), The Compleat Beatles (1982), It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987), The Beatles Anthology (1995), The Beatles: 1+ (2015), (2016) 1963 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn), The Beatles Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour, Spring 1963 Tommy Roe/Chris Montez UK tour, Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour, Autumn 1963 Sweden tour 1964 Winter 1964 North American tour, Spring 1964 UK tour, The Beatles' 1964 world tour 1965 The Beatles' 1965 European tour, The Beatles' 1965 US tour, The Beatles' 1965 UK tour 1966 The Beatles' 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines, The Beatles' 1966 US tour The Beatles – FBI file. John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon, 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, Yoko Ono. After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, Lennon continued as a solo artist and as Ono's collaborator. Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1957, he formed his first band, the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. He was initially the group's de facto leader, a role gradually ceded to McCartney. Starting in 1967, Lennon's lyrics began to espouse a pacifist message, and some of his songs were soon adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture. From 1968 to 1972, he produced more than a dozen records with Ono, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums, his first solo LP John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and the international top 10 singles "Give Peace a Chance", "Instant Karma!", "Imagine" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Lennon also had two books published during his lifetime, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsensical writings and line drawings. Lennon was known for the rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews, and he was controversial through his political and peace activism. After moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year attempt by the Nixon administration to deport him. In 1975, Lennon disengaged from the music business to raise his infant son Sean, and in 1980, returned with the Ono collaboration Double Fantasy. He was shot and killed in the archway of his Manhattan apartment building by a Beatles fan, Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album's release. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth- greatest singer of all time. In 1987, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lennon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994. Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital to Julia (née Stanley) (1914–1958) and Alfred Lennon (1912–1976). Alfred was a merchant seaman of Irish descent who was away at the time of his son's birth. His parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His father was often away from home but sent regular pay cheques to 9Newcastle Road, Liverpool, where Lennon lived with his mother; the cheques stopped when he went absent without leave in February 1944. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, but Julia, by then pregnant with another man's child, rejected the idea. After her sister Mimi complained to Liverpool's Social Services twice, Julia gave her custody of Lennon. In July 1946, Lennon's father visited her and took his son to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia followed them – with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins – and after a heated argument, his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. In one account of this incident, Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her. According to author Mark Lewisohn, however, Lennon's parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home. A witness who was there that day, Billy Hall, has said that the dramatic portrayal of a young John Lennon being forced to make a decision between his parents is inaccurate. Lennon had no further contact with Alf for close to 20 years. Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, Lennon lived at Mendips, 251Menlove Avenue, Woolton, with Mimi and her husband George Toogood Smith, who had no children of their own. His aunt purchased volumes of short stories for him, and his uncle, a dairyman at his family's farm, bought him a mouth organ and engaged him in solving puzzles. Julia visited Mendips on a regular basis, and when John was 11 years old, he often visited her at 1 Blomfield Road, Liverpool, where she played him Elvis Presley records, taught him the banjo, and showed him how to play "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino. In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature: He regularly visited his cousin, Stanley Parkes, who lived in Fleetwood and took him on trips to local cinemas. During the school holidays Parkes often visited Lennon with Leila Harvey, another cousin, and the threesome often travelled to Blackpool two or three times a week to watch shows. They would visit the Blackpool Tower Circus and see artists such as Dickie Valentine, Arthur Askey, Max Bygraves and Joe Loss, with Parkes recalling that Lennon particularly liked George Formby. After Parkes's family moved to Scotland, the three cousins often spent their school holidays together there. Parkes recalled, "John, cousin Leila and I were very close. From Edinburgh we would drive up to the family croft at Durness, which was from about the time John was nine years old until he was about 16." Lennon's uncle George died of a liver haemorrhage on 5 June 1955, aged 52. Lennon was raised as an Anglican and attended Dovedale Primary School. After passing his eleven-plus exam, he attended Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool from September 1952 to 1957, and was described by Harvey at the time as a "happy- go-lucky, good-humoured, easy going, lively lad". He often drew comical cartoons that appeared in his own, self-made school magazine called the Daily Howl. In 1956, Julia bought John his first guitar. The instrument was an inexpensive Gallotone Champion acoustic for which she lent her son five pounds and ten shillings on the condition that the guitar be delivered to her own house and not Mimi's, knowing well that her sister was not supportive of her son's musical aspirations. Mimi was sceptical of his claim that he would be famous one day, and she hoped that he would grow bored with music, often telling him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." On 15 July 1958, Lennon's mother was struck and killed by a car while she was walking home after visiting the Smiths' house. Lennon's high school years were marked by a shift in his behaviour. Teachers at Quarry Bank High School described him thus: "He has too many wrong ambitions and his energy is often misplaced", and "His work always lacks effort. He is content to “drift” instead of using his abilities." These descriptions created a rift in his relationship with his aunt. Lennon failed his O-level examinations, and was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art after his aunt and headmaster intervened. At the college he began wearing Teddy Boy clothes and was threatened with expulsion for his behaviour. In the description of Cynthia Powell, Lennon's fellow student and subsequently his wife, he was "thrown out of the college before his final year". At the age of 15, Lennon formed a skiffle group, the Quarrymen. Named after Quarry Bank High School, the group was established by Lennon in September 1956. By the summer of 1957, the Quarrymen played a "spirited set of songs" made up of half-skiffle and half-rock and roll. Lennon first met Paul McCartney at the Quarrymen's second performance, which was held in Woolton on 6 July at the St Peter's Church garden fête. Lennon then asked McCartney to join the band. McCartney said that Aunt Mimi "was very aware that John's friends were lower class", and would often patronise him when he arrived to visit Lennon. According to McCartney's brother Mike, their father similarly disapproved of Lennon, declaring that Lennon would get his son "into trouble". McCartney's father nevertheless allowed the fledgling band to rehearse in the family's front room at 20Forthlin Road. During this time Lennon wrote his first song, "Hello Little Girl", which became a UK top 10 hit for the Fourmost in 1963. McCartney recommended his friend George Harrison to be the lead guitarist. Lennon thought that Harrison, then 14 years old, was too young. McCartney engineered an audition on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon and was asked to join. Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon's friend from art school, later joined as bassist. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe became "The Beatles" in early 1960. In August that year, the Beatles were engaged for a 48-night residency in Hamburg, in West Germany, and were desperately in need of a drummer. They asked Pete Best to join them. Lennon's aunt, horrified when he told her about the trip, pleaded with Lennon to continue his art studies instead. After the first Hamburg residency, the band accepted another in April 1961, and a third in April 1962. As with the other band members, Lennon was introduced to Preludin while in Hamburg, and regularly took the drug as a stimulant during their long, overnight performances. Brian Epstein managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. He had no previous experience managing artists, but he had a strong influence on the group's dress code and attitude on stage. Lennon initially resisted his attempts to encourage the band to present a professional appearance, but eventually complied, saying "I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me." McCartney took over on bass after Sutcliffe decided to stay in Hamburg, and Best was replaced with drummer Ringo Starr; this completed the four-piece line-up that would remain until the group's break-up in 1970. The band's first single, "Love Me Do", was released in October 1962 and reached No. 17 on the British charts. They recorded their debut album, Please Please Me, in under 10 hours on 11 February 1963, a day when Lennon was suffering the effects of a cold, which is evident in the vocal on the last song to be recorded that day, "Twist and Shout". The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership yielded eight of its fourteen tracks. With a few exceptions, one being the album title itself, Lennon had yet to bring his love of wordplay to bear on his song lyrics, saying: "We were just writing songs... pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant". In a 1987 interview, McCartney said that the other Beatles idolised Lennon: "He was like our own little Elvis... We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest." The Beatles achieved mainstream success in the UK early in 1963. Lennon was on tour when his first son, Julian, was born in April. During their Royal Variety Show performance, which was attended by the Queen Mother and other British royalty, Lennon poked fun at the audience: "For our next song, I'd like to ask for your help. For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands... and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." After a year of Beatlemania in the UK, the group's historic February 1964 US debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show marked their breakthrough to international stardom. A two-year period of constant touring, filmmaking, and songwriting followed, during which Lennon wrote two books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works. The Beatles received recognition from the British establishment when they were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours. Lennon grew concerned that fans who attended Beatles concerts were unable to hear the music above the screaming of fans, and that the band's musicianship was beginning to suffer as a result. Lennon's "Help!" expressed his own feelings in 1965: "I meant it... It was me singing 'help'". He had put on weight (he would later refer to this as his "Fat Elvis" period), and felt he was subconsciously seeking change. In March that year he and Harrison were unknowingly introduced to LSD when a dentist, hosting a dinner party attended by the two musicians and their wives, spiked the guests' coffee with the drug. When they wanted to leave, their host revealed what they had taken, and strongly advised them not to leave the house because of the likely effects. Later, in a lift at a nightclub, they all believed it was on fire; Lennon recalled: "We were all screaming... hot and hysterical." After the band's final concert on 29 August 1966, Lennon filmed the anti-war black comedy How I Won the War – his only appearance in a non-Beatles feature film – before rejoining his bandmates for an extended period of recording, beginning in November. Lennon had increased his use of LSD and, according to author Ian MacDonald, his continuous use of the drug in 1967 brought him "close to erasing his identity". The year 1967 saw the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever", hailed by Time magazine for its "astonishing inventiveness", and the group's landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which revealed lyrics by Lennon that contrasted strongly with the simple love songs of the group's early years. In late June, the Beatles performed Lennon's "All You Need Is Love" as Britain's contribution to the Our World satellite broadcast, before an international audience estimated at up to 400 million. Intentionally simplistic in its message, the song formalised his pacifist stance and provided an anthem for the Summer of Love. After the Beatles were introduced to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the group attended an August weekend of personal instruction at his Transcendental Meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales. During the seminar, they were informed of Epstein's death. "I knew we were in trouble then", Lennon said later. "I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared – I thought, 'We've fucking had it now.'" McCartney organised the group's first post-Epstein project, the self-written, -produced and -directed television film Magical Mystery Tour, which was released in December that year. While the film itself proved to be their first critical flop, its soundtrack release, featuring Lennon's Lewis Carroll-inspired "I Am the Walrus", was a success. Led by Harrison and Lennon's interest, the Beatles travelled to the Maharishi's ashram in India in February 1968 for further guidance. While there, they composed most of the songs for their double album The Beatles, but the band members' mixed experience with Transcendental Meditation signalled a sharp divergence in the group's camaraderie. On their return to London, they became increasingly involved in business activities with the formation of Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation composed of Apple Records and several other subsidiary companies. Lennon described the venture as an attempt to achieve "artistic freedom within a business structure". Released amid a period of civic unrest and protests, the band's debut single for the Apple label included Lennon's B-side "Revolution", in which he called for a "plan" rather than committing to Maoist revolution. The song's pacifist message led to ridicule from political radicals in the New Left press. Adding to the tensions at the Beatles' recording sessions that year, Lennon insisted on having his new girlfriend, the Japanese artist Yoko Ono, beside him, thereby contravening the band's policy regarding wives and girlfriends in the studio. He was especially pleased with his songwriting contributions to the double album and identified it as a superior work to Sgt. Pepper. At the end of 1968, Lennon participated in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a television special that was not broadcast. Lennon performed with the Dirty Mac, a supergroup composed of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. The group also backed a vocal performance by Ono. A film version was released 1996. By late 1968, Lennon's increased drug use and growing preoccupation with Ono, combined with the Beatles' inability to agree on how the company should be run, left Apple in need of professional management. Lennon asked Lord Beeching to take on the role, but he declined, advising Lennon to go back to making records. Lennon was approached by Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and other bands during the British Invasion. In early 1969, Klein was appointed as Apple's chief executive by Lennon, Harrison and Starr, but McCartney never signed the management contract. Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969, and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon, eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated. Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond the Beatles, and between 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: (known more for its cover than for its music), and Wedding Album. In 1969, they formed the Plastic Ono Band, releasing Live Peace in Toronto 1969. Between 1969 and 1970, Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance", which was widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam War anthem, "Cold Turkey", which documented his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin, and "Instant Karma!" In protest at Britain's involvement in "the Nigeria-Biafra thing" (namely, the Nigerian Civil War), its support of America in the Vietnam War and (perhaps jokingly) against "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts, Lennon returned his MBE medal to the Queen. This gesture had no effect on his MBE status, which could not be renounced. The medal, together with Lennon's letter, is held at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Lennon left the Beatles in September 1969, but agreed not to inform the media while the group renegotiated their recording contract. He was outraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970. Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!" He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that." In a December 1970 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." Lennon also spoke of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and of how he, Harrison and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul ... After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?" In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Arthur Janov in Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janov for four months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but they felt no need to continue and returned to London. Lennon's debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), was received with praise by many music critics, but its highly personal lyrics and stark sound limited its commercial performance. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." The album featured the song "Mother", in which Lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque "Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell foul of broadcasters. In January 1971, Tariq Ali expressed his revolutionary political views when he interviewed Lennon, who immediately responded by writing "Power to the People". In his lyrics to the song, Lennon reversed the non-confrontational approach he had espoused in "Revolution", although he later disowned "Power to the People", saying that it was borne out of guilt and a desire for approval from radicals such as Ali. Lennon became involved with Ali in a protest against the prosecution of Oz magazine for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released the single "God Save Us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in support of the magazine. Eager for a major commercial success, Lennon adopted a more accessible sound for his next album, Imagine (1971). Rolling Stone reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track later became an anthem for anti-war movements, while the song "How Do You Sleep?" was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics on Ram that Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono. In "Jealous Guy", Lennon addressed his demeaning treatment of women, acknowledging that his past behaviour was the result of long-held insecurity. In gratitude for his guitar contributions to Imagine, Lennon initially agreed to perform at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh benefit shows in New York. Harrison refused to allow Ono to participate at the concerts, however, which resulted in the couple having a heated argument and Lennon pulling out of the event. Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971 and immediately embraced US radical left politics. The couple released their "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single in December. During the new year, the Nixon administration took what it called a "strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war and anti-Nixon propaganda. The administration embarked on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him. Lennon was embroiled in a continuing legal battle with the immigration authorities, and he was denied permanent residency in the US; the issue would not be resolved until 1976. Some Time in New York City was recorded as a collaboration with Ono and was released in 1972 with backing from the New York band Elephant's Memory. A double LP, it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland and Lennon's difficulties in obtaining a green card. The album was a commercial failure and was maligned by critics, who found its political sloganeering heavy-handed and relentless. The NMEs review took the form of an open letter in which Tony Tyler derided Lennon as a "pathetic, ageing revolutionary". In the US, "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" was released as a single from the album and was televised on 11 May, on The Dick Cavett Show. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger". Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances. After George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, Lennon and Ono attended a post-election wake held in the New York home of activist Jerry Rubin. Lennon was depressed and got intoxicated; he left Ono embarrassed after he had sex with a female guest. Ono's song "Death of Samantha" was inspired by the incident. While Lennon was recording Mind Games in 1973, he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing 18-month period apart, which he later called his "lost weekend", was spent in Los Angeles and New York City in the company of May Pang. Mind Games, credited to the "Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Lennon also contributed "I'm the Greatest" to Starr's album Ringo (1973), released the same month. With Harrison joining Starr and Lennon at the recording session for the song, it marked the only occasion when three former Beatles recorded together between the band's break-up and Lennon's death. In early 1974, Lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol-fuelled antics with Harry Nilsson made headlines. In March, two widely publicised incidents occurred at The Troubadour club. In the first incident, Lennon stuck an unused menstrual pad on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress. The second incident occurred two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon decided to produce Nilsson's album Pussy Cats, and Pang rented a Los Angeles beach house for all the musicians. After a month of further debauchery, the recording sessions were in chaos, and Lennon returned to New York with Pang to finish work on the album. In April, Lennon had produced the Mick Jagger song "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" which was, for contractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on The Very Best of Mick Jagger (2007). Lennon had settled back in New York when he recorded the album Walls and Bridges. Released in October 1974, it included "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", which featured Elton John on backing vocals and piano, and became Lennon's only single as a solo artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during his lifetime. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano. On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden, in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", a song whose commercial potential Lennon had doubted, reached number one. Lennon performed the song along with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There", which he introduced as "a song by an old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul". Lennon co-wrote "Fame", David Bowie's first US number one, and provided guitar and backing vocals for the January 1975 recording. In the same month, Elton John topped the charts with his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and back-up vocals; Lennon is credited on the single under the moniker of "Dr. Winston O'Boogie". He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards. Lennon released Rock 'n' Roll (1975), an album of cover songs, in February. "Stand by Me", taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single for five years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special A Salute to Lew Grade, recorded on 18 April and televised in June. Playing acoustic guitar and backed by an eight-piece band, Lennon performed two songs from Rock 'n' Roll ("Stand by Me", which was not broadcast, and "Slippin' and Slidin'") followed by "Imagine". The band, known as Etc., wore masks behind their heads, a dig by Lennon, who thought Grade was two-faced. Sean was Lennon's only child with Ono. Sean was born on 9 October 1975 (Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday), and John took on the role of househusband. Lennon began what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry, during which time, he later said, he "baked bread" and "looked after the baby". He devoted himself to Sean, rising at 6am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him. He wrote "Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)" for Starr's Ringo's Rotogravure (1976), performing on the track in June in what would be his last recording session until 1980. He formally announced his break from music in Tokyo in 1977, saying, "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During his career break he created several series of drawings, and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed "mad stuff", all of which would be published posthumously. Lennon emerged from his five-year interruption in music recording in October 1980, when he released the single "(Just Like) Starting Over". The following month saw the release of Double Fantasy, which contained songs written during a June 1980 journey to Bermuda on a 43-foot sailing boat. The music reflected Lennon's fulfilment in his new-found stable family life. Sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album Milk and Honey, which was released posthumously, in 1984. Double Fantasy was jointly released by Lennon and Ono very shortly before his death; the album was not well received and drew comments such as Melody Maker's "indulgent sterility... a godawful yawn". At approximately 5:00 p.m. on 8 December 1980, Lennon autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for fan Mark David Chapman before leaving The Dakota with Yoko for a recording session at the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon and Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment in a limousine at around 10:50p.m. EST. They exited the vehicle and walked through the archway of the building when Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back at close range. Lennon was rushed in a police cruiser to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:00p.m. (EST). Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral for John", ending it with the words, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him." His remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman avoided going to trial when he ignored his attorney's advice and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life. In the weeks following the murder, "(Just Like) Starting Over" and Double Fantasy topped the charts in the UK and the US. In a further example of the public outpouring of grief, "Imagine" hit number one in the UK in January 1981 and "Happy Xmas" peaked at number two. Later that year, Roxy Music's cover version of "Jealous Guy", recorded as a tribute to Lennon, was also a UK number-one. Lennon met Cynthia Powell (1939–2015) in 1957, when they were fellow students at the Liverpool College of Art. Although Powell was intimidated by Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was obsessed with the French actress Brigitte Bardot, so she dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her out, but when she said that she was engaged, he screamed out, "I didn't ask you to fuckin' marry me, did I?" She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend to visit him. Lennon was jealous by nature and eventually grew possessive, often terrifying Powell with his anger and physical violence. Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude toward women. He said that the Beatles song "Getting Better" told his own story, "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace." Recalling his July 1962 reaction when he learned that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn. We'll have to get married." The couple wed on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool, with Brian Epstein serving as best man. His marriage began just as Beatlemania was taking off across the U.K. He performed on the evening of his wedding day and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein feared that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, and he asked the Lennons to keep their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his infant son until three days later. Cynthia attributed the start of the marriage breakdown to Lennon's use of LSD, and she felt that he slowly lost interest in her as a result of his use of the drug. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales in 1967 for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolise the end of their marriage. After Cynthia arrived home at Kenwood, she found Lennon with Ono and left the house to stay with friends. Alexis Mardas later claimed to have had sex with her that night, and a few weeks later he informed her that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian on the grounds of her adultery with him. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to let her divorce him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court in November 1968, with Lennon giving her £100,000 ($240,000 in U.S. dollars at the time), a small annual payment and custody of Julian. The Beatles were performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club in November 1961 when they were introduced to Brian Epstein after a midday concert. Epstein was homosexual, and according to biographer Philip Norman, one of Epstein's reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was attracted to Lennon. Almost as soon as Julian was born, Lennon went on holiday to Spain with Epstein, which led to speculation about their relationship. When he was later questioned about it, Lennon said, "Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. We used to sit in a café in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I'd say, 'Do you like that one? Do you like this one?' I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this." Soon after their return from Spain, at McCartney's twenty-first birthday party in June 1963, Lennon physically attacked Cavern Club master of ceremonies Bob Wooler for saying "How was your honeymoon, John?" The MC, known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks, was making a joke, but ten months had passed since Lennon's marriage, and the deferred honeymoon was still two months in the future. Lennon was drunk at the time and the matter was simple: "He called me a queer so I battered his bloody ribs in." Lennon delighted in mocking Epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was Jewish. When Epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography, Lennon offered Queer Jew; on learning of the eventual title, A Cellarful of Noise, he parodied, "More like A Cellarful of Boys". He demanded of a visitor to Epstein's flat, "Have you come to blackmail him? If not, you're the only bugger in London who hasn't." During the recording of "Baby, You're a Rich Man", he sang altered choruses of "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew". During his marriage to Cynthia, Lennon's first son Julian was born at the same time that his commitments with the Beatles were intensifying at the height of Beatlemania. Lennon was touring with the Beatles when Julian was born on 8 April 1963. Julian's birth, like his mother Cynthia's marriage to Lennon, was kept secret because Epstein was convinced that public knowledge of such things would threaten the Beatles' commercial success. Julian recalled that as a small child in Weybridge some four years later, "I was trundled home from school and came walking up with one of my watercolour paintings. It was just a bunch of stars and this blonde girl I knew at school. And Dad said, 'What's this?' I said, 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds.'" Lennon used it as the title of a Beatles song, and though it was later reported to have been derived from the initials LSD, Lennon insisted, "It's not an acid song." Lennon was distant from Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to his father. During a car journey to visit Cynthia and Julian during Lennon's divorce, McCartney composed a song, "Hey Jules", to comfort him. It would evolve into the Beatles song "Hey Jude". Lennon later said, "That's his best song. It started off as a song about my son Julian ... he turned it into 'Hey Jude'. I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it wasn't." Lennon's relationship with Julian was already strained, and after Lennon and Ono moved to New York in 1971, Julian did not see his father again until 1973. With Pang's encouragement, arrangements were made for Julian and his mother to visit Lennon in Los Angeles, where they went to Disneyland. Julian started to see his father regularly, and Lennon gave him a drumming part on a Walls and Bridges track. He bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar and other instruments, and encouraged his interest in music by demonstrating guitar chord techniques. Julian recalls that he and his father "got on a great deal better" during the time he spent in New York: "We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general." In a Playboy interview with David Sheff shortly before his death, Lennon said, "Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will." He said he was trying to reestablish a connection with the then 17-year-old, and confidently predicted, "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future." After his death it was revealed that he had left Julian very little in his will. Lennon first met Yoko Ono on 9 November 1966 at the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing her conceptual art exhibit. They were introduced by gallery owner John Dunbar. Lennon was intrigued by Ono's "Hammer A Nail": patrons hammered a nail into a wooden board, creating the art piece. Although the exhibition had not yet begun, Lennon wanted to hammer a nail into the clean board, but Ono stopped him. Dunbar asked her, "Don't you know who this is? He's a millionaire! He might buy it." According to Lennon's recollection in 1980, Ono had not heard of the Beatles, but she relented on condition that Lennon pay her five shillings, to which Lennon said he replied, "I'll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in." Ono subsequently related that Lennon had taken a bite out of the apple on display in her work Apple, much to her fury. Ono began to telephone and visit Lennon at his home. When Cynthia asked him for an explanation, Lennon explained that Ono was only trying to obtain money for her "avant-garde bullshit". While his wife was on holiday in Greece in May 1968, Lennon invited Ono to visit. They spent the night recording what would become the Two Virgins album, after which, he said, they "made love at dawn". When Lennon's wife returned home she found Ono wearing her bathrobe and drinking tea with Lennon who simply said, "Oh, hi." Ono became pregnant in 1968 and miscarried a male child on 21 November 1968, a few weeks after Lennon's divorce from Cynthia was granted. Two years before the Beatles disbanded, Lennon and Ono began public protests against the Vietnam War. They were married in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969, and spent their honeymoon at the Hilton Amsterdam, campaigning with a week-long Bed-In for Peace. They planned another Bed-In in the United States, but were denied entry, so held one instead at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance". They often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism", first introduced during a Vienna press conference. Lennon detailed this period in the Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko". Lennon changed his name by deed poll on 22 April 1969, adding "Ono" as a middle name. The brief ceremony took place on the roof of the Apple Corps building, where the Beatles had performed their rooftop concert three months earlier. Although he used the name John Ono Lennon thereafter, official documents referred to him as John Winston Ono Lennon, since he was not permitted to revoke a name given at birth. The couple settled at Tittenhurst Park at Sunninghill in Berkshire. After Ono was injured in a car accident, Lennon arranged for a king-size bed to be brought to the recording studio as he worked on the Beatles' last album, Abbey Road. Ono and Lennon moved to New York, to a flat on Bank Street, Greenwich Village. Looking for somewhere with better security, they relocated in 1973 to the more secure Dakota overlooking Central Park at 1West72nd Street. ABKCO Industries was formed in 1968 by Allen Klein as an umbrella company to ABKCO Records. Klein hired May Pang as a receptionist in 1969. Through involvement in a project with ABKCO, Lennon and Ono met her the following year. She became their personal assistant. In 1973, after she had been working with the couple for three years, Ono confided that she and Lennon were becoming estranged. She went on to suggest that Pang should begin a physical relationship with Lennon, telling her, "He likes you a lot." Astounded by Ono's proposition, Pang nevertheless agreed to become Lennon's companion. The pair soon left for Los Angeles, beginning an 18-month period he later called his "lost weekend". In Los Angeles, Pang encouraged Lennon to develop regular contact with Julian, whom he had not seen for two years. He also rekindled friendships with Starr, McCartney, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, and Harry Nilsson. While Lennon was drinking with Nilsson, he misunderstood something that Pang had said and attempted to strangle her. Lennon relented only after he was physically restrained by Nilsson. In June, Lennon and Pang returned to Manhattan in their newly rented penthouse apartment where they prepared a spare room for Julian when he visited them. Lennon, who had been inhibited by Ono in this regard, began to reestablish contact with other relatives and friends. By December, he and Pang were considering a house purchase, and he refused to accept Ono's telephone calls. In January 1975, he agreed to meet Ono, who claimed to have found a cure for smoking. After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. When Pang telephoned the next day, Ono told her that Lennon was unavailable because he was exhausted after a hypnotherapy session. Two days later, Lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment; he was stupefied and confused to such an extent that Pang believed he had been brainwashed. Lennon told Pang that his separation from Ono was now over, although Ono would allow him to continue seeing her as his mistress. Ono had previously suffered three miscarriages in her attempt to have a child with Lennon. When Ono and Lennon were reunited, she became pregnant again. She initially said that she wanted to have an abortion but changed her mind and agreed to allow the pregnancy to continue on condition that Lennon adopt the role of househusband, which he agreed to do. Following Sean's birth, Lennon's subsequent hiatus from the music industry would span five years. He had a photographer take pictures of Sean every day of his first year and created numerous drawings for him, which were posthumously published as Real Love: The Drawings for Sean. Lennon later proudly declared, "He didn't come out of my belly but, by God, I made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and to how he sleeps, and to the fact that he swims like a fish." While Lennon and Starr remained consistently friendly during the years that followed the Beatles' break-up in 1970, his relationships with McCartney and Harrison varied. He was initially close to Harrison, but the two drifted apart after Lennon moved to the US in 1971. When Harrison was in New York for his December 1974 Dark Horse tour, Lennon agreed to join him on stage, but failed to appear after an argument over Lennon's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve the Beatles' legal partnership. Harrison later said that when he visited Lennon during his five years away from music, he sensed that Lennon was trying to communicate, but his bond with Ono prevented him. Harrison offended Lennon in 1980 when he published an autobiography that made little mention of him. Lennon told Playboy, "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch... he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book." Lennon's most intense feelings were reserved for McCartney. In addition to attacking him with the lyrics of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split. The two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known, and in 1974, they even played music together again before eventually growing apart once more. During McCartney's final visit in April 1976, Lennon said that they watched the episode of Saturday Night Live in which Lorne Michaels made a $3,000 offer to get the Beatles to reunite on the show. According to Lennon, the pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance, attempting to claim their share of the money, but were too tired. Lennon summarised his feelings towards McCartney in an interview three days before his death: "Throughout my career, I've selected to work with... only two people: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono... That ain't bad picking." Along with his estrangement from McCartney, Lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music. During his career break from 1975 until shortly before his death, according to Fred Seaman, Lennon and Ono's assistant at the time, Lennon was content to sit back as long as McCartney was producing what Lennon saw as mediocre material. Lennon took notice when McCartney released "Coming Up" in 1980, which was the year Lennon returned to the studio. "It's driving me crackers!" he jokingly complained, because he could not get the tune out of his head. That same year, Lennon was asked whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends, and he replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on." Lennon and Ono used their honeymoon as a Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel; the March 1969 event attracted worldwide media ridicule. During a second Bed-In three months later at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Lennon wrote and recorded "Give Peace a Chance". Released as a single, the song was quickly interpreted as an anti-war anthem and sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, on 15 November, the second Vietnam Moratorium Day. In December, they paid for billboards in 10 cities around the world which declared, in the national language, "War Is Over! If You Want It". During the year, Lennon and Ono began to support efforts by the family of James Hanratty to prove his innocence. Hanratty had been hanged in 1962. According to Lennon, those who had condemned Hanratty were "the same people who are running guns to South Africa and killing blacks in the streets ... The same bastards are in control, the same people are running everything, it's the whole bullshit bourgeois scene." In London, Lennon and Ono staged a "Britain Murdered Hanratty" banner march and a "Silent Protest For James Hanratty", and produced a 40-minute documentary on the case. At an appeal hearing more than thirty years later, Hanratty's conviction was upheld after DNA evidence was found to match. Lennon and Ono showed their solidarity with the Clydeside UCS workers' work-in of 1971 by sending a bouquet of red roses and a cheque for £5,000. On moving to New York City in August that year, they befriended two of the Chicago Seven, Yippie peace activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Another political activist, John Sinclair, poet and co-founder of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for selling two joints of marijuana after previous convictions for possession of the drug. In December 1971 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 15,000 people attended the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally", a protest and benefit concert with contributions from Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, and others. Lennon and Ono, backed by David Peel and Rubin, performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming Some Time in New York City album including "John Sinclair", whose lyrics called for his release. The day before the rally, the Michigan Senate passed a bill that significantly reduced the penalties for possession of marijuana and four days later Sinclair was released on an appeal bond. The performance was recorded and two of the tracks later appeared on John Lennon Anthology (1998). Following the Bloody Sunday incident in Northern Ireland in 1972, in which fourteen unarmed civil rights protesters were shot dead by the British Army, Lennon said that given the choice between the army and the IRA (who were not involved in the incident) he would side with the latter. Lennon and Ono wrote two songs protesting British presence and actions in Ireland for their Some Time in New York City album: "The Luck of the Irish" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". In 2000, David Shayler, a former member of Britain's domestic security service MI5, suggested that Lennon had given money to the IRA, though this was swiftly denied by Ono. Biographer Bill Harry records that following Bloody Sunday, Lennon and Ono financially supported the production of the film The Irish Tapes, a political documentary with a Republican slant. According to FBI surveillance reports, and confirmed by Tariq Ali in 2006, Lennon was sympathetic to the International Marxist Group, a Trotskyist group formed in Britain in 1968. However, the FBI considered Lennon to have limited effectiveness as a revolutionary, as he was "constantly under the influence of narcotics". In 1973, Lennon contributed a limerick called "Why Make It Sad to Be Gay?" to Len Richmond's The Gay Liberation Book. Lennon's last act of political activism was a statement in support of the striking minority sanitation workers in San Francisco on 5 December 1980. He and Ono planned to join the workers' protest on 14 December. Following the impact of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" on the anti-war movement, the Nixon administration heard rumours of Lennon's involvement in a concert to be held in San Diego at the same time as the Republican National Convention and tried to have him deported. Nixon believed that Lennon's anti-war activities could cost him his reelection; Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested in a February 1972 memo that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure" against Lennon. The next month the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began deportation proceedings, arguing that his 1968 misdemeanour conviction for cannabis possession in London had made him ineligible for admission to the United States. Lennon spent the next three-and-a-half years in and out of deportation hearings until 8 October 1975, when a court of appeals barred the deportation attempt, stating "the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds". While the legal battle continued, Lennon attended rallies and made television appearances. He and Ono co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show for a week in February 1972, introducing guests such as Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale to mid-America. In 1972, Bob Dylan wrote a letter to the INS defending Lennon, stating: John and Yoko add a great voice and drive to the country's so-called art institution. They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so, only help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media. Hurray for John and Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay! On 23 March 1973, Lennon was ordered to leave the US within 60 days. Ono, meanwhile, was granted permanent residence. In response, Lennon and Ono held a press conference on 1 April 1973 at the New York City Bar Association, where they announced the formation of the state of Nutopia; a place with "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people". Waving the white flag of Nutopia (two handkerchiefs), they asked for political asylum in the US. The press conference was filmed, and appeared in a 2006 documentary, The US vs. John Lennon. Soon after the press conference, Nixon's involvement in a political scandal came to light, and in June the Watergate hearings began in Washington, DC. They led to the president's resignation 14 months later. In December 1974, when he and members of his tour entourage visited the White House, Harrison asked Gerald Ford, Nixon's successor, to intercede in the matter. Ford's administration showed little interest in continuing the battle against Lennon, and the deportation order was overturned in 1975. The following year, Lennon received his "green card" certifying his permanent residency, and when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president in January 1977, Lennon and Ono attended the Inaugural Ball. After Lennon's death, historian Jon Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act request for FBI files that documented the Bureau's role in the deportation attempt. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages of files on Lennon, but refused to release most of them on the grounds that they contained national security information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. It took 14 years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages. The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favourable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit in 1991. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in April 1992, but the court declined to review the case. In 1997, respecting President Bill Clinton's newly instigated rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm", the Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues outside court by releasing all but 10 of the contested documents. Wiener published the results of his 14-year campaign in January 2000. Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files contained facsimiles of the documents, including "lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges". The story is told in the documentary The US vs. John Lennon. The final 10 documents in Lennon's FBI file, which reported on his ties with London anti-war activists in 1971 and had been withheld as containing "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality", were released in December 2006. They contained no indication that the British government had regarded Lennon as a serious threat; one example of the released material was a report that two prominent British leftists had hoped Lennon would finance a left-wing bookshop and reading room. Beatles biographer Bill Harry wrote that Lennon began drawing and writing creatively at an early age with the encouragement of his uncle. He collected his stories, poetry, cartoons and caricatures in a Quarry Bank High School exercise book that he called the Daily Howl. The drawings were often of crippled people, and the writings satirical, and throughout the book was an abundance of wordplay. According to classmate Bill Turner, Lennon created the Daily Howl to amuse his best friend and later Quarrymen bandmate Pete Shotton, to whom he would show his work before he let anyone else see it. Turner said that Lennon "had an obsession for Wigan Pier. It kept cropping up", and in Lennon's story A Carrot in a Potato Mine, "the mine was at the end of Wigan Pier." Turner described how one of Lennon's cartoons depicted a bus stop sign annotated with the question, "Why?" Above was a flying pancake, and below, "a blind man wearing glasses leading along a blind dog – also wearing glasses". Lennon's love of wordplay and nonsense with a twist found a wider audience when he was 24. Harry writes that In His Own Write (1964) was published after "Some journalist who was hanging around the Beatles came to me and I ended up showing him the stuff. They said, 'Write a book' and that's how the first one came about". Like the Daily Howl it contained a mix of formats including short stories, poetry, plays and drawings. One story, "Good Dog Nigel", tells the tale of "a happy dog, urinating on a lamp post, barking, wagging his tail – until he suddenly hears a message that he will be killed at three o'clock". The Times Literary Supplement considered the poems and stories "remarkable ... also very funny ... the nonsense runs on, words and images prompting one another in a chain of pure fantasy". Book Week reported, "This is nonsense writing, but one has only to review the literature of nonsense to see how well Lennon has brought it off. While some of his homonyms are gratuitous word play, many others have not only double meaning but a double edge." Lennon was not only surprised by the positive reception, but that the book was reviewed at all, and suggested that readers "took the book more seriously than I did myself. It just began as a laugh for me". In combination with A Spaniard in the Works (1965), In His Own Write formed the basis of the stage play The John Lennon Play: In His Own Write, co-adapted by Victor Spinetti and Adrienne Kennedy. After negotiations between Lennon, Spinetti and the artistic director of the National Theatre, Sir Laurence Olivier, the play opened at The Old Vic in 1968. Lennon and Ono attended the opening night performance, their second public appearance together. In 1969, Lennon wrote "Four in Hand", a skit based on his teenage experiences of group masturbation, for Kenneth Tynan's play Oh! Calcutta! After Lennon's death, further works were published, including Skywriting by Word of Mouth (1986), Ai: Japan Through John Lennon's Eyes: A Personal Sketchbook (1992), with Lennon's illustrations of the definitions of Japanese words, and Real Love: The Drawings for Sean (1999). The Beatles Anthology (2000) also presented examples of his writings and drawings. Lennon played a mouth organ during a bus journey to visit his cousin in Scotland; the music caught the driver's ear. Impressed, the driver told Lennon of a harmonica he could have if he came to Edinburgh the following day, where one had been stored in the bus depot since a passenger had left it on a bus. The professional instrument quickly replaced Lennon's toy. He would continue to play the harmonica, often using the instrument during the Beatles' Hamburg years, and it became a signature sound in the group's early recordings. His mother taught him how to play the banjo, later buying him an acoustic guitar. At 16, he played rhythm guitar with the Quarrymen. As his career progressed, he played a variety of electric guitars, predominantly the Rickenbacker 325, Epiphone Casino and Gibson J-160E, and, from the start of his solo career, the Gibson Les Paul Junior. Double Fantasy producer Jack Douglas claimed that since his Beatle days Lennon habitually tuned his D-string slightly flat, so his Aunt Mimi could tell which guitar was his on recordings. Occasionally he played a six-string bass guitar, the Fender Bass VI, providing bass on some Beatles numbers ("Back in the U.S.S.R.", "The Long and Winding Road", "Helter Skelter") that occupied McCartney with another instrument. His other instrument of choice was the piano, on which he composed many songs, including "Imagine", described as his best-known solo work. His jamming on a piano with McCartney in 1963 led to the creation of the Beatles' first US number one, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". In 1964, he became one of the first British musicians to acquire a Mellotron keyboard, though it was not heard on a Beatles recording until "Strawberry Fields Forever" in 1967. When the Beatles recorded "Twist and Shout", the final track during the mammoth one-day session that produced the band's 1963 debut album, Please Please Me, Lennon's voice, already compromised by a cold, came close to giving out. Lennon said, "I couldn't sing the damn thing, I was just screaming." In the words of biographer Barry Miles, "Lennon simply shredded his vocal cords in the interests of rock 'n' roll." The Beatles' producer, George Martin, tells how Lennon "had an inborn dislike of his own voice which I could never understand. He was always saying to me: 'DO something with my voice! ... put something on it... Make it different.'" Martin obliged, often using double- tracking and other techniques. As his Beatles era segued into his solo career, his singing voice found a widening range of expression. Biographer Chris Gregory writes of Lennon "tentatively beginning to expose his insecurities in a number of acoustic-led 'confessional' ballads, so beginning the process of 'public therapy' that will eventually culminate in the primal screams of 'Cold Turkey' and the cathartic John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band." Music critic Robert Christgau calls this Lennon's "greatest vocal performance... from scream to whine, is modulated electronically... echoed, filtered, and double tracked." David Stuart Ryan notes Lennon's vocal delivery to range from "extreme vulnerability, sensitivity and even naivety" to a hard "rasping" style. Wiener too describes contrasts, saying the singer's voice can be "at first subdued; soon it almost cracks with despair". Music historian Ben Urish recalls hearing the Beatles' Ed Sullivan Show performance of "This Boy" played on the radio a few days after Lennon's murder: "As Lennon's vocals reached their peak... it hurt too much to hear him scream with such anguish and emotion. But it was my emotions I heard in his voice. Just like I always had." Music historians Schinder and Schwartz wrote of the transformation in popular music styles that took place between the 1950s and the 1960s. They said that the Beatles' influence cannot be overstated: having "revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts", the group then "spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers". Liam Gallagher and his group Oasis were among the many who acknowledged the band's influence; he identified Lennon as a hero. In 1999, he named his first son Lennon Gallagher in tribute. On National Poetry Day in 1999, the BBC conducted a poll to identify the UK's favourite song lyric and announced "Imagine" as the winner. In 1997, Yoko Ono and the BMI Foundation established an annual music competition programme for songwriters of contemporary musical genres to honour John Lennon's memory and his large creative legacy. Over $400,000 have been given through BMI Foundation's John Lennon Scholarships to talented young musicians in the United States. In a 2006 Guardian article, Jon Wiener wrote: "For young people in 1972, it was thrilling to see Lennon's courage in standing up to [US President] Nixon. That willingness to take risks with his career, and his life, is one reason why people still admire him today." For music historians Urish and Bielen, Lennon's most significant effort was "the self-portraits ... in his songs [which] spoke to, for, and about, the human condition." In 2013, Downtown Music Publishing signed a publishing administration agreement for the US with Lenono Music and Ono Music, home to the song catalogues of John Lennon and Yoko Ono respectively. Under the terms of the agreement, Downtown represents Lennon's solo works, including "Imagine", "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)", "Power to the People", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", "Jealous Guy", "(Just Like) Starting Over" and others. Lennon continues to be mourned throughout the world and has been the subject of numerous memorials and tributes. In 2002, the airport in Lennon's home town was renamed the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. On what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday in 2010, Cynthia and Julian Lennon unveiled the John Lennon Peace Monument in Chavasse Park, Liverpool. The sculpture, entitled Peace & Harmony, exhibits peace symbols and carries the inscription "Peace on Earth for the Conservation of Life · In Honour of John Lennon 1940–1980". In December 2013, the International Astronomical Union named one of the craters on Mercury after Lennon. The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is regarded as one of the most influential and successful of the 20th century. As performer, writer or co- writer, Lennon had 25 number one singles in the US Hot 100 chart. His album sales in the US stand at 14 million units. Double Fantasy was his best-selling solo album, at three million shipments in the US. Released shortly before his death, it won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The following year, the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music was given to Lennon. Participants in a 2002 BBC poll voted him eighth of "100 Greatest Britons". Between 2003 and 2008, Rolling Stone recognised Lennon in several reviews of artists and music, ranking him fifth of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and 38th of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and his albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, 22nd and 76th respectively of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) with the other Beatles in 1965 (returned in 1969). Lennon was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. (Apple, 1968), (Zapple, 1969), Wedding Album (Apple, 1969), John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (Apple, 1970), Imagine (Apple, 1971), Some Time in New York City (Apple, 1972), Mind Games (Apple, 1973), Walls and Bridges (Apple, 1974), Rock 'n' Roll (Apple, 1975), Double Fantasy (Geffen, 1980), Milk and Honey (Geffen, 1984) In October 2018, by combining all format sales (physical albums, physical singles, music videos, digital downloads / ringtones, audio streams, video streams, etc.) with adapted weightings (for instance, 1 physical single = 3/10 album), Lennon's solo equivalent album sales have reached worldwide 72,647,000 units. By 2012, Lennon's solo album sales in the US had exceeded 14 million units. He had 25 number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as a writer, co-writer or performer. All releases after his death in 1980 use archival footage. In His Own Write (1964), A Spaniard in the Works (1965), Skywriting by Word of Mouth (1986) List of peace activists Citations Sources https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-19691231, http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-19691231 Kane, Larry (2007). Lennon Revealed. Running Press., Pang, May; Edwards, Henry (1983). Loving John: The Untold Story. Warner Books. ., Riley, Tim (2011). Lennon: Man, Myth, Music. Hyperion., Wiener, Jon. The John Lennon FBI Files, Yorke, Richard (1969). "John Lennon: Ringo's Right, We Can't Tour Again", New Musical Express, 7 June 1969, reproduced by Crawdaddy!, 2007., Burger, Jeff, ed: Lennon on Lennon: Conversations With John Lennon (2017) Chicago Review Press, BBC Archive on John Lennon, NPR Archive on John Lennon, FBI file on John Lennon, John Lennon hosted by EMI Group Limited The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool who recorded hundreds of songs during their career. The group's "main catalogue" – songs released between 1962 and 1970 – consists of 213 songs (four of which exist in different versions): 188 originals and 25 covers. Since their break-up, over 100 more songs by the group have been officially released, which include live songs the group never recorded in the studio and numerous outtakes. The band also recorded several songs that remain unreleased. Often considered the most influential band of the rock era, the group's music pioneered new recording techniques and was primarily responsible for pop music's evolution into an art form. The majority of their recordings were produced by George Martin, who also played and composed string arrangements on multiple songs; his influence on the group led him to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle". Following their signing with EMI in 1962, each member of the "Fab Four" contributed to songwriting. Their primary songwriters were the partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who composed most of the group's songs; lead guitarist George Harrison wrote 22 songs, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun", while drummer Ringo Starr wrote two songs ("Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden"), and was credited as co-writer for four others. While songs written by Lennon or McCartney were always credited to "Lennon–McCartney", the pair wrote many songs completely separately. These include "Come Together", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Nowhere Man" (Lennon) and "Hey Jude", "Let It Be" and "Yesterday" (McCartney), the last of which is one of the most covered songs of all time. Artists the band covered while together included Chuck Berry ("Roll Over Beethoven", "Rock and Roll Music"), Carl Perkins ("Matchbox", "Honey Don't"), Larry Williams ("Slow Down", "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy") and Little Richard ("Long Tall Sally"). Cover songs were included on five of the band's core albums: Please Please Me, With the Beatles (both 1963), Beatles for Sale (1964), Help! (1965) and Let It Be (1970). Lead vocals were also shared by the group, with Starr usually contributing vocals to one song per album. The group were known for their harmonies, mostly two-part, but sang intricate three-part harmonies on "This Boy", "Yes It Is" and "Because". Originally rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll music, the group embraced pop music in their early years ("She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand"), but began to branch out into different genres, including folk rock (Rubber Soul), country ("Act Naturally", "Don't Pass Me By") and psychedelia (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour). Their 1968 self-titled album (also known as the "White Album") in particular featured a wide range of styles, including ska ("Ob-La-Di, Ob- La-Da"), blues ("Yer Blues"), hard rock ("Helter Skelter" and the single version of "Revolution"), and a musique concrète sound collage ("Revolution 9"). The group also composed numerous ballads, including "Michelle" and "The Long and Winding Road". During their career, the Beatles introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century. Some of these include one of the first uses of guitar feedback in music ("I Feel Fine"), the first use of a fade-in in a pop song ("Eight Days a Week"), use of tape loops ("Tomorrow Never Knows"), using the recording studio as an instrument (Revolver and Sgt. Pepper) and popularising the Indian sitar in pop music ("Norwegian Wood"); Harrison further embraced Indian music on songs such as "Love You To", "Within You Without You" and "The Inner Light". Abbey Road (1969) featured prominent use of the Moog synthesiser and the Leslie speaker, along with a medley of song fragments edited together to form a single piece. Along with their main catalogue, over 100 previously unreleased songs have been released on numerous live albums, compilations, and deluxe editions. These include demos, outtakes, songs the group only recorded live and not in the studio and, for The Beatles Anthology in the 1990s, two reunion songs: "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". The Beatles remain one of the most acclaimed and influential artists in popular music history. Their songs have been covered thousands of times by a wide range of artists and continue to be celebrated throughout the world. Between 1963 and 1966, the Beatles' songs were released on different albums in the United Kingdom and the United States. In the UK, 30 songs were released as non-album singles, despite appearing on numerous albums in the US. Since the remastering of the band's catalogue on CDs in the 1980s, the Beatles have a primary "core catalogue" of 14 albums: Please Please Me (1963), With the Beatles (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Beatles for Sale (1964), Help! (1965), Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), The Beatles ("The White Album", 1968), Yellow Submarine (1969), Abbey Road (1969), Let It Be (1970) The catalogue also includes the 1988 compilation album Past Masters, which collected 25 of the Beatles' 30 non-album singles, along with the 1964 EP Long Tall Sally and other rarities that were commercially available in the 1960s. In addition to their main catalogue, over 100 songs that were recorded by the group have been released. Four songs have only appeared in two of the groups' films: one in Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and three in Let It Be (1970). The first release of new recordings was Live at the BBC in 1994, which features live performances of mostly cover songs that were recorded on various BBC Light Programme radio shows between 1963 and 1965. Further recordings from these shows were released on On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 in 2013. The Beatles Anthology project in the 1990s featured rarities, outtakes and live performances across their entire career, along with the reunion songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", which were recorded as demos by Lennon before his death in 1980 and completed by the surviving Beatles. Further recordings have been released on various compilation albums and deluxe editions. References Bibliography The Beatles discography

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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War (1939–1945). The Allies promoted the alliance as a means to control German, Japanese and Italian aggression. At the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as their dependent states, such as British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. After the start of the German invasion of North Europe until the Balkan Campaign, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, and Yugoslavia joined the Allies. After first having cooperated with Germany in invading Poland whilst remaining neutral in the Allied-Axis conflict, the Soviet Union perforce joined the Allies in June 1941 after being invaded by Germany. The United States provided war materiel and money all along, and officially joined in December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. China had already been in a prolonged war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, but officially joined the Allies in 1941. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942. However, the name "United Nations" was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the "Big Three"—the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—controlled Allied strategy; relations between the United Kingdom and the United States were especially close. The Big Three together with China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful", then were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United Nations and later as the "Four Policemen" of the United Nations. After the war ended, the Allied nations became the basis of the modern United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I and cooperation of the victorious powers at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar Republic's legitimacy became shaken. However, the 1920s were peaceful. With the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, political unrest in Europe soared including the rise in support of revanchist nationalists in Germany who blamed the severity of the economic crisis on the Treaty of Versailles. By the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the immediate cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria, and German-populated territories of Czechoslovakia. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement. In Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933. After four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japan's actions and initiated sanctions on Japan. The United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, and demonstrating that the appeasement policy was a failure. Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country. Also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the western powers, but Hitler ended the risk of a war with Stalin by signing the Nazi–Soviet non-aggression pact in August 1939. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of Eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland; two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east. A Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini. In June 1941, Hitler broke the non-aggression agreement with Stalin and Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In December, Japan attacked the US and Britain. The main lines of World War II had formed. During December 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt devised the name "United Nations" for the Allies and proposed it to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He referred to the Big Three and China as a "trusteeship of the powerful", and then later the "Four Policemen". The Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942 was the basis of the modern United Nations (UN). At the Potsdam Conference of July–August 1945, Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, proposed that the foreign ministers of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States "should draft the peace treaties and boundary settlements of Europe", which led to the creation of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the "Big Five", and soon thereafter the establishment of those states as the permanent members of the UNSC. Great Britain and other members of the British Commonwealth, most known as the Dominions, declared war on Germany separately from 3 September 1939 with the UK first, all within one week of each other; these countries were Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. British West Africa and the British colonies in East and Southern Africa participated, mainly in the North African, East African and Middle-Eastern theatres. Two West African and one East African division served in the Burma Campaign. Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing colony, having received responsible government in 1923. It was not a sovereign dominion. It governed itself internally and controlled its own armed forces, but had no diplomatic autonomy, and, therefore, was officially at war as soon as Britain was at war. The Southern Rhodesian colonial government issued a symbolic declaration of war nevertheless on 3 September 1939, which made no difference diplomatically, but preceded the declarations of war made by all other British dominions and colonies. These included: the British West Indies, British Honduras, British Guiana and the Falkland Islands. Newfoundland was ruled as a royal colony in 1933–49, run by a governor appointed by London who made the decisions regarding Newfoundland. British India included the areas and peoples covered by later India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and (until 1937) Burma/Myanmar, which later became a separate colony. British Malaya covers the areas of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, while British Borneo covers the area of Brunei, including Sabah and Sarawak of Malaysia. Territories controlled by the Colonial Office, namely the Crown Colonies, were controlled politically by the UK and therefore also entered hostilities with Britain's declaration of war. At the outbreak of World War II, the British Indian Army numbered 205,000 men. Later during World War II, the Indian Army became the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in size.[10] These forces included tank, artillery and airborne forces. Muslim soldiers accounted for up to 40% of the British Indian Army during the war. Indian soldiers earned 30 Victoria Crosses during the Second World War. It suffered 87,000 military casualties (more than any Crown colony but fewer than the United Kingdom). The UK suffered 382,000 military casualties. Protectorates included: Kuwait was a protectorate of the United Kingdom formally established in 1899. The Trucial States were protectorates in the Persian Gulf. Palestine was a mandate dependency created in the peace agreements after World War I from former territory of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq. The Cyprus Regiment was formed by the British Government during the Second World War and made part of the British Army structure. It was mostly Greek Cypriot volunteers and Turkish speaking Cypriot inhabitants of Cyprus but also included other Commonwealth nationalities. On a brief visit to Cyprus in 1943, Winston Churchill praised the "soldiers of the Cyprus Regiment who have served honourably on many fields from Libya to Dunkirk". About 30,000 Cypriots served in the Cyprus Regiment. The regiment was involved in action from the very start and served at Dunkirk, in the Greek Campaign (Battle of Greece) (about 600 soldiers were captured in Kalamata in 1941), North Africa (Operation Compass), France, the Middle East and Italy. Many soldiers were taken prisoner especially at the beginning of the war and were interned in various POW camps (Stalag) including Lamsdorf (Stalag VIII-B), Stalag IVC at Wistritz bei Teplitz and Stalag 4b near Most in the Czech Republic. The soldiers captured in Kalamata were transported by train to prisoner of war camps. In the 1920s the Soviet Union provided military assistance to the Kuomintang, or the Nationalists and helped reorganize their party along Leninist lines: a unification of party, state, and army. In exchange the Nationalists agreed to let members of the Chinese Communist Party join the Nationalists on an individual basis. However, following the nominal unification of China at the end of the Northern Expedition in 1928, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek purged leftists from his party and fought against the revolting Chinese Communist Party, former warlords, and other militarist factions. A fragmented China provided easy opportunities for Japan to gain territories piece by piece without engaging in total war. Following the 1931 Mukden Incident, the puppet state of Manchukuo was established. Throughout the early to mid-1930s, Chiang's anti-communist and anti-militarist campaigns continued while he fought small, incessant conflicts against Japan, usually followed by unfavorable settlements and concessions after military defeats. In 1936 Chiang was forced to cease his anti-communist military campaigns after his kidnap and release by Zhang Xueliang, and reluctantly formed a nominal alliance with the Communists, while the Communists agreed to fight under the nominal command of the Nationalists against the Japanese. Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7 July 1937, China and Japan became embroiled in a full-scale war. The Soviet Union, wishing to keep China in the fight against Japan, supplied China with military assistance until 1941, when it signed a non-aggression pact with Japan. Continuous clashes between the Communists and Nationalists behind enemy lines cumulated in a major military conflict between these two former allies that effectively ended their cooperation against the Japanese, and China had been divided between the internationally recognized Nationalist China under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Communist China under the leadership of Mao Zedong until the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Prior to the alliance of Germany and Italy to Japan, the Nationalist Government held close relations with both Germany and Italy. In the early 1930s, Sino-German cooperation between the Nationalist Government and Germany in military and industrial matters. Nazi Germany provided the largest proportion of Chinese arms imports and technical expertise. Relations between the Nationalist Government and Italy during the 1930s varied, however even after the Nationalist Government followed League of Nations sanctions against Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia, the international sanctions proved unsuccessful, and relations between the Fascist government in Italy and the Nationalist Government in China returned to normal shortly afterwards. Up until 1936, Mussolini had provided the Nationalists with Italian military air and naval missions to help the Nationalists fight against Japanese incursions and communist insurgents. Italy also held strong commercial interests and a strong commercial position in China supported by the Italian concession in Tianjin. However, after 1936 the relationship between the Nationalist Government and Italy changed due to a Japanese diplomatic proposal to recognize the Italian Empire that included occupied Ethiopia within it in exchange for Italian recognition of Manchukuo, Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano accepted this offer by Japan, and on 23 October 1936 Japan recognized the Italian Empire and Italy recognized Manchukuo, as well as discussing increasing commercial links between Italy and Japan. The Nationalist Government held close relations with the United States. The United States opposed Japan's invasion of China in 1937 that it considered an illegal violation of China's sovereignty, and offered the Nationalist Government diplomatic, economic, and military assistance during its war against Japan. In particular, the United States sought to bring the Japanese war effort to a complete halt by imposing a full embargo on all trade between the United States to Japan, Japan was dependent on the United States for 80 percent of its petroleum, resulting in an economic and military crisis for Japan that could not continue its war effort with China without access to petroleum. In November 1940, American military aviator Claire Lee Chennault upon observing the dire situation in the air war between China and Japan, set out to organize a volunteer squadron of American fighter pilots to fight alongside the Chinese against Japan, known as the Flying Tigers. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted dispatching them to China in early 1941. However, they only became operational shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Soviet Union recognised the Republic of China but urged reconciliation with the Communist Party of China and inclusion of Communists in the government. The Soviet Union also urged military and cooperation between Nationalist China and Communist China during the war. Even though China had been fighting the longest among all the Allied powers, it only officially joined the Allies after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on 7 December 1941. China fought the Japanese Empire before joining the Allies in the Pacific War. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek thought Allied victory was assured with the entrance of the United States into the war, and he declared war on Germany and the other Axis nations. However, Allied aid remained low because the Burma Road was closed and the Allies suffered a series of military defeats against Japan early on in the campaign. General Sun Li-jen led the R.O.C. forces to the relief of 7,000 British forces trapped by the Japanese in the Battle of Yenangyaung. He then reconquered North Burma and re-established the land route to China by the Ledo Road. But the bulk of military aid did not arrive until the spring of 1945. More than 1.5 million Japanese troops were trapped in the China Theatre, troops that otherwise could have been deployed elsewhere if China had collapsed and made a separate peace. Communist China had been tacitly supported by the Soviet Union since the 1920s, though the Soviet Union diplomatically recognised the Republic of China, Joseph Stalin supported cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists—including pressuring the Nationalist Government to grant the Communists state and military positions in the government. This was continued into the 1930s that fell in line with the Soviet Union's subversion policy of popular fronts to increase communists' influence in governments. The Soviet Union urged military and cooperation between Soviet China and Nationalist China during China's war against Japan. Initially Mao Zedong accepted the demands of the Soviet Union and in 1938 had recognized Chiang Kai-shek as the "leader" of the "Chinese people". In turn, the Soviet Union accepted Mao's tactic of "continuous guerilla warfare" in the countryside that involved a goal of extending the Communist bases, even if it would result in increased tensions with the Nationalists. After the breakdown of their cooperation with the Nationalists in 1941, the Communists prospered and grew as the war against Japan dragged on, building up their sphere of influence wherever opportunities were presented, mainly through rural mass organizations, administrative, land and tax reform measures favoring poor peasants; while the Nationalists attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence by military blockade and fighting the Japanese at the same time. The Communist Party's position in China was boosted further upon the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 against the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and the Japanese Kwantung Army in China and Manchuria. Upon the intervention of the Soviet Union against Japan in World War II in 1945, Mao Zedong in April and May 1945 had planned to mobilize 150,000 to 250,000 soldiers from across China to work with forces of the Soviet Union in capturing Manchuria. After Germany invaded Poland, France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. In January 1940, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier made a major speech denouncing the actions of Germany: France experienced several major phases of action during World War II: The "Phoney War" of 1939–1940, also called drôle de guerre in France, dziwna wojna in Poland (both meaning "Strange War"), or the "Sitzkrieg" ("Sitting War") in Germany., The Battle of France in May–June 1940, which resulted in the defeat of the Allies, the fall of the French Third Republic, the German occupation of northern and western France, and the creation of the rump state Vichy France, which received diplomatic recognition from the Axis and most neutral countries including the United States., The period of resistance against the occupation and Franco-French struggle for control of the colonies between the Vichy regime and the Free French, who continued the fight on the Allies' side after the Appeal of 18 June by General Charles de Gaulle, recognized by the United Kingdom as France's government-in-exile. It culminated in the Allied landings in North Africa on 11 November 1942, when Vichy ceased to exist as an independent entity after having been invaded by both the Axis and the Allies simultaneously, being thereafter only the nominal government in charge during the occupation of France. Vichy forces in French North Africa switched allegiance and merged with the Free French to participate in the campaigns of Tunisia and of Italy and the invasion of Corsica in 1943–44., The liberation of mainland France beginning with D-Day on 6 June 1944 and operation Overlord, and then with operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, leading to the Liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 by the Free French 2e Division Blindée and the installation of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in the newly liberated capital., Participation of the re-established provisional French Republic's First Army in the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine and the Western Allied invasion of Germany until V-E Day on 8 May 1945. In Africa these included: French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, the League of Nations mandates of French Cameroun and French Togoland, French Madagascar, French Somaliland, and the protectorates of French Tunisia and French Morocco. French Algeria was then not a colony or dependency but a fully-fledged part of metropolitan France. In Asia and Oceania these included: French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, French Indochina, French India, the mandates of Greater Lebanon and French Syria. The French government in 1936 attempted to grant independence to its mandate of Syria in the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence of 1936 signed by France and Syria. However, opposition to the treaty grew in France and the treaty was not ratified. Syria had become an official republic in 1930 and was largely self-governing. In 1941, a British- led invasion supported by Free French forces expelled Vichy French forces in operation Exporter. In the Americas these included: Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, began on 22 June 1941. General Secretary Joseph Stalin and the government of the Soviet Union had supported so-called popular front movements of anti-fascists including communists and non-communists from 1935 to 1939. The popular front strategy was terminated from 1939 to 1941 when the Soviet Union cooperated with Germany in 1939 in the occupation and partitioning of Poland. The Soviet leadership refused to endorse either the Allies or the Axis from 1939 to 1941, as it called the Allied-Axis conflict an "imperialist war". After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin endorsed the Western Allies as part of a renewed popular front strategy against Germany and called for the international communist movement to make a coalition with all those who opposed the Nazis. The Soviet Union intervened against Japan and its client state in Manchuria in 1945, cooperating with the Nationalist Government of China and the Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek; though also cooperating, preferring, and encouraging the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong to take effective control of Manchuria after expelling Japanese forces. In the lead up to the war between the Soviet Union and the German Reich, relations between the two nations underwent several stages. Stalin had studied Hitler, including reading Mein Kampf and from it knew of Hitler's motives for destroying the Soviet Union. As early as in 1933, the Soviet leadership voiced its concerns with the alleged threat of a potential German invasion of the country should Germany attempt a conquest of Lithuania, Latvia, or Estonia, and in December 1933 negotiations began for the issuing of a joint Polish- Soviet declaration guaranteeing the sovereignty of the three Baltic countries. However, Poland withdrew from the negotiations following German and Finnish objections. The Soviet Union and Germany at this time competed with each other for influence in Poland. The Soviet government also was concerned with the anti-Soviet sentiment in Poland and particularly Józef Piłsudski's proposed Polish federation that would include the territories of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine within it that threatened the territorial integrity of the Soviet Union. On 20 August 1939, forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under General Georgy Zhukov, together with the People's Republic of Mongolia eliminated the threat of conflict in the east with a victory over Imperial Japan at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in eastern Mongolia. On the same day, Soviet party leader Joseph Stalin received a telegram from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, suggesting that German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop fly to Moscow for diplomatic talks. (After receiving a lukewarm response throughout the spring and summer, Stalin abandoned attempts for a better diplomatic relationship with France and the United Kingdom.) On 23 August, Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed the non-aggression pact including secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into defined "spheres of influence" for the two regimes, and specifically concerning the partition of the Polish state in the event of its "territorial and political rearrangement". On 15 September 1939, Stalin concluded a durable ceasefire with Japan, to take effect the following day (it would be upgraded to a non-aggression pact in April 1941). The day after that, 17 September, Soviet forces invaded Poland from the east. Although some fighting continued until 5 October, the two invading armies held at least one joint military parade on 25 September, and reinforced their non-military partnership with the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation on 28 September. On 30 November, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, for which it was expelled from the League of Nations. In the following year of 1940, while the world's attention was focused upon the German invasion of France and Norway, the USSR militarily occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as well as parts of Romania. German-Soviet treaties were brought to an end by the German surprise attack on the USSR on 22 June 1941. The Soviet Union soon entered in alliance with the United Kingdom. Following the USSR, a number of other communist, pro-Soviet or Soviet-controlled forces fought against the Axis powers during the Second World War. They were as follows: the Albanian National Liberation Front, the Chinese Red Army, the Greek National Liberation Front, the Hukbalahap, the Malayan Communist Party, the People's Republic of Mongolia, the Polish People's Army, the Tuvan People's Republic (annexed by the Soviet Union in 1944), the Viet Minh and the Yugoslav Partisans. The United States had indirectly supported Britain's war effort against Germany up to 1941 and declared its opposition to territorial aggrandizement. Materiel support to Britain was provided while the U.S. was officially neutral via the Lend-Lease Act starting in 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1941 promulgated the Atlantic Charter that pledged commitment to achieving "the final destruction of Nazi tyranny". Signing the Atlantic Charter, and thereby joining the "United Nations" was the way a nation joined the Allies, and also became eligible for membership in the United Nations world body that formed in 1945. The US strongly supported the Nationalist Government in China in its war with Japan, and provided military equipment, supplies, and volunteers to the Nationalist Government of China to assist in its war effort. In December 1941 Japan opened the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor, the US declared war on Japan, and Japan's allies Germany and Italy declared war on the US, bringing the US into World War II. On 8 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on Japan at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States on 11 December, bringing the country into the European theatre. The US- led Allied forces in the Pacific theatre against Japanese forces from 1941 to 1945. From 1943 to 1945, the US-led and coordinated the Western Allies' war effort in Europe under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor followed by Japan's swift attacks on Allied locations throughout the Pacific, resulted in major US losses in the first several months in the war, including losing control of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island and several Aleutian islands including Attu and Kiska to Japanese forces. American naval forces attained some early successes against Japan. One was the bombing of Japanese industrial centres in the Doolittle Raid. Another was repelling a Japanese invasion of Port Moresby in New Guinea during the Battle of the Coral Sea. A major turning point in the Pacific War was the Battle of Midway where American naval forces were outnumbered by Japanese forces that had been sent to Midway to draw out and destroy American aircraft carriers in the Pacific and seize control of Midway that would place Japanese forces in proximity to Hawaii. However American forces managed to sink four of Japan's six large aircraft carriers that had initiated the attack on Pearl Harbor along with other attacks on Allied forces. Afterwards the US began an offensive against Japanese-captured positions. The Guadalcanal Campaign from 1942 to 1943 was a major contention point where Allied and Japanese forces struggled to gain control of Guadalcanal. The United States held multiple dependencies in the Americas, such as Alaska, the Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the Pacific it held multiple island dependencies such as American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Midway Islands, Wake Island and others. These dependencies were directly involved in the Pacific campaign of the war. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was a sovereign protectorate referred to as an "associated state" of the United States. From late 1941 to 1944, the Philippines was occupied by Japanese forces, who established the Second Philippine Republic as a client state that had nominal control over the country. Australia was a sovereign Dominion under the Australian monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. At the start of the war Australia followed Britain's foreign policies, and accordingly declared war against Germany on 3 September 1939. Australian foreign policy became more independent after the Australian Labor Party formed government in October 1941, and Australia separately declared war against Finland, Hungary and Romania on 8 December 1941 and against Japan the next day. Before the war, Belgium had pursued a policy of neutrality and only became an Allied member after being invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. During the ensuing fighting, Belgian forces fought alongside French and British forces against the invaders. While the British and French were struggling against the fast German advance elsewhere on the front, the Belgian forces were pushed into a pocket to the north. Finally, on 28 May, the King Leopold III surrendered himself and his military to the Germans, having decided the Allied cause was lost. The legal Belgian government was reformed as a government in exile in London. Belgian troops and pilots continued to fight on the Allied side as the Free Belgian Forces. Belgium itself was occupied, but a sizeable Resistance was formed and was loosely coordinated by the government in exile and other Allied powers. British and Canadian troops arrived in Belgium in September 1944 and the capital, Brussels, was liberated on 6 September. Because of the Ardennes Offensive, the country was only fully liberated in early 1945. Belgium held the colony of the Belgian Congo and the League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi. The Belgian Congo was not occupied and remained loyal to the Allies as an important economic asset while its deposits of uranium were useful to the Allied efforts to develop the atomic bomb. Troops from the Belgian Congo participated in the East African Campaign against the Italians. The colonial Force Publique also served in other theatres including Madagascar, the Middle-East, India and Burma within British units. Initially, Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and the Axis, while Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas's quasi-Fascist policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis powers. However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the United States initiated forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side. At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the United States to set up air bases on its territory, especially in Natal, strategically located at the easternmost corner of the South American continent, and on 28 January the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan and Italy. After that, 36 Brazilian merchant ships were sunk by the German and Italian navies, which led the Brazilian government to declare war against Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942. Brazil then sent a 25,700 strong Expeditionary Force to Europe that fought mainly on the Italian front, from September 1944 to May 1945. Also, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force acted in the Atlantic Ocean from the middle of 1942 until the end of the war. Brazil was the only South American country to send troops to fight in the European theatre in the Second World War. Canada was a sovereign Dominion under the Canadian monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. In a symbolic statement of autonomous foreign policy Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King delayed parliament's vote on a declaration of war for seven days after Britain had declared war. Canada was the last member of the Commonwealth to declare war on Germany on 10 September 1939. Because of Cuba's geographical position at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, Havana's role as the principal trading port in the West Indies, and the country's natural resources, Cuba was an important participant in the American Theater of World War II, and subsequently one of the greatest beneficiaries of the United States' Lend-Lease program. Cuba declared war on the Axis powers in December 1941, making it one of the first Latin American countries to enter the conflict, and by the war's end in 1945 its military had developed a reputation as being the most efficient and cooperative of all the Caribbean nations. On 15 May 1943, the Cuban patrol boat CS-13 sank the German submarine U-176. Czechoslovakia along with the United Kingdom and France attempted to resolve German irredentist claims to the Sudetenland region in 1938 with the Munich Agreement, however in March 1939, Czechoslovakia was invaded by Germany and partitioned between Germany, Hungary, Poland, and a German client state of Slovakia. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile joined the Allies, the occupation and partition of Czechoslovakia amongst the Axis powers was not accepted by the Allied powers. Czechoslovakian military units took part in the war. The Dominican Republic was one of the very few countries willing to accept mass Jewish immigration during World War II. At the Évian Conference, it offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees. The DORSA (Dominican Republic Settlement Association) was formed with the assistance of the JDC, and helped settle Jews in Sosúa, on the northern coast. About 700 European Jews of Ashkenazi Jewish descent reached the settlement where each family received of land, 10 cows (plus 2 additional cows per children), a mule and a horse, and a US$10,000 loan (about dollars at prices) at 1% interest. The Dominican Republic officially declared war on the Axis powers on December 11, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, the Caribbean nation had already been engaged in war actions since before the formal declaration of war. Dominican sailboats and schooners had been attacked on previous occasions by German submarines as, highlighting the case of the 1,993-ton merchant ship, "San Rafael", which was making a trip from Tampa, Florida to Kingston, Jamaica, when 80 miles away from its final destination, it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-125, causing the command to abandon the ship by the commander. Although the crew of San Rafael managed to escape the event, it would be remembered by the Dominican press as a sign of the infamy of the German submarines and the danger they represented in the Caribbean. Recently, due to a research work carried out by the Embassy of the United States of America in Santo Domingo and the Institute of Dominican Studies of the City of New York (CUNY), documents of the Department of Defense were discovered in which it was confirmed that around 340 men and women of Dominican origin were part of the US Armed Forces during the World War II. Many of them received medals and other recognitions for their outstanding actions in combat. Greece was invaded by Italy on 28 October 1940 and subsequently joined the Allies. The Greek Army managed to stop the Italian offensive from Italy's protectorate of Albania, and Greek forces pushed Italian forces back into Albania. However, after the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, German forces managed to occupy mainland Greece and, a month later, the island of Crete. The Greek government went into exile, while the country was placed under a puppet government and divided into occupation zones run by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. From 1941, a strong resistance movement appeared, chiefly in the mountainous interior, where it established a "Free Greece" by mid-1943. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Italian zone was taken over by the Germans. Axis forces left mainland Greece in October 1944, although some Aegean islands, notably Crete, remained under German occupation until the end of the war. Before the war, Luxembourg had pursued a policy of neutrality and only became an Allied member after being invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. The government in exile fled, winding up in England. It made Luxembourgish language broadcasts to the occupied country on BBC radio. In 1944, the government in exile signed a treaty with the Belgian and Dutch governments, creating the Benelux Economic Union and also signed into the Bretton Woods system. Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942 after German submarines attacked the Mexican oil tankers Potrero del Llano and Faja de Oro that were transporting crude oil to the United States. These attacks prompted President Manuel Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers. Mexico formed Escuadrón 201 fighter squadron as part of the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (FAEM—"Mexican Expeditionary Air Force"). The squadron was attached to the 58th Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces and carried out tactical air support missions during the liberation of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the summer of 1945. Some 300,000 Mexican citizens went to the United States to work on farms and factories. Some 15,000 US nationals of Mexican origin and Mexican residents in the US enrolled in the US Armed Forces and fought in various fronts around the world. The Netherlands became an Allied member after being invaded on 10 May 1940 by Germany. During the ensuing campaign, the Netherlands were defeated and occupied by Germany. The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian, British, American and other allied forces during the campaigns of 1944 and 1945. The Princess Irene Brigade, formed from escapees from the German invasion, took part in several actions in 1944 in Arromanches and in 1945 in the Netherlands. Navy vessels saw action in the British Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean, generally as part of Royal Navy units. Dutch airmen flying British aircraft participated in the air war over Germany. The Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) was the principal Dutch colony in Asia, and was seized by Japan in 1942. During the Dutch East Indies Campaign, the Netherlands played a significant role in the Allied effort to halt the Japanese advance as part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command. The ABDA fleet finally encountered the Japanese surface fleet at the Battle of Java Sea, at which Doorman gave the order to engage. During the ensuing battle the ABDA fleet suffered heavy losses, and was mostly destroyed after several naval battles around Java; the ABDA Command was later dissolved. The Japanese finally occupied the Dutch East Indies in February–March 1942. Dutch troops, aircraft and escaped ships continued to fight on the Allied side and also mounted a guerrilla campaign in Timor. New Zealand was a sovereign Dominion under the New Zealand monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. It quickly entered World War II, officially declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain. Unlike Australia, which had felt obligated to declare war, as it also had not ratified the Statute of Westminster, New Zealand did so as a sign of allegiance to Britain, and in recognition of Britain's abandonment of its former appeasement policy, which New Zealand had long opposed. This led to then Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage declaring two days later: "With gratitude for the past and confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny." Because of its strategic location for control of the sea lanes in the North Sea and the Atlantic, both the Allies and Germany worried about the other side gaining control of the neutral country. Germany ultimately struck first with operation Weserübung on 9 April 1940, resulting in the two-month-long Norwegian Campaign, which ended in a German victory and their war-long occupation of Norway. Units of the Norwegian Armed Forces evacuated from Norway or raised abroad continued participating in the war from exile. The Norwegian merchant fleet, then the fourth largest in the world, was organized into Nortraship to support the Allied cause. Nortraship was the world's largest shipping company, and at its height operated more than 1000 ships. Norway was neutral when Germany invaded, and it is not clear when Norway became an Allied country. Great Britain, France and Polish forces in exile supported Norwegian forces against the invaders but without a specific agreement. Norway's cabinet signed a military agreement with Britain on 28 May 1941. This agreement allowed all Norwegian forces in exile to operate under UK command. Norwegian troops in exile should primarily be prepared for the liberation of Norway, but could also be used to defend Britain. The Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, started the war in Europe, and the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. Poland fielded the third biggest army among the European Allies, after the Soviet Union and United Kingdom, but before France. The country never officially surrendered to the Third Reich, nor to the Soviet Union, primarily because neither of the totalitarian powers requested an official surrender, and continued the war effort under the Polish government in exile. However, the Soviet Union unilaterally considered the flight to Romania of President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły on 17 September as an evidence of debellatio causing the extinction of the Polish state, and consequently declared itself allowed to invade (according to the Soviet position: "to protect") Eastern Poland starting from the same day. The Red Army had invaded the Second Polish Republic several hours before the Polish president fled to Romania. The Soviets invaded on 17 September at 3 a.m., while president Mościcki crossed the Polish-Romanian border at 21:45 on the same day. The Polish military continued to fight, and the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Kock, ended at 1 a.m. on 6 October 1939 with the Independent Operational Group "Polesie," a field army, surrendering due to lack of ammunition. Polish soldiers fought under their own flag but under the command of the British military. They were major contributors to the Allies in the theatre of war west of Germany and in the theatre of war east of Germany, with the Soviet Union. The Polish armed forces in the West created after the fall of Poland played minor roles in the Battle of France, and important ones in the Italian and North African Campaigns. The Polish People's Army took part in the Battle of Berlin, the closing battle of the European theater of war. They occupied the city alongside the Soviet Red Army. The Home Army, the largest underground force in Europe, and other resistance organizations in occupied Poland provided intelligence that enabled successful operations later in the war and led to uncovering of Nazi war crimes (i.e., death camps) to the Western Allies. Notable Polish units fought in every campaign in North Africa and Europe (outside the Balkans). The Soviet Union recognized the London-based government at first. But it broke diplomatic relations after the Katyn massacre of Polish nationals was revealed. In 1943, the Soviet Union organized the Polish People's Army under Zygmunt Berling, around which it constructed the post-war successor state People's Republic of Poland. South Africa was a sovereign Dominion under the South African monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. South Africa held authority over the mandate of South-West Africa. Yugoslavia entered the war on the Allied side after the invasion of Axis powers on 6 April 1941. The Royal Yugoslav Army was thoroughly defeated in less than two weeks and the country was occupied. The Italian-backed Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelić declared the Independent State of Croatia before the invasion was over. King Peter II and much of the Yugoslavian government had left the country. In the United Kingdom, they joined numerous other governments in exile from Nazi-occupied Europe. Beginning with the uprising in Herzegovina in June 1941, there was continuous anti-Axis resistance in Yugoslavia until the end of the war. Before the end of 1941, the anti-Axis resistance movement split between the royalist Chetniks and the communist Yugoslav Partisans of Josip Broz Tito who fought both against each other during the war and against the occupying forces. The Yugoslav Partisans managed to put up considerable resistance to the Axis occupation, forming various liberated territories during the war. In August 1943, there were over 30 Axis divisions on the territory of Yugoslavia, not including the forces of the Croatian puppet state and other quisling formations. In 1944, the leading Allied powers persuaded Tito's Yugoslav Partisans and the royalist Yugoslav government led by Prime Minister Ivan Šubašić to sign the Treaty of Vis that created the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The Partisans were a major Yugoslav resistance movement against the Axis occupation and partition of Yugoslavia. Initially the Partisans were in rivalry with the Chetniks over control of the resistance movement. However, the Partisans were recognized by both the Eastern and Western Allies as the primary resistance movement in 1943. After that, their strength increased rapidly, from 100,000 at the beginning of 1943 to over 648,000 in September 1944. In 1945 they were transformed into the Yugoslav army, organized in 4 field armies with 800,000 fighters. The Chetniks, the short name given to the movement titled the Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland, were initially a major Allied Yugoslav resistance movement. However, due to their royalist and anti-communist views, Chetniks were considered to have begun collaborating with the Axis as a tactical move to focus on destroying their Partisan rivals. The Chetniks presented themselves as a Yugoslav movement, but were primarily a Serb movement. They reached their peak in 1943 with 93,000 fighters. Their major contribution was Operation Halyard in 1944. In collaboration with the OSS, 413 Allied airmen shot down over Yugoslavia were rescued and evacuated. The United Kingdom controlled Egypt and used it as a major base for Allied operations throughout the region, especially the battles in North Africa against Italy and Germany. Its highest priorities were control of the Eastern Mediterranean, and especially keeping the Suez Canal open for merchant ships and for military connections with India and Australia. The Kingdom of Egypt was nominally an independent state since 1922 but effectively remained in the British sphere of influence with the British Mediterranean fleet being stationed in Alexandria and British Army forces being stationed in the Suez Canal zone. Egypt faced an Axis campaign led by Italian and German forces during the war. British frustration over King Farouk's reign over Egypt resulted in the Abdeen Palace Incident of 1942 where British Army forces surrounded the royal Abdeen Palace and demanded a new government be established, nearly forcing the abdication of Farouk until he submitted to British demands. The Kingdom of Egypt joined the United Nations on 24 February 1945. At the outbreak of World War II, the British Indian Army numbered 205,000 men. Later during World War II, the Indian Army became the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in size. These forces included tank, artillery and airborne forces. Indian soldiers earned 30 Victoria Crosses during the Second World War. During the war, India suffered more civilian casualties than the United Kingdom, with the Bengal famine of 1943 estimated to have killed at least 23 million people. In addition, India suffered 87,000 military casualties, more than any Crown colony but fewer than the United Kingdom, which suffered 382,000 military casualties. After a period of neutrality, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers from 1941 to 1944. The Orthodox Church and others convinced King Boris to not allow the Bulgarian Jews to be exported to concentration camps. The king died shortly afterwards, suspected of being poisoned after a visit to Germany. Bulgaria abandoned the Axis and joined the Allies when the Soviet Union invaded, offering no resistance to the incoming forces. In the 1947 peace treaties, Bulgaria gained a small area near the Black Sea from Romania, making it the only former German ally to gain territory from WWII. Among the Soviet forces during World War II, millions of troops were from the Soviet Central Asian Republics. They included 1,433,230 soldiers from Uzbekistan, more than 1million from Kazakhstan, and more than 700,000 from Azerbaijan, among other Central Asian Republics. Mongolia fought against Japan during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and the Soviet–Japanese War in August 1945 to protect its independence and to liberate Southern Mongolia from Japan and China. Mongolia had been a Soviet sphere of influence since the 1920s. By 1944, Poland entered the Soviet sphere of influence with the establishment of Władysław Gomułka's communist regime. Polish forces fought alongside Soviet forces against Germany. Romania had initially been a member of the Axis powers but switched allegiance upon facing invasion by the Soviet Union. In a radio broadcast to the Romanian people and army on the night of 23 August 1944 King Michael issued a cease- fire, proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on 12 September) offered by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and declared war on Germany. The coup accelerated the Red Army's advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union. Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of the media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front. Tannu Tuva was a partially recognized state founded from the former Tuvan protectorate of Imperial Russia. It was a client state of the Soviet Union and was annexed into the Soviet Union in 1944. Italy initially had been a leading member of the Axis powers, however after facing multiple military losses including the loss of all of Italy's colonies to advancing Allied forces, Duce Benito Mussolini was deposed and arrested in July 1943 by order of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy in co-operation with members of the Grand Council of Fascism who viewed Mussolini as having led Italy to ruin by allying with Germany in the war. Victor Emmanuel III dismantled the remaining apparatus of the Fascist regime and appointed Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio as Prime Minister of Italy. On 8 September 1943, Italy signed the Armistice of Cassibile with the Allies, ending Italy's war with the Allies and ending Italy's participation with the Axis powers. Expecting immediate German retaliation, Victor Emmanuel III and the Italian government relocated to southern Italy under Allied control. Germany viewed the Italian government's actions as an act of betrayal, and German forces immediately occupied all Italian territories outside of Allied control, in some cases even massacring Italian troops. Italy became a co-belligerent of the Allies, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Army was created to fight against the German occupation of Northern Italy, where German paratroopers rescued Mussolini from arrest and he was placed in charge of a German puppet state known as the Italian Social Republic (RSI). Italy descended into civil war until the end of hostilities after his deposition and arrest, with Fascists loyal to him allying with German forces and helping them against the Italian armistice government and partisans. Albania was recognized as an "Associated Power" at the 1946 Paris conference and officially signed the treaty ending WWII between the "Allied and Associated Powers" and Italy in Paris, on 10 February 1947. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established on 13 April 1919. During the time when the Provisional Government was created, Korea was under Japanese rule. The Provisional Government had governmental tasks and created important organizations for their independence movement, such as the Korean Liberation Army (KLA) on 17 September 1940. The Provisional Government also declared war against the Empire of Japan on 10 December 1941. The Provisional Government is also the first democratic government of Korea. The KLA participated in the battles ongoing in China with the Kuomintang forces. In 1943, KLA underground activists, co-operating with British forces in Burma and India, initiated joint operations with British forces. The KLA failed to initiate Operation Eagle, a plan to liberate the Korean Peninsula by first attacking the capital region (Seoul and Incheon), on 18 August 1945. The Office of Strategic Services of the United States also promised to assist the KLA with warplanes, submarines, and airborne troops during the operation. However, the plan failed due to the early surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945. The Provisional Government also faced heavy opposition from the United States Army Military Government in Korea after World War II. In addition, other governments in the Treaty of San Francisco did not recognize the Provisional Government as a member of the Allies. The government of the Republic of Korea was established on 15 August 1948, under President Syngman Rhee, and the Provisional Government was disbanded officially. The alliance was formalised in the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942. There were 26 signatories: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Soviet Union, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia The United Nations began growing immediately after their formation. In 1942, Mexico, the Philippines and Ethiopia adhered to the declaration. The African nation had been restored in its independence by British forces after the Italian defeat on Amba Alagi in 1941, while the Philippines, still dependent on Washington but granted international diplomatic recognition, was allowed to join on 10 June despite their occupation by Japan. During 1943, the Declaration was signed by Iraq, Iran, Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia. A Tripartite Treaty of Alliance with Britain and the USSR formalised Iran's assistance to the Allies. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas was considered near to fascist ideas, but realistically joined the United Nations after their evident successes. In 1944, Liberia and France signed. The French situation was very confused. Free French forces were recognized only by Britain, while the United States considered Vichy France to be the legal government of the country until Operation Overlord, while also preparing US occupation francs. Winston Churchill urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944; the Prime Minister feared that after the war, Britain could remain the sole great power in Europe facing the Communist threat, as it was in 1940 and 1941 against Nazism. During the early part of 1945, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria (these latter two French colonies had been declared independent nations by British occupation troops, despite big protests by Pétain before, and De Gaulle after) and Ecuador became signatories. Ukraine and Belarus, which were not independent nations but parts of the Soviet Union, were accepted as members of the United Nations as way to provide greater influence to Stalin, who had only Yugoslavia as a communist partner in the alliance. The Charter of the United Nations was agreed to during the war at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held between April and July 1945. The Charter was signed by 50 nations on 26 June (Poland had its place reserved and later became the 51st "original" signatory), and was formally ratified shortly after the war on 24 October 1945. In 1944, the United Nations was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and China at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference where the formation and the permanent seats (for the "Big Five", China, France, the UK, US, and USSR) of the United Nations Security Council were decided. The Security Council met for the first time in the immediate aftermath of war on 17 January 1946. These are the original 51 signatories (UNSC permanent members are asterisked): Argentine Republic, Commonwealth of Australia, Kingdom of Belgium, Republic of Bolivia, United States of Brazil, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Dominion of Canada, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, , Republic of Colombia, Republic of Costa Rica, Republic of Cuba, Czechoslovak Republic, Kingdom of Denmark, Dominican Republic, Republic of Ecuador, Kingdom of Egypt, Republic of El Salvador, Ethiopian Empire, French Republic, , Kingdom of Greece, Republic of Guatemala, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Honduras, Indian Empire, Imperial Kingdom of Iran, Kingdom of Iraq, Lebanese Republic, Republic of Liberia, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, United Mexican States, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dominion of New Zealand, Republic of Nicaragua, Kingdom of Norway, Republic of Panama, Republic of Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Commonwealth of the Philippines, Republic of Poland, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Union of South Africa, Syrian Republic, Republic of Turkey, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, , United States of America, , Oriental Republic of Uruguay, United States of Venezuela, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia The following list denotes dates on which nations declared war on the Axis powers, or on which an Axis power declared war on them. Nepal was formally independent. The Indian Empire had a status less independent than the Dominions. Poland: 1 September 1939, France: 3 September 1939—On 22 June 1940, Vichy France under Marshal Pétain formally capitulated to Germany, and became neutral. This capitulation was denounced by General de Gaulle, who established the Free France government-in-exile, which continued to fight against Germany. This led to the Provisional Government of the French Republic, which was officially recognized by the other Allies as the legitimate government of France on 23 October 1944. Pétain's 1940 surrender was also legally nullified, so France is considered an Ally throughout the war., United Kingdom: 3 September 1939, India: 3 September 1939, Australia: 3 September 1939, New Zealand: 3 September 1939, Nepal: 4 September 1939, South Africa: 6 September 1939, Canada: 10 September 1939 Norway: 8 April 1940—German invasion of a neutral country without declaration of war. The Allies supported Norway during the Norwegian Campaign. Norway did not officially join the Allies until later., Denmark 9 April 1940—German invasion without declaration of war, Belgium: 10 May 1940, Luxembourg: 10 May 1940, Netherlands: 10 May 1940, Greece: 28 October 1940 Yugoslavia: 6 April 1941 (Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact, becoming a nominal member of the Axis on 25 March; but was attacked by the Axis on 6 April 1941.), Soviet Union: 22 June 1941; Despite membership of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Belarus were recognized as separate fighting states by the United Kingdom and the United States at the end of the war., Panama: 7 December 1941, United States: December 1941 (war declared on Japan), Philippines: 8 December 1941, Costa Rica: 8 December 1941, Dominican Republic: 8 December 1941, El Salvador: 8 December 1941, Haiti: 8 December 1941, Honduras: 8 December 1941, Nicaragua: 8 December 1941, China: 9 December 1941 (at war with Japan since 1937), Cuba: 9 December 1941, Guatemala: 9 December 1941, United States: 11 December 1941 (war declared on the U.S. by Germany and Italy) Vietnam (Viet Minh): 7 December 1941, Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea: 10 December 1941, Czechoslovakia (government-in-exile): 16 December 1941 Peru: February 1942, Mexico: 22 May 1942, Brazil: 22 August 1942, Ethiopia: 14 December 1942 Iraq: 16 January 1943, Bolivia: 7 April 1943, Colombia: 26 July 1943, Iran: 9 September 1943, Italy: 10 October 1943—former Axis power Liberia: 27 January 1944, Romania: 25 August 1944—former Axis power, Bulgaria: 8 September 1944—former Axis power Hungary: 20 January 1945—former Axis power, Ecuador: 2 February 1945, Paraguay: 7 February 1945, Uruguay: 15 February 1945, Venezuela: 15 February 1945, Turkey: 23 February 1945, Egypt: 24 February 1945, Syria: 26 February 1945, Lebanon: 27 February 1945, Saudi Arabia: 1 March 1945, Finland: 3 March 1945—former co-belligerent of Germany in the Continuation War. On 3 March 1945, Finland retroactively declared war on Germany from 15 September 1944., Argentina: 27 March 1945, Chile: 11 April 1945 declared war on Japan, Mongolia: August 1945 declared war on Japan Allies of World War I, Diplomatic history of World War II, Free World (World War II), Military production during World War II, Neutral powers during World War II, Participants in World War II Davies, Norman (2006), . London: Macmillan., Dear, Ian C. B. and Michael Foot, eds. The Oxford Companion to World War II (2005), comprehensive encyclopedia for all countries, Holland R. (1981), Britain and the Commonwealth alliance, 1918–1939, London: Macmillan., Overy, Richard (1997), Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941–1945. New York: Penguin. ., Weinberg, Gerhard L. (1994). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Comprehensive coverage of the war with emphasis on diplomacy excerpt and text search The Atlantic Conference: Resolution of 24 September 1941 World War I (often abbreviated as WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, the Great War, the Seminal Catastrophe, and initially in North America as the European War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the resulting 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide. On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis. In response, on 23 July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia's reply failed to satisfy the Austrians, and the two moved to a war footing. A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe. By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions: the Triple Entente—consisting of France, Russia, and Britain—and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (the Triple Alliance was only defensive in nature, allowing Italy to stay out of the war until April 1915, when it joined the Allied Powers after its relations with Austria-Hungary deteriorated). Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia and, after Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade on the 28July, approved partial mobilisation. Full Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30July; on the 31st, Austria-Hungary and Germany did the same, while Germany demanded Russia demobilise within twelve hours. When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on Russia on 1August in support of Austria-Hungary, with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6August; France ordered full mobilisation in support of Russia on 2August. German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to rapidly concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within six weeks, then shift forces to the East before Russia could fully mobilise; this was later known as the Schlieffen Plan. On 2August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick victory over France. When this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3August and declared war on France the same day; the Belgian government invoked the 1839 Treaty of London and in compliance with its obligations under this, Britain declared war on Germany on 4August. On 12 August, Britain and France also declared war on Austria-Hungary; on the 23August, Japan sided with Britain, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in and drew upon each power's colonial empire as well, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe. The Entente and its allies would eventually become known as the Allied Powers, while the grouping of Austria-Hungary, Germany and their allies would become known as the Central Powers. The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914, the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines that changed little until 1917 (the Eastern Front, by contrast, was marked by much greater exchanges of territory). In 1915, Italy joined the Allied Powers and opened a front in the Alps. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915 and Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the Balkans. The United States initially remained neutral, though even while neutral it became an important supplier of war materiel to the Allies. Eventually, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, the declaration by Germany that its navy would resume unrestricted attacks on neutral shipping, and the revelation that Germany was trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6April 1917. Trained American forces would not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but ultimately the American Expeditionary Force would reach some two million troops. Though Serbia was defeated in 1915, and Romania joined the Allied Powers in 1916 only to be defeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918. The 1917 February Revolution in Russia replaced the Tsarist autocracy with the Provisional Government, but continuing discontent with the cost of the war led to the October Revolution, the creation of the Soviet Socialist Republic, and the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in March 1918, ending Russia's involvement in the war. This allowed the transfer of large numbers of German troops from the East to the Western Front, resulting in the German March 1918 Offensive. This offensive was initially successful, but failed to score a decisive victory and exhausted the last of the German reserves. The Allies rallied and drove the Germans back in their Hundred Days Offensive, a continual series of attacks to which the Germans had no reply. Bulgaria was the first Central Power to sign an armistice—the Armistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, signing the Armistice of Mudros. On 4November, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to the Armistice of Villa Giusti. With its allies defeated, revolution at home, and the military no longer willing to fight, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9November and Germany signed an armistice on 11 November 1918, effectively ending the war. World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural, economic, and social climate of the world. It is considered to mark the end of the Second Industrial Revolution and the Pax Britannica. The war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous revolutions and uprisings. The Big Four (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy) imposed their terms on the defeated powers in a series of treaties agreed at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the most well known being the German peace treaty—the Treaty of Versailles. Ultimately, as a result of the war the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian Empires ceased to exist, with numerous new states created from their remains. However, despite the conclusive Allied victory (and the creation of the League of Nations during the Peace Conference, intended to prevent future wars), a second world war would follow just over twenty years later. The term "world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel, who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word," citing a wire service report in The Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914. Prior to World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War. In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" or "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. After World WarII began in 1939, the terms became more standard, with British Empire historians, including Canadians, favouring "The First World War" and Americans "World WarI". For much of the 19th century, the major European powers had tried to maintain a tenuous balance of power among themselves, resulting in a complex network of political and military alliances. The biggest challenges to this were Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the post-1848 rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War established Prussian hegemony in Germany, while victory over France in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War unified the German states into a German Reich under Prussian leadership. In 1873, to isolate France and avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. Concerned by Russia's victory in the 1877–1878 Russo- Turkish War and their influence in the Balkans, the League was dissolved in 1878, with Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently forming the 1879 Dual Alliance; this became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882. The practical details of these alliances were limited, since their primary purpose was to ensure cooperation between the three Imperial Powers and isolate France. Attempts by Britain in 1880 to resolve colonial tensions with Russia and diplomatic moves by France led to Bismarck reforming the League in 1881. When the League finally lapsed in 1887, it was replaced by the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. In 1890, the new German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, forced Bismarck to retire and was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by the new Chancellor, Leo von Caprivi. This allowed France to counteract the Triple Alliance with the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 and the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain, while in 1907 Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention. The agreements did not constitute formal alliances, but by settling long-standing colonial disputes, they made British entry into any future conflict involving France or Russia a possibility; these interlocking bilateral agreements became known as the Triple Entente. The creation of the German Reich following victory in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War led to a massive increase in Germany's economic and industrial strength. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and Wilhelm II, who became Emperor in 1890, sought to use that to create a Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial German Navy to compete with Britain's Royal Navy for world naval supremacy. In doing so, they were influenced by US naval strategist Alfred Mahan, who argued possession of a blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz translated his books into German and Wilhelm made them required reading. However, it was also driven by Wilhelm's admiration of the Royal Navy and desire to outdo it. This resulted in the Anglo-German naval arms race but the launch of in 1906 gave the Royal Navy a technological advantage over its German rival, which they never lost. Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources to creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it. In 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the Rüstungswende or ‘armaments turning point', when Germany switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This was driven by Russia's recovery from the 1905 Revolution, specifically increased investment post 1908 in railways and infrastructure in its western border regions. Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for fewer numbers; it was concern at the closing of this gap that led to the end of the naval race, rather than a reduction in tension elsewhere. When Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 men in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures taken by the Balkan powers and Italy led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are hard to calculate, due to differences in categorising expenditure, while they often omit civilian infrastructure projects with a military use, such as railways. However, from 1908 to 1913, defence spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909 by officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russian Empire. Russian political manoeuvring in the region destabilised peace accords that were already fracturing in the Balkans, which came to be known as the "powder keg of Europe". In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the Ottoman Empire, creating an independent Albanian state while enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. When Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913, it sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War, by the end of which it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania, further destabilising the region. The Great Powers were able to keep these Balkan conflicts contained, but the next one would spread throughout Europe and beyond. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro- Hungarian Empire, visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. A group of six assassins (Cvjetko Popović, Gavrilo Princip, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Trifko Grabež, and Vaso Čubrilović) from the Yugoslavist group Mlada Bosna, supplied with arms by the Serbian Black Hand, gathered on the street where the Archduke's motorcade was to pass, with the intention of assassinating him. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces, which Austria-Hungary had annexed from the Ottoman Empire, so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. Čabrinović threw a grenade at the car, but missed. Some nearby were injured by the blast, but Ferdinand's convoy carried on. The other assassins failed to act as the cars drove past them. About an hour later, when Ferdinand was returning from a visit at the Sarajevo Hospital with those wounded in the assassination attempt, the convoy took a wrong turn into a street where, by coincidence, Princip stood. With a pistol, Princip shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Although they were reportedly not personally close, the Emperor Franz Joseph was profoundly shocked and upset. The reaction among the people in Austria, however, was mild, almost indifferent. As historian Zbyněk Zeman later wrote, "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On Sunday and Monday (28 and 29 June), the crowds in Vienna listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened." Nevertheless, the political effect of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and was described by historian Christopher Clark on the BBC Radio4 series Month of Madness as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna." The Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged the subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, in which Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks killed two Bosnian Serbs and damaged numerous Serb-owned buildings. Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian- controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned and extradited approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as the Schutzkorps was established and carried out the persecution of Serbs. The assassination led to a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria- Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain, called the July Crisis. Austria- Hungary correctly believed that Serbian officials (especially the officers of the Black Hand) were involved in the plot to murder the Archduke, and wanted to finally end Serbian interference in Bosnia. On 23July, Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia the July Ultimatum, a series of ten demands that were made intentionally unacceptable, in an effort to provoke a war with Serbia. Serbia decreed general mobilisation on 25July. Serbia accepted all the terms of the ultimatum except for article six, which demanded that Austrian delegates be allowed in Serbia for the purpose of participation in the investigation into the assassination. Following this, Austria broke off diplomatic relations with Serbia and, the next day, ordered a partial mobilisation. Finally, on 28 July 1914, a month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On 25July, Russia, in support of Serbia, declared partial mobilisation against Austria-Hungary. On 30July, Russia ordered general mobilisation. German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg waited until the 31st for an appropriate response, when Germany declared Erklärung des Kriegszustandes, or "Statement on the war status". Kaiser Wilhelm II asked his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II, to suspend the Russian general mobilisation. When he refused, Germany issued an ultimatum demanding its mobilisation be stopped, and a commitment not to support Serbia. Another was sent to France, asking her not to support Russia if it were to come to the defence of Serbia. On 1August, after the Russian response, Germany mobilised and declared war on Russia. This also led to the general mobilisation in Austria-Hungary on 4August. The German government issued demands to France that it remain neutral as they had to decide which deployment plan to implement, it being extremely difficult to change the deployment whilst it was underway. The modified German Schlieffen Plan, Aufmarsch II West, would deploy 80% of the army in the west, while Aufmarsch I Ost and Aufmarsch II Ost would deploy 60% in the west and 40% in the east. The French did not respond, but sent a mixed message by ordering their troops to withdraw from the border to avoid any incidents, and at the same time ordered the mobilisation of their reserves. Germany responded by mobilising its own reserves and implementing Aufmarsch II West. On 1 August, Wilhelm ordered General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger to "march the whole of the... army to the East" after being wrongly informed that the British would remain neutral if France was not attacked. Moltke told the Kaiser that attempting to redeploy a million men was unthinkable, and that making it possible for the French to attack the Germans "in the rear" would prove disastrous. Yet Wilhelm insisted that the German army should not march into Luxembourg until he received a telegram sent by his cousin George V, who made it clear that there had been a misunderstanding. Eventually the Kaiser told Moltke, "Now you can do what you want." On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg, and on 3August declared war on France; on the same day, they sent the Belgian government an ultimatum demanding unimpeded right of way through any part of Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4August, the Germans invaded; King Albert ordered his military to resist and called for assistance under the 1839 Treaty of London. Britain demanded Germany comply with the Treaty and respect Belgian neutrality; it declared war on Germany at 19:00 UTC on 4August 1914 (effective from 23:00), following an "unsatisfactory reply". The strategy of the Central Powers suffered from miscommunication. Germany had promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro- Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Germany, however, envisioned Austria-Hungary directing most of its troops against Russia, while Germany dealt with France. This confusion forced the Austro-Hungarian Army to divide its forces between the Russian and Serbian fronts. Austria invaded and fought the Serbian army at the Battle of Cer and Battle of Kolubara beginning on 12 August. Over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Allied victories of the war and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening its efforts against Russia. Serbia's defeat of the Austro-Hungarian invasion of 1914 has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century. The campaign saw the very first use of medical evacuation by the Serbian army in autumn of 1915 and anti-aircraft warfare in the spring of 1915 after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire. When the war began, the German Order of Battle placed 80% of the army in the West, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. The plan was to quickly knock France out of the war, then redeploy to the East and do the same to Russia. The German offensive in the West was officially titled Aufmarsch II West, but is better known as the Schlieffen Plan, after its original creator. Schlieffen deliberately kept the German left (i.e. its positions in Alsace-Lorraine) weak to lure the French into attacking there, while the majority were allocated to the German right, so as to sweep through Belgium, encircle Paris and trap the French armies against the Swiss border (the French charged into Alsace-Lorraine on the outbreak of war as envisaged by their Plan XVII, thus actually aiding this strategy). However, Schlieffen's successor Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank. As such, as the German Army increased in size in the years leading up to the war, he changed the allocation of forces between the German right and left wings from 85:15 to 70:30. Ultimately, Moltke's changes meant insufficient forces to achieve decisive success and thus unrealistic goals and timings. The initial German advance in the West was very successful: by the end of August the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat; French casualties in the first month exceeded 260,000, including 27,000 killed on 22 August during the Battle of the Frontiers. German planning provided broad strategic instructions, while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front; this worked well in 1866 and 1870 but in 1914, von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris. The French and British exploited this gap to halt the German advance east of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne from 5to 12 September and push the German forces back some . In 1911, the Russian Stavka had agreed with the French to attack Germany within 15 days of mobilisation; this was unrealistic and the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements. The Russian Second Army was effectively destroyed at the Battle of Tannenberg on 26–30 August but the Russian advance caused the Germans to re-route their 8th Field Army from France to East Prussia, a factor in Allied victory on the Marne. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields and had inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two- front war. This amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the Marne, Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter; "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already." New Zealand occupied German Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August 1914. On 11 September, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern (later New Britain), which formed part of German New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiser sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang. Japan seized Germany's Micronesian colonies and, after the Siege of Tsingtao, the German coaling port of Qingdao on the Chinese Shandong peninsula. As Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser from Tsingtao, Japan declared war not only on Germany, but also on Austria- Hungary; the ship participated in the defence of Tsingtao where it was sunk in November 1914. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the German territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea remained. Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of Togoland and Kamerun. On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa, led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a guerrilla warfare campaign during World WarI and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Germany attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, instigating uprisings in India, and sending a mission that urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards Britain. Indian political leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups were eager to support the British war effort, since they believed that strong support for the war effort would further the cause of Indian Home Rule. The Indian Army in fact outnumbered the British Army at the beginning of the war; about 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while the central government and the princely states sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. In all, 140,000 men served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totalled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World WarI. The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self- government to India after the end of hostilities, bred disillusionment and fuelled the campaign for full independence that would be led by Mohandas K. Gandhi and others. Military tactics developed before World War I failed to keep pace with advances in technology and had become obsolete. These advances had allowed the creation of strong defensive systems, which out-of-date military tactics could not break through for most of the war. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances, while artillery, vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground extremely difficult. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and the tank. After the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September 1914), Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the "Race to the Sea". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces were left confronting each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from Alsace to Belgium's North Sea coast. Since the Germans were able to choose where to stand, they normally had the advantage of the high ground; in addition, their trenches tended to be better built, since Anglo- French trenches were initially intended as "temporary," preparatory to breaking the German defences. Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating the Hague Convention) used chlorine gas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides, and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, poison gas became one of the most-feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Tanks were developed by Britain and France and were first used in combat by the British during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of the Battle of the Somme) on 15 September 1916, with only partial success. However, their effectiveness would grow as the war progressed; the Allies built tanks in large numbers, whilst the Germans employed only a few of their own design, supplemented by captured Allied tanks. Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years. Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, because of both the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. Strategically, while the Germans mounted only one major offensive, the Allies made several attempts to break through the German lines. In February 1916 the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. The Germans made initial gains, before French counter-attacks returned matters to near their starting point. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties suffered between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive of July to November 1916. The opening day of the offensive (1 July 1916) was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, suffering 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead. The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army some 420,000 casualties. The French suffered another estimated 200,000 casualties and the Germans an estimated 500,000. Gun fire was not the only factor taking lives; the diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions made it so that countless diseases and infections occurred, such as trench foot, shell shock, blindness/burns from mustard gas, lice, trench fever, cooties (body lice) and the 'Spanish Flu'. To maintain morale, wartime censors minimised early reports of widespread influenza illness and mortality in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Papers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain (such as the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII). This created a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit, thereby giving rise to the pandemic's nickname, "Spanish Flu". Protracted action at Verdun throughout 1916, combined with the bloodletting at the Somme, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts using frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French and led to the widespread French Army Mutinies, after the failure of the costly Nivelle Offensive of April–May 1917. The concurrent British Battle of Arras was more limited in scope, and more successful, although ultimately of little strategic value. A smaller part of the Arras offensive, the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps, became highly significant to that country: the idea that Canada's national identity was born out of the battle is an opinion widely held in military and general histories of Canada. The last large-scale offensive of this period was a British attack (with French support) at Passchendaele (July–November 1917). This offensive opened with great promise for the Allies, before bogging down in the October mud. Casualties, though disputed, were roughly equal, at some 200,000–400,000 per side. The years of trench warfare on the Western front achieved no major exchanges of territory and, as a result, are often thought of as static and unchanging. However, throughout this period, British, French, and German tactics constantly evolved to meet new battlefield challenges. At the start of the war, the German Empire had cruisers scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The British Royal Navy systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. Before the beginning of the war, it was widely understood that Britain held the position of strongest, most influential navy in the world. The publishing of the book The Influence of Sea Power upon History by Alfred Thayer Mahan in 1890 was intended to encourage the United States to increase their naval power. Instead, this book made it to Germany and inspired its readers to try to over-power the British Royal Navy. For example, the German detached light cruiser , part of the East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen, as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, most of the German East-Asia squadron—consisting of the armoured cruisers and , light cruisers and and two transport ships—did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it met British warships. The German flotilla and sank two armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel, but was virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, with only Dresden and a few auxiliaries escaping, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra these too had been destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, although this blockade violated accepted international law codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries. Britain mined international waters to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to even neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic of the British, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. The Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") in May/June 1916 developed into the largest naval battle of the war. It was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, fought the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, led by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The engagement was a stand off, as the Germans were outmanoeuvred by the larger British fleet, but managed to escape and inflicted more damage to the British fleet than they received. Strategically, however, the British asserted their control of the sea, and the bulk of the German surface fleet remained confined to port for the duration of the war. German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "cruiser rules", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet). Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but after initial successes eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys, escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, accompanying destroyers could attack a submerged submarine with some hope of success. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies, since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled. The solution to the delays was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The U-boats had sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at a cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol. Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, however, scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia. The Austro- Hungarian provinces of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary in the fight with Serbia, Russia and Italy. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 12 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania. The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat towards the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac in 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated by ship to Greece. After conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro- Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The friction between the King of Greece and the Allies continued to accumulate with the National Schism, which effectively divided Greece between regions still loyal to the king and the new provisional government of Venizelos in Salonica. After intense negotiations and an armed confrontation in Athens between Allied and royalist forces (an incident known as Noemvriana), the King of Greece resigned and his second son Alexander took his place; Greece officially joined the war on the side of the Allies in June 1917. The Macedonian Front was initially mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir Offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar Offensive, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918. The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were far too weak to reestablish a front. The disappearance of the Macedonian Front meant that the road to Budapest and Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the Central Powers and, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. The Ottomans threatened Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal. As the conflict progressed, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christian populations, known as the Armenian Genocide, Greek Genocide, and Assyrian Genocide. The British and French opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns (1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in the Siege of Kut by the Ottomans (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured Baghdad in March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian tribesmen, while the Ottomans employed local Kurdish and Turcoman tribes. Further to the west, the Suez Canal was defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at the Battle of Romani by the ANZAC Mounted Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, an Egyptian Expeditionary Force advanced across the Sinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in the Battle of Magdhaba in December and the Battle of Rafa on the border between the Egyptian Sinai and Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. Russian armies generally had success in the Caucasus. Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, was ambitious and dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been lost to Russia previously. He was, however, a poor commander. He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at the Battle of Sarikamish. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modern Iran) in December 1914 in an effort to cut off British and Russian access to petroleum reservoirs around Baku near the Caspian Sea. Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under the spheres of British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided by Kurdish and Azeri forces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, such as the Qashqai, Tangistanis, Luristanis, and Khamseh, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. The Persian Campaign was to last until 1918 and end in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led to Armenian and Assyrian forces, who had hitherto inflicted a series of defeats upon the forces of the Ottomans and their allies, being cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. General Yudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories. In 1917, Russian Grand Duke Nicholas assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. However, in March 1917 (February in the pre- revolutionary Russian calendar), the Tsar abdicated in the course of the February Revolution, and the Russian Caucasus Army began to fall apart. The Arab Revolt, instigated by the Arab bureau of the British Foreign Office, started June 1916 with the Battle of Mecca, led by Sherif Hussein of Mecca, and ended with the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander of Medina, resisted for more than two and half years during the Siege of Medina before surrendering in January 1919. The Senussi tribe, along the border of Italian Libya and British Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale guerrilla war against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the Senussi Campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000 (325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded). Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882 as part of the Triple Alliance. However, the nation had its own designs on Austrian territory in Trentino, the Austrian Littoral, Fiume (Rijeka) and Dalmatia. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its part in the Triple Alliance; Italy secretly agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany. At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive and that Austria-Hungary was an aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality, offering the French colony of Tunisia in return. The Allies made a counter-offer in which Italy would receive the Southern Tyrol, Austrian Littoral and territory on the Dalmatian coast after the defeat of Austria-Hungary. This was formalised by the Treaty of London. Further encouraged by the Allied invasion of Turkey in April 1915, Italy joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May. Fifteen months later, Italy declared war on Germany. The Italians had numerical superiority, but this advantage was lost, not only because of the difficult terrain in which the fighting took place, but also because of the strategies and tactics employed. Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna, a staunch proponent of the frontal assault, had dreams of breaking into the Slovenian plateau, taking Ljubljana and threatening Vienna. On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austrian Kaiserschützen and Standschützen engaged Italian Alpini in bitter hand-to-hand combat throughout the summer. The Austro- Hungarians counterattacked in the Altopiano of Asiago, towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition), but made little progress and were defeated by the Italians. Beginning in 1915, the Italians under Cadorna mounted eleven offensives on the Isonzo front along the Isonzo (Soča) River, northeast of Trieste. Of these eleven offensives, five were won by Italy, three remained inconclusive, and the other three were repelled by the Austro- Hungarians, who held the higher ground. In the summer of 1916, after the Battle of Doberdò, the Italians captured the town of Gorizia. After this victory, the front remained static for over a year, despite several Italian offensives, centred on the Banjšice and Karst Plateau east of Gorizia. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on 26 October 1917, spearheaded by the Germans, and achieved a victory at Caporetto (Kobarid). The Italian Army was routed and retreated more than to reorganise. The new Italian chief of staff, Armando Diaz, ordered the Army to stop their retreat and defend the Monte Grappa summit, where fortified defenses were constructed; the Italians repelled the Austro-Hungarian and German Army, and stabilised the front at the Piave River. Since the Italian Army had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Caporetto, the Italian Government ordered conscription of the so-called 99 Boys (Ragazzi del '99): all males born in 1899 and prior, who were 18 years old or older. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians failed to break through in a series of battles on the Piave and were finally decisively defeated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in October. On 1November, the Italian Navy destroyed much of the Austro-Hungarian fleet stationed in Pula, preventing it from being handed over to the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 3November, the Italians invaded Trieste from the sea. On the same day, the Armistice of Villa Giusti was signed. By mid-November 1918, the Italian military occupied the entire former Austrian Littoral and had seized control of the portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the London Pact. By the end of hostilities in November 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. Austria-Hungary surrendered on 11 November 1918. Romania had been allied with the Central Powers since 1882. When the war began, however, it declared its neutrality, arguing that because Austria- Hungary had itself declared war on Serbia, Romania was under no obligation to join the war. On 4August 1916, Romania and the Entente signed the Political Treaty and Military Convention, that established the coordinates of Romania's participation in the war. In return, it received the Allies' formal sanction for Transylvania, Banat and other territories of Austria-Hungary to be annexed to Romania. The action had large popular support. On 27 August 1916, the Romanian Army launched an attack against Austria-Hungary, with limited Russian support. The Romanian offensive was initially successful in Transylvania, but a Central Powers counterattack by the drove them back. As a result of the Battle of Bucharest, the Central Powers occupied Bucharest on 6December 1916. Fighting in Moldova continued in 1917, but Russian withdrawal from the war in late 1917 as a result of the October Revolution meant that Romania was forced to sign an armistice with the Central Powers on 9December 1917. In January 1918, Romanian forces established control over Bessarabia as the Russian Army abandoned the province. Although a treaty was signed by the Romanian and Bolshevik Russian governments following talks between 5and 9March 1918 on the withdrawal of Romanian forces from Bessarabia within two months, on 27 March 1918 Romania formally attached Bessarabia, inhabited by a Romanian majority, to its territory, based on a resolution passed by the local assembly of that territory on its unification with Romania. Romania officially made peace with the Central Powers by signing the Treaty of Bucharest on 7May 1918. Under the treaty, Romania was obliged to end the war with the Central Powers and make small territorial concessions to Austria-Hungary, ceding control of some passes in the Carpathian Mountains, and to grant oil concessions to Germany. In exchange, the Central Powers recognised the sovereignty of Romania over Bessarabia. The treaty was renounced in October 1918 by the Alexandru Marghiloman government, and Romania nominally re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 against the Central Powers. The next day, the Treaty of Bucharest was nullified by the terms of the Armistice of Compiègne. Total Romanian deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000. Russian plans for the start of the war called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, it was driven back from East Prussia by Hindenburg and Ludendorff at the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less developed industrial base and ineffective military leadership were instrumental in the events that unfolded. By the spring of 1915, the Russians had retreated to Galicia, and, in May, the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern frontiers with their Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive. On 5August, they captured Warsaw and forced the Russians to withdraw from Poland. Despite Russia's success in the June 1916 Brusilov Offensive against the Austrians in eastern Galicia, the offensive was undermined by the reluctance of other Russian generals to commit their forces to support the victory. Allied and Russian forces were revived only briefly by Romania's entry into the war on 27 August, as Romania was rapidly defeated by a Central Powers offensive. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia as the Tsar remained at the front. The increasingly incompetent rule of Empress Alexandra drew protests and resulted in the murder of her favourite, Rasputin, at the end of 1916. In March 1917, demonstrations in Petrograd culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak Provisional Government, which shared power with the Petrograd Soviet socialists. This arrangement led to confusion and chaos both at the front and at home. The army became increasingly ineffective. Following the Tsar's abdication, Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered by train from Switzerland into Russia 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk on 3March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, the Baltic provinces, parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. Despite this enormous German success, the manpower required by the Germans to occupy the captured territory may have contributed to the failure of their Spring Offensive, and secured relatively little food or other materiel for the Central Powers war effort. With the adoption of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Entente no longer existed. The Allied powers led a small-scale invasion of Russia, partly to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources, and to a lesser extent, to support the "Whites" (as opposed to the "Reds") in the Russian Civil War. Allied troops landed in Arkhangelsk and in Vladivostok as part of the North Russia Intervention. The Czechoslovak Legion fought on the side of the Entente. Its goal was to win support for the independence of Czechoslovakia. The Legion in Russia was established in September 1914, in December 1917 in France (including volunteers from America) and in April 1918 in Italy. Czechoslovak Legion troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian army at the Ukrainian village of Zborov, in July 1917. After this success, the number of Czechoslovak legionaries increased, as well as Czechoslovak military power. In the Battle of Bakhmach, the Legion defeated the Germans and forced them to make a truce. In Russia, they were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War, siding with the Whites against the Bolsheviks, at times controlling most of the Trans-Siberian railway and conquering all the major cities of Siberia. The presence of the Czechoslovak Legion near Yekaterinburg appears to have been one of the motivations for the Bolshevik execution of the Tsar and his family in July 1918. Legionaries arrived less than a week afterwards and captured the city. Because Russia's European ports were not safe, the corps was evacuated by a long detour via the port of Vladivostok. The last transport was the American ship Heffron in September 1920. On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of the Battle of Verdun and a successful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies. However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a "duplicitous war ruse". Soon after, the US President, Woodrow Wilson, attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking in a note for both sides to state their demands. Lloyd George's War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions amongst the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the United States was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities. This included the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Romanians, Czecho-Slovaks, and the creation of a "free and united Poland". On the question of security, the Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars, complete with sanctions, as a condition of any peace settlement. The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds that Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Events of 1917 proved decisive in ending the war, although their effects were not fully felt until 1918. The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, the German General Staff convinced Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg to declare unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of the war. German planners estimated that unrestricted submarine warfare would cost Britain a monthly shipping loss of 600,000 tons. The General Staff acknowledged that the policy would almost certainly bring the United States into the conflict, but calculated that British shipping losses would be so high that they would be forced to sue for peace after five to six months, before American intervention could have an effect. Tonnage sunk rose above 500,000 tons per month from February to July. It peaked at 860,000 tons in April. After July, the newly re-introduced convoy system became effective in reducing the U-boat threat. Britain was safe from starvation, while German industrial output fell, and the United States joined the war far earlier than Germany had anticipated. On 3 May 1917, during the Nivelle Offensive, the French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. The French Army Mutinies eventually spread to a further 54 French divisions, and 20,000 men deserted. However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action. Robert Nivelle was removed from command by 15 May, replaced by General Philippe Pétain, who suspended bloody large-scale attacks. The victory of the Central Powers at the Battle of Caporetto led the Allies to convene the Rapallo Conference at which they formed the Supreme War Council to co-ordinate planning. Previously, British and French armies had operated under separate commands. In December, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the west. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success based on a final quick offensive. Furthermore, both sides became increasingly fearful of social unrest and revolution in Europe. Thus, both sides urgently sought a decisive victory. In 1917, Emperor Charles I of Austria secretly attempted separate peace negotiations with Clemenceau, through his wife's brother Sixtus in Belgium as an intermediary, without the knowledge of Germany. Italy opposed the proposals. When the negotiations failed, his attempt was revealed to Germany, resulting in a diplomatic catastrophe. In March and April 1917, at the First and Second Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani. At the end of October, the Sinai and Palestine Campaign resumed, when General Edmund Allenby's XXth Corps, XXI Corps and Desert Mounted Corps won the Battle of Beersheba. Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at the Battle of Mughar Ridge and, early in December, Jerusalem was captured following another Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Jerusalem. About this time, Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein was relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced by Djevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of the Ottoman Army in Palestine, Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced by Otto Liman von Sanders. In early 1918, the front line was extended and the Jordan Valley was occupied, following the First Transjordan and the Second Transjordan attacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918. In March, most of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's British infantry and Yeomanry cavalry were sent to the Western Front as a consequence of the Spring Offensive. They were replaced by Indian Army units. During several months of reorganisation and training of the summer, a number of attacks were carried out on sections of the Ottoman front line. These pushed the front line north to more advantageous positions for the Entente in preparation for an attack and to acclimatise the newly arrived Indian Army infantry. It was not until the middle of September that the integrated force was ready for large-scale operations. The reorganised Egyptian Expeditionary Force, with an additional mounted division, broke Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918. In two days the British and Indian infantry, supported by a creeping barrage, broke the Ottoman front line and captured the headquarters of the Eighth Army (Ottoman Empire) at Tulkarm, the continuous trench lines at Tabsor, Arara, and the Seventh Army (Ottoman Empire) headquarters at Nablus. The Desert Mounted Corps rode through the break in the front line created by the infantry. During virtually continuous operations by Australian Light Horse, British mounted Yeomanry, Indian Lancers, and New Zealand Mounted Rifle brigades in the Jezreel Valley, they captured Nazareth, Afulah and Beisan, Jenin, along with Haifa on the Mediterranean coast and Daraa east of the Jordan River on the Hejaz railway. Samakh and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee were captured on the way northwards to Damascus. Meanwhile, Chaytor's Force of Australian light horse, New Zealand mounted rifles, Indian, British West Indies and Jewish infantry captured the crossings of the Jordan River, Es Salt, Amman and at Ziza most of the Fourth Army (Ottoman Empire). The Armistice of Mudros, signed at the end of October, ended hostilities with the Ottoman Empire when fighting was continuing north of Aleppo. On or shortly before 15 August 1917 Pope Benedict XV made a peace proposal suggesting: No annexations, No indemnities, except to compensate for severe war damage in Belgium and parts of France and of Serbia, A solution to the problems of Alsace-Lorraine, Trentino and Trieste, Restoration of the Kingdom of Poland, Germany to pull out of Belgium and France, Germany's overseas colonies to be returned to Germany, General disarmament, A Supreme Court of arbitration to settle future disputes between nations, The freedom of the seas, Abolish all retaliatory economic conflicts, No point in ordering reparations, because so much damage had been caused to all belligerents At the outbreak of the war, the United States pursued a policy of non- intervention, avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace. When the German U-boat U-20 sank the British liner RMS Lusitania on 7May 1915 with 128 Americans among the dead, President Woodrow Wilson insisted that America is "too proud to fight" but demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson unsuccessfully tried to mediate a settlement. However, he also repeatedly warned that the United States would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, in violation of international law. Former president Theodore Roosevelt denounced German acts as "piracy". Wilson was narrowly re-elected in 1916 after campaigning with the slogan "he kept us out of war". In January 1917, Germany decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, in the hopes of starving Britain into surrender. Germany did this realising it would mean American entry. The German Foreign Minister, in the Zimmermann Telegram, invited Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States. In return, the Germans would finance Mexico's war and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The United Kingdom intercepted the message and presented it to the US embassy in the UK. From there it made its way to President Wilson who released the Zimmermann note to the public, and Americans saw it as casus belli. Wilson called on anti-war elements to end all wars, by winning this one and eliminating militarism from the globe. He argued that the war was so important that the US had to have a voice in the peace conference. After the sinking of seven US merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmermann telegram, Wilson called for war on Germany on 2April 1917, which the US Congress declared 4days later. The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but became a self-styled "Associated Power". The United States had a small army, but, after the passage of the Selective Service Act, it drafted 2.8 million men, and, by summer 1918, was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. In 1917, the US Congress granted US citizenship to Puerto Ricans to allow them to be drafted to participate in World WarI, as part of the Jones–Shafroth Act. German General Staff assumptions that it would be able to defeat the British and French forces before American troops reinforced them were proven incorrect. The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of US Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted American units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up American units to be used as filler material. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to be used in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, and earned a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Sechault. AEF doctrine called for the use of frontal assaults, which had long since been discarded by British Empire and French commanders due to the large loss of life that resulted. Ludendorff drew up plans (codenamed Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive sought to divide the British and French forces with a series of feints and advances. The German leadership hoped to end the war before significant US forces arrived. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918 with an attack on British forces near Saint- Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of . British and French trenches were penetrated using novel infiltration tactics, also named Hutier tactics after General Oskar von Hutier, by specially trained units called stormtroopers. Previously, attacks had been characterised by long artillery bombardments and massed assaults. In the Spring Offensive of 1918, however, Ludendorff used artillery only briefly and infiltrated small groups of infantry at weak points. They attacked command and logistics areas and bypassed points of serious resistance. More heavily armed infantry then destroyed these isolated positions. This German success relied greatly on the element of surprise. The front moved to within of Paris. Three heavy Krupp railway guns fired 183 shells on the capital, causing many Parisians to flee. The initial offensive was so successful that Kaiser Wilhelm II declared 24 March a national holiday. Many Germans thought victory was near. After heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or motorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic. General Foch pressed to use the arriving American troops as individual replacements, whereas Pershing sought to field American units as an independent force. These units were assigned to the depleted French and British Empire commands on 28 March. A Supreme War Council of Allied forces was created at the Doullens Conference on 5November 1917. General Foch was appointed as supreme commander of the Allied forces. Haig, Petain, and Pershing retained tactical control of their respective armies; Foch assumed a co-ordinating rather than a directing role, and the British, French, and US commands operated largely independently. Following Operation Michael, Germany launched Operation Georgette against the northern English Channel ports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted Operations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircle Reims. The resulting counter-attack, which started the Hundred Days Offensive, marked the first successful Allied offensive of the war. By 20 July, the Germans had retreated across the Marne to their starting lines, having achieved little, and the German Army never regained the initiative. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many highly trained stormtroopers. Meanwhile, Germany was falling apart at home. Anti-war marches became frequent and morale in the army fell. Industrial output was half the 1913 levels. In the late spring of 1918, three new states were formed in the South Caucasus: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which declared their independence from the Russian Empire. Two other minor entities were established, the Centrocaspian Dictatorship and South West Caucasian Republic (the former was liquidated by Azerbaijan in the autumn of 1918 and the latter by a joint Armenian-British task force in early 1919). With the withdrawal of the Russian armies from the Caucasus front in the winter of 1917–18, the three major republics braced for an imminent Ottoman advance, which commenced in the early months of 1918. Solidarity was briefly maintained when the Transcaucasian Federative Republic was created in the spring of 1918, but this collapsed in May, when the Georgians asked for and received protection from Germany and the Azerbaijanis concluded a treaty with the Ottoman Empire that was more akin to a military alliance. Armenia was left to fend for itself and struggled for five months against the threat of a full-fledged occupation by the Ottoman Turks before defeating them at the Battle of Sardarabad. The Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, began on 8August 1918, with the Battle of Amiens. The battle involved over 400 tanks and 120,000 British, Dominion, and French troops, and by the end of its first day a gap long had been created in the German lines. The defenders displayed a marked collapse in morale, causing Ludendorff to refer to this day as the "Black Day of the German army". After an advance as far as , German resistance stiffened, and the battle was concluded on 12 August. Rather than continuing the Amiens battle past the point of initial success, as had been done so many times in the past, the Allies shifted attention elsewhere. Allied leaders had now realised that to continue an attack after resistance had hardened was a waste of lives, and it was better to turn a line than to try to roll over it. They began to undertake attacks in quick order to take advantage of successful advances on the flanks, then broke them off when each attack lost its initial impetus. The day after the Offensive began, Ludendorff said: "We cannot win the war any more, but we must not lose it either." On 11 August he offered his resignation to the Kaiser, who refused it, replying, "I see that we must strike a balance. We have nearly reached the limit of our powers of resistance. The war must be ended." On 13 August, at Spa, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, the Chancellor, and Foreign Minister Hintz agreed that the war could not be ended militarily and, on the following day, the German Crown Council decided that victory in the field was now most improbable. Austria and Hungary warned that they could continue the war only until December, and Ludendorff recommended immediate peace negotiations. Prince Rupprecht warned Prince Max of Baden: "Our military situation has deteriorated so rapidly that I no longer believe we can hold out over the winter; it is even possible that a catastrophe will come earlier." British and Dominion forces launched the next phase of the campaign with the Battle of Albert on 21 August. The assault was widened by French and then further British forces in the following days. During the last week of August the Allied pressure along a front against the enemy was heavy and unrelenting. From German accounts, "Each day was spent in bloody fighting against an ever and again on-storming enemy, and nights passed without sleep in retirements to new lines." Faced with these advances, on 2 September the German Supreme Army Command issued orders to withdraw in the south to the Hindenburg Line. This ceded without a fight the salient seized the previous April. According to Ludendorff, "We had to admit the necessity ... to withdraw the entire front from the Scarpe to the Vesle. In nearly four weeks of fighting beginning on 8August, over 100,000 German prisoners were taken. The German High Command realised that the war was lost and made attempts to reach a satisfactory end. On 10 September Hindenburg urged peace moves to Emperor Charles of Austria, and Germany appealed to the Netherlands for mediation. On 14 September Austria sent a note to all belligerents and neutrals suggesting a meeting for peace talks on neutral soil, and on 15 September Germany made a peace offer to Belgium. Both peace offers were rejected. In September the Allies advanced to the Hindenburg Line in the north and centre. The Germans continued to fight strong rear-guard actions and launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued to fall, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September an assault by both the British and French came within of St. Quentin. The Germans had now retreated to positions along or behind the Hindenburg Line. That same day, Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. The final assault on the Hindenburg Line began with the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, launched by French and American troops on 26 September. The following week, co-operating French and American units broke through in Champagne at the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier. On 8October the line was pierced again by British and Dominion troops at the Battle of Cambrai. The German army had to shorten its front and use the Dutch frontier as an anchor to fight rear-guard actions as it fell back towards Germany. When Bulgaria signed a separate armistice on 29 September, Ludendorff, having been under great stress for months, suffered something similar to a breakdown. It was evident that Germany could no longer mount a successful defence. The collapse of the Balkans meant that Germany was about to lose its main supplies of oil and food. Its reserves had been used up, even as US troops kept arriving at the rate of 10,000 per day. The Americans supplied more than 80% of Allied oil during the war, and there was no shortage. News of Germany's impending military defeat spread throughout the German armed forces. The threat of mutiny was rife. Admiral Reinhard Scheer and Ludendorff decided to launch a last attempt to restore the "valour" of the German Navy. In northern Germany, the German Revolution of 1918–1919 began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large- scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost, initiating the uprising. The sailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to the proclamation of a republic on 9November 1918, shortly thereafter to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and to German surrender. With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge of a new government on 3October as Chancellor of Germany to negotiate with the Allies. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military. There was no resistance when the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann on 9November declared Germany to be a republic. The Kaiser, kings and other hereditary rulers all were removed from power and Wilhelm fled to exile in the Netherlands. Imperial Germany was dead; a new Germany had been born as the Weimar Republic. The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, the Armistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918. German Emperor Wilhelm II in his telegram to Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I described situation: “Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!". On 29 September 1918, the German Supreme Army Command informed Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Imperial Chancellor Count Georg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless . On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, signing the Armistice of Mudros. On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, which marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3November, Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce to ask for an armistice (Armistice of Villa Giusti). The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian commander and accepted. The Armistice with Austria was signed in the Villa Giusti, near Padua, on 3November. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the following days the Italian Army occupied Innsbruck and all Tyrol with over 20,000 soldiers. On 11 November, at 5:00 am, an armistice with Germany was signed in a railroad carriage at Compiègne. At 11 am on 11 November 1918—"the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month"—a ceasefire came into effect. During the six hours between the signing of the armistice and its taking effect, opposing armies on the Western Front began to withdraw from their positions, but fighting continued along many areas of the front, as commanders wanted to capture territory before the war ended. The occupation of the Rhineland took place following the Armistice. The occupying armies consisted of American, Belgian, British and French forces. In November 1918, the Allies had ample supplies of men and materiel to invade Germany. Yet at the time of the armistice, no Allied force had crossed the German frontier, the Western Front was still some from Berlin, and the Kaiser's armies had retreated from the battlefield in good order. These factors enabled Hindenburg and other senior German leaders to spread the story that their armies had not really been defeated. This resulted in the stab-in-the-back legend, which attributed Germany's defeat not to its inability to continue fighting (even though up to a million soldiers were suffering from the 1918 flu pandemic and unfit to fight), but to the public's failure to respond to its "patriotic calling" and the supposed intentional sabotage of the war effort, particularly by Jews, Socialists, and Bolsheviks. The Allies had much more potential wealth they could spend on the war. One estimate (using 1913 US dollars) is that the Allies spent $58 billion on the war and the Central Powers only $25 billion. Among the Allies, the UK spent $21 billion and the US$17 billion; among the Central Powers Germany spent $20 billion. In the aftermath of the war, four empires disappeared: the German, Austro- Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian. Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties, together with their ancillary aristocracies, fell as a result of the war: the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburgs, and the Ottomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead, not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on 28 June 1919. The United States Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it, and did not formally end its involvement in the war until the Knox–Porter Resolution was signed on 2July 1921 by President Warren G. Harding. For the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of the Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918 with respect to: After the Treaty of Versailles, treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire were signed. However, the negotiation of the treaty with the Ottoman Empire was followed by strife, and a final peace treaty between the Allied Powers and the country that would shortly become the Republic of Turkey was not signed until 24 July 1923, at Lausanne. Some war memorials date the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Legally, the formal peace treaties were not complete until the last, the Treaty of Lausanne, was signed. Under its terms, the Allied forces left Constantinople on 23 August 1923. After the war, the Paris Peace Conference imposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles dealt with Germany and, building on Wilson's 14th point, brought into being the League of Nations on 28 June 1919. The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement was Article 231. This article became known as the War Guilt clause as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful. Overall the Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the "diktat of Versailles". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany "under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated." Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s: Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the "stab in the back" and the wish to revise the "Versailles diktat", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as [Gustav] Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its own policies. Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours. The Peace Conference required all the defeated powers to pay reparations for all the damage done to civilians. However, owing to economic difficulties and Germany being the only defeated power with an intact economy, the burden fell largely on Germany. Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, including Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Transylvania was shifted from Hungary to Greater Romania. The details were contained in the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Trianon. As a result of the Treaty of Trianon, 3.3 million Hungarians came under foreign rule. Although the Hungarians made up approximately 54% of the population of the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary (according to the 1910 census), only 32% of its territory was left to Hungary. Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Russian Empire, which had withdrawn from the war in 1917 after the October Revolution, lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918. The Ottoman Empire disintegrated, with much of its Levant territory awarded to various Allied powers as protectorates. The Turkish core in Anatolia was reorganised as the Republic of Turkey. The Ottoman Empire was to be partitioned by the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920. This treaty was never ratified by the Sultan and was rejected by the Turkish National Movement, leading to the victorious Turkish War of Independence and the much less stringent 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Even though a lot of countries had already made a peace treaty, there was one exception, Andorra. Andorra declared war on Germany in August 1914, but, because it had a very small population, Andorra had never sent any soldiers to the battlefield. Because of that, Andorra was not allowed to go to the Treaty of Versailles, so the country had not made a peace treaty with Germany until 1958. When Andorra made the declaration of war, it had an army of 600 part-time militarymen, commanded by two officials. After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a "minor Entente nation" and the country with the most casualties per capita, became the backbone of a new multinational state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining the Kingdom of Bohemia with parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Russia became the Soviet Union and lost Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, which became independent countries. The Ottoman Empire was soon replaced by Turkey and several other countries in the Middle East. In the British Empire, the war unleashed new forms of nationalism. In Australia and New Zealand the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' "Baptism of Fire". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of the British Crown. Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment. After the Battle of Vimy Ridge, where the Canadian divisions fought together for the first time as a single corps, Canadians began to refer to their country as a nation "forged from fire". Having succeeded on the same battleground where the "mother countries" had previously faltered, they were for the first time respected internationally for their own accomplishments. Canada entered the war as a Dominion of the British Empire and remained so, although it emerged with a greater measure of independence. When Britain declared war in 1914, the dominions were automatically at war; at the conclusion, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa were individual signatories of the Treaty of Versailles. Lobbying by Chaim Weizmann and fear that American Jews would encourage the United States to support Germany culminated in the British government's Balfour Declaration of 1917, endorsing creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A total of more than 1,172,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Allied and Central Power forces in World WarI, including 275,000 in Austria-Hungary and 450,000 in Tsarist Russia. The establishment of the modern state of Israel and the roots of the continuing Israeli–Palestinian conflict are partially found in the unstable power dynamics of the Middle East that resulted from World WarI. Before the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire had maintained a modest level of peace and stability throughout the Middle East. With the fall of the Ottoman government, power vacuums developed and conflicting claims to land and nationhood began to emerge. The political boundaries drawn by the victors of World WarI were quickly imposed, sometimes after only cursory consultation with the local population. These continue to be problematic in the 21st-century struggles for national identity. While the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World WarI was pivotal in contributing to the modern political situation of the Middle East, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the end of Ottoman rule also spawned lesser known disputes over water and other natural resources. The prestige of Germany and German things in Latin America remained high after the war but did not recovered to its pre-war levels. Indeed, in Chile the war bought an end to a period of intense scientific and cultural influence writer Eduardo de la Barra scorningly called "the German bewichment" (). Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, 8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%. In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that weakened resistance to disease. By the end of the war, starvation caused by famine had killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Between 5and 10 million people died in the Russian famine of 1921. By 1922, there were between 4.5 million and 7million homeless children in Russia as a result of nearly a decade of devastation from World WarI, the Russian Civil War, and the subsequent famine of 1920–1922. Numerous anti-Soviet Russians fled the country after the Revolution; by the 1930s, the northern Chinese city of Harbin had 100,000 Russians. Thousands more emigrated to France, England, and the United States. The Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister, Lloyd George, "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received £5,571,720 war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947. Of about 416,000 Australians who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borne epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia. From 1918 to 1922, Russia had about 25 million infections and 3million deaths from epidemic typhus. In 1923, 13 million Russians contracted malaria, a sharp increase from the pre-war years. In addition, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world. Overall, the 1918 flu pandemic killed at least 50 million people. Moreover, between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread around the world affecting nearly five million people. The social disruption and widespread violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War sparked more than 2,000 pogroms in the former Russian Empire, mostly in Ukraine. An estimated 60,000–200,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities. In the aftermath of World War I, Greece fought against Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in a massive population exchange between the two countries under the Treaty of Lausanne. According to various sources, several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the Greek Genocide. World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-century tactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies, now numbering millions of men, had modernised and were making use of telephone, wireless communication, armoured cars, tanks, and aircraft. Infantry formations were reorganised, so that 100-man companies were no longer the main unit of manoeuvre; instead, squads of 10 or so men, under the command of a junior NCO, were favoured. Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917, indirect fire with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably aircraft and the often overlooked field telephone. Counter-battery missions became commonplace, also, and sound detection was used to locate enemy batteries. Germany was far ahead of the Allies in using heavy indirect fire. The German Army employed and howitzers in 1914, when typical French and British guns were only and . The British had a 6-inch (152 mm) howitzer, but it was so heavy it had to be hauled to the field in pieces and assembled. The Germans also fielded Austrian and guns and, even at the beginning of the war, had inventories of various calibres of Minenwerfer, which were ideally suited for trench warfare. On 27 June 1917 the Germans used the biggest gun in the world, Batterie Pommern, nicknamed "Lange Max". This gun from Krupp was able to shoot 750 kg shells from Koekelare to Dunkirk, a distance of about . Much of the combat involved trench warfare, in which hundreds often died for each metre gained. Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during World WarI. Such battles include Ypres, the Marne, Cambrai, the Somme, Verdun, and Gallipoli. The Germans employed the Haber process of nitrogen fixation to provide their forces with a constant supply of gunpowder despite the British naval blockade. Artillery was responsible for the largest number of casualties and consumed vast quantities of explosives. The large number of head wounds caused by exploding shells and fragmentation forced the combatant nations to develop the modern steel helmet, led by the French, who introduced the Adrian helmet in 1915. It was quickly followed by the Brodie helmet, worn by British Imperial and US troops, and in 1916 by the distinctive German Stahlhelm, a design, with improvements, still in use today. The widespread use of chemical warfare was a distinguishing feature of the conflict. Gases used included chlorine, mustard gas and phosgene. Relatively few war casualties were caused by gas, as effective countermeasures to gas attacks were quickly created, such as gas masks. The use of chemical warfare and small-scale strategic bombing (as opposed to tactical bombing) were both outlawed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and both proved to be of limited effectiveness, though they captured the public imagination. The most powerful land-based weapons were railway guns, weighing dozens of tons apiece. The German version were nicknamed Big Berthas, even though the namesake was not a railway gun. Germany developed the Paris Gun, able to bombard Paris from over , though shells were relatively light at 94 kilograms (210 lb). Trenches, machine guns, air reconnaissance, barbed wire, and modern artillery with fragmentation shells helped bring the battle lines of World WarI to a stalemate. The British and the French sought a solution with the creation of the tank and mechanised warfare. The British first tanks were used during the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916. Mechanical reliability was an issue, but the experiment proved its worth. Within a year, the British were fielding tanks by the hundreds, and they showed their potential during the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, by breaking the Hindenburg Line, while combined arms teams captured 8,000 enemy soldiers and 100 guns. Meanwhile, the French introduced the first tanks with a rotating turret, the Renault FT, which became a decisive tool of the victory. The conflict also saw the introduction of light automatic weapons and submachine guns, such as the Lewis Gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and the Bergmann MP18. Another new weapon, the flamethrower, was first used by the German army and later adopted by other forces. Although not of high tactical value, the flamethrower was a powerful, demoralising weapon that caused terror on the battlefield. Trench railways evolved to supply the enormous quantities of food, water, and ammunition required to support large numbers of soldiers in areas where conventional transportation systems had been destroyed. Internal combustion engines and improved traction systems for automobiles and trucks/lorries eventually rendered trench railways obsolete. On the Western Front neither side made impressive gains in the first three years of the war with attacks at Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele, and Cambrai the exception was Nivelle's Offensive in which the German defence gave ground while mauling the attackers so badly that there were mutinies in the French Army. In 1918 the Germans smashed through the defence lines in three great attacks: Michael, on the Lys, and on the Aisne, which displayed the power of their new tactics. The Allies struck back at Soissons, which showed the Germans that they must return to the defensive, and at Amiens; tanks played a prominent role in both these assaults, as they had the year before at Cambrai. The areas in the East were larger. The Germans did well at the First Masurian Lakes driving the invaders from East Prussia, and at Riga, which led the Russians to sue for peace. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans joined for a great success at Gorlice–Tarnów, which drove the Russians out of Poland. In a series of attacks along with the Bulgarians they occupied Serbia, Albania, Montenegro and most of Romania. The Allies successes came later in Palestine, the beginning of the end for the Ottomans, in Macedonia, which drove the Bulgarians out of the war, and at Vittorio Veneto, the final blow for the Austro-Hungarians. The area occupied in East by the Central powers on 11 November 1918 was . Germany deployed U-boats (submarines) after the war began. Alternating between restricted and unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic, the Kaiserliche Marine employed them to deprive the British Isles of vital supplies. The deaths of British merchant sailors and the seeming invulnerability of U-boats led to the development of depth charges (1916), hydrophones (passive sonar, 1917), blimps, hunter-killer submarines (HMS R-1, 1917), forward-throwing anti-submarine weapons, and dipping hydrophones (the latter two both abandoned in 1918). To extend their operations, the Germans proposed supply submarines (1916). Most of these would be forgotten in the interwar period until World WarII revived the need. Fixed-wing aircraft were first used militarily by the Italians in Libya on 23 October 1911 during the Italo-Turkish War for reconnaissance, soon followed by the dropping of grenades and aerial photography the next year. By 1914, their military utility was obvious. They were initially used for reconnaissance and ground attack. To shoot down enemy planes, anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft were developed. Strategic bombers were created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former used Zeppelins as well. Towards the end of the conflict, aircraft carriers were used for the first time, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in 1918. Manned observation balloons, floating high above the trenches, were used as stationary reconnaissance platforms, reporting enemy movements and directing artillery. Balloons commonly had a crew of two, equipped with parachutes, so that if there was an enemy air attack the crew could parachute to safety. At the time, parachutes were too heavy to be used by pilots of aircraft (with their marginal power output), and smaller versions were not developed until the end of the war; they were also opposed by the British leadership, who feared they might promote cowardice. Recognised for their value as observation platforms, balloons were important targets for enemy aircraft. To defend them against air attack, they were heavily protected by antiaircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft; to attack them, unusual weapons such as air-to-air rockets were tried. Thus, the reconnaissance value of blimps and balloons contributed to the development of air-to-air combat between all types of aircraft, and to the trench stalemate, because it was impossible to move large numbers of troops undetected. The Germans conducted air raids on England during 1915 and 1916 with airships, hoping to damage British morale and cause aircraft to be diverted from the front lines, and indeed the resulting panic led to the diversion of several squadrons of fighters from France. On 19 August 1915, the German submarine U-27 was sunk by the British Q-ship . All German survivors were summarily executed by Baralongs crew on the orders of Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert, the captain of the ship. The shooting was reported to the media by American citizens who were on board the Nicosia, a British freighter loaded with war supplies, which was stopped by U-27 just minutes before the incident. On 24 September, Baralong destroyed U-41, which was in the process of sinking the cargo ship Urbino. According to Karl Goetz, the submarine's commander, Baralong continued to fly the US flag after firing on U-41 and then rammed the lifeboat—carrying the German survivors—sinking it. The Canadian hospital ship was torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-86 on 27 June 1918 in violation of international law. Only 24 of the 258 medical personnel, patients, and crew survived. Survivors reported that the U-boat surfaced and ran down the lifeboats, machine-gunning survivors in the water. The U-boat captain, Helmut Patzig, was charged with war crimes in Germany following the war, but escaped prosecution by going to the Free City of Danzig, beyond the jurisdiction of German courts. After the war, the German government claimed that approximately 763,000 German civilians died from starvation and disease during the war because of the Allied blockade. An academic study done in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000. Germany protested that the Allies had used starvation as a weapon of war. Sally Marks argued that the German accounts of a hunger blockade are a "myth," as Germany did not face the starvation level of Belgium and the regions of Poland and northern France that it occupied. According to the British judge and legal philosopher Patrick Devlin, "The War Orders given by the Admiralty on 26 August [1914] were clear enough. All food consigned to Germany through neutral ports was to be captured and all food consigned to Rotterdam was to be presumed consigned to Germany. ... The British were determined on the starvation policy, whether or not it was lawful." The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April – 25 May 1915), after German scientists working under the direction of Fritz Haber at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute developed a method to weaponize chlorine. The use of chemical weapons was sanctioned by the German High Command in an effort to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons. In time, chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, but relatively few fatalities: About 90,000 in total. For example, there were an estimated 186,000 British chemical weapons casualties during the war (80% of which were the result of exposure to the vesicant sulfur mustard, introduced to the battlefield by the Germans in July 1917, which burns the skin at any point of contact and inflicts more severe lung damage than chlorine or phosgene), and up to one-third of American casualties were caused by them. The Russian Army reportedly suffered roughly 500,000 chemical weapon casualties in World WarI. The use of chemical weapons in warfare was in direct violation of the 1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gases and the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use. The effect of poison gas was not limited to combatants. Civilians were at risk from the gases as winds blew the poison gases through their towns, and they rarely received warnings or alerts of potential danger. In addition to absent warning systems, civilians often did not have access to effective gas masks. An estimated 100,000–260,000 civilian casualties were caused by chemical weapons during the conflict and tens of thousands more (along with military personnel) died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage in the years after the conflict ended. Many commanders on both sides knew such weapons would cause major harm to civilians but nonetheless continued to use them. British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig wrote in his diary, "My officers and I were aware that such weapons would cause harm to women and children living in nearby towns, as strong winds were common in the battlefront. However, because the weapon was to be directed against the enemy, none of us were overly concerned at all." The war damaged chemistry's prestige in European societies, in particular the German variety. The ethnic cleansing of the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is considered genocide. The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and portrayed deliberately provoked acts of Armenian resistance as rebellions to justify further extermination. In early 1915, a number of Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue the Tehcir Law (Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionally marched to death and a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands. While an exact number of deaths is unknown, the International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates 1.5 million. The government of Turkey has consistently denied the genocide, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World WarI; these claims are rejected by most historians. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination. At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000 Anatolian and Pontic Greeks were killed between 1915 and 1922. Many pogroms accompanied the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Russian Civil War. 60,000–200,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities throughout the former Russian Empire (mostly within the Pale of Settlement in present-day Ukraine). There were an estimated 7–12 million casualties during the Russian Civil War, mostly civilians. The German invaders treated any resistance—such as sabotaging rail lines—as illegal and immoral, and shot the offenders and burned buildings in retaliation. In addition, they tended to suspect that most civilians were potential francs-tireurs (guerrillas) and, accordingly, took and sometimes killed hostages from among the civilian population. The German army executed over 6,500 French and Belgian civilians between August and November 1914, usually in near-random large-scale shootings of civilians ordered by junior German officers. The German Army destroyed 15,000–20,000 buildings—most famously the university library at Louvain—and generated a wave of refugees of over a million people. Over half the German regiments in Belgium were involved in major incidents. Thousands of workers were shipped to Germany to work in factories. British propaganda dramatising the Rape of Belgium attracted much attention in the United States, while Berlin said it was both lawful and necessary because of the threat of franc-tireurs like those in France in 1870. The British and French magnified the reports and disseminated them at home and in the United States, where they played a major role in dissolving support for Germany. The British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but increasingly were conscripted into service. Surviving veterans, returning home, often found they could discuss their experiences only amongst themselves. Grouping together, they formed "veterans' associations" or "Legions". A small number of personal accounts of American veterans have been collected by the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. About eight million men surrendered and were held in POW camps during the war. All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front. Individual surrenders were uncommon; large units usually surrendered en masse. At the siege of Maubeuge about 40,000 French soldiers surrendered, at the battle of Galicia Russians took about 100,000 to 120,000 Austrian captives, at the Brusilov Offensive about 325,000 to 417,000 Germans and Austrians surrendered to Russians, and at the Battle of Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered. When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, some 20,000 Russians became prisoners, at the battle near Przasnysz (February–March 1915) 14,000 Germans surrendered to Russians, and at the First Battle of the Marne about 12,000 Germans surrendered to the Allies. 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million men as prisoners). From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians. Germany held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.2–2.9 million; while Britain and France held about 720,000. Most were captured just before the Armistice. The United States held 48,000. The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down. Once prisoners reached a camp, conditions were, in general, satisfactory (and much better than in World WarII), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations. However, conditions were terrible in Russia: starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 15–20% of the prisoners in Russia died, and in Central Powers imprisonment 8% of Russians. In Germany, food was scarce, but only 5% died. The Ottoman Empire often treated POWs poorly. Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians, became prisoners after the Siege of Kut in Mesopotamia in April 1916; 4,250 died in captivity. Although many were in a poor condition when captured, Ottoman officers forced them to march to Anatolia. A survivor said: "We were driven along like beasts; to drop out was to die." The survivors were then forced to build a railway through the Taurus Mountains. In Russia, when the prisoners from the Czech Legion of the Austro-Hungarian army were released in 1917, they re-armed themselves and briefly became a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War. While the Allied prisoners of the Central Powers were quickly sent home at the end of active hostilities, the same treatment was not granted to Central Power prisoners of the Allies and Russia, many of whom served as forced labour, e.g., in France until 1920. They were released only after many approaches by the Red Cross to the Allied Supreme Council. German prisoners were still being held in Russia as late as 1924. Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war. Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern "embedded" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. In the Balkans, Yugoslav nationalists such as the leader, Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom of Yugoslavs from Austria- Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London. In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, including Czechoslovak, Italian, Polish, Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support national self-determination for the peoples residing within Austria- Hungary. In the Middle East, Arab nationalism soared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of a pan-Arab state. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East in an effort to achieve independence. In East Africa, Iyasu V of Ethiopia was supporting the Dervish state who were at war with the British in the Somaliland Campaign. Von Syburg, the German envoy in Addis Ababa, said, "now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size." The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World WarI on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow due to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy. Iyasu was accused of converting to Islam. According to Ethiopian historian Bahru Zewde, the evidence used to prove Iyasu's conversion was a doctored photo of Iyasu wearing a turban provided by the Allies. Some historians claim the British spy T. E. Lawrence forged the Iyasu photo. A number of socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914. But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept of class conflict held by radical socialists such as Marxists and syndicalists being overborne by their patriotic support for the war. Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war. Italian nationalism was stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio, who promoted Italian irredentism and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war. The Italian Liberal Party, under the leadership of Paolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism. Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, including Benito Mussolini and Leonida Bissolati. However, the Italian Socialist Party decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in a general strike called Red Week. The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini. Mussolini, a syndicalist who supported the war on grounds of irredentist claims on Italian-populated regions of Austria-Hungary, formed the pro-interventionist Il Popolo d'Italia and the Fasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista ("Revolutionary Fasci for International Action") in October 1914 that later developed into the Fasci di Combattimento in 1919, the origin of fascism. Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds from Ansaldo (an armaments firm) and other companies to create Il Popolo d'Italia to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Once war was declared, many socialists and trade unions backed their governments. Among the exceptions were the Bolsheviks, the Socialist Party of America, the Italian Socialist Party, and people like Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and their followers in Germany. Benedict XV, elected to the papacy less than three months into World WarI, made the war and its consequences the main focus of his early pontificate. In stark contrast to his predecessor, five days after his election he spoke of his determination to do what he could to bring peace. His first encyclical, Ad beatissimi Apostolorum, given 1November 1914, was concerned with this subject. Benedict XV found his abilities and unique position as a religious emissary of peace ignored by the belligerent powers. The 1915 Treaty of London between Italy and the Triple Entente included secret provisions whereby the Allies agreed with Italy to ignore papal peace moves towards the Central Powers. Consequently, the publication of Benedict's proposed of August 1917 was roundly ignored by all parties except Austria-Hungary. In Britain in 1914, the Public Schools Officers' Training Corps annual camp was held at Tidworth Pennings, near Salisbury Plain. Head of the British Army, Lord Kitchener, was to review the cadets, but the imminence of the war prevented him. General Horace Smith- Dorrien was sent instead. He surprised the two-or-three thousand cadets by declaring (in the words of Donald Christopher Smith, a Bermudian cadet who was present), that war should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated. In our ignorance I, and many of us, felt almost ashamed of a British General who uttered such depressing and unpatriotic sentiments, but during the next four years, those of us who survived the holocaust—probably not more than one-quarter of us—learned how right the General's prognosis was and how courageous he had been to utter it. Voicing these sentiments did not hinder Smith-Dorrien's career, or prevent him from doing his duty in World WarI to the best of his abilities. Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These included Eugene Debs in the United States and Bertrand Russell in Britain. In the US, the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed "disloyal". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors, and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic. A number of nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advanced Irish nationalists staunchly opposed taking part. The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in the Easter Rising of 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain. The UK government placed Ireland under martial law in response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling. However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in the Conscription Crisis of 1918. Other opposition came from conscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status. Some of them, most notably prominent peace activist Stephen Henry Hobhouse, refused both military and alternative service. Many suffered years of prison, including solitary confinement and bread and water diets. Even after the war, in Britain many job advertisements were marked "No conscientious objectors need apply". The Central Asian Revolt started in the summer of 1916, when the Russian Empire government ended its exemption of Muslims from military service. In 1917, a series of French Army Mutinies led to dozens of soldiers being executed and many more imprisoned. On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers of Petrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "all power to the soviets!" The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the Russian Provisional Government. In Milan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation. The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks and anarchists, who fought violently until 23 May when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people arrested. In September 1917, Russian soldiers in France began questioning why they were fighting for the French at all and mutinied. In Russia, opposition to the war led to soldiers also establishing their own revolutionary committees, which helped foment the October Revolution of 1917, with the call going up for "bread, land, and peace". The Decree on Peace, written by Vladimir Lenin, was passed on 8November 1917, following the success of the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks agreed to a peace treaty with Germany, the peace of Brest-Litovsk, despite its harsh conditions. The German Revolution of 1918-1919 led to the abdication of the Kaiser and German surrender. Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries. It was especially unpopular among minority ethnic groups—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland and Australia, and the French Catholics in Canada. In Canada the issue produced a major political crisis that permanently alienated the Francophones. It opened a political gap between French Canadians, who believed their true loyalty was to Canada and not to the British Empire, and members of the Anglophone majority, who saw the war as a duty to their British heritage. Australia had a form of conscription at the outbreak of the war, as compulsory military training had been introduced in 1911. However, the Defence Act 1903 provided that unexempted males could be called upon only for home defence during times of war, not overseas service. Prime Minister Billy Hughes wished to amend the legislation to require conscripts to serve overseas, and held two non-binding referendums – one in 1916 and one in 1917 – in order to secure public support. Both were defeated by narrow margins, with farmers, the labour movement, the Catholic Church, and Irish-Australians combining to campaign for the "No" vote. The issue of conscription caused the 1916 Australian Labor Party split. Hughes and his supporters were expelled from the party, forming the National Labor Party and then the Nationalist Party. Despite the referendum results, the Nationalists won a landslide victory at the 1917 federal election. In Britain, conscription resulted in the calling up of nearly every physically fit man in Britain—six of ten million eligible. Of these, about 750,000 lost their lives. Most deaths were those of young unmarried men; however, 160,000 wives lost husbands and 300,000 children lost fathers. Conscription during the First World War began when the British government passed the Military Service Act in 1916. The act specified that single men aged 18 to 40 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children or ministers of a religion. There was a system of Military Service Tribunals to adjudicate upon claims for exemption upon the grounds of performing civilian work of national importance, domestic hardship, health, and conscientious objection. The law went through several changes before the war ended. Married men were exempt in the original Act, although this was changed in June 1916. The age limit was also eventually raised to 51 years old. Recognition of work of national importance also diminished, and in the last year of the war there was some support for the conscription of clergy. Conscription lasted until mid-1919. Due to the political situation in Ireland, conscription was never applied there; only in England, Scotland and Wales. In the United States, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas. The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower for when only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1million target in the first six weeks of the war. In 1917 10 million men were registered. This was deemed to be inadequate, so age ranges were increased and exemptions reduced, and so by the end of 1918 this increased to 24 million men that were registered with nearly 3million inducted into the military services. The draft was universal and included blacks on the same terms as whites, although they served in different units. In all 367,710 black Americans were drafted (13% of the total), compared to 2,442,586 white (87%). Forms of resistance ranged from peaceful protest to violent demonstrations and from humble letter-writing campaigns asking for mercy to radical newspapers demanding reform. The most common tactics were dodging and desertion, and many communities sheltered and defended their draft dodgers as political heroes. Many socialists were jailed for "obstructing the recruitment or enlistment service". The most famous was Eugene Debs, head of the Socialist Party of America, who ran for president in 1920 from his prison cell. In 1917 a number of radicals and anarchists challenged the new draft law in federal court, arguing that it was a direct violation of the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the draft act in the Selective Draft Law Cases on 7January 1918. Like all the armies of mainland Europe, Austria-Hungary relied on conscription to fill its ranks. Officer recruitment, however, was voluntary. The effect of this at the start of the war was that well over a quarter of the rank and file were Slavs, while more than 75% of the officers were ethnic Germans. This was much resented. The army has been described as being "run on colonial lines" and the Slav soldiers as "disaffected". Thus conscription contributed greatly to Austria's disastrous performance on the battlefield. The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause, or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues: propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, there were multiple peace proposals coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far. The first tentative efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences of modern warfare began during the initial phases of the war, and this process continued throughout and after the end of hostilities, and is still underway, more than a century later. Historian Heather Jones argues that the historiography has been reinvigorated by the cultural turn in recent years. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regarding military occupation, radicalisation of politics, race, and the male body. Furthermore, new research has revised our understanding of five major topics that historians have long debated: Why the war began, why the Allies won, whether generals were responsible for high casualty rates, how the soldiers endured the horrors of trench warfare, and to what extent the civilian homefront accepted and endorsed the war effort. Memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission, the German War Graves Commission, and Le Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have central monuments to the missing or unidentified dead, such as the Menin Gate memorial and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In 1915 John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poem In Flanders Fields as a salute to those who perished in the Great War. Published in Punch on 8December 1915, it is still recited today, especially on Remembrance Day and Memorial Day. National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World WarI. The Liberty Memorial was dedicated on 1November 1921, when the supreme Allied commanders spoke to a crowd of more than 100,000 people. The UK Government has budgeted substantial resources to the commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is the Imperial War Museum. On 3August 2014, French President Francois Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck together marked the centenary of Germany's declaration of war on France by laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German as Hartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war. World War I had a lasting impact on social memory. It was seen by many in Britain as signalling the end of an era of stability stretching back to the Victorian period, and across Europe many regarded it as a watershed. Historian Samuel Hynes explained: This has become the most common perception of World War I, perpetuated by the art, cinema, poems, and stories published subsequently. Films such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory and King & Country have perpetuated the idea, while war-time films including Camrades, Poppies of Flanders, and Shoulder Arms indicate that the most contemporary views of the war were overall far more positive. Likewise, the art of Paul Nash, John Nash, Christopher Nevinson, and Henry Tonks in Britain painted a negative view of the conflict in keeping with the growing perception, while popular war-time artists such as Muirhead Bone painted more serene and pleasant interpretations subsequently rejected as inaccurate. Several historians like John Terraine, Niall Ferguson and Gary Sheffield have challenged these interpretations as partial and polemical views: These beliefs did not become widely shared because they offered the only accurate interpretation of wartime events. In every respect, the war was much more complicated than they suggest. In recent years, historians have argued persuasively against almost every popular cliché of World WarI. It has been pointed out that, although the losses were devastating, their greatest impact was socially and geographically limited. The many emotions other than horror experienced by soldiers in and out of the front line, including comradeship, boredom, and even enjoyment, have been recognised. The war is not now seen as a 'fight about nothing', but as a war of ideals, a struggle between aggressive militarism and more or less liberal democracy. It has been acknowledged that British generals were often capable men facing difficult challenges, and that it was under their command that the British army played a major part in the defeat of the Germans in 1918: a great forgotten victory. Though these views have been discounted as "myths", they are common. They have dynamically changed according to contemporary influences, reflecting in the 1950s perceptions of the war as "aimless" following the contrasting Second World War and emphasising conflict within the ranks during times of class conflict in the 1960s. The majority of additions to the contrary are often rejected. The social trauma caused by unprecedented rates of casualties manifested itself in different ways, which have been the subject of subsequent historical debate. The optimism of la belle époque was destroyed, and those who had fought in the war were referred to as the Lost Generation. For years afterwards, people mourned the dead, the missing, and the many disabled. Many soldiers returned with severe trauma, suffering from shell shock (also called neurasthenia, a condition related to posttraumatic stress disorder). Many more returned home with few after-effects; however, their silence about the war contributed to the conflict's growing mythological status. Though many participants did not share in the experiences of combat or spend any significant time at the front, or had positive memories of their service, the images of suffering and trauma became the widely shared perception. Such historians as Dan Todman, Paul Fussell, and Samuel Heyns have all published works since the 1990s arguing that these common perceptions of the war are factually incorrect. The rise of Nazism and Fascism included a revival of the nationalist spirit and a rejection of many post-war changes. Similarly, the popularity of the stab-in-the-back legend (German: Dolchstoßlegende) was a testament to the psychological state of defeated Germany and was a rejection of responsibility for the conflict. This conspiracy theory of betrayal became common, and the German populace came to see themselves as victims. The widespread acceptance of the "stab-in-the-back" theory delegitimised the Weimar government and destabilised the system, opening it to extremes of right and left. Communist and fascist movements around Europe drew strength from this theory and enjoyed a new level of popularity. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or harshly affected by the war. Adolf Hitler was able to gain popularity by using German discontent with the still controversial Treaty of Versailles. World WarII was in part a continuation of the power struggle never fully resolved by World WarI. Furthermore, it was common for Germans in the 1930s to justify acts of aggression due to perceived injustices imposed by the victors of World WarI. American historian William Rubinstein wrote that: The 'Age of Totalitarianism' included nearly all the infamous examples of genocide in modern history, headed by the Jewish Holocaust, but also comprising the mass murders and purges of the Communist world, other mass killings carried out by Nazi Germany and its allies, and also the Armenian Genocide of 1915. All these slaughters, it is argued here, had a common origin, the collapse of the elite structure and normal modes of government of much of central, eastern and southern Europe as a result of World WarI, without which surely neither Communism nor Fascism would have existed except in the minds of unknown agitators and crackpots. One of the most dramatic effects of the war was the expansion of governmental powers and responsibilities in Britain, France, the United States, and the Dominions of the British Empire. To harness all the power of their societies, governments created new ministries and powers. New taxes were levied and laws enacted, all designed to bolster the war effort; many have lasted to this day. Similarly, the war strained the abilities of some formerly large and bureaucratised governments, such as in Austria-Hungary and Germany. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased for three Allies (Britain, Italy, and the United States), but decreased in France and Russia, in neutral Netherlands, and in the three main Central Powers. The shrinkage in GDP in Austria, Russia, France, and the Ottoman Empire ranged between 30% and 40%. In Austria, for example, most pigs were slaughtered, so at war's end there was no meat. In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the United States, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily from Wall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916, but allowed a great increase in US government lending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4 billion of World WarI debt in 1934, the last instalment was finally paid in 2015. Macro- and micro- economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle for voting rights for women. World War I further compounded the gender imbalance, adding to the phenomenon of surplus women. The deaths of nearly one million men during the war in Britain increased the gender gap by almost a million: from 670,000 to 1,700,000. The number of unmarried women seeking economic means grew dramatically. In addition, demobilisation and economic decline following the war caused high unemployment. The war increased female employment; however, the return of demobilised men displaced many from the workforce, as did the closure of many of the wartime factories. In Britain, rationing was finally imposed in early 1918, limited to meat, sugar, and fats (butter and margarine), but not bread. The new system worked smoothly. From 1914 to 1918, trade union membership doubled, from a little over four million to a little over eight million. Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such as Albert Ernest Kitson were called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits of manganese, used in munitions production, in the Gold Coast. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called "war guilt" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war guilt." In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, "Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being "deliberately designed to be chimerical" and its "primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the "total sum was being maintained." Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) "represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay" and "therefore ... represented the total German reparations" figure that had to be paid. This figure could be paid in cash or in kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). In addition, some of the territory lost—via the treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain. By 1929, the Great Depression arrived, causing political chaos throughout the world. In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks in reparations. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled. David Andelman notes "refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist." Thus, following the Second World War, at the London Conference in 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds. The war contributed to the evolution of the wristwatch from women's jewellery to a practical everyday item, replacing the pocketwatch, which requires a free hand to operate. Military funding of advancements in radio contributed to the postwar popularity of the medium. Lists of World War I topics, Outline of World War I (translated from the German), , reviewed in (via Highbeam.com), Bond, Brian. "The First World War" in C.L. Mowat, ed. The New Cambridge Modern History: Vol. XII: The Shifting Balance of World Forces 1898–1945 (2nd ed. 1968) online pp. 171–208. scholarly summary., Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed. 1922) comprises the 11th edition plus three new volumes 30-31-32 that cover events since 1911 with thorough coverage of the war as well as every country and colony., Hirschfeld, Gerhard et al. eds. Brill's Encyclopedia of the First World War (2012), 1105pp, , Wilson's manoeuvring US into war, , general military history, Larsen, Daniel. "Intelligence in the First World War: The state of the field." Intelligence and National Security 29.2 (2014): 282–302., also published by Harper as "Ludendorff's Own Story, August 1914 – November 1918: The Great War from the Siege of Liège to the Signing of the Armistice as Viewed from the Grand Headquarters of the German Army" (original title Meine Kriegserinnerungen, 1914–1918), cites "Cf. articles signed XXX in La Revue de Deux Mondes, 1and 15 March 1920", Deals with technical developments, including the first dipping hydrophones Collins, Ross F. ed. World War I: Primary Documents on Events from 1914 to 1919 (Greenwood Press, 2008) online, Hammond's frontier atlas of the world war : containing large scale maps of all the battle fronts of Europe and Asia, together with a military map of the United States (1916) online free Deak, John. "The Great War and the Forgotten Realm: The Habsburg Monarchy and the First World War" Journal of Modern History (2014) 86#2 pp. 336–380., Iriye, Akira. "The Historiographic Impact of the Great War". Diplomatic History (July 2014), Jones, Heather. "As the centenary approaches: the regeneration of First World War historiography". Historical Journal (2013) 56#3 pp. 857–878., Jones, Heather. "Goodbye to all that?: Memory and meaning in the commemoration of the first world war". Juncture (2014) 20#4 pp. 287–291., Kitchen, James E., Alisa Miller and Laura Rowe, eds. Other Combatants, Other Fronts: Competing Histories of the First World War (2011) excerpt, Kramer, Alan. "Recent Historiography of the First World War – Part I", Journal of Modern European History (Feb. 2014) 12#1 pp. 5–27; "Recent Historiography of the First World War (Part II)", (May 2014) 12#2 pp. 155–174, Mulligan, William. "The Trial Continues: New Directions in the Study of the Origins of the First World War". English Historical Review (2014) 129#538 pp. 639–666., Reynolds, David. The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century (2014) Excerpt and text search, Sanborn, Joshua. "Russian Historiography on the Origins of the First World War Since the Fischer Controversy". Journal of Contemporary History (2013) 48#2 pp. 350–362., Sharp, Heather. "Representing Australia's Involvement in the First World War: Discrepancies between Public Discourses and School History Textbooks from 1916 to 1936". Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society (2014) 6#1 pp. 1–23., Trout, Stephen. "On the Battlefield of Memory: The First World War and American Remembrance, 1919–1941 (2013), Turan, Ömer. "Turkish Historiography of the First World War". Middle East Critique (2014) 23#2 pp. 241–257., Winter, Jay, ed. The Cambridge History of the First World War (2 vol. Cambridge University Press, 2014) 1914–1918-online International Encyclopedia of the First World War, The Heritage of the Great War / First World War. Graphic color photos, pictures and music, A multimedia history of World War I, European Newspapers from the start of the First World War and the end of the war, Powerpoint summary of the war, The World War I Document Archive Wiki, Brigham Young University, Maps of Europe covering the history of World War I at omniatlas.com, Maps of Africa covering the history of World War I in Africa at omniatlas.com, "World War I Crossroads" current discussions by scholars, World War I (First World War) Guide to websites, Documents from Mount Holyoke College, EFG1914 – Film digitisation project on First World War, WWI Films on the European Film Gateway, The British Pathé WW1 Film Archive, World War I British press photograph collection – A sampling of images distributed by the British government during the war to diplomats overseas, from the UBC Library Digital Collections, Personal accounts of American World War I veterans, Veterans History Project, Library of Congress. "Europe plunges into war", Europe at the end of the war National Library of New Zealand, State Library of New South Wales, US Library of Congress, Indiana University Bloomington, New York University, University of Alberta The European theatre of World War II was an area of heavy fighting across Europe, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the United States, the United Kingdom and France conquering most of Western Europe, the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe and Germany’s unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 (Victory in Europe Day). The Allied powers fought the Axis powers on two major fronts (the Eastern Front and Western Front) as well as in a strategic bombing offensive and in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre. Germany was defeated in World War I, and the Treaty of Versailles placed punitive conditions on the country, including significant financial reparations, the loss of territory (some only temporarily), war guilt, military weakening and limitation, and economic weakening. Germany was humiliated in front of the world and had to pay very large war reparations. Many Germans blamed their country's post-war economic collapse and hyperinflation on the treaty's conditions. These resentments contributed to the political instability which made it possible for Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party to come to power, with Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini of Fascist Italy and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, under a treaty known as the Pact of Steel. Later, the Empire of Japan, under the government of Hideki Tojo, would also join as an Axis power. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, to counter the perceived threat of the communism of the Soviet Union. Other smaller powers also later joined the Axis throughout the war. Germany and the Soviet Union were sworn enemies, but following the Munich Agreement, which effectively handed over Czechoslovakia (a French and Soviet ally, and the only remaining presidential democracy in Central Europe) to Germany, political realities allowed the Soviet Union to sign a non-aggression pact (the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) including a secret clause partitioning Poland, the Baltic Republics and Finland between the two spheres of influence. Full-scale war in Europe began at dawn on 1 September 1939, when Germany used her newly formed Blitzkrieg tactics and military strength to invade Poland, to which both the United Kingdom and France had pledged protection and independence guarantees. On 3 September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany and British troops were sent to France, however neither French nor British troops gave any significant assistance to the Poles during the entire invasion, and the German–French border, excepting the Saar Offensive, remained mostly calm, this period of the war is commonly known as the Phoney War. On 17 September the Soviet forces joined the invasion of Poland, although remaining neutral with respect to Western powers. The Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with its last large operational units surrendering on 5 October after the Battle of Kock. As the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On 12 October the United Kingdom formally refused. Despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until 10 May 1940, and was known as the Phoney War. Several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By 28 September 1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory. The Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and finally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered a union agreement, but Finland rejected it, which caused the Soviet Union to attack Finland on 30 November. This began the Winter War. After five months of hard fighting, Finns were only pushed from a strip of land bordering Russia, in spite of Soviet numerical superiority, the Soviet Union gave up attempts to subdue the whole country. In the Moscow Peace Treaty of 12 March 1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory (Karelia, Salla and Petsamo). The Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battlefields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy. Meanwhile, in western Scandinavia, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, and in response, Britain occupied the Faroe Islands (a Danish territory) and invaded and occupied Iceland (a sovereign nation with the King of Denmark as its monarch). Sweden was able to remain neutral. On 10 May the Phoney War ended with a sweeping German invasion of the neutral Low Countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and into France bypassing the French fortifications of the Maginot Line along the border with Germany. After overrunning the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Germany turned against France, entering the country through the Ardennes on 13 May—the French had left this area less well defended, believing its terrain to be impassable for tanks and other vehicles. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, and were cut off from the French mainland. As a result of this, and also the superior German communications and tactics, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all pre-war Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted only six weeks. On 10 June Italy declared war on both France and the United Kingdom, but did not gain any significant success in this campaign. The French government fled Paris, and soon, France surrendered on 22 June. In order to further the humiliation of the French people and the country itself, Hitler arranged for the surrender document to be signed in the Forest of Compiègne, in the same railway coach where the German surrender had been signed in 1918. The surrender divided France into two major parts; the northern part under German control, and a southern part under French control, based at Vichy and referred to as Vichy France, a rump state friendly to Germany. Many French soldiers, as well as those of other occupied countries, escaped to Britain. The General de Gaulle proclaimed himself the legitimate leader of Free France and vowed to continue to fight. Following the unexpected swift victory, Hitler promoted 12 generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Vyacheslav Molotov, the Foreign Policy Minister of the USSR, which was tied with Soviet–German non-aggression treaty, congratulated the Germans: "We hand over the most cordial congratulations by the Soviet government on the occasion of splendid success of German Wehrmacht. Guderian's tanks broke through to the sea near Abbeville, powered by Soviet fuel, the German bombs, that razed Rotterdam to the ground, were filled with Soviet pyroxylin, and bullet cases, which hit the British soldiers retreating from Dunkirk, were cast of Soviet cupronickel alloy..." Later, on 24 April 1941, the USSR gave full diplomatic recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France. Thus, the Fall of France left Britain and the Commonwealth to stand alone. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, resigned during the battle and was replaced by Winston Churchill. Much of Britain's army escaped capture from the northern French port of Dunkirk, where hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny civilian boats were used to ferry troops from the beaches to the waiting warships. There is much debate over whether German Panzer divisions could have defeated these soldiers alone if they had pressed forward, since the tank divisions were overextended and would require extensive refitting; in any case, Hitler elected to follow the advice of the leader of German air forces Hermann Göring and allow the Luftwaffe alone to attack the Allied forces until German infantry was able to advance, giving the British a window for the evacuation. Later, many of the evacuated troops would form an important part and the center of the army that landed at Normandy on D-Day. The British rejected several covert German attempts to negotiate a peace. Germany massed their air force in northern German-occupied France to prepare the way for a possible invasion, codenamed Operation Seelöwe ("Sea Lion"), deeming that air superiority was essential for the invasion. The operations of the Luftwaffe against the Royal Air Force became known as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe concentrated on destroying the RAF on the ground and in the air. They later switched to bombing major and large industrial British cities in the Blitz, in an attempt to draw RAF fighters out and defeat them completely. Neither approach was successful in reducing the RAF to the point where air superiority could be obtained, and plans for an invasion were suspended by September 1940. During the Blitz, all of Britain's major industrial, cathedral, and political cites were heavily bombed. London suffered particularly, being bombed each night for several months. Other targets included Birmingham and Coventry, and strategically important cities, such as the naval base at Plymouth and the port of Kingston upon Hull. With no land forces in direct conflict in Europe, the war in the air attracted worldwide attention even as sea units fought the Battle of the Atlantic and a number of British commando raids hit targets in occupied Europe. Churchill famously said of the RAF personnel who fought in the battle: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". The air war in the European theatre commenced in 1939. Pre-war doctrine had held that waves of bombers hitting enemy cities would cause mass panic and the rapid collapse of the enemy. As a result, the Royal Air Force had built up a large strategic bomber force. By way of contrast, Nazi German air force doctrine was almost totally dedicated to supporting the army. Therefore, German bombers were smaller than their British equivalents, and Germany never developed a fully successful four engined heavy bomber equivalent to the Lancaster or B-17, with only the similarly sized Heinkel He 177A placed into production and made operational for such duties with the Luftwaffe in the later war years. The main concentration of German raids on British cities was from 7 September 1940 until 10 May 1941 in the most famous air battle of all time, known as the Battle of Britain. Facing odds of four against one the RAF held off the Luftwaffe, forcing Hermann Wilhelm Göring to withdraw his forces and more importantly indefinitely postpone invasion plans. This proved the first major turning point of the War. After that most of the strength of the Luftwaffe was diverted to the war against the Soviet Union leaving German cities vulnerable to British and later American air bombings. As a result of the victory, Great Britain was used by U.S and other Allied forces as a base from which to begin the D-Day landings in June 1944 and the liberation of Nazi-occupied Western Europe. Nevertheless, German raids continued on British cities albeit on a smaller and less destructive scale for the rest of the war, and later the V1 Flying Bomb and V-2 ballistic missile were both used against Britain. However, the balance of bomb tonnage being dropped shifted greatly in favour of the RAF as Bomber Command gained in strength. By 1942, Bomber Command could put 1,000 bombers over one German city. During the beginning raids of Operation Barbarossa the Luftwaffe wiped out the majority of the Soviet air forces. The Soviets would only regain their air wing later in the war with the help of the United States. From 1942 onwards, the efforts of Bomber Command were supplemented by the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces, U.S. Army Air Forces units being deployed to England to join the assault on mainland Europe on 4 July 1942. Bomber Command raided by night and the US forces by day. The "Operation Gomorrah" raids on Hamburg (24 July 1943 – 29 July 1943) caused a firestorm leading to massive destruction and loss of life. On 14 February 1945, a raid on Dresden produced one of the most devastating fires in history. A firestorm was created in the city, and between 18,000 and 25,000 people were killed. Only the Hamburg attack, the 9–10 March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo and the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945) killed more people through a single attack. The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of this theatre included the fighting between the Allies and Axis in Italy, the Balkans, Southern Europe, Malta, North Africa and the Middle East. Prior to the war Italy had invaded Albania and officially annexed it. Mussolini's regime declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940, and invaded Greece on 28 October. However, Italian forces were unable to match the Nazi successes in northwest Europe. Italy declared war on Greece and invaded the country, but it was not until German intervention that the country was overrun. While the Greek campaign was underway, German forces, supported by the Italians, Hungarians and the Bulgarians simultaneously invaded Yugoslavia. After the mainland was conquered, Germany invaded Crete in what is known as the Battle of Crete. With the Balkans secure, Germany and her allies attacked the Soviet Union in the largest land operation in history. The Balkans campaign delayed the invasion, and subsequent resistance movements in Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece tied up valuable Axis forces. This provided much needed and possibly decisive relief for the Soviets. Fighting in Southern Europe would not resume until Axis forces were defeated in North Africa. Following the Axis defeat in Africa, Allied forces invaded Italy and during a prolonged campaign fought their way north through Italy. The invasion of Italy resulted in the nation switching sides to the Allies and the ousting of Mussolini. But, in spite of the coup, Fascists and occupying German forces retained possession of the northern half of Italy. In northern part of Italy, the occupying Germans installed Mussolini as the head of new fascist republican government, the Italian Social Republic or RSI to show that the Axis was still in force. But Mussolini and his Fascists were now puppet rulers under their German patrons. Allied (and mostly pro-Soviet) National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, which got some supplies and assistance from Western Allies, battled Axis powers on the opposite side of the Adriatic Sea. In late 1944 it was joined with the advancing Soviet Army and proceeded to push remaining German forces out of the Balkans. By April 1945, German forces were retreating on all fronts in northern Italy and occupied Yugoslavia, following continuous Allied attacks. The campaign, and the fighting in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre came to an end on 29 April. On 2 May in Italy, Field Marshal Heinrich von Vietinghoff, the commander-in-chief of all German forces in the country surrendered to Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the supreme commander of all Allied forces in the Mediterranean area. Fighting would, however, continue in Greece where a civil war had broke out and end on 1949 after Greek government troops aided by the US and Britain defeated the communist guerrillas supported by Marshall Tito and USSR. On 22 June 1941, Germany launched the invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa. This invasion, the biggest in recorded history, started the bloodiest conflict in world history; the Axis–Soviet War, also known as the Eastern Front. It is generally accepted as being the most lethal conflict in human history, with over 30 million dead as a result. It involved more land combat than all other World War II theatres combined. On the very night of the invasion Soviet troops received a directive undersigned by Marshal Timoshenko and General of the Army Georgi Zhukov that commanded: "do not answer to any provocations" and "do not undertake any actions without specific orders". The early weeks of the invasion were devastating for the Soviet Army. Enormous numbers of Soviet troops were encircled in pockets and fell into Nazi German hands. In addition to German troops, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian and Finnish troops were also involved in the campaign. Finland initially declared neutrality; however, with both German and Soviet troops on her soil, Finland was well prepared to join forces with Germany when the Soviet Union attacked on 25 June. The following conflict from 1941 to 1944 is sometimes referred to as the Continuation War, as in the continuation of the Winter War. Spain immediately offered military assistants to the Axis by sending volunteers to the Eastern front, known as the Blue division. Operation Barbarossa suffered from several fundamental flaws. The most serious of these was the logistical situation of the attack. The sheer vastness of the distances in the Soviet Union meant that Germany could only advance so far before outrunning their supply chains. By the time the German attack froze to a halt before Moscow on December 5, 1941, it literally could not go any further. There simply were not enough supplies reaching the front to conduct proper defensive operations, let alone a proper offense. The timetable that Barbarossa was planned to assume that the Soviets would collapse before the onset of winter. During their long retreat, the Soviets employed a scorched earth policy. They burnt crops and destroyed utilities as they withdrew before Germany. That helped to contribute to the logistical problems that Germany experienced. More importantly for them, the Soviets also succeeded in a massive and unprecedented removal of their industry from the threatened war zone to protected areas in the East. The extension of the campaign beyond the length that Germany expected meant that the German Army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in winter conditions, and from the counterattacks of Soviet units. Even with their advance having ground to a halt due to a lack of supplies and the onset of winter, Germany had conquered a vast amount of territory, including two-fifths of the Soviet economy. Dislodging them proved difficult and eventually cost the Soviet Union dearly. A few months after the invasion began, German troops came to southern approaches to Leningrad and laid a siege to the city (known as the Siege of Leningrad), which was also blocked from the north by Finnish forces. Finland's C-in-C Mannerheim had halted at the River Svir and refrained from attacking the city. Hitler had ordered that the city of Leningrad must "vanish from the surface of the earth", with its entire population exterminated. Rather than storming the city, the Wehrmacht was ordered to blockade Leningrad so as to starve the city to death, while attacking it with bombers and artillery. About one million civilians died in the Leningrad siege – 800,000 by starvation. The siege lasted for 872 days. The only overland way into the city was possibly during the winter, across the frozen Lake Ladoga, between the German and Finnish lines. After enduring the winter of 1941–1942, the German army prepared for further offensive operations. One of the major problems faced by the Nazi war machine in World War II was a shortage of oil. For this reason, Germany decided to give up on Moscow for the time being, and the summer offensive of 1942 decided to focus on the war in the south, with the target being the oil fields of the Caucasus. Meanwhile, the Soviets had their own plans. Beginning of the campaign turned into a strategic disaster for Soviets whose Southern flank was nearly destroyed. Surviving Soviet units were pushed hundreds kilometres to the east and the Wehrmacht advance went almost uncontested. But in a major blunder, Hitler split Army Group South into two subgroups, Army Group A which would attack the Caucasus and Army Group B which would advance towards the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Indecision by Hitler, dissent among the higher-ranked Nazi German officers, and extended supply lines combined in a prolonged battle in the streets of Stalingrad. Germany eventually occupied over 90% of the city, but in an attempt to defeat the remaining Soviet defenders almost all German soldiers in the area were funnelled into the ruins of the city. Months of bitter hand-to-hand combat in the ruins of the city depleted the German forces, leaving only Romanian and Hungarian forces to guard the flanks of the Stalingrad army group. In Operation Uranus, the Soviets defeated these Axis forces as they performed a massive encirclement operation. The Axis troops remaining in the city were trapped – cut off from their supply lines and starving, amidst a harsh winter, they were ordered by Hitler to fight to the last man. Starved of food, fuel, ammunition, and clothes, the pocket was gradually reduced, with the last portion surrendering on 2 February 1943. In a cynical attempt to prevent the surrender, Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army to Field Marshal, because no German of that rank had surrendered before. Heavy losses affected both sides in the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the most costly battles in history. About 1.5 million people perished in this battle, including 100,000 civilians in the city. After Stalingrad, the initiative had passed from Germany but had not yet been seized by the Soviets. A desperate counterattack in the spring of 1943 by forces of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein temporarily halted the Soviet advance. The Battle of Kursk was the last major offensive by the German Army on the eastern front. The Soviets had intelligence of what was to come and prepared massive defenses in huge depth in the Kursk salient. They stopped the German armored assaults after a maximum penetration of just over . After Kursk, the Red Army got the upper hand and generally was on the offensive for the rest of the war. The large scale of the Soviet Union allowed it to overcome high losses in manpower and equipment. Soviet success prompted a more active Allied involvement on the Western Front of Europe because Nazi Germany was bogged down in a costly defensive war on the East, defending its ever- shrinking occupied territory. Pushing the enemy out of the Soviet territory in June 1944 by conducting the large-scale Operation Bagration, the Soviet Army proceeded to dismantle the Eastern Axis powers — Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary — to liberate other neighboring countries from the German Army, and to impose Communist-led governments on the "liberated" nations. Some of these nations joined the Allies and provided troops to fight Nazi Germany, which was effectively the only remaining Axis power in Europe by the end of 1944. Finland retained its independence the second time, but broke with the Axis, at the cost of having to fight its former ally and ceding more territory to the USSR. By February 1945, the Soviets brought the war to the German heartland. The end of the war in Europe left the Soviet Union in control over large areas of Central and Southeastern Europe, in addition to its 1941 conquests in Eastern Europe. More Soviet citizens died during World War II than those of all other countries combined. Nazi ideology considered Slavs to be "subhuman" and German forces committed ethnically targeted mass murder. Civilians were rounded up and burned alive or shot in squads in many cities conquered by the Nazis, around 27 million civilians and military personal perished during the war 8 million Red Army troops died facing the Germans and their allies in the Eastern Front. The Axis forces themselves had lost over 6 million troops, whether by combat or by wounds, disease, starvation or exposure; many others were seized as POWs and a substantial part of them died in Soviet captivity because of disease or shortage of supplies. Lend-Lease supplies from the United Kingdom and the United States made very important impact for Soviet military forces. Supply convoys sailed to Soviet ports that were patrolled by Nazi U-boats. Allied activities before D-Day may have tied up only a few divisions in actual fighting, but many more were forced to guard lonely coasts against raids that never came or to man anti-aircraft guns throughout Nazi- controlled Europe. Simultaneously with the fall of Rome came the long-awaited invasion of France. Operation Overlord put over 180,000 troops ashore in Normandy on 6 June 1944, creating a beachhead that would eventually result in over 3 million Allied soldiers on Germany's western front. A long grinding campaign six weeks long followed as American, British, and Canadian forces were slowly built up in the beachhead, and German forces slowly worn down. When the breakout finally did come it was spectacular, with Allied troops very quickly capturing almost all of Normandy within days. Many German forces that had been fighting in Normandy were trapped in the Falaise pocket. Incessant bombing of Germany's infrastructure and cities caused tremendous casualties and disruption. Internally, Hitler survived a number of Nazi inner assassination attempts. The most serious was the 20 July 1944 Plot. Orchestrated by Claus von Stauffenberg and involving among others Erwin Rommel and Alfred Delp, the plot had intended to place a time bomb in a position to kill Hitler but a number of unscheduled factors and operation failures led to its failure. Adolf Hitler was only slightly injured. Operation Overlord was complemented by an invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944, codenamed Operation Dragoon. By September 1944 three Allied Army Groups were in line against German formations in the west. There was optimism that the war in Europe might be over by the end of 1944. An attempt was made to force the situation with Operation Market Garden (17 September 1944 – 25 September 1944). The Allies attempted to capture bridges with an airborne assault, to open the way into Germany and liberate the northern Netherlands. Since heavier German forces than intelligence had predicted were present, the British 1st Airborne Division was almost completely destroyed, and the operation failed. The weather of 1944 combined with a poor situation for the Allies led to a stagnant situation on the western front. The Americans continued to grind away at the defenders in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest (19 September 1944 – 10 February 1945). As long as Germany stayed on the defence, the Allies were hard-pressed to advance rapidly. That changed when Germany mounted a major counteroffensive on 16 December 1944. The Ardennes offensive, also called the Battle of the Bulge, drove back and surrounded some small American units. The Allied forces were eventually successful in driving back Germany, in what turned out to be their last major advance of the war. The battle officially ended on 27 January 1945. The final obstacle to the Allies was the Rhine. It was crossed in March 1945, and the way lay open to the center of Germany. The last major German forces in the west were encircled and trapped in the Ruhr. On 27 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Mussolini was captured by Italian Partisans. He was trying to flee Italy to Switzerland and was traveling with a German anti-air battalion. On 28 April Mussolini and several of the other Fascists captured with him were taken to Dongo and executed by firing squad. The bodies were then taken to Milan and unceremoniously strung up in front of a filling station. Hitler, learning of Mussolini's death, realized that the end had finally come. He remained in Berlin, the crumbling Nazi capital, even as the city was encircled and trapped by the Soviets and the Battle of Berlin raged. On 30 April, Adolf Hitler, with his wife of one day, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his bunker to avoid capture by Soviet troops. In his last will and testament, Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as the new German leader. But Germany lasted only 7 days longer under the "Flensburg government" of Dönitz. He surrendered unconditionally to the Americans, British and Soviets on 8 May 1945. In late July and August 1945 the Potsdam Conference finally disbanded the former Nazi German state, reversed all German annexations and occupied territories, as well as agreed to jointly occupy and govern, denazify and demilitarize what remained of Germany. European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, Pacific War Churchill, Winston (1948–1953), The Second World War, 6 vols., Keegan, John (1989). The Second World War, Hutchinson. ., Lee, Loyd E. ed. World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources: A Handbook of Literature and Research (1997), Murray, Williamson and Millett, Allan R. (2000). A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War, Harvard University Press. ., Overy, Richard (1995). Why the Allies Won Pimlico. ., Smith, J. Douglas and Richard Jensen. (2002) World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites, Weinberg, Gerhard L. (2005). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, Cambridge University Press. .

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Brad William Henke (born April 10, 1966) is an American actor and former National Football League and Arena Football League player. He is best known for his role as prison guard Desi Piscatella on Orange Is The New Black, for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2016. Henke was born in Columbus, Nebraska. He attended the University of Arizona and played football as a defensive lineman. Henke was drafted by the New York Giants in the 1989 NFL Draft but got cut. He was picked up by the Denver Broncos, and he played in Super Bowl XXIV against the San Francisco 49ers. Repeated injuries, which required six ankle surgeries, led to his retirement from professional football in 1994. Henke began acting in 1994, starting with commercials. He appeared in October Road, Around June, The Amateurs, World Trade Center, In the Valley of Elah, Choke, Sherrybaby, Must Love Dogs and Fury. His television career includes roles in ARLI$$, ER, Dexter, Lost, Justified, The Office (American version), Orange Is The New Black, Sneaky Pete & MacGyver (2016).. Henke's breakout role has been on Orange Is The New Black as Desi Piscatella, a gay corrections officer at Litchfield Federal Penitentiary. He joined OITNB in the fourth season. He was part of the cast that won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for 2016. Henke was married to actress Katelin Chesna from 2001 to 2008. Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy-drama series created by Jenji Kohan that airs on Netflix. It is based on Piper Kerman's memoir, , about her experiences in a women's prison. The series' protagonist is Piper Chapman, a woman sentenced to 15 months in a woman's federal prison for her part in a drug smuggling operation ten years before the start of the first season. It follows Piper's experiences in and out of prison along with the experiences of a diverse ensemble. Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Schilling) is a woman who was sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary for helping her former girlfriend Alex Vause smuggle drug money in Europe several years before the first episode. The first season shows Piper's journey through the prison system, beginning with her rough first week, during which she accidentally makes several enemies and struggles to adapt to life on the inside, as well as reuniting with Alex. In prison, she acquires several other nicknames throughout the series. "Crazy Eyes" calls her "Dandelion" because she is tall and blonde, "Pennsatucky" refers to her as "College," and Tricia refers to her as "Brain," because she is more educated than most of the inmates. Piper is assigned a bunk with Claudette, who treats her rudely at first, but eventually warms up to her. Piper is assigned to the Women's Advisory Council (WAC), despite not running and asking Healy not to put her on it. She works in the electrical shop at the prison and inadvertently takes a screwdriver from the tool crib and loses it. Her ambiguous sexuality is a source of amusement to her best friend Polly and of frustration to her fiancé Larry. She is initially considered non- threatening by most of the other inmates. Although she does her best to have empathy and be helpful to others, she is often accused of being profoundly self-obsessed, and she only comes to realize that this might be true after being sent to prison. She becomes enemies with Tiffany after she ridiculed her religious beliefs, and ended up beating her severely after a failed attempt on her life at the end of the first season, knocking out all of her teeth. In the second season, she is flown to Chicago to testify at the trial of Alex's former boss, Kubra Balik. After perjuring herself at the recommendation of Alex, Piper is returned to Litchfield to serve the remainder of her sentence while Alex is released on early parole for her testimony. After learning her grandmother is dying, Healy assists her in getting furlough to visit her, and then to attend the funeral, which aggravates some of the other inmates. She is also commissioned by a journalist and friend of Larry's to secretly investigate the prison's books and later collaborates with Caputo to expose Figueroa's corruption, preventing Piper from being transferred to a prison in Virginia. She ends up breaking up with Larry, and after discovering that he and her friend Polly are having an affair, she asks them to report Alex to her probation officer. In the third season, Piper admits to Alex that she was the one that alerted her probation officer that she violated her parole, causing her to be sent back to prison. Piper ends up getting selected for a new work detail creating underwear for Whispers, a lingerie company. After being rebuffed on her attempt to show the company that they were wasting fabric and could make an extra pair of underwear with each sheet, she uses the extra fabric to start a used panty business with her brother Cal, recruits some of the other inmates to wear the panties, and uses Officer Bayley to smuggle the panties out of the prison. At first, she pays the women wearing the panties with ramen noodle seasoning packets but is forced to give them money after Flaca threatens to cause a strike. However, as her business begins to succeed, she becomes darker and more ruthless, firing Flaca in retaliation for her instigation of the strike. This change in Piper's personality, as well as Alex's paranoia, leads to the end of their relationship, and Piper starts a relationship with new inmate Stella Carlin and allowed her to tattoo the words "Trust No Bitch" on her arm. At the end of the third season, Piper discovers that Stella stole her money from her panty business to use as a financial cushion on the outside due to her pending release. Piper at first pretends to forgive her and allows her to keep the money, but later plants several contraband items (including a shiv and some marijuana) in her area and arranges for them to be discovered, causing Stella to be moved to maximum security, while facing an extended sentence. She uses this incident as a warning to the other inmates that may try to cross her. In the fourth season, Piper has allowed the incident with Stella to go to her head, and she has become arrogant and overconfident, hiring her new bunkmate Stephanie Hapakuka as muscle. As a result, when Maria Ruiz tries to persuade Piper to recruit some of her new Dominican friends into her business, Piper is rude to her. Angered, Maria starts a rival business that quickly outperforms Piper's. Faced with the loss of her business, Piper convinces the new guard captain Piscatella to let her start an anti-gang task force, but the women that gather at her meeting mistakenly assume that she wants to start a white supremacist group. During a meeting with one of the COs, the women bring the used panty businesses to his attention (after Piper tried to downplay it), resulting in Maria being caught and Piscatella stating that he would recommend that Maria gets three to five years added to her sentence. Despite her disgust with the white supremacist gang, she hangs out with them for protection from Maria's gang, but she is still kidnapped by Maria and branded with a swastika. She shows Red the brand while crying on her bed and later shows Nicky and Alex while smoking crack cocaine in the garden. While high, Piper discovers that Kubra sent Aydin to kill Alex and she killed him after he failed. Later, she was able to get her swastika altered into a window, with the help of Red, Norma, and Alex, and she apologizes to Alex for not believing her during the branding. After the incident, she and Alex start having sex again. Piper tries to convince Piscatella to stop the increasingly draconian treatment of the other inmates by the guards, and when he refuses, she joins the protest to include standing next to Blanca Flores on the cafeteria table. When Aydin's remains are found, she tries to prevent Alex from confessing to Aydin's murder. After Bayley accidentally kills Poussey, she runs into him in the hall while he is trying to go to Poussey's friends to apologize. She tells him to let them grieve and that she will let them know he is sorry in order to prevent him from going to their cell block. At the end of the season, she discovers that Alex has written several notes with Aydin's full name on it and spread it around the prison. She convinces her to gather them up so that they can burn them, but shortly after they throw them into a garbage can and set them on fire, women participating in the riot kick over the can, spreading the papers all over the floor. In the fifth season, when the riot breaks out, Piper and Alex find Linda Ferguson taking shelter in the bathroom and, after initially attempting to take her hostage, disguise her as an inmate so that she is not subjected to the same brutal treatment as the other hostages. She and Alex then organize the inmates not participating in the riot into a single party, which stays out in the yard away from the action. However, she is pulled into the riot herself after discovering who Linda is by looking through her phone and then using it to film the inmates burning their peace offering. Later on, she and Alex are kidnapped by Piscatella, and she – along with the rest of the group – is subjected to his emotional torture methods. After being rescued, and whilst hiding in Frieda's bunker, Piper proposes to Alex, and she accepts. However, shortly after, the bunker is stormed by the CERT officers. In the sixth season, Piper is being held in Max and has not seen Alex for days. She desperately tries to find out what happened to her, though she receives no information. Inmate Madison Murphy "assists" in getting Piper sent to medical to look for her by tripping her up, causing her tooth to chip, but Alex is not there. When Red attempts to get the message to her group that Piscatella was killed after he was released, Piper misunderstands the message, thinking that it was Alex who died, which is strengthened when she learns that one inmate died in the riot. Believing that Red's actions got Alex killed, she names her as an instigator, causing ten years to be added to her sentence. After being moved to Block C, Piper is forced to bunk with Madison, who tries to boss her around, despite her grieving, depressed state. Piper is thus caught off guard when Alex turns out to be alive, merely having sustained a broken arm in the raid, and they have a happy reunion. Alex then helps Piper by persuading Madison to leave her alone. Wanting to make her final months more bearable, Piper lobbies Luschek to reintroduce the Max kickball tournament, and eventually receives assistance from Block C's gang leader, Carol Denning. Madison initially muscles in to be captain for the team, but they eventually vote for Piper to take over, which incites Madison's jealousy. She responds by trying to have Piper's sentence extended by two years by planting drugs on her. Although Alex disagrees with Piper's planned approach to the problem, to just tell the guards, it actually ends up being successful: when Madison is eventually scared off, she is unable to prevent CO Hellman from handing a report about a drug infraction from Piper to his superior, CO Rick Hopper. However, because Piper chose to tell Hopper in advance what Madison was doing, he destroyed the report, and instead had Piper put forward for early release, fearing she would expose the drug smuggling operation he was assisting with. Before leaving, Nicky and Lorna organize a surprise wedding for her, so that she and Alex can be married before she leaves. She is finally released from prison and collected by Cal. After Piper is released from prison, she moves in with Cal and his wife Neri, and she has to frequently check in with her probation officer Wyndolyn Capers. She was able to get a job working at a Thai restaurant but is fired after requesting time off to visit Alex. After being told by Wyndolyn that babysitting her niece is not sufficient to satisfy the employment requirement of her probation she is able to convince her father to hire her. She is almost sent back to prison for a parole violation when she ate a "Bloob," which contained marijuana at the behest of Cal and she later failed a drug test. Instead, Wyndolyn sends her to Narcotics Anonymous. Later in the season, she goes on a forest retreat and meets Zelda, who she eventually starts dating after an unexpected visit from her former CO McCollough convinces her not to continue staying faithful to Alex. She is also in contact with her former fiance Larry and learns that he got Polly pregnant. Near the end of the series, Zelda tries to convince her to go with her on a consulting trip to Northhampton and her father strongly endorses Zelda's request. After getting advice from Larry she decides to decline Zelda's request and instead continue her relationship with Alex. In order to continue seeing Alex when she got transferred to a prison in Ohio she quit her job at her father's company in favor of moving, getting a new job at Starbucks, and taking a civil class. Alex Vause (played by Laura Prepon) – Alex is a former drug smuggler for an unspecified international drug cartel. Years prior to the beginning of the series, she took a sexual interest in Piper after meeting her in a bar, and gradually integrated her into the drug trade while they traveled the world living in luxury. Alex once convinced Piper to smuggle cash through customs at an airport in Europe, the crime for which Piper is doing time. Alex specifically named Piper during her testimony, which is what led to Piper's later arrest. After Piper broke up with her, Alex began using heroin, but cleaned up in prison. She states during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that being in prison is her "rock bottom" experience. Alex's mother had worked four jobs, and her father was a washed-up rock star. Alex tracked down her father and struck up a friendship with his drug dealer who subsequently became her industry contact in a drug cartel. Alex is not particularly broken up about being in prison since she at least managed to free herself from her drug addiction. She admits to Piper and Nicky that she is not sure what she will do with her life when she gets out, as her only life skill is "moving massive amounts of heroin." She appears to have moments of depression, telling Nicky that she can no longer "get past the swirling darkness in her brain long enough to land on anything," and mentioning to Piper that upon entering prison, she was on anti-depressants, which she now trades for black eyeliner. Alex is good at reading people and is perceptive, quite often surmising Piper's true feelings and intentions. During the second season, she double- crosses Piper and gives incriminating evidence at the trial of her former boss Kubra (after advising Piper to lie), earning herself an early release. When Piper calls her on the phone, she reveals that Kubra had walked free, and she is now in fear for her life. To Piper's dismay, when Alex visits, she reveals that she is planning to skip town and go into hiding. Wanting to get her old girlfriend back in prison with her, Piper secretly asks Polly to tip off her probation officer, causing Alex to violate her probation when he turns up to check on her, to find her brandishing a gun. In the third season, she returns to Litchfield, and despite finding out that Piper was the reason she was arrested, she restarts their relationship. This is short-lived, as the two break up again when Piper starts dating Stella. Alex becomes suspicious when Lolly Whitehall, a new inmate originally seen in Chicago, comes to the prison and she assumes that Kubra sent Lolly to kill her. Confronting Lolly in the bathroom, the two fight, and while choking Lolly, Alex discovers that she is just a paranoid prisoner that thinks the NSA is watching her. Alex ends up convincing Lolly that she is an undercover agent with the CIA in order to keep her from reporting their confrontation. At the end of the third season, one of Kubra's enforcers, Aydin Bayat, confronts Alex in the greenhouse, ready to kill her. At the beginning of the fourth season, Lolly returns to find Aydin garrotting Alex with his belt. Instinctively, Lolly storms in, pushes him off of her, and stomps him until he is unconscious and presumed dead. Later that night, Alex finds Aydin still breathing, and smothers him to death before dismembering his body and disposing of his remains in the prison garden the following morning with Lolly and Frieda. She is concerned with Lolly's actions when she continues to insist that Aydin was a government agent, but she tries to stop Frieda from killing Lolly to silence her. Alex becomes consumed with guilt for killing Aydin, and tells Red about it. When Nicky returns from max, Alex declines a proposition for sex with her but ends up smoking crack with her and Piper in the garden. While they were high, Piper shows her the swastika brand on her arm, and Alex tells Piper and Nicky that she killed Aydin. She helps Red and Norma turn Piper's brand into a window, while Piper apologized to her for ignoring her concerns about Kubra trying to kill her. After joking with Piper about who would give Bayley a handjob in exchange for burgers, the two once again rekindle their relationship. When Aydin's remains are found, Alex expresses disappointment that he may not be identifiable. She attempts to confess to Piscatella, but is prevented from doing so after Healy turns Lolly in for Aydin's death. Alex starts spreading notes around the prison identifying Aydin; after Piper discovers her planting a note in the garden, she tells Alex to gather the notes so she is not implicated. At the end of the season, Alex and Piper attempt to burn the notes in a garbage can, but after they light up the notes, inmates participating in the riot kick over the garbage can, spreading the notes all over the floor, although the notes are not discovered due to the riot. In the fifth season, Alex and Piper help MCC executive Linda Ferguson avoid being taken hostage by the rioters by disguising her as a prisoner. She then joins Piper in organizing a non- participation movement in the exercise yard. Later, she and Piper are kidnapped by Piscatella, and bear witness to his torture of Red. During the torture, Piscatella brutally breaks Alex's arm, not knowing that the incident was secretly filmed by Gina, one of Red's girls, and uploaded to the internet. Whilst hiding in the bunker, Piper proposes to Alex, and she joyfully accepts. The bunker is then stormed by the CERT officers. In the sixth season, Alex is absent for several episodes, having last been seen being dragged lifelessly out of the bunker by the CERT officers. However, it later emerges that the officer that had discovered her had, in fact, knocked her unconscious, and she was later taken to the hospital to get treatment for her arm. Upon her return, she reveals herself to a shocked and hugely relieved Piper, who had believed she was dead due to a misunderstanding of a message from Red, and the news that an inmate had died during the riot (whom Alex reveals was actually Maureen Kukudio, whose wounds had become infected). The two are happily reunited, and Alex helps Piper deal with Madison Murphy, her bullying bunkmate. Wanting to straighten out after her release from prison, Alex makes an application to business school. However, she finds herself being drawn into Madison's new operation, which she eventually has to join full-time after Madison starts threatening Piper's leaving date, becoming a right-hand woman for Carol Denning, Block D's gang boss, by impressing her with her prior career in the drug trade. She is genuinely thrilled when she learns of Piper's early release but organizes a surprise wedding with Nicky and Lorna so that Piper can have her prison wedding before leaving. Alex is then made to join the kickball team, where a knife fight is planned. However, the fight does not go ahead, and Alex enjoys the game. Sam Healy (played by Michael J. Harney) – Healy is an experienced Corrections Officer and supervisor at Litchfield Penitentiary who has a Master of Social Work and acts as prison counselor to many of the inmates. He is initially presented as someone who, though rigid, genuinely wants to help the inmates under his care. Due to his preference for avoiding confrontation, Healy is contemptuously referred to as "Samantha" by Caputo, who feels that Healy is not tough enough on the inmates. Healy generally appears weary and often tells the inmates what they want to hear so they will leave him alone – he later admits to his own counselor that he is dissatisfied with his job, having gone into it with such idealistic notions of changing the world, but his experiences have left him cynical. Despite this, he still shows a sense of justice, such as forging evidence to show that Suzanne (who was going to take for the fall for an assault she did not commit) was in fact innocent. Healy has an outspoken personal vendetta against lesbians for unknown reasons, cautioning Piper at the beginning of the series not to be involved with lesbian activity. While early on he appears particularly sympathetic towards Piper and even acts biased in her favor, he increasingly dislikes her as he hears rumors of her alleged lesbian activities. His hatred of lesbians, first presented as a quirk, is later revealed to be a deep-seated pathological problem when he explosively sends Piper to solitary confinement purely because she was dancing closely with Alex. In the fourth season, it is revealed that his hatred of lesbianism was imbued in him by his father, who believed that it was a disease akin to schizophrenia. His increasing disdain of Piper culminates in his acquiescence to Tiffany Doggett's attempt to murder her in the first-season finale. During the second season, Healy makes amends with Piper, supporting her idea of a weekly prison newsletter and getting her a furlough to visit her dying grandmother. He also attempts to start a group counseling program with Tiffany, but cancels it due to poor attendance, further adding to his emotional exhaustion. At home, Healy is in a troubled and seemingly-loveless marriage with a Ukrainian mail-order bride, who speaks little English, and her mother. It is implied that Healy lied about himself to her on the Internet, and she is only staying with him because she has two years left until she gets her green card. In the third season, he enlists the help of Red to mediate between the two and bridge the language gap, however Red ends up lambasting his wife and defending Healy as a "good man". Following this, Healy and his wife appear to split, while Healy then forms a closer bond with Red. It is also implied they have mutual romantic feelings for one another; but Red initially flirts with him so that she can be reassigned on her job in the kitchen, much to Healy's dismay. Later, it seems that Red and Healy may still have hidden feelings for each other, as evidenced by a shared look during Lorna Morello's wedding. Red rejects the idea of developing their relationship, saying "their ships passed too late in the night", despite Healy's attempts to admit their feelings for each other. At times, Healy also finds himself at odds with new counselor Berdie Rogers and her alternative methods, feeling that she is encouraging the prisoners to engage in deviant behavior. Healy's background is further explored in the fourth season. His mother suffered from severe mental illness, causing frequent stress to young Sam. When she began electroconvulsive therapy, her erratic behavior subsided. However, she confided to Sam that she wished to stop the therapy, as they caused her to feel "fuzzy" and forgetful. Sam protested against this, saying that he preferred her medicated. Following this, his mother left the home and never returned, with Healy still uncertain of her fate decades later. This experience causes problems between him and the schizophrenic Lolly, with Healy believing that her confession to murdering a guard is only a delusion. At the end of the fourth season, increasingly dissatisfied with his job and unsure if he is able to be effective, he contemplates suicide by walking into a lake, but returns to shore when he hears his phone ring. Later, rather than returning to work, he voluntarily checks himself into psychiatric care, and is later seen in the facility while watching Caputo's statement on television. He makes no appearance in the fifth season, but does make a brief appearance in the sixth season, when Caputo seeks his advice over how to challenge MCC for their treatment of Taystee and the other inmates, but his advice proves unhelpful, simply suggesting Caputo just let it go. Claudette "Miss Claudette" Pelage (played by Michelle Hurst) – Miss Claudette is a very strict and feared inmate at the prison, she is often grumpy and holds her bunk-mates to very high standards. Her mysterious origins and fearsome reputation bred numerous legends, with some inmates humorously noting they never see her in the bathrooms. When Piper is assigned to share a cubicle with her, she reacts rudely due to her obsession with cleanliness and dislike of the messy situations Piper brings with her, but softens to her over time. It is later shown that Miss Claudette was inducted into forced child labor and sent to the United States from an unknown French-speaking country (possibly Haiti) to pay off a familial debt. She was brought to America by a boy called Jean-Baptiste with whom she develops a close friendship and later falls in love. Years later she ran her own illegal cleaning service using similar child labor. She kills a customer who beat and abused one of her cleaning girls, which is the basis for the rumor amongst the prisoners that she is in prison for murder. It is not clear if she was convicted for her business, the killing, or both. She also becomes heartbroken after Jean-Baptiste marries another woman. Miss Claudette never gets mail, has not received a visitor in a decade of being incarcerated, and initially refuses help with her case as she has nothing to live for outside. However, when she receives a letter from Jean-Baptiste (whose wife has since died) she decides to appeal her conviction. Initially optimistic, her appeal is denied, and in a fit of anger she nearly strangles a prison guard in grief, and is immediately transferred to a maximum-security prison with an extended sentence. She does not reappear in subsequent seasons. Galina "Red" Reznikov (played by Kate Mulgrew) – Red is a Russian inmate who runs the prison's kitchen as the master chef and is the behind-the-scenes leader of the prison's white population. She gets her name from both her ginger hair and her Russian heritage. In her earlier life, she and her husband had migrated from Russia and ran a struggling restaurant in Queens, eventually getting involved with the Russian mafia bosses who frequented their establishment. Red angered the mob bosses by punching one of their wives in the chest (rupturing a breast implant) after being excluded by their group, but later impressed the same boss by offering sound advice that allowed her to swiftly climb the ranks of the organization. Red is feared and respected by most of the prisoners, and has a lot of influence with Healy. Out of all of the girls in her group, she is closest to Nicky, and loves her as if she were her own daughter. She is always accompanied by Norma and Gina, who cater to her needs and work with her in the kitchen. Red runs a smuggling business out of her kitchen, using a food company she helped the Russian mafia set up, but refuses to import drugs of any kind. She actively uses her resources to help some of the inmates overcome drug addictions, although they have only "two strikes" before she abandons them because "Russians don't play baseball." When Mendez begins to force her to use her connections to bring in drugs, she hatches a plan to have him removed from the prison. Red is initially pleasant to Piper until she unknowingly insults her cooking, and in response Red punishes her by starvation. Piper eventually repairs their relationship by making a lotion to help soothe Red's injured back. Red also has an odd obsession with a chicken that is allegedly seen on the prison grounds from time to time, as she wants to cook "real food" and also wants to absorb its "power." Towards the end of the first season, she is decommissioned from the kitchen by Caputo after he discovers Mendez's drug smuggling operation, which is blamed on Red. Caputo assigns Gloria as the new master chef, and the kitchen is then run by the Latina inmates. In an attempt to take Gloria and her "girls" out of the kitchen, Red sabotaged one of the ovens, causing Gina to get injured, thus straining her relationship with her friends severely. Red eventually becomes Piper's new roommate and befriends her, while at the same time she attempts to come to terms with her loss of friends and status, in the process befriending the "Golden Girls" — the older women in the prison. Upon discovering a disused sewage drain in the prison greenhouse, Red restarts her smuggling business and reunites her shattered circle of friends. She has history with Vee, a returning prisoner who had befriended her when Red first went to prison years before the series began, only to beat her violently and try to take over her smuggling operation. Vee's appearance in the prison puts Red in competition with her. Following repeated threats from Vee against Red's girls and her family outside prison, Red attempts to strangle Vee during a blackout, but cannot bring herself to finish the job and instead agrees to a truce. However, Vee sneaks up on Red in the greenhouse and beats her violently with a sock with a padlock inside, sending her to the prison hospital. She at first keeps her silence to the authorities about Vee as her attacker, preferring instead to plot her revenge, but has a change of heart after speaking with Sister Ingalls. Throughout the second season, visits from her son reveal that Red's family business is failing and the family itself is having money troubles. When Piper is granted furlough, Red asks her to stop by the shop, and Piper sees the business is closed down. Upon returning to prison, Piper lies and tells Red that the business is doing well. Red eventually discovers that Piper lied about the business's prosperity and berates her for attempting to cover it up. After divorcing her husband for failing to keep the business open, Red starts a friendship with Healy and uses this to get back into the kitchen. Healy convinces Caputo to let her back into the kitchen, but shortly after she takes over the kitchen, it is revealed that MCC has begun to order prepackaged foods as a cost-saving measure, severely diminishing the quality of the food and limiting her ability to cook traditional meals. In the fourth season, Red is distraught when she discovers that her new bunkmate has sleep apnea, and snores very loudly. This, together with the new breakfast timetable, severely affects Red's ability to sleep. She makes numerous attempts to silence her bunk mate, and eventually resorts to taking sleeping pills. In addition, she finds herself having to assist Alex, Lolly and Frieda in covering up Aydin's death. She is overjoyed when Nicky returns from max. However, shortly afterwards, some of Red's possessions disappear, and she later discovers that Nicky had stolen them to fund her relapse into drug addiction. She finds Nicky sitting on the floor in the showers and is heartbroken, feeling that she failed Nicky, and that her harsh policy on drugs contributed both to Nicky's relapse and to Tricia's death. After Nicky agreed to sober up again, Red went to the drug dealers and threatened to tamper with their food if they sell drugs to Nicky just in case. After learning that Piper was branded with a swastika, she helped alter it to a window. When Aydin's body is found, Red is one of the first suspects, and Piscatella deliberately prevents her from sleeping in an attempt to force a confession. In response to the death of Poussey, Red tells her family to start building a new garden, as the last had been destroyed to make room for a new building, to keep them busy and out of trouble. In the fifth season, Red learns whilst digging around in Caputo's office that CO Captain Desi Piscatella had previously murdered an inmate at the male prison where he used to work by boiling him alive. Horrified, and high on amphetamines from some pills she took, Red becomes obsessed with finding ways to take Piscatella down, and eventually finds what she believes are humiliating pictures of him, though she later discovers that he is not embarrassed by them at all. Eventually, she decides to try and force him to confess, so she steals CO Humphrey's phone and texts Piscatella encouraging him to storm the prison. He sneaks in wearing full riot gear, and starts kidnapping Red's girls. Red finds them whilst looking for Frieda's bunker, and is violently tortured by Piscatella, who rips the hair from her scalp. They are saved by the inhabitants of Frieda's bunker, who subdue Piscatella. After subduing him, Red initially wants to kill him, but is restrained. Later, she breaks free, but instead releases Piscatella. The bunker is then stormed by the CERT team, and Red is amongst those caught up in it. In the sixth season, Red – now with a huge bald spot, which she covers with a rag – is held in Max, and forced to share a cell with Madison Murphy. Learning that Piscatella is dead, and that the Federal agents investigating the riot think that one of the inmates in the bunker did it, she attempts to get the message to the rest of her girls through charades, but it does not work. When she uses Madison to get the message out, Piper misunderstands, thinking it is Alex that is dead, and names Red as one of the instigators of the riot out of anger. Frieda does the same, in order to be sent to the safer B Block. Red is initially angered by their betrayal, but after discovering that Nicky could face an additional 70 years if she does not name Red as one of the instigators herself, she once again puts Nicky first and tells her to do so. With ten years added to her sentence, Red becomes obsessed with getting revenge on Frieda, and ingratiates herself with Carol Denning, the boss of C Block, becoming a trusted member of her team, knowing that she bears a vendetta against Frieda herself. Carol also gets her stylists to help fix Red's hair, which is dyed blonde. She is almost ambushed by an attack team from Carol's sister, Barb's rival gang, but Nicky manages to prevent it from happening. After finally reaching out to, and getting a visit from the rest of her family, Red is elated, but on the way to the visitation room, she sees Frieda, and violently attacks her, being sent to SHU, where she believes that Carol is more interested in defeating Barb than killing Frieda, and vows revenge against her herself. Larry Bloom (played by Jason Biggs) – Larry is a Jewish freelance writer trying to establish a journalism career, and Piper's anxious and selfish fiancé. He is blindsided at the beginning of the series when his then girlfriend Piper reveals to him her former life as a lesbian who smuggled cash for a drug cartel 10 years ago. Larry is initially vocally supportive of Piper, and proposes marriage to her before she goes inside. As the series progresses, he begins to lose interest toward her, becoming angry when he learns that Piper's former lover is in the same prison and that she did not tell him about it. Later on, he begins writing a newspaper article titled "One Sentence, Two Prisoners" about the experience of having a fiancée in prison. This article is published in The New York Times and allows him to move up in the journalistic world. He is close to his parents, who are strongly opposed to his marriage plans. After a conversation with Alex, Larry's controlled anxiety gets the better of him, and he breaks off his engagement with Piper. During the second season, he begins an affair with Piper's best friend Polly after becoming a more supportive partner than her husband, who was frequently gone for trips. Shortly after this, Larry and Polly reveal the affair to Piper and asked for her blessing in their relationship. At the end of the second season, Piper asks Larry and Polly to arrange for Alex to be thrown back in prison for violating her probation. Although Larry expresses doubts, Piper is able to appeal to Polly who agrees to help. While he did not appear in the third or fourth seasons, he appeared in a flashback during the fifth season, which reveals he has a tattoo of the Kool-Aid Man on his butt. When Piper mentions him to other inmates during the riot, one of them notes she's never heard his name and has no idea who he is. He appeared as a recurring character in the seventh season, in which he is still in a relationship with Polly and helping raise her child. Piper, now released from prison, asks to have dinner and catch up with him and Polly. They reveal they're expecting a child together. In the season finale, Piper shows up at Larry and Polly's townhouse. They briefly reflect on their relationship and Piper asks for advice on the next step to take in her own life. Larry tells her to "do what new Piper would do" and appears to have come to terms with the ending of their relationship and be genuinely supportive of Piper's path forward. Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren (played by Uzo Aduba) – Suzanne is a mentally unstable inmate with a violent history, however generally passive and friendly. An African-American, she was raised by an adoptive middle class white couple who later had another daughter named Grace during Suzanne's childhood. For her race and mental illness, Suzanne was often shunned by her parents' community and her little sister's friends. Her parents tried to provide her with the best care growing up, but, despite their love, Suzanne felt pushed by her mother to accomplish things that she was afraid to do. Suzanne is a lesbian who develops an obsession with Piper when she first arrives at Litchfield, giving her the pet name "Dandelion" because of Piper's blonde hair. She is initially portrayed as creepy and unpredictable due to her obsession with Piper, stalking her around the prison and submitting a request to bunk together. After being rejected, she urinates in Piper's cubicle. As the show progresses she acts more like a regular inmate, and is revealed that despite her mental illness, she is rather intelligent with a flair for reciting literature and poetry verbatim, often writing her own compositions. She received her nickname "Crazy Eyes" due to her tendency to widen her eyes when she talks. Suzanne is unaware of why exactly people call her "Crazy Eyes," but it is shown that she is hurt by the nickname. During the second season, it emerges that she gets stage fright, and on the night of Piper's altercation with Tiffany, had come outside in the midst of a panic attack, and mistaking Piper for her adoptive mother, punched her in the face, inadvertently making it look like a more even fight, saving Piper from severe punishment. When Yvonne "Vee" Parker enters the prison and forms an African- American gang, Suzanne falls for Vee's charms and maternal influence, being exploited into becoming Vee's "muscle." While zealously loyal to Vee, Suzanne violently beat or threatened any inmates who crossed her, almost acting on command. Later, Vee attempts to coldly trick her into taking the fall for Red's severe beating, as a distraught Suzanne believes she may have done it unconsciously due to her violent history. During the third season, she is encouraged by the new counselor Berdie Rogers to be more creative, causing her to start writing several science fiction erotic stories that become a hit among the women in the prison. Suzanne reveals that she has no sexual experience and is completely naïve in regard to sex, having never actually had a girlfriend before, and that the stories are based on other sources. Eventually, the stories make their way to the staff, causing Rogers to get suspended. Meanwhile, Suzanne becomes nervous upon discovering that one of her fans, Maureen Kukudio, is interested in her romantically. Suzanne backs out of a possible sexual encounter, but is later seen forming a close bond with Maureen towards the end of the season. In the fourth season, Suzanne becomes put off when Maureen turns out to be quite strange, and abandons her in the woods. For most of the season, she and Lorna attempt to find out who is defecating in the showers, before Nicky eventually deduces that it was Angie, and that she was doing it to smuggle drugs inside the prison. Through her conversations with Lorna, Suzanne is eventually convinced that she gave up on Maureen too quickly, and eventually approaches her to suggest they give the broom closet another go. Maureen agrees, but deliberately leaves Suzanne unsatisfied in retaliation for abandoning her in the woods. When Aydin's remains are discovered, Suzanne is one of the suspects because of her history of mental health problems, and is taken for questioning. In flashbacks, Suzanne lives with Grace and Grace's boyfriend, Brad. She works as a greeter at a hypermarket and befriends Dylan, a young child. When Grace and Brad leave for the weekend, she goes to the park, sees Dylan, and brings him to her apartment to play video games. Dylan became scared and called 911, and while fleeing from Suzanne, he climbs out of a window and falls off of the fire escape of her apartment. While in the waiting room, Maureen approaches, seeking a reconciliation, but Suzanne goes and sits elsewhere. She then gets into a verbal dispute with white supremacist inmate Kasey Sankey after laughing at her when Officer Humphrey pulled her chair, and he immediately tries to escalate it into a full-on fight. Kasey declined to do so, but an embittered Maureen volunteers to fight Suzanne instead. In the subsequent fight, Maureen takes her taunting too far, and Suzanne violently tackles her to the ground and proceeds to beat her severely, before she is eventually dragged off. The incident unhinges Suzanne, and shortly afterwards, when she takes part in a non-violent stand-in in the prison canteen, the sight of Humphrey causes her to go into a full-on meltdown. Officer Bayley attempts to restrain her and take her to psych, inadvertently making Suzanne become more erratic. Poussey attempts to intervene, and is pinned to the ground by Bayley's leg while at the same time attempting to wrestle with Suzanne. As a result, Poussey is suffocated and dies on the canteen floor. Traumatized by the event, Suzanne attempts to deal with it by piling books on top of herself in order to find out what it felt like not to breathe. She eventually attempts to do so by pulling several bookshelves on top of herself, but luckily, a grieving Brook happens to be nearby, and she quickly alerts the COs. Suzanne is taken to the medical facility, where she discovers that her neighbor in the next bed is Maureen. At the start of the fifth season, while continuing to recover in medical, Humphrey is brought in there next to them to be treated from his gunshot wound. She leaves medical, and rejoins the other inmates. Noticing that the place in the cafeteria Poussey died is not being respected, she becomes upset and makes a circle around the area after clearing the other inmates away from it. Later on, she attempts to speak to Poussey's spirit with some of the other inmates. Due to the change in her routine with the guards no longer in control, as well as a lack of medication, she begins to act crazier than normal, eventually resulting in her being handcuffed to a bunk and her face being painted. She is released by Lorna, who has taken control of the prison pharmacy, and Lorna decides not to give Suzanne her medication. While in the bathroom washing her face, she discovers Maureen inside of a stall with her injuries infected, and Suzanne takes her back to medical, where she discovers Humphrey is not breathing. Suzanne attempts to take Humphrey in a wheelchair to Taystee to show her, unknowingly putting negotiations at risk. Black Cindy and Alison take control of the situation, and Cindy ends up giving her some lithium to put her to sleep. Later, she is revived, and she ends up in Frieda's bunker prior to the riot team breaching the bunker. In the sixth season, it is revealed that Suzanne and Black Cindy had hidden from the CERT team in the bunker, and borne witness to the team scheming to pin Piscatella's death on the inmates in the bunker. They escaped the bunker and hid in a supply closet, giving them plausible deniability for having been there. However, due to having gone several days without her medication, Suzanne is unable to concentrate, or to keep her story straight, and begins hallucinating. Eventually, after finally getting her medication back, she remembers enough to tell the officers that neither she nor Cindy were in the bunker, and to explain why she previously suggested she had been. She is then released into B Block, one of the safer blocks, and becomes Frieda's cellmate. She is initially unsure about reapproaching her old friends, but eventually is persuaded to by Frieda, and makes amends with them. When kickball is brought back to the prison, Suzanne proves to be a star player, and at the end of the season, joins the team on the outdoor field, completely unaware that a knife fight is due to take place. However, when her kick goes high, one of the opposing team's members puts her knife away to catch Suzanne out. This causes both blocks to forget about the fight and immerse themselves in the game, which prevents a bloodbath. Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson (played by Danielle Brooks) – Taystee is the black representative on the WAC. She works in the prison library. With coaching from Poussey and a makeover from Sophia, Taystee is paroled from the prison. However, as she has been in institutions most of her life and finds it hard to adapt to the rough life she finds outside the prison walls, she re-offends in violation of her parole and is subsequently sent back to prison. Following her return, she is assigned to the recently vacated bunk of Miss Claudette as Piper's roommate. Taystee is quite intelligent and well-read, with a strong ability to remember information and an aptitude for business and mathematics that initially helped her become involved in Vee's drug ring. Owing to her time spent in the prison law library, she has accrued a wide knowledge base concerning the law. Taystee's childhood was a rough one, spent in foster homes, and she was eventually taken in by Vee to help with her heroin business. She has known Vee on the outside for 15 years and becomes a member of her prison gang in the second season. Eventually, when Poussey's actions damage Vee's business, Vee decides to cut her losses and appease her by expelling Taystee from the group. Finally seeing Vee for what she is, Taystee later rallies the other black inmates to turn on her former idol. During the third season, Taystee finds herself becoming the leader of her group and ends up having to be the one to keep them in control. Later on, in the season, she helps Poussey save Brook Soso after a suicide attempt and welcomes her into their group. During the fourth season, Taystee finds herself being assigned as Caputo's secretary. She uses her new position to influence some of the decisions Caputo makes on behalf of the inmates, to include convincing him to play The Wiz during movie night. She also convinces Caputo to give her a wristwatch, which none of the other inmates have, and it is later broken by one of the guards. While Caputo was gone, she successfully guessed his computer password and used his computer to surf the Internet. After Poussey died, she was devastated, but refused to take the day off from being Caputo's secretary, offering to call the police for him and trying to convince him to call Poussey's dad. Unknown to Caputo, she was present during the press release announcing Poussey's death and was angered when he stated Bayley was not being arrested and when Caputo failed to mention Poussey's name. Following this, she went through the halls shouting that Bayley was being let off, causing an uprising among all of the inmates. At the beginning of the fifth season, after the inmates take control of the prison, Taystee punches Caputo in the face and holds him and Josh from MCC hostage. She attempts to force Caputo to make a statement on video stating that Bayley murdered Poussey, but he refuses to and she finished the statement herself. Frustrated that the video did not get the views she wanted, she handed Caputo to the Spanish inmates. Following this, she negotiates with the white supremacist inmates for possession of Judy King, who she plans to use to release a statement about their treatment in the prison to the press to the protest of Janae. During Judy's statement, Taystee interrupts her and speaks about how they are treated herself, as well as revealing Judy's special treatment, before releasing Judy and going back into the prison. Taystee ends up being the prison's spokesperson for negotiations, and she presents the list of demands voted on by the other inmates, disappointed that Bayley's arrest was so low on the list. She ends up negotiating with Figueroa, who was sent on behalf of the governor and has Caputo by her side during the negotiations. After a video of Piscatella torturing Red, Alex, and others goes viral on the Internet, the governor agrees to meet all of their demands except for the arrest of Bayley due to his alleged murder of Poussey being outside of the state's jurisdiction. Taystee refuses to accept the remaining demands without the demand for Bayley's arrest being met and kicks Figueroa and Caputo out. After Maria leads the guards out of the prison, the state orders the riot team to take back the prison after Maria reveals that the guards were not released by Taystee. After Taystee fails to stop the guards from breaching, she flees to Red's bunker and after seeing Piscatella she grabs Frieda's gun and almost shoots him for contributing to Poussey's death, before being talked down. After Piscatella is released, she and the other inmates in the bunker stand together as the riot team breaches the bunker. In the sixth season, Taystee is being held in max and is abused by the guards who suspect her of killing Piscatella. She is unaware of his death until after Black Cindy reluctantly testifies against her. She also comes face to face with her former friend, Tamika Ward, who is now a CO at max, and the two clash over being on opposite sides of the bars. In a flashback, Taystee and Ward are working at a fast-food restaurant and are smoking marijuana during a period they had no customers. Later that night an old classmate of hers, Michael Spence, enters the restaurant and attempts to rob them. After claiming she is unable to get into the cash register (she was afraid the management wouldn't believe her if he robbed them and would punish them instead) she gives Michael her "Gordons" (a pair of counterfeit Air Jordans) and then she and Ward walk home joking with each other. Back in the present, she is offered a plea deal by the public defender to plead guilty to murdering Piscatella and get life imprisonment. However, she is inspired by the members of Black Lives Matter and the ACLU who attend her hearing, and rejects the plea deal, deciding to plead not guilty. As the trial goes on, she starts to wonder if she made the right decision, and reaches out to Caputo for help. Caputo initially tries to find the CERT leader Herrmann who helped cover up CERT's role in Piscatella's death and then seeks to draw negative publicity to MCC in the hope of eliciting sympathy from the jury. He also provides moral support to Taystee by encouraging her to take the stand in her defense, which results in her speaking about her desire to see former CO Bayley tried for Poussey's death. Ultimately, however, Taystee is found guilty of Piscatella's murder. At the beginning of the seventh season, she appears extremely angry and hopeless due to her wrongful conviction. At one point, she attacks Madison after a brief encounter between the two. She appears to accept the fact that she is going to spend the rest of her life in prison and begins to become suicidal. Ward, who was promoted to the warden, gave her back her old job as the secretary for the warden. At one point Suzanne wrote a letter detailing the true circumstances of Piscatella's death at the hands of the CERT officers but she throws away the letter. Ward finds the letter and encourages her to try and use it to get her conviction overturned, but she was not successful. Later in the season, she starts to tutor Tiffany while she tried to prepare for the GED exam. Near the end of the season, she attempted to commit suicide by hanging herself from her bunk bed, but does not complete the act and later finds Tiffany on the floor overdosing. After Tiffany's death, she discovers that she successfully got her GED. In a flashback that took place during the events of the first season while she was out on probation, she is joking around with Poussey over the phone. After several attempts, she successfully gets in touch with Judy and talks to her about doing a loan program for inmates being released from prison to help them get back on their feet. With Judy's help, she is able to get the Poussey Washington Fund started and at the end of the series, she is briefing several inmates about to be released about the fund. Nicky Nichols (played by Natasha Lyonne) – A former drug addict, now Red's most trusted assistant, Nicky is witty and acerbic Jew from New York City, with a loud mouth. She swiftly befriends both Piper and Alex, expressing curiosity about what happened between the two of them outside of prison. She is estranged from her mother, a wealthy but extraordinarily selfish socialite who now lives in Brazil. When she was a child, Nicky was raised by a nanny and lived in a separate house from her mother. Her father was always cheating on her mother when she was growing up, leading to a deep resentment between her parents and causing her father to almost never look after her. This estrangement from her parents was what initially led to Nicky's drug addiction. Upon arriving in prison, Red had helped her through her worst bouts of cold turkey. For this reason, Nicky has disowned her mother, and now looks up to Red as a mother figure, to the point where she openly calls her "mom" in the presence of other inmates, and Red in turn openly treats her as if she were her daughter. Nicky was involved in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Lorna until Lorna broke it off, which Nicky is bitter about for some time, but she later develops a brief interest in Alex. Nevertheless, Nicky continues to make numerous attempts to get back together with Lorna throughout the series, suggesting that her feelings for her may be romantic. Nicky has a scar on her chest from having heart surgery as a complication of a bacterial infection in her heart, which came from using a dirty needle. Having been clean for two years, Nicky uses sex with the other inmates as a coping mechanism, becoming something of a nymphomaniac in the process. During the second season, Nicky stages a sex-based point scoring competition with Big Boo, during which Nicky even makes advances on Officer Fischer. She gets revenge on Vee for Red's slocking by stealing her stash of heroin, causing her to again face her addiction. In the third season, she attempts to get the stolen heroin out of the prison. She decides to work with Luschek so he could sell it on the outside and split the profits with her. During a surprise inspection, drugs are discovered under Luschek's desk and he blames her for it, causing her to get sent to max. On her way out, she exchanges brief goodbyes with Lorna and Red, and as the prison van pulls up at the facility, Nicky expresses her satisfaction to Tiffany that she will never be able to hurt them or anyone she cares about again, lamenting that, even after kicking her drug addiction, she may never lose her self-destructive tendencies. In the fourth season, Nicky is surviving in Max, and celebrates three years sobriety. She is initially shown ending a fling with Stella Carlin after discovering that she is using drugs again, but shortly after, falls off the wagon and starts using them herself. She has also been sending Luschek hate mail, and angrily castigates him when he comes to visit her, attempting to apologize. Eventually, with the help of Judy King, Luschek secures her return to the regular prison, and she has an emotional reunion with Red and Lorna. However, as a result of her relapse, she begins to steal from Red to purchase drugs from the various dealers across the prison, and at the same time makes numerous failed attempts to convince Lorna to restart their relationship. When Red confronts her and breaks down in tears at watching her adoptive daughter destroy herself, as happened with Tricia, Nicky reluctantly agrees to clean herself up again. Unbeknownst to her, Red uses her influence to get all of the prison drug dealers to cut Nicky off, while Pennsatucky provides her with emotional support. She concludes the season clean, but admits to Lorna that she is unhappy and a 'junkie addict liar'. In Season 5, Nicky hides out in the pharmacy with Lorna during the riot and acts as a doctor/therapist to the inmates, helped by her knowledge of drugs. She gives up trying to get back together with Lorna (claiming that she is hopelessly in love with her and knows that Lorna will never love her back), but is later convinced by Lorna into having sex. Later, when Lorna claims that she is pregnant with her husband’s baby, Nicky ends their relationship after realizing that she can not give Lorna the mental help she needs. She and Alex decide to get makeovers from Flaca and Maritza, resulting in her getting bangs and her hair straightened. She is later seen having sex with an unknown blonde inmate while Lorna looks on sadly. Nicky is then kidnapped by Piscatella while caring for Red, and is held hostage with other members of Red's Family. After Piscatella is tied up in Frieda's Bunker, Nicky returns to Lorna and finds out that Lorna is actually pregnant. She then calls Lorna's husband Vince and tells him that Lorna is really pregnant, a very loyal person who cares about him, and that he needs to take Lorna back. The season ends with her telling Lorna to surrender to law enforcement for her safety before leading Taystee, Cindy, and Suzanne down to the bunker, where the fate of everyone in the bunker remains unknown. In Season 6, Nicky is threatened with 70 extra years of drug charges and is forced to say that Red had a part in organizing the riot and kidnapping Piscatella. She and Red remain on good terms however, as she talked to Red first and warned her. She is placed in D Block in Maximum Security, where she is reunited with Lorna. She becomes friends with the leader of D Block, Barbara Dennings, and helps her get sober. However, when the war between C Block and D Block starts to threaten Red’s life, Nicky begins to try and separate herself and Lorna from the problems. She marries Piper and Alex in the season finale in a surprise wedding that she and Alex planned. Nicky then convinces Lorna to hide from the kickball game and stay out of the cell block war. When Barbara and Carol don’t show up, she convinces the rest of D Block that the fighting is pointless, and the kickball game continues with nobody harmed. Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett (played by Taryn Manning) – Doggett is a former drug addict (meth) originally from Waynesboro, Virginia. Her nickname is a reference to "Pennsyltucky," a slang term for poor rural areas in central Pennsylvania. Tiffany has very bad teeth due to drug abuse and initially appears to be a fundamentalist Christian. Frequently preaching about God, her religious rants are often laced with racism and hostility. She also caused the ceiling of the prison's chapel to collapse when she tries to hang an oversized cross from an overhead pipe. For some time, Tiffany believed that she was blessed with "faith healing" abilities, after being tricked by the other inmates, and eventually gets sent to the psych ward when she attempts to forcibly "heal" a visiting paraplegic juvenile delinquent. Despite this, it is revealed Tiffany was sent to prison for shooting an abortion clinic worker in broad daylight for making a snarky comment about her having had five previous abortions. The local press believed that it was instead because of her religious beliefs – leading to her receiving funding, support, and even a fan base from some pro-life religious groups. Tiffany dislikes Piper after she is placed on the WAC committee despite Piper not having run for the position, and also has a long-running hostile relationship with Alex, with the two of them clashing frequently. Although it is Piper who gets Tiffany released from the psych ward, Tiffany declares a violent vendetta against Piper, eventually attempting to kill her after Piper rebuffed her religious beliefs, but instead, Piper beats her up badly. After the beating, she appears to have gotten over her vendetta, presumably because Piper's beating allowed her to get a new set of porcelain teeth at the expense of the prison. Tiffany loses her religious fervor, becoming more easy-going and moderate in her beliefs after attending regular counseling sessions with Healy. Nevertheless, her old friends are now unafraid to stand up to her, and abandon her, leaving her on her own. Ultimately, she finds an unlikely friend in Big Boo, who has also been abandoned by her friends, and Tiffany subsequently cuts her hair short on Boo's advice. After the prison's van is stolen, Tiffany replaces Lorna as the prison's van driver and begins a friendship with Charlie "Donuts" Coates, a new guard who initially seems friendly but exhibits unsettling behavior when they are alone. Later, after Coates gets reprimanded by Caputo and put on probation for missing count, he rapes Tiffany in the prison van. Through flashbacks, it is shown she has a warped view of sex due to her upbringing, having prostituted herself for six-packs of soda, and that she was repeatedly raped in the past to the point she no longer fights back. At one point Tiffany had developed a non-abusive romance with a boy called Nathan, but the relationship ended after he was forced to move away with his parents to Wyoming. Big Boo – now her closest friend – devises a plan to get revenge for Coates' actions, but they decide not to go through with it. To prevent future rapes, Tiffany fakes a seizure while driving and gets off van detail. However, she sees that Maritza Ramos is her replacement, realizing that she may have provided Coates with a more naive and vulnerable victim. In the fourth season, Tiffany remains worried that Coates is raping Maritza, and continues to avoid him. Throughout the season, Coates becomes perturbed when Tiffany continually acts coldly and angrily towards him and eventually confronts her to ask why. She responds by asking him whether he is having sex with Maritza, and when he is confused by the question, she tells him that she wants to make sure he is not raping her, as he did with her. Coates is genuinely shocked by this disclosure. He later offers her an apology, and Tiffany decides to accept and forgive him. Unfortunately, this costs Tiffany her friendship with Boo, although she later makes amends and convinces Boo that she forgave Coates for herself, and not for him. Later, when Coates tells her that he is planning to quit his job, due to the horrors that he has witnessed at the prison, she tries to persuade him not to go and kisses him. He initially returns it but stops himself from initiating sex, telling her that he does not want to make the same mistake again and that he is leaving anyway. During the fifth season, after the other guards were taken hostage, Tiffany hides Coates in the laundry room from the other inmates. While hiding, she is giving Coates food and the two are kissing. Leanne and Angie discover Coates, and after Tiffany grabs Humphrey’s gun she throws it to Coates. The gun goes off, shooting Leanne’s finger off, and he runs out of the prison. The other inmates put her on trial for assisting a guard, and Boo steps up as her lawyer to defend her. She is put on probation to the ire of Leanne and Angie, and the two of them bully her to force her to violate her probation. At the end of the season, Tiffany has escaped the prison in the confusion of the riot and was hiding in Coates' house. She hugs Coates while she has a gun in her hand and then asks him to join her on the couch to watch TV. At the beginning of the sixth season, Tiffany was hiding in the trunk of Coates' car as he and Officer Dixon take a "road trip" that intervenes on their romantic trip. While parked in front of a hotel, she eventually gets tired of hiding in the trunk, goes up to their hotel room, and gets in bed with Coates. Later, she puts on a disguise and she, Coates, and Dixon go to an amusement park, where she and Coates are mistaken for a gay couple and harassed before Dixon steps in. They go to a bar and see on TV that a manhunt was put out for her and Coates decides to try to take Tiffany to Canada to try and keep her out of prison. They camp in the woods near the border, and after Coates falls asleep she goes to a local police station to turn herself in so Coates isn't implicated in her escape. Once Tiffany is back in prison, she is being held in solitary. After getting new MCC Senior Vice President Linda Ferguson to come to her cell, she negotiates her way into Florida in exchange for not revealing that Linda had sexual relations with Boo during the riot. At the end of the season, Tiffany is playing kickball with the other inmates after convincing Suzanne to join her. In the seventh season, Tiffany tries out a number of the prison's new educational programs, out of little more than boredom, but is underwhelmed by them all. Eventually, she joins the General Education Development (GED) program. She initially takes to the class well, largely because of the enthusiasm and empathetic teaching style of the tutor, Elmer Fantauzzo. When she fails her first test, she is about to give up the class, but Elmer takes her to one side and tells her of his belief that she has dyslexia. Having been told that she is stupid by her emotionally abusive father for most of her life, Tiffany is filled with hope at the realization that she simply has an impairment to her reading abilities, and that with the correct tutoring and extra time on the exam, she could end up getting her GED after all. Unfortunately, after Linda refuses further funding for the programs, and Elmer quits after Daya's gang attempt to blackmail him into smuggling drugs for them, Tiffany is left with the unqualified Taystee as a tutor. However, Taystee familiarises herself with dyslexia learning techniques and soon has Tiffany back on track. On the day of the exam, however, Tiffany is horrified to learn that Luschek - who assumed responsibility of the course after Elmer quit - failed to put in an application for her extra time, due to his lack of care. As such, she is forced to do the exam at the normal time. Convinced that she has failed, Tiffany explodes at a remorseful Luschek for his selfishness, and for ruining everything for her. Despondent, she goes into the laundry where Daya and her gang are taking fentanyl. Daya and some of her gang leave, but one of them stays behind to take some more, and Tiffany asks for some. Shortly after, Taystee is heading to her cell to commit suicide when the woman exits the laundry hurriedly and advises Taystee to leave as well. Taystee enters to find Tiffany unresponsive on the floor after overdosing and screams for help whilst cradling her in her arms. Tiffany is pronounced dead at the scene, and her body is taken away by the coroner; Tiffany ultimately leaves the prison in a body bag. It is left ambiguous as to whether Tiffany intentionally committed suicide, or simply overdosed whilst in a state of despondency and reckless abandon. However, her death prompts Taystee to reconsider her suicidal ambitions, and Luschek to take the fall for Gloria's mobile phone, preventing her from getting more time added to her sentence. Suzanne later leads the residents of the Florida wing in a memorial service for Tiffany, and Taystee is both proud and saddened to discover that Tiffany had successfully passed her GED. Dayanara "Daya" Diaz (played by Dascha Polanco) – A Puerto Rican inmate with artistic talents. She is the daughter of Aleida Diaz, with whom she has a strained relationship, as her mother often ignored her and her sisters as young girls in favor of going out and partying. Daya is often criticized by her fellow Hispanic inmates because she cannot speak fluent Spanish. She developed a romantic relationship with prison guard John Bennett and became pregnant with his child. Knowing that Bennett could be imprisoned for impregnating her, Daya joined forces with Red to trick Mendez into having sex with her so that he can be blamed for her pregnancy. During the second season, she is shown to be increasingly hormonal and emotional due to the pregnancy, a contrast from her sweet demeanor in the first season. She begins to believe that Bennett should serve time for her pregnancy in order to allow them to be together and raise their child after they are both released. In the third season, Bennett proposes to her, and she expects them to have a relationship after she is released. However, after a meeting with Cesar, Bennett appears to abandon Daya and the baby. Distraught and hopeless, she decided to give her child up for adoption to Mendez's mother Delia. Instead, Aleida tricks Delia into thinking the baby died during childbirth, while in reality the child, who Daya named Armaria, was given to Cesar. However, shortly after Cesar gets Armaria, his home is raided by the DEA and Daya's daughter is taken away. Daya was concerned about the fate of Armaria during the fourth season, after finding out Cesar was sent to prison and was worried that she would get lost in the foster care system. With her mother being released, Daya decided that she wanted to start hanging out with women closer to her age, resulting in her going to the salon and working with Maria and her group, in spite of the concerns of Gloria, who promised Aleida that she would take care of Daya. At the end of the fourth season, she is in the middle of the riot that was started when Taystee informed the rest of the inmates that Bayley was not arrested for Poussey's death. Officer Humphrey attempts to pull out a smuggled gun and is pushed over by Maritza, causing it to fall in front of Daya. She grabs it and takes Humphrey and Officer McCullough hostage, while most of the other inmates present loudly cheer her on and urge her to shoot Humphrey. At the beginning of the fifth season, Daya, while trying to decide what to do with Humphrey and McCullough, gets annoyed at Humphrey and shoots him in the leg while he is trying to appeal to her in Spanish, pointing out that she does not understand him. Following the shooting, the inmates take over the prison and Daya is presumed to be in charge, due to her possession of the gun. Later that night, she was hit from behind and the gun was taken from her. The following morning, she pretends to still have the gun until it is discovered Gloria took it from her. She decided to distance herself from the other inmates and go outside with the inmates that are attempting to take no part in the uprising, taking this time to paint Bennett on the garden shed. Due to a media interview featuring Judy King and her mother, Judy reveals that a guard was shot during the riot, causing negotiations to end the standoff to halt until the shooter is turned over. Not wanting to be the reason negotiations fail, and growing fed up with Aleida's control after being ordered to lie that the shooting was in self-defense, she decided to turn herself in. Prior to surrendering, she called Delia and revealed that her daughter is alive. She asks Delia to adopt her and give her a better life, and after Delia tells her yes and she ensured that Delia knew how to correctly pronounce Armaria's name, she ends the call and goes outside the prison to surrender. In the sixth season, with Humphrey now dead, Daya has accepted a plea deal to plead guilty to his murder in return for life imprisonment, thereby avoiding the death penalty. However, she is repeatedly beaten, attacked and otherwise hated by the CO's for being a "guard killer." Due to the frequent beatings from the guards, she is struggling with a broken hip. Daya receives help from Dominga "Daddy" Duarte, the right-hand woman of D-Block gang leader Barb Denning, who had taken a shine to her. Unfortunately, she becomes addicted to opioids when Daddy gives them to her to help with her physical pain. After Daddy accidentally wrecks her own drug smuggling operation, Daya goes into withdrawal, and in a desperate bid to obtain drugs, steals from Barb's personal stash. When Daddy confronts her about it, Daya kisses her, and the two become romantically involved. Daya then volunteers to smuggle drugs in through Blanca in return for helping her obtain some of her boyfriend's semen so that she can artificially inseminate herself, but ends up getting jumped by some of the members of Blanca's block gang. She then persuades Aleida to help her smuggle in drugs via her new boyfriend Rick Hopper, who is the captain of the guards at the prison. She becomes a fully-fledged member of Barb's gang, but her newly acquired addiction to heroin distresses her mother. At the beginning of the seventh season, she continues her relationship with Daddy, but she becomes upset when she walks in on her having sex with another inmate and then claiming that it was just business. Intending to teach Daddy a lesson, she gives her some bath salts under the assumption she would have a similar episode as Barb but she dies from an overdose instead. Immediately after Daddy's death, she takes over Daddy's gang and becomes even more ruthless in her methods. In an attempt to devise different methods to get drugs into the prison, she at one point threatens Elmer Fantauzzo, Tiffany's GED prep course teacher, by implying she would target his son if he doesn't smuggle drugs in for her. When Aleida is returned to Litchfield after her parole violation Daya immediately attempts to assert dominance and then intentionally sets her and Hopper up to be caught having sex in the SHU as a distraction so she could recover her contraband that was confiscated earlier by the guards. At the end of the series, she reveals to Aleida that she got her little sister Eva involved in her drug smuggling operation and threatened to get the rest of her younger siblings involved. This revelation causes her mother to knock her down and choke her until the guards intervened. Polanco states that Daya survives after a final scene in which Aleida attacks her; Polanco stated that OITNB writers revealed this to her. Lorna Morello (played by Yael Stone) – A hyperfeminine and often racist Italian-American inmate, with a strong accent that inexplicably mixes regional features from both New York City and Boston. Lorna is usually sweet and positive, though she can also be very paranoid and manipulative. She seems to suffer from some sort of mental illness, possibly Borderline personality disorder. She is the first inmate that Piper talks to since she was in charge of driving the van that transports inmates, and she helps Piper acclimate in her first few days. She had a casual sex relationship with her friend Nicky Nichols but broke it off due to feelings that she was cheating on her "fiancé" Christopher. It is eventually revealed that Christopher was a man whom she had obsessively stalked and threatened at the same time that she was running a mail-order scam, and the reason she is in prison is that she placed a car bomb under his car. Lorna also gets caught in the middle of Pornstache and Red's drug-smuggling operations. When she is left alone during a driving errand while Miss Rosa is at a chemotherapy appointment, she drives to Christopher's house and breaks in. While there, she takes a bath wearing his fiancée's wedding veil and falls asleep, waking up just in time to escape before she is seen. Christopher suspects her for the break-in and later visits the prison to confront and threaten her, finally shattering her obsessive delusions. At the end of the second season, Lorna allows Rosa to steal the van after finding out that she only had a few weeks to live so that she would not die in prison. In the third season, she becomes depressed and lonely after being relieved of her duties as the van driver and losing Nicky, who was sent to Maximum Security at the beginning of the season. To cope, as well as to get extra commissary money, she decides to start writing to multiple men. After visiting with several different men, she starts a relationship with a man named Vince "Vinny" Muccio. As the two get closer, Lorna manipulates Vince into gathering some of his friends and beating Christopher up. Eventually, Lorna and Vince get married in the prison's visitor center and they consummate their marriage in the visitor's snack room. In the fourth season, Lorna is angered when nobody has any reaction to the news that she is married. It is soon pointed out to her that she actually knows almost nothing about her new husband, and she realizes that it may well be true when Alex asks her what his favorite color is and she cannot answer. She later discovers while talking to Vinny on the phone that he lives with his parents, but is not perturbed. Nevertheless, she begins to annoy and disturb the inmates with her open phone sex conversations, including in the visiting room. She is overjoyed at Nicky's return from max but declines when Nicky tries to convince her to restart their relationship. In the later part of the season, she begins to suspect that Vinny is cheating on her with her sister, despite her having asked her sister to go and visit him herself, and ends up angrily accusing both of infidelity. Subsequently, when Red pairs her with Nicky to search the grounds in order to keep them busy, she has to fend Nicky off once again, but eventually confesses through tears that she is destroying her relationship and is powerless to stop herself. In Season 5 she takes refuge in the pharmacy with Nicky and helps distribute medicine to the inmates. She is shown to be visibly shaken when Nicky confesses her love for Lorna to Brook Soso. She eventually convinces Nicky to have sex with her out of horniness, which she later blames on pregnancy hormones, despite not having taken a pregnancy test. She tells Vince, who is waiting in the crowd outside the prison, that she is pregnant, but he immediately gets into his car and drives away. With both Nicky and Vince gone, Lorna enters into a state of denial and refuses to give any other inmates medicine and tries to convince them that they don’t need it. She finally takes 12 pregnancy tests to confirm that she is pregnant, but has to be convinced by Nicky that the tests are all actually positive and not just another delusion. At the end of the season, she surrenders with the majority of the inmates and her fate is left unknown. In the sixth season, it is revealed that she ended up in D Block at max, and she is reunited with Nicky. Lorna is back together with Vince and constantly talks about being pregnant, and she eventually gets wrapped up in the war between C Block and D Block. She becomes convinced to participate in the plan to attack C Block during the kickball game but then decides to remain out of the war and in a closet with Nicky. However, Nicky is forced to go outside and play kickball, leaving her in the closet. During the game, Lorna goes into premature labor. At the beginning of the seventh season, it is revealed that Lorna gave birth to her son Sterling, but he later died due to pneumonia. Vinny tells Lorna that Sterling died, but she becomes delusional and insists that he is still alive while telling her friends Vinny is keeping their son away from her. She then starts saving pictures of infants she is finding on a search engine and posts them on social media accounts she created for Sterling while claiming that those are pictures of her son. Eventually, Sterling's social media accounts are taken down, causing her to panic. When she tells Vinny about it during a visit he reveals that he reported the accounts as fraudulent and he then tells Lorna he wants a divorce due to her inability to accept Sterling's death. Gloria Mendoza (played by Selenis Leyva) – Red's opposite number among the Hispanic and Latina inmates, though with no organized crime connections. She is a mother of two boys. She organizes domino games and looks out for the other inmates, either by giving advice or by performing Santeria spells (which she refers to as "Catholic plus") for them. She is often critical of Daya's inability to speak Spanish but still accepts her as one of her own. Despite this, she tricks Daya into drinking a concoction that makes her feel sick, at the request of Aleida. When Red is put under investigation after her smuggling operation's cover is blown, Gloria becomes the new head cook, and some inmates prefer her breakfast cooking. Red tries to sabotage Gloria's kitchen operations, but fails to discourage her replacement. At the end of the first season, it is shown that Gloria is starving out Red in a similar way that Red did to Piper at the beginning of the series. During the second season, her backstory reveals that she was a frequent victim of domestic abuse. As she was planning to run from her abusive boyfriend, she was arrested for fraud for allowing customers to exchange food stamps for money at the store she ran and keeping some of the money for herself. She is shown as compassionate and easily susceptible to other's feelings, as she forgave her boyfriend repeatedly, and fell for Vee's charms at the beginning of the season. Upon learning that Norma is plotting to poison Vee, Gloria convinces her to use Santeria to get back at her instead. She also spends the initial part of the season competing with Aleida to be a motherly figure to Daya, but after embarrassing her in front of Bennett, she realizes that it is a job they both do well. In the third season, she is upset after discovering that her son is becoming disrespectful and is failing his classes. She demands that he comes to visit with his homework every week and asks Sophia to allow him to ride with her son when he is doing his weekly visits. After Sophia cuts off the relationship in response to what she saw as Gloria's son being a bad influence, the two have a confrontation in the bathroom, resulting in Sophia pushing Gloria to the ground. Gloria quits working in the kitchen and later feels guilty because Aleida started spreading rumors about Sophia that caused her to get attacked in her hair salon and put in the SHU allegedly for her own safety. In the fourth season, she is shown working with Sister Jane Ingalls to get Sophia out of SHU. When Sophia returns, Gloria attempts to make amends with her. Before Aleida is released from prison, she tells Gloria to be a mother figure to Daya and to keep her out of trouble. Gloria is clearly concerned when Daya begins spending time with Maria's crew. At the beginning of the fifth season, she becomes extremely concerned about Daya after she shoots Humphrey in the leg, and attempts to keep him alive at all costs so Daya does not face a murder charge. She takes the gun from Daya, but ends up losing the gun to Angie after dropping it on the ground. She supports Daya when she decides to surrender for shooting Humphrey, and ends up getting into an intense argument with Aledia over it. When Frieda reveals her secret bunker in the prison, she joins her down there, but ends up leaving after she receives text messages about her son being in the hospital. After being given a tip from Caputo to call for help from his office, she is told by MCC that if she gets the hostages out, they will ensure that she is able to see her son. Maria finds out about her plan, but while she does not reveal it to any of the other prisoners, Maria ends up leading the hostages out of a hole in the fence to take credit for releasing them while Gloria is taken prisoner for releasing the guards. At the end of the season, after finding out that her son survived surgery, she returned to Frieda's bunker while the riot team is taking back control of the prison. Cindy "Black Cindy" Hayes (played by Adrienne C. Moore) – A bubbly, laid-back and perpetually cheerful inmate, 'Black' Cindy is seen often with the other black inmates. During Taystee's time on the outside, she is seen more frequently joking around with Poussey. Her back story is explained more in the second season, where it is revealed that she worked for the TSA and occasionally stole items from the luggage of travelers. It is shown that she also had a nine-year-old daughter named Monica who was raised by her mother under the pretense that Cindy was her older sister. She is shown to shirk her responsibilities; in one instance, she took her daughter out for ice cream, only to leave her in the car for hours after she spontaneously decided to hang out with some friends. In the third season, she decides to pretend to be Jewish as a response to the inferior food quality resulting from the budget cuts so she can get better tasting kosher meals. After the prison brings in a rabbi to discover who is really Jewish and ends up being outed as a faker, she decides to convert for real and completes her conversion by performing a ritual immersion, using the lake behind the prison as a mikveh. In the beginning of the fourth season, she gets involved in an escalating turf war with her new inmate, Alison Abdullah, who is an observant Muslim, during which the two frequently trade barbs about their respective religions. However, they begin to get along and Abdullah joins Cindy's group of friends. Joseph "Joe" Salvatore Caputo (played by Nick Sandow) – One of the administrative officials in the prison. Caputo is initially portrayed as a sleazy character who believes in keeping the inmates dehumanized and who masturbates in his office immediately after his first encounter with Piper. Later, it becomes clear that he genuinely seeks to rehabilitate the inmates and run the prison properly and ethically. He does not tolerate corruption, inefficiency, and sexual exploitation, later telling Bennett while berating him for impregnating Daya that he masturbates to control any urges to sleep with one of the inmates. It is shown through flashbacks in the third season that Caputo's desire to do the right thing has always been met with ingratitude and bad results for him. Prior to working at the prison, he quit his band to raise his girlfriend's daughter – who was conceived with one of his bandmates while they were separated – only for them to become successful while he got stuck in a low-paid job in the prison service, and his wife left him for her daughter's father. Throughout the first season, Caputo appeared to have romantic feelings for the new recruit to the staff, Susan Fischer. However, when she did not return the feelings, Caputo became upset and fired her during an argument. He is easily the most competent of the prison staff, being more than capable of dealing with crises without being appeasing or oppressive – on one occasion, upon finding out that there is a hunger strike in the prison, he goes to the strikers directly and tells them straight that most of their demands are either unreasonable or are being resolved independently, without then sending them to the SHU. In addition, he is unafraid to challenge people who are being unreasonable, routinely lashing out at Figueroa for her austere methods, and Healy for his lesbian witch hunt. He also plays bass guitar in a band called "Side Boob," and attempts to grow plants as a therapeutic hobby. Caputo is also seen to be very ambitious, and desired to move up the ladder to eventually become warden. When Piper finds evidence of Figueroa embezzling funds from the prison, Caputo uses it to force her resignation and he becomes the new assistant warden. Although Caputo wished to be seen as a more providing and kinder warden than his predecessor, he soon learned that Litchfield was to close with the prisoners transferred and all the staff fired. Desperate to save his job and those of his co- workers, he convinces Figueroa to give him details on how to make Litchfield desirable to the Management & Correction Corporation, a private investor. This works, and although Litchfield is saved, Caputo became a figurehead who reported to Danny Pearson, the son of one of MCC's senior executives, and is forced to endure severe budget cuts like low-quality pre-packaged food and his staff being reduced to part-time while under-qualified staff with minimum training were brought in to fill the void, resulting in many serious mistakes. Around this time, Caputo begins an affair with Figueroa in order to relieve his self-hate at all the compromises he is being forced to make. Due to the incumbent staff angry at their hours and wages being cut as well as being expelled from their union due to working for a private company, Caputo suggests they form their own union and agrees to lead it. When Sophia is seriously assaulted by other inmates while the CO on duty runs off in a panic, she threatens the prison with a lawsuit. As a result, Sophia is taken into "protective custody," which is actually just her being thrown into isolation as punishment for her threat to sue. Caputo and Pearson argue with the latter's father against this unfair treatment, and his frustration results in Pearson quitting. Later, while in bed with Figueroa, she reminds him that his constant efforts to help others have only ever held him back, and tells him that he should start looking after his own interests more – that, instead of fighting for his employees, none of whom have shown him any gratitude for his efforts, he should instead try and advance his own interests within the corporation. In response, Caputo filled Pearson's position and immediately broke up the union causing most of the older, more experienced staff to immediately go on strike. At the beginning of the fourth season, he is forced to call for reinforcements from max to replace the guards that walked out while the prisoners escaped and started playing in the lake outside of the prison. During the crisis, he is informed that Judy King arrived and is instructed to give her special treatment by MCC, partly to ensure she is given no opportunity to sue the prison after her release, and partly to create leverage over her in the event that she decides to do so. He appoints Desi Piscatella, one of the reinforcements that came from max during the strike, as the new captain of the guards after the crisis is over. During a meeting at MCC, he recommends using veterans to supplement personnel and to house them near the prison in the existing housing to save money. He also meets Linda, an executive he starts a relationship with and appoints Taystee as his secretary at Linda's suggestion. He is repeatedly confronted by Crystal, Sophia's wife, and eventually uses a smuggled cell phone to anonymously show proof that Sophia is in the SHU, resulting in her being returned to general population. He proposes to Linda that the prison should offer college classes to the inmates, only to be disappointed when Linda informs him that MCC replaced the common core classes with labor-intensive classes that are just a front to make the inmates do unpaid labor. After Aydin's remains are found in the garden, he orders the guards not to interrogate the inmates and to let the FBI handle the situation when they arrive. Following Caputo's departure, Piscatella promptly ignores his orders and the following morning, he threatens to pull all of his guards if Caputo attempts to suspend any of them for their actions. After Poussey's death, he sends Piscatella home and attempts to convince MCC to call the police. He is ordered to wait until MCC can find a way to relieve the company of any blame for wrongdoing, and then finds out that the company wants to turn Bayley into a scapegoat. Prior to a press conference to announce Poussey's death, he calls her father to inform him of her death. Following this, against orders from MCC, he absolves Bayley of any intentional wrongdoing while neglecting to mention Poussey's name during the press conference, causing the prisoners to riot after Taystee overhears the press conference and spreads the word to the other inmates. During the fifth season, Caputo is taken hostage along with the other guards after the inmates take over the prison. Taystee forces him to film a statement naming Poussey as the deceased inmate, but he refuses to follow orders to state that she was murdered by Bayley, which resulted in Taystee completing the statement herself. He is locked up with the other guards, and when the guards came up with an escape plan to take place when the inmates were feeding them, he stalled due to Linda being one of the inmates bringing them food. Eventually, he is locked into a Porta-Potty while pleading with whoever could hear him to release him. He sends Gloria to his office so she can call Jack Pearson about getting furlough so she can see her son in the hospital. Later on, he tries to help Taystee during her negotiations with Figueroa, although he was unable to convince her to surrender in exchange for what the state was offering because they claimed that charging Bayley with murder for Poussey's death was not within the state's jurisdiction. Following this, he goes to the operations center outside of the prison, where he learns that the CERT officers are preparing to storm the prison due to Maria releasing the majority of the guards in an attempt to cash in on Gloria's deal with Pearson. After the officers state that they were still missing inmates despite previous sweeps, he informs them about the abandoned pool that Frieda converted into a bunker. He becomes upset upon learning that they were given authorization to use deadly force to capture the remaining inmates. Carrie "Big Boo" Black (played by Lea DeLaria) – A prison inmate and lesbian, she has had several "wives" during her incarceration. Tricia and Boo have had problems in the past fighting over a girl. She has Piper helping her write a letter for her appeal and takes the missing screwdriver from Piper's bunk unbeknownst to Piper, which she uses to aid in masturbation. She later returns the screwdriver to Piper when Piper becomes stressed over the fact that Tiffany is threatening to kill her. During the first season, Boo is often accompanied by a dog she named "Little Boo." She got rid of the dog by the second season, saying things were getting "weird." It is implied Boo considered using the dog to stimulate herself sexually. She later participates in a competition with Nicky to see who can have sex with the most inmates. Boo has little loyalty to anyone and, trying to ingratiate herself with the powerful Vee, betrays Red by telling Vee about the tunnel. As a result, she is shunned by Red's family, and Vee rejects her for snitching. Afterward, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Tiffany — which soon develops to be a close bond — and, when Red is hospitalized following an assault by Vee, Boo helps Nicky locate and hide Vee's drug stash. During the third season, she is inspired when she realizes that Tiffany is getting donations from numerous religious groups and decides to pretend to renounce homosexuality in order to get a similar support base. However, when she is speaking to a reverend that openly disparages homosexuals she is unable to continue her ruse and angrily insults him in retaliation. In flashbacks, it is shown that, as a teenager, her parents — particularly her mother — had strongly disapproved of her tomboyish dress sense and appearance and attempted to force her to be more feminine. By the time she was forty, she had adopted a "butch" self-image which she protected militantly, but at the same time struggled to contain her inner anger and rage at the world brought on by these experiences, and she had become completely estranged from her parents. At one point, in a conversation with Tiffany, she expresses the view that one should not allow one's beliefs to destroy relationships, as she herself holds deep regret and guilt for having never made peace with, or even attempting to say goodbye to her mother before she died. Later in the series, she attempts to console Tiffany after discovering that she was raped by Coates. She comes up with a plan to get revenge by anally raping him with a broomstick but Tiffany is unable to go through with it. She later witnesses Piper framing Stella as revenge for stealing the money from the used panty business and cannot help but be impressed by her ruthless action. During the fourth season, she continues her friendship with Tiffany, but she becomes angered when Tiffany proposes forgiving Coates for raping her. This continues after the riot, but despite that, she agrees to defend Tiffany in the "inmate court" that took place after she allowed Coates to escape, with Leanne getting her finger shot off in the process. She takes an interest in Linda Ferguson, believing her to be an inmate, and has several sexual encounters with her. However, she looks through Linda's phone and sees pictures of her with Caputo. She attempts to blackmail Linda for $5,000 in exchange for her silence, and when that fails, she outs her to the other prisoners as an MCC executive. When the CERT has the prisoners rounded up, she leads other inmates in repeating Linda's declaration that she is an MCC employee to prevent her from getting away. During the sixth season, she is moved to Ohio and she watches with delight when Linda's hair is cut off moments before the guards realize she is not a prisoner and release her. She makes one more appearance in the series finale when copies of Judy's book are being passed out among the inmates in the Ohio facility. Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales (played by Jackie Cruz) – One of the Hispanic inmates, she is close friends with Maritza. She has a teardrop drawn under one of her eyes as well as eyeliner in the style of Amy Winehouse and bangs in a blunt style; according to Cruz the teardrop is in the wrong location. She is shown to be rather misinformed, if not totally dim at times, genuinely believing that black people cannot float due to their bone density. This leads to Maritza stating that her head is full of "caca" and Aleida referring to her as "Flacaca." She appears to be a goth, wearing Gothic makeup and being obsessed with such bands as The Smiths and Depeche Mode. She is also somewhat aggressive, getting into a brawl with Taystee over an ice-cream cone. She and Maritza have a very close friendship, and on Valentine's Day in the second season, the two have an intimate conversation about their lack of love in the prison and after playfully telling Maritza she would kiss her and giving her a peck on the lips they end up passionately kissing. After initially laughing at what has just happened, a shocked Flaca becomes upset and begins to cry, while Maritza consoles her. During the third season, Flaca's backstory is revealed as a high-school student that sold fake acid to students. One student ended up believing it so much that he jumped off the roof of the school and ended up nearly dying. Flaca was thus arrested for fraud and endangerment, despite her belief that she did nothing illegal as the blotters were only placebos. At the prison, she becomes a part of Piper's used underwear business. Discovering that Piper was making a large amount of money selling the panties on the outside, she organizes a protest with the other women to get a larger cut of the profits. Piper agrees to her demands but fires her in revenge. Later, she is able to convince Piper to allow her to participate in the business again so that she can use the money to help pay for her mother's lymphoma treatment. During the fourth season, she left Piper's used panty business and joined Maria's rival business. At one point in the season, she had a discussion with Maritza about having to choose between eating dead flies and a baby mouse in a fictional scenario, and later she had to comfort her after she revealed CO Humphrey forced her to act out the scenario for real by gunpoint. After Poussey's death, she and Maritza overheard Kasey and her gang discuss plans to fight Poussey's old friends and she then started practicing how to react when the media comes to the prison. Following the start of the riot in the fifth season, she and Maritza start a beauty channel on YouTube and are captured while live streaming. The two are escorted out of the prison with multiple fans waiting for them outside, and shortly after they are taken outside she becomes distraught and starts crying when she is separated from Maritza and forced to board a bus without her. While boarding the bus, Maritza tells her that she loves her. She is moved to max along with the other inmates after the riot at the beginning of the sixth season. She gets assigned to the prison's radio show with Black Cindy. At one point while answering an anonymous letter written by Cindy she reveals that Maritza was sent to a prison she claimed was 1500 miles away (she was actually sent to an Ohio prison) before insulting the author of the letter. At another point, Cindy was replaced by Gloria and after listening to her speak about the Fantasy Inmate game the guards were playing she reveals that the microphone wasn't turned on. She ends the season providing commentary for the kickball game between C and D block with Cindy. During the seventh season, she is picked for a work detail in the kitchen at PolyCon's new immigrant detention facility and to her surprise, she discovers that both Blanca and Maritza were arrested by ICE and detained there after being released from prison. At Maritza's request, she contacts her mother in an attempt to get Maritza's U.S. birth certificate but ends up finding out she doesn't have one because she was actually born in Colombia and isn't a U.S. citizen after all. After Maritza is deported she decides to use her position at the kitchen to help as many detainees she can. Cruz stated that Flaca is "a different type of Latina" who is "[m]ore realistic" compared to a hyper-photogenic "sexy, beautiful, Sofia Vergara type, with the accent." Cruz explained, "Maybe the way she was raised might be similar to others, but what she likes is very awesome." According to Cruz, Flaca was originally going to be used to say a few lines in each episode, and that Aleida was supposed to consider Maritza her "daughter" with the two of them being closer together. According to Cruz, the writers liked Cruz's performance and also liked Flaca and Maritza's chemistry. Therefore, they asked for her character to become more prominent. Cruz stated that she is real-life friends with Diane Guerrero, Maritza's actress, and suggested that this may have contributed to the on-screen friendship. Cruz added that in regards to Flaca's background, she had believed "Flaca was a little more gangster, but you can see she's not" and that Flaca "was very sweet, very vulnerable, a good person" who was forced to adopt a tougher persona upon being incarcerated. Aleida Diaz (played by Elizabeth Rodriguez) – Daya's mother. She was incarcerated for helping her boyfriend Cesar with his drug dealing business and taking the blame for him. In flashbacks, it is shown that she had little concern for her children and was obsessed with her boyfriend. She says during a visitation that she is upset that he will not visit her. She treats Daya rudely in the prison, and goes so far as to attempt to seduce Bennett to make Daya angry. She later shows a softer side and advises Daya to have her baby, even going so far as to concoct a plan to allow Bennett to keep his job. She also finds herself competing with Gloria to care for Daya during the more difficult times of her pregnancy, finally forcing her to take on a maternal role in her daughter's life. She has high status among the other Hispanic inmates. During the second season, she battles with Gloria to be a mother to Daya, and manipulates Bennett to bring in contraband from the outside hidden in his prosthetic leg. During the third season, she attempts to convince Daya to give her unborn child to Pornstache's mother Delia so that she would have a better life and to get a monthly payment from her. Later, she decides that it would be better for Daya to keep her baby and tells Delia that Daya's baby died during childbirth while in reality Cesar picked up the child. Despite this, her cruel and vindictive side is shown when she spreads deliberately untrue and transphobic rumors about Sophia to the other inmates in response to a fight between her and Gloria, resulting in Sophia being attacked by the other inmates, something which weighs heavily on Gloria's conscience. During the fourth season, Aleida is informed that she is eligible for parole and she asks Gloria to watch over Daya after her release. After she is released, she is picked up by Cesar's girlfriend Margarita. While in a restaurant, Margarita tells her that Cesar got her pregnant, and after becoming upset at the revelation, she yells at a man she believes was profiling her. She gets into an argument with Margarita in a clothing store after finding out that she was not planning to stay faithful to Cesar while he was in prison, and walks out on her. Later that day, after finding out that her cousin Jazmina spent her money sock on bail and an ER visit, she goes back to Margarita's apartment and states that she has nowhere else to go. At the end of the season, she is watching the press conference announcing the death of an inmate with Margarita, and becomes concerned for Daya's well being since Caputo did not mention the deceased inmate's name on the air. After being released from prison, Aleida struggles to find employment, due to her criminal record and lack of qualifications. When the riot breaks out, Aleida appears in several disastrous TV interviews. Eventually, she does an alongside Judy King, and angrily lashes out at her, revealing the special treatment King received in prison. However, she is horrified when King reveals that one of the guards, Thomas Humphrey, was shot and, while she does not remember the shooter's name, Aleida realises she's describing Daya. She hysterically telephones her daughter, and when Daya explains what happened, Aleida demands that she lie, and say that Humphrey threatened her. Finally fed up of her mother's controlling treatment of her, Daya hangs up on her. When Aleida arrives at the prison, she is horrified to see that Daya has surrendered herself to the authorities. In season 6, still struggling to find work, Aleida eventually resorts to joining "Nutri Life," a Multi-level marketing company based on Herbalife Nutrition, hawking nutritional supplements. She visits her children in foster care, and discovers that only her youngest daughter wants anything to do with her, as her teenage children all remember life under her controlling hand. Determined to get her children out of foster care, and facing the threat of eviction, Aleida begins selling the product outside the prison. This leads to her dating Rick Hopper, the captain of the guards at Max, who starts buying large amounts of protein shake from her. When Daya approaches her to open a drug smuggling route into the prison, Aleida is initially furious, but relents when she faces eviction and has to move in with Hopper. Upon discovering what she is doing, Hopper eventually agrees to help Aleida smuggle more in. Later, when visiting Daya, Aleida is horrified to discover she is addicted to the heroin she has been smuggling in, but realises that she has no other choice but to keep smuggling. Poussey Washington (played by Samira Wiley) – An often good-natured and joking inmate, who is best friends with Taystee. During the first-season finale, she is revealed to have a great singing voice, and performs an improvised rendition of Amazing Grace. Flashbacks during the second season revealed that she is a military brat and that her father James, who was an officer in the United States Army, was stationed at United States Army Garrison Hohenfels, Germany with her. While in Germany, she had a sexual relationship with Franziska Mertensacker, the daughter of her father's German superior officer Jürgen Mertensacker. One evening while Poussey and Franziska were having sex in Franziska's room, Jürgen walked in on them. A short time after being caught Poussey's father received orders to leave Germany, with it being implied that Jürgen had a hand in getting her father reassigned. This led to Poussey trying to kill him before being stopped by her father, who subsequently defended her homosexuality from him. In the present, it is implied that she is in love with Taystee, who does not return her feelings on account of being straight but does make an effort to be gentle with her about this. After failing to get her to market her moonshine, Vee begins to antagonize Poussey, mostly out of jealousy of her closeness to Taystee, and partly out of implied homophobia. She separates Poussey and Taystee, causing a rift in their relationship. She is one of the few black inmates not to fall for Vee's charms and begins a long campaign to fight her throughout the season. Vee's numerous efforts to force her to back down, including gentle coaxing, threats and even a violent beating from Suzanne are unsuccessful. Eventually, Poussey causes irreparable damage to Vee's tobacco business by smashing up an entire batch of tobacco and pouring bleach on it, and Vee, realizing that no amount of intimidation will stop her, and killing her would be an overreaction, decides to remove her reason for fighting her by ejecting Taystee from the gang. The two later reconcile after a physical fight in the library and work together to turn the other black inmates against Vee. In the third season, she has become obsessed with trying to discover who was stealing her moonshine and starts to set traps to catch what she believed was a squirrel stealing it. Feeling depressed, lonely and in need of a girlfriend, she joins Norma's "cult," although she later ends up leaving when she becomes unsatisfied with them. While in the library to help herself to some of her hooch, she discovers Brook passed out from a drug overdose. Realizing that Brook will be taken to psych if the truth is known, she takes the foils and gets Taystee and Suzanne instead of the CO's. On Taystee's recommendation, they induce vomiting to purge the medication and try to keep Brook from falling asleep at breakfast the next morning. Once Brook has recovered, the African American gang welcomes her into their circle of friends. Poussey later confronts Norma's cult for the way they treated Brook and threatens Leanne. During the fourth season, her relationship with Brook becomes romantic and she becomes excited at the prospect of meeting Judy King, the cooking show host Poussey was a big fan of who was sent to Litchfield for tax fraud. After several awkward moments between them, Poussey finally sits down with Judy in the cafeteria due to Brook arranging a meeting between them, only to discover that Brook had said numerous racist things about Poussey's personal life when describing her to Judy, including telling her that Poussey's mother was a crack addict. Eventually, Poussey accepts Brook's apology, the two begin anew, and it soon becomes clear that they have fallen in love. Poussey later finds herself helping Judy after her friends were angry about a racist puppet show that Judy filmed in the 80s, that ended up being leaked on YouTube. Judy later offers Poussey a job once she gets out of prison, ensuring she will have something to look forward to. During a protest in the cafeteria, Poussey is caught in a scuffle with Officer Bayley, who tries to restrain her while fighting off an erratic Suzanne by pressing her into the ground and putting his knee over her. Unable to breathe in this position, Poussey dies of asphyxiation, shocking the other inmates and leaving Bayley traumatized. Due to MCC trying to remove liability from the company for her death, they order Caputo not to call the police until they can find a way to make the incident look like Poussey's fault, before deciding to switch blame to Bayley and portray him as a rogue guard when they have difficulty conjuring up such an image of her, as she came from a respectable family, her charge was for a non-violent offense, and she was a model inmate. As a result, her body stays in the cafeteria overnight and is not removed until the following afternoon. Following her death, Poussey is featured in several flashbacks. She first appears in a series of flashbacks at the end of the fourth season shortly after her death, which chronicled her spending the day in New York with her friends by showing her riding a bus into New York, before going into a nightclub and getting her phone stolen. After chasing and failing to catch the phone thief, she gets lost and after being dismissed by multiple people she is taken to an alternative club by two people she met before she got back in touch with her friends. She then rides a subway towards her friends' location before catching a ride the rest of the way with some men dressed as monks for Improv Everywhere riding bicycles. While smoking marijuana with one of them, she tells him that she lost her chance to go to West Point after her incident with Franziska's father in Germany and that she was planning to move to Amsterdam in a few weeks. She appears in another flashback during the riot showing her first meeting with Taystee in the prison library, and the two joke around with each other before becoming friends. In the final flashback during the seventh season, she is speaking to and joking around with Taystee over the phone during the short period of time Taystee was out on probation during the first season. At the end of the seventh season, Taystee and Judy start the Poussey Washington Fund in her honor to provide microloans to inmates after they are released from prison. "She was named after the town of Poussay in Northeastern France, where her father was stationed when she was born, and often finds herself on the receiving end of mockery by the other inmates because of its alternative pronunciation., Reviewer Joanna Robinson commented that Poussey's death was inspired by that of Eric Garner. Reviewer Crystal Bell likened Poussey's death to the deaths of Sandra Bland and Michael Brown, because of the following details: Caputo did not say Poussey's name during the press conference, and her body was left on the cafeteria floor for almost an entire day, respectively., Prior to production on the fourth season began, Kohan and the writers informed Wiley that her character was going to die, but no other cast members knew. Wiley kept this secret during much of the production. According to Wiley, the writers decided Poussey would die because she was a character who was "really loved and people really cared about." According to Lauren Morelli, Kohan stated that a character who would have a bright future outside of prison ought to be chosen since viewers would understand the loss of that person's potential. A character the viewer never expected much from would thus not have the same impact., The Poussey Washington Fund introduced in the series finale was announced as a real-life initiative to help formerly incarcerated women after they are released from prison. Maria Ruiz (played by Jessica Pimentel) – An inmate of Dominican descent who acts as the Hispanic representative for WAC, and was pregnant at the beginning of the series. When she goes into labor she is taken to a hospital, and later returns to the prison after having her newborn daughter Pepa taken away from her, which elicits sympathy from her fellow inmates. She describes Daya and Aleida's relationship as a "cautionary tale" and states that a minute with them is better than Plan B, as she would never talk to her daughter the way Aleida does toward Daya, or allow her daughter to talk to her the way Daya does Aleida. During the second season, she is visited several times by her stoic, quiet boyfriend Yadriel and her child. When it appears she will be transferred to a prison in Virginia, she begs him to be a good, proactive parent and speak to their child more and later confides in Piper that she is afraid he will be too weak to be faithful during her entire sentence. However, in the second-season finale, she is last seen being visited by her boyfriend and her daughter, happy to see that he is taking a deeper role as a father and apparently plans to stay true to her. During the third season, she is devastated when Yadriel decides not to bring Pepa to the prison anymore, with him saying that he does not want her to think that is normal for her mother to be in prison as she got older. In the fourth season, it is revealed that her father was a drug dealer who cared for her enormously in the early years of her life. She first met Yadriel when she saw him throwing his drugs into a bush while being pursued by the police, and later returned them to him. Their subsequent relationship angered her father, both because Maria was effectively dating his competition, and because, as an intensely patriotic Dominican, he did not approve of his daughter dating a Mexican. Eventually, after an explosive argument, the two permanently fell out. In the present, Maria began to organize a new gang amongst the other Dominican inmates, in order to fight back against the overt racism of the guards. After attempting to get involved in Piper's business, Maria was angered by her rude response and formed a rival business of her own, which immediately snapped up many of Piper's employees. When Piper blows the whistle on her, Piscatella tells Maria that he will recommend that three to five years are added to her sentence. As a result, Maria responds by having her gang seize Piper, take her to the kitchen and brand her with a swastika, which also serves as retaliation for her accidental creation of the white supremacist gang. Maria's gang start distributing drugs instead and secures her a position of power in the prison. However, as the guards begin to get increasingly violent and draconian, Maria starts to use her power to help protect and rally the other inmates. Upon the discovery of Aydin's body, she is separated from the other inmates, along with Ouija and Blanca, for further questioning. She is initially amused by Officer Humphrey's prank on Kasey Sankey but is shocked when he then escalates it into a fight between Suzanne and Maureen Kukudio. When Suzanne becomes unhinged and almost beats Maureen to death, Maria finally has enough and, with Ouija's help, manages to pull Suzanne off Maureen and comforts her. During the fifth season, Maria takes advantage of the prison riot to strengthen her gang's position. She offers Daya guidance in handling her newfound status, due to her being the one with the gun, but continues to suggest she give it to her. She also organizes a meeting of all the inmates with the intended purpose of humiliating and degrading the guards that have been taken hostage. However, after a conversation with Caputo, Maria discovers that, contrary to her own understanding, Piscatella could not unilaterally extend her sentence, that he never got a chance to make his recommendation to extend her sentence before the riot began, and even if he had, she would have had to personally attend a court hearing before any extension could be made. With the realization that her sentence was not extended, Maria abandons the other rioters and joins Piper and Alex's riot abstention crew to stay out of trouble. Upon learning that Gloria had made a deal with MCC to get furlough in return for releasing the hostages, Maria betrays her confidence and releases them herself in hopes that she would get time taken off of her sentence. Initially outraged after being told by Nita Reddy that MCC does not have the authority to reduce her sentence, she gains some hope after Nita promised her that she would see what she could do. A short time later, she was allowed an outside visit with Yadriel and Pepa while CERT was clearing out the prison. Following the events of the previous season, she is transferred to max and was investigated as one of the suspects for planning and starting the riot. She runs into Gloria during a recreation period and Gloria attacks her for revenge after her betrayal during the riot. COs Garza and Hellman broke them up and then took them to the shower to spray them with a water hose. They then forced her and Gloria to kiss each other in front of them for their enjoyment, while claiming that it was to make sure that there was no more animosity between them. Throughout the season, she is dealing with her interrogations as a leader of the riot and faces her sentence being extended by ten years. She has a run-in with CO McCullough during a cell shakedown, and after Maria triggers her with her attitude McCullough slaps her. Later on, while cleaning the bathroom, her head is pushed into the toilet from behind, and she is taken to Psych due to it being a suspected suicide attempt. Deciding to take a different path than what she was previously doing, she joins a prayer group. During a session, she was selected to lead a prayer and after completing it fellow group member Beth Hoefler confessed to pushing her head into the toilet. Maria becomes enraged and compares the attack to Beth's murder of her children, but she does not retaliate against her and instead leaves the group. At the end of the season, she tries to prevent the planned cell block war during the kickball game from starting by asking McCullough to force the cell blocks to mix their team members together. Hesitant at first, McCullough eventually complies and the women end up completing the game without fighting. Maria lived with Yadriel after her family disowned her for associating with him. According to Pimentel, Maria originally "kept her head down, did her work and didn't get too involved." While she initially had visits with her child, those were taken away when she became "a gangster with an -er." Blanca Flores (played by Laura Gómez) – A Dominican inmate. The other inmates thought she was insane, as she appeared to have animated conversations in Spanish with the Devil while inside a restroom stall. Piper later discovered that Blanca is actually of sound mind, and had actually been speaking to her boyfriend, "Diablo", with a cell phone that she had hidden behind a tile in the stall while feigning madness so nobody would suspect anything. Upon discovering the phone is missing, however, her grief and anger lead to a violent tantrum that is mistaken for a breakdown, and she is taken away to psych. She has finally returned by the second season and stopped pretending to be insane, revealing herself to be plain-speaking, blunt and low key, and later attempts to blackmail Bennett into getting her a new phone. During the third season, against Gloria's orders, she attempts the test which will get her into the new work detail and is forced to put up with Flaca's constant pestering and fidgeting. Later, she is embarrassed when Flaca reveals her participation to Gloria in anger. During the fourth season, she joins Maria's Dominican gang. When the guards stated frisking the Latino inmates for contraband, she discovers that the guards would not frisk her if she stank, and as a result, the other Latina inmates would follow suit. Officer Stratman orders her to bathe, and when she refused he ordered her to stand on a cafeteria table for several days. During flashbacks, she was working as a carer for Millie, an old woman, who misread her name as "Bianca" and continued to address her by that name. While working for Millie, she met her boyfriend Diablo, who was working as Millie's gardener. After their relationship started to grow, Millie fired Diablo, stating that she thought he was a distraction for Blanca. Sometime after Diablo was fired, Blanca had sex with him while Millie was in the same room watching helplessly. At the end of the season, she represented the Latina inmates in expressing condolences for Poussey's death to the black inmates. Throughout most of the fifth season, she teams up with Red to try and take down Piscatella by exposing the details of reports that he murdered an inmate at the male prison he worked at before transferring to Litchfield. The two devise a plan to lure Piscatella into the prison during the riot to try and torture information out of him but she is caught and subdued by him and held hostage along with Nicky, Big Boo, Piper, and Alex. She and the rest of the group are forced to watch Piscatella physically and emotionally torture Red but are saved by Frieda and the rest of the women hiding in the abandoned swimming pool. In the last scene of the season, she is seen with the remaining prisoners still inside the hideout as the CERT officers raid the building and blow the entrance to the hidden bunker. In the sixth season, Blanca is held in Max alongside the other ten inmates who were in the bunker. Wanting to protect herself and ensure that Maria is held as a riot instigator rather than herself, Gloria convinces Blanca through coded prayer to name her in her interview. She complies, thinking this will be the only way to protect herself. The agents investigating initially consider ruling her out as a suspected instigator, as there is little evidence of her playing an active role in the riot, but when some information is discovered on her file, they change their mind. As a result, Blanca is also held as one of the three instigators, but unlike Red and Maria, her sentence is not extended, for reasons that are not yet clear. Despite her relief, she becomes worried after visiting the prison gynecologist, as she realizes that her body clock is running out, and she wants nothing more than to have a child. Nicky offers to help Blanca artificially inseminate with a makeshift syringe, and some of Diablo's sperm which Daya helps to smuggle in, though the attempt results in her being beaten up by her wing. The insemination fails, but Blanca is going to be released early, which would allow her to try again with Diablo in person. She excitedly tells Diablo, and he tells her he will see her the next day. The next day, however, Blanca is led down a different corridor than Piper and Sophia and instead of getting released she is handed over to ICE for possible deportation. Joel Luschek (played by Matt Peters) – The sarcastic, uncaring, and barely competent young prison guard who runs the electrical shop. He displays blatant racism, and generally does not care what the women in the shop do as long as they leave him alone, though he is good friends with Nicky. His method of teaching repairs tends to consist of handing his inmates a printed manual for the broken appliance and giving them a few minutes to read before sending them off. He buys a new screwdriver and replaces it in the tool crib to cover up his mistake in failing to properly train Janae, thus ending the search for the missing screwdriver, and endangering the prison population by allowing a dangerous object to remain at large. During the second season, he enters a relationship with fellow staff member Fischer, but his nonchalant attitude toward her causes it to end. In the third season, he agrees to help Nicky smuggle heroin out of the prison so he can sell it on the outside. Before he can smuggle it out, Angie and Leanne find it and attempt to keep it for themselves. Luschek finds it on them and threatens to kill them if they tell anybody else about it. During a surprise inspection of his shop, drugs are found under his desk, and to protect himself he blames Nicky, causing her to be transferred to max. In the fourth season, new celebrity inmate Judy King turns herself in to Luscheck after the other guards walked out. Striking a friendship with her, he ends up letting Judy know about his guilt for turning Nicky in and getting her sent to max. After receiving multiple letters from Nicky, he visits her at max, and is promptly berated for his actions. Later, he discovers that Judy pulled some strings to get Nicky out of max, and ends up being forced to have sex with Judy as payment. During lockdown, when Luschek is sent to guard Judy, he ends up having a threesome with her and Yoga Jones while high on ecstasy. Frieda Berlin (played by Dale Soules) – A blunt, curmudgeonly German American woman who is a member of the "Golden Girls", (the collective nickname of a group of seniors in the prison who befriend Red in the second season) alongside Irma, Jimmy and Taslitz. When the group threatened Gloria's kitchen staff, Frieda mentions that she is in prison for cutting off her husband's penis, demonstrating her tougher edge over the staff, whose crimes are drug and larceny related. Later, when Red rebuilds the prison greenhouse and garden, Frieda assumes primary authority over it, often having to fend off inmates trying to help themselves to the produce. In the fourth season, after finding Aydin's body in her greenhouse, Frieda advises Alex and Lolly to dispose of it by chopping it up into pieces and hiding it in the soil beneath the garden. Seeing that Lolly is becoming extremely erratic, she later tells Red and Alex that she plans to kill her to prevent her from accidentally exposing them, but is prevented from doing so when Red reminds her that doing so will likely lead to her being returned to max, also revealing that Frieda is a former biker. In Officer Bayley's flashback, Bayley and his friends threw eggs at her while driving by her outdoor work detail near the prison after he was fired from his ice cream job. In the fifth season, after the riot results in the inmates taking over the prison, she used homemade blow darts to shoot Strautman and Blake in the kitchen. Convincing them that the darts were poisoned, she tricks them into releasing them, before forcing them to join the other guards that were being held hostage. Flashbacks from her childhood revealed that Frieda had a very close relationship with her father, a paranoid survivalist who, during the early years of the Cold War, feared that America's tension with the Soviet Union would ultimately escalate into a full-on war. Because of this, he built an underground bunker near their home and would take her on long camping expeditions, during which he would intentionally abandon her in the middle of the woods to teach her how to find her own way home. The survival and resource gathering skills that he taught her throughout her childhood would later come in useful for her in her prison years. Following her father's footsteps, she builds her own bunker in the prison using an abandoned swimming pool, which she used to get peace and quiet, and she had stocked with supplies she has been gathering for several decades. She opens her hidden bunker to fellow inmates fleeing the riot and revealed that she knew guards that worked at Litchfield as far back as the 1970s. Later on, when Piscatella is torturing some of the other inmates, she helps capture him and they hold him hostage until Taystee enters the bunker and grabs Frieda's pistol. After Taystee is talked out of executing Piscatella and he is released, Frieda is standing with the other inmates while waiting for the CERT officers to breach her bunker. In the sixth season, she is moved to max with the other inmates that were in her bunker. Shortly after arriving, she slit her wrists, stating that she can't be in max, but she was saved and sent to medical. She considered several other methods to try and kill herself until she was transferred to B-Block, the neutral and peaceful block of the prison known as "Florida." Flashbacks from the 80s revealed that prior to her stay in minimum security, she was in max. While there, she used to distribute contraband with Carol Denning, the current leader of C-Block. She betrayed Carol and turned in her contraband to the warden in exchange for a transfer to minimum security while the Denning sisters got extra time. On her way to B-Block, Carol spots Frieda after a CO is removing an unruly inmate. While in Florida, she was afraid that Carol, now knowing that she is back in max, would try to kill her for revenge. For her protection, she requested that Suzanne becomes her roommate because she felt Suzanne wouldn't kill her and she cut herself and stated that another inmate she suspected was paid to kill her did it so she would be taken away. Natalie "Fig" Figueroa (played by Alysia Reiner) – The former corrupt executive assistant to the warden. At the beginning of the series, Figueroa claims to be a women's advocate for the prisoners, but is generally unconcerned with them and refuses to get involved in their problems. Arrogant and condescending, she puts on a tough facade to disguise her own insecurities and somewhat fragile personality. Sometimes, she shows odd displays of humanity and sensitivity, usually when the rest of the prison staff are being insufferable. Figueroa tries to avoid any scandals or media attention about the goings-on at the prison, and her desire to cover up incidents allows Mendez to get away with his schemes, although it later works in favor of the inmates. She is revealed to have been embezzling funds from the prison's budget for her husband Jason's state senate campaign, a secret which is in danger of being exposed due to the publicity the prison is getting from Larry's articles and radio interview. She spends the second season a step ahead of Larry and a reporter's hunt, focusing on her husband's campaign to become a state senator and on getting pregnant. She is shown to be particularly uncaring, brought on by the stress of keeping the embezzlement under wraps, and her marriage is generally loveless and lacking physical affection. She is devastated and heartbroken when she sees her husband kissing his male campaign manager Gavin, and she is taken completely by surprise that her husband is a closet homosexual. Shortly after, Caputo confronts her with evidence of her embezzlement. She performs oral sex on him in an attempt to buy his silence, only to find out afterward that Caputo has already given copies of the evidence to the warden. Figueroa manages to avoid being fired or charged, resigning with a commendation for her services by the warden because he didn't want a scandal from the embezzlement and didn't want to make a political enemy of her husband. During the third season, she has moved to Albany after her husband won his state senate campaign. She helps Caputo by giving him information on a private contractor that would take over the prison when it is being threatened with being closed down. She also begins an affair with him. Near the end of the fourth season, she speaks to Caputo and ends up letting him know that MCC is planning to put even more inmates into the prison after building a new facility to house them. Fig also appears at length as a negotiator for MCC during the riot at Litchfield, where she often is out- matched on facts by Taystee and has a frosty reunion with Caputo. While she is receptive to most of the prisoners' demands, she ends any possibility of making a deal when she hears that CO Humphrey is dead. Unknown to her at the time, Humphrey wasn't actually dead at this point, but he died not long afterward as a result of an inmate-caused stroke. Following the events of the riot, she becomes the warden of the prison in the sixth season, to the ire of Caputo. Due to her position, she has an uneasy working relationship with Linda, who is now the senior vice president at MCC. Fig and Caputo continue to have casual sex, but when Caputo is being transferred to Missouri he insists on taking her out before he leaves. After Caputo quits, resulting in him no longer going to Missouri, she gets closer with him and their relationship elevates past being casual. At the end of the season, when Caputo crashes the event where the renamed PolyCon Corrections reveals their upcoming immigration detention centers, she tells him that she's only with her husband Jason at the event for show. She then helps him treat his injuries from when Herrmann hit him at the courthouse and consoled him over his grief about Taystee's guilty verdict. By the beginning of the seventh season, Fig and Caputo have moved in together. Linda transferred her from Litchfield to PolyCon's new immigration detention facility, but she soon realizes that most of the power she had as the warden has been stripped at the detention facility due to restrictions put in place by ICE. As time goes by, she frequently becomes frustrated with the policies put in place by ICE, and she becomes especially upset upon witnessing some underage immigrants inside of an on-site immigration court without parental representation. She and Caputo were planning on trying to have a child together, and she was expecting to start In vitro fertilization treatment to assist her to get pregnant. However, she later found out detainee Santos Chaj was impregnated by one of the coyotes that raped her after they got her into the country because she couldn't pay their entry fee. After being denied permission to take Santos to an abortion clinic she told her doctor she herself was pregnant but didn't want the child so she could get a medical abortion pill to give to Santos, which resulted in her no longer able to get IVF treatment for herself. While the issues at the detention facility were going on, she was also trying to prevent Caputo from engaging with former CO Fischer after Fischer accused him of sexually harassing her during her time as a guard, but Caputo failed to adhere to her advice. At the end of the series, she and Caputo decide to look at children for adoption instead. List of Orange Is the New Black episodes, List of recurring Orange Is the New Black characters The first season of the American comedy-drama television series Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix on July 11, 2013, at 12:00 am PST in multiple countries. It consists of thirteen episodes, each between 51–60 minutes. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir, (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum-security federal prison. Created and adapted for television by Jenji Kohan. In July 2011, Netflix was in negotiations with Lionsgate for a 13-episode TV adaptation of Kerman's memoirs. The series began filming in the old Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center in Rockland County, New York, on March 7, 2013. The title sequence features photos of real former female prisoners including Kerman herself. The series revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a woman in her 30s living in New York City who is sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary, a minimum-security women's federal prison (initially operated by the "Federal Department of Corrections," a fictional version of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and later acquired by Management & Correction Corporation (MCC), a private prison company) in upstate New York. Piper had been convicted of transporting a suitcase full of drug money for her then-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon), an international drug smuggler. Orange is the New Black received critical acclaim. The series received numerous accolades including: Satellite Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Series. Also was nominated for a , and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series. Taylor Schilling was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. For the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series was honored with 12 nominations, winning Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Uzo Aduba). Sentenced to 15 months for a crime committed 10 years earlier, Piper Chapman leaves her supportive fiancé Larry for her new home: a women's prison. Her counselor, Sam Healy, empathizes with her and tries to gently give her tips to survive. She grapples with the racial dynamics of prison life and learns some of the rules. Unfortunately, she offends Red, the powerful matriarch of the prison kitchen, who responds by serving Piper a bloody tampon and subsequently starving her. Piper is then shocked to discover that Alex Vause, her former lover (who recruited her into carrying drug money) is in the same prison. The inmates must campaign among their races for a coveted spot as a prisoners' representative. Piper steers clear of the bizarre political process but might not have a choice but to get involved. Larry's editor wants him to write an article about Piper's incarceration. Former high school track star Janae Watson returns from solitary confinement. Piper wants to reopen the outdoor track but Healy forces her to fulfill several potentially dangerous tasks before he will consider it. Officer Mendez begins harassing Red when she refuses to help him continue smuggling drugs into the prison. Larry publishes his article about Piper in the New York Times, which turns her into a person of interest for inmates and corrections officers alike. Piper makes peace with Alex and awaits a visit from Larry on Thanksgiving. Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, inmate, Laura Prepon as Alex Vause, inmate, Michael Harney as Sam Healy, correctional officer, Michelle Hurst as Miss Claudette Pelage, inmate, Kate Mulgrew as Galina "Red" Reznikov, inmate, Jason Biggs as Larry Bloom, Piper's fiancé Show creator Jenji Kohan read Piper Kerman's memoir after a friend sent it to her. She then set up a meeting with Kerman to pitch her on a TV adaptation, which she notes she "screwed up" as she spent most of the time asking Kerman about her experiences she described in the book rather than selling her on the show. This appealed to Kerman as it let her know that she was a fan and she signed off on the adaptation. Kohan would later go on to describe the main character, Piper Chapman, as a "trojan horse" for the series, allowing it to focus on characters whose demographics would not normally be represented on TV. In July 2011, it was revealed that Netflix was in negotiations with Lionsgate for a 13-episode TV adaptation of Kerman's memoirs with Kohan as creator. In November 2011, negotiations were finalized and the series had been greenlit. Casting announcements began in August 2012 with Taylor Schilling, the first to be cast, in the lead role as Piper Chapman, followed by Jason Biggs as Piper's fiancé Larry Bloom. Laura Prepon and Yael Stone were next to join the series. Abigail Savage, who plays Gina, and Alysia Reiner, who plays Fig, had auditioned for role of Alex Vause. Prepon initially auditioned for Piper Chapman, however Kohan felt she would not worry about her [in prison], noting a "toughness and a presence to her that wasn’t right for the character." Kohan instead gave her the role of Alex. Stone had originally auditioned for the role of Nicky Nichols, but she was not considered "tough enough" for the character; she was asked to audition for Lorna Morello instead. Likability was important for Morello, whom casting director Jen Euston deemed "a very helpful, nice, sweet Italian girl." Laverne Cox, a black transgender woman, was cast as Sophia Burset, a transgender character. The Advocate touted Orange Is the New Black as possibly the first women-in-prison narrative to cast a transgender woman for this type of role. Natasha Lyonne was to audition for Alex, but was asked to read for the character Nicky Nichols; "[Kohan knew] she could do Nicky with her eyes closed. She was perfect," said Euston. Uzo Aduba read for the part of Janae Watson but was offered the character Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren. Taryn Manning was offered the role of Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett. This American Life host Ira Glass was offered a role as a public radio host, but he declined. The role instead went to Robert Stanton, who plays the fictional host Maury Kind. Orange Is the New Black has received critical acclaim, particularly praised for humanizing prisoners and for its depiction of race, sexuality, gender and body types. The first season received positive reviews from critics, review aggregator Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating favorable reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season one has a 93% approval rating based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10 . The site's critical consensus is "Orange Is the New Black is a sharp mix of black humor and dramatic heft, with interesting characters and an intriguing flashback structure." Hank Stuever, television critic for The Washington Post, gave Orange Is the New Black a perfect score. In his review of the series, he stated: "In Jenji Kohan's magnificent and thoroughly engrossing new series, Orange Is the New Black, prison is still the pits. But it is also filled with the entire range of human emotion and stories, all of which are brought vividly to life in a world where a stick of gum could ignite either a romance or a death threat." Maureen Ryan, of The Huffington Post, wrote: "Orange is one of the best new programs of the year, and the six episodes I've seen have left me hungry to see more." Orange Is the New Black was considered one of the best shows of the year by many critics and journalists. 1st – Boob Tube Dude, 1st – The Daily Beast, 2nd – Boston Globe, 2nd – Film School Rejects, 2nd – HitFix, 2nd – Indiewire, 2nd – Los Angeles Times, 2nd – San Francisco Chronicle, 2nd – Washington Post, 3rd – PopMatters, 3rd – Slate, 3rd – Time, 4th – Complex, 4th – Entertainment Weekly, 4th – Paste, 5th – Grantland, 5th – Lincoln Journal Star, 6th – Entertainment Weekly, 6th – New York Vulture, 6th – Philadelphia Daily News, 6th – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8th – Austin Chronicle, 8th – Filmmaker Magazine, 8th – Houston Chronicle, 8th – The Oregonian, 9th – NPR, 10th – NPR Fresh Air, – Huffington Post, – IGN, – RedEye Chicago The series began airing on broadcast television in New Zealand on TV2 on August 19, 2013. It premiered in Australia on October 9, 2013, on Showcase. Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress, voice actress, comedian and impressionist known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black and Jess in the HBO series Crashing. She has also made appearances on such television shows as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Middle, Hot in Cleveland, The Big Bang Theory, and @midnight and films such as Jurassic World. She has appeared on many podcasts, including Comedy Bang! Bang!, improv4humans, and her own podcast With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus. She was a main cast member on the TBS original sitcom Clipped. She also played the voice of Little Lotta in Harvey Street Kids. Lapkus was born in Evanston, Illinois, of half Lithuanian and half Greek/Serbian descent. At an early age she filmed sketches with her older brother and later at Evanston Township High School she participated in the annual student revue and variety show YAMO. During her senior year of high school, she began taking improv classes at the iO Theater. She attended DePaul University graduating in 2008 with a degree in English, while she continued performing improv most nights. Lapkus credits watching a lot of television sitcoms and Saturday Night Live while young with giving her the education to become a comedian. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City for a year where she became involved with Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. After living in New York City for 15 months, she relocated to Los Angeles in 2010. After almost a year in Los Angeles, Lapkus began landing roles in a number of commercials, including Snickers and Jack in the Box as well as a sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live! From these successes, she got herself representation and during pilot season landed a supporting role in the short lived Are You There, Chelsea?. After self-taping her audition, Lapkus was cast as security guard Susan Fischer on the first and second seasons of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. In 2015, Lapkus and the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. In 2014, Lapkus launched her own podcast on the Earwolf network, called With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus. The show's premise is that each week her guest is the host of their own podcast, and she is appearing as a character on their show. Her guests have included Paul F. Tompkins, Betsy Sodaro, Andy Daly, Nick Kroll, and Scott Aukerman. She has said that she "never expected to get into podcasts at all" and to her it is funny she has one. In mid-2014, Lapkus was cast in Jurassic World, which she filmed in both Hawaii and New Orleans. Many of her scenes with Jake Johnson were improvised. In 2015, she portrayed Joy the receptionist in TBS's Clipped. In 2016, Lapkus wrote and starred in her own 30-minute episode of the sketch show . Lapkus performs improv regularly. She is a cast member of UCB's flagship show Asssscat. Lapkus married actor and improviser Chris Alvarado on May 3, 2014. She announced their separation on February 14, 2016. Lapkus married actor Mike Castle on October 5, 2018. Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor, known for his dramatic stage work and for his portrayal of Nick Sobotka on The Wire, Mad Sweeney on American Gods on Starz, and for his role of George "Pornstache" Mendez on Orange Is the New Black, for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Awake and Sing! on Broadway. He also narrated the audiobook version of Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, and is one of the leads in Den of Thieves. In April 2019, he was cast as Master Chief in the upcoming Halo live-action series. Schreiber was born in a hippie commune in Ymir, British Columbia, before moving to the unincorporated rural community of Winlaw, British Columbia, when he was six months old. His American father, Tell Carroll Schreiber, was an actor, as is his half-brother Liev Schreiber, son of their father's first wife, who had divorced Tell Carroll five years before Pablo was born. Pablo's mother, Lorraine Reaveley, is a Canadian body-based psychotherapist. His father, having a strong interest in literature, named Pablo after Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. His parents separated when he was 12 and Schreiber moved to Seattle, Washington, with his father. After high school, Schreiber enrolled at the University of San Francisco, where he hoped to win a spot on its basketball team. He later transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 2000 with a degree in theatre. Schreiber appeared as Nick Sobotka on season 2 of the critically-acclaimed HBO series The Wire. He also appeared in the films The Manchurian Candidate, Lords of Dogtown and Happythankyoumoreplease. He also had a recurring guest role on as serial rapist William Lewis, protagonist Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) nemesis. He also appeared in the FX series Lights Out. In 2011, Schreiber starred in the Off-Broadway play Gruesome Playground Injuries at Second Stage Theatre. He appeared on the seventh season of Weeds as Demetri Ravitch, Nancy Botwin's drug supplier. BuddyTV ranked him number 77 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011". In October 2012, Schreiber landed the recurring role of George "Pornstache" Mendez on the Netflix original drama series Orange Is the New Black. On February 26, 2013, he co-starred as Virgil in NBC's drama pilot Ironside, a reboot of the 1967 series of the same name. For his role in Orange Is the New Black, Schreiber won the We Love to Hate You Award at the 2014 Young Hollywood Awards. and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2015. In 2016, he co-starred as Kris "Tanto" Paronto, GRS team member and former U.S. Army Ranger in American biographical war film . The movie was directed and co-produced by Michael Bay and written by Chuck Hogan, based on Mitchell Zuckoff's 2014 book 13 Hours. Pablo Schreiber in an interview with Comicbook.com has expressed interest in portraying Wolverine in a future X-Men film, with Hugh Jackman already having left the role. Schreiber played Mad Sweeney in Starz's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. In April 2019, he was cast as Master Chief in the upcoming Halo live-action series. Schreiber married yoga teacher Jessica Monty in 2007; she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences in 2014. They have two sons together, Timoteo and Dante. "The rough-and-tumble actor prepares for another demanding role" Time Out New York

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Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint- Germain, Paris SG, or simply Paris or PSG, is a French professional football club based in Paris. Founded in 1970, the club has traditionally worn red and blue kits. PSG has played their home matches in the 47,929-capacity Parc des Princes, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, since 1974. The club plays in the highest tier of French football, Ligue 1. The Parisian club established itself as a major force in France, and one of the major forces of European football in the 2010s. PSG have won a total of 40 titles, 39 of them top- flight trophies, making it the most successful French club in history by this measure. Paris SG is also the only club to have never been relegated from Ligue 1, the club with most consecutive seasons in the top-flight (they have played 45 seasons in Ligue 1 since 1974), one of only two French clubs to have won a major European title, the most popular football club in France, and one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Domestically, the Parisians have won eight Ligue 1 titles, a record twelve Coupe de France, a record eight Coupe de la Ligue, and a record nine Trophée des Champions titles. In European football, they have won one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. The capital club has also won one Ligue 2, regarded as a minor official title. PSG have a long-standing rivalry with Olympique de Marseille. The duo contest French football's most notorious match, known as Le Classique. The State of Qatar, through its shareholding organisation Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), has been the club's owner since 2011. The takeover made Paris Saint-Germain the richest club in France and one of the wealthiest in the world. As of the 2018–19 season, PSG have the fifth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €636m according to Deloitte, and are the world's eleventh most valuable football club, worth €825m according to Forbes. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club was founded on 12 August 1970 after the merger of Paris Football Club and . PSG made an immediate impact, winning promotion to Ligue 1 in their first season after claiming the Ligue 2 title. Their momentum was soon checked, however, and the club split in 1972. Paris FC remained in Ligue 1, while PSG kept their name but were administratively demoted to . PSG got their revenge in 1974 when they returned to Ligue 1 and Paris FC slipped into the division below. The club also moved into Parc des Princes that same year. The club's trophy cabinet welcomed its first major silverware in the shape of the French Cup in 1982, during a decade marked by players such as Safet Sušić, Luis Fernández and Dominique Rocheteau. PSG claimed their maiden league title in 1986 and immediately went into decline. But a takeover by television giants Canal+ revitalised the club and PSG entered their golden era. Led by David Ginola, George Weah and Raí, the club won nine trophies during the 1990s. Most notably, the Parisians claimed a second league title in 1994 and their crowning glory, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. At the start of the 21st century, PSG struggled to rescale the heights despite the magic of Ronaldinho and the goals of Pauleta. Five more trophies arrived in the form of three French Cups, one League Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup, but the club became better known for lurching from one high- profile crisis to another. Indeed, Paris Saint-Germain spent two seasons staving off relegations that were only very narrowly avoided. This changed in 2011 with the arrival of new majority shareholders Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Since the buyout, PSG have signed several stars like Zlatan Ibrahimović, Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, and have dominated French football. Despite this, the UEFA Champions League has proven to be a trophy beyond their reach. PSG have never made it beyond the quarterfinals since 2012, exiting the competition at the last-16 round in each of the last three seasons. Since their foundation, Paris Saint-Germain have always represented both the city of Paris and the nearby royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. As a result, red, blue and white are the club's traditional colours. The red and blue are Parisian colours, a nod to revolutionary figures Lafayette and Jean Sylvain Bailly, and the white is a symbol of French royalty and Saint-Germain-en-Laye. On the club's crest, the Eiffel Tower in red and the blue background represent Paris, while the fleur de lys in white is a hint to the coat of arms of Saint- Germain-en-Laye. The fleur de lys is a royal symbol as well and recalls that French King Louis XIV was born in the town. Throughout its history, PSG have brandished several different crests, but all of them have featured the club's three historical colours. Likewise, PSG's most iconic shirts have been predominantly red, blue or white, with the remaining two colours included as well. The club's official mascot, Germain the Lynx, also sports PSG's traditional colours. It was unveiled during the 2010 Tournoi de Paris in commemoration of the club's 40th anniversary, and can be seen entertaining kids in the stands of Parc des Princes or near the pitch with the players during the warm-up. "Allez Paris-Saint-Germain!" is the club's official anthem. The hymn was originally recorded by Les Parisiens in 1977 at the initiative of historical PSG leader and music producer Charles Talar, who produced and released it under his homonym record label. Chanted by supporters, the anthem is also usually played before every match at Parc des Princes. In 2010, as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, the club recorded a new version to the tune of "Go West" by Village People. Its lyrics were also rewritten with suggestions made by fans. "Ô Ville Lumière" ("Oh City of Light"), to the tune of "Flower of Scotland," is another veritable club anthem. PSG gave it official status in 2015 when the club announced it would accompany the players' entry into the field, a tradition which began in 1992 with the song "Who Said I Would" by Phill Collins. Supporters' groups from the Boulogne and Auteuil stands also have several different chants, most notably "Le Parc est à nous" ("The Parc is ours"), "Paris est magique!" ("Paris is magical!") and "Ici, c'est Paris!" ("This is Paris!"). Both stands began exchanging these chants during PSG matches in the 1990s. "Paris est magique!" and "Ici, c'est Paris!" also became the club's most iconic mottos or slogans. Paris Saint-Germain wore a red shirt during their first three seasons of existence. The jersey also featured a blue and white collar to bring together the three colours of the club: the red and blue of Paris, and the white of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. During the 2010–11 season, PSG wore a red home shirt to commemorate their 40th anniversary. The connection between PSG and the city's fashion houses is a longstanding one. French fashion designer Daniel Hechter became club president in 1973 and designed PSG's traditional look that same year: a red vertical stripe, bordered with white, on a blue background. Hechter based his creation on the red-and-white jersey worn by Ajax, the Dutch champion dominating European competition at the time, but with the French flag in mind. First worn between 1973 and 1981, the so-called "Hechter shirt" returned as PSG's home identity in 1994 and has remained so ever since despite several experiments from Nike. PSG stars from the 1990s and 2000s like Raí, Ronaldinho and Pauleta are associated with the "Hechter shirt." It was with that jersey that PSG reached five European semi-finals in a row (1993–1997), claimed the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1995–96 and achieved the (first) eight consecutive wins against arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille (2002–2004). Promoted by PSG president Francis Borelli, the capital club changed its home identity in 1981–82. The new shirt, worn until 1992–93, was white with blue and red vertical stripes on the left. PSG legends from the 1980s like Safet Sušić, Luis Fernández and Dominique Bathenay are associated with the white jersey. It was with this outfit that fans saw the first big Paris Saint- Germain team that won two Coupe de France titles (1982, 1983), experienced their first European campaign in 1983, and claimed their maiden league crown in 1986. The original crest of the club, also known as the Paris FC logo, was used until 1973. It featured a ball with a vessel (a historic symbol of Paris). This crest logically changed shortly after Paris Saint-Germain split from Paris FC in 1972. Like with the club's iconic shirt, PSG president and fashion designer Daniel Hechter also created its historic crest in 1973. Known as the Eiffel Tower logo, it added Saint-Germain-en-Laye symbols for the first time: the fleur de lys and the cradle, representing royalty and the birthplace of French King Louis XIV in the town, respectively. The new crest mainly consisted of the Eiffel Tower in red against a blue background with the cradle and the fleur de lys between the tower's legs. Parc des Princes was added to the crest in 1980. This logo lasted until 1991 with the exception of the 1986–87 and 1987–88 seasons when the club used a special logo in support of the Paris candidature for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The stadium was removed from the crest in 1991. Former PSG owners Canal+ tried to replace the iconic crest in 1993. The new model had the acronym "PSG" and underneath it "Paris Saint-Germain." Under pressure from supporters, the traditional crest returned in 1995 with "Paris Saint-Germain" above the tower and "1970" underneath its legs. This crest went through a slight facelift in 2002. Under the leadership of their Qatari owners and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the club requested a major makeover of the Eiffel Tower crest in 2013. The new logotype clearly puts forward the brand “Paris” instead of “Paris Saint-Germain.” PSG's logo was redrawn, making the word “Paris” very big, above a large Eiffel Tower. Underneath it, “Saint-Germain,” written in smaller letters, remains associated with the fleur-de-lis, its emblem. In contrast, Louis XIV's cradle and the club's founding year "1970" were left out. As PSG deputy general manager Jean-Claude Blanc said: “We are called Paris Saint-Germain but, above all, we are called Paris.” Paris Saint-Germain played their first game at Parc des Princes against Red Star on 10 November 1973, as a curtain-raiser for that season's opening Ligue 1 match between Paris FC (PFC) and Sochaux. The club moved into the ground upon its return to Ligue 1 in 1974, ironically the same year that Paris FC were relegated. Up until that point it had been the home venue of PFC. On the other hand, PSG had been playing at several grounds including Stade Municipal Georges Lefèvre, Stade Jean-Bouin, Stade Bauer, and even Parc des Princes a few times that season despite the reluctance of PFC. Parc des Princes has a seating capacity of 47,929 spectators. The Camp des Loges became the club's training ground in 1970 following the foundation of Paris Saint-Germain. Construction of a new Camp des Loges began in January 2008, on the same site as the old one. At a cost of €5m, it was inaugurated in November 2008. In 2013, the venue was renamed Ooredoo Training Centre as part of a sponsorship deal with Ooredoo. The Stade Municipal Georges Lefèvre, whose main stadium has a seating capacity of 2,164 spectators, is a sports complex located just across the street from Camp des Loges. It was one of PSG's main grounds until 1974. That year the club moved into Parc des Princes. The stadium — as well as the other artificial turf and grass football pitches of the complex — hosts training sessions and home matches for the club's male and female youth academy sides. The Paris Saint-Germain Training Center will be the new training ground and sports complex of Paris Saint-Germain. It will replace Camp des Loges upon its completion in 2022. Owned and financed by the club, the venue will bring together PSG's male football, handball and judo teams, as well as the football and handball youth academies. The club, however, will remain closely linked to their historic birthplace in Saint-Germain-en-Laye as Camp des Loges will become the training ground of the female football team and academy. Paris Saint-Germain is the most popular football club in France with 22% of fans identifying as Parisians. Le Classique arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille come second with 20%, while Olympique Lyonnais is third with 14%. PSG is also one of the most widely supported teams in the world with 35 million supporters worldwide, more than any other French club. Famous PSG fans include former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and retired NBA player Tony Parker. In 1976 the club didn't have a big passionate fanbase and thus began offering cheaper season tickets to young supporters that year. These fans were placed in the Kop K, located in the K section of the Borelli stand at Parc des Princes. Following an increase in ticket prices, Kop K supporters moved to the Boulogne stand in 1978, and the Kop of Boulogne (KoB) was born. There, the club's first Italian-style ultra group, Boulogne Boys, was founded in 1985. Other KoB groups, however, took British hooligans as dubious role models and violence rapidly escalated. PSG supporters' groups have been linked to football hooliganism ever since. PSG owners Canal+ responded in 1991 by encouraging and financing non-violent fans of the KoB stand to take place in the Auteuil stand at the other end of Parc des Princes. The Virage Auteuil was born, alongside Supras Auteuil, its most notorious ultras. At first the measure worked but, slowly, a violent rivalry arose between the two stands. Things came to a head in 2010 before a match against Marseille in Paris. Boulogne fan Yann Lorence was killed following a fight between groups from both stands outside Parc des Princes, forcing PSG president Robin Leproux to take action. The club exiled the supporters' groups from Parc des Princes and banned them from all PSG matches in what was known as Plan Leproux. It made PSG pay the price in terms of atmosphere, with one of Europe's most feared venues now subdued. For their part, former Virage Auteuil supporters formed the Collectif Ultras Paris (CUP) in February 2016, with the aim of reclaiming their place at the stadium. In October 2016, after a six-year absence, the club agreed to their return. Grouped in the Auteuil end of the stadium, the CUP currently is the only ultra association officially recognized by PSG. The ultra movement has also started to come back to life in the Boulogne stand. New groups Block Parisii, Paname Rebirth and Résistance Parisienne are trying to convince the club of relaunching the Kop of Boulogne. Paris Saint-Germain shares an intense rivalry with Olympique de Marseille; matches between the two teams are referred to as Le Classique. The term Le Classique is modelled after El Clásico, contested between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Spanish press borrowed the term Clásico from South America, where most countries use it to label the biggest rivalries in the continent, such as the Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate, and the Uruguayan Clásico between Nacional and Peñarol. The clash is considered France's biggest rivalry as well as one of the greatest in club football. At the very least, it is France's most violent. Important security measures are taken to prevent confrontations between the fans, but violent episodes still often occur when they meet. Like all the game's major rivalries, it extends beyond the pitch. PSG/OM has a historical, cultural and social importance that makes it more than just a football match. It involves the two largest cities in France: Paris against Marseille, capital against province and north against south. PSG and l'OM are the most successful clubs in French football history and the only French teams to have won major European trophies. They were also the dominant forces in the land prior to the emergence of Olympique Lyonnais at the start of the millennium. The duo remain, along with Saint-Étienne, the only French sides with a truly national fan base, being the most popular clubs in France, and the most followed French teams outside the country. Both clubs are at or near the top of the attendance lists every year as well. Initially held by Racing Paris between 1957 and 1966, the Tournoi de Paris briefly returned in 1973 with new organizers Paris FC, before current hosts Paris Saint-Germain successfully relaunched the competition in 1975. Abandoned in 1993 for financial reasons, PSG revived it in 2010 for the club's 40th anniversary. Not held in 2011, it was renamed Trophée de Paris in 2012, and featured a single prestigious match. This was the last edition to date. PSG is the most successful club in the competition's history, having lifted the trophy on seven occasions. Regarded as French football's most prestigious friendly tournament, the Tournoi de Paris is also considered a precursor of both the Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. The Tournoi Indoor de Paris-Bercy was a mid-season indoor football invitational competition hosted by Paris Saint-Germain at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France. The tournament was founded in 1984 and was held annually until 1991. Played indoors (synthetic field and seven-a-side), the competition featured host club PSG and five more teams. Paris SG is the most successful club in the history of the competition, having lifted the trophy on two occasions. During their first three years of existence, Paris Saint-Germain was fan-owned and had nearly 15,000 socios (associates, supporters, shareholders). The club was run by board members , and . A group of wealthy French businessmen, led by Daniel Hechter and Francis Borelli, would then buy the club in 1973. Paris changed hands in 1991, when Canal+ took over, and then again in 2006, with the arrival of Colony Capital. The State of Qatar, through its shareholding organisation Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), has been PSG's owner since 2011. This means that PSG are one of only two state-owned clubs in the world, along with Manchester City. As a result, Paris SG are also one of the richest clubs in the world. QSI, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), became the club's majority shareholders in June 2011 and sole shareholders in March 2012. For his part, QSI chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been PSG president since the takeover. PSG's real boss, however, is the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He is both the chairman of the QIA and the founder of QSI. Upon their arrival, QSI pledged to form a team capable of winning the UEFA Champions League and making the club France's biggest name. Consequently, since the summer of 2011, Paris Saint-Germain have spent more than €1b on player transfers such as Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Edinson Cavani, David Luiz, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. These massive expenditures have translated in PSG's domination of French football, winning 20 national titles in the process. However, they have not yet brought home the coveted Champions League trophy and have caused the capital club problems with UEFA and its Financial Fair Play regulations (FFP). As of the 2018–19 season, Paris Saint- Germain have the fifth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual turnover of €542m according to Deloitte, and are the world's eleventh most valuable football club, worth €825m according to Forbes. PSG's strong financial position has been sustained by the club's lucrative sponsorship deals with several commercial partners, including top sponsors Nike and ALL. Throughout their history, though, PSG has rarely been profitable. Prior to the Qatar buyout, the club's cumulative losses between 1998 and 2010 amounted to €300m. Since their inception, Paris Saint-Germain have played 48 seasons, all of them within the top three levels of the French football league system: Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and . PSG holds many records, most notably being the most successful French club in history in terms of major trophies won (with 39), the only club to have never been relegated from Ligue 1, the club with most consecutive seasons in top-flight (they have played 45 seasons in Ligue 1 since 1974), and one of only two French clubs to have won a major European title. The Parisians have won the Ligue 1 title eight times. The club's worst Ligue 1 finish to date is 16th, their placing at the end of the 1971–72 and 2007–08 seasons. The 2015–16 season was the club's best to date. PSG won all four domestic titles (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions) and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. In Ligue 1, the capital club finished with 96 points (national record), while Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 50 goals in all competitions (national record). However, the club's record for most goals in a season was set in 2017–18, when the capital side scored 171 goals in all competitions. Paris SG are also the only club to have won the Coupe de la Ligue five times in a row (2014–2018), the only club to have won the Coupe de France four times in a row (2015–2018), the only club to win the Trophée des Champions seven times in a row (2013–2019), the only European club to have won all four national titles (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions) in a single season (2014–15, 2015–16 and 2017–18), and the youngest European club to have won a European trophy. French teams are limited to four players without EU citizenship. Hence, the squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country. Also, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas due to the Kolpak ruling. Official website, Paris Saint-Germain at Ligue de Football Professionnel, Paris Saint-Germain at UEFA, Paris Saint-Germain at FIFA Ligue 1, also called Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Administrated by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, Ligue 1 is contested by 20 clubs and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2. Seasons run from August to May. Clubs play two matches against each of the other teams in the league – once home and once away – totalling to 38 matches over the course of the season. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings. Play is regularly suspended the last weekend before Christmas for two weeks before returning in the second week of January. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe behind Spain's La Liga, England's Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and Italy's Serie A. Ligue 1 was inaugurated on 11 September 1932 under the name National before switching to Division 1 after a year of existence. The name lasted until 2002 before switching to its current name. AS Saint-Étienne is the most successful club with ten league titles in France while Olympique Lyonnais is the club that has won the most consecutive titles (seven between 2002 and 2008). With the presence of 69 seasons in Ligue 1, Olympique de Marseille hold the record for most seasons among the elite, while Paris Saint-Germain hold the league record for longevity with 45 consecutive seasons (from 1974 until at least 2019). The current champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who won their eighth title in the 2018–19 season. The league has been won on multiple occasions by foreign-based club AS Monaco, which makes the league a cross-border competition. Professionalism in French football did not exist until July 1930, when the National Council of the French Football Federation voted 128–20 in favor of its adoption. The founding fathers of professionalism in French football are Georges Bayrou, Emmanuel Gambardella, and Gabriel Hanot. Professionalism was officially implemented in 1932. In order to successfully create a professional football league in the country, the Federation limited the league to twenty clubs. In order to participate in the competition, clubs were subjected to three important criteria: The incoming club must have had positive results in the past., The incoming club must be able to pull in enough revenue to balance its finances., The incoming club must be able to successfully recruit at least eight professional players. Many clubs disagreed with the subjective criteria, most notably Strasbourg, RC Roubaix, Amiens SC, and Stade Français, while others like Rennes, due to fear of bankruptcy, and Olympique Lillois, due to a conflict of interest, were reluctant to become professional. Olympique Lillois' president, Henri Jooris, also chairman of the Ligue du Nord, feared his league would fold and proposed it become the second division of the new league. Eventually, many clubs earned professional status, though it became more difficult to convince clubs in the northern half of the country; Strasbourg, RC Roubaix, and Amiens refused to accept the new league, while conversely Mulhouse, Excelsior AC Roubaix, Metz, and Fives accepted professionalism. In southern France, clubs such as Olympique de Marseille, Hyères, SO Montpellier, SC Nîmes, Cannes, Antibes, and Nice were extremely supportive of the new league and accepted their professional status without argument. The league's inaugural season of the all-professional league, called National, was held in 1932–1933. The 20 inaugural members of National were Antibes, CA Paris, Cannes, Club Français, Excelsior AC Roubaix, Fives, Hyères, Marseille, Metz, Mulhouse, Nice, Nîmes, Olympique Alès, Olympique Lillois, Racing Club de France, Red Star Olympique, Rennes, Sochaux, Sète, and Montpellier. The 20 clubs were inserted into two groups of 10 with the bottom three of each group suffering relegation to Division 2. The two winners of each group would then face each other in a final held at a neutral venue, which later turned out to the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir. The first final was held on 14 May 1933 and it matched the winner of Group A, Olympique Lillois, against the runner-up of Group B, Cannes. Antibes, the winner of Group B, was supposed to take part in the final but was suspected of bribery by the French Football Federation and was forced into disqualification. In the first final, Lillois were crowned the inaugural champions following the club's 4–3 victory. After the season, the league decided to retain the 14 clubs and not promote any sides from the second division. The league also agreed to change its name from National to simply Division 1. For the 1934–35 season, the league organized a legitimate promotion and relegation system bringing the total tally of clubs in the first division to 16. The number remained until the 1938–39 season. Because of World War II, football was suspended by the French government and the Ligue de Football Professionnel, although its member clubs continued playing in regional competitions. During the "war championships", as they are called, professionalism was abolished by the Vichy regime and clubs were forced to participate in regional leagues, designated as Zone Sud and Zone Nord. Due to its non-association with the two leagues, the LFP and FFF do not recognize the championships won by the clubs and thus 1939–1945 is non-existent in the two organizations' view. Following the conclusion of the war and the liberation of France, professional football returned to France. The first division increased its allotment of clubs to 18. This number remained until the 1965–66 season when the number was increased to 20. In 2002, the league changed its name from Division 1 to Ligue 1. There are 20 clubs in Ligue 1. During the course of a season, usually from August to May, each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games, though special circumstances may allow a club to host matches at other venues such as when Lille hosted Lyon at the Stade de France in 2007 and 2008. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. If points are equal, the goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank. For the 2015/16 season only, 2 teams were to be relegated and only 2 teams from Ligue 2 were to be promoted but this decision was overturned and 3 teams were relegated and 3 teams promoted. So it was the 2016–17 season which saw the return of a relegation play-off between the 18th-placed Ligue 1 team and the 3rd-placed team in the Ligue 2 on a two-legged confrontation, with the Ligue 2 team hosting the first game. Previously, the league utilized a different promotion and relegation format. Prior to 1995, the league's format was direct relegation of the bottom two teams and a play-off between the third-last first-division team and the winner of the second-division play-offs, similar to the Dutch Eredivisie, and the German Bundesliga. The league has also experimented with a "bonus" rule. From 1973 to 1976, a rule rewarded teams scoring three or more goals in a game with one extra point, regardless of outcome, with the objective of encouraging offensive play. The experience was ultimately inconclusive. At the start of the 2006–07 season, the league introduced an Attacking Play Table to encourage the scoring of more goals in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. The LFP, with the help of the former manager Michel Hidalgo introduced the idea to reward those teams who score the most goals. The table was similar to the previous idea, but was independent from the official league table and clubs were only rewarded with monetary bonuses. As of the 2017/18 season, as determined by the UEFA coefficient, the top three teams in Ligue 1 qualify for the Champions League, with the top two proceeding directly to the group phase. The third-placed team enters in the third qualifying round. The fourth-placed team qualifies for the UEFA Europa League. The other two Europa League places are determined through the country's two domestic cup competitions, the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue. If both of the cup winners qualify for Europe through their league position, the fifth- and sixth-placed teams in Ligue 1 will qualify for the Europa League. A total of 73 clubs have played in Ligue 1 from its foundation in the 1932–33 season to the start of the 2011–12 season. Currently, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice, and Rennes are the only founding members of the league to be playing in Ligue 1. Paris Saint-Germain is the only club to have not suffered points relegation. They earned promotion to the first division for the 1974–75 season and has not faltered down since. Paris Saint-Germain was administratively relegated by the league following its split from Paris FC in 1972, but returned to the top flight two seasons later. Internationally, the most well- known Ligue 1 clubs include Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille, AS Monaco, AS Saint-Etienne, Lille OSC and Girondins de Bordeaux. The following 20 clubs will compete in the 2019–20 Ligue 1 season. Ligue 1 clubs' finances and budgets are managed by the DNCG, an organisation responsible for monitoring the accounts of professional association football clubs in France. It was founded in 1984 and is an administrative directorate of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP). The mission of the DNCG is to oversee all financial operations of the 44 member clubs of the LFP, develop the resources of professional clubs, apply sanctions to those clubs breaking the rules of operation, defend the morals and interests of French football in general. Following a report by the DNCG, it was determined that the combined budget of Ligue 1 clubs was €910 million for the 2005–06 season, a 39% increase from the 2002–03 season. The prominent reason for the rise was mainly associated with the television rights deal the league regularly signs. Excluding Paris Saint-Germain, many of the top division clubs are extremely healthy with clubs such as Auxerre, Bordeaux, Lille, and Lyon being referred to as "managed to perfection". However, recently the DNCG has encouraged clubs to concentrate on limiting their "skyrocketing wage bills and the magnitude of their debts" after it was discovered that the LFP clubs accounts as a whole were in the red for the third consecutive season (2008–2011) with an estimated deficit of €130 million. In 2012, the LFP announced that the clubs deficit had been cut in half from €130 million to €65 million. Ligue 1 ranks fifth in terms of revenue brought in by clubs with the league bringing in £0.6 billion for the 2006–07 season trailing England, Italy, Spain, and Germany. In terms of world football, clubs Lyon and Marseille are among the richest football clubs in the world and regularly feature in the Deloitte Football Money League ranking of football clubs by revenue generated from football operations. In the list compiled in the 2008–09 season Lyon ranked 13th among clubs generating approximately €139.6 million, while Marseille were right behind them in 14th position generating €133.2 million. Bold indicates clubs playing in 2019–20 Ligue 1. In France, the Ligue de Football Professionnel has an exclusive broadcasting agreement with premium pay TV channels, Canal+ and beIN Sports. The latter channel is operated by Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera. The agreement with Al Jazeera, reached on 23 June 2011, pays the LFP €510 million over four seasons. Following the announcement of the agreement, it was revealed that Canal+ had acquired four television packages, while beIN Sports acquired two packages. In the United Kingdom, live matches (usually the Friday match and the Sunday matches plus two matches on both Tuesday and Wednesday for midweek matchdays) and highlights were shown on BT Sport between 2013 and 2018. In Spain, beIN Sports (Spain) has the TV-rights from Ligue 1 and the Coupe de la Ligue. In Germany, the Ligue 1 airs on Eurosport, while in the Baltic States, it airs on Viasat Sport. In other European countries, the availability of Ligue 1 varies. In most countries, the league airs on either TV Arena Sport, Nova Sport, Canal+, or Sport1. In countries such as Switzerland and Poland, Ligue 1 airs on sister channels of Canal+. In Albania, the Ligue 1 airs on SuperSport Albania. It broadcasts two matches per week and highlights. Ligue 1 is shown on Galaxie Sport in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. On 1 April 2010, the Ligue de Football Professionnel announced that the league had reached a multimillion-euro broadcasting agreement with Italian channel Sportitalia. The channel will broadcast Ligue 1 games for the next two seasons beginning with the 2010–11 season. Sportitalia will show four live matches a week and will also air a weekly highlights show. In countries on the continent of Africa, Ligue 1 matches air on sister channels of Canal+, as well as StarTimes Sports Channels, TV5 Monde, RTNC, and MuviTV. In the Americas, Ligue 1 airs on beIN Sports in English and Univision Deportes Network in Spanish and TV5 Monde in the United States. In Brazil, DAZN airs matches from the league, while in Mexico and the Caribbean, the league airs on Televisa Deportes Network, as well as TV5Monde with five matches being televised a week, three games live and two on delay. In Asia, Ligue 1 is shown on J Sports in Japan. On 8 April 2010, a deal was reached a week later with Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW who will broadcasts Ligue 1 matches in the region for the next two seasons. On 12 August 2012, a deal was reached a weekly later with the Indonesia transmissions will by B Channel, in every matches would be completed. On 6 August, a deal was reached with South Korean sports channel company SBS Sports who will broadcasts Ligue 1 matches in the country for the one season. The current Ligue 1 trophy, L'Hexagoal, was developed by the Ligue de Football Professionnel and designed and created by Franco-Argentine artist Pablo Reinoso. The trophy has been awarded to the champion of France since the end of the 2006–07 season, replacing the previous Ligue 1 trophy that had existed for only five years. The name Hexagoal was derived from an official competition created by the LFP and French TV channel TF1 to determine a name for the new trophy. Over 9,000 proposals were sent in and, on 20 May 2007, French Football Federation member Frédéric Thiriez announced that, following an online vote, the term Hexagoal had received half of the votes. The first club to hoist the new trophy was Olympique Lyonnais who earned the honour after winning the 2007–08 season. In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medal players receive, Ligue 1 also awards the monthly Player of the Month award. Following the season, the UNFP Awards are held and awards such as the Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, and Young Player of the Year from both Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 are handed out. Conforama, HTC, Uhlsport, TAG Heuer, Parions Sport, La Poste, Panini Football records in France, List of football clubs in France, List of foreign Ligue 1 players, List of Ligue 1 broadcasters Official Site, Ligue 1 : presentation – All-time table and all results since 1932 with links to entire results and winners, second and third., League321.com - French football league tables, records & statistics database. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club is a French professional association football club founded in 1970, and based in the city of Paris in France. The club's first team play in the highest tier of French football, the Ligue 1. PSG holds many records, most notably being the only club to have never been relegated from Ligue 1, the club with most consecutive seasons in top-flight (they have played 45 seasons in Ligue 1 since 1974), and one of only two French clubs to have won a major European title. The Parisians are also the only club to have won the Coupe de la Ligue five times in a row (2014–2018), the only club to have won the Coupe de France four times in a row (2015–2018), the only club to win the Trophée des Champions seven times in a row (2013–2019), the only European club to have won all four national titles (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions) in a single season (2014–15, 2015–16 and 2017–18), and the youngest European club to have won a European trophy. Additionally, Paris SG have won a total of 40 titles, 39 of them major trophies, making it the most successful French club in history by this measure. Domestically, the capital club has won eight Ligue 1 championships, a record twelve Coupe de France, a record eight Coupe de la Ligue, a record nine Trophée des Champions and one Ligue 2 title. In international club football, they have won one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. In July 2017, the club announced its "Hall of Fame" of notable players. The inaugural induction saw 20 former players named, including record appearance-maker Jean-Marc Pilorget, all-time assist leader Safet Sušić, and Ballon d'Or winner George Weah. Finally, the feats of notable club officials such as current president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and former manager Laurent Blanc are also included. All-time record win: 10–0 (away to Côte Chaude SF, Coupe de France, 22 January 1994)., All-time record defeat: 0–6 (away to Nantes, Ligue 1, 1 September 1971)., Record win in Ligue 1: 9–0., (away to Troyes, 13 March 2016)., (home to Guingamp, 19 January 2019)., Record defeat in Ligue 1: 0–6 (away to Nantes, 1 September 1971)., Record win in UEFA competitions: 7–1., (home to Gent, UEFA Intertoto Cup, 1 August 2001)., (home to Celtic, UEFA Champions League, 22 November 2017)., Record defeat in UEFA competitions: 1–6., (home to Juventus, UEFA Super Cup, 15 January 1997)., (away to Barcelona, UEFA Champions League, 8 March 2017)., Record win in national cups: 10–0 (away to Côte Chaude, Coupe de France, 22 January 1994)., Record defeat in national cups: 0–5 (home to Stade de Reims, Coupe de France, 4 May 1974)., Record win at Parc des Princes: 9–0 (home to Guingamp, Ligue 1, 19 January 2019)., Record defeat at Parc des Princes: 1–6 (home to Juventus, UEFA Super Cup, 15 January 1997). Longest winning run in all competitions: 16 matches., Longest winning run in Ligue 1: 14 matches (National Record)., Longest winning run in UEFA competitions: 8 matches., Longest winning run in national cups: 49 matches (National Record)., Longest winning run in Coupe de France: 29 matches (National Record)., Longest winning run in Coupe de la Ligue: 21 matches (National Record)., Longest winning home run in all competitions: 19 matches., Longest unbeaten run in all competitions: 37 matches., Longest unbeaten run in Ligue 1: 36 matches., Longest unbeaten run in UEFA competitions: 19 matches., Longest unbeaten home run in all competitions: 51 matches., Longest unbeaten home run in Ligue 1: 41 matches., Longest unbeaten home run in UEFA competitions: 33 matches. Most matches played in all competitions: 61 in 1994–95., Most goals scored in all competitions: 171 in 2017–18 (National Record)., Most goals scored in Ligue 1: 108 in 2017–18., Most goals scored in UEFA competitions: 27 in 2017–18., Most goals scored in a UEFA Champions League group stage: 25 in 2017–18 (UCL Record)., Fewest goals conceded in all competitions: 28 in 1993–94., Fewest goals conceded in Ligue 1: 19 in 2015–16 (National Record)., Fewest goals conceded in UEFA competitions: 2 in 2002–03., Fewest goals conceded in a UEFA Champions League group stage: 1 in 2015–16 (UCL Record)., Most wins in all competitions: 47 in 2015–16., Most points in Ligue 1: 96 in 2015–16 (National Record). All-time most played opponent: Bordeaux – 104 matches., Most played opponent in Ligue 1: Bordeaux – 90 matches., Most played opponent in UEFA competitions: Barcelona – 11 matches., All-time most wins: Sochaux – 45., Most wins in Ligue 1: Sochaux – 41., Most wins in UEFA competitions: Bayern Munich – 5., All-time most defeats: Monaco – 44., Most defeats in Ligue 1: Monaco – 41., Most defeats in UEFA competitions: Juventus – 6. Highest home attendance: 49,575 (vs. Waterschei, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 13 March 1983)., Lowest home attendance: 2,006 (vs. Mantes, Ligue 2, 25 April 1974)., Highest average home attendance: 46,939 in 2018–19., Lowest average home attendance: 679 in 1972–73. All-time record appearance maker: 435 – Jean-Marc Pilorget., Most appearances in Ligue 1: 371 – Jean-Marc Pilorget., Most appearances in UEFA competitions: 57 – Paul Le Guen and Marco Verratti. All-time top scorer: 198 – Edinson Cavani., Most goals in Ligue 1: 136 – Edinson Cavani., Most goals in the Coupe de France: 28 – François M'Pelé., Most goals in the Coupe de la Ligue: 15 – Edinson Cavani (National Record)., Most goals in the Trophée des Champions: 3 – Ángel Di María., Most goals in UEFA competitions: 30 – Edinson Cavani., Most goals in a season (all official competitions): 50 – Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2015–16 (National Record)., Most goals in a Ligue 1 season: 38 – Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2015–16., Most goals in a season (UEFA competitions): 10 – Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2013–14., Most goals in a match: 4., (vs. Rouen B, , 18 February 1973)., Mustapha Dahleb (vs. , Coupe de France, 13 February 1977)., Carlos Bianchi (vs. Troyes, Ligue 1, 14 October 1977)., Patrice Loko (vs. Nice, Ligue 1, 27 April 1997)., Christian (vs. Strasbourg, Ligue 1, 26 January 2000)., Zlatan Ibrahimović (vs. Anderlecht, UEFA Champions League, 23 October 2013)., Zlatan Ibrahimović (vs. Troyes, Ligue 1, 13 March 2016)., Edinson Cavani (vs. Caen, Ligue 1, 16 September 2016)., Neymar (vs. Dijon, Ligue 1, 17 January 2018)., Kylian Mbappé (vs. Lyon, Ligue 1, 7 October 2018). All-time assist leader: 95 – Safet Sušić., Most assists in Ligue 1: 61 – Safet Sušić., Most assists in a match: 5 – Safet Sušić (vs. Bastia, Ligue 1, 21 September 1984)., Most assists in a Ligue 1 season: 18 – Ángel Di María in 2015–16 (National Record). Ballon d'Or (1), George Weah – 1995., Kopa Trophy (1), Kylian Mbappé – 2018., FIFA World Player of the Year (1), George Weah – 1995., Golden Boy (1), Kylian Mbappé – 2017., Ligue 1 Player of the Season (9), David Ginola in 1993–94., Vincent Guérin in 1994–95., Marco Simone in 1997–98., Zlatan Ibrahimović (3) in 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16., Edinson Cavani in 2016–17., Neymar in 2017–18., Kylian Mbappé in 2018–19., Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Season (2), Salvatore Sirigu (2) in 2012–13, 2013–14., Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season (4), Mamadou Sakho in 2010–11., Marco Verratti in 2013–14., Kylian Mbappé in 2017–18, 2018–19., Ligue 1 Goal of the Season (2), Ronaldinho in 2002–03., Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2013–14., Ligue 1 Golden Boot (10), Carlos Bianchi (2) in 1977–78, 1978–79., Pauleta (2) in 2005–06, 2006–07., Zlatan Ibrahimović (3) in 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16., Edinson Cavani (2) in 2016–17, 2017–18., Kylian Mbappé in 2018–19. Longest-serving president: Francis Borelli (1978–1991)., Most titles won: 22 – Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Longest-serving manager: Georges Peyroche (1979–1983)., Most matches: 244 – Luis Fernández., Most titles won: 11 – Laurent Blanc., Ligue 1 Manager of the Season (4), Carlo Ancelotti in 2012–13., Laurent Blanc (2) in 2014–15, 2015–16., Unai Emery in 2017–18. Official websites PSG.fr - Site officiel du Paris Saint-Germain, LFP.fr - Ligue de Football Professionnel - PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN, Paris Saint-Germain - UEFA.com, Live Scores - Clubs: Paris Saint-Germain - FIFA.com

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Scream is an American meta horror media franchise created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven. Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette, the film series grossed over $604million in worldwide box-office receipts and consists of four slasher films directed by Craven. The first series entry, Scream, was released on December 20, 1996, and is currently the second highest-grossing slasher film in the United States, behind Halloween (2018). The second entry Scream 2 was released on December 12, 1997, followed by a third installment, Scream 3, released February 4, 2000. Eleven years after the previous film, Scream 4 was released on April 15, 2011. The films follow Sidney Prescott, and her war against a succession of murderers who adopt the guise of Ghostface to stalk and torment their victims. Sidney receives support in the films from town deputy Dewey Riley, reporter Gale Weathers, and film- geek Randy Meeks. An anthology television series aired on MTV and VH1 between 2015 and 2019. The series follows different characters in new settings. Williamson's original script was bought by Miramax and developed under the Dimension Films label by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who recruited Craven to direct. Craven in turn recruited composer Marco Beltrami to score the film. This team went on to be involved in each film in the series though Williamson was forced to take a smaller role for Scream 3, writing only a brief plot outline due to his commitments to other projects, with Ehren Kruger replacing him as screenwriter. The series' violence resulted in conflicts with the Motion Picture Association of America and news media concerning censorship resulting in a reduction of violence and gore in Scream 3 when the Columbine High School massacre brought increased focus on the media's influence on society. Scream became notable for its use of established and recognizable actors which was uncommon for slasher films at the time, yet has since become common in part due to Screams success. The series, particularly the first two films, has received significant critical acclaim. Scream has been credited with revitalizing the horror genre in the late 1990s by combining a traditional slasher film with humor, awareness of horror film clichés and a clever plot. Scream was one of the highest-grossing films of 1996 and became the highest-grossing slasher film in the world, an honor it held until it was surpassed by 2018's Halloween. Its success was matched by Scream 2, which not only broke box-office records of the time but was also considered superior to the original by some critics. Scream 3 fared worse than its predecessors, both critically and financially, with critics commenting that it had become the type of horror film it originally parodied in Scream. Scream 4 also received mixed reviews from critics, although some claimed that it was an improvement over its predecessor. The film series has been the recipient of several awards, including a Saturn Award for Best Actress and MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance for Campbell and a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film for Scream. The film series began with Scream, premiering on December 18, 1996 at the AMC Avco theater in Westwood, California and was generally released on December 20, 1996. Based on a screenplay by screenwriter Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, creator of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Scream offered a self-referential approach to horror by featuring a cast of characters aware of the conventions/clichés of the horror film genre and able to use them to survive. The film focuses on teenager Sidney Prescott as she comes under attack from a mysterious character dubbed Ghostface while dealing with the anniversary of her mother's murder. The film went on to be a financial success and received considerable critical acclaim for its deconstruction of the horror genre. It is credited with revitalizing the horror genre in the mid 90s and inspiring an array of imitators. It was particularly notable for its casting of established and popular actors and actresses which was previously uncommon in a horror movie. The series continued with Scream 2, premiering at Mann's Chinese Theater, followed by a general release on December 12, 1997. Written by Williamson and directed by Craven, released less than a year after the original film. Like Scream, the film features characters aware of the horror genre and the conventions of the horror sequel, mocking them while simultaneously falling victim to them. Set in 1998, the film again focuses on the character of Sidney Prescott, now a college student, as a series of copycat crimes begin, the killers again using the disguise of Ghostface. The film was financially successful, and received similar critical praise for its deconstruction of the horror film sequel and commentary on the influence of the media in society. The script for Scream 2 was leaked during production revealing the identity of the killers and so the film underwent extensive rewrites, changing the identity of the killers, though their motivation remained intact. The series continued with Scream 3, which premiered on February 3, 2000 at the AMC Avco theater in Westwood, California and was generally released on February 4, 2000. Like previous entries, the film was directed by Craven, but Williamson was unable to formulate a complete script due to his commitment to the short-lived television series Wasteland and his original film Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999). Consequently, he wound up being replaced by Ehren Kruger who finalized a script based on several ideas supplied by Williamson. Set in 2001, the film focuses on Sidney Prescott who faces a new Ghostface killer and the truth about her mother that led to the start of the Ghostface killings. The film, like its predecessors, featured characters who were self-aware of horror conventions, in this case the rules and structure of the final entry in a movie trilogy. Scream 3 was considerably less successful than the previous two installments, suffering both financially and critically, commentators noting that the film had become akin to the horror films it originally parodied in Scream and Scream 2. Others were critical of the change in tone, focusing more on humor instead of horror and violence. However, critics who reacted positively were supportive of this change in tone and praised the film for successfully completing the film trilogy. In July 2008, The Weinstein Company announced the development of a new sequel, Scream 4, written by Williamson with Craven being secured for the project in March 2010. In May 2010, Cathy Konrad, producer of the original three Scream films filed a $3million lawsuit against The Weinstein Company alleging they violated an agreement with her company, Cat Entertainment, that gave them first rights to produce all Scream films. The Weinstein Company argued that the agreement requires Konrad's services to be exclusive to the franchise, an argument that Konrad called "false pretext" as the previous films did not require this stipulation. Konrad accused the Weinsteins of attempting to force her to walk away without compensation in order to hire a cheaper producer (Craven's wife Iya Labunka) and cut costs. In April 2011, it was reported that the case had been settled out of court by The Weinstein Company. The film underwent reshoots of some scenes in January 2011 with Craven stating that they were to enhance some scenes but that the ending remains untouched, countering criticism that, following a January 6, 2011 test screening, the film may undergo significant changes due to poor audience responses. The fourth installment premiered on April 11, 2011 at Grauman's Chinese Theater with a general release on April 15, 2011. The film takes place in 2010, ten years after the previous film, and once again follows Sidney Prescott. She returns to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour and encounters another set of murders and a killer, again using the guise of Ghostface. Craven confirmed he was contracted to work on a fifth and sixth installment of the Scream franchise, to be made if the fourth film achieved a successful release and reception. Following difficulties with script rewrites on Scream 2, Scream 3 and Scream 4, often with pages only being ready on the day of filming, and the related stress of the situation, Craven stated that he would need to see a finalized version of a script for Scream 5 before committing to the production. Williamson also confirmed his contractual obligation for Scream 4 and Scream 5, having submitted concepts for three films leading up to Scream 6, though his contract for the sixth film had not yet been finalized. Williamson indicated that if a Scream 5 were to be made, it would be a continuation of the story of the characters who lived through Scream 4 but that Scream 4 would not include any cliffhangers that led into the potential sequel. Actor David Arquette also added his support to the potential future of the franchise, stating "It [the ending] definitely leaves it open," before adding that he would welcome the opportunity to play the character of Dewey in future installments. In May 2011, executive producer Harvey Weinstein confirmed that a sequel was possible, saying that despite Scream 4 performing below The Weinstein Company's financial expectations, he was still happy with the gross it had accrued. In February 2012, when asked about a potential Scream 5, Williamson stated at the time that he did not know, saying "I'm not doing it." On September 30, 2013, Harvey Weinstein expressed his interest in a fifth installment, stating "I'm begging [Bob Weinstein] to do the movie and just end it. We've milked that cow." On June 25, 2015, the Washington Street Journal conducted an interview with Bob Weinstein. When asked about the possibility of a film continuation after Scream 4, Weinstein firmly denied the possibility of a fifth installment or any further continuation of the film franchise, citing the MTV series as the right place for the franchise to find new life. "It's like putting an art-house movie in an art-house theater," Weinstein said. "Where the teens reside is MTV." In early 2019, Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in horror-themed films, was considering and interested in reviving the series, and head of studio Jason Blum was working on making such installments happen. In November 2019, Spyglass Media Group acquired the rights to make a new Scream film. It was unknown at the time if it would be a sequel, reboot, or remake. It was also unknown if Kevin Williamson will return. The next month, it was announced that the film would feature a new cast but could possibly feature appearances from the previous main cast members. On June 4, 2012, it was reported that MTV was in the early stages of developing a weekly television series spun off from the franchise. David Arquette stated on Twitter that he would not be a part of the television series. On April 25, 2013, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that MTV had greenlit the TV series, with Craven in talks about directing the pilot. On July 26, 2013 it was reported that Criminal Minds writers Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin had been recruited to write the pilot script. On April 2, 2014, it was reported that the show would be penned by Jill Blotevogel (Ravenswood, Eureka and Harper's Island), and would focus on a YouTube video gone viral which would have adverse repercussions for teenagers of Lakewood and serve as the 'catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town's troubled past.' The lead actors are Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Bobby Campo, Connor Weil, Carlson Young, Amadeus Serafini and John Karna. The script of the pilot episode, originally titled "Red Roses", was published in February 2015 on the blog Bleeding Cool. On April 12, 2015, the first trailer for the series was aired during the 2015 MTV Movie Awards presented by Bella Thorne, also revealing the final premiere date of the series, which aired on June 30, 2015. An official promotional picture of the series' re-imagined mask was revealed in early June 2015. Initially, Craven expressed his approval of the redesign and hinted at its origins and possible plot significance. However, Craven was later critical about the network's decision to abandon the Ghostface mask in the television series. On August 30, 2015, Wes Craven died of brain cancer. The season 1 finale episode "Revelations" made a tribute to him during the opening credits. The second season of MTV's Scream premiered on May 30, 2016. On October 14, 2016, MTV renewed the series for a six-episode third season, which premiered on VH1 on July 8, 2019. On April 26, 2017, MTV announced that they were rebooting the series with the third season, with a new cast and setting. As part of the reboot process, it was revealed that Brett Matthews will be serving as the main showrunner. In addition, Matthews, Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere and Yaneley Arty will be added as executive producers for the series under Flavor Unit Entertainment. On July 19, 2017, Hollywood Reporter announced that the series would transition into an anthology series in the third season. This information was corroborated by MTV president Chris McCarthy. The new cast members for the season are RJ Cyler, C.J. Wallace, Tyga, Keke Palmer, Jessica Sula, Giullian Yao Gioiello, Giorgia Whigham and Tyler Posey. On September 18, 2017, it was announced that the Ghostface mask from the film series would be making an appearance in the third season. On October 10, 2017, Keke Palmer confirmed in an interview that Roger L. Jackson, who voiced Ghostface in the film series, would return for the third season, replacing Mike Vaughn, who served as the voice for two characters, the Lakewood Slasher in the first two seasons and the Shallow Grove Slasher in the Halloween special episodes of the second season. From the third season onward, the series will no longer air on MTV. The third season premiered on VH1 on July 8, 2019. Craven initially intended to hire talented, but relatively unknown actors who had not yet had a "big break" in the film industry, as he had done with A Nightmare on Elm Streets Johnny Depp and Shockers Peter Berg. However, the decision was made to cast actors who already had a notable body of work, marking a change from many previous horror films where casting current, popular actors was unheard of. Craven believed their budget was inadequate to secure the actors they were pursuing but felt that Barrymore's presence made people eager to take part and accepting of a lower salary. Drew Barrymore initially approached the production herself after reading the script and was signed to play Sidney Prescott. However, as time progressed, her schedule commitments meant she would be unable to remain in the leading role, so she volunteered to play the smaller role of Casey Becker who dies early in the film. The production felt that killing off an actress of Barrymore's stature early on would be a risk but thought that it would be shocking to the audience and make them believe that no other character was safe. Following Barrymore's changed role, Alicia Witt and Brittany Murphy auditioned for the lead and the production also considered contacting Reese Witherspoon. The role was ultimately given to Neve Campbell after the director saw her in Party of Five, believing she could best embody a character who was "innocent" but also able to handle herself while dealing with the physicality and emotions of the role. Though reluctant to undertake another horror film so soon after The Craft, Campbell chose to do Scream as it would be her first leading role and she "adored" the character, saying "She's a fantastic character for any kind of movie." The production wanted a recognizable face for the role of news reporter Gale Weathers, offering it to both Brooke Shields and Janeane Garofalo. Cox, who was starring in the hit NBC sitcom Friends at the time, was not considered due to her history of playing softer, kinder characters. Cox however lobbied hard for the role for that reason, wishing to play a "bitch" character, her efforts ultimately succeeding when she was cast. Actresses Melinda Clarke and Rebecca Gayheart auditioned for the role of Tatum Riley before Rose McGowan was cast due to her best embodying the "spunky" nature of the character. It was believed the collective strong female cast of Campbell, Barrymore, Cox and McGowan would help draw a significant female audience to the film. Kevin Patrick Walls, who played Barrymore's boyfriend Steve Orth in the opening of Scream, was one of the final candidates for the role of Sidney's boyfriend, Billy Loomis, alongside Justin Whalin before it was won by Skeet Ulrich. Campbell and Ulrich had a prior working relationship on The Craft which they believed help them better develop the relationship between Sidney and Billy. David Arquette was also approached for the role of Billy Loomis but instead wanted the role of Dewey. The role was described as "hunky" instead of the younger, "goofier" approach of Arquette but Craven appreciated the idea and cast him in the role. Matthew Lillard was cast by chance as he had accompanied his then-girlfriend to a separate audition where Scream casting director Lisa Beach saw him and asked him to audition, where he secured the role of Stu Macher. The role of Randy Meeks was contested between Jamie Kennedy and Breckin Meyer with the production favoring Kennedy. Having no major role prior to Scream, the studio wanted a more prominent actor than Kennedy in the role but the production were adamant that he was the best choice and successfully fought to keep him in. Roger L. Jackson, voice of the character Ghostface, was picked at the end of several weeks of local casting in Santa Rosa. The production had originally intended to only use his voice temporarily but ultimately decided that it was perfect for the role. He was intentionally kept from meeting many members of the cast in all three original Scream films as it was thought it would help their performance if they could not put a face to the menacing voice. The calls made by his character were genuine phone calls conducted on set by Jackson to the characters, again with the intention of aiding the interaction between his character and the character being "stalked" in a scene. Craven commented, on Jackson's contribution to the film, "I can't imagine Scream without Ghostface ... Roger Jackson's voice is very remarkable, it's got an evil sophistication." For Scream 2, Campbell had been contracted for a possible sequel before filming began on Scream. However actors with surviving characters had a sequel option added after it was known which character would be eligible to appear in the next film. In interviews, the production staff of Scream 2 stated they believed that Barrymore's role in Scream added an element of respectability to the genre that made actors normally reluctant to engage a horror film, eager to sign on to Scream 2. Many of the actors involved including Campbell, Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jerry O'Connell were starring in their own television series at the time making scheduling their availability with the film difficult. Gellar in particular had also recently finished work on another Williamson-penned film, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) which was released two months prior to Scream 2. She would admit in interviews that she signed on to Scream 2 without having read the script, based on the success of the first film. Craven took their desire to participate in the film despite their workload as a compliment to the film's quality. To obtain the role of Derek, O'Connell and other candidates had to audition by performing a scene from the film where the character sings "I Think I Love You". The cast was rounded out by Laurie Metcalf, who had just finished a nine-year run on the popular sitcom Roseanne, Lewis Arquette, father of David Arquette, Jada Pinkett and Timothy Olyphant in what was his first leading role in a feature film. Rebecca Gayheart, who had unsuccessfully auditioned to play Tatum Riley in Scream, auditioned for the roles of Hallie, Cici and Maureen Evans before being cast as Sorority Sister Lois. For Scream 3, Craven stated in an interview that convincing the central cast to return was not difficult but their burgeoning fame and busy schedules made arranging their availability with the film's production troublesome. Campbell in particular was only available for 20 days of filming which resulted in a significantly reduced role for her character and a focus on Cox and Arquette's characters. Emily Mortimer was cast as Angelina Tyler but shortly after filming began it was discovered she lacked the required permit to work, resulting in her being flown to Vancouver to obtain one. Carrie Fisher made a cameo in the film at the suggestion of Bob Weinstein and Fisher helped write her character. Kelly Rutherford was cast after filming had begun as the production was undergoing constant rewrites and the opening scene evolved from requiring only a female corpse to needing a live actress with whom Schreiber could interact. In a 2009 interview, Matthew Lillard, who played Stu Macher in Scream, claimed that he was signed to reprise his role in Scream 3 as the primary antagonist but after the script moved in a direction without his character, he was bought out of his contract. When production of Scream 4 was announced, Campbell initially refused offers to reprise her role as Sidney, forcing early script drafts to be written in consideration of her absence. However, in September 2009, Campbell, Cox and Arquette were all confirmed as reprising their roles as Sidney, Gale and Dewey respectively, with Jackson's commitment confirmed in July 2010. Continuing the trend started in Scream, the production cast established and popular actors Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell and Emma Roberts. Roberts was cast as Jill, Sidney Prescott's cousin, beating out Ashley Greene for the role. Lake Bell and Lauren Graham were cast in the film but dropped out early into production, Bell citing scheduling conflicts. Nico Tortorella auditioned five times to secure the role of Trevor, the ex-boyfriend of Roberts' character, by reenacting a scene from Scream where the character of Billy Loomis reveals he is one of the killers. Scream (1996) was conceived under the title Scary Movie by screenwriter Kevin Williamson as an 18-page script inspired by a series of murders by the Gainesville Ripper that Williamson had seen in a news story and his own experience alone in a friends house, after discovering an open window he had not previously noticed. The treatment covered what would become the opening scene of Scream featuring Drew Barrymore. Williamson began to expand this script into what ultimately became Scream because his previous script, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, was in development hell, writing it in only three days in Palm Springs and bringing it to his agent in June 1995 to put it up for sale. Accompanying the script were two 5-page outlines for potential sequels to the film, Williamson hoping to provide added incentive to buy the script by providing potential for a franchise. Williamson would later claim he wrote the screenplay partly because it was a film he wanted to watch and "nobody else is making it". The script was self-referential, featuring characters who watched horror films and were aware of the conventions of the genre and featured numerous homages to many preceding horror films which Williamson would claim inspired him, including Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Prom Night. Williamson was told early on by his agent, Rob Paris, that the saturation of violence and gore in his script would make it "impossible" to sell and following its purchase by Miramax he was required to remove much of the gorier scenes. However, once Craven was confirmed to direct, he was able to bring much of the excised content back. Williamson intended to remove a scene in the film that took place inside the fictional school's bathroom, feeling it was awkward but Craven salvaged it believing it had potential. Williamson later confirmed that he was glad Craven did so. The death of the character Principal Himbry was added at the request of producer Bob Weinstein who noted that there was thirty pages (thirty on-screen minutes) without a murder occurring. This later aided Williamson who was struggling to find motivation for characters to leave a party in the film's finale, now able to use the discovered corpse of the Himbry character. When writing the finale, Williamson was unsure what to cite as a motivation for the killers or whether to give them one at all. Opinions were split between staff on the picture, some who felt that a motive was necessary for the audience to be given resolution while others felt it was scarier without one. Ultimately Williamson decided to do both, giving the character Billy Loomis the motive of maternal abandonment while not giving the character of Stu Macher one, instead having the character jokingly suggest "peer pressure". Following the release of Scream, Williamson confirmed that he had considered a concept for a sequel where the character Sidney Prescott attends college and a copycat killer begins stalking her. Dimension Films agreed to pursue a sequel in May 1997, by which point Williamson had already written 42 pages of the new script. By July 1997, filming began on Scream 2, but his completed script was leaked on the Internet revealing much of the plot including the finale and the identity of the film's killers. As a result, the production was forced to continue filming with only a partial script as Williamson conducted rewrites, changing much of the finale, the killers victims and the killers identity. To preserve the identity of the killer or important plot points being revealed again, the actors were not given the last pages of the script until weeks before shooting and the pages that revealed the killers identity were only provided on the day the scene was shot. The short production schedule on Scream 2 and his work on other projects meant that Williamson's final script used for the film was detailed in some areas but lacking in others, the intention being for Craven to fill out these scenes on set. Williamson was approached by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in early 1999 to pen a script for Scream 3 but at the time he was involved with the writing and directing of his original script Teaching Mrs. Tingle and developing the short-lived TV series Wasteland. Unable to write a full script, Williamson provided a draft outline for the film that involved the filming of the film within a film "Stab 3", based on the previous film's in-universe murders, that took place in the fictional town of Woodsboro from the original Scream. Arlington Road scribe Ehren Kruger was brought into the production by the Weinstein brothers to develop a script using Williamson's notes, though Kruger admitted that without having been involved with the characters in the previous two films he struggled to write them true to character. Early scripts by Kruger had the character of Sidney Prescott much like "Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2" at which point Craven would intervene to bring the character closer to previous iterations. Kruger admits that Craven had a hand in writing the script though he remained uncredited for it. Kruger's script would differ in many ways from Williamson's original including the removal of one of the killers and the inclusion of the death of Cotton Weary who was originally absent from the film. Additionally, the film's location changed from Woodsboro to Hollywood as Kruger believed that the characters should be moving to bigger places from high school, to college to Hollywood. However, there were also considerations that creating a film containing acts of murder in and around the fictional Woodsboro school would receive negative attention following the Columbine High School massacre that occurred less than a year before the film's eventual release. The film was given a greater emphasis on humor over violence and fared worse than previous installments both financially and critically. Almost ten years after the last installment, in late 2009, Williamson formulated a concept for a new installment and approached Bob Weinstein who, after hearing his pitch, told Williamson to begin writing a script for what would become Scream 4. Campbell initially refused to return to the series for Scream 4 forcing early script drafts to be written in consideration of her characters absence with Cox and Arquette's characters becoming the focus. Early versions of the script involved Campbell's character being attacked and killed in the opening, a key point of contention for Weinstein who had it removed, while another version had Cox and Arquette's character as parents, but this too was removed as it was believed that them having a child would be unworkable in the context of the film. After Williamson was forced to leave the production due to contractual commitments to The Vampire Diaries, under threat of legal action, controversy arose in July 2010 when Scream 3 writer Ehren Kruger was brought in by Weinstein to perform re-writes on Williamson's script, about which Craven was outspoken on "losing control" of the story. He would later explain that despite rewrites it was still Williamson's characters and script, stating: Weinstein clarified that Kruger was brought in to "punch up" the film's dialog but his involvement with the writing was not to the same extent as with Scream 3. To preserve the secrecy of the script and the identity of the film's killer, the cast were only provided with 75 pages of the 140-page- long script. Like the two previous installments in the series, the script underwent rewrites often, with pages sometimes only ready on the day of shooting. The script for Scream (1996), then known as Scary Movie was released for sale on a Friday and by 8 a.m. the following Monday had become involved in a significant bidding war from several studios, including Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek, with producer Cathy Konrad bringing it to the attention of Bob Weinstein. The bidding eventually rose to an amount that the choice ultimately came down to Oliver Stone, who was at the time working with Cinergi Pictures, and Weinstein under Miramax. Williamson agreed to terms with Miramax for $400,000 plus a contract for two sequels and a third, unrelated film, believing their label, Dimension Films, would produce Scream immediately and without significant restriction. Wes Craven was approached early on to helm the film but he was occupied with remaking The Haunting and so other directors including Robert Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, George Romero and Sam Raimi were approached. Concerns were raised by Williamson and Weinstein when many of the approached directors, having read the script, believed the film to be a comedy, making them reluctant to hire those particular directors, believing they "didn't get it". Craven was approached and passed on the film several times, wanting to move away from the genre, but was enticed once Drew Barrymore became involved, reasoning that it may be different from his previous works if an actress of her recognition was involved. Ultimately the production of The Haunting, at that time, fell through and Craven was able to take over directing duties on the film. Close to the end of the film's production, the Weinstein brothers had the film's title changed from Scary Movie to Scream inspired by the Michael Jackson song of the same name as Bob Weinstein felt "Scary Movie" was not suitable when the film also contained elements of satire and comedy. The change was immediately disliked by both Williamson and Craven who considered it "stupid" but would later remark that it was a positive change. Following a successful screening with a test audience and Miramax executives, both Williamson and Craven were offered a two-picture contract for sequels to Scream, Williamson already having been offered a three-picture deal by Miramax for unrelated films. Bob Weinstein ordered that the film be released on December 20, 1996, a date others were critical of as it was the Christmas season where seasonal and family films were more prevalent. Weinstein argued this fact was in the film's favor, as it meant that horror fans and teenagers had nothing interesting to watch. When Screams first weekend takings amounted to only $6million, it was considered that this release date gamble had failed, but the following week the takings did not drop but increased and continued the following week, leading to a total U.S. gross of over $100million. As Screams box-office takings grew, a lawsuit would be filed against Dimension Films by Sony Pictures who claimed that the title Scream was too similar to that of Sony's own film Screamers (1995). The case was settled out of court with the details remaining secret but producer Marianne Maddalena would confirm that the production were able to use the current and potential future titles of Scream 2 and Scream 3. A sequel was considered in January 1997 after the first film proceeded to gross more than $50million in its first month. Scream 2 was greenlit with a budget of $24million, and was released before the first film's anniversary. The production of the film suffered a significant setback when the script was leaked revealing plot details including the identity of the killers, resulting in the script being modified to change many details. In an interview, Craven commented on the rushed schedule for the film, starting in July 1997 with a December release date, with many scenes in the script provided with only a loose outline forcing him to develop scenes on set. Various titles were considered for the sequel at different points in the film's production, including Scream Again, Scream Louder and Scream: The Sequel before the studio decided to simply use Scream 2. Scream 3 (2000) was released just over two years after Scream 2 with Craven again attached to direct the film on a greatly increased budget of $40million. Shortly before production began on the film, the Columbine incident occurred and with it came an increased scrutiny on the media and its effect on people, particularly films. There were considerations at the time about whether the studio should continue production of a third installment in the aftermath of the incident but the studio decided to continue, albeit with changes. The studio was much more apprehensive concerning violence and gore in the film than with previous installments with them pressing for a greater emphasis on the series' humor while scaling back on the violence. At one point in the production, the studio demanded that the film feature no blood or on-screen violence but Craven intervened stating that the film should either have the violence present in earlier Scream films or should be called something other than Scream. As with production of Scream, Craven would again state in an interview that issues with censorship and the MPAA made him consider leaving the horror genre. Production of a new film, Scream 4 (2011) was announced in July 2008 by The Weinstein Company who approached Williamson about formulating a new script, with the intention of creating a new Scream trilogy if the fourth film proved successful. By late 2009, Williamson managed to develop an idea for the film and potential sequels and began work on the script. The film was given a budget of $40million and the principal cast were signed to the film in September 2009 followed by Craven as director in March 2010. In May 2010, Cathy Konrad, producer on the original three films filed a $3million lawsuit against The Weinstein Company accusing them of violating an agreement that her company, Cat Entertainment, be given first rights to produce all Scream films in order to cut costs by getting a cheaper producer (Craven's wife Iya Labunka, not named in the suit). In April 2011, it was reported that the Weinsteins had settled out of court with Conrad, the details remaining confidential. The Hollywood Reporter however, claimed that Conrad received a cash payment and entitlement to a percentage of the profits derived from Scream 4. In addition, she was given an executive producer credit on the film. Williamson and Bob Weinstein came into repeated conflict with each other during production with Williamson citing the creative direction of the film as the cause while Weinstein blamed the time constraints on the film's development. Williamson and Weinstein did not speak to each other after Williamson left the production, claiming other responsibilities, and he had not seen the finished version of the film prior to its release. Filming for Scream began on April 15, 1996 and finished on June 8, 1996. Filming was intended to take place in North Carolina, but the location was deemed unsuitable, with scouts unable to find useful locations that would not require extensive building or modification to make fit the requirements of the film. The production instead turned to Vancouver, Washington and Los Angeles before discovering Sonoma County, California, and the areas within it: Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and Tomales Bay. The house used by Barrymore's character is situated on Sonoma Mountain Road opposite the house used in the horror film Cujo (1983). Before filming began, the production approached Santa Rosa High School about using it as Woodsboro High School. The school board insisted on seeing the script and objected to the content of the film's dialog and the foul-mouthed, aggressive character of Principal Himbry. The matter reached local newspapers who also raised criticism but there the production received support from students of the school and local residents who supported the economic benefits of the film's presence and others who defended its First Amendment rights. Opposition to the film came from those who deplored its content of violence against children (teenagers), as the area had suffered the tragic kidnap and murder of Polly Klaas three years prior. The matter resulted in a three-hour debate on the topic scheduled for April 16, one day after filming was to begin. Unwilling to be delayed, Craven began filming as scheduled on April 15, with the opening scene of the film featuring Barrymore which took five days to complete. The result of the Santa Rosa debate was that permission be denied and the production was forced to find another location for the school, ultimately being offered the Santa Rosa Community Center, which appears as Woodsboro High School in Scream. For the film's killer, Williamson's script had provided Craven only with the description "masked killer", forcing him and his design team to create the Ghostface costume from scratch to conceal the killer's identity. While awaiting permission from Fun World, creators of the Ghostface mask design, Craven had the design team KNB Effects create an alternative that was used in two scenes before being replaced by the original Fun World design once permission was granted. Bob Weinstein disliked the Ghostface mask, believing it was not "scary", and the studio, upon reviewing the dailies footage of the opening scene, were concerned that it was progressing in a direction they did not want and there was consideration that Craven could ultimately be replaced. To assuage their concerns, the first thirteen minutes of the opening scene were compiled as a workprint, a rough version of the finished film, and upon seeing it, the studio were content to let Craven continue and Weinstein was satisfied that the mask could be scary. The third and final act of the film, set at a house party, was over forty minutes long and shot at a vacant property in Tomales over twenty-one nights. The scene was considered the most difficult to shoot, as it took place entirely in one location, yet featured the individual stories and deaths of multiple characters, and as it was set at night, meant that production had to halt at daybreak. After filming completed in June, Craven spent two months editing the final product, encountering repeated conflicts with the film rating body MPAA concerning the content of scenes, being forced to tone down or obscure the more intense scenes and violence to avoid an NC-17. Though Dimension Films had previously released NC-17 films, the rating made those films difficult to market and attract an audience and thus they were desperate for a less restrictive R-rating. For an early scene involving the death of the character Casey Becker, Craven lied to the MPAA by claiming he had only one take of the scene and could not replace it with something less intense, in order to keep it in the film. In interviews, Craven indicated that the conflict was enough that, at the time, he was considering leaving the horror genre, stating: In total, Craven sent eight different cuts of the film to the MPAA before Bob Weinstein intervened and personally contacted the MPAA, believing they misunderstood to which genre Scream belonged. Weinstein explained to the organisation that although he agreed it was intense, it also had comedic elements and satirized its content and was not just a horror film glorifying violence. The MPAA reviewed their decision and granted the film an R-rating. Production of a sequel, Scream 2, was greenlit in May 1997, with filming beginning on September 17, 1997 with a budget of $24million and wrapping on October 30, 1997. Filming took place largely in Atlanta, Georgia over four weeks before moving to Los Angeles. Agnes Scott College in Atlanta and University of California, Los Angeles were used to represent the fictional Windsor College that appears in the film. The opening scene featuring the premiere of the fictional "Stab" film was filmed over three days in the Vista theater on Sunset Drive, Hollywood, the exterior represented by the Rialto theater in South Pasadena. Due to the large number of extras present in the scene, its details were leaked onto the Internet shortly after filming completed, which Craven cited as the productions first experience of a major plot leak. After his interactions with the MPAA in Scream, Craven sent them a copy of the film that was intentionally much more graphically violent than they were planning to release, featuring Omar Epps' character being stabbed in the ear three times and an extended scene of Randy Meeks death. Their idea was that the MPAA would force them to remove the content the production already did not want while keeping the content they did. However, the MPAA gave them an R-Rating for the more violent cut, stating that they felt the message of the film was significant. Following a script leak early into filming, security around the production was significantly increased, with a focus on closed film sets and strict restriction on what personnel could be present during filming and have access to the script, and with all present required to sign non- disclosure agreements. The script was printed on specialty paper to prevent photocopying and was often destroyed after use. Filming for Scream 3 began on July 6, 1999 in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles, in the areas of San Fernando Valley, Macarthur Park, Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills and Silverlake, with a $40million budget and wrapped on September 29, 1999. The isolated home of Campbell's character is situated in Topanga Canyon and Cox's character is introduced in a classroom at UCLA. A scene where Campbell's character is pursued through movie set replicas of locations from Scream was not scripted but the sets were built because Craven knew he wanted to revisit the original film in some way, after which they wrote the scene around the set. Due to the constantly changing script used for the film, which would often be usable on the day of filming, the production filmed large amounts of footage of different variations of the same scenes in order that, should the script again change, they would ideally have a scene they could use without having to film new ones at a later date. In particular, the opening scene had three variants and the three-minute scene featuring the character of Randy Meeks had two-hours of filmed footage. The ending too was refilmed in January 2000, three months after principal photography finished, adding in the character of Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) and having Campbell's character beaten and then shot by Ghostface after it was decided she defeated him too easily. So in flux was the script that the final scene of the movie was filmed with three variants of Dempsey's character, one with him absent, one with his arm in bandages and one with him in a normal condition as they were unsure of what his fate would be. Principal photography for Scream 4 began on June 28, 2010 with a budget of $40million and concluded on September 24, 2010. Filming took place in Michigan in the areas of Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Livonia and Northville. In January 2011, the film underwent an additional four days of filming to reshoot two scenes, following a test screening – the opening scene and a later scene that took place in a parking garage with Alison Brie. Amidst criticism that the reshoots meant the film was in trouble and the result of a negative response from the test audience, director Craven countered: Craven also complimented the film's ending, labeling it "kick-ass" and stated that it remained untouched as part of the reshoot process. In an interview, Craven also highlighted that the script was so long they had filmed many scenes which had to be cut from the final film to reduce its running time. The score for the Scream series was provided by Marco Beltrami, starting with Scream in what was his feature film debut. Beltrami was brought onto the production of Scream after Craven's assistant Julie Plec requested input on the now defunct site "Hollywood Cafe", asking for opinions on was "new", "fresh" and "wonderful" and was provided with Beltrami's name by several people. Craven sent for samples of Beltrami's work and was impressed by what he heard, bringing him to the set to view the first thirteen minutes of the film featuring the introduction and murder of the character Casey Becker. Craven had Beltrami produce music based on this scene and then demonstrate it, impressing Craven enough to hire him. For Scream (1996), the decision was made to intentionally use music to raise the tension in scenes where it was unnecessary when the characters were entering a situation where the audience may expect a killer to suddenly appear, only to not deliver on that expectation, part of the film's theme of playing with horror conventions. Craven and editor Patrick Lussier provided Beltrami with advice on how best to deliver the music during scary and tense scenes as Beltrami had no prior experience in developing a horror score. Beltrami intentionally avoided conventional horror score styles and approached the film as a western, taking influence from Ennio Morricone, prolific composer of many western films, in the creation of Screams music. When scoring a theme for the character of Dewey, Beltrami approached him as a sheriff but also as a "quirky" character, using a Morricone-style guitar accompaniment to maintain the Western approach. An acoustic cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" plays softly in the background to Sidney and Billy's discussion of their relationship, which analyst Jeff Smith describes as: The theme tune of Sidney Prescott, entitled "Sidney's Lament", became a signature track for the series, variations of the tune appearing across the score of Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3. The track features a female choral arrangement expressing "sorrow" concerning the fate of the character. In Scream, Beltrami stated that the voice "spoke" for the character, "lamenting" the loss of her mother. In future films it went on to represent the murders and ensuing trauma inflicted on her. Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks called the "haunting" vocals of the track the "voice of the franchise". The track "Sid Wears a Dress" features in the finale of Scream 3 where the sorrowful chorus of "Lament" gradually shifts key to represent "hope" for the characters future following the resolution of her storyline in what was then the final film in the series. The female voice would be accompanied by a male addition for the first time in "Pied a Terror" from Scream 3 to represent the brother of the character. Beltrami returned for Scream 2 (1998), leading the score though there would be a late inclusion by Danny Elfman in the form of the choral track "Cassandra Aria". In addition, excerpts from the score of Broken Arrow by Hans Zimmer appeared in the film, in particular guitar work by Duane Eddy, for the character 'Dewey', replacing many of the character's related tracks from the original Scream score. Beltrami later explained that the Zimmer piece was used as a scratch track for test screening purposes before the score was finalized. The test audience reaction to it influenced the studio keep the Zimmer piece, reducing "Dewey's Theme", which Beltrami had composed to fill its place, to minor use during more serious scenes involving the character. The Zimmer piece would continue to be used in Scream 3 during scenes concerning the evolving relationship between the characters of Dewey and Gale with Beltrami appropriating and adding his own influence to the piece to blend it into the thematic Scream 3 score. For Scream 3, Beltrami employed seven orchestrators to aid in scoring the extensive orchestral accompaniment featured in the film's score. Additionally, he experimented with new styles of sound production by recording instruments in abnormal circumstances such as inserting objects into a piano and recording at various velocities to create a distorted, unnatural sound and modifying the results electronically. The Scream series, when compared to the other high-grossing American horror franchises – A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Friday the 13th, Halloween, The Evil Dead, the Hannibal Lecter series, Hellraiser, Psycho, Saw, The Exorcist, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — with figures adjusted for 2011 inflation, is the sixth highest grossing horror franchise in the domestic United States at $442.9million. This list is topped by Friday the 13th at $687.1million, followed by the Nightmare on Elm Street series with $592.8million, the Hannibal Lecter film series with $588.7million, Halloween with $557.5million, the Saw series with $457.4million, the Scream series which is followed by Psycho with $376.3million, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with $304.6million, the Child's Play film series with approximately $203million, and The Evil Dead with $154million. The original Scream has remained the most successful of the series accruing a US$173,046,663 gross worldwide and receiving a largely positive critical reception, closely followed by Scream 2 with less than $1million separating their respective box-office takings. Scream 3 suffered significantly worse domestically and critically than its predecessors, taking only $89.1million compared to Scream and Scream 2 with $103million and $101.1million respectively. All three installments takings remained relatively equal in other territories with less than $2million separating them. Scream is currently the 518th highest-grossing movie worldwide, followed by Scream 2 at 520 and Scream 3 at 616. As of 2011, Scream remains the highest-grossing film in the slasher genre, followed by Scream 2 and Scream 3 at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Scream 4 underperformed domestically, grossing just less than its $40million budget, making $38.2million in the United States and Canada. It did better internationally, grossing $59million in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $97.1million. It remains the lowest financially performing entry in the series to date and, according to industry experts, the film's opening weekend was "disappointing", with the film representing the second-lowest opening of the Scream franchise. Despite competition from other big name films during its release, including Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire and Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!, its release date of December 20, during the Christmas season, and Variety labeling it "D.O.A." before it was even released, Scream became the surprise hit of the year and continued to show in cinemas for nearly eight months. By late 1998, Scream 2 broke February opening weekend records for its box-office takings in 1998 and held the record until December 15, 2000, being replaced by What Women Want (2000). When adjusted for 2012 inflation, the entire Scream franchise has grossed $816,420,621 worldwide. The Scream series has received a largely positive critical response since the release of the first film in 1996 with Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times calling Scream "a bravura, provocative sendup of horror pictures" while Empires Adam Smith called it "Clever, quick and bloody funny." Other reviews appreciated the shift from the teen slasher films of the 1980s and their "endless series of laborious, half-baked sequels." Williamson's script received praise for its "fiendishly clever, complicated plot" which "deftly mixes irony, self-reference and wry social commentary with chills and blood spills." Janet Maslin of The New York Times was less complimentary saying "[Craven] wants things both ways, capitalizing on lurid material while undermining it with mocking humor. Not even horror fans who can answer all this film's knowing trivia questions may be fully comfortable with such an exploitative mix". Scream went on to rank No. 32 on Entertainment Weeklys list of the '50 Best High School Movies and No. 13 on Bravo's 'The 100 Scariest Movie Movements'. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly would add additional praise to the film, listing it as No. 60 on their list of the '100 Best Films of the Last 13 years'. The film ranked No. 482 on Empires 2008 list of 'The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'. Scream received several awards in 1996 including the Saturn Award's Best Actress for Campbell, Best Writing for Kevin Williamson and Best Horror Film plus nominations for Best Director for Wes Craven and Best Supporting Actor for both Ulrich and Barrymore. The film was also awarded the 1997 Best Movie by the MTV Movie Awards. Scream 2 received equally positive critical response with some critics arguing that the film surpassed the original in scares and humor. Both Gene Siskel and the New York Times' Janet Maslin gave the sequel positive reviews despite their negative response to Scream. The film failed to achieve the same success as the original in terms of awards however, winning only the 1998 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance for Campbell plus Saturn Award nominations for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Horror Film for Campbell, Cox and Scream 2 respectively. Scream 3 received mostly mixed reviews, receiving an aggregated score of 36% on review-site Rotten Tomatoes compared to Screams 83% and Scream 2s 81% with general consensus that "Scream 3 became what the series originally started out spoofing" and concluded that the series "lost its freshness and originality by falling back on the old horror formulas and clichés". Of the characters, Roger Ebert said "[the characters] are so thin, they're transparent" but praised Campbell's appearance saying "The camera loves her. She could become a really big star and then giggle at clips from this film at her AFI tribute". Not all reviews were negative, Kevin Thomas at the Los Angeles Times called it "Genuinely scary and also highly amusing" and Tom Coates at the BBC stated that "as the conclusion to the trilogy it works more effectively than anyone had a right to expect". Scream 4 received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 59% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 169 reviews, with an average score of 5.8 out of 10. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a 52 based on 32 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a B− on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, criticizing the film for using the clichéd formula of the slasher genre. Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film a negative rating of one and half out of four stars saying "the problem is, the movie doesn't really care if we are laughing with it or at it". Empire gave the film two out of five stars, criticizing the film's old-fashioned formula and lack of scare factor. The New York Daily News thought the film was "dated" and that "relying on obvious clichés doesn't seem ironic anymore, just easy." The Toronto Sun gave the film a mixed review, writing that "this installment is nowhere near the hip, serrated-edge blast of newness the original was in 1996. Suddenly, it's the horror thriller that, like, your parents are excited about"; however, the review praised director Wes Craven. Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave the film a perfect score of four out of four stars, praising the combination of scares, comedy, and twists. The Boston Herald wrote that the film is "often amusing" but too long. Lisa Kennedy from The Denver Post stated that Scream 4 "pays plenty of homage to their 1996 original", but that it is not close to its greatness. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly praised the film, stating "It's a giddy reminder of everything that made Scream such a fresh scream in the first place," while Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Scream 4 finds a way to live up to its gory past while it carves out new terrors in new ways." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the movie two out of four stars, criticizing the comedic overtones. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the film four out of five stars stating, "The first film is still the best, but this is much more in line with (and perhaps even better than) the fun of Scream 2 and the drab Scream 3. Scream 4s conclusion also works as a strong series ender." Scream was released in US territories on VHS on December 2, 1997, followed by Scream 2 on December 1, 1998 and Scream 3 on October 24, 2000. All releases were conducted by Buena Vista Home Entertainment which, by the time of Scream 3s release, had become known as Walt Disney Home Entertainment. The Scream films were released on DVD for the first time on December 3, 1997 starting with Scream. with a Collector's Edition of the film released on December 8, 1998, containing the film as well as deleted scenes, outtakes, the film's theatrical trailer, cast interviews, directors commentary and behind the scenes information. Scream 2 was released in the US on July 22, 1998 with a Collector's Edition following on August 7, 2001. The Collector's Edition featured additional material including outtakes, deleted scenes, the film's theatrical trailer, music videos of songs featured in the film and directors' commentary. Scream 3 was released in the US on July 4, 2000 only as a Collector's Edition featuring deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentary, music videos of songs featured in the film, trailers for the film and biographies on the cast and crew involved in the film's production. In 2001, the Scream 3 release was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Home Video Release, losing to Princess Mononoke (1997). All of the US releases were undertaken by Buena Vista Home Entertainment which, by the time of Scream 3s release, had become known as Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Following the release of, then series finale, Scream 3, the three films were collected in "The Ultimate Scream Collection" by Dimension Films on September 26, 2000, in a boxset containing Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 plus "Behind the Scream" a short documentary about the production of the three films and additional material including screentests of actors involved in the films, outtakes and deleted scenes. Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 remained unreleased in foreign territories including Europe and Japan until 2001 where they were simultaneously released on February 26 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Each film contained the additional content found in the Collector's Edition version of their US release including deleted scenes, outtakes, theatrical trailers, music videos and commentary from each respective film's crew. Additionally, the three films were collected together in a single pack, again released on February 26 and released as "Scream Trilogy". The three original films were released individually and in a collection in Blu-ray Disc format on March 29, 2011, two weeks prior to the release of Scream 4, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, hosting the films in 1080p high definition. In addition to the films, each release contained audio commentary, theatrical trailers and behind-the-scenes footage for each respective film. The Scream original soundtrack, released December 17, 1996 by the label TVT Records, features 12 songs by various artists including the original piece "Trouble in Woodsboro"/"Sidney's Lament" from the film's score by Marco Beltrami, most of which appeared in various scenes in the film. The piece "School's Out" by Alice Cooper appeared in the film but was replaced with a cover version of the song by The Last Hard Men on the album. The album was given 3 out of 5 stars by Allmusic though it was considered a failure and never charted on the Billboard 200 despite the success of the film. The Scream score by Marco Beltrami would be his first time scoring a major film release and the ensuing exposure allowed him to go on to score other blockbuster films such as I, Robot and Live Free or Die Hard. The score would not be released commercially until July 14, 1998 by Varèse Sarabande in a dual-pack with the Scream 2 score. However it was found to lack several pieces from the films, with a runtime of only 12 minutes compared to the more common 30–45 minutes normally found in original scores due to the high reuse fees involved in obtaining the rights to commercially release the music. Beltrami was considered to have taken inspiration from the synthetic styles of Éric Serra and other successful scores, the references becoming more pronounced in his score to Scream 2. The theme for the central character Sidney Prescott, "Sidney's Lament" incorporated a "haunting" female solo vocal that would be utilized in other tracks throughout the entire film series. The score to Scream received generally positive reviews with Mikael Carlsson labeling it as some of the most intriguing horror scores composed in years while Filmtracks claimed the scores had "cult status". The Scream 2 original soundtrack was released December 2, 1997, by Capitol Records featuring 15 songs in the R&B;, rap and rock genres by various artists, some of which are represented in the film. The album spent ten weeks on the Billboard 200, rising as high as No. 50 but received a lower score than its predecessor from the music guide Allmusic, gaining only 2 out of 5. Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic opined that the soundtrack was an attempt to compensate for the previous film's lack of a hit soundtrack, but failed to do, creating an "uneven" album of songs not "good enough to make [the artists'] own albums". The Scream 2 score was, as in Scream, developed by Marco Beltrami and was released on July 14, 1998 in a dual-pack with the score to Scream by Varèse Sarabande. The commercially released score was found to be lacking several pieces used in the film, with a runtime of only 17 minutes compared to the more common 30–45 minutes normally found in original scores. Included in the missing pieces was the track "Cassandra Aria" created by Danny Elfman, described by soundtrack-review site Filmtracks as "a frenzied, choral-enhanced three minutes" that remains unreleased . The length of the released score was considered disappointing and blamed on the fees required to be paid to musicians in order to release their music. The influence of several other famous composers could be heard in the score including Hans Zimmer, Elliot Goldenthal, Ennio Morricone and Christopher Young. In particular excerpts of the Hans Zimmer's score to Broken Arrow, featuring guitar by Duane Eddy, would become a component of the theme tune of the character Dewey Riley. The Scream 3 original soundtrack was released on January 25, 2000 by Wind-up Records featuring 18 songs consisting largely of the metal genre by artists such as System of a Down and Powerman 5000, some of which are represented in the film. The album fared better than its predecessors, spending fourteen weeks on the Billboard 200 and reaching a top rank of #32. and scoring a 2.5 out of 5 from music guide Allmusic. Reviewer Steve Huey claims that the "high pedigree" of the albums contributors had produced a "pretty listenable album". The Scream 3 score was again helmed by Marco Beltrami who employed seven orchestrators and experimented with the recording of instruments in unusual circumstances such as physically and electronically altering the traditional sound of a piano while continuing to include a heavy vocal orchestra in his tracks There was consideration that Beltrami was forced to hire multiple orchestrators to complete the score to meet the film's deadline. Like previous scores in the series, the Scream 3 score was released by Varèse Sarabande on February 29, 2000 with a total length of 33 minutes of music, though the album was again found to be missing certain sections of the score utilized within the film. Beltrami took inspiration from other composers for the score, again incorporating excerpts of the score to Broken Arrow by Hans Zimmer in the track "Sid Wears a Dress". Music guide Allmusic awarded the Scream 3 score 2.5 out of 5. The Scream 4: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on April 12, 2011 by Lakeshore Records. The soundtrack features 12 songs performed by various artists mainly of the rock genre, such as Ida Maria, The Sounds and The Novocaines. The soundtrack received mixed reactions, with Gotham News stating that "This new album attempts to retain the style of the old, while speaking to the present content-diluted market. It has some success, but no cigar." Shadowlocked criticized the soundtrack's overly light tone, saying that "There's little here that I would have picked for a horror movie." A score soundtrack was also released, on April 19, 2011 by Varèse Sarabande. The Scream 4 score was yet again developed by Marco Beltrami. It received mixed reviews. Filmtracks stating that "Despite the memorable history Beltrami has afforded the franchise musically, Scream 4 is a substantially disappointing continuation of the narrative. He and four assistant composers handle the 2011 entry from a purely functional stance, tackling individual scenes with stylistic remnants of the previous scores while accomplishing absolutely nothing new." Soundtrack-review site Sountrackgeek gave the score a highly favorable review: "It is possibly the best score in the Scream series, because it is so incredibly forceful. It wants to be full of action and chills and it is. It's not the scariest of scores, but Scream has never been about the moody scares, but rather the surprise scare and crazy fight/chase scenes. It succeeds and I had a blast listening to this from start to finish." A documentary film, Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, was released in April 2011. This film was written and directed by Ryan Turek. The documentary discusses the first three movies in the series and includes interviews with Wes Craven, Neve Campbell, and other cast members. Amidst the series' success, it has also been tinged with controversy with claims of real-world copycat crime inspirations and inducing violence. In January 1998, 16-year-old Mario Padilla and his 14-year-old cousin, Samuel Ramirez stabbed Mario's mother, Gina Castillo, 45 times, killing her. The case became known as the "Scream murder" and fell under intense media scrutiny after the boys claimed they were inspired by Scream and Scream 2. They would also admit to needing the money acquired from Gina's murder to fund a killing spree and purchase two Ghostface costumes and a voice-changer used by the character in the film. During their trial, psychologist, Madeline Levine, who studied the effect of violence on children, stated "There were a whole bunch of reasons why they acted out that way. But did the movie provide a blueprint? Absolutely." The case was expected to highlight the effect of violent films on teenagers but the presiding judge, John Cheroske, ordered that evidence pertaining to Scream be barred and that the case not be referred to as the "Scream murder", refusing media access to the courtroom, intending that the case was tried as murder and nothing else. On January 17, 1999, 13-year-old Ashley Murray was stabbed multiple times in the head and back before being left for dead by his then-friends Daniel Gill, 14, and Robert Fuller, 15; he was later found and saved by an elderly man walking his dog. The pair were dubbed the "Scream attackers" after it emerged that they had watched Scream shortly before the attack and drawings of the Ghostface mask were found amongst their possessions, though their actions were additionally blamed on physical abuse, drugs and exposure to black magic in their home life. Murray, who later testified against the pair, himself stated that he believed the film may have influenced the pair to attack him. On May 4, 1999, following the Columbine incident and increasing news media scrutiny on the effects on society of violence in films, games and other media, the United States Senate Commerce committee held a hearing about Hollywood's marketing of films to youths and the horror genre of films in particular, using the opening scene of Scream featuring the murder of Casey Becker, as an example of negative media which may be viewed by children. In November 2001, Belgian Thierry Jaradin, 24, garbed in a Ghostface mask and costume murdered 15-year-old Alisson Cambier after she rejected his romantic advances. Jaradin later claimed to police that the murder was premeditated and inspired by the Scream film trilogy. The following year a seventeen-year-old French youth, identified only as Julien, following prior failed attempts with other girls, lured a fellow pupil to a secluded spot and stabbed her to death after showing her his Ghostface mask. French authorities of the time claimed the murder as the third Scream related killing since 2000. Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Martin Duffy (keyboards), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums). Barrie Cadogan has toured and recorded with the band since 2006 as a replacement after the departure of guitarist Robert "Throb" Young. Primal Scream had been performing live from 1982 to 1984, but their career did not take off until Gillespie left his position as drummer of The Jesus and Mary Chain. The band were a key part of the mid-1980s indie pop scene, but eventually moved away from their jangly sound, taking on more psychedelic and garage rock influences, before incorporating a dance music element to their sound with their 1991 album Screamadelica, which broke them into the mainstream. Their latest album Chaosmosis was released on 18 March 2016. Bobby Gillespie moved to Mount Florida in southeastern Glasgow, where he attended King's Park Secondary School, where he first met Robert Young. Another schoolfriend was Alan McGee, who took Gillespie to his first gig, a Thin Lizzy concert. McGee and Gillespie were heavily influenced by punk rock, and they joined a local punk band, The Drains, in 1978. The Drains' guitarist was a 15-year-old Andrew Innes. The band was short-lived, and Innes and McGee moved to London while Gillespie chose to remain in Glasgow. After the punk movement ended, Gillespie became disenchanted with mainstream new wave music. He met another schoolfriend who shared his outlook, Jim Beattie, and they recorded "elemental noise tapes", in which Gillespie would bang two dustbin lids together and Beattie played fuzz-guitar. They soon moved on to The Velvet Underground and The Byrds cover songs before starting to write their own songs, based on Jah Wobble and Peter Hook basslines. Gillespie later said that the band "didn't really exist, but we did it every night for something to do." They named themselves Primal Scream, a term for a type of cry heard in primal therapy. Still essentially a partnership, Primal Scream first played live in 1982. Their first recording session, for McGee's independent label Essential Records, produced a single track entitled "The Orchard", with Judith Boyle on vocals. Beattie later claimed that they burned the master tape. After the aborted recording, Gillespie joined The Jesus and Mary Chain as their drummer, and alternated between the two bands. While The Jesus and Mary Chain became notorious for their chaotic gigs, Gillespie and Beattie expanded Primal Scream's lineup to include schoolfriend Young on bass, rhythm guitarist Stuart May, drummer Tom McGurk, and tambourine player Martin St. John. This lineup was signed to Creation Records, an independent record label founded by Alan McGee, and recorded the group's debut single, "All Fall Down", which received positive reviews. After the release of the single, Gillespie was told by The Jesus and Mary Chain leaders William and Jim Reid that he was to either dissolve Primal Scream to join their band full-time or resign. Gillespie chose to remain with Primal Scream. Stuart May was replaced by Paul Harte, and the group released a new single, "Crystal Crescent". Its B-side, "Velocity Girl", was released on the C86 compilation, which led to their being associated with the scene of the same name. The band strongly disliked this, Gillespie saying that other groups in that scene "can't play their instruments and they can't write songs." The band toured throughout 1986, and Gillespie became disenchanted with the quality of their performances. He said that there "was always something missing, musically or in attitude." They switched to McGee's newly set-up Warner Bros. subsidiary Elevation Records. Before the band entered Rockfield Studios in Wales to record their debut album, McGurk was asked to leave. The group subsequently began recording using session players. They spent four weeks recording with producer Stephen Street before deciding to halt the sessions. May was subsequently dismissed; Gillespie's former bandmate Innes was brought in as his replacement, and the band found a new drummer, Gavin Skinner. With their new lineup, the band re-entered the studio, this time in London with producer Mayo Thompson. By the time Sonic Flower Groove was completed, it had cost £100,000. The album reached number 62 on the British charts and received poor reviews, with AllMusic calling it "pristine but dull." The backlash from the album caused internal strife within the band. Beattie and Skinner subsequently resigned. The band, now consisting of Gillespie, Innes and Young, relocated to Brighton to regroup. Young switched to guitar, and they recruited bassist Henry Olsen and drummer Phillip "Toby" Tomanov, who had both been in Nico's backing band, The Faction. They traded in their jangle pop sound for a harder rock edge, or as Gillespie said, "[w]e had found rock 'n' roll." The band re-signed to Creation Records and released their first single in two years, "Ivy, Ivy, Ivy". This was followed by a full album, Primal Scream. The band's new sound was met with poor reviews, NME called it "confused and lacking in cohesion". Fans responded as unfavourably as the critics, with many of the old fans being disappointed or simply confused by the new sound. The album featured Felt keyboardist Martin Duffy guesting. The band were first introduced to the acid house scene by McGee in 1988. They were at first sceptical; Gillespie said: "I always remember being quite fascinated by it but not quite getting it." The band developed a taste for it and began attending raves. The band met up with DJ Andrew Weatherall at a rave, and he was given a copy of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have", a track from Primal Scream, to remix for one of his shows. Weatherall added a drum loop from an Italian bootleg mix of Edie Brickell's "What I Am", a sample of Gillespie singing a line from Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" and the central introductory sample from the Peter Fonda B-movie The Wild Angels. The resulting track, "Loaded", became the band's first major hit, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. This was followed by another single, "Come Together", which reached number 19. The band entered the studio with Weatherall, Hugo Nicolson, The Orb and Jimmy Miller producing, and Martin Duffy now full-time on keyboards. They released two more singles, "Higher Than The Sun" and "Don't Fight It, Feel It" which featured the lead vocals of Manchester singer Denise Johnson, both of which were successful. The album, Screamadelica, was released in late 1991 to positive reviews. Ink Blot Magazine said that the album was "both of its time and timeless." The album was also a commercial success, reaching number eight on the UK chart. The album won the first Mercury Music Prize, beating Gillespie's former band The Jesus and Mary Chain. The supporting tour kicked off in Amsterdam, and it included a performance at the Glastonbury festival before coming to an end in Sheffield. Throughout the tour the band and their increasingly large entourage gained notoriety for their large narcotic intake. Around this time, the band recorded the Dixie Narco EP. Some of the tracks had a more American blues rock sound than previously, and displayed a P-Funk influence. The band began work on their fourth album in Roundhouse Studios in London in September 1992. In March 1994, the first single from the new album, "Rocks", was released. It was the band's highest-charting single to date, reaching number seven on the UK charts. The single was not received well, with NME calling them "dance traitors". The album, Give Out But Don't Give Up was released in May to mixed reviews. Whereas some praised the band's new The Rolling Stones-influenced sound, some dismissed the album as tired and drawing too heavily on their influences. Two more singles were released from the album, "Jailbird" and "(I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind", both of which charted progressively lower. While touring in support of the album, relations within the band began to wear down. The band's American tour, when they supported Depeche Mode, was, in the words of manager Alex Nightingale, "the closest we've come to the band splitting up." After the completion of the tour, the band remained quiet for a long period of time. Gillespie later remarked that he was unsure if the band would continue. The only release during this period was a single, "The Big Man and the Scream Team Meet the Barmy Army Uptown", a collaboration with Irvine Welsh and On-U Sound, which caused controversy due to offensive lyrics about Rangers F.C. and their fan base. After a short hiatus, the band returned with a new lineup. Gary "Mani" Mounfield, fresh from the well-publicised break-up of his previous band, The Stone Roses, was added as the band's new bassist, and Paul Mulraney was added as their new drummer. The arrival of Mani revitalized the group, who were considering disbanding after the failure of Give Out. The album was recorded in the band's personal studio in two months, and was mixed in another month. Most of the recording was engineered by Innes, and produced by Brendan Lynch and Andrew Weatherall. The music on the album had a complex shoegazing dance/dub rhythm, harking back to the crossover success of Screamadelica, yet sounding significantly darker. Some songs on the album were inspired by cult 1971 film Vanishing Point; Gillespie said that they wanted to create an alternative soundtrack for the film. Other lyrics were inspired by the band's past experiences with drug abuse. Gillespie described the album as "an anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road movie record!" The first single released from the album, "Kowalski", was released in May 1997, and reached number 8 on the British charts. The album, titled Vanishing Point after the film, was released in July and revitalized the band's commercial viability. It received almost positive reviews upon release, Entertainment Weekly calling it a "swirling, hypnotic acid-trip", and Musik saying that "this group's place in the history book of late 20th Century music is assured." The inclusion on the album of the title track from the film Trainspotting also helped cement the band's place in alternative modern culture. The band scheduled a short supporting tour to take place during July. The band had to postpone the dates. This led to speculation that there were problems within the band, and that one of the members may resign. The band's press agent issued a statement saying "[i]t's not a drugs thing and it's not a nervous breakdown." Before the tour was scheduled to begin, Mulraney left the band and they were forced to use a drum machine. The initial dates were poorly received, but they eventually hired drummer Darrin Mooney and the gigs improved. Throughout the Vanishing Point tour Primal Scream employed the up-and-coming Asian Dub Foundation as a support act, helping them to break into the mainstream. In February 1998 the band released the "If They Move, Kill 'Em" EP. This notably featured the bands' first collaboration with Kevin Shields, on his remix of the title track. Later that year, Shields joined the band on tour and would have a major influence on their sound in the next few years. After the release of the album, a collection of alternative mixes/remixes from Vanishing Point were released as the album Echo Dek, with the bulk of mixes done by Adrian Sherwood. Recording sessions for the band's sixth album went well. The band were for the most part free of drugs, and their lineup had stabilised. Despite their new- found peace, the band pursued a harsher and angrier musical direction. Many of the songs they wrote had overtly political lyrics, Gillespie said the band wished to convey "What it's like to be in Britain in this day and age." The album featured multiple guest appearances, including the Chemical Brothers, New Order's Bernard Sumner, and former My Bloody Valentine guitarist Kevin Shields, who had become a semi-permanent member. The first single from XTRMNTR, "Swastika Eyes", was released on November 1999. The song's overtly political content, Gillespie said it was about "American international terrorism", made it controversial. Nevertheless, it was a hit, charting at No. 22 on the British charts. XTRMNTR itself fared well, reaching No. 3\. The political content was well received, with Allmusic calling it a "nasty, fierce realization of an entire world that has... lost the plot.". In 2009 NME charted XTRMNTR at No. 3 in The Top 100 Greatest Albums of The Decade. In 2000, the band began recording their seventh album, Evil Heat, released in 2002. Though the political content was not as strong as the previous album, there was a song originally slated for the album entitled "Bomb the Pentagon", which was reworked into the song "Rise" after the 11 September attacks. The album, like many of Primal Scream's previous albums, had multiple producers. Shields produced several tracks, and Andrew Weatherall produced three tracks, his first work with the band since Vanishing Point. Kate Moss sang professionally for the first time with single "Some Velvet Morning", a version of the Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song. The album also featured another guest appearance, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. In 2003 the double CD album Dirty Hits was released containing the better known works and some previously unheard versions and remixes of those tunes. In June 2005, Primal Scream played a controversial set at the Glastonbury Festival, throughout which Gillespie was playfully abusive to the crowd and was alleged to have made Nazi salutes during the song "Swastika Eyes". They were eventually forced off by officials after overrunning their allotted time; the festival organisers were at that point already annoyed at the band when, in response to their invitation to join other recording artists in signing a Make Poverty History poster which would be auctioned off for charity, lead singer Bobby Gillespie instead altered the poster so that it read "Make Israel History". Gillespie later said that this was to show his support for the Palestinian cause. In an interview with NME, Gillespie said that the band had written "euphoric rock 'n' roll songs" for their next album. They intended to capture the energy of their live performances. The band chose Youth as their producer, which led to speculation that they had fallen out with Shields. Although the band themselves admitted that they were unsure of the situation, Shields subsequently joined them on tour. The album's first single, "Country Girl", was released on 22 May 2006, and regular airplay resulted in a chart entry of number 5, their highest ever. It was also used by the BBC in the closing credits of the Grand National 2007 and as the backing track to a video celebrating the successes of the Scottish racing driver Dario Franchitti in the 2007 Autosport Awards ceremony in London. The album, Riot City Blues, was released in June and reached number five on the UK Album Charts. However, it received mixed reviews: Pitchfork Media called it "flat and dead", while AllMusic called it "a refreshingly retro rock & roll album" In support of the album, the band toured the UK, along with selected dates in Europe. The band released their first DVD, Riot City Blues Tour, in August 2007. The DVD featured clips of the band's performance in London, as well as all their music videos and an interview with Gillespie and Mani. On 26 August 2006, bassist Mani was reportedly arrested at the Leeds music festival, after what was said to be a drunken brawl. However, he was soon released and the band's appearance at the festival went ahead. Also around this time, Young left the band to go on sabbatical, failing to appear on their November 2006 UK tour. It was later stated by Bobby Gillespie that Young was unlikely to make a return. He was temporarily replaced by Barrie Cadogan of Little Barrie. Young died in September 2014. After touring Screamadelica for most of 2011, on 18 October Gary Mounfield revealed he had left the band due to the reformation of his original band The Stone Roses. Debbie Googe (of My Bloody Valentine) was announced as his replacement. On 27 March 2012, it was confirmed that Primal Scream would support The Stone Roses at their Heaton Park concert in Manchester on 29 June 2012. The band's tenth album, More Light, was released in May 2013 on the band's own label, First International, via Ignition Records. The new album was produced by David Holmes, who confirmed the release on his Facebook page on 11 January 2013. The first track taken from the album is "2013" with a music video directed by Rei Nadal. The first single proper is "It's Alright, It's OK", which was played in the UK by both BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music, as well as supported by leading alternative music stations XFM and Absolute Radio. The second single is "Invisible City". Former guitarist Robert "Throb" Young died in September 2014. On 7 December 2015, the band announced details of their upcoming album, Chaosmosis, which was released on 18 March 2016. In August 2018 it was announced that the band would release the original long-lost recordings made for Give Out But Don’t Give Up for the first time, which were made when the band went to Memphis Ardent Studios in 1993 to work on a new album with producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. On May 24, 2019 the band released a third compilation album, Maximum Rock'n'Roll : The Singles. The album contains seventeen tracks spanning the period from 1986 till 2016. Current members Bobby Gillespie - lead vocals, percussion (1982–present), Andrew Innes - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1987–present), Martin Duffy - keyboards, synths, turntables (1989–present), Darrin Mooney - drums, percussion (1997–present), Simone Butler - bass guitar, keyboards, percussion (2012–present) Former members Denise Johnson - backing vocals, co-lead vocals (1990-1995), Jim Beattie – guitar, keyboards (1982–1987), Stuart May – guitar (1985–1986), Paul Harte – guitar (1986), Kevin Shields – guitar, keyboards (1998–2006), Barrie Cadogan – guitar, keyboards (2006–2015), Robert "Throb" Young – bass (1982–1988), guitar, keyboards (1988–2006; died 2014), Henry Olsen – bass (1988–1995), Mani – bass (1996–2011), Tom McGurk – drums (1982–1987), Dave Morgan – drums (1987), Gavin Skinner – drums (1987–1988), Phillip "Toby" Tomanov – drums (1988–1995), Paul Mulreany – drums, programming (1996–1997), Martin St. John – tambourine (1986-1987) Sonic Flower Groove (1987), Primal Scream (1989), Screamadelica (1991), Give Out But Don't Give Up (1994), Vanishing Point (1997), XTRMNTR (2000), Evil Heat (2002), Riot City Blues (2006), Beautiful Future (2008), More Light (2013), Chaosmosis (2016) List of bands from Glasgow, List of Scottish musicians Official website Scream is an American anthology slasher television series developed by Jill Blotevogel, Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie for MTV and Brett Matthews for VH1. It is based on the slasher film series of the same name created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven. The series is produced by Dimension Television and MTV Production Development, and was formerly filmed in Louisiana, in locations such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Blotevogel and Jaime Paglia originally served as showrunners during the first season before being replaced by Michael Gans and Richard Register in the second season, because of creative differences. The first two seasons were situated in the fictional town of Lakewood, where a string of murders took place. At the center of those murders was Emma Duval (played by Willa Fitzgerald), a teenage girl who is somehow tied to the town's dark past. The series premiered on June 30, 2015, on MTV and concluded its first season on September 1, 2015. The series was officially picked up for a second season in July 2015. After its second season concluded, a two-hour Halloween special aired in October 2016. In October 2016, MTV renewed the series for a third season. In April 2017, MTV announced that they were rebooting the series with the third season, with a new cast and setting. As part of the reboot process, it was revealed that Brett Matthews would be serving as the main showrunner. In addition, Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere and Yaneley Arty would be added as executive producers for the series under Flavor Unit Entertainment. RJ Cyler, C.J. Wallace, Tyga, Keke Palmer, Jessica Sula, Giorgia Whigham, Giullian Yao Gioiello and Tyler Posey starred in the rebooted third season. In June 2019, it was announced that the series would be moving to VH1 ahead of the premiere of the third season. The third season, titled Scream: Resurrection, premiered on July 8, 2019. Scream is a serialized anthology series that follows a group of teenagers being stalked and targeted by a masked serial killer. The first two seasons follows the story of Emma Duval, a teenage girl set in the fictional town of Lakewood, who is linked to the horrific events of the town's past. As the killer's main obsession starts to take a hold after a brutal murder in the present, Emma finds herself in the center of imminent peril. With both her family and friends in danger, she sets out to uncover the town's dark mysteries and unmask the identity of the Lakewood Slasher. The third season follows the story of Deion Elliot, a local football star in Atlanta, who is tormented by the events of his tragic past. As Ghostface uses his darkest secrets against him and continues with a killing spree, Deion not only stands to lose his future, but also, the lives of his friends and family members, who might end up being potential victims of the notorious and infamous killer. Willa Fitzgerald as Emma Duval, a popular high school student, and daughter of Maggie Duval (seasons 1–2), Bex Taylor-Klaus as Audrey Jensen, a sarcastic, bicurious filmmaker and Emma's best friend (seasons 1–2), John Karna as Noah Foster, a witty and intelligent nerd who is extremely knowledgeable about horror films (seasons 1–2), Amadeus Serafini as Kieran Wilcox, a new student living with his father who becomes Emma's main love interest (seasons 1–2), Connor Weil as Will Belmont, Emma's ex-boyfriend, and Jake Fitzgerald's best friend (season 1), Carlson Young as Brooke Maddox, a beautiful, rich but troubled girl who is Emma's best friend (seasons 1–2), Jason Wiles as Clark Hudson, the former sheriff of Lakewood (season 1), Tracy Middendorf as Maggie Duval, Emma's mother and the medical examiner (seasons 1–2), Kiana Brown as Zoe Vaughn, fellow high school student, a driven overachiever who harbors a secret and was Noah's love interest (season 2), Santiago Segura as Gustavo "Stavo" Acosta, a high school student and the son of Sheriff Acosta. He is a skilled artist who is deeply into horror, serial killers and comic books. (season 2), RJ Cyler as Deion Elliot, a star running back for the high school football team. (season 3), Cyler also plays Marcus Elliot, Deion's deceased twin brother, who later appears in Deion's nightmare scene from the episode "The Man Behind the Mask"., Jessica Sula as Olivia "Liv" Reynolds, a member of the cheer squad and an honor roll student (season 3), Giorgia Whigham as Beth, the resident goth girl and a local tattoo artist (season 3), C. J. Wallace as Amir Ayoub, a good kid with strict parents who demand he stay away from girls and work in the family business (season 3), Tyga as Jamal "Jay" Elliot, Deion's half-brother; he has a big heart and is undyingly loyal to Deion (season 3), Keke Palmer as Kym, a rebel with a thousand causes; she is a bold and beautiful social activist (season 3), Tyler Posey as Shane, a high school dropout. He is a drug dealer and party promoter. (season 3) Amelia Rose Blaire as Piper Shaw, a podcaster who comes to Lakewood to investigate the recent murders (season 1; guest season 2), Mike Vaughn as Lakewood Slasher (seasons 1–2) / Shallow Grove Slasher (season 2; Halloween special) (voices), Tom Maden as Jake Fitzgerald, Brooke's boyfriend and Will Belmont's best friend (seasons 1–2), Bobby Campo as Seth Branson, a teacher who had a secret relationship with Brooke (seasons 1–2), Bryan Batt as Mayor Quinn Maddox, Brooke's father and the mayor of Lakewood, who is revealed to be hiding secrets from the town about illegal business deals and cover-ups (seasons 1–2), Brianne Tju as Riley Marra, Emma's friend who takes an interest in Noah (season 1), Sosie Bacon as Rachel Murray, Audrey's ex-girlfriend. She has suicidal inclinations. (season 1; guest season 2), Sophina Brown as Detective Lorraine Brock, a detective assigned to Nina Patterson's murder case (season 1), Tom Everett Scott as Kevin Duval, Emma's estranged father and Maggie's ex-husband (season 2; guest season 1), Anthony Ruivivar as Sheriff Miguel Acosta, an outspoken, competent and experienced cop who returns to his childhood home of Lakewood. He is a devoted, sometimes strict, family man who is very protective of his son, Stavo. (season 2), Austin Highsmith as Kristen Lang, an idealistic high school psychology teacher who becomes a confidant and mentor to her students (season 2), Sean Grandillo as Eli Hudson, Kieran's cousin. He presents a squeaky clean image but may have ulterior motives. His arrival in Lakewood brings along secrets of Kieran's past that were buried long ago. He takes an interest in Emma. (season 2), Karina Logue as Tina Hudson, Eli's mother, and Kieran's legal guardian. She is proper and polite but with a grifter's sense of self-reliance. (season 2), Mary Katherine Duhon as Haley Meyers, a classmate from high school who dislikes Emma and her friends (season 2), Alexander Calvert as Alex Whitten / Tom Martin (season 2; Halloween special), Zena Grey as Gina McLane (season 2; Halloween special), Alex Esola as Jeremy Blair (season 2; Halloween special), Lindsay LaVanchy as Billie Fields (season 2; Halloween special), Roger L. Jackson as Ghostface (voice) (season 3), Tony Todd as Luther Thompson / Hook Man, a deranged man who Deion initially believes killed his twin brother Marcus (season 3), Giullian Yao Gioiello as Manny, a smart, openly gay guy who is loyal to a fault and usually the smartest person in the room. He has asthma and uses an inhaler to help his condition (season 3), Mary J. Blige as Sherry Elliot, Deion's loving and nurturing mother who often worries about the pressure of his future career (season 3), Diesel Madkins as Earl Elliot, Deion's distant father and a trucker (season 3), Gideon Emery as Officer Edward Reynolds, Liv's strict, controlling father and a police officer (season 3), Patrick Johnson as Avery Collins, Liv’s ex-boyfriend and Deion’s rival on the football team (season 3), Drew Starkey as Hawkins, a friend of Deion on the football team (season 3), Terrence J as Coach Griffin, Deion’s football coach (season 3), Nash Grier as Tommy Jenkins, the boy who inadvertently caused Marcus’ death by tossing his Halloween candy over Hook Man’s fence (season 3), Paris Jackson as Becky, the teen who gave out candy to young Marcus back in 2010 (season 3) In June 2012, it was reported that MTV was in the early stages of developing a weekly television series based on the Scream film franchise. In April 2013, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that MTV had greenlit the pilot episode, with Wes Craven in talks to direct. In July 2013, it was reported that Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin had officially boarded the project to write the pilot script and in April 2014, it was reported by TVLine that the series would be penned by Jill Blotevogel. In August 2014, the series announced its cast as well as the director of the pilot episode, Jamie Travis. The series was originally planned to debut in mid-2014, however, this was changed to summer 2015. An official promotional picture of the series' re-imagined mask was revealed in early June 2015. Initially, Craven expressed his approval of the redesign and hinted at its origins and possible plot significance. However, Craven was later critical about the network's decision to abandon the Ghostface mask in the television series. Later, it was reported that there were preliminary discussions about incorporating the mask in the first two seasons. However, the initial plans were scrapped in favor of a new mask, due to creative reasons. Sometime after the announcement of the reboot, MTV made a deal with Fun World, in order to acquire the licensing rights to the Ghostface mask for the series. On April 12, 2015, the first trailer for the series was aired during the 2015 MTV Movie Awards presented by Bella Thorne, also revealing the series' premiere date on June 30. The series was officially picked up for a second season on July 29, 2015. On November 9, 2015, it was announced that Jill Blotevogel and Jaime Paglia would be stepping down as showrunners due to creative differences, although Blotevogel would remain a consultant on the series. Michael Gans and Richard Register replaced them for the second season. On May 2, 2016, the official trailer for the second season was released. The second-season premiere date was changed to May 30, 2016. On October 14, 2016, MTV renewed the series for a six-episode third season, and announced that the showrunners would be replaced again. On April 26, 2017, MTV announced that Queen Latifah would be an executive producer for the third season of Scream. The series will undergo a reboot with a new cast and Brett Matthews serving as showrunner. In addition, it was announced that Matthews, Shakim Compere and Yaneley Arty would also be credited as executive producers for the series under Flavor Unit Entertainment. On July 19, 2017, The Hollywood Reporter announced that the series would transition into an anthology series in the third season. This information was corroborated by MTV president Chris McCarthy. On September 18, 2017, it was announced that the Ghostface mask from the film series would be making an appearance in the third season. On October 10, 2017, Keke Palmer confirmed in an interview that Roger L. Jackson, who voiced Ghostface in the film series, would return for the third season, replacing Mike Vaughn, who served as the voice for two characters, the Lakewood Slasher in the first two seasons and the Shallow Grove Slasher in the Halloween special episodes of the second season. On March 28, 2018, it was confirmed that Harvey Weinstein would not be credited as an executive producer in the third season. In addition, the series would not include The Weinstein Company or its logo in its credits from the third season onward, even though the company was formerly involved in the distribution of the series. From the third season onward, the series will no longer air on MTV. On June 24, 2019, it was confirmed that the third season is scheduled to premiere over three nights on VH1, starting from July 8, 2019. On July 1, 2019, the official trailer for Scream: Resurrection was released. On August 5, 2014, both the main cast and recurring cast were announced. However, Amy Forsyth dropped out and was replaced by Bex Taylor-Klaus as Audrey Jensen. On February 22, 2015, it was revealed that Joel Gretsch, who was playing Clark Hudson, had left the series as producers thought his character should go down a different path; he was replaced by Jason Wiles. On December 11, 2014, it was revealed that Bella Thorne would be a part of the cast, she played the character Nina Patterson. Thorne confirmed this during an interview saying, "Yes it's true. I will re-enact the famous scene of Drew Barrymore in the original series." On April 22, 2015, True Blood actress Amelia Rose Blaire was confirmed to be joining the series as Piper Shaw which, by the character description, is a role similar to Gale Weathers from the Scream films. On June 18, 2015, Bella Thorne confirmed she was offered the lead role in the series but turned it down in favor of a smaller role. She went on to explain, "I had the option to do the lead, but I thought I should choose this role because I felt it was more iconic, I thought it was just a little bit more and also I've never been killed on screen before. I've never been killed ever on anything that I've done. I've always been the character that lives at the end so it was my first time dying on screen which is pretty cool. I wouldn't say that my character isn't necessarily in any more of the episodes but you'll see!" In 2016, Lele Pons appeared in a similar cameo capacity in the beginning of the second season. The scene paid homage to Scream 2, with Pons' character Leah, an actress from the in-show film Murderville, being thrown off a house by a killer, Becca (Chelsea Bruland). It was announced on July 17, 2017, that Tyga and C. J. Wallace would star in the rebooted third season. On September 13, 2017, it was announced that RJ Cyler, Jessica Sula, Keke Palmer, Giullian Yao Gioiello, and Giorgia Whigham had joined the main cast of the third season in addition to the previously announced cast members. On September 25, 2017, it was announced that Tyler Posey had been cast as a series regular in the role of Shane. Posey previously appeared in the series' promo titled "Killer Party", playing a fictionalized version of himself. On August 16, 2018, it was announced that Mary J. Blige had been cast in the role of Deion's mother, Sherry Elliot. On October 12, 2018, it was announced that Tony Todd would appear as Luther Thompson / Hook Man. On June 24, 2019, it was confirmed that Paris Jackson would make an appearance as the character Becky in the third season's first episode "The Deadfast Club". Similar to Thorne and Pons, Paris Jackson will make a cameo in the opening scene of the third season's first episode, paying homage to the opening of the original film. For the first two seasons, the series was filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Filming of season one took place from April through July 2015. Filming for the second season began on February 16, 2016. Filming for the third season began on September 18, 2017 and concluded on November 11, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia. Two official soundtrack albums have been released by MTV. The first season's soundtrack was released on August 14, 2015 under Columbia Records. The second season's soundtrack was released on July 29, 2016 under Island Records. Scream After Dark is a talk show hosted by Jeffery Self, which features behind the scenes footage, and guests discussing episodes of Scream. The first instalment followed the season two premiere and featured Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna, Amadeus Serafini, Carlson Young, and Kiana Brown, and received 185,000 viewers. The second instalment aired following episode eight and featured Fitzgerald, Taylor-Klaus, Karna, Young, Brown, Santiago Segura, and Sean Grandillo, and received 201,000 viewers. The third and final installment aired following the season two finale and featured Fitzgerald, Taylor-Klaus, Karna, Young, and Serafini, and averaged 145,000 viewers. Scream: If I Die is a web series about the six survivors of Lakewood are recorded a video to share their last words and thoughts, before one of them will be murdered by a new Lakewood Slasher killer, leading the events of the second season. On October 1, 2015, the entire first season of Scream became available to stream instantly on Netflix worldwide except in the United States. On May 13, 2016, the first season of Scream became available on Netflix in the United States. The streaming service started to broadcast the second season weekly on May 31, 2016, with a one-day delay with respect to the original United States broadcast. On September 30, 2016, the second season of Scream became available on Netflix in the United States. Netflix has first-run streaming rights for the series in the UK and in Ireland, airing the series a day after the initial broadcast. On July 17, 2018, Hollywood Reporter confirmed that in the midst of Lantern Capital's acquisition of the assets of The Weinstein Company, a former output deal between The Weinstein Company and Netflix was terminated. As a result, Netflix will likely not stream the third season on their platform. On October 16, 2018, it was confirmed that Lantern Entertainment and Netflix settled a contract dispute with the terms of the deal left undisclosed to the public. On September 1, 2019, the third season of Scream became available on Netflix in the United States. The first season of Scream received an overall mixed response. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received a rating of 52%, based on 42 reviews, with a 5.45/10 average rating. The site's critical consensus reads: "Lacking truly compelling characters or scenarios, Scream is formed to trade too heavily on nostalgia for its big-screen predecessors in the franchise." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the first season has a score of 57 out of 100, based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In a positive review, David Hinckley from New York Daily News awarded the pilot four out of five stars and stated, "Happily, Scream maintains a sense of humor, reinforced with snappy, self- aware pop culture dialogue." Similarly, Brian Lowry of Variety commended the series' ability to maintain suspense "without much actually happening during the rest of the episode," noting its use of music, but expressing skepticism if the series could maintain its originality. Aedan Juvet of PopWrapped gave a positive assessment of the series and called it, "a prime example of a game- changing horror series". Conversely, David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle panned the series and gave it one out of four stars, criticizing the acting performances as "bland, robotic, and uninteresting" as well as its apparent lack of racial diversity. In a mixed review, Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald gave the series a C+, saying, "There are a few scares here, but while the Scream films kept audiences jumping, Scream: The TV Series risks putting viewers to sleep." The second season received more positive reviews with a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 12 critics. The site's critical consensus reads: "Undeniably gripping and wickedly sharp, Scream returns with a killer sophomore season that manages to go further into its murderous ethos." The third season received mixed reviews with a rating of 40% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 5 critics.

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The Ranch is an American sitcom web television series starring Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Debra Winger, Elisha Cuthbert, and Sam Elliott that debuted in 2016 on Netflix. While the opening sequence shows scenes from Norwood and Ouray, Colorado and surrounding Ouray and San Miguel Counties, The Ranch is filmed on a sound stage in front of a live audience in Burbank, California. Each season consists of 20 episodes broken up into two parts, each containing 10 episodes, the episodes are approximately 30 minutes in length. All episodes are named after American country music songs, predominantly Kenny Chesney in part one, George Strait in part two, Tim McGraw in part three, Garth Brooks in part four, Dolly Parton in part five, Alabama in part six, and Brad Paisley in part seven. On October 31, 2018, Netflix renewed the series for a fourth and final season with the series to conclude in 2020. The first part of the final season (Part 7) premiered on September 13, 2019. The second part of the final season (part 8) is set to be released on January 24, 2020. The show takes place on the fictional Iron River Ranch in the fictitious small town of Garrison, Colorado; detailing the life of the Bennetts, a dysfunctional family consisting of two brothers, their rancher father, and his estranged wife, a local bar owner. Ashton Kutcher as Colt Reagan Bennett, a former high school and college football star who pursued a professional career with mixed success, never finding regular playing time or stardom, but hanging on in backup roles and on practice squads. He returns to his hometown after a fifteen-year absence so that he can take part in a tryout with a semi-pro team, and decides to stay and help his father and older brother on their family ranch. Colt is frequently the butt of their jokes, particularly when it comes to his ranching skills (or lack thereof) and his disappointing pro football career. He is a heavy drinker and has a penchant for not using common sense, but he seems to have a heart of gold and tries to do right by others. Based on his various T-shirts and dialogue throughout the first season, it's implied that Colt has played for the Barcelona Dragons, San Jose SaberCats, Spokane Shock, Orlando Predators, Nebraska Danger, Iowa Barnstormers, Green Bay Blizzard, Minnesota Axemen, Portland Forest Dragons and Philadelphia Soul. Dialogue and team gear also indicates that he was a member of teams in Canada, notably the Ottawa Redblacks and fictional Saskatoon Cold ("Like the Miami Heat... only cold"). He has also played on teams in Alaska and was a member of the Buffalo Bills practice squad. In the first episode of the series, Colt reveals that he was "the back up to the back up to the back up" for the Florida State team that won the college football championship in 1999. He later marries Abby, his high school sweetheart, and they become the parents of a daughter they name Peyton., Danny Masterson as Jameson "Rooster" Ford Bennett (seasons 1–3), Colt's older brother. He has lived and worked on the ranch since Colt left to follow his football career, at times showing a bitter attitude for having to accept the responsibility while Colt pursued his dream. Despite living in Colt's shadow he is far more competent on the ranch as well as a more level headed thinker. He has, however, been just as irresponsible as Colt, drinking too much and sleeping around. In the first half of Season 3, Rooster gets into hot water with Mary's intimidating boyfriend, and in the second episode of Part 6, it is discovered that Rooster's motorcycle went off the side of a dangerous road; he is missing and presumed dead., Debra Winger as Maggie Bennett (seasons 1–3), owner of Maggie's, and Colt and Rooster's mother. Maggie is divorced from Beau and lives in a trailer behind the bar she owns. Much more lighthearted and caring than Beau, her company and advice is often sought out by the boys on how to deal with problems, especially those concerning their father. Maggie is something of a hippie and is an avid marijuana smoker., Sam Elliott as Beau Roosevelt Bennett, Maggie's ex-husband, and Colt and Rooster's father. A Vietnam War veteran, he has worked the ranch since returning from the war and taking it over after his father died. He is difficult to get along with, perpetually annoyed with everyone and everything. He has a strained relationship with Rooster and Colt. He detests many modern amenities and is easily angered by his sons' antics. Beau appears to be a Republican with a special affinity for Ronald Reagan but at times seems to despise all politicians regardless of affiliation., Elisha Cuthbert as Abby Phillips-Bennett (season 2–present; recurring, season 1), a Garrison High School history teacher and Colt's high school sweetheart and current wife. Abby was in a five-year relationship with Kenny and was briefly engaged to him, but ultimately she broke it off to restart her relationship with Colt. She and Colt are now married and have a baby girl, Peyton. Barry Corbin as Dale Rivers, a hearing-impaired veterinarian and close friend of Beau's, Grady Lee Richmond as Hank, a regular Maggie's patron, Bret Harrison as Kenny Ballard, a Courtyard by Marriott manager and Abby's ex-fiancé, Megyn Price as Mary Roth, a Cracker Barrel waitress and Rooster's ex-girlfriend, Kelli Goss as Heather Roth, Mary's younger daughter and Colt's ex-girlfriend, was pregnant with their child., Molly McCook as Darlene Roth, Mary's older daughter, Kathy Baker as Joanne, Beau's girlfriend and Mary's friend/coworker at the Cracker Barrel, Ethan Suplee as "Beer Pong" Billy Tompkins, a police officer and high school friend of Colt and Rooster's., Justin Mooney as Officer Wilkerson, Aimee Teegarden as Nikki, Heather's friend and Billy's fiancée, Chasty Ballesteros as Tanya Showers, a sexy weather reporter and Kenny's current girlfriend, Laura Vallejo as Maria, a Maggie's waitress, Sharon Lawrence as Brenda Sanders, a widowed hairdresser who befriended Beau when he and Maggie separated, Maggie Lawson as Jen, an engineer who wants to build a pipeline underneath the Bennett Ranch and Rooster's love interest, Wendie Malick as Lisa Neumann, owner of the Neumann's Hill ranching corporation, Dax Shepard as Luke Matthews, the son of Beau's late brother Greg, Stephen Saux as Mike, a motel manager, first seen at the Thomas Rhett concert, Travis Case as Toby, Colt's high school classmate, who runs the neighboring Henderson Ranch Jon Cryer as Bill Jensen, a loan officer and former high school football referee (Seasons 1–2), Wilmer Valderrama as Umberto, a former Iron River ranch hand, former employee of Neumann's Hill at the My Little Pony Ranch. He is Rooster and Colt's friend. Currently deported. (Seasons 1–2), Martin Mull as Jerry, Maggie's sometimes acid-tripping attorney, John Amos as Ed Bishop, a longtime family friend of the Bennetts and a Neumann's Hill employee (Seasons 1–2), Thomas F. Wilson as Coach Fitzgerald, the Garrison High School head football coach (Season 1), Debra Jo Rupp as Janice Phillips, Abby's mother (Seasons 2–4), Jim Beaver as Chuck Phillips, Abby's father, who like Janice is disdainful of Abby's relationship with Colt (Seasons 2–4), Conchata Ferrell as Shirley (Season 2), Lou Diamond Phillips as Clint, a traveling musician attracted to Maggie (Season 2), Kurtwood Smith as Sam Peterson, neighbor of the Iron River Ranch (Seasons 2–4), Nancy Travis as Karen, Maggie's estranged sister (Season 3) Joe Firstman, Pearl Charles, Kurt Neumann, Bukka Allen, Sam Hawksley and Thomas Rhett all make cameo appearances. The first ten episodes premiered on April 1, 2016, the second batch of ten episodes premiered on October 7, 2016. In April 2016, Netflix renewed The Ranch for a second season of 20 episodes, the first half of which premiered on June 16, 2017, and the second half was released on December 15, 2017. On July 4, 2017, Netflix announced through its official The Ranch Twitter account that the show had been renewed for a third season of 20 episodes, the first ten of which aired on June 15, 2018. In December 2017, it was announced that Masterson had been written out of the show following multiple sexual assault allegations made against him, and appeared in only the first 10 episodes of the third season. On October 31, 2018, Netflix renewed the series for a fourth and final season with the series to conclude in 2020. On August 21, 2019, it was announced that the first part of the final season (Part 7) was set to premiere on September 13, 2019. On December 9, 2019, it was reported that the second part of the final season (part 8) is set to be released on January 24, 2020. The Ranch has earned positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the series an average approval rating of 63% (60% for season 1, 67% for season 2) based on 141 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/5. The site's critical consensus reads, "A formulaic set-up and predictable plotting are elevated by The Ranch's surprising sensitivity and strong performances." Metacritic gave the series a score of 56 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Writing for Slate in a positive review, television critic Willa Paskin wrote of the show, "The Ranch is a red-state sitcom, though it takes place in the swing state of Colorado, and is good enough to be watched by people of any political affiliation" and "The goodness sneaks up on you." Los Angeles Times wrote: "[Elliott and Winger's] scenes together, as restrained as they are, are the show's most emotionally resonant. You will want to check them out." The Ranch is the only album by the country music group The Ranch, fronted by Keith Urban. It was released by Capitol Nashville in 1997, and re-released in 2004 with two bonus tracks and re-titled Keith Urban in The Ranch. "Some Days You Gotta Dance" was later recorded by the Dixie Chicks on their 1999 album Fly. Their version, which features Urban on lead guitar, was released as a single in 2001. "Homespun Love" was later recorded by Steel Magnolia on their 2011 self-titled debut album, "Desiree" by David Nail on his 2011 album The Sound of a Million Dreams, and "Walkin' the Country" by Scotty McCreery on his 2012 debut Clear as Day. William Ruhlmann of Allmusic rated it three stars out of five, comparing Urban's sound favorably to Rodney Crowell and saying, "He sounds modern instead, and the album reveals a broad, budding talent not far from fully flowering." An uncredited review in Country Weekly gave the 2004 reissue four stars out of five, saying that it was "lacking his later degree of confidence and polish" but that "The songs are uniformly strong". Keith Urban – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, ganjo, keyboards, hand claps, Jerry Flowers – bass guitar, background vocals, hand claps, Peter Clarke – drums, percussion, hand claps Randy Flowers – hand claps on "Some Days You Gotta Dance", Gary Gazzaway – horns on "Clutterbilly", Tony Harrell – Hammond B-3 organ, Wurlitzer and glockenspiel on "Desiree", piano on "Ghost on the Guitar", Jim Horn – horns on "Clutterbilly", Charlie McMahon – didgeridoo on "Billy", Johnny Neel – Hammond B-3 organ on "Just Some Love", "Freedom's Finally Mine", "Stuck in the Middle", Richard Nord – guest vocals on "Homespun Love", Buck Reid – pedal steel guitar on "Man of the House", Eric Silver – fiddle on "Just Some Love", Joe Spivey – fiddle on "My Last Name", Vernon Rust – guest vocals on "Homespun Love" Strings on "Ghost in the Guitar" performed by the Nashville String Machine, conducted by Carl Marsh, arranged by Carl Marsh, Monty Powell and Keith Urban. Engineer: Greg Kane Sycamore Valley Ranch (formerly and most famously Neverland Ranch, or simply Neverland) is a developed property in Santa Barbara County, California, located at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road, Los Olivos, California, on the edge of Los Padres National Forest. It is known for being the home and private amusement park of American entertainer Michael Jackson from 1988. Originally named Zaca Laderas Ranch, the estate was renamed to Sycamore Valley Ranch shortly after it was purchased by property developer William Bone in 1981. In 1988, the ranch was sold to Jackson, who renamed it after Neverland, the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, a boy who never grows up. Jackson's first encounter with the ranch came when he visited Paul McCartney, who was staying there during their filming of the "Say Say Say" video. According to La Toya Jackson, Michael expressed interest to her in someday owning the property at that time. As of 2019, the ranch is owned by Colony Capital and has been for sale for several years. The ranch is located about 5 miles (8 km) north of unincorporated Los Olivos, and about eight miles (13 km) north of the town of Santa Ynez. The Chamberlin Ranch is to the west, and the rugged La Laguna Ranch, is to the north. The Santa Barbara County Assessor's office says the ranch is approximately 2,700 acres (1100 hectares). The estate was originally known as the Zaca Laderas Ranch at the time of its purchase by the property developer William Bone in 1981. Bone renamed the estate the Sycamore Valley Ranch and moved there with his family. Bone commissioned the architect Robert Altevers to design the principal buildings on the ranch, and the pair spent two and a half years researching potential designs and ideas. The 13,000 square foot (1,200 m²) main house was completed in 1982, based on a design by Altevers, with formal gardens, a stone bridge, and a four-acre lake with a five-foot waterfall. Bone later said that in building the house he had "...a desire to express everything I had learned in 15 years of home building...I achieved here all the things I wanted to do in my business but could not". He had considered converting the property to a country club but did not do so. Michael Jackson purchased the estate from Bone in 1988 for an unknown amount: some sources indicate $19.5 million while others suggest it was closer to $30 million. The property was initially purchased by a trust with Jackson's lawyer, John Branca, and his accountant, Marshall Gelfand, as trustees, for reasons of privacy. The arrangement was later rescinded by Jackson in April 1988 and he became the ultimate owner of the property. It was Jackson's home as well as his private amusement park, with numerous artistic garden statues and a petting zoo. There were no clocks, and it was never bedtime. The property included three railroads: one narrow gauge named "Neverland Valley Railroad", with a steam locomotive named Katherine after his mother (Crown (2B), built in 1973), and two coaches. The other was a narrow gauge, with a C. P. Huntington replica locomotive made by Chance Rides. There was also a custom-made private electric train that was purchased by Jackson for his own children Prince, Paris and Blanket. The train was manufactured in 2001 from a German company Elektro-Mobiltechnik. The train was set up in the yard at Neverland behind the main house and had 100 feet of track. There was also a Ferris wheel, Carousel, Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, roller coaster, bumper cars, and an amusement arcade. The master closet also contained a secret safe room for security. Some of the events that took place at the Ranch included the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky in 1991, the live Oprah Winfrey interview of Jackson in 1993, and an event in 1995 when Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley hosted children from around the world. Neverland Ranch was searched extensively by police officers in connection with the People v. Jackson trial after he was charged with multiple counts of molesting a minor in 2003. Jackson was acquitted of all charges. However, Jackson stated he would never live at the property again as he no longer considered the ranch a home and did not return to Neverland. Jackson's sister, La Toya, wrote of her experience staying at the ranch during her brother's trial in her 2012 memoir Starting Over. In 2006, the facilities were closed and most of the staff were dismissed, with a spokesperson stating that this was the reflection of the fact that Jackson no longer lived there. Neverland Ranch has a central role in the allegations against Jackson of child sexual abuse; it is one of the main sites where Jackson's accusers have said the sexual abuse took place. The ranch's association with sexual abuse allegations was described as a possible reason for a significant decrease in value. Reports of foreclosure proceedings against Neverland Ranch were published on October 22, 2007. A spokesperson for Jackson said that the loan was merely being refinanced and Jackson (later his estate) remained the majority stake holder, with a legal retention of 87.5% of the ranch. On February 25, 2008, Jackson received word from Financial Title Company, the trustee, that unless he paid off $24,525,906.61 by March 19, a public auction would go forward of the land, buildings, and other items such as the rides, trains, and art. On March 13, 2008, Jackson's lawyer L. Londell McMillan announced that a private agreement had been reached with the private investment group, Fortress Investment, to save Jackson's ownership of the ranch. Before the agreement, Jackson owed three months' arrears on the property. McMillan did not reveal the details of the deal. On May 12, 2008, a foreclosure auction for the ranch was canceled after Colony Capital, an investment company run by billionaire Tom Barrack, purchased the loan, which was in default. The selling price was $22.5 million. In a press release, Jackson stated, "I am pleased with recent developments involving Neverland Ranch and I am in discussions with Colony and Tom Barrack with regard to the Ranch and other matters that would allow me to focus on the future." On November 10, 2008, Jackson transferred the title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company, LLC, and neighbors reported immediate activity on the property, including the amusement rides being trucked along the highway. Jackson still owned an unknown stake in the property, since Sycamore Valley Ranch was a joint venture between Jackson (represented by McMillan) and an affiliate of Colony Capital. The Santa Barbara County Assessor's Office stated Jackson sold an unknown proportion of his property rights for $35 million. Subsequent news reports however, indicated that Colony Capital had invested only $22.5 million in the property. In any event, reliable sources indicate that Colony is the majority owner. Kyle Forsyth, Colony's project manager, described the estate's Tudor-style buildings and savanna-like grasslands as "English country manor meets Kenya." Eventually, Colony hopes to sell the ranch, located in Santa Barbara County, in its entirety. Subdividing it, says Forsyth, "would destroy it." Since 2009, the Neverland Ranch rides Balloon Samba, Jeeps, Wave Swinger and Dinos have been featured attractions at the California State Fair in Sacramento. Following Jackson's death, press reports during June 28–29, 2009, claimed that his family intended to bury him at the Neverland Ranch, eventually turning it into a place of pilgrimage for his fans, similar to how Graceland has become a destination for fans of Elvis Presley. The singer's father Joseph Jackson later denied the reports. Construction equipment and gardeners entered the grounds on July 1, prompting speculation that preparations were being made for something related to Jackson's death, but local officials stated that a burial there would be only allowed if the owners of the ranch would go through a permitting process with county and state government before establishing a cemetery at the site. Jackson's 2002 will gives his entire estate to a family trust. The ranch was the setting for two media appearances on July 2, 2009. Jermaine Jackson took The Today Show's Matt Lauer on a tour of the main house, and he was interviewed on the grounds of the house by Larry King for his show. In January 2013, singer Lady Gaga announced her willingness to help Jackson's children in keeping the ranch by investing in the property. The amusement rides and animals were gone by 2009, replaced with a meditative zen garden and a section decorated with Peter Pan, Michael Jackson's favorite fictional hero. In May 2015, it was announced that the Neverland Ranch, renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch, would be put up for sale with an initial price tag of $100 million. By that time, Colony NorthStar had completed extensive renovations to the property. Many people, including fans, protested and disagreed with the decision. Jermaine Jackson, elder brother of Michael wrote an open letter to Colony NorthStar expressing his disagreement with their decision. As of May 2016, the 2,698 acre ranch, jointly owned by the Jackson estate and Colony NorthStar, was being sold by Sotheby's International Realty with an asking price of $100 million. The price included the 12,598 square foot six bedroom Normandy-style mansion, the four-acre lake with waterfall, a pool house, three guest houses, a tennis court, and a 5,500-square-foot movie theater and stage. The train station and railway tracks were also included. According to TIME, the owners were "specifically looking for a buyer who doesn’t plan to turn the place into a museum for the singer". Due to lack of interest, the asking price of the ranch had fallen to $67 million by February 2017. The property was still on the market in early 2018, at the same price, with Coldwell Banker. In February 2019, the asking price of the ranch was reduced to $31 million, $69 million less than the original asking price of $100 million in 2015. The listing agent for the ranch says nothing has changed except the price. The ranch's structures and landscaping are still being maintained. Leaving Neverland Satellite Images of Neverland, Night images of Neverland Ranch, Aerial photos of Neverland, before and after removal of rides, The Pinnacle List - Showcase of Neverland, *

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"A" is a fictional character created in 2006 by author Sara Shepard. It is a character of both Pretty Little Liars' books and television series, and primarily appears as a stalker and the main antagonist of the stories. "A" is one of the main characters of the stories, appearing anonymously in the majority of the episodes and books. After the revelation of Mona Vanderwaal as the first and original "A", CeCe Drake began receiving visits from someone, known as Red Coat, who offered her a partnership. Together, they built up the "A-Team". The team had many members but disbanded after the season three finale and Big A began working with a single ally. The identity of the second "A", Red Coat, and the leader of the "A-Team" was revealed to be CeCe, while her ally that donned the Black Widow and other Red Coat disguise was revealed to be Sara Harvey. Five years later, a new mysterious entity arises and begins using Emojis to communicate but later baptizes themselves as "A.D.", while the Liars refer to the anonymous figure as Uber A. Then, in the Series Finale, "A.D." reveals themselves to be Alex Drake, the twin sister of Spencer. "A" makes appearances as a figure with black leather gloves, a black hoodie, black pants, and black combat boots. Throughout the seasons, the story focuses on the mystery of "A". However, "Big A" also sported different disguises, including that of Red Coat, while their ally disguised themselves as The Black Widow, while also donning the Red Coat identity on certain occasions. Uber A also dressed up as several disguises, including those of a gardener, a maid and a surgeon. They later costume themselves with the traditional look. Real identity: Mona Vanderwaal. One year after the disappearance of Alison DiLaurentis, her four friends, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin, each receives messages from someone calling themselves "A." The girls had drifted apart over the year, so they had no idea that other people were getting texts as well. Additionally, the texts were about secrets only Ali knew about. At first, the messages were simply teasing and all of the girls wonder if their missing friend was the one who sent them. Though they knew she was most likely dead, she was still the only one who knew their darkest secrets. Once Ali's body is discovered in her old backyard, the girls are even more baffled when they continue to receive threats. At Ali's funeral, the girls are reunited and they find out that they've all been receiving weird messages. As the girls stand outside after the funeral ends, they all get a text saying, "I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. —A". From that point on, the messages take on a distinctly more threatening tone. Aria is given an ultimatum to tell her mother about her father's affair by midnight after the Foxy event, or A will do it for her. A continues to play life-altering games with the girls, from encouraging suspicion of Spencer's involvement in Ali's death to outing Emily's sexuality to her conservative mother. However, A makes a serious mistake in texting Hanna on the night of Mona's birthday party. Instead of using the plain Blackberry she bought just for tormenting the girls, A accidentally uses his/her own phone. Hanna, who has a new phone without all of her contacts recognizes the number, compelling A to act before Hanna can reveal A's true identity to the others. A hits Hanna with an SUV, successfully destroying Hanna's phone and putting her into a coma that eventually leads to a temporary loss of memory. Soon after that, "A" puts a drug in Emily's pain cream which causes an Ulcer in the spot where she has been putting the cream. She ends up in the hospital and might not be able to swim again. A knew that there was a very good chance Hanna would regain her memory. Hanna's best friend, Mona Vanderwaal, informs the girls that she has also received texts from A, drawing the five closer together in trying to figure out who their tormentor is. Mona subtly encourages Spencer's fears that her sister, Melissa, might be A as well as Alison's killer. During Hanna's recovery masquerade celebration, she suddenly regains her memory, revealing that Mona is A. However, she, Emily, and Aria can't do much about it, because Spencer and Mona are on their way to the police station. After Spencer is warned about Mona by text, she tries to escape Mona's car, but Mona catches on rather quickly and diverts to a path in a more remote area of Rosewood. She tells Spencer everything, from seeing Ali launch a firework into Toby Cavanaugh's garage that blinded her friend Jenna, to finding Ali's diary of secrets among a pile of old DiLaurentis junk the St. Germains left at the curb, discovering the girls' secrets that only Ali knew. Her motivation was to get revenge for her friend's blindness, even though Jenna and Ali had planned together to launch the firework. Mona didn't know this and got a scar on her stomach from the ordeal. Mona also drops the bombshell that Ian Thomas killed Ali, due to Ali's last diary entry about giving him an ultimatum to break up with Melissa. She then offers Spencer to become A with her and tell Hanna that she must not be remembering correctly, but she refuses. The two fight at Floating Man's Quarry and Spencer accidentally pushes Mona, who falls and has her neck caught between rocks. Real identity: Alison DiLaurentis As the girls move into the big red house they are shocked to receive messages from a new person claiming to be Alison. At first, they believe it's just a prank, especially since the first "A" got major news time. Then the girls believe it's Ian Thomas, who is the prime suspect of the investigation. Spencer is especially certain of this until finding Ian's body in the woods bordering her estate and the old DiLaurentis home. The girls all get a message from "A," saying "He had to go. -A". However, this Alison is even more twisted than the first; Ian's body disappears and the town is largely convinced that it was a hoax. "A" even teases Spencer, stating, "Just because I said Ian had to go, it didn't mean he had to die." "A" pretends to be Ian, using an IM screenname of USCMidfielderRoxx, a testament to his alma mater and his love for field hockey. Through this new fake identity, "A" feeds Spencer some interesting information about her family, specifically her father's affair with Mrs. DiLaurentis and the possibility that Ali is her half sister. "A" proceeds to torment the girls even more: they force Spencer to focus more on her father's secret by enabling Spencer's surrogate mother to scam her and clear out her two million dollar trust fund. "A" taunts Aria with pictures of her and her mother's new love interest in compromising situations. They threaten to send these to her mother, even though Aria has tried to ward off her mother's new boyfriend. "A" lands Hanna in the Preserve at Addison- Stevens, a lush clinic for troubled patients. "A" sends Emily on a trip to the Amish community in Lancaster to dig up more dirt on Officer Wilden. Throughout the second half of the series, the second "A" keeps up this forced information search with the girls, pushing them to find more information on Wilden and Jason DiLaurentis. "A" even plants the idea that they killed Ali. However, when Jenna is found dead in Heartless, "A" plants all of their texts, pictures, etc. on a random lecherous construction worker. This is one of the same workers who was involved in building the DiLaurentises' gazebo when "Alison" was still alive. The girls believe it is all over now, though the fact that the suspect is such a random person bothers them. Everyone in Rosewood is shocked when the DiLaurentis's introduce the existence of a third child, Courtney DiLaurentis. She is the twin of Alison and was kept in various clinics because she was "ill". However, "Courtney" is actually Alison DiLaurentis herself. She reveals her true identity to each of the girls, hoping to gain their friendship and telling them she never died the night of the sleepover. She claims that Courtney must have gotten out of the house and ran into the construction worker, who killed her. Though the girls believe her and are glad to have their friend back, Aria is the most suspicious of her. It was recently discovered that Courtney liked to pretend to be Ali and she wasn't completely buying her story. Additionally, Wilden and Melissa are also suspicious of "Courtney". Melissa knew about the twins since high school, as their brother Jason confided in her. He told her they hated each other, but Spencer tells her about "Courtney's" statements that she and Ali shared everything together." Ali's time is running out, for besides the few people suspicious of her, the police start to say that the construction worker has an alibi and might not be guilty. Her secret is further endangered when Aria finds and sends in a photo of a reflection of someone spying on the girls during the sleepover. The reflection is too blurry, but it is clearly a female. Ali takes Mona's idea and convinces Spencer that Melissa is the culprit. Meanwhile, she kidnaps Melissa- who has just figured out the truth- and keeps her in her family's Poconos home. She stuffs Melissa in a closet with Ian's corpse. On the night of the school's Valentine dance, Ali convinces the girls to hang out with her at the Poconos home. They ditch the party and get wasted at her home. She asks them if she could reenact the night of the sleepover and hypnotize them. Everyone reluctantly agrees, and minutes later they wake up to find Ali gone and the door of the room locked. A letter is slid underneath, informing the girls of the horrible truth: The Alison that they had been friends with had been Courtney all along and the real Ali killed her. Courtney was mentally unsound and wanted to be Ali so badly that she tried to drown her when they were children. One day, when she was home from the mental institute, Courtney stole Ali's ring and imitated her when she saw Spencer and the others sneaking into their backyard. Ali was sent to the new mental institute, the Preserve, in Courtney's place, and was forced to take her sister's messed up life. On the night of the sleepover, she spied on the girls, followed Courtney after her fight with Spencer, and killed her in revenge for taking her perfect life. She hates the girls for ruining her life and tries to kill them too by boarding up the entire home and setting it on fire. The girls, including Melissa, manage to escape, but no one knows whether Ali is alive. It's hinted that she might be, as Emily hears a faint giggle in the distance as she visits Courtney's grave in the evening. Real identity: Nick Maxwell By the end of Crushed, the Liars know that the Second "A", Alison, has had an accomplice the whole time, and that this accomplice is the Third "A". They believe that Alison did indeed survive the fire in the Poconos house, and thus that the Second and Third "A" are currently operating together to bring them down (and eventually kill them). The helper is later revealed to be Nick Maxwell, Alison's boyfriend when she was hospitalized. Nick was caught by the police when he and Alison planned to kill the Liars via poisoning. However, months later, the Liars visit Nick in the prison in order to discover some clues about Alison's whereabouts, and he gives them some information. Original A was the first "A" and revealed to be Mona Vanderwaal. Mona began torturing Alison by sending her gifts, threats and soon attacking her while wearing a zombie costume. "A" continued to mess with Ali and her mother Jessica DiLaurentis, whom she believed it to be Spencer Hastings. After Alison's disappearance, "A" went away for a year but after the corpse of Bethany Young (believed to be Alison at the time) was found, she reemerged. "A" began sending the Liars messages about things only Alison knew about them and soon even began messing with their parents. Doctor Anne Sullivan had previously dealt with the person behind the hoodie and when "A" trashed her office she immediately recognized the person. She almost exposes her identity to the Liars but "A" kidnaps her and went as far as to threaten her son's life. But the Liars are still close to figuring it out and during the second half of season two they manage to get a hold of "A's" phone. They hatch a plan to catch her with this and it works. They find out that "A" had a lair at the Lost woods resort and Spencer and Mona ("A's" newest victim) head over there and find a room full of pictures of Alison and the girls along with a sketch of "A's" costume to the ball, The Black Swan. However, Spencer begins to notice other clues and soon realizes "A" is right there with her. She turns around to see Mona in a black hoodie, who reveals herself as "A". She kidnaps Spencer and gives her an opportunity to join the "A" team but Spencer declines and the two get into a fight, where Mona is pushed off of a cliff. Though Mona survives, she is sent to Radley Sanitarium for medical assistance. While in the psychiatric hospital, Mona takes up a partnership suggested by the then unknown CeCe Drake that starts off the second game. After this, Mona became another henchmen in the "A" hierarchy, obeying the orders of CeCe, whom she knew as Red Coat. Mona was kicked off of the A-Team in the season three finale. However, Mona joins the new "A.D." team in Season 7, after "A.D." sends Wren to kill her and she offers to help instead. She helps them kidnap Spencer and wears a Melissa mask, but ultimately turns on them and brings the Liars to them, as well as a cop. However, this turns out to be a ruse and the "cop" is actually Mona's French boyfriend, who helps her take Mary and Alex (the two remaining members) to France to live in her own personal Dollhouse. Mona is the final "A" of the series, being the "winner" of the game. Big A was the person who took over the "A" game from Mona Vanderwaal after she was admitted to Radley Sanitarium and revealed to be CeCe Drake (A.K.A. Charlotte DiLaurentis or Charles Dilaurentis). She had visited Mona in Radley and used her to get information about the Liars before taking over the game herself and had used the A-Team, which consisted of her ally Sara, Jenna, Noel, Wren, Wilde, Mona, Toby, Lucas, Melissa, and Spencer, to do her dirty work and sometimes went under the Red Coat disguise. Big A often hid out at a lair situated in Room A at an apartment building at Mayflower Hill and a mobile RV which was stolen but Toby gave it back to "A" in exchange for information about his mother's death. It is revealed that Charlotte had been hiding out in the basement of the DiLaurentis house and drilled holes through the floor to spy on the family in her Red Coat disguise and shared the identity with Alison. Her disguise as Red Coat was exposed in the fourth season mid finale when Emily was trapped on a saw at Ravenswood and later got into a fight with Aria who discovered her identity and Charlotte later fell off a platform and escaped. In "A is for Answers" the Liars are under attack by "A" who shoots Ezra Fitz on the rooftop. However, in the fifth-season premiere, the shooter is revealed to be Shana Fring who attempted to kill Alison but was later shoved off a stage by Aria and died from the impact. After all of this, Charlotte fled to France under the Vivian Darkbloom identity to escape custody for Wilden's death but returned. In the series's 100th episode, Charlotte planted a bomb in the Cavanaugh house which detonated, signalling her triumphant return to Rosewood. In season five, CeCe breaks into the Vanderwaal home and kidnaps Mona just as she is about to tell the Liars that Alison is "A" and covers up her kidnapping as a homicide. She then brings Mona to the Dollhouse and tortures her and forces her to dress up and act like Alison. Just as the Liars are being brought to jail, CeCe kidnaps them and tortures them inside the Dollhouse. Inside, the Liars discover that Big "A" is named Charles DiLaurentis. CeCe/Charlotte reveals herself as "A" and tells her story; saying that she is transgender, was formerly known as Charles DiLaurentis, and became 'A' because the Liars were happy that Alison was gone. She worked with Sara Harvey, who was the Black Widow and a decoy Red Coat, and was also responsible for the "death" of Alison and the death of Wilden, and after telling her story, she attempts suicide by jumping off Radley but is stopped. She is admitted to Welby State and her reign as "A" finally ends and stays in the psychiatric hospital for five years. When she is released, Charlotte is murdered by Mona Vanderwaal and her death causes the birth of "A.D.", the new Uber A. After her death, it is revealed that Noel Kahn and Jenna Marshall were also working for Charlotte. It is also revealed that her birth mother is Jessica's twin, Mary Drake, and her birth father is Ted Wilson, while Spencer is her sister. The series finale reveals that "A.D." is her sister and Spencer's twin, Alex Drake, whom Charlotte met after boarding the plane to France. She and Alex become very close after meeting, until Charlotte returned to Rosewood to play the game some more. Alex reveals that Charlotte never returned to her in London and the next time she saw her was when she visited her grave. Uber A, also known as A.D., is the third person to take over the identity of "A". In the show's series finale, Uber A's identity is revealed to be Alex Drake, Spencer's twin sister who was put up for adoption at birth. She desperately craves vengeance over the tragic passing of Charlotte DiLaurentis, who was her half-sister, and is trying to seek out the person responsible. Unlike Mona or Charlotte, Alex does not use any nicknames at first but instead signs their messages with emojis, which differentiates her from the A-Team. This causes Caleb to nickname her Amoji. However, in the sixth-season finale, she begins using the alias "A.D." and kidnaps Hanna, whom she believes is accountable for her sister's homicide. Hanna manages to escape Uber A's clutches and Alex goes after Alison, who the Liars suggested as guilty for her own cousin's murder. Uber A eventually finds out that Alison is innocent after searching her jacket. While Uber A does work on their own, she also works through a new "A-Team" of helpers, known to consist of Jenna Marshall, Sydney Driscoll, and Aria Montgomery, who are assisting them in completing the endgame. The series finale explains that Alex Drake was put up for adoption in exchange for a sum of money (for Mary), but then left at an orphanage by her adopted parents who were concerned for their image. She ran away from the orphanage at ten years old and eventually started working in a bar in London, where Wren Kingston mistook her for Spencer, revealing the existence of Alex's twin and Charlotte. Wren introduces Charlotte and Alex in an airport (just after Charlotte met Archer Dunhill) and they immediately connect, becoming very close in a short amount of time. After Charlotte is released from Welby, she tells Alex that she wishes to return to Rosewood and resume the game, but Alex says she shouldn't go unless she gets to come too, since she wants to meet Spencer. Charlotte says no and describes the Hastings as "toxic people" before leaving for Rosewood, where she was murdered by Mona. Alex is enraged and forces Wren to shoot her so that she looks exactly like Spencer and can successfully impersonate her. She then goes to Rosewood and picks up the game as "Uber A". Alex has made several appearances where she impersonates Spencer, including, but not limited to: The run in with Ezra at the airport where she introduced Wren, the kiss between "Spencer" and Toby just before the latter planned to leave Rosewood with Yvonne, and Hanna's "dream" where she "hallucinated" Spencer while A.D held her hostage. The latter was done so that Alex could find out whether Hanna was telling the truth about killing Charlotte. The A-Team is a group of anonymous characters that worked together as "A". The team would work under the orders of the "A" in charge, who has been Mona Vanderwaal, the original leader and founder, CeCe Drake, the second leader, and Alex Drake, the final leader. Alex's team is also referred to as the "A.D.-Team". Sara was the right-hand woman to Charlotte and also revealed as an A-Team member halfway throughout the sixth season. Sara is revealed as a Red Coat and the Black Widow, hired to pose as a decoy whenever Charlotte couldn't sport the Red Coat disguise. She then became Charlotte's friend and ally in the "A" game and assisted her in most of her schemes. Sara was allegedly diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome following Charlotte's arrest but later discloses to Alison that she lied under oath, also admitting that she and Charlotte were, in fact, close friends and she felt as though they were sisters. Later, Sara was possibly enlisted by Jenna Marshall and Noel Kahn (and possibly "A.D.") to work with them. However, Sara was killed by Noel after she tried to reveal more than she should to Emily. Sydney is Uber A's helper for a brief while. She is first seen communicating with them through text messages when she makes a donation under their name at the Vogel Vision Institute. When Aria and Emily confront her, Driscoll claims that she is simply representing a client who prefers to remain anonymous. However, she returns in the following episode and reveals herself to be "A.D.". She offers Aria the chance to join their team, but Aria realizes that Sydney is communicating with someone through an earpiece, revealing that she's just a minion. Aria asks her why she would join their tormentor and Driscoll replies that she wants to be part of the "winning team". However, Uber A, who reveals herself as Spencer's twin sister Alex Drake, reveals in the series finale that Sydney wasn't involved in the Blind School shooting and joined the A-Team because Alex found out she had been stealing from a bank and she fit the hoodie. Toby was recruited by Mona to join the A-Team when he got a job in Bucks County. When this happened Hanna found out then told Spencer. His participation in the team was revealed in the finale of Season 3A. He worked hand in hand with Mona and did most of the dirty work for the team, like running down Lucas and attacking Hanna. However, like Mona, he didn't know the identity of Red Coat. Spencer finds out about his betrayal and goes off the deep end, especially after discovering his corpse. However, it is revealed that he is alive and well, with the corpse being a trick by Mona and Red Coat that he says he didn't know about until after. He is also revealed to be a double agent and gets kicked off the team. Spencer joined the A-Team briefly near the ending of the third season after being told Toby joined previously she thought this was a way to keep close to him Initially, Spencer was extremely determined to be part of the team. However, she later unfolds the truth behind the disappearance of Toby and became a double agent as well. Like Toby, she got kicked off from the team. She is the "A" who kidnapped Malcolm, causing a break up between Ezra and Aria. Lucas was the personal assistant to Mona. He was blackmailed by Mona and the A-Team into sending texts and doing their dirty work. Lucas claims his blackmail began after Mona discovered he was selling test answers, however Mona later discloses that Lucas was the "A" who gave Emily a massage back in the second season while Mona was off riding with Hanna. During the seventh- season episode "Hold Your Piece", Pastor Ted Wilson reveals to Hanna that he used to run a summer camp for troubled boys, and Charlotte was a camper there prior to her sex change. Wilson is disheartened when describing that he interacted with his offspring without awareness they were related. Ted then showcases Hanna a picture of himself back when he worked at the camp, chaperoning Charles and Lucas, whom he described as his son's "only friend". Melissa was blackmailed by Mona into wearing the Black Swan disguise to the Masquerade Ball in order to distract Jenna. Mona threatened to reveal her fake pregnancy if she didn't obey her orders. Later, Melissa got onto the Halloween Train dressed as the Queen of Hearts and drugged Aria. Melissa and Wilden then attempted to push her off of the train in a box with Garrett's dead body. It is implied that she was once again blackmailed. It is implied in "A Dark Ali" that Melissa is once again working for "A", as she is seen handing a recording (presumed stolen by "A") to a man resembling Cyrus Petrillo and later implies to Spencer that "A" has something in store for Ali and the Liars. Wilden was also part of the team as he was the Queens of Hearts responsible for trying to kill Spencer. He also murdered Garrett Reynolds fearing he'd expose him as a crooked cop and placed his corpse in a box beside a fainted Aria. Wilden's reasoning for helping the team is unknown but implied to be blackmail. Jenna was a member of the A-Team during the reign of Big A and was also working anonymously for Uber A. She returns to Rosewood in Season 7 and in "Along Comes Mary" and befriends Sara Harvey. Meanwhile, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields discover that Jenna was on Archer's payroll for unknown reasons. On the episode's closing scene, Jenna and Sara are having drinks at The Radley when an unknown figure approaches the two and reveals themselves to be Noel Kahn, who proceeds to join the duo. When confronted by Emily in regards to her involvement with Archer during "Wanted: Dead or Alive", Jenna admits she befriended Charlotte DiLaurentis after reading about her stay at Welby and reached out. In a flashback, Charlotte enlists Jenna's help to track down the whereabouts of her birth mother and come up with an alias for Archer. The pseudonym "Elliott Rollins" was later created so Archer could deliberately meet Alison and take advantage of her good intentions to benefit Charlotte's eventual release from the psychiatric hospital. In "The DArkest Knight" all of the Liars get a text message, ordering them to head over to 1465, Elm Street. After being lured to an abandoned school for blind students, they're held hostage by Noel and Jenna, tracking them down at gunpoint. During the cat-and- mouse chase, Jenna takes aim at the Liars only to backfire, until a second gunshot is heard and it injures Spencer. As Marshall prepares to finish her off, Mary Drake suddenly emerges from behind and knocks her out. While Drake attempts to help Spencer, an unknown figure drags Jenna away from the building. On the closing scene of the episode, the anonymous entity places her in the back of a van, while she questions them if they were responsible for the gunshot that hit Spencer. As the mysterious figure proceeds to rip off an old man's mask and toss it over to Jenna's side, Marshall feels it up and realizes that A.D. was the one who rescued her. At the end of "Playtime", Jenna is seated in A.D.'s lair, sipping tea. She thanks the unidentified individual for the drink and reminds them of their promise to update her on the "game". Dressed in a nurse's uniform, A.D. drops a binder on Marshall's lap with pages of information written in braille. After Jenna reads a paragraph, she mutters the word "endgame" and grins in delight. During "These Boots Were Made for Stalking", Jenna walks into the police station in order to come clean about her actions and interrupts a conversation between Spencer and detective Marco Furey. Marshall reports that she kept a low profile after the events that took place at the abandoned school for blind students to avoid being harmed by Noel. According to Jenna, Noel was accountable for Sara Harvey's homicide and she feared to be his ensuing victim. Kahn recruited Jenna with the assertion that Charlotte left enough money in her will to afford Marshall another eye surgery. Nevertheless, Jenna suspected Noel of stealthily plotting to steal the cash all to himself since his parents had financially cut him off. In an attempt to spare her life, Marshall brought a gun to the deserted sight school as an act of self-defense and pretended to hold a grudge against the Liars. After Jenna describes her side of the story, Furey orders one of his associates to escort Marshall to a conference room so she can make an official statement. As Jenna exits the room, Spencer claims that she's an unreliable narrator. However, Furey informs Spencer that the authorities don't have enough evidence against Marshall because the bullet that injured Spencer didn't match the gun found at the location. Later in the episode, Caleb confronts Jenna stating that the authorities were already detecting holes in her allegations. However, Marshall assures Caleb they won't be able to prosecute her since Noel was the only person who could contradict her statement. In the series finale, Spencer's twin, Alex Drake, is revealed to be "A.D.". She reveals that Jenna was looking for her and recruited Noel to help. However, Jenna was desperate for another chance to see and offered to help her in the game. Noel Kahn served as one of Big A/Charlotte's former minions and worked for her at the Dollhouse, having been responsible for placing blood all over Spencer Hastings to convince she had hurt someone. Noel became the prime suspect for Uber A, particularly after Alison reveals that he was the one who pushed the girl down a flight of stairs during the UPenn frat party. Hanna abducts him at the end of "The Wrath of Kahn" in an attempt to obtain a video confession that proves he's "A.D."/Uber A. In the following episode "The DArkest Knight", she instead ends up slashing his leg with a knife in order to test his DNA and see if it matches Mary Drake's. The results later come back negative and Kahn ends up escaping. Noel and Jenna later lure the Liars to an abandoned school for blind students so they could be held hostage and eventually murdered. During a cat-and-mouse chase, Kahn ends up stumbling upon an axe that decapitates his head after failing to fight Emily and Hanna. In the following episode, "Playtime", Detective Marco Furey informs Spencer that Jenna and Noel frequently visited Archer Dunhill at Welby. During "These Boots Were Made for Stalking", Jenna walks into the police station in order to come clean about her actions and interrupts a conversation between Spencer and detective Marco Furey. Marshall reports that she kept a low profile after the events that took place at the abandoned school for blind students to avoid being harmed by Noel. According to Jenna, Noel was accountable for Sara Harvey's homicide and she feared to be his ensuing victim. Kahn recruited Jenna with the assertion that Charlotte left enough money in her will to afford Marshall another eye surgery. Nevertheless, Jenna suspected Noel of stealthily plotting to steal the cash all to himself since his parents had financially cut him off. In an attempt to spare her life, Marshall brought a gun to the deserted sight school as an act of self-defense and pretended to hold a grudge against the Liars. However, when Caleb later confronts Jenna about the authorities detecting holes in her allegations, she informs him that the only person who could contradict her side of the story was Noel. It is unknown if Noel knew Jenna was working for "A.D." and was also working for them or if Jenna was working for "A.D." separately from their operation. Aria is "A.D.'s" helper. Aria is given the offer to join the team in "Power Play". She accepts in the following episode and begins supplying information to Uber A. After the Liars discover Lucas' graphic novel, Aria is sent by Uber A to retrieve it. Once she delivers it, she is given an "A" hoodie in return. She breaks into Alison's house sporting the disguise and trashes the nursery for her baby. In the next episode, Aria is sent by "A.D." to deliver a "gift" to the Hastings family. She connects to their Bluetooth and leaves a burner phone there to play a video recording of Peter and Mary discussing Jessica's murder. She later gets back into her "A" disguise and breaks into Alison's house to put the puzzle piece onto the game board and retrieve her file. "A.D." contacts Aria again and gives her a phone to communicate on. "A.D." asks Aria to meet them and to wear the uniform to do so. Mona overhears the call and tells the Liars of Aria's involvement with the A-Team. Aria gets into her "A" hoodie and goes to meet "A.D.", only to be confronted by the Liars. She then officially defects from the team and rejoins the Liars. Mary joins the A.D.-Team after the time jump, when Mona breaks her out of prison for Alex and she then helps Alex with kidnapping Spencer and keeping her locked away in the bunker. When Alex tries to kill Spencer, Mary tries to convince her to just keep her locked up, but Alex refuses and punches her to keep her from interfering. Mary and Alex are then kidnapped by Mona and kept as her dolls in her own personal dollhouse. Mary is also Jessica DiLaurentis' killer and implied to be the "A" who buried her. It is unknown if Mary was on the A-Team prior to the series finale or was simply forced into joining to keep Spencer locked up. Wren was a member of the A-Team and is one of the helpers to Alex/Uber A. He helped CeCe/Charlotte sneak into Radley with a fake visitors passes to visit Mona and later informs her of Alex's existence. When Alex takes over, he shoots her so that she will have the same scar as Spencer and then later comes to Welby to kill Mona as "A.D." for Alex, only stopping once Mona says she can help get Mary out. Alex kills Wren so that she doesn't have to break up with him in order to get her endgame wishes. Despite Wren being the only person to know almost everything about Alex's game, he doesn't participate much during the actual game, only doing a few things for Alex. Caleb used the identity of "A" to text Hanna in Season 3, in order to trick her into meeting him. He sent her the text "The Apple Rose Grille at closing time. Go alone or Caleb pays. -A" to find out this information from her about the new "A". Shana pretended to be "A" to attack the Liars in New York. She donned a black hoodie and attacked them at the coffee shop, only to end up shooting Ezra instead, who had found out her identity. In the following episode, she continued to hunt down the Liars, and sent a group of black hoodies to trick them. The black hoodies used the alias "A" during their taunting of the Liars. Shana revealed herself to the girls and revealed that she wanted justice for Jenna. The Liars falsely believed that Shana was Big A. During the TV series, the antagonists used various disguises at parties and events, in order to watch over the girls. They are: Red Coat is a disguise used by two members of the A-Team. CeCe Drake took on the disguise to lead the A-Team and go out in public, while she hired Sara Harvey to act as a decoy whenever she couldn't sport the disguise in her assignments. The Black Widow is a previously anonymous character who attended detective Darren Wilden's funeral in "'A' Is for A-l-i-v-e". The disguise is all black clothing, with her face concealed by a black veil. The Black Widow is shown to be a part of the A-Team, when she is seen inside the "A" R.V. placing a Mona doll with the rest of the "A" doll collection. She then lifts up her veil to reveal a burned Ali mask underneath, revealing that she was the Red Coat at the Lodge. In the fifth season, the disguise is seen inside one of "A's" lairs. In "Game Over, Charles", it is revealed that Sara Harvey was the Black Widow. Charlotte sent her to Wilden's funeral to make sure he was deceased. In "Of Late I Think of Rosewood", Sara shows up to Charlotte's funeral in a variation of the disguise, though this time revealing her face. In a nightmare that Alison had during "How the 'A' Stole Christmas", her mom, Jessica DiLaurentis shows up as the Black Widow. The Queen of Hearts is a previously anonymous character that made an appearance during the third season's Halloween special, "This Is a Dark Ride". In the fourth season's premiere, it is revealed that there were actually two of them in the Halloween train, Melissa Hastings and Darren Wilden. Wilden attacked Spencer and fought Paige, while Melissa drugged Aria and took her body. Wilden also murdered Garrett Reynolds fearing he'd expose his corrupt activities and Melissa later admits to Spencer that she was blackmailed into doing his bidding. However, in Mona's footage, evidence shows that Wilden tried to abandon the train and Melissa is heard ordering him to stay. Wilden would later place a fainted Aria in a box beside Garrett's corpse and then gathered with Melissa in an attempt to push them off the train. They fled the scene once Aria regained her consciousness and stabbed Wilden. The Black Swan is a previously anonymous character that made an appearance during the Masquerade Ball. Melissa was revealed to be the person behind the disguise in "Birds of a Feather". She claimed that "A" (Mona) threatened her, stating that her false pregnancy would've been exposed if she did not distract Jenna during the event. The disguise is inspired by Odile from Swan Lake. Of course, the black hoodie has been the most significant disguise over the years and probably the most well known. Almost every single "A" has worn the signature black hoodie, including Mona, Charlotte, Toby, Spencer, Lucas, Sydney, Aria, Wren, and Alex. Pretty Little Liars is a series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard. Beginning with 2006's initial novel of the same name, the series follows the lives of four girls – Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields. The novels have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. A television series adaptation loosely based on the novels debuted on June 8, 2010, on ABC Family. The franchise has been licensed by Amazon.com's Kindle Worlds range of non-canon ebooks. The series is loosely divided into four arcs, chronicling the introduction and reveal of each "A". Set in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the series follows the lives of four teenage girls nicknamed the Pretty little Liars or simply the Liars, whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their Queen bee leader, "Alison DiLaurentis". Three years after her mysterious disappearance, the girls begin receiving intimidating messages from an anonymous character named "A," who threatens to expose their secrets, including long-forgotten ones they thought only Alison knew. Shortly after the messages begin, Alison's body is discovered buried in her yard. The books progress with the four girls trying to figure out the identity of "A" and facing many dangerous obstacles and twists as they do so. The series has many characters, most of them recurring. The main characters are: Spencer Hastings: Spencer is a headstrong, intelligent, overachieving girl who comes from the wealthy Hastings family. Aria Montgomery: Aria is a quirky and artsy girl who, at the beginning of the books, is trying to find herself. Emily Fields: Emily is considered the jock of the group, being a physical, loyal girl who struggles with her sexuality. Alison DiLaurentis: Alison is the former "Queen Bee" of her clique, consisting of Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily. But this was also teleaved later on to be false, as it was Courtney all along. (see explanation in this character's subplot.) "Real Ali" was friends with Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe up until the sixth grade where Courtney took her place. She had supposedly been killed at the beginning of the series however is revealed to have been alive and also their tormentor "A" as she was mistaken for her twin sister Courtney who pretended to be like her and was sent to The Preserve at Addison-Stevens, which she believed was the Liars' fault and has been plotting revenge ever since. Her identical twin sister Courtney DiLaurentis is not crazy but she debuted in Wanted after the TV show began in 2010. In the prequel, Courtney-as-Ali started disappearing in the last chapter and getting almost killed numerous times, until the end of the series (Vicious) when Ali-as-Courtney came out and started becoming friends with her twin "Ali" again after rehab with Tabitha and Iris, two lookalikes of Ali, all in the penultimate chapter. In the book, their older brother's name is Jason DiLaurentis and their step-sisters are Melissa and Spencer Hastings. Courtney DiLaurentis: "Alison," the one who originally befriended the four girls in the sixth grade, is later revealed to be actually Courtney in the books (often referred to by the Liars as Our Ali, or Their Ali.) She is the third child to Jessica and Kenneth. The two twins were described to be inseparable as children, but Alison started to exhibit a vicious jealousy towards Courtney as they grew up, and the close bond deteriorated completely when she once tried to drown Courtney. Probably in a psychological phenomenon known as projection, Alison managed to convince, and possibly brainwash, Courtney at home and at school that she indeed was the jeaous one. She made her refer to herself as Alison, adamantly, to their parents and teachers, her motive being that her sister would eventually be detained for insanity. Her plan eventually worked, and was sent to The Preserve at Addison-Stevens after a physical argument with Alison. But years later in a fit of vengeance on a rare visit home, Courtney managed to swindle a plan to trick their parents that Alison was Courtney when it was time to leave, Ali's claims that she was Ali making her parents believe her even less. Subsequently, Courtney morphs into "Queen Bee Ali" and, out of pure chance, befriends the Liars up until the night of her infamous disappearance when she was killed and buried by the real Alison DiLaurentis and her accomplice Nick Maxwell. A: A is the main antagonist of the series, being, for the most part, an anonymous character who relentlessly torments many characters, in particular the Liars. Mona Vanderwaal, Alison DiLaurentis and Nick Maxwell are discovered to be A. Mona became A due to Alison and the Liars being responsible for The Jenna Thing, which burned her too. However, she is killed when Spencer pushes her off a cliff face and her neck is caught between rocks. However, a new "A" rises, this time even more determined to hurt the Liars. This A is revealed to be Alison herself who wanted revenge on the Liars for ruining her life and Nick, who is revealed to be her accomplice. "Grave New World" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of the American mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars. It originally aired on October 22, 2013 on ABC Family and serves as the season's Halloween episode, which aired as part of the 13 Nights of Halloween programming block. The episode was directed by Ron Lagomarsino and written by Joseph Dougherty, Oliver Goldstick and I. Marlene King. The episode also serves as a backdoor pilot to the series’ spinoff Ravenswood, which follows a group of people investigating the supernatural occurrences in the titular town. As a result, the episode features the spinoff's main cast as guest characters and some supernatural elements. In the episode, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer attend the Ravenswood Founders Day Celebration party at the cemetery in hopes of tracking down Alison, who they believe is still alive and on the run from A. While there, the girls encounter a masked figure following their every move and unexplained supernatural occurrences. Meanwhile, Caleb meets Miranda, a girl in the foster system looking for her uncle, while on the bus to Ravenswood and helps her deal with some issues stemming from her past in the town. "Grave New World" was watched by 3.18 million viewers and garnered a 1.4 rating, even with the previous episode and up from last year's Halloween episode. The Halloween special set ratings record for the 13 Nights of Halloween programming block and became the seventh episode of the series to amass over 1 million tweets. The episode garnered a lukewarm reception from television critics, who believe it fell flat from the summer finale and the last Halloween special. However, the final moment where Alison reveals herself was considered by most the best part of the episode. Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell), Hanna (Ashley Benson) and Spencer (Troian Bellisario) arrive at the Ravenswood Founders Day Celebration party, donning nineteenth-century attire. While at the party, Ezra (Ian Harding) calls Aria to check on her and advises her to be careful. He puts on his mask for his costume and enters the party. The girls spot Luke (Brett Dier) wearing a vintage soldier's costume similar to the one they found in Ezra's apartment. The girls split up to find Alison and examine Luke. Hanna spots two short blond figures in red coats while Emily is separated from Aria by Mrs. Grunwald (Meg Foster), who warns them to go away. Aria finds Leah (Elizabeth Whitson) in a ditch, pulls her out and learns that Luke is Olivia's cousin. While on a bus to Ravenswood, Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) is approached by Miranda (Nicole Gale Anderson) after being frightened by the man (Irwin Keyes) she was sitting next to. Miranda tells Caleb about her past life and how she is going to Ravenswood to meet her uncle. Just as Caleb asks about her uncle, Miranda runs off to get some chips from the old man in the back of the bus. As she reaches into the bag, he awakens from sleep and she runs back to her seat. Caleb apologizes to Miranda about asking about her uncle and tells her his story about his uncle. Miranda tells him about her foster parent and decides to get off at the upcoming stop and go home. As she gets up to leave, she notices the man from the back of the bus and decides to stay. As the girls, frightened and anxious, reconvene, they spot Red Coat and chase after her. They land in a mausoleum, but find that Red Coat has disappeared. The girls notice a spot in the mausoleum and discover a secret passageway. As they walk in, the door behind them closes without warning. The girls continue trekking through the passageway as gusts of wind begin hitting the girls. When the wind stops, Hanna has gone missing. Hanna, while trying to find the girls, notices the phrase "HELP ME" written in red on the wall. As she turns on her cellphone light to read the message, she notices a swarm of rats on the ground and runs through a passageway, which leads to a door to a room in a mansion. Unbeknownst to her, a masked Ezra is lurking behind her. Hanna continues walking through the mansion until she finds a telephone booth. She tries to use the telephone, but it turns out to be a gag. Hanna tries to leave but finds herself locked in with three lights closing in on the outside. The lights suddenly disappear and the phone rings with a vintage record playing on the other end. Caleb and Miranda arrive in Ravenswood and go their separate ways. Miranda walks into the mansion to explore. Meanwhile, Aria, Emily and Spencer find their way into the mansion and notice blood dripping from the ceiling. They suddenly hear Alison's voice and head off to find her, but Spencer gets separated from them. While trapped in the booth, Alison's face appears, but is dragged away and the masked man's image appears in its place. Miranda then frees Hanna from the booth and together they try to find a way out of the mansion. They enter a room filled with coffins, which triggers a painful memory for Miranda. As they leave, Miranda notices a booklet and takes it with her Aria and Emily find a room with an open window and prepare to leave the house and get help. As they hear Alison's screams, the girls retreat and the window's jagged glass shuts behind them. Meanwhile, Spencer walks into a greenhouse where she discovers the masked man waiting for her. They wrestle before Spencer picks up hedge cutters. She slices the man's hand and knocks him out. She reaches for his mask, but he awakens and grabs her. She breaks free before hitting her head against a wooden ledge. He picks up the hedge cuts ad stands over her. Caleb finds Miranda and Hanna while Aria and Emily find an unconscious Spencer. Hanna shows Caleb and Miranda the door to the passageway, but the door won't open. Meanwhile, Miranda finds a grave marker with her name and image on it. Aria, Emily and Spencer listen to Alison's cries for help and discover a tape recorder with her voice playing. Mrs. Grunwald enters the room and tells the girls that it is her room and the tape was stolen from her office. She later has a psychic feeling, warning "One of you has been touched by the one Alison fears the most." Hanna learns from the girls that Alison is gone. Aria, Emily and Spencer find the car with a slashed tire. Miranda decides to go back into the house; Hanna sends Caleb off to help Miranda and returns to the girls, who have found the spare tire missing. Ezra pulls up and offers the girls a ride back to Rosewood. When they reach Rosewood, they discover Red Coat watching them and chase her into Spencer's backyard. Red Coat reveals herself as Alison and tells the girls she doesn't have time. She tells them that she wants to come back home but it still isn't safe. She runs away as Ezra approaches Aria with her phone. Back at Ravenswood, Miranda and Caleb discover a grave marker with Caleb's name and image on it. In March 2013, Pretty Little Liars was renewed for a fifth season and green lighted for a spinoff series, Ravenswood, which would premiere in October of that year. “Grave New World” was directed by Ron Lagomarsino and written by Joseph Dougherty, Oliver Goldstick and I. Marlene King. Filming for the episode took place over a 10-day time span, beginning on May 31, 2013 and concluding on June 10, 2013. The episode was filmed in between filming for the eighth episode, “The Guilty Girl’s Handbook”, and filming for the ninth and tenth episodes of the season, “Into the Deep” and “The Mirror Has Three Faces”. The episode served as a backdoor pilot for the series’ spinoff Ravenswood, featuring guest appearances from Nicole Gale Anderson as Miranda and Brett Dier as Luke, the main cast of the show. Elizabeth Whitson appears in this episode as a character named Leah, who is apparently Luke's cousin. However, when this episode was shot Whitson was still going to play Olivia, Luke's twin sister. The role was recast with Merritt Patterson for the actual show, after this episode was shot but before the first episode for Ravenswood was shot. "Grave New World" originally aired on October 22, 2013, as part of the 13 Nights of Halloween programming special on ABC Family, and was followed by the series premiere of the Pretty Little Liars spinoff, Ravenswood. The episode marks the third annual Halloween special from the series, each premiering apart from the regular summer and winter seasons. The Halloween themed episode was viewed by 3.18 million viewers, up 14 percent from the previous Halloween special (2.75 million viewers). It was the third most-watched broadcast in the history of programming block and the second most-watched episode of the season. The episode also acquired a 1.4 ratings share among adults ages 18 – 49, translating to 1.8 million viewers, up 25 percent from the previous year's special and ranks as the top rated broadcast within the 13 Nights of Halloween programming block and the third highest rated episode in the series. "Grave New World" also amassed 1.16 million tweets on Twitter, becoming the seventh episode of the series to garner over 1 million tweets. Nick Campbell of TV.com expressed a mixed opinion about the episode, writing "We can't really say it was a disappointing outing for the Liars because of the ending, but it was almost a cheap trick to salvage a series full of weak events by pulling the Alison trump card." Lindsay Sperling of We Got This Covered lauded the episode's scenery, saying "The combination of the less intense tones and the ominous music might be a bit much when considered in the context of multiple episodes but I’d say that the new aesthetic choices are a welcome change, and looked more on par with what Pretty Little Liars generally delivers." Caroline Preece of Den of Geek called the episode "average" and opined that the episode "might have been the weakest Halloween special yet. " Elizabeth SanFilippo of Examiner.com gave the episode three out of five stars, writing that "the final moment of the "PLL" special was what made this episode worth watching." The A.V. Club's Caroline Siede gave the episode a C+, finding the “slow and atmospheric” pace of the special unfitting for the series while praised the Liars' costumes, Spencer's in particular. Teresa Lopez of TV Fanatic gave the Halloween-themed episode two and a half stars (out of five), calling it "a disappointing follow-up, spending more time setting up the mysterious new show Ravenswood than advancing the plot of Pretty Little Liars." Lopez further added that the episode fell short of the "great background information coupled with a spooky story" in the season two Halloween special, "First Secret", and the "wild ride with an shocking final surprise" in the previous Halloween special, "This Is a Dark Ride".

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March of the Penguins (French La Marche de l'empereur ; ) is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The documentary depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age (five years old and over) leave the ocean, which is their normal habitat, to walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds. There, the penguins participate in a courtship that, if successful, results in the hatching of a chick. For the chick to survive, both parents must make multiple arduous journeys between the ocean and the breeding grounds over the ensuing months. It took one year for the two isolated cinematographers Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Maison to shoot the documentary, which was shot around the French scientific base of Dumont d'Urville in Adélie Land. March of the Penguins was released in France on January 26, 2005 by Buena Vista International and in the United States by Warner Independent Pictures on June 24, 2005. The documentary won the 2006 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. On June 1, 2010, a home video release in France included the movie in the Disneynature collection. The documentary had a 2007 follow-up movie, Arctic Tale, which only took in at the box office $1.8 million worldwide. A direct sequel titled (aka March of the Penguins 2: The Call) was released in France in 2017 by Disneynature. It was released in the United States exclusively on Hulu on March 23, 2018. The emperor penguins use a particular spot as their breeding ground because it is on ice that is solid year round and no danger of the ice becoming too soft to support the colony that exists. At the end of Antarctic summer, the breeding ground is only a few hundred meters away from the open water where the penguins can feed. However, by the end of winter, the breeding ground is over away from the nearest open water. To reach it, all the penguins of breeding age must traverse this great distance. The penguins practice serial monogamy within each breeding season. The female lays a single egg, and the co-operation of the parents is needed if the chick is to survive. After the female lays the egg, she transfers it to the feet of the waiting male with minimal exposure to the elements, as the intense cold could kill the developing embryo. The male tends to the egg when the female returns to the sea, now even farther away, both to feed herself and to obtain extra food for feeding her chick when she returns. She has not eaten in two months and by the time she leaves the hatching area, she will have lost a third of her body weight. For an additional two months, the males huddle together for warmth, and incubate their eggs. They endure temperatures approaching , and their only source of water is snow that falls on the breeding ground. When the chicks hatch, the males have only a small meal to feed them, and if the female does not return, they must abandon their chick and return to the sea to feed themselves. By the time they return, they have lost half their weight and have not eaten for four months. The chicks are also at risk from predatory birds such as northern giant petrels. The mother penguins come back and feed their young, while the male penguins go all the way back to sea (70 miles) to feed themselves. This gives the mothers time to feed their young ones and bond with them. Unfortunately, a fierce storm arrives and some of the chicks perish. The death of a chick is tragic, but it does allow the parents to return to the sea to feed for the rest of the breeding season. When a mother penguin loses its young in a fierce storm, it sometimes attempts to steal another mother's chick. At times, the young are abandoned by one parent, and they must rely on the return of the other parent, which can recognize the chick only from its unique call. Many parents die on the trip, killed by exhaustion or by predators (such as the leopard seal), dooming their chicks back at the breeding ground. The ingenious fight against starvation is a recurring theme throughout the documentary. In one scene, near-starving chicks are shown taking sustenance out of their father's throat sacs, 11th-hour nourishment in the form of a milky, protein-rich substance secreted from a sac in the father's throat to feed their chicks in the event that circumstances require. The parents must then tend to the chick for an additional four months, shuttling back and forth to the sea to provide food for their young. As spring progresses, the trip gets progressively easier as the ice melts and the distance to the sea decreases, until finally the parents can leave the chicks to fend for themselves. The DVD version includes a 54-minute film entitled Of Penguins and Men made by the film crew Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Mason about the filming of March of the Penguins. Director and film crew spent more than 13 months at the Dumont d'Urville Station, where the Institut polaire français Paul-Émile Victor is based. Although the penguins' meeting place, one of four in Antarctica, was known to be near, the day on which it occurs is not known, so they had to be ready every day. Fortunately, the gathering that year was huge – more than 1,200 penguins, compared with the norm of a few hundred. For cameras to operate at −40°, they had to use film and to load all the film for the day, as it was impossible to reload outside. Because of the isolation from any film studios, remembering each shot was necessary to ensure continuity and to make sure that all the necessary sequences were finished. The main challenge of making the documentary was the weather with temperatures between −50 and −60°C (−58 and −76°F). At dawn, the film crew would spend half an hour putting on six layers of clothes, and on some days they could not spend more than three hours outside. They worked in winds with gusts up to 125 miles per hour, "which in some ways is worse than the cold temperatures" according to director Jaquet. The style of the documentary differs considerably between the original French version and some of the international versions. The original French-language release features a first-person narrative as if the story is being told by the penguins themselves. The narration alternates between a female (Romane Bohringer) and a male (Charles Berling) narrator speaking the alternate roles of the female and male penguin, and as the chicks are born, their narration is handled by child actor Jules Sitruk. This style is mimicked in some of the international versions. For example, in the Hungarian version, actors Ákos Kőszegi, Anna Kubik, and Gábor Morvai provide the voices of the penguins, and the German version as seen in German movie theaters (and in the televised broadcast in April 2007 on channel ProSieben) uses the voices of Andrea Loewig, Thorsten Michaelis, and Adrian Kilian for the "dubbed dialog" of the penguins. This style of narration is also used in the Danish and Cantonese DVD versions. The French release was handled by Buena Vista International France, a division of Disney. Disney also bidded to get US distribution rights to the film, but their bid ultimately failed; the English-language distribution rights were later acquired at the Sundance documentary festival in January 2005 by Adam Leipzig of National Geographic Films, who had forged a distribution partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures via their Warner Independent Pictures label. In contrast to the French version, their English release has a third-person narrative by a single voice, actor Morgan Freeman. Similarly, the Austrian channel ORF 1 used for their broadcast in April 2007, the alternate version available on the German "Special Edition" DVD which uses a documentary narration voiceover spoken by the German actor Sky Du Mont. Other releases' narrators include the Dutch version, narrated by Belgian comedian Urbanus; the Indian version, narrated in Hindi and English by Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, is titled Penguins: A Love Story; the Polish version, narrated by Polish actor Marek Kondrat; and the Swedish version, narrated by Swedish actor Gösta Ekman. The Filipino version is narrated by actress Sharon Cuneta and translated by Chris Martinez and Eugene Evasco; it is entitled Penguin, Penguin, Paano Ka Ginawa? (English: Penguin, Penguin, How Were You Made?) with the English title as the subtitle. The Filipino title is similar to that of a Philippine novel and film, Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa? (English: Child, Child, How Were You Made?) Another difference between the various international versions involves the music. The original version uses an original experimental soundtrack by electronic music composer Émilie Simon, whereas the English-language version replaces it with an instrumental score by Alex Wurman. The Hindi version happens to use the music from the French version. The first screening of the documentary was at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States on 21 January 2005. It was released in France the next week, on 26 January, where it earned a 4-star rating from AlloCiné, and was beaten at the box office only by The Aviator during its opening week. The original French version was released in the Canadian province of Québec. Subsequently, an English-language version was released in the rest of North America on 24 June 2005, drawing praise from most critics who found it both informative and charming. It has received a 94% "fresh" rating with the consensus "Only the hardened soul won't be moved by this heartwarming doc" on the website Rotten Tomatoes, which collects film reviews. The movie-going public apparently agreed with that assessment, as the documentary distinguished itself as one of the most successful documentaries of the season on a per-theatre basis: it became the second most successful documentary released in North America, after Fahrenheit 9/11, grossing over $77 million in the United States and Canada (in nominal dollars, from 1982 to the present.) It grossed over $127 million worldwide. It is the only movie from Warner Independent to be rated G by the MPAA. The documentary was released on DVD in France on 26 July 2005, and in the United States by Warner Home Video on 29 November 2005. It was never released on VHS by Warner Home Video, due to A Very Long Engagement being the last VHS by Warner Independent. It however spawned a VHS in French locations, such as French Canadian regions. The DVD extras address some of the criticisms the documentary had attracted, most notably by reframing the documentary as a scientific study and adding facts to what would otherwise have been a family film. This Region 2 release featured no English audio tracks or subtitles. Likewise the US DVD does not contain the French version along with the US version. An extra on the DVD issue was the controversial 1948 Bugs Bunny cartoon Frigid Hare, in which Bugs visits the South Pole and meets a young penguin fleeing an Inuk hunter. The cartoon is not frequently seen because of its stereotypical depiction of the Inuk hunter, but it was included here uncut and uncensored. This is substituted in the American release with 8 Ball Bunny, likewise uncut and uncensored. In November 2006, the documentary was adapted into a video game by DSI Games for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance platforms. It features Lemmings-like gameplay. In 2007, a direct-to-DVD parody written and directed by Bob Saget called Farce of the Penguins was released. It is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and features other stars providing voice- overs for the penguins. Although the film uses footage from actual nature documentaries about penguins, the parody was not allowed to include footage from March of the Penguins itself. The documentary attracted some political and social commentary in which the penguins were viewed anthropomorphically as having similarities with, and even lessons for, human society. Michael Medved praised the documentary for promoting conservative family values by showing the value of stable parenthood. Medved's comments provoked responses by others, including Andrew Sullivan, who pointed out that the penguins are not in fact monogamous for more than one year, in reality practicing serial monogamy. Matt Walker of New Scientist pointed out that many emperor penguin "adoptions" of chicks are in fact kidnappings, as well as behaviours observed in other penguin species, such as ill treatment of weak chicks, prostitution, and ostracism of rare albino penguins. "For instance, while it is true that emperor penguins often adopt each other's chicks, they do not always do so in a way the moralisers would approve of." Sullivan and Walker both conclude that trying to use animal behavior as an example for human behavior is a mistake. The director, Luc Jacquet, has condemned such comparisons between penguins and humans. Asked by the San Diego Union Tribune to comment on the documentary's use as "a metaphor for family values – the devotion to a mate, devotion to offspring, monogamy, self-denial", Jaquet responded: "I condemn this position. I find it intellectually dishonest to impose this viewpoint on something that's part of nature. It's amusing, but if you take the monogamy argument, from one season to the next, the divorce rate, if you will, is between 80 to 90 percent... the monogamy only lasts for the duration of one reproductive cycle. You have to let penguins be penguins and humans be humans." Some of the controversy over this may be media driven. Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, reported in the magazine's blog that the BBC "have been harassing me for days over March of the Penguins ... about what, I'm not sure. I think to see if I would say on air that penguins are God's instruments to pull America back from the hell- fire, or something like that. As politely as I could I told her, 'Lady, they're just birds.'" Another controversy involves those who feel that the emperor penguin's behavior can be viewed as an indication of intelligent design, and those who consider it to be an example of evolution by natural selection in action. Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, is quoted as saying, "Supporters of intelligent design think that if they see something they don't understand, it must be God; they fail to recognise that they themselves are part of evolution. It appeals to ignorance, which is why there is a lot of it in American politics at the moment." Author Susan Jacoby claims in her 2008 book, The Age of American Unreason (page 26), that the distributors of the movie deliberately avoided using the word "evolution" in order to avoid backlash from the American religious right, and writes, "As it happens, the emperor penguin is literally a textbook example, cited in college-level biology courses, of evolution by means of natural selection and random mutation. ... The financial wisdom of avoiding any mention of evolution was borne out at the box office ..." March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step () was released by Disneynature in France on February 15, 2017, narrated by Lambert Wilson. The film was alternatively titled March of The Penguins 2: The Call. Skipping a theatrical release in the US, the film was released as a Hulu exclusive on March 23, 2018, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as narrator. It was later released on DVD in the UK by Lionsgate Films on November 5. The sequel did fairly well, scoring 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 5 reviews. Won – Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Won – American Cinema Editors, Best Edited Documentary: Sabine Emiliani, Nominated – BAFTA Awards, Best Cinematography: Laurent Chalet, Jérôme Maison, Best Editing: Sabine Emiliani, Won – Broadcast Film Critics Association, Best Documentary, Won – César Awards, Best Sound (Meilleur son): Laurent Quaglio, Gérard Lamps, Nominated, Best Editing (Meilleur montage): Sabine Emiliani, Nominated, Best First Work (Meilleur premier film): Luc Jacquet, Nominated, Best Music Written for a Film (Meilleure musique): Émilie Simon, Won – National Board of Review, Best Documentary, Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Awards, Best Documentary, Nominated – Satellite Awards, Outstanding Documentary DVD, Nominated, Outstanding Motion Picture, Documentary, Won – Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, Best Documentary, Nominated – Writers Guild of America, Documentary Screenplay Award: Jordan Roberts (narration written by), Luc Jacquet (screenplay/story), Michel Fessler (screenplay), Won – Rotten Tomatoes' Golden Tomato Awards – Best Reviewed Documentary of 2005, beating Murderball and, Won – London's Favourite French Film in 2005, Won – Victoires de la musique, Original cinema/television soundtrack of 2006 Ape and Super-Ape, a 1972 Dutch documentary film by Bert Haanstra about the differences and similarities between humans and animals, which also has extensive footage about the life of penguins on Antarctica, almost 30 years before March Of The Penguins was made. "How the penguin's life story inspired the US religious right" – David Smith, Guardian Unlimited Film News, 18 September 2005, "The Unfortunate experience of a Director of Photography" – Amelie Zola, IMAGO, European Federation of Cinematographers, March 2007 Beauty and the Beast is a 2017 American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it was filmed in the UK with predominantly British principal actors. The film is a live action adaptation of Disney's 1991 animated film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 18th-century fairy tale. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the eponymous characters with Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson in supporting roles. A live-action Beauty and the Beast remake was first announced in April 2014, with Condon hired to direct it; Watson, Stevens, Evans, and the rest of the cast signed on between January and April 2015. Principal photography began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England in May 2015 and wrapped that August. With an estimated budget of around $255 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Beauty and the Beast premiered at Spencer House in London on February 23, 2017, and was released in the United States in standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D formats, along with Dolby Cinema on March 17, 2017. The film received generally positive reviews, with many praising the performances of the cast (particularly Watson and Stevens), and its faithfulness to the original animated film, as well as elements from the Broadway musical, visual style, production values, and musical score, though it received criticism for some of the character designs and its excessive similarity to the original. The film grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing live-action musical film, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2017, and the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time. The film received four nominations at the 23rd Critics' Choice Awards and two nominations at the 71st British Academy Film Awards. It also received Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design at the 90th Academy Awards. A beautiful enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman arrives at a castle during a ball and offers the host, a cruel and selfish prince, a rose in return for shelter from a storm. When he refuses, she reveals her identity. To punish the prince for his lack of compassion, the enchantress transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects, then erases the castle, the prince and his servants from the memories of their loved ones. She casts a spell on the rose and warns the prince that the curse will only be broken if he learns to love another, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls, or he will remain a beast forever. Some years later, in the small town of Villeneuve, Belle, the book-loving daughter of an inventor Maurice, dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston, an arrogant former soldier. On his way to a convention and lost in the forest, Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle, but the Beast imprisons him for stealing a rose from his garden as a gift to Belle. When Maurice's horse returns without him, Belle ventures out in search for him, and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place. Belle befriends the castle's servants, who invite her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast scares her into the woods. She is ambushed by a pack of wolves, but the Beast rescues her, and is injured in the process. As Belle nurses his wounds, a friendship develops between them. The Beast shows Belle a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers wherever they want. Belle uses the book to visit her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor mask and realizes that she and her father were forced to leave when her mother succumbed to the plague. In Villeneuve, Maurice fails to convince the other villagers of the Beast and Belle's imprisonment. Gaston, seeing rescuing Belle as an opportunity to win her hand in marriage, agrees to help Maurice. When Maurice learns of his ulterior motive and rejects him, Gaston abandons him to be eaten by the wolves. Maurice is rescued by the hermit Agathe, but when he tells the townsfolk of Gaston's crime and is unable to provide solid evidence, Gaston convinces them to send Maurice to an insane asylum. After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast, Belle discovers her father's predicament using a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror to remember him with. At Villeneuve, Belle reveals the Beast in the mirror to the townsfolk, proving her father's sanity. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, a jealous Gaston claims she has been charmed by dark magic, and has her thrown into the asylum carriage with her father. He rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to slay the Beast before he curses the whole village. Maurice and Belle escape, and Belle rushes back to the castle. During the battle, Gaston abandons his companion LeFou, who then sides with the servants to fend off the villagers. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too depressed to fight back, but regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He defeats Gaston, but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. Ungrateful and unrepentant, Gaston fatally shoots the Beast from a bridge, but it collapses when the castle crumbles, and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate. As Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, repairing the crumbling castle, and restoring the Beast's and servants' human forms and the villagers' memories. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily. Stephen Merchant also appeared in the film as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet. This character was cut from the film, but is featured in the deleted scenes. In the initial theatrical release, Mitchell was miscredited as Rudi Goodman in the cast, but listed under his real name in the soundtrack credits Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical. However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned". By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book. Two months later, Bill Condon signed on to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos. Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who had previously directed Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script. Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live- action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way. Walt Disney Pictures president of production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?" The film's ending originally featured Gaston being cursed by the Enchantress, througth the idea was scrapped. In late January 2015, Emma Watson had been cast as Belle, the female lead. She was the first choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, as he had previously overseen Warner Bros., which released the eight Harry Potter films that co-starred Watson as Hermione Granger. Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were revealed to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively, and Watson confirmed their casting the following day via Twitter. The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière, and Cadenza, respectively. Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle on Broadway, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect". Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original animated film and its sequels, offered to help Watson with her singing lessons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Watson was reportedly paid $3 million upfront, together with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to Maleficent's $759 million worldwide gross. Principal photography on the film began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, on May 18, 2015. Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21. Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that the film had officially wrapped production. The Beast was portrayed with a "more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast." The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation. Before the release of the film, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days of the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones's character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases. When released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast marked a turning point for Walt Disney Pictures by appealing to millions of fans with its Oscar-winning musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. In Bill Condon's opinion, that original score was the key reason he agreed to direct a live-action version of the movie. "That score had more to reveal", he says, "You look at the songs and there's not a clunker in the group. In fact, Frank Rich described it as the best Broadway musical of 1991. The animated version was already darker and more modern than the previous Disney fairy-tales. Take that vision, put it into a new medium, make it a radical reinvention, something not just for the stage because it's not just being literal, now other elements come into play. It's not just having real actors do it". Condon initially prepared on only drawing inspiration from the original film, but he also planned to include most of the songs composed by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight-forward, live-action, large-budget movie musical". Menken returned to score the film's music, which features songs from the original film by him and Howard Ashman, plus new material written by Menken and Tim Rice. Menken said the film would not include songs that were written for the Broadway musical and instead, created four new songs. However, an instrumental version of the song "Home", which was written for the musical, is used during the scene where Belle first enters her room in the castle. On January 19, 2017, both Disney and Céline Dion — singer of the original 1991 "Beauty and the Beast" duet song, with singer Peabo Bryson — confirmed that Dion would be performing one of the new original songs "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to play over the end titles. She originally had doubts about whether or not to record the song due to the recent death of her husband and manager René Angélil, who had previously helped her secure the 1991 pop duet. While ultimately accepting the opportunity, she said: "[The] first Beauty and the Beast decision was made with my husband. Now I'm making decisions on my own. It's a little bit harder. I couldn't say yes right away, because I felt like I was kind of cheating in a way". She eventually felt compelled to record the song because of the impact Beauty and the Beast has had on her career. According to Dion, "I was at the beginning of my career, it put me on the map, it put me where I am today". Also, Josh Groban was announced to be performing the new original song "Evermore" six days later. The 2017 film features a remake of the 1991 original song recorded as a duet by Ariana Grande and John Legend. Grande and Legend's updated version of the title song is faithful to the original, Grammy-winning duet, performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 Disney film. Disney debuted the music video for Ariana Grande and John Legend's interpretation of the title song on Freeform television network on March 5, 2017, and it has since been viewed over 100 million views on the Vevo video-hosting service. Emma Thompson also performed a rendition of the title song, which was performed by Angela Lansbury in the original 1991 animated film. On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017. The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015. The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place at Spencer House in London on February 23, 2017; and the film later premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast onto YouTube. A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017. The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017. The film was re-released in New York and Los Angeles for a one-week engagement starting December 1, 2017. The move was an awards push as awards season heats up. Disney spent around $140 million to market the film worldwide. Following an announcement on May 22, 2016, Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America the next day. In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which was the largest number ever seen for a trailer in that amount of time. This record has since been broken by , It, and . The first official teaser poster was released on July 7, 2016. On November 2, 2016, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image on the cover of their magazine, along with nine new photos. One week later, Emma Watson and Disney debuted a new poster. On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released, again on Good Morning America. This reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record for the most views in one day, beating Fifty Shades Darker; this record has since been broken by The Fate of the Furious. A TV spot with Watson singing was shown during the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Disney released the final trailer on January 30, 2017. Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on June 6, 2017. The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast. The movie regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release. The movie became available on Netflix on September 19, 2017. Beauty and the Beast grossed $504 million in the United States and Canada and $759.5 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $1.263 billion. With a production budget of $254 million, it is the most expensive musical ever made. In just ten days, it became the highest-grossing live-action musical of all time, beating the nine-year-old record held by Mamma Mia!. It is currently the second-biggest musical ever overall, behind Disney's Frozen (2013). Worldwide, the film proved to be a global phenomenon, earning a total of $357 million over its four-day opening weekend from 56 markets. Critics said the film was playing like superhero movies amongst women. It was the second-biggest March global opening, behind only , the thirteenth-biggest worldwide opening ever and the seventh-biggest for Disney. This includes $21 million from IMAX plays on 1,026 screens, a new record for an IMAX PG title. It surpassed the entire lifetime total of the original film in just six days. Beauty and the Beast was the 300th digitally remastered release in IMAX company's history, which began with the re-release of Apollo 13 in 2002. Its robust global debut helped push the company past $6 billion for the first time, and led to analysts believing that the film had a shot of passing $1 billion worldwide from theatrical earnings. On April 12, it passed the $1 billion threshold, becoming the first film of 2017, the fourteenth Disney film, and the twenty-ninth film overall to pass the mark. It became the first film since Rogue One (also a Disney property) in December 2016 to make over a billion dollars, and did so on its 29th day of release. It is currently the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 (behind ), the highest-grossing March release, the highest-grossing remake of all time, and the sixth-biggest Disney film. Even after inflation adjusted, it is still ahead of the $425 million gross ($760 million in 2017 dollars) of the original film. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $414.7 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the second-most profitable release of 2017. In the United States and Canada, Beauty and the Beast topped Fandango's pre- sales and became the fastest-selling family film in the company's history, topping the studio's own animated film Finding Dory released the previous year. Early tracking had the film grossing around $100 million in its opening weekend, with some publications predicting it could reach $130 million. By the time the film's release was 10 days away, analysts raised projections to as high as $150 million. It earned $16.3 million from Thursday previews night, marking the biggest of 2017 (breaking Logan's record), the biggest ever for a Disney live-action film (breaking Maleficent's record), the second-biggest ever for both a G- or PG-rated film (behind the sixth Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which also starred Watson), and the third- biggest ever in the month of March (behind and The Hunger Games). An estimated 41% of the gross came from IMAX, 3D and premium large format screenings which began at 6 pm, while the rest—59%—came from regular 2D shows which began at 7 pm. The numbers were considered more impressive given that the film played during a school week. On its opening day, the film made $63.8 million from 4,210 theaters across 9,200 screens, marking the third biggest in the month of March, trailing behind Batman v Superman ($81.5 million) and The Hunger Games ($67 million). It was also the biggest opening day ever for a film that wasn't PG-13, displacing the $58 million opening Wednesday of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Its opening day alone (which includes Thursday's previews) almost matched the entire opening weekend of previous Disney live-action films, Maleficent ($69.4 million) and Cinderella ($67.9 million). Unlike all previous four Disney live-action films witnessing a hike on their second day, Saturday, Beauty and the Beast actually fell 2% but, nevertheless, the dip was paltry, and the grosses are so much bigger compared to the other titles. Earning a total of $174.8 million on its opening weekend, it defied all expectations and went on to set numerous notable records. This includes the biggest opening of the year as well as the biggest for the month of March and pre-summer/spring opening, beating Batman v Superman, the biggest start ever for a PG title (also for a family film), surpassing Finding Dory until it was later surpassed by Incredibles 2, the biggest debut of all time for a female- fueled film, ahead of , the biggest for a Disney live-action adaptation, ahead of Alice in Wonderland and the biggest musical debut ever, supplanting Pitch Perfect 2. Furthermore, it is also Watson's highest-opening, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 same with Emma Thompson, director Bill Condon's biggest debut ever ahead of and the biggest outside of summer, save for , not accounting for inflation. It became the forty-third film to debut with over $100 million and the fifteenth film to open above $150 million. Its three-day opening alone surpassed the entire original North American run of the first film ($146 million; before the 3D re-release), instantly becoming the second-biggest film of the year, behind Logan ($184 million), and also the second-highest-grossing musical, behind Grease's $188 million cumulative gross in 1978. Seventy percent of the total ticket sales came from 2D showings signifying that people who don't go to theaters frequently came out in bulk to watch the film. About 26% of the remaining tickets were for 3D. IMAX accounted for 7% ($12.5 million) of the total weekend's gross, setting a new record for a PG title, ahead of Alice in Wonderland ($12.1 million) while PLF repped 11% of the box office. Seventy percent of the film's opening day demographic was female, dropping to 60% through the weekend. According polling service PostTrak, about 84 percent of American parents who saw the film on its opening day said they would "definitely" recommend it for families. The film's opening was credited to positive word of mouth from audiences, good reviews from critics, effective marketing which sold the title not just as a family film but also as a romantic drama, the cast's star power (especially Emma Watson), lack of competition, being the first family film since The Lego Batman Movie a month earlier, nostalgia, and the success and ubiquity of the first film and Disney's brand. On Monday, its fourth day of release, the film fell precipitously by 72% earning $13.5 million. The steep fall was due to a limited marketplace where only 11% K-12 and 15% colleges were off per ComScore. Nevertheless, it is the second-biggest March Monday, behind Batman v Superman ($15 million). This was followed by the biggest March and pre-summer Tuesday with $17.8 million, a 32% increase from its previous day. The same day, the film passed $200 million in ticket sales. It earned $228.6 million in the first week of release, the sixth-biggest seven-day gross of all time. In its second weekend, the film continued to maintain the top positioning and fell gradually by 48% earning another $90.4 million to register the fourth- biggest second weekend of all time, and the third-biggest for Disney. In terms of percentage drop, its 48% decline is the third-smallest drop for any film opening above $125 million (behind Finding Dory and The Force Awakens). The hold was notable considering how the film was able to fend off three new wide releases: Power Rangers, Life, and CHiPs. As a result, it passed the $300 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 the pass said mark. The film grossed $45.4 million in its third weekend, finally being overtaken for the top spot by newcomer The Boss Baby ($50.2 million). On April 4, 2017, its nineteenth day of release, it passed the $400 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 to do so. By its fourth weekend, the film began was playing in 3,969 cinemas, a fall of 241 theaters from its previous weekend. Of those, approximately 1,200 cinemas were sing-along versions. It earned $26.3 million (−48%) and retained second place. By comparison, previous Disney films Moana (−8%) and Frozen (−2%) both witnessed mild percentage declines the weekend their sing-alone versions were released. Its seventh weekend of release was in contemporaneous with another Emma Watson-starring new film The Circle. That weekend, The Circle was number four, while Beauty and the Beast was at number six. By May 28, the film had earned over $500 million in ticket sales becoming the first film of 2017 (until it was later surpassed by The Last Jedi), the third female-fueled film (after The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story followed by Wonder Woman and The Last Jedi) and the eighth overall film in cinematic history to pass the mark. It has already become the biggest March release, dethroning The Hunger Games (2012), the biggest musical film (both animated and live-action), as well as the biggest film of 2017 (alongside The Last Jedi). Outside the US and Canada, the film began playing on Thursday, March 16, 2017. Through Sunday, March 19, it had a total international opening of $182.3 million from 55 markets, 44 of which were major territories, far exceeding initial estimations of $100 million and opened at No. 1 in virtually all markets except Vietnam, Turkey, and India. Its launch is the second-biggest for the month of March, behind Batman v Superman ($256.5 million). In IMAX, it recorded the biggest debut for a PG-rated title (although it carried varying certificate amongst different markets) with $8.5 million from 649 screens, the second-biggest for a PG title behind The Jungle Book. In its second weekend, it fell just by 35% earning another $120.6 million and maintaining its first position hold. It added major markets like France and Australia. It topped the international box office for three consecutive weekends before finally being dethroned by Ghost in the Shell and The Boss Baby in its fourth weekend. Despite the fall, the film helped Disney push past the $1 billion thresold internationally for the first time in 2017. It scored the biggest opening day of the year in Hong Kong and the Philippines, the biggest March Thursday in Italy ($1 million, also the biggest Disney Thursday debut), the biggest March opening day in Austria, and the second-biggest in Germany ($1.1 million), Disney's biggest March in Denmark, the biggest Disney live-action debut in China ($12.6 million), the UK ($6.2 million), Mexico ($2.4 million) and Brazil ($1.8 million) and the third-biggest in South Korea with $1.2 million, behind only and . In terms of opening weekend, the largest debut came from China ($44.8 million), followed by the UK ($24.3 million), Korea ($11.8 million), Mexico ($11.8 million), Australia ($11.1 million), Brazil ($11 million), Germany ($10.7 million), France ($8.4 million), Italy ($7.6 million), Philippines ($6.3 million), Russia ($6 million), and Spain ($5.8 million). In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film recorded the biggest opening ever for a PG-rated film, the biggest Disney live-action opening of all time, the biggest March opening weekend, the biggest opening for a musical (ahead of 2012's Les Misérables), the number one opening of 2017 to date and the fifth- biggest-ever overall with £19.7 million ($24.5 million) from 639 theatres and almost twice that of The Jungle Book (£9.9 million). This included the second- biggest Saturday ever (£7.9 million), only behind . It witnessed a decline in its second weekend, earning £12.33 million ($15.4 million). Though the film was falling at a faster rate than The Jungle Book, it had already surpassed the said film and its second weekend is the third-biggest ever (behind the two James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre). In India, despite facing heavy competitions from four new Hindi releases, two Tamils films and a Malayalam and a Punjabi release, the film managed to take an occupancy of 15% on its opening day, an impressive feat despite tremendous competitions. It earned around nett on its opening day from an estimated 600 screens which is more than the three Hindi releases—Machine, Trapped, and Aa Gaya Hero—combined. Disney reported a total of gross for its opening weekend there. It was ahead of all new releases and second overall behind Bollywood film Badrinath Ki Dulhania. In Russia, despite receiving a restrictive 16 rating, the film managed to deliver a very successful opening with $6 million. In China, expectations were high for the film. The release date was announced on January 24, giving Disney and local distributor China Film Group Corporation ample time—around two months—to market the film nationwide. The release date was strategically chosen to coincide with White Day. Preliminary reports suggested that it could open to $40–60 million in its opening weekend. Largely driven by young women, its opening day pre-sales outpaced that of The Jungle Book. The original film was, however, never widely popular in the country. Although China has occasionally blocked gay-themed content from streaming video services, in this case, Chinese censors decided to leave the gay scene intact. According to local box office tracker Ent Group, the film grossed an estimated $12.1 million on its opening day (Friday), representing 70% of the total receipts. Including previews, it made a total of $14.5 million from 100,000 screenings, which is 43% of all screenings in the country. It climbed to $18.5 million on Saturday (102,700 showings) for a three-day total of $42.6 million, securing 60% of the total marketplace. Disney on the other hand reported a different figure of $44.8 million. Either ways, it recorded the second-biggest opening for a Disney live-action film, with $3.4 million coming from 386 IMAX screens. Japan—a huge Disney market—served as the film's final market and opened there on April 21. It debuted with a better-than-expected $12.5 million on its opening weekend helping the film push past the $1.1 billion threshold. An estimated $1.1 million came from IMAX screenings, the fourth-biggest ever in the country. The two-day gross was $9.7 million, outstripping Frozens previous record of $9.5 million. Due to positive reviews, good word-of-mouth and benefitting from the Golden Week, the film saw a 9% increase on its second weekend. The hold was strong enough to fend off newcomer The Fate of the Furious from securing the top spot. The total there is now over $98 million after seven weekends and is the biggest film release of the year and, overall, the eleventh-biggest of all time. It topped the box office there for eight consecutive weekends. The only markets where the film did not top the weekend charts were Vietnam (behind ), Turkey (with two local movies and Logan ahead) and India (where Badrinath Ki Dulhania retained No. 1). It topped the box office for four straight weekends in Germany, Korea, Austria, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Switzerland and the UK (exclusive of previews). In the Philippines, it emerged as the most successful commercial film of all time—both local and foreign—with over $13.5 million. In just five weeks, the film became one of the top 10 highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ahead of all but one Harry Potter film (Deathly Hallows – Part 2) and all three The Lord of the Rings movies (which also starred Ian McKellen). It is currently the eighth-biggest grosser with £70.1 million ($90 million), overtaking Mamma Mia! to become the biggest musical production ever there. The biggest international earning markets following the UK are Japan ($108 million), China ($85.8 million), Brazil ($41.5 million), Korea ($37.5 million), and Australia ($35 million). In Europe alone, the cumulative total is $267 million, which led it to become the second-highest-grossing film in the past year (behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Beauty and the Beast received generally positive reviews, with praise for its ensemble cast, visuals, production values, musical score, songs, and faithfulness to the original film with a few elements of the Broadway musical version, while the designs of the Beast and the servants' household object forms received mixed reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 348 reviews, with an average rating of 6.69/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With an enchanting cast, beautifully crafted songs, and a painterly eye for detail, Beauty and the Beast offers a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In CinemaScore polls, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "It's a Michelin-triple-starred master class in patisserie skills that transforms the cinematic equivalent of a sugar rush into a kind of crystal-meth-like narcotic high that lasts about two hours." Felperin also praised the performances of Watson and Kline as well the special effects, costume designs and the sets, while commending the inclusion of Gad's character of LeFou as the first LGBT character in Disney. Owen Gleiberman of Variety, in his positive review of the film, wrote: "It's a lovingly crafted movie, and in many ways a good one, but before that it's an enraptured piece of old-is-new nostalgia." Gleiberman compared Steven's character of the Beast to a royal version of the titular character in The Elephant Man and the 1946 version of the Beast in Jean Cocteau's original adaptation. A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the performances of both Watson and Stevens, and wrote: "It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn't recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy." Likewise, The Washington Posts Ann Hornaday complimented Watson's performance, describing it as "alert and solemn" while noting her singing ability as "serviceable enough to get the job done". Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three and a half out of five and lauded the performances of Watson and Thompson which he drew a comparison to Paige O'Hara's and Angela Lansbury's performances in the 1991 animated version while appreciating the performances of the other cast. He also commented on the advantage of its using both motion capture and CGI technology, writing: "Almost overwhelmingly lavish, beautifully staged and performed with exquisite timing and grace by the outstanding cast". Mike Ryan of Uproxx praised the cast, production design and the new songs while noting the film doesn't try anything different, saying: "There's certainly nothing that new about this version of Beauty and the Beast (well, except it isn't a cartoon anymore), but it's a good recreation of a classic animated film that should leave most die-hards satisfied." In her A- review, Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning News praised the film's emotional and thematic depth, remarking: "There's an emotional authenticity in director Bill Condon's live- action Beauty and the Beast film that helps you rediscover Disney's beloved 1991 animated film and 1994 stage show in fresh, stirring ways." James Berardinelli of ReelViews described the 2017 version as "enthralling". Brian Truitt of USA Today commended the performances of Evans, Gad, McGregor and Thompson alongside Condon's affinity with musicals, the production design, visual effects featured in some of the song numbers including new songs made by the composers Alan Menken and Tim Rice, particularly Evermore which he described the new song with a potential for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three out of four, deeming it an "exhilarating gift" while he remarked that "Beauty and the Beast does justice to Disney's animated classic, even if some of the magic is M.I.A (Missing in Action)". Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine gave a positive review with a description as "Wild, Vivid and Crazy-Beautiful" as she wrote "Nearly everything about Beauty and the Beast is larger than life, to the point that watching it can be a little overwhelming." and added that "it's loaded with feeling, almost like a brash interpretive dance expressing the passion and elation little girls (and some boys, too) must have felt upon seeing the earlier version." The San Francisco Chronicles Mick LaSalle struck an affirmative tone, calling it one of the joys of 2017, stating that "Beauty and the Beast creates an air of enchantment from its first moments, one that lingers and builds and takes on qualities of warmth and generosity as it goes along" while referring the film as "beautiful" and also praised the film for its emotional and psychological tone as well Steven's motion capture performance. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film four out of five and wrote that "It dazzles on this chocolate box of a picture that feels almost greedy yet to make this film work, down to a sugar-rush finale to grasp the nettle and make an out-an-out, bells-and-whistles musical" while he praised the performances of Watson, McKellen, Thompson, McGregor, Evans and Gad. Mark Hughes of Forbes also praised the film, which he wrote "could revive the story in a faithful but entirely new and unique way elevating the material beyond expectations, establishing itself as a cinematic equal to the original”. He also complimented the importance of undertaking a renowned yet problematic masterpiece as well addressing changes in the elements of the story while acknowledging the film's effectiveness in resonating to the audiences. Stephen Whitty of the New York Daily News called it "this year's best new old musical" and "the most magical thing of all" while describing Watson's performance of Belle as "breakthrough". Several critics regarded the film as inferior to its 1991 animated predecessor. David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the 2017 film "feels particularly egregious, in part, because it's so slavishly devoted to the original; every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it's hard not to notice". Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said that the 2017 film "takes our knowledge and our interest in the material for granted. It zips from one number to another, throwing a ton of frenetically edited eye candy at the screen, charmlessly." Phillips wrote that the film featured some "less conspicuously talented" performers who are "stuck doing karaoke, or motion-capture work of middling quality", though he praised Kline's performance as the "best, sweetest thing in the movie; he brings a sense of calm, droll authority". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Watson's performance and wrote that the film was "lit in that fascinatingly artificial honey-glow light, and it runs smoothly on rails—the kind of rails that bring in and out the stage sets for the lucrative Broadway touring version." In the same newspaper, Wendy Ide criticized the film as "ornate to the point of desperation" in its attempt to emulate the animated film. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, writing that the new songs were "not transporting". He felt the film needed more life and depth, but praised Watson's performance as the "one of the film's stronger elements". Dana Schwartz of The New York Observer felt that some of the characters, such as Gaston and the Beast, had been watered down from the 1991 film, and that the additional backstory elements failed to "advance the plot or theme in any meaningful way" while adding considerable bloat. Schwartz considered the singing of the cast to be adequate but felt that their voices should have been dubbed over, especially for the complex songs. Controversy erupted after director Bill Condon said there was a "gay moment" in the film, when LeFou briefly waltzes with Stanley, one of Gaston's friends. Afterwards in an interview with Vulture.com, Condon stated, "Can I just say, I'm sort of sick of this. Because you've seen the movie—it's such a tiny thing, and it's been overblown." Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly talked-about LeFou: "That was so important. We have interracial couples—this is a celebration of everybody's individuality, and that's what's exciting about it." GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the move, stating, "It is a small moment in the film, but it is a huge leap forward for the film industry." In Russia, Vitaly Milonov agitated the culture minister for banning the film, but instead it was given a 16+ rating (children under the age of 16 can only be admitted to see it in theaters with accompanying adults). Additionally, a theater in Henagar, Alabama did not screen the film because of the subplot. In Malaysia, the Film Censorship Board insisted the "gay moment" scene be cut, prompting an indefinite postponement of its release by Disney, followed by their decision to withdraw it completely if it could not be released uncensored. The studio moved the release date to March 30, to allow more time for Malaysia's censor board to make a decision on whether or not to release the film without changes. The distributors and producers then submitted an appeal to the Film Appeal Committee of Malaysia, which allowed the film to be released without any cuts and a P13 rating on the grounds that "the gay element was minor and did not affect the positive elements featured in the film". In Kuwait, the movie was withdrawn from cinemas by National Cinema Company which owns most of the cinemas in the country. A board member of the company stated that the Ministry of Information's censorship department had requested it to stop its screening and edit it for things deemed offensive by it. The film also received criticism over its portrayal of LeFou, as many felt that it relied on stereotypes and was used as a way of teasing LGBT+ viewers without providing adequate representation. LeFou's status as a sidekick to the main villain brought about criticism over Disney's queercoding of villains in the past, and his infatuation with Gaston was seen as relying on a stereotype of gay men being predatory towards straight men. Furthermore, the only gay interaction LeFou has is a three-second clip of him dancing with another man at the end of the film, which many saw this as Disney cheating its LGBT+ audiences. Disney has sought to portray Belle as an empowered young woman, but a debate questioning whether it is possible for a captor to fall in love with their prisoner, and whether this is a problematic theme, has resulted. As was the case with the original animated film, one argument is that Belle suffers from Stockholm syndrome (a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity). Emma Watson studied whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship with the Beast before signing on and concluded that she does not think the criticism fits this version of the folk tale. Watson described Stockholm Syndrome as "where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought", also adding that Belle defiantly "gives as good as she gets" before forming a friendship and romance with the Beast. Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, who was responsible for defining the term "Stockholm syndrome", said he does not think Belle exhibits the trauma symptoms of prisoners suffering from the syndrome because she does not go through a period of feeling that she is going to die. Some therapists, while acknowledging that the pairing's relationship does not meet the clinical definition of Stockholm syndrome, argue that the relationship depicted is dysfunctional and abusive and does not model healthy romantic relationships for young viewers. Following this viewpoint, Constance Grady of Vox wrote that Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale originally written to prepare young girls in 18th-century France for arranged marriages, and that the power disparity is amplified in the Disney version. Additionally, Anna Menta of Elite Daily argued that the Beast does not apologize to Belle for imprisoning, hurting, or manipulating her, and that his treatment of Belle is not painted as wrong. Shortly after the release of the film, Sean Bailey said that Walt Disney Pictures will "explore possible [live-action] spin-off and prequel scenarios" for animated and live-action Disney films, including Beauty and the Beast. Both Dan Stevens and Emma Watson expressed interest in reprising their roles in potential sequel or prequel to the film. Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton. Adapted from Walt Disney Pictures' Academy Award-winning 1991 animated musical film of the same name – which in turn had been based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont – Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a cold-blooded prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert into his true human form, the Beast must first learn to love a bright, beautiful young woman whom he has imprisoned in his enchanted castle before it is too late. Critics, who hailed it as one of the year's finest musicals, immediately noted the film's Broadway musical potential when it was first released in 1991, encouraging Disney CEO Michael Eisner to venture into Broadway. All eight songs from the animated film were reused in the musical, including a resurrected musical number which had been cut from the motion picture. Original songwriter Menken composed six new songs for the production alongside lyricist Rice, replacing Ashman who had died during production of the film. Woolverton, who had written the film's screenplay, adapted her own work into the musical's libretto, and specifically expanded upon the characterization of the Beast. Woolverton also expanded the storylines of the castle staff from servants who had already been transformed into household objects into humans who were gradually turning into inanimate objects. Costumes were designed by Ann Hould-Ward, who based her creations on both the animators' original designs as well as the Rococo art movement after researching how clothing and household objects looked during the 18th century. After completing tryouts in Houston, Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway on April 18, 1994, starring Susan Egan and Terrence Mann as the eponymous Belle and Beast, respectively. The musical opened to mixed reviews from theatre critics, but was a massive commercial success and well received by audiences. Beauty ran on Broadway for 5,461 performances for thirteen years (1994 - 2007), becoming Broadway's tenth longest-running production in history. The musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities. It has also become a popular choice for junior, amateur and high school productions. Still recovering from Walt Disney's demise, Disney's animated films continued to experience a noticeable decline in quality while struggling to attain critical and commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. The Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner was hired to ensure the performance of the studio's next animated projects, despite having virtually no animation experience. Eisner himself had been a theatre major in college. Eisner's first hire as Disney's CEO was theatrical producer Peter Schneider, who subsequently became responsible for hiring more artists who shared similar theatrical backgrounds to contribute to the studio's next animated releases, among them lyricist Howard Ashman and his long-time collaborator, composer Alan Menken. Ashman and Menken had previously amassed great live musical success with their Off- Broadway production Little Shop of Horrors, but the performance of Ashman's first Broadway venture Smile had been disappointing. Eager to redeem himself, Ashman agreed to work on Disney's animated film The Little Mermaid (1989), which he and Menken would famously decide to approach as though they were scoring a Broadway musical. Upon release, The Little Mermaid was a massive critical and commercial success, garnering two Academy Awards, both of them for Ashman and Menken's original music. Disney established a successful renaissance period, during which Ashman and Menken became responsible for teaching the art of transforming traditional animated films into animated musicals. Inspired by Mermaids success, production on an animated musical adaptation of the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale began shortly afterward, during which Ashman finally confessed to Menken that he was dying of AIDS, a secret he had been keeping from the studio in fear of being discriminated against or fired. Before the film had even been completed, executive vice president Ron Logan suggested to Eisner that he consider adapting Beauty and the Beast for Broadway, an idea Eisner quickly deflected. While the film, written by screenwriter Linda Woolverton, was premiering at the New York Film Festival, an ailing Ashman was being cared for at St. Vincent's Hospital; the lyricist succumbed to his disease four days later on March 14, 1991, dying eight months before the film's November release. Beauty and the Beast became the last project on which Menken worked with Ashman. The film was released to immediate critical acclaim and commercial success, outperforming The Little Mermaid by becoming the highest-grossing animated film in history, as well as the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Once again, Academy Awards were won for Ashman and Menken's music. Several critics noticed the film's live musical potential, among them prolific New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich. Lamenting the Broadway selection at the time, Rich famously praised the songwriting duo for having written "[t]he best Broadway musical score of 1991", while hailing the film as a "better [musical] ... than anything he had seen on Broadway" in 1991. Rich's review would ultimately provide Eisner and Katzenberg with the confidence needed to seriously consider the film as a potential Broadway project. Disney was also inspired by the successes of Broadway musicals such as Cats, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera strongly believing their production could be just as profitable. Virtually unknown at the time, Robert Jess Roth was appointed the production's director based on his various successes directing live shows at the Disney theme parks. Eisner and Katzenberg had opted against hiring a more established director in order to retain creative control over the project, believing that an A-list director would likely feel more inclined to challenge their vision. Roth himself had previously pursued Eisner about investing in a Broadway show – originally suggesting a stage adaptation of Mary Poppins into a Broadway musical in 1984 – only to have his idea declined, citing cost of investment and time concerns. However, Eisner invited Roth to ask him about pursuing Broadway again in the future once he had finished directing three additional Disney theme park shows. Ultimately impressed with Roth's adaptation of The Nutcracker, Eisner finally suggested an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, inspired by the success of a condensed stage version of the film at Disneyland, although briefly discouraged by the idea of having humans instantly transformed into inanimate objects live. Since the film had not yet been released on home video, Roth spent an entire day re-watching Beauty and the Beast in theaters while brainstorming how to present its fantastical elements onstage, and eventually worked with choreographer Matt West and set designer Stan Meyer on their own proposal, with contributions from Menken and Woolverton. In a hotel in Aspen, Roth convinced Eisner and Katzenberg to green-light a Broadway adaptation of Beauty and the Beast using a combination of 140 storyboards, costume sketches, fabric swatches and demonstrating one illusion. Eisner retained final approval over all creative elements of the production, "from the lowest chorus swing performer to the director, stars and design team." Menken was initially skeptical of Roth's qualifications, as he had never directed a Broadway show before. Meanwhile, the producers were concerned that audiences might not be interested in seeing the same story that they have enjoyed on film on the Broadway stage. Among the skeptics was theatrical producer Steven Suskin, author of Opening Night and Broadway, who argued that the production was more likely to be successful in reverse: "(The movie is) basically written as a theater piece. I'm sure it would've worked in the theater first, and it then would've worked in the movies," believing audiences would have difficulties accepting a new version of such an immensely popular work. Beauty and the Beast became Disney's first Broadway venture, although Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a stage adaptation of Disney's animated film of the same name, had premiered in New York in 1979, produced by Radio City Music Hall Productions, Inc. Theatre Under the Stars' executive director Frank Young campaigned heavily to have the show open in Houston, Texas even getting Governor Ann Richards involved in order to secure the stage rights. Roth summarized Beauty and the Beast as a story about "seeing past the exterior of a person and into his or her heart". Woolverton learned that Disney had commissioned her to adapt the animated film she had written into a Broadway musical while she was vacationing with her family in Maui, and her initial response to the idea was "Yikes." In the process of adapting her own animated screenplay into a full-length, two-act libretto for the stage, Woolverton contributed several distinct changes to the material, specifically instilling more emotional "depth" into each main character. The writer expanded the story by both "fleshing out" each character and allowing room for new musical numbers. Namely, Woolverton made the Beast a more threatening yet sympathetic figure; the writer expanded upon his characterization by developing the Beast into "a fuller character", aided by the addition of his own song, "If I Can't Love Her". Meanwhile, the book-loving Belle was adapted into a more headstrong and determined heroine. Belle and the Beast's relationship benefits from a new scene Woolverton wrote specifically for the stage, during which the couple read in the castle's library; Belle introduces the Beast to the tale of King Arthur and reads the book to him, to which the Beast responds by showing genuine vulnerability for the first time. In 1993, Woolverton explained to the Los Angeles Times that "the mythology in the story would be changed to explain, for example, a 6-foot-tall candelabra." Perhaps Woolverton's most significant modification involves the enchanted objects, and the decision to have the enchantress' spell gradually transform the castle's staff of loyal servants into household objects throughout the entire duration of the musical, as opposed to having already done so immediately at the beginning. Essentially, becoming completely inanimate if the spell is not broken in time would equate to each character dying, which ultimately augments the story's drama. Consequently, this plot decision enhanced the story into a tale about people being forced to make difficult decisions, as opposed to solely a story of a man struggling to retain his humanity, in turn providing the audience with an opportunity to care about the supporting characters dramatically. Generally, Woolverton's book remained quite faithful to the original text; the plot is essentially the same, but particular detail has been added in order to "flesh out" the story. The feather duster and wardrobe characters – only minor characters in the animated film – were broadened into fully realized supporting characters and named for the first time; Woolverton named them Babette and Madame de la Grande Bouche, respectively. Taking her job seriously, Woolverton worked relentlessly on revising the script, and often took the cast's suggestions into consideration (though not always yielding to their opinions). Despite the musical having been based on a pre- existing story by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Woolverton retains a sole writing credit for her work, as the story had long lapsed into the public domain by that time. Broadway producers are usually eager to cast big-named performers in their musicals, but Katzenberg, famous at the time for avoiding working with actors of such caliber, decided against this practice for Beauty and the Beast. Eisner concluded that most of the film's original voice actors would be too busy to reprise their roles onstage. In her Broadway debut, then-22-year-old actress Susan Egan was cast as the musical's original Belle. Egan, who had not yet seen the film, had been auditioning for several other Broadway projects at the time – namely My Fair Lady, Carousel and Grease – in which she was much more interested. Despite longing to originate a Broadway role, the actress was initially reluctant to audition for Beauty and the Beast because she thought that "it was a terrible idea for Disney to put a cartoon on Broadway." Additionally, Egan felt she was not attractive enough to play a character touted "the most beautiful girl in the village", but her agent managed to convince her otherwise. Without any film to reference, Egan determined that Belle is supposed to be a "quirky" character and approached her funnier than how she is depicted in the film, in turn garnering laughs from the producers – who were amused by her unique interpretation – and eventually earning several callbacks. Meanwhile, her competition of 500 actresses, many of whom were simply offering imitations of voice actress Paige O'Hara's original performance, continued to be eliminated. Egan's final week of auditions, during which she sang for Menken for the first time, was particularly challenging. On her last day of auditioning, Egan auditioned opposite several different actors trying out for the roles of the Beast and Gaston. As the day concluded, Roth directed Egan to approach the role as "a straight ingénue", and she was ultimately cast upon proving capable of playing Belle both straight and comically. Only afterward did Egan celebrate by finally renting and watching the entire film for the first time. Although Egan did not feel particularly pressured about the role, she was grateful to be surrounded by a supporting cast of veteran Broadway performers. Actor Terrence Mann was cast as the Beast. Mann had previously performed as Javert in Les Misérables, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. For his final audition for Disney management, Mann performed for a large audience comprising Disney executives and secretaries in a theatre located on 42nd Street, which he felt was in stark contrast to the usual method of auditioning for six to eight people in a dark theatre. Actor Gary Beach was cast as Lumiere. Beach had seen Beauty and the Beast premiere at the El Capitan Theatre, prior to which he had watched a stage rendition of the film, and thoroughly enjoyed both. Beach was particularly drawn to Jerry Orbach's rendition of "Be Our Guest" in his role as Lumiere, thinking, "Now why can't I get a part like that". Two years later, Beach received a call from casting director Jay Binder inviting him to play Lumiere during their workshop of Beauty and the Beast, but kept turning down the offer due to having prior commitments to an upcoming show starring comedian Carol Burnett. It was only at Burnett's insistence that Beach finally accepted. Amidst a cast of relatively obscure actors, Tom Bosley, famous for his roles on the television series Happy Days and Murder, She Wrote, became the show's most recognizable performer when he was cast as Belle's father Maurice. All eight of the film's original songs were retained for the Broadway adaptation. The song "Human Again" had originally been written for the film, but it was ultimately abandoned due to time and story constraints; the musical number was finally resurrected for and included in the production. Composer Alan Menken, who had both scored and written the film's songs alongside lyricist Howard Ashman, returned to the project to write six new songs for the musical. Lyricist Tim Rice joined Menken to co-write the new numbers, replacing Ashman who had died in 1991, before the film was released. Both Menken and Rice initially approached the project with some resistance; Menken's emotional attachment to the music he had written with Ashman made him fear Disney's vision of a Broadway musical would transform Beauty and the Beast into an attraction too similar to what one would find at Walt Disney World. Meanwhile, Rice, who had previously worked as composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's lyricist on the Broadway musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, was hesitant to replace Ashman in fear of worsening Beauty and the Beast. Notably, Rice had similarly replaced Ashman to write the remaining songs for Disney's Aladdin (1992) after the lyricist died. Ultimately, the collaboration resulted in approximately half of the Broadway score having co-writing credits by Menken and Ashman, while the remaining half are Menken and Rice compositions. The Menken-Rice songs are sometimes billed as "additional songs composed by [Alan] Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice." On working on the musical without Ashman, Menken explained that "The main challenge ... was blending the lyrics of Tim Rice with those of Howard. In the end, the finished score has a quality all its own; a hybrid between" Ashman and Rice's styles. Elaborating on the main difference between writing songs for the stage as opposed to film, Menken stated that the lack of close-ups and montages in a live musical production creates a requirement for more singing material in order "to provide the same kind of illumination that intimate facial expression provides." Most of the new material focused on character development, such as Gaston's "Me", Belle's "Home" and the Beast's "If I Can't Love Her". Some new songs, Maurice's fatherly ballad "No Matter What" and Gaston, Lefou, and Monseuir's D'Arque villainous number "Maison des Lunes", for example, were written to serve as "time-servers". In 1998, a seventh song entitled "A Change in Me" was written four years into production's run specifically for R&B; singer Toni Braxton when she joined the cast to play Belle, and appears during the show's second act. The idea for the song originated while Braxton was still in negotiations with Disney to appear in the show for a total of three months, but various circumstances led to the singer constantly delaying signing the contract. It was not until Braxton had dinner with Menken, Rice and West that she finally agreed to sign the contract under the condition that a brand new song be written specifically for her, which an intoxicated Rice had drunkenly offered and promised. When confronted by Roth about his promise upon learning of it from Braxton a few days later, within 24 hours Rice successfully discovered a location within the musical in which to include a new song, specifically "Where Belle tells Maurice about how the time that she spent with the Beast in his castle has changed her." That song ultimately became the ballad "A Change in Me", which lyrically addresses the ways in which Belle's initial motivations have ultimately changed during her imprisonment, explaining to Maurice that she has matured and no longer longs for what she originally cited in "Belle (Reprise)". Braxton premiered the song in the form of a live performance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. Both the song and Braxton's performance were well received, and "A Change in Me" has been included in the musical ever since. Eisner especially enjoyed the song, demanding that it be included in international productions as well, to which he personally traveled in order to teach it to the cast. Music supervision was handled by Michael Kosarin, with sound design by John Petrafesa Jr. Unlike in the film, Belle actually performs and dances alongside the enchanted objects during "Be Our Guest", which resembles "a high-energy Vegas number" similar to the musical Ziegfeld Follies. The original Broadway cast recording of Beauty and the Beast was released by Walt Disney Records in 1994. Similar cast albums followed suit, including Australian and Japanese recordings in 1994 and 1996, respectively. "A Change in Me" has yet to be included on any official English- language cast recordings. Stanley Meyer designed the production's set. Following Disney's instructions "to make the animated film come to life", Meyer's set was very much a literal interpretation of the film. Meyer found it "tricky" to translate two- dimensional environments into a three-dimensional world. The West Wing's appearance mirrors that of its resident the Beast, being hideous on the outside but beautiful when the audience is finally taken inside of it. In stark contrast to popular musicals The Phantom of the Opera and Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beasts set resembles a hybrid of Gothic Victorian and Louis Quinze. Disney hired costume designer Ann Hould-Ward to design the musical's costumes because the studio enjoyed a "certain aesthetic" she had used in her previous work, and thus allowed her much creative freedom. Roth was particularly impressed with the designer's contributions to the musicals Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods. Hould-Ward accepted Disney's offer because she was interested in seeing exactly how a corporate company producing a Broadway musical for the first time would "change the Broadway world." Conceptualization began in summer 1992. For research purposes, Disney encouraged Hould-Ward to reference the animated film; she also researched clothing worn throughout the late 18th century, during which the original fairy tale was written, and spent one year discovering how household items looked during the mid-1700s. Additionally, Hould-Ward visited with Beauty and the Beasts original animators, spending one week learning how they created their characters to ensure that they would be recognizable to those who had seen the film. However, the designer also decided that her own creations would not exactly replicate the film's. Basing the costumes on the Rococo art movement, Hould-Ward presented her initial ideas to Eisner and then-Disney president Frank Wells. Once approved, Hould-Ward and her team spent the following year creating prototypes of each major costume. With an unusually long work schedule of two years, Hould-Ward recalled that "this kind of timeline ... wasn't the norm in a Broadway musical" at the time. The process of designing Beauty and the Beasts costumes was more collaborative between designer and actor than most other Broadway productions Hould-Ward had previously worked on, and she frequently sought input from the cast to make sure they were able to move. Designing Belle's costumes was an "easy" task for Hould-Ward; the character is initially dressed in standard Disney heroine attire until replaced by more elaborate costumes once Belle meets the Beast. Hould-Ward based the character's famous yellow ballgown on several historic portraits. The gown became the first costume built for the production in order to accommodate Disney's mandate to market the dress in photoshoots and commercials starring Egan and Mann, six months prior to rehearsals. Weighing 45 pounds, the dress is a combination of various patterns and materials, including a hoop skirt, silk, brocade, beading, flowers and bows. Too large to fit inside Egan's dressing room after the ballroom sequence, undressing required assistance from three backstage crew members who used wires to hoist the dress up into the rafters, where it would be stored until the next performance. A lot of time was spent designing the Beast's costume, the creation of which was especially challenging due to requirements to "allow enough of the performer to show through." Hould-Ward's initial designs for the Beast were constantly rejected by Katzenberg, who reiterated that she "put the movie onstage" until the producer realized that the excessive prosthetics were limiting Mann's vocal performance. A wire frame was also used to maintain the costume's shape, which evokes heavy metal fashion until ultimately substituted for a black Oscar de la Renta-inspired velvet suit when the Beast finally transforms back into a prince. Hould-Ward designed the leads' costumes from the perspective of her daughter Leah, explaining, "when Leah comes to see it, she remembers from the movie that the Beast was in that blue jacket. Leah expects that blue jacket, and if you don't give it to her, she and a lot of other ten-year-olds are going to be sad". At the same time, the designer wanted her creations to be equally as interesting on an intellectual level for parents to enjoy also. The challenge of designing Belle and the Beast's costumes paled in comparison to the difficulty of creating the enchanted objects, a combination of intricate wiring, prosthetics and pyrotechnics. Scale was the most prominent "obstacle" for Hould-Ward's to overcome: "The problem was the presentation of an actor as a life-sized teapot when the characters in the film were so little in comparison". Because the castle's enchanted staff is slowly transforming into objects, shown at various stages of transformation without ever completely becoming the objects themselves, Hould-Ward was required to create several different costumes for each character in order to depict the transformation as the show progresses. Meanwhile, the costume of Lumiere alone was built by a team of forty people, including a creator of the prosthetic candle, hair and Vacuform specialist; the pyrotechnician, man responsible for equipping the costume's pyro unit with butane and man operating the butane tank were each separate people. While transforming animation into real life, Hould-Ward also worked on incorporating the human body each costume, explaining, "I wanted the reality of the real person rather than the fantasy of the object ... The essence of my job is to allow my real actors to take you to this fantastical place." A system of wired frames was used to help the actors support their characters' heavy garments. Such elaborate costumes had never been designed for a Broadway production before. Cogsworth's costume features a fully functioning clock on his face. Meanwhile, Madame de la Grande Bouche was the production's most expensive costume. The musical originally relied on heavy prosthetics and elaborate costumes in an attempt to make the musical resemble the film as closely as possible. In an attempt to replicate the film's famous movie poster, Egan was dressed in flats while Mann was positioned on stilts to establish a more dramatic height difference. According to Egan, the studio "didn't trust the audience's ability to suspend disbelief, something theater-goers are routinely asked to do." However, the company finally began to relent as the production neared Houston tryouts after a final run-through during which the actors did not wear costumes; thus, the prosthetics were gradually lessened and replaced by make up for the Beast and enchanted objects during 1993 previews. The elaborate costumes resulted in their fair share of technical difficulties, malfunctions and performance restrictions, many of which manifested during the seven-week tryouts in Houston. The costumes left little room for the performers to change between scenes, and air conditioners were fastened to them to regulate their temperatures. In general, the weight of the enchanted objects' costumes limited their dancing. Chiropractors and therapists remained on standby to assist Fowler, whose Mrs. Potts costume required her to always keep one arm in the air. Beach compared holding up the two propane tanks used to represent Lumiere's candles to carrying two hams around a grocery store two and a half hours. To build his stamina, Beach would carry the tanks during rehearsal. Beach's hand caught fire during one performance, which he did not notice until Mann subtly pointed it out using "furtive head nods". While dancing, the inertia of Egan's heavy ballgown caused its skirt to constantly pull her in the opposite direction of whichever way she turned. Mann likened performing in the Beast's costume to wearing several heavy winter coats, comparing the wig to "four Angora cats and gaffer taping them to your head and then running around the block 10 or 12 times." Disney was outraged when, after their first performance at the Palace Theatre, The New York Times published caricaturist Al Hirschfeld's line drawing interpretation of Belle and the Beast's pose, in which Belle's yellow gown was colored pink, and the Beast's tuxedo appeared greenish as opposed to royal blue. When Disney confronted Hirschfeld, the artist defended his work, explaining, "The costumes may have been blue and yellow, but they made me feel green and pink." Hould-Ward adjusted the costumes to accommodate the locations as the production traveled to various theaters. Lighting designer Natasha Katz was hired to work on Beauty and the Beast. When Disney first approached Katz to offer her the job, several of Katz's cohorts – specifically other lighting designers – attempted to discourage her from accepting in fear of changing the appearance of musical theatre forever. In hindsight, Katz defended Disney's work, explaining, "Beauty and the Beast didn't bring theatre back to New York, but it did change the dynamic, no question about it, of the business." Known for assisting David Copperfield with his illusions, Roth hired Jim Steinmeyer to work on Beauty and the Beast. Steinmeyer had previously contributed to the musical Merlin. The Beast's transformation sequence during the second act was much-discussed. It took about 11 weeks to set the design. On a cold winter's night, an old beggar woman comes to a young spoiled prince's castle, offering him a single rose in return for shelter. But the prince turns her away solely for her appearance. The old woman warns him not to be fooled by appearances, as true beauty lies within, only to be rejected again. She then transforms into a beautiful enchantress and turns the prince into a hideous Beast and his servants into various household objects. She gives him the rose to use as an hour-glass. The only way he can break the spell is to learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal falls ("Prologue"). Ten years later, a beautiful young girl named Belle makes her way into town one morning in order to get a book from the local bookseller. On the way she expresses her wish to live in a world like her books, full of adventure, while the townspeople note her unparalleled beauty but find her love of books odd ("Belle"). Belle has also attracted the attention of Gaston (the local hunter and town hero), who admires her only for her beauty. Belle, however, is not oblivious to her peers' views of her. She voices her concerns about it to her eccentric father and inventor, Maurice who assures her that she is anything but strange ("No Matter What"). The two then put the finishing touches on his invention and Maurice heads off to an invention fair donning a scarf knitted for him by Belle ("No Matter What (Reprise)"), but becomes lost in the woods and attacked by a pack of wolves. After surviving a wolf attack, he enters the Beast's castle and meets the servants, including Lumière, a maître d' turned into a candelabra, Cogsworth, the head of household turned into a clock, Babette, a maid turned into a feather duster that still seems to retain her flirtatious tendencies, Mrs. Potts, the head of the kitchen turned into a teapot, and Chip, her son turned into a teacup. They welcome him, but the horrid Beast arrives and locks Maurice away in the dungeon for trespassing. Back in town, Gaston proposes to Belle, which she politely rejects ("Me"). Appalled by Gaston's forwardness, Belle once again voices her need for a life outside this provincial life ("Belle (Reprise)"). Gaston's sidekick, LeFou, returns from the woods wearing the scarf Belle knitted for Maurice. Belle realizes her father is in danger and heads into the woods to look for him. She ends up at the castle where she finds her father locked away in a dungeon. She makes a deal with the Beast, Maurice goes free but she remains instead. They agree and Maurice is sent back to town without being allowed to say goodbye. Belle is given a guest room and ordered by the Beast to join him for dinner. She mourns her situation ("Home"), but Mrs. Potts and Madame de la Grande Bouche, an operatic wardrobe, attempt to cheer her up ("Home (Reprise)"). Back in town, at the local tavern, Gaston sulks at his loss of a bride. LeFou and the patrons attempt to cheer him up ("Gaston"), when Maurice rushes in claiming a Beast has Belle locked away, they laugh at him but Gaston formulates a plan ("Gaston (Reprise)"). Back at the castle, the Beast grows impatient as Belle has yet to join him for dinner. Cogsworth informs him she refuses to come, after a shouting match between Belle and the Beast (which ends in a victory for Belle) he tells her if she cannot eat with him then she will not eat at all. In his quarters, he sulks and notes his fate should the spell not break ("How Long Must This Go On?"). Eventually, Belle does become hungry and ventures into the kitchen where the servants offer her dinner despite their master's orders. They treat her to an amazing cabaret show ("Be Our Guest"). After dinner, Belle gets a tour of the castle courtesy of Cogsworth and Lumière, her curiosity leads her to enter the West Wing, a place the Beast told her was forbidden. Mesmerized by a mysterious rose floating in a bell jar, she reaches out to touch it but before she can, the Beast stops her and orders her to get out accidentally shoving her in the process. Fearing for her life, Belle flees from the castle. Realizing his deadly mistake, the Beast knows he will be a monster forever if he cannot learn to love her ("If I Can't Love Her"). In the woods, Belle is attacked by wolves and is only rescued when the Beast comes to her aid, but he is injured during the fight and collapses ("Entr'acte/Wolf Chase"). Instead of taking the chance to run home Belle helps him back to the castle. She cleans his injuries and after a brief argument about whose fault this is, the Beast thanks her for her kindness and thus their friendship is born. Wanting to give her a thank-you gift, the Beast gives Belle his huge library, which excites her. She notes a change in the Beast's personality as the servants note a change in Belle and the Beast's relationship ("Something There"). They express their hope of being human once more ("Human Again") while Belle asks the Beast to accompany her to dinner that night. Back in the village, Gaston meets with the asylum owner Monsieur D'Arque. They plan to lock Maurice away to blackmail Belle into marrying Gaston ("Maison des Lunes"). In the castle, the Beast and Belle attend a lovely dinner and personal ball, where they dance together in the ballroom ("Beauty and the Beast"). The Beast, who plans to tell Belle he loves her, asks Belle if she is happy here, to which she responds positively but notes that she misses her father. He offers her his Magic Mirror to view him. She sees that Maurice is sick and lost in the woods and fears for his life. But even though the Beast knows there are only a few hours left till the last petal falls from the rose, he allows Belle to leave in order to save her father; she departs after a tearful goodbye ("If I Can't Love Her (Reprise)"). Belle finds her father and brings him back to their house in the village. After she is able to nurse him back to health, she explains the transformation she seems to have gone through while she was with the Beast ("A Change in Me"). A mob arrives, led by Gaston to take Maurice to the asylum. Belle proves her father's sanity by showing the townspeople the Beast is real using the Magic Mirror, but does not realize the error in her gesture. The townspeople immediately fear the Beast, but Belle insists that he is gentle and kind. Gaston catches her tone and recognizes the Beast as his rival for Belle's affections and organizes the mob to kill the Beast ("Mob Song"). In order to warn the Beast, Belle and Maurice decide to beat the mob to the castle. However, Gaston and the mob had already reached the castle before Belle and Maurice did. At the castle, the servants are able to keep the lynch mob at bay, but Gaston breaks through and finds the Beast in his tower. He engages in a fight with him, mercilessly beating and taunting him ("Battle"). The Beast has lost the will to live at Belle's departure. As Gaston moves in for the killing blow, Belle arrives. The Beast immediately turns on Gaston and is prepared to kill him, but spares his life after seeing the fear in his eyes. The Beast and Belle are reunited, but this reunion is cut short as Gaston fatally stabs the Beast. This act of violence causes Gaston to lose his footing and he falls to his death. On the balcony, Belle assures the Beast he'll live but they both know she is helpless to save him. She begs him not to leave her because she has found home in his company ("End Duet"), but despite this, he dies; Belle sobs on his body and says she loves him just before the last rose petal falls. A transformation takes place ("Transformation") and the Beast is alive and human once more. Though Belle does not recognize him for the first time, she looks into his eyes and sees the Beast within and they kiss. The two of them sing of how their lives have changed because of love and they dance once more as the company, now changed back to their human form, gathers in the ballroom ("Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)"). Beauty and the Beast premiered in a joint production of Theatre Under The Stars and Disney Theatrical at the Music Hall, Houston, Texas, from November 28, 1993, through December 26, 1993. The musical opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 18, 1994, and ran there until September 5, 1999. The show then transferred to the Lunt- Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999, with an official opening date of November 16, 1999. The musical closed on July 29, 2007, after 46 previews and 5,461 performances, and is Broadway's tenth-longest running production in history (). The production holds the record of being the longest running production at both the Palace Theatre, where it opened, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it closed its Broadway run. The production cost an estimated $12 million, arguably higher, becoming the most costly Broadway musical at the time. However, some analysists estimate the cost to be closer to $20 million. Directed by Robert Jess Roth with choreography by Matt West and assisted by Dan Mojica, the original Broadway cast included Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as the Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumière and Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts. Orchestrations were by Danny Troob (after his own orchestrations and arrangements of the film), scenic designer was Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound was by T. Richard Fitzgerald, hair designer David H. Lawrence, and prosthetics were by John Dods. Illusions were by Jim Steinmeyer and John Gaughan, and pyrotechnic design was by Tyler Wymer. The Broadway production closed to make way for Disney's next musical venture, The Little Mermaid. With Disney set to open its Broadway version of The Little Mermaid on November 3, 2007, at the time, it was believed that having two Disney princess films on Broadway at the same time would divide audiences and cause competition between the two shows. At this point, Disney also had three other shows running at the same time: The Lion King, Tarzan, and Mary Poppins. It was reported that Disney Theatrical planned to revive the show on Broadway for the 2008 holiday season, but Disney did not pursue this. The West End production opened at London's Dominion Theatre on April 29, 1997, starring Julie-Alanah Brighten as Belle and Alasdair Harvey as the Beast. It also featured Burke Moses as Gaston, Derek Griffiths as Lumiere, Mary Millar as Mrs. Potts, Norman Rossington as Maurice, Barry James as Cogsworth, Di Botcher as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Richard Gauntlett as LeFou, and Rebecca Thornhill as Babette. Over the course of the production, notable replacements included Michelle Gayle and Annalene Beechey as Belle, John Barrowman and Earl Carpenter as the Beast, Alex Bourne as Gaston, and Billy Boyle and Terry Doyle as Maurice. The production ended on December 11, 1999. The production won the 1998 American Express Award for Best New Musical Olivier Award, against other nominees Enter the Guardsman, The Fix and Lady in the Dark. The show had four US national tours. The first opened on November 15, 1995, and closed in 1999. It featured Kim Huber as Belle, Fred Inkley as the Beast, Patrick Page as Lumiere and Paige Davis as Babette. Patrick Page and Paige Davis met and fell in love during the tour and married. A second national tour opened in 1999 with Susan Owen as Belle and Grant Norman as The Beast. This production closed in 2003. The third national tour opened in 2001 and closed in 2003. This production starred Jennifer Shraeder as Belle and Roger Befeler as the Beast with Marc G. Dalio as Gaston. Notable replacements on the tours have included Sarah Litzsinger, Erin Dilly and Danyelle Bossardet as Belle. The three touring companies visited 137 venues in 90 North American cities. About 5.5 million people in the United States and Canada saw these tours. The fourth national tour of Beauty and the Beast began February 2010, opening in Providence, Rhode Island, starring Liz Shivener as Belle and Justin Glaser as the Beast. Under the direction of the original Broadway creative team, the show featured all new sets and costumes. The tour was the longest in the show's history, running until July 2016. The UK National tour (prior to the closure of the West End Production in 1999) began on November 2, 2001, at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool with stops in Bristol, Birmingham, Dublin, Southampton, Manchester and ended on April 12, 2003, at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh. The tour starred Annalene Beechey (reprising her role from the London production) as Belle, Alistair Robins as the Beast, Ben Harlow as Gaston, Julia Goss as Mrs. Potts, Stephen Matthews as Lumiere Barry James (reprising his role from the London production) as Cogsworth, Billy Boyle (reprising his role from the London production) as Maurice, Karen Davies as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Kate Graham (reprising her role from the London production) as Babette, Anthony Clegg as LeFou, and Oliver Taylor (reprising his role from the London production) and Sion Eifion sharing the role of Chip. Notable replacements included Dianne Pilkington as Belle, Alex Bourne as the Beast, Earl Carpenter as Gaston, Marilyn Cutts as Mrs. Potts, Richard Tate as Maurice, and Drew Varley as LeFou. Los Angeles A Los Angeles production opened at the Shubert Theatre on April 12, 1995, and closed on September 29, 1996. Most of the original Broadway cast, including Susan Egan, Terrence Mann, Gary Beach, Beth Fowler, Burke Moses and Tom Bosley reprised their roles. Notable replacements included James Stacy Barbour as the Beast. The sets in this production were widely considered to be the largest out of all the musical's productions in the world. After the show closed in Los Angeles, all of the sets were transferred for the production in Mexico City in 1997. Canada: The Toronto production opened at the Princess of Wales Theatre on July 25, 1995, and closed on August 30, 1997. The production starred Kerry Butler as Belle and Chuck Wagner as the Beast, and Terry Doyle as Maurice. Notable replacements included Melissa Thomson as Belle and Steve Blanchard as the Beast. The lesser known Halifax production at the Neptune Theatre was the longest running production in the theatre's history. Beauty and the Beast has been performed in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States. Over 35 million people have seen the show worldwide and it has grossed more than $1.7 billion. On July 15, 1995, the musical began its original Australian run in Melbourne at The Princess Theatre, before moving on to Sydney. The original Australian cast included Michael Cormick as The Beast, Rachael Beck as Belle, Hugh Jackman as Gaston, and Ernie Bourne as Maurice. In 1995, the musical opened in Japan and was performed by the Shiki Theatre Company. The musical continued to tour Japan until May 2017. In December 1997, the musical opened in Stuttgart at the Palladium Theatre, Stuttgart and played there until December 22, 2000. Leah Delos Santos played Belle and Uwe Kröger played the Beast and Marc G. Dalio played Gaston. In 1999, the musical opened in China. On March 4, 2005, Beauty and the Beast had its Scandinavian premiere at The Göteborg Opera with Fred Johanson as the Beast and Annica Edstam as Belle. On June 16, 2005, the musical began its Philippine run at the Meralco Theater. Produced by Atlantis Productions, it featured KC Concepcion alternating with Karel Marquez as Belle, Jett Pangan as the Beast, and Calvin Millado as Gaston. In South America, Argentina was the first country to produce it, with Marisol Otero as Belle, Juan Rodó as Beast, Diego Jaraz as Gaston, Gustavo Monje as LeFou, Pablo Lizaso as Lumière, Mónica Nuñez as Mrs. Potts, Omar Pini as Cogsworth, Alejandra Radano as Babette and Rodolfo Valss as Maurice. It ran from November 26, 1998, at the Teatro Ópera in Buenos Aires until August 15, 1999, before opening again in 2010. Brazil was the second country to host the musical. Disney had plans to bring it to the country in 1999, after the success in Argentina, but nobody really knew if it would work. Three years later, in 2002, Beauty and the Beast finally opened in Brazil at Teatro Abril, one of the biggest theaters in the country. It was a huge hit, for more than one and a half years, it was presented with Kiara Sasso playing Belle and Saulo Vasconcelos playing the Beast. In 2009, a new Belle and a new Beast were cast, Lissah Martins and Ricardo Vieira, as the musical came back to Brazil, Kiara Sasso was playing Maria in The Sound of Music. Beauty and the Beast remained for six months at Teatro Abril. Even though the play was brought back as a way to try to recoup some of the money lost in Brazil's version of Miss Saigon, this second incarnation of Beauty and the Beast failed to create any critical buzz, or to be a box office success. In Spain there have been three productions of the show. The first one, based on the original Broadway production, had its Madrid debut on December 2, 1999, at Teatro Lope de Vega. The original cast included Xenia Reguant (later replaced by Julia Möller) as Belle, Carlos Marín (later replaced by Joe Luciano) as Beast, Lisardo Guarinos (later replaced by Manuel Bandera) as Gaston, Víctor Ullate Roche as LeFou, Germán Torres as Lumière, Kirby Navarro as Mrs. Potts, David Venancio Muro as Cogsworth, Dulcinea Juárez as Babette, Laura Inclán as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Miguel de Grandy as Maurice. After a successful run of 27 months and about 900 performances, the production finally closed on March 3, 2002, becoming the longest-running musical ever in Madrid at that time. In 2007, a second version produced by Stage Entertainment premiered on October 3, at Teatro Coliseum, Madrid, for a limited run of six months, but the closing was postponed due to a successful season. The original cast included Julia Möller reprising her role as Belle (later replaced by María Adamuz), David Ordinas as Beast, Pablo Puyol as Gaston, Raúl Peña as LeFou, Armando Pita as Lumière, Angels Jiménez as Mrs. Potts (later replaced by Rita Barber), Esteban Oliver as Cogsworth, Silvia Luchetti as Babette, María José Oquendo as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Lorenzo Valverde as Maurice. The production closed on January 11, 2009, and was transferred to Barcelona, where it ran from February 26, 2009, to January 10, 2010, at BTM, with some changes in the cast, including Mercè Martínez as Mrs. Potts, Marta Capel as Babette, Patricia Paisal as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Albert Muntanyola as Maurice. In 2012, the Stage Entertainment version was relaunched as a touring production, beginning performances on September 6, at Teatro Calderón, Valladolid. The original cast of this third Spanish production included Talía del Val as Belle, Ignasi Vidal as Beast, Daniel Diges as Gaston, Raúl Peña as LeFou, Diego Rodríguez as Lumière, Mone as Mrs. Potts, Frank Capdet as Cogsworth, Marta Capel as Babette, Eva Diago as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Enrique R. del Portal as Maurice. In 2005, Disney and Stage Entertainment produced a new version of the show using brand new sets and costumes. After touring the Netherlands and playing in Antwerp, Belgium, Disney and Stage Entertainment brought the show to Berlin, Germany, in 2006 after a (approx.) one-year run at the Metronom Theater in Oberhausen. This production opened in 2007 in Madrid, Spain, and in 2009 in Milan, Italy, with Arianna as Belle and Michel Altieri as the Beast. The Broadway production played a second time in Mexico City beginning in September 2007 and in Hiroshima, Japan, beginning in February 2008. The Broadway production opened in South Africa in September 2008 and ran until March 2009. In 2004, Disney began to license the show to other companies for touring, and the show has been performed by professional and amateur companies in many countries. On October 24, 2013, Beauty and the Beast opened at Théâtre Mogador in Paris, France. Beginning October 2014, Disney Theatrical Productions, NETworks and Broadway Entertainment Group launched an international tour in celebration of Beauty and the Beasts 20th anniversary on stage. The tour opened at the Zorlu Center in Istanbul, Turkey, and closed in January 2016 at Dubai World Trade Centre, having visited Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Italy, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, Romania, and Qatar. In December 2015, Beauty and the Beast came back to the Netherlands for a run at Circustheater in The Hague. In 2016, Disney and Marmelade produced an updated version for the Flemish Region of Belgium. The original cast included Josje Huisman as Belle, Jan Schepens as Beast, Dieter Troubleyn as Gaston, Peter Van de Velde as Lumière, Frank Hoelen as Maurice, Ivan Pecnik as Cogsworth (called Tickens), Eline De Munck as Babette, Peter Thyssen as LeFou, Barbara Dex as Mrs. Potts and Saskia Schäfer as Madame de la Grande Bouche (called La Commodia). The show premiered on December 10, 2016, at Flanders Expo in Ghent. The show's rights became available (in association with Josef Weinberger Ltd.) to amateur performing groups and regional musical societies. The show has been performed in numerous countries, by theatre companies on both an amateur and professional level. On April 24, 2019 Disney Theatrical Groups revealed that Beauty and the Beast would return to Broadway. Thomas Schumacher announced that the Broadway revival would be updated. Theatre and dates have not been announced. Act I Overture*# — Orchestra, Prologue — Narrator, Belle — Belle, Gaston, Silly Girls, Ensemble, No Matter What*# - Maurice, Belle, No Matter What [Reprise]/Wolf Chase*# — Maurice, Me*# — Gaston, Belle, Belle (Reprise) — Belle, Home, — Belle, Home (Reprise), — Mrs. Potts, Gaston† — LeFou, Gaston, Silly Girls, Ensemble, Gaston (Reprise)† — Gaston, LeFou, How Long Must This Go On?*# — Beast, Be Our Guest† — Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Ensemble, If I Can't Love Her*# — Beast Act II Entr'acte/Wolf Chase, — Orchestra, Something There — Belle, Beast, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Human Again*‡ — Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Madame de la Grande Bouche, Babette, Cogsworth, Ensemble, Maison Des Lunes*# - Gaston, LeFou, Monsieur D' Arque, Beauty and the Beast — Mrs. Potts, If I Can't Love Her (Reprise)*# — Beast, A Change in Me*§# — Belle, The Mob Song — Gaston, Ensemble, The Battle, - The Company, Home (Reprise II), — Belle, End Duet/Transformation, — Beast, Belle, Beauty and the Beast (Reprise) — The Company, New song or instrumental cue † Expanded vocal or instrumental content, using either cut lyrics by Ashman or dance arrangements by Glen Kelly, or both. ‡ "Human Again" was written by Menken and Ashman for the movie, but was cut, due to the complications it made on the film's timeline. It was repurposed for the Broadway play, and on account of the musical's great success, an entirely new animated sequence based on the Broadway version was set to this song and inserted into 2002's Special Edition DVD release. § "A Change in Me" was written into the show in 1998 for the debut of Toni Braxton and was retained thereafter. 1. not in the Junior Broadway show Music Theatre International offers two orchestrations for Beauty and the Beast. The principal, larger orchestration is based on the original Broadway orchestration. It is scored for three synthesizers, a drum kit, a percussion section, double bass, three woodwind players, three French horns in F, two trumpets in B-flat, trombone, divided violins, cellos, and harp. The first woodwind player doubles on flute and piccolo, the second on English horn and oboe, and the third on clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. The trombonist doubles on bass trombone and tuba. The original Broadway orchestration featured two additional woodwind players. The first played flute and piccolo, the second oboe and English horn, the third piccolo, flute and clarinet in B-flat, the fourth piccolo, flute, clarinet in B-flat and bass clarinet in B-flat, and the fifth on bassoon and contrabassoon. The excised reed parts were used for the synthesizer parts upon their removal for the licensed orchestration. The optional reduced orchestration is scored for two synthesizers, a percussion section, double bass, three woodwind players, a trumpet, a French horn, and solo violin and cello. Notable Broadway cast replacements (approximate dates given where available) Belle: Sarah Uriarte Berry (1995–1996 & 2006), Kerry Butler (1996–1997), Deborah Gibson (1997–1998), Toni Braxton (1998–1999; first African American to play Belle on Broadway), Andrea McArdle (1999–2000), Sarah Litzsinger (2000–2002, 2003 & 2006), Jamie-Lynn Sigler (2002–2003, Broadway debut), Megan McGinnis (2003–2004), Christy Carlson Romano (2004), Ashley Brown (2005–2006, Broadway debut), Anneliese van der Pol (2007, Broadway debut, closing cast). A total of seventeen actresses have played the part of Belle in the Broadway production, with Litzsinger playing it the longest., Beast: Jeff McCarthy (1995–1997 & 2004), Chuck Wagner (1997–1998), James Barbour (1998–1999), Steve Blanchard (who played the Beast for the last eight years of the Broadway run)., Lumière: Lee Roy Reams (1995), Meshach Taylor (1998–1999, Broadway debut), Patrick Page (1999–2001 & 2003), Paul Schoeffler (2001), Bryan Batt (2001–2002), Jacob Young (2006, Broadway debut), John Tartaglia (2006–2007), Cogsworth: Peter Bartlett, Jonathan Freeman (2006–2007), Gaston: Marc Kudisch (1995), Steve Blanchard (1997 – he later played Beast), Christopher Sieber (2001), Donny Osmond (2006 & final Broadway performance), Chip: Nick Jonas (2002), Harrison Chad, Henry Hodges, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Babette: Ann Mandrella (2007, Broadway debut, closing cast) The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released on April 26, 1994. The CD included Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumière, Tom Bosley as Maurice, Anna McNeeley as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts. The Original Australian Cast Recording was released in 1995. The principal cast included Rachael Beck as Belle, Michael Cormick as Beast, Hugh Jackman as Gaston, Ernie Bourne as Maurice, Toni Lamond as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Grant Smith as Lumière, Robyn Arthur as Mrs. Potts and Bert Newton as Cogsworth. The Original Vienna Cast Recording was released in 1996. The principal cast included Ethan Freeman as Beast, Caroline Vasicek as Belle, Kevin Tarte as Gaston, Viktor Gernot as Lumière, Ann Mandrella as Babette, and Rosita Mewis as Mrs. Potts. The Original London Cast Recording was released in 1997. The principal cast included Julie-Alanah Brighten as Belle, Alasdair Harvey as Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Derek Griffiths as Lumière and Mary Millar as Mrs. Potts. The Original Stuttgart Cast Recording was released in 1998. The principal cast included Uwe Kroger as Beast and Leah Delos Santos as Belle and Ann Mandrella as Babette. The Original Madrid Cast Recording was released in 1999. The principal cast included Xenia Reguant as Belle, Carlos Marín as Beast, Lisardo Guarinos as Gaston, Víctor Ullate Roche as LeFou, Germán Torres as Lumière, David Venancio Muro as Cogsworth and Kirby Navarro as Mrs. Potts. A second cast recording for the new production was released in May 2008, starring Julia Möller as Belle, David Ordinas as Beast, Pablo Puyol as Gaston, Raúl Peña as LeFou, Armando Pita as Lumière, Esteban Oliver as Cogsworth and Angels Jiménez as Mrs. Potts. A "junior" version of the musical for middle and high school students was published by MTI. This version only included a selected number of the songs, including "Belle", "Belle (Reprise)", "Home", "Home (Tag)", "Gaston", "Gaston (Reprise)", "Be Our Guest", "Something There", "Human Again", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Mob Song", "Home (Reprise)", and "Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)". Also in "Belle (Reprise)", The Silly Girls take Belle's part in the beginning of the song instead of Belle having to sing the whole song. Also in "Something There", Madame de la Grande Bouche and Babette sing as well. Reception towards the tryouts in Houston were so enthusiastic that the production was extended for two weeks. Jerome Weeks of Variety responded to the show with a positive review, praising the performances of Egan, Mann and Moses, as well as the Beast's new song "If I Can't Love Her". At the same time, Weeks felt that the production "gets close to slipping into a big-budget kiddie show or magic act with its overdone showbiz glitz and sparkly stage- illusion effects"at times, but in the end predicted that "'Beauty and the Beast' could well be the big new musical hit this Broadway season has been waiting for." However, in 1994, Beauty and the Beast finally premiered on Broadway to reviews that ranged from mixed to negative, leaving critics mostly unimpressed. Reactions from the New York theatre community and Broadway producers were particularly harsh, ridiculing Disney for deciding to produce the musical themselves as opposed to enlisting traditional theatre companies. Egan recalled that "the same five families [had] produced Broadway shows for a hundred years and Disney shook that up." Nearly universally panned by theatre critics, they concurred that Beauty and the Beast was a "great spectacle, but not great theater". Likening the musical to the Empire State Building, David Richards of The New York Times called the show "hardly a triumph of art, but it'll probably be a whale of a tourist attraction." While awarding specific praise towards its musical numbers, choreography, costumes and cast – particularly Mann's ability to "convey the delicacy of awakening love" despite the physical demands of his costume, at the same time Richards criticized the production's set and special effects for lacking subtlety, ultimately accusing them of leaving little "to the imagination". Richards concluded, "The result is a sightseer's delight, which isn't the same thing as a theatergoer's dream." Also writing for The New York Times, Vincent Canby disparaged the musical entirely as "relentlessly bland, busy, upbeat and robotlike", criticizing the production for resembling "a dinner theater." Canby felt that the new Menken-Rice songs were "inferior" to the originals, likened the special effects to Fourth of July sparklers, criticized the sound engineering for ranging from too loud to barely audible, and panning Woolverton's book for failing to supplement her screenplay. Minor praise was awarded to the performances of Lamberts, Beach and Fowler, as well as Mann's climactic beast- to-prince transformation. In addition to predicting that Beauty and the Beast would be derided by traditional Broadway theatre-goers and critics alike, Variety writer Jeremy Gerard was largely negative in his own review. While admitting that the production "boasts several real pluses", Gerard criticized the show for appearing "bloated, padded, gimmick-ridden, tacky and ... utterly devoid of imagination." The critic voiced his strong disapproval of the costumes while dismissing the set as "something designed to be seen by people in moving seats, maybe at Disneyland", panning West's choreography and ultimately deriding Roth's directing and blocking of actors who "look generally like they're following dotted lines on the stage." Critics agreed that Roth's direction and West's were equally uninspired. In a mixed review with a headline reading "Beauty and the Beast isn't magical in the least, even if it does bristle with magic tricks", New Yorks John Simon wrote that the production resembles "a belated infomercial" for the film by which he was bored, yet impressed by its special effects and illusions. Simon also felt that the actors struggled to resemble their animated counterparts despite Hould-Ward's, criticizing Egan's acting, Woolverton's dialogue and the new Menken-Rice numbers while praising Moses', Beach's and Fowler's performances. Audiences did not share critics' negative opinions, and the musical famously resonated with the public and families. Children were especially delighted by the idea of their favorite movie performed on stage by live actors. Subsequent productions have gradually attracted kinder remarks; the national tours in particular have been well received. Reviewing a performance of the musical at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles in 1995, Tom Jacobs of Variety wrote, "Born in Hollywood as an animated film, Disney's version of 'Beauty and the Beast' has returned home as an opulent stage musical, a year after its Broadway bow. Both good and bad choices have been made in adapting the 1991 film, but with its outstanding performances, fantastic production values and memorable score, this show should warm the hearts of all but the most curmudgeonly theatergoers." However, Jacobs felt that the production suffered from the lack of danger felt watching the film. After having been left unimpressed upon viewing the original Broadway production, Varietys Matt Wolf was pleasantly surprised by the musical's West End debut one year later. "Be Our Guest" was used as the commercial for the 1994 Tony Awards. Michael Goldstein of New York correctly predicted that Mann would earn a Tony Award nomination for his performance. Despite having been nominated for a total of nine individual awards, Beauty and the Beast was ultimately shunned at the ceremony, winning only one award – Best Costume Design – for Hould-Ward. Nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical, the production famously lost to Stephen Sondheim's Passion, which is considered to be his own version of the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale. In 1995, some of Hould-Ward's costumes, namely Lumiere, were put on display in Nordstrom stores. Meanwhile, Belle and the Beast's ballroom costumes were exhibited at Westside Pavilion, and Mrs. Potts and LeFou appeared at South Coast Plaza. Largely due to audience reception, Beauty and the Beast remains one of Broadway's biggest successes of the current era. Beauty and the Beast established itself as a musical that could survive on Broadway despite its unenthusiastic reviews. Several detractors had thought that musicals like Beauty and the Beast would be a one-time event, but the results ultimately turned out to be quite the opposite. According to theatrical producer Stuart Oken, Disney's success with Beauty and the Beast is responsible for today's biggest Broadway hits and making the medium "better than it has ever been". The groundbreaking performance of Beauty and the Beast inspired other major Hollywood studios to produce Broadway renditions of some of their own films. Disney soon began to commission Broadway adaptations of several of the studio's most popular musical films, namely The Lion King (1997), Mary Poppins (2004), Tarzan (2006), The Little Mermaid (2008), Newsies (2012) and Aladdin (2014), in addition to producing the musical Aida. After completing her run in Beauty and the Beast, Egan would famously go on to voice Meg in Disney's animated musical Hercules (1997), establishing herself as a popular voice and film actress. Following the success of "Human Again", the song was later incorporated into reissues of the animated film in the form of an animated musical sequence. Beauty and the Beast is considered to be Broadway's first legitimate family show, responsible for birthing an entirely new generation of young theatregoers. The family demographic of the musical established inspired international productions of Aladdin and Matilda. According to The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals author Dan Dietz, "the show's resounding success opened the floodgates for a spate of ... productions based on Disney and other family-oriented films", transforming Broadway into "a theme park with a parade of musicals aimed at kids and teenagers." Dietz believes that the plethora of Broadway musicals that came after Beauty and the Beast have unfortunately resembled "feel-good family show[s] whose goal was to emulate its film source." Additionally, the success of the musical inspired a legion of Broadway productions geared towards young women, including Hairspray (2002), Wicked (2003), Legally Blonde (2007), Matilda (2013) and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (2013). While these musicals flourished on Broadway, it seems as though more serious, adult-oriented fare struggled to perform as well. New York theatre critic Howard Kissel famously despised "the Kiddy Komponent of New York theatergoing" spearheaded by the successful 13-year Broadway run of Beauty and the Beast. The success of Beauty and the Beast inspired Eisner to invest in his own theatre to house future stage adaptations of the studio's animated classics. Information about Regional US and International productions Indianapolis Civic Theatre (Production Photos), Chattanooga Theatre Centre (Production Photos) – Chattanooga, TN Others Beauty and the Beast on Tour, Beauty and the Beast Belgium, Beauty and the Beast info page on StageAgent.com – Beauty and the Beast plot summary and character descriptions

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Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison. It is an adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, with music composed by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and screenplay by Joseph Stein and based on stories by Sholem Aleichem. Starring Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann, the film centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith – and with the edict of the Tsar who evicts the Jews from the town of Anatevka. Throughout the film, Tevye talks to God and directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall. In these monologues, Tevye ponders tradition, the difficulties of being poor, the Jewish community's constant fear of harassment from their non-Jewish neighbors, and important family decisions. The film was released to critical acclaim and won three Academy Awards, including Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score for arranger-conductor John Williams. It was nominated for several more, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Topol as Tevye, and Best Supporting Actor for Frey, who played Motel Kamzoil the Tailor. Topol and Frey had performed in stage productions of the musical; Topol as Tevye in the London production and Frey in a minor part as Mendel, the rabbi's son, on Broadway. The film's plot largely follows that of the musical from which it is adapted. In 1905, Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman living in the Ukrainian village of Anatevka, a typical shtetl in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia, compares the lives of the Jews of Anatevka to a fiddler on the roof (who appears throughout the film in this metaphorical role), using tradition to "scratch out a pleasant, simple tune" without breaking their necks. In town, Tevye meets Perchik, a radical Marxist from Kiev, who admonishes them for talking but doing nothing about news of Jews being banished from their villages by the tsar. Tevye invites Perchik to stay with his family, offering him room and board in exchange for Perchik tutoring his daughters. Tevye arranges for his oldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry Lazar Wolf, an older, and widowed, wealthy butcher. Tzeitel is in love with her childhood sweetheart, Motel Kamzoil, and begs her father not to make her marry Lazar. Although he is initially angry, Tevye realizes that Tzeitel loves Motel and yields to his daughter's demands. In order to convince his wife Golde that Tzeitel should not be married to Lazar, Tevye claims to have had a nightmare. He says that Golde's deceased grandmother told him Tzeitel is supposed to marry Motel, and that Lazar’s late wife, Fruma-Sarah, threatened to kill Tzeitel if the two are married. Golde concludes that the dream was a message from their ancestors, and Tzeitel and Motel arrange to be married. Meanwhile, Tevye's second daughter, Hodel, begins to fall in love with Perchik. They argue over the story of Leah and the place of old religious traditions in a changing world. The two dance together, which is considered forbidden by Orthodox Jewish tradition. Perchik tells Hodel that they just changed an old tradition. At Tzeitel and Motel's wedding, an argument breaks out after Lazar presents the newlyweds with gifts. When Tevye tries to speak to Lazar about the Torah, Lazar refuses to listen, arguing that the wedding should have been his all along. Minutes later, another argument breaks out over whether a girl should be able to choose her own husband. Perchik addresses the crowd and says that, since they love each other, it should be left for the couple to decide. He creates further controversy by asking Hodel to dance with him. The crowd gradually warms to the idea and Tevye and Golde, then Motel and Tzeitel, join in dancing. The wedding proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, the military presence in the town, along with the constable, arrive and begin a pogrom, the "demonstration" which he had earlier warned Tevye was coming. The constable stops the attack on the wedding celebration after Perchik is wounded in the scuffle with the tsar's men; however, he allows the men to continue destroying property in the village. Tevye and the immediate family stand still, until Tevye angrily orders them to clean up instead of standing around. Tevye silently asks why God allowed this to happen to them. In its original theatrical release, the film was shown with an intermission and entr'acte music.. Months later, Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka for the revolution. He proposes to Hodel, and she accepts. When they tell Tevye, he is furious that they have decided to marry without his permission, but he again relents because they love each other. Tevye tells Golde his reasons for consenting to their daughter's marriage, which leads them to re-evaluate their own arranged marriage. Tevye and Golde ultimately realize that, despite having been paired by a matchmaker, they do love each other. Weeks later, Perchik is arrested in Kiev and is exiled to Siberia. Hodel decides to join him there. She promises Tevye that she and Perchik will be married under a canopy. Meanwhile, Tzeitel and Motel become parents, and the latter finally buys the sewing machine for which he has long scrimped and saved. Tevye's third daughter Chava falls in love with a Russian Orthodox Christian named Fyedka. Tevye tells Chava to be distant friends with Fyedka, because of the difference in their religions. When Chava eventually works up the courage to ask Tevye's permission to marry Fyedka, Tevye tells her that marrying outside the family's faith is against tradition. He forbids her from having any contact with Fyedka or from even mentioning his name. The next morning, Fyedka and Chava elope and are married in a Russian Orthodox church. Golde learns of the marriage when she meets up with the priest. When a grief-stricken Golde tells Tevye about the marriage, he tells her that Chava is dead to the family and that they shall forget her altogether. Chava asks Tevye to accept her marriage. In a soliloquy, Tevye concludes that he cannot accept Chava marrying a non-Jew. He accuses her of abandoning the Jewish faith and disowns her. One winter day, the Jews of Anatevka are notified that they have three days to leave the village or be forced out by the government. Tevye, his family and friends begin packing up to leave, heading for various parts of Europe, Palestine, and the United States. Yente, the Matchmaker, plans to emigrate to Jerusalem, and says goodbye to Golde with an embrace before departing. Lazar plans to emigrate to Chicago, to live with his former brother in law, whom he detests, but "a relative is a relative". Lazar and Tevye share one last embrace before departing. Tevye receives letters from Hodel mentioning that she is working hard while Perchik stays in the Siberian prison. It is hoped that when Perchik is released, they will join the others in the United States. Chava and her husband Fyedka come to Tevye's house and tell the family that they are leaving for Kraków in Russian Poland, being unable to stay in a place that would force innocent people out. Tevye shows signs of forgiving Chava by murmuring under his breath "And God be with you", silently urging Tzeitel to repeat his words to Chava. Golde calls out to Chava and Fyedka, telling them where they will be living in New York with a relative. The Constable silently watches as the mass evacuation of Anatevka takes place. The community forms their circle at a crossroad one last time before scattering in different directions. Tevye spots the fiddler and motions to him to come along, symbolizing that even though he must leave his town, his traditions will always be with him. Chaim Topol as Τevye, Norma Crane as Golde, his wife, Rosalind Harris as Tzeitel, the oldest daughter, Michele Marsh as Hodel, the second daughter, Neva Small as Chava, the third daughter, Molly Picon as Yente, the matchmaker, Paul Mann as Lazar Wolf, the butcher, Tzeitel's older suitor, Leonard Frey as Motel Kamzoil, the tailor, Tzeitel's eventual husband, Paul Michael Glaser (credited as Michael Glaser) as Perchik, the Bolshevik revolutionary, Hodel's eventual husband, Raymond Lovelock as Fyedka, a Christian, Chava's eventual husband, Elaine Edwards as Shprintze, the fourth daughter, Candy Bonstein as Bielke, the fifth daughter, Shimen Rushkin as Mordcha, Zvee Scooler as Rabbi, Louis Zorich as Constable, Alfie Scopp as Avram, Howard Goorney as Nachum, Barry Dennen as Mendel, Ruth Madoc as Fruma-Sarah, the butcher's late wife, Patience Collier as Grandmother Tzeitel, Tutte Lemkow as Fiddler, Marika Rivera as Rifka, Aharon Ipalé as Sheftel, Roger Lloyd-Pack as Sexton, Vernon Dobtcheff as Russian official, Kenneth Waller as Man in the "Tevye's Dream" sequence (uncredited), Norman Jewison: (uncredited) as the Rabbi's voice (dubbed post filming) in the "Tevye's Dream" sequence (singing "Mazel Tov") 1. "Prologue / Tradition" – Tevye and Company 2. "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" – Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, and Bielke 3. "If I Were a Rich Man" – Tevye 4. "Sabbath Prayer" – Tevye, Golde, and Chorus 5. "To Life" – Tevye, Lazar Wolf, and Male Company 6. "Tevye's Monologue (Tzeitel and Motel)" – Tevye 7. "Miracle of Miracles" – Motel 8. "Tevye's Dream" – Tevye, Golde, Grandmother Tzeitel, Rabbi, Fruma-Sarah, and Chorus 9. "Sunrise, Sunset" – Tevye, Golde, Perchik, Hodel, and Chorus 10. "Wedding Celebration / The Bottle Dance" 11. "Entr'acte" – Orchestra 12. "Tevye's Monologue (Hodel and Perchik)" – Tevye 13. "Do You Love Me?" – Tevye and Golde 14. "Far from the Home I Love" – Hodel 15. "Chava Ballet Sequence (Little Bird, Little Chavaleh)" – Tevye 16. "Tevye's Monologue (Chava and Fyedka)" – Tevye 17. "Anatevka" – Tevye, Golde, Lazar Wolf, Yente, Mendel, Mordcha, and Company The decision to cast Topol, instead of Zero Mostel, as Tevye was a somewhat controversial one, as the role had originated with Mostel and he had made it famous. Years later, Jewison said he felt Mostel's larger-than-life personality, while fine on stage, would cause film audiences to see him as Mostel, rather than the character of Tevye. Principal photography was done at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the exterior shots were done in SFR Yugoslavia—specifically in Mala Gorica, Lekenik, and Zagreb within the Yugoslav constituent republic of Croatia. Though the area was under heavy snow during location scouting in 1969, during the filming the producers had to ship in marble dust to stand in for snow. Three hundred extras conversant in various foreign languages were used, as were flocks of geese and pigs and their handlers. Isaac Stern performed the violin solos. Director Jewison has a cameo as a rabbi (voice only) during Tevye's dream sequence. The film follows the plot of the stage play very closely, retaining nearly all of the play's dialogue, although it omits the songs "Now I Have Everything" and "The Rumor (I Just Heard)". Lyrical portions of "Tevye's Dream (tailor Motel Kemzoil)" were omitted to avoid repetition. The film's soundtrack release notably contained some of these omissions, indicating they were removed during filming. These include Golde blessing herself, before going back to sleep. Changes were also made in the song "Tradition," with the film omitting the dialogue between Reb Nachum the beggar (who, in the film, cannot speak) and Lazar Wolf as well as dialogue spoken by Yente and Avram. In addition, in the film, two men argue about whether a horse claimed to be six years old was actually twelve, rather than whether the horse was actually a mule. The LP film soundtrack notably retained their names; Yitzhak and Avram, however this was also omitted the film's release. Instead, an on-set, improvised take of Topol (saying 'he sold him'), rather than the recorded dubbing, was used. Seven additional scenes were added to the film: 1. The Constable gets orders from his superior for a "demonstration" against the Jews (referred to by the superior as "Christ-killers") in Anatevka. 2. Perchik is arrested at a workers' rally in Kiev. 3. Golde goes to the priest to look for Chava (described by her in the stage production). She is confronted there with Christian images (of historically Jewish individuals) in a juxtaposition with the synagogue montage at the start of the film. 4. Motel gets dressed for his upcoming wedding to Tzeitel. 5. The rabbi and his students inside the synagogue receive news of the arrival of Motel's new sewing machine. 6. The rabbi takes the Torah out of the ark inside the synagogue for the last time. He weeps and chants quietly about having to abandon the synagogue. 7. Tevye feeds his animals in the barn for the final time. He tells his lame horse to take care of his leg and to treat his new owner and master well. The scene with Hodel and Perchik, where he plans to leave to start a revolution, was extended in the film. A new song sung by Perchik was recorded ("Any Day Now"), but was omitted from the final print; however, it was included in the 2004 reissue of the soundtrack. The song was later implemented in the 2018 Yiddish production as a song sung by Perchik to Shprintze and Bielke. When the film was re-released to theaters in 1979, 32 minutes were cut, including the songs "Far from the Home I Love" and "Anatevka". In the film, Tevye and Lazar Wolf discuss Wolf's proposed marriage to Tzeitel in Wolf's home, then go to the tavern for a celebration drink. In the stage version, the two meet directly in the tavern. The film shows Wolf's home as filled with golden artifacts. Prior to Lazar Wolf entering the scene, Tevye speaks to a female servant, who tells him not to touch anything. Although a faithful adaptation of the original stage version, Fiddler scholar Jan Lisa Huttner has noted several differences between stage and screen. She argues that changes in American culture and politics and developments in Israel led the filmmakers to portray certain characters differently and to offer a different version of Anatevka. For example, the Broadway production cast Bea Arthur as a tall, booming Yente, while the film portrays Yente as tiny and timid. Huttner also notes that the "Chagall color palette" of the original Broadway production was exchanged for a grittier, more realistic depiction of the village of Anatevka. Because the film follows the stage musical so closely, and the musical did not have an overture, the filmmakers chose to eliminate the customary film overture played before the beginning of most motion pictures shown in a roadshow-style presentation. However, there is a solo by the Fiddler played over the opening credits (after the conclusion of "Tradition"), an intermission featuring entr'acte music, and exit music played at the end after the closing credits. The film was a success, earning United Artists profits of $6.1 million, plus distribution profits of $8 million. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 83% rating based on 40 reviews, with an average of 7.7/10. The consensus summarizes: "A bird may love a fish - and musical fans will love this adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof, even if it is not quite as transcendent as the long-running stage version." Roger Ebert thought the story line of the musical was "quite simply boring", but still gave the screen version three stars out of four, explaining that Jewison "has made as good a film as can be made" from the material. Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that the musical numbers were "better staged and choreographed than in any recent Broadway film adaptation". Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought the film version was inferior, explaining that by "literalizing" the show with real landscapes and houses, Jewison and Stein "have effectively overwhelmed not only Aleichem, but the best things about the stage production ... pushed beyond its limits, the music goes flat and renders banal moments that, on the stage, are immensely moving." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "has been done not only with such artistry, but also with such evident love, devotion, integrity and high aspiration that watching it is a kind of duplex pleasure." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated, "Jewison's Fiddler is a great film, by which I mean great in the sense that matters most — greatly moving, an extraordinarily powerful, emotional experience." Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called it "an absolutely smashing movie; it is not especially sensitive, it is far from delicate, and it isn't even particularly imaginative, but it seems to me the most powerful movie musical ever made." American Film Institute recognition AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated, AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:, "Sunrise, Sunset" - Nominated, "If I Were a Rich Man" - Nominated, AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - #82, AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated List of American films of 1971 Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of their Jewish faith and heritage – and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. Fiddler held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. The production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It won nine Tony Awards, including best musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned five Broadway revivals and a highly successful 1971 film adaptation and has enjoyed enduring international popularity. It has also been a popular choice for school and community productions. Fiddler on the Roof is based on Tevye (or Tevye the Dairyman) and his Daughters, a series of stories by Sholem Aleichem that he wrote in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914 about Jewish life in a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century. It is also influenced by Life Is with People, by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. Aleichem wrote a dramatic adaptation of the stories that he left unfinished at his death, but which was produced in Yiddish in 1919 by the Yiddish Art Theater and made into a film in the 1930s. In the late 1950s, a musical based on the stories, called Tevye and his Daughters, was produced Off-Broadway by Arnold Perl. Rodgers and Hammerstein and then Mike Todd briefly considered bringing this musical to Broadway but dropped the idea. Investors and some in the media worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered "too Jewish" to attract mainstream audiences. Other critics considered that it was too culturally sanitized, "middlebrow" and superficial; Philip Roth, writing in The New Yorker, called it shtetl kitsch. For example, it portrays the local Russian officer as sympathetic, instead of brutal and cruel, as Sholom Aleichem had described him. Aleichem's stories ended with Tevye alone, his wife dead and his daughters scattered; at the end of Fiddler, the family members are alive, and most are emigrating together to America. The show found the right balance for its time, even if not entirely authentic, to become "one of the first popular post-Holocaust depictions of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry". Harold Prince replaced the original producer Fred Coe and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. The writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before landing on a title suggested by various paintings by Marc Chagall (Green Violinist (1924), Le Mort (1924), The Fiddler (1912)) that also inspired the original set design. Contrary to popular belief, the "title of the musical does not refer to any specific painting". During rehearsals, one of the stars, Jewish actor Zero Mostel, feuded with Robbins, whom he held in contempt because Robbins had testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and hid his Jewish heritage from the public. Other cast members also had run-ins with Robbins, who reportedly "abused the cast, drove the designers crazy [and] strained the good nature of Hal Prince". Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman with five daughters, explains the customs of the Jews in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka in 1905, where their lives are as precarious as the perch of a fiddler on a roof ("Tradition"). At Tevye's home, everyone is busy preparing for the Sabbath meal. His sharp-tongued wife, Golde, orders their daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke, about their tasks. Yente, the village matchmaker, arrives to tell Golde that Lazar Wolf, the wealthy butcher, a widower older than Tevye, wants to wed Tzeitel, the eldest daughter. The next two daughters, Hodel and Chava, are excited about Yente's visit, but Tzeitel illustrates how it could have bad results ("Matchmaker, Matchmaker"). A girl from a poor family must take whatever husband Yente brings, but Tzeitel wants to marry her childhood friend, Motel the tailor. Tevye is delivering milk, pulling the cart himself, as his horse is lame. He asks God: Whom would it hurt "If I Were a Rich Man"? The bookseller tells Tevye news from the outside world of pogroms and expulsions. A stranger, Perchik, hears their conversation and scolds them for doing nothing more than talk. The men dismiss Perchik as a radical, but Tevye invites him home for the Sabbath meal and offers him food and a room in exchange for tutoring his two youngest daughters. Golde tells Tevye to meet Lazar after the Sabbath but does not tell him why, knowing that Tevye does not like Lazar. Tzeitel is afraid that Yente will find her a husband before Motel asks Tevye for her hand. But Motel resists: he is afraid of Tevye's temper, and tradition says that a matchmaker arranges marriages. Motel is also very poor and is saving up to buy a sewing machine before he approaches Tevye, to show that he can support a wife. The family gathers for the "Sabbath Prayer." After the Sabbath, Tevye meets Lazar for a drink at the village inn, assuming mistakenly that Lazar wants to buy his cow. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, Tevye agrees to let Lazar marry Tzeitel – with a rich butcher, his daughter will never want for anything. All join in the celebration of Lazar's good fortune; even the Russian youths at the inn join in the celebration and show off their dancing skills ("To Life"). Outside the inn, Tevye happens upon the Russian Constable, who has jurisdiction over the Jews in the town. The Constable warns him that there is going to be a "little unofficial demonstration" in the coming weeks (a euphemism for a minor pogrom). The Constable has sympathy for the Jewish community but is powerless to prevent the violence. The next morning, after Perchik's lessons with the younger sisters, Tevye's second daughter Hodel mocks Perchik's Marxist interpretation of a Bible story. He, in turn, criticizes her for hanging on to the old traditions of Judaism, noting that the world is changing. To illustrate this, he dances with her, defying the prohibition against opposite sexes dancing together. The two begin to fall in love. Later, a hungover Tevye announces that he has agreed that Tzeitel will marry Lazar Wolf. Golde is overjoyed, but Tzeitel is devastated and begs Tevye not to force her. Motel arrives and tells Tevye that he is the perfect match for Tzeitel and that he and Tzeitel gave each other a pledge to marry. He promises that Tzeitel will not starve as his wife. Tevye is stunned and outraged at this breach of tradition, but impressed at the timid tailor's display of backbone. After some soul-searching ("Tevye's Monologue"), Tevye agrees to let them marry, but he worries about how to break the news to Golde. An overjoyed Motel celebrates with Tzeitel ("Miracle of Miracles"). In bed with Golde, Tevye pretends to be waking from a nightmare. Golde offers to interpret his dream, and Tevye "describes" it ("Tevye's Dream"). Golde's grandmother Tzeitel returns from the grave to bless the marriage of her namesake, but to Motel, not to Lazar Wolf. Lazar's formidable late wife, Fruma-Sarah, rises from her grave to warn, in graphic terms, of severe retribution if Tzeitel marries Lazar. The superstitious Golde is terrified, and she quickly counsels that Tzeitel must marry Motel. While returning from town, Tevye's third daughter, the bookish Chava, is teased and intimidated by some gentile youths. One, Fyedka, protects her, dismissing the others. He offers Chava the loan of a book, and a secret relationship begins. The wedding day of Tzeitel and Motel arrives, and all the Jews join the ceremony ("Sunrise, Sunset") and the celebration ("The Wedding Dance"). Lazar gives a fine gift, but an argument arises with Tevye over the broken agreement. Perchik ends the tiff by breaking another tradition: he crosses the barrier between the men and women to dance with Tevye's daughter Hodel. The celebration ends abruptly when a group of Russians rides into the village to perform the "demonstration". They disrupt the party, damaging the wedding gifts and wounding Perchik, who attempts to fight back, and wreak more destruction in the village. Tevye instructs his family to clean up the mess. Months later, Perchik tells Hodel he must return to Kiev to work for the revolution. He proposes marriage, admitting that he loves her, and says that he will send for her. She agrees ("Now I Have Everything"). They tell Tevye that they are engaged, and he is appalled that they are flouting tradition by making their own match, especially as Perchik is leaving. When he forbids the marriage, Perchik and Hodel inform him that they do not seek his permission, only his blessing. After more soul searching, Tevye relents – the world is changing, and he must change with it ("Tevye's Rebuttal"). He informs the young couple that he gives them his blessing and his permission. Tevye explains these events to an astonished Golde. "Love," he says, "it's the new style." Tevye asks Golde, despite their own arranged marriage, "Do You Love Me?" After dismissing Tevye's question as foolish, she eventually admits that, after 25 years of living and struggling together and raising five daughters, she does. Meanwhile, Yente tells Tzeitel that she saw Chava with Fyedka. News spreads quickly in Anatevka that Perchik has been arrested and exiled to Siberia ("The Rumor/I Just Heard"), and Hodel is determined to join him there. At the railway station, she explains to her father that her home is with her beloved, wherever he may be, although she will always love her family ("Far From the Home I Love"). Time passes. Motel has purchased a used sewing machine, and he and Tzeitel have had a baby. Chava finally gathers the courage to ask Tevye to allow her marriage to Fyedka. Again Tevye reaches deep into his soul, but marriage outside the Jewish faith is a line he will not cross. He forbids Chava to speak to Fyedka again. When Golde brings news that Chava has eloped with Fyedka, Tevye wonders where he went wrong ("Chavaleh Sequence"). Chava returns and tries to reason with him, but he refuses to speak to her and tells the rest of the family to consider her dead. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading of the Russians expelling Jews from their villages. While the villagers are gathered, the Constable arrives to tell everyone that they have three days to pack up and leave the town. In shock, they reminisce about "Anatevka" and how hard it will be to leave what has been their home for so long. As the Jews leave Anatevka, Chava and Fyedka stop to tell her family that they are also leaving for Kraków, unwilling to remain among the people who could do such things to others. Tevye still will not talk to her, but when Tzeitel says goodbye to Chava, Tevye prompts her to add "God be with you." Motel and Tzeitel go to Poland as well but will join the rest of the family when they have saved up enough money. As Tevye, Golde and their two youngest daughters leave the village for America, the fiddler begins to play. Tevye beckons with a nod, and the fiddler follows them out of the village. Act I "Prologue: Tradition" – Tevye and Company, "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" – Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava, "If I Were a Rich Man" – Tevye, "Sabbath Prayer" – Tevye, Golde, Company, "To Life" – Tevye, Lazar Wolf, Russian soloist and Men, "Tevye's Monologue" – Tevye, "Miracle of Miracles" – Motel, "Tevye's Dream" – Tevye, Golde, Grandma Tzeitel, Rabbi, Fruma-Sarah and Company, "Sunrise, Sunset" – Tevye, Golde, Perchik, Hodel and Company, "The Bottle Dance" – Instrumental Act II "Entr'acte" – Orchestra, "Now I Have Everything" – Perchik and Hodel, "Tevye's Rebuttal" – Tevye, "Do You Love Me?" – Tevye and Golde, "The Rumor/I Just Heard" – Yente and Villagers §, "Far From the Home I Love" – Hodel, "Chavaleh (Little Bird)" – Tevye, "Anatevka" – The Company § The 2004 revival featured a song for Yente and some women of the village (Rivka and Mirala) titled "Topsy Turvy", discussing the disappearing role of the matchmaker in society. The number replaced "The Rumor/I Just Heard". All of the characters are Jewish, except as noted: Tevye, a poor milkman with five daughters. A firm supporter of the traditions of his faith, he finds many of his convictions tested by the actions of his three oldest daughters., Golde, Tevye's sharp-tongued wife., Tzeitel, their oldest daughter, about nineteen. She loves her childhood friend Motel and marries him, even though he's poor, begging her father not to force her to marry Lazar Wolf., Hodel, their daughter, about seventeen. Intelligent and spirited, she falls in love with Perchik and later joins him in Siberia., Chava, their daughter, about fifteen. A shy book lover, who falls in love with Fyedka., Motel Kamzoil, a poor but hardworking tailor who loves, and later marries, Tzeitel., Perchik, a student revolutionary who comes to Anatevka and falls in love with Hodel. He leaves for Kiev, is arrested and exiled to Siberia., Fyedka, a young Christian. He shares Chava's passion for reading and is outraged by the Russians' treatment of the Jews., Lazar Wolf, the wealthy village butcher. Widower of Fruma-Sarah. Attempts to arrange a marriage for himself to Tzeitel., Yente, the gossipy village matchmaker who matches Tzeitel and Lazar., Grandma Tzeitel, Golde's dead grandmother, who rises from the grave in Tevye's "nightmare.", Fruma-Sarah, Lazar Wolf's dead wife, who also rises from the grave in the "nightmare.", Rabbi, the wise village leader., Constable, the head of the local Russian police, a Christian. Following its tryout at Detroit's Fisher Theatre in July and August 1964, then Washington in August to September, the original Broadway production opened on September 22, 1964, at the Imperial Theatre, transferred in 1967 to the Majestic Theatre and in 1970 to The Broadway Theatre, and ran for a record- setting total of 3,242 performances. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins – his last original Broadway staging. The set, designed in the style of Marc Chagall's paintings, was by Boris Aronson. A colorful logo for the production, also inspired by Chagall's work, was designed by Tom Morrow. Chagall reportedly did not like the musical. The cast included Zero Mostel as Tevye the milkman, Maria Karnilova as his wife Golde (each of whom won a Tony for their performances), Beatrice Arthur as Yente the matchmaker, Austin Pendleton as Motel, Bert Convy as Perchik the student revolutionary, Gino Conforti as the fiddler, and Julia Migenes as Hodel. Mostel ad-libbed increasingly as the run went on, "which drove the authors up the wall." Joanna Merlin originated the role of Tzeitel, which was later assumed by Bette Midler during the original run. Carol Sawyer was Fruma Sarah, Adrienne Barbeau took a turn as Hodel, and Pia Zadora played the youngest daughter, Bielke. Both Peg Murray and Dolores Wilson made extended appearances as Golde, while other stage actors who have played Tevye include Herschel Bernardi, Theodore Bikel and Harry Goz (in the original Broadway run), and Leonard Nimoy. Mostel's understudy in the original production, Paul Lipson, went on to appear as Tevye in more performances than any other actor (until Chaim Topol), clocking over 2,000 performances in the role in the original run and several revivals. Florence Stanley took over the role of Yente nine months into the run. The production earned $1,574 for every dollar invested in it. It was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography, and acting awards for Mostel and Karnilova. The original London West End production opened on February 16, 1967, at Her Majesty's Theatre and played for 2,030 performances. It starred Topol as Tevye, a role he had previously played in Tel Aviv, and Miriam Karlin as Golde. Alfie Bass, Lex Goudsmit and Barry Martin eventually took over as Tevye. Topol later played Tevye in the 1971 film adaptation, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and in several revivals over the next four decades. The show was revived in London for short seasons in 1983 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and in 1994 at the London Palladium. The first Broadway revival opened on December 28, 1976, and ran for 176 performances at the Winter Garden Theatre. Zero Mostel starred as Tevye. Robbins directed and choreographed. A second Broadway revival opened on July 9, 1981, and played for a limited run (53 performances) at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater. It starred Herschel Bernardi as Tevye and Karnilova as Golde. Other cast members included Liz Larsen, Fyvush Finkel, Lawrence Leritz and Paul Lipson. Robbins directed and choreographed. The third Broadway revival opened on November 18, 1990, and ran for 241 performances at the George Gershwin Theatre. Topol starred as Tevye, and Marcia Lewis was Golde. Robbins' production was reproduced by Ruth Mitchell and choreographer Sammy Dallas Bayes. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival. A fourth Broadway revival opened on February 26, 2004, and ran for 36 previews and 781 performances at the Minskoff Theatre. Alfred Molina, and later Harvey Fierstein, starred as Tevye, and Randy Graff, and later Andrea Martin and Rosie O'Donnell, was Golde. Barbara Barrie and later Nancy Opel played Yente, Laura Michelle Kelly played Hodel and Lea Michele played Sprintze. It was directed by David Leveaux. This production replaced Yente's song "The Rumor" with a song for Yente and two other women called "Topsy-Turvy". The production was nominated for six Tonys but did not win any. In June 2014, to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, a gala celebration and reunion was held at The Town Hall in New York City to benefit National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, with appearances by many of the cast members of the various Broadway productions and the 1971 film. The fifth Broadway revival began previews on November 20 and opened on December 20, 2015 at the Broadway Theatre, with concept and choreography based on the original by Jerome Robbins. Bartlett Sher directed, and Hofesh Shechter choreographed. The cast starred Danny Burstein as Tevye, with Jessica Hecht as Golde, Alexandra Silber as Tzeitel, Adam Kantor as Motel, Ben Rappaport as Perchik, Samantha Massell as Hodel and Melanie Moore as Chava. Judy Kuhn replaced Hecht as Golde on November 22, 2016, for the last five weeks of the run. Designers include Michael Yeargan (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes) and Donald Holder (lighting). Initial reviews were mostly positive, finding Burstein and the show touching. The production was nominated for three Tony Awards but won none. It closed on December 31, 2016 after 463 performances. Fiddler was first revived in London in 1983 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre (a four-month season starring Topol) and again in 1994 at the London Palladium for two months and then on tour, again starring Topol, and directed and choreographed by Sammy Dallas Bayes, recreating the Robbins production. After a two-month tryout at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, a London revival opened on May 19, 2007, at the Savoy Theatre starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, Beverley Klein as Golde, Alexandra Silber as Hodel, Damian Humbley as Perchik and Victor McGuire as Lazar Wolf. The production was directed by Lindsay Posner. Robbins' choreography was recreated by Sammy Dallas Bayes (who did the same for the 1990 Broadway revival), with additional choreography by Kate Flatt. A revival played at the Menier Chocolate Factory from November 23, 2018 until March 9, 2019, directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Andy Nyman as Tevye and Judy Kuhn as Golde. The production transferred to the Playhouse Theatre in the West End on March 21, 2019, with an official opening on March 27. Replacement players included Maria Friedman as Golde and Anita Dobson as Yente. The run is scheduled to close on November 2, 2019. A 2003 national tour played for seven months, with a radical design, directed by Julian Woolford and choreographed by Chris Hocking. The production's minimalist set and costumes were monochromatic, and Fruma-Sarah was represented by a 12-foot puppet. This production was revived in 2008 starring Joe McGann. The show toured the UK again in 2013 and 2014 starring Paul Michael Glaser as Tevye with direction and choreography by Craig Revel Horwood. A revival played at Chichester Festival Theatre from 10 July to 2 September 2017, directed by Daniel Evans and starring Omid Djalili as Tevye and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Golde. The original Australian production opened on June 16, 1967, at Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney. It starred Hayes Gordon as Tevye and Brigid Lenihan as Golde. The production ran for two years. The first professional revival tour was staged by the Australian Opera in 1984 with Gordon again playing Tevye. A young Anthony Warlow played Fyedka. In 2005 and 2007, Topol recreated his role as Tevye in Australian productions, with seasons in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Wellington and Auckland. The musical was again revived in Melbourne and Sydney in 2015–2016 with Anthony Warlow as Tevye, Sigrid Thornton as Golde and Lior as Motel. The Shraga Friedman Yiddish language version, directed by Joel Grey, is scheduled to run in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in 2020. Topol in 'Fiddler on the Roof': The Farewell Tour opened on January 20, 2009, in Wilmington, Delaware. Topol left the tour in November 2009 due to torn muscles. He was replaced by Harvey Fierstein. National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene mounted a Yiddish adaptation, Fidler Afn Dakh, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, under the direction of Joel Grey, with a translation by Shraga Friedman that was first used in a 1965 Israeli production. The cast included Jackie Hoffman as Yente, Steven Skybell as Tevye, Daniel Kahn as Perchik, Stephanie Lynne Mason as Hodel and Raquel Nobile as Shprintze. The first preview was on July 4, 2018, and opening night was July 15, 2018. The production played through the end of 2018. The production then transferred to Stage 42, an Off-Broadway theatre, with Skybell, Hoffman, Mason and Nobile reprising their roles. Previews began February 11, with opening night on February 21, 2019. Musical staging is by Staś Kmieć (based on the original choreography by Robbins), with set design by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, sound by Dan Moses Schreier and lighting by Peter Kaczorowski. The production is expected to close on January 5, 2020. It won the 2019 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical. The musical was an international hit, with early productions playing throughout Europe, in South America, Africa and Australia; 100 different productions were mounted in the former West Germany in the first three decades after the musical's premiere, and within five years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, 23 productions were staged in the former East Germany; and it was the longest-running musical ever seen in Tokyo. According to BroadwayWorld, the musical has been staged "in every metropolitan city in the world from Paris to Beijing." A Hebrew language staging was produced in Tel Aviv by the Israeli impresario Giora Godik in the 1960s. This version was so successful that in 1965 Godik produced a Yiddish version translated by Shraga Friedman. A 2008 Hebrew language production ran at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv for more than six years. It was directed by Moshe Kepten, choreographed by Dennis Courtney and starred Natan Datner. Un violon sur le toît was produced in French at Paris's théâtre Marigny from November 1969 to May 1970, resuming from September to January 1971 (a total of 292 performances) with Ivan Rebroff as Tevye and Maria Murano as Golde. Another adaptation was produced in 2005 at the théâtre Comédia in Paris with Franck Vincent as Tevye and Isabelle Ferron as Golde. The Stratford Shakespeare Festival produced the musical from April to October 2013 at the Festival Theatre directed and choreographed by Donna Feore. It starred Scott Wentworth as Tevye. The musical receives about 500 amateur productions a year in the US alone. The film version was released in 1971, directed and produced by Norman Jewison, and Stein adapted his own book for the screenplay. The casting of Chaim Topol over Zero Mostel for the role of Tevye caused controversy at first. The film received mostly positive reviews from film critics and became the highest-grossing film of 1971. Fiddler received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Jewison, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Topol, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Leonard Frey (as Motel; in the original Broadway production, Frey was the rabbi's son). It won three, including best score/adaptation for arranger-conductor John Williams. In the film version, the character of Yente is reduced, and Perchik's song to Hodel "Now I Have Everything" is cut and replaced by a scene in Kiev. The "Chagall color palette" of the original Broadway production was exchanged for a grittier, more realistic depiction of the village of Anatevka. Theatre writer John Kenrick writes that the original Broadway cast album released by RCA Victor in 1964, "shimmers – an essential recording in any show lover's collection", praising the cast. The remastered CD includes two recordings not on the original album, the bottle dance from the wedding scene and "Rumor" performed by Beatrice Arthur. Kenrick writes that while the original Broadway cast version is the clear first choice among recordings of this musical, he also likes the Columbia Records studio cast album with Bernardi as Tevye; the film soundtrack, although he feels that the pace drags a bit; and some of the numerous foreign versions, including the Israeli, German and Japanese casts. The musical's popularity has led to numerous references in popular media and elsewhere. A documentary film about the musical's history and legacy, , was released in 2019. Parodies relating to the show have included Antenna on the Roof (Mad Magazine #156, January 1973), which speculated about the lives of Tevye's descendants living in an assimilated 1970s suburban America. The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society published a musical theatre and album parody of Fiddler on the Roof called A Shoggoth on the Roof, which incorporates the works of H. P. Lovecraft. In the film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Robin Williams parodies "Matchmaker". References to the musical on television have included a 2005 episode of Gilmore Girls titled "Jews and Chinese Food", involving a production of the musical. A skit by The Electric Company about a village fiddler with a fear of heights, so he is deemed "Fiddler on the Chair". In the Family Guy episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" (2003), William Shatner is depicted as playing Tevye in a scene from Fiddler. The second episode of Muppets Tonight, in 1996, featured Garth Brooks doing a piece of "If I were a Rich Man" in which he kicks several chickens off the roof. "The Rosie Show", a 1996 episode of The Nanny, parodied the dream scene, when Mr. Sheffield fakes a dream to convince Fran not to be a regular on a TV show. A 2011 episode of NBC's Community, entitled "Competitive Wine Tasting", included a parody of Fiddler titled, "Fiddler, Please!", with an all-black cast dressed in Fiddler on the Roof costumes singing "It's Hard to Be Jewish in Russia, Yo". Chabad.org kicked off their 2008 "To Life" Telethon with a pastiche of the fiddle solo and bottle dance from the musical. Broadway references have included Spamalot, where a "Grail dance" sends up the "bottle dance" in Fiddlers wedding scene. In 2001, Chicago's Improv Olympic produced a well- received parody, "The Roof Is on Fiddler", that used most of the original book of the musical but replaced the songs with 1980's pop songs. The original Broadway cast of the musical Avenue Q and the Broadway 2004 revival cast of Fiddler on the Roof collaborated for a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit and produced an approximately 10-minute-long show, "Avenue Jew", that incorporated characters from both shows, including puppets. Songs from the musical have been covered by notable artists. For example, in 1964, jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley recorded the album Fiddler on the Roof, which featured jazz arrangements of eight songs from the musical. AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars and states "Cannonball plays near his peak; this is certainly the finest album by this particular sextet". That same year, Eydie Gormé released a single of "Matchmaker". In 1999, Knitting Factory Records released Knitting on the Roof, a compilation CD featuring covers of Fiddler songs by alternative bands such as The Residents, Negativland, and The Magnetic Fields. Indie rock band Bright Eyes recorded an adaptation of "Sunrise, Sunset" on their 2000 album Fevers and Mirrors. Allmusic gave the album a favorable review, and the online music magazine Pitchfork Media ranked it at number 170 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. In 2005, Melbourne punk band Yidcore released a reworking of the entire show called Fiddling on Ya Roof. Gwen Stefani and Eve covered "If I Were a Rich Man" as "Rich Girl" for Stefani's 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The song was inspired by the 1993 British Louchie Lou & Michie One ragga version of the same name. Stefani's version reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for over six months. It was certified gold by the RIAA and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It was also covered in 2008 and 2009 by the Capitol Steps, poking fun at Illinois politics, especially then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps performs the "Bottle Dance" from Fiddler as a "recurring trademark", including at the Drum Corps International World Championships. The song "Sunrise, Sunset" is often played at weddings, and in 2011 Sheldon Harnick wrote two versions of the song, suitable for same-sex weddings, with minor word changes. For example, for male couples, changes include "When did they grow to be so handsome". Fiddlers original Broadway production in 1964 was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, and book, and Robbins won for best direction and choreography. Mostel and Karnilova won as best leading actor and best featured actress. In 1972, the show won a special Tony on becoming the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Its revivals have also been honored. At the 1981 Tony Awards, Bernardi was nominated as best actor. Ten years later, the 1991 revival won for best revival, and Topol was nominated as best actor. The 2004 revival was nominated for six Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards but won none. The 2007 West End revival was nominated for Olivier Awards for best revival, and Goodman was nominated as best actor. , p. 98, Rich, Frank. The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson (1987), Knopf Altman, Richard (1971). The Making of a Musical: Fiddler on the Roof. Crown Publishers., Isenberg, Barbara (2014). Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical. New York: St. Martin's Press. ., Solomon, Alisa (2013). Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. Metropolitan Books. . Fiddler on the Roof study guide, Fiddler on the Roof at Ovrtur, List of longest-running Broadway productions from Playbill.com Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, singer and comedian of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of The Producers. Mostel was a student of Don Richardson, and used an acting technique based on muscle memory. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee was well-publicized. Mostel was an Obie Award and three-time Tony Award winner. He is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, inducted posthumously in 1979. Mostel was born in Brooklyn, to Israel Mostel, who was of Eastern European Jewish origin, and Cina "Celia" Druchs, a Polish Jew who was raised in Vienna. The two immigrated to the United States separately – Israel in 1898 and Cina in 1908 – where they met and married. Israel already had four children from his first wife; he had four more children with Cina. Samuel, later known as Zero, was Israel's seventh child. According to his brother, Bill Mostel, their mother coined the nickname "Zero", noting that if he continued to do poorly at school, he would amount to a zero. Initially living in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, the family moved to Moodus, Connecticut, where they bought a farm. The family's income in those days came from a winery and a slaughterhouse. The farm failed, and the family moved back to New York, where his father obtained work as a wine chemist. Mostel was described by his family as outgoing and lively, and with a developed sense of humor. He showed an intelligence and perception that convinced his father he had the makings of a rabbi, but Mostel preferred painting and drawing, a passion he was to retain for life. According to Roger Butterfield, his mother sent him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to copy paintings while dressed in a velvet suit. Mostel had a favorite painting, John White Alexander's , which he copied every day, to the delight of the gallery crowds. One afternoon, while a crowd was watching over his velvet-clad shoulder, he solemnly copied the whole painting upside down, delighting his audience. In addition to English, Mostel spoke Yiddish, Italian, and German. He attended Public School 188, where he was an A student. He also received professional training as a painter through The Educational Alliance. He completed his high school education at Seward Park High School, where his yearbook noted: "A future Rembrandt... or perhaps a comedian?". Mostel attended the City College of New York, a public college that allowed many poor students to pursue higher education. He later claimed that he was on the swimming team and the Reserve Officers Training Corps, though the claim is dubious. As only beginner classes were available in art, Mostel took them repeatedly to be able to paint and receive professional feedback. During that time he worked odd jobs. He graduated in 1935 with a bachelor's degree. He then continued studying towards a master's degree at New York University before leaving after a year to find work. He then joined the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), which paid him a stipend to teach art. In 1939 he married Clara Sverd, and the couple moved to an apartment in Brooklyn. The marriage did not last, however, since Clara could not accept the many hours Mostel spent in his studio with his fellow artists, and he did not seem to be able to provide for her at the level to which she had been accustomed. They separated in 1941 and divorced in 1944, Clara only agreeing to the divorce in return for a percentage of Mostel's earnings for the rest of his life. The arrangement lasted until the mid-1950s. Part of Mostel's duty with the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was to give gallery talks at New York's museums. Leading groups of students through the many paintings, Mostel could not suppress his comedic nature, and his lectures were noted less for their artistic content than for his sense of humor. As his reputation grew, he was invited to entertain at parties and other social occasions, earning three to five dollars per performance. Labor union social clubs followed, where Mostel mixed his comic routine with social commentary. These performances would play a large role in his eventual blacklisting in the next decade. In 1941, the Café Society, a downtown Manhattan nightclub, approached Mostel with an offer to become a professional comedian and play a regular spot. Mostel accepted, and in the next few months he became the Café Society's main attraction. It was here that he adopted the stage name Zero (Zee to his friends), created by press agent Ivan Black at the behest of Barney Josephson, the proprietor, who felt that "Sam Mostel" was not appropriate for a comic. Thus, at the age of 27, Mostel dropped every other job and occupation to start his show business career. Mostel's rise professionally was rapid. In 1942, his salary at the Café Society went up from $40 a week to $450; he appeared on radio shows, opened in two Broadway shows (Keep Them Laughing, Top-Notchers), played at the Paramount Theatre, appeared in an MGM movie (Du Barry Was a Lady), and booked into La Martinique at $4,000 a week. He also made cameo appearances at the Yiddish theatre, which influenced his performance style. In 1943 Life magazine described him as "just about the funniest American now living". In March 1943, Mostel was drafted by the US Army. Although Mostel gave varying accounts of his Army service, records show he was honorably discharged in August 1943 because of an unspecified physical disability. He subsequently entertained servicemen through the USO until 1945. Mostel married Kathryn (Kate) Cecilia Harkin, an actress and dancer, on July 2, 1944, after two years of courtship. The pair met at Radio City Music Hall where she was a Rockette. The marriage caused problems in his relationship with his Orthodox Jewish parents as his new wife was a gentile. His mother never met Kate or her grandsons. The marriage had problems at times, again mostly due to Mostel's spending most of his time in his art studio. Their relationship was described by friends of the family as complicated, with many fights but having mutual adoration. The couple stayed together until Mostel's death and had two children: film actor Josh Mostel in 1946 and Tobias in 1948. After Mostel's discharge from the Army, his career resumed. He appeared in a series of plays, musicals, operas, and movies. In 1946 he even made an attempt at serious operatic acting in The Beggar's Opera, but received lukewarm reviews. Critics saw him as a versatile performer. Mostel made notable appearances on New York City television in the late 1940s. He had his own show in 1948 called Off The Record on WABD with comedian partner Joey Faye. Simultaneously, Mostel had a live TV show on WPIX, Channel Zero. He also appeared in the May 11, 1949 Toast of the Town broadcast hosted by Ed Sullivan. Since college, Mostel was a leftist, and his nightclub routine included political jabs at right-wingers. His MGM contract was terminated, and his role in Du Barry Was a Lady was truncated, because studio executives were upset that he participated in protests against another MGM film, Tennessee Johnson, which protesters believed had downplayed the racism of former US President Andrew Johnson. According to biographer Arthur Sainer, "MGM blacklisted Zero Mostel way before the days of the blacklist". During his Army service he was under investigation for alleged Communist Party membership. The Military Intelligence Division of the U.S. War Department said it was "reliably reported" that he was a Communist Party member. The Post Intelligence Officer at the Army's Camp Croft, where Mostel served, believed that Mostel was "definitely a Communist." As a result of that, his application to be an entertainment director with the US Army Special Services unit was denied. Mostel had lobbied hard to transfer to Special Services, at one point traveling to Washington to request a transfer. It was not until 1950 that Mostel again acted in movies, for a role in the Oscar-winning film Panic in the Streets, at the request of its director, Elia Kazan. Kazan describes his attitude and feelings during that period, where Mostel played supporting roles in five movies for Twentieth Century Fox in 1950, all in films released in 1951. Fox then abruptly cancelled his contract. Mostel learned this after he was loaned out to Columbia for a film role but not permitted on the set. The studio may have received word that he was about to be named as a Communist in Congressional testimony. On January 29, 1952, Martin Berkeley identified Mostel to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) as having been a member of the Communist Party. After the testimony he was effectively blacklisted. He was subpoenaed to appear before HUAC on August 14, 1955. Mostel declined to name names and jousted with the members of Congress, invoked the Fifth Amendment, while standing up for his right to the privacy of his personal political beliefs. His testimony won him admiration in the blacklisted community, and in addition to not naming names he also confronted the committee on ideological matters, something that was rarely done. Among other things, he referred to Twentieth Century Fox as "18th Century Fox" (due to its collaboration with the committee), and manipulated the committee members to make them appear foolish. Mostel would later comment "What did they think I was going to do - sell acting secrets to the Russians?". The admiration he received for his testimony did nothing to take him out of the blacklist, however, and the family had to struggle throughout the 1950s with little income. Mostel used this time to work in his studio. Later he would say that he cherished those years for the time it had afforded him to do what he loved most. Mostel's appearance before the HUAC (as well as others) was incorporated into Eric Bentley's 1972 play Are You Now or Have You Ever Been...? In 1957, Toby Cole, a New York theatrical agent who strongly opposed the blacklist, contacted Mostel and asked to represent him. Mostel agreed, and the partnership led to the revival of Mostel's career and made him a household name. Mostel accepted the role of Leopold Bloom in Ulysses in Nighttown, a play based on the novel Ulysses, which he greatly admired in his youth. It was an Off-Off-Broadway play produced in a small Houston Street theater, but the reviews Mostel received were overwhelmingly favorable. Most notably, Newsweeks Jack Kroll compared him to Laurence Olivier, writing, "Something unbelievable happened. A fat comedian named Zero Mostel gave a performance that was even more astonishing than Olivier's." Mostel received the Obie award for best Off Broadway performance of the 1958–59 season. After the success of Ulysses, Mostel received many offers to appear in classic roles, especially abroad; however, he declined the offers because of artistic differences with the directors and the low salaries associated with the roles. By this time the effects of the blacklist were lessening, and in 1959 he appeared twice on TV's The Play of the Week. On January 13, 1960, while exiting a taxi on his way back from rehearsals for the play The Good Soup, Mostel was hit by a number 18 (now the M86) 86th Street crosstown bus, and his leg was crushed. The doctors wanted to amputate the leg, which would have effectively ended his stage career. Mostel refused, accepting the risk of gangrene, and remained hospitalized for four months. The injury took a huge toll; for the rest of his life, the massively-scarred leg gave him pain and required frequent rests and baths. He sought compensation for the injury by retaining the famous Harry Lipsig (the 5'3" self-described "King of Torts") as his attorney. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum. From this time forward Mostel would carry a cane whenever he attended the Metropolitan Opera, to go along with the cape that he also favored. Later that year Mostel took on the role of Estragon in a TV adaptation of Waiting for Godot. In 1961, he played Jean in Rhinoceros to very favorable reviews. The New Republic's Robert Brustein said that he had "a great dancer's control of movement, a great actor's control of voice, a great mime's control of facial expressions." His transition onstage from man to rhinoceros became a thing of legend; he won his first Tony Award for Best Actor, even though he was not in the lead role. In 1962 Mostel began work on the role of Pseudolus in the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which was to be one of his best-remembered roles. The role of Pseudolus was originally offered to Phil Silvers, who declined it, saying he did not want to do this "old shtick". Mostel did not originally want to do the role either, which he thought below his capabilities, but was convinced by his wife and agent. The reviews were excellent, and, after a few slow weeks after which the play was partially rewritten with a new opening song, "Comedy Tonight", which became the play's most popular piece, the show became a great commercial success, running 964 performances and conferring star status on Mostel (he also won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for this role). A film version was produced in 1966, also starring Mostel – and Silvers. On September 22, 1964, Mostel opened as Tevye in the original Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. Because of Mostel's respect for the works of Sholem Aleichem he insisted that more of the author's mood and style be incorporated into the musical, and he made major contributions to its shape. He also created the cantorial sounds made famous in the song "If I Were a Rich Man". The New York Times said, "Zero Mostel's Tevye is so penetrating and heartwarming that you all but forget that it is a performance." In later years, the actors who followed Mostel in the role of Tevye invariably followed his staging. The show received rave reviews and was a great commercial success, running 3,242 performances, a record at the time. Mostel received a Tony Award for it and was invited to a reception in the White House, officially ending his political pariah status. In 1967, Mostel appeared as Potemkin in Great Catherine, and in 1968 he took the role of Max Bialystock in The Producers. Mostel refused to accept the role at first, but director Mel Brooks persuaded him to show the script to his wife, who then talked Mostel into doing it. His performance received mixed reviews, and was not a great success at first, but the film has since achieved classic status. Of it, the critic Roger Ebert said: "This is one of the funniest movies ever made". He lived in a large rented apartment in The Belnord on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and built a summer house on Monhegan Island in Maine. In his last decade, Mostel's star dimmed as he appeared in movies that were received with indifference by both critics and the general audience. These titles include The Great Bank Robbery and Once Upon a Scoundrel. In the 1970s, he would often play supporting rather than lead roles. His more notable films in these years include the movie version of Rhinoceros (appearing with his Producers costar Gene Wilder), The Hot Rock and The Front (where he played Hecky Brown, a blacklisted performer whose story bears a similarity to Mostel's own, and for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor). The character of Hecky Brown is loosely based on television actor Philip Loeb, who was a friend of Mostel's. On Broadway, he starred in revivals of Ulysses in Nighttown (receiving a Tony nomination for Best Actor) and Fiddler on the Roof. He also made memorable appearances in children's shows such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company (for which he performed the Spellbinder in the Letterman cartoons), and gave voice to the boisterous seagull Kehaar in the animated film Watership Down. He also appeared as a guest star during Season 2 of The Muppet Show, taped during mid-1977. Mostel was the only guest in the show's history to die before his appearance was broadcast. In the last four months of his life, Mostel took on a nutritionally unsound diet (later described by his friends as a starvation diet) that reduced his weight from 304 to 215 pounds. During rehearsals for Arnold Wesker's new play The Merchant (in which Mostel played a re-imagined version of Shakespeare's Shylock) in Philadelphia, he collapsed in his dressing room and was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He was diagnosed with a respiratory disorder and it was believed he was in no danger and would be released soon. However, on September 8, 1977, Mostel complained of dizziness and lost consciousness. The attending physicians were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead that evening. It is believed that he suffered an aortic aneurysm. Wesker wrote a book chronicling the out-of-town tribulations that beset the play and culminated in Zero's death called The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel. In accordance with his final requests, his family did not stage any funeral or other memorial service. Mostel was cremated following his death; the location of his ashes is not publicly known. Mostel had often collided with directors and other performers in the course of his professional career. He was described as irreverent, believing himself to be a comic genius (many critics agreed with him) and showed little patience for incompetence. He often improvised, which was received well by audiences but which often left other performers (who were not prepared for his ad-libbed lines) confused and speechless during live performances. He often dominated the stage whether or not his role called for it. Norman Jewison stated this as a reason for preferring Chaim Topol for the role of Tevye in the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof. Mostel took exception to these criticisms: "There's a kind of silliness in the theater about what one contributes to a show. The producer obviously contributes the money… but must the actor contribute nothing at all? I’m not a modest fellow about those things. I contribute a great deal. And they always manage to hang you for having an interpretation. Isn’t [the theater] where your imagination should flower? Why must it always be dull as shit?" Other producers, such as Jerome Robbins and Hal Prince, preferred to hire Mostel on short contracts, knowing that he would become less faithful to the script as time went on. His exuberant personality, though largely responsible for his success, had also intimidated others in his profession and prevented him from receiving some important roles. In his autobiography, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, actor Gene Wilder describes being initially terrified of Mostel. However, just after being introduced, Mostel got up, walked over to Wilder, hugged him, and planted a big kiss on his lips. Wilder claims to be grateful to Mostel for teaching him such a valuable lesson, and for picking Wilder up every day so that they could ride to work together. He also tells the story of a dinner celebrating the release of The Producers. Mostel switched Wilder's place card with Dick Shawn's, allowing Wilder to sit at the main table. Mostel and Wilder would later go on to work together in Rhinoceros and the Letterman cartoons for the children's show The Electric Company. The two remained close friends until Mostel's death. Mostel was the subject of a 2006 retrospective play, Zero Hour, written and performed by actor/playwright Jim Brochu. The play recounts events from Mostel's life and career, including his HUAC testimony, his professional relationships, and his theatrical work. The Little Drummer Boy, Book II – Brutus (TV special) (1976) – Brutus (voice), The Muppet Show (Season 2 Episode 2, aired posthumously) (1977) – Himself – Special Guest Star Cafe Crown (1942) (made some impromptu appearances on stage, but was not officially part of cast), Keep 'em Laughing (1942), Top-Notchers (1942), Concert Varieties (1945), Beggar's Holiday (1946), Flight into Egypt (1952), Lunatics and Lovers (1954) (replaced Buddy Hackett during his vacation), Good as Gold (1957), Ulysses in Nighttown (1958), The Good Soup (1960) (was replaced before opening by Jules Munshin due to an accident which broke his leg), Rhinoceros (1961) *Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, , A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) *Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, , Fiddler on the Roof (1964) *Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, , A Pray by Blecht (1969) (opening eventually cancelled), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1973), Ulysses in Nighttown (1974), Fiddler on the Roof (1976) Du Barry Was a Lady (1943) – Rami – the Swami / Taliostra, Panic in the Streets (1950) – Raymond Fitch, The Enforcer (1951) – Big Babe Lazick, Sirocco (1951) – Balukjiaan, Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951) – Emmett, The Guy Who Came Back (1951) – Boots Mullins, The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) – George Wixted, Waiting for Godot (1961) – Estragon, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) – Pseudolus, Children of the Exodus (1967) (short subject) – Narrator, The Producers (1967) – Max Bialystock, Great Catherine (1968) – Potemkin, The Great Bank Robbery (1969) – Rev. Pious Blue, The Angel Levine (1970) – Morris Mishkin, The Hot Rock (1972) – Abe Greenberg, Marco (1973) – Kublai Khan, Rhinoceros (1974) – John, Once Upon a Scoundrel (1974) – Carlos del Refugio, Fore Play (1975) – President / Don Pasquale, Journey into Fear (1975) – Kopelkin, Mastermind (1976) – Inspector Hoku Ichihara, The Front (1976) – Hecky Brown, Hollywood on Trial (1976) – Himself (documentary), Watership Down (1978) – Kehaar (voice) (final film role; released posthumously), Best Boy (1979) – Himself (documentary) Zero Mostel's Book of Villains [with Israel Shenker, photographs by Alex Gotfryd] (Doubleday, 1976) Zero Mostel: a Biography (1989), Jared Brown, Atheneum, NY (), Isenberg, Barbara (2014). Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical. New York: St. Martin's Press. . Zero Mostel at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection, Playbill article including a Mostel Who's Who entry, Mostel Testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee

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Katherine Kelly Lang (born Katherine Kelly Wegeman; July 25, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Brooke Logan in the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful for the CBS Daytime programming block. Lang was born in Hollywood, California, and graduated from Beverly Hills High School. She is the daughter of Olympic ski jumper Keith R. Wegeman and actress Judith Lang and the granddaughter of Oscar-winning cinematographer Charles Lang. Lang was divorced twice. She is the mother of three children from two previous marriages: her two sons Jeremy Skott Snider (born 1990), Julian Lang Snider (born 1992) from her ex-husband Skott Snider, and her daughter Zoe Katrina D'Andrea (born 1997) from her ex-husband Alex D'Andrea, and has a stepdaughter, Danyelle D'Andrea (born 1991). On November 11, 2012, it was announced that Lang had filed for divorce, after 15 years of marriage citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in June 2014. In May 2018, she became a grandmother with the birth of her granddaughter, Zuma, via her daughter Zoe. Lang made her acting debut in the film Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979), alongside Scott Baio, Maureen McCormick and Patrick Swayze. That was followed by guest roles in various television series such in the short-lived The Powers of Matthew Star and Masquerade and the long-running Riptide, Happy Days, The Fall Guy, and the HBO comedy series 1st & Ten. Lang starred in the 1996 film Subliminal Seduction. In 1985, she appeared in three music videos: Alabama's "There's No Way" (where she played the love interest of Alabama lead singer Randy Owen), and The Beach Boys' "Getcha Back" and its sequel "It's Gettin' Late". In 1987, Lang was offered the role of blue-collar Brooke Logan on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful for the CBS Daytime programming block, and has been an integral part of the program ever since. Her love affair with Ridge Forrester (originally played by Ronn Moss, and since 2013 by Thorsten Kaye) has been a key story arc for more than 30 years, and a love triangle among Brooke, Ridge and Taylor (Hunter Tylo) stretched across an entire decade. The show's 5,000th episode included only the four core characters: Brooke, Ridge, Stephanie and Eric. As of February 2015, Lang is one of only two actors to be on The Bold and the Beautiful throughout the series. The other is John McCook, who portrays Eric Forrester. In 1999, she appeared as Brooke in The Young and the Restless, interacting with Eric Braeden (Victor), Peter Bergman (Jack), and Eileen Davidson (Ashley). Lang previously appeared on The Young and the Restless as Gretchen in 1981, and returned to the soap, for a brief stint, in July 2007. Her work as Brooke has been recognized with seven Soap Opera Digest Award nominations, beginning in 1991 and most recently in 2005. Crystal Chappell won a Daytime Emmy Award along with Lang, Hillary B. Smith and Galen Gering in the Outstanding Drama Series: New Approach category for producing . In 2016, Lang made a special guest appearance as herself in the Australian soap opera Neighbours on 10 Peach. In January 2019, she returned to Australian television as a contestant on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! for season 5. The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera. It was first broadcast on March 23, 1987, and airs on CBS. The following is a list of characters that first appeared or will appear in the soap in 2017, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the series' executive producer and head writer Bradley Bell, and co-head writer Michael Minnis. Sally Spectra, played by Courtney Hope, first appeared on January 31, 2017. In March 2018, it was announced that Hope would exit the role of Sally. She made her last appearance on April 5, 2018. On April 19, 2018, Hope announced she was back filming as Sally and she made her re-appearance on June 15, 2018. Sally is the grandniece of Sally Spectra (Darlene Conley) and the granddaughter of Sally's sister, Shirley Spectra (Patrika Darbo). Bill Spencer, Jr. (Don Diamont) and C.J. Garrison (Mick Cain) make an agreement for him to purchase the land in which Spectra Fashions sat, and to knock the building down for land clearance to build a new Spencer Publications office. This job would take six months to prepare, which gave C.J. enough time to see younger (first cousin once removed) Sally Spectra off, in an attempt to re- open Spectra's doors as a fashion house to rival Forrester Creations, repeating history. Sally hires a team resembling that of the old Spectra Fashions gang, and in the best, most efficient way possible - by hiring their relatives! Joining this also larger-than-life Sally are her grandmother Shirley, Saul Feinberg's grandson Saul Feinberg (Alex Wyse) and Darlita the receptionist, who has no relation to Darla Forrester (Schae Harrison). Shirley Spectra, played by Patrika Darbo, first appeared on February 1, 2017. In March 2018, Darbo announced she had departed the cast, due to the end of the Spectra storyline. She made her last appearance on March 5, 2018. Darbo returned on November 8, 2018 for a brief appareance. Shirley is the sister of Sally Spectra (Darlene Conley) and she arrives in Los Angeles to help her granddaughter, also named Sally (Courtney Hope), re-open Spectra Fashions. Saul Feinberg, played by Alex Wyse, first appeared on February 3, 2017. In March 2018, it was announced that Wyse had departed the cast, due to the end of the Spectra storyline. Saul is the grandson of Saul Feinberg, the tailor of Spectra Fashions and friend of Sally Spectra (Conley). Saul is hired by Sally's namesake, Sally Spectra (Hope), as tailor like his grandfather to help re-open Spectra Fashions. Darlita, played by Danube Hermosillo, first appeared February 9, 2017. In March 2018, it was announced she would departed the cast, due to the end of the Spectra storyline. Darlita is introduced as the newly-hired receptionist at Spectra Fashions. Coco Spectra, played by Courtney Grosbeck, first appeared on February 24, 2017. Coco is the teen sister of Sally Spectra (Hope), the grand-niece of Sally Spectra (Conley) and the granddaughter of Sally's sister, Shirley Spectra (Darbo). Mateo, played by Francisco San Martin, first appeared on October 2, 2017. Mateo is introduced as the Forrester Estate manager, who is hired by Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) to seduce Quinn Fuller (Rena Sofer), and cause her to betray Eric Forrester (John McCook)'s trust and have an affair, leading to the eventual end of their marriage. Characters and cast at the Official The Bold and the Beautiful website, Characters and cast at the Internet Movie Database Taylor Hayes is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, portrayed by Hunter Tylo. The character was created by William J. Bell and debuted during the episode dated June 6, 1990. Tylo appeared as a regular continuously until 1994 when she took a hiatus for a few months before being written back into the series. In 1996, she left the serial after being cast on Melrose Place, where she was soon fired on the grounds of being pregnant, and returned shortly after. In 2002, Tylo and the show's executive producer Bradley Bell had mutually agreed that the character was played out, and Taylor was subsequently killed off, last appearing that October. Tylo returned in 2004, reprising Taylor as a ghost. She returned on a permanent basis in April 2005, with the character revealed to be alive. Tylo exited The Bold and the Beautiful again in July 2013, but returned for multiple guest appearances in 2014. She returned again in April 2018 on a recurring basis. Described as a world-renowned psychiatrist based in Los Angeles, Taylor was introduced to facilitate social issues and act as a romantic lead. In her early years, the character was characterized as being "pristine" and the "good girl" of the show. Most of her history has revolved around her relationship with love interest Ridge Forrester. Tylo emerged as a fan favorite in the 1990s, with Ridge and Taylor considered a soap opera supercouple. Taylor rivaled Brooke Logan for Ridge's affections, with a love triangle between the three becoming a focus on the soap opera for many years. The rivalry between Brooke and Taylor has received considerable fan attention and divided audience opinions. Ridge and Taylor were married twice, and had three children: a son Thomas, and twin daughters Phoebe (who died in 2008) and Steffy. After Taylor's apparent death in 2002, Ridge married Brooke. When Taylor returned in 2005, she and Ridge had a short-lived reunion before the end of their marriage. Upon her reintroduction, Tylo stated that the character became "more real", experiencing alcoholism and depression. In the years that ensued, she became involved with Ridge's brother Thorne after accidentally causing the death of his wife in a hit and run accident, and also had short- lived marriages to Nick Marone and Whip Jones. The character relocated to Paris after a brief relationship with Ridge's father Eric. Upon her return, she was revealed as Bill Spencer Jr.'s shooter. Before her first appearance on the show, Taylor dated Storm Logan (Ethan Wayne) in high school. Her father is Jack Hamilton (Chris Robinson), and she has a younger brother, Zachary. Taylor's mother, Sharon, died when she was a child which led to Jack's gambling addiction. Her chaotic childhood led to Taylor becoming a psychiatrist. She was in an abusive relationship with Blake Hayes (Peter Brown) who also stalked her. Taylor begins counseling Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss) and his wife Caroline Spencer Forrester (Joanna Johnson) when Caroline is diagnosed with leukemia. After Caroline's death, Ridge takes interest in Taylor, to the dismay of his ex Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang). Storm (Brian Patrick Clarke) and Taylor briefly date and he proposes to her at Christmas 1990 but she refuses. Ridge and Taylor begin a relationship which is temporarily broken up by Brooke; Ridge follows Taylor to St. Thomas Island and successfully wins her back. The couple marry in 1992; Taylor befriends Ridge's overprotective mother Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery). In 1993 while trapped in a cabin at Big Bear and suffering from hypothermia, Taylor sleeps with her mentor from medical school James Warwick (Ian Buchanan) to prevent him from dying a virgin. A guilty Taylor writes Ridge a note confessing her infidelity, but she is presumed dead after a plane crash in April 1994. Stephanie destroys Taylor's letter, and Ridge eventually remarries Brooke. However, Taylor is revealed to be alive and suffering from amnesia. She was assaulted by drug dealers who took her place on the plane. She is rescued by Prince Omar Rashid (Kabir Bedi) and taken to his palace in Morocco. Omar holds Taylor captive when she regains her memories; she lives under the alias Princess Laila and is coerced into marrying Omar, effectively committing bigamy (the marriage was declared void). Taylor ultimately returns to California. She poses as a British nurse taking care of a temporarily blinded Ridge before revealing herself to family and friends in May 1995. Ridge and Taylor's marriage ends shortly afterward and he decides to remain with Brooke. In 1997, Taylor discovers that she is pregnant with Ridge's child. Mistakenly believing that he wants Brooke, she allows Ridge's half-brother Thorne Forrester (Winsor Harmon) to claim he is the father instead. After Taylor gives birth to Thomas Forrester in 1998, Ridge learns the truth and they remarry. In 1999, Taylor gives birth to twins Steffy and Phoebe Forrester, and suffers from tuberculosis during the pregnancy. Ridge's unstable high school ex Morgan DeWitt (Sarah Buxton) becomes pregnant with his child in 2000, but the baby dies after Morgan falls off a balcony in Taylor's mansion. Morgan kidnaps Steffy during a family vacation and she is presumed dead. The truth is revealed and Morgan is jailed for her crimes, after kidnapping both Steffy and Taylor. In 2002, Taylor discovers that Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) who is criminally insane has broken out of jail. She tries to warn Eric, but instead is shot by Sheila while shielding Brooke. Taylor survives emergency surgery but dies in Ridge's arms due to heart failure. In 2005, Taylor re-appears at Bridget Forrester (Ashley Jones) and Nick Marone's (Jack Wagner) wedding ceremony and is soon revealed to be alive. She had been removed from the hospital by Prince Omar after her apparent death and was kept alive in a coma before waking up. Taylor learns that Ridge is now married to Brooke and they share a son together. Ridge cannot decide between the two women, but after Stephanie fakes a heart attack and convinces him to choose Taylor, they renew their vows. Stephanie's lie is revealed; Taylor and Ridge work on their marriage, but after she kisses Hector Ramirez (Lorenzo Lamas) and confesses her infidelity with James years ago to Ridge, they divorce. Taylor becomes an alcoholic and while driving one night to Phoebe who is stranded on PCH, she accidentally hits Thorne's wife Darla Forrester (Schae Harrison) with her car. Darla dies from her injuries. Taylor bonds with Thorne and his daughter Aly, and they become involved. Taylor confesses the truth about Darla's accident and is sent to prison but is later released due to her death being accidental. Thorne and Taylor break off their engagement and she begins a relationship with sailor Nick Marone (Jack Wagner); they marry and she becomes pregnant with his child through in vitro fertilization. However after the birth of their son Jack Marone, it is revealed through a lab mix up that Brooke's eggs were implanted in Taylor. After overcoming alcoholism and depression again, Taylor starts a romantic relationship with Brooke's son Rick Forrester (Kyle Lowder). She divorces Nick and decides to hand Jack over to Brooke. Taylor leaves Rick due to her feelings for Ridge. In late 2008, Phoebe (MacKenzie Mauzy) is killed in a car accident, where Rick had been driving. When Rick becomes involved with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) in 2009, Ridge experiences anxiety and sleeps with Taylor after consuming pills. Ridge leaves Brooke and nearly marries Taylor, but returns to Brooke shortly after. In 2010, Taylor marries Whipple Jones III (Rick Hearst). That year, she purchases 25% of Forrester Creations worth $50 million, and when Steffy is fired by Ridge, Taylor signs over these shares to her daughter. In 2011, Whip and Taylor's marriage ends when he realizes she still loves Ridge. Stephanie and Thomas lie about Thomas sleeping with Brooke on an island they were stranded on. As a result, Ridge and Taylor get back together and make it to the altar, but Stephanie confesses the truth, and Ridge reunites with Brooke. Taylor later begins romancing Thorne again, and exerts her power as trustee of Forrester Creations. In 2012, Taylor counsels Brooke's sister Katie Logan Spencer (Heather Tom) who is suffering from postnatal depression. Taylor says goodbye to best friend Stephanie before she dies from lung cancer. In 2013, Thomas loses out on the top position at Forrester Creations to Rick and wants to leave town; Taylor persuades Eric Forrester (John McCook) to help Thomas. Soon, Taylor and Eric become romantically involved and she moves into the Forrester mansion. Taylor discovers that Brooke slept with Katie's husband Bill Spencer Jr. (Don Diamont) which resulted in a pregnancy (and miscarriage). Taylor reveals Brooke's secret at her birthday party in front of everyone, and abruptly leaves town afterward. In 2014, Taylor is now living Paris and has reunited with Thorne. The couple return to Los Angeles, but Aly (Ashlyn Pearce), now a teenager, heavily disapproves. Aly forgives Taylor for Darla's death and Taylor and Thorne return to Paris. After few months, Taylor returns to Los Angeles to visit some patients and tells Eric that she and Thorne broke up. Eric asks her to stay in Los Angeles, telling her that LA is the place where she has to live, but she refuses and returns to Paris. Before her leaving, Eric kisses Taylor on her cheek, still showing some feelings for her. In April 2018, Taylor returns to Los Angeles, where she confronts Bill for taking advantage of Steffy and accuses him of displaying predatory behaviors. During the confrontation, Taylor confesses to shooting Bill and once again pulls a gun on him in a fit of emotional distress. Bill agrees not to press charges against her for Steffy's sake, and Taylor remains in Los Angeles to seek psychiatric help off-screen. Liam, Hope, Brooke and Ridge soon learn that Taylor was Bill's shooter, with Brooke and Hope reluctantly agreeing to keep the secret. Taylor eventually moves in with Steffy and her granddaughter, Kelly. Show creator William J. Bell introduced the role of psychiatrist Dr. Taylor Hamilton Hayes, played by actress Hunter Tylo, during the episode dated June 6, 1990. According to Variety, Bell created Taylor as "a romantic leading lady but also as a character who could facilitate social issues — and directly partake in a few, too". Previously, Tylo was dismissed from two other soaps, All My Children and Days of Our Lives. The actress noted that her "crazy sense of humor" and "funny business" could have won her the role of Taylor, and she said: "After the audition, they told me I was the only one right for the role. I think they liked my 'a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do' attitude." Sherilyn Wolter temporarily replaced Tylo in 1990. Tylo vacated the role in May 1994 to pursue other projects, but the soap opera left the door open for her to return, which she did months later. During her absence, the character was presumed to be dead. In March 1996, following Taylor's decreased airtime and rumors circulating of her exit, it was confirmed that the actress was to leave The Bold and the Beautiful after her contract expired that June, to pursue a primetime role on the Fox television drama Melrose Place. Taylor's final appearance was in May 1996. However, in July 1996, Tylo was controversially fired from Melrose Place on the grounds of being pregnant and was replaced by Lisa Rinna. In response, she sued that show's executive producer Aaron Spelling and Spelling Productions for millions of US dollars, and won her case. It was immediately reported that she would return to The Bold and the Beautiful, with head writer and executive producer Bradley Bell issuing the statement: "I am certain that Hunter's talent and ability will continue to be an asset to the show." In October 2001, reports surfaced that Tylo was to exit the series again following unsuccessful contract negotiations, although two months later in December she signed a new contract which gave her more flexibility to pursue other projects. In October 2002, Bradley Bell killed off the character and Tylo's last appearance was on October 30, 2002. In March 2004, she made a multiple-episode guest appearance as Taylor's ghost. Following this, she told Soaps in Depth that "I knew it my heart I would not be going back", stating that she wanted to "let the character go". During her time off the show, she had turned down offers to appear on other soaps including As the World Turns. In 2005, Deanna Barnert of Soap Opera Digest wrote that according to an industry insider, a character from the show "may come back from the world of the beyond", leading fans to speculate whether either Macy Alexander (Bobbie Eakes) or Taylor would be returning. Taylor was revealed to be alive, with Tylo returning on-screen during the April 25, 2005 episode. She was said to be "having fun surprising her castmates" with her reappearance on set. The show's producers wanted to keep her on-screen return a secret, with Tylo wearing a wig when travelling to the set, and the character's name being changed on scripts. In May 2013, Tylo announced online that she was exiting the soap, possibly for good. In a post on her website, she wrote: "For me, contract talks ended 4 weeks ago. I am moving forward and opening back up to the thousands of acting roles available, writing, and my skin care line. My friends and B&B; fans will be sorely missed." Tylo's final appearance aired on her birthday: July 3, 2013. Dan Kroll of the website Soap Central was shocked by her exit, though felt that a future return was possible, judging from her previous departures. The news of Tylo's exit came just months after the high-profile departures of Ronn Moss and Susan Flannery from the series. Tylo has since returned to The Bold and the Beautiful for a number of guest appearances. She made a one-episode appearance which aired on February 28, 2014. The actress then made several guest appearances in April and May 2014, for a May sweeps story arc which revisited Taylor's accidental killing of Darla years earlier, with Darla's now teen daughter Aly (Ashlyn Pearce) struggling to deal with the issue of her mother's death. Tylo appeared again on November 5, 12 and 24 2014. Tylo made a surprise return to The Bold and the Beautiful during the final moments of the April 12, 2018, episode. Discussing her secret return to the set, she said: "It was just so out of the blue (...) They had me hidden away...I had a code name...They kept it quiet from everybody." Taylor is a globally renowned psychiatrist and works at the UCLA Medical Center. When she debuted, the character emerged as the "good girl" alongside other female characters, but still had a strong demeanor. Network Ten writes: "This Freudian Doc always seems to lose out to Brooke when it comes to matters of the heart. Taylor is as sophisticated and intelligent as they come, always able to analyze the problems of others, and sometimes even her own." The writers wanted Taylor to retain a "pristine" and "well-mannered" personality, according to Tylo, to contrast her from rival Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) who was "feisty and reckless", the different facets which attracted Ridge to each of them. However, Tylo criticized a storyline in 2000 where Ridge is tricked into sleeping with his mentally unstable high school lover Morgan DeWitt (Sarah G. Buxton), who becomes pregnant with his child. She said: "I just wish that Taylor would get a clue, period! I wish that her psychiatric expertise would kick in already. I mean, she's retarded!", also observing that the character can be absentminded. In the years following Taylor's 2005 return, her storylines changed significantly. After Ridge leaves Taylor, she becomes depressed and struggles with alcoholism. Tylo explained how this affected the character: "The love of her life throws her away after she struggled so hard to come back to him. It was painful and humiliating. That made her more real and now, after everything she's been through, Taylor gets to be a little manipulative spiteful and even resentful." Taylor, who is usually resilient, falls into a tailspin: accidentally killing Darla Forrester (Schae Harrison) in a hit and run accident and lying about it, later being arrested for driving under the influence. Tylo confessed, "These were the kinds of stories I was begging for", as she thought "it was very believable". The actress also wanted to portray Taylor as less "serious". Taylor often loses out to Brooke, as Thorne (Ridge's brother) loses out to Ridge. When asked in 2011 where she would like her storyline to go, Tylo said: "I think we should see Thorne and Taylor get strong and stand up to these people who mowed them down." In March 2012, Tylo said that Taylor is finally learning to pursue what she wants instead of always putting others first. She said, "In psychology, they tell you to be true to yourself. Maybe she is finally doing that, even though in her moral compass she knows that it is better to put other people first. She has been going after what she wants instead. It is a very good growing place for Taylor to go back to reality and realize that she is not perfect and that she needs to try not looking so perfect so much." Between 2014 and 2018, the character was off-screen, said to be living in Paris, where Tylo felt that she was "declining", noting: "I think with all she’s been through, she would probably have no choice but to deteriorate." Reflecting on Taylor being revealed as Bill Spencer Jr.'s (Don Diamont) shooter, Tylo loved "the idea of a crazy psychiatrist", "I’ve always said that Taylor is the good doc who can’t take her medicine; that’s how I’ve always described her, and this story just gives her so many things to do." Taylor's major love interest is Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss). The couple faces challenges at first, such as interference from their respective exes, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Blake Hayes (Peter Brown), and Ridge's mother, Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery), initially disliking Taylor. By July 1991, John Goudas of The Gadsden Times wrote that Taylor was "hooked" by Ridge but was "no-nonsense". Taylor refuses to marry Ridge unless he was serious about the end of his relationship with Brooke; Goudas noted that Taylor wanted "insurance" and deemed her "upfront" approach as the "polar opposite" to that of Brooke. Ridge and Taylor ultimately marry in 1992. The actors were under pressure during the shooting of the wedding as it was filmed on the day of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. The love triangle between Taylor, Ridge and Brooke continued into Ridge and Taylor's first marriage. When Brooke has Ridge's child, Bridget Forrester (Ashley Jones), Taylor helps raise the baby (although it was later revealed in 1996 that Bridget was fathered by Ridge's father Eric, not him). Speaking on Ridge's decision to remain married to Taylor, Tylo said that the actors were "so sick of this triangle" and revealed: "One of the things Bradley's going to do is have Ridge pick Taylor over Brooke. For a change, instead of women breaking couples up or getting pregnant to trap a man, we're going to see how couples work through their problems." After Taylor is presumed dead in a plane crash in 1994 only to return months later, Tylo felt that Taylor would be feeling "quite cheated" by Ridge marrying Brooke, and joked that "Taylor wasn't even cold yet". Ridge and Taylor divorce, although soon become involved once more, and get back together when Ridge finds out that he fathered Taylor's son, Thomas Forrester (Adam Gregory). Ridge and Taylor remarry on June 24, 1998. Despite Ridge and Taylor's remarriage, Brooke continues her attempts at winning Ridge back. Stephanie encourages Taylor to see Brooke's intent, with Tylo observing: "It was so obvious she was going after Ridge. How can you explain away that she always kept ending up in the elevator in her bra and underwear over and over again? Stephanie’s whole mission was to get Taylor to smell the coffee and [realize] that not everybody has as altruistic an agenda as she does." Ridge and Taylor's twins, Stephanie ("Steffy") and Phoebe, are born in 1999. During the pregnancy Taylor experiences tuberculosis after interacting with a man who has it. Her pregnancy becomes high risk and she refuses treatment to protect the babies. Tylo said that this was "a great way to bring awareness about the disease and the threat it poses to pregnant women". When Taylor dies in 2002, supervising producer Rhonda Friedman noted that Ridge refuses to accept the "horrible reality", saying: "He begs Taylor to come back to him. He just doesn't want to let go of this woman who he has loved for so many years, someone he say himself growing old with." Devin Owens of Soap Opera Digest called Taylor Ridge's soulmate. Taylor's "ghost" visits Ridge in 2004 and encourages him to be with Brooke. Following Taylor's return to the show, her marriage to Ridge fell apart in 2006 and they divorce. They have since reunited on several occasions but he continues going back to Brooke, despite Taylor's efforts to thwart this from happening. Daytime Confidential's Jamey Giddens noted that Steffy and Thomas "grew up watching their daddy basically climb out of their mom's bed and right into the sack with Rick (Jacob Young) and Hope's (Kimberly Matula) mom, over and over again." Taylor has been romantically linked to Ridge's half-brother Thorne (Winsor Harmon) multiple times. They were briefly involved from 1997 to 1998, when Ridge is in jail and urges Taylor to forget about him. Taylor also briefly lies about Thorne being Thomas' father. After accidentally killing Thorne's wife Darla in 2006, Taylor falls in love with Thorne, who is "forgiving and loving" towards her, even helping her attend AA. They nearly marry, but split up due to his then 4-year-old daughter Alexandria Forrester learning that Taylor killed Darla. Of working with Tylo, Harmon said, "I am so comfortable with Hunter. We have that [comfort] around each other, and when that happens as an artist, you are allowed to open up more and there is more spontaneity." Thorne and Taylor later become involved again in 2011, when they team up against the Forresters for mistreating them. Tylo said: "[Taylor] probably equally feels that Thorne deserves to have a shot at Forrester in the driver’s seat. Taylor does not like the way Brooke has been running everything through Ridge." However, Tylo saw that there was a "sticky point" between them because of Darla, and noted that Taylor "would do anything to make up for that". The actress said, "I think it’s very cool that there is so much history behind the two characters. First of all, it does not seem like a sexually based relationship. So I think the audience can appreciate it and go, 'Wow. I can understand these two emotionally bonding,' and then let it grow into something that doesn’t look forced." In 2008, Taylor becomes involved with Brooke's son, the much younger Rick Forrester (Kyle Lowder), who was previously in a relationship with Phoebe. Lowder described playing the storyline as "challenging" and one that "stirs the pot". It began after Tylo and Lowder were tested for chemistry in scenes. When the news of Rick and Taylor becoming closer reaches Brooke and Ridge, they both protest against it; Tylo described this as "two pots calling the kettle black". Brooke accuses Taylor of being with Rick as a form of revenge against her, and enlists Phoebe's help in stopping the relationship. Tylo told Soap Opera Digest that Taylor's revenge is "a subconscious thing", explaining: "Taylor sort of feels like Brooke stole her child, so this is kind of retribution. Taylor is like, 'Well then I'll take your kid'." Phoebe accepts Rick and Taylor being together, wanting both of them to be happy and giving Taylor the "green light she was looking for". Lowder believed that the tables were turning on Brooke, and said "now Brooke's son is in love with [Taylor], and she's in love with him – and it's legit (...) Taylor wins, Brooke loses – and Brooke's going crazy". Rick and Taylor get engaged but she ends the relationship due to her feelings for Ridge. Taylor becomes involved with Whipple "Whip" Jones III (Rick Hearst) through internet dating, in 2009. Tommy Garret of Canyon News said that Whip and Taylor's "chemistry is magnificent". Whip was previously involved with Brooke; Garret wrote: "Now he's in love with Brooke's mortal enemy Taylor Hayes Forrester... Hearst is magnificently suited for the role and fans want to see Whip and Taylor find happiness. At least for a few months." Of their romance, Tylo said: "I think Taylor has found true love with Whip. I think if she was a smart psychiatrist, and able to apply her knowledge in her own world, she would be with Whip. She would know this is a healthy relationship. But Taylor doesn’t see it. She still wants to fix people." Taylor and Whip marry in April 2010. Whip becomes jealous when Taylor admits to Stephanie that she still has feelings for Ridge. Whip's frustration with Taylor's feelings for Ridge leads to the demise of their relationship the following year, and they end the marriage. Beginning in 1990, Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Taylor would fight over Ridge's affection for years. In 2013, Tylo revealed that she and Lang would distance themselves from each other to make their on-screen rivalry convincing: "We cannot look comfortable with each other. We need to look like we are in a place of competition." In 2007, Brooke and Taylor's rivalry intensified when Brooke begins pursuing Nick Marone (Jack Wagner) while he is married to Taylor. Soap Opera Digest noted that the women were "crossing swords once again for the same man". Tylo observed that both Brooke and Taylor were being written with "more intelligence" this time around, and was happy in revisiting the rivalry between them as "long as it wasn't over Ridge" again. Taylor becomes pregnant with Nick's child through In vitro fertilisation (IVF), having struggled to conceive a child, and gives birth to Jack Marone. However, because of a mistake that Bridget had made in the lab, it was Brooke's eggs which were implanted in Taylor and not the donor's; making Brooke Jack's biological mother. She fears that her baby will be drawn to Brooke. Taylor begins drinking and becomes mentally unstable, with her parental rights being taken away. The scenes where Taylor loses custody and suffers a breakdown in court were filmed shortly after Tylo's own son died. Tylo told On-Air On-Soaps: "I got a lot of emails from people worrying. They would go from worrying about me to saying, 'Was I okay with those scenes and after them?'" The actress said that she tapped into her own tragedy when portraying those scenes, and allowed herself to feel the "feeling that will never go away which is, 'It's not fair'". Taylor is soon awarded joint custody of Jack when she passes a mental health evaluation. However, she cannot bond with him and ends up giving Jack to Brooke in the end. In 2010, Lang and Tylo recreated a 1983 lily pond cat-fight between Krystle Carrington and Alexis Colby in the drama Dynasty, shooting the scenes in a koi pond at the CBS Studios. Tommy Garrett of Canyon News said the "two Mrs. Ridge Forresters" had escalated to "all out war". After Stephanie's death, Taylor and Brooke's animosity against one another reignites as Taylor grows closer to Eric in 2013. Tylo said that "When Brooke and Taylor go at it, it really gets a lot of people wound up. I said this brings the show around full circle with everything Stephanie was fighting for, and now the battle has been set for these two to really go at it." In 2018, Brooke and Taylor engage in a food fight at Hope Logan's (Annika Noelle) wedding to Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), Steffy's ex-husband. Tylo stated, "In the past, Taylor’s tried to play into Brooke’s psychology to find any kind of guilty conscious (...) Now, Taylor realizes Brooke doesn’t have one! There’s no trying to get to her because she doesn’t listen to reason. Taylor’s been letting stuff sit and stew for years. She’s not happy and, now, she’s got to vent!" In October 2002, it was announced that Bradley Bell had decided to kill off Taylor, and Tylo would depart the role after twelve years. In a statement on her website, she wrote: "It is with great sadness I have to tell you that Brad has decided to kill off the character Taylor. He feels the character is too good and has too much integrity to take her down other pathsin a word, played out." The actress confessed that she was unhappy with her character's direction at the time of her exit, saying: "I really felt like Taylor had lost the wind from her sails and was going nowhere." Tylo said that "It just seemed like everything had to do with whether or not there was a woman after her husband" and that she was "done with it", revealing that her unhappiness with the writing began when the character of Morgan appeared on the show. Furthermore, both Tylo and Bell agreed that Taylor was at a "brick wall", but Bell was "afraid to go beyond that" and have the character go "off the deep end", in fear of destroying her integrity. However, Tylo believed that "in reality that's what she needed – to be more human. But she just got boring instead". Taylor is gunned down by Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) and appears to die in hospital a few days later due to her injuries. Tylo eventually returned to the soap, with Taylor revealed to be alive in 2005. After three years in the role, Tylo had become a fan favorite with viewers. Marla Hart of the Chicago Tribune noted that she fit in well with the show's "signature glamor casting". Discussing Tylo's 1994 temporary exit, Kathleen Sloan of the Toronto Star observed that "fans of the soap couldn't have been more open-mouthed" over the matter. In 2004, Soaps In Depth called Taylor "daytime's sexiest shrink". Tommy Garret of Canyon News described Taylor as being the "epitome of grace and dignity". The character appeared on the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in an article titled "Stars with 9 Lives: Death is Not Forever in Soaps" after her airplane crash in 1994 resulted in her assumed death. Debashine Thangevelo of Independent Online observed, "Tylo is an actress who wields as much influence in the world of soaps as Taylor Hayes in The Bold and the Beautiful. Having inhabited this role for almost two decades, barring a sabbatical, she has made an indelible impression on viewers." In 2008, Darren Lomas from Daytime Confidential wrote, "The back-from-death version of Taylor is a whole lot more horny than she was back in the day. Is it all because she never got over Ridge, her one true love?" Chris Eades of CBS Soaps In Depth noted that "Fans were absolutely stunned" by the "all-too- rare surprise" of Taylor's 2018 return, writing: "With Steffy in desperate need of support, it was the perfect time for Taylor to return to town and offer her daughter some help." Reacting to Taylor being revealed as Bill's shooter, Canyon News wrote: "Tylo delivered some riveting scenes, as a mother concerned about her daughter’s well-being", stating that her return "causes all types of problems which make for interesting TV". For her portrayal of Taylor, Tylo was nominated for "Favorite Hottest Female Star" at the 1995 Soap Opera Digest Awards, however Kristina Wagner of General Hospital won. Tylo was nominated for the same award at the 1999 Soap Opera Digest Awards (Days Of Our Lives star Kristian Alfonso won that year). The actress received a Telvis Award for Foreign Female TV Performer (Finnish: Ulkomainen naisesiintyjä) in 2002 for the role. Daily Mail described the Brooke, Ridge and Taylor love triangle as "epic". Widely famed, the triangle was seen by Soap Opera Digest as one of the genre's greatest during the early 1990s. In 1991, John Goudas of The Gadsden Times felt that "So far, Taylor has viewer sympathy" in the triangle, but also wrote: "we don't see Dr. Taylor Hayes do much practicing, or ever see her making hospital rounds. Air time means time with Ridge or with ex-husband Blake. So much for medicine." Darren Lomas noted that the "Taylor and Brooke wars have lasted for two decades. Even when Taylor was taking a dirt nap, fan messageboards still buzzed with Taylor and Brooke fans taking swipes at each other." Tommy Garrett recognized Brooke and Taylor the queen of soap opera cat-fights and noted that "at least half of the show's fans" had supported Taylor in the love triangle. Speaking of Brooke and Taylor's cake fight in 2018, Soaps.com writer Candace Young stated that "viewers were anticipating Taylor and Brooke’s wedding clash and they weren’t disappointed (...) A crazy catfight ensued which left no doubt that Katherine Kelly Lang and Hunter Tylo had fun taping the scenes. Loved it! It’s always re-energizing to see these two pick up with their rivalry and play off one another." Ridge and Taylor are considered a soap opera supercouple and are referred to by the portmanteau "Tridge" on social media. Speaking on the beginning of the relationship, Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "Taylor was Caroline's doctor, which made her affair with Ridge, as the bleep bleep machine was flatlining, slightly inappropriate. But then, nothing in daytime soap opera is ever appropriate." Their 1992 wedding was ranked at number 18 by The Huffington Post on a list of the "Top 20 Most Memorable Soap Weddings of All Time". Michael Fairman referred to Taylor and Thorne as "the screwed-over couple of B&B;".

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Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, thus being the second day of Christmastide. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. Boxing Day is on 26 December, although the attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or two days later. In parts of Europe, such as Romania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Scandinavia, 26 December is celebrated as a Second Christmas Day. There are competing theories for the origins of the term, none of which is definitive. The European tradition of giving money and other gifts to those in need and in service positions has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown. It is believed to be in reference to the Alms Box placed in the narthex of Christian churches to collect donations to the poor. The tradition may come from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era wherein alms boxes placed in churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen, which in the Western Christian Churches falls on the same day as Boxing Day, the second day of Christmastide. On this day, it is customary in some localities for the alms boxes to be opened and distributed to the poor. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestations from Britain in the 1830s, defining it as "the first weekday after Christmas day, observed as a holiday on which postmen, errand boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas box". The term "Christmas box" dates back to the 17th century, and among other things meant: A present or gratuity given at Christmas: in Great Britain, usually confined to gratuities given to those who are supposed to have a vague claim upon the donor for services rendered to him as one of the general public by whom they are employed and paid, or as a customer of their legal employer; the undefined theory being that as they have done offices for this person, for which he has not directly paid them, some direct acknowledgement is becoming at Christmas. In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older British tradition where the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families since they would have to serve their masters on Christmas Day. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. Until the late 20th century there continued to be a tradition among many in the UK to give a Christmas gift, usually cash, to vendors although not on Boxing Day as many would not work on that day. In South Africa, vendors who normally have little interaction with those they serve are accustomed to knock on their doors asking for a "Christmas box", being a small cash donation, in the weeks before or after Christmas. This practice has become controversial and some municipalities have banned their staff from asking for Christmas boxes. Boxing Day is a secular holiday traditionally celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. December 26 is also Saint Stephen's Day, a religious holiday. In the UK, Boxing Day has been a bank holiday since 1871. When 26 December falls on a Saturday, the public holiday is on the following Monday. If 26 December falls on a Sunday, the public holiday is the following Tuesday. In Scotland, Boxing Day has been specified as an additional bank holiday since 1974, by Royal Proclamation under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. In Hong Kong, despite the transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997, Boxing Day continues to be a public holiday. If Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, a compensation day is given on the next weekday. In Ireland, when the entire island was part of the United Kingdom, the Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the feast day of Saint Stephen as a non-moveable public holiday on 26 December. Following partition in 1920, Northern Ireland reverted to the British name, Boxing Day. In East Donegal and Inishowen, the day is also popularly known as Boxing Day. In Australia, Boxing Day is a public holiday in all jurisdictions except the state of South Australia, where a public holiday known as Proclamation Day is celebrated on the first weekday after Christmas Day or the Christmas Day holiday. In New Zealand, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday. On these holidays, people who must work receive 1 1/2 times their salaries and a day in lieu is provided to employees who work. In Canada, Boxing Day () is a federal statutory holiday. Government offices, banks and post offices/delivery are closed. In some Canadian provinces, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday that is always celebrated on 26 December. In Canadian provinces where Boxing Day is a statutory holiday and it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, compensation days are given in the following week. While not generally observed in the United States, on 5 December 1996, Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld declared 26 December as Boxing Day in Massachusetts in response to the efforts of a local coalition of British citizens to "transport the English tradition to the United States", but not as an employee holiday. In Nigeria, Boxing Day is a public holiday for working people and students. When it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is always a holiday on Monday. In Trinidad and Tobago, Boxing Day is a public holiday. In Singapore, Boxing Day was a public holiday for working people and students; when it fell on a Saturday or Sunday, there was a holiday on Monday. However, in recent years this tradition has ceased in Singapore. In South Africa, Boxing Day is a public holiday. Many South Africans spend the day at the beach. In the British overseas territory of Bermuda, the costumed Gombey dancers perform throughout the mid-Atlantic island on Boxing Day, a tradition believed to date back to the 18th century when slaves were permitted to gather at Christmastime. In the UK, Canada, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, and New Zealand, Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. Boxing Day sales are common and shops often allow dramatic price reductions. For many merchants, Boxing Day has become the day of the year with the greatest revenue. In the UK in 2009 it was estimated that up to 12 million shoppers appeared at the sales (a rise of almost 20% compared to 2008, although this was also affected by the fact that the VAT was about to revert to 17.5% from 1 January, following the temporary reduction to 15%). Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am or even earlier) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. It is not uncommon for long queues to form early in the morning of 26 December, hours before the opening of shops holding the big sales, especially at big-box consumer electronics retailers. Many stores have a limited quantity of big draw or deeply discounted items. Because of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, many choose to stay at home and avoid the hectic shopping experience. Local media often covers the event, mentioning how early the shoppers began queuing up, and showing video of shoppers queuing and later leaving with their purchased items. Many retailers have implemented practices aimed at managing large numbers of shoppers. They may limit entrances, restrict the number of patrons in a store at a time, provide tickets to people at the head of the queue to guarantee them a hot ticket item, or canvass queued-up shoppers to inform them of inventory limitations. In some areas of Canada, particularly in Atlantic Canada and parts of Northern Ontario, most retailers are prohibited from opening on Boxing Day, either by provincial law or by municipal bylaw, or by informal agreement among major retailers, in order to provide a day of relaxation following Christmas Day. In these areas, sales otherwise scheduled for 26 December are moved to the 27th. The city council of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, which was the largest city in Canada to maintain this restriction as of the early 2010s, formally repealed its store hours bylaw on 9 December 2014. While Boxing Day is 26 December, many retailers will run the sales for several days before or after 26 December, often up to New Year's Eve, branding it as "Boxing Week". Notably, in the recession of late 2008, a record number of retailers held early promotions due to a weak economy. In 2009, many retailers with both online and High Street stores launched their online sales on Christmas Eve and their High Street sales on Boxing Day. The tradition has been compared to the U.S. phenomenon of Black Friday — the Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday in late-November — which is usually considered the first day of the Christmas shopping season. In the late-2000's when the Canadian and U.S. dollar were near parity, Canadian retailers began to hold Black Friday promotions to attract consumers who would otherwise travel across the border to visit U.S. stores. This has lessened the appeal of Boxing Day in Canada somewhat, as it was overtaken by Black Friday in terms of sales by 2013. In the 2010's, many British retailers also began to import the Black Friday tradition, led primarily by retailers with American ownership such as Amazon and Asda (the latter owned by the U.S.-based Walmart). In 2015, British retail sales in November overtook sales in December for the first time. In 2019, a retail analysis firm estimated that there was a 9.8% drop in British store traffic on Boxing Day in comparison to 2018 (the largest year- over-year drop since 2010), citing several factors, such as the weather, the increased prominence of online shopping, uncertainties in the wake of the general election, and the growing prominence of Black Friday sales. Neither Boxing Day or Boxing Day sales are a prominent tradition in the United States, although many retailers often begin post-Christmas promotions that day, and in any case, it is typically the earliest starting day after Christmas for people to return unwanted gifts for exchanges or refunds. In the United Kingdom, it is traditional for all top-tier football leagues in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – the Premier League, the Scottish Premiership, and the NIFL Premiership – and the lower ones, as well as the rugby leagues, to hold a full programme of football matches on Boxing Day. Originally, matches on Boxing Day were played against local rivals to avoid teams and their fans having to travel a long distance to an away game on the day after Christmas Day. Prior to the formation of leagues, a number of traditional rugby union fixtures took place on Boxing Day each year, notably Llanelli v London Welsh and Leicester v The Barbarians. In Italy, Boxing Day football was played for the first time in the 2018/19 Serie A season. The experiment was successful, with Italian stadiums 69% full on average – more than any other matchday in December 2018. In rugby league, festive fixtures were a staple of the traditional winter season. Since the transition to a summer season in the 1990s, no formal fixtures are now arranged on Boxing Day but some clubs, such as Wakefield Trinity, arrange a traditional local derby friendly fixture instead. In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Test cricket matches are played on Boxing Day. For more details see Boxing Day Test. In Australia, the first day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race are on Boxing Day. In horse racing, there is the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey, England. It is the second most prestigious chase in Britain, after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In addition to the prestigious race at Kempton, in Britain, it is usually the day with the highest number of racing meetings of the year, with eight in 2016, in addition to three more in Ireland. In Barbados, the final day of horse racing is held on Boxing Day at The Historic Garrison Savannah, a UNESCO world heritage site. This tradition has been going on for decades in this former British colony. Boxing Day is one of the main days in the hunting calendar for hunts in the UK and US, with most hunts (both mounted foxhound or harrier packs and foot packs of beagles or bassets) holding meets, often in town or village centres. Several ice hockey contests are associated with the day. The IIHF World U20 Championship typically begins on 26 December, while the Spengler Cup also begins on 23 December in Davos, Switzerland; the Spengler Cup competition includes HC Davos, Team Canada, and other top European Hockey teams. The National Hockey League traditionally had close to a full slate of games (10 were played in 2011), following the league- wide days off given for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However, the 2013 collective bargaining agreement (which followed a lock-out) extended the league mandate of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off to include Boxing Day, except when it falls on a Saturday, in which case the league can choose to make 23 December a league-wide off day instead for that year. In some African Commonwealth nations, particularly Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania, professional boxing contests are held on Boxing Day. This practice has also been followed for decades in Guyana and Italy. A notable tradition in Sweden is , which formerly marked the start of the bandy season and always draws large crowds. Games traditionally begin at 1:15 pm. Snopes: The Origins of Boxing Day Bank and public holidays in Scotland are determined under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. Unlike the rest of United Kingdom, most bank holidays are not recognised as statutory public holidays in Scotland, as most public holidays are determined by local authorities across Scotland. Some of these may be taken in lieu of statutory holidays, while others may be additional holidays, although many companies, including Royal Mail, do not follow all the holidays listed below; and many swap between English and local holidays. Many large shops and supermarkets continue to operate normally during public holidays, especially since there are no restrictions such as Sunday trading rules in Scotland. Since Easter 1996 the Scottish clearing banks have harmonised the days on which they are closed with those in England and Wales, and are therefore closed on Easter Monday and the last Monday in August (rather than the first). This has resulted in a number of local authorities creating a public holiday on Easter Monday. Previously Easter Monday had not been a public holiday in Scotland. There have been many protests about banks opening on 2 January since this decision was taken. This has resulted in many banks now providing only a limited service on 2 January, with most members of staff still entitled to the holiday. Schedule 1 to the 1971 Act states that the following days are official bank holidays in Scotland: 1. Certain bank branches in Edinburgh are open on the last Monday in August when the Edinburgh Festival is taking place 2. When the stated date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is normally designated a public holiday instead. When Christmas Day falls on a Saturday (and thus Boxing Day on a Sunday), the following Monday and Tuesday are normally designated public holidays instead 3. In 1995, May Day holiday was moved to the second Monday in May – i.e., from 1 May to 8 May – to commemorate the 50th anniversary of VE Day 4. In 1999, an additional bank holiday was given to enable people to prepare for the festivities to mark the arrival of the year 2000 5. In 2002, the Spring Holiday was moved to 4 June. This caused it to follow an extra bank holiday on 3 June, making a four-day weekend to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II 6. In 2011, a public holiday was given to ensure most people would have a chance to celebrate the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, making a four-day weekend as May Day was on the following Monday 7. In 2012 the Spring Holiday was moved to 4 June. It was then followed by an extra holiday on 5 June, making a four-day weekend to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Unfortunately only Fife, Inverclyde and Scottish Borders were affected as they already take the first Monday in June as a public holiday. Most areas in Scotland did not have the four-day weekend and only had the Tuesday official holiday. The holiday on 1 January (or 2 January if 1 January is Sunday) is statutory. If New Year's Day is Saturday a substitute holiday is given on 4 January by Royal Proclamation. 2 January is given by Royal Proclamation, with a substitute holiday on 4 January if it is Saturday and 3 January if it is Sunday or Monday. The St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007, passed by the Scottish Parliament on 29 November 2006, added St Andrew's Day (30 November), or the following Monday should 30 November fall on a weekend. Section 1 of the 1971 Act also provides that special days may be appointed as bank holidays (either additional or in place of bank holidays which fall on a Saturday or Sunday) subject to Royal Proclamation each year. These include Boxing Day, which has been an additional bank holiday in Scotland since 1974 and the last Monday in May which has been a bank holiday since 1978. Section 1 of the 1971 Act also enables the Queen to appoint substitute bank holidays in any one year by Royal Proclamation. Substitute days are customarily appointed for all UK bank holidays which fall on a Saturday or Sunday. Where any of the dates fall on a Sunday, the Act substitutes the following Monday for that date. If any fall on a Saturday (or if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday), the Royal Proclamation includes substitute days for these days. Scottish Government article on St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007, Scottish Government article on bank holidays Bank holiday, Public holidays in the United Kingdom Bank holidays in Scotland – Scottish Government Public holidays in Australia refer to the holidays recognised in law in Australia. Although they are declared on a state and territory basis, they comprise a mixture of nationally-celebrated days and holidays exclusive to the individual jurisdictions. Public holidays function as non-working days, with workers generally receiving full paid leave independently of annual leave. Those working on public holidays receive additional penalty rates of pay. Where they fall on a weekend, public holidays are generally declared in lieu for the following Monday. Statutory holidays in Australia are based on varying religious, cultural and civic observations. Christian celebrations, namely Christmas and Easter, are some of the most significant ones observed. A labour day is observed in each state and territory, although it is varied in date. While Australia Day is the designated national day, it remains controversial over its observation of the beginning of colonisation of Australia, seen by those opposing it as insensitive towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. When a public holiday occurs on a Friday or Monday, the three-day period is colloquially known as a "long weekend". Traditionally, Australians in employment (whether in the public or private sector) have had the right to take a public holiday off work with regular pay. In recent years this tradition has changed somewhat. For example, businesses that normally open on a public holiday may request employees to work on that day. Employers can deny employees a holiday only on reasonable business grounds. From 2006, WorkChoices entirely eliminated the entitlement to penalty rates in many workplaces; however since the implementation of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the modern awards in 2010, most public-holiday penalty rates have increased dramatically. employees generally receive pay at a penalty rate—usually 2.5 times (known as "double time and a half") the base rate of pay—when they work on a public holiday. Besides designating days as public holidays, Australian authorities also designate some of these days as restricted trading days. Public holidays are determined by a combination of: statutes, with specific gazetting of public holidays, industrial awards and agreements If a standard public holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute public holiday will sometimes be observed on the first non-weekend day (usually Monday) after the weekend, whether by virtue of the public holiday legislation or by ad hoc proclamation. Workers required to work on a public holiday or substituted public holiday will usually be entitled to remuneration at a holiday penalty rate. All states have their own public holidays in addition to national public holidays, and in some states public holidays, such as Melbourne Cup Day, are provided on a local basis. Alcohol licences in several states prevent sale of alcohol on certain public holidays, such as Good Friday. Legend: When a public holiday falls on a weekend, the following work day may be considered a public holiday depending on the state/territory and the holiday in question. Holidays that always fall on a particular day of the week are not listed in this table. Prior to 2008, Victorian law only specified substitute holidays for New Year and Boxing Day, and only if they fell on a Sunday. From 2008, Victorian law specifies the substitute holidays in the table above. Since Easter Monday can occur as late as 26 April it is possible for the Easter Monday holiday to coincide with Anzac Day, as occurred in 2011. State Acts do not give a provision to separate the days when this occurs, so no additional public holiday is given by law. However an extra day is usually proclaimed by the minister, so as to have a steady number of public holidays each year. In the year 2038, Anzac Day will coincide with Easter Sunday. Nationally, Australia Day was originally celebrated on 30 July 1915. Recorded celebrations of the 26 January date back to 1808 in Australia, and in 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie held the first official celebration of Australia Day. 26 January was chosen because it is the day of the establishment of the first British settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788. It was made a public holiday in New South Wales in 1836, and Victoria adopted the day as a public holiday in 1931. The 26 January commenced to be recognised by all states and territories as Australia Day in 1946. Australia Day has been celebrated as a national public holiday on 26 January since 1994. Since 1960, the winner of the Australian of the Year award is announced by the Prime Minister on the eve of Australia Day (25 Jan). Labour Day commemorates the achievements of the Australian labour movement. The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organised workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day. In Tasmania the public holiday is called Eight Hours Day and in the Northern Territory it is called May Day. The Labour Day public holiday varies considerably between the various states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In Western Australia, it is the first Monday in March. In both Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March. In the Northern Territory, and in Queensland it is the first Monday in May. The days of Easter vary each year depending on the day determined by the Western Christian calendar. Until 1994 Easter Tuesday was a Bank Holiday in Victoria (it retains this status partially in Tasmania). The day after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday is traditionally known as Holy Saturday. However, the states where that day is a public holiday use different terminology – it is officially gazetted as "Easter Saturday" in the ACT, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory; as "the day after Good Friday" in Queensland and South Australia; and as "Saturday before Easter Sunday" in Victoria. ANZAC Day is a day on which the country remembers those citizens who fell fighting or who served the country in wars. ANZAC Day is commemorated on 25 April every year. The tradition began to remember the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. ANZAC Day commemoration features marches by veterans and by solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around the country, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle. The fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem (known as the "Ode of Remembrance") is often recited. In all states and territories except Queensland and Western Australia, Queen's Birthday is observed on the second Monday in June. Because Western Australia celebrates Western Australia Day (formerly Foundation Day) on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia proclaims the day on which the state will observe the Queen's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show. There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is typically the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October: in 2011 the Queen's Birthday holiday in Western Australia was moved from Monday, 3 October 2011 to Friday, 28 October 2011 to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was held in Perth. In Queensland, it is celebrated on the 1st Monday in October. The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of King George III. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V, it was decided to keep the date at mid-year. On that day the "Queen's Birthday honours list" is released naming new members of the Order of Australia and other Australian honours. This occurs on the date observed in the Eastern States, not the date observed in Western Australia. The Queen's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Year's Eve fireworks, as the sale of fireworks to the public was banned by the states in the 1980s, and in the ACT as of 24 August 2009. Christmas is observed on 25 December each year to commemorate the birth of Jesus. In Australia, it was introduced with British settlement in 1788 as the cultural norms were transferred to the new colonies. Though a Christian religious festival, it does not breach the constitution's separation of Church and State provision, because it is declared under State law, which is not subject to the provision. Boxing Day is on the day after Christmas, i.e. 26 December each year, except in South Australia. In South Australia, the first otherwise working day after Christmas is a public holiday called Proclamation Day. Boxing Day is noted for the start of the post-Christmas sale season. The day has also become a significant sporting day. Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Test match; the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race also starts on this day. Sunday is nominally a public holiday in South Australia., Proclamation Day is in December in South Australia only., Canberra Day is held on the 2nd Monday in March in the ACT. Prior to 2008, this holiday was celebrated on the 3rd Monday of March., Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November—the day of the Melbourne Cup. It was originally observed only in the Melbourne metropolitan area. From 2007 to 2009 in ACT, Melbourne Cup day was also a holiday called "Family and Community Day". The holiday continued from 2010 to 2017 but no longer coincided with Melbourne Cup day. In Victoria, the Public Holidays Act 1993 (Vic) was amended from 24 September 2008 and made the Melbourne Cup Day holiday applicable in all parts of the state (unless another day is observed in substitute). It also made the holiday applicable to employees covered by federal awards., Recreation Day is the first Monday of November, and celebrated in Northern Tasmania where Regatta Day is not a holiday., Regatta Day is the second Monday in February, and is celebrated in Southern Tasmania. Previously it was held on the second Tuesday in February., Geelong Cup Day is held on the fourth Wednesday of October in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Queensland Day is celebrated on 6 June each year, but not with a public holiday., Adelaide Cup Day is held on the second Monday in March in South Australia (held in May before 2006), Western Australia Day in Western Australia on the first Monday in June., Picnic Day in the Northern Territory in August, and also May Day, Tasmania has Easter Tuesday as a bank holiday (for bank and government employees only)., New South Wales has the first Monday in August as a bank holiday (for bank employees only)., Many cities and towns observe local public holidays for their local Agricultural Show. For example:, Darwin Show Day in Darwin area in late July, Royal Queensland Show Day in Brisbane area in August, Gold Coast Show in Gold Coast area in October The days are set in the "Holidays Act 1983". Most public holidays include a second public holiday on a week-day if they happen to fall on Saturday or Sunday. In which case, both days are public holidays. New Year's Day: 1 January, and if 1 January is a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday., Australia Day: 26 January, and if 26 January is a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday., Good Friday: on the date it is publicly observed, always a Friday., The day after Good Friday: Always a Saturday, one day after Good Friday., Easter Monday: The next Monday after Good Friday., ANZAC Day: 25 April, and if 25 April is a Sunday, 26 April., Labour Day ("May Day"): 1st Monday in May., Birthday of the Sovereign: 1st Monday in October., Christmas Day: 25 December., Boxing Day: 26 December. If Christmas day (25 December) is a Saturday or Sunday, then 27 December is also a public holiday. If Boxing day (26 December) is a Saturday or Sunday, then 28 December is also a public holiday. Because of the variable days of Easter, Anzac day could fall on an Easter holiday. When ANZAC falls on Saturday, there is no week day public holiday. In such situations it is generally expected that the minister will proclaim extra public holidays on week-days to ensure every year has the same number of public holidays on week- days. The minister of the state may proclaim and adjustments or additions, such as the date of the Brisbane Ekka Show day holiday. This day has historically always been proclaimed for the second Wednesday in August, except if there are 5 Wednesday's in August, in which case the third Wednesday in August. Public holidays generally follow the national pattern, but special cases are resolved by the State Government and advised by proclamation. Details of future holidays can be found on the NSW Industrial Relations website. Public holidays are regulated by the New South Wales Public Holidays Act 2010 No 115, which supersedes the Banks and Bank Holidays Act 1912 No 43. The first Monday in August is a Bank Holiday, during which banks and financial institutions are closed. Public holidays in Victoria are regulated by the Victorian Public Holidays Act 1993. Victorian employees fall under the Workchoices system either as coming within the Commonwealth constitutional power (called "constitutional corporation employees") or because of Victoria's referral of its legislative powers to the Commonwealth for particular workplace relations matters. Employee entitlements to public holidays and additional pay depend on whether they are covered by a federal award or agreement. Employees not covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays under the Victorian Public Holidays Act 1993. Also, all permanent employees not covered by a federal award or agreement who would normally work on a public holiday (or a substitute public holiday) are entitled to the holiday without loss of pay. Their employers are not required to provide additional payment if they work on a public holiday, but this does not exclude the possibility of employees and employers negotiating for additional pay. Employees who are covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays as provided by the relevant federal award or agreement and the Public Holidays Act 1993. Many federal awards and agreements also provide for additional penalty rates for work performed on a public holiday. Restricted shop trading laws apply to Good Friday, Christmas Day and before 1 pm on Anzac Day. On these days only exempted businesses are permitted to open for trading. All public holidays and substitute public holidays are bank holidays. In August 2015, the day before the AFL Grand Final, as well as Easter Sunday, were gazetted as Public Holidays within Victoria. This date of the holiday is as gazetted by the Victorian Government and cannot be accurately predicted. The Victorian public holidays are as follows: * Melbourne Cup Day is observed in most of the state, but various cup days and show days in the state's west are locally substituted. See the list at . Melbourne Show Day used to be observed on the Thursday in the last full week of September as a half-day public holiday—later changing to full day—until 1994 (abolished by the state government). Easter Tuesday was observed as a Bank Holiday in Victoria until 1994 (also abolished by the state government). Penalty rates are the rates of pay which an employee is paid higher than their standard base rate for working at times or on days, such as public holidays, which are outside the normal working week. They were introduced in 1947 for workers working on the Sabbath, as most workers were Christian, while today, these rates of pay are set by the Fair Work Commission. Australian labour law, Australian Pay and Classification Scales

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Archie (also known as Archie Comics) is an ongoing comic book series featuring the Archie Comics character Archie Andrews. The character first appeared in Pep Comics #22 (cover dated December 1941). Archie proved to be popular enough to warrant his own self-titled ongoing comic book series which began publication in the winter of 1942 and ran until June 2015. A second series began publication in July 2015, featuring a reboot of the Archie universe with a new character design aesthetic and a more mature story format and scripting, aimed for older, contemporary teenage and young adult readers. The printed comic book format is different from the previous publications. Archie first appeared in Pep Comics #22 in 1941 and soon became the most popular character for the comic. Due to his popularity, he was given his own series which debuted in winter 1942 titled Archie Comics. Starting with issue #114, the title was shortened to simply Archie. The series ended with issue #666 (June 2015) to make way for a new series set in Archie Comics' "New Riverdale". A new volume of Archie debuted in July 2015 as part of the New Riverdale relaunch. It is written by Mark Waid with art by Fiona Staples. Archie Comics Publisher/CEO Jon Goldwater has said that the new series will harken back to the comic's roots by showcasing more edgy and humorous stories as well as present the origins for the character and his friends as well as how the famous love triangle between Archie, Betty, and Veronica began. Fiona Staples left the series after issue #3 while Annie Wu provided artwork for the fourth issue. Veronica Fish was the guest artist for the fifth and sixth issues before being named the regular artist for the series in February 2016. Fish left the series after issue 10 but continued to provide the regular cover art up to issue 12. Thomas Pitilli and Ryan Jampole provided guest artwork for issues 11 and 12 with Joe Eisma being named the new regular artist starting with issue 13. Pete Woods will take over as series artist beginning with issue #18 in March 2017. Woods provided as the artist until #22 in July 2017. Audrey Mok & Kelly Fitzpatrick will provide onward artwork from #23 in August 2017. #429 (Love Showdown, Part 1) Issue #429 started one of Archie Comics most famous story lines, the Love Showdown where Archie gets a love letter in the mail and Betty and Veronica both swear it wasn't from them. The story was continued in Betty #19, Betty and Veronica #82, and concluded with Veronica #39. #600–606 (Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty) In issues # 600–602, the story features a futuristic look into the life of Riverdale teen Archie Andrews in the years that follow his college graduation when Archie makes his ultimate decision to marry spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge instead of sweet girl next door Betty Cooper. In Issues # 603–605, the story switches and Archie proposes marriage to Betty instead of to Veronica. Issue #606 serves as the epilogue to the story and ties the previous six issues together. #608–609 (The Archies & Josie and the Pussycats) This two-issue arc follows Archie Andrews and Valerie Smith falling in love when their two bands go on tour together. This is Archie Comics' first interracial relationship. #631–634 (Archie Marries Valerie) The four issue arc follows a potential future where Archie married Valerie Smith and had a daughter with her named Star. It is similar to the Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty arc. Issue #634 details a bunch of potential futures where Archie may have married Cheryl Blossom, Sabrina Spellman or Ethel Muggs. #641–644 (Archie Meets Glee) Archie and his friends cross paths with the cast of Glee thanks to one of Dilton's science experiments gone wrong. #656 (Here Comes Harper!) Features the first appearance of Veronica's cousin, Harper, who is physically disabled and needs to use a wheelchair to get around. Early issues of Archie have been collected into hardcover 'Archive Editions' by Dark Horse Comics, including original games pages and ads. IDW published archival hardback editions titled Archie's Americana which collect key issues from each decade since the 1940s. Similar hardbacks were produced showcasing work by favourite Archie creators. Some key Archie storylines have also been collected as trade paperbacks. The first issue focuses on Archie's recent split with Betty Cooper due to the "lipstick incident" that everyone is gossiping about trying to find out what it is. It also sets up the eventual formation of The Archies and the arrival of Veronica Lodge. IGN gave the first issue a 9.5 out of 10 calling it "a joy in every sense of the word. It's a book that warms you, each turn of the page providing a welcome blast of character and heart." as well as calling it "one of the best new debuts to hit shelves this year." Comic Book Resources said that "the publisher [Archie Comics] has created their best book in years." and that it "is must-read comics for anyone looking for fun, engaging characters and beautifully drawn, on-trend style." Meanwhile, Den of Geek gave it five stars calling Fiona Staples' art "glorious" while saying that Mark Waid "does an impressive job of creating a Riverdale that feels modern and real." The series has so far been assembled into the following collections: Archibald Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom, is the main character in the Archie Comics franchise, including the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, Archie's Weird Mysteries, and Riverdale. He is the rhythm guitarist and one of the three singers of rock band The Archies. The live action version of Archie is portrayed by KJ Apa in Riverdale. Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics 22 (cover-dated Dec. 1941). He is the only child of Mary and Fred Andrews. His father works as a mid-level business executive. His earlier life is revealed in the "Little Archie" stories when he had a dog named Spotty. Archie lives in Riverdale, where he attends Riverdale High School. Archie is a typical small-town teenager. His main crush is vocalist/keyboardist Veronica Lodge, but he is also fond of vocalist/guitarist/percussionist Betty Cooper, forming the love triangle driving many of the comic's plot lines. He has the best intentions, but often comes into conflict with Veronica's rich father, Hiram Lodge, and Riverdale High's principal, Waldo Weatherbee. As one of the three vocalists and the rhythm guitarist of The Archies, Archie performs with Betty and Veronica as well as his friend bassist Reggie Mantle, who battles him for Veronica's heart, and his best friend drummer Jughead Jones. Mary and Fred Andrews are of Scottish descent. Archie's paternal grandfather, Andy Andrews, immigrated to the United States from Scotland and befriended Moose Mason's Russian ancestor, who had emigrated at the same time. Archie has been depicted wearing the traditional kilt of his ancestors and playing bagpipes (but not very well). The Little Archie series, published from 1956 through the mid-1990s, chronicles the adventures of pre-teen Archie and his friends while in elementary school. The 2010 revival of the Life with Archie series chronicles two alternate, parallel story lines in which Archie marries both Veronica and Betty. Archie and Betty have been best friends and love interests all their lives. When Veronica Lodge moves to Riverdale, however, he switched his attention to her, making Betty both angry and jealous. She began competing with Veronica for his affection. In the comics, he sometimes thinks of Betty more as a close friend and confidant; he likes it that he can use her as a back-up when he does not have a date with Veronica. He dislikes it when Betty dates other boys, wanting her to stay available as his second choice. Now that Betty sporadically dates Jason Blossom and Adam Chisholm, Archie shows a tinge of jealousy. Archie is married to Betty in Archie Marries Betty: Life With Archie series and is married to Veronica in Archie Marries Veronica: Life with Archie series. Archie often competes for the attention of Betty and Veronica with his rival, Reggie Mantle, and occasionally other boys. Veronica keeps Archie guessing, never letting him take her for granted. Betty, on the other hand, clearly lets Archie know she adores him. Archie chooses to keep fighting for Veronica. A third love interest is a wealthy red-headed girl named Cheryl Blossom. At first, she was deemed too sexual and a bit promiscuous and was taken out of the series, but due to her popularity, she was brought back in Love Showdown, a four-part mini-series in which Archie attempts to make a decision between Cheryl, Betty, and Veronica. On May 15, 2009, Archie Comics announced that Archie would finally pick one of the girls to marry, in a story arc in Archie #600–606 (Aug. 2009 – Feb. 2010). However, Archie Comics publicly revealed this to be a dream sequence to show two possible futures: one where Archie marries Veronica (issues 600–602), and the other Betty (603–605). In both, he has twins: a boy also named Archie who looks like him, and a girl named after and resembling whichever girl he married. Issue 606 was an epilogue to Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty that returns to the comics' old format. In Archie # 608 (May 2010), Archie began a relationship with Valerie Brown, making her Archie's first girlfriend of African descent. The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats were touring together and, while rehearsing, Archie and Valerie secretly fell in love as they co- wrote the song "More Than Words" that described their feelings. Issue #609 revealed that this relationship had seeped into common knowledge by the end of the tour. Archie and Valerie were forced apart when the Pussycats were touring Europe without the Archies, but hoped to keep their relationship going. In the comic Archie Marries Valerie, Valerie is expecting a baby with Archie, whom they name Star. Jughead Jones has been Archie's best friend ever since childhood. When Jughead first came to Riverdale, he was in a bad mood and tended to dismiss Archie. However, Archie, of good heart, tried to cheer up Jughead and the two have been inseparable ever since. Jughead wears a trademark clubhouse beanie (a Depression-era style of makeshift hatwear, crafted from an inverted fedora with a scallop-cut brim, and decorated with assorted pinbacks) and an inscrutable, closed-eyelid expression. Often Jughead has to help Archie out from a tricky situation. Jughead usually knows when Archie's ideas will not work, but is powerless to avoid getting involved. Reggie Mantle is Archie's constant romantic and athletic rival. Each often makes attempts to separate the other from Veronica, occasionally exhibiting physical violence, and both have won their fair share of scrapes with each other. Reggie takes every opportunity to play practical jokes on Archie and make cynical wisecracks. However, Reggie is often shown as a companion to and of Archie despite his arrogance and competitive nature, and they are often seen together practicing athletics or pursuing dates. Archie's other friends include Dilton Doiley, the local genius who gets Archie into and out of trouble through his experiments and inventions; Moose Mason, the dim-witted but likable star athlete of Riverdale High who is often Archie's teammate; Chuck Clayton, another of Archie's teammates who was originally shy and reclusive but came out of his shell when Archie befriended him; Moose and Chuck's girlfriends Midge Klump and Nancy Woods, two of the very few attractive girls Archie does not fall for; and Ethel Muggs, a girl with a major crush on Jughead, who often wins his heart with the use of fresh-baked cookies. Outside of dating, Archie largely enjoys sports. He plays baseball, basketball, and football for the Riverdale High teams. Though often not as good an athlete as Moose Mason, Chuck Clayton or Reggie Mantle, he proves a valuable member of the school team. Coaches Kleats and Clayton value him for both his athletic abilities and his team spirit. However, Archie's athletic abilities vary from story to story, due to his frequent clumsiness. He also has a tendency to pay more attention to cheerleaders than to his playing. For this reason, Coach Kleats often tries to avoid resorting to use Archie in a game. Automobiles are one of Archie's hobbies, and he is passionate about his car. For decades, he was shown driving a 1916 Ford Model T jalopy called "Betsy". In Archie double digest #192, it is said to be a Model A. In a story during which Archie tried to have his jalopy insured, he described it as being a "Ford, Chevy, Plymouth, Pierce-Arrow, Packard, DeSoto, Hudson ..." explaining that his jalopy was "a collection of replacement parts from several junkyards", some of which dated back to 1926. Archie's jalopy was destroyed permanently in issue #238 of Life With Archie, which was published in 1983. In the newer comics, he drives a mid-1960s Ford Mustang, which is more contemporary in appearance, but still unreliable and prone to breakdowns. Archie Digest 239, published in October 2007, included a new story in which the one and only Mr. Lodge owned an antique car that had a strong resemblance to Archie's jalopy. The story featured Archie's grandfather who, as a teenager, looked and dressed like Archie from the 1940s. It turned out that he owned the same jalopy that Mr. Lodge now owned. The Archies is a garage band containing Archie (vocals and rhythm guitar), Reggie (bass), Veronica (vocals and keyboards), Betty (vocals, lead guitar and percussion), and Jughead (drums). Archie founded the group himself. Although not as famous as Josie and The Pussycats, the band plays numerous gigs and has some notoriety. In the Little Archies series, the band just starts to form, although Archie, Betty, Jughead, Reggie, and Veronica start to play different kind of songs. Seventy-two years after the character's first appearance, in April 2014, Archie Comics announced that the adult Archie would be killed in the July 2014 issue (#36) of Life with Archie, while the teenage Archie would continue in the other Archie comic series titles. Archie dies when he is shot in the stomach while saving his friend, Senator Kevin Keller. The story is written so as to terminate both storylines, without committing to which girl Archie married, and contains several flashbacks to the Little Archie days. The final issue (#37) is set one year after Archie's death. All his friends memorialize him and Riverdale High School is officially renamed Archie Andrews High School in his honor. The story ends with Jughead, owner of the Choklit Shop, serving a sundae to three children who resemble Little Archie, Betty, and Veronica. Montana's characters were heard on radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the NBC Blue Network on May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC radio from 1945 until September 5, 1953. The program's original announcer was Kenneth Banghart, later succeeded by Bob Shepard (during the 1947–48 season, when Swift and Company sponsored the program) and Dick Dudley. Archie was first played by Charles Mullen (1943–1944), Jack Grimes (1944) and Burt Boyar (1945), with Bob Hastings (1945–1953) as the title character during the NBC years. Jughead was portrayed by Hal Stone, Cameron Andrews and later by Arnold Stang. Stone later wrote about his radio career in his autobiography, Relax... Archie! Re-laxx! (Bygone Days Press, 2003). During the NBC run, Rosemary Rice portrayed Betty, Gloria Mann portrayed Veronica, Alice Yourman portrayed Archie's mother, Mary Andrews and Arthur "Art" Kohl was Archie's father, Fred Andrews. Archie Andrews appeared in The Archie Show, a 1968 cartoon series produced by Filmation. He also appeared in the various spin-offs produced in the same format from 1969 through 1977: Archie's TV Funnies, The U.S. of Archie, and others. He was voiced by Dallas McKennon., Archie Andrews appeared in The New Archies, a 1987 re-imagining of Archie and the gang. Archie was portrayed as a pre-teen in junior high. He was voiced by J. Michael Roncetti., Archie Andrews appeared in Archie's Weird Mysteries voiced by Andrew Rannells. This version is a reporter for the local school newspaper. On May 6, 1990, NBC telecast , a television film (and subsequent comic book) depicting the characters as adults 15 years after their high school graduation. Christopher Rich portrayed Archie Andrews., Archie appears in Riverdale, a drama series for The CW with KJ Apa starring as the character. Archie Andrews appeared in The Archies in Jugman, voiced by Andrew Rannells. The film was released direct-to-video and takes place after Archie's Weird Mysteries. Archie appears as a character in the mobile game Crossy Road. Haverhill cartoonist Bob Montana, Interview with Michael Silberkleit by Rik Offenberger, Vanity Fair: "American Idol" by Jim Windolf" (December 20, 2006), Gallery of Archie covers #1–200, Archie at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012., Archie as Pureheart the Powerful at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012. Archie Andrews on Way Back When Josie and the Pussycats (initially published as She's Josie and Josie) is a teen-humor comic book about a fictional rock band, created by Dan DeCarlo and published by Archie Comics. It was published from 1963 until 1982; since then, one-shot issues have appeared on an irregular basis. A second series, set in the New Riverdale universe, launched in September 2016. The series was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1970 and a live-action motion picture by Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2001. Two albums were recorded under the name Josie and the Pussycats: one as the soundtrack for the cartoon series, the other as the soundtrack for the film. The band also appears in the drama series Riverdale on The CW. Cartoonist Dan DeCarlo, who had spent most of the 1950s drawing teen and career-girl humor comics such as Millie the Model for Atlas Comics, that decade's forerunner of Marvel Comics, began freelancing as well for Archie Comics. In 1960, he and Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee co-created the short- lived syndicated comic strip Willie Lumpkin, about a suburban mail carrier, for the Chicago, Illinois-based Publishers Syndicate. Casting about for more comic-strip work, DeCarlo created the characters of Josie and her friends at about the same time. The artist's wife, Josie DeCarlo, Josie's namesake, said in an interview quoted in a DeCarlo obituary, "We went on a Caribbean cruise, and I had a [cat] costume for the cruise, and that's the way it started." DeCarlo first tried to sell the character as a syndicated comic strip called Here's Josie, recalling in 2001: Josie was introduced approximately simultaneously in Archie's Pals 'n' Gals #23 (Winter 1962-1963), and in her own title. The first issue of She's Josie, cover-dated February (1963), came out in December, 1962—at the same time as the issue of Archie's Pals 'n' Gals. The series featured levelheaded, sweet-natured redhead Josie, her ditzy blonde bombshell friend Melody, and the brainy, cynical, bespectacled brunette Pepper. These early years also featured the characters of Josie's beatnik boyfriend Albert; Pepper's strong but dull-witted boyfriend Sock (real name Socrates); Albert's rival Alexander Cabot III, who chased after both Josie and Melody; and Alex's obnoxious twin sister Alexandra Cabot. None of the mainstream Archie characters appeared with Josie until the ninth issue of her own title. Occasionally Josie and her friends would appear in "crossover" issues with the main Archie characters. She's Josie was shown as Josie on the cover beginning with issue #14 (August, 1965), was officially renamed Josie with issue #17 (December, 1965), and again renamed, to Josie and the Pussycats, with issue #45 (December, 1969). Under this title, the series finished its run with issue #106 (October, 1982). Josie and her gang also made irregular appearances in Pep Comics and Laugh Comics during the 1960s. In 1969, Archie Comics made several changes to the Josie comic: In Josie #42 (August 1969), Josie met a heavily built blond folk singer named Alan M., who, over time, became Josie's on-again, off-again boyfriend (much to the chagrin of Alexandra, who was also immediately smitten with Alan M. and never missed an opportunity to try and steal him away)., In Josie #43 (September 1969), Alexandra discovers that her cat Sebastian is actually a reincarnation of an ancestor of the Cabot family, who was executed for consorting with witches. Whenever Alexandra holds Sebastian in her arms, she can cast powerful magic spells. This ability would seem to give Alexandra an edge in her competition with Josie for Alan M., but the spells she casts usually backfire in some way. Moreover, her spells would wear off whenever someone nearby snapped their fingers (which happened often). Alexandra and Sebastian's witchcraft powers were not used in Hanna-Barbera's TV show, and were soon discontinued in the comic as well., In Josie and the Pussycats #45 (December 1969), the first issue to bear that new title, Josie and Melody decide to start a band called the Pussycats, and ask Alexandra to be their bassist. Alexandra accepts, but only if the girls change the name of the group to "Alexandra's Cool Time Cats". Expecting Josie and Melody to yield to her demands, Alexandra is flustered when she finds that her brother Alex has appointed himself manager of the Pussycats and found a replacement bassist in Valerie Smith, a new girl in school. The Pussycats make their leopard print band uniforms (complete with cat-ear headbands and long tails) and perform at their first gig, a school dance, as a seething Alexandra tries unsuccessfully to use her witchcraft to get back at the Pussycats and Alex. The reimagining of the comic resulted in three casualties: Albert, Sock, and Pepper, who were phased out altogether. From 1970 on, most of the stories in the comic book revolved around the Pussycats traveling around the country and the world to perform gigs, with Alan M., Alex, and Alexandra (and sometimes Sebastian) in tow. When the girls were not off performing, they would be at home dealing with the various trials and tribulations of teenage life, often including Alex's jealousy of Alan M., and Alexandra's jealousy of Josie. The Josie and the Pussycats comic ran until 1982, after which the girls would often be featured in various Archie Giant Series issues and miniseries and one-shot comics of their own. Reprinted Josie stories (including the occasional pre-Pussycats story) appear frequently in the various Archie Library digests. Archie & Friends #47-95 (June 2001-November 2005) continued to include new Josie and the Pussycats stories in the regular house style after the 2001 film recreated interest of the series. They later appeared in a new two-part story, "Battle of the Bands", in Archie & Friends #130-131 (June–July 2009). In March 2005, Archie Comics announced that a manga version of the title would be published, with art by Tania del Rio, who was also responsible for the manga makeover of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. The first such "Josie and the Pussycasts" story, "Opening Act" ran in Tales from Riverdale Digest #3 (August 2005) The band had previously appeared in manga form in issue Sabrina, The Teenage Witch #67 (August 2005). In Archie & Friends #96 (January 2006) the origin of the Pussycats was retconned. The manga version implies that none of the characters previously knew each other. Josie Jones was cut from the school choir, but met Valerie Smith and the two founded the band. They recruited Melody, whose idea it was to wear cat outfits. The band was not doing well at first, but Alex liked the group, though Alexandra could tell he was more interested in Josie. Alex's father let him be the manager as long as he did not use his wealth to help make them stars. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch #72 (February 2006), a stranger named Alan helped carry their equipment. Josie, already attracted to Alan, jealously thought there was an attraction between Alan and Melody. Alex hired him as their stagehand. The manga focused on the group's attempt to reach fame rather than on their career after they have already achieved it. It featured characters not seen in other comics, including Alan's younger sister Alison and the rival group the Vixens. The manga version was not popular among readers, who preferred the traditional style. Its final appearance was in Archie & Friends #104 (December 2006). A Katy Keene revival replaced it (both featured alongside each other in the latter part of the manga's run), though it, too, did not last. On June 8, 2016 a reboot of the series was announced in the same style of the Archie, Jughead, and Betty & Veronica reboots as part of the New Riverdale imprint. The series is be co-written by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio with the art by Audrey Mok. The reboot features Josie uniting the band to take their big shot at musical stardom, only to contend with the machinations of Alexandra Cabot, the ever-Machiavellian daughter of the Pussycats’ manager. The first issue was released on September 28, 2016. A short-haired redhead, Josie is the leader and co-founder of the Pussycats. She is the lead vocalist and songwriter and plays guitar. Portrayed as a sweet, attractive, and level-headed teenage girl, Josie is usually the stable center in the middle of the chaos surrounding her band and her friends. Josie's surname has been inconsistent. It was alternately "Jones" or "James" for much of the comic's run. McCoy was her surname for the 2001 movie. Archie Comics later sometimes acknowledged the surnames from the movie as canonical, though not consistently. In a few stories reprinted in the 2000s decade, Archie Comics changed her surname to McCoy. However, the manga version used "Jones", which was her first surname to actually appear in the comics. During the early years of her comic (1963–1969), Josie dated a guitarist named Albert. During and after the Josie and the Pussycats revamp, she dated Alan M. Mayberry. Alexander Cabot is regularly attracted to her in the comics. Though she is known to date him, she really loves Alan M. In the cartoon series, Josie's speaking voice was performed by Janet Waldo (the voice of Judy Jetson and Penelope Pitstop) and her singing voice was performed by Cathy Dougher. She was played by Rachael Leigh Cook in the 2001 live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie (singing voice performed by Kay Hanley). She appears in The CW series Riverdale with Ashleigh Murray portraying her as an African American and lead singer of the band. Josie was ranked 77th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. The co-founder and drummer for the Pussycats (she also sang occasional lead vocals for the TV series), Melody is a cute blonde and usually speaks in a sing-song voice, denoted by the musical notes in her cartoon word balloons. She is an absent-minded, bubbly sort of character often taken to using silly, nonsense language, and provides much of the comic relief of the series. Melody is almost never given a surname in a comic story. Occasionally, she is called "Melody Jones". At these times, the name "James" is used for Josie to avoid confusion. However, the manga, having settled on the name "Josie Jones", essentially nullifies this. The 2001 movie establishes her surname as Valentine, a name that Archie Comics has accepted. Many comic stories use Melody's beauty as a plot device. When male characters see her, they uncontrollably fall for her and lose all sense of anything else, frequently leading to chaos; although, she is usually oblivious to this. Despite any trouble that occurs for her or her friends, Melody maintains a cheerful, optimistic attitude. In the cartoon series, whenever the group is in a dangerous or potentially dangerous situation, Melody's ears would wiggle. In the cartoon, she frequently gets brainwashed, but is already very dim-witted. Later, in the Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space series, she adopts a cute little alien named Bleep. Melody's speaking voice is performed by Jackie Joseph, and her singing voice is performed by Cheryl Ladd (credited as Cherie Moor). She was played by Tara Reid in the live-action film. Bleep's voice was done by Don Messick (also the voice of Scooby-Doo, Astro, Dr. Benton Quest, Boo Boo, and more). Ashanti Bromfield portrays her in the CW series Riverdale. Valerie performs back-up vocals (in the comics, cartoons, and the movie) and occasionally sings lead (nearly always in the TV series) for the Pussycats. In the comics and the movie, she plays the bass; in the cartoons, she plays tambourine. She is also the group's main songwriter, and is occasionally seen playing different instruments. In the comic book, she replaced Pepper, a sharp-minded spectacled brunette. Valerie's surname may be the most definite of the three. Archie Comics have occasionally used the name "Brown" from the movie on their website and in promotional material, but in the comics, she is always called Valerie Smith. But recently, the "Brown" surname has been used again in comics and the Riverdale TV series. The return of the Brown surname happens due to the return of the Pepper Smith character in the New Riverdale and Archie Horror universe. In the comics, Valerie is more tomboyish than her two bandmates. Besides being good at science and a skilled auto mechanic, she occasionally shows a quick temper as well as being physically stronger than she might appear. She is also less concerned about her appearance or her love life than Josie, Melody or Alexandra, and had rarely been seen in a romantic relationship, though in the cartoons she seems attracted to Alexander. In 2010, she began an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Archie Andrews, although her band's touring schedule often keeps her out of Riverdale and away from Archie (much to the relief of Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper, Archie's other girlfriends). In the animated series, she is somewhat similar to Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo and they met in a 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat". She is the character who saves the day the most often, thanks to her street smarts and her mechanical and scientific genius. In the comics, this is downplayed, although she is still the most intelligent of the group. Valerie is the first African-American female cartoon character on a regular animated television series. Valerie's speaking voice is performed by Barbara Pariot, and her singing voice is performed by Patrice Holloway, sister of Motown recording artist Brenda Holloway. She was played by Rosario Dawson in the live-action film. Hayley Law portrays her in the CW series Riverdale. Rich, temperamental, and cowardly, Alexander is the Pussycats' shifty and not- too-dependable manager. He often gets the group in hot water because of his crazy promotional schemes. Alexander wears sunglasses often and likes to flaunt his wealth, typically dressing in flamboyant and expensive clothing. In the comics, Alexander is reminiscent of Reggie Mantle. He has a crush on Josie and often tries to divert her attention from her boyfriend, Alan M. He is blunt and critical towards Alan M., regarding him as all brawn and no brains. Occasionally, Alexander will take an interest in Melody, particularly when Josie is unavailable. The interest seems genuine, since, unlike other boys, who fall helplessly in love with Melody at first sight, Alexander tends to remain composed around her. Alexander's personality is markedly different in the animated series; he is much friendlier, though no more dependable and far more cowardly than his comic strip alter ego. In this context, he most often serves as a comedic foil for Alexandra's constant scheming. The animated version of Alexander also exhibits no romantic feelings towards Josie, tends to gravitate towards Melody or Valerie, depending on interpretation, and is very similar to Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo. The animated depiction of Alexander was voiced by Casey Kasem, who also voiced Shaggy. In a 1973 Josie- guested episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Alexander and Shaggy both appear on-screen together for quite some time. Alexander was played by Paulo Costanzo in the 2001 live-action motion picture. He will appear as a supporting regular character on The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Lucien Laviscount. Alexandra is technically a supporting character, but often overshadows the rest of the cast in both the comics and the cartoons. Whether she is older or younger than Alexander is debatable, as she has called him her "baby brother" and he has called her his "baby sister". Alexandra has black hair with a white lightning-bolt shaped stripe running through the middle of it, giving her ponytail a slight impression of a skunk's tail. In contrast to the good- natured girls in the Pussycats, Alexandra is cynical, hateful, mean, offensive, rude, envious, scheming and self-centered. She is insanely jealous of the Pussycats, especially Josie, about whom she never has a kind word. Despite having no vocal or musical talent at all, although being quite a good dancer, Alexandra desperately wants to be a star; her conditions for joining the Pussycats were that she be made the lead and that the band be renamed Alexandra's Cool Time Cats. Her absence of musical talent is on display at the end of the episode "Swap Plot Flop", when she gets the chance to front her own act; Alexander is particularly distressed by the crazy performance. Alexandra has an enormous crush on Alan M., and often tries to steal him away from Josie. In the comics, although she is not particularly fond of her brother, Alexandra often joins forces with him to separate Alan M. and Josie, which would benefit both siblings, since Alexander is interested in Josie. Alexandra's personality in the cartoon is largely unchanged. Sebastian is a tuxedo cat, and Alexandra's sidekick. In the comics, Sebastian is the reincarnation of Sebastian Cabot, a witchcraft-practicing ancestor of the Cabot family. Alexandra finds that, by holding Sebastian in her arms, she can cast powerful magic spells (Alexandra and Sebastian's bond is represented in that they both have a matching white stripe in their middle of their hair/fur). However, this plot device was seldom used and was eventually dropped. Alexandra was later shown to be able to cast spells on her own. In the cartoon, Alexandra and Sebastian do not have magic powers but they still have their white stripes. Sebastian usually follows Alexandra's schemes when it comes to getting in between Josie and Alan, but unlike Alexandra, he has no real grudge or dislike towards Josie and is usually shown to be friendly to her. Alexandra's voice in the cartoons is provided by former Mouseketeer Sherry Alberoni, while Don Messick supplies the meows, screams, and Muttley- esque snickers for Sebastian. Alexandra was played by Missi Pyle in the live- action Josie and the Pussycats movie, while Sebastian does not appear in the live-action film. Alexandra will appear as a supporting regular character on The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Camille Hyde. Alan M. Mayberry (known as "Alan M." in the comics, and as simply "Alan" in the cartoon series) is a tall, blond, muscular folk singer who serves as the Pussycats' roadie. He is also Josie's on-off boyfriend, but Alexandra is constantly trying to win a date with him. In the comics, he replaced Josie's former boyfriend and Alex's former rival Albert. In his first comic book appearance, the creators tried to give him and Alex their own band, The Jesters, but it did not last beyond one issue, and the comic took a different direction. Though Alex looks down on Alan M. and insults his intelligence, Alan M. has more common sense than Alex does. Despite being one of the six main characters, he appeared less often in the comics in the 1980s onward. In the cartoon series, he plays the role of the self-appointed group leader, similar to that of Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo (and perhaps not coincidentally does bear some resemblance to him as well). His and Alex's characters were changed in an attempt to recapture Scooby-Doo's success. Alan M.'s animated persona is voiced by Jerry Dexter. He was played by Gabriel Mann in the live- action film. Pepper Smith: Josie's best friend in the original comics, and, until the 1969 renovation, one of the main five characters (along with Josie, Melody, Albert and Alex). She had short-cropped black hair, conservative spectacles, wore clothes that were less formfitting than her friends, and was noted for her sharp wit and cynical nature. She dated Sock, but to his frustration, she preferred to remain emotionally reserved when it came to boys. The original comic focused on three girls (a redhead, a brunette and a blonde) who were frequently seen together, but Pepper was dropped from the comics and replaced by Valerie. This change has no explanation, as Albert and Pepper's roles are similar to their replacements’. Pepper made a small cameo appearance in Part 3 of 2007's “Civil Chore” in Tales From Riverdale (Alan M. was notably absent). Pepper later had a more prominent role in the 2016-17 Josie and the Pussycats comic series by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio. She will appear as a lead character in The CW's live-action series Katy Keene, portrayed by Julia Chan., Albert: Sometimes seen as a mischievous goofball, but at other times quite sensitive, he was Josie's boyfriend in the original comics and one of the original male leads. He was also Alex's rival. However, while the Pussycats-era Alex was similar to Reggie Mantle, Albert and Alex were more like a male Betty and Veronica: good friends until it came to the girl they competed for. Alexandra tried unsuccessfully to get him to date her. Albert was fond of playing the guitar and singing, and also liked to ride his motor scooter. Often portrayed as member of the 1960s counterculture, he went from being a beatnik to a folk singer to a mod and finally to a hippie (depending on the year of the issue) before he was finally dropped from the comics. Alan M. would fill his old role. Since then, he, Pepper and a few other characters would only appear in stories reprinted in digests., Sock: His real name was Socrates, and he was a jock who dated Pepper and was a good friend of Albert's. Like a stereotypical jock, he was not very intelligent, but this was not exaggerated as it is with Moose Mason. Despite lasting up to and including Alan M.'s first story, he, like Alexandra, remained a supporting character. Unlike Albert and Pepper, he was removed from the comics with no actual replacement character., Alexander Cabot II: Alex and Alexandra's very rich father. He is slightly heavyset, his hair is turning white, and he is often frustrated with the ideas of his children. He insists that the band his son manages earn their own fame without the help of his millions., Josie's father: He is a slim, middle-aged man who has dark hair with a wisp of gray. His name, depending on the source, is Mr. McCoy, Mr. Jones or Mr. James. He is totally supportive of his daughter's music career. In Riverdale, he is named Myles McCoy., Cricket O'Dell: The familiar Archie character made a few appearances in the original Josie comics., Sheldon: A short, fat glutton from a few stories in the late 1960s who occasionally dated Melody. Despite his lack of importance, his final appearance was after the Pussycats' makeover., Clyde Didit: Best known as the star of Archie's Mad House, Clyde appeared for a few issues in Josie in the late 1960s., Mr. Tuttle: The principal of Midvale High School where Josie and her friends attend. He made a number appearances in the pre-Pussycats comics., Archie's Gang: The main characters often crossover with Josie and the Pussycats (and vice versa), sometimes in stories involving the Archies., The Vixens: A rival rock trio that Alexandra manages. Although they are glamorous, they have no musical talent (a fact that Alexandra somehow overlooked). Exclusive to the manga version. Josie and the Pussycats is a 2001 Canadian-American musical comedy film released by Universal Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed and co- written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the film is loosely based upon the comic and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The film is about a young all-female band that signs a record contract with a major record label, only to discover that the company does not have the musicians' best interests at heart. The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson as the Pussycats, with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, and Gabriel Mann in supporting roles. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb, earning about $15 million against a $39 million budget. During the 1968-1969 television season, the first Archie-based Saturday morning cartoon, The Archie Show, debuted on CBS. The Archie Show, produced by Filmation Studios, was not only a hit on TV, but spun off a radio hit as well (the Archies' song "Sugar, Sugar" hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1969 and went on to be Billboard's number one "Hot 100 Single" of that year). Competing animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions contacted Archie Comics about possibly adapting another of its properties into a similar show. Archie Comics offering to redevelop the Josie series into one about a teenage music band, and allowing Hanna-Barbera to adapt it into a music-based Saturday morning show. The show aired 16 episodes during the 1970-71 television season. In the 1972-73 television season, the show was re- conceptualized as Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space and aired another 16 episodes. After the shows' cancellation, Josie and the Pussycats made a final appearance in a guest shot on the September 22, 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Showboat". Josie and the Pussycats appear in Riverdale on The CW. They are high school students who are dedicated to perfecting the "Pussycat" brand. Ashleigh Murray portrays Josephine "Josie" McCoy, named for Josephine Baker, whose father is a jazz musician and wishes his daughter played more serious music. Her mother is Riverdale's mayor. Asha Bromfield and Hayley Law portray Melody Valentine and Valerie Brown, respectively. All three of them are African-Americans. Josie would later emigrate to the spin-off series Katy Keene as an adult, with Murray reprising her role. Josie and the Pussycats (the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show), Josie and the Pussycats (the music group put together in conjunction with the show) Archie Comics' Josie and the Pussycats homepage, Josie and the Pussycats at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 22, 2016.

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The IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper is a football award given annually since 1987 to the best goalkeeper of the year as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The votes are cast by IFFHS's editorial staff as well as experts from different continents. The award is awarded at the end of the year. The winning goalkeeper is awarded a gold trophy at the World Football Gala. Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and Spain's Iker Casillas have the most award victories, having won it five times, followed by Germany's Manuel Neuer, who has won the award four times; Casillas won the award for five consecutive years between 2008 and 2012. Below is a list of the previous winners since the first award in 1987, which was won by Belgium's Jean-Marie Pfaff. Bayern Munich, with a total of eight, is the team with the most wins. At the end of the 20th century, the IFFHS also voted on the World's Goalkeeper of the Century, won by the Soviet Union's Lev Yashin running ahead of Gordon Banks and Dino Zoff. In 2011, the IFFHS also voted on The World‘s Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century's first decade, taking into consideration goalkeepers' performances during the first decade of the 21st century, between 2001 and 2011; the award was won by the Italy's Gianluigi Buffon running ahead of Iker Casillas and Petr Čech. In 2012, the IFFHS also voted on The World‘s Best Goalkeeper of the past 25 years, taking into consideration goalkeepers' performances between 1987 – the year of the award's inception – and 2012; the award was won by the Italy's Gianluigi Buffon running ahead of Iker Casillas and Edwin van der Sar. International Federation of Football History & Statistics, IFFHS World's Best Club Coach, IFFHS World's Best National Coach, Best European Goalkeeper, The Best FIFA Goalkeeper, UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper Award, Yashin Trophy, Adidas Golden Glove Award IFFHS official website, The World's Best Goalkeeper at IFFHS.de Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and captain for both Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, Neuer has been described as a "sweeper-keeper" because of his unique playing style and speed when rushing off his line to anticipate opponents. Neuer started his career at Schalke 04 where he won the DFB-Pokal and DFB-Ligapokal. In 2011, he signed for Bayern Munich and has since won 18 trophies, including seven Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Champions League. In 2014, Neuer finished third in the voting, behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, for the FIFA Ballon d'Or award. He was awarded the UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year and the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper four times each. Neuer was selected as Germany's number one goalkeeper for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. During the group stages, he only conceded a single goal. He provided the assist for Miroslav Klose's opening goal against England, winning 4–1. Four years later, Neuer won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany as well as the Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper in the tournament. Neuer played for Schalke 04 II during 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07. 2007–08 and 2008–09 Neuer signed professional terms in 2005 after progressing through every age group at his hometown club, Schalke 04. Neuer didn't make any first team appearances during the 2005–06 season He made his Bundesliga debut with Schalke when he came on to substitute the injured Frank Rost on matchday 2 of the 2006–07 season. The 20-year-old eventually won the starting position when Rost was surprisingly dropped for the crunch clash against Bayern Munich. Neuer did not disappoint and managed to secure a 2–2 draw against the defending champions. He made 27 league appearances during the 2006–07 season. Despite his young age, he was widely tipped to be a potential successor to his former idol Jens Lehmann in the future for the German national team. Neuer started the 2007–08 season by playing in three matches in the German League Cup. On 5 March 2008, in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League against Porto, he almost single-handedly kept Schalke in the game with several saves, forcing the game into penalties. He then saved penalties from Bruno Alves and Lisandro López to help Schalke advance to the quarter-finals. For his heroics, he was shortlisted for the 2007–08 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award; he was the youngest as well as the only Bundesliga goalkeeper on the list. He was one of only three Bundesliga players to play every minute in the 2007–08 season. He finished the season by making 50 appearances in all competitions. In the 2008–09 season, Schalke finished eighth in the league table and missed out on a Europa League spot. However, his good showing at the 2009 Under-21 European Championships sparked interest from Bayern Munich, with Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declaring interest in signing the young goalkeeper. Schalke's new manager Felix Magath, however, insisted that Neuer would play for Schalke in the next season. In November, he was the only German goalkeeper in the list of five nominated goalkeepers for the UEFA Team of the Year. Neuer finished the 2009–10 season with 39 appearances. For the 2010–11 season, Neuer was appointed captain and led the team to its first Champions League semi-final appearance. He also won the DFB-Pokal in his final season with the club, as Schalke defeated MSV Duisburg 5–0. On 20 April 2011, he announced that he would not be extending his contract with Schalke, which was set to expire at the end of the 2011–12 season. He earned criticism by Schalke fans, who were disappointed with him leaving for a rival club. Neuer finished the season with 53 appearances. On 1 June 2011, Neuer made his move to Bayern Munich and signed a five-year contract that lasted until June 2016. After hostilities of Bayern fans against Neuer, as some fans were unhappy about Bayern buying a Schalke keeper, a round-table discussion between Bayern and group of supporters' representatives took place on 2 July 2011. Among other things, it was decided that Neuer would be regarded as a full member of Bayern Munich, who should be treated with due respect. Furthermore, hostility towards him should cease. Right in the first weeks at Bayern, after a 0–0 draw with 1899 Hoffenheim, Neuer broke the Bayern Munich record for most competitive clean sheets in a row, having gone over 1,000 minutes without conceding. He improved the record formerly held by Oliver Kahn. On 25 April 2012, Neuer saved penalty kicks from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká and helped Bayern through the 2011–12 Champions League semi- finals against Real Madrid. Following the match, Neuer has revealed that he studied the way Ronaldo took his penalties. Neuer told Bild: "I always prepare myself for such situations. Our goalkeeping coach, Toni Tapalović, showed me on his laptop before the match how Ronaldo usually takes his penalties. I learned that Ronaldo prefers to send the ball low to his left. In the penalty shoot-out, I was convinced that he would aim for his favourite spot." Bayern went on to progress to the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final against Chelsea, which also went to a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw. He took and scored the third penalty for Bayern and also saved the first penalty taken by Juan Mata, but could not save the rest of the penalties as Munich lost the trophy 4–3 on penalties in their home stadium, the Allianz Arena. Neuer finished the season with 53 appearances. Neuer started the season by winning the 2012 DFL-Supercup. In the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League knockout phase, Neuer posted four clean sheets in a row versus both Juventus and Barcelona. In the 2013 Champions League Final against Borussia Dortmund, Neuer posted eight saves en route to Bayern's fifth Champions League title. The game featured great play from both keepers, and Neuer would end up winning the duel against Roman Weidenfeller having only conceded once to İlkay Gündoğan on a penalty shot. Neuer finished the season with 31 Bundesliga appearances, five German Cup appearances, 13 UEFA Champions League appearances, and a German Super Cup appearance. Neuer started the season by losing in the 2013 DFL-Supercup to Borussia Dortmund. For the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, on 30 August 2013, he saved the last and decisive penalty which saw Bayern Munich win the match against Chelsea, taking some revenge for the lost 2012 UEFA Champions League final. In the FIFA Club World Cup, Neuer played against Guangzhou Evergrande in the semi-final and Raja Casablanca in the final. Neuer was announced as the 2013 World Goalkeeper of The Year on 7 January 2014. On 9 February, Bayern faced Arsenal in the Champions League knockout phase and Neuer saved the penalty from Mesut Özil in the first half. Bayern went on to win the game 2–0 away. On 2 May 2014, Neuer extended his current contract until the summer of 2019. Neuer finished the season with 31 Bundesliga appearances, five German Cup appearances, 12 UEFA Champions League appearances, one German Super Cup appearance, one UEFA Super Cup appearance, two FIFA Club World Cup appearances for a total of 52 appearances. Neuer won the German Footballer of The Year prize, was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year, and finished third in the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Neuer started the season by losing the 2014 DFL-Supercup to Borussia Dortmund. On 30 January 2015, Neuer started on matchday 18, where Bayern lost to VfL Wolfsburg 4–1. This was the first league match since joining Bayern in 2011 where he had given up four goals in a match. The last time Bayern had given four goals in a match was against Wolfsburg on 4 April 2009. On 28 April 2015, Neuer was one of four Bayern players to miss in a 2–0 penalty shootout defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal semi-final. Neuer finished the season with 32 Bundesliga appearances, five German Cup appearances, 12 UEFA Champions League appearances, and one German Super Cup appearance for a total of 50 appearances. The season started when Neuer started in the 1–1 draw against VfL Wolfsburg in the 2015 DFL-Supercup. Wolfsburg won the subsequent shootout. On 20 April 2016, Neuer extended his contract with Bayern until 2021. Neuer finished the season with 34 Bundesliga appearances, five German Cup appearances, 11 UEFA Champions League appearances, and one German Supercup Cup appearance for a total of 51 appearances. Neuer's season began with a 2–0 win over Borussia Dortmund at the 2016 DFL- Supercup as FC Bayern won the title for the first time in three years and kept a clean sheet in the Bundesliga opener as FC Bayern grabbed a 6–0 win over Werder Bremen. In January 2017, he was voted into FIFA Team of the Year alongside fellow German and former Bayern teammate Toni Kroos. Neuer conceded twice in FC Bayern's matches against Arsenal as the Bavarians beat the English team with an impressive 10–2 aggregate in the round of 16 of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. Neuer then was praised for his performance in their first game of the quarterfinals against Real Madrid, although Bayern lost 1–2 to the Spanish club. During the second leg, he suffered a left foot fracture that ended his season abruptly as Bayern lost 4–2 in a controversial match. Bayern ended the season as Bundesliga champions. In addition to playing in the DFL- Supercup, Neuer played in 26 Bundesliga matches, four German Cup matches, and nine Champions League matches. On 19 July 2017, it was announced that Neuer would become the new captain for both Bayern and the German national team following Philipp Lahm's retirement. Neuer played his first game of the season on Bundesliga matchday 2 after recovering from a foot injury that occurred in April during a Champions League game versus Real Madrid. On 13 September 2017, Neuer made his 100th European appearance in a Champions League match as his side won 3–0 over Anderlecht. It was announced in September that Neuer would be ruled out until January 2018 after another fracture to the same foot again. After series of delays on his comeback, he finally rejoined team training with Bayern Munich on 20 April 2018 after seven months away, although he had begun goalkeeping-specific training in early April. Neuer was included in the matchday squad for the first time since his injury in the DFB-Pokal final against Eintracht Frankfurt but he was an unused substitute. Neuer finished the season with three Bundesliga matches and a Champions League match. On 12 August 2018, Neuer captained his side in the first competitive match of the season as Bayern won the 2018 DFL-Supercup by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt with a 5–0 victory. On 24 August, Neuer played his first Bundesliga game in 341 days when he captained Bayern in a 3–1 victory season opener against Hoffenheim. On 14 April 2019, Neuer sustained a torn muscle fibres in his left calf in a Bundesliga match against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Due to the injury, Neuer missed six matches for Bayern in the closing stages of the season. On 18 May 2019, Neuer won his seventh consecutive Bundesliga title as Bayern finished two points above Dortmund. A week later, Neuer returned from injury and won his fifth DFB-Pokal as Bayern defeated RB Leipzig 3–0 in the 2019 DFB-Pokal Final. Neuer finished the season with 26 Bundesliga matches, 3 German Cup matches and 8 Champions League matches. After progressing through the youth teams, Neuer made his Germany under-21 debut on 15 August 2006 against the Netherlands. He won the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship with Germany in Sweden, and kept a clean sheet in the 4–0 win in the final against England. Neuer was called up on 19 May 2009 to the senior German squad for a tour of Asia. He made his debut on this tour in a match against the United Arab Emirates on 2 June. He played in the November friendly against the Ivory Coast that ended 2–2. Although he took responsibility for the first goal conceded, manager Joachim Löw refused to blame him and instead commended him for doing his best. The death of keeper Robert Enke in November 2009 saw him elevated as the second choice goalkeeper behind René Adler. Adler, however, suffered a serious rib injury which ruled him out of the upcoming 2010 World Cup – Neuer became Germany's first choice goalkeeper ahead of Tim Wiese and Hans-Jörg Butt for the tournament. Neuer was selected as Germany's number one goalkeeper for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. During the group stages, he only conceded a single goal, a close range shot by Milan Jovanović in the match against Serbia. He provided the assist for Miroslav Klose's opening goal against England, winning 4–1. In the same match, England player Frank Lampard scored a goal that was erroneously disallowed since the referee ruled incorrectly that the ball had not crossed the line. Controversially, Neuer admitted that he knew it was a legitimate goal, but acted in a way to make the referee doubt this. He played in all of Germany's World Cup matches apart from the third- place game against Uruguay, when Hans-Jörg Butt was rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup. Neuer played every minute of every match in the qualification campaign for UEFA Euro 2012, helping Germany to secure ten wins out of ten games and top their group. After Germany's 3–1 away win against Turkey, he was especially praised for his "sensational" performance. He retained a close range volley shot by Hamit Altıntop, and then he quickly threw the ball to the halfway line into the feet of Thomas Müller, who immediately provided the assist for Mario Gómez's opening goal. Neuer then set up the second goal; under pressure by Turkish attackers, he fired a precise long range kick to Mario Götze deep in the opponent's half, who then found Müller on the edge of the opponent's penalty box to score. Neuer started all three of Germany's matches in the oft- dubbed "Group of Death", Group B. He kept a clean sheet against Portugal while also conceding one goal each to the Netherlands and Denmark. Germany went on to win Group B, being the only team in the tournament to win all of their group stage games. He finished group play posting two saves against Portugal, three against the Netherlands and three again against Denmark. Neuer's "sweeper-keeper" playing style distinguished him from other starting goalkeepers in the 2014 World Cup. This was credited with allowing his teammates to press deep in their opponents' half, plus Neuer's willingness to come out and challenge opposing attackers caused them to miss shots on net. Neuer's outfield roaming which had made him the team's "11th man" has been attributed to the coaching he received from Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola. After keeping clean sheets in group matches against Portugal and the United States, Neuer recorded his third clean sheet of the World Cup in the 1–0 quarter-final defeat of France. This was his 22nd clean sheet overall in his 50th appearance for die Nationalmannschaft. In the semi-finals, Neuer conceded a late goal as his team routed hosts Brazil 7–1. On 13 July, in the FIFA World Cup Final against Argentina, Neuer was not heavily tested but he nonetheless commanded his penalty area well, challenging attacking runs by Gonzalo Higuaín and Rodrigo Palacio that caused them to shoot wide of the net, and ending up Argentina finished the match without a shot on goal despite several good chances including a Higuaín goal disallowed for offside. Early in the second half, Neuer punched the ball clear before colliding with Higuaín at the edge of the box. Germany ultimately defeated Argentina 1–0 thanks to a Mario Götze goal in extra time. Neuer won the Golden Glove award for the tournament's best goalkeeper. Neuer also finished the tournament completing 244 passes, more than outfield players like Lionel Messi (242), Wesley Sneijder (242), and Thomas Muller (221). On 31 May 2016. Neuer was selected for Germany's final 23 man squad for UEFA Euro 2016. During the tournament, Neuer did not concede any goals during Germany's three group games against Ukraine, Poland and Northern Ireland. Neither did he concede a goal in the round of 16 against Slovakia. During the quarter-finals, on 2 July 2016, he finally conceded a goal against Italy from a Leonardo Bonucci penalty kick. With this, Neuer established a new record by not conceding a goal in a major tournament for 557 minutes. The previous record-holder was his compatriot Sepp Maier who didn't concede a goal for 481 minutes. A 1–1 draw after extra-time saw the match go to a penalty shoot-out, in which Neuer helped Germany to a 6–5 victory by saving two spot kicks, including one from Bonucci; he was elected the Man of the Match for his performance. Prior to the start of qualification, on 1 September 2016, Neuer was named new captain of the national team, following Bastian Schweinsteiger's retirement from international football. On 15 May 2018, Neuer was selected in Germany's 27-man preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup even though he had not played a match since fracturing his foot for a second time in September 2017. Neuer made his first appearance since his injury on 2 June, in a 2–1 friendly defeat to Austria in Klagenfurt. On 4 June, Neuer was selected in the final 23-man squad for the World Cup. On 17 June, Neuer captained his side for the first time in the World Cup in their opening match in which they lost 1–0 to Mexico. On 23 June, Neuer made some very fine saves as his side defeated Sweden with a 2–1 victory in their second group stage match and also denied the Germans to get knocked out of the World Cup. However, his side were knocked out of the tournament after losing 2–0 to South Korea in their last group stage match. On 11 June 2019, Neuer had the 37th clean sheet in his international career, breaking a record set by Sepp Maier, in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match between Germany and Estonia, which ended with an 8–0 thrashing victory for Germany. Considered by some in the media to be the current best goalkeeper in the world, and one of the greatest goalkeepers both of his generation and of all time, Neuer is widely regarded as a "complete" and modern goalkeeper. He is regarded by some in the sport to be the best goalkeeper in football since Lev Yashin, who is widely considered to be the greatest goalkeeper of all time and the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or. A tall, large, athletic, and physically strong player, Neuer has earned critical acclaim from former players and pundits for his speed, stamina, composure, concentration, consistency, and mentality, as well as for being able to adapt to any given situation on the pitch. He is particularly known for his exceptional reflexes, shot-stopping abilities, speed, and footwork, as well as his ability to read the game, and come out to collect crosses, which enables him to command his area effectively. When the situation demands, he will also often essentially fill the role of a sweeper when opposing players have beaten the offside trap or his team's defensive line, by quickly rushing out of goal to anticipate opponents and clear the ball; his skill, speed and decision-making in this area enables his teams to maintain a high defensive line. Because of his unique playing style, Neuer has been described as a "sweeper-keeper", and has been credited with revolutionising the role of the goalkeeper in modern times. He has also been praised by pundits for his positioning between the posts, as well as his ability in one-on-one situations; furthermore, he is effective at stopping penalties, and – uncommon for a goalkeeper – has also been known to take and score them in shoot-outs. A former outfield player in his youth, in addition to his goalkeeping ability, Neuer has also been praised for his excellent ball control and for his accurate distribution of the ball with both his hands and feet; his long throwing range and ability to kick the ball into deep areas with either foot enables him to the play the ball out on the ground or create plays or launch swift counter-attacks from the back. Regarding his technical skills on the ball in comparison to other players in his role, Neuer has stated that he could play in the German third division as a centre-back if so desired. Due to his leadership and vocal presence in goal, he also excels at communicating with his defenders and organising his team's defensive line. Gianluigi Buffon described Neuer as the best goalkeeper of his era in the air. Despite the praise for his style of play and role in the development of the goalkeeper position in football, Neuer has also received criticism in the German media for his reflex-like objection to attacking moves in his box regardless of whether they violate rules or not. In particular, his tendency to instantaneously raise his arm to alert the referee has led to the creation of the German word Reklamierarm (roughly translated: arm of objection) in German media. Neuer was born in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. He attended Gesamtschule Berger Feld, like many other notable footballers, such as Mesut Özil. His brother Marcel is currently a football referee in the Verbandsliga. He got his first football when he was two and had his first game on 3 March 1991, 24 days before his fifth birthday. Neuer's hero and idol as a child was fellow German and former Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Neuer is a Catholic, and lends his support to a Gelsenkirchen-based Catholic social action group which campaigns against child poverty as well as a Gelsenkirchen-based youth club run by the Amigonians. Neuer started a charity foundation for children, named the Manuel Neuer Kids Foundation. In November 2011, he won €500,000 for charity in a celebrity edition of Wer wird Millionär?, the German version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Neuer did the voiceover for character Frank McCay in the German version of the 2013 Disney animation Monsters University. On 21 May 2017, Neuer married longtime girlfriend Nina Weiss in Tannheim, Austria, in a civil ceremony, which was followed by a church wedding in the Cathedral of Santissima della Madia in Monopoli, Italy on 10 June. After an erroneous translation of his statement "it would be good if a professional football player came out because it would help others to do the same", a South American publication concluded that he was gay, which was taken up by many other media outlets and has since been widely believed in the Spanish speaking world. Mexico were fined for their fans' homophobic chants when Neuer had the ball during the World Cup match in 2018. Schalke 04 DFB-Pokal: 2010–11, DFB-Ligapokal: 2005 Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, DFB-Pokal: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2018–19, DFL-Supercup: 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, UEFA Champions League: 2012–13, UEFA Super Cup: 2013, FIFA Club World Cup: 2013 Germany FIFA World Cup: 2014, UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: 2009 Individual Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2010, 2014, Footballer of the Year in Germany: 2011, 2014, ESM Team of the Year: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2012, 2013 UEFA Champions League Final: Fans' Man of the Match, IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2013, 2014 2015, 2016, UEFA Team of the Year: 2013, 2014, 2015, UEFA Champions League Squad of the season: 2013–14, 2015–16, FIFA World Cup Golden Glove: 2014, FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2014, FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2014, L'Équipe's player of the year: 2014, AIPS Athlete of the Year: 2014, AIPS Europe Athlete of the Year – Frank Taylor Trophy: 2014, Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 Manuel Neuer at fcbayern.de The goalkeeper, often shortened to keeper or goalie, is one of the major positions of association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring (moving the ball over the defended goal-line within the frame of the goal). This is accomplished by the goalkeeper moving into the path of the ball and either catching it or directing it away from the vicinity of the goal line. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are able to use their hands, making them (outside throw-ins) the only players on the field permitted to handle the ball. The special status of goalkeepers is indicated by them wearing different coloured kits from their teammates. The back-pass rule prevents goalkeepers handling direct passes back to them from teammates. Goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks, and also give commands to their defence during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing on field strategy as they have an unrestricted view of the entire pitch, giving them a unique perspective on play development. The goalkeeper is the only required position of a team. If they are injured or sent off, a substitute goalkeeper has to take their place, otherwise an outfield player must take the ejected keeper's place in goal. In order to replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually substitutes an outfield player for the backup keeper (thus effectively the red card and substitution takes out two of the starting eleven players). They then play the remainder of the match with nine outfield players. If a team does not have a substitute goalkeeper, or they have already used all of their permitted substitutions for the match, an outfield player has to take the dismissed goalkeeper's place and wear the goalkeeper shirt. The squad number for a first choice goalkeeper is generally number 1, although they may wear any jersey number between 1 and 99. Association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the only position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. Even in the early days of organised football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all players to attack and defend, teams had a designated member to play as the goalkeeper. The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581 and does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foot asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelve score off, other twayne in like distance, which they term their Goals. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, and the other to his adverse party. There is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers". Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century; for example, in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, popular in East Anglia). Similarly, in a 1613 poem, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe". It seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must also be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to "keep goal" in 1633, though this does not necessarily imply a fixed goalkeeper position. The word "goal-keeper" is used in the novel Tom Brown's School Days (published in 1857, but set in the 1830s). The author is here referring to an early form of rugby football: The word "goal-keeper" appeared in the Sheffield Rules of 1867, but the term did not refer to a designated player, but rather to "that player on the defending side who for the time being is nearest to his own goal". The goal-keeper, thus defined, did not enjoy any special handling privileges. The FA's first Laws of the Game of 1863 did not make any special provision for a goalkeeper, with any player being allowed to catch or knock-on the ball. Handling the ball was completely forbidden (for all players) in 1870. The next year, 1871, the laws were amended to introduce the goalkeeper and specify that the keeper was allowed to handle the ball "for the protection of his goal". The restrictions on the ability of the goalkeeper to handle the ball were changed several times in subsequent revisions of the laws: 1871: the keeper may handle the ball only "for the protection of his goal"., 1873: the keeper may not "carry" the ball., 1883: the keeper may not carry the ball for more than two steps., 1887: the keeper may not handle the ball in the opposition's half., 1901: the keeper may handle the ball for any purpose (not only in defence of the goal)., 1912: the keeper may handle the ball only in the penalty area., 1931: the keeper may take up to four steps (rather than two) while carrying the ball., 1992: the keeper may not handle the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to him/her by a team-mate., 1997: the keeper may not handle the ball for more than six seconds. Initially, goalkeepers typically played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, the role of the goalkeeper has evolved, due to the changes in systems of play, to become more active. The goalkeeper is the only player in association football allowed to use their hands to control the ball (other than during throw-ins). During the 1935-1936 English football season, young Sunderland AFC goalkeeper of the team, Jimmy Thorpe, died as a result of a kick in the head and chest after he had picked up the ball following a backpass in a game against Chelsea at Roker Park. He continued to take part until the match finished, but collapsed at home afterwards and died in hospital four days later from diabetes mellitus and heart failure 'accelerated by the rough usage of the opposing team' his tragic end to Thorpe's career led to a change in the rules, where players were no longer allowed to raise their foot to a goalkeeper when he had control of the ball in his arms. Due to several time- wasting techniques which were used by goalkeepers, such as bouncing the ball on the ground or throwing it in the air and then catching it again, in the 1960s, the Laws of the game were revised further, and the goalkeeper was given a maximum of four steps to travel while holding, bouncing or throwing the ball in the air and catching it again, without having to release it into play. The FIFA Board later also devised an anti-parrying rule, saying that such deliberate parrying for the purpose of evading the Law was to be regarded also as holding the ball. In 1992, the International Football Association Board made changes in the laws of the game that affected goalkeepers – notably the back-pass rule, which prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is made with their feet. This rule change was made to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive play after the 1990 FIFA World Cup which was described as exceedingly dull, rife with back-passing and goalkeepers holding the ball. Also, goalkeepers would frequently drop the ball and dribble it around, only to pick it up again once opponents came closer to put them under pressure, a typical time-wasting technique. Therefore, another rule was introduced at the same time as the back-pass rule. This rule prohibits the goalkeeper from handling the ball again once he or she has released it for play; an offence results in an indirect free kick to the opposition. Furthermore any player negating the spirit of the new rule would be likely to be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and punished by an indirect free-kick. On 1 July 1997, FIFA decided to extend the back-pass rule by applying it also to throw-ins from defenders to their own goalkeeper; in order to prevent further time-wasting, FIFA also established that if a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than five or six seconds the referee must adjudge this as time-wasting and award an indirect free-kick to the opposing team. The position of goalkeeper is the only position in the game which is technically distinct from the others in the course of normal play. The Laws of the Game distinguish the goalkeeper from the other players in several ways, most significantly exempting them from the prohibition on handling the ball, though only within their own penalty area. Once a goalkeeper has control of the ball in their hands, opponents are not permitted to challenge them. Goalkeepers have a specialised role as the sole defender in penalty kicks and penalty shoot-outs. Goalkeepers are required to wear distinct colours from other players, and are permitted to wear caps and tracksuit bottoms. The Laws mandate that one player on the team must be designated as the goalkeeper at all times, meaning that if a goalkeeper is sent off or injured and unable to continue another player must assume the goalkeeper position. The Laws allow for teams to change the player designated as goalkeeper at stoppages in play, but in practice this is rarely exercised. The Laws place no restrictions on a goalkeeper leaving their penalty area and acting as an ordinary player, though generally goalkeepers stay close to their goal throughout the match. Goalkeepers routinely perform extension dives. To execute this, they push off the ground with the foot nearest to the ball, launching themselves into a horizontal position. At this point, the ball may be caught or parried away from the goal. In the latter case, a good goalkeeper will attempt to ensure that the rebound cannot be taken by a player of the opposing team, although this is not always possible. The tactical responsibilities of goalkeepers include: To keep goal by physically blocking attempted shots with any part of their body. The keeper is permitted to play the ball anywhere on the field, but may not handle the ball using hands or outstretched arms outside his/her penalty area., To organise the team's defenders during defensive set pieces such as free kicks and corners. In the case of free kicks, this includes picking the numbers and the organisation of a defensive man "wall". The wall serves to provide a physical barrier to the incoming ball, but some goalkeepers position their wall in a certain position to tempt the kick-taker to a certain type of shot. Occasionally, goalkeepers may opt to dispense with the wall. Some goalkeepers are also entrusted with the responsibility of picking markers while defending at set pieces., To pick out crosses and attempted long passes either by collecting them in flight or punching them clear if heavily challenged by opposing strikers. Although goalkeepers have special privileges, including the ability to handle the ball in the penalty area, they are otherwise subject to the same rules as any other player. Goalkeepers are not required to stay in the penalty area; they may get involved in play anywhere on the pitch, and it is common for them to act as an additional defender (or 'sweeper') during certain passages of the game. Goalkeepers with a long throwing range or accurate long-distance kicks may be able to quickly create attacking positions for a team and generate goal- scoring chances from defensive situations, a tactic known as the long ball. Gyula Grosics from the Hungary "Golden Team" of the 1950s was thought to be the first goalkeeper to play as the 'sweeper-keeper'. Tommy Lawrence has also been credited with revolutionising the role of the goalkeeper by effectively acting as an 11th outfield player. The rushing playing style used by Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar seen during the 1980s–90s makes him one of the original sweeper-keepers of the modern era. René Higuita was another who became known for his unorthodox, skillful but sometimes reckless techniques. As of 2011, Manuel Neuer has been described as a sweeper-keeper due to his speed and unique style of play which occasionally includes him acting as a sweeper for his team by rushing off his line to anticipate opposing forwards who have beaten the offside trap. With his excellent ball control and distribution, which enables him to start plays from the back, he has said he could play in the German third division as a centre-back if he wanted to. Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur and France and former goalkeepers Fabien Barthez and Edwin van der Sar, have also been described as sweeper-keepers, while Claudio Bravo and Ederson Moraes of Manchester City have even been described as playmakers in the media. Other players who have been labelled "sweeper- keepers" in the media include Marc-Andre Ter Stegen of FC Barcelona and Germany, Spanish former goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, and former Soviet keeper Lev Yashin, the latter of whom is often cited by pundits as one of the goalkeepers who pioneered the role of the sweeper-keeper. Sweeper-keepers have been popularised by managers who usually employ tactics inspired by total football, such as Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, for example, and are chosen not only for their shot-stopping and goalkeeping abilities, but also due to their skill with the ball at their feet, their ability to pick out passes and contribute to the build-up play of their team, and their speed when rushing out of the penalty area to anticipate opponents, which enables their team to maintain a high defensive line. However, sweeper-keepers have also been associated with recklessness on occasion, sometimes putting their own team in danger; for example, Manuel Neuer's rushing into the midfield, leaving the goal exposed in his team's final group match against South Korea at the 2018 World Cup, led to a goal being conceded, after he had been robbed of the ball. Some goalkeepers have scored goals. Other than by accident when a long kicked clearance reaches the other end of the field and evades the opposing goalkeeper with the aid of strong winds and/or unexpected bounces, this most commonly occurs where a goalkeeper has rushed up to the opposite end of the pitch to give his team a numerical advantage in attack, leaving his own goal undefended. As such, it is normally only done late in a game at set-pieces where the consequences of scoring far outweigh those of conceding a further goal, such as for a team trailing in a knock-out tournament. Some goalkeepers, such as Higuita, Rogério Ceni, Hans-Jörg Butt and José Luis Chilavert, are also expert set-piece takers. These players may take their team's attacking free kicks or penalties. Ceni, São Paulo's long-time custodian, has scored 100 goals in his career, more than many outfield players. Goalkeepers must wear kit that distinguishes them clearly from other players and match officials, as this is all that the FIFA Laws of the Game require. Some goalkeepers have received recognition for their match attire, like Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union, who was nicknamed the "Black Spider" for his distinctive all-black outfit; Klaus Lindenberger of Austria, who designed his own variation of a clown's costume; Jorge Campos of Mexico, who was popular for his colourful attire; Raul Plassmann of Cruzeiro Esporte Clube and his all-yellow outfit; and Gábor Király for wearing a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. Although it was initially more common for goalkeepers to wear long-sleeved jerseys, recently several goalkeepers, such as Gianluigi Buffon, have also been known to wear short-sleeves. Most goalkeepers also wear gloves to improve their grip on the ball, and to protect themselves from injury. Some gloves now include rigid plastic spines down each finger to help prevent injuries such as jammed, fractured, and sprained fingers. Though gloves are not mandatory attire, it is uncommon for goalkeepers to opt against them due to the advantages they offer. At UEFA Euro 2004, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo famously took off his gloves during the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against England, knowing he was the next taker for his side. He then went on to save Darius Vassell's penalty using his bare hands before scoring his own kick to win it for Portugal. Though rare, goalkeepers are permitted to wear visored headgear (such as a baseball cap) to minimize glare from bright sunlight, or a knit cap to insulate from cold weather, at any time if they elect to do so. After recovering from a serious skull fracture that he had sustained in 2006, Petr Čech has subsequently worn a rugby style headguard during his matches. Goalkeepers have a very physically demanding job. They are the only players allowed to use their hands, except for throw-ins. Because of this, goalkeepers are often injured during breakaways, corner kicks, and free kicks since they put their bodies on the line. Several famous goalkeepers have been injured in ways their counterparts could not possibly sustain. For example, Petr Čech received a head injury after colliding with another player during a 2006 game. He made his debut match a couple of months later wearing a rugby-style headpiece. However, some goalkeepers manage to avoid injury and continue to play, many not retiring until their late thirties or early forties. Notably, Peter Shilton played for thirty-one years between 1966 and 1997 before retiring at the age of forty-seven. In general, goalkeepers can sustain any injury to which their outfield counterparts are vulnerable. Common lower and upper extremity injuries include cartilage tears, anterior cruciate ligament tears, and knee sprains. On the other hand, goalkeepers rarely fall victim to fatigue-related injuries, such as leg cramps, pulled hamstrings, and dehydration. Goalkeepers are crucial in penalty shootouts. The record for most penalties saved in a shootout is held by Helmuth Duckadam of Steaua București. Duckadam defended four consecutive penalties in the 1986 European Cup Final against Barcelona. Stefano Tacconi is the only goalkeeper to have won all official club competitions for which he was eligible. José Luis Chilavert is the only goalkeeper to score a hat-trick (three goals in a game), doing so through penalty kicks. Rogério Ceni has scored the most goals for a goalkeeper, having scored his hundredth goal in official games on 27 March 2011. Ceni scored his goals through free kicks and penalty kicks. Gianluigi Buffon is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award. Oliver Kahn holds the record for most UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper and Best European Goalkeeper Awards with four. Iker Casillas holds the record for most appearances by a goalkeeper in the FIFPro World XI and in the UEFA Team of the Year and most IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Awards, alongside Buffon, winning the award for five consecutive years between 2008 and 2012. Casillas holds the record for the most clean sheets in UEFA Champions League history. At the international level, Dino Zoff has remained unbeaten for the longest period of time, whilst Walter Zenga holds the record for longest unbeaten run in a FIFA World Cup tournament at five hundred seventeen minutes. Gianluigi Buffon, Fabien Barthez and Iker Casillas hold the record for fewest goals conceded by a winning goalkeeper in a World Cup tournament at two each. Buffon is the only World Cup–winning goalkeeper not to have conceded a goal in open play throughout the entire tournament, one goal having resulted from an own goal after a free kick, the other from a penalty. Fabien Barthez and Peter Shilton hold the record for most clean sheets in World Cup matches with ten each Mohamed Al-Deayea holds the record for most international caps by a goalkeeper with one hundred seventy-eight official appearances for Saudi Arabia. Pascal Zuberbühler holds the record for fewest goals conceded by a goalkeeper in a World Cup tournament and holds the record for most successive matches at an international tournament without conceding a goal with five. He did not concede a goal in four hundred sixty-three minutes of World Cup play against France, Korea, and Togo—making Switzerland the only team in the history of the tournament not to concede a goal in normal time. Tim Howard holds the record for most saves made in a FIFA World Cup match, with sixteen against Belgium in the 2014 Round of 16. Oliver Kahn is the only goalkeeper to have won the Adidas Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament in a World Cup (in the 2002 competition); Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or. Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in a World Cup Finals match, dismissed for handling outside his area against Norway in 1994. His team went on to win 1–0 and reached the final before losing to Brazil in a penalty shootout, in which he became the first goalkeeper ever to stop a penalty in a final shootout. Iker Casillas holds both the record for fewest goals conceded in a European Championship with one in 2012) and the record for longest unbeaten run at a European Championship, beating the previous record held by Dino Zoff. He also holds the records for most international clean sheets (one hundred two) by a male goalkeeper, beating the previous record held by Edwin van der Sar (seventy-two), and became the first goalkeeper in history, male or female, to keep one hundred clean sheets at international level in 2015; he also shares the overall record for the most international clean sheets along with Hope Solo. Buffon holds the record for most minutes without conceding a goal in European Championship Qualifying matches at six hundred forty-four. , the most expensive goalkeeper of all time was Kepa Arrizabalaga following his 2018 €80 million (£71 million) transfer to Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao. FIFA World Cup All-Star Teams, Golden Glove awards, List of goalscoring goalkeepers, Association football positions, List of most expensive association football transfers, IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper, Best European Goalkeeper, The Best FIFA Goalkeeper, UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper Award

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The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the best defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points, second-place voted are worth three points, and a third-place vote is worth one. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. Since its inception, the award has been given to 21 different players. Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace have each won the award a record four times. Dwight Howard is the only player to have won the award in three consecutive seasons. Sidney Moncrief, Mark Eaton, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alonzo Mourning, Kawhi Leonard, and Rudy Gobert have each won it twice. The most recent award recipient is Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz. Although five of the first six winners were perimeter players, the award has traditionally been given to big men who rebound and block shots. Only seven perimeter players have been honored: Moncrief, Alvin Robertson, Michael Cooper, Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, Ron Artest (known now as Metta World Peace), and Kawhi Leonard. Payton is the only point guard to have won. Jordan, Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Kevin Garnett are the only Defensive Player of the Year winners to have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) during their careers; Jordan and Olajuwon won both awards in the same season. In Olajuwon's case, he is the only one to have also won the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the NBA championship in the same season. On four occasions, the Defensive Player of the Year recipient was not voted to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in the same year. Robertson in 1986, Mutombo (1995), Tyson Chandler (2012), and Marc Gasol (2013) were instead named to the second team. Whereas the Defensive Player of the Year is voted on by the media, the All-Defensive teams were voted on by NBA coaches prior to 2014. Frenchman Rudy Gobert is the only winner who was trained completely outside the U.S. Out of the other three winners born outside the U.S., Mutombo and Olajuwon both played U.S. college basketball, and Gasol played U.S. high school basketball. Joakim Noah, who has played for the French national team, was born in New York City and played both high school and college basketball in the U.S. NBA Development League Defensive Player of the Year Award General Specific Kevin Maurice Garnett (born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Known for his intensity, defensive ability, and versatility, Garnett is considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time. He is one of four NBA players to win both the Most Valuable Player and the Defensive Player of the Year awards. In high school, Garnett was a 1995 McDonald's All-American at Farragut Career Academy and won a national player of the year award. He entered the 1995 NBA draft, where he was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first NBA player drafted directly out of high school in 20 years. Garnett made an immediate impact with the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading them to eight consecutive playoff appearances. In 2004, he led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and won the NBA MVP Award. Garnett has been named to 15 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, and is currently tied for third-most All-Star selections in NBA history. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2007–08, and has been selected nine times for All-NBA Teams and 12 times for All-Defensive Teams. Garnett also holds several Timberwolves franchise records. In 2007, after 12 seasons with the Timberwolves, Garnett joined the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade. In his first year with the Celtics, he helped lead them to the NBA championship, while also finishing in third place for the MVP award. In 2013, Garnett was included in a second headline trade that sent him to the Brooklyn Nets with longtime Celtic Paul Pierce. In 2015, Garnett was traded back to Minnesota. He announced his retirement from professional basketball in September 2016. Garnett made his feature film debut, playing a fictionalized version of himself in the 2019 film Uncut Gems. Garnett was born on May 19, 1976 in Greenville, South Carolina to Shirley Garnett. He was the second of his mother's three children. Garnett's mother never married his father, O'Lewis McCullough, with their relationship ending shortly after his birth. Garnett grew up with his mother and stepfather, Ernest Irby, with whom he didn't get along, and two sisters. Garnett fell in love with the sport of basketball while attending Hillcrest Middle School, although he did not play organized basketball until high school. In his first three years of high school, Garnett attended Mauldin High School in Mauldin, South Carolina and played on the school's basketball team. However, during the summer before his senior year of high school, Garnett was in the general vicinity of a fight between black and white students. Although not directly involved, Garnett was one of three students arrested for second-degree lynching, a charge that was expunged through a pre-trial intervention. Due to the racially charged incident and fearful of being a target, Garnett decided to leave Mauldin High and transferred to Farragut Career Academy in Chicago's West Side, for his senior year of high school. Living with his sister in Chicago, Garnett led Farragut to a 28–2 record and was named National High School Player of the Year by USA Today. He was also named Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois after averaging 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 6.5 blocks while shooting 66.8% from the field. In four years of high school, Garnett posted an impressive 2,553 points, 1,809 rebounds and 737 blocked shots. In high school, Garnett played alongside Ronnie Fields, who also became a professional basketball player. Garnett was named the Most Outstanding Player at the McDonald's All-American Game after registering 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots, and then declared himself eligible for the 1995 NBA draft. To mark the 35th anniversary of the McDonald's All-American High School Boys Basketball Game, Garnett was honored as one of 35 Greatest McDonald's All-Americans. Garnett's decision not to play college basketball was influenced in part by his failure to score well enough on the ACT to meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility. Garnett told Student Sports Magazine in 1995 that if he had attended college he would have chosen to play college basketball for the University of Maryland. A Chicago area high school coach referred Garnett with Eric Fleisher, then agent for 18 NBA players and son of first National Basketball Players Association head Larry Fleisher, to discuss the possibility of going to the NBA straight out of high school. Two weeks later at the Lakeshore Athletic Club, Fleisher ran a small tryout where Garnett dominated against older, more-experienced competition. Fleisher then set Detroit Pistons assistant John Hammond to run the drills at another workout at the University of Illinois-Chicago to gauge NBA interest. Representatives from the 13 teams with lottery picks, with Kevin McHale, Elgin Baylor, Flip Saunders, and Kevin Loughery among them, were in the workout that was scheduled around the same time as a pre-draft tryout camp. The workout included Garnett touching the box painted on the backboard above the rim multiple times, and McHale giving Garnett tips on shooting jump shots. An hour before going to the 1995 NBA Draft in the Toronto SkyDome, his coach at Farragut, William (Wolf) Nelson, gave encouragement and told Garnett that he passed the last SAT test he took with a score of 970. Garnett was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and became the first player to be drafted directly out of high school since 1975. Since joining the NBA for the 1989–90 season, the Timberwolves had not won more than 29 games in any season. In Garnett's rookie season, the Timberwolves were in the midst of a transition phase; they replaced Bill Blair with Flip Saunders as head coach early in the season, and made several trades. Garnett initially came off the bench in his rookie year, but moved into the starting lineup soon after Saunders became head coach and with the urging of Sam Mitchell. In the final 42 games of the year, averaged 14 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.26 blocks as a starter. In his rookie year, Garnett and fellow newcomer Tom Gugliotta carried the scoring load. Garnett did not immediately leap to stardom as later prep-to-pro prospects such as Amar'e Stoudemire, LeBron James and Dwight Howard would, but he did have a very respectable rookie year. He was voted to the All-Rookie Second Team on averages of 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Despite having some promising players, the Timberwolves suffered through their seventh consecutive sub-30 win season and failed to make the playoffs. At the time, Garnett was the youngest NBA player in history at 19 years and 11 months of age. Before the 1996–97 season, the Timberwolves made a draft-day trade for point guard Stephon Marbury of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. During the season, Garnett posted improved averages of 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.7 steals. He also had two games where he registered eight blocks. With a 40–42 record, the Timberwolves made their first playoff appearance in franchise history, Garnett and Gugliotta made their first All- Star appearances, and Marbury established himself as a valuable young lead guard. However, the Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley, proved to be too much as the Timberwolves were swept 3–0 in the first round of the 1997 NBA Playoffs. In August 1997, Garnett and Fleisher turned down the Timberwolves' offer of a contract worth $102 million over six years. They thought there would be more offered to them on the basis of the signings of $105 million over seven years for Alonzo Mourning of the Miami Heat and $100.8 million over seven years for Juwan Howard with the Washington Bullets. To get out of the spotlight while negotiations were ongoing, Garnett stayed in Fleisher's Westchester County home, north of New York City. One hour before the deadline on 1 October 1997, the Timberwolves and Garnett agreed on a six-year contract extension that was worth an unparalleled $126 million. The contract was considered a risky move and many analysts speculated that the deal would make it impossible for the Wolves to sign new players or even keep their own. The enormous size of Garnett's contract was considered, by numerous sports writers, a major cause of labor tensions between players and owners that led to a lockout which shortened the 1998–99 NBA season. Despite the furor over his new contract, Garnett continued to improve, averaging 18.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.7 steals per game. Again, he was an All-Star, and the Timberwolves finished with their first winning record in franchise history (45–37 for the season). For the second consecutive year, the young Timberwolves bowed out of the playoffs in the first round, this time losing 3–2 to the Seattle SuperSonics and superstar point guard Gary Payton. The two wins against the Sonics marked the Wolves' first-ever playoff game wins. The off-season started poorly for the Timberwolves though as 20-point per game scorer Tom Gugliotta left for the Phoenix Suns. In the lockout-shortened season that followed, Garnett broke through as a superstar. Putting up stats of 20.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.8 blocks per game, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team. However, midway through the season, Stephon Marbury was traded to the New Jersey Nets. Although the Wolves received two- time All-Star Terrell Brandon in return, they were not able to overcome the discord and limped into the playoffs as the eighth seed with a 25–25 record. The Wolves were defeated in the first round again, this time losing 3–1 to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs who were led by young superstar and eventual NBA Finals MVP Tim Duncan. In the 1999–2000 NBA season, Garnett continued his notable play, averaging 22.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. Garnett also made the first of his four All-NBA First Team appearances and came in second place in the MVP voting. Assisted by sharpshooting rookie forward Wally Szczerbiak and steady veteran Terrell Brandon, the Wolves posted a franchise-best 50–32 record, but succumbed in the first round to the Portland Trail Blazers 3–1. On May 20, 2000, Timberwolves' guard and Garnett's close friend Malik Sealy was killed by a drunk driver shortly after celebrating Garnett's 24th birthday. Later that year, the NBA ruled that the free agent signing of Joe Smith was illegal. The league punished the team for the illegal signing by stripping them of three first-round draft picks, fining Glen Taylor (the owner of the team) $3.5 million, and banning general manager Kevin McHale for one year. In the 2000–01 NBA season, Garnett led the Wolves to a 47–35 record and made the All-NBA Second Team, but again, the Wolves did not survive the first round of the playoffs, losing to the Spurs 3–1. In the 2001–02 season, Garnett posted another notable season, his averages of 21.2 points, 12.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game enough for another All-NBA Second Team nomination. However, the Timberwolves bowed out in the first round for the sixth consecutive time, this time getting swept 3–0 by the Dallas Mavericks led by Michael Finley, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. Garnett's next season was one of the best of his career, his 23.0 ppg / 13.4 rpg / 6.0 apg / 1.6 bpg / 1.4 spg season earning him his second All-NBA First Team nomination and second place in the MVP voting. The Timberwolves posted a good 51–31 record, but for the seventh consecutive time, they did not make it out of the first round, this time losing to the Los Angeles Lakers 4–2. In the 2003–04 season, things finally seemed to come together for Garnett. In past years, the Wolves had practically been a one-man show, but now, the Timberwolves had made two valuable acquisitions: highly talented but volatile swingman Latrell Sprewell and the seasoned two-time NBA champion Sam Cassell, who supplanted Troy Hudson at point guard. In addition, defensive center Ervin Johnson complemented the inconsistent Michael Olowokandi. Powered by the best supporting cast up to this point in his career, Garnett averaged 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.5 steals per game for the season. Having recorded career-highs in points, rebounds, blocks and leading the league rebounds, Garnett was named the league Most Valuable Player for the first time in his career. With a franchise-record 58 wins, the Wolves stormed into the playoffs, and finally conquered their playoff bane by defeating the Denver Nuggets 4–1 in the first round. After disposing of the strong Sacramento Kings 4–3 in the Western Conference semi-finals, Garnett and the Timberwolves met the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. There, playmaker Cassell went down with a back injury. With reserve point guard Hudson also injured, the Timberwolves alternated between third playmaker Darrick Martin and shooting guard Fred Hoiberg at the "one", or even running Garnett himself as point forward or a real point guard. The Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a 4–2 victory in the series. In the 2004–05 season, Garnett was able to record a career-high in terms of scoring as he scored 47 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in a 115-122 loss to the Phoenix Suns. He was also named to the All-NBA Second Team, but the Timberwolves failed to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years with a record of 44–38. The 2005–06 season brought more frustration for Garnett. Sprewell turned down a three-year, $21 million extension, and the Wolves wary of his injuries and age, traded Cassell for the much less effective Marko Jarić, and the team's record for 2005–06 fell to 33–49. Despite Garnett's play, the team logged the second worst record since Garnett joined the franchise. Garnett subsequently earned All-NBA Third Team honors. During the 2007 off-season, Glen Taylor admitted that although he had planned on retaining Garnett, he would finally listen to trade offers. Garnett's name was mentioned in various trade rumors involving the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. On July 31, 2007, in exchange for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, cash considerations, Boston's 2009 first-round draft pick (top 3 protected), and the 2009 first-round pick which Minnesota had traded to Boston in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade of 2006. The 7-for-1 deal constitutes the largest number of players traded for a single player in league history. At the time of the trade, Garnett had the longest current tenure of any player in the NBA with one team, having played for the Timberwolves for his first 12 seasons (a total of 927 games). Garnett said that he was proud to be a part of the Celtics, and hoped to continue its proud tradition and basketball success. On the day the trade was announced, Garnett signed a three-year, $60 million contract extension that would start after his prior deal ran out in 2009. On August 1, the day after signing with the Celtics, Garnett threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park prior to a Red Sox-Orioles game. The trade for Garnett had many experts speculating that the Celtics would have a resurgence during the 2007–08 season. The combination of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Garnett were almost automatically nicknamed "The Big Three" by the media, after the Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish trio. Garnett wore jersey number 5 for the Celtics since his number with the Timberwolves, number 21, was retired by the Celtics, previously worn by Bill Sharman. He made his Boston debut with a strong performance against the Washington Wizards, with 22 points and 20 rebounds. He also led all players in voting for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game. Garnett received 2,399,148 votes, the sixth highest total in NBA All-Star balloting history. However, Garnett was unable to play due to an abdominal strain, and Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace was named to replace him. Garnett passed 20,000 points for his career, becoming the 32nd player in NBA history to reach the mark, with a layup in the second quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 8. On April 22, Garnett was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2007–08 season. It was the only major award a Celtic player had not claimed since the franchise's foundation in 1946. Garnett said it was a team effort which helped him win the award. Garnett was also third in MVP voting for the year, behind only Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul. Garnett helped the Celtics to their 17th NBA Championship, with 26 points and 14 rebounds in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. During that championship season, Garnett and Celtics legend Bill Russell developed a relationship, which Garnett credited as a major influence in helping him succeed during his first season as a Celtic. On June 18, 2008, Garnett and Ray Allen appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, soon after winning the championship. In the 2008–09 season, Garnett started all of the 57 games he was able to suit up for. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. On October 31, 2008, Garnett became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 1,000 career games, at 32 years and 165 days. Garnett earned his twelfth consecutive All-Star Game start on February 15, 2009. Following the All-Star Game, during a game against the Utah Jazz, Garnett strained his right knee late in the second quarter. The injury occurred on February 19, 2009, while attempting to go up for an alley-oop. He was forced to miss the next 14 games. Upon his return from the injury, he averaged 9 points and 4.5 rebounds in four games before being shut down for the season permanently, missing the final 25 games of the regular season, as well as the 2009 playoffs due to a right knee sprain. Without Garnett, the Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, but were eliminated by the Orlando Magic. In the 2009–10 season, Garnett and the Celtics, joined by newly signed free agent Rasheed Wallace, struggled with injuries and inconsistency throughout much of the regular season and earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Garnett was selected to play in the 2010 NBA All- Star Game (his 13th All-Star Game selection). Despite being written off by nearly every major sports analyst, the Celtics elevated their play and consistency, and dominated opponents much as they did during their 2008 championship run. They eliminated the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Orlando Magic to advance to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals. In Game 6 against the Cavaliers, Garnett recorded 22 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists in the series-clinching win. The 2010 Finals went to a decisive seventh game in Los Angeles, where the Celtics led well into the third quarter before the Lakers mounted a comeback and held on for the victory. In the 2010–11 NBA season, Garnett and the Celtics started strong, winning 23 of their first 26 games. On December 30, 2010, Garnett injured his right knee after he tried to dunk. He missed two weeks with the injury. Garnett returned on January 17, 2011 to face the Orlando Magic. The Celtics ended the regular season third in the Eastern Conference behind the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat. Garnett averaged under 15 points, under 9 rebounds, and a career low 0.8 blocks per game. After sweeping the New York Knicks in the first round, they faced the Heat in the semi-finals. After losing the first two games of the series, Garnett's playoff high 28 points helped the Celtics take Game 3. However, the Heat won the next two games, winning the series 4–1. In the lockout shortened 2011–12 NBA season, Garnett and the Celtics started off slowly, being below .500 with a 15–17 record by the All- Star break. Garnett was not selected for the All-Star game for the first time in 11 years. After, however, Boston quickly became one of the best teams in the league, finishing the second half of the season with a 24–10 record, entering the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 39–27 record. Boston made a deep run in the playoffs, going all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. They faced the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, defeating them in six games. Boston then defeated the Philadelphia 76ers after a challenging seven-game series. Boston made the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in five years, and faced another superstar trio in Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James of the Miami Heat. The Celtics lost the first two games, but came back strong to win the next three games. However, the Heat were too strong in Games 6 and 7, defeating the Celtics 4–3. Garnett found a resurgence in the playoffs, averaging 19.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. On June 30, 2012, Garnett agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Celtics worth an estimated $34 million. On January 17, 2013, it was announced that Garnett had been voted to start in the 2013 All- Star Game in Houston. On February 7, 2013, Garnett recorded his 25,000th point in a 116–95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. On June 28, 2013, the day of the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets reached a deal to trade Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry for future first-round picks in the 2014, 2016, and 2018 drafts, as well as Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, MarShon Brooks and Keith Bogans. The deal was finally completed on July 12, with Brooklyn also receiving D. J. White. Garnett chose to wear number 2 to honor his former Minnesota Timberwolves teammate Malik Sealy. On December 13, 2013, Garnett surpassed 14,000 career rebounds, becoming only the tenth player in NBA history to do so. In reaching the milestone, Garnett also joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone as the only players to reach 25,000 points, 14,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists. He reached the milestone in the third quarter of a 103–99 road loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Nets cherished Garnett's leadership and passion. Despite boasting a starting line-up of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, Paul Pierce, and Garnett, the Nets were unable to advance past the second round of the playoffs, while Garnett finished his 19th NBA season with career low averages of 6.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. On November 1, 2014, Garnett had arguably his best game for the Nets as he recorded 18 points and 14 rebounds in 35 minutes of action in the Nets' 102–90 win over the Detroit Pistons. Six days later, he recorded five rebounds in a 110–99 win over the New York Knicks and by doing so, passed Walt Bellamy for ninth place on the all-time rebounding list. On February 19, 2015, Garnett agreed to waive his no-trade clause in order to be traded back to Minnesota in exchange for Thaddeus Young. Six days later, he made his return for the Timberwolves against the Washington Wizards at the Target Center, recording five points on 2-of-7 shooting with eight rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes in his first game for Minnesota since 2007. He appeared in just five games for the Timberwolves in 2014–15, before sitting out the team's final 21 games of the season due to a nagging knee injury. On July 11, 2015, Garnett re-signed with the Timberwolves to a two-year deal. On November 15, 2015, against the Memphis Grizzlies, Garnett became the fifth player in NBA history to play at least 50,000 minutes, joining Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, Karl Malone, Jason Kidd and Elvin Hayes. On December 1, against the Orlando Magic, Garnett surpassed Kidd (50,110) for third on the NBA's career minutes list. Four days later, in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, he became the 15th player in NBA history to surpass 26,000 career points. On December 11, Garnett passed Malone as the NBA's all-time leader in defensive rebounds during Minnesota's 111–108 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets. He finished the game with four defensive boards to give him 11,409 for his career, three ahead of Malone. Garnett appeared in 38 of the team's first 45 games of the season before missing the entire second half of the season with a right knee injury, the same knee that kept him out of 25 games in 2008–09 when he was playing for Boston, as well as much of his post-trade time in Minnesota during the 2014–15 season. On September 23, 2016, Garnett announced his retirement after 21 seasons in the NBA. While Garnett did express interest in playing for one more season with the Timberwolves, primarily with the goal in helping the team make it to the playoffs again with its promising young players and new head coach, he also told the team's owner that he wasn't sure that his knees would hold up for one more season. In the 2000 Summer Olympics, Garnett won a gold medal as a member of the United States national team. In his first and only FIBA tournament, Garnett averaged 10.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In October 2016, Garnett joined the crew on TNT's Inside the NBA. The following month, he became the host of his own segment, Area 21. In January 2017, Garnett joined the Los Angeles Clippers as a consultant. He also consulted with the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2016–17 season. Garnett plays a fictionalized version of himself in the 2019 comedy-crime drama Uncut Gems; directed by the Safdie brothers. The movie is set in 2012 and revolves around an Eastern Conference Semifinals series from that year between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Garnett makes a trip from Philadelphia to a jewelry store owned by Adam Sandler's character Howard Ratner in New York's Diamond District and takes a liking to an Ethiopian opal which Ratner shows him; this leads to events that eventually spiral into chaos as the movie goes on. Garnett's performance received very positive reviews from critics. The Safdie brothers arrived at Garnett after a series of rewrites based on player availability. Their choices before Garnett included Amar'e Stoudemire (denied to cut his hair; to match 2010), Kobe Bryant (his representation said he wanted to direct; not act—Bryant denied any knowledge of the project) and Joel Embiid (his schedule made it impossible to film.) Garnett was one of the first retired athletes they approached. Garnett later said the process of filming "felt special, but you didn’t know it." Garnett wore clothing branded as "OBF", standing for Official Block Family. The name came from what he called his close group of friends from Beachwood Drive in Mauldin, South Carolina. He brought OBF members to live with him in his Minnesota home, and let some on board some team's charter flights during road trips. He met Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the Grammy-winning record producers for Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men, early in his career in Minnesota and considers them as mentors. In July 2004, Garnett married his longtime girlfriend Brandi Padilla during a private ceremony in California. Due to the wedding, Garnett did not take part in the Athens Olympic Games. The couple has two daughters. On July 12, 2018, Garnett's wife filed for divorce, asking for custody of the children. Garnett is the half-brother of former basketball player Louis McCullough. Another professional basketball player, former Los Angeles Laker Shammond Williams, is his cousin. His nicknames include "The Big Ticket", "KG", "The Kid" and formerly "The Franchise" (after being known as the Minnesota Timberwolves' franchise player). Before games, he mentally prepares himself by banging his head against a padded basketball stanchion. Although Garnett is officially listed as by the NBA, he is widely accepted to be at least tall. During the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, Garnett admitted in an interview with Craig Sager to be "6 ft 11 in and some quarters" tall. Measurements from the 1995 NBA draft show the 19-year-old Garnett measured tall barefoot. In 1997, Garnett was measured by Minnesota Timberwolves training staff as tall in his basketball shoes. In December 2011, Garnett agreed to become a limited shareholder of American-owned Italian Serie A football team A.S. Roma. Garnett has a long list of achievements and records, including: Only NBA player to reach at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 steals and 1,500 blocks, Only NBA player to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists per game for 6 consecutive seasons: –, Only NBA player to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists per game for 9 consecutive seasons: –, Seasons leading the league in defensive rebounds: 5 (–), Broken by Dwight Howard (–), Consecutive seasons leading the league in defensive rebounds: 5 (–), Broken by Dwight Howard (–), First NBA player to win the NBA Player of the Month Award four times in a single season: 2003–04 season, Also achieved by LeBron James, who has achieved this twice, Third NBA player to lead his team in all five major statistics (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks) in the same season: Minnesota Timberwolves,, Also achieved by Dave Cowens (Boston Celtics, ), Scottie Pippen (Chicago Bulls, ), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers, ), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks, ), Tied for most seasons played in the NBA: 21 seasons, Also achieved by Robert Parish and Kevin Willis, Achievements:, NBA champion: 2008, Olympic gold medal: 2000, NBA Most Valuable Player: 2004, NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2008, NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2003, 15-time NBA All-Star: 1997–2011, 2013, Selected to 14 consecutive All-Star teams (1997–2011) (no game in 1999 due to lockout), Selected in 2008, but did not play due to injury, 9-time All-NBA selection:, First Team: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, Second Team: 2001, 2002, 2005, Third Team: 1999, 2007, 12-time All-Defensive:, First Team: 2000–2005, 2008–2009, 2011, Second Team: 2006–2007, 2012, NBA All-Rookie selection:, Second team: 1996, J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award: 2006 List of NBA All-Stars, List of National Basketball Association career games played leaders, List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders, List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders, List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders, List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders, List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders, List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders, List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders, List of National Basketball Association career minutes played leaders, List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders, List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders, List of National Basketball Association annual rebounding leaders, List of National Basketball Association seasons played leaders The Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award (DPOY) is given by the Associated Press (AP) to the most outstanding defensive player in the National Football League (NFL) at the end of every season. It has been awarded since 1971. The winner is decided by votes from a panel of 50 AP sportswriters who regularly cover the NFL. Since 2011, the award has been presented at the annual NFL Honors ceremony the day before the Super Bowl, along with other AP awards, such as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award, and AP NFL Rookie of the Year Award. Lawrence Taylor and J. J. Watt are the only three-time winners of the award. Joe Greene, Mike Singletary, Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Ray Lewis, and Aaron Donald have each won it twice. Taylor is the only player to win the award as a rookie, doing so in 1981. In 2008, James Harrison became the only undrafted free agent to win the award. White is the only player to win the award with two different teams, winning in 1987 with the Philadelphia Eagles and again with the Green Bay Packers in 1998. Watt is the only player to win the award unanimously, receiving 50 out of 50 first place votes in 2014. He was also a near-unanimous winner in 2012 as he earned 49 out of 50 votes. As of the end of the 2018 NFL season, linebackers have won the award 16 times, more than any other position. A defensive end has won thirteen times, followed by nine defensive tackles, five cornerbacks, and five safeties. Only two winners of the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award have also won the AP's Most Valuable Player Award for the same season: defensive tackle Alan Page in 1971 for the Minnesota Vikings and linebacker Lawrence Taylor in 1986 for the New York Giants. Aaron Donald is the incumbent holder of the award, winning it for the second consecutive year following the 2018 NFL season. National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award for an overview of similar awards by other organizations, Newspaper Enterprise Association NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, Pro Football Writers Association NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Kansas City Committee of 101 AFC and NFC Defensive Players of the Year, Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award General Footnotes

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George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of symbolic interactionism and of what has come to be referred to as the Chicago sociological tradition. Mead was born February 27, 1863, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He was raised in a Protestant, middle-class family comprising his father, Hiram Mead, his mother, Elizabeth Storrs (Billings) Mead, and his sister Alice. His father was a former Congregationalist Pastor from a lineage of farmers and clergymen and who later held the chair in Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology at Oberlin College's theological seminary. Elizabeth Storrs Mead taught for two years at Oberlin College and subsequently, from 1890 to 1900, served as president of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In 1879, George Mead enrolled at the Oberlin Academy at Oberlin College and then the college itself, graduating in 1883 with a BA degree. After graduation, Mead taught grade school for about four months. For the following three years, he worked as a surveyor for the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. In autumn 1887, Mead enrolled at Harvard University, where his main interests were philosophy and psychology. At Harvard, Mead studied with Josiah Royce, a major influence upon his thought, and William James, whose children he tutored. In 1888, Mead left Harvard after receiving only a B.A. and moved to Leipzig, Germany to study with psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, from whom he learned the concept of "the gesture," a concept central to his later work. In 1891 he married Helen Kingsbury Castle (1860–1929), the sister of Henry Northrup Castle (1862–1895), a friend he met at Oberlin. Despite never finishing his dissertation, Mead was able to obtain a post at the University of Michigan in 1891. At the University of Michigan, Mead met Charles H. Cooley and John Dewey, both of whom would influence him greatly. In 1894 Mead moved, along with Dewey, to the University of Chicago, where he taught until his death. Dewey's influence led Mead into educational theory, but his thinking soon diverged from that of Dewey, and developed into his famous psychological theories of mind, self and society. No detached philosopher, he was active in Chicago's social and political affairs; among his many activities include his work for the City Club of Chicago. He believed that science could be used to deal with social problems and played a key role in conducting research at the settlement house in Chicago. He also worked as treasurer for Chicago's Hull House. Mead died of heart failure on April 26, 1931. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Mead wrote almost constantly and published numerous articles and book reviews in both philosophy and psychology. However, he did not publish any books. Following his death, several of his students put together and edited four volumes from records of Mead's social psychology course at the University of Chicago, his lecture notes, and his numerous unpublished papers. The four volumes are: Mead's 1930 Carus Lectures, edited by Charles W. Morris; The Philosophy of the Present (1932), edited by Arthur E. Murphy; Mind, Self and Society (1934), edited by Charles W. Morris; Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century (1936), edited by Merritt H. Moore; and The Philosophy of the Act (1938). Most notable among Mead's published papers are "Suggestions Towards a Theory of the Philosophical Disciplines" (1900); "Social Consciousness and the Consciousness of Meaning" (1910); "What Social Objects Must Psychology Presuppose" (1910); "The Mechanism of Social Consciousness" (1912); "The Social Self" (1913); "Scientific Method and the Individual Thinker"(1917); "A Behavioristic Account of the Significant Symbol" (1922); "The Genesis of Self and Social Control" (1925); "The Objective Reality of Perspectives" (1926); "The Nature of the Past" (1929); and "The Philosophies of Royce, James, and Dewey in Their American Setting" (1929). In his lifetime, Mead published around 100 scholarly articles, reviews, and incidental pieces. Given their diverse nature, access to these writings is difficult. The first editorial efforts to change this situation date from the 1960s. In 1964, Andrew J. Reck collected twenty-five of Mead's published articles in Four years later, John W. Petras published George Herbert Mead. Essays on his Social Psychology, a collection of fifteen articles that included previously unpublished manuscripts. More recently, Mary Jo Deegan published Essays in Social Psychology (2001), a book project originally abandoned by Mead in the early 1910s. In 2010, Filipe Carreira da Silva edited the G.H. Mead. A Reader, the most comprehensive collection to date. It includes thirty of Mead's most important articles, ten of which previously unpublished. The Mead Project at Brock University in Ontario intends to publish all of Mead's 80-odd remaining unpublished manuscripts. Much of Mead's work focused on the development of the self and the objectivity of the world within the social realm: he insisted that "the individual mind can exist only in relation to other minds with shared meanings" (Mead 1982: 5). The two most important roots of Mead's work, and of symbolic interactionism in general, are the philosophy of pragmatism and social (as opposed to psychological) behaviorism (i.e.: Mead was concerned with the stimuli of gestures and social objects with rich meanings rather than bare physical objects which psychological behaviourists considered stimuli). Pragmatism is a wide-ranging philosophical position from which several aspects of Mead's influences can be identified. There are four main tenets of pragmatism (see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy): First, to pragmatists true reality does not exist "out there" in the real world, it "is actively created as we act in and toward the world." Second, people remember and base their knowledge of the world on what has been useful to them and are likely to alter what no longer "works." Third, people define the social and physical "objects" they encounter in the world according to their use for them. Lastly, if we want to understand actors, we must base that understanding on what people actually do. Three of these ideas are critical to symbolic interactionism: 1. the focus on the interaction between the actor and the world 2. a view of both the actor and the world as dynamic processes and not static structures and 3. the actor's ability to interpret the social world. Thus, to Mead and symbolic interactionists, consciousness is not separated from action and interaction, but is an integral part of both. Symbolic interactionism as a pragmatic philosophy was an antecedent to the philosophy of transactionalism. Mead's theories in part, based on pragmatism and behaviorism, were transmitted to many graduate students at the University of Chicago who then went on to establish symbolic interactionism. Mead was a very important figure in 20th century social philosophy. One of his most influential ideas was the emergence of mind and self from the communication process between organisms, discussed in Mind, Self and Society, also known as social behaviorism. This concept of how the mind and self emerge from the social process of communication by signs founded the symbolic interactionist school of sociology. Rooted intellectually in Hegelian dialectics and process philosophy, Mead, like Dewey, developed a more materialist process philosophy that was based upon human action and specifically communicative action. Human activity is, in a pragmatic sense, the criterion of truth, and through human activity meaning is made. Joint activity, including communicative activity, is the means through which our sense of self is constituted. The essence of Mead's social behaviorism is that mind is not a substance located in some transcendent realm, nor is it merely a series of events that takes place within the human physiological structure. This approach opposed the traditional view of the mind as separate from the body. The emergence of mind is contingent upon interaction between the human organism and its social environment; it is through participation in the social act of communication that individuals realize their potential for significantly symbolic behavior, that is, thought. Mind, in Mead's terms, is the individualized focus of the communication process. It is linguistic behavior on the part of the individual. There is, then, no "mind or thought without language;" and language (the content of mind) "is only a development and product of social interaction" (Mind, Self and Society 191-192). Thus, mind is not reducible to the neurophysiology of the organic individual, but is emergent in "the dynamic, ongoing social process" that constitutes human experience (Mind, Self and Society 7). For Mead, mind arises out of the social act of communication. Mead's concept of the social act is relevant, not only to his theory of mind, but to all facets of his social philosophy. His theory of "mind, self, and society" is, in effect, a philosophy of the act from the standpoint of a social process involving the interaction of many individuals, just as his theory of knowledge and value is a philosophy of the act from the standpoint of the experiencing individual in interaction with an environment. Action is very important to his social theory and, according to Mead, actions also occur within a communicative process. The initial phase of an act constitutes a gesture. A gesture is a preparatory movement that enables other individuals to become aware of the intentions of the given organism. The rudimentary situation is a conversation of gestures, in which a gesture on the part of the first individual evokes a preparatory movement on the part of the second, and the gesture of the second organism in turn calls out a response in the first person. On this level no communication occurs. Neither organism is aware of the effect of its own gestures upon the other; the gestures are nonsignificant. For communication to take place, each organism must have knowledge of how the other individual will respond to his own ongoing act. Here the gestures are significant symbols. A significant symbol is a kind of gesture that only humans can make. Gestures become significant symbols when they arouse in the individual who is making them the same kind of response they are supposed to elicit from those to whom the gestures are addressed. Only when we have significant symbols can we truly have communication. Mead grounded human perception in an "action-nexus" (Joas 1985: 148). We perceive the world in terms of the "means of living" (Mead 1982: 120). To perceive food, is to perceive eating. To perceive a house, is to perceive shelter. That is to say, perception is in terms of action. Mead's theory of perception is similar to that of J. J. Gibson. Mead the social psychologist argued in tune with Durkheim that the individual is a product of an ongoing, preexisting society, or more specifically, social interaction that is a consequence of a sui generis society. The self arises when the individual becomes an object to themselves. Mead argued that we are objects first to other people, and secondarily we become objects to ourselves by taking the perspective of other people. Language enables us to talk about ourselves in the same way as we talk about other people, and thus through language we become other to ourselves. In joint activity, which Mead called 'social acts', humans learn to see themselves from the standpoint of their co-actors. A central mechanism within the social act, which enables perspective taking, is position exchange. People within a social act often alternate social positions (e.g., giving/receiving, asking/helping, winning/losing, hiding/seeking, talking/listening). In children's games there is repeated position exchange, for example in hide-and- seek, and Mead argued that this is one of the main ways that perspective taking develops. However, for Mead, unlike John Dewey and J. J. Gibson, the key is not simply human action, but rather social action. In humans the "manipulatory phase of the act" is socially mediated, that is to say, in acting towards objects humans simultaneously take the perspectives of others towards that object. This is what Mead means by "the social act" as opposed to simply "the act" (the latter being a Deweyan concept). Non-human animals also manipulate objects, but that is a non-social manipulation, they do not take the perspective of other organisms toward the object. Humans on the other hand, take the perspective of other actors towards objects, and this is what enables complex human society and subtle social coordination. In the social act of economic exchange, for example, both buyer and seller must take each other's perspectives towards the object being exchanged. The seller must recognize the value for the buyer, while the buyer must recognize the desirability of money for the seller. Only with this mutual perspective taking can the economic exchange occur (Mead was influenced on this point by Adam Smith). A final piece of Mead's social theory is the mind as the individual importation of the social process. Mead states, "The self is a social process," meaning that there are series of actions that go on in the mind to help formulate one's complete self. As previously discussed, Mead presented the self and the mind in terms of a social process. As gestures are taken in by the individual organism, the individual organism also takes in the collective attitudes of others, in the form of gestures, and reacts accordingly with other organized attitudes. This process is characterized by Mead as the "I" and the "Me". The "Me" is the social self and the "I" is the response to the "Me." In other words, the "I" is the response of an individual to the attitudes of others, while the "me" is the organized set of attitudes of others which an individual assumes. Mead develops William James' distinction between the "I" and the "me." The "me" is the accumulated understanding of "the generalized other" i.e. how one thinks one's group perceives oneself etc. The "I" is the individual's impulses. The "I" is self as subject; the "me" is self as object. The "I" is the knower, the "me" is the known. The mind, or stream of thought, is the self-reflective movements of the interaction between the "I" and the "me." There is neither "I" nor "me" in the conversation of gestures; the whole act is not yet carried out, but the preparation takes place in this field of gesture. These dynamics go beyond selfhood in a narrow sense, and form the basis of a theory of human cognition. For Mead the thinking process is the internalized dialogue between the "I" and the "me." Mead rooted the self's "perception and meaning" deeply and sociologically in "a common praxis of subjects" (Joas 1985: 166) found specifically in social encounters. Understood as a combination of the 'I' and the 'me', Mead's self proves to be noticeably entwined within a sociological existence. For Mead, existence in community comes before individual consciousness. First one must participate in the different social positions within society and only subsequently can one use that experience to take the perspective of others and thus become 'conscious'. Mead is a major American philosopher by virtue of being, along with John Dewey, Charles Peirce and William James, one of the founders of pragmatism. He also made significant contributions to the philosophies of nature, science, and history, to philosophical anthropology, and to process philosophy. Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead considered Mead a thinker of the first rank. He is a classic example of a social theorist whose work does not fit easily within conventional disciplinary boundaries. As far as his work on the philosophy of science, Mead sought to find the psychological origin of science in the efforts of individuals to attain power over their environment. The notion of a physical object arises out of manipulatory experience. There is a social relation to inanimate objects, for the organism takes the role of things that it manipulates directly, or that it manipulates indirectly in perception. For example, in taking (introjecting or imitating) the resistant role of a solid object, an individual obtains cognition of what is "inside" nonliving things. Historically, the concept of the physical object arose from an animistic conception of the universe. Contact experience includes experiences of position, balance, and support, and these are used by the organism when it creates its conceptions of the physical world. Our scientific concepts of space, time, and mass are abstracted from manipulatory experience. Such concepts as that of the electron are also derived from manipulation. In developing a science we construct hypothetical objects in order to assist ourselves in controlling nature. The conception of the present as a distinct unit of experience, rather than as a process of becoming and disappearing, is a scientific fiction devised to facilitate exact measurement. In the scientific worldview immediate experience is replaced by theoretical constructs. The ultimate in experience, however, is the manipulation and contact at the completion of an act. Mead theorized that human beings begin their understanding of the social world through "play" and "game". "Play" comes first in the child's development. The child takes different roles he/she observes in "adult" society, and plays them out to gain an understanding of the different social roles. For instance, he first plays the role of policeman and then the role of thief while playing "Cops and Robbers," and plays the role of doctor and patient when playing "Doctor." As a result of such play, the child learns to become both subject and object and begins to become able to build a self. However, it is a limited self because the child can only take the role of distinct and separate others, they still lack a more general and organized sense of themselves. In the next stage, the game stage, it is required that a person develop a full sense of self. Whereas in the play stage the child takes on the role of distinct others, in the game stage the child must take the role of everyone else involved in the game. Furthermore, these roles must have a definite relationship to one another. To illustrate the game stage, Mead gives his famous example of a baseball game: But in a game where a number of individuals are involved, then the child taking one role must be ready to take the role of everyone else. If he gets in a ball nine he must have the responses of each position involved in his own position. He must know what everyone else is going to do in order to carry out his own play. He has to take all of these roles. They do not all have to be present in consciousness at the same time, but at some moments he has to have three or four individuals present in his own attitude, such as the one who is going to throw the ball, the one who is going to catch it and so on. These responses must be, in some degree, present in his own make-up. In the game, then, there is a set of responses of such others so organized that the attitude of one calls out the appropriate attitudes of the other. (Mead, 1934/1962:151) In the game stage, organization begins and definite personalities start to emerge. Children begin to become able to function in organized groups and most importantly, to determine what they will do within a specific group. Mead calls this the child's first encounter with "the generalized other", which is one of the main concepts Mead proposes for understanding the emergence of the (social) self in human beings. "The generalized other" can be thought of as understanding the given activity and the actors' place within the activity from the perspective of all the others engaged in the activity. Through understanding "the generalized other" the individual understands what kind of behavior is expected, appropriate and so on, in different social settings. How does perspective taking occur according to Mead? It has been argued that social acts (such as games and routine forms of social interaction) enable perspective taking through 'position exchange'. Assuming that games and routine social acts have differentiated social positions, and that these positions create our cognitive perspectives, then it might be that by moving between roles in a game (e.g. between hiding and seeking or buying and selling) we come to learn about the perspective of the other. This new interpretation of Mead's account of taking the perspective of the other has experimental support. 1932\. The Philosophy of the Present. Open Court Publishing, online., 1934\. Mind, Self, and Society. Ed. by Charles W. Morris. University of Chicago Press., 1936\. Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Ed. by C. W. Morris. University of Chicago Press., 1938\. The Philosophy of the Act. Ed. by C.W. Morris et al. University of Chicago Press., 1964\. Selected Writings. Ed. by A. J. Reck. University of Chicago Press. This volume collects articles Mead himself prepared for publication., 1982\. The Individual and the Social Self: Unpublished Essays by G. H. Mead. Ed. by David L. Miller. University of Chicago Press., 2001\. Essays in Social Psychology. Ed. by M. J. Deegan. Transaction Books. (Book review ), 2011\. G.H. Mead. A Reader. Ed. by F.C. Silva. Routledge., 2008\. G. H. Mead: the Philosophy of Education. Edited by Gert Biesta and Daniel Tröhler. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers. Aboulafia, Mitchell (ed.) (1991) Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Thought of George Herbert Mead. SUNY Press., Aboulafia, Mitchell (2001) The Cosmopolitan Self: George Herbert Mead and Continental Philosophy. University of Illinois Press., Blumer, H. & Morrione, T.J. (2004) George Herbert Mead and Human Conduct. New York: Altamira Press., Conesa-Sevilla, J. (2005). The Realm of Continued Emergence: The Semiotics of George Herbert Mead and its Implications to Biosemiotics, Semiotics Matrix Theory, and Ecological Ethics. Sign Systems Studies, September, 2005, Tartu University, Estonia., Gillespie, A. (2005) "G.H. Mead: Theorist of the social act," Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 35: 19-39., Gillespie, A. (2006). Games and the development of perspective taking . Human Development, 49, 87-92., Joas, Hans (1985) G.H. Mead: A Contemporary Re-examination of His Thought. MIT Press., Habermas, Jürgen (1992) "Individuation through socialization: On George Herbert Mead's theory of socialization," in Habermas, Postmetaphysical Thinking, translated by William Mark Hohengarten. MIT Press., Honneth, Axel (1996) "Recognition and socialization: Mead's naturalistic transformation of Hegel's idea," in Honneth, Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts, translated by Joel Anderson. MIT Press., Lewis, J.D. (1979) "A social behaviorist interpretation of the Meadian 'I'," American Journal of Sociology 85: 261-287., Lundgren, D.C. (2004) "Social feedback and self-appraisals: Current status of the Mead-Cooley hypothesis," Symbolic Interaction 27: 267-286., Miller, David L. (1973) G.H. Mead: Self, Language and the World. University of Chicago Press., Sánchez de la Yncera, Ignacio (1994) La Mirada Reflexiva de G.H. Mead. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas., Shalin, Dmitri (1988) "G. H. Mead, socialism, and the progressive agenda," American Journal of Sociology 93: 913-951., Silva, F. C. (2007) G.H. Mead. A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press., Silva, F. C. (2008) Mead and Modernity. Science, Selfhood and Democratic Politics. Lanham: Lexington Books. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "George Herbert Mead"—by George Cronk., Mead Project 2.0. Mead's published and unpublished writings, many of which are available online, along with others'., Review materials for studying George Herbert Mead, The Social Self - by George Herbert Mead (1913), George Herbert Mead by Mitchell Aboulafia - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing their nation. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system form of government, and constitution), of the country. They can also be military leaders of a war of independence that led to the existence of the country. Amílcar Cabral (var. Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral) (1924–1973) was an agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and political leader. He was also one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. Amílcar Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, several months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence. He is considered a founder of Cape Verde. Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Kasa-Vubu, Albert Kalonji, Jean Bolikango, Cléophas Kamitatu, and Paul Bolya are all considered "Fathers of Independence" in the Congo. Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Ahmed Seku Turay) (1922–1984) was a Guinean political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in the independence of the country from France. He is with Kwame Nkrumah one of the founders of the African Union, and the Guinean Diallo Telly was the first general secretary of the African Union. Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) led the nation to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. Jomo Kenyatta served as the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of the Republic. Oginga Odinga served as the first vice-president. Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876) was born a free man of black American descent. In 1829 his family moved to Liberia. In 1839, Roberts became Liberia's lieutenant governor and afterwards, its governor (1841–1848). He is known as the father of Liberia and officially declared Liberia's independence in 1847. King Idris Al-sanusi, also known as Idris I of Libya, (1889–1983) was the first and only king of Libya, reigning from 1951 to 1969, and the Chief of the Senussi Muslim order. Idris as-Senussi proclaimed an independent Emirate of Cyrenaica in 1949. He was also invited to become Emir of Tripolitania, another of the three traditional regions that now constitute modern Libya (the third being Fezzan). By accepting he began the process of uniting Libya under a single monarchy. A constitution was enacted in 1949 and adopted in October 1951. A National Congress elected Idris as King of Libya, and as Idris I he proclaimed the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya as a sovereign state on 24 December 1951. The King Radama I, the first Malagasy sovereign to be recognized as King of Madagascar (1810–1828)., Philibert Tsiranana, the first President of Madagascar from 1959 to 1972. Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Hendrik Witbooi (Namaqua chief) Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), Professor Eyo Ita (1904–1980s), Alvan Ikoku (1900–1971), Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996), Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987), Al-Haji Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910–1966), Al-Haji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912–1966), Chief Anthony Enahoro (1923–2010), Sir Egbert Udo Udoma (1917–1998), General Murtala Mohammed (1938–1976), Al-Haji Aminu Kano (1920–1983), Chief S.A Ajayi (1910–1994), Joseph Tarka (1932–1980), Dennis Osadebay (1911–1994) All are considered founders of Nigeria. The troika of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello negotiated Nigeria's independence from Britain, aided by such figures as Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Freetown, Sierra Leone was founded in part by an African American slave called Thomas Peters in 1792 who convinced British abolitionists to help settle 1,192 Black Americans who fought for the British in return for freedom. Peters alongside other Black Americans David George and Moses Wilkinson were influential in the establishment of Freetown, but it was Peters who is remembered today as the true influential leader and founder of Sierra Leone. A street was named for Thomas Peters in Freetown by the Krio Mayor Winstanley Bankole Johnson. Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) was the former President of South Africa, in office from 1994 to 1999. He led the negotiations, together with F. W. de Klerk, to racially integrate and unite the country. Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Joe Slovo, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Robert Sobukwe, Joe Modise, Chris Hani John Garang Julius Nyerere Key figure in the independence of the country and first President. On the part of Zanzibar the other side of the union there is Sheikh Abeid Aman Karume The founder of the modern Tunisia is Habib Bourguiba. Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth Kaunda (1924– ) is the prominent icon in the independence and unification of Zambia. However, there are important personalities like Simon Kapwepwe and Harry Nkumbula (1916–18) that fairly deserve recognition. Together, in their different capacities, they led the nation to freedom., Simon Kapwepwe, Harry Nkumbula Rekayi Tangwena, Joshua Nkomo, Leopold Takawira, Simon Muzenda, Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Tongogara, Enos Nkala, Edgar Tekere, George Nyandoro, James Chikerema, Solomon Mujuru, Alfred Nikita Mangena, Josiah Tungamirai, Jason Moyo Ahmad Shah Durrani (1723–1773) unified the Afghan tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. His mausoleum is next to the Shrine of the Cloak in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he is fondly known as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah the Father). Hayk Nahapet is considered the traditional founder of Armenia to which he gave his namesake (Hayk/Hayastan) and occasionally as the ancestor to all Armenians. He was explained in the Movses Khorenatsi book "History of Armenia (book) to have established Armenia as a home for his people around Lake Van where Hayk and his people battled with and were then free from the tyranny of the Neo Assyrian Empire and Nimrod in 2492 BC., Aram Manukian is considered the founder of the First Republic of Armenia. Mammad Amin Rasulzade (Azerbaijani: Məhəmməd Əmin Axund Hacı Molla Ələkbər oğlu Rəsulzadə, Turkish: Mehmed Emin Resulzâde; (1884–1955) was an Azerbaijani statesman, scholar, public figure and one of the founding political leaders of Azerbaijan Republic (1918–1920). His expression "Bir kərə yüksələn bayraq, bir daha enməz!" ("The flag once raised will never fall!") became the motto of the independence movement in Azerbaijan in the 20th century. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, known with the honorary title Bangabandhu, is the founding father of Bangladesh. He led Bengali nation to the decade long struggle for independence against then autocratic rule of Pakistan, finally resulting the Bangladesh Liberation War and the independence of Bangladesh in 1971., Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani are considered as three primary founders of Bangladesh, who shaped the Bengali nationalism since the days of British rule. Apart from the founding leaders, the four key members of the Liberation Wartime government vice-president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, finance minister Muhammad Mansur Ali and home minister Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman (altogether known as 'Four National Leaders') and the Liberation Wartime armed forces chief Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani are hailed as vital figures in Bangladesh's independence. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651) fled Tibet and unified the fiefdoms of Bhutan. He established the dual system of shared power between secular and Buddhist leadership that continues as a tradition to the present. Huangdi is revered as the legendary founder and initiator of Chinese civilization. Yu the Great was a legendary ruler in ancient China famed for inaugurating dynastic rule in China by establishing the legendary Xia Dynasty. In 221 BC, after the then-king of Qin completed the conquest of the various Chinese kingdoms of the Warring States period, he adopted a new title to reflect his prestige as a ruler greater than the rulers before him. He called himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. Sun Yat-sen is seen as the first president of a Republican China and is highly regarded as the "Forerunner of the Democratic Revolution" (革命先行者) in the People's Republic of China. Mao Zedong is reverred as the founder of the people's republic in 1949. Sun Yat-sen is revered as the founding father ("Father of the Nation"–國父) of the Republic of China. Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) is considered the father of India and prominent Indian independence activist. He has featured on Indian currency. Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta are the founders of Indonesia. They both signed the Proclamation of Independence which then read by Sukarno, proclaiming the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945. A day later, they were elected respectively as the first President and Vice President of Indonesia. As the Netherlands did not recognize the independence, both of them were prominent figures and were seen as symbol of unity among Indonesian people to fight against Dutch during the National Revolution from 1945 to 1949. In August 1949, Hatta headed a delegation to the Hague for a Round Table Conference which then led to the recognition of Indonesian independence by the Netherlands on 23 December 1949. Cyrus the Great (600–530 BC) was the founder of the First Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty an empire without precedent – a first world-empire of historical importance. Many Iranians gather at his tomb in Pasargadae annually on the Cyrus the Great Day and Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Prior to the 1979 Revolution the 2,500th year of Foundation of Imperial State of Iran took place. It consisted of an elaborate set of festivities that took place on 12–16 October 1971 on the occasion of the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Imperial State of Iran and First Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. The intent of the celebration was to demonstrate Iran's old civilization and history to showcase its contemporary advancements under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Theodor Herzl is considered the founder of Israel's founding ideology known as Zionism along with Zeev Jabotenski. David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel, and considered an important figure in the creation of the Zionist state. (traditional reign 660–585 BC) was the first Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. The Japanese national holiday is celebrated annually on 11 February in commemoration of the founding of the nation of Japan and the ascension of Emperor Jimmu to the imperial throne. There is no law in the country which officially recognizes a single individual as the "Father of the Nation". Either title may be associated with any of the following prominent historical persons, owing to their impact on the country during their respective times: Alikhan Bukeikhanov (1866–1937) was a Kazakh statesman, politician, publicist, teacher, writer and environmental scientist. He was leader and founder of the Alash Orda national liberation movement. He sided with the westernizers in the Kazakh political scene who were promoting the idea of the Western culture into the Kazakh steppe. In 1920, after the establishment of Soviet hegemony, Bukeikhanov joined the Bolshevik party and returned to scientific life. His earlier political activities caused the authorities to view him with suspicion, leading to arrests in 1926 and 1928. In 1926, Bukeikhanov was arrested on the charge of counter-revolutionary activity and put into Butyrka prison in Moscow. But due to the lack of evidence in the criminal case against him, he was released from prison. In 1930, the authorities banished him to Moscow, where he was arrested a final time in 1937 and executed. Dinmukhamed Kunayev (1912–1993) was a Kazakh Soviet communist politician. He became first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan again in 1964 when Khrushchev was ousted and replaced by Brezhnev. He kept his position for twenty-two more years. He was an alternate member of the Politburo from 1967, and a full member from 1971 to 1987. During Kunayev's long rule, Kazakhs occupied prominent positions in the bureaucracy, economy and educational institutions. A Brezhnev loyalist, he was removed from office under pressure from Mikhail Gorbachev, who accused him of corruption. On 16 December 1986 the Politburo replaced him with Gennady Kolbin, who had never lived in the Kazakh SSR before. This provoked street riots in Almaty, which were the first signs of ethnic strife during Gorbachev's tenure. In modern Kazakhstan, this revolt is called Jeltoqsan, meaning December in Kazakh. Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected the nation's first president following its independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991. In 2010 Parliament of Kazakhstan named him Елбасы (Elbasy) which means "Leader of the Nation". Tunku Abdul Rahman (1903–1990) usually known as "the Tunku" (a princely title in Malaysia), and also called Bapa Kemerdekaan (Father of Independence) or Bapa Malaysia (Father of Malaysia), was Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955, and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 1957. He remained Prime Minister after Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined in 1963 to form Malaysia. Modu Chanyu, (c. 234–174 BC), founded the first Mongolian Xiongnu state. Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227), who by uniting the nomadic tribes founded the Mongol Empire, is generally regarded as the father of modern-day Mongolia. Although downcast during the communist-era, Genghis Khan's reputation surged after the democratic revolution in 1990. Modern Mongolia is often called "Genghis's Mongolia". Anawrahta is considered to be founder of ancient Burmese Kingdom of Pagan. General Aung San is the founder of modern Burma (also known as Myanmar). Although he did not live to see the country's independence, he is credited in forming the basic structure of the independence movement and government. Aung San started his political career in 1930 as the editor of Rangoon University's Newspaper – where he accused one of the British administrators of misconduct. In late 1940 he went to Japanese controlled Taiwan and Xiamen to receive military training, and he led the Burmese National Army, spearheading the Japanese invasion of Burma. Later, he switched sides to the Allies, and helped in the Burma Campaign. After the war, he was appointed to the government of a returning British Administration, and was able to negotiate Burma's independence. He helped organized the Panglong Agreement in February 1947, achieving independence for all Burmese territories. However, on Saturday, 19 July 1947, Aung San, along with his cabinet ministers, was assassinated at the secretariat building in Rangoon. Prithvi Narayan Shah was largely responsible for the unification of Nepal, and is considered to be the founder of Nepal. His vision of ruling over a unified Nepal is said to have started when atop a hill near Nepa Valley (Present day Kathmandu), he decided he would like to rule over it. His strategic plan was very successful and his successors continued to build on his progress. Prithvi Narayan Shah's descendants continued to rule over Nepal for a total of 240 years before the 2006 democracy movement in Nepal toppled the constitutional power exercised by King Gyanendra, before abolishing the monarchy in 2008. Kim Il-sung was the first leader and founding father of North Korea at the time of the establishment of the country in 1948. Pakistan's founder is Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who is hailed as Quaid-e-Azam or "Great Leader" and Baba-e-Qaum or Father of Nation. Other prominent founders include the poet Allama Iqbal or spiritual Father, believed to be the first person to propagate the idea of a state for India's Muslims, Fatima Jinnah (Mother of nation) and members of Pakistan's first Cabinet such as Liaquat Ali Khan, A. K. Fazlul Huq, Abdul Rab Nishtar, Malik Feroze Khan Noon, Khwaja Nazimuddin and I. I. Chundrigar. Some historians credit the Muslim reformist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as a founder of Pakistan There is no law in the country which officially recognizes a single individual as the "Father of the Nation". Either title may be associated with any of the following prominent historical persons, owing to their impact on the country during their respective times: José Rizal (1861–1896) was a Filipino nationalist during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain. He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after an anti-colonial revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine independence. He is widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines, and is implied by Philippine law to be one of the national heroes. He was the author of the novels Noli Me Tángere, and El Filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays. Andrés Bonifacio (1863–1897) De facto President and a leader during the Philippine Revolution in 1896, which saw armed resistance against the Spanish Empire. Emilio Aguinaldo (1869–1964) Leader of the latter part of the Philippine Revolution and first president of the Philippines through the 1899 Malolos Congress, which oversaw the promulgation of the Malolos Constitution. King Abdulaziz Al Saud, also known as Ibn Saud, is the founding father of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) often referred to as the "Father of Singapore" or by the initials "LKY", he was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades. He is also widely recognised as the founder of modern Singapore. Syngman Rhee was the first president and founding father of South Korea at the time of the establishment of the country in 1948. Prince Vijaya is considered to be the first King of Sri Lanka with King Dutugemunu honored as the first king to unify Sri Lanka. D. S. Senanayake (1883–1952) is widely known as the modern (post independence) father of the nation. William Gopallawa (1896–1981) was the first Constitutional President while J. R. Jayewardene (1906–1996) was the first Executive President. Kinh Dương Vương and descendants of the Hồng Bàng dynasty (reigned between 2879–258 BC) are revered as the founders of the first Vietnamese state and civilization. Its commemoration, also known as Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương, is an official public holiday in Vietnam, which is celebrated on the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month. Ho Chi Minh is the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the founder of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He proclaimed the independence of Vietnam from Japanese and French on 2 September 1945. He later led Vietnam through wars against France and the United States. Initially independent emirates part of the Trucial states, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan established the United Arab Emirates by joining the seven independent emirates into a federation. Skanderbeg was a prominent historical figure in the history of Albania and of the Albanian people. He successfully fought against the Ottoman Empire during its apex (the time of Sultans Murad II and Mehmed II) and maintained independence for 25 years (1443–1468) until his death. He is the national hero of the Albanians., Ismail Qemali was a distinguished leader of the Albanian national movement at the beginning of the 20th century, founder of the modern Albanian state in 1912, and its first head of state and government. Alija Izetbegović, the war-time president of Bosnia, is deemed the national founder of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kubrat was the ruler of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. His son Asparukh migrated to the Balkans and established the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. Modern day Bulgaria is a direct successor of this state. Asparukh's brother Kotrag migrated north and founded Volga Bulgaria. Mythical rulers of Bulgaria exist before them, dating back as far as 3rd millennium BC. Ante Starčević, founder of Croatian nationalism., Franjo Tuđman, first President of the Republic of Croatia 1990–99. Self-proclaimed "Father of the Nation". Václav Klaus is a Czech prominent politician, later President, which agreed on dissolution of Czechoslovakia with the Slovaks. Václav Havel was the First President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Founder of modern Czech statehood is considered the First President of Czechoslovakia Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1918–1935). The Kingdom of Bohemia was formally established in 1198 by Přemysl Ottokar I, patron Saint is Saint Wenceslaus, which murder is celebrated as Statehood Day. Makarios III was the first President of Cyprus and is often called the Father of the Nation. Vercingetorix : he united the Gauls in a revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars., Clovis I : King of the Salian Franks (481-509), King of the Franks (509–511) ; united all the Frankish tribes in Gaul and gave them a common Catholic religion., Charlemagne : King of the Franks (768–814), Holy Roman Emperor (800–814), King of the Lombards (774–814) ; considered as a major founding figure of Europe., Louis XIV : King of France (1643–1715) ; permitted a large number of reforms and military victories ; leader of the centralisation of the political power., Napoleon I : First Consul of France (1799–1804), first President of the Italian Republic (1802–1805), King of Italy (1805–1814), Emperor of the French (1804–1814) ; founded the First French Empire and established many modern French institutions., Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, later known as Emperor Napoleon III (1852–1870) is the first French President (1848–1852). He was the last Monarch of France., Charles de Gaulle is a hero of the French resistance to Germany during World War II, and the founder and first president (1959–1969) of the Fifth French Republic. King Pharnavaz I of Iberia (302–237 BC) was the first king of the united Georgian kingdom of Iberia. Bagrat III is considered as the first king of united Georgian Kingdom. Zviad Gamsakhurdia is the first president and founder of modern republic of Georgia. Before the national unification of Germany in 1871, German nationalists sought out multiple legendary founders of the German nation, such as Arminius, Charlemagne and – as championed by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn and Richard Wagner – Henry the Fowler. Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the "Iron Chancellor", engineered the unification of the numerous states of Germany in 1871. Modern, democratic Germany was decisively shaped by the "Fathers of the Basic Law" in the 1948 Constitutional Convention at Herrenchiemsee, and by the first German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. For reunified Germany, the slogan "Wir sind das Volk!" ("We are the people!") became symbolic, thus making all Germans founders of modern Germany. Hellen, mythical progenitor of the Greeks, who gives his name to both the people and the country in the Greek language., Theseus, semi-legendary founder-hero of Athens, Solon (594 BC) and Cleisthenes (508/7 BC), inventors of democracy and founders of the Athenian constitution., Lycurgus of Sparta, founder of the Spartan constitution, Cadmus, founder and first King of Thebes., Philip II of Macedon, founder of the first united Greek federation and father of Alexander the Great., Alexander the Great, founder of the Macedonian Empire. Adamantios Korais, Theophilos Kairis and other figures of the Greek Enlightenment who contributed to the country's national awakening leading up to its revolution against the Ottoman Empire, Rigas Feraios, writer and revolutionary who is remembered as a national hero and the first victim of the uprising against the Ottomans., Theodoros Kolokotronis, Georgios Karaiskakis, Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Laskarina Bouboulina, Yannis Makriyannis and other military leaders of the Greek War of Independence, Alexandros Mavrokordatos, President of the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, co-author of the and first Provisional Constitution and first head of government (President of the Executive) of Modern Greece., Ioannis Kapodistrias, first head of state of independent Greece (1827–31) and founder of the modern Greek state, Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Greek national liberation movement, credited with being "the maker of modern Greece"., Konstantinos Karamanlis, the first Greek president after the fall of junta, founder of New Democracy, and also known as the "Ethnarch". According to Anonymus the fejedelem who made the Magyars settle into the Carpathian Basin in 896 A.D. was Árpád. His dynasty reigned over the Hungarian Kingdom from the ninth century until 1301. In Hungary Stephen I of Hungary is commonly regarded as the founder of the nation. He was Hungary's first king and united the Magyar people into the Kingdom of Hungary. Amongst others, Lajos Kossuth is supposed to be the Pater Patriae. He is known as the leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against the Habsburgs, and therefore founder of the modern Hungarian Republic. The Irish Free State was established after the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), in which Éamon de Valera, Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins were key leaders. However, they became antagonists in the Irish Civil War (1922–23), in which Collins and Brugha were killed and de Valera defeated. For decades, the inheritors of the opposing factions bypassed these sensitivities to honour the earlier leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, in particular the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Éamonn Ceannt, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Plunkett. Romulus, founder of Rome, the capital of Italy, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus roman general, defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War, saving the roman state from collapse, Julius Caesar, great roman general and dictator, extended roman citizenship to the inhabitants Cisalpine Gaul, Caesar Augustus organized Italia and the Italicus Populus during the Roman Empire., Constantine the Great, legalized Christianity and laid the foundation for the Christianisation of the Empire, Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor, who liberated Italy from the Ostrogoths, Alberto da Giussano, legendary warrior who defeat the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at the Battle of Legnano, thus securing the independence of the Northern Italian Lombard League, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, born and raised in Italy, made Palermo his capital and established the first Italian vulgar literary tradition., Dante Alighieri, father of the Italian language and author of the Divina Commedia, Napoleon Bonaparte was the first to use the title of President of the Italian Republic. King Vittorio Emanuele II, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Prime minister Count of Cavour and Giuseppe Mazzini have been referred to as the "Four Fathers of the Fatherland". Italy was unified in 1861 and Rome became its capital in 1870., The members of the Assemblea Costituente (the Constituent Assembly of 1946–1947) are considered the "fathers" of the Italian Republic, which replaced the Monarchy after a referendum in 1946. Prominent members among them included Alcide De Gasperi (also counted among the founding fathers of the European Union), the communist Palmiro Togliatti and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the "premier of victory" in WWI. Most Latvians regard Kārlis Ulmanis, a key figure in the Latvian war of independence and four-times Prime Minister of Latvia, as being the founding father of modern Latvia. The first and the only one king (1251–1263) of Lithuania, Mindaugas, is seen as the founder of the Lithuanian state, as is commemorated on Statehood Day on 6 July. Dr. Jonas Basanavičius, activist and proponent of the Lithuanian National Revival in the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, who participated in every major event leading to the independence of Lithuania, member of the Council of Lithuania which on 16 February 1918 declared Lithuania an independent state, is universally considered the "Patriarch of the Nation". Petar I Petrović-Njegoš (1747–1830) acquired de facto independence for Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire and created the first Montenegrin law in modern era Prince William I of Orange (1533–1584) or William the Silent, is known as the father of the Netherlands. He led the Dutch in their Revolt against Spain for their independence. Today he is often called Vader des Vaderlands which in English means, Father of the Fatherland. As well respected statesmen in North Macedonia are considered Metodija Andonov-Čento (first president of SR Macedonia), Nikola Karev (president of Kruševo Republic) and Kiro Gligorov (first president of independent Macedonia). However, often, as "fathers" of the nation are considered Gotse Delchev, Krste Misirkov, Georgi Pulevski and Dimitrija Čupovski and other prominent authors and revolutionaries. King Harald Fairhair, who unified Norway and ruled c. 872–930, is often considered the founder of the nation. Usually the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814, consisting of 112 men from most of the country, in Norway often referred to as Eidsvoll Men or the Fathers of the Constitution. Einar Henry Gerhardsen (1897–1987) was a Norwegian politician who represented the Labor Party. He was Norway's prime minister from 1945 to 1951, from 1955 to 1963 and from 1963 to 1965. In Norway, Gerhardsen is known as "landsfaderen" – "the father of the country", and he is referred to as one of the main architects behind the Norwegian welfare state that emerged after World War II. Musa al-Husayni, mayor of Jerusalem, Organized the first Palestinian national congress in 1919 shortly after the capture of Palestine by the British during World War I. He became the first leader of the Palestinian national movement. In 1933, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, led the first organized armed resistance against the British rule. Upon his death in battle in November 1935, Al Qassam became a Palestinian national hero and founding figure of Palestinian modern nationalism and a revolutionary icon. ِAl-Qassam's death triggered the Great Palestinian Revolt in 1936, of which Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad, Yousef Abu Durra and Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Musa al-Hussayni's son, were the military leaders and thus became Palestinian national heroes. The revolt ended in 1939 and a British retribution campaign began, killing most of the highest former military commanders of the revolt and deporting other political leaders, such as Amin al-Husseini. The British campaign went on to as imprison and execute a large number of Palestinians suspicious of having the participated in the revolt, thus leaving the Palestinian people with no leadership and no combat capacity. This paved the way for the 1948 Palestinian catastrophe, the Nakba. Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni was the only survivor of the British retribution and when the Nakba events began in late 1947, he returned from exile in Iraq and organized the only resistance to Zionist troops in the region of Jerusalem. He was killed in battle at the village of Al-Qastal, near Jerusalem on 7 April 1948 and became a Palestinian legendary figure, as well as Muhiba Khorshid, the Palestinian woman who led the defence of Yaffa ( Jaffa ) becoming a Palestinian female icon. After the Nakba, Ahmad al-Shukeiri founded the Palestine Liberation Organization- PLO in 1964 and became its first chairman, thus becoming the founder of the post-Nakba Palestinina national movement. In 1968, the first Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation emerged with the Fedayin movement in Jordan, led by Yasser Arafat and Georges Habash. Arafat became a heroic figure after the battle of Al-Karamah in the Jordan valley, in which he led a small group of partisans who resisted to the Israeli army, forcing it to withdraw. The same year Arafat was elected as second chairman of the PLO. Arafat became the predominant figure of the Palestinian national movement throughout the second half of the 20th century, galvanizing Palestinian national simbolism in his personal appearance. During the same period, George Habash, Nayef Hawatmeh, Khalil al-Wazir, Salah Khalaf and Abu Ali Mustafa were important Palestinian national leaders and historic figures, as well as Ahmed Yassin and Fathi Shaqaqi, who founded, respectively, the Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine – Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, which played an important role in the Palestinian national movement since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in 1987. Legendary: Lech, legendary first leader of Polans tribe. Kingdom of Poland and Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów: Mieszko I (c. 920/45–992), the first historical ruler of Poland, Mieszko I is considered the de facto creator of the Polish state. He was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. Mieszko I's marriage in 965 to the Přemyslid princess Dobrawa and his baptism in 966 put him and his country in the cultural sphere of Western Christianity. According to existing sources, Mieszko I was a wise politician, a talented military leader and charismatic ruler. He successfully used diplomacy, concluding an alliance with Bohemia first, and then with Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire. In foreign policy, he placed the interests of his country foremost, even entering into agreements with former enemies. On his death, he left to his sons a country of greatly expanded territory, with a well-established position in Europe. Mieszko I also appeared as "Dagome" in a papal document from about 1085, called "Dagome iudex", which mentions a gift or dedication of Mieszko's land to the Pope (the act took place almost a hundred years earlier)., Bolesław I Chrobry (967–1025), was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was the son of Mieszko I of Poland by his wife, Dobrawa of Bohemia. He supported the missionary views of Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, and Bruno of Querfurt. The martyrdom of Adalbert in 997 and his imminent canonization were used to consolidate Poland's autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire. This perhaps happened most clearly during the Congress of Gniezno (11 March 1000), which resulted in the establishment of a Polish church structure with a Metropolitan See at Gniezno. This See was independent of the German Archbishopric of Magdeburg, which had tried to claim jurisdiction over the Polish church. Following the Congress of Gniezno, bishoprics were also established in Kraków, Wrocław and Kołobrzeg, and Bolesław formally repudiated paying tribute to the Holy Roman Empire. In the summer of 1018, in one of his expeditions, Bolesław I captured Kiev, where he installed his son-in-law Sviatopolk I as ruler. According to legend, Bolesław chipped his sword when striking Kiev's Golden Gate. Later, in honor of this legend, a sword called Szczerbiec ("Jagged Sword") would become the coronation sword of Poland's kings. Bolesław I was a remarkable politician, strategist, and statesman. He not only turned Poland into a country comparable to older western monarchies, but he raised it to the front rank of European states. Bolesław conducted successful military campaigns in the west, south and east. He consolidated Polish lands and conquered territories outside the borders of modern-day Poland, including Slovakia, Moravia, Red Ruthenia, Meissen, Lusatia, and Bohemia. He was a powerful mediator in Central European affairs. Finally, as the culmination of his reign, in 1025 he had himself crowned King of Poland. He was the first Polish ruler to receive the title of rex (Latin: "king"). Władysław II Jagiełło (c. 1352/1362 – 1434) was the Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434) and then the King of Poland (1386–1434), first alongside his wife Jadwiga until 1399, and then sole King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377. Born a pagan, in 1386 he converted to Catholicism and was baptized as Władysław in Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. In 1387 he converted Lithuania to Christianity. His own reign in Poland started in 1399, upon the death of Queen Jadwiga, and lasted a further thirty-five years and laid the foundation for the centuries-long Polish–Lithuanian union. The dynasty ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in late medieval and early modern Central and Eastern Europe. During his reign, the Polish-Lithuanian state was the largest state in the Christian world. The reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is often considered the beginning of Poland's Golden Age., Zygmunt II August (1520–1572), was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. In 1569 he oversaw the signing of the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and introduced an elective monarchy., Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746–1817) was a Polish-Lithuanian military engineer, statesman, and military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States. He fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the U.S. side in the American Revolutionary War. As Supreme Commander of the Polish National Armed Forces, he led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising. Fathers of Polish Independence: Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918–22) and First Marshal of Poland (from 1920). From World War I he had great power in Polish politics and was a distinguished figure on the international scene. He is viewed as a father of the Druga Rzeczpospolita Polska re-established in 1918, 123 years after the 1795 Partitions of Poland by Austria, Prussia and Russia., Roman Dmowski (1864–1939), was a Polish politician, statesman, polyglot, and the lider of National Democracy movement. He was represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919., Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941), was a Polish pianist and composer, freemason, politician, statesman and spokesman for Polish independence. He was a favorite of concert audiences around the world. His musical fame opened access to diplomacy and the media. Paderewski played an important role in meeting with President Woodrow Wilson and obtaining the explicit inclusion of independent Poland as point 13 in Wilson's peace terms in 1918, called the Fourteen Points. He was the Prime Minister of Poland and also Poland's foreign minister in 1919, and represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919., Wojciech Konfanty (1873–1939), was a Polish activist, journalist and politician, who served as a member of the German parliaments, the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag, and later, in the Polish Sejm. Briefly, he also was a paramilitary leader, known for organizing the Polish Silesian Uprisings in Upper Silesia, which after World War I was contested by Germany and Poland. Korfanty fought to protect Poles from discrimination and the policies of Germanisation in Upper Silesia before the war and sought to join Silesia to Poland after Poland regained its independence., Wincenty Witos (1874–1945), was a Polish politic and the lider of Polish Peasants' Movement. Witos was also a leader of Polish Liquidation Committee, formed in Kraków in 1918., Ignacy Daszyński (1866–1936), was a Polish socialist politician, journalist, and Prime Minister of the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland, formed in Lublin in 1918., Józef Haller von Hallenburg (1873–1960) was a lieutenant general of the Polish Army, a legionary in the Polish Legions, harcmistrz (the highest Scouting instructor rank in Poland), the president of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP), and a political and social activist. After the Peace of Brest-Litovsk he arrived in France in July 1918, where on behalf of the Polish National Committee he created what was known as the Blue Army (from the color of its French uniforms, also known as Haller's Army). For the next few months his army, allied to the Entente, would fight against Germany. Viriathus was the most important leader of the Lusitanian people that resisted Roman expansion into western Hispania or Iberia (as the Greeks called it). Today Viriathus is regarded as a national hero and an enduring symbol of Portuguese nationality and independence, portrayed by artists and celebrated by its people throughout the centuries., Henry of Burgundy (1066–1112), was appointed Count of Portugal as a reward for military services to Kingdom of León, and with the purpose of expanding the territory southwards. And, more importantly, his son, Count Afonso I of Portugal (1109–1185), a Templar Brother who took control of the county after Henry died and was recognized by the Holy See, in 1179, as the first King of Portugal, through the Manifestis Probatum bull. Burebista is considered the great king who unified all the Dacian tribes.And he is also known for creating a powerful empire that stretched from west to Adriatic Sea and Southern Germany, the east to Black Sea, north to Southern Poland and south to Macedonia(Greece) and Eastern Thrace. He's considered by many Romanians as a national hero. The Dacian Empire under Burebista was the greatest territorial extent in Romania's history., Decebalus and Trajan are considered to be the fathers of the Romanian people, as Roman veterans were settled on the present-day territory of Romania following Trajan's Dacian Wars., Michael the Brave was the first Romanian prince to rule over the traditional Romanian provinces (Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania) in a personal union, albeit briefly., Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as the first leader of the modern Romanian state. He presided over Wallachia and Moldavia in a personal union, which later became permanent even though he was forced to abdicate. Rurik, a Varangian prince and the legendary founder of the royal Rurikid dynasty, established the first Russian state in Novgorod the Great in 862., Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow from the Rurikid dynasty, established the Tsardom of Muscovy and was proclaimed the first Tsar of Russia in 1547., Mikhail I of Russia was the first Tsar of Russia from the House of Romanov, elected to the throne by the Zemsky Sobor in 1613. His elevation marked the end of the period of political and civil strife known as the Time of Troubles., Peter the Great, Tsar and then Emperor of Russia from the House of Romanov, founded Saint Petersburg in 1703 and established the Russian Empire in 1721, inaugurating the imperial period of Russian history that lasted until the February Revolution of 1917., Mikhail S. Gorbachev was the last General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and the first and only President of the USSR, who started reforms known as perestroika that led to the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991., Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian Federation as an independent state. He was first elected to the presidency in June 1991, while the Russian Federation was still a part of the USSR, and re-elected in 1996. Saint Marinus was the founder of the world's oldest surviving republic, San Marino, in 301. Tradition holds that he was a stonemason by trade who came from the island of Rab on the other side of the Adriatic Sea (modern Croatia), fleeing persecution for his Christian beliefs in the Diocletianic Persecution. Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince of Serbia (r. 1166–1196). The Serbian Church, under St. Sava, depicted Nemanja as the founder of Serbia., Karađorđe, Grand Leader (1804–1813), liberator of Serbia, organizer and leader of the Serbian Revolution. The honorific Father of the Fatherland (Отац Отаџбине) has been given to Saint Sava, Karađorđe, and Miloš Obrenović, the latter having been given it by the National Assembly during his lifetime. Many Slovaks see Great Moravia as their ancestors, which would make Mojmír I a founder. France Bučar is a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first chairman of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the independence of Slovenia on 25 June 1991. He is considered one of the founders of Slovenian democracy and independence. He is also considered, together with Peter Jambrek, as the main author of the current Slovenian constitution. Jože Pučnik was president of DEMOS and one of the main persons in the Slovenian fight for independence. The largest Slovenian airport is named Letališče Jožeta Pučnika (Jože Pučnik airport). Lojze Peterle was first prime minister of Slovenia and Milan Kučan was the first president. The Catholic Monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, unified Spain in the 15th century. Both came from the noble House of Trastámara. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was the first to inherit the dynastic union and the first Habsburg monarch. His successor, Philip II of Spain, established a capital in Madrid. The first Bourbon King of Spain was Philip V of Spain, who is also responsible for the de jure unification of the country. While Sweden had existed as a monarchy of sorts long before his time, Birger Jarl, father of and regent for Valdemar, King of Sweden, can be said to have established Sweden as a nation. Birger was Jarl in the years 1248–66. Gustav I of Sweden, who secured Sweden's independence from Denmark in 1523, is often considered a father of the nation. Both the anonymous Eidgenossen who drew up the Federal Charter of 1291, or the liberal statesmen who helped found the modern Swiss Confederation in 1848 can be considered the founders of Switzerland. Among the latter, those who became the first members of the Swiss Federal Council were perhaps the most notable: Ulrich Ochsenbein, Jakob Stämpfli, Jonas Furrer, Josef Munzinger, Henri Druey, Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Wilhelm Matthias Naeff and Stefano Franscini. By the end of the 14th century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks due to the collapse of the Seljuq dynasty in the area. The Seljuq dynasty had established both the Seljuk Empire, which was founded by Tughril and the Sultanate of Rum, with the first one being responsible for the Turkification of Anatolia. Osman I unified the beyliks under one banner, proclaiming the Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. Following the First World War, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Turkish War of Independence (1919–23), initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues in Anatolia, resulted in the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) in 1923. He subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of transforming the old Ottoman-Turkish state into a new secular republic. Mykhailo Hrushevsky was the President the Central Council of Ukraine People's Republic. Leonid Kravchuk is the First President of Ukraine elected in 1991. As the UK formed over many years, its founders did not live at the same time as each other. They include: King James VI & I primarily ascent to the English throne whilst sitting as the Scottish monarch. Humphrey Wingfield, Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1535, at the time of England's union with Wales; John Smith and James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater, Speakers of the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, when the Acts of Union united Scotland and England; Henry Addington and John FitzGibbon, leaders of the British and Irish parliaments at the time of the Acts of Union 1801, uniting Great Britain and Ireland; and Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, who both signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which allowed most of Ireland to leave the UK and become the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland had already been established in May 1921, having been created in the Government of Ireland Act in December 1920. This Act was guided through the British House of Commons by Sir Hamar Greenwood, MP, the Chief Secretary for Ireland at the time. Northern Ireland had been created at the insistence of both Captain Sir James Craig and Sir Edward Carson, the Ulster Unionist leaders. Manuel Belgrano and José de San Martín were important figures in early Argentina. Lynden Pindling is considered the "Father of the Nation". George Cadle Price (1919–2011) is considered to be the Father of the Nation of Belize. Simon Bolivar (1783–1830) and Antonio José de Sucre (1795–1830) are considered to be the founders of Bolivia. Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467/68–1520) commander of the first Portuguese fleet to arrive in South America. José Bonifácio de Andrada (1763–1838), known as "Patriarch of Independence", is considered the maximum leader of the Independence movement because of his intellectual mentorship and political prominence, and Pedro I of Brazil (1798–1834), son of the King João VI of Portugal, the symbol of the "center of force and union", according to the Bonifácio strategy. The name "Fathers of Confederation" is given to those who attended the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences in 1864, and the London Conference of 1866, to establish the Canadian Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation. Queen Victoria, who supported and encouraged this process, is known as the Mother of Confederation. She was the first Monarch under the 1867 Constitution and personally chose Ottawa as Canada's capital city. The political leaders who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as "Fathers of Confederation." Errol Barrow (Barbados: 1920–1987); Forbes Burnham (Guyana: 1923–1985); Michael Manley (Jamaica: 1924–1997); and Eric Williams (Trinidad and Tobago: 1911–1981) were the leaders who brought forth regional integration among the Caribbean Community. Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) and José Miguel Carrera (1785–1821) are usually considered the founders of Chile. Simón Bolívar, was founder of Gran Colombia, which also included Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Francisco de Paula Santander wrote the first constitution of Colombia. Antonio Nariño ("Precursor of the Independence") and Camilo Torres were the most relevant statesmen of the First Republic. Juan Mora Fernández, first Head of State of Costa Rica. José María Castro Madriz, First President of the Republic and proclaimed "Founder of the Republic" by Congress Juan Rafael Mora Porras, President during Costa Rica's campaign against William Walker, proclaimed "Hero and Liberator" by Congress. José Martí is a Cuban national hero. Juan Pablo Duarte (1813–1876), Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (1817–1861) and Matías Ramón Mella (1816–1864) are considered the Fathers of the Country. Duarte is featured on the $1 coin and on the now discontinued $1 bill; Sanchez on the $5 coin and on the also discontinued $5 bill; Mella on the $10 coin and on the also discontinued $10 bill. Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803) and Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758–1806) were revolutionary and early political leaders of Haiti. Henri Christophe and Alexandre Pétion were also important figures of early Haiti. Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley are considered to be the founders of Jamaica. Alexander Bustamante is credited for his role as an influential union leader and as founder of the Jamaican Labour Party. Bustamante served as the then colony's first Chief Minister from 1953 to 1955 and later went on to lead Jamaica to independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, becoming the country's first Prime Minister. Norman Manley is particularly noted for his role in securing universal suffrage for the country's population in 1944 along with founding the People's National Party. Manley also served as Chief Minister of Jamaica from 1955 to 1962. According to the decrees of the Congress of the Union of Mexico issued in 1822 and 1823, the Mexican founders are Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811), Ignacio Allende (1769–1811), Juan Aldama (1774–1811), Mariano Abasolo (1783–1816), José María Morelos (1765–1815), Mariano Matamoros (1770–1814), Leonardo Bravo (1764–1812), Miguel Bravo (unknown–1814), Hermenegildo Galeana (1762–1814), Mariano Jiménez (1781–1811), Xavier Mina (1789–1817), Pedro Moreno (1775–1817), and Víctor Rosales (1776–1817). Nine of the thirteen founders are buried in the Monument to Independence in Mexico City. José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar led Peru to independence and forged the country. Pachacuti, the 9th Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cusco, is the founder of the Inca Empire. José de San Martín, Simón Bolívar, Antonio José de Sucre, Francisco de Paula Santander, Francisco de Miranda have been referred to as the founding fathers of the region comprising modern day Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama. José Gervasio Artigas is considered to be the founder of Uruguay. Within the large group known as "the Founding Fathers", there are two key subsets, the Signers (who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776) and the Framers (who were delegates to the Federal Convention and took part in framing or drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States). Some historians have suggested a revised definition of the "Founding Fathers", including a significantly broader group of not only the Signers and the Framers but also all those who, whether as politicians or jurists or statesmen or soldiers or diplomats or ordinary citizens, took part in winning US independence and creating the United States of America. Eminent American historian Richard B. Morris, in his 1973 book Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries, identified the following seven figures as the key founders: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) is considered to be the founder not only of Venezuela, but of many of the region's countries as the Gran Colombia, which also included Panama, Ecuador, and Colombia and Bolivia. José Antonio Páez led the separation of Venezuela from the Gran Colombia and formed the modern statehood of the country. Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896) is often regarded as the "Father of Federation" in Australia. During the late 19th century, he was the strongest proponent for a federation of Australian territories. However, he died before Australia federated, and was never able to see his plan come to fruition. Various other "founders" of Australia have also been unofficially recognised: Captain Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales and founder of the first British colony; and Sir Edmund Barton, the first Australian Prime Minister. Andrew Inglis Clark is another founding father of Australia. He largely wrote the Australian Constitution in addition to developing the Hare-Clark system of voting and pushing for universal adult suffrage and other progressive ideals that would become law early in Australia's history. Alfred Deakin also stands out as a significant Founding Father as he attended all the Federation Conferences, he gave up 10 years of senior political appointments to travel the country promoting federation and was Australia's first Attorney General. He was instrumental in securing Edmond Barton as the first Prime Minister while Deakin went on to be Australia's 2nd, 5th and 7th Prime Minister. Deakin was responsible for establishing the High Court, Australian Navy, and many other important acts of parliament. Sir Robert Menzies is on record for saying he was Australia's greatest Prime Ministers. Chief Justice Andon Amaraich is regarded as "one of the founding fathers of the Federated States of Micronesia". Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is widely viewed as the "Founding Father" of an independent Fiji. James Busby drafted the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand and co- authored with William Hobson the Treaty of Waitangi, which is considered by some to be the founding document of the nation of New Zealand. The Treaty of Waitangi was not however the basis for either the British annexation of New Zealand, or the development of representative government in the colony. The indigenous Māori people of New Zealand consider Kupe, a mythologised figure who led the first migration to New Zealand from Hawaiki in the 10th Century, to be a founding figure and the common ancestor of all Māori. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare is viewed as the "Founding Father" of Papua New Guinea. The leading figure during the country's transition to independence from Australia, he was Papua New Guinea's first Prime Minister. King George Tupou I, who united his country and established the contemporary Kingdom of Tonga, has been described as Tonga's "founding father". Before the Prophet Muhammad completed his migration to Yathrib (present day Medina), the Arabian peninsula was divided by tribalism. Spread out and distant, region to region. After the migration in 622 AD, the Prophet Muhammad began to spread the word of Islam to the other Arab tribes outside of Mecca. Through this preaching and military expeditions, he accumulated a large army of loyal followers and returned to Mecca to conquer it in the name of Islam in 629 AD. At the time of his death in 632 AD, the region was bounded into one polity under the flag of Islam. After his death, the 4 Caliphs of the Rashidun Caliphate expanded the territory which led to victories against the Byzantine and Persian empires. Although the first known ruler of Bohemia was Bořivoj I, Duke of Bohemia, the real unifier of various Slavic tribes in Bohemia and creator of nation was Duke Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia. Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor is regarded as the "Father of the Homeland" in the Czech Republic, because during his time the Kingdom of Bohemia experienced the greatest prosperity. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937) is widely revered as the Liberator President who played the chief role in the 1918 melding of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia into the Czechoslovak Republic, and who served as President of the Republic from 1918 to 1935. Sun Yat-sen is revered as the founding father ("Father of the Country"–國父) of the Republic of China., Huangdi (reigned between 2698 and 2598 BC) is revered as the legendary founder and initiator of Chinese civilization. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, first President of Czechoslovakia, known as President Liberator. It was King Athelstan (893/895–939) who united the several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England around the year 927, when he became King of the English as opposed to his previous title, King of the West Saxons. However, his fame is often overshadowed by his predecessor and grandfather Alfred the Great (871–899), who set in motion the unification of the English kingdoms and could also claim to be the nation's founder. For ancient Korea, Hwanung (환웅/) and his son Dangun Wanggeom (단군왕검/) are legendary founders of Gojoseon, the first kingdom of Korea. The founding date is usually calculated as 3 October 2333 BC; 3 October is a South Korean national holiday known as Gaecheonjeol (개천절/, "Festival of the Opening of Heaven"). However, in North Korea, Gaecheonjeol is not celebrated and recognized at all, unlike South Korea. Rurik – Varangian prince and Prince of Novgorod beginning around 862 AD, Oleg, Rurik's kinsman and successor; extended his realm from Novgorod south to the Dnieper River valley and later moved his capital to the more strategic Kiev, where he established Kievan Rus' (the modern peoples of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia all have Kievan Rus' as their cultural heritage)., Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow (also Prince of Novgorod) from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death in 1584. Ivan also claimed the historical title "Grand Prince of Kiev" for himself, but this was more of a flourish, since Kiev had never formed part of his realm and Moscow would not control the Kievan region until the Truce of Andrusovo (1667), but Kiev remained an important city in early Slavic history and culture., Peter the Great, Tsar from 1682, officially proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Empire in 1721, following the Treaty of Nystad, and himself its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power, re-organising the state in the Western style. Founder of Saint-Petersburg, Vladimir the Great was the first Christian Prince of Kievan Rus. The fictionalising medieval poem The Wallace ( 1477) celebrated William Wallace (died 1305) as one of the founder-heroes of Scotland's struggle to preserve/re-establish independence from Plantagenet England. Dobrica Ćosić, often referred to as the "Father of the Nation" Vladimir Lenin – Officially one among many equal founders of the country, Lenin was, de facto, the paramount leader, founder of the Soviet Union and the CPSU, the party that ruled it via one-party rule as well as the founding father of the modern Russian state. He died soon after the country's founding and retained a special status of secular apotheosis for the rest of the country's history. Lorenzo de Zavala Magnus Maximus (c. 335–388). According to Welsh tradition, Magnus Maximus (Welsh: Macsen-Wledig) was a Roman General who was proclaimed Emperor of Rome by his soldiers in Britain in 383. As such, he was the first "Romano-Britain" ruler of Britain and Rome itself. His mytho-heroic founding of Wales is celebrated in the modern Welsh anthem Yma o Hyd by Dafydd Iwan., Hywel Dda (c. 880–950) was responsible for the codification of traditional Welsh Law, which, according to historian John Davies, "was a powerful symbol of [Welsh] unity and identity, as powerful, indeed, as their language"., Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r. 1039–63) was the first Welsh king to rule over the entire territory of Wales, from about 1057 until his death in 1063. King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, known as Alexander the Unifier Josip Broz Tito, Marshal of Yugoslavia (1943–1980) Louis Botha was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa., Jan van Riebeeck was treated as a South African founding father by the South African government during the apartheid era, being featured on statues and the country's currency (although the likeness was erroneous and was actually that of another man). Mobutu Sese Seko was the founder of Zaire and its only president. Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School. Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1900), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916). Simmel was born in Berlin, Germany, as the youngest of seven children of an assimilated Jewish family. His father, Eduard Simmel, a convert to Roman Catholicism and prosperous businessman, had founded a confectionery store called "Felix & Sarotti" that later was taken over by a chocolate manufacturer. His mother came from a Jewish family who had converted to the Lutheran Church. Georg himself, was baptized as a Protestant when he was a child. His father died in 1874, when Georg was 16, leaving a sizable inheritance. Georg was then adopted by Julius Friedländer, the founder of an international music publishing house, Peters Verlag, who endowed him with the large fortune that enabled him to become a scholar. Beginning in 1876, Simmel studied philosophy and history at the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1881, he received his doctorate for his thesis on Kant's philosophy of matter, Das Wesen der Materie nach Kants Physischer Monadologie (The Nature of Matter According to Kant's Physical Monadology). In 1885, he became a Privatdozent at the University of Berlin, officially lecturing in philosophy but also in ethics, logic, pessimism, art, psychology and sociology. His lectures were not only popular inside the university, but attracted the intellectual elite of Berlin as well. Although his applications for vacant chairs at German universities were supported by Max Weber, Simmel remained an academic outsider. However, with the support of an inheritance from his guardian, he was able to pursue his scholarly interests for many years without needing a salaried position. Simmel had a hard time gaining acceptance in the academic community despite the support of well known associates, such as Max Weber, Rainer Maria Rilke, Stefan George and Edmund Husserl. This was partly because he was seen as a Jew during an era of anti- Semitism, but also simply because his articles were written for a general audience rather than academic sociologists. This led to dismissive judgements from other professionals. Simmel nevertheless continued his intellectual and academic work, as well as taking part in artistic circles. In 1909 Simmel, together with Ferdinand Tönnies and Max Weber, and others, was a co-founder of the German Society for Sociology, serving as a member of its first executive body. In 1914, Simmel received an ordinary professorship with chair, at the then German University of Strassburg, but did not feel at home there. Because World War I broke out, all academic activities and lectures were halted and lecture halls were converted to military hospitals. In 1915 he applied - without success - for a chair at the University of Heidelberg. He remained at the University of Strasbourg until his death in 1918. Prior to World War I, Simmel had not been very interested in contemporary history, but rather in looking at the interactions, art and philosophy of his time. However, after its start, he was interested in its unfolding. Yet, he seems to give conflicting opinions of events, being a supporter in "Germany's inner transformation", more objective in "the idea of Europe" and a critic in "The crisis of culture". Eventually, Simmel grew tired of the war, especially in the year of his death. In 1890, Georg married Gertrud Kinel, a philosopher who published under the pseudonym Marie-Luise Enckendorf, and under her own name. They lived a sheltered and bourgeois life, their home becoming a venue for cultivated gatherings in the tradition of the salon. They had one son, Hans Eugen Simmel, who became a medical doctor. Georg and Gertrud's granddaughter was the psychologist Marianne Simmel. Simmel also had a secret affair with his assistant Gertrud Kantorowicz, who bore him a daughter in 1907, though this fact was hidden until after Simmel's death. In 1917, Simmel stopped reading the newspapers and withdrew to the Black Forest to finish his book. Shortly before the end of the war in 1918, he died from liver cancer in Strasbourg. There are four basic levels of concern in Simmel’s work. First are his assumptions about the psychological workings of social life. Second is his interest in the sociological workings of interpersonal relationships. Third is his work on the structure of and changes in the Zeitgeist, the social and cultural “spirit” of his times. He also adopted the principle of emergence, which is the idea that higher levels emerge from the lower levels. Finally, he dealt with his views in the nature and inevitable fate of humanity. His most microscopic work dealt with forms and the interaction that takes place with different types of people. The forms include subordination, superordination, exchange, conflict and sociability. A dialectical approach is multicausal, multidirectional, integrates facts and value, rejects the idea that there are hard and fast dividing lines between social phenomena, focuses on social relations, looks not only at the present but also at the past and future, and is deeply concerned with both conflicts and contradictions. Simmel’s sociology was concerned with relationships—especially interaction—and was known as a “methodological relationist”. This approach is based on the idea that interactions exist between everything. Overall, he was mostly interested in dualisms, conflicts, and contradictions in whatever realm of the social world he happened to be working on. Simmel focused on forms of association and paid little attention to individual consciousness. Simmel believed in the creative consciousness and this belief can be found in diverse forms of interaction, the ability of actors to create social structures and the disastrous effects those structures had on the creativity of individuals. Simmel also believed that social and cultural structures come to have a life of their own. Simmel refers to "all the forms of association by which a mere sum of separate individuals are made into a 'society,'" which he describes as a, "higher unity," composed of individuals. He was especially fascinated, it seems, by the, "impulse to sociability in man". He described it as "associations...[through which] the solitariness of the individuals is resolved into togetherness, a union with others," a process he describes by which, "the impulse to sociability distils, as it were, out of the realities of social life the pure essence of association," and "through which a unity is made," which he also refers to as, "the free-playing, interacting interdependence of individuals." He defines sociability as, "the play-form of association," driven by, "amicability, breeding, cordiality and attractiveness of all kinds." In order for this free association to occur, he says, "the personalities must not emphasize themselves too individually...with too much abandon and aggressiveness." He also describes, "this world of sociability...a democracy of equals...without friction," so long as people blend together in a spirit of fun and affection to, "bring about among themselves a pure interaction free of any disturbing material accent." Simmel describes idealized interactions when he says that, "the vitality of real individuals, in their sensitivities and attractions, in the fullness of their impulses and convictions...is but a symbol of life, as it shows itself in the flow of a lightly amusing play," or when he adds: "a symbolic play, in whose aesthetic charm all the finest and most highly sublimated dynamics of social existence and its riches are gathered." A dyad is a two-person group; a triad is a three-person group. In a dyad a person is able to retain their individuality. There is no other person to shift the balance of the group thereby allowing those within the dyad to maintain their individuality. In the triad group there is a possibility of a dyad forming within the triad thereby threatening the remaining individual's independence and causing them to become the subordinate of the group. This seems to be an essential part of society which becomes a structure. Unfortunately as the group (structure) becomes increasingly greater the individual becomes separated and grows more alone, isolated and segmented. Simmel's view was somewhat ambiguous with respect to group size. On one hand he believed that the bigger the group the better for the individual. In a larger group it would be harder to exert control on the individual, but on the other hand with a large group there is a possibility of the individual becoming distant and impersonal. Therefore, in an effort for the individual to cope with the larger group they must become a part of a smaller group such as the family. The value of something is determined by the distance from its actor. In "The Stranger", Simmel discusses how if a person is too close to the actor they are not considered a stranger, but if they are too far they would no longer be a part of a group. The particular distance from a group allows a person to have objective relationships with different group members. One of Simmel's most notable essays is The Metropolis and Mental Life ("Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben") from 1903, which was originally given as one of a series of lectures on all aspects of city life by experts in various fields, ranging from science and religion to art. The series was conducted alongside the Dresden cities exhibition of 1903. Simmel was originally asked to lecture on the role of intellectual (or scholarly) life in the big city, but he effectively reversed the topic in order to analyze the effects of the big city on the mind of the individual. As a result, when the lectures were published as essays in a book, to fill the gap, the series editor himself had to supply an essay on the original topic. The Metropolis and Mental Life was not particularly well received during Simmel's lifetime. The organizers of the exhibition over-emphasized its negative comments about city life, because Simmel also pointed out positive transformations. During the 1920s the essay was influential on the thinking of Robert E. Park and other American sociologists at the University of Chicago who collectively became known as the "Chicago School". It gained wider circulation in the 1950s when it was translated into English and published as part of Kurt Wolff's edited collection, The Sociology of Georg Simmel. It now appears regularly on the reading lists of courses in urban studies and architecture history. However, it is important to note that the notion of the blasé is actually not the central or final point of the essay, but is part of a description of a sequence of states in an irreversible transformation of the mind. In other words, Simmel does not quite say that the big city has an overall negative effect on the mind or the self, even as he suggests that it undergoes permanent changes. It is perhaps this ambiguity that gave the essay a lasting place in the discourse on the metropolis. In this major work, Simmel saw money as a component of life which helped us understand the totality of life. Simmel believed people created value by making objects, then separating themselves from that object and then trying to overcome that distance. He found that things which were too close were not considered valuable and things which were too far for people to get were also not considered valuable. Considered in determining value was the scarcity, time, sacrifice, and difficulties involved in getting the object. For Simmel, city life led to a division of labor and increased financialization. As financial transactions increase, some emphasis shifts to what the individual can do, instead of who the individual is. Financial matters in addition to emotions are in play. Simmel’s concept of distance comes into play where he identifies a stranger as a person that is far away and close at the same time. A stranger is far enough away that he is unknown but close enough that it is possible to get to know him. In a society there must be a stranger. If everyone is known then there is no person that is able to bring something new to everybody. The stranger bears a certain objectivity that makes him a valuable member to the individual and society. People let down their inhibitions around him and confess openly without any fear. This is because there is a belief that the Stranger is not connected to anyone significant and therefore does not pose a threat to the confessor's life. More generally, Simmel observes that because of their peculiar position in the group, strangers often carry out special tasks that the other members of the group are either incapable or unwilling to carry out. For example, especially in pre-modern societies, most strangers made a living from trade, which was often viewed as an unpleasant activity by "native" members of those societies. In some societies, they were also employed as arbitrators and judges, because they were expected to treat rival factions in society with an impartial attitude. On one hand the stranger's opinion does not really matter because of his lack of connection to society, but on the other the stranger’s opinion does matter, because of his lack of connection to society. He holds a certain objectivity that allows him to be unbiased and decide freely without fear. He is simply able to see, think, and decide without being influenced by the opinion of others. According to Simmel, in small groups, secrets are less needed because everyone seems to be more similar. In larger groups secrets are needed as a result of their heterogeneity. In secret societies, groups are held together by the need to maintain the secret, a condition that also causes tension because the society relies on its sense of secrecy and exclusion. For Simmel, secrecy exists even in relationships as intimate as marriage.In revealing all, marriage becomes dull and boring and loses all excitement. Simmel saw a general thread in the importance of secrets and the strategic use of ignorance: To be social beings who are able to cope successfully with their social environment, people need clearly defined realms of unknowns for themselves. Furthermore, sharing a common secret produces a strong "we feeling." The modern world depends on honesty and therefore a lie can be considered more devastating than it ever has been before. Money allows a level of secrecy that has never been attainable before, because money allows for “invisible” transactions, due to the fact that money is now an integral part of human values and beliefs. It is possible to buy silence. In his multi-layered essay, published in 1923, Simmel discusses flirtation as a generalized type of social interaction. According to Simmel, "to define flirtation as simply a 'passion for pleasing' is to confuse the means to an end with the desire for this end." The distinctiveness of the flirt lies in the fact that she awakens delight and desire by means of a unique antithesis and synthesis: through the alternation of accommodation and denial. In the behavior of the flirt, the man feels the proximity and interpenetration of the ability and inability to acquire something. This is in essence the "price." A sidelong glance with the head half-turned is characteristic of flirtation in its most banal guise. In the eyes of Simmel, fashion is a form of social relationship that allows those who wish to conform to the demands of a group to do so. It also allows some to be individualistic by deviating from the norm. There are many social roles in fashion and both objective culture and individual culture can have an influence on people. In the initial stage everyone adopts what is fashionable and those that deviate from the fashion inevitably adopt a whole new view of what they consider fashion. Ritzer wrote, This means that those who are trying to be different or "unique," are not, because in trying to be different they become a part of a new group that has labeled themselves different or "unique". Simmel´s major monographic works include, in chronological order: Über sociale Differenzierung, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1890 [On Social Differentiation], Einleitung in die Moralwissenschaft, 2 vols, Berlin: Hertz, 1892-3 [Introduction to the Science of Ethics], Die Probleme der Geschichtphilosophie, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1892, 2nd edn 1905 [The Problems of the Philosophy of History], Philosophie des Geldes, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1900, 2nd edn 1907 [The Philosophy of Money], Die Grosstädte und das Geistesleben, Dresden: Petermann, 1903 [The Metropolis and Mental Life], Kant, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1904, 6th edn 1924, Philosophie der Mode, Berlin: Pan-Verlag, 1905, Kant und Goethe, Berlin: Marquardt, 1906, Die Religion, Frankfurt am Main: Rütten & Loening, 1906, 2nd edn 1912, Schopenhauer und Nietzsche, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1907, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, University of Illinois Press, 1991,, Soziologie, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1908 [Sociology : inquiries into the construction of social forms], Hauptprobleme der Philosophie, Leipzig: Göschen, 1910, Philosophische Kultur, Leipzig: Kröner, 1911, 2nd edn 1919, Goethe, Leipzig: Klinkhardt, 1913, Rembrandt, Leipzig: Wolff, 1916, Grundfragen der Soziologie, Berlin: Göschen, 1917 [Fundamental Questions of Sociology], Lebensanschauung, München: Duncker & Humblot, 1918 [The View of Life], Zur Philosophie der Kunst, Potsdam: Kiepenheur, 1922, Fragmente und Aufsäze aus dem Nachlass, ed G Kantorowicz, München: Drei Masken Verlag, 1923, Brücke und Tür, ed M Landmann & M Susman, Stuttgart: Koehler, 1957 Other works Rom, Ein ästhetische Analyse published in the Viennese weekly paper in Die Zeit, Wiener Wochenschrift für Politik, Vollwirtschaft Wissenschaft und Kunst, on May 28, 1898, Florenz published in the Berliner magazine Der Tag on 2 March 1906, Venedig published in the magazine from Munich Der Kunstwart, Halbmonatsschau über Dichtung, Theater, Musik, bildende und angewandte Kunst. in June 1907 Kantianism, Karl Mannheim Hartmann, Alois (2003): Sinn und Wert des Geldes, In der Philosophie von Georg Simmel und Adam (von) Müller, Berlin, ., Muller, Jerry Z., 2002, The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought, Anchor Books., David Kim (ed.): Georg Simmel in Translation: Interdisciplinary Border-Crossings in Culture and Modernity. Cambridge Scholars Press, Cambridge 2006,, Simmel, Georg, 1922 [1955], Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations, translated and edited by Kurt Wolff, Glencoe, IL: Free Press., Simmel, Georg, 1972, On Individuality and Social Forms, Edited by and with an introduction by Donald Levine, Chicago: University of Chicago Press., Simmel, Georg, 1950, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, Compiled and translated by Kurt Wolff, Glencoe, IL: Free Press., Simmel, Georg, 2010, The View of Life:Four Metaphysical Essays with Journal Aphorisms, Translated by John A. Y. Andrews and Donald N. Levine; With an Introduction by Donald N. Levine and Daniel Silver, Chicago: University of Chicago Press., Ankerl, Guy (1972) Sociologues Allemands. Sociologie de la forme. A la Baconnière, Neuchâtel. pp. 73–106., Karakayali, Nedim. 2003. Simmel's Stranger: In Theory and in Practice. Ph.D. Thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto., Karakayali, Nedim. 2006. “The Uses of the Stranger: Circulation, Arbitration, Secrecy and Dirt”, Sociological Theory, volume 24, n. 4, pp. 312–330., Bistis, Margo, 2005. "Simmel and Bergson: The Theorist and the Exemplar of the Blasé Person," Journal of European Studies, 35, no. 4 (December 2005): 395-418., Best, Shaun, 2019. The Stranger, London, Routledge: Detailed overview, extracts and essays on Simmel at University of Chicago, Sociology in Switzerland presents Georg Simmel Online, Review materials for studying Georg Simmel, A short biography of Simmel, A detailed biography and appreciation of Simmel, About Simmel and his works, The Social Role of Money, The Metropolis and Mental Life, Jürgen Habermas, Georg Simmel on Philosophy and Culture: Postscript to a Collection of Essays, Translated by Mathieu Deflem, Critical Inquiry, 22(3), pp. 403-414, Spring 1996

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The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (latest edition, the DSM-5, published in 2013) is a publication for the classification of mental disorders using a common language and standard criteria. It is used by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the legal system, and policy makers. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The DSM evolved from systems for collecting census and psychiatric hospital statistics, and from a United States Army manual. Revisions since its first publication in 1952 have incrementally added to the total number of mental disorders, and removed those no longer considered to be mental disorders. Two alternate classification publications are also widely used. The is produced by the WHO. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the other common manual for mental disorders. It has broader scope than the DSM, covering overall health. While the DSM is the most popular diagnostic system for mental disorders in the U.S., the ICD is used more widely in Europe and other parts of the world, giving it a far larger reach than the DSM. The DSM- IV-TR (4th. ed.) contains specific codes allowing comparisons between the DSM and the ICD manuals, which may not systematically match because revisions are not simultaneously coordinated. Though recent editions of the DSM and ICD have become more similar due to collaborative agreements, each one contains information absent from the other. The DSM has received praise for standardizing psychiatric diagnosis grounded in empirical evidence, as opposed to the theory-bound nosology used in DSM-III; but it also generated controversy and criticism. Criticisms include ongoing questions concerning the reliability and validity of many diagnoses; the use of arbitrary dividing lines between mental illness and "normality"; possible cultural bias; and the medicalization of human distress. Mental health professionals use the manual to determine and help communicate a patient's diagnosis after an evaluation. Hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies in the United States may require a DSM diagnosis for all patients treated. The DSM can be used clinically, or to categorize patients using diagnostic criteria for research purposes. but they are correlated with the pharmaceutical corps to for profit purposes. Some studies done on specific disorders often recruit patients whose symptoms match the criteria listed in the DSM for that disorder. An international survey of psychiatrists in sixty- six countries compared the use of the ICD-10 and DSM-IV. It found the former was more often used for clinical diagnosis while the latter was more valued for research. DSM-5, and the abbreviations for all previous editions, are registered trademarks owned by the APA. The initial impetus for developing a classification of mental disorders in the United States was the need to collect statistical information. The first official attempt was the 1840 census, which used a single category: "idiocy/insanity". Three years later, the American Statistical Association made an official protest to the U.S. House of Representatives, stating that "the most glaring and remarkable errors are found in the statements respecting nosology, prevalence of insanity, blindness, deafness, and dumbness, among the people of this nation", pointing out that in many towns African-Americans were all marked as insane, and calling the statistics essentially useless. The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane was formed in 1844; it has since changed its name twice before the new millennium: in 1892 to the American Medico-Psychological Association, and in 1921 to the present American Psychiatric Association (APA). Edward Jarvis and later Francis Amasa Walker helped expand the census, from two volumes in 1870 to twenty-five volumes in 1880. Frederick H. Wines was appointed to write a 582-page volume called Report on the Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes of the Population of the United States, As Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880) (published 1888). Wines used seven categories of mental illness: dementia, dipsomania (uncontrollable craving for alcohol), epilepsy, mania, melancholia, monomania and paresis. These categories were also adopted by the Association. In 1917, together with the National Commission on Mental Hygiene (now Mental Health America), the APA developed a new guide for mental hospitals called the Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane. This included twenty-two diagnoses and would be revised several times by the APA over the years. Along with the New York Academy of Medicine, the APA also provided the psychiatric nomenclature subsection of the U.S. general medical guide, the Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease, referred to as the Standard. World War II saw the large-scale involvement of U.S. psychiatrists in the selection, processing, assessment, and treatment of soldiers. This moved the focus away from mental institutions and traditional clinical perspectives. Under the direction of James Forrestal a committee headed by psychiatrist Brigadier General William C. Menninger, with the assistance of the Mental Hospital Service developed a new classification scheme called Medical 203, that was issued in 1943 as a War Department Technical Bulletin under the auspices of the Office of the Surgeon General. The foreword to the DSM-I states the United States Navy had itself made some minor revisions but "the Army established a much more sweeping revision, abandoning the basic outline of the Standard and attempting to express present day concepts of mental disturbance. This nomenclature eventually was adopted by all Armed Forces", and "assorted modifications of the Armed Forces nomenclature [were] introduced into many clinics and hospitals by psychiatrists returning from military duty." The Veterans Administration also adopted a slightly modified version of Medical 203. In 1949, the World Health Organization published the sixth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), which included a section on mental disorders for the first time. The foreword to DSM-1 states this "categorized mental disorders in rubrics similar to those of the Armed Forces nomenclature." An APA Committee on Nomenclature and Statistics was empowered to develop a version of Medical 203 specifically for use in the United States, to standardize the diverse and confused usage of different documents. In 1950, the APA committee undertook a review and consultation. It circulated an adaptation of Medical 203, the VA system, and the Standard's Nomenclature to approximately 10% of APA members. 46% replied, of which 93% approved, and after some further revisions (resulting in its being called DSM-I), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was approved in 1951 and published in 1952. The structure and conceptual framework were the same as in Medical 203, and many passages of text were identical. The manual was 130 pages long and listed 106 mental disorders. These included several categories of "personality disturbance", generally distinguished from "neurosis" (nervousness, egodystonic). In 1952, the APA listed homosexuality in the DSM as a sociopathic personality disturbance. , a large-scale 1962 study of homosexuality by Irving Bieber and other authors, was used to justify inclusion of the disorder as a supposed pathological hidden fear of the opposite sex caused by traumatic parent–child relationships. This view was very influential in the medical profession. In 1956, however, the psychologist Evelyn Hooker performed a study comparing the happiness and well-adjusted nature of self-identified homosexual men with heterosexual men and found no difference. Her study stunned the medical community and made her a heroine to many gay men and lesbians, but homosexuality remained in the DSM until May 1974. In the 1960s, there were many challenges to the concept of mental illness itself. These challenges came from psychiatrists like Thomas Szasz, who argued mental illness was a myth used to disguise moral conflicts; from sociologists such as Erving Goffman, who said mental illness was another example of how society labels and controls non-conformists; from behavioural psychologists who challenged psychiatry's fundamental reliance on unobservable phenomena; and from gay rights activists who criticised the APA's listing of homosexuality as a mental disorder. A study published in Science by Rosenhan received much publicity and was viewed as an attack on the efficacy of psychiatric diagnosis. Although the APA was closely involved in the next significant revision of the mental disorder section of the ICD (version 8 in 1968), it decided to go ahead with a revision of the DSM. It was published in 1968, listed 182 disorders, and was 134 pages long. It was quite similar to the DSM-I. The term "reaction" was dropped, but the term "neurosis" was retained. Both the DSM-I and the DSM-II reflected the predominant psychodynamic psychiatry, although they also included biological perspectives and concepts from Kraepelin's system of classification. Symptoms were not specified in detail for specific disorders. Many were seen as reflections of broad underlying conflicts or maladaptive reactions to life problems, rooted in a distinction between neurosis and psychosis (roughly, anxiety/depression broadly in touch with reality, or hallucinations/delusions appearing disconnected from reality). Sociological and biological knowledge was incorporated, in a model that did not emphasize a clear boundary between normality and abnormality. The idea that personality disorders did not involve emotional distress was discarded. An influential 1974 paper by Robert Spitzer and Joseph L. Fleiss demonstrated the second edition of the DSM (DSM-II) was an unreliable diagnostic tool. They found different practitioners using the DSM-II rarely agreed when diagnosing patients with similar problems. In reviewing previous studies of eighteen major diagnostic categories, Fleiss and Spitzer concluded "there are no diagnostic categories for which reliability is uniformly high. Reliability appears to be only satisfactory for three categories: mental deficiency, organic brain syndrome (but not its subtypes), and alcoholism. The level of reliability is no better than fair for psychosis and schizophrenia and is poor for the remaining categories". As described by Ronald Bayer, a psychiatrist and gay rights activist, specific protests by gay rights activists against the APA began in 1970, when the organization held its convention in San Francisco. The activists disrupted the conference by interrupting speakers and shouting down and ridiculing psychiatrists who viewed homosexuality as a mental disorder. In 1971, gay rights activist Frank Kameny worked with the Gay Liberation Front collective to demonstrate against the APA's convention. At the 1971 conference, Kameny grabbed the microphone and yelled: "Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you." This activism occurred in the context of a broader anti-psychiatry movement that had come to the fore in the 1960s and was challenging the legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis. Anti- psychiatry activists protested at the same APA conventions, with some shared slogans and intellectual foundations. Presented with data from researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker, the sixth printing of the DSM-II, in 1974, no longer listed homosexuality as a category of disorder. After a vote by the APA trustees in 1973, and confirmed by the wider APA membership in 1974, the diagnosis was replaced with the category of "sexual orientation disturbance". In 1974, the decision to create a new revision of the DSM was made, and Robert Spitzer was selected as chairman of the task force. The initial impetus was to make the DSM nomenclature consistent with the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), published by the World Health Organization. The revision took on a far wider mandate under the influence and control of Spitzer and his chosen committee members. One goal was to improve the uniformity and validity of psychiatric diagnosis in the wake of a number of critiques, including the famous Rosenhan experiment. There was also a need to standardize diagnostic practices within the U.S. and with other countries after research showed psychiatric diagnoses differed between Europe and the United States. The establishment of these criteria was an attempt to facilitate the pharmaceutical regulatory process. The criteria adopted for many of the mental disorders were taken from the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and Feighner Criteria, which had just been developed by a group of research-orientated psychiatrists based primarily at Washington University in St. Louis and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Other criteria, and potential new categories of disorder, were established by consensus during meetings of the committee, as chaired by Spitzer. A key aim was to base categorization on colloquial English descriptive language (which would be easier to use by federal administrative offices), rather than assumptions of cause, although its categorical approach assumed each particular pattern of symptoms in a category reflected a particular underlying pathology (an approach described as "neo-Kraepelinian"). The psychodynamic or physiologic view was abandoned, in favor of a regulatory or legislative model. A new "multiaxial" system attempted to yield a picture more amenable to a statistical population census, rather than a simple diagnosis. Spitzer argued "mental disorders are a subset of medical disorders" but the task force decided on the DSM statement: "Each of the mental disorders is conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome." The personality disorders were placed on axis II along with mental retardation. The first draft of the DSM-III was prepared within a year. It introduced many new categories of disorder, while deleting or changing others. A number of the unpublished documents discussing and justifying the changes have recently come to light. Field trials sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) were conducted between 1977 and 1979 to test the reliability of the new diagnoses. A controversy emerged regarding deletion of the concept of neurosis, a mainstream of psychoanalytic theory and therapy but seen as vague and unscientific by the DSM task force. Faced with enormous political opposition, the DSM-III was in serious danger of not being approved by the APA Board of Trustees unless "neurosis" was included in some capacity; a political compromise reinserted the term in parentheses after the word "disorder" in some cases. Additionally, the diagnosis of ego-dystonic homosexuality replaced the DSM-II category of "sexual orientation disturbance". Finally published in 1980, the DSM-III was 494 pages and listed 265 diagnostic categories. It rapidly came into widespread international use and has been termed a revolution or transformation in psychiatry. When DSM-III was published, the developers made extensive claims about the reliability of the radically new diagnostic system they had devised, which relied on data from special field trials. However, according to a 1994 article by Stuart A. Kirk: Twenty years after the reliability problem became the central focus of DSM-III, there is still not a single multi-site study showing that DSM (any version) is routinely used with high reliably by regular mental health clinicians. Nor is there any credible evidence that any version of the manual has greatly increased its reliability beyond the previous version. There are important methodological problems that limit the generalisability of most reliability studies. Each reliability study is constrained by the training and supervision of the interviewers, their motivation and commitment to diagnostic accuracy, their prior skill, the homogeneity of the clinical setting in regard to patient mix and base rates, and the methodological rigor achieved by the investigator ... In 1987, the DSM-III-R was published as a revision of the DSM-III, under the direction of Spitzer. Categories were renamed and reorganized, and significant changes in criteria were made. Six categories were deleted while others were added. Controversial diagnoses, such as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder and masochistic personality disorder, were considered and discarded. "Ego-dystonic homosexuality" was also removed and was largely subsumed under "sexual disorder not otherwise specified", which can include "persistent and marked distress about one's sexual orientation." Altogether, the DSM-III-R contained 292 diagnoses and was 567 pages long. Further efforts were made for the diagnoses to be purely descriptive, although the introductory text stated for at least some disorders, "particularly the Personality Disorders, the criteria require much more inference on the part of the observer" (p. xxiii). In 1994, DSM-IV was published, listing 410 disorders in 886 pages. The task force was chaired by Allen Frances. A steering committee of twenty-seven people was introduced, including four psychologists. The steering committee created thirteen work groups of five to sixteen members. Each work group had about twenty advisers. The work groups conducted a three-step process: first, each group conducted an extensive literature review of their diagnoses; then, they requested data from researchers, conducting analyses to determine which criteria required change, with instructions to be conservative; finally, they conducted multicenter field trials relating diagnoses to clinical practice. A major change from previous versions was the inclusion of a clinical significance criterion to almost half of all the categories, which required symptoms cause "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning". Some personality disorder diagnoses were deleted or moved to the appendix. A "text revision" of the DSM-IV, known as the DSM-IV-TR, was published in 2000. The diagnostic categories and the vast majority of the specific criteria for diagnosis were unchanged. The text sections giving extra information on each diagnosis were updated, as were some of the diagnostic codes to maintain consistency with the ICD. The DSM-IV-TR was organized into a five-part axial system. The first axis incorporated clinical disorders. The second axis covered personality disorders and intellectual disabilities. The remaining axes covered medical, psychosocial, environmental, and childhood factors functionally necessary to provide diagnostic criteria for health care assessments. The DSM-IV-TR characterizes a mental disorder as "a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual [which] is associated with present distress ... or disability ... or with a significant increased risk of suffering." It also notes "no definition adequately specifies precise boundaries for the concept of 'mental disorder' ... different situations call for different definitions". It states "there is no assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder" (APA, 1994 and 2000). The DSM-IV is a categorical classification system. The categories are prototypes, and a patient with a close approximation to the prototype is said to have that disorder. DSM-IV states, "there is no assumption each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries" but isolated, low-grade and non-criterion (unlisted for a given disorder) symptoms are not given importance. Qualifiers are sometimes used, for example mild, moderate or severe forms of a disorder. For nearly half the disorders, symptoms must be sufficient to cause "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning", although DSM-IV-TR removed the distress criterion from tic disorders and several of the paraphilias due to their egosyntonic nature. Each category of disorder has a numeric code taken from the ICD coding system, used for health service (including insurance) administrative purposes. With the advent of the DSM-5 in 2013, the APA eliminated the longstanding multiaxial system for mental disorders. Previously, the DSM-IV organized each psychiatric diagnosis into five dimensions (axes) relating to different aspects of disorder or disability: Axis I: All psychological diagnostic categories except mental retardation and personality disorder, Axis II: Personality disorders and mental retardation (more appropriately termed "intellectual disability"), Axis III: General medical condition; acute medical conditions and physical disorders, Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental factors contributing to the disorder, Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning or Child Global Assessment of Functioning [cGAF] Mental/Psychiatric/Behavioral/Learning conditions include, but are not limited to: depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and schizophrenia. Personality Disorders include, but are not limited to: paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder; and organic intellectual disabilities. Common medical/physical conditions or diseases that may result in and/or exacerbate some of the aforementioned mental/psychiatric conditions OR that may be aggravated by the aforementioned mental/psychiatric conditions include, but are not limited to: brain injuries, terminal diseases, pregnancy, cancer, epilepsy, idiopathic physiological conditions and virtually any other conditions, ailments and/or injuries which may affect the patient's mental health.. Many Biopsychosocial Assessments incorporate multiple factors that adversely affect the patient's, client's and/or subject's overall well-being and homeostasis. Typical psychosocial influences that are usually listed as having negative impact on life, mentality and health include, but are not limited to: Environmental factors of dysfunction such as those experienced within home, school and work; Social factors such as issues with drug use (not diagnosed), enabling friends and conflicts with coworkers; Family complications such as divorce, social service involvement and court ordered placements; Various stressors such as recent accident, natural disaster and other traumatic occurrences (i.e. assault, death, abuse); Financial problems such as bankruptcy, job loss and debts; and service needs such as lack of medical insurance, inability to find adequate treatment and inaccessibility to necessary state and federal programs. The DSM-IV does not specifically cite its sources, but there are four volumes of "sourcebooks" intended to be APA's documentation of the guideline development process and supporting evidence, including literature reviews, data analyses and field trials. The Sourcebooks have been said to provide important insights into the character and quality of the decisions that led to the production of DSM-IV, and hence the scientific credibility of contemporary psychiatric classification. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the DSM-5, was approved by the Board of Trustees of the APA on December 1, 2012. Published on May 18, 2013, the DSM-5 contains extensively revised diagnoses and, in some cases, broadens diagnostic definitions while narrowing definitions in other cases. The DSM-5 is the first major edition of the manual in twenty years. A significant change in the fifth edition is the deletion of the subtypes of schizophrenia (paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated and residual). The deletion of the subsets of autistic spectrum disorder (namely, Asperger's syndrome, classic autism, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) was also implemented, with specifiers with regard to intensity (mild, moderate and severe). Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, with three levels: 1 (requiring support), 2 (requiring substantial support) and 3 (requiring very substantial support). During the revision process, the APA website periodically listed several sections of the DSM-5 for review and discussion. Beginning with the fifth edition, it is intended that diagnostic guidelines revisions will be added more often to keep up with research in the field. It is notable the DSM-5 is identified with Arabic rather than Roman numerals. Beginning with DSM-5, the American Psychiatric Association will use decimals to identify incremental updates (e.g., DSM-5.1, DSM-5.2) and whole numbers for new editions (e.g., DSM-5, DSM-6), similar to the scheme used for software versioning. Allsopp et al (2019) describe as scientifically meaningless the entire construct of psychiatric diagnoses because of its unsupportable premise of mental distresses' being caused by whatever (putative) disorder(s) being set in contrast to hypothesized-yet-subjective notions about what should be thought normal. The revisions of the DSM from the 3rd Edition forward have been mainly concerned with diagnostic reliability—the degree to which different diagnosticians agree on a diagnosis. {Henrik Walter} argued that a science of psychiatry can only advance if diagnosis is reliable. If clinicians and researchers frequently disagree about the diagnosis of a patient, then research into the causes and effective treatments of those disorders cannot advance. Hence, diagnostic reliability was a major concern of DSM-III. When the diagnostic reliability problem was thought to be solved, subsequent editions of the DSM were concerned mainly with "tweaking" the diagnostic criteria. Unfortunately, neither the issue of reliability or validity was settled. In 2013, shortly before the publication of DSM-5, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Thomas R. Insel, declared that the agency would no longer fund research projects that rely exclusively on DSM diagnostic criteria due to its lack of validity. Insel questioned the validity of the DSM classification scheme because "... diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms ..." as opposed to "... collecting the genetic, imaging, physiologic, and cognitive data to see how all the data – not just the symptoms – cluster and how these clusters relate to treatment response." Field trials of DSM-5 brought the debate of reliability back into the limelight as some disorders showed poor reliability. For example, major depressive disorder, a common mental illness, had a poor reliability kappa statistic of 0.28, indicating that clinicians frequently disagreed on this diagnosis in the same patients. The most reliable diagnosis was major neurocognitive disorder with a kappa of 0.78. By design, the DSM is primarily concerned with the signs and symptoms of mental disorders, rather than the underlying causes. It claims to collect them together based on statistical or clinical patterns. As such, it has been compared to a naturalist's field guide to birds, with similar advantages and disadvantages. The lack of a causative or explanatory basis, however, is not specific to the DSM, but rather reflects a general lack of pathophysiological understanding of psychiatric disorders. As DSM-III chief architect Robert Spitzer and DSM-IV editor Michael First outlined in 2005, "little progress has been made toward understanding the pathophysiological processes and cause of mental disorders. If anything, the research has shown the situation is even more complex than initially imagined, and we believe not enough is known to structure the classification of psychiatric disorders according to etiology." "The DSM's focus on superficial symptoms is claimed to be largely a result of necessity (assuming such a manual is nevertheless produced), since there is no agreement on a more explanatory classification system. Reviewers note, however, that this approach is undermining research, including in genetics, because it results in the grouping of individuals who have very little in common except superficial criteria as per DSM or ICD diagnosis (Fadul, 2014, p.143)." Despite the lack of consensus on underlying causation, advocates for specific psychopathological paradigms have nonetheless faulted the current diagnostic scheme for not incorporating evidence-based models or findings from other areas of science. A recent example is evolutionary psychologists' criticism that the DSM does not differentiate between genuine cognitive malfunctions and those induced by psychological adaptations, a key distinction within evolutionary psychology but one that is widely challenged within general psychology. Another example is the strong operationalist viewpoint, which contends that reliance on operational definitions, as purported by the DSM, necessitates that intuitive concepts like depression be replaced by specific measurable concepts before they are scientifically meaningful. One critic states of psychologists that "Instead of replacing 'metaphysical' terms such as 'desire' and 'purpose', they used it to legitimize them by giving them operational definitions ... the initial, quite radical operationalist ideas eventually came to serve as little more than a 'reassurance fetish' (Koch 1992) for mainstream methodological practice." A 2013 review published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience states "that psychiatry targets the phenomena of consciousness, which, unlike somatic symptoms and signs, cannot be grasped on the analogy with material thing-like objects." As an example of the problem of the superficial characterization of psychiatric signs and symptoms, the authors gave the example of a patient saying they "feel depressed, sad, or down", showing that such a statement could indicate various underlying experiences: "not only depressed mood but also, for instance, irritation, anger, loss of meaning, varieties of fatigue, ambivalence, ruminations of different kinds, hyper-reflectivity, thought pressure, psychological anxiety, varieties of depersonalization, and even voices with negative content, and so forth." The structured interview comes with "danger of over confidence in the face value of the answers, as if a simple 'yes' or 'no' truly confirmed or denied the diagnostic criterion at issue." The authors gave an example: A patient who was being administered the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis I Disorders denied thought insertion, but during a "conversational, phenomenological interview", a semi- structured interview tailored to the patient, the same patient admitted to experiencing thought insertion, along with a delusional elaboration. The authors suggested 2 reasons for this discrepancy: either the patient did not "recognize his own experience in the rather blunt, implicitly either/or formulation of the structured-interview question", or the experience did not "fully articulate itself" until the patient started talking about his experiences. Dr. Allen Frances being an outspoken critic of the DSM-5 states that "normality is an endangered species," for the reason of "fad diagnoses" and an "epidemic" of over-diagnosing, and suggests that the "DSM-5 threatens to provoke several more [epidemics]." Some researchers state that changes in diagnostic criteria reduce thresholds for a diagnosis, which results in increases in prevalence rates following each published version of the DSM for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. Bruchmüller suggests that as a factor that may lead to overdiagnosis can be also situations when the diagnostician's clinical judgment regarding a diagnose (ADHD) is affected by heuristics. Despite caveats in the introduction to the DSM, it has long been argued that its system of classification makes unjustified categorical distinctions between disorders and uses arbitrary cut-offs between normal and abnormal. A 2009 psychiatric review noted that attempts to demonstrate natural boundaries between related DSM syndromes, or between a common DSM syndrome and normality, have failed. Some argue that rather than a categorical approach, a fully dimensional, spectrum or complaint-oriented approach would better reflect the evidence. In addition, it is argued that the current approach based on exceeding a threshold of symptoms does not adequately take into account the context in which a person is living, and to what extent there is internal disorder of an individual versus a psychological response to adverse situations. The DSM does include a step ("Axis IV") for outlining "Psychosocial and environmental factors contributing to the disorder" once someone is diagnosed with that particular disorder. Because an individual's degree of impairment is often not correlated with symptom counts and can stem from various individual and social factors, the DSM's standard of distress or disability can often produce false positives. On the other hand, individuals who do not meet symptom counts may nevertheless experience comparable distress or disability in their life. Psychiatrists have argued that published diagnostic standards relied on an exaggerated interpretation of neurophysiological findings and so understate the scientific importance of social-psychological variables. Advocating a more culturally sensitive approach to psychology, critics such as Carl Bell and Marcello Maviglia contend that researchers and service-providers often discount the cultural and ethnic diversity of individuals. In addition, current diagnostic guidelines have been criticized as having a fundamentally Euro-American outlook. Although these guidelines have been widely implemented, opponents argue that even when a diagnostic criterion-set is accepted across different cultures, it does not necessarily indicate that the underlying constructs have any validity within those cultures; even reliable application can only demonstrate consistency, not legitimacy. Cross-cultural psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman contends that the Western bias is ironically illustrated in the introduction of cultural factors to the DSM-IV: the fact that disorders or concepts from non-Western or non-mainstream cultures are described as "culture-bound", whereas standard psychiatric diagnoses are given no cultural qualification whatsoever, is to Kleinman revelatory of an underlying assumption that Western cultural phenomena are universal. Other cross-cultural critics largely share Kleinman's negative view toward the culture-bound syndrome, common responses included both disappointment over the large number of documented non-Western mental disorders still left out, and frustration that even those included were often misinterpreted or misrepresented. Mainstream psychiatrists have also been dissatisfied with these new culture- bound diagnoses, although not for the same reasons. Robert Spitzer, a lead architect of the DSM-III, has held the opinion that the addition of cultural formulations was an attempt to placate cultural critics, and that they lack any scientific motivation or support. Spitzer also posits that the new culture-bound diagnoses are rarely used in practice, maintaining that the standard diagnoses apply regardless of the culture involved. In general, the mainstream psychiatric opinion remains that if a diagnostic category is valid, cross-cultural factors are either irrelevant or are only significant to specific symptom presentations. One of the results was the development of the Azibo Nosology by Daudi Ajani Ya Azibo as an alternative to the DSM to treat African diaspora patients. Historically, the DSM tended to avoid issues involving religion; the DSM-5 relaxed this attitude somewhat. There was extensive analysis and comment on DSM-IV (published in 1994) in the years leading up to the 2013 publication of DSM-5. It was alleged that the way the categories of DSM-IV were structured, as well as the substantial expansion of the number of categories within it, represented increasing medicalization of human nature, very possibly attributable to disease mongering by psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies, the power and influence of the latter having grown dramatically in recent decades. In 2005, then APA President Steven Sharfstein released a statement in which he conceded that psychiatrists had "allowed the biopsychosocial model to become the bio-bio-bio model". reported that of the authors who selected and defined the DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, roughly half had financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry during the period 1989-2004, raising the prospect of a direct conflict of interest. The same article concluded that the connections between panel members and the drug companies were particularly strong in those diagnoses where drugs are the first line of treatment, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, where 100% of the panel members had financial ties with the pharmaceutical industry. William Glasser referred to DSM-IV as "phony diagnostic categories", arguing that "it was developed to help psychiatrists – to help them make money". A 2012 article in The New York Times commented sharply that DSM-IV (then in its 18th year), through copyrights held closely by the APA, had earned the Association over $100 million. However, although the number of identified diagnoses had increased by more than 300% (from 106 in DSM-I to 365 in DSM-IV-TR), psychiatrists such as Zimmerman and Spitzer argued that this almost entirely represented greater specification of the forms of pathology, thereby allowing better grouping of more similar patients. A client is a person who accesses psychiatric services and may have been given a diagnosis from the DSM, while a survivor self-identifies as a person who has endured a psychiatric intervention and the mental health system (which may have involved involuntary commitment and involuntary treatment). A term adopted by many users of psychiatric services is "consumer." This term was chosen to eliminate the "patient" label and restore the person to an active role as a user or consumer of services. Some individuals are relieved to find that they have a recognized condition that they can apply a name to and this has led to many people self-diagnosing. Others, however, question the accuracy of the diagnosis, or feel they have been given a "label" that invites social stigma and discrimination (the terms "mentalism" and "sanism" have been used to describe such discriminatory treatment). Diagnoses can become internalized and affect an individual's self-identity, and some psychotherapists have found that the healing process can be inhibited and symptoms can worsen as a result. Some members of the psychiatric survivors movement (more broadly the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement) actively campaign against their diagnoses, or the assumed implications, and/or against the DSM system in general. Additionally, it has been noted that the DSM often uses definitions and terminology that are inconsistent with a recovery model, and such content can erroneously imply excess psychopathology (e.g. multiple "comorbid" diagnoses) or chronicity. Psychiatrist Allen Frances has been critical of proposed revisions to the DSM-5. In a 2012 New York Times editorial, Frances warned that if this DSM version is issued unamended by the APA, "it will medicalize normality and result in a glut of unnecessary and harmful drug prescription." In a December 2, 2012 blog post in Psychology Today, Frances provides his "...list of DSM 5's ten most potentially harmful changes": Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, for temper tantrums, Major Depressive Disorder, includes normal grief, Minor Neurocognitive Disorder, for normal forgetting in old age, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, encouraging psychiatric prescriptions of stimulants, Binge Eating Disorder, for excessive eating, Autism, defining the disorder more specifically, possibly leading to decreased rates of diagnosis and the disruption of school services, First time drug users will be lumped in with addicts, Behavioral Addictions, making a "...mental disorder of everything we like to do a lot.", Generalized Anxiety Disorder, includes everyday worries, Post-traumatic stress disorder, changes "...opened the gate even further to the already existing problem of misdiagnosis of PTSD in forensic settings." A group of 25 psychiatrists and researchers, among which Frances and Thomas Szasz, have published debates on what they see as the six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: Are they more like theoretical constructs or more like diseases?, How to reach an agreed definition?, Should the DSM-5 take a cautious or conservative approach?, What is the role of practical rather than scientific considerations?, How should it be used by clinicians or researchers?, Is an entirely different diagnostic system required? In 2011, psychologist Brent Robbins co-authored a national letter for the Society for Humanistic Psychology that has brought thousands into the public debate about the DSM. Over 15,000 individuals and mental health professionals have signed a petition in support of the letter. Thirteen other American Psychological Association divisions have endorsed the petition. Robbins has noted that under the new guidelines, certain responses to grief could be labeled as pathological disorders, instead of being recognized as being normal human experiences. Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders, Classification of mental disorders, Diagnostic classification and rating scales used in psychiatry, DSM-IV Codes, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), Kraepelinian dichotomy, Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, Relational disorder (proposed DSM-5 new diagnosis), Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), a framework being developed by the National Institute of Mental Health, Rosenhan experiment, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), Homosexuality in DSM Official DSM-5 development website, Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-IV-TR, Cooper, Rachel (2017): Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization, The Multiaxial System of Diagnosis in DSM-IV Criteria The classification of transsexual people and people with other gender atypicalities has been done since the mid-1960s. In medicine and psychiatry, terms such as heterosexual and homosexual have been based on a person's sex assignment at birth, which has prompted the increased use of androphilia and gynephilia to avoid terminological confusion and bias. In social, political and medical contexts, the classification is often relative to one's desired sex. Harry Benjamin created the Sex Orientation Scale (SOS) to classify and understand various forms and subtypes of transvestism and transsexualism in biological males. It was a seven-point scale with three types of transvestism, three types of transsexualism, and one category for typical males. Benjamin's Scale references and uses the Kinsey scale in distinguishing between "true transsexualism" and "transvestism". Benjamin noted, "It must be emphasized again that the remaining six types are not and never can be sharply separated." Benjamin added a caveat: "It has been the intention here to point out the possibility of several conceptions and classifications of the transvestitic and the transsexual phenomenon. Future studies and observations may decide which one is likely to come closest to the truth and in this way a possible understanding of the etiology may be gained." Transsexualism was included for the first time in the DSM-III in 1980. "Gender Identity Disorder" was a term created in the DSM-III in regard to transsexuals, and the categories were "GID/Children Transsexualism"; "GID/Adolescent and Adult, Non-transsexual type" and "GID/Not Otherwise Specified". Notably, this did not address Late-onset transsexualism, where patients may not have had symptoms as children. Interestingly, in the major revision of the DSM, DSM-III-R, they were placed in the category "Disorders Usually First Evident in Infancy, Childhood or Adolescence". The problem was that it got lost here, as well as the issue of adult onset explained above. In the DSM-III, the terms "Homosexual", "Heterosexual", and "Asexual" were used - with quite a bit of confusion. (These terms were replaced in the DSM-IV by "Attracted to males", "Attracted to Females", "Attracted to Both" and "Attracted to neither.") The DSM-III-R, published in 1987, retained the term transsexualism. It was located under "Disorders Usually First Evident in Infancy, Childhood or Adolescence". Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents and Adults replaced the term transsexualism. In the DSM-IV-TR, GID is placed in the category of Sexual Disorders, with the subcategory of Gender Identity Disorders. The names were changed in DSM-IV to "Gender Identity Disorder in Children", "Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults", and "Gender Identity Disorder Not Otherwise Specified". In the DSM-5, gender identity disorder was replaced with gender dysphoria; the focus is no longer on identity, but on the distress that trans people may experience when their biological sexes do not line up with said identities. Persons with gender dysphoria are also no longer classified by sexuality. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) is according to its publisher, the United Nations-sponsored World Health Organization "the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes." It is known as a health care classification system that provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease. Under this system, every health condition can be assigned to a unique category and given a code, up to six characters long. Such categories can include a set of similar diseases. The International Classification of Diseases is published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used worldwide for morbidity and mortality statistics, reimbursement systems, and automated decision support in health care. This system is designed to promote international comparability in the collection, processing, classification, and presentation of these statistics. The ICD is a core classification of the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC). The ICD is revised periodically and is currently in its eleventh revision. Annual minor updates and triennial major updates of the ICD are published by the WHO. The ICD-10, as it is therefore known, was developed in 1992 to track health statistics. The ICD is part of a "family" of guides that can be used to complement each other, including also the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health which focuses on the domains of functioning (disability) associated with health conditions, from both medical and social perspectives. In the ICD-10, transsexualism is located within Gender identity disorders, F64 in under the heading "Disorders of adult personality and behaviour". The eleventh revision of ICD, ICD-11 was published in June 2018 by WHO and was revised using Web 2.0 principles. In this new major revision, ICD-11 has abolished codes F64 Gender identity disorders and F65.1 Fetishistic Transvestism , among other sexual practices, that used to be referred to as paraphilias. The above codes have been replaced in part by code HA60 Gender incongruence of adolescence or adulthood, which refers to the three conditions that classify the condition of gender dysphoria. The major paradigm shift is reflected in the last sentence from code HA60: "Gender variant behavior and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis." This has profoundly changed the way Science and Psychology views transgender people and transexuals, as it has removed the stigma related to being referred to as people who suffer from paraphilias , 132 years after Richard von Krafft-Ebing first published Psychopathia Sexualis. Blanchard's transsexualism typology (also Blanchard autogynephilia theory (BAT) and Blanchard's taxonomy) is a psychological typology of male-to-female transsexualism created by Ray Blanchard through the 1980s and 1990s, building on the work of his colleague, Kurt Freund. Blanchard divides male-to-female (MtF or M2F) transsexuals into two different groups: "homosexual transsexuals", who are attracted to men, and "non-homosexual transsexuals", who are "autogynephilic" (sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as a woman). The typology does not purport to identify the cause of transsexualism in natal males, but it has some implications for the cause—specifically, that the cause of transsexualism may not be the same for both groups. Scientific criticism of the research and theory has come from John Bancroft, Jaimie Veale, Larry Nuttbrock, Charles Allen Moser, and others who argue that the theory is poorly representative of MtF transsexuals, reduces gender identity to a matter of attraction, is non-instructive, and that the research cited in support of the theory has inadequate control groups or is contradicted by other data. Supporters of the theory include Anne Lawrence, J. Michael Bailey, James Cantor, and others who argue that there are significant differences between the two groups, including sexuality, age of transition, ethnicity, IQ, fetishism, and quality of adjustment. The theory has been the subject of protests in the transsexual and larger LGBT community, although it has its supporters. The issues with Blanchard's work were again the subject of criticism with the publication of Bailey's The Man Who Would Be Queen in 2003. In 2005, Blanchard distanced himself from Bailey's affirmation of the scientific certainty of the cause, expressing that further research was needed before said certainty could be sufficiently justified. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder of the neurodevelopmental type. It is characterized by difficulty paying attention, excessive activity and acting without regards to consequences, which are otherwise not appropriate for a person's age. Individuals with ADHD can also display problems with regulating emotions. The symptoms appear before a person is twelve years old, are present for more than six months, and cause problems in at least two settings (such as school, home, or recreational activities). In children, problems paying attention may result in poor school performance. Additionally there is an association with other mental disorders and substance misuse. Although it causes impairment, particularly in modern society, many people with ADHD can have sustained attention for tasks they find interesting or rewarding (known as hyperfocus). Despite being the most commonly studied and diagnosed mental disorder in children and adolescents, the exact cause is unknown in the majority of cases. Genetic factors are estimated to make up about 75% of the risk. Nicotine exposure during pregnancy may be an environmental risk. It does not appear to be related to the style of parenting or discipline. It affects about 5–7% of children when diagnosed via the DSM-IV criteria and 1–2% when diagnosed via the ICD-10 criteria. As of 2015 it is estimated to affect about 51.1 million people globally. Rates are similar between countries and depend mostly on how it is diagnosed. ADHD is diagnosed approximately two times more often in boys than in girls, although the disorder is often overlooked in girls because their symptoms differ from those of boys. About 30–50% of people diagnosed in childhood continue to have symptoms into adulthood and between 2–5% of adults have the condition. In adults inner restlessness rather than hyperactivity may occur. They often develop coping skills which make up for some or all of their impairments. The condition can be difficult to tell apart from other conditions, as well as to distinguish from high levels of activity that are still within the range of normative behaviors. ADHD management recommendations vary by country and usually involve some combination of counseling, lifestyle changes, and medications. The British guideline only recommends medications as a first-line treatment in children who have severe symptoms and for medication to be considered in those with moderate symptoms who either refuse or fail to improve with counseling, though for adults medications are a first-line treatment. Canadian and American guidelines recommend behavioral management first line in preschool-aged children while medications and behavioral therapy together is recommended after that. Treatment with stimulants is effective for at least 14 months; however, their long-term effectiveness is unclear and there are potentially serious side effects. The medical literature has described symptoms similar to those of ADHD since the 18th century. ADHD, its diagnosis, and its treatment have been considered controversial since the 1970s. The controversies have involved clinicians, teachers, policymakers, parents, and the media. Topics include ADHD's causes and the use of stimulant medications in its treatment. Most healthcare providers accept ADHD as a genuine disorder in children and adults, and the debate in the scientific community mainly centers on how it is diagnosed and treated. The condition was officially known as attention-deficit disorder (ADD) from 1980 to 1987, while before this it was known as hyperkinetic reaction of childhood. Inattention, hyperactivity (restlessness in adults), disruptive behavior, and impulsivity are common in ADHD. Academic difficulties are frequent as are problems with relationships. The symptoms can be difficult to define, as it is hard to draw a line at where normal levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity end and significant levels requiring interventions begin. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), symptoms must be present for six months or more to a degree that is much greater than others of the same age and they must cause significant problems functioning in at least two settings (e.g., social, school/work, or home). The criteria must have been met prior to age twelve in order to receive a diagnosis of ADHD. This requires more than 5 symptoms of inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity for those under 17 and more than 4 for those over 16 years old. ADHD is divided into three subtypes: predominantly inattentive (ADHD-PI or ADHD-I), predominantly hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD-PH or ADHD-HI), and combined type (ADHD-C). A person with ADHD inattentive type has most or all of following symptoms, excluding situations where these symptoms are better explained by another psychiatric or medical condition: Be easily distracted, miss details, forget things, and frequently switch from one activity to another, Have difficulty maintaining focus on one task, Become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless doing something they find enjoyable, Have difficulty focusing attention on organizing or completing a task, Have trouble completing or turning in homework assignments, often losing things (e.g., pencils, toys, assignments) needed to complete tasks or activities, Appear not to be listening when spoken to, Daydream, become easily confused, and move slowly, Have difficulty processing information as quickly and accurately as others, Struggle to follow instructions, Have trouble understanding details; overlooks details A person with ADHD hyperactive-impulsive type has most or all of the following symptoms, excluding situations where these symptoms are better explained by another psychiatric or medical condition: Fidget or squirm a great deal, Talk nonstop, Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight, Have trouble sitting still during dinner, school, and while doing homework, Be constantly in motion, Have difficulty performing quiet tasks or activities, Be impatient, Blurt out inappropriate comments, show their emotions without restraint, and act without regard for consequences, Have difficulty waiting for things they want or waiting their turn in games, Often interrupt conversations or others' activities Girls with ADHD tend to display fewer hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms but more symptoms pertaining to inattention and distractibility. Symptoms of hyperactivity tend to go away with age and turn into "inner restlessness" in teens and adults with ADHD. People with ADHD of all ages are more likely to have problems with social skills, such as social interaction and forming and maintaining friendships. This is true for all subtypes. About half of children and adolescents with ADHD experience social rejection by their peers compared to 10–15% of non-ADHD children and adolescents. People with attention deficits are prone to having difficulty processing verbal and nonverbal language which can negatively affect social interaction. They also may drift off during conversations, miss social cues, and have trouble learning social skills. Difficulties managing anger are more common in children with ADHD as are poor handwriting and delays in speech, language and motor development. Although it causes significant difficulty, many children with ADHD have an attention span equal to or better than that of other children for tasks and subjects they find interesting. In children, ADHD occurs with other disorders about two-thirds of the time. Some commonly associated conditions include: Epilepsy, Tourette's syndrome, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): this disorder affects social skills, ability to communicate, behaviour, and interests., Anxiety disorders have been found to occur more commonly in the ADHD population., Intermittent explosive disorder, Learning disabilities have been found to occur in about 20–30% of children with ADHD. Learning disabilities can include developmental speech and language disorders and academic skills disorders. ADHD, however, is not considered a learning disability, but it very frequently causes academic difficulties., Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) can co-occur with ADHD and shares many of its characteristics., Intellectual disabilities, Reactive attachment disorder, Substance use disorders. Adolescents and adults with ADHD are at increased risk of substance abuse. This is most commonly seen with alcohol or cannabis. The reason for this may be an altered reward pathway in the brains of ADHD individuals. This makes the evaluation and treatment of ADHD more difficult, with serious substance misuse problems usually treated first due to their greater risks., Sleep disorders and ADHD commonly co-exist. They can also occur as a side effect of medications used to treat ADHD. In children with ADHD, insomnia is the most common sleep disorder with behavioral therapy the preferred treatment. Problems with sleep initiation are common among individuals with ADHD but often they will be deep sleepers and have significant difficulty getting up in the morning. Melatonin is sometimes used in children who have sleep onset insomnia., Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), which occur with ADHD in about 50% and 20% of cases respectively. They are characterized by antisocial behaviors such as stubbornness, aggression, frequent temper tantrums, deceitfulness, lying, and stealing. About half of those with hyperactivity and ODD or CD develop antisocial personality disorder in adulthood. Brain imaging supports that conduct disorder and ADHD are separate conditions., Primary disorder of vigilance, which is characterized by poor attention and concentration, as well as difficulties staying awake. These children tend to fidget, yawn and stretch and appear to be hyperactive in order to remain alert and active., Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a cluster of symptoms that potentially comprises another attention disorder. It may occur in 30–50% of ADHD cases, regardless of the subtype., Stereotypic movement disorder, Mood disorders (especially bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder). Boys diagnosed with the combined ADHD subtype are more likely to have a mood disorder. Adults with ADHD sometimes also have bipolar disorder, which requires careful assessment to accurately diagnose and treat both conditions., Restless legs syndrome has been found to be more common in those with ADHD and is often due to iron deficiency anemia. However, restless legs can simply be a part of ADHD and requires careful assessment to differentiate between the two disorders., People with ADHD have an increased risk of persistent bed wetting., A 2016 systematic review found a well established association between ADHD and obesity, asthma and sleep disorders, and tentative evidence for association with celiac disease and migraine, while another 2016 systematic review did not support a clear link between celiac disease and ADHD, and stated that routine screening for celiac disease in people with ADHD is discouraged. Overall, studies have shown that people with ADHD tend to have lower scores on intelligence quotient (IQ) tests. The significance of this is controversial due to the differences between people with ADHD and the difficulty determining the influence of symptoms, such as distractibility, on lower scores rather than intellectual capacity. In studies of ADHD, higher IQs may be over represented because many studies exclude individuals who have lower IQs despite those with ADHD scoring on average nine points lower on standardized intelligence measures. Studies of adults suggest that differences in intelligence are not meaningful and may be explained by associated health problems. Most ADHD cases are of unknown causes. It is believed to involve interactions between genetics, the environment, and social factors. Certain cases are related to previous infection or trauma to the brain. Twin studies indicate that the disorder is often inherited from one's parents with genetics determining about 74% of cases. Siblings of children with ADHD are three to four times more likely to develop the disorder than siblings of children without the disorder. Genetic factors are also believed to be involved in determining whether ADHD persists into adulthood. Typically, a number of genes are involved, many of which directly affect dopamine neurotransmission. Those involved with dopamine include DAT, DRD4, DRD5, TAAR1, MAOA, COMT, and DBH. Other genes associated with ADHD include SERT, HTR1B, SNAP25, GRIN2A, ADRA2A, TPH2, and BDNF. A common variant of a gene called Latrophilin 3 is estimated to be responsible for about 9% of cases and when this variant is present, people are particularly responsive to stimulant medication. The 7 repeat variant of dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4–7R) causes increased inhibitory effects induced by dopamine and is associated with ADHD. The DRD4 receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor that inhibits adenylyl cyclase. The DRD4–7R mutation results in a wide range of behavioral phenotypes, including ADHD symptoms reflecting split attention. Evolution may have played a role in the high rates of ADHD, particularly hyperactive and impulsive traits in males. Some have hypothesized that some women may be more attracted to males who are risk takers, increasing the frequency of genes that predispose to hyperactivity and impulsivity in the gene pool. Others have claimed that these traits may be an adaptation that help males face stressful or dangerous environments with, for example, increased impulsivity and exploratory behavior. In certain situations, ADHD traits may have been beneficial to society as a whole even while being harmful to the individual. The high rates and heterogeneity of ADHD may have increased reproductive fitness and benefited society by adding diversity to the gene pool despite being detrimental to the individual. In certain environments, some ADHD traits may have offered personal advantages to individuals, such as quicker response to predators or superior hunting skills. People with Down syndrome are more likely to have ADHD. The DRD4 gene is both linked to novelty seeking and ADHD. In the Ariaal people of Kenya, the 7R allele of this gene results in better health in those who are nomadic but not those who are living in one spot. In addition to genetics, some environmental factors might play a role in causing ADHD. Alcohol intake during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders which can include ADHD or symptoms like it. Children exposed to certain toxic substances, such as lead or polychlorinated biphenyls, may develop problems which resemble ADHD. Exposure to the organophosphate insecticides chlorpyrifos and dialkyl phosphate is associated with an increased risk; however, the evidence is not conclusive. Exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy can cause problems with central nervous system development and can increase the risk of ADHD. Extreme premature birth, very low birth weight, and extreme neglect, abuse, or social deprivation also increase the risk as do certain infections during pregnancy, at birth, and in early childhood. These infections include, among others, various viruses (measles, varicella zoster encephalitis, rubella, enterovirus 71). There is an association between long term but not short term use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and ADHD. At least 30% of children with a traumatic brain injury later develop ADHD and about 5% of cases are due to brain damage. Some studies suggest that in a small number of children, artificial food dyes or preservatives may be associated with an increased prevalence of ADHD or ADHD- like symptoms, but the evidence is weak and may only apply to children with food sensitivities. The United Kingdom and the European Union have put in place regulatory measures based on these concerns. In a minority of children, intolerances or allergies to certain foods may worsen ADHD symptoms. Research does not support popular beliefs that ADHD is caused by eating too much refined sugar, watching too much television, parenting, poverty or family chaos; however, they might worsen ADHD symptoms in certain people. The youngest children in a class have been found to be more likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD, possibly due to their being developmentally behind their older classmates. This effect has been seen across a number of countries. They also appear to use ADHD medications at nearly twice the rate as their peers. In some cases, the diagnosis of ADHD may reflect a dysfunctional family or a poor educational system, rather than problems with the individuals themselves. In other cases, it may be explained by increasing academic expectations, with a diagnosis being a method for parents in some countries to get extra financial and educational support for their child. Typical behaviors of ADHD occur more commonly in children who have experienced violence and emotional abuse. The social construct theory of ADHD suggests that because the boundaries between "normal" and "abnormal" behavior are socially constructed, (i.e. jointly created and validated by all members of society, and in particular by physicians, parents, teachers, and others) it then follows that subjective valuations and judgements determine which diagnostic criteria are used and, thus, the number of people affected. This could lead to the situation where the DSM-IV arrives at levels of ADHD three to four times higher than those obtained with the ICD-10. Thomas Szasz, a supporter of this theory, has argued that ADHD was " ... invented and then given a name". Current models of ADHD suggest that it is associated with functional impairments in some of the brain's neurotransmitter systems, particularly those involving dopamine and norepinephrine. The dopamine and norepinephrine pathways that originate in the ventral tegmental area and locus coeruleus project to diverse regions of the brain and govern a variety of cognitive processes. The dopamine pathways and norepinephrine pathways which project to the prefrontal cortex and striatum are directly responsible for modulating executive function (cognitive control of behavior), motivation, reward perception, and motor function; these pathways are known to play a central role in the pathophysiology of ADHD. Larger models of ADHD with additional pathways have been proposed. In children with ADHD, there is a general reduction of volume in certain brain structures, with a proportionally greater decrease in the volume in the left- sided prefrontal cortex. The posterior parietal cortex also shows thinning in ADHD individuals compared to controls. Other brain structures in the prefrontal-striatal-cerebellar and prefrontal-striatal-thalamic circuits have also been found to differ between people with and without ADHD. The subcortical volumes of the accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, and putamen appears smaller in individuals with ADHD compared with controls. Inter-hemispheric asymmetries in white matter tracts have also been noted in ADHD youths, suggesting that disruptions in temporal integration may be related to the behavioral characteristics of ADHD. Previously it was thought that the elevated number of dopamine transporters in people with ADHD was part of the pathophysiology but it appears that the elevated numbers are due to adaptation to exposure to stimulants. Current models involve the mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway and the locus coeruleus- noradrenergic system. ADHD psychostimulants possess treatment efficacy because they increase neurotransmitter activity in these systems. There may additionally be abnormalities in serotoninergic, glutamatergic, or cholinergic pathways. The symptoms of ADHD arise from a deficiency in certain executive functions (e.g., attentional control, inhibitory control, and working memory). Executive functions are a set of cognitive processes that are required to successfully select and monitor behaviors that facilitate the attainment of one's chosen goals. The executive function impairments that occur in ADHD individuals result in problems with staying organized, time keeping, excessive procrastination, maintaining concentration, paying attention, ignoring distractions, regulating emotions, and remembering details. People with ADHD appear to have unimpaired long-term memory, and deficits in long-term recall appear to be attributed to impairments in working memory. The criteria for an executive function deficit are met in 30–50% of children and adolescents with ADHD. One study found that 80% of individuals with ADHD were impaired in at least one executive function task, compared to 50% for individuals without ADHD. Due to the rates of brain maturation and the increasing demands for executive control as a person gets older, ADHD impairments may not fully manifest themselves until adolescence or even early adulthood. ADHD has also been associated with motivational deficits in children. Children with ADHD often find it difficult to focus on long-term over short-term rewards, and exhibit impulsive behavior for short-term rewards. ADHD is diagnosed by an assessment of a child's behavioral and mental development, including ruling out the effects of drugs, medications and other medical or psychiatric problems as explanations for the symptoms. It often takes into account feedback from parents and teachers with most diagnoses begun after a teacher raises concerns. It may be viewed as the extreme end of one or more continuous human traits found in all people. Whether someone responds to medications does not confirm or rule out the diagnosis. As imaging studies of the brain do not give consistent results between individuals, they are only used for research purposes and not diagnosis. In North America, DSM-5 criteria are used for diagnosis, while European countries usually use the ICD-10. With the DSM-IV criteria a diagnosis of ADHD is more likely than with the ICD-10 criteria. It is classified as neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder. Additionally, it is classified as a disruptive behavior disorder along with oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. A diagnosis does not imply a neurological disorder. Associated conditions that should be screened for include anxiety, depression, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and learning and language disorders. Other conditions that should be considered are other neurodevelopmental disorders, tics, and sleep apnea. Diagnosis of ADHD using quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) is an ongoing area of investigation, although the value of QEEG in ADHD is currently unclear. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of QEEG to evaluate ADHD. The approved test uses the ratio of EEG theta to beta activity to guide diagnosis; however, at least five studies have failed to replicate the finding. Self-rating scales, such as the ADHD rating scale and the Vanderbilt ADHD diagnostic rating scale are used in the screening and evaluation of ADHD. As with many other psychiatric disorders, formal diagnosis should be made by a qualified professional based on a set number of criteria. In the United States, these criteria are defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM. Based on the DSM criteria, there are three sub-types of ADHD: 1. ADHD predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-PI) presents with symptoms including being easily distracted, forgetful, daydreaming, disorganization, poor concentration, and difficulty completing tasks. 2. ADHD, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type presents with excessive fidgetiness and restlessness, hyperactivity, difficulty waiting and remaining seated, immature behavior; destructive behaviors may also be present. 3. ADHD, combined type is a combination of the first two subtypes. This subdivision is based on presence of at least six out of nine long-term (lasting at least six months) symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity–impulsivity, or both. To be considered, the symptoms must have appeared by the age of six to twelve and occur in more than one environment (e.g. at home and at school or work). The symptoms must be inappropriate for a child of that age and there must be clear evidence that they are causing social, school or work related problems. In the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) by the World Health Organization, the symptoms of "hyperkinetic disorder" are analogous to ADHD in the DSM-5. When a conduct disorder (as defined by ICD-10) is present, the condition is referred to as hyperkinetic conduct disorder. Otherwise, the disorder is classified as disturbance of activity and attention, other hyperkinetic disorders or hyperkinetic disorders, unspecified. The latter is sometimes referred to as hyperkinetic syndrome. In the implementation version of ICD-11, the disorder is classified under 6A05 (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and hyperkinetic disorder no longer exists. Adults with ADHD are diagnosed under the same criteria, including that their signs must have been present by the age of six to twelve. Questioning parents or guardians as to how the person behaved and developed as a child may form part of the assessment; a family history of ADHD also adds weight to a diagnosis. While the core symptoms of ADHD are similar in children and adults they often present differently in adults than in children, for example excessive physical activity seen in children may present as feelings of restlessness and constant mental activity in adults. It is estimated that between 2–5% of adults have ADHD. Around 25–50% of children with ADHD continue to experience ADHD symptoms into adulthood, while the rest experiences fewer or no symptoms. Currently, most adults remain untreated. Many adults with ADHD without diagnosis and treatment have a disorganized life and some use non- prescribed drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism. Other problems may include relationship and job difficulties, and an increased risk of criminal activities. Associated mental health problems include: depression, anxiety disorder, and learning disabilities. Some ADHD symptoms in adults differ from those seen in children. While children with ADHD may climb and run about excessively, adults may experience an inability to relax, or they talk excessively in social situations. Adults with ADHD may start relationships impulsively, display sensation-seeking behavior, and be short-tempered. Addictive behavior such as substance abuse and gambling are common. The DSM-V criteria do specifically deal with adults, unlike those in DSM-IV, which were criticized for not being appropriate for adults; those who presented differently may lead to the claim that they outgrew the diagnosis. Having ADHD symptoms since childhood is usually required to be diagnosed with adult ADHD. However, a proportion of adults who meet criteria for ADHD would not have been diagnosed with ADHD as children. Most cases of late-onset ADHD develop the disorder between the ages of 12-16 and can therefore be considered early adult or adolescent onset ADHD. Symptoms of ADHD, such as low mood and poor self-image, mood swings, and irritability, can be confused with dysthymia, cyclothymia or bipolar disorder as well as with borderline personality disorder. Some symptoms that are due to anxiety disorders, antisocial personality disorder, developmental disabilities or mental retardation or the effects of substance abuse such as intoxication and withdrawal can overlap with some ADHD. These disorders can also sometimes occur along with ADHD. Medical conditions which can cause ADHD type symptoms include: hyperthyroidism, seizure disorder, lead toxicity, hearing deficits, hepatic disease, sleep apnea, drug interactions, untreated celiac disease, and head injury. Primary sleep disorders may affect attention and behavior and the symptoms of ADHD may affect sleep. It is thus recommended that children with ADHD be regularly assessed for sleep problems. Sleepiness in children may result in symptoms ranging from the classic ones of yawning and rubbing the eyes, to hyperactivity and inattentiveness. Obstructive sleep apnea can also cause ADHD type symptoms. Rare tumors called pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas may cause similar symptoms to ADHD. Reviews of ADHD biomarkers have noted that platelet monoamine oxidase expression, urinary norepinephrine, urinary MHPG, and urinary phenethylamine levels consistently differ between ADHD individuals and healthy control. These measurements could potentially serve as diagnostic biomarkers for ADHD, but more research is needed to establish their diagnostic utility. Urinary and blood plasma phenethylamine concentrations are lower in ADHD individuals relative to controls and the two most commonly prescribed drugs for ADHD, amphetamine and methylphenidate, increase phenethylamine biosynthesis in treatment-responsive individuals with ADHD. Lower urinary phenethylamine concentrations are also associated with symptoms of inattentiveness in ADHD individuals. Electroencephalography (EEG) is not accurate enough to make the diagnosis. The management of ADHD typically involves counseling or medications either alone or in combination. While treatment may improve long-term outcomes, it does not get rid of negative outcomes entirely. Medications used include stimulants, atomoxetine, alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists, and sometimes antidepressants. In those who have trouble focusing on long-term rewards, a large amount of positive reinforcement improves task performance. ADHD stimulants also improve persistence and task performance in children with ADHD. There is good evidence for the use of behavioral therapies in ADHD and they are the recommended first line treatment in those who have mild symptoms or are preschool-aged. Psychological therapies used include: psychoeducational input, behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy, family therapy, school-based interventions, social skills training, behavioral peer intervention, organization training, parent management training, and neurofeedback. Parent training may improve a number of behavioral problems including oppositional and noncompliant behaviors. It is unclear if neurofeedback is useful. There is little high quality research on the effectiveness of family therapy for ADHD, but the evidence that exists shows that it is similar to community care and better than a placebo. ADHD- specific support groups can provide information and may help families cope with ADHD. Training in social skills, behavioral modification and medication may have some limited beneficial effects. The most important factor in reducing later psychological problems, such as major depression, criminality, school failure, and substance use disorders is formation of friendships with people who are not involved in delinquent activities. Regular physical exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, is an effective add-on treatment for ADHD in children and adults, particularly when combined with stimulant medication, although the best intensity and type of aerobic exercise for improving symptoms are not currently known. In particular, the long-term effects of regular aerobic exercise in ADHD individuals include better behavior and motor abilities, improved executive functions (including attention, inhibitory control, and planning, among other cognitive domains), faster information processing speed, and better memory. Parent-teacher ratings of behavioral and socio-emotional outcomes in response to regular aerobic exercise include: better overall function, reduced ADHD symptoms, better self- esteem, reduced levels of anxiety and depression, fewer somatic complaints, better academic and classroom behavior, and improved social behavior. Exercising while on stimulant medication augments the effect of stimulant medication on executive function. It is believed that these short-term effects of exercise are mediated by an increased abundance of synaptic dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. Stimulant medications are the pharmaceutical treatment of choice. They have at least some effect on symptoms, in the short term, in about 80% of people. Methylphenidate appears to improve symptoms as reported by teachers and parents. Stimulants may also reduce the risk of unintentional injuries in children with ADHD. There are a number of non-stimulant medications, such as atomoxetine, bupropion, guanfacine, and clonidine that may be used as alternatives, or added to stimulant therapy. There are no good studies comparing the various medications; however, they appear more or less equal with respect to side effects. Stimulants appear to improve academic performance while atomoxetine does not. Atomoxetine, due to its lack of addiction liability, may be preferred in those who are at risk of recreational or compulsive stimulant use. There is little evidence on the effects of medication on social behaviors. , the long-term effects of ADHD medication have yet to be fully determined. Magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest that long-term treatment with amphetamine or methylphenidate decreases abnormalities in brain structure and function found in subjects with ADHD. A 2018 review found the greatest short-term benefit with methylphenidate in children and amphetamines in adults. Guidelines on when to use medications vary by country. The United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommending use for children only in severe cases, though for adults medication is a first-line treatment. However, most United States guidelines recommend medications in most age groups. Medications are not recommended for preschool children. Underdosing of stimulants can occur and result in a lack of response or later loss of effectiveness. This is particularly common in adolescents and adults as approved dosing is based on school-aged children, causing some practitioners to use weight based or benefit based off-label dosing instead. While stimulants and atomoxetine are usually safe, there are side-effects and contraindications to their use. There is low quality evidence of an association between methylphenidate and both serious and non-serious harmful side effects when taken by children and adolescents. Careful monitoring of children while taking this medication is recommended. A large overdose on ADHD stimulants is commonly associated with symptoms such as stimulant psychosis and mania. Although very rare, at therapeutic doses these events appear to occur in approximately 0.1% of individuals within the first several weeks after starting amphetamine therapy. Administration of an antipsychotic medication has been found to effectively resolve the symptoms of acute amphetamine psychosis. Regular monitoring has been recommended in those on long-term treatment. Stimulant therapy should be stopped periodically to assess continuing need for medication, decrease possible growth delay, and reduce tolerance. Long-term misuse of stimulant medications at doses above the therapeutic range for ADHD treatment is associated with addiction and dependence. Untreated ADHD, however, is also associated with elevated risk of substance use disorders and conduct disorders. The use of stimulants appears to either reduce this risk or have no effect on it. The safety of these medications in pregnancy is unclear. Antipsychotics may also be used to treat aggression in ADHD. Dietary modifications are not recommended as of 2019 by the American Academy of Pediatrics due to insufficient evidence. Though some evidence supports benefit in a small proportion of children with ADHD. A 2013 meta-analysis found less than a third of children with ADHD see some improvement in symptoms with free fatty acid supplementation or decreased eating of artificial food coloring. These benefits may be limited to children with food sensitivities or those who are simultaneously being treated with ADHD medications. This review also found that evidence does not support removing other foods from the diet to treat ADHD. A 2014 review found that an elimination diet results in a small overall benefit. A 2016 review stated that the use of a gluten-free diet as standard ADHD treatment is not advised. A 2017 review showed that a few-foods elimination diet may help children too young to be medicated or not responding to medication, while free fatty acid supplementation or decreased eating of artificial food coloring as standard ADHD treatment is not advised. Chronic deficiencies of iron, magnesium and iodine may have a negative impact on ADHD symptoms. There is a small amount of evidence that lower tissue zinc levels may be associated with ADHD. In the absence of a demonstrated zinc deficiency (which is rare outside of developing countries), zinc supplementation is not recommended as treatment for ADHD. However, zinc supplementation may reduce the minimum effective dose of amphetamine when it is used with amphetamine for the treatment of ADHD. There is evidence of a modest benefit of omega 3 fatty acid supplementation, but it is not recommended in place of traditional medication. ADHD persists into adulthood in about 30–50% of cases. Those affected are likely to develop coping mechanisms as they mature, thus compensating to some extent for their previous symptoms. Children with ADHD have a higher risk of unintentional injuries. One study from Denmark found an increased risk of death among those with ADHD due to the increased rate of accidents. Effects of medication on functional impairment and quality of life (e.g. reduced risk of accidents) have been found across multiple domains. But executive function deficits have a limited respond to ADHD medications. Rates of smoking among those with ADHD are higher than in the general population at about 40%. ADHD is estimated to affect about 6–7% of people aged 18 and under when diagnosed via the DSM-IV criteria. When diagnosed via the ICD-10 criteria rates in this age group are estimated at 1–2%. Children in North America appear to have a higher rate of ADHD than children in Africa and the Middle East; this is believed to be due to differing methods of diagnosis rather than a difference in underlying frequency. If the same diagnostic methods are used, the rates are more or less the same between countries. It is diagnosed approximately three times more often in boys than in girls. This difference between sexes may reflect either a difference in susceptibility or that females with ADHD are less likely to be diagnosed than males. Rates of diagnosis and treatment have increased in both the United Kingdom and the United States since the 1970s. Prior to 1970, it was rare for children to be diagnosed with ADHD while in the 1970s rates were about 1%. This is believed to be primarily due to changes in how the condition is diagnosed and how readily people are willing to treat it with medications rather than a true change in how common the condition is. It is believed that changes to the diagnostic criteria in 2013 with the release of the DSM-5 will increase the percentage of people diagnosed with ADHD, especially among adults. Hyperactivity has long been part of the human condition. Sir Alexander Crichton describes "mental restlessness" in his book An inquiry into the nature and origin of mental derangement written in 1798. He made observations about children showing signs of being inattentive and having the “fidgets”. The first clear description of ADHD is credited to George Still in 1902 during a series of lectures he gave to the Royal College of Physicians of London. He noted both nature and nurture could be influencing this disorder. Alfred Tredgold proposed an association between brain damage and behavioral or learning problems which was able to be validated by the encephalitis lethargica epidemic from 1917 through 1928. The terminology used to describe the condition has changed over time and has included: in the DSM-I (1952) "minimal brain dysfunction," in the DSM-II (1968) "hyperkinetic reaction of childhood," and in the DSM-III (1980) "attention-deficit disorder (ADD) with or without hyperactivity." In 1987 this was changed to ADHD in the DSM-III-R and the DSM-IV in 1994 split the diagnosis into three subtypes, ADHD inattentive type, ADHD hyperactive-impulsive type and ADHD combined type. These terms were kept in the DSM-5 in 2013. Other terms have included "minimal brain damage" used in the 1930s. In 1934, Benzedrine became the first amphetamine medication approved for use in the United States. Methylphenidate was introduced in the 1950s, and enantiopure dextroamphetamine in the 1970s. The use of stimulants to treat ADHD was first described in 1937. Charles Bradley gave the children with behavioral disorders benzedrine and found it improved academic performance and behavior. Until the 1990s, many studies "implicated the prefrontal-striatal network as being smaller in children with ADHD". During this same period, a genetic component was identified and ADHD was acknowledged to be a persistent, long-term disorder which lasted from childhood into adulthood. ADHD was split into the current three subtypes because of a field trial completed by Lahey and colleagues. ADHD, its diagnosis, and its treatment have been controversial since the 1970s. The controversies involve clinicians, teachers, policymakers, parents, and the media. Positions range from the view that ADHD is within the normal range of behavior to the hypothesis that ADHD is a genetic condition. Other areas of controversy include the use of stimulant medications in children, the method of diagnosis, and the possibility of overdiagnosis. In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, while acknowledging the controversy, states that the current treatments and methods of diagnosis are based on the dominant view of the academic literature. In 2014, Keith Conners, one of the early advocates for recognition of the disorder, spoke out against overdiagnosis in a The New York Times article. In contrast, a 2014 peer- reviewed medical literature review indicated that ADHD is underdiagnosed in adults. With widely differing rates of diagnosis across countries, states within countries, races, and ethnicities, some suspect factors other than the presence of the symptoms of ADHD are playing a role in diagnosis. Some sociologists consider ADHD to be an example of the medicalization of deviant behavior, that is, the turning of the previously issue of school performance into a medical one. Most healthcare providers accept ADHD as a genuine disorder, at least in the small number of people with severe symptoms. Among healthcare providers the debate mainly centers on diagnosis and treatment in the much greater number of people with mild symptoms. National Institute of Mental Health on ADHD, New Zealand MOH Guidelines for the Assessment and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, AACAP Practice Parameters for the Assessment and Treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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The list below contains the top 50 accounts with the largest number of followers on the social media platform Twitter. Former U.S. president Barack Obama tops the list with over 112 million followers. The following table lists the top 50 most followed accounts on Twitter, with each total rounded to the nearest million followers, as well as the profession or activity of each user, and their country of origin. It was . List of most-retweeted tweets, List of most-followed Instagram accounts, List of most-followed TikTok accounts, List of most-liked Facebook pages, List of most-subscribed YouTube channels, List of most-viewed YouTube videos, List of most streamed artists on Spotify, List of most streamed songs on Spotify, List of most-followed Twitch channels On June 16, 2017, American singer Katy Perry became the first to exceed 100 million followers., On July 12, 2018, Twitter purged locked accounts—those disabled due to suspicious activity—from follower-count tallies. Consequently, Twitter's own account took the fastest and greatest plunge out of all the top 50 accounts, from 63 million to 55 million followers, and in ranking, from 11th to 16th place., On February 3, 2019, American singer Demi Lovato deleted her Twitter account after being involved in a controversy. At the time, she was ranked 14th and had over 57 million followers. Sina Weibo () (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on August 14, 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 445 million monthly active users as of Q3 2018. The platform has been a huge financial success, with surging stocks, lucrative advertising sales and high revenue and total earnings per quarter. At the start of 2018, it surpassed the US$30 billion market valuation mark for the first time. In March 2014, Sina Corporation announced a spinoff of Weibo as a separate entity and filed an IPO under the symbol WB. Sina carved out 11% of Weibo in the IPO, with Alibaba owning 32% post-IPO. The company began trading publicly on April 17th, 2014. In March 2017, Sina launched Sina Weibo International Version. This new version has a clean, concise user interface design, as well as an ad-free feature; while its volume is very small, only occupying one-fifth of the space of the original, it still performs all of the original's functions. In June 2018, Sina Weibo reached 413 million active users. In November 2018, Sina Weibo suspended its registration function for minors under the age of 14. In July 2019, Sina Weibo announced that it would launch a two-month campaign to clean up pornographic and vulgar information, named The Blue Plan. "Weibo" (微博) is the Chinese word for "microblog". Sina Weibo launched its new domain name weibo.com on April 7, 2011, deactivating and redirecting from the old domain, t.sina.com.cn, to the new one. Due to its popularity, the media sometimes refers to the platform simply as "Weibo," despite the numerous other Chinese microblogging/weibo services including Tencent Weibo (腾讯微博), Sohu Weibo (搜狐微博), and NetEase Weibo (网易微博). Sina Weibo is a platform based on fostering user relationships in order to share, disseminate and receive information. Through either the website or the mobile app, users can upload pictures and videos publicly for instant sharing, with other users being able to comment with text, pictures and videos, or use a multimedia instant messaging service. The company initially invited a large number of celebrities to join the platform at the beginning, and has since invited many media personalities, government departments, businesses and non- governmental organizations to open accounts as well for the purpose of publishing and communicating information. To avoid the impersonation of celebrities, Sina Weibo uses verification symbols; celebrity accounts have an orange letter "V" and organizations' accounts have a blue letter "V". Sina Weibo has more than 500 million registered users; out of these, 313 million are monthly active users, 85% use the Weibo mobile app, 70% are college-aged, 50.10% are male and 49.90% are female. There are over 100 million messages posted by users each day. With 90 million followers, actress Xie Na holds the record for the most followers on the platform. Despite fierce competition among Chinese social media platforms, Sina Weibo has proven to be the most popular; part of this success may be attributable to the wider use of mobile technologies in China. After the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, China shut down most domestic microblogging services, including Fanfou, the very first weibo service. Many popular non- China-based microblogging services like Twitter, Facebook, and Plurk have since been blocked. Sina Corporation CEO Charles Chao considered this to be an opportunity, and on August 14, 2009, Sina launched the tested version of Sina Weibo; basic functions including message, private message, comment and repost were made available that September. A Sina Weibo–compatible API platform for developing third-party applications was launched on July 28, 2010. On December 1, 2010, the website experienced an outage, which administrators later said was due to the ever-increasing numbers of users and posts. Registered users surpassed 100 million in February 2011. Since March 23rd, 2011, t.cn has been used as Sina Weibo's official shortened URL in lieu of sinaurl.cn. On April 7th, 2011, weibo.com replaced t.sina.com.cn as the new main domain name used by the website. The official logo was also updated. In June 2011, Sina announced an English-language version of Sina Weibo would be developed and launched, though content would still be governed by Chinese law. On January 11, 2013, Sina Weibo and Alibaba China (a subsidiary of Alibaba Group) signed a strategic cooperation agreement. With more and more foreign celebrities using Sina Weibo, language translation has become an urgent need for Chinese fans who wish to communicate with their idols online; while many already understand English, most users still struggle with Korean. In January 2013, Sina Weibo and NetEase.com announced that they had reached a strategic cooperation agreement. When users browse foreign language content, they can now directly obtain translation results through the YouDao Dictionary. The Sina Weibo financial report in February 2013 showed that its total revenue was approximately US$66 million and that the number of registered users had exceeded the 500 million mark. In April 2013, Sina officially announced that Sina Weibo had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Alibaba. The two sides conducted in-depth cooperation in areas such as user account interoperability, data exchange, online payment, and internet marketing. At the same time, Sina announced that Alibaba, through its wholly owned subsidiary, had purchased the preferred shares and common shares issued by Sina Weibo Company for US$586 million, which accounted for approximately 18% of Weibo's fully diluted and diluted total shares. August 2009 – Sina Corporation launches Sina Weibo Early 2010 – Introduction of API open platform.. October 2010 – Sina Weibo launches China's first small talk contest November 2010 – Sina Micro-group begins testing January 2012 – Introduction of "quiet attention" feature January 2013 – Introduction of "close friend" function for the enhancement of private social circles February 2013 – Sina Corporation reports total revenue of about US$66 million, with more than 500 million registered users and 46.2 million daily active users April 2013 – Alibaba acquires an 18% stake in Sina Weibo August 2013 – Launch of Sina Weibo Taobao, enabling account sharing March 2014 – Sina Weibo renamed "Weibo" April 2014 – Weibo listed on NASDAQ November 2016 – 140-character limit increased to 2,000 words December 2016 – Weibo reports 313 million monthly active users and 139 million daily active users October 2018 – Weibo begins to draft a new version of its mobile app for children that prohibits disturbing content On April 9, 2013, Alibaba Group announced that it would acquire 18% of Sina Weibo for US$586 million, with the option to buy up to 30% in the future; Alibaba exercised this option when Weibo was listed on NASDAQ in April 2014. According to iResearch's report on March 30, 2011, Sina Weibo had 56.5% of China's microblogging market based on active users and 86.6% based on browsing time over competitors such as Tencent Weibo and Baidu. The top 100 users had over 485 million followers combined. More than 5,000 companies and 2,700 media organizations in China use Sina Weibo. The site is maintained by a growing microblogging department of 200 employees responsible for technology, design, operations, and marketing. Sina executives invited and persuaded many Chinese celebrities to join the platform. Users now include Asian celebrities, movie stars, singers, famous business and media figures, athletes, scholars, artists, organizations, religious figures, government departments, and officials from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Macau, as well as some famous foreign individuals and organizations, including Kevin Rudd, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Narendra Modi, Toshiba, and the German national football team. Like Twitter, Sina Weibo has a verification program for known people and organizations. Once an account is verified, a verification badge is added beside the account name. According to research by Sina Corporation, the number of active users reached over 400 million by Q1 2018, making Sina Weibo the 7th platform with at least 400 million active users, and daily usage increased by 21%. (1) open API Sina weibo API covers all functions of sina weibo. It can send microblog, send photos, add attention and even search. (2) client: when sina weibo is officially launched, it will simultaneously launch various mobile phones, browsers, microblogging clients on IM, robots and SMS platforms. (3) pictures and video sharing: sina weibo has the functions of pictures, video and music sharing. [56] (4) sync to other micro blogs (5) search function Publish function: users can publish content like blog and chat tools Forwarding function: users can forward their favorite content to their weibo with one click (the forwarding function is an improvement of the RT function of twitter, keeping original posts to avoid tampering in the process of transmission) and add their own comments when forwarding. Following function: users can follow their favorite users and become followers of this user (i.e. "fans"). Comment function: users can comment on any micro blog. (this is a special feature based on Chinese users' habits. Later, Yahoo Meme and Google Buzz also have comment functions.) Search function: users can insert a topic between two # signs. Like this, # a certain topic XXX#, then issued micro blog, you can click this, automatic search micro blog all contain "a certain topic XXX" related micro blog. The discussion can be expanded to achieve aggregation of information. Private message function: the user can click private message and send a private message to any user on sina weibo who has opened a private message port. This private message will only be seen by the other side. Achieve private communication. Many of Sina Weibo's features resemble those of Twitter. A user may post with a 140-character limit (increased to 2,000 as of January 2016 with the exception of reposts and comments), mention or talk to other people using "@UserName" formatting, add hashtags, follow other users to make their posts appear in one's own timeline, re-post with "//@UserName" similar to Twitter's retweet function "RT @UserName", select posts for one's favorites list, and verify the account if the user is a celebrity. URLs are automatically shortened using the domain name t.cn, akin to Twitter's t.co. Official and third-party applications can access Sina Weibo from other websites or platforms. Since a recent update you can now add images and this has made Sina Weibo more similar to Instagram in its function as a social media platform (also an app) in China. People can post images (but are limited to only 9 per post), You are able to send personal messages between followers (chat function), You can follow people and people can follow you, You are also able to post stories much like Instagram, You are able to like post using different emojis, The writers can also receive rewards in forms of money that you can use in a Sina Weibo store linked to the social media platform, You can also view post that are considered hot or popular, It can also track your movements and see where you post from Hashtags differ slightly between Sina Weibo and Twitter, using the double- hashtag "#HashName#" format (the lack of spacing between Chinese characters necessitates a closing tag). Users can own a hashtags by requesting hashtag monitoring; the company reviews these requests and responds within one to three days. Once a user owns a hashtag, they have access to a wide variety of functions available only to them on the condition that they remain active (less than 1 post per calendar week revokes these privileges). Additionally, users are allowed to insert graphical emoticons or attach their own images, music and/or video files in every post. Comments appear as a list below each post; a commenter can also choose to re-post the comment, quoting the whole original post, to their own page. Unregistered users can only browse a few posts by verified accounts. Neither unverified account pages nor comments to posts by verified accounts are accessible to unregistered users. Although often described as a Chinese version of Twitter, Sina Weibo combines elements of Twitter, Facebook, and Medium, along with other social media platforms. Sina Weibo users interact more than Twitter users do, and while many topics that go viral on Weibo also originate from the platform itself, Twitter topics often come from outside news or events. Trending Topics Sina Weibo's "trending topics" is a list of current popular topics based partly on tracking user participation and partly on the preference of Weibo staff. Once a topic is trending, it often becomes a heated issue and can have wide-ranging social influence; as such, the list has reshaped how Chinese people relate to the news media. Sina Weibo has an verification policy, much like Twitter's account verification, for confirming the identity of a user (celebrities, organizations etc.). Once a user is verified, a colorful V is appended to their username; individuals receive an orange V, while organizations and companies receive a blue V. A graph and declaration certifying the verification appear on verified user pages. There are several kinds of verifications: personal, college, organization, verification for official accounts (government departments, social media platforms and famous companies), and Weibo Master (linked with phone numbers and followers). When the number of microblogs reaches a threshold, users can apply for the verification of "Weibo Master." Sina produces mobile applications for various platforms to access Sina Weibo, including Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Symbian S60, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone. Sina has also released a desktop client for Microsoft Windows under the product name Weibo Desktop. Sina Weibo is available in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. The site also has versions catering to users from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Weibo is now developing its international edition in English and other languages. On January 9th, 2018, the company ran a week-long public test of its English edition. Sina Weibo's official iPhone and iPad apps are available in English. Weibo International supports existing Weibo accounts and allows Facebook accounts to link to the platform; users can also use their mobile phone number (including international mobile phone numbers) to register new accounts. One of the most recent features of Weibo is Stories. "Weibo's stories" is a video function allowing users to record a video and save them in a separate "Story" menu in their profile page. Weibo has also launched a new "Vlog" function. Now, every video with a hashtag VLOG will be available in the main search page under "VLOG" sub-menu. Weilingdi (微领地, literally, micro fief) is another service bundled with Weibo. Similar to Foursquare, Weilingdi is a location-based social networking website for mobile devices; the site grew out of Sina's 2011 joint venture with GeoSentric's GyPSii. Sina's Tuding (图钉) photo-sharing service, similar to Instagram, is also produced by the same joint venture. Sina Lady Weibo (新浪女性微博) specializes in women's interests. Weibo Data Center enables users to access data analysis about a topic of their choice, Sina Weibo's official data, and demographic information. Sina Weibo has also recently released a desktop version available for free download at its website. In cooperation with internet censorship in China, Sina sets strict controls over the posts on its services. Posts with links using some URL shortening services (including Google's goo.gl), or containing blacklisted keywords, are not allowed on Sina Weibo. Posts on politically sensitive topics are deleted after manual checking. Sina Weibo is believed to employ a distributed, heterogeneous strategy for censorship that has a great amount of defense-in- depth, which ranges from keyword list filtering to individual user monitoring. Nearly 30% of the total deletion events occur within 5–30 minutes, and nearly 90% of the deletions happen within the first 24 hours. On March 9, 2010, the posts by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei at Sina Weibo to appeal for information on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake going public were deleted and his account was closed by the site administrator. Attempts to register accounts with usernames alluding to Ai Weiwei were blocked. On March 30, 2010, Hong Kong singer Gigi Leung blogged about the jailed Zhao Lianhai, an activist and father to a 2008 Chinese milk scandal victim; that post was also deleted by an administrator shortly thereafter. On March 16, 2012, all users of Sina Weibo in Beijing were told to register with their real names. Starting on March 31, 2012, the comment function of Sina Weibo was shut down for three days, along with Tencent QQ. In May 2012, Sina Weibo introduced new restrictions on the content its users can post. In October 2012, Sina Weibo heavily censored discussion of the Foxconn strikes in October 2012. On June 4, 2013, Sina Weibo blocked the terms "Today," "Tonight," "June 4," and "Big Yellow Duck." If a user searched using these terms, a message would appear stating that according to relevant laws, statutes and policies, the results of the search couldn't be shown. This censorship was implemented because a photoshopped version of Tank Man which swapped all tanks in the photo with the sculpture Rubber Duck had been circulating on Twitter. According to a BBC News report, the decreasing number of users since 2014 can be attributed both to the crackdown by the Chinese government on the use of aliases to create accounts and to the rising threat from competitor WeChat. On September 8, 2017, Weibo gave an ultimatum to its users to verify their accounts with their real names by September 15. On February 18, 2018, Sina Weibo provided a 'Comment moderation' function for both head users and official members. Comments received after opening this feature will not be displayed immediately, instead requiring approval from moderators. Users can utilize this feature to avoid illegal content appearing in their comment section. Despite the censorship, Sina Weibo and weibo services in general are seen as allowing greater freedom of speech compared to other Chinese media formats. Criticism against the Chinese government is more widespread on Sina Weibo and other weibo services. After the July 2011 Wenzhou train collision, many dissatisfied posts concerning governmental corruption appeared on Sina Weibo. Many Chinese officials have also opened Weibo accounts so as to give their own version of events. Average organic post view is around 10% – 15% on Weibo. In order to attract more followers, there are 3 types of paid ads options available: 1. Sponsored Post: Promotes to current followers and/or potential followers. 2. Weibo Tasks: Allows advertisers to pay for other accounts to repost, which in turn reach target audiences. 3. Fensi Tong (粉丝通): The most well known paid advertising option on Weibo; allows more specific targeting options, including interests, gender, location and devices. Advertisers can choose between CPM (cost per mille; 0.5CNY per thousand exposure) and CPC (cost per engagement; 0.5CNY per effective engagement). Companies or organizations often use Fensitong and pay well-known Sina Weibo users (usually those with more than 1 million followers) to advertise to their followers. On June 8, 2011, Tianjin Airlines unveiled an Embraer E-190 jet in special Sina Weibo livery and named it "Sina Weibo plane" (新浪微博号). It is the first commercial airplane to be named after a website in China. In January 2012, Sina Weibo also announced that they would be sponsoring Spanish football club Villarreal CF in its match with FC Barcelona, to increase its fanbase in China. On February 5, 2018, Weibo officially announced that it will become the exclusive partner of the New Media Social Platform of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2018 to attract more Chinese people worldwide to use Weibo. 1. Weibo's Secretary: 194,144,293 2. Weibo's Service Center: 180,564,151 3. Weibo's Staff: 155,444,287 As of April 19, 2019, the following ten individuals managed the most popular accounts (name handle in parentheses) and the number of followers: 1. Xie Na (xiena): 123,778,128 2. He Jiong (hejiong): 111,602,450 3. Yang Mi (yangmiblog): 103,832,756 4. Angelababy (realangelababy): 100,286,091 5. Chen Kun (chenkun): 94,198,533 6. Vicky Zhao (zhaowei): 86,355,718 7. Zhao Liying (zhaoliying): 84,784,382 8. Yao Chen (yaochen): 81,611,121 9. Deng Chao (dengchao): 77,778,232 10. Ruby Lin (linxinru): 76,569,706 On September 13, 2013, the unverified handle "veggieg" (widely believed to be Faye Wong) posted a message suggesting that she had divorced her husband. The message was commented and re-posted more than a million times in four hours. The record was broken on March 31, 2014 by Wen Zhang, who posted a long apology admitting an extramarital affair when his wife Ma Yili was pregnant with their second child. This message was commented and re-posted more than 2.5 million times in 10 hours. (Ma's response generated 2.18 million responses in 12 hours.) On June 22, 2014, TFBOYS member Wang Junkai was awarded a Guinness World Record title for a Weibo post that was reposted 42,776,438 times. Luhan holds the Guinness World Record for most comments. Tencent Weibo, FreeWeibo – the uncensored and anonymous version of Sina Weibo, operated by an unaffiliated third party Weibo Taiwan, Mobile edition The use of Twitter by celebrities and politicians has become an important factor both for Twitter itself and for the celebrity users. As with many other social networking WWW sites, the postings and pictures by celebrity users attracts people to the site, which increases opportunity for advertising. To this end, Twitter has provided two facilities to its high-profile users. The first is the . Introduced in June 2009, the verified account system provides Twitter readers with a means to distinguish genuine accountholders from impostors. A symbol displayed against the account name indicates that Twitter has taken steps to ensure that the account has the approval of the person whom it is claimed to be, or represent. However, the public signup page for obtaining verified accounts was discontinued in 2010, with Twitter explaining that the volume of requests for verified accounts had exceeded its ability to cope; and nowadays Twitter determines itself whom to approach about verified accounts, limiting them to "highly sought after users", "business partners", and "individuals at high risk of impersonation". Business partners include those who advertise using Twitter, although it is not clearly spelled out in the material that Twitter provides to its business partners when and whether they might qualify for having verified account status. Secondly, Twitter attempts to work with celebrity and media public relations staff to encourage them to make use of Twitter in their advertising and publicity campaigns, encouraging them to use Twitter in their promotional campaigns, and providing support and analysis services to determine what worked, what created "buzz", and what did not. Twitter can be used by celebrities, athletes and other famous people for their own self-promotion. In a growing world of technology, many celebrities feel obligated to have their own accounts. They use it to engage with fans. Athletes can also spur competition among themselves using twitter. However, for celebrity users, Twitter has proven to be a double-edged sword. Along with the laudatory comments from fans come hostile attacks from anonymous people; fan goodwill and even career opportunities can be lost through tweets, and several athletes have encountered trouble because of things that they have said on Twitter. A good example is the 2012 Summer Olympics. Many competitors were removed from the Olympics due to racially offensive comments that were posted on their accounts. It has become more of a necessity than ever for celebrities and public figures to be more composed online. Impulsive tweets have proven to be negative for their careers. Many celebrities do not actually maintain their own accounts; rather, the accounts are maintained by their publicists. The most popular United Kingdom celebrities on Twitter come from television with people like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross being amongst the most popular British celebrities on the site. Fry's success on Twitter is credited with being the same person on Twitter that he is off Twitter. Musicians have found Twitter to be a very promising place for self-promotion, engaging with fans, and gaining new supporters. It has become a useful tool for promoting new music such as an upcoming single, album, or feature. Fans can react to this by liking or responding to the tweet and that will subsequently lead to more interaction between the artist and their followers. Twitter has a live-streaming feature that facilitates interaction and artists can use this to directly interact in real-time. Twitter allows musicians to promote other fellow artists. They may post photos of them in the studio working with other artists and they can tag them in the post. This helps other artists gain recognition since any of the followers seeing the photo can visit the other artists' profiles. These practices are integral to growing one's fanbase since they can gain support through fellow musicians. Twitter use by politicians in the United States includes active and former US presidents, House and Senate leaders and members, as well as state officials in various levels of state government, cabinet members in Chile, and politicians in Germany, Japan and India. These politicians use the platform to communicate with their constituents. Users may send questions and the congresspeople can directly respond. Blog posts and news articles may be directly linked and shared to all of their followers and anyone else who comes across their profile. They may also self-promote. Most recently during the 2016 US presidential election, the top three candidates (Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders) used Twitter to discuss their campaigns, gain followers and supporters, and talk amongst other candidates. These politicians would also talk negatively about each other and sling insults back and forth. Donald Trump would refer to Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" to further stir up their rivalries. Clinton famously rebutted with "Delete your account." during this presidential race. Barack Obama is the most followed politician with 109.9 million followers on his personal Twitter. He is followed by US President Donald Trump with 66.3 million followers on his own personal Twitter. Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India is the third most followed politician with 51 million followers. In the United Kingdom and the United States, politicians use Twitter to communicate and interact with their followers. Hillary Clinton used Twitter to promote her presidential campaign but unlike Obama, she did not follow back many of her new followers. In May 2011, 387 members of the United States Congress had Twitter accounts. During the primary race for president in 2008, John Edwards was also on Twitter. During the 2008 United States general election, during one monitored period, Obama made 261 Tweets while his Republican competitor John McCain made only 26. On the state level in the United States, politicians tend to use Twitter primarily for constituent and policy-related issues such as the Affordable Care Act. The second most popular category of tweets is personal musings. The type of communication by United States politicians on Twitter varies from highly personal to press release like. British politicians on Twitter include Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May. In Australia, the Greens were initially more successful on Twitter than other political parties. The Australian Labor Party's politicians have used Twitter to attack their opposition, with some one creating a parody account featuring Tony Abbott. Kevin Rudd does not appear to be making his own tweets, rather some one else is likely to be doing it for him. Chilean politicians are using Twitter as an alternative method of communications as they find the mainstream press not giving them media coverage. Politicians in Greece and Japan also use Twitter to communicate with their constituents. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has used Twitter to help change his image and make himself more personable. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez was one of the most followed Venezuelan accounts on Twitter. On December 12, 2012 history was made when Pope Francis sent his first tweet which was re-tweeted by thousands of users almost immediately. Since this time Pope Francis has amassed over 17.9 million followers on his account @Pontifex (as of March 2019) and regularly engages with users via the hashtag #AskPontifex addressing religious matters and responding to questions. Several satellite accounts are used to transmit and translate the Pope's tweets into different languages. Barack Obama on social media, Donald Trump on social media, Twitter diplomacy, Volfefe index, volatility index related to Twitter usage of U.S. President Example of a public figure Ravi Yerra via Facebook